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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:04:56 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:04:56 -0700 |
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diff --git a/46016-tei/46016-tei.tei b/46016-tei/46016-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da8ba63 --- /dev/null +++ b/46016-tei/46016-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,41569 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> + +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd" [ + +<!ENTITY u5 "http://www.tei-c.org/Lite/"> + +]> + +<TEI.2 lang="en"> +<teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>The Finished Mystery</title> + <title type="sub">Studies in the Scriptures, Volume VII</title> + <author><name reg="Russell, Charles Taze">Charles Taze Russell</name></author> + <respStmt><resp>Edited by</resp> <name>C. J. Woodworth</name></respStmt> + <respStmt><resp>Edited by</resp> <name>George H. Fisher</name></respStmt> + </titleStmt> + <editionStmt> + <edition n="1">Edition 1</edition> + </editionStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date>June 17, 2014</date> + <idno type="etext-no">46016</idno> + <availability> + <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and + with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it + away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg + License online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> + Created electronically. + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en"></language> + <language id="el"></language> + <language id="he"></language> + <language id="la"></language> + </langUsage> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2014-06-17">June 17, 2014</date> + <respStmt> + <name> + Produced by Heiko Evermann, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. + (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain + material from the Google Print project.) + </name> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> +</teiHeader> + +<pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + .boxed { x-class: boxed } + .shaded { x-class: shaded } + .rules { x-class: rules; rules: all } + .indent { margin-left: 2 } + .bold { font-weight: bold } + .italic { font-style: italic } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + .sans { font-family: sans-serif } + </pgStyleSheet> + + <pgCharMap formats="txt.iso-8859-1"> + <char id="U0x2014"> + <charName>mdash</charName> + <desc>EM DASH</desc> + <mapping>--</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2003"> + <charName>emsp</charName> + <desc>EM SPACE</desc> + <mapping> </mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2026"> + <charName>hellip</charName> + <desc>HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS</desc> + <mapping>...</mapping> + </char> + </pgCharMap> +</pgExtensions> + +<text lang="en"> + <front> + <div> + <divGen type="pgheader" /> + </div> + <div> + <divGen type="encodingDesc" /> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Studies in the Scriptures</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Volume VII</p> + <p rend="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center">The Finished Mystery</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center"><q>The Winepress of God's Wrath</q> and the Fall of Babylon.</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">By</p> + <p rend="font-size: x-large; text-align: center">Charles Taze Russell</p> + <p rend="font-size: small; text-align: center">(Published Posthumously)</p> + <p rend="font-size: small; text-align: center">Edited by</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">C. J. Woodworth and George H. Fisher</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">850,000 Edition</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center"><q>And the angel which I saw stand +upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to Heaven, and swore by Him that liveth +forever and ever, who created Heaven and the things that therein are, and the earth, and +the things that therein are, and the sea, +and the things which are therein, that the +time should be no longer delayed; but in the +days of the voice of the seventh angel, when +he shall begin to sound, the Mystery of God +should be finished, as He hath declared to +His servants the Prophets.</q>—Rev. 10:5-7. +<q>At the end it shall speak and not lie.</q>—Hab. +2:3.</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Copyright 1917</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Peoples Pulpit Association</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A.</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">International Bible Students Association</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Brooklyn, London, Melbourne, Barmen</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">1918</p> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <head>Contents</head> + <divGen type="toc" /> + </div> + + </front> +<body> + +<div> +<p rend='text-align: center'> +<figure url='images/cover.jpg' rend='width: 40%'> +<figDesc>Cover Art</figDesc> +</figure> +</p> +<p> +[Transcriber's Note: The above cover image was produced by the submitter at +Distributed Proofreaders, and is being placed into the public domain.] +</p> +</div> + +<pb n='002'/><anchor id='Pg002'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> + +<p> +TO THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS +THIS WORK IS DEDICATED +</p> + +<p> +In the Interest of<lb/> +HIS CONSECRATED SAINTS<lb/> +Waiting for the Adoption<lb/> +And of<lb/> +<q><hi rend='smallcaps'>All That in Every Place Call Upon the Lord</hi></q><lb/> +<q>THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH</q><lb/> +And Of<lb/> +The Groaning Creation; Travailing And<lb/> +Waiting for the Manifestation of<lb/> +THE SONS OF GOD +</p> + +<p> +POSTHUMOUS WORK OF PASTOR RUSSELL +</p> + +<p> +His Last Legacy to the Dear Israel of God (Matt 20:9) +</p> + +<p> +<q>To make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from +the beginning of the world hath been hid in God.</q> <q>Wherein +He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, +having made known unto us the mystery +of His will, according to His good pleasure +which He hath purposed in Himself; +that in the dispensation of the +fulness of the times He might +gather together in one +all things, under +Christ.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Eph. 3:4, 5, 9; 1:8-10 +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='003'/><anchor id='Pg003'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Publisher's Preface</head> + +<p> +Since the days of the Apostles, Christian people have +been looking for the coming of our Lord Jesus in great +power and glory; for He said that He would come +again and receive His Church unto Himself. He further +pointed out that for some time prior to the completion of +the Church He would be present, gathering out from Babylon +and from the world the truly consecrated, and that during +His presence <q>the Mystery of God</q> would be finished. +</p> + +<p> +Through St. John the Lord Jesus revealed the fact that +the Church would be developed during seven distinct +periods, or epochs; and that for each of these epochs He +would have a special angel, or messenger, to serve the +other members of the Body. It follows, then, that the messenger +to the last, or Laodicean, epoch would declare the +Presence of the Lord and the time of the Harvest of the +Gospel Age. The great Master laid special emphasis on +the importance of the messenger to the seventh, or Laodicean, +period of the Church, saying that such an one would +be <q>a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord would +make ruler over all His Household, to give them meat in +due season.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Those consecrated Christians who have read and fully +appreciated the Truth as contained in the preceding six +volumes of STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES readily see +and agree that Charles Taze Russell was the messenger of +the Church of Laodicea. In the mind of every one who believes +the Bible the evidence set forth in this volume will +establish that fact beyond the question of a doubt. +</p> + +<p> +In the light of Divine Prophecy, now being daily fulfilled +and made clear to <q>the watchers,</q> the following from the +pen of Pastor Russell is further proof that he was sent +of God to this generation. Long years before the beginning +of the trouble now upon the nations he wrote: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The four exhibitions of the Lord, given to Elijah, +represent, we believe, four manifestations in which the +Lord is about to reveal Himself to mankind, the first +three of which will prepare men for the final one, in +which will come the desired blessing to all the families +of the earth. These are:</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>(1) <hi rend='italic'>The mighty winds</hi> rending the very rocks. Blowing +winds seem to be used in Scripture for wars. The +wars, whose dark clouds have threatened the civilized +world so ominously for the past thirty years, have been +miraculously hindered to give opportunity for <q>sealing</q> +<pb n='004'/><anchor id='Pg004'/> +the Lord's consecrated people in their foreheads (intellectually) +with the Present Truth. We are therefore to +expect that when these winds of war shall be let loose, +it will mean a cataclysm of warfare which shall divide +kingdoms (mountains)—prefigured by the mighty wind +shown to Elijah (1 Kings 19:11), which rent the rocks. +But God's Kingdom will not follow the epoch of war; the +world will not thus be made ready for the Reign of Immanuel. +No; a further lesson will be needed and will be +given. It is represented in</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>(2) An <hi rend='italic'>earthquake</hi>. Throughout the Scriptures an +earthquake seems always to represent revolution; and it +is not unreasonable to expect that an era of general warfare +would so arouse the lower classes of Europe and so +discontent them with their lot (and especially with the +conditions which would follow such a war) that revolution +would be the next thing in order. (Rev. 16:18.) But, +severe though those revolutionary experiences will be +to the world, they are not sufficient to prepare men to +hear the voice of God. It will require</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>(3) The <hi rend='italic'>fire from heaven</hi>—an epoch of Divine judgments +and chastisements upon a maddened but unconverted +world, wild in anarchy, as other Scriptures show +us. The results of their wars, revolutions and anarchy, +in the failure of their schemes, will have a humbling +effect, and will prepare mankind for God's revelation +of Himself in</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>(4) The <hi rend='italic'>still small voice</hi>. Yes; He who spoke to +the winds and the waves of the Sea of Galilee will, in +due time, <q>speak peace to the peoples.</q> He will speak +with authority, commanding the observance of His long +neglected Law of Love. <q>And whosoever will not hear +that Prophet shall be cut off from among His people.</q> +(Acts 3:23.)</q>—THE WATCH TOWER, July 1, 1898, p. 308. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Looking back to the prophetic testimony respecting +the <hi rend='italic'>Times of the Gentiles</hi>, we perceive that our Lord's +words, <q>Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles +until the Times of the Gentiles be filled full,</q> give +the intimation that the determined times, or years, +in which the empire of earth would be in the hands +of Gentile governments was a fixed one from the +Divine standpoint. And if, as we believe the Scriptures +to teach, Gentile domination was provided for up to +October, 1914, it would seem but a reasonable interpretation +that Divine power would not be exercised to their +dethronement until <emph>after</emph> the time allotted for their reign +had ended—October, 1914.</q>—THE WATCH TOWER, July +1, 1904. p. 198. +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +In 1879 Charles Taze Russell began the publication of +THE WATCH TOWER, of which he was the sole editor +as long as he remained on earth. THE WATCH TOWER +was, and is, the first and only journal declaring the <emph>presence</emph> +of the Lord Jesus. Pastor Russell being the messenger +to the Laodicean Church, and occupying the position +of the Lord's special servant to give the Household of +Faith meat in due season, it was to be expected that he +would bring forth from the Lord's great <q>Storehouse</q> the +needed spiritual food for the Church, in harmony with +<pb n='005'/><anchor id='Pg005'/> +God's will. By the Lord's grace he wrote the six volumes +of STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, which writings, aside +from the Bible, have gladdened more hearts and thrilled +Christians with greater hope and joyful expectation than +have any other writings extant. These books have been +properly designated <q>Keys to the Divine Plan of the +Ages.</q> These <q>keys</q> have been placed in the hands of +thousands of Christian people throughout the world, and +have enabled them to unlock the Lord's Treasure-house, +the Bible, and there to see some of the <q>treasures of wisdom</q> +and knowledge of God! Some have been able to use +these <q>keys</q> more effectually than have others. <q>God hath +set the members in the Body as it hath pleased Him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Time and again Pastor Russell said that the Seventh +Volume of STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES would be +written; and it was expected that he would write it. The +Scriptures show that the Seventh Volume must be published. +Pastor Russell passed from the earth, and the +Seventh Volume remained unpublished. In his last moments +he said, <q>Some one else can write the Seventh +Volume.</q> For any one to arrogate to himself the authority +to write and publish the Seventh Volume would, we believe, +seem presumptuous before the Lord. Whom, then, +would the Lord have to write it? +</p> + +<p> +Pastor Russell was a man of unusual modesty. Great +men usually are modest. The examination of the contents +of this book will disclose the fact that it deals with Revelation +and Ezekiel; that the Lord long ago caused to be +recorded therein, in symbolic language, a history of the +Church, particularly the closing earthly experiences thereof; +that therein He set forth that He would uncover the +frauds, deceptions and blasphemous teachings and practices +of the church nominal—both Catholic and Protestant; +that in the last days He would then make bare the unholy +alliance between the unrighteous ecclesiastical systems +and the corrupt political elements of the earth, which religious +systems have prospered and grown fat in the name +of Christ; that the Lord pronounces His indignation and +wrath against all such Babylonish systems and marks their +utter destruction in a Time of Trouble such as the world +has never known and will never again know; and that the +earthly creature made prominent therein above all others +is the messenger of the Laodicean Church—<q>that wise and +faithful servant</q> of the Lord—CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL. +In view of the facts stated, is it at all surprising that the +Lord spared him the publication of the Seventh Volume? +</p> + +<p> +But the fact is, <emph>he did write it</emph>. This book may properly +be said to be a posthumous publication of Pastor Russell. +<pb n='006'/><anchor id='Pg006'/> +Why? Because to him the Lord gave the <q>key</q>; to him +was given the privilege of making clear to the Church in +its last years the <q>Mystery of God</q>; to him was granted +the privilege of hearing from the hands of the Lord to the +Household of Faith <q>meat in due season</q> for the special +development and sustenance of God's dear little ones. This +service he has faithfully performed. This book is chiefly +a compilation of things which he wrote and which have +been brought together in harmonious style by properly applying +the symbols which he explained to the Church. +</p> + +<p> +By his last Will and Testament Pastor Russell designated +George H. Fisher, of Scranton, Pa., as one whom he +would approve as a member of the Editorial Staff of THE +WATCH TOWER—the most important journal published +on earth. For many years Brother Fisher has been consecrated +to the Lord, a careful student of the Bible in the +light of the Message brought from the Lord by the messenger +to the Laodicean Church; and for some time he has +made a careful and prayerful study of the Book of Ezekiel. +</p> + +<p> +When Pastor Russell was with us he gave direction that +the BIBLE STUDENTS MANUAL should be prepared by +Clayton J. Woodworth, also of Scranton, Pa. This Manual +was published by this Society, and has proven a great +blessing to the Household of Faith. The preparation of +that Manual required a critical examination of everything +Pastor Russell had written; and thus Brother Woodworth +was enabled to become more familiar, probably, than any +one else with the explanation of the Scriptures which had +been given by Brother Russell. In this manner the Lord +seemed to have qualified him for some special work. With +the <q>key</q> which Brother Russell, as the Lord's servant, +had placed in his hands, Brother Woodworth, by the Lord's +grace, has been enabled to bring together everything that +Brother Russell wrote on Revelation, and to explain and +harmonize the other parts of that book with the Divine +Plan; also, to treat similarly, the Song of Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed pleasing to the Lord that Brothers C. J. Woodworth +and George H. Fisher should prepare the Seventh +Volume, under the direction of the WATCH TOWER +BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY. While both residing in +the same city, they have worked separate and apart from +each other, not even comparing notes. The reader will be +able to judge how fully the work of each harmonizes with +that of the other and with the Divine Plan, thus giving +further evidence of the Lord's direction in this matter. +</p> + +<p> +Pastor Russell long ago said, in substance, that the +Seventh Volume would not be for the development of the +Church; that the preceding <emph>six</emph> volumes of STUDIES IN +<pb n='007'/><anchor id='Pg007'/> +THE SCRIPTURES contain the necessary spiritual food +for that purpose. Asked why, then, it would be written, +he replied, <q><hi rend='italic'>It will probably be given to the Church in a +time of direst need, for her comfort and encouragement</hi>.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Who amongst the consecrated this side the veil does not +realize that the Church is now in that time of <q>dire need +of comfort and encouragement</q>? The hour of fiery trial +and great testings is upon God's people, and there is need +for their comfort and encouragement. The Lord has promised +<q>grace sufficient</q> and help for every time of need for +those who love Him and come confidently unto Him. We +believe that as the Lord's dear children throughout the +earth read the contents of this book and see how wonderfully +He has shielded them from the storms of human passion +and from the snares of the great Adversary; and that +when they see that the unrighteous, wicked systems of +Babylon are now crumbling under the mighty hand of God—which +bespeaks the early deliverance of the last members +of the Body from this vale of tears into the glorious +light and liberty of the saints—that then they will be +greatly comforted; that then they will take new courage +and <q>gird up the loins of their mind, be sober and hope to +the end for the grace that is to come unto them quickly;</q> +that with exceeding joy they will lift up their heads, because +the hour of deliverance is at hand! To all the truly +consecrated who read and appreciate this book we believe +that the words of the Master, <q>THE KINGDOM OF +HEAVEN IS AT HAND!</q> will sound in their ears like +clarion notes upon the clear morning air, giving courage +and strength to those who are growing weak in faith, and +more courage to the stronger ones. We believe that every +one who appreciates this volume will have a burning desire +to grasp his weapon and go forth to the smiting of the +Jordan, giving praise to the Lord for the privilege. +</p> + +<p> +Some will murmur and find fault with this book; some +will grow angry, and some will join the persecutors. But, +we believe, every saint whose heart is filled with love for +God and for His people will rejoice and give praise to the +Lord for this further evidence of His blessed favor. +</p> + +<p> +The publisher takes pleasure in presenting this, the +Seventh Volume, to the remaining members of the Church, +and to all who may read with profit to themselves and to +the glory of the Lord Jesus and our Father. As the Lord +has sent forth the other six volumes, His blessing has accompanied +each. That His blessing may be upon this +volume, to the comfort and encouragement of the dear +saints in the hour of direst need, is our prayer! +</p> + +<p> +WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='010'/><anchor id='Pg010'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Explanatory Note</head> + +<p> +This posthumous work of Pastor Russell (arranged +for use as a textbook) is much condensed, including +the extracts from the Pastor's pen, all of which are +referred back to his works. The abbreviations used +are: +</p> + +<lg> +<l>A, B, C, D, E, F. The six preceding volumes of <q>STUDIES +IN THE SCRIPTURES</q></l> +<l>(Citations to E in italic figures refer to old +editions, figures in ordinary type +to later editions.)</l> +<l>B. S. M. ... <q>THE BIBLE STUDENTS MONTHLY.</q></l> +<l>H. ... <q>What Say the Scriptures ABOUT HELL?</q></l> +<l>P-D. ... <q>PHOTO-DRAMA OF CREATION</q> Scenario.</l> +<l>T. ... <q>TABERNACLE SHADOWS.</q></l> +<l>S. ... <q>SPIRITISM</q> Pamphlet.</l> +<l>Z. ... <q>ZION'S WATCH TOWER,</q> followed by +year and page.</l> +</lg> + +<p> +The citations to REVELATION and EZEKIEL +refer to the comments herein, as well as to the Bible +text. +</p> + +<p> +Other abbreviations used are: +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Barnes ... Barnes' <q>Revelation.</q></l> +<l>Brit. ... <q>Encyclopedia Britannica.</q></l> +<l>Buck ... Buck's <q>Theological Dictionary.</q></l> +<l>Coffin ... Coffin's <q>Story of Liberty.</q></l> +<l>Cook ... Cook's <q>Revelation;</q> a compendium of +the presentations of seventy-two leading +commentators on Revelation, in all +languages and all ages of the church.</l> +<l>Edgar ... Edgar's <q>Pyramid Passages.</q> Vol. II.</l> +<l>McC. ... McClintock and Strong's Encyclopedia.</l> +<l>Mosheim ... Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History.</l> +<l>S. B. D. ... Smith's Bible Dictionary.</l> +<l>Smith ... Smith's <q>Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation.</q></l> +<l>Weym ... Weymouth's New Testament In Modern +Speech.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='011'/><anchor id='Pg011'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Revelation Of [St.] John [The Divine]<note place='foot'>Words not In Sinaitic MS. are enclosed in brackets. The +Sinaitic MS. is the oldest known copy of the Scriptures, having +been written, it is believed. In A. D. 331. The <q>Authorized</q> +Version was made from MSS. none of which were older than +the tenth century.</note></head> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 1—The Message For This Day</head> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Revelation of Jesus Christ.</hi>—John the Revelator and +the Prophet Habakkuk have foretold that the understanding +of this revelation, given in 96 A. D., is set for an +appointed time, the end of the age; and that, at this time, +now, when the predicted <q>Faithful and wise servant</q> would +be present with God's people, the vision would be made +plain.—Rev. 1:10; Matt. 24:45; Hab. 2:1-3; 1 Pet 1:13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which God gave unto Him.</hi>—<q>The declaration that <q>the +Son can do nothing of Himself,</q> if it were not backed up +as it is by a score of other testimonies from the same +interested and inspired Teacher, is a contradiction to the +common thought of Trinitarians, that the Son is the +Father.</q>—Z. '99-45; John 5:20; 12:49; 17:7,8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To shew unto His [servants] SAINTS.</hi><note place='foot'>Words in Sinaitic MS. which do not appear in <q>Authorized</q> +Version are printed in capitals.</note>—<q>Our Lord Jesus +has promised us that, as the Elder Brother (of the Gospel +House of Sons), whatsoever the Father shall make known +to Him He in turn will make known to us.</q>—Z. '99-45. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The things.</hi>—The shifting scenes of Church and State, +the history of the Gospel and Millennial Ages. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which must shortly come to pass.</hi>—Which began at once, +in St. John's day, and will continue until the completion +of all that he foresaw. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He sent.</hi>—He did not come Himself, but acted with +the dignity becoming Him who is now the express Image +of the Father's person. <q>Dwelling in the light which no +man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor +can see.</q>—Heb. 1:3; 1 Tim. 6:16. +</p> + +<pb n='012'/><anchor id='Pg012'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And signified It</hi>—<q>Our Lord's revelation, which God +gave Him after He had passed into glory, He sent and +signified [<hi rend='italic'>sign</hi>ified, told in signs, symbols, etc.] to His +Church.</q>—B. 203. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By His angel.</hi>—The <q>angel</q> of Rev. 3:14 represented +this messenger who appeared to St. John. Our Lord's +promise in Luke 12:44 is not limited to activities on this +side the veil. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Unto His servant John.</hi>—<q>This simplicity, common to +all the Apostles, commends them to us as men of humble +mind—the very kind we should expect our Lord to use as +special messengers to His people.</q>—Z. '16-343; Rev. 19:10. +</p> + +<p> +1:2. <hi rend='sans'>Who bare record.</hi>—Previously, In the Fourth Gospel, +and in the three epistles bearing his name. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the Word of God.</hi>—The Logos. St. John has had more +to say of the Logos than had any other Apostle. <q>In +olden times certain kings made addresses to their subjects +by proxy, the king sitting behind a screen, while his word, +or spokesman, stood before the screen, and addressed the +people aloud on subjects whispered to him by the king, who +was not seen, and such a speaker was termed the King's +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>logos</foreign>.</q>—E. 94-85. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of the testimony.</hi>—The daily words and deeds, during +the three and a half years of His ministry. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Jesus Christ.</hi>—<q>The Faithful and True Witness.</q>—Rev. +3:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And of all] WHAT things [that] SOEVER he saw.</hi>—St. +John's powers of observation were acute. His Gospel contains +records of twenty-two events or teachings not mentioned +by the other Evangelists. +</p> + +<p> +1:3. <hi rend='sans'>Blessed is he.</hi>—Singular. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That readeth.</hi>—Correctly interprets the symbolisms. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they.</hi>—Plural. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That hear the [words] WORD of this prophecy.</hi>—<q>All +who have read and understood even a part of the teachings +of the book were blessed as promised. It was an important +aid to Luther in deciding that the Papacy, of which +he was a conscientious minister, was <q>Antichrist</q></q>—A. 27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And keep.</hi>—Keep the eyes upon, observe (so the Greek +Indicates).—Rev. 22:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Those things which are written therein.</hi>—<q>There is a +blessing upon those who read this revelation, even though +they do not understand, and a special blessing upon those +who hear and understand the words of this prophecy, +and who conform their lives to the things therein written.</q>—Z. '16-343. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the time is at hand.</hi>—The fulfilments began at once, +in St. John's own day. +</p> + +<pb n='013'/><anchor id='Pg013'/> + +<p> +1:4. <hi rend='sans'>John to the seven churches.</hi>—Not merely the seven +literal congregations mentioned in Verse 11 and elsewhere, +but to the epochs of the Church as a whole, from Apostolic +days until now. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which are in Asia.</hi>—In the Orient, the East, the early +path of the sun. Before the Sun of Righteousness can +illuminate the world of mankind, its rays must first have +passed through the Church, the first to greet and welcome +the New Day. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Grace be unto you.</hi>—May favor, unmerited, be your happy +portion. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And peace.</hi>—The Lord's special legacy to His Church.—John +14:27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From Him.</hi>—Our glorified Lord and Head.—Rev. 1:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is.</hi>—Now self-existent, like the Father.—John 5:26. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And which was.</hi>—The Logos, the Father's Agent in the +creation of all things (John 1:3), and subsequently, as +man's Redeemer, <q>made a little lower than the angels for +the suffering of death.</q>—Heb. 2:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And which is to come.</hi>—In glory and great power at His +Second Advent, <q>until He shall have set judgment in the +earth.</q>—Isa. 42:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And from the seven spirits.</hi>—Lamps of fire, or eyes. +(Rev. 4:5; 5:6.) <q>In this symbolical picture the eye of the +Lord is represented as seven or complete, all-seeing, everywhere, +all-knowing. This is our confidence, this is our rejoicing.</q>—Z. '05-318; +Zech. 3:9, 4:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which are before His Throne.</hi>—Which are <q>sent forth +into all the earth.</q>—Rev. 4:5. +</p> + +<p> +1:5. <hi rend='sans'>And.</hi>—<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Kai</foreign>, even. For a similar use of the word +see the expression, <q>God Himself and our Father</q> (1 Thes. +3:11), which, in the Diaglott, is rendered, <q>God Himself, +even our Father.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From Jesus Christ the faithful Witness.</hi>—<q>Who before +Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession.</q> (1 Tim. +6:13.) Our Lord's admission to Pilate, <q>I am a King; to +this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the +world</q> (John 18:37), was the direct cause of His death. +The accusation set up over His head was, <q>This is Jesus +the King of the Jews.</q> (John 19:19; Matt. 27:37.) Similarly +faithful admissions may end the earthly careers of +the feet-members of His Body. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The First Begotten of the dead.</hi>—<q>The First-Born of the +dead ones.</q> (Diaglott.) (1 Cor. 15:20; Col. 1:18; Acts +26:23.) <q>This verse clearly teaches what the creeds of +Christendom ignore; namely, that our Lord was the first +to experience a resurrection to perfection and eternal life +in the full sense of the word.</q>—Z. '16-343; Acts 13:33, 34. +</p> + +<pb n='014'/><anchor id='Pg014'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And.</hi>—Even. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Prince.</hi>—The King-Elect, now ruling in their hearts. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the kings of the earth.</hi>—His associate kings, <q>The +kings of the East.</q> (Rev. 16:12.) <q>All are to be awakened +from the Adamic death, as though from a sleep. They +will then be under the care of the Royal Priesthood, whose +experience with sin, and whose victory over sin, well fitted +them to be helpful toward those over whom they will reign, +as Kings as well as Priests. (Rev. 5:10.)</q>—E. 487, 478. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Unto Him that [loved] LOVETH us.</hi>—Our Lord's love +for us is ever-present. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [washed] FREED us from our sins [in] BY His +own blood.</hi>—<q>That it was the death of the Man Christ +Jesus, His <q>blood,</q> that secured our release from sin and +death is most unequivocally stated in many Scriptures. +See 1 Pet 1:2; Acts 4:12; 20:28; Rev. 5:9; Rom. 5:9; +Heb. 13:12.</q>—E. 458, 446; Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:6; Rev. 14:4. +</p> + +<p> +1:6. <hi rend='sans'>And hath made us.</hi>—And will make us during the +Millennial Age. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Kings and] A KINGDOM, priests.</hi>—The work of a priest +is that of intervention and of instruction in righteousness. +It logically implies subjects and a future work of salvation.—1 +Pet. 2:9; Rev. 5:10; 20:6; 22:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Unto God and His Father.</hi>—<q>Unto the God and Father of +Himself.</q>—Diaglott. Rom. 15:6; 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. +Amen.</hi>—<q>He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and +from the river unto the ends of the earth;... and +let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen, and +Amen.</q> (Psa. 72:8, 19.) <q>For ever and ever</q> is literally +<q>for the ages of <emph>the</emph> ages.</q> The Millennium and subsequent +ages are the ages of the ages. +</p> + +<p> +1:7. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, He cometh with clouds.</hi>—<q>While the clouds +of trouble hang heavy and dark, when the mountains—kingdoms +of this world—are trembling and falling, when +the earth—organized society—is being shaken and disintegrated, +some will begin to realize that Jehovah's +Anointed is taking to Himself His great power and is +beginning His work of laying justice to the line and righteousness +to the plummet.</q>—Z. '16-344; Matt 24:30. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And every eye shall see Him.</hi>—<q>He will not be visible to +natural sight, but to the eyes of understanding, as these +shall open to an appreciation of the punishments and blessings +which will flow to mankind from His Reign. Our +King will reveal Himself gradually. Some will discern the +new Ruler sooner than will others. But ultimately <q>every +eye shall see [Greek, <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>horao</foreign>, discern] Him.</q></q>—Z. '16-344. +</p> + +<pb n='015'/><anchor id='Pg015'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they also which pierced Him.</hi>—<q>And I will pour upon +the House of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem +[the Jewish people], the spirit of grace and of supplications: +and they shall look upon Me whom they have +pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth +for his only son.</q>—Zech. 12:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And all kindreds of the earth shall [wail because of] +BEWAIL Him.</hi>—<q>At the time of our Lord's Second Advent +the world will be far from converted to God; for <q>all kindreds +of the earth shall wail because of Him.</q> Christ comes +before the conversion of the world and for the very purpose +of converting all mankind.</q>—Z. '16-344. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Even so, Amen.</hi>—We cannot stop the clouds of the Time +of Trouble, or the tears of disappointment, and later, of +repentance; and we would not if we could. The trouble +and the tears are a necessary preparation for the blessings +which follow. +</p> + +<p> +1:8. <hi rend='sans'>I am THE Alpha and I AM ALSO THE Omega.</hi>—Alpha +is the first letter, and Omega the last letter, of the +Greek alphabet. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Beginning and the Ending.</hi>—<q>Our Lord's great +honor is shown in that He was not only the <emph>first</emph> of God's +creation, but the <emph>last</emph>. From this we are to understand +that the great Jehovah did not directly employ His own +power in creating either men or angels; but that He delegated +His power to His <emph>Only</emph>-begotten Son.</q>—Z. '93-115. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saith the Lord GOD.</hi>—But not the clergy; they will have +none of this doctrine. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is, and which was, and which is to come, the +Almighty.</hi>—<q>It is since His resurrection that the message +has gone forth—<q>All power in Heaven and in earth <hi rend='italic'>is given</hi> +unto Me.</q> (Matt 28:18.) Consequently it is only since +then that He could be called the Almighty.</q>—Z. '93-115; +Rev. 1:4; 16:5-7. +</p> + +<p> +1:9. <hi rend='sans'>I John, who [also] am your brother.</hi>—<q>Instead of +adding titles to his name, as Reverend, Bishop, Overseer +of all the Churches in Asia Minor, we find John introducing +himself as <q>your brother.</q></q>—Z. '01-187. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And companion in tribulation.</hi>—<q>He was sharer with +Christ, as a member of His Body, in His afflictions, in His +endurance; and the brother of all fellow-disciples, sharers +of the same sufferings, and prospectively of the same +glory.</q>—Z. '01-187: Matt. 20:23. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [In] the kingdom.</hi>—Now, while <q>the Kingdom of +Heaven suffereth violence;</q> and later, when <q>the Kingdom +and dominion, and the greatness of the Kingdom under +the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the +saints of the Most High.</q>—Matt 11:12; Dan. 7:27. +</p> + +<pb n='016'/><anchor id='Pg016'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And patience [of] IN Jesus [Christ].</hi>—When Saul persecuted +the saints, he persecuted Jesus. When St. Paul +suffered as a Christian, it was as part of the <q>dying of +the Lord Jesus.</q> (Acts 9:5; 2 Cor. 4:10.) What St. John +cheerfully endured was endured by Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was in the isle that is called Patmos.</hi>—<q>At the time of +this vision St. John was a prisoner, exiled to the Isle of +Patmos, a penal colony of those days [a convict quarry]—a +rocky, barren island in the Ægean Sea. The crime for +which he suffered this banishment was his faithfulness as +the Lord's mouthpiece. St. John, the beloved disciple, in +some measure, or degree, represented the last living members +of the Body of Christ (John 21:20-23)—a class that +see with the eyes of their understanding the visions and +revelations which the beloved disciple saw in symbol in +a trance. If, then, St. John's exile in any degree represents +ostracism which the Lord's followers may expect in +the close of this Age—a complete isolation from others +and a treatment implying that they are prisoners—they +may take comfort from the thought that our Lord's favor +and revelation to St. John more than offset his persecutions.</q>—Z. '16-343. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the Word of God.</hi>—<q>St. John, with remarkable modesty, +passes over his previous service for the Truth (Rev. +1:2), which had brought him his persecution, and lightly +passes over the persecution itself, merely noting that he +was in the island because of his fidelity to the Word of +God.</q>—Z. '01-187. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And for the testimony of Jesus.</hi>—As recorded in the +Gospel according to St. John and the three Johannean +epistles. +</p> + +<p> +1:10. <hi rend='sans'>I was in the spirit.</hi>—<q>Visions are not realities, +although symbolically representing them. (Dan. 7:1; +Matt. 17:9.) The visions granted to St. John, recorded +in the Revelation, are in no sense to be understood as +realities.</q>—Z. '16-343; Acts 10:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>On the Lord's Day.</hi>—<q>According to our understanding +of Bible chronology we today are living in the early dawn +of this Day of Christ; and it is here, properly enough, +that we begin to see the wonderful things of the Divine +Character and Plan. But to see and to understand we +must be <q>in the spirit.</q> Only those who have become +New Creatures in Christ can be expected to appreciate +spiritual things; and this is the class which the Apostle +John represented.</q>—Z. '16-343. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.</hi>—<q>The +fact that its location is mentioned implies that it +has a <emph>symbolic</emph> meaning. It signifies that the beginning of +<pb n='017'/><anchor id='Pg017'/> +this Message was not in St. John's day, nor in the future, +but that the things revealed had already commenced and +were already to some extent in the past. As some features +of the Revelation show, the voice from behind went back +to the time of our Lord's earthly ministry.</q> (Z. '16-344.) +<q>As John heard a voice behind him and looked in that +direction, so we who now are having the realities find that +the Message is behind us, and turn and look toward the +past to see the fulfilment of the various features of the +Divine Plan and to hear and understand the Message +given to His people by the risen Lord.</q>—Z. '05-168. +</p> + +<p> +1:11. <hi rend='sans'>Saying, [I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the +Last: and] What thou seest, write in a book and send it +unto the seven churches which are in Asia.</hi>—<q>There are +many reasons for concluding that while the messages were +given to the seven churches specified and were applicable +to them, they should properly have a still wider application +to the whole Church of Christ, the number seven +representing completeness, and the order representing +different epochs in the history of the Church. To think +otherwise would be to attach more importance to those +comparatively small churches of Asia Minor than they +would seem to have deserved, and would have implied an +ignoring of other churches more numerous and more +influential; as, for instance, the churches at Jerusalem, +Antioch, Corinth, Colosse, Philippi, Thessalonica, etc. +Furthermore, the details of the messages given to these +seven churches apply to and fit historically the one Church +of the living God, over every member and branch of which +the Lord has a care. This thought, that the seven represented +completeness, we find emphasized in the other +symbolical representations—in the seven golden candlesticks, +the seven stars, etc.</q> (Z. '05-168.) Colosse (Col. +1:2), Miletus (Acts 20:17) and Hierapolis (Col. 4:13) +were churches in Asia, not here mentioned. The Asia mentioned +is the westernmost province of Asia Minor. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Unto Ephesus.</hi>—The Apostolic Age of the Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And unto Smyrna.</hi>—The Church during the period of +persecution by Pagan Rome. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And unto Pergamos.</hi>—The Church during the period of +the rise of Antichrist. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And unto Thyatira.</hi>—The Church during the Dark Ages, +the period of Antichrist's glory, and persecution by Papal +Rome. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And unto Sardis.</hi>—The Church in the dawn of the +Reformation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And unto Philadelphia.</hi>—The Church in the period of +reformation by sects. +</p> + +<pb n='018'/><anchor id='Pg018'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And unto Laodicea.</hi>—The Church in the time of the +Lord's Second Presence. +</p> + +<p> +1:12. <hi rend='sans'>And I turned to see the voice that spake with +me.</hi>—<q>The Apostles saw in symbol what the Lord's people +may now see with the eye of faith and understanding. He +saw One like a son of man—like a man, like a priest, as +implied by the clothes described—walking amongst seven +golden candlesticks, caring for them, trimming the wicks, +seeing to the supply of oil, etc. Thus our Lord Jesus, our +glorified Master, has directed respecting His people's +affairs, inspecting and caring for the Church as a light-bearer, +a candlestick. Alas, how poor the wicks have +sometimes been! How feeble the light that has sometimes +shone out! How much trimming has been necessary!</q>—Z. '16-344. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.</hi>—<q>The +Golden Candlestick, or Lamp-stand, which stood +opposite the Golden Table, and gave light to all in the +<q>Holy,</q> was of gold—all of one piece hammered out. (Exod. +25:31-37.) It had seven branches, each of which held a +lamp, making seven lamps in all—a perfect or complete +number. This represented the complete Church, from the +Head, Jesus, to and including the last member of the +<q>little flock</q> that He is taking out from among men, to be +partakers of the Divine (gold) nature.</q>—T. 115; Rev. +1:20; Zech. 4:2; Matt. 5:14-16. +</p> + +<p> +1:13. <hi rend='sans'>And in the midst of the seven candlesticks.</hi>—<q>The +union, the relationship between them, being supplied by +our Redeemer, the antitypical High Priest.</q>—Z. '16-344. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>One like unto the son of man.</hi>—<q>This symbolical picture +has precious lessons for us, more valuable than an attempt +to describe to our minds the appearance of our +Lord as a Spirit Being, <q>dwelling in light which no man +can approach unto,</q> and which we cannot appreciate until +we shall be changed to <q>be like Him and see Him as He +is.</q>—1 John 3:2; 1 Cor. 15:50-53.</q>—Z. '16-344; Dan. 7:13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Clothed with a garment down to the foot.</hi>—<q>The glory of +Christ was manifested in His own person, in His own ministry, +and in that of His Twelve Apostles, His representatives—St. +Paul taking the place of Judas; with their death +the body of Truth was almost veiled throughout the +eighteen centuries intervening, until now.</q>—Z. '16-344. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And girt about the breast.</hi>—The support of the garment +at the breast, instead of the neck, left the arms and shoulders +uncovered, representing that the early Church was +favored with the light of the true Gospel for a considerable +time after our Lord and Head had completed His earthly +ministry. +</p> + +<pb n='019'/><anchor id='Pg019'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With a golden girdle.</hi>—Gold is a symbol of the Divine +nature; the girdle a symbol of service. (Rev. 15:6.) +Throughout the Age the Lord has been serving His Church. +<q>Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when He +cometh shall find watching; verily I say unto you that +He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, +and will come forth and serve them.</q> <q>I am among you +as he that serveth.</q>—Luke 12:37; 22:27. +</p> + +<p> +1:14. <hi rend='sans'>His head and His hairs were white like wool, as +white as snow.</hi>—<q>The head, with its white hair, is not to +teach us that our Lord in glory has the form of a man, +with white hairs, but merely suggestive and symbolic of +knowledge, experience, wisdom.</q>—Z. '01-188; Matt. 17:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His eyes were as a flame of fire.</hi>—<q>His eyes like a +flame of fire tell us in symbol that our Master is all-seeing, +omniscient; that He is not deceived by outward forms and +ceremonies; but that He can, and does, read every thought +and intent of the heart.</q>—Z. '16-344; Rev. 19:12. +</p> + +<p> +1:15. <hi rend='sans'>And His feet like unto fine brass.</hi>—<q>The feet, described +as like furnace-refined copper, seem to say that +those who belong to the Body of Christ, and whom the +Lord would use in His service, <q>the feet</q> members of the +Body, must, in their contact and dealings with the world, +be refined, purified, clean—<q>Be ye clean, that bear the +vessels of the Lord's house.</q></q>—Z. '01-188; Ezek. 1:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As if they burned in a furnace.</hi>—<q>In the end of the Age, +the feet members of the Body of Christ will be illuminated +by the Truth and will shine forth—not like the Head, but +as polished brass. We have shining upon us with almost +burning brightness the focused rays of Divine inspiration +and revelation from the past 6,000 years. How it should +consume in us all the dross of selfishness! How it should +purify us! How humble it should make us!</q>—Z. '16-344. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His voice as the sound of many waters.</hi>—<q>The many +waters signify peoples, nations and languages, as elsewhere +explained in this book. Thus our Lord, present with +His Church, speaks to her and through her by many +tongues, in many languages.</q>—Z. '01-188; Rev. 19:6. +</p> + +<p> +1:16. <hi rend='sans'>And He had in His right hand.</hi>—<q>This One whom +we thus know, thus recognize, as the Instructor and Caretaker +of the candlesticks, we are also to recognize as +having in His right hand—in His favor as well as His +power—seven stars, the angels, the messengers, of the +seven Churches. That they are in His right hand seems +to teach us that these should be considered as in some +special sense under the Master's guidance, protection and +care in the interest of the Churches which they represented.</q>—Z. '16-345; +Jer. 22:24. +</p> + +<pb n='020'/><anchor id='Pg020'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Seven stars.</hi>—<q>Apparently the stars represent special +ministers, or servants of the Church. In Revelation 12:1 +the Church is pictured as a Woman crowned with twelve +stars. These stars evidently represent the Twelve +Apostles as the special lights of the Church. Similarly, in +the picture before us, the seven stars which the Lord +holds in His right hand seem to represent special light-bearers +in the Church—in each of its seven phases, or +stages, of development. It will be noticed that the messages +to the various Churches are sent by these stars, +messengers, angels, as though our Lord would have us +understand that the appropriate message for each appropriate +epoch in the Church's experience would be sent by +the Lord through a particular star, or messenger, whom +He would especially commission as His representative. +Our Lord Himself is represented by the great light of the +sun; and His special messengers in the Church throughout +the entire period of the Gospel Age are consistently +enough represented as stars.</q>—Z. '16-345; Rev. 1:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.</hi>—<q>No +part of the description could more thoroughly convince +us that the description of our Lord given here is symbolic. +As a symbolic picture, it speaks to us of the Word of the +Lord, the Sword of the Spirit, <q>sharper than any two-edged +sword.</q> (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12.) It reminds us that our +Lord's words are not one-sided, not directed merely against +sin in one class, but that His Word is sharp, cutting in +every direction; that sin is reproved by Him as much when +found in His most earnest followers as when found elsewhere. +It assures us that none need attempt to pluck out +the mote from his brother's eye without first getting rid of +the beam in his own eye; and that if we do not show mercy +to those who are our debtors we must not expect mercy +from Him who has purposed to extend His mercy toward +us. How heart-searching is God's Word when we understand +it—not merely as a compendium of rules and regulations, +but when we catch the spirit of it! Then we come +to see that its requirement is love out of a pure heart; +first, to the Heavenly Father; secondly, to our Lord and +Head; thirdly, to all His brethren; fourthly, to the world in +general, groaning and travailing in pain, waiting for the +blessings of the coming Day of Christ; and fifthly, toward +our enemies also, sympathetically realizing that they are +warped, twisted and blinded through the deceitfulness of +sin and through the machinations of the great Adversary.—2 +Cor. 4:4.</q>—Z. '16-345; Rev. 2:12, 16; 19:15, 21; Isa. 11:4. +</p> + +<pb n='021'/><anchor id='Pg021'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His countenance [was as the sun] shineth AS THE +SUN in his strength.</hi>—<q>And his face was as it were the +sun.</q>—Rev. 10:1; Acts 26:13. +</p> + +<p> +1:17. <hi rend='sans'>And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.</hi>—<q>So +great was the splendor that St. John fell as dead, just +as Daniel did in the presence of the mighty One whom he +saw, and just as Saul of Tarsus did before the majesty +presented to him. (Dan. 10:4-11; Acts 9:3-9.) So it is +symbolically with the Christian, when once he gets a +glimpse of the glories of the Divine Character. When once +we get a true view of Him with whom we have to do, as +the great Heart-searcher and Caretaker of His Church, we +fall before Him, humbled to the dust, realizing that we +are imperfect, that we cannot stand before our Master, that +we are unworthy of His blessing.</q>—Z. '16-344; Ezek. 1:28. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He laid His right hand upon me.</hi>—<q>As our Lord +touched St. John gently, raising him up, so He has spoken +to us comfort, peace and love, assuring us that we have +a High Priest that can be touched with a feeling of our +infirmities, One who is able to sympathize and mercifully +to assist.</q>—Z. '16-345. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying [unto me, Fear not]; I am the First and the +Last.</hi>—<q>We must recognize that our Lord is the One who +was the beginning of the creation of God and the end of it, +the One by whom are all things, next to the Father in +everything pertaining to the affairs of the Universe.—Col. +1:15; Rev. 3:14; John 1:1-3; 1 Cor. 8:6.</q>—Z. '16-345; Rev. +1:11; 2:8. +</p> + +<p> +1:18. <hi rend='sans'>I am He that liveth, and was dead.</hi>—<q>The Lord +now liveth, and in order to appreciate this we understand +that He was dead for parts of three days—not merely apparently +dead, but actually <emph>dead</emph>—His soul poured out unto +death, made an offering for sin.—Isa. 53:10-12.</q> (Z. '01-189.) +<q>It was because Christ's soul (being) was dead that the +Apostles could declare that unless His soul, being, were +made alive again by a resurrection there could be no hope +in Him as a Savior and a Life-giver.</q>—Z. '01-122. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And behold, I am alive for evermore, [Amen].</hi>—<q>Death +has no more dominion over Him. (Rom. 6:9.) Neither +sacrifices of the Mass nor death in any sense or form ever +will be needed. His work is perfect. <q>It is finished!</q></q>—Z. +'16-345; John 19:30. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And have the keys of [hell] DEATH.</hi>—<q>He has the key, +the power over death, in order that those who have not yet +gone into the tomb, but who are under the death sentence, +may all be ultimately delivered into the full liberty of the +sons of God—righteousness and life everlasting.—Rom. +8:21.</q>—Z. '16-345. +</p> + +<pb n='022'/><anchor id='Pg022'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of [death] HELL.</hi>—<q>These words imply that the +Lord's people go to <foreign rend='italic'>Hades</foreign>, and that the hope when going +down to <foreign rend='italic'>Hades</foreign>, to oblivion, is that in due time our great +Redeemer shall unlock this figurative prisonhouse of death +and bring forth the captives. This is the significance of the +statement that He has the keys—He can open; all power +is given into His hand. In preaching at His First Advent, +He declared this to be the Gospel. (Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18.) +How full of meaning are these Scriptures when viewed +from the proper standpoint; how confusing and absurd +when viewed from any other!</q>—E. 397, 378. +</p> + +<p> +1:19. <hi rend='sans'>Write THEREFORE the things which thou hast +seen.</hi>—John was personally familiar with the first epoch, +then already in the past. What he wrote of that epoch +(Rev. 2:1-7) serves as a guide to what follows. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the things which are.</hi>—John was writing in the second +epoch, already in its persecution era.—Rev. 2:8-11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the things which [shall be] MUST SHORTLY +COME TO PASS hereafter.</hi>—The five remaining epochs of +the Church, and the Kingdom to follow. +</p> + +<p> +1:20. <hi rend='sans'>The mystery of the seven stars.</hi>—Every true reformer +must go contrary to the current of his times; and, +in proportion as he has the Master's spirit, he cannot fail +to be, like Him, a man of mystery to his own generation—<q>a +Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of Offense</q>—to those +who have not <q>ears to hear.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which thou sawest in My right hand.</hi>—Small wonder that +these great reformers seemed almost to have charmed lives! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the seven golden candlesticks.</hi>—<q>The Candlestick, or +Lampstand, represents the nominal, rather than the true +Church. This is shown by the fact that in addressing each +of these churches the Lord finds fault with the many and +approves the faithful few.</q>—Z. '16-344. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The seven stars.</hi>—<q>The star-light is the Heavenly light, +the spiritual enlightenment or instruction. The lamp-light +is the earthly light, representing good works, obedience, +etc., of those who are exhorted to let their light so shine +that it will glorify their Father in Heaven.</q>—Z. '16-345. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are the angels of the seven churches.</hi>—<q>The title is borrowed +from the Jewish Synagogue, in which the angel, or +messenger of the assembly, was the person who presided +over and arranged the meetings for worship.</q> (Cook.)—Mal. +2:7; Hag. 1:13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the seven candlesticks [which thou sawest] are the +seven churches.</hi>—<q>Alas! The Master evidently found but +few good works, little glorifying light shining out from His +earthly representatives in many of the seven epochs of the +history of the Church.</q>—Z. '16-344; Rev. 1:12; Zech. 4:2. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='023'/><anchor id='Pg023'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 2—St. Paul, St. John, Arius And Waldo</head> + +<p> +2:1. <hi rend='sans'>[Unto] BY the angel.</hi>—The special messenger in the +Harvest of the Jewish Age was St. Paul. A Hebrew of the +Hebrews (Phil. 3:5), he was a free-born Roman citizen +(Acts 22:25-29), highly educated (Acts 22:3), spoke Greek +(Acts 21:37) and Hebrew (Acts 22:2), and was presumably +a member of the Sanhedrin at the time of St. Stephen's +death. (Acts 7:58; 8:1; 26:10.) Chosen before his birth +(Gal. 1:15), he was supernaturally inducted into the Body +of Christ (Acts 9:1-22) to take the place of Judas (Psa. +109:8; Acts 1:20), was privately instructed in the fullness +of the Gospel (Gal. 1:11, 12, 17), was specially commissioned +to explain this Gospel to the brethren at Jerusalem +(Gal. 2:1, 2), did not hesitate to correct the erring Peter +(Gal. 2:11), was acknowledged by St. Peter as filled with +Heavenly wisdom (2 Pet. 3:15, 16), wrote over half of the +books of the New Testament, carried the Gospel into +Europe (Acts 16:9), supported himself with his own hands +while he preached (Acts 20:32-35), and suffered almost unbelievable +hardships of every description—besides having +<q>the care of all the churches.</q> (2 Cor. 11:24-28.) What a +service and honor, here and hereafter, Judas missed by his +love of money! St. Paul was beheaded by Nero, A. D. 66. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the church [of] IN Ephesus.</hi>—The first age of the +Church began at Pentecost in the spring of A. D. 33, and +ended in the spring of A. D. 73. <q>It may be proper to +mention also what things occurred that show the benignity +of that all-gracious Providence, that had deferred their destruction +for forty years after their crimes against Christ.</q> +(Eusebius' <hi rend='italic'>Ecclesiastical History</hi>.) <q>On the 15th of Nisan, +i. e., of April, in the year 73 A. D., the first day of the +Easter festival, the same day on which, according to tradition, +the God of Israel had led His people out of Egyptian +bondage into freedom, the last bulwark of Israel's liberty +had fallen, and Israel was delivered into bondage.</q> +(Cornil's <hi rend='italic'>History of the People of Israel</hi>.) <q>Masada attained +great importance in the war with the Romans.... +With the fall of Masada the war came to an end, on +the 15th of Nisan, 73.</q> (<hi rend='italic'>The Jewish Encyclopedia</hi>.) <q>The +capture of Masada, a Jewish fortress on the southwestern +shores of the Dead Sea, put a termination to one of the +<pb n='024'/><anchor id='Pg024'/> +fiercest struggles recorded in history (73 A. D.)</q>—Morrison's +<hi rend='italic'>Jews Under Roman Rule</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Judea was not entirely subjugated; for three strong +fortresses were still in arms: Herodium, Machaerus, and +Masada.... The heroes agreed to this proposal (of +their leader Eleasar) even with enthusiasm, and on the +first day of the great Feast of the Passover (A. D. 73), +after slaying their own wives and children, they all perished +on their own swords.</q> (Graetz's <hi rend='italic'>History of the Jews</hi>, +Vol. 2.) <q>Eleasar accordingly persuaded all his people during +that night to kill their wives and children and then +themselves, but to burn all their treasures first. The next +day the Romans found only 960 dead bodies, whilst but two +women and five children hid themselves in caverns and +were discovered. The Easter of the year 73, just seven +years from the beginning of the great movement and 40 +years after Christ's crucifixion, saw this end of the whole +tragedy.</q> (Ewald's <hi rend='italic'>History of Israel</hi>, Vol. 7, which is entitled +<q>The Apostolic Age,</q> and which Prof. Ewald makes +to end with the year A. D. 73.) Josephus also relates that +Masada fell on the 15th of Nisan, April, A. D. 73; but the +quotation is too lengthy to be inserted here. +</p> + +<p> +The meaning of the word <hi rend='italic'>Ephesus</hi> is <q>permission,</q> +which, understood as <q>approval,</q> harmonizes well with the +tradition that the meaning is <q>desirable.</q> Anything that +has approval is desirable. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Write.</hi>—St. Paul wrote a third of the New Testament. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in +His right hand.</hi>—<q>In the first chapter we have a description +of <q>One like unto a son of man.</q> Some one or more of the +features of this description are mentioned in connection +with each of the successive stages of the Church.</q>—Z. +'16-346; Rev. 1:16, 20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.</hi>—<q>We +could not doubt the love and care of our +glorified Head even if He had given us no explicit declaration +on the subject.</q> (F. 401; Rev. 1:13; Lev. 24:2-4.) +</p> + +<p> +2:2. <hi rend='sans'>I know thy works.</hi>—The early Christians <q>took joyfully +the spoiling of their goods</q> (Heb. 10:34); in <q>great +trial of affliction</q> they abounded in joy, and in <q>deep poverty</q> +were liberal <q>beyond their power.</q> (2 Cor. 8:2, 3.) +They were living epistles, <q>known and read of all men.</q>—2 +Cor. 8:2, 3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And thy labor.</hi>—Considered as betrayers of the Jewish +faith; living in the midst of heathen idolatry, without railways, +steamships, automobiles, bicycles, telegraphs, telephones, +printing, postal service, electricity, gas, or kerosene—in +the midst of densest ignorance and basest morals—the +<pb n='025'/><anchor id='Pg025'/> +early Christians traversed the seas and lands of the known +world, braving floggings, stonings, hunger, thirst, cold, +nakedness and martyrdom, that they might tell the good +news of the coming Kingdom.—2 Cor. 11:24-27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And thy patience.</hi>—<foreign rend='italic'>Hupomonee.</foreign> <q>An endurance of +wrong or affliction with contentment, without rebellion of +will, with full acquiescence in the Divine Wisdom and +Love.</q>—Z. '01-115. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And how thou canst not bear them which are evil.</hi>—<q>How +much earnestness it produced in you! what an +apology! what indignation! what earnest desire! what +zeal! what a punishment! In everything you proved yourselves +to be pure in this matter.</q> (2 Cor. 7:11, Diaglott.) +<q>Sufficient for such a person is this punishment, which +was inflicted by the majority; so that, on the other hand, +you ought to forgive and comfort him, lest such an one +should be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I +entreat you publicly to confirm your love towards him.</q>—2 +Cor. 2:6-8, Diaglott. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And thou hast tried.</hi>—Made experiment of, Greek implies. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Them which [say they are] CALL THEMSELVES +apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.</hi>—<q>Giving +out that himself was some great one,</q> like the clergy of +other times, Simon Magus sought <q>also this power, that +on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy +Spirit,</q> but learned that he had <q>neither part nor lot in +this matter</q> because his heart was <q>not right in the sight of +God.</q> (Acts 8:9-24.) Also, there were <q>certain men +which came down from Judea</q> (Acts 15:1, 2), the <q>false +apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into +the apostles of Christ</q> in Corinth (2 Cor. 11:12-15); +<q>Hymenaeus and Alexander</q> (1 Tim. 1:20); <q>Philetus</q> (2 +Tim. 2:17); those who would <q>pervert the Gospel of Christ</q> +in Galatia (Gal. 1:7); <q>Phygellus and Hermogenes.</q>—2 +Tim. 1:15; Acts 20:28-30; Rev. 2:6. +</p> + +<p> +2:3. <hi rend='sans'>And [hast borne and] hast patience.</hi>—<foreign rend='italic'>Hupomonee</foreign>, +constant, cheerful endurance. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And ALL AFFLICTIONS AND HAST BORNE for My +name's sake [hast labored].</hi>—<q>And hast suffered on account +of My name.</q> (Diaglott.) <q>As concerning this sect, we +know that everywhere it is spoken against.</q> (Acts 28:22.) +The natural course is, hatred, slander, then murder. (Matt. +5:21, 22.) It is said that Peter was crucified with +head downward (A. D. 70); Andrew was crucified on a +cross decussate (X); James was murdered by Herod (A. D. +44), (Acts 12:2); Bartholomew was first flayed alive and +then crucified with his head downward; Matthew died a +martyr (supposedly); Thomas was impaled on a spear; +<pb n='026'/><anchor id='Pg026'/> +James the son of Alphaeus was thrown down from the +Temple and was then stoned, and his brains dashed out +with a club; Simon Zelotes was crucified; Paul beheaded. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And hast not fainted.</hi>—<q>Let us not be weary in well +doing: for in due time we shall reap, if we faint not.</q> +(Gal. 6:9.) <q>Consider Him that endured such contradiction +of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in +your minds.</q>—Heb. 12:3. +</p> + +<p> +2:4. <hi rend='sans'>Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee.</hi>—The +Lord's nominal people of the Apostolic Age. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because thou hast left thy first love.</hi>—<q>I marvel that ye +are so soon removed from Him that called you into the +grace of Christ unto another gospel.</q>—Gal. 1:6. +</p> + +<p> +2:5. <hi rend='sans'>Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen.</hi>—<q>Call +to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye +were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; +partly, whilst ye were made a gazing stock both by reproaches +and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became +companions of them that were so used.</q>—Heb. 10:32, 33. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And repent, and do the first works.</hi>—<q>Cast not away +therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of +reward.</q>—Heb. 10:35. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Or else I will come unto thee [quickly], and will remove +thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.</hi>—The +nominal church was in grave danger of being disowned and +rejected. <q>By far the larger proportion were not consecrated +to death, not of the Royal Priesthood, but merely +Levites, doing the service of the Sanctuary, but not <emph>sacrificing</emph>.</q>—T. +118. +</p> + +<p> +2:6. <hi rend='sans'>But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of +the Nicolaitanes.</hi>—<q>Conquerors of the people</q>—the +clergy.—Rev. 2:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which I also hate.</hi>—When the Lord's people hate the +idea of a class that seeks to be <q>lords over God's heritage</q> +(1 Pet. 5:2, 3), they hate something that the Lord hates. +</p> + +<p> +2:7. <hi rend='sans'>He that hath an ear.</hi>—To receive and understand +the voice of God through His Word.—Matthew 11:15; +13:9, 43; Rev. 13:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.</hi>—<q>If +they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; +if they have kept [observed, <q>heard</q>] My saying, they +will keep yours also.</q>—John 15:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To him that overcometh.</hi>—See 1 John 2:13, 14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Will I give to eat of the tree of life.</hi>—<q>All the trees in +Eden were trees of life, and the overcomers of the Gospel +Age shall have full liberty to partake of <q>the tree of the +knowledge of good and evil</q> when the knowledge will be +of benefit to them, and not bring a curse.</q>—Z. '16-346. +</p> + +<pb n='027'/><anchor id='Pg027'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is in the [midst of the] Paradise of God.</hi>—<q>Paradise, +the garden of God, was applicable as a name +to the Garden of Eden, in which our first parents resided +while they were still in harmony with God, before their +disobedience; and the same term is Scripturally applied as +a name to the new earth when restitution blessings shall, +during our Lord's Second Presence (the Millennium), +have brought it to perfection as the fit abode of those +who, under Divine favor, shall then prove worthy of life +everlasting. It is this same Paradise of the future on this +earth that our Lord referred to when addressing the penitent +thief, and that is elsewhere referred to as <q>the third +heaven</q>—<q>new heavens and a new earth.</q> (2 Cor. 12:2, 4; +2 Pet. 3:13.)</q>—Z. '01-198. +</p> + +<p> +2:8. <hi rend='sans'>And [unto] BY the angel.</hi>—The mouthpiece of the +Lord to the second epoch of the Church was St. John +himself. He was the one whom Jesus specially loved +(John 13:23; 20:2; 21:7, 20); to him Jesus committed +His choicest earthly possession (John 19:26); length of +days were implied in the Lord's statement, <q>If I will that +he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?</q> (John 21:22.) +He died at Ephesus at the age of 100, four years after +writing the Apocalypse. Polycarp, Ignatius and Papias, +his disciples, record that he was a tower of strength to +the Church when the Roman Emperors Nero, Domitian +and Trajan were endeavoring to destroy the hated sect. +When all his capacity to work was gone, and he had no +strength even to stand, he used to be carried into the +Christian assemblies where he would repeat the exhortation, +<q>Little children, love one another.</q> <q>The end of the +commandment is love</q> (1 Tim. 1:5); and it is significant +that the epoch of the Church especially under St. John's +faithful and loving care receive no reproof whatever +from the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the church in Smyrna.</hi>—Greek, <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>myrrh</foreign>. The word +means <q>bitter,</q> and, as applied to the history of the +church from A. D. 73 to 325, is peculiarly appropriate. +This era comprised persecutions under Nero, when Christian +women were soaked with tar and burned as torches +to light the path of his chariot; under Domitian, in the +year 95, when 40,000 suffered martyrdom; under Trajan +in the year 100; under Antoninus; under Severus in the +year 127, when beautiful and amiable young women were +stripped naked before insulting mobs and gored to death +by wild cattle; under Maximinus in A. D. 235; under +Decius in 250, when all Christians were driven from their +estates; under Valerian in 257; under Aurelian in 274; +and under Diocletian in A. D. 303. +</p> + +<pb n='028'/><anchor id='Pg028'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Write.</hi>—St. John wrote more of the New Testament +than any other except St. Paul. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These things saith the First and the Last.</hi>—<q>In no other +sense or way could He be the First and the Last than +as the only direct creation of the Father, through whom +all else was created. Any other view would be in conflict +with the Scriptures. (Rev. 3:14; Col. 1:15; 1 Cor. +8:6; John 1:1-3, Diaglott.)</q>—Z. '16-346; Rev. 1:11, 17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which was dead, and is alive.</hi>—This, in itself, must +have been a message of comfort and hope to the suffering +martyrs.—Rev. 1:18. +</p> + +<p> +2:9. <hi rend='sans'>I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty.</hi>—<q>Some +of the most sublime pictures of Christian endurance +that the world has ever seen were enacted during +the Smyrna period of the Church.</q>—Z. '16-346. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But thou art rich.</hi>—<q>The blessing of the Lord, it maketh +rich.</q>—Prov. 10:22; Luke 12:21; 1 Tim. 6:18; James 2:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are +Jews, and are not.</hi>—<q><q>They are not all Israel which are +of Israel.</q> (Rom. 9:6, 7.) <q>He is not a Jew which is a +Jew outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward +in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, +and circumcision is that of the heart.</q></q>—Z. '99-68. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But are the synagogue of Satan.</hi>—<q>Sold under sin, by +our first parent, Adam, his family became <q>slaves of sin</q> +through the weakness of heredity. (Rom. 5:12, 21; +6:16-23; 7:14; 8:20, 21.) In this captive condition they +have been blinded by the god (ruler) of the present evil +world (condition) who puts evil before their minds as +good, and darkness for light. (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:12; +Isa. 5:20.) He has general control; first of the masses +through ignorance; and secondly, of the more intelligent +through pride, selfishness, etc.</q>—E. 205, 189. +</p> + +<p> +2:10. <hi rend='sans'>Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer.</hi>—Some +were covered with the skins of wild beasts and +torn in pieces by devouring dogs; some were tortured +in red-hot iron chairs; the throats of Christian infants +were cut; and edicts were published in all places against +the Christians, who were exposed, without protection, to +the common rage.—Matt. 10:22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Behold, the Devil.</hi>—<q>It is because there are such beasts +as lions, bears and leopards, with known characteristics, +that governments were likened to them; and so, it is +because there is a Devil, with known characteristics, that +the fourth empire is likened to him.</q> (A. 259.) The Devil +used the Roman empire as an instrument. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall cast some of you into prison.</hi>—Restrain your liberties +and opportunities for service. +</p> + +<pb n='029'/><anchor id='Pg029'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That ye may be tried.</hi>—<q>Those who have read the history +of this period can understand the depths of these +words.</q>—Z. '16-346; Jas. 1:2, 3; 1 Pet. 1:6, 7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And ye shall have tribulation ten days.</hi>—<q>The ten symbolic +days refer to the last and most severe persecution +under the Roman Emperors—that of the reign of Diocletian, +A. D. 303-313.</q> (Z. '16-346.) <q>This persecution continued +from February 23, A. D. 303, to June 13, A. D. 313. +It began in Nicomedia, and became universal. Some were +impaled alive; some had their limbs broken, and were +left to expire. Some were roasted by slow fires; some +suspended by their feet with their heads downward, and, +a fire being placed under them, were suffocated by the +smoke. Some had melted lead poured down their throats; +the flesh of some was torn off with fingers and toes. +Houses filled with Christians were set on fire. Numbers +of Christians were tied together and thrown into the sea. +Seventeen thousand were slain in one month; and during +the continuance of this persecution in Egypt alone +144,000 Christians died by violence, besides 700,000 that +died through the fatigues of banishment or the public +works to which they were condemned. Coins were struck, +and inscriptions set up recording the fact that Christian +superstition was now utterly exterminated.</q>—McC. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Be thou faithful unto death.</hi>—<q>It is required of all consecrators +that they shall <q>die daily,</q> and that the end, +with us as with our Lord and Head, shall be literal death. +As it is written: <q>I have said, Ye are gods [<foreign lang='he' rend='italic'>elohim</foreign>—mighty +ones], all of you sons of the Highest; yet ye shall +die like men, ye shall fall like one of the princes</q>—not +like Prince Adam, convicts; but like Prince Jesus, participators +in His death. (Psa. 82:6, 7.)</q>—F. 444. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I will give thee a Crown of Life.</hi>—<q>The Apostle +James speaks of the same crown and calls it the Crown +of Life. (Jas. 1:12.) The Apostle Peter speaking of the +same calls it the Crown of Glory. (1 Pet. 5:4.) The +thought at the bottom of each of these expressions is the +same; namely, the custom in olden times of running +races and the giving of a crown to the successful runner +at the end of the course. Our reward will be the Crown +of Life in the sense that we shall get life on the highest +plane, inherent life, immortality. It will be a Crown of +Righteousness in the sense that only those who are approved +of God as righteous will thus be rewarded and +glorified—the righteousness of the Lord fulfilled in us who +walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.</q>—Z. '03-190; +Rev. 3:11; 2 Tim. 2:15; Isa. 62:3; Phil. 3:14. +</p> + +<pb n='030'/><anchor id='Pg030'/> + +<p> +2:11 <hi rend='sans'>He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit +saith unto the churches; he that overcometh.</hi>—The overcomer +of this Gospel Age only. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall not be hurt of the Second Death.</hi>—His victory is +eternal. +</p> + +<p> +2:12. <hi rend='sans'>And [to] BY the angel.</hi>—The messenger whose +testimony was of special value to the Church while the +Papacy was rising into power was Arius. He <q>maintained +that the Son of God was totally and essentially +distinct from the Father; that He was the first and noblest +of those beings whom God had created—the instrument +by whose subordinate operation He formed the Universe; +and therefore inferior to the Father both in nature and +dignity.</q> (Buck.) <q>The controversy spread like a flame +throughout the empire. Accordingly the first ecumenical +council was held at Nice, A. D. 325, consisting of 318 +bishops, most of whom were from the East. The gist of +the question to be settled by the Council of Nice lay in +the argument of Arius: <q>The Father is a father; the +Son is a son; therefore the Father must have existed +before the Son; therefore once the Son was not; therefore +He was made, like all creatures, of a substance that had +not previously existed.</q> The creed, as finally adopted, +condemned the heresy of Arius and fixed the doctrine as +it has been held in the church to this day. Of all the +bishops only Thomas of Marmarica, and Secundus of +Ptolemais, held out against the threat of banishment by +the Emperor. Arius was excommunicated and banished, +and his books burnt.</q>—McC. +</p> + +<p> +<q>From the time the Nicene Creed was promulgated and +accepted, A. D. 325, there was practically no more Bible +study for over twelve centuries. During all that time +Bible study was considered unnecessary, because the +Apostolic Bishops had formulated the creeds as proper +statements of the Church's faith. To study the Bible +would have meant the studying of how to fight against +the Emperor and the bishops.</q> (Z. '15-253.) <q>As a result +of the failure of these bishops to stand by the Word of +the Lord, God's people for centuries have been confessing +a Divine trinity, which is incomprehensible; and meantime +been neglecting the trinity taught by the Bible, +which is more reasonable. If the trinity of the creeds +was questioned, hands were lifted in horror, and the +questioner was told that the subject was a mystery, which +he could not possibly understand, but to doubt which +would mean his damnation! The mysterious proposition +was sometimes stated to be 3 × 1 is 1; but others stated +<pb n='031'/><anchor id='Pg031'/> +it differently, 1 × 3 is 1. No wonder if some of the more +intelligent specimens of our race declared themselves incapable +of understanding such mathematics, and too honest +to confess and profess what they could not believe!</q> +(B. S. M.) The witness of Arius created a profound +impression. <q>The doctrine was carried, in the fifth century, +into Africa, under the Vandals; and into Asia, under +the Goths. But it sunk almost at once, when the Vandals +were driven out of Africa, and the Goths out of Italy, by +the arms of Justinian. However, it revived again in Italy, +under the protection of the Lombards, in the seventh century, +and was not extinguished till about the end of the +eighth. Arianism was revived in the West by Servetus, in +1531, for which he suffered death.</q>—Buck. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the church in Pergamos.</hi>—From <foreign rend='italic'>Purgos</foreign>, a tower or +citadel. <q>The name was originally given to a remarkable +hill, presenting a conical appearance when viewed from +the plain, and strongly fortified by nature and art.</q> +(S. B. D.) Concerning the literal city of Pergamos, of +which the rising Papacy was the antitype, we read, <q>The +sumptuousness of the princes raised Pergamos to the +rank of the first city of Asia as regards splendor. It was +a sort of union of a pagan cathedral city, a university +town, and a royal residence, embellished during a succession +of years by kings who all had a passion for expenditure +and ample means of gratifying it.</q>—McC. +</p> + +<p> +From the witness by Arius in 325 to the witness by +the next special messenger of the Church was the long +period of 835 years; and during all that time the Papacy +was slowly rising, pushing itself higher and higher. <q>The +first ecumenical council of Nice (325), in its sixth canon, +makes only an incidental mention of the Roman bishop. +The first pope, in the real sense, was Leo I (440-461). +The bishops of the African and the Spanish churches submitted +to his demands, and he gained an important foothold +even in the East. In Gaul, however, he met with a +most determined resistance. Gregory I (590-604) saw that +the bishops of Rome could not enjoy the ecclesiastical +supremacy at which they aimed until they threw off their +political dependency. The triumph of the Catholic Church +over Arianism in Spain greatly promoted his plans; but +he did not as yet actually possess the power of the +mediaeval popes. In the seventh and eighth centuries a +series of important events gave the popes a high and +influential position among the secular governments of +the world. The actual power was, however, for several +centuries, not commensurate with their claims and aspirations. +In 1073, Hildebrand (Gregory VII), after being for +<pb n='032'/><anchor id='Pg032'/> +about twenty-five years the guide of the Papal policy, +boldly set forth the theory of a theocratic rule of the pope +over all the nations of the world. The period from Gregory +VII onward is an almost continuous conflict between the +popes and the secular governments, during which the former, +with an iron firmness, endeavored at first to destroy +the direct influence of the princes upon the church, and +secondly, to subject all secular governments to the church. +This conflict was ended by the Concordat of Worms (1122), +by which Emperor Henry V, after the precedence of the +governments of England and France, surrendered <q>to God, +to St. Peter and Paul, and to the Catholic Church, all right +of investiture.</q></q> (McC.) The Pergamos (<q>earthly elevation</q>) +era ended in A. D. 1160, as will be shown. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Write.</hi>—Arius' writings were destroyed by Constantine. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These things saith He which hath the sharp sword with +two edges.</hi>—How the sharp sword, God's Word, wielded +by Arius before the Emperor and his brother elders at the +Nicean Council, must have cut some of them to the heart +when they saw the gentle and aged man (Arius was old at +the time the controversy arose) banished into the Balkan +mountains, one of the most inhospitable places in the +world!—Isa. 11:4, 49:2; Hos. 6:5; Eph. 6:17; 2 Thes. 2:8. +</p> + +<p> +2:13. <hi rend='sans'>I know [thy works, and] where thou dwellest, +even where Satan's seat is.</hi>—<q>During this period, the true +Christians were tested and proved by the introduction +and development of Pagan and Papal ideas. The Pagan +priests, unwilling to lose their positions of honor and influence +amongst the people, while nominally professing Christianity, +brought their former ideas with them into the +Christian Church.</q> (Z. '16-346.) The word <emph>seat</emph> is rendered +<emph>throne</emph> in Lu. 1:32, and refers to Satan's <q>hellish parody of +the Heavenly Kingdom.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And thou holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My +faith, [even] in those days wherein Antipas was My faithful +martyr.</hi>—Throughout all the western part of Europe the +Bishop of Rome finally came to be called the <foreign rend='italic'>papa</foreign>, or +pope, or Father of the church. <q>Whoever denounced this +attempt to disobey the direct command of Jesus (Matt. +23:9), received the promised persecution. (2 Tim. 3:12.) +This class in Pergamos is commended by our Lord under +the symbol of <q>Anti-pas, My faithful martyr.</q> In Greek, <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>anti-</foreign> +means against, and <foreign rend='italic'>papas</foreign> signifies father.</q>—Z. '16-347. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.</hi>—We +can give but a partial list of the popes who served from +the condemnation of Arius to the end of the Pergamos +epoch; but it will be instructive to those who trust in +human ordination and are in sympathy with the efforts of +<pb n='033'/><anchor id='Pg033'/> +present-day clergy to get some of the special spirit that is +supposed to be imparted by the laying on of hands of these +<q>successors of St. Peter,</q> or those to whom they imparted +their <q>authority.</q> <q>Saint</q> Gregory I, pope 590-604 A. D., +was the great-great-grandchild of Pope Felix II. When +Phocas murdered Emperor Maurice and ascended the +throne, Gregory wrote, <q>The Almighty has chosen you and +put you on the throne. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the +earth leap for joy.</q> Phocas was not ungrateful and in +return established the supremacy of the see of Rome over +all the other sees. Gregory was the discoverer of Purgatory, +it having been revealed to him by means of <q>apparitions</q> +and visions. See middle of page <ref target='Pg127'>127</ref>. +</p> + +<p> +Honorius I, 625-638, has been condemned as having taught +a heresy <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>ex cathedra</foreign> (officially). The interest in this lies +in the fact that in 1870 the Vatican Council declared the +infallibility of all the popes in their <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>ex cathedra</foreign> utterances. +But the pope who declared Honorius a heretic did it <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>ex +cathedra</foreign> also. Hundreds of <q>learned</q> volumes have been +written in the effort to make this pretty snarl clear to the +Roman clergy. It is clear enough to others. <q>Saint</q> +Agathon, 678-682, claimed to be a miracle worker. He was +the infallible pope who denounced the doctrines taught by +infallible Honorius I. <q>Saint</q> Nicholas I, 858-867, <q>tamed +kings and tyrants, and ruled the world like a sovereign; to +the wicked and unconverted he was a terror.</q> So says a +Catholic historian. John VIII, 872-882, must have seriously +offended one of the <q>brethren</q> at the Vatican; for that dignitary +first tried to poison him, and as the poison did not +work quickly enough, he finished the job by breaking John's +head with a hammer. Stephen VII, 897-898, was offended +because his predecessor had at one time gotten the papal +throne away from him. Accordingly, his first act was to +cause the body of Pope Formosus to be exhumed, mutilated +and thrown into the Tiber. Subsequently one of the +<q>brethren</q> strangled him. +</p> + +<p> +Christopher, 900-903, boldly deposed his predecessor, Leo +V, declaring him unfit to reign, which was doubtless true. +Leo died <q>of grief</q> in prison less than forty days after he +had ascended the throne. He probably had something +given him to help his grief along. Christopher himself was +murdered by <emph>his</emph> successor. Sergius III, 904-911, having +murdered Christopher, ascended the throne and emulated +the kings of earlier days. His concubine Marosia bore him +several children. John X, 915-928, and Leo VI, 928-929, +were both killed by Marosia, to make room for others in +whom she was interested. John XI, 931-936, was the son +of Marosia by Pope Sergius III. One of the <q>brethren</q> +<pb n='034'/><anchor id='Pg034'/> +poisoned him. John XII, 956-964, was murdered while in +the act of committing adultery. He was of licentious +habits, associating with women of every station, and filling +the Lateran with the noisy profanity of a brothel. Among +his mistresses was Joan, popularly known in history as +Pope Joan. She was a brilliant woman and actually exercised +the chief influence at Rome during John's pontificate. +Benedict VI, 972-973, was strangled or poisoned by one of +the <q>saints.</q> Boniface VII, 984-985, was elected just after +the tumult caused by the death of Benedict VI, but had to +leave town to escape a similar fate, on account of licentiousness +and cruelty. He remained away eleven years, +returned, put Pope John XIV in prison, starved him to +death and ascended the throne in his place. +</p> + +<p> +Gregory V, 996-999, was poisoned by one of the <q>regularly +ordained</q> clergy. Benedict IX, 1033-1045, the boy pope +whose parents bought the popedom for him when he was +twelve years old, was the worst monster that ever held +the papal throne. Some, however, claim that honor for +Alexander VI, 1492-1503, who had seven acknowledged +bastards and many mistresses. Alexander tried to poison +nine cardinals at one sitting so that he could sell their +offices for the benefit of his brood; but a stupid servant +gave him the wrong glass and he departed this life ahead +of time. Benedict's vile conduct caused the Romans to +expel him from the city. Silvester III was regularly elected +to take his place; but after three months Benedict came +back and resumed control. Shortly afterward he sold the +popedom to Gregory VI, so that he might be free to marry +an Italian princess. At one time there were three popes +living in Rome contemporaneously, and the city was filled +with brawls and murders. A fourth, Clement II, was +elected, but after he had served nine months, a friend of +Gregory put something into his food besides the regular seasoning; +and he never awoke again. Thereupon Benedict +came back and reigned three years longer. +</p> + +<p> +2:14. <hi rend='sans'>But I have a few things [against thee].</hi>—Against +the nominal church of the Pergamos epoch. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of +Balaam.</hi>—Balaam was a mouthpiece of the Lord, but unworthy. +He desired to curse God's true people, because of +the money there was in it, and finally seduced them by fornication +(symbolical of union of church and state). The +name Balaam means the same as <q>Nicolaitanes</q> (conquerors +of the people), and refers to the money-loving, +power-loving clergy. We have already noted the efforts to +obtain worldly power (spiritual fornication) which characterized +the Pergamos epoch. Its history also shows that the +<pb n='035'/><anchor id='Pg035'/> +clergy of that time were quite as fond of money as ever Balaam +was. John XX, 1024-1033, tried to sell the Roman primacy +over the Eastern church for a pecuniary consideration, +but failed to make the sale. <q>Benedict IX, when a boy +of twelve years (A. D. 1033), was elected pope <q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>intercedente +thesaurorum pecuniae</foreign></q></q>; i. e., his relatives provided the collateral +necessary to secure the office for him. Gregory VI, +who had had great repute for sanctity as a priest, obtained +the papal chair (A. D. 1044) by purchase from Benedict IX, +<q>who abdicated to marry a girl of noble family.</q> <q>At a +council at Lyons, the archbishop and forty-five bishops confessed +themselves simoniacal</q> (guilty of buying and selling +church offices). In the reign of Lucien II, 1144-1145, the +people, hoping for some relief from an intolerable condition, +paraded the streets of Rome with a banner, <q>Caesar +should have the things that are Caesar's and the priest the +things that are the priest's.</q> Lucien thought this was a +reflection upon himself, and went out in person to put +down the <q>revolution.</q> The people stoned him to death. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the +children of Israel.</hi>—<q>Guided by Balaam, King Balac communicated +with the leading people of the Midianites, and +urged that their wives and daughters should apparently +fall in love with the Israelites, and introduce them to the +sensuous religious rites practised by Midian. The scheme +was successful. Some of the leading wives and daughters +of the Midianites attracted some of the leading men of +Israel to adultery, and to idol worship and orgies.</q> (Z. '13-297; +Num. 24:14; 25:1; 31:16; 2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11; 1 Cor. +10:8.) The words <q>cast a stumbling-block</q> are properly +rendered, in Rotherham's translation, <q>throw a snare.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To eat.</hi>—Appropriate to themselves as truths. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Things sacrificed unto idols.</hi>—Doctrines twisted, distorted +and mutilated to make them agree with creed-idols. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to commit fornication.</hi>—<q>Papacy perceived its own +great power over the peoples of Europe, all of whom at +that time ignorantly and blindly acknowledged the Roman +Catholic faith. While the kings of Europe were comparatively +weak, the suggestion came, <q>Now it must be God's +time for setting up the Messianic Kingdom, because now +we have the power.</q> The answer of others was, <q>Not so. +The Bible teaches that Jesus will set up His own Kingdom +at His Second Advent in power and great glory, and that +the virgin Church will become His Bride and Joint-heir by +the power of the First Resurrection.</q> The answer to this +was, <q>So once we thought. But we have waited for the +coming of Messiah for over 800 years; and now we have +the thought that He probably wishes us to set up His +<pb n='036'/><anchor id='Pg036'/> +Kingdom for Him, and in His name to reign over the kings +of the earth.</q></q> (Z. '16-53.) <q>So these Pagan priests taught the +Church to indulge in spiritual fornication, and thus brought +upon her the withering blight of God's wrath.</q>—Z. '16-346. +</p> + +<p> +2:15. <hi rend='sans'>So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of +the Nicolaitanes, [which thing I hate] IN LIKE MANNER.</hi>—<q>The +<q>doctrine of the Nicolaitanes</q> (conquerors of the +people) seems to be the theory of lordship or headship in +the Church. (1 Pet. 5:3.) At their councils there was a +bitter fight for supremacy. It was settled only by a division +of the Church; the Eastern, or Greek Church, accepting +the Patriarch of Constantinople for its head; and the Western, +or Papal Church, acknowledging the Bishop—Pope or +Father—of Rome.</q> (Z. '16-346.) <q>The sins to which Balaam +allured Israel were a type of the sins to which the +doctrine of the Nicolaitanes now seduce thee.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +2:16. <hi rend='sans'>Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly.</hi>—Ere +you reach the earthly heights to which you aspire. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And will fight against them.</hi>—The unfaithful and unrepentant +church nominal. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With the sword of My mouth.</hi>—With the Scriptures, in +the hands of a faithful servant. Such a servant came at +that very time, as we shall see.—2 Thes. 2:8; Heb. 4:12. +</p> + +<p> +2:17. <hi rend='sans'>He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit +saith unto the churches.</hi>—Not many have had the <q>hearing +ear.</q> <q>There's just one here, one there.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To him that overcometh will I give [to eat] of the hidden +manna.</hi>—<q>Manna was the bread which came down from +heaven as a life-sustainer for Israel. It represented the living +bread, Christ Himself. One peculiarity of the golden +pot of manna <q>hidden</q> in the Tabernacle, marking it as the +same and yet different from that supplied to the Israelites +in general, was that it was <emph>incorruptible</emph>; hence it well +illustrates the immortal, incorruptible condition promised to +the Church.</q>—T. 122; Ex. 16:33, 34; Heb. 9:4; John 6:49, 50. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [will give him] a white stone.</hi>—<q>In ancient times the +Greeks and the Romans had a custom of noting and perpetuating +friendship by means of a <emph>white stone</emph>. This stone +was divided into halves, and each person inscribed his +name on the flat surface, after which the parts of the stone +were exchanged. The production of either half was sufficient +to insure friendly aid. Thus the divided stone became +a mark of identification. There is an individual and personal +relationship between the Lord and the overcomers, +who may be said to receive the mark of identification—the +antitypical white stone—<emph>now</emph>, in this life. This mark is the +sealing of the Holy Spirit.</q>—Z. '12-315. +</p> + +<pb n='037'/><anchor id='Pg037'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And in the stone a new name written, which no man +knoweth saving he that receiveth it.</hi>—The new name signifies +a new relationship to Jehovah.—Gen. 17:5, 15; 32:28. +</p> + +<p> +2:18. <hi rend='sans'>And [unto] BY the angel.</hi>—The messenger to the +fourth epoch of the Church was Peter Waldo. <q rend='pre'>Peter, an +opulent merchant of Lyons, surnamed Valdensis, or Valdisius, +from Vaux, or Waldum, a town in the marquisate of +Lyons, being extremely zealous for the advancement of +true piety and Christian knowledge, employed a certain +priest, called Stephanus de Evisa, about the year 1160, in +translating, from Latin into French, the four Gospels, +with other books of Holy Scripture. But no sooner had +he perused these sacred books with a proper degree of +attention, than he perceived that the religion which was +now taught in the Roman church differed totally from +that which was originally inculcated by Christ and His +Apostles. Struck with this glaring contradiction between +the doctrines of the pontiffs and the truths of the Gospel, +and animated with zeal, he abandoned his mercantile +vocation, distributed his riches among the poor (whence +the Waldenses were called poor men of Lyons), and forming +an association with other pious men who had adopted +his sentiments and his turn of devotion, he began to assume +the quality of a public teacher, and to instruct the +multitude in the doctrines and precepts of Christianity.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Soon after Peter had assumed the exercise of his ministry, +the archbishop of Lyons, and the other rulers of the +church in that province, vigorously opposed him. However, +their opposition was unsuccessful; for the purity +and simplicity of that religion which these good men +taught, the spotless innocence that shone forth in their +lives and actions, and the noble contempt of riches and +honors which was conspicuous in the whole of their conduct +and conversation, appeared so engaging to all such +as had any sense of true piety, that the number of their +followers daily increased. They accordingly formed religious +assemblies, first in France, and afterwards in Lombardy; +from whence they propagated their sect throughout +the other provinces of Europe with incredible rapidity, +and with such invincible fortitude that neither fire nor +sword, nor the most cruel inventions of merciless persecution, +could damp their zeal, or entirely ruin their cause. +All they aimed at was to reduce the form of ecclesiastical +government, and the manners both of the clergy and the +people, to that amiable simplicity and primitive sanctity +which characterized the Apostolic ages, and which appear +so strongly recommended in the precepts and injunctions +of the Divine Author of our holy religion.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='038'/><anchor id='Pg038'/> + +<p> +<q>In consequence of this design, they complained that +the Roman church had degenerated from its primitive +purity and sanctity. They denied the supremacy of the +Roman pontiff, and maintained that the rulers and ministers +of the Church were obliged, by their vocation, to imitate +the poverty of the Apostles and to procure for themselves +a subsistence by the work of their hands. They +considered every Christian as, in a certain measure, qualified +and authorized to instruct, exhort and confirm the +brethren in their Christian course. They at the same +time affirmed that confession made to priests was by no +means necessary, since the humble offender might acknowledge +his sins and testify his repentance to any true +believer, and might expect from such the counsel and +admonition which his case demanded. They maintained +that the power of delivering sinners from the guilt and +punishment of their offenses belonged to God alone; and +that indulgences in consequence were the criminal invention +of sordid avarice. They looked upon the prayers +and other ceremonies that were instituted in behalf +of the dead, as vain, useless, and absurd, and denied the +existence of departed souls in an intermediate state of +purification. It is also said that several of the Waldenses +denied the obligation of infant baptism. They adopted +as the model of their moral discipline Christ's sermon on +the mount, which they interpreted and explained in the +most rigorous and literal manner; and consequently prohibited +and condemned in their society all wars, and suits +of law, and all attempts toward the acquisition of wealth.</q>—Buck. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Waldo's translation of the four gospels into French +was the first appearance of the Scriptures in any modern +language. The possession of these books soon discovered +to Waldo that the Church was never designed to be dependent +on a priesthood, even for the administration of the +sacraments; and he became so obnoxious to the church +that he was anathematized by the pope. No longer safe +in Lyons, Waldo and his friends took refuge in the mountains, +and there formed those communities from which +the simple doctrines of Christianity flowed out all over +Europe. Provence, Languedoc, Flanders, Germany, one +after another tasted of the refreshing waters. Waldo +traveled in Picardy, teaching his reformation doctrines, +hundreds of years before Luther was born. He finally settled +in Bohemia, where he died in 1179, the same year in +which his tenets were denounced by an ecumenical council. +The Waldensian Church was a light on the mountains +during the Dark Ages.</q>—McC. +</p> + +<pb n='039'/><anchor id='Pg039'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the church in Thyatira.</hi>—<q>Thyatira seems to mean +<q>the sweet perfume of sacrifice.</q> It was the period of +Papal persecution.</q> (Z. '16-347.) From the time of Peter +Waldo's witness in 1160 until the next special messenger +to the Church appeared, 1378, was a period of 218 years. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Write.</hi>—The first translation of the Bible into a modern +language—French—was the work of Waldo. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes +like unto a flame of fire.</hi>—<q>To watch over His faithful +ones as they wandered through the dark valleys or hid in +the darker caves of earth.</q> (Z. '16-347; Rev. 1:14.) His +eyes search out every secret thought.—Rev. 2:23. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His feet are like fine brass.</hi>—<q>To walk by their side +as they scaled the rugged mountains or wandered footsore +and weary, seeking a place to plant the seeds of +Truth.</q> (Z. '16-347; Rev. 1:15.) His feet <q>trample to +fragments everything impure.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +2:19. <hi rend='sans'>I know thy works.</hi>—The Lord remembers that +Peter Waldo was the first to translate His Word into a +modern language. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And charity, [and service,] and faith, and [thy] patience, +and thy works.</hi>—The Lord remembers that Peter +Waldo literally <q>sold all that he had and gave to the +[Lord's] poor.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] thy last works to be more than the first.</hi>—(Diaglott.) +<q>So general and widespread became the so-called +heresy that Innocent III determined to crush it out—<q>exterminate +the whole pestilential race</q> was the language +of which he made use. The commission he gave to the +authorities was to burn the chief of the Vaudois (Waldenses), +to scatter the heretics themselves, confiscating their +property, and consigning to perdition every soul who +dared to oppose the pope. Joined with <q>His Holiness</q> in +his relentless persecution of the Waldenses was Dominic, +the father of the Inquisition. Such has been the history +of the Waldenses all through the ages—subject to untold +suffering from persecution; then enjoying, in the quiet +valleys of Piedmont, comparative tranquility for a time; +then assailed by their ever-relentless foe, the Roman +Catholic Church, which has spared no pains, by fire and +slaughter, and the horrors of the Inquisition, to put an +end to the unfortunate victims of their violence.</q> (McC.) +How evident it is that the followers of Peter Waldo have +given a larger witness by their sufferings (their <q>last +works</q>) than they did by the first works (the translation +of the Gospel into French)! +</p> + +<p> +2:20. <hi rend='sans'>Notwithstanding I have [a few things] MUCH +against thee.</hi>—The fourth epoch of the church nominal. +</p> + +<pb n='040'/><anchor id='Pg040'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Because] THAT thou sufferest that woman Jezebel</hi>.—The +Roman Catholic Church, as shown in parallel below: +</p> + +<table rend="latexcolumns: 'p{3.5cm} p{3.5cm}'; tblcolumns: 'lw(30) lw(30)'"> +<row><cell><q rend='pre'>Elijah was persecuted +for fidelity to truth and +righteousness.</q></cell><cell><q rend='pre'>The Church was persecuted +for fidelity to truth +and righteousness.</q></cell></row> +<row><cell></cell><cell></cell></row> +<row><cell><q rend='pre'>His principal persecutor +was Jezebel, the wicked +queen of Israel, who is mentioned +by name as the type +of the enemy of the saints.—Rev. +2:20; 2 Kings 9:7.</q></cell><cell><q rend='pre'>The principal persecutor +was the apostate Church +of Rome, which claims to +be a <q>queen</q> and ruler over +Spiritual Israel.—Rev. 18:7.</q></cell></row> +<row><cell></cell><cell></cell></row> +<row><cell><q rend='pre'>Jezebel's persecuting +power was exercised +through her husband, Ahab, +the king.—1 Kings 21:25.</q></cell><cell><q rend='pre'>Papacy's persecuting +power was exercised +through the Roman Empire, +to which she was joined.</q></cell></row> +<row><cell></cell><cell></cell></row> +<row><cell><q rend='pre'>Elijah fled from Jezebel +and Ahab into the wilderness, +to a place prepared of +God, where he was miraculously +nourished.—1 Kings +17:5-9.</q></cell><cell><q rend='pre'>The true Church fled into +the symbolic wilderness—or +condition of isolation—to +her place, prepared of +God, where she was sustained.—Rev. +12:6, 16.</q></cell></row> +<row><cell></cell><cell></cell></row> +<row><cell><q rend='pre'>Elijah was <q>three years +and six months</q> in the wilderness, +and during that +time there was no rain, and +a great famine was in the +land.—James 5:17; 1 Kings +17:7; 18:2.</q></cell><cell><q rend='pre'>The Church was three +and a half symbolic years +(a day for a year—1260 literal +years) in the wilderness +condition, during +which there was a spiritual +famine because of the lack +of Truth—the living water.—Rev. +12:6; 11:3; Amos 8:11.</q></cell></row> +<row><cell></cell><cell></cell></row> +<row><cell><q rend='pre'>After the three and a +half years, 1260 days, when +Elijah returned from the +wilderness, the errors of +Jezebel's priests were manifested, +the true God was +honored, and copious rains +followed.—1 Kings 18:41-45.</q></cell><cell><q>At the end of the 1260 +years the power of the +Truth and its witnesses was +manifested (A. D. 1799); +and since then the Truth has +flowed at the rate of millions +of Bibles every year, refreshing +the world and bringing +forth fruit.</q>—B. 256.</cell></row> +</table> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which [calleth herself] SAITH SHE IS a prophetess</hi>.—Claims +to be an infallible teacher, but really has no right +to teach at all—<q>I suffer not a woman [a church] to teach, +<pb n='041'/><anchor id='Pg041'/> +nor to usurp authority over the man [Christ].</q> (1 Tim. +2:12; 1 Cor. 14:34; F. 270.) <q>False prophecy, fornication +and idolatry are symbolized by the woman Jezebel.</q> +(Cook.) Jezebel was a prophetess of Baal.—1 Ki. 16:31-33; +21:25. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[To teach and to seduce] AND TEACHETH AND SEDUCETH +My servants to commit fornication.</hi>—Union of +church and state.—Rev. 2:14; 2 Ki. 9:22; 1 Cor. 14:34. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to eat things sacrificed unto idols.</hi>—Reverence the +creed-idols set up by the various ecumenical councils.—Rev. +2:14. +</p> + +<p> +2:21. <hi rend='sans'>And I gave her space.</hi>—<foreign rend='italic'>Chronos</foreign>, a <q>time,</q> 360 +years. As noted in comments on 2:20, the prophetic +<q>time, times and a half a time,</q> or three and a half times, +or three and a half years, or forty and two months, or +1260 days, represent 1260 years. A single <foreign rend='italic'>chronos</foreign> or +<q>time,</q> therefore, represents 360 years. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To repent [of her fornication].</hi>—Of her unfaithfulness to +the Lord. During all this time <q>the virgin Church was +enduring the hardships of the wilderness; while the apostate +Church sat on the throne of her royal paramour.</q>—Z. +'16-347. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And she [repented not] WILL NOT REPENT OF THIS +FORNICATION.</hi>—The Lord foreknew that after 360 years +more of living with the kings of earth, and endeavoring +to gain dominion over them, the Roman Catholic Church +would be unrepentant. The 360 years from Waldo's message +in 1160 ended in 1520. Luther's 95 theses were placed +on the church doors at Wittenberg October 31, 1517. +<q>These he proposed not as points fully established, but as +subjects of inquiry and disputation. The learned were invited +to impugn them, either in person or by writing; and +to the whole he subjoined solemn protestations of his high +respect for the apostolic see, and of his implicit submission +to his authority. No opponent appeared at the time +prefixed; the theses spread over Germany with astonishing +rapidity, and were read with the greatest eagerness.</q> +(Buck.) Luther was summoned in July, 1518, to appear at +Rome within sixty days. He wrote a submissive letter to the +pope, requesting a trial in Germany. Meantime the German +Emperor died; and the pope, absorbed in the choice +of a new emperor, paid little heed to the Luther controversy. +</p> + +<p> +<q>From the reason just now given, a suspension of proceeding +against Luther took place for eighteen months, +though perpetual negotiations were carried on. The manner +in which these were conducted having given our reformer +many opportunities of observing the corruption of +<pb n='042'/><anchor id='Pg042'/> +the court of Rome, its obstinacy in adhering to established +errors, and its indifference about truth, he began in 1520 +to utter some doubts with regard to the Divine origin of +the papal authority, which he publicly disputed with +Eccius, one of his most learned and formidable antagonists. +The papal authority being once suspected, Luther +proceeded to push on his inquiries and attacks from one +doctrine to another, till at last he began to shake the +foundations on which the wealth and power of the church +were established. Leo then began to perceive that there +were no hopes of reclaiming such an incorrigible heretic, +and therefore prepared to pronounce the sentence of excommunication +against him. The college of cardinals was +often assembled, in order to prepare the sentence with +due deliberation; and the ablest canonists were consulted +how it might be expressed with unexceptionable formality. +At last it was issued, on the 15th of June, 1520. Forty-one +propositions, extracted out of Luther's works, were therein +condemned as heretical, scandalous, and offensive to +pious ears; all persons were forbidden to read his writings, +upon pain of excommunication; such as had any of +them in their custody were commanded to commit them +to the flames; he himself, if he did not within sixty days +publicly recant his errors, and burn his books, was pronounced +an obstinate heretic, excommunicated, and delivered +to Satan for the destruction of the flesh; and all secular +princes were required, under pain of incurring the +same censure, to seize his person, that he might be punished +as his crimes deserved.</q> (Buck.) With the excommunication +of Luther, <q>the fat was in the fire</q>; and it +was useless for the Roman Catholic Church to try to stem +the tide of the Reformation. Her period for repentance +ended with the <q>chronos,</q> 360 years, June 15, 1520.—See +3d paragraph, page <ref target='Pg041'>41</ref>. +</p> + +<p> +2:22. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, I will cast her into a bed.</hi>—Not a bed of +ease, but a bed of pain. See Diaglott. There where she +sinned she shall suffer. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And them that commit adultery with her.</hi>—All the +powers that receive her legates or that maintain representatives +at the Vatican. Knowing her character, they +are equally guilty. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into great tribulation.</hi>—They are getting some now, and +will get more soon. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Except they repent of [their] HER deeds.</hi>—This teaches +that the present situation in Europe is the direct result of +the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. +</p> + +<p> +2:23. <hi rend='sans'>And I will kill her children.</hi>—<q>Both Romanists +and Protestants now freely own the relationship of mother +<pb n='043'/><anchor id='Pg043'/> +and daughters, the former continually styling herself the +Holy Mother Church, and the latter, with pleased complacency, +endorsing the idea.</q>—D. 28; Isa. 57:3, 4. See p. <ref target='Pg111'>111</ref>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With death.</hi>—<q>They shall be as though they had not +been.</q>—Obad. 16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And all the churches shall know.</hi>—When their secrets +are laid bare by the unfolding of the deep things of God's +Word. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts.</hi>—In +olden times the mind was supposed to be located in the +reins (kidneys); and the prophecy assumes the same position. +Thus David says, <q>My reins also instruct me in the +night seasons</q>; <q>In the night his song shall be with me.</q> +(Psa. 16:7; 42:8.) <q>My reins within me are consumed +with earnest desire for that day.</q> (Job 19:27, margin.) +The metaphor is appropriate to the theme.—Psa. 7:9; Jer. +11:20; 17:10; 20:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I will give unto every one of you according to your +works.</hi>—The light of Truth blazes most fiercely against +the ecclesiastical organizations whose offenses have been +greatest. As for the Papacy, <q>her sins have reached unto +heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.</q>—Rev. +18:5, 6; Matt. 7:16, 20. +</p> + +<p> +2:24. <hi rend='sans'>But unto you I say [and unto] the rest in Thyatira.</hi>—Waldenses +and others outside of the Papal system. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As many as have not this doctrine.</hi>—Spiritual fornication, +mixture of church and state, the special subject of +the message to Thyatira. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] which have not known.</hi>—Comprehended, realized, +entered into. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The depths of Satan.</hi>—Rome, pagan and papal. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As they speak.</hi>—<q>So to say,</q> i. e., <q>Satan</q> is a name +applicable to Rome, as describing its characteristics.—Rev. +2:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I will put upon you none other burden.</hi>—The Lord only +requires of His people obedience to the light due.—1 John +1:7. +</p> + +<p> +2:25. <hi rend='sans'>But that which ye have already.</hi>—The truths described +in 2:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Hold fast till I come.</hi>—Some of the light which shone +upon the Waldensians has never been entirely extinguished. +</p> + +<p> +2:26. <hi rend='sans'>And he that overcometh.</hi>—Effectually resists efforts +to entice him into disloyalty to the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And keepeth My works unto the end.</hi>—Continues in the +faith (John 6:29; 1 John 3:23), despite the unions of +church and state. Christ's works are opposite to Jezebel's.—Rev. +2:22. +</p> + +<pb n='044'/><anchor id='Pg044'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To him will I give THE power [over] OF the nations.</hi>—How +like our God! The sacrificed Christ gets the very +prize for which Satan aspired.—Isa. 14:13, 14; 1 Cor. 6:2, +3; Rev. 3:21; 5:10; Psa. 149:5-9. +</p> + +<p> +2:27. <hi rend='sans'>And he shall rule them with a rod of Iron.</hi>—<q>God's +Kingdom will not be established by a vote of the +people, nor by the vote of the aristocracy and rulers. He +<q>whose right it is,</q> He who bought it with His own precious +blood, will <q><emph>take</emph> the Kingdom,</q> will <q>take unto Himself +His great power and reign.</q></q> (D. 518). <q>The nations +will be ruled by irresistible force—<q>every knee shall bow, +every tongue shall confess</q>—and obedience will be compulsory.</q> +(D. 636.) <q>In His day the humble and righteous, +and they only, shall flourish. (Isa. 28:17; Rom. 14:11; +Psa. 92:12, 13.</q>—C. 369.) <q>The only liberty that will be +granted to any will be the true and glorious liberty of the +sons of God—liberty to do good to themselves and others +in any and in every way; but nothing will be allowed to +injure or destroy in all that Holy Kingdom. (Isa. 11:9; +Rom. 8:21.) Because of its firmness and vigor, it is symbolically +called an iron rule.</q>—A. 302; Rev. 19:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to +shivers.</hi>—<q>The stone cut out of the mountain without +hands, which smites and scatters the Gentile powers, represents +the true Church, the Kingdom of God. Not the +people, but the governments, are symbolized by the +image, and these are to be destroyed that the people may +be delivered. Our Lord Jesus came not to destroy men's +lives, but to save them. (John 3:17.) The stone does not +become the mountain until it has smitten the image; and +so the Church, in the full sense, will become the Kingdom +when <q>the day of the Lord,</q> the <q>day of wrath upon +the nations,</q> will be over.</q> (A. 255.) <q>This smiting and +breaking properly belongs to the Day of Vengeance, and +though the power and rod will still remain throughout the +Millennial Age, their use will probably be unnecessary.</q>—D. +637; Psa. 2:9; Dan. 7:22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Even as I received of My Father.</hi>—The Father (Justice) +decrees their unworthiness to continue longer. Their iniquity +is come to the full. Four hundred years from October +31, 1517, end Oct. 31, 1917.—Rev. 2:21; Gen. 15:13-16. +</p> + +<p> +2:28. <hi rend='sans'>And I will give him the Morning Star.</hi>—<q>I am the +bright and morning star.</q>—Rev. 22:16; Matt. 13:43. +</p> + +<p> +2:29. <hi rend='sans'>He that hath an ear.</hi>—An ear attuned to the +Harp Divine. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.</hi>—Not +many are able to appreciate the sweet old <q>song of +Moses and the Lamb</q> when they hear it.—Rev. 15:3. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='045'/><anchor id='Pg045'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 3—Wycliffe, Luther And Russell</head> + +<p> +3:1. <hi rend='sans'>And [unto] BY the angel.</hi>—The next important +messenger to the Church was John Wycliffe. <q>It was in +1378 A. D., the year of the <q>Great Schism of the West,</q> +when two popes were elected, one in Rome and the other +in Avignon, that Wycliffe came out as the great Doctrinal +Reformer. Workman, in <hi rend='italic'>Dawn of the Reformation</hi>, +writes: <q>Wycliffe's spiritual earnestness was shocked, his +theory destroyed by the spectacle of two popes, each +claiming to be the sole head of the Church, each labeling +the other as Antichrist. To Wycliffe, the year of the +Schism, 1378, was the crucial year of his life. He first +urged that both popes should be set aside as having little +in common with the Church of the Holy God. From this +position of neutrality he quickly passed into one of antagonism +to the Papacy itself.</q> In his <hi rend='italic'>Mediaeval Church History</hi>, +Archbishop Trench says: <q>The year 1378 marked +the turning-point in Wycliffe's career. Hitherto he had +concerned himself with matters of mixed ecclesiastical and +political import, but henceforth he devoted himself exclusively +to doctrinal matters and came out as the Reformer. +He began in earnest the translation of the Bible into English, +and took the next decisive step by an open attack, +forced upon him by his studies of the Bible, against +Transubstantiation.</q> Wycliffe thus attacked the very bulwark +of Antichrist's stronghold, for the doctrine of Transubstantiation, +or the sacrifice of the Mass, annulled the +true sacrifice of Christ. Because of this, the Papal system +became in God's sight the <q>desolating abomination.</q> +(Dan. 11:31.)</q>—Edgar. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the church in Sardis.</hi>—<q>Sardis is said to mean that +which remains, as if it signified something out of which +life or virtue had gone. The nominal church during this +period had a form of godliness without its power. Sardis +was the remains of the true Church, which had been +driven into the wilderness; but when the persecution began +to subside, her zeal also abated.</q>—Z. '16-347. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Write.</hi>—Wycliffe wrote the first translation of the Bible +into English. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of +God.</hi>—The seven lamps of fire (Rev. 4:5), or seven eyes +<pb n='046'/><anchor id='Pg046'/> +sent forth into all the earth (Rev. 5:6); i. e., perfect +knowledge.—Rev. 1:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the seven stars.</hi>—How each of the Lord's messengers +was kept! St. Paul had (supposedly) eight years of +liberty after his first imprisonment, planted the Gospel in +Spain and revisited the scenes of earlier labors; St. John +is said to have been thrown into a caldron of boiling oil, +but escaped unharmed and died of old age; Arius died +a natural death; as did Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Martin +Luther and Charles T. Russell, although all had reason +to expect martyrdom at the hands of ecclesiasticism. The +year that Peter Waldo died, his tenets were condemned +by an ecumenical council. <q>Wycliffe preached unmolested; +but the Council of Constance (May 5, 1415) condemned +his doctrines, and in 1428 his remains were dug +up and burned; the ashes were cast into the adjoining +Swift, which, as Wordsworth poetically remarked, conveyed +them through the Avon and the Severn into the +sea, and thus disseminated them over the world. His doctrines, +carried into Bohemia, originated the Hussite movement. +The New Testament was published about 1378, and +the entire Old Testament was completed shortly before +his death.</q>—McC. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou +livest.</hi>—Many who admired Wycliffe were not real Christians. +A man not willing to go to the stake for his religion +has none. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And art dead.</hi>—Spiritually.—Luke 9:60. +</p> + +<p> +3:2. <hi rend='sans'>Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, +that [are] WERE ready to die.</hi>—Many among +Wycliffe's admirers lost faith and love, and to that degree +died, while others had some spiritual life. These the +Lord desired to awaken, to strengthen, to encourage.—Eph. +5:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For I have not found thy works perfect before MY God.</hi>—Revised +Version reads, <q>For I have found no works of +thine fulfilled before My God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +3:3. <hi rend='sans'>Remember [therefore] how thou hast received.</hi>—Received +the entire Word in the English tongue. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And heard.</hi>—Wycliffe was the author of more than 200 +works, chiefly tracts, on the Ransom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And hold fast, and reform.</hi>—(Diaglott.) Had Wycliffe's +labors been properly appreciated, the Reformation would +have been set forward 150 years. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>If therefore thou shalt not [watch] REPENT.</hi>—Change +your course of conduct. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I will come on thee as a thief.</hi>—<q>Many today have the +Sardis characteristics. To such this is a warning. Seven +<pb n='047'/><anchor id='Pg047'/> +times our Lord's Second Coming is described as being +thief-like, stealthy. Those who are asleep will be awakened +only after His work of destruction has progressed. +His presence will be recognized by the sleepers only as +the noise of spoiling the Strong Man's House gradually +increases.</q> (Z. '16-347; 1 Thes. 5:2; Matt. 24:43; 2 Pet. +3:10.) <q>The stealthiness of the thief, not the violence of +the robber, is implied in the original.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon +thee.</hi>—<q>Failing to realize the fact that spiritual bodies +cannot be seen by human eyes without a miracle, some +cannot understand how He can be present while <q>all +things continue as they were since the beginning of creation.</q> +(2 Pet. 3:3, 4.) Thus they are unable to understand +the signs of the times' revealing His return.</q>—Z. '16-347. +</p> + +<p> +3:4. <hi rend='sans'>BUT thou hast a few names [even] in Sardis which +have not defiled their garments.</hi>—But have given due heed +to the Message of the hour, the Ransom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they shall walk with Me In white.</hi>—Fully covered +by the robe of Christ's righteousness. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For they are worthy.</hi>—None who trust in sacrifices of +the Mass or in other sacrifices than that of Calvary, can +ever be worthy in God's sight.—Matt. 10:37. +</p> + +<p> +3:5. <hi rend='sans'>He that overcometh, [the same] THUS.</hi>—The test, +apparently, was on the question of transubstantiation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall be clothed in white raiment.</hi>—<q>The pictures given +of the Heavenly Father represent <emph>Him</emph> as clothed (Psa. +104:2); and the pictures of our Lord represent <emph>Him</emph> as +clothed. The angels who appeared at the time of our +Lord's resurrection are represented as clothed in white. +Our Lord said: <q>Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth +his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his +shame.</q> (Rev. 16:15.) The glorified Church is represented, +not as taking off the robe of righteousness, but +continuing to walk in white raiment, not as now, in a robe +of reckoned righteousness, but in a robe of actual righteousness.</q>—Z. '14-11; +Rev. 19:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life.</hi>—<q>In +the book are written the names of all those who +have made with the Lord <q>a Covenant by Sacrifice.</q> The +name of each of these is entered in the Lamb's Book of +Life, when he starts to live the new life. If they are +faithful, their names will not be blotted out; and they will +attain all those glorious things which are promised to +those who love Him supremely. (Rev. 3:21.)</q>—Z. '15-119; +Rev. 13:8; Psa. 69:28; Dan. 12:1; Phil. 4:3; Lu. 10:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But I will confess his name before My Father, and before +His angels.</hi>—<q>In the end, the overcomers will each +<pb n='048'/><anchor id='Pg048'/> +be so grandly developed that the Lord will not be ashamed +to confess any of them and to say, <q>Here is one of My +followers. Here is another. They have walked in My +footsteps and have overcome.</q> But He will be ashamed +of any who are ashamed of Him or of His words. (Luke +9:26.)</q>—Z. '15-119; Luke 12:8, 9. +</p> + +<p> +3:6. <hi rend='sans'>He that hath an ear.</hi>—A spiritual ear. <q>My sheep +hear My voice.</q>—John 10:27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.</hi>—<q>Blessed +are the people that know the joyful sound.</q>—Psa. +89:15. +</p> + +<p> +3:7. <hi rend='sans'>And [to] BY the angel.</hi>—The next messenger to +the Church was Martin Luther. <q>There is considerable +similarity between the work begun on Pentecost and that +of Luther. The Reformation was, in a sense, the beginning +of a new era, a dawning of light where all had been +darkness, a new start in the way of Truth.</q>—Z. '16-347. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the church in Philadelphia.</hi>—<q>Philadelphia means +brotherly love. This stage of the Church's history began +at the Reformation; and there are many still living who +possess the characteristics described.</q> (Z. '16-347.) The +exact point of time at which the Philadelphia epoch of +the Church began was at midday, October 31, 1517. It +was at that hour that Luther nailed his ninety-five theses +on the church door at Wittenberg. <q>Nailing up that paper +was the beginning of a great division in the Church; of +thrones tumbled into the dust and kings with them; of +empires rent asunder; of lands desolated by war; of +massacres and horrible outrages against the lives and +liberties of men; of thirty years continuous war in Germany; +of Paris and the vine-clad valleys of Italy drenched +in blood; of fires kindled all over England for the burning +of men, women and children; of men hurled headlong from +precipices, roasted over slow fires, starving in dungeons, +subjected to every form of cruelty—but with all this, +the advance of justice, truth and liberty, the beginning of +a new era in human affairs.</q> (Coffin.) <q>The theses ran +through all Germany in fourteen days, for all the world +was complaining about the indulgences; and Luther became +renowned, because at last somebody had come who +took hold of the thing.</q>—McC. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Write.</hi>—Luther wrote the first translation of the Bible +into German. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These things saith He that is [holy] TRUE.</hi>—The direct +reference is to Christ (1 John 5:20); but characteristic of +Luther was his great love of truth. When the Papal legate +came demanding that he recant, he replied, <q>I stand +by the truth. I will not take it back.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='049'/><anchor id='Pg049'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He that it [true] HOLY.</hi>—See Mark 1:24. Luther's special +message was <q>Justification by faith</q>—<emph>real</emph> holiness. +One of the theses on the door was, <q>Those who truly repent +of their sins have a full remission of guilt and +penalty.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He that hath the key of David.</hi>—<q>All power in Heaven +and earth.</q> (Matt. 28:18; Luke 1:32.) Luther's theses +were antagonistic to the system actually ruling all over +the world. When a representative came warning that his +death would surely follow failure to recant, and asking +him where he could go when all had orders not to harbor +him, he replied, <q>I will abide under the cope of heaven.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[He] AND that openeth.</hi>—See Luke 24:32. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And no man [shutteth] SHALL SHUT.</hi>—<q>No doubt all +the powers of Satan were exerted to close the door then +opened; but <q>He that is true</q> had said, <q>which no man +can shut.</q></q>—Z. '16-347; Isa. 22:22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shutteth and no man [openeth] SHALL OPEN.</hi>—The +door of opportunity for the Roman Catholic Church +to repent swung shut the day Luther was excommunicated. +(Rev. 2:21.) <q>Luther was not in the least disconcerted +by this sentence, which he had for some time expected. +He renewed his appeal to the general council; +declared the pope to be that Antichrist or Man of +Sin whose appearance is foretold in the New Testament; +declaimed against his tyranny with greater +vehemence than ever; and at last having assembled the +University he cast the canon law, together with the bull of +excommunication, into the flames.</q>—Buck. +</p> + +<p> +3:8. <hi rend='sans'>I know thy works.</hi>—A striking feature of Luther's +character was his promptness to do whatever he saw to +be the Lord's will. When the great test came, Luther said +to Erasmus: <q>You desire to walk upon eggs without +crushing them.</q> Erasmus replied: <q>I will not be unfaithful +to the cause of Christ at least so far as the Age +will permit me.</q> <q>I will go to Worms,</q> shouted Luther, +<q>though the devils were combined against me as thick as +tiles upon the housetops!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Behold I have set before thee an open door.</hi>—See 1 Cor. +16:9; Acts 14:27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] WHICH no man can shut [it].</hi>—<q>While the +Roman pontiff thought everything safe and settled, and +all pious and good men were nearly in despair of the religious +reformation, so earnestly desired, a certain obscure +and inconsiderable monk in Saxony, a province of +Germany, suddenly opposed himself single-handed with +incredible resolution to the power of Rome. This was +Martin Luther.</q>—Mosheim. +</p> + +<pb n='050'/><anchor id='Pg050'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For thou hast a little strength.</hi>—<q>Compared with the +mighty hosts of their enemies, the little band of Reformers +had but <q>a little strength;</q> but they knew that they +had the Truth, and they fully trusted the Giver.</q>—Z. '16-347. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And hast kept My Word.</hi>—<q>Whoso keepeth His Word, +in him verily is the love of God perfected.</q>—1 John 2:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And hast not denied My name.</hi>—<q>If we deny Him, He +also will deny us.</q>—2 Tim. 2:12. +</p> + +<p> +3:9. <hi rend='sans'>Behold I [will make] HAVE MADE them of the +synagogue of Satan.</hi>—The opponents of the reformers +were <emph>already</emph> of the synagogue of Satan.—Rev. 2:13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which say they are Jews.</hi>—Claim to be Israelites indeed, +saints.—Rev. 2:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And are not, but do lie.</hi>—Papacy is one of the two +systems of rulership (imperial power being the other) +congenitally <q>spotted like a leopard,</q> as far as the Truth +is concerned.—Dan. 11:27; Rev. 13:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Behold I will make them to come.</hi>—<q>All nations whom +Thou hast made shall come.</q>—Psa. 86:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And worship before thy feet.</hi>—<q>The sons also of them +that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all +that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the +soles of thy feet.</q>—Isa. 60:14; 49:23. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [to] THOU SHALT know that I have loved thee.</hi>—See +Eph. 2:7. +</p> + +<p> +3:10. <hi rend='sans'>Because thou hast kept the word of My patience.</hi>—My +patience-enjoining word.—Matt. 10:22; Lu. 8:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I also will keep thee.</hi>—<q>As to the Philadelphia stage of +the Church, and their being saved from the hour of temptation, +we think possibly the Lord meant that some of the +Church of that epoch would live over into the present +period, and that they would not be subjected to the special +trials of this hour. For instance, we think of a very +fine old gentleman, who was about ninety years of age at +the time we are about to mention. He was pastor of a +church. He seemed to receive Present Truth with a great +deal of joy and spoke it forth with much zeal. But he +was surrounded with so much opposition at home, and in +the church to which he was attached as a minister, that +he could not seem to trust to his mental judgment. This +Scripture which we are considering has rather comforted +our mind with respect to him and others like him.</q>—Z. '15-200. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From the hour of temptation.</hi>—<q><q>The hour of temptation</q> +has been the Harvest time. The majority of professing +Christians of the world—probably more than three-fourths—have +lost all faith in the Bible, and fallen into +<pb n='051'/><anchor id='Pg051'/> +Evolution, Higher Criticism, Christian Science, Theosophy, +Spiritism, New Thought, etc. They are not able to stand +in this <q>evil day.</q></q> (Z'15-199.) Additionally, <q>so far as we +are able to judge, the same conditions prevail today +amongst Bible students which the Apostle pointed out to +the Elders of the Church of Ephesus. (Acts 20:28-32.)</q>—Z. '16-328. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which shall come upon all the world.</hi>—<q>We believe that +this temptation to headiness and strife is spreading gradually +in every direction; and the Master assured us that +unless these days would be cut short by the establishment +of His Kingdom in the hands of the Elect, no flesh +would survive.</q>—Z. '16-327; Rev. 7:1-3; 16:14; Matt. +24:21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To try them that dwell upon the earth.</hi>—<q>We understand +that the spirit of selfishness and ambition, which is +driving the nations insanely to war for commercial supremacy, +will increase more and more, and will involve +everybody.</q>—Z. '16-327; Rev. 6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 13:8, 14. +</p> + +<p> +3:11. <hi rend='sans'>[Behold,] I come quickly.</hi>—To Smyrna (73-325 A. +D.) and Pergamos (325-1160 A. D.) nothing was said +about Christ's Second Advent; to Thyatira (1160-1378) the +Message was, <q>Hold fast till I come</q>; to Sardis (1378-1518) +it was, <q>If therefore thou shalt not reform, I will +come on thee as a thief</q>; to Philadelphia (1518-1874) it +was, <q>Behold, I come <emph>quickly</emph>.</q> How evident that these +messages to the Churches are epochs drawing nearer and +nearer to the climax of history, the Fifth Universal Empire, +now come at last! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Hold that fast which thou hast.</hi>—<q>The Miller movement +was a separation, as between those who kept the Word +of God with patience and those who lost their faith in +His Word. The Philadelphia Church, which patiently +passed through so severe a trial of their faith, would not +be subjected to the later test.</q>—Z. '15-199. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That no man take thy crown.</hi>—<q>Unfaithfulness may +lead to the blotting out of some names and the giving of +their crowns to others.</q> (F. 165.) <q>It is our expectation +that this work of going out and coming in will continue +until the last member of the New Creation shall have +been found worthy, and all the crowns everlastingly apportioned.</q>—F. 95; +1 Sam. 16:1; Rev. 2:10. +</p> + +<p> +3:12. <hi rend='sans'>Him that overcometh will I make a pillar [in] +TO the Temple of my God.</hi>—<q>During the Philadelphia +period the faithful have either been obliged to come out +of the nominal temple or have been cast out. The reward +promised such is that each will be a pillar in the +eternal Temple—a part which cannot be removed while +<pb n='052'/><anchor id='Pg052'/> +the structure exists.</q>—Z. '16-347; Gal. 2:9; 1 Kings 7:21, +22; Jer. 1:18; 1 Cor. 3:17; Eph. 2:19-22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he shall [go no more] NOT GO out.</hi>—<q>During +their trial state their names were cast out as evil; they +were not recognized as Christians. All this is to be +reversed. <q>The Lord knoweth them that are His.</q></q>—Z. '16-347. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I will write upon him the name of My God.</hi>—<q>And +I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and +with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having +His Father's name written on their foreheads [intellects].</q>—Rev. +14:1; 22:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the name of the city of My God.</hi>—<q>And they shall +call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: +and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.</q>—Isa. +62:12; Ezek. 48:35; Jer. 23:6; 33:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is New Jerusalem.</hi>—<q>Glorious City of Peace! +whose foundations, laid in justice, can never be moved, +and whose builder and designer is God! It is in the light +which will shine from this glorious City (Kingdom) of +God that the nations (people) will walk on the Highway +of Holiness, up to perfection and to full harmony with +God.</q>—Rev. 21:2, 10, 24; A 295. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which cometh down out of Heaven from My God.</hi>—<q>A +city is a symbol of a kingdom or dominion, and so God's +Kingdom is symbolized by the New Jerusalem, the new +dominion coming from Heaven to earth. At first it will +consist of only the Bride of Christ.</q>—A. 295; Heb. 12:18-22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I will write upon him My new name.</hi>—<q><q>Our +Righteousness of Jehovah.</q> How appropriate is this name +to the work and office of our Lord Jesus! Did He not +stand as the Representative of God's righteousness and +suffer the penalty of Justice as man's Ransom—that God +might be just, and yet be the Justifier of him that believeth +in Jesus? Surely no name could be more appropriate. +(Jer. 33:16; 23:6; T. 102.) And that this name +will be appropriate to the glorified Church all can readily +see: she not only shares her Lord's sufferings for righteousness, +<q>filling up that which is behind of the afflictions +of Christ</q> (Col. 1:24; 1 Pet. 5:9), but is also promised a +share in all the glories of her Lord, as a wife shares her +husband's honors and <emph>name</emph>.</q>—E. 45, 42; Isa. 9:6; Rev. +2:17; 19:12. +</p> + +<p> +3:13. <hi rend='sans'>He that hath an ear.</hi>—<q>Having eyes, see ye not? +And having ears, hear ye not?</q>—Mark 8:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.</hi>—<q>Let +these sayings sink down into your ears.</q>—Luke 9:44. +</p> + +<pb n='053'/><anchor id='Pg053'/> + +<p> +3:14. <hi rend='sans'>And [unto] BY the angel.</hi>—The special messenger +to the last Age of the Church was Charles T. Russell, +born February 16, 1852. He has privately admitted his +belief that he was chosen for his great work from before +his birth. His mother died when he was nine years old; +and at the age of eleven Charles formed a business partnership +with his father, himself writing the articles of +agreement under which they transacted business. When +he was but twelve years of age, his father found him in +the store one time at 2 a. m., poring over a concordance, +unconscious of the lapse of time. We give some extracts +from his autobiography: +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>We begin the narrative at the year 1868, when the +Editor, having been a consecrated child of God for some +years, and a member of the Congregational Church and +of the Y. M. C. A., began to be shaken in faith regarding +many long accepted doctrines. Brought up a Presbyterian, +indoctrinated from the catechism, and being naturally +of an inquiring mind, I fell a ready prey to the +logic of infidelity, as soon as I began to think for myself. +But that which at first threatened to be the utter shipwreck +of faith in God and the Bible, was, under God's +providence, overruled for good, and merely wrecked my +confidence in human creeds and systems of Bible interpretations. +I was led gradually to see that though each of +the creeds contained some elements of Truth, they were, +on the whole, misleading and contradictory of God's +Word. Among other theories, I stumbled upon Adventism. +Seemingly by accident, one evening I dropped into +a dusty, dingy hall in Allegheny, Pa., where I had heard +that religious services were held, to see if the handful +who met there had anything more sensible to offer than +the creeds of the great churches. There, for the first +time, I heard something of the views of Second Adventism, +by Jonas Wendell, long since deceased. Thus I confess +indebtedness to Adventists as well as to other Bible +students. Though his Scripture exposition was not +entirely clear, and though it was very far from what we +now rejoice in, it was sufficient, under God, to reestablish +my wavering faith in the Divine inspiration of the +Bible, and to show that the records of the Apostles and +the Prophets are indissolubly linked.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>When in 1872 I came to examine the subject of Restitution +from the standpoint of the Ransom-price given by +our Lord Jesus for Adam, and consequently for all lost +in Adam, it settled the matter of Restitution completely, +and gave me the fullest assurance that ALL <emph>must come +forth</emph> from their graves and be brought to a clear knowledge +<pb n='054'/><anchor id='Pg054'/> +of the Truth and to a full opportunity to gain everlasting +life through Christ. The years following, to 1876, +were years of continued growth in grace and in knowledge +on the part of the handful of Bible students with +whom I met in Allegheny. We progressed from our first +crude and indefinite ideas of Restitution to clearer understanding +of the details; but God's due time for clear +light had not yet come. During this time, too, we came +to recognize the difference between our Lord as <q>the <emph>Man</emph> +who gave Himself,</q> and as the One who would come +again, a <emph>Spirit Being</emph>. We saw that spirit beings can be +present and yet invisible to men.... It seems that not +long after their 1874 disappointment, a reader of <hi rend='italic'>The +Herald of the Morning</hi>, who had a copy of the <hi rend='italic'>Emphatic +Diaglott</hi>, noticed something in it which he thought peculiar—that +in Matthew 24:27, 37, 39, the Greek word +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>parousia</foreign>, which in our Common Version is rendered +<q><emph>coming</emph>,</q> is in the <hi rend='italic'>Diaglott</hi> translated <q><emph>presence</emph></q>—evidently +the correct translation of the Greek. This was the +clue; and following it, they had been led through +prophetic <emph>time</emph> toward proper views regarding the object +and manner of our Lord's Return, and then to the examination +of the time when the things indicated in God's +Word as related to Christ's <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>parousia</foreign> should take place. +Thus God leads His children often from different starting +points of Truth. But where the heart is earnest and +trustful, the results must be to draw all together.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>There were no books or other publications setting +forth the time prophecies as then understood. So I paid +Mr. Barbour's expenses to come to see me at Philadelphia +(where I had business engagements during the summer +of 1876), to show me fully and Scripturally, if he could, +that the prophecies indicated 1874 as the date at which +the Lord's <emph>presence</emph> and the Harvest began. He came, +and the evidence satisfied me. Being a person of positive +convictions, and fully consecrated to the Lord, I at once +saw that the special times in which we live have an +important bearing upon our duty and work as Christ's +disciples; that since we are living in the time of the +Harvest, the Harvest work should be done; and that +Present Truth is the sickle by which the Lord would +have us do a reaping work everywhere among His children. +I inquired of Mr. Barbour as to what was being +done by him and <hi rend='italic'>The Herald</hi>. He replied that nothing +was being done.</q>—Z. '16-170, 171. +</p> + +<p> +Pastor Russell took the place of Mr. Barbour who became +unfaithful and upon whom was fulfilled the prophecies +of Matt. 24:48-51 and Zech. 11:15-17. +</p> + +<pb n='055'/><anchor id='Pg055'/> + +<p> +<q>In 1877 Pastor Russell called a meeting of all the ministers +of Allegheny and Pittsburgh, showed them the +Scriptures which indicated our Lord's presence and urged +them to investigate and proclaim the message. All of the +ministers of the two cities were present; all of the ministers +of the two cities refused to believe. In the same +year he determined to give up secular work and devote +his entire time and fortune to the work indicated in the +Scriptures as incident to the close of the Gospel Age and +change of dispensation impending. As a means of determining +whether his course was in harmony with the +Scriptures, and also as a means of demonstrating his own +sincerity, he decided to test the Lord's approval as follows: +(1) Devote his life to the cause; (2) Invest his +fortune in the promulgation of the work; (3) Prohibit +collections at all meetings; (4) Depend on unsolicited +contributions (wholly voluntary) to continue the work +after his fortune was exhausted. In 1881, 1,400,000 copies +of <hi rend='italic'>Food for Thinking Christians</hi> were distributed free at +the doors of the Protestant churches in the United +States, Canada and Great Britain on three consecutive +Sundays, by A. D. T. messenger boys.</q>—Obituary. +</p> + +<p> +As to his education we quote his own words: <q>As respects +my education in Greek and Hebrew: Not only do +I not claim very special knowledge of either language, but +I claim that not one minister in a thousand is either a +Hebrew or a Greek scholar. To be able to spell out a +few Greek words is of no earthly value. Nor is it necessary +longer to study these languages in order to have +knowledge of the Bible. Our Presbyterian friends have +gotten out at great cost Young's Analytical Hebrew, +Chaldaic, Greek and English Lexicon Concordance, which +any one may procure. And our Methodist friends have +issued a similar work—Strong's Analytical Concordance +and Lexicon. And there is a still older one entitled +Englishman's Hebrew, Chaldaic, Greek and English Lexicon +and Concordance. Additionally, Liddell and Scott's +Greek Lexicon is a standard authority. The prices of +these are not beyond the reach of the average man. By +these works scholarly information respecting the original +text of the Bible is obtainable. I have all four of these +works and have used them faithfully. Very few college +professors, even, would risk to give a critical translation +of any text of Scripture without consulting these very +works of reference, which are standard. Additionally I +remind you of the many translations of the Bible now extant—all +of them very good. I have all of these and find +them useful in comparison and study of any text—one +<pb n='056'/><anchor id='Pg056'/> +sometimes giving a thought which another may not. The +other day, for curiosity's sake, I counted Bibles in different +translations, etc., in my study, and found that I have +thirty-two.</q>—Z. '14-286. +</p> + +<p> +As to his ordination we quote him again: <q>There are +two ordinations proper. One is of God; one of men. The +ordination of God is the begetting of the Holy Spirit. If +any are preaching without this ordination, they are doing +something that they are not authorized to do. There +comes, however, another special ordination of those who +are called ministers of the Gospel, in which class I count +myself. This is ordination by the Church, and is recognized +by all denominations everywhere. By some it is +considered a mere form, by some it is performed with +great ceremony, by others with less ceremony. But to our +understanding, each congregation should have those +whom it has chosen ordained in a Scriptural way—by the +stretching forth of hands—by a vote. Whoever has not +been ordained in these two ways is not an ordained minister +of the Gospel in the Scriptural sense. First, the +Divine ordination is necessary; second, the earthly ordination +is necessary. By the grace of God I have both of +these.</q>—Z. '15-358. +</p> + +<p> +As to his doctrines we quote him the third time: <q rend='pre'>To +us the Scriptures clearly teach that the Church is the +<q>Temple of the living God</q>—peculiarly <q>His workmanship</q>; +its construction has been in progress throughout the Gospel +Age—ever since Christ became the world's Redeemer +and Chief Corner Stone of His Temple, through which, +when finished, God's blessing shall come <q>to all people,</q> +and they find access to Him. (1 Cor. 3:16, 17; Eph. 2:20; +Gen. 28:14; Gal. 3:29.) That meantime the chiseling, +shaping and polishing of consecrated believers in Christ's +Atonement for sin progresses; and when the last of these +<q>living stones,</q> <q>elect and precious,</q> shall have been made +ready, the great Master Workman will bring all together +in the First Resurrection; and the Temple shall be filled +with His glory, and be the meeting place between God and +men throughout the Millennium. (Rev. 15:6-8; 21:3.) +We affirm the pre-existence of Jesus as the mighty Word +(Logos)—Spokesman—<q>the beginning of the creation of +God,</q> <q>the First-Born of every creature,</q> the active Agent +of the Heavenly Father, Jehovah, in all the work of creation. +<q>Without Him was not anything made that was +made.</q> (Rev. 3:14; Col. 1:15; John 1:3.) We affirm that +the Word (Logos) was made flesh—became the Babe of +Bethlehem—thus becoming the Man Jesus, <q>holy, harmless, +undefiled, separate from sinners.</q> As we affirm the +<pb n='057'/><anchor id='Pg057'/> +humanity of Jesus, we equally affirm the Divinity of +Christ—<q>God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him +a name above every name.</q> (Heb. 7:26; Phil. 2:9.)</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>We acknowledge that the personality of the Holy +Spirit is the Father and the Son; that the Holy Spirit +proceeds from both, and is manifested in all who receive +the begetting of the Holy Spirit and thereby become sons +of God. (John 1:12; 1 Pet. 1:3.) We affirm the resurrection +of Christ—that He was put to death in flesh but +quickened in Spirit. We deny that He was raised in the +flesh, and challenge any statement to that effect as being +unscriptural. (1 Pet. 3:18; 2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:8; Acts +26:13-15.) That the basis of Hope, for the Church and +the World, lies in the fact that <q>Jesus Christ, by the grace +of God, tasted death for every man,</q> <q>a Ransom for all,</q> +and will be <q>the true Light which lighteth every man that +cometh into the world,</q> <q>in due time.</q> (Heb. 2:9; John +1:9; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6.) That the Hope of the Church is +that she may be like her Lord, <q>see Him as He is,</q> be +<q>partaker of the Divine nature,</q> and share His glory as +His joint-heir. (1 John 3:2; John 17:24; Rom. 8:17; 2 +Pet. 1:4.) That the present mission of the Church is +the perfecting of the saints for the future work of service; +to develop in herself every grace; to be God's witness +to the world; and to prepare to be kings and priests in +the next Age. (Eph. 4:12; Matt. 24:14; Rev. 1:6; 20:6.) +That the Hope for the World lies in the blessings of +knowledge and opportunity to be brought to all by Christ's +Millennial Kingdom—the Restitution of all that was lost +in Adam, to all the willing and obedient, at the hands of +their Redeemer and His glorified Church—when all the +wilfully wicked shall be destroyed. (Acts 3:19-23; Isa. +35.)</q>—B. S. M. +</p> + +<p> +The amount of work that Pastor Russell performed +<emph>is incredible</emph>, and it is doubtful whether it was ever +equalled by any other human being. When he was in +his twenties he was refused the lease of a property because +the owner thought he would surely die before the +lease had expired. For fifty years he suffered constantly +with sick headaches, due to a fall in his youth, and for +twenty-five years had such distressing hemorrhoids that +it was impossible for him to rest in the easiest chair; yet +in the past forty years he traveled a million miles, delivered +30,000 sermons and table talks—many of them +2-½ hours long—wrote over 50,000 pages (of this size) of +advanced Biblical exposition, often dictated 1,000 letters +per month, managed every department of a world-wide +evangelistic campaign employing 700 speakers, personally +<pb n='058'/><anchor id='Pg058'/> +compiled the most wonderful Biblical drama ever +shown; and with all that, he found time in the course +of each year to personally aid thousands with his fatherly +counsel. At one time his writings were subjected +to an analysis of 20,511 Scripture expositions. These +were assembled in Biblical order and disclosed but six +points of inquiry, all easily harmonized. No writer, not +even excepting the writers of the Bible, have ever had +such critical readers. His works have been published in +35 languages. During the last eight days of his life he +had appointments in California, Kansas, Oklahoma, +Nebraska and New York; and though for several days +manifestly dying, with cystitis (caused by excessive travel +and speaking), he declined to cancel any engagements, +and went out of this life October 31, 1916, on a railroad +train en route to his Kansas appointment. At the age of +30 he had accumulated a fortune of over $300,000, but +died penniless, his own fortune, as well as all the large +sums contributed to the cause, having been used up in the +Master's service. He was beloved everywhere by those +who <q>follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.</q>—Rev. +14:4. For further particulars of Pastor Russell's service +of God's people see Memorial Number of <hi rend='italic'>Zions Watch +Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the church [of the Laodiceans] IN LAODICEA.</hi>—It is +significant that in the first epoch of the Church there +were Nicolaitanes (<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>nikon ton laon</foreign>), <q>vanquishers of the +people,</q> a clergy class who succeeded in pulling the wool +over the eyes of the common people; but that the last +age of the Church is Laodicean (<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>laos dike</foreign>), <q>justice for +the people.</q> We find we get along much better without +the clergy than we did with them. The Laodicean period +of the Church extends from the fall of 1874 to the spring +of 1918, three and one-half years of preparation, and +forty years of Harvest. <q>The parallels affected merely +the nominal Jewish House <emph>there</emph> and the nominal Christian +House <emph>here</emph>. Both were rejected because of failure to be +in the right condition of heart for the truths that were +due to them—both rejected for destruction. The Jewish +System was a Church-State affair, paralleled here by the +great Church-State systems of Europe, whose destruction +began in 1914. Let us remember, however, that the three +and a half years of Jesus' ministry were more a time of +preparation of the Apostles to be the instruments for the +harvesting and a sharpening preparation of the Sickle of +Truth for the later work, which <emph>began</emph> at Pentecost. Prior +to Pentecost, there was <emph>no <q>garner</q></emph> into which to gather +the wheat.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='059'/><anchor id='Pg059'/> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Jewish And Christian Parallels</q> +</p> + +<table rend="latexcolumns: 'p{3.5cm} p{3.5cm}'; tblcolumns: 'lw(30) lw(30)'"> +<row><cell><q rend='pre'>Jewish-Nominal Church</q></cell> + <cell>Christian-Nominal Church</cell></row> +<row><cell>A. D. 29-33</cell><cell>A. D. 1874-1878</cell></row> +<row><cell><q>They knew not the time of their visitation.</q></cell></row> +<row><cell><q rend='pre'>A. D. 33-36</q></cell><cell>A. D. 1878-1881</cell></row> +<row><cell>The Most Holy anointed, Divine favor prolonged +for three and a half years to complete +the 70 weeks of favor promised to Israel, their +rejection being deferred.</cell></row> +<row><cell><q rend='pre'>A. D. 36-73</q></cell><cell>A. D. 1881-1918</cell></row> +<row><cell>Because of the overspreading of abominations, +He shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, +or <emph>utter destruction</emph>—until all that +God has predetermined shall be accomplished.—Dan. +9:24-27.—Z. '16-264. See pages <ref target='Pg594'>594</ref>, <ref target='Pg595'>595</ref>.</cell></row> +</table> + +<p> +The foregoing is Pastor Russell's last expression on the +subject of chronology; and we believe that it was designed +to be of great value to the Lord's people at this +hour. <q>The Apostles, the Prophets and the angels +all desired and sought earnestly to know what <emph>time</emph> the +Spirit of God indicated through the Prophets. And this +interest on the part of His children is ever pleasing to +God. He called the inquiring Daniel greatly beloved, and +answered his inquiry so far as was consistent with His +Plan. Such inquiry should not be regarded as an improper +prying into the secrets of God. God would have +us quickly discern the Truth as it becomes <emph>due</emph>.</q> (B. 17.) +<q>Let none, then, of the truly consecrated under-value +these prophetic time-evidences, which were designed to +guide our words and deeds in the early dawn of the +Millennial Day. These prophetic time-proofs were largely +God's means of drawing the attention of the writer more +carefully to other features of the Divine Plan.</q>—B. 31. +</p> + +<p> +Daniel <q>understood by books</q> (Jeremiah's prophecy) +the length of the great captivity of the children of Israel. +(Dan. 9:2.) At Christ's First Advent there was but one +time-prophecy calling attention to that event (Dan. 9:24-27), +yet all the people <q>were in expectation</q> of it (Luke +3:15.) In the year 1190 the good monk Joachim declared +that the Papal system was Antichrist, that the history of +mankind is divided into three ages, and that in the year +1260 the Papacy would give way to a new system in +which the whole world would be <q>one vast monastery.</q> +<q>In 1260 the Council of Arles pronounced all followers of +<pb n='060'/><anchor id='Pg060'/> +Joachim heretics.</q> His application of the correct principle, +<q>a year for a day,</q> made in the very depths of the +Dark Ages, is one of the most pathetic incidents in the +history of mankind; but his study of time-prophecy +brought him peace and joy of heart. He was an opponent +of the prevailing <q>doctrine of the Trinity.</q> William +Miller, in the year 1829, was privileged to see (approximately) +the correct date for the setting up of the abomination +of desolation (539 A. D.), and for the beginning of +the Time of the End (1799 A. D.) Morton Edgar, author +of <hi rend='italic'>Pyramid Passages</hi>, has found foreshown in the Great +Pyramid of Egypt abundant evidence of the accuracy of +the Bible chronology of Pastor Russell and the supplements +thereto supplied by Dr. John Edgar, deceased. +These findings are set forth in his work, <hi rend='italic'>Pyramid Passages</hi>, +Vol. II, of which we recommend sections numbered +in the following table. For convenience we give the citations +to Pastor Russell's works in which the same items +are discussed. The Pyramid is still there, and the measurements +can be made by anybody. Pastor Russell's +chronology was written before he ever saw the Pyramid. +</p> + +<table rend="latexcolumns: 'p{1.7cm} p{2.5cm} p{1.4cm} p{1.4cm}'; tblcolumns: 'lw(17) lw(25) lw(9) lw(9)'"> +<row><cell>Date Foreshown</cell><cell>Event</cell><cell>Pastor Russell's Works</cell> + <cell>Sections of Pyramid Passages</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 4127 B. C.</cell><cell>Fall of Adam.</cell><cell>Z 04-343</cell><cell>25-30-58</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 3127 B. C.</cell><cell>End of Adam's 1000-year day.</cell><cell>Z 04-343</cell><cell>25-28</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 2473 B. C.</cell><cell>Flood.</cell><cell>B 42</cell><cell>24-30</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 2021 B. C.</cell><cell>Birth of Isaac.</cell><cell>B 231</cell><cell>45</cell></row> +<row><cell>Spring 1813 B. C.</cell><cell>Death of Jacob.</cell><cell>B 218-232</cell><cell>16-17</cell></row> +<row><cell>Spring 1615 B. C.</cell><cell>Exodus and giving of the Law.</cell><cell>B 42</cell><cell>11</cell></row> +<row><cell>Spring 1575 B. C.</cell><cell>Entrance into Canaan.</cell><cell>B 42</cell><cell>43-46</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 626 B. C.</cell><cell>Last Jubilee.</cell><cell>B 185</cell><cell>50</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 607 B. C.</cell><cell>Desolation of the Land.</cell><cell>B 51</cell><cell>19-46-48</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 455 B. C.</cell><cell>Nehemiah's Commission.</cell><cell>B 67</cell><cell>51-52-53</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 2 B. C.</cell><cell>Birth of Christ.</cell><cell>B 54</cell><cell>10-43</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 29 A. D.</cell><cell>Baptism of Christ.</cell><cell>B 60</cell><cell>10-24-43-58</cell></row> +<row><cell>Spring 33 A. D.</cell><cell>Death of Christ.</cell><cell>B 61</cell><cell>10-11-14-32-45</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 36 A. D.</cell><cell>Conversion of Cornelius.</cell><cell>B 71</cell><cell>51</cell></row> +<row><cell>Spring 1378 A. D.</cell><cell>Wycliffe.</cell><cell>Z 05-185</cell><cell>37</cell></row> +<row><cell>Spring 1521 A. D.</cell><cell>Diet of Worms.</cell><cell>Z 05-180</cell><cell>38</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 1846 A. D.</cell><cell>Evangelical Alliance.</cell><cell>C 95-119</cell><cell>14-52</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 1874 A. D.</cell><cell>Second Advent of the Lord.</cell><cell>B 173-247</cell><cell>16-32-50</cell></row> +<row><cell>Spring 1878 A. D.</cell><cell>Favor to Jews and sleeping Saints.</cell><cell>C 233</cell><cell>17-28</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 1914 A. D.</cell><cell>End of Times of the Gentiles.</cell><cell>B 73</cell><cell>19-48</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 2875 A. D.</cell><cell>Restitution completed.</cell><cell>Z 04-344</cell><cell>37</cell></row> +<row><cell>Fall 2914 A. D.</cell><cell>Dominion restored to mankind.</cell><cell>Z 04-343</cell><cell>58</cell></row> +</table> + +<pb n='061'/><anchor id='Pg061'/> + +<p> +The chronology as it appears in the STUDIES IN THE +SCRIPTURES is accurate. The year 1914 brought the +end of the Times of the Gentiles, but not the end of the +Harvest work. Have the teachings of the Parallels lost +their value? Not at all. The point not previously noticed +is that the Jewish polity was not to be destroyed in +Jerusalem only, but throughout all Judea. Nor does +<hi rend='italic'>Judea</hi> mean all of Palestine. The actual depopulation of +the whole of Palestine did not occur until the year 135 +A. D. (corresponding to our year 1980), on the ninth day +of the month of Ab, the anniversary of the burning of +the Temple under Titus. On that day came to an end +the insurrection of Bar-Cocheba, the false Messiah, who +wrought his own destruction and that of 580,000 of his +followers, when he attempted to regain control of Judea +and Jerusalem. The struggle was of five years' duration +having begun in 130 A. D. <q>It was the effort, under the +leadership of Bar-Cocheba, to regain their independence, +that brought about a repetition of scenes enacted under +Titus, and resulted actually in the depopulation of Palestine. +The whole of Judea was turned into a desert; +about 985 towns and villages were laid in ashes; fifty of +their fortresses were razed to the ground; even the +name of their capital was changed to Ælia Capitolina, +and they were forbidden to approach it on pain of death; +thousands of those who had escaped death were reduced +to slavery, and such as could not be thus disposed of +were transported into Egypt.</q>—McC. +</p> + +<p> +When the Lord gave His wonderful prophecy in which +the destinies of nominal Fleshly Israel, nominal Spiritual +Israel, and the Israel of God, are set forth, it was in +answer to three definite questions: <q><emph>When</emph> shall these +things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy Parousia, +and of the <emph>end</emph> of the Age?</q> (Matt. 24:3.) The Lord did +not ignore their question. He answered it with a reply +that sweeps the history of twenty centuries. He showed +that the <emph>end</emph> of Fleshly Israel foreshadowed the <emph>end</emph> of +Spiritual Israel. Fleshly Israel had three ends; the destruction +of Jerusalem in A. D. 70, the complete subjugation +of Judea in A. D. 73, and the actual depopulation of +the whole of Palestine in A. D. 135. Which did He mean +should be the end that would be a guide to His followers? +Not the end in A. D. 70, foreshadowing 1915; for the Harvest +of the Gospel Age is still in progress. Not the end +in A. D. 135, foreshadowing 1980; for the <hi rend='italic'>Harvest is the +end</hi>. He must have meant the end in Judea, even as He +said, <q>Then let them which be in <hi rend='italic'>Judea</hi> flee into the +mountains.</q> (Matt. 24:16.) See also Matt. 2:22; 3:5; +<pb n='062'/><anchor id='Pg062'/> +Mark 1:5; Luke 1:5, 65; 3:1; 7:17; Acts 11:29; Rom. +15:31, and <emph>especially</emph> John 7:1-3 and 1 Thes. 2:14-16. +</p> + +<p> +The data presented in comments on Rev. 2:1 <emph>prove</emph> that +the conquest of Judea was not completed until the day of +the Passover, A. D. 73, and in the light of the foregoing +Scriptures, <emph>prove</emph> that the Spring of 1918 will bring upon +Christendom a spasm of anguish greater even than that +experienced in the Fall of 1914. Reexamine the table of +the Parallel Dispensations in STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, +Vol. 2, pages 246 and 247; change the 37 to 40, +70 to 73 and 1914 to 1918, and we believe it is correct +and will be fulfilled <q>with great power and glory,</q> (Mark +13:26.) It was entirely impossible to foresee whether our +Lord meant that A. D. 70 or A. D. 73 should serve as our +guide to the time when the Jewish polity came to an end, +until after October, 1915, had passed. Moreover, we have +seen the promised signs, <q>upon the earth distress of +nations, with perplexity; men's hearts failing them for +fear, and for looking after those things which are coming +on the earth,</q> and we have the Lord's words for it that +having seen those things <q>the Kingdom of God is nigh +at hand,</q> <q>even at the doors,</q> and our <q>redemption +draweth nigh.</q> (Luke 21:25-36; Mark 13:27-30.) It is +possible that A. D. 1980 marks the regathering of all of +Fleshly Israel from their captivity in death. It is just 70 +years beyond 1910, the date when Pastor Russell gave his +great witness to the Jewish people in the New York Hippodrome. +See page <ref target='Pg551'>551</ref> (1). +</p> + +<p> +But if the time of nominal Zion's travail (Isa. 66:8) is +due to occur in the Spring of 1918, and if we are now but +the <q>one day</q> (one year) distant from that event which +the Prophet mentions, what should be our expectation +regarding the experience of the <q>little flock</q> meantime? +<q rend='pre'>The symbolic travail, in the above prophecy, is a reference +to the great Time of Trouble—the travail that is to +come upon the nominal Gospel church, Great <q>Babylon,</q> +from which some are to be counted worthy to escape. +(Luke 21:36.) This is indicated by the preceding verse, +which locates the time of this prophecy as synchronous +with that wherein is heard <q>a voice of noise [confusion] +from the city</q> [Babylon], and <q>a voice [of truth and +warning] from the Temple</q> [the elect Little Flock of +consecrated and faithful ones], and <q>a voice of Jehovah +that rendereth recompense to His enemies</q>—in the great +Time of Trouble. The travail that is coming is to be +upon nominal Zion—<q>Christendom,</q> <q>Babylon</q>; and it will +be a great and sore affliction—<q>a Time of Trouble such as +was not since there was a nation.</q></q> +</p> + +<pb n='063'/><anchor id='Pg063'/> + +<p> +<q>But the marvelous thing the Prophet here has to record +is that a Man-child is to be born out of Zion before +this travail comes. This is a striking reference to the +fact, elsewhere clearly taught, that the ripe wheat of the +Gospel Church is to be separated from the tares, that +they are to be exalted and glorified before the burning, +the consuming trouble, shall come upon the latter. This +Man-child is, therefore, the Little Flock—the true Zion in +God's estimation, the Body of Christ; as it is written. +<q>There shall come out of Zion [the nominal Gospel +Church] the Deliverer [The Christ, Head and Body], and +shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob [the Fleshly +Israel, or Zion].</q> (Rom. 11:26.) This is the Man-child +that is to bless all the families of the earth. (Gen. 28:14; +Gal. 3:16, 29.) The birth of the Man-child is the First +Resurrection. Blessed and holy are all they that have +part in the First Resurrection. Such are now begotten +of God by the Word of Truth, and quickened by the Holy +Spirit (Jas. 1:18; Eph. 2:1; Rom. 8:11), and in due time—before +the travail—they will be born in the glorious likeness +of Christ. The birth of this Man-child began over +eighteen hundred years ago with the resurrection of +Christ Jesus. There the Head of this Body of Christ +came forth; and as surely as the Head has been born, +so surely shall the Body come forth. <q>Shall I bring to +the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord: +shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb? saith thy +God.</q> (Isa. 66:9.) Ah, no! <q>the Man-child, The Christ complete, +the Great Deliverer, shall come forth.</q></q>—Z. '94-135. +</p> + +<p> +<q>But,</q> says one, <q>where is the fiery chariot that is to +accomplish a cleavage between the Elijah and Elisha +classes?</q> We offer the suggestion that the fiery horses +are lurid prophecies; the horsemen are Ezekiel and John, +and the chariot is the vehicle in which their Message is +brought to the Elijah class. And do the Elijah class +take to that vehicle? They <emph>do</emph>. And why? Because <q>the +sheep follow Him; for they know His voice.</q> (John +10:4.) The separation between the Elijah and Elisha +classes will be brought about in a perfectly natural way, +by some using the chariot which the Lord provides, and +others recognizing it, but not attempting to use it to +mount to the skies. And what should we expect such a +fiery chariot would do when caught up into the heavens? +The answer is prophetic, <q>The heavens being on fire shall +be dissolved;</q> <q>The heavens shall pass away with a +great noise;</q> <q>And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, +and the heavens shall be rolled together as a +scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf +<pb n='064'/><anchor id='Pg064'/> +falleth from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree.</q> +(2 Pet. 3:12, 10; Isa. 34:4.) Evidently the circulation +of the penny will have something to do with the +burning of the tares!—Matt. 13:40-43; Isa. 21:9. +</p> + +<p> +Forty days after Christ's resurrection His ascension +occurred. This confirms the hope of the Church's glorification +forty years (a year for a day) after the awakening +of the sleeping saints in the Spring of 1878. The seven +days before the Deluge may represent seven years, from +1914 to 1921, in the midst of which <q>week of years</q> the +last members of the Messiah pass beyond the veil. The +Great Company class shall be cut off at its end—the +fact that we see the first half of this week so distinctly +marked would lead us to expect three and one-half years +more of witnessing by the Great Company class; for it +seems to be the Heavenly Father's way to accomplish +His work by weeks and half weeks, from the very beginning +of creation until now. The covenant with Abraham, +2045 B. C., was half way (2081 years each way) between +the fall of Adam, 4127 B. C., and the conversion of Cornelius, +A. D. 36. The last observance of a typical jubilee +by Israel, 626 B. C., was half way (2500 years each way) +from the end of Adam's Day, 3127 B. C., and the beginning +of the Times of Restitution, A. D. 1874. The captivity, 606 +B. C., marks the beginning of the Times of the Gentiles, +half way (2520 years each way) between the end of +Adam's 1000-year day, 3127 B. C., and the end of Gentile +Times, A. D. 1914. The captivity, 606 B. C., marks +a point half way (3520 years each way) between the +fall of man, 4127 B. C., and his full restoration to Divine +favor, A. D. 2914. Christ's death, A. D. 33, marks a point +half way (1845 years each way) between the death of +Jacob, 1813 B. C., and the restoration of favor to Israel +in 1878 A. D. The death of Christ, A. D. 33, was half way +(three and one-half years each way) between His baptism, +A. D. 29, and the conversion of Cornelius, A. D. 36. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img065.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <figDesc>Chronological Chart of Revelation</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +The awakening of the sleeping saints, A. D. 1878, was +just half way (three and one-half years each way) between +the beginning of the Times of Restitution in 1874 +and the close of the High Calling in 1881. Our proposition +is that the glorification of the little Flock in the +Spring of 1918 A. D. will be half way (three and one-half +years each way) between the close of the Gentile Times +and the close of the Heavenly Way, A. D. 1921. The three +days' (three years—1918-1921) fruitless search for Elijah +(2 Kings 2:17-18) is a confirmation of this view. We +shall wait to see; but we shall not be indifferent while +we wait, lest peradventure another, more zealous, take the +<pb n='065'/><anchor id='Pg065'/> +crown we have. The time is not long: but if we have to +go on for fifty years, why should we care? We are the +Lord's. Let Him do as He will with His own. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img066.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>The Seven Messengers To The Church</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Write.</hi>—Pastor Russell was the most prolific writer of +Biblical truth that ever lived.—Ezek. 9:2, 3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These things saith the Amen.</hi>—The same word translated +<q>verily</q> in the Gospels and so often used by our +Lord as a solemn prefix to some important announcement. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND the faithful and true Witness.</hi>—Trinitarians witness +that Christ and the Father are one in person. Christ +Himself witnesses, <q>It is also written in your Law that +the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear +witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth +witness of Me.</q> (John 8:17, 18.) Christ was one, and +the Father was one; and one plus one are two. (This +lesson in mathematics is for Doctors of Divinity; school +children will not need it.)—Rev. 1:5; 19:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND the Beginning of the [creation] CHURCH of God.</hi>—Either +reading is correct. Our Lord was the Beginning +of the New Creation, but, more than that, He was the +Beginning of <emph>all</emph> creation. <q>He is the Image of the invisible +God—<emph>First-born of all creation</emph>; because by Him +were all things created, those in the heavens and those +on the earth, visible and invisible—whether thrones, or +lordships, or governments, or authorities: all things were +created by Him and for Him, and He precedes all things, +and in Him all things have been permanently placed. +(Col. 1:15-18.) Hear also the word of prophecy concerning +the Only-Begotten, not only declaring His coming +exaltation as King of earthly kings, but describing Him +as already being Jehovah's <hi rend='italic'>First-born</hi>, saying, <q>I will make +Him, My First-born, higher than the kings of the earth.</q> +(Psa. 89:27.)</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>95</hi>, 86. +</p> + +<p> +3:15. <hi rend='sans'>I know thy works.</hi>—<q>The Laodicean Church has +much zeal, but not according to knowledge. She claims +that her principal object is to convert sinners, to bring +forth spiritual children. The Prophet puts these words +into the mouth of nominal Christians when they awake to +a knowledge of the situation: <q>We have been with child, +we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth +wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; +neither have the inhabitants of the earth fallen (become +converted).</q> (Isa. 26:16-18.)</q> (Z. '16-347.) The literal +city of Laodicea was distinguished for the raven blackness +of the fleeces (black sheep) there to be had. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That thou are neither cold.</hi>—Making no pretense whatever +to be exponents of God's Truth.—Luke 7:36-50. +</p> + +<pb n='066'/><anchor id='Pg066'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Nor hot.</hi>—Full of warm, loving devotion to Christ.—2 +Tim. 3:5; Ezek. 5:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I would thou wert cold or hot.</hi>—<q>Ephraim is a cake not +turned.</q>—Hos. 7:8. +</p> + +<p> +3:16. <hi rend='sans'>So then.</hi>—<q>The Spring of 1878, corresponding to +the date at which our Lord assumed the office of King, +rode on the ass, cleansed the Temple of its money-changers, +and wept over and gave up to desolation that +nominal church or kingdom, marks the date from which +the nominal church systems are not the mouth-pieces of +God, nor in any degree recognized by Him.</q>—B. 235. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because thou art THUS lukewarm and ART neither +[cold nor hot] HOT NOR COLD.</hi>—<q>Retaining the forms +of worship and faith in a Creator and in a future life, +but viewing these chiefly through their own or other +men's philosophies and theories, and ignoring the Bible +as an infallible teacher of the Divine purposes. These, +while retaining the Bible, disbelieve its narratives, especially +that of Eden and the fall. Retaining the name of +Jesus, and calling Him the Christ and the Savior, they +regard Him merely as an excellent though not infallible +Exemplar, and reject entirely His Ransom-sacrifice—His +cross. Claiming the Fatherhood of God to extend to +sinners, they repudiate both the curse and the Mediator.</q>—C. 167. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[I will spue thee out of My] REFRAIN THY mouth.</hi>—She +is bidden to hold her peace. She needs to <emph>study</emph>, not +to teach; and so the following verses indicate.—Hos. +5:6; 9:12. +</p> + +<p> +3:17. <hi rend='sans'>Because thou sayest I am rich.</hi>—I have all the +spiritual light that exists in the world. <q>I have much +goods laid up for many years.</q> (Luke 12:19.) <q>I sit a +queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.</q>—Rev. +18:7; Hos. 12:8; 1 Cor. 4:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And Increased with goods.</hi>—<q>Laodiceans count their +numbers and their donations by millions, and say, <q>We +are rich as never before.</q> Alas, that they do not realize +that these are earthly riches of the kind which our Lord +declares are no evidence of His favor during this Gospel +Age, but rather to the contrary! And they see not the +true riches which the Lord admires, and which are the +foretaste of His favor and the coming Kingdom wealth.</q>—Z. '01-56. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And have need of nothing.</hi>—<q>They will not own that +they have departed from the right ways of the Lord: in +their own estimation they are rich and increased with +goods, spiritual as well as temporal, and have need of +nothing.</q>—Mal. 3:7; Z. '92-261. +</p> + +<pb n='067'/><anchor id='Pg067'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And knowest not that thou.</hi>—Of all others, so the Greek +indicates. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Art wretched.</hi>—<q>To our eternal disgrace, the United +States leads all civilized countries in homicides—over +8,000 yearly. There are twelve murders in New England +to one in London; in California seventy-five to one; in +Nevada 245 to one.</q> (Z. '08-83.) <q>Each nation feels that +theirs is the greatest talent, theirs are the finest guns, +theirs the best everything; and it is this feeling of self-sufficiency +that led the nations into the present conflict. +They think that they are so good and so great that God +could not help giving them the victory.</q>—Z. '15-174. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And miserable.</hi>—<q>How blind we all have been not to +have noticed: (1) That the numbers of the heathen in +proportion even to the nominally Christian doubled last +century; (2) That if we could bring all the heathen up +to the standard of our most civilized nation it would +mean that God's will would be less done the world over +than it is now.</q>—Z. '08-83. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And poor.</hi>—<q>The Laodicean Church is poor in that she +has so little of the Master's Spirit, so little of the Truth +and of the Spirit of the Truth.</q>—Z. '01-56. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And blind.</hi>—<q>She cannot see afar off, cannot see either +the High Calling of the Church or the blessed provisions +of Restitution for the world in general.</q>—Z. '98-128. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And naked.</hi>—<q>The clergy, under the name of Higher +Criticism and Evolution, are rapidly denuding her, making +her naked, taking from her the robe of Christ's righteousness, +and leading her to trust, not in the precious blood +of the Redeemer, but in an evolutionary process which +needs no Savior, which denies that there is, or has been, +any sin to make atonement for.</q>—Z. '01-56. +</p> + +<p> +3:18. <hi rend='sans'>I counsel thee.</hi>—<q>Thou shalt guide me with Thy +counsel and afterward receive me into glory.</q>—Psa. 73:24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To buy of Me.</hi>—<q>Not until we lay hold by faith upon the +<emph>exceeding great and precious</emph> promises is there any of the +<q>gold</q> of the <q>Divine nature</q> in us. This treasure can be +<emph>purchased</emph> only at the cost of entire consecration, or sacrifice +of all that we have, to Christ</q>—Z. '96-44; Prov. +23:23; Matt. 13:44. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Gold tried in the fire.</hi>—<q>If we would purchase the <q>gold +<hi rend='italic'>tried in the fire</hi>,</q> it must be at the cost of faithful and +constant submission to the discipline of the Lord in fiery +trials. How otherwise can the dross be eliminated? +There is no other way. Wherefore, think it not strange; +let the fire burn; let the dross be consumed; and see to +it, beloved, that in the heat of the flame you remove not +the <q>living sacrifice.</q></q>—Z. '96-44; 1 Pet. 4:12. +</p> + +<pb n='068'/><anchor id='Pg068'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That thou mayest be rich.</hi>—<q>For ye know the grace of +our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for +your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty +might be rich.</q>—2 Cor. 8:9; Prov. 10:22; Lu. 12:21; 1 +Tim. 6:18; Jas. 2:5; Rev. 2:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And white raiment.</hi>—<q>The robe of Christ's imputed +righteousness, which so many are now discarding, to appear +before God in their own unrighteousness.</q>—D. 42; +Rev. 19:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That thou mayest be clothed.</hi>—<q>A glorious church, not +having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.</q>—Eph. 5:27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.</hi>—<q>Behold +I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth +and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they +see his shame.</q>—Rev. 16:15; Matt. 22:11-13; Isa. 47:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And anoint thine eyes with eyesalve.</hi>—From the Great +Physician. (Mark 2:17.) <q>Complete consecration and +submission to the Divine will as expressed in the Scriptures.</q>—D. 42. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That thou mayest see.</hi>—<q>The <q>master of the house</q> or +<q>householder</q> of the present dispensation is not <emph>our</emph> Lord, +but <emph>our</emph> Adversary, the Devil—<q>the god of this world,</q> <q>the +prince of the power of the air,</q> <q>the prince of this world,</q> +who now ruleth in the children of disobedience, <emph>blinding</emph> +the minds of all that believe not.</q>—D. 611; 2 Cor. 4:4; +Eph. 2:2; Psa. 13:3; 19:8; John 9:6, 41. +</p> + +<p> +3:19. <hi rend='sans'>As many as I love.</hi>—<q>As many as are honest and +at heart loyal to God.</q>—Z. '92-59. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I rebuke and chasten.</hi>—<q><q>My son, despise not thou the +chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked +of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.</q>—Prov. +3:11, 12; Heb. 12:5-8.</q>—Z. '96-44; Job 5:17; Jas. +1:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Be zealous, therefore, and repent.</hi>—<q>The lawyer who +makes legality his test instead of justice; the merchant +who is satisfied simply to conform to the code of his +trade, whose excuse for any dishonesty is, <q>They all do it</q>; +the <q>gentleman</q> or <q>lady</q> who puts good form and manners +in the place of sincerity and kindliness of heart, and +politeness in place of courtesy—all are alike animated +by the ecclesiastical conscience. It was this ecclesiastical +mind and this ecclesiastical conscience which crucified +Jesus Christ (Rt. Rev. Chas. D. Williams, Protestant +Episcopal Bishop of Michigan.)</q>—Z. '15-339. +</p> + +<p> +3:20. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, I stand at the door.</hi>—Some of the Scriptures, +which, when understood in their connections and +significance, prove that the Lord's Second Advent occurred +in the fall of 1874 are as follows: <q>Speak ye comfortably +<pb n='069'/><anchor id='Pg069'/> +to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare +is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she +hath received of the Lord's hand <emph>double</emph> for all her sins.</q> +(Isa. 40:2; B. 227.) <q>And first I will recompense their +iniquity and their sin <emph>double</emph>.</q> (Jer. 16:18; B. 218.) <q>Turn +you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even <emph>today</emph> +do I declare that I will render <emph>double</emph> unto thee.</q> (Zech. +9:12; B. 224.) <q>The <emph>fourteenth</emph> day of the second month, +at even, they shall keep it.</q> (Num. 9:11; Z. '98-68.) <q>And +when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there +were <emph>twins</emph>.</q> (Gen. 25:24; Z. '94-63.) <q>And when he was +full <emph>forty</emph> years old, it came into his heart to visit his +brethren. And when <emph>forty</emph> years were expired, there appeared +to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel +of the Lord.</q> <q>Wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, +and in the Red Sea, and in the Wilderness <emph>forty</emph> years.</q>—Acts +7:23, 30, 36; Z. '11-215. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand +three hundred and five and thirty days.</q> (Dan. 12:12; +C. 83.) <q>Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee +to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the +day of atonement.</q> (Lev. 25:9; B. 187.) <q>As long as she +lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten +years.</q> (2 Chron. 36:21; B. 195.) <q>In that day shall there +be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of +Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. +And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the +Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt.</q> (Isa. 19:19, 20; +C. 315.) <q>The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also +now save us.</q> (1 Pet. 3:21; Z. '05-181, Diagram.) <q>In the +first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, he made a proclamation.</q> +(Ezra 1:1; Z. '05-185.) <q>This house was finished +on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the +sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.</q> (Ezra 6:15; +Z. '05-185.) <q>This Ezra went up from Babylon.... +And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was +in the seventh year of the king.</q> (Ezra 7:6-8; Z. '05-185.) +<q>In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king.</q>—Neh. +2:1; Z. '05-185. +</p> + +<p> +Besides the above Scriptures, time-proofs of the Lord's +Return, are the fulfilments of the promised signs: The +Gospel has been preached in all the world for a witness: +(Matt. 24:14; A. 91); the abomination has been <emph>seen</emph> in the +holy place (Matt. 24:15; D. 572); the flight of the saints +from the antitypical <q>Judea</q> has occurred (Matt. 24:16; +D. 573); the great tribulation has commenced (Matt. +24:21; D. 540); the false Christs are with us (Matt. +24:23; D. 580); the eagles have gathered to the carcase +<pb n='070'/><anchor id='Pg070'/> +(Matt. 24:28; D. 610); the sun and moon have been +darkened (Matt. 24:29; D. 590); the Man of Sin has been +revealed (2 Thes. 2:8; T. 86; B. 271); the Elias has come +(Mal. 4:5; B. 251); the regathering of the Jews has +begun (Jer. 31:8; Z. '06-84); the refining of the sons +of Levi progresses (Mal. 3:1-3; Z. '05-378); the true +faith was nearly extinct in the earth (Luke 18:8; Z. '06-265); +the doctrines of devils are rampant (1 Tim. 4:1; +F. 621); the perilous times and all associated evils are +here (2 Tim. 3:1-7; Z. '99-99); the Lord God has given the +sinners water of gall to drink (Jer. 8:14; C. 158); the +mighty angel has roared, <q>Come out of her</q> (Rev. 18:4; +C. 155); the running to and fro is in evidence (Dan. 12:4; +C. 63); the antitypical Josiah has kept the great Passover +(2 Chron. 35:19; Z. '05-180); the land shadowed with wings +has played its part (Isa. 18:1; Z. '04-230); the watchman +has stood upon his tower (Hab. 2:1; C. 89); the wheels +within wheels are made clear (Ezek. 1:15); the Prophet +has come to the rebellious house (Ezek. 2:3); he has +eaten the book of her fate (Ezek. 2:9); the seven years +of astonishment are finished (Ezek. 3:15); the sieges of +390 years and 40 years are at an end (Ezek. 4:5, 6); the +image of jealousy has been disclosed (Ezek. 8:3); the +man with the writer's inkhorn has performed his task +(Ezek. 9:2); the removing is at an end (Ezek. 14:21); +the sword has been doubled the third time (Ezek. 21:15); +the point of the sword has been made bright (Ezek. +21:15); ecclesiasticism has been delivered unto brutish +persons (Ezek. 21:31); the desire of the faithful servant's +eyes has failed (Ezek. 24:16); the stilled voice is speaking +again.—Ezek. 33:22. +</p> + +<p> +The seven thunders have uttered their voices (Rev. +10:3); the seven last plagues have been poured out (Rev. +15:6); the voices of the three signs have been uttered +(Exod. 4:3-9; Z. '07-276); the ribband of blue (the Vow) +has done its work (Num. 15:38); the tares and wheat +have been separated (Matt. 13:30; C. 139); the net has +been drawn to the shore and the fish sorted (Matt. 13:48; +C. 214); the ambassadors of peace have wept bitterly +(Isa. 33:7); the foolish virgins have had their sound sleep +(Matt. 25:5; C. 92); the seven seals have been opened +(Rev. 8:1); the seven angels have sounded (Rev. 10:7; +B. 149); the nations are angry (Rev. 11:18); the winepress +of God's wrath has been trodden (Rev. 14:20); the +horses and chariot of fire have come for Elijah (2 Kings +2:11); the chariots are running like lightning (Nah. 2:4; +C. 272); the mighty angel has flown in the midst of +heaven (Rev. 14:6); the false worshippers have been tormented +<pb n='071'/><anchor id='Pg071'/> +with fire and brimstone (Rev. 14:10); Behemoth +and Leviathan have been beheld doing their work (Job +40:15-23; 41:1-34); the secret of the Lord has been shown +(Psa. 25:14; Z. '97-255); the Lord is judging His people +and gathering His saints (Psa. 50:4, 5; D. 75; B. 164); +the lightnings have enlightened the world (Psa. 97:4; +A. 171); the hills have melted like wax (Psa. 97:5; D. 551); +the banner has been lifted on the high mount (Isa. 13:2; +D. 40); the tables are full of vomit (Isa. 28:8; Z. '07-91); +the dumb dogs have failed to bark (Isa. 56:10; F. 287); +the silver has been cast into the streets (Ezek. 7:19); the +nations have all been shaken (Hag. 2:7; D. 528); the rain, +floods and winds have come on Christendom (Matt. 7:27; +Z. '06-95); the King has come in to see the guests (Matt. +22:11; C. 197); the speechless one has been bound hand +and foot and cast out (Matt. 22:13; C. 201); the Master +is reckoning with His servants (Matt. 25:19; F. 419); the +seas and the waves are roaring (Luke 21:25; D. 551); the +144,000 are standing on the sea of glass singing (Rev. +15:3; C. 237); the Devil has risen up against himself +(Mark 3:26; F. 641); the blood, fire and vapor of smoke +are here (Acts 2:19; D. 592); the brethren are not in +darkness and all others are (1 Thes. 5:4; B. 121); the +teachers having itching ears have turned unto fables (2 +Tim. 4:3; 4; F. 287; Z. '07-308); the twenty-four elders have +cast their crowns before the throne (Rev. 4:10); the predicted +scoffing has taken place (2 Pet. 3:3; B. 167); the laborers +have received their penny (Matt. 20:8); and these +are but 88 of the proofs hastily collected. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And knock.</hi>—<q>The knock, or proclamation of the Lord's +Presence, as indicated by the Old Testament prophecies, +has been given since 1875 and is still being given.</q>—Z. '04-124; +Lu. 12:36; Cant. 5:2-6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>If any man hear My voice.</hi>—<q>The knock is to be the +evidence of the Presence; and the servants are not to +know in advance, but are to know at the time of the arrival +and that without seeing.</q>—Z. '04-123. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] I WILL BOTH open the door.</hi>—When once we +give the Lord a welcome to our hearts, how He does open +the doors to joys we ne'er before knew! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[I will] AND come in to him.</hi>—<q>If a man love Me, he +will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We +will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.</q>—John +14:23. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And will sup.</hi>—Take the evening meal.—Lu. 12:37. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With him.</hi>—The Master Himself is feasting on the same +joys of the Father's Plan that delight our own hearts. +</p> + +<pb n='072'/><anchor id='Pg072'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he with Me.</hi>—<q>This serving of the servants by the +Master should be understood to be an individual work, and +not merely a collective service and feast.</q>—Z. '04-124. +</p> + +<p> +3:21. <hi rend='sans'>To him that overcometh.</hi>—<q>Let us not avoid the +Gethsemane moment if it come to us in the Lord's providence, +but let us also with strong cryings and tears look +up to Him who is able to save us out of death by the +glorious First Resurrection; and let us remember that if +we abide in His love, He is able and willing to bring us +off conquerors, yea, more than conquerors through His own +merit.</q>—Z. '06-348. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Will I grant.</hi>—If they prove faithful unto death. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To sit with Me.</hi>—<q>With the early Church, the promises +of Kingdom honor and joint-heirship with the Master were +strong incentives to faithfulness under present trials and +persecutions, which they had been forewarned to expect.</q>—A. 285. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In My Throne.</hi>—<q>God's appointed means of blessing the +world and causing the knowledge of the Lord to come to +every creature.</q>—A. 91; 1 Cor. 6:2; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 2:26, +27; 22:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Even as I also overcame.</hi>—<q>God sent an angel to comfort +and minister unto Him; to assure Him still of the Divine +favor, and thus to give Him fresh courage, strength of +mind and steadiness of nerve to endure all that was before +Him, even unto death. The bitterness of the mental conflict +was now over, and the light of Heaven shining into +His soul chased away the deep gloom that had hung over +Him like a funeral pall.</q>—Z. '06-348. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And am set down with My Father in His Throne.</hi>—<q>The +thousand years of the Millennial Reign will constitute but +a beginning of the exercise of the glory, honor and immortality +of these New Creatures. At its close when the Kingdom +shall be delivered up to <q>God, even the Father,</q> and +to mankind as the glorified agents of the Father to rule +the earth, a still larger sphere for the exercise of their +glory, honor and immortality will open before the New +Creation.</q>—F. 69; 1 Cor. 15:24-28. +</p> + +<p> +3:22. <hi rend='sans'>He that hath an ear.</hi>—<q>Blessed are your eyes, for +they see; and your ears, for they hear.</q>—Matt. 13:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Let him hear.</hi>—<q>For verily I say unto you, That many +Prophets and righteous men have desired to see those +things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear +those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.</q>—Matt. +13:17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>What the Spirit saith unto the churches.</hi>—Unto the seven +epochs, ending, respectively, in A. D. 73, 325, 1160, 1378, +1518, 1874 and 1918. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='073'/><anchor id='Pg073'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 4—The Author Of The Plan</head> + +<p> +4:1. <hi rend='sans'>After this.</hi>—After this first panorama of the seven +stages of the Church had passed. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in Heaven.</hi>—It +is only as the Lord, who holds the key, opens the door +to the understanding of Heavenly things, that we are able +to comprehend them.—Matt. 3:16; Ezek. 1:1; Rev. 19:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And BEHOLD the first voice which I heard was as it +were of a trumpet talking with me.</hi>—See comments on +Rev. 1:1; 7:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which said, Come up hither.</hi>—Not that St. John went to +Heaven at that time; he was merely given a vision of +Heavenly things. (Rev. 11:12.) <q>The seer now obtains a +higher spiritual standpoint.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.</hi>—The +Divine Plan for the permission of evil. +</p> + +<p> +4:2. <hi rend='sans'>[And] immediately I was in the spirit.</hi>—In a +trance condition.—Acts 10:10; Rev. 1:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And, behold, a Throne.</hi>—The Throne of the Heavenly +Father.—Isa. 6:1; Ezek. 1:26-28. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was set.</hi>—Permanently established. The same word as +in, <q>This Child is <emph>set</emph> for the fall and rising again of many +in Israel.</q> (Luke 2:34.) <q>I am <emph>set</emph> for the defence of the +Gospel.</q>—Phil. 1:17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In Heaven.</hi>—<q>Whither the Forerunner is for us entered, +even Jesus.</q>—Heb. 6:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And One.</hi>—Jehovah, <q>the God and Father of our Lord +Jesus Christ</q> (1 Pet. 1:3), the Author of the Divine Plan +for the permission of evil, in the recreation of a perfect +human race, and in the creation of a race of gods, sons of +Himself. <q>God designed to <emph>permit evil</emph>, because, having +the remedy provided for man's release from its consequences, +He saw that the result would be to lead him the +more to love and honor his Creator, who is the source +and fountain of all goodness, and forever to shun that +which brought so much woe and misery.</q> (A. 124.) <q>Not +only are men benefited to all eternity by the experience +gained, and angels by their observation of man's experiences, +but all are further advantaged by a fuller acquaintance +with God's Character as manifested in His Plan. +Had sin not been permitted, the sacrifice of our Lord +<pb n='074'/><anchor id='Pg074'/> +Jesus and of His Church, the reward of which is the Divine +nature, would have been impossible.</q>—A. 135. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Sat on the Throne.</hi>—Of the Universe. <q>All can see the +propriety of the Almighty's decision that He shall be +recognized as the Center of authority, wisdom, justice, +love and power; for this is the <emph>truth</emph>, and anything else +would be untruth and to that extent evil, injurious.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>57</hi>, +52; Rev. 7:10; Dan. 7:9. +</p> + +<p> +4:3. <hi rend='sans'>And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper.</hi>—<q>And +the building of the wall of it was of <emph>jasper</emph>: and +the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the +foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with +all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was +<emph>jasper</emph>.</q> (Rev. 21:18, 19.) <q>A precious stone, variegated +with divers colors, and of a very hard quality; some have +been found of a sea-green color.</q> (Diaglott note.) <q>The +ancient <emph>jasper</emph> thus appears to have been frequently translucent, +but the modern is opaque.</q> (McC.) The jasper, +therefore, is supposed to refer to the modern rare and +beautiful green-tinted diamond. The diamond is the hardest +substance known, excelling in brilliancy and beautiful +play of prismatic colors. The crystals of which it is composed +are bounded by <emph>eight</emph> equal equilateral triangles; +<emph>twenty-four</emph> angles in all, constituting a perfect double +pyramid, set base to base. How adorable, how sublime, +how perfect is our God! How impossible to describe Him! +To know Him aright will require eternity. The jasper +seems especially to illustrate His glory, perfection and +<emph>prescience</emph>. (He uses twenty-four elders—prophecies.) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And a sardine stone.</hi>—<q>The sard, which is a superior +variety of agate, has long been a favorite stone for the +engraver's art. On this stone all the finest works of the +most celebrated artists are to be found; and this not without +good cause, such is its toughness, facility of working, +beauty of color, and the high polish of which it is susceptible, +and which it retains longer than any other gem. The +sardius is the stone now called the carnelian, from its +color, which resembles that of raw flesh. It is supposed to +stop hemorrhage when laid on a fresh wound.</q> (McC.) +The sardius seems especially to illustrate God's love, His +memory of His creatures, and His purpose of a resurrection +for all smitten in Adam and redeemed in Christ. Will +God forget to raise any of His blood-bought? <q>Can a +woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have +compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, +yet will I not forget thee. Behold I have graven thee +upon the palms of My hands.</q>—Isa. 49:15, 16. +</p> + +<pb n='075'/><anchor id='Pg075'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there was a rainbow.</hi>—<q>The rainbow has always +been an emblem of <emph>peace</emph>. It appears on the cloud as the +storm passes away. It contrasts beautifully with the tempest +that has just been raging. It is seen as the rays of +the sun again appear clothing all things with beauty—the +more beautiful from the fact that the storm has come. +It is a pledge that the war of the elements has ceased, and +that God smiles again upon the earth. The appearance of +the rainbow around the Throne was a beautiful emblem of +the mercy of God, and of the peace that was to pervade +the world as the result of the events that were to be disclosed +to the vision of John.</q> (Barnes.) The rainbow is +characterized by seven colors—perfection. (Ezek. 1:28.) +It represents not only the bow of promise for mankind, +but the <emph>peace</emph> of God. It is His <emph>Plan</emph>. <q>From His own vast +inherent resources of power and wisdom, springs the +peace of God. But not from this source alone is the Divine +peace; for peace is the certain concomitant of inherent +goodness. God is the impersonation of every virtue and +every grace; consequently He has the blessed satisfaction +and peace of conscious moral perfection as well as inherent +wisdom and power.</q> (Z. '95-153.) <q>During the seventh +millennium, according to the Divine purpose, it will be the +joyful privilege of our Lord Jesus to fully manifest to all +creatures in Heaven and in earth the Father's glorious +character. Then will the Father rejoice in the grandeur of +His finished work and in the everlasting peace and happiness +of His family in Heaven and in earth, <q>reunited under +one head.</q> (Eph. 1:10, <hi rend='italic'>Diaglott</hi>.)</q>—Z. '95-155. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Round about the Throne.</hi>—Justice is <q>the habitation of +Thy Throne.</q> (Psa. 89:14.) <q>God's law is stern Justice, +with no allowances, ready to consume as a fire everything +blemished. Who cannot see that if God could deal with +sinners, and condoning their sins, accept their best endeavors, +though imperfect, there would have been no +necessity for a Redeemer? And thus, to all eternity, there +might be danger of sin on the part of those who had not +already dabbled in it. Seeing this, it does not surprise +us that God, in the interest of all His holy creatures, as +well as for His own pleasure, decides that He will recognize +nothing short of perfection in any creature, and +makes <emph>Justice</emph> the foundation of His Throne.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>481</hi>, 472. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In sight like unto an emerald.</hi>—<q>The same with the ancient +<foreign rend='italic'>smaragdus</foreign>; one of the most beautiful of gems, of a +bright green color, without any mixture.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Diaglott.</hi> <q>The +<emph>emerald</emph>, of bright green color, <q>was the most precious gem +in the Roman jeweller's list.... The Romans were +plentifully supplied with the true emerald. The <foreign rend='italic'>smaragdus</foreign> +<pb n='076'/><anchor id='Pg076'/> +of Nero's age must be restricted to the true emerald, +perhaps including the green ruby.</q> (King.)</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist. +of Precious Stones.</hi> The color of the emerald, green, signifies +everlastingness. <q>From everlasting to everlasting +thou art God.</q>—Psa. 90:2; Ezek. 1:28. +</p> + +<p> +4:4. <hi rend='sans'>And round about the Throne.</hi>—Encompassing it on +all sides—always in mind—never out of sight. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Were] SAW I four and twenty seats.</hi>—<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Thronoi</foreign>, thrones, +places of highest exaltation—the twenty-four angles (viewpoints) +of the diamond.—Rev. 4:3,10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And upon the seats [I saw four and twenty] elders sitting.</hi>—<emph>Personifications</emph> +of the testimonies of twenty-four +Prophets (Heb. 11:2), who foretold things pertaining to +the Kingdom of God. Not the Prophets themselves are +here referred to. They are not in Heaven. <q>David is not +ascended into the Heavens.</q> (Acts 2:34.) Daniel still +<q>sleeps in the dust of the earth.</q> (Dan. 12:2, 13.) None +of the Prophets are in Heaven: <q>God having provided +some better thing for us, that they without us should not +be made perfect.</q> (Heb. 11:40.) But from the time that +<q>holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy +Spirit</q> (2 Pet. 1:21), the utterances of Enoch, Jacob, +Moses, Samuel, Job, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, +Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, +Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi +and John the Baptist, have been witnesses before God +that there shall be <q>Times of Refreshing</q>—<q>Times of +Restitution.</q>—Acts 3:19-21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Clothed in white raiment.</hi>—All of these men considered +themselves unworthy to be God's mouthpieces. Jacob +said, <q>I am not worthy of the least of all Thy mercies, and +of all the truth which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant.</q> +(Gen. 32:10.) Moses said, <q>Who am I that I should +go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children +of Israel out of Egypt?</q> (Exod. 3:11.) David said, <q>Who +am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that Thou hast +brought me hitherto?</q> (2 Sam. 7:18.) Solomon said, <q>I +am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come +in.</q> (1 Kings 3:7.) Isaiah said, <q>Woe is me! for I am +undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell +in the midst of a people of unclean lips.</q> (Isa. 6:5.) Jeremiah +said, <q>Ah, Lord God! behold I cannot speak: for I +am a child.</q> (Jer. 1:6.) Daniel said, <q>This secret is +not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have.</q> (Dan. +2:30.) And John the Baptist said, <q>I have need to be baptised +of Thee, and comest Thou to me?</q> (Matt. 3:14.) +But the Lord knoweth them that are His (2 Tim. 2:19); +and whatever they may think of themselves, if they are +<pb n='077'/><anchor id='Pg077'/> +God's mouthpieces, they are clean. Isaiah's utterances are +spotless in the sight of God—clothed in white raiment.—Isa. +6:6, 7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [they] had on their heads crowns of gold.</hi>—The +glory of God—Love, God's highest attribute. If there are +any prophets that do not have something to say about +God's loving arrangement for Times of Restitution, then +they are not holy. Judged by this standard, how many of +the clergy of our day are holy?—Acts 3:19-21. +</p> + +<p> +4:5. <hi rend='sans'>And out of the Throne proceeded lightnings.</hi>—<q>How +apt is this figure! Truly like lightning flashes in +the midst of the gloom and perplexity of this cloudy day, +come to men remarkable glimpses of the great principles +of Truth and Righteousness. A flash of lightning from the +obscured Throne discloses here one error, and there another, +and another. It is remarkable that these lightning +flashes are continually calling attention to the Word of +God, to the Golden Rule. It seems remarkable, too, how +often in these days of war and stress <emph>worldly</emph> men are +drawing attention to the prophecies of the Scriptures.</q>—Z. '16-339; +Rev. 8:5; 16:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND VOICES.</hi>—<q>As a result of God's lightning flashes +which are enlightening the world, there are ominous mutterings +of dissatisfaction, unrest. The lightning flashes +are revealing the corruption in the world, the dishonesty +in high places; with conflicting ideas, voices, theories and +threats, <q>the nations are angry,</q> <q>the heathen [Gentiles, +peoples] rage,</q> and the whole earth trembles from the din +of a wordy conflict and from the blows which even now +are beginning to arouse the world.</q>—Z. '16-340. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And thunderings [and voices.]</hi>—<q>We hear the thunder +tones of judgment that <q>call the earth from the rising of +the sun unto the going down thereof</q> (Psa. 50:1); we see +the whole earth now in the shaking process which will +eventuate in the complete overthrow of all existing institutions, +systems and governments. Present events indeed +speak in trumpet tones.</q>—Z. '16-340; Ex. 19:16; Rev. 8:5; +11:19; 16:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the +Throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.</hi>—Perfect +knowledge.—Rev. 1:4; 3:1. +</p> + +<p> +4:6. <hi rend='sans'>And before the Throne.</hi>—In the earth, and everywhere +throughout the Universe.—Rev. 5:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>There was AS a sea of glass.</hi>—<q>The troubled surface +which Daniel and Isaiah beheld (Dan. 7:2, 3; Isa. 57:20) +became when seen before the Throne of God, calm and +clear; reflecting as from a mirror, every fulfilment of the +Divine purposes.</q> (Cook.) (Rev. 21:18, 21; Ex. 24:10.) +<pb n='078'/><anchor id='Pg078'/> +The sea (godless conditions about them) has been a means +of purifying earth's future priests.—1 Ki. 7:23-26, 38, 39. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Like unto crystal.</hi>—Indicating that nothing escapes +God's notice; all is transparent. <q>For centuries skeptics +have been disposed to smile incredulously at the words of +our Lord, <q>Enter into thy closet; and when thou hast shut +thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy +Father which <emph>seeth in secret</emph> shall reward thee openly.</q> +(Matt. 6:6.) Now that an electric ray can be passed +through opaque substances, such as paper, wood, cloth, +leather, aluminium, animal flesh, etc., can these scientists +any longer mock at Christians for <q>credulity,</q> because we +believe that <q>All things are naked and opened unto the +eyes of Him with whom we have to do</q>? (Heb. 4:13.) <q>He +that formed the ear shall He not hear? He that formed +the eye shall He not see?</q> Now we begin to see how it is +that <q>There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; +and hid, that shall not be known.</q></q>—Z. '96-27; Ezek. 1:22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And in the midst of the Throne.</hi>—Woven into its very +fabric. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And round about the Throne.</hi>—Completely encircling and +enveloping it. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were four beasts.</hi>—<q>Living ones</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Diaglott</hi>.); the four +immortal attributes of Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.—Ezek. +1:5, 6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Full of eyes before and behind.</hi>—Seeing clearly everything +that will ever occur in the future, and everything +that has ever transpired in the past.—Ezek. 10:4, 12. +</p> + +<p> +4:7. <hi rend='sans'>And the first beast.</hi>—Justice was the attribute first +manifested toward our sinful race. <q>God has found it +necessary to perform the unpleasant duties of discipline; +and though all the while His fatherly love was preparing +to bless the deceived and fallen ones when the purposes +of redemption should restore the repentant to His favor, +Love must be veiled while only stern, relentless Justice +could be manifested. This has been no happifying duty.</q>—Z. '95-154. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was like a lion.</hi>—The characteristics of the lion illustrate +this attribute: The teeth are of the highest carnivorous +type, adapted to seizing and holding firmly. Although +occasionally seen abroad during the day, especially in wild +and desolate regions, the <emph>night</emph> (Psa. 30:5) is the period +of its greatest activity. The usual pace of a lion is a +walk; and, though apparently rather slow, yet he is able +to get over a good deal of ground in a short time. As a +rule, he kills only when hungry or attacked, and not for +the mere pleasure of killing.—Ezek. 1:10; 10:14. +</p> + +<pb n='079'/><anchor id='Pg079'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the second beast.</hi>—Power, exhibited in the Flood, +was the second of God's attributes manifested to man. +<q>God, the Creator of all things, is also the competent Sustainer +of all things. In silent grandeur, from age to age, +the whole physical Universe fulfils His will, without a +suspicion of disorder or mishap; and the same Power is +pledged for its sustenance throughout the eternal future.</q>—Z. '95-153; +Ezek. 1:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Like a calf.</hi>—With the Hebrews the calf (young ox) was +the emblem of Power, the attribute of God with which +they were principally acquainted. As an agricultural people, +they were brought in frequent contact with it, the +strongest of all the domestic animals. They were brought +out of Egypt by a <q>mighty power and a stretched out +arm</q> (Deut. 9:29); and when they sought to make a representation +of it, the form selected was a golden calf.—Deut. +9:16-21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the third beast.</hi>—Love, exhibited in the Father sending +His Only-Begotten Son to die that we might live, was +the third of God's attributes manifested to man. <q>Our +recovery cost the sacrifice of the dearest treasure of His +heart, and the subjection of this Beloved One to the most +abject humiliation, ignominy, suffering and death. Ah, did +the Father let Him go on that errand of mercy without the +slightest sensation of sorrowful emotion? had He no appreciation +of the pangs of a father's love when the arrows of +death pierced the heart of His beloved Son? When our +dear Lord said, <q>My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto +death,</q> and again, <q>Father, if it be possible, let this cup +pass from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou +wilt,</q> did it touch no sympathetic chord in the heart of the +Eternal? Yea, verily.</q>—Z. '95-154. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Had a face [as] LIKE a man.</hi>—The embodiment of love. +(A. 174.) <q>Close your eyes for a moment to the scenes of +misery and woe, degradation and sorrow that yet prevail +on account of sin, and picture before your mental vision +the glory of the perfect earth. Not a stain of sin mars the +harmony and peace of a perfect society; not a bitter +thought, not an unkind look or word; love, welling up +from every heart, meets a kindred response in every other +heart, and benevolence marks every act. Think of all the +pictures of comparative health and beauty of human form +and feature that you have ever seen, and know that perfect +humanity will be of still surpassing loveliness. The +inward purity and mental and moral perfection will stamp +and glorify every radiant countenance.</q>—A. 191; Ezek. 1:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the fourth beast.</hi>—Wisdom, as exhibited in the +Father's Plan, now unfolded before our delighted gaze, is +<pb n='080'/><anchor id='Pg080'/> +the fourth, and complete, manifestation of God to man. +<q>He is never confused, bewildered, perplexed, anxious or +careworn, or in the least fearful that His plans will miscarry +or His purposes fail; because all power and wisdom +inhere in Him. The scope of His mighty intellect reaches +to the utmost bounds of possibility, comprehends all +causes and discerns with precision all effects; consequently +He knows the end from the beginning, and that, +not only upon philosophical principles, but also by intuition. +As the Creator of all things and the Originator of all +law, He is thoroughly acquainted with all the intricate subtleties +of physical, moral and intellectual law, so that no +problem could arise, the results of which are not manifest +to His mind. <q>God is light, and in Him is no darkness +at all.</q> (1 John 1:5.)</q>—Z. '95-153. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was like a flying eagle.</hi>—Of all known birds, the eagle +flies the highest and with the greatest rapidity. <q>As the +heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher +than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.</q> +(Isa. 55:9.) The ones attracted to Present Truth are the +eagles, the far-sighted ones that <q>behold the land that is +very far off.</q> (Matt. 24:28; 2 Pet. 1:9; Isa. 33:16, 17; Psa. +103:5.) In the training of its young the eagle manifests +wisdom of high order: <q><q>As an eagle stirreth up her nest</q> +(she mixes the thorny outside with the downy inside, so +that the eaglets will leave it and learn to fly), so God, by +His testing providences makes the place of rest one of +unrest to us, and thus lures us out to trust ourselves to +His care and guidance over untried ways.</q>—Z. '04-116. +</p> + +<p> +4:8. <hi rend='sans'>And the four beasts.</hi>—Justice, Power, Love and +Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Had each of them six wings about him.</hi>—<q>Above it stood +the seraphims (Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom): each +one had six wings, and with twain he did fly. And one +cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of +Hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.</q> (Isa. 6:2, +3.) <q>The vision of Isaiah is a prophecy of the future, +when the <q>glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all +flesh shall see it together</q> in the establishment of the +Kingdom of God during the Millennium. (Isa. 40:5.) Only +from this prophetic standpoint would the words of the +seraphim be true; for the whole earth has never yet been +filled with the Lord's glory; but on the contrary, the earth +is full of sin and violence, and every evil work.</q> (Z. '98-305.) +Six is a symbol of imperfection, and in the light of the +foregoing seems to refer to the six thousand years of the +permission of evil, the theme of the entire Book of Revelation. +For the first two thousand years, from the fall to +<pb n='081'/><anchor id='Pg081'/> +the covenant with Abraham, God's face was almost entirely +hidden from man. For the next two thousand years, until +the death of Christ, it was not apparent how the place of +God's feet, His footstool, should ever be made glorious. +(Isa. 60:13; 66:1.) But since then, for two thousand years, +God's Love has been manifest to all, and <q>the earnest expectation +of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of +the sons of God</q> (Rom. 8:19), to set up the Kingdom, the +Golden Age, for which we all so long have prayed. (Matt. +6:10.) The wings operate in pairs. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they were full of eyes within.</hi>—Nothing has transpired, +or will ever transpire, without God's knowledge. In +the past six thousand years, whether hidden or partially +revealed, God's Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom, have +been in touch with all of earth's affairs.—Ezek. 10:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they HAVE NO rest [not] day and night.</hi>—Not eternal +idleness, but eternal work in the interest of others will +be our reward. <q>My Father worketh until now, and I +work.</q> (John 5:17.) <q>I must work the works of Him that +sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh when no man +can work.</q> (John 9:4.) <q>We are His workmanship, created +in Christ Jesus unto good works.</q> (Eph. 2:10.) <q>It is God +which worketh in you both to will and to do.</q> (Phil. 2:13.) +<q>We are laborers together with God.</q> (1 Cor. 3:9.) +<q>Workers together with Him.</q> (2 Cor. 6:1.) <q>Who shall +change the Body of our humiliation, that it may be fashioned +like unto His glorious Body, according to the working +whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself.</q>—Phil. +3:21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Holy, holy, holy, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, +HOLY.</hi>—The Sinaitic MS. repeats the word <q>holy</q> eight +times. (See Rev. 4:3.) In the seventh thousand-year +Day God will bring all things to perfection through The +Christ, yet it is the eighth Day that marks the complete +separation from the old order of things. The Jewish +child was circumcised on the eighth day (Luke 1:59; +Phil. 3:5); seven days a sheep was to be with its dam, +and on the eighth given to the Lord (Exod. 22:30); the +eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles was to be a holy +convocation unto the Lord. (Lev. 23:36, 39.) In the eighth +thousand-year Day of mankind's history on the earth, circumcision +of the heart will be complete in all, all the +sheep will have been turned over to the Father, and the +holy convocation of eternity will have begun, <q>the grand +epoch when there shall be no more sighing, no more crying, +no more pain and no more dying, because God's work +of creation shall then have been completed so far as this +earth is concerned.</q>—F. 51. +</p> + +<pb n='082'/><anchor id='Pg082'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Lord God Almighty.</hi>—Jehovah. This scene is located in +Heaven, where even the Son Himself is subject unto the +Father.—1 Cor. 15:28. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which was.</hi>—The great First Cause. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And is.</hi>—The great <q>I AM.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And is to come.</hi>—And evermore shall be. +</p> + +<p> +4:9. <hi rend='sans'>And when those beasts.</hi>—Justice, Power, Love and +Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Give.</hi>—Shall eternally continue to give, so the Greek +indicates. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on the +Throne.</hi>—Their united testimony to the perfection of His +character in all its attributes, as they are now doing, since +His Wisdom has been unveiled. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Who liveth for ever and ever, AMEN.</hi>—And will forever +use those attributes in the blessing of all the willing +and obedient throughout the Universe. +</p> + +<p> +4:10. <hi rend='sans'>The four and twenty elders.</hi>—The personifications +of the messages of the twenty-four Prophets who foretold +the coming Kingdom of God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fall down before Him that sat on the Throne.</hi>—Unitedly +bear witness to His perfect ability to foretell the future. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, AMEN.</hi>—Magnify +His perfect Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And cast.</hi>—Shall eternally continue to cast, so the Greek +indicates. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Their crowns before the Throne, saying.</hi>—(1) <hi rend='italic'>Enoch</hi> was +the first of the holy Prophets; and according to the Apostle +Jude he prophesied of the coming reign of Christ and His +glorious Bride, to judge the world, saying: <q>The Lord +cometh with a myriad of His saints, to execute judgment.</q> +(Jude 14, 15.) That there shall be such a glorious and +blessed Judgment Day, full of hope and joy for all the +world, the Apostle Paul says is definitely decreed in the +counsels of God, <q>whereof He hath given assurance,</q> +grounds for confident, joyful anticipation, <q>unto all men.</q> +(Acts 17:31.) When that happy time comes, <q>the inhabitants +of the world will learn righteousness</q> (Isa. 26:9), +and <q>the poor of the people will be lifted up</q> (Psa. 72:2-4, +12-14.) It will be the long-promised poor man's chance. +</p> + +<p> +(2) <hi rend='italic'>Jacob</hi> was one of the holy Prophets; and in Gen. +49:10 he says, <q>The sceptre shall not depart from Judah +nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; +and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.</q> The +sceptre means the right to rule, the title to power; and +Shiloh means peacemaker. So this prophecy is merely another +way of saying that Judah would be the ancestor of +the great Lawgiver, the great <q>Prince of Peace</q> into +<pb n='083'/><anchor id='Pg083'/> +whose hands God, in due time, will <q>give the heathen for +an inheritance,</q> <q>that they may all call upon the name of the +Lord to serve Him with one consent.</q>—Psa. 2:8; Zeph. 3:9. +</p> + +<p> +(3) <hi rend='italic'>Moses</hi>, as a historian, recorded God's original purpose +to give man dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:28); His +declaration to the serpent that the Seed of the woman +should bruise its head (Gen. 3:15); the promise to Abraham +that in him all the families of the earth shall be +blessed (Gen. 12:3); that Abraham's inheritance should be +an earthly one (Gen. 13:15); and an everlasting one (Gen. +17:8); that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed +in him (Gen. 18:18); that in his Seed shall all the nations +of the earth be blessed (Gen. 22:18); to Isaac, that in his +Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen. +26:4); to Jacob, that in his Seed shall all the families of +the earth be blessed (Gen. 28:14); to Jacob again, that he +should be a joint-heir with Abraham and Isaac of the land +of Canaan (Gen. 35:12); by the sacrifices after the day of +atonement was typically shown the perfection of mankind +in the Millennium (Lev. 1:5); by the glory appearing unto +all the people was foretold their future release from sin +and death (Lev. 9:23); by the acceptance of a goat as a +sin-offering for the people we see blessings of life for the +world after the Church's career is finished (Lev. 16:15); +and by the sounding of the jubilee trumpet, the proclamation +of liberty to the captives and the return of every man to +his possession, we see the world's restoration to the image +and likeness of God. (Lev. 25:10.) As a Prophet, his declarations +show that throughout the Gospel Age God would +raise up a great Prophet and Deliverer like unto himself +(The Christ), to whom shall all the people give heed in the +Millennial Age (Deut. 18:15, 19); and that this great Deliverer +then would set before them life, if obedient, and +death, if disobedient.—Deut. 30:15. +</p> + +<p> +(4) <hi rend='italic'>Samuel</hi>, as a historian, recorded Hannah's prophecy, +<q>The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth +down to hell and bringeth up.</q> (1 Sam. 2:6.) This is one +of the first places in the Bible where we are shown that +what goes into hell does not necessarily stay there. Another +instance, in which Samuel foretold pictorially the +coming of the better King, was in the case of the coronation +of King Saul. Saul had been selected king, but had +an attack of bashfulness; and when they had searched, +they found him behind the baggage. The record is, <q>They +ran, and fetched him thence; and when he stood among +the people, he was higher than any of the people from his +shoulders and upward. And Samuel said, See ye him +whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him +<pb n='084'/><anchor id='Pg084'/> +among the people? And all the people shouted and said, +God save the king.</q> (1 Sam. 10:17-24.) Saul was God's +choice for king; his name means <q>desired,</q> and in this +he typified Christ, the <q>desire of all nations.</q> This incident +looks forward to the time when all the people of the world +will say of Christ, <q>Oh! who is like unto our God? Lo! +This is our God; this is our King; this is the One we have +waited for; He is head and shoulders, as a ruler, above +all kings and rulers we have had.</q> +</p> + +<p> +(5) <hi rend='italic'>Job</hi>, after the Sabeans had made off with his oxen +and asses, after a bolt of lightning had burned up his +sheep, after the Chaldeans had stolen his camels and murdered +his servants, after a whirlwind had blown down his +house and killed all his children, after he was covered +with boils from head to foot, after his wife had gone back +on him, and after his three remaining friends tried to +prove to him that he was a hypocrite, prayed that he +might go to hell and stay there until God's wrath should +be past, and that then God would remember him in resurrection. +(Job 14:13-15.) Job records Elihu's prophetic +statement that when the Messenger of the Covenant has +returned, death will cease and men not need to go into +the tomb. (Job 33:19-30.) Job also describes the steam +engine—stationary, railway and marine. +</p> + +<p> +The following is a corrected translation of Job 40:15 to +41:34, with comments thereon from the pen of one of +Pastor Russell's followers: <q rend='pre'>Behold now one with great +heat [the stationary steam engine], which I have made to +be with thee; he will consume fodder [peat, wood, coal] +as do cattle. Behold now his strength is in his loins +[boiler plates], and his power is within the parts bent in +a circle [boiler shell] of his belly. His tail [smoke stack—opposite +the feeding end] will set upright like a cedar; the +couplings of his leaping parts [connecting rods, pitmans] +will be clamped together. His bones are tubes of copper; +his solid bones [grate bars] are as hammered-out bars of +iron. He is the greatest of the ways of power. He that +made him [the Lord] can make His sword [Word] to approach +unto [reveal] him. [Isa. 27:1, 2.] He shall rest +under thin shelter [steam jackets] within a covering of +fibrous reeds [jute] and clay [mortar]. The willows of +the valley [the trees overhead] will enclose him around +about Behold [as a pumping engine] he will drink up an +overflowing river without much exertion; he will cause the +people to trust [that their cellars will keep dry], though +a Jordan should rush forth over its border. He will gather +it up in his fountains by means of traps and with a perforated +nozzle.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='085'/><anchor id='Pg085'/> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Thou wilt lengthen out leviathan [the locomotive] with +a hook [automatic coupler] or with a snare [coupling-pin] +which thou wilt cause his tongue [coupling-link] to drop +down. Wilt thou not place a ring [piston] in his nostrils +[cylinders] or pierce through his cheeks [piston-ends] +with a staff [piston-rod]? Will he make repeated supplication +unto thee [to get off the track]? Or will he utter +soft tones unto thee [when he screeches with the whistle]? +Will he make a covenant with thee, that thou mayest take +him for a servant forever [without repairs]? Wilt thou +play with him as with a bird [make him whistle at will]? +Or wilt thou bind [enslave] him for thy maidens [so that +you can take them to a picnic or convention]? Companies +[of stockholders] will feast upon him [his earnings]; they +will share him among speculators. [Psa. 74:14.] Thou +wilt fill his skin with pointed irons [bolts], and his head +with a cabin of fishermen [a cab similar to the cabins on +fishing vessels]. Place thy hand upon him, be mindful of +the conflict [raging within the boiler] and thou wilt add no +further questions. Behold, his confidence [boiler] being +deceived [not properly supplied with water], shall not at +once his mighty form be spread asunder [by an explosion]? +There is none so bold that he will stir him up [to +run at his very highest possible speed], and none who will +then place himself before him [to be run over]. Who will +compete with this one and endure [pass him on the +track]? Under the whole heaven, none, unless [one like] +himself.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will not pass in silence his members, nor the cause of +his mighty forces, nor the beauty of his equipment. Who +can strip off the facings of his jacket? Who can penetrate +between the double lap of his shield [the overlapping sections +of the boiler plates]? Who can force open the doors +of his shield [the boiler ends]? The circuits of his teeth +[rows of rivets] are formidable. His strength depends on +courses of shields [sections of plates] closed up tightly +with a seal [calked]. They shall join one upon another +so that a hiss of air [steam] shall not escape from between +them. One to the other shall adhere. They will be +welded together that they cannot be sundered. In his +sneezing [when he puffs from the cylinders] light will +shine, a flood of light pervading the mass of vapors: and +his eyes [headlights] will be as the eyelashes of the morning +[as rays of light from the rising sun]. Out of his +mouth [fire-door] will leap forth flaming torches, and +[from the smoke stack] glowing sparks will slip themselves +away. From his nostrils [cylinders] will issue forth +vapor as from a boiling pot or caldron. His inhaling +<pb n='086'/><anchor id='Pg086'/> +[forced draft] will vivify burning coals, and a flame will +leap forth from his mouth. Within his neck abideth +strength, and a desolation will dance with joy [become a +prosperous community] at his presence. The separable +parts of his body are connected together; all will be made +fast upon him; nothing will be shaky. His heart will be +indurated similar to a stone, and will be firm as a piece of +the lower [rocks]. When at his full speed the most courageous +will fear [lest], from accidents, they lose themselves. +When dryness exalteth him [or renders him furious], +he will not have power to withhold; the curved +vault [fire box] being caused to tear away, and also the +armor. He will esteem iron as straw, and brass as rotten +wood. The archer cannot make him flee; missiles [of +war] will be turned unto him as chaff. The [strokes of a] +hammer will be esteemed as chaff; he will rejoice at the +poking of the fireman. Hewed [or notched] timbers of the +craftsman [ties] are under him; he will spread an embankment +[or trench] upon the mire. He will [as a marine +engine] cause deep [places] to become as a boiling +pot [about his propellers]; he will make the sea to appear +like boiling ointment. He will make a path to shine after +him; one will think the deep to be growing gray. [Psa. +104:26; Isa. 27:1.] Upon the earth there is not his like—he +that is [so] constructed that he can fear nothing. He +can oversee [control by his work] all that which is great; +he is indeed king over all conceptions of power.</q> +</p> + +<p> +(6) <hi rend='italic'>David</hi> foresaw a time when all the ends of the +world shall remember and turn unto the Lord; and all the +kindreds of the nations shall worship before Him (Psa. +22:27); that after this dark night of weeping will come a +morning of joy (Psa. 30:5); that the meek shall inherit +the earth (Psa. 37:11); that those who are now the King's +enemies shall be converted and praise Him for ever and +ever (Psa. 45:5, 17); that wars shall cease to the ends of +the earth and the Lord alone be exalted (Psa. 46:10); that +the ignominious shall come forth from the grave and the +upright shall have dominion over them in the morning +(Psa. 49:14); that the Lord will be the confidence of all +the ends of the earth (Psa. 65:5); that His saving health +will be made known among all nations, that all the nations +shall praise Him, and that He will judge and govern them +righteously at the time the earth shall yield her increase +(Psa. 67:1-7); that the people shall be scattered that delight +in war (Psa. 68:30); that peace shall come to the +people, that the poor shall be delivered from the oppressor, +that the flesh, which, as dried grass is ready to die, shall +be given new life and that the fruits of the earth shall +<pb n='087'/><anchor id='Pg087'/> +shake like a forest (Psa. 72:3, 4, 6, 16); that the poor and +needy will be delivered out of the hand of the wicked +(Psa. 82:4); that mercy and truth will meet, righteousness +and peace kiss each other and truth spring out of the +earth when righteousness looks down from Heaven (Psa. +85:10, 11); that all nations the Lord has made shall come +and worship before Him and glorify His name (Psa. 86:9); +that He will say, Return, to the men He has turned into +destruction (Psa. 90:3); that the world shall be established +so that it shall not be moved (Psa. 93:1); that the heavens, +earth, seas, fields and trees of the wood shall rejoice because +the Lord is coming to judge the earth with righteousness +and the people with His truth (Psa. 96:11-13); that all +the earth shall join in a joyful noise to the Lord, songs of +praise, harps, psalms, trumpets and cornets, while the +seas, floods and hills clap their hands because He comes +to judge the earth (Psa. 98:4-9); and that the foundations +of the earth have been laid so that it shall not be removed, +but be forever the home of a perfect, happy human race.—Psa. +104:5. +</p> + +<p> +(7) <hi rend='italic'>Solomon</hi> declared that the upright shall dwell in +the land and the perfect shall remain in it (Prov. 2:21); +that the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth +(Prov. 11:31); and that the earth abideth forever.—Ecclesiastes +1:4. +</p> + +<p> +(8) <hi rend='italic'>Isaiah</hi> prophesied that in the last days the Lord's +Kingdom will be established on the ruins of all earthly +kingdoms, and all nations will flow into it to learn His +ways, at which time they will beat their swords into plowshares +and spears into pruninghooks and learn war no +more (Isa. 2:2-4); that of the increase of that new Government +and of peace there shall be no end (Isa. 9:7); that +nothing in the Kingdom will be permitted to hurt or destroy, +all evil dispositions of men and animals being done +away with, the poor and meek being lifted up and the +earth being filled as full with the knowledge of the Lord +as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11:4-9); that Christ will +become the standard-bearer of the people, that His rest +will be glorious and a highway there provided for the remnant +of the people (Isa. 11:10-16); that the whole earth +shall be at rest and quiet and break forth into singing (Isa. +14:7); that at the time the pillar to the Lord Is recognized +in the world, the world will return to the Lord and He +will be entreated of them and heal them (Isa. 19:22); that +the Lord will make to all people a feast of fat things, doctrines +of joy, well refined, will destroy ignorance and superstition, +swallow up death in victory and wipe away +tears from off all faces; it will cease to be a rebuke to a +<pb n='088'/><anchor id='Pg088'/> +person to admit that he belongs to the Lord, and all the +people will say, Lo, this Is our God; we have waited for +Him and He will save us, and all the high fortresses will +crumble into dust (Isa. 25:6-12); that when the Lord's +judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world +will learn righteousness; that then the trusts shall perish +utterly and the dead shall live (Isa. 26:9, 13, 14, 19); that +judgment will be laid to the line, the truth sweep away the +refuge of lies and the agreement of the preachers on the +hell question will be disannulled (Isa. 28:17, 18); that the +spiritually deaf shall get their ears open to understand the +harmonies of God's Word and the eyes of the blind see out +of obscurity and out of darkness, and the crops in the field +be so large they will look like a forest (Isa. 29:17, 18); +that the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, the ears of +them that hear shall hearken and the tongue of the stammerers +be ready to speak plainly; that the skyscrapers +will be turned over to wild asses, along with the forts; that +the people shall dwell in righteousness, quietness and assurance +forever (Isa. 32:3, 4, 14, 17, 18); that the inhabitant +shall not say, I am sick, because the people that dwell +therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.—Isa. 33:24. +</p> + +<p> +Furthermore, he declared that the wilderness and solitary +place shall blossom as the rose, the weak hands and +feeble knees be strengthened, the fearful be encouraged, +the blind have their eyes opened, the deaf have their ears +unstopped, the lame made to leap as an hart, the tongue +of the dumb made to sing; in the wilderness shall waters +break out and streams in the desert; an highway shall be +there by which the unclean may be cleansed of all their +sins amid joy and gladness everlasting (Isa. 35:1-10); that +all the crooked and rough places will be straightened out +(Isa. 40:4); that rivers will open in unexpected places and +the deserts become a forest of useful trees (Isa. 41:18, 19); +that all the prisoners in the great prison-house of death +shall be brought forth (Isa. 42:7); that the new spiritual +powers shall pour down righteousness and the world of +mankind eagerly take it in, to their salvation and everlasting +joy of heart (Isa. 45:8); that God created the earth not +in vain but formed it to be inhabited (Isa. 45:18); that the +Lord will establish the earth and cause the people to inherit +the once desolate heritages, with the result that they +shall be joyful and break forth into singing (Isa. 49:8, 13); +that the redeemed of the Lord (all mankind) shall return +from the tomb and gain salvation with songs and everlasting +joy upon their heads and sorrow and mourning shall +flee away (Isa. 51:11); that the feet are beautiful which +proclaim good tidings of good and publish salvation because +<pb n='089'/><anchor id='Pg089'/> +the King has come to reign (Isa. 52:7); that the +mountains, hills and trees shall rejoice with verdure, and +instead of thorns and briers shall come up fir and myrtles +(Isa. 55:12, 13); that the Lord will make this earth (His +footstool) glorious; violence, wasting and destruction shall +cease, and the people shall all be righteous and dwell in +the land forever (Isa. 60:13, 18, 21); that the stumbling +stones shall be gathered out of the way, and the standard +of Truth be lifted up for the people (Isa. 62:10); that one +who dies at a hundred years shall be considered but an infant; +that the people who build houses shall build them for +themselves and live in them forever among their own vineyards +and other works of their hands (Isa. 65:20-22); and +that all nations and tongues shall be gathered to see God's +glorious character in its true light.—Isa. 66:18. +</p> + +<p> +(9) <hi rend='italic'>Jeremiah</hi> foretold that in the good times coming +mankind should no more walk after the imagination +of an evil heart (Jer. 3:17); that the nations of all the +earth shall come to the new order of things and cheerfully +admit that the teachings of the clergy were chiefly lies +and vanity (Jer. 16:19); that the new Shepherds will +really feed the Lord's sheep, and they shall no more be +dismayed or lacking (Jer. 23:4); that the Lord will give +the people a heart to know Him, and they shall return to +Him with their whole heart (Jer. 24:7); that the children +shall come again from the land of the enemy; that the +children shall no longer suffer for the sins of the parents, +and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and +every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they +shall all know Him from the least even unto the greatest +(Jer. 31:16, 29, 34); that the Lord will give the people one +heart and one way and make an everlasting covenant with +them, and not turn away from them to do them good; and +they shall not depart from Him (Jer. 32:39, 40); that mankind +will fear and tremble at all the goodness and prosperity +Jehovah shall bring to them when He has pardoned +all their Iniquities and transgressions (Jer. 33:8, 9); that +they shall be at rest and at ease with none to make them +afraid (Jer. 46:27); that the Moabites and Elamites shall +return to their former estate (Jer. 48:47; 49:39); and that +in those days the penitent, together, going and weeping, +shall seek the Lord their God and ask the way to Zion, +saying, Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual +covenant that shall never be forgotten.—Jer. 50:4, 5. +</p> + +<p> +(10) <hi rend='italic'>Ezekiel</hi> foretold a coming time when the Lord will +take away the stony heart out of the people and give them +hearts that are warm and tender (Ezek. 11:19); that the +Sodomites, the Samaritans and the Jews—who were twice +<pb n='090'/><anchor id='Pg090'/> +as bad as either of the others—shall all return to their +former estate, and the Lord will establish His covenant +with them and be pacified towards them (Ezek. 16:55, +61-63); that it will no more be true that the children suffer +for the sins of their parents (Ezek. 18:2); that it will not +be necessary then for anybody to die (Ezek. 18:31, 32); +that the people shall dwell safely and build houses and +plant vineyards with confidence (Ezek. 28:26); that the +Lord will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; +and that the people shall dwell safely in the wilderness +and sleep in the woods, the shower will come down in its +season, there shall be showers of blessing, the trees shall +yield their fruit and the earth shall yield its increase and +the people shall dwell safely and none shall make them +afraid (Ezek. 34:25-28); that the Lord will put His Spirit +into the people and cause them to walk in His ways, will +increase the corn, multiply the fruit of the tree and the +increase of the field, and the land that was desolate shall +become like the garden of Eden (Ezek. 36:26, 27, 29, 30, +35); that the people shall have one Shepherd and walk in +His statutes and do them (Ezek. 37:24); and the Lord will +not hide His face from them any more when He has poured +out His Spirit upon them.—Ezek. 39:29. +</p> + +<p> +(11) <hi rend='italic'>Daniel</hi> foretold that the God of Heaven shall set +up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed, but which +shall break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms, and +which shall stand forever (Dan. 2:44); and the Kingdom +and dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom <emph>under</emph> the +whole heaven shall be given to the saints of the Most High +as an everlasting dominion.—Dan. 7:27. +</p> + +<p> +(12) <hi rend='italic'>Hosea</hi> prophesied food in abundance for the beasts +of the field and the fowls of heaven with the creeping +things of the ground; and that the Lord will break the +bow and sword and the battle out of the earth, and make +all to lie down safely; and that it shall come to pass in +that Day that Jehovah will hear the new powers of spiritual +control and they shall hear the cries of men (Hos. +2:18, 21); that the people shall fear the goodness of the +Lord in the latter days (Hos. 3:5); that after the fifth and +sixth thousand-year Days are past the people will be raised +up and live in the Lord's sight (Hos. 6:2); and He will +ransom them from hell and redeem them from death, and +destroy hell altogether.—Hos. 13:14. +</p> + +<p> +(13) <hi rend='italic'>Joel</hi> prophesied that the Lord will cause the pastures +to spring, the tree to bear her fruit and the fig tree +and the vine to yield their strength, and whosoever shall +call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered.—Joel +2:22, 32. +</p> + +<pb n='091'/><anchor id='Pg091'/> + +<p> +(14) <hi rend='italic'>Amos</hi> was the next one of the holy Prophets; and +we have an inspired comment on one of his prophecies by +the Apostle James in Acts 15:14-18. James says, <q>Simeon +[St Peter] hath declared how God at the first [in the +conversion of Cornelius] did visit the Gentiles to take out +of them a people for His name [the Bride of Christ]. And +to this agree the words of the Prophets [Amos 9:11, 12]; +as it is written, After this [after the Bride of Christ has +been selected], I will return and will build again the tabernacle +[the house, royalty or dominion] of David, which is +fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I +will set it up [re-establish the Kingdom of God on earth]; +that the residue of men [all the rest of the world of mankind] +might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon +whom My name is called, saith the Lord who doeth all +these things. Known unto God are all His works from the +beginning of the world.</q> +</p> + +<p> +(15) <hi rend='italic'>Obadiah</hi> was the next one of the holy Prophets; +and in the last verse of his short prophecy he says, <q>And +saviors [it is in the plural and refers not only to Jesus +the Head, but to the Church, the members of His Body] +shall come up on Mount Zion [come up into the Heavenly +phase of the Kingdom], and shall judge the mount of Esau</q> +[judge the world]. <q>Know ye not that the saints shall +judge the world?</q> +</p> + +<p> +(16) <hi rend='italic'>Jonah</hi> was the next one of the holy Prophets; and +in the fourth chapter we have an interesting picture of +events now transpiring before our eyes. Jonah walked +into the city of Nineveh and said, <q>Yet forty days and +Nineveh shall be overthrown.</q> The prophecy was fulfilled +in forty literal years. But when Jonah saw that things +were not coming out as he expected, he was very angry +and said to the Lord, <q>That is just what I might have expected; +for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and +merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and I said +so before I left my own country.</q> Jonah went out, sat in +the hot sun on the outside of the city, and began to sulk. +The Lord took pity on him and caused a gourd to grow up +over him, to shelter him from the hot rays of the sun. And +Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd. Then +the Lord prepared a worm to smite the gourd; and a strong +east wind blew up and the gourd withered. Jonah's shade +was gone, and he was angrier than ever. The Lord said, +<q>Doest thou well to be angry?</q> and he said, <q>Yes, I do well +to be angry, even unto death.</q> Then the Lord said, <q>Jonah, +thou hast had pity on the gourd that sprung up in a night +and perished in a night; and should not I spare Nineveh, +that great city wherein are more than six score thousand +<pb n='092'/><anchor id='Pg092'/> +persons that cannot discern between their right hand and +their left hand?</q> +</p> + +<p> +We live in a day when a class have been preaching that +the world is to be destroyed; and, like Jonah, they have +not properly understood their message. The kind of world +that is to be destroyed is Satan's world, Satan's empire, +arrangement, or order of things—not our literal earth. The +word world does not always refer to our literal earth. For +instance, when the Apostle James says, <q>The tongue is a +world of iniquity,</q> he does not mean that we have inside +our jaws a little planet that turns over every twenty-four +hours, that has spring, summer, fall, winter, snowstorms, +rainstorms, and a moon revolving about it, with once in +a while a comet and a shower of meteors thrown in for +good measure. When they think about the Panama Canal, +and the wonderful works of irrigation which are causing +the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose, and all the +other wonderful achievements of our day, these people are +beginning to see that they have made a mistake and are +now about where Jonah was when he said, <q>That is what I +might have expected, for I know that Thou art a just God, +slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.</q> They are now +outside the city, and the scorching light of Present Truth +is pretty hot. Meantime the church trust is growing up +to keep off the heat. We are not to have anything to do +with this church federation. <q>Say ye not, A confederacy, +to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy.</q> +<q>Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak +the word and it shall not stand; for God is with us.</q> (Isa. +8:10, 12.) Pretty soon something will happen to the church +trust, and their shade will be gone. Then the Lord will +say to them, <q>Oh, you need not feel so badly! You are not +the first people that ever made a mistake. You have made +lots of them, to be sure. You have had pity on the church +trust which grew up in one year and blew up in another +year; and should not I spare the poor world, that as far +as their knowledge of right and wrong is concerned do not +know the difference between their right hand and their +left hand?</q> +</p> + +<p> +(17) <hi rend='italic'>Micah</hi> has written of the coming of the Kingdom +of God in the earth, accompanied by the rebuking of strong +nations afar off; that then they shall beat their swords +into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; that +nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall +they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man +under his vine and under his fig tree [not the landlord's]; +and none [be they doctors, landlords, employers, sheriffs, +or undertakers] shall make them afraid; that all people +<pb n='093'/><anchor id='Pg093'/> +will walk in the name of our God, and that the first dominion +[lost by Adam in Eden] will be restored to Christ, the +Tower of the Flock.—Micah 4:1-5, 8. +</p> + +<p> +(18) <hi rend='italic'>Nahum</hi> was the next one of the holy Prophets; +and after prophesying in the last verse of the preceding +chapter about the coming of the King with His good tidings +of peace to the sin-burdened earth, he next tells +(Nahum 2:3-6) of an interesting thing that will be a +matter of common everyday experience at the time the +Kingdom is established. He describes a railway train in +motion [not an automobile, as some think], and if we will +be at the trouble to put ourselves in the Prophet's place +we can see just what he saw in his vision and what he has +so interestingly described. First, the Prophet stands looking +at the engine coming toward him, and then says, <q>The +shield [the thing ahead of this great warrior—the headlight] +is made red [shines brilliantly], the valiant men +[the engineer and the fireman] are dyed scarlet [when the +flames from the firebox illuminate the interior of the cab +at night, as the fireman opens the firedoor to throw in the +coal]. The chariots [the railway coaches] shall be with +[shall be preceded by locomotives that, at night, have the +appearance of] flaming torches, in the Day of Preparation.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Next the Prophet takes his place in the train and looks +out of the window, and, seemingly, <q>The fir trees shall be +terribly shaken [the telegraph poles alongside the track +seem to be fairly dancing]. The chariots shall rage in the +streets [a railway is merely an elaborate, scientifically +constructed street, or highway], they shall jostle one +against another in the broad ways [the clanking and bumping +of the cars together is one of the significant items of +railway travel]. They shall seem like torches [a railway +train at night, rushing through a distant field, looks like +nothing so much as a vast torch, going at flying speed], +they shall run like the lightnings.</q> Next the Prophet sees +the conductor coming for his ticket and says, <q>He shall recount +his worthies [the conductor spends his entire time, +almost, counting and recounting his passengers, keeping +them checked up, etc.]; they shall stumble in their walk +[try walking on a rapidly moving train]; they shall make +haste to the wall thereof [to the next city or town] and +the coverer [the train shed, the station] shall be prepared +[the baggageman, expressman, mail wagon, hotel bus, intending +passengers, and friends to meet incoming passengers, +will all be there waiting for the train to come]. The +gates of the rivers shall be opened [the doors of the cars +will be opened and the people will flow out] and the +palace [car] shall be dissolved [emptied].</q> +</p> + +<pb n='094'/><anchor id='Pg094'/> + +<p> +(19) <hi rend='italic'>Habakkuk</hi> was the next one of the holy Prophets, +and in Hab. 2:14 he says, <q>The earth shall be filled with +the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters +cover the sea.</q> In places, the water in the Pacific Ocean +is seven miles deep. Imagine a condition in which the +knowledge of the glory of God is like that in the earth! It +will be as impossible for a man not to know about God as +it would be for one to be down at the bottom of the ocean +without getting wet. +</p> + +<p> +(20) <hi rend='italic'>Zephaniah</hi> foretold that the Lord will starve all +the false gods to death; for all men will worship the one +only and true God, even including the heathen we have +worried so much about (Zeph. 2:11); that after the present +inequitable condition of society has passed away—been +devoured, not with literal fire but with the fire of the +Lord's jealousy—there will be no more sectarianism, but +all the people will be taught the pure Truth and worship +the Lord with <emph>one</emph> consent; the liar and deceiver will no +longer be abroad in the land and the people will eat and +rest without fear of disaster, dispossession or death.—Zeph. +3:9, 13. +</p> + +<p> +(21) <hi rend='italic'>Haggai</hi> was the next one of the holy Prophets, and +he says in Hag. 2:7, <q>The desire of all nations shall +come.</q> In Rom. 8:19-22, the Apostle tells us what is the +desire of all nations. He says, <q>The whole creation +groaneth and travaileth in pain, waiting for the manifestation +[showing forth] of the sons of God.</q> It is in the +plural, and means not Jesus only, but all of the Little +Flock. The groaning will not be in vain; for in the same +passage the Apostle says the outcome will be that the +groaning creation shall be delivered from the bondage of +corruption into a glorious liberty from sin and every evil +thing. +</p> + +<p> +(22) <hi rend='italic'>Zechariah</hi> prophesied that many nations shall be +joined to the Lord in that Day and be His people and He +will dwell in the midst of them (Zech. 2:11); that when +every man dwells under his own vine and fig tree every +man will love his neighbor and his brother (Zech. 3:10); +that the coming Kingdom will be a Kingdom of Truth, the +people will be God's people and He will be their God in +truth and righteousness; the ground shall give its increase +and the heaven its dews and the Lord will do well to the +people and remove their fears (Zech. 8:3, 8, 12, 15); that +the inhabitants of one city will go to another, saying, Let +us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the +Lord of Hosts; I will go also. Yea, many people and +strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts and to +pray before the Lord (Zech. 8:21; 22); that the battle bow +<pb n='095'/><anchor id='Pg095'/> +shall be cut off, that the Lord shall speak peace to the +people; corn shall make the young men speak, and new +wine (better doctrines) the maids (Zech. 9:10, 17); that +the Lord shall be King over all the earth and men shall +dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction, +but all shall be holiness unto the Lord.—Zech. 14:9, 11, 20. +</p> + +<p> +(23) <hi rend='italic'>Malachi</hi> foretold that from the rising of the sun +even unto the going down of the same the Lord's name +shall be great among all peoples; and in every place heart +adoration shall be offered to His name (Mal. 1:11); that +the devourer will be rebuked and not be permitted longer +to destroy the fruits of the ground; neither shall your vine +cast her fruit before the time in the field; injurious parasites, +germs and microbes will be a thing of the past. +Crops will be abundant everywhere (Mal. 3:11); and The +Christ, Head and Body, will arise with healing in their +beams, nourishing and bringing the willing to perfection +with the same care as is given to stall-fed cattle—now receiving +more attention than human beings.—Mal. 4:2. +</p> + +<p> +(24) <hi rend='italic'>John the Baptist</hi> was the next and last of the holy +Prophets, for Jesus said, <q>The Law and the Prophets were +until John.</q> And John, we are told, turned and looked at +Jesus, and said, <q>Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh +away the sin of the world.</q>—John 1:29; Matt. 11:9, 11. +</p> + +<p> +4:11. <hi rend='sans'>Thou art worthy, O Lord OUR LORD AND GOD.</hi>—<q>The +proper view of the matter shows us the Heavenly +Father perfect in all the attributes of nobility of character; +perfect in Justice, so that the just sentence of His +righteous Law cannot be infracted, even by Himself; perfect +in wisdom, so that His plan and arrangement, not only +with respect to man's creation, but also with respect to +man's salvation, the Atonement, etc., were all so complete +that no contingency or failure could arise, nor any necessity +for change of the Divine Plan; as it is written, <q>I am +the same, I change not, saith the Lord,</q> and <q>Known unto +the Lord are all His works, from the foundation of the +world</q>; perfect also in His Love, than which there could +be no greater love possible, and yet that Love is in full +balance and accord with the other Divine attributes, so +that it could spare the sinner only in harmony with the +just program marked out by Divine Wisdom; perfect also +in Power, so that all His good purposes, good intentions, +just program and loving designs, fully co-ordinated, shall +be executed, and bring the originally designed result; as it +is written, <q>My Word that goeth forth out of My mouth +shall not return to Me void; it shall accomplish that which +I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.</q> +(Isa. 55:11; Mal. 3:6; Acts 15:18.)</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>37</hi>, 34. +</p> + +<pb n='096'/><anchor id='Pg096'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To receive glory.</hi>—All the glory, Greek. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And honor and power.</hi>—<q>Could this Scripture ever be +fulfilled, could the Divine character ever be appreciated by +intelligent, honest, just and loving hearts, if in any corner +of the Universe there were such orgies and tortures of His +creatures as the creeds of the Darker Ages have set forth? +Surely not!</q>—B. S. M. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For Thou has created all things.</hi>—The all things, the +Universe, Greek. <q>Across the vista of ages He saw in His +purpose the glory of an intelligent creation in His own +likeness, established in righteousness and worthy of His +gift of eternal life. He therein foresaw the mutual pleasure +of the Creator and the creature, and with a peaceful +patience He resolved to wait for the glorious consummation.</q>—Z. '95-154. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And for Thy pleasure they [are and] were created.</hi>—<q>He +desired that love should respond to love, admiration to admiration, +virtue to virtue, and grace to grace, in the +Creator and the creature, as face answers to face in a +glass. In this natural attitude of the Creator and the +creature generous benevolence and filial gratitude combine +in mutual happiness. God is happy in the realization and +in the exercise of all the noble traits of His glorious character, +which happiness is enhanced by appreciation of the +same on the part of His creatures, and by manifestation +in them of the same qualities and dispositions of mind and +heart. And likewise man must both realize and exercise +the noble endowments of his nature and form a character +modeled after that of his Heavenly Father and meeting +His approval, if he would find that true happiness which +consists in the approval of his own conscience and of his +Creator and Judge, in whose favor is life, and at whose +right hand there are pleasures forevermore.'—Psa. 16:11.</q>—Z. '95-167. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Sun of my soul, my Father dear,</q></l> +<l>I know no night when Thou are near.</l> +<l>O! may no earth-born cloud arise</l> +<l>To hide Thee from thy servant's eyes.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Shield of my soul, though tempests rage,</l> +<l>And 'gainst me hosts of foes engage,</l> +<l>My refuge and my fortress Thou,</l> +<l>Before Thee every foe must bow.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Thy grace and glory Thou dost give</l> +<l>To those who near Thee ever live;</l> +<l>And no good thing dost Thou withhold</l> +<l><q rend='post'>From sheep which stray not from Thy fold.</q></l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img099.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>Hindrances To Christian Progress</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img100.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>The Thinking Public Declines To Endorse The Modern Political Preaching</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='097'/><anchor id='Pg097'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 5—The Executor Of The Plan</head> + +<p> +5:1. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw in the right hand.</hi>—<q>The Divine Plan, +known only to the Father, Jehovah Himself, was kept in +His own power—in His own hand—until some one should +be <emph>proved</emph> worthy to know it, and become its executor as +Jehovah's honored Agent and Representative.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>39</hi>, 36. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Him that sat on the Throne.</hi>—<q>He that sits upon the +Throne is Jehovah. The scroll in His right hand is His +Plan for human redemption, sealed from all until One +should be found and proved <q>worthy.</q></q>—Z. '97-150. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A book.</hi>—<q>Not the Bible, but the Divine Plan, with its +times and seasons.</q> (Z. '16-252.) <q>This was the <emph>Mystery</emph>, +the <emph>Secret</emph> of the Lord, unknown to any one but Himself—His +plan for the salvation of the world.</q>—Z. '97-256. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Written [within] IN FRONT.</hi>—The writing in front is +the fulfilment of everything prophesied on the outside. +Every word of every prophecy of God's Word is sure of +fulfilment. <q>Seek ye out the book of the Lord, and read; +no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate; for +My mouth it hath commanded, and His Spirit it hath gathered +them.</q> (Isa. 34:16.) <q>That scroll contains a record +of everything that is happening now, and all that will +occur throughout the Millennial Age, down to its very +close—down to the time when every creature in Heaven +and in earth and those in the sea, shall ascribe praise, +honor, glory and dominion to Him that sitteth upon the +Throne and to the Lamb forever.—Rev. 5:13.</q> (Z. '09-243.) +<q>Among the Orientals the lines began from the right hand +and ran to the left hand; with the Northern and Western +nations, from the left to the right hand; but the Greeks +sometimes followed both directions alternately.</q> (McC.) +</p> + +<p> +The Word is plainly written on the outside, where +all may read the words, but cannot understand their significance +without Divine aid. Meantime, from age to age, +the events foretold occur in the manner predicted. The +manner of the writing, some of it from left to right and +some from right to left, enables the fulfilments to follow +the prophecies exactly, item by item, to the last jot and +tittle. Write a word on a sheet of paper and then turn the +paper over and look at it, holding it in front of a good +light. Thus it is with the Word of God. The prophecies +<pb n='098'/><anchor id='Pg098'/> +look strange until the due time has come for holding +them up to the light, and then they become clear. What +could be only imperfectly deciphered until the hindering +seal is broken is no mystery after the seal is broken, because +the book or scroll or chart can be turned about and +held to the light. The fulfilments are seen to fit the +prophecies. If the lines are not clear, then for some reason +we are looking upon that much of the record from +the outside and not from the inside. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And on the backside.</hi>—<q>Excepting the bare promise +(written on the outside of the scroll) of salvation through +the Seed of the woman, nothing could be known of the +wonderful scheme for human restitution until the Son of +God, having left the glory of the spiritual nature, took +our nature and by the sacrifice of Himself redeemed us +from death. Then, having His righteousness imputed to +us by faith, we are counted worthy to look upon the scroll +as He opens the seals one after another.</q>—Z. '02-332; Ezek. +2:9, 10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Sealed with seven seals.</hi>—<q>The things that were sealed +were not proper to be understood by our Redeemer until +He had received the all-power, after His resurrection. The +execution of God's Plan was then given into His hands.</q>—Z. '16-253. +</p> + +<p> +5:2. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw a strong angel.</hi>—Personification of the Law. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Proclaiming.</hi>—In types and shadows, pictures, figures +and symbols. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With a loud voice.</hi>—From the fall of Adam onward. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Who is worthy.</hi>—<q>The inquiry compassed the period +from before Jesus came into the world up to His resurrection +from the grave. God had given the most honorable +One of all the host of Heaven the first opportunity to +prove His worthiness to loose the Scroll of God's great +Plan, and to fulfill its provisions. And He did not +allow the privilege to go by. He accepted it.</q>—Z. '16-252. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To open the book.</hi>—<q>The inquiry, <q>Who is worthy to open +the book [scroll] and to loose the seals thereof?</q> had long +been made: for four thousand years, from the giving of +the promise that the Seed of the woman should bruise +the serpent's head, it had been the query—Who shall be +esteemed, by Jehovah God, to be worthy to perform His +gracious purposes, and thus be honored above all others as +Servant (Messenger) of the Covenant of Grace?</q>—Z. '97-150. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to loose the seals thereof.</hi>—<q>John in the symbol +hears the proclamation, <q>Who is worthy to open the Book +and to loose the seals?</q>—who is worthy to have committed +to his care <emph>the execution</emph> of the great Divine Plan, wonderful +for its wisdom and love, and its lengths and +<pb n='099'/><anchor id='Pg099'/> +breadths and depths and heights past human comprehension—that +he may open it and execute it?</q>—Z. '97-256. +</p> + +<p> +5:3. <hi rend='sans'>And no man in Heaven.</hi>—No angel had been proven +worthy. <q>Which things the angels desire to look into.</q>—1 +Pet. 1:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Nor in earth, [neither under the earth].</hi>—No man on +earth was worthy. <q>There is none righteous; no, not one; +for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.</q>—Rom. +3:10, 23. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was able to open the book.</hi>—<q>In the picture John looked +to see who the worthy one might be, but none was found +worthy.</q>—Z. '09-243. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Neither to look thereon.</hi>—In the light of this Scripture, +who can dare, in his own strength, wisdom or righteousness +to interpret the Word of God or take any part in +the execution of the Plan?—Heb. 12:18-29. +</p> + +<p> +5:4. <hi rend='sans'>And I wept much.</hi>—<q>It seemed to John too bad +that God should have some great, wonderful purposes +which might come to naught because no one was worthy +to be the Divine executor.</q>—Z. '09-243. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because no man.</hi>—No being in the Universe. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was found worthy to open and to read the book.</hi>—<q>When +silence prevailed, and none was found worthy either in +Heaven or on earth (representing the condition of things +prior to the First Advent), John began saying to himself: +Alas! we may never know God's gracious and wise plans for +the welfare of His creatures, because none is found worthy +to know or execute them.</q>—Z. '97-150; John 1:27; Matt. 8:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Neither to look thereon.</hi>—<q>So it was that, even our Lord +Jesus, prior to the finishing of His sacrifice, as He then +declared, did not know all about the Father's plans, times +and seasons (Mark 13:32.)</q>—Z. '97-150. +</p> + +<p> +5:5. <hi rend='sans'>And one of the elders.</hi>—The deathbed prophecy of +Jacob. It is the identification of this elder that enables +us to recognize the other twenty-three.—Rev. 4:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saith unto me.</hi>—<q>Judah is a lion's whelp. The sceptre +shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between +his feet until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering +of the people be.</q>—Gen. 49:9, 10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Weep not: behold, the Lion.</hi>—<q>The Holy One, and the +Just.</q>—Acts 3:14; 22:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of Juda.</hi>—<q>The great prize, for which Israel +had been longing for centuries, was won by the Lion of +the tribe of Judah. (Heb. 7:14.)</q>—B. 85. +</p> + +<p> +<q>For an illustration of latter time assumptions, note the +fact that a late pope, upon ascending the throne, took the +title of Leo XIII, and shortly after subscribed himself <q>Leo +de tribus Juda,</q> i. e., <q>The Lion of the tribe of Judah.</q></q>—B. 316. +</p> + +<pb n='100'/><anchor id='Pg100'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Root of David.</hi>—<q>It was not the pre-human Logos, +nor yet the man Jesus, that was David's Lord and David's +Root; but the resurrected Messiah.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>151</hi>, 136; Isa. 11:1; +Rom. 15:12; Rev. 22:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Hath prevailed to open the book.</hi>—<q>When our Lord Jesus +had proven His loyalty to the Heavenly Father by His +obedience, <q>even unto the [ignominious] death of the cross,</q> +then and thereby He did prove Himself worthy of every +confidence and trust.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>39</hi>, 37. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to loose the seven seals thereof.</hi>—<q>Great was the +favor bestowed upon the Just One of the tribe of Judah, +in being permitted to open the seals; and great is the +privilege of those who are permitted to look thereon as +the seals are opened.</q>—Z. '02-332; Rev. 5:2; 6:1. +</p> + +<p> +5:6. <hi rend='sans'>And I beheld, [and lo,] in the midst of the Throne.</hi>—<q>In +the bosom of the Father.</q>—John 1:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of the four beasts.</hi>—<q>The express image of His person.</q>—Heb. +1:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And in the midst of the elders.</hi>—The central theme of +all their prophesies.—Rev. 4:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Stood a Lamb as it had been slain.</hi>—<q>It was not possible +for Him to know the completeness of the Divine Plan until +after He had demonstrated His worthiness by His obedience +unto death, even the death of the cross.</q>—Z. '06-39; +Isa. 53:7; John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32; 1 Pet. 1:19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having seven horns.</hi>—Perfect power. <q>All power is +given unto Me in Heaven and in earth.</q>—Matt. 28:18; +1 Sam. 2:1, 10; Deut. 33:17; 1 Ki. 22:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And seven eyes.</hi>—Perfect wisdom. <q>In whom are hid +all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.</q>—Col. 2:3; +Zech. 3:9; 4:10; Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 2 Chron. 16:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which are the seven Spirits of God.</hi>—Or lamps of fire.—Rev. +4:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Sent forth into all the earth.</hi>—See Rev. 1:4. +</p> + +<p> +5:7. <hi rend='sans'>And He came and took the book.</hi>—<q>To Him was +the scroll or book entrusted, that in due time all the +wonderful provisions of the Divine Plan might be fully +executed in the glorification of the Church and the blessing +of all the families of the earth.</q>—Z. '06-39. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Out of the right hand.</hi>—See Rev. 5:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Him that sat upon the Throne.</hi>—Jehovah. If Jesus +and His Father are a Trinity, <q>One in person, equal in +glory and power,</q> how is it that one has to come to the +other for something, or how can He come to Himself and +take something He already has and give it to Himself? +</p> + +<p> +5:8. <hi rend='sans'>And when He had taken the book.</hi>—His worthiness +to do so having been proven by His resurrection to the +Divine nature. +</p> + +<pb n='101'/><anchor id='Pg101'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The four beasts.</hi>—Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.—Rev. +4:6, 7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And four and twenty elders.</hi>—Messages of the four and +twenty Prophets.—Rev. 4:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fell down before the Lamb.</hi>—Gave their joint homage +and adoration to the Conqueror of sin and death. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Each having [every one of them harps] A HARP.</hi>—Yielding +the most exquisite harmony that ever fell on mortal +ears.—Rev. 15:1-4; 4:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And golden vials.</hi>—Incense cups, <q>spoons,</q> similar to +those used at the Golden Altar.—Ex. 25:29; 30:1-9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Full of odors.</hi>—The sweet fragrance of patient hearts, +precious in the Father's memory, pleading for love and +wisdom Divine.—Psa. 141:2; Ex. 30:34-38; Lev. 16:12, 13; +Lu. 1:9, 10; Acts 10:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which are the prayers of saints.</hi>—Every one of which, +by the Father's arrangement, has been made in the name +of the One here honored.—John 16:23; Eph. 2:19. +</p> + +<p> +5:9. <hi rend='sans'>And they sung a new song.</hi>—<q>This means that the +Divine Plan as a whole was here made known to Him—for +He already had knowledge of much of this—but all +things were now given Him.</q>—Z. '16-253; Psa. 40:3; Rev. +14:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Thou art worthy to take the book.</hi>—Worthy of +<q>a name which is above every name.</q>—Phil. 2:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to open the seals thereof.</hi>—Disclose the wonderful +method by which the Father will develop the <emph>saviors</emph> of +the world.—Obad. 21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For thou wast slain.</hi>—He had sacrificed His will, but +this was not sufficient. <q>God wished Him to sacrifice not +only His will, but actually to lay down His human life. +When all His testings were completed at His death on the +Cross, God gave Him a name to which all should bow, both +in Heaven and in earth.</q>—Z. '16-252. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And hast redeemed.</hi>—<q><foreign rend='italic'>Agorazo.</foreign> This word signifies to +purchase in the open market.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>443</hi>, 429; 1 Cor. 6:20; Gal. +3:13; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Us].</hi>—Oldest MS., with evident propriety, omits <emph>us</emph>, since +the Divine attributes and prophecies were not redeemed.—Z. '97-151. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To God.</hi>—<q>What say the Scriptures respecting the sacrifice +of Christ, the offering which He made? Do they say +that it was made to Satan or to Jehovah God? We answer +that in all the types of the Jewish dispensation, which +foreshadowed this better sacrifice, which does take away +the sins of the world, the offerings were presented to God, +at the hands of the priest, who typified our Lord Jesus.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>461</hi>, +449. +</p> + +<pb n='102'/><anchor id='Pg102'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By Thy blood.</hi>—<q>If the blood of bulls and of goats ... +sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more +shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal spirit, +offered Himself without spot to God.</q>—Heb. 9:13-15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Out of every kindred.</hi>—<q>In thy Seed shall all the kindreds +of the earth be blessed.</q>—Acts 3:25. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And tongue.</hi>—<q>Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall +swear.</q>—Isa. 45:23. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And people.</hi>—<q>The heavens declare His righteousness, +and all the people see His glory.</q>—Psa. 97:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And nation.</hi>—<q>And in thy Seed shall all the nations of +the earth be blessed.</q>—Gen. 26:4, 22:18; Rev. 14:6. +</p> + +<p> +5:10. <hi rend='sans'>And hast made [us] THEM unto our God [Kings] +A KINGDOM.</hi>—<q>It will be the Kingdom of the saints, in +that they shall reign and judge and bless the world in conjunction +with their Lord, Jesus. (Rom. 8:17, 18.) The +Kingdom class proper will consist only of our Lord and +His <q>elect</q> Little Flock.</q>—D. 618. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [priests] PRIESTHOOD.</hi>—<q>The Divine provision for +a <q>Royal Priesthood</q> implies weakness, imperfection, on the +part of some whom the priests are to help, and instruct, +and from whom they are to accept sacrifice and offerings +for sin, and to whom they are to extend mercy and forgiveness.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>486</hi>, +476; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 20:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [we] THEY shall reign.</hi>—<q>But before the Royal +Priesthood begin their reign, they must <q>suffer with Him,</q> +sharing in the antitypical sacrifices. (2 Tim. 2:12.)</q>—T. 26. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>On.</hi>—<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Epi</foreign>, over.—Rev. 6:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The earth.</hi>—<q>The Kingdom and dominion, even the +majesty of the Kingdom <emph>under</emph> the whole heaven shall be +given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose +Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all rulers shall +serve and obey Him. (Dan 7:27.)</q>—D. 618. +</p> + +<p> +5:11. <hi rend='sans'>And I beheld.</hi>—John beheld this in vision and will +behold it in reality. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I heard.</hi>—John heard in the vision, and will hear in +the reality. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As it were the voice of many angels.</hi>—Besides the angels, +the Great Company are in this happy throng. The events +to the end of the chapter have their fulfilment in the +future. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Round about the Throne.</hi>—<q>In the circuit of Heaven</q> +(Job 22:14), the circle of the Universe. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the beasts.</hi>—Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.—Rev. +4:6, 7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the elders.</hi>—The prophecies.—Rev. 4:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the number of them.</hi>—<q>Whose number no man +knoweth.</q>—Rev. 7:9. +</p> + +<pb n='103'/><anchor id='Pg103'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands +of thousands.</hi>—The number of the Great Company will +apparently exceed one hundred millions. Num. 4:46-48 +and Ex. 28:1 indicate but one priest to each 2,860 Levites, +which would make the number of the Great Company +approximate 411,840,000.—T. 118, 119; Dan. 7:10. +</p> + +<p> +5:12. <hi rend='sans'>Saying with a loud voice.</hi>—The Great Company +will be very enthusiastic workers on the other side of +the veil, for they really love the Lord with all their heart, +soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30), and need only to +be liberated to give full expression to that love. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.</hi>—<q>Our Lord Jesus +demonstrated before the Father, before angels, and before +His <q>brethren,</q> His fidelity to the Father and to the Father's +Law, demonstrating that it was not beyond the ability of +a perfect being, even under the most adverse conditions.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>134</hi>, +120. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To receive power.</hi>—The Great Company class humbly +realize that their faithfulness and zeal was not sufficient +to warrant their own exaltation to power. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And riches.</hi>—They realize they did not lay up all the +Heavenly treasures they might have done, but hid their +talents in earthly pursuits. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And wisdom.</hi>—They realize their own unwisdom in +seeking the praise of men and that the Christ Company, +though apparently fools for Christ's sake, were really the +wisest of the wise. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And strength.</hi>—They know that they used their own +strength for the support and maintenance of institutions +which really hindered rather than helped the Bride to +make herself ready. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And honor.</hi>—They know that, as a class, they sought +and obtained the honor that cometh from men, but failed +to properly seek the honor that cometh from God only. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And glory.</hi>—They know that they failed to meet the +high conditions of self-sacrifice, and were therefore unworthy +of the high reward. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And blessing.</hi>—They feel that the blessings which the +Lord gave to them were thoughtlessly appropriated to +themselves and their families, with hardly a serious +thought about the needs of the Lord's dear family; and +that appropriately, the chiefest of all blessings, the privilege +of extending God's blessings to the needy world, +should go to those who most earnestly <q>by patient perseverance +in well doing (did) seek for glory, honor and +immortality.</q> (Rom. 2:7.) Thus they reverence the +Lamb, and His Bride, for they are one.—Rev. 19:7. +</p> + +<p> +5:13. <hi rend='sans'>And every creature.</hi>—After the destruction of the +<pb n='104'/><anchor id='Pg104'/> +incorrigible at the end of the Millennial Age (and this, +in itself, is a blessing to those who refuse to make a right +use of life). +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is in Heaven.</hi>—<q>Let all the angels of God worship +Him.</q> (Heb. 1:6.) <q>Worship Him, all ye gods.</q>—Psa. 97:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And on the earth, [and under the earth,].</hi>—All mankind.—1 +Cor. 15:25. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And such [as are] in the sea.</hi>—The class that continues +to be <q>in the sea,</q> i. e., not under religious restraint, will +cease to exist. They no longer <emph>are</emph>, but even their terminated +existence will be to the praise of the One who died +for them on Calvary; for they will have had a perfect +chance. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And all that are in them.</hi>—<q>That at the name of Jesus +every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things +in earth.</q>—Phil. 2:10; Eph. 1:10; Col. 1:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Heard I] AND I HEARD THEM saying, THE Blessing.</hi>—The +myriads of happy beings, on all created planes of intelligence, +from the highest to the lowest, in Heaven and +earth, acknowledge with joy the source of all their blessings.—Rom. +9:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And honor.</hi>—By that time all will have come to see what +a great honor has been conferred on any creature to receive +the unspeakable boon of life on any plane, and will +gladly own its fountain.—1 Tim. 6:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And glory [and power] OF THE ALMIGHTY.</hi>—Each will +have come to know the glory of life on his own plane. +<q>There are celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the +glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial +is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory +of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star +differeth from another star in glory.</q>—1 Cor. 15:40, 41; +Rom. 16:27; 1 Pet. 4:11; 5:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Be.</hi>—Be ascribed to. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Him that sitteth upon the Throne.</hi>—Our Father and +Friend.—1 Chron. 29:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And unto the Lamb.</hi>—Our Redeemer and Brother. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For ever and ever.</hi>—<q>For the Ages of the Ages,</q> Greek. +</p> + +<p> +5:14. <hi rend='sans'>And the four beasts said Amen.</hi>—Justice, Power, +Love and Wisdom unitedly declare this to be the happy +outcome. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the [four and twenty] elders fell down and worshipped +[Him that liveth for ever and ever].</hi>—The prophecies +plainly declare that neither men nor devils can in +any wise thwart this perfect ending of the Plan which +began so strangely and still progresses—the perfection, +through suffering, of the Little Flock, the Great Company +and, indeed, the world of mankind itself.—Rev. 4:10. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='105'/><anchor id='Pg105'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 6—Six Seals And The Papacy</head> + +<p> +6:1. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw.</hi>—<q>God does not display His plans to +satisfy mere idle curiosity. If we would comprehend what +is revealed within the scroll we must be sincerely desirous +of knowing the details of God's Plan in order to an earnest +co-operation with it. Such, and such only, are worthy to +know, and such only ever come to see, in the sense of +understanding and appreciating, the deep things of God +written within the scroll. Such are the righteous for whom +the light (Truth) is sown. This worthiness is inquired for +not only at the beginning, but all along the path of light. +If we are not found worthy by the various tests applied +from time to time, we cannot proceed in the path of light; +and unless the unfaithful ones arouse themselves to +greater diligence and watchfulness, the light that already +is in them will become darkness. And how great, how +intense must be the darkness of one cast out of light! +(Matt. 6:23.)</q>—Z. '02-332. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>When the Lamb opened.</hi>—<q>The opening of the seals has +progressed during all the Gospel Age. It has required +all of the present Age and will require all of the next Age +to complete the Plan. We may suppose that the Lord +Jesus was made aware of all its features after His ascension +to the presence of Jehovah. The Master declared that +as the Father revealed them unto Him, so would He reveal +them unto us.</q>—Z. '16-253; Rev. 5:5-9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>One of the SEVEN seals.</hi>—<q>Each seal as it was loosed +permitted the scroll as a whole to open a little wider, and +a little wider, thus permitting <q>the mystery of God</q> to be +a little more clearly discerned.</q>—Z. '97-257. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I heard [as it were the noise of thunder].</hi>—The roar +of a Lion. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>One of the four beasts.</hi>—Justice, typified by the Lion.—Rev. +4:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, AS IT WERE THE NOISE OF THUNDER, +Come and see.</hi>—Come and see Infinite Justice permitting +one of the greatest acts of injustice ever perpetrated. +</p> + +<p> +6:2. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw.</hi>—John beheld in vision the first strange +and wonderful feature of the Divine Plan for the permission +of evil as it related to epochs of the Church beyond +his own epoch—that of Smyrna. +</p> + +<pb n='106'/><anchor id='Pg106'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And behold a white horse.</hi>—The doctrines, teachings of +the Lord and the Apostles recognized as the one and only +rule of faith and practice of God's Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he that sat on him.</hi>—The Bishop of Rome, the embryo +Pope, the personal representative of Satan. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Had a bow.</hi>—<q>They bend their tongues like their bow +for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the +earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know +not Me, saith the Lord.</q>—Jer. 9:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And a crown.</hi>—Great honor and authority in the Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was given unto him.</hi>—<q>Under the reign of Constantine +(who murdered his own son in the same year in which +he convened the Council of Nice) the opposition of the +empire to Christianity gave way to favor, and the Imperial +Pontifex Maximus became the patron of the professed +but really apostate Church of Christ; and, taking her by +the hand, he assisted her to a place of popularity and +splendor from which she was able afterward, as the imperial +power grew weak, to put her own representatives +upon the religious throne of the world as Chief Religious +Ruler—Pontifex Maximus.</q>—B. 290. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he went forth conquering, [and to conquer] AND HE +CONQUERED.</hi>—Thus we see the apparent defeat of Infinite +Justice in this first epoch. Apparently, God forsook His +Church, having jeopardized all its interests by placing +the power in the hands of a self-seeking ecclesiastical +system. But worse things are coming! +</p> + +<p> +6:3. <hi rend='sans'>And when He had opened the second seal.</hi>—Revealing +the second period of the history of the Antichrist. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I heard the second beast.</hi>—Infinite Power. See Rev. 4:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Say, Come and see.</hi>—Come and see Infinite Power consenting +to a thing apparently in victorious opposition to it. +</p> + +<p> +6:4. <hi rend='sans'>And I beheld and lo there went out another horse.</hi>—A +creed-horse, quite different from the Scriptures which +it misrepresented. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That was red.</hi>—The color of sin—imperfection. <q>Though +your sins be as scarlet.</q>—Isa. 1:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And power was given to him that sat thereon.</hi>—The same +rider, the Antichrist. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To take peace from the earth.</hi>—To embroil in controversy +those who were under religious restraint—in other +words, the entire professed church of God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And that they should kill one another.</hi>—Depose and +destroy one another as teachers, by inveighing the Roman +power against all offenders. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there was given unto him a great sword.</hi>—As the +Lord has a great and powerful sword, the Sword of the +Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17), and as it +<pb n='107'/><anchor id='Pg107'/> +is represented as coming out of His mouth, so the Papacy +has a great and powerful sword, in opposition to the +Sword of the Spirit, and it, too, comes out of Papacy's +mouth. [The word here is different from Rev. 1:16 and +refers to the butcher knife—Gen. 22:6, 10.] <q>The pope +(each pope in his turn) is the head of the false church, +which is his body, even as Christ Jesus is the Head of +the true Church, which is His Body. Since the head is +the representative of the body, and its <emph>mouth</emph> speaks for +the body, we find, as we should expect, this feature of +Antichrist prominently referred to in the Scriptures. In +Daniel 7:8, 11, 25, and Rev. 13:5, 6, the mouth of Antichrist +is brought specially to our notice as a leading characteristic.</q>—B. 304. +</p> + +<p> +This period, beginning with the year 325 A. D. and extending +to the year 539, was the period of formation of +creeds. <q>Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these +kings.</q> (Josh. 10:24.) Once they were very powerful, but +they are quite harmless now. The Lord (Joshua-Savior) +has humbled them all by His own Sword of the Spirit in +the hands of Pastor Russell. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Neither Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, nor any +ecclesiastical writer before the fifth century, makes mention +of an assembly of the Apostles for the purpose of +forming a creed. Had the Apostles composed it, it would +have been the same in all churches and ages. But it is +quite otherwise.</q> (McC.) So much for the well-known +<q>Apostle's Creed,</q> which, it is alleged, <q>comprehends the +leading articles of the faith in the triune God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But this was not triune enough, so the Nicene Creed +improved the matter, A. D. 325: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q>We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of all +things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the +Son of God, begotten of the Father, Only-begotten, that is of +the substance of the Father; God of God; Light of Light; very +God of very God; begotten, not made; of the same substance +with the Father; by whom all things were made, both things +in Heaven and things in earth; who for us men and our salvation +became flesh, was made man, suffered, and rose again +the third day. He ascended into Heaven; He cometh to judge +the quick and dead. And in the Holy Ghost. But those that +say there was a time when He was not; or that He was not +before He was begotten; or that He was made from that +which had no being; or who affirm the Son of God to be of +any other substance or essence, or created, or variable, or +mutable, such persons doth the Catholic and Apostolic Church +anathematize.</q> +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +Fifty-six years later, at the second Ecumenical Council of +Constantinople, A. D. 381, the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan +Creed was put on the market: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q>I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven +<pb n='108'/><anchor id='Pg108'/> +and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; and in one +Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of +His Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, +very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance +with the Father; by whom all things were made; who +for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven, and +was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and +was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius +Pilate, He suffered and was buried; and the third day He +rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into +Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And +He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and +the dead, whose Kingdom shall have no end. And I believe +in the Holy Ghost the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth +from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the +Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the +Prophets. And I believe in the one catholic and apostolic +church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; +and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of +the world to come.</q> +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +This did very well until the fourth Ecumenical Council, +A. D. 451, when the Chalcedon Creed was worked up. But +very little is said about this creed nowadays; for <q>the two +parties in the council were roused to the highest pitch of +passion, the proceedings, especially during the early sessions, +were very tumultuous, until the lay commissioners +and the senators had to urge the bishops to keep order, +saying that such vulgar outcries were disgraceful.</q> However, +we give it for what it is worth: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q>We confess and with one accord teach one and the same +Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, perfect in the divinity, perfect +in the humanity, truly God and truly man, consisting of a +reasonable soul and body; consubstantial with the Father +according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according +to the manhood; in all things like unto us, sin only excepted; +who was begotten of the Father before all ages, according +to the Godhead; and in the last days the same was born, +according to the manhood, of Mary the Virgin, Mother of +God, for us and for our salvation; who is to be acknowledged +one and the same Christ, the Son, the Lord, the Only Begotten +in two natures, without mixture, change, division or separation; +the difference of natures not being removed by their +union, but rather the propriety of each nature being preserved +and concurring in one person and in one <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>hypostasis</foreign>, so that +He is not divided into two persons, but the only Son, the +Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, and one and the same person.</q> +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +A merciful oblivion has hidden the name and the date +of authorship of the next creed, the Athanasian, the cream +of all the creeds; but it was probably manufactured by +Satan for use about 539 A. D. By 570 A. D. it had become +very famous. <q>The creed is received in the Greek, Roman +and English churches, but is left out of the service of +the Protestant Episcopal Church in America.</q> The nature +<pb n='109'/><anchor id='Pg109'/> +of this creed may be judged by the following extract from +an 1855 issue of the Church of England Quarterly: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q>The Athanasian Creed finds few real lovers as a portion of +a public service. No one supposes that it was the work of +Athanasius. [Athanasius originated the monastery-convent +system. He was the Bishop of Alexandria and friend of the +Emperor Constantine who caused the banishment of Arius.] +No one is now, at least among us, in any danger from the errors +it denounces; for no one believes that all the members of the +Greek Church are necessarily consigned to everlasting damnation; +and thus, every time the creed is read, the officiating minister +has solemnly to enunciate what neither he nor any of his +hearers believes. It is true that by distinguishing between the +creed itself and the damnatory clauses he may save himself, +mentally, from declaring a falsehood; but surely this is reason +enough for the removal of the creed from our Liturgy. We +have had too much in our Church of mental reservations. So +far as the doctrine of the Trinity is concerned, it is abundantly +insisted on in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds.</q> +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +It seems almost incredible that any one seriously believed +the following amazing statements: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Whoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that +he hold the Catholic faith, which faith, except every one do +keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. +And the Catholic faith is this: that we worship one God +in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the persons +nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the +Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But +the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost +is all one; the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. Such as the +Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The +Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. +The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the +Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, +and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three +eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, +nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one +incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son +almighty, and the Holy Ghost almighty. And yet there are not +three almighties, but one almighty. So the Father is God, the +Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet there are not +three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the +Son is Lord and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords, +but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian +verity to acknowledge every person by Himself to be God and +Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there +be three Gods and three Lords. The Father is made of none, +neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; +not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the +Father and the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, +but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one +Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. +And in this Trinity none is afore or after other; none is greater +or less than another. But the whole three persons are co-eternal +together, and co-equal. So that in all things, as aforesaid, +the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be +worshipped.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity. +Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that +<pb n='110'/><anchor id='Pg110'/> +he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. +For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our +Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man. God of the +substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man +of the substance of His mother, born in the world. Perfect God +and perfect man, or a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. +Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior +to the Father as touching His manhood. Who, although +He be God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. One, +not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of +the manhood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of +substance, but by unity of person. For as the reasonable soul +and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ. Who suffered +for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third +day from the dead. He ascended into Heaven; He sitteth on +the right hand of the Father, God Almighty. From whence He +shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming +all men shall rise again in their bodies, and shall account for +their own works. And they that have done good shall go into +life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting +fire. This is the Catholic faith which, except a man believe +faithfully he cannot be saved. Glory be to the Father, and to +the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is +now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.</q> +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +This put an end to the business of creed making, Satan's +powers of concocting gibberish to take the place of the +Bible having been temporarily quite exhausted. But a +thousand years later the <q>Creed of Pope Pius IV</q> was +issued in the form of a bull in December, 1564. <q>All +bishops, ecclesiastics, and teachers in the Romish church, +as well as all converts from Protestantism, publicly profess +assent to it.</q> It follows: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>I, A. B., believe and profess with a firm faith all and every +one of the things which are contained in the symbol of faith +which is used in the Holy Roman Church; namely, I believe +in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, +and of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus +Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before +all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true +God, begotten not made, consubstantial to the Father, by whom +all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation +came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost +of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; was crucified also for +us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried, and rose +again the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended +into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come +again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose +kingdom there will be no end; and in the Holy Ghost, the Lord +and Life-giver, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, +who, together with the Father and the Son, is adored and glorified, +who spake by the holy prophets; and one holy catholic and +apostolic church. I confess one baptism for the remission of +sins; and I expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of +the world to come. Amen. I most firmly admit and embrace +apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all other constitutions +and observances of the same church. I also admit the +sacred Scriptures according to the sense which the holy mother +church has held and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of +<pb n='111'/><anchor id='Pg111'/> +the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures; nor +will I ever take or interpret them otherwise than according to +the unanimous consent of the fathers.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>I profess, also, that there are truly and properly seven sacraments +of the new law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and for +the salvation of mankind, though all are not necessary for every +one—namely, baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme +unction, orders, and matrimony, and that they confer grace; +and of these, baptism, confirmation, and order cannot be reiterated +without sacrilege. I do also receive and admit the ceremonies +of the Catholic Church, received and approved in the +solemn administration of all the above-said sacraments. I receive +and embrace all and every one of the things which have +been defined and declared in the holy Council of Trent concerning +sin and justification. I profess likewise that in the mass is +offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the +living and the dead; and that in the most holy sacrament of +the eucharist there is truly, really and substantially the body +and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord +Jesus Christ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole +substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance +of the wine into the blood, which conversion the Catholic +Church calls Transubstantiation. I confess, also, that under +either kind alone, whole and entire, Christ and a true sacrament +is received. I constantly hold that there is a purgatory, and +that the souls detained therein are helped by the suffrages of +the faithful. Likewise that the saints reigning together with +Christ are to be honored and invocated, that they offer prayers +to God for us, and that their relics are to be venerated.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, and of the +Mother of God, ever Virgin, and also of the other saints, are +to be had and retained, and that due honor and veneration are +to be given to them. I also affirm that the power of indulgences +was left by Christ in the Church, and that the use of +them is most wholesome to Christian people. I acknowledge the +holy catholic and apostolic Roman Church, <hi rend='italic'>the mother and mistress +of all churches</hi>; and I promise and swear true obedience +to the Roman bishop, the successor of St. Peter, prince of the +apostles and vicar of Jesus Christ. I also profess and undoubtedly +receive all other things delivered, defined, and declared by +the sacred canons and general councils, and particularly by the +holy Council of Trent; and likewise I also condemn, reject, and +anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies whatsoever +condemned, rejected, and anathematized by the Church. +This true catholic faith, out of which none can be saved, which +I now freely profess and truly hold, I, A. B., promise, vow, and +swear most constantly to hold, and profess the same whole and +entire, with God's assistance to the end of my life; and to procure, +as far as lies in my power, that the same shall be held, +taught, and preached by all who are under me, or are intrusted +to my care, by virtue of my office. So help me God, and these +holy Gospels of God. Amen.</q> +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +The less Bible, the more Creed, and the thicker and +blacker the darkness! Bible students will not fail to +notice the progressive darkness of these creeds. Incarnation +is first mentioned in the third creed, mariolatry in +the fourth, and trinity and purgatory in the fifth. +</p> + +<p> +In the Millennial Age the creed-formers will feel like adding +a postscript to their work, reading about as follows: +</p> + +<pb n='112'/><anchor id='Pg112'/> + +<p> +<q>P. S.—We have had our eyes opened and now see that +Jesus was the Alpha, the Beginning of the creation of +God, and the Omega, the Last of the Father's direct creation +(Rev. 22:13; 1:8); that as the Logos, or Representative +of the Father, He was <emph>a</emph> God (mighty one) but not <emph>the</emph> +God, Jehovah (John 1:1); that all things were made by +Him (John 1:3); that Jehovah <emph>sent</emph> His Son to save mankind +(1 John 4:10); that the Logos was made flesh (John +1:14) and in the days of His flesh (Heb. 5:7) became +poor (2 Cor. 8:9), lower than the angels (Heb. 2:9), a +servant (Phil. 2:7), a man (Phil. 2:8); that while a man +He did not have all wisdom (Luke 2:52) but admitted +the Father's greater power (John 14:28) and knowledge +(Matt. 24:36); that as the Father had previously said that +He would give His own personal glory to no one (Isa. +42:8), so Jesus admitted He and the Father were two +separate persons (John 8:17, 18); that He admitted He +had not the glory of the Father (John 17:5) and expected +the same unity between the Church and the Father as +existed between Himself and the Father (John 17:21-23); +that when He died He was really, truly, completely dead, +as dead as though He had never previously existed (1 Cor. +15:3; Rev. 1:18); that God raised Him from the dead +(Acts 2:24; Gal. 1:1); highly exalted Him (Phil. 2:9) to +Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4); making Him the express +image of Himself (Heb. 1:3); but that even since His +resurrection our Father is still Jesus' Father and our God +is still His God (John 20:17); that a thousand years hence +Jesus will still be subject to the Father (1 Cor. 15:28); +that to us there is but one God (1 Cor. 8:6) and that +every doctrine that confesseth that Jesus Christ when He +came in the flesh came as anything more or less than +a fleshly being is the spirit of Antichrist which dictated +every one of the creeds aforementioned (1 John 4:3).</q> +</p> + +<p> +6:5. <hi rend='sans'>And when He had opened the third seal.</hi>—Disclosing +the third epoch in the history of Antichrist. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I heard the third beast.</hi>—Infinite Love. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Say, Come and see.</hi>—Come and see the apparently complete +triumph of the powers of darkness and the apparent +inaction of Infinite Love in permitting it. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I beheld, and lo, a black horse.</hi>—Complete disregard +of the Scriptures by clergy and people alike, and in their +place the ugly creeds and bulls of popes and councils. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he that sat on him.</hi>—The same rider, the Antichrist. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Had a pair of balances in his hand.</hi>—<q>Balance joined +with symbols denoting the sale of corn and fruits by +weight, becomes the symbol of scarcity; bread by weight +being a curse in Lev. 26:26 and in Ezek. 4:16, 17.</q> (McC.) +<pb n='113'/><anchor id='Pg113'/> +During this period the common people could have in their +own tongue only a few words or verses of the Scriptures; +and for these they were obliged to pay large sums to the +clergy, who alone had the ability to translate from the +dead languages, or even to read at all. As the services +were in Latin the people were starved spiritually. +</p> + +<p> +6:6. <hi rend='sans'>And I heard AS IT WERE a voice.</hi>—The voice of the +Lord Jesus, the Guardian and Caretaker of the true Church.—Matt. +28:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the midst of the four beasts.</hi>—<q>In the midst of the +Throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the +elders, stood a Lamb.</q>—Rev. 5:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Say, A measure.</hi>—<q>The word <foreign rend='italic'>chenix</foreign> denotes a measure +containing one wine quart and a twelfth part of a quart.</q>—Diaglott. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of wheat.</hi>—The true children of the Kingdom.—C. 137. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For a penny.</hi>—<q>A <foreign rend='italic'>denarius</foreign> was the day-wages of a +laborer in Palestine (Matt. 20:2, 9).</q> (Diaglott.) These +wages, a little more than a quart of wheat for a day's +work, show how great was the effort, in those dark and +terrible days, to find some <q>grains of wheat.</q>—Amos 8:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And three measures.</hi>—Three <foreign rend='italic'>chenices</foreign>, three quarts. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of barley.</hi>—Spiritual adulterers and adulteresses, courting +the friendship of the world. (Jas. 4:4.) Barley is the +symbol of the adulteress as wheat is the symbol of the +virgin.—Num. 5:15; Hos. 3:1, 2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For a penny.</hi>—For a <foreign rend='italic'>denarius</foreign>. It was three times as easy +to find the faithless as the faithful. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And see thou hurt not the oil.</hi>—The supply of the oil, +the Holy Spirit of full submission to the will of God was +low; the light of the true Church was feeble indeed. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the wine.</hi>—Wine is a symbol of doctrine, true or +false, and its accompanying joys. In this case it refers to +the true doctrines of the Kingdom. But little knowledge +of the coming Kingdom was prevalent then, and the joys +of the Church were proportionately small. (See comments +on Rev. 2:12-17, synchronous with events of second +and third seals.) +</p> + +<p> +Lest it be supposed that the Roman Catholic church is +now different from what it once was, and that at present it +is holding to the Scriptures, we quote the following from +<hi rend='italic'>Strength of Will</hi> by E. Boyd Barrett, of the Society of +the Jesuits, approved by the Roman Catholic censor, Remy +Lafort, and approved by John, Cardinal Farley, Archbishop +of New York, November 24th, 1915: +</p> + +<p> +<q>Catholic ascetics teach us, in this matter, first of all +to have a clear and definite view of the object we propose +to ourselves—let us suppose that it is to overcome +<pb n='114'/><anchor id='Pg114'/> +the passion of anger. Now the resolution, <q>not to give +way to anger</q> would be far too broad and too great. Applying +the principle, <q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>divide et impera</foreign>,</q> we content ourselves +with resolving <q>not to give way to external manifestations +of anger.</q> But here again, our resolution is too +broad and too great. We again apply the principle, +<q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>divide et impera</foreign>,</q> and resolve <q>not to give way to angry +retorts.</q> This resolution is pointed, definite and intelligible—it +means that cross and peevish remarks must not +occur. A time limit may now be added in order to make +the resolution still more well-defined: 'Until the last day +of this month I will not make an angry retort.' Possibly, +it might be advisable to limit this resolution still more, +by conditions of place or circumstance, adding <q>in such +a place or to such a person, or during such a ceremony.</q></q> +Simple! All you have to do is to keep dividing. +</p> + +<p> +6:7. <hi rend='sans'>And when He had opened the fourth seal.</hi>—Disclosing +the history of the Papacy in its fourth stage, the period +synchronizing with the Thyatira and Sardis epochs. See +Rev. 2:18-29; 3:1-6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I heard the voice of the fourth beast.</hi>—Infinite Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Say, Come and see.</hi>—Come and see what would seem to +be the most unwise thing the Lord could possibly permit +to happen to His Church. +</p> + +<p> +6:8. <hi rend='sans'>And I looked, and behold a pale horse.</hi>—The +ghastly and horrible teachings that God's true people must +be <q>exterminated.</q> <q>The ghastly green of terror and of +death. The word is used of grass in Rev. 8:7; 9:4; Mark +6:39.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And his name that sat on him was Death.</hi>—Still the same +rider, the Papacy; and an apt description of its chief +claim to recognition during the pre-Reformation period. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Pope Innocent III. first sent missionaries to the districts +in which the doctrines had gained foothold, to preach +Romanism, work miracles, etc.; but, finding these efforts +unavailing, he proclaimed a crusade against them and +offered to all who would engage in it the pardon of all +sins and an immediate passport to Heaven without passing +through purgatory. With full faith in the pope's power +to bestow the promised rewards, half a million men—French, +German and Italian—rallied around the standard +of the cross, for the defence of Catholicism and the extinction +of heresy. Then followed a series of battles and +sieges covering a space of twenty years. The city of +Beziers was stormed and taken in 1209, and the citizens, +without regard for age or sex, perished by the sword to +the number of sixty thousand, as reported by several +historians. The blood of those who fled to churches, and +<pb n='115'/><anchor id='Pg115'/> +were murdered there by the holy crusaders, drenched the +altars and flowed through the streets. It is estimated that +one hundred thousand Albigenses fell in one day; and their +bodies were heaped together and burned. The clergy +thanked God for the work of destruction, and a hymn of +praise to God for the glorious victory was composed and +sung.</q>—B. 335. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And Hell followed with him.</hi>—All the people killed by the +pope went to hell, and he himself went there also; but +none of them went to the kind of hell to which the pope +thought he was sending them. They went to the Bible +hell, which is a place quite different from what is supposed. +The average man believes in hell, but thinks few +people go there and that nobody knows much about it. +The Bible is the only authority on the subject, and no +one can know anything about it, aside from the Bible. +When we consider Christ's statement that unless a man +loves Him more than <q>father, and mother, and wife, and +children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life +also, he cannot be My disciple</q> (Luke 14:26), and reflect +that probably not one professed Christian in a hundred +has reached either this standard or the other one which He +set in the same chapter, that <q>Whosoever he be of you +that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple</q> +(Luke 14:33), it should make us willing to consider +carefully what is to become of the 9,999 out of every 10,000 +of earth's population that do not meet these conditions. +</p> + +<p> +We all know that <q>The wicked shall be turned into +hell, and all the nations that forget God</q> (Psa. 9:17); but +how many of us know that they will be re-turned there; +that the passage, correctly translated, reads, <q>The wicked +shall be returned into hell, all the nations that forget +God</q>—showing that there are nations which go into hell +once, come out of hell, learn of God, forget Him and are returned +there? We may all know (Jude 11) that Korah, or +Core, went to hell; but how many of us know that he was +accompanied to this place by his house, with all his household +goods, and two other establishments similarly +equipped? (<hi rend='italic'>Num.</hi> 16:32, 33.) We may all know that the +Sodomites went to hell (Gen. 19), but how many know +that they were accompanied by the city in which they +lived and that there are other cities there? (<hi rend='italic'>Matt.</hi> 11:23.) +We may all suppose that many heathen warriors of long +ago went to hell, but how many of us know that they took +with them their weapons of war, and that their swords +are there now, under their heads, with what is left of +their bones? (Ezek. 32:27.) We may understand that +the wealthy go to hell, but how many know that in the +<pb n='116'/><anchor id='Pg116'/> +same place are sheep, gray hairs, worms, dust, trees and +water?—Psa. 49:14; Gen. 44:31; Job 17:13-16; Ezek. 31:16. +</p> + +<p> +We may all know that bad men go to hell, but how +many of us know that the Ancient Worthies, Jacob and +Hezekiah, fully expected to go there, and that faithful +Job prayed to go there? (Gen. 37:35; Job 14:13.) We +may all wish to keep out of hell, but how many of us +know that David said there is not a man that liveth that +shall deliver his soul from its power, and that Solomon +says, thou goest there, whosoever thou art? (Psa. 89:48; +Eccl. 9:10.) We may think that those who go to hell go +there to stay forever, but how many of us know that Samuel +said, <q>The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth +down to hell and bringeth up</q> out of hell, and that +David said, God has the same power to aid those in hell +that He has to bless those in Heaven? (1 Sam. 2:6; Psa. +139:8.) We may think that those who go into hell never +come out, and that there is no record that any have come +out, yet there are at least two persons in history who +have been in hell and come out of hell. One is Jonah, +who prayed in hell and was delivered from hell (Jonah +2:2), and the other is Christ, whose soul went to hell, but +<q>His soul was not left in hell,</q> for God raised Him up out +of it. (Acts 2:31.) And when Christ came out of hell +He brought with Him <q>The keys of hell</q> and now has the +power and the right to set all its captives free. (Rev. +1:18.) We may suppose that hell is to last forever, but +the Prophet speaks of its coming destruction, and John +the Revelator says that it is to be made to <q>deliver up +the dead</q> which are in it, and it, itself, is to be destroyed. +(Hosea 13:14; Rev. 20:13.) The last passage +cited affords the explanation of the whole subject, for in +the margin opposite Rev. 20:13 the translators have explained +that the word <q>hell</q> means <q>grave.</q> Reversely, in +the margin opposite 1 Cor. 15:55, the translators have +explained that <q>grave</q> means <q>hell.</q> The terms are interchangeable +and the meaning is the same. In every +place foregoing in which the citations appear in italic type, +the translators have rendered Sheol or Hades by <q>grave</q> +or <q>pit</q> instead of <q>hell.</q> In the margins of the old family +Bibles, printed before Pastor Russell was born, we are +told in seven places, and in both ways, in both the Old +Testament and the New, that hell means the grave, and +the grave means hell.—Psa. 49:15; 55:15; 86:13; Isa. 14:9; +Jonah 2:2; 1 Cor. 15:55; Rev. 20:13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And power was given unto them.</hi>—To his Holiness, the +Pope, and all the cardinals, bishops, archbishops, priests, +inquisitors, kings and rulers. +</p> + +<pb n='117'/><anchor id='Pg117'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Over the fourth part of the earth.</hi>—Over Europe, but not +over Asia, Africa or America. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To kill with sword, and [with hunger] FAMINE and +[with] death.</hi>—The destruction of New Creatures by wresting +of the Scriptures and their spiritual starvation are here +in evidence; but there was also a literal fulfilment. <q>Human +and Satanic ingenuity were taxed to their utmost to invent +new and horrible tortures, for both the political and religious +opponents of Antichrist; the latter—heretics—being +pursued with tenfold fury. Besides the common forms of +persecution and death, such as racking, burning, drowning, +stabbing, starving and shooting with arrows and guns, +fiendish hearts meditated how the most delicate and sensitive +parts of the body, capable of the most excruciating +pain, could be affected; molten lead was poured into the +ears; tongues were cut out and lead poured into the +mouths; wheels were arranged with knife blades attached +so that the victim could be slowly chopped to pieces; +claws and pincers were made red hot and used upon sensitive +parts of the body; eyes were gouged out; finger +nails were pulled off with red hot irons; holes, by which +the victim was tied up, were bored through the heels; +some were forced to jump from eminences onto long +spikes fixed below, where, quivering with pain, they slowly +died. The mouths of some were filled with gunpowder, +which, when fired, blew their heads to pieces; others were +hammered to pieces on anvils; others, attached to bellows, +had air pumped into them until they burst; others were +choked to death with mangled pieces of their own bodies; +others with urine, excrement, etc., etc.</q>—B. 346. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And with the beasts of the earth.</hi>—The evil governments. +<q>Kings and princes who trembled for the security +of their crowns, if they to any extent incurred the pope's +displeasure, were sworn to exterminate heresy, and those +barons who neglected to aid in the work of persecution +forfeited their estates. Kings and princes, therefore, were +prompt to comply with the mandates of the Papacy, and +the barons and their retainers were at their service, to aid +in the work of destruction.</q>—B. 333. +</p> + +<p> +6:9. <hi rend='sans'>And when He had opened the fifth seal.</hi>—Disclosing +the Reformation in the days of Luther. See Rev. 3:7-13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I saw under the altar.</hi>—Altars were originally made of +earth. (Ex. 20:24.) To see under the altar is to see underground, +in the tomb, the grave. At the bottom of the +brazen altar all the blood of the victim was poured.—Lev. +4:7; 8:15; Heb. 8:5; 13:10; Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The souls.</hi>—The beings of those who had died. These +souls were not in Heaven. +</p> + +<pb n='118'/><anchor id='Pg118'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of [them] MEN that were slain.</hi>—Spiritually beheaded +(some of them literally, also).—Rev. 20:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For.</hi>—<foreign rend='italic'>Dia</foreign>, <q>through</q> or <q>by means of.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Word of God.</hi>—<q>Of His own will begat He us with +the Word of Truth.</q> (James 1:18.) It is this Sword of +the Spirit that cuts us off from the world.—Heb. 4:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And for the testimony.</hi>—<q>And <emph>through</emph> the testimony</q>; +through the Word of God. The word <foreign rend='italic'>dia</foreign> is here used +again. It is the Word that does the beheading. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which they held.</hi>—As witnesses in their hearts (Rom. +8:16) and to which they adhered at any cost. +</p> + +<p> +6:10. <hi rend='sans'>And they cried with a loud voice.</hi>—Not actually, +but in the same way that the voice of Abel's blood cried +from the ground.—Gen. 4:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, How long, O Lord.</hi>—How long will it be from this +particular time, the Spring of 1518?—Rev. 3:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Holy and true.</hi>—See Rev. 3:7; 1 John 5:20; Mark 1:24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Dost] WILT Thou not judge.</hi>—Deliver us from the tomb. +The judges of old were <emph>deliverers</emph>.—Judges 3:9-11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And avenge our blood.</hi>—Cast off from all favor a system +of nominal Christianity which is not Christianity at all. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>On them that dwell on the earth.</hi>—On these that are <q>Of +the earth, earthy.</q>—Rev. 17:5; 3:10; 8:13; 13:8, 14. <q>The +answer is given by the angel of the waters. See Rev. +16:4-7.</q> (Cook.) Quite true. The answer is in Vol. III of +<hi rend='smallcaps'>Scripture Studies</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +6:11. <hi rend='sans'>And [white robes were] THERE WAS given unto +[every one] EACH of them a white robe.</hi>—<q>God's grace +cannot admit to heavenly perfection those who have not +robes of spotless righteousness. How gracious is the provision +of our God in thus presenting us with the Robe +which covers all the repented-of blemishes of the past as +well as the unintentional and unwitting imperfections of +the present!</q>—Z. '11-342; Rev. 3:4, 5; 19:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And it was said unto them.</hi>—Not actually, but by the +teachings of the parallel dispensations, which show that +as Christ was raised from the dead in A. D. 33, the +sleeping saints would be raised 1845 years later, in the +Spring of 1878. See Rev. 3:14, 20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That they should rest yet for a little season.</hi>—Greek +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Chronos</foreign>, 360 years. See Rev. 2:21. This is the item +which Pastor Russell had in mind in the following footnote: +<q>When, in a succeeding volume, we examine the +wonderful visions of the Revelator, it will be clearly seen +that the time here pointed out by the word <q>henceforth,</q> +as marked by events, synchronizes closely with 1878, as +indicated by the prophecies herein noted.</q> (C. 241.) Luther +nailed the proclamation on the church door at Wittenberg +<pb n='119'/><anchor id='Pg119'/> +Oct 31, 1517, which was already one month into the year +1518, Jewish reckoning. But it took some time for the +news to travel to all parts of Europe. Three hundred and +sixty years from the Spring of 1518 brings us to the Spring +of 1878, when we understand that God's promise made to +the sleeping saints was fulfilled. They were raised from +the dead, and Babylon was cast off. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Until their fellowservants also.</hi>—The other members of +the Little Flock, all bond-slaves of Jesus.—Gal. 6:17, +Diaglott, footnote. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And their brethren.</hi>—Fellow-believers, the Great Company. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That should be killed BY THEM as they were.</hi>—Similarly +make covenants of consecration to the Lord.—Rev. 6:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Should be fulfilled.</hi>—Should be filled full, completed in +number. <q>The Gospel age is for the very purpose of +calling those who shall participate in the marriage feast. +If, therefore, it be true that we are in the end of this +Gospel age, it implies that a sufficient number of worthy +guests have been found, or, to reverse the proposition, +if a sufficient number of worthy guests have now been +found, it proves that we are in the close of this age. It +was after the wedding <emph>had been furnished</emph> with a proper +number of guests, that <q>the King came in</q> and began the +inspection of the guests. This, we have elsewhere shown, +marks the date April, 1878.</q>—Z. '98-137. +</p> + +<p> +6:12. <hi rend='sans'>And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal.</hi>—Disclosing +the events leading up to and associated with +the Lord's <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Parousia</foreign>, presence. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And, [lo,] there was a great earthquake.</hi>—<emph>Literally</emph>, the +great Lisbon earthquake, Nov. 1, 1755, which extended +over 4,000,000 square miles; shocked all Africa and Western +Europe, including Scandinavia and Greenland; slew +90,000 persons in Lisbon and many thousands elsewhere; +destroyed every church and convent in the city; caused a +tidal wave 60 feet high; split mountains from top to bottom; +sunk an immense area to a depth of 600 feet and +threw sailors to the decks hundreds of miles at sea. It +is believed to be the most severe earthquake shock ever +felt on the earth. <emph>Symbolically</emph>, the American Revolution, +21 years later (the underlying cause of the French Revolution); +the most successful and most extraordinary movement +upward of the lower strata of human society that +had ever been seen in the world up to that time. God +has so written Revelation that those who will not accept +the symbolical significance of what is expressly declared +to be a symbolical book (Rev. 1:1) may find literal fulfillments, +and thus lose the light they would otherwise get. +</p> + +<pb n='120'/><anchor id='Pg120'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair.</hi>—<emph>Literally</emph> +in the dark day of May 19, 1780, which extended +over 320,000 square miles. (D. 587.) <emph>Symbolically</emph>, the +light of the papal heavens (the pope) became darkened +when Napoleon fined the Pope ten million dollars, organized +the Papal territory into a republic and took the Pope +a prisoner to France. (C. 41, 55.) <emph>Symbolically</emph>, too, the +light of the true heavens, the Gospel light, the Truth, and +thus Christ Jesus, has become hidden from view of many +by the denial of the clergy of our day that we were bought +with the precious blood and by the teaching of the theory +of Evolution.—D. 590; Joel 2:10, 31. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the WHOLE moon became as blood.</hi>—<emph>Literally</emph> on +May 19, 1780. <emph>Symbolically</emph>, the creeds (the moon of the +papal heavens) have become repugnant, though still hypocritically +professed. <emph>Symbolically</emph>, also the light of the +Mosaic Law (the moon of the true heavens) has been +made to appear evil by the claims of the clergy that the +typical sacrifices were bloody and barbaric.—D. 590, 592. +</p> + +<p> +6:13. <hi rend='sans'>And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth.</hi>—<emph>Literally</emph>, +the meteoric shower of Nov. 13, 1833, covering +11,000,000 square miles. (D. 588.) <emph>Symbolically</emph>, the bishops +and the priestly stars of the papacy fell from their positions +of power and influence over the minds and consciences +of the people. <emph>Symbolically</emph>, also, the Protestant pulpit +stars make a great display in coming down from spiritual +things to the Christian-citizenship-politics level.—D. 595. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Even as a fig tree.</hi>—<q>The fig tree in this prophecy may +be understood to signify the Jewish nation. (Matt. 24:32.) +If so, it is being signally fulfilled; for not only are thousands +of Israelites returning to Palestine, but the Zionist +movement, started recently, has assumed such proportions +as to justify a Convention of representatives from +all parts of the world to meet in Switzerland to put in +practical shape the proposal for the reorganization of a +Jewish state in Palestine. These buds will thrive, but will +bear no perfect fruit before October, 1914—the full end +of <q>Gentile Times.</q></q>—D. 604. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Casteth] CASTING her untimely figs, when she is +shaken of a mighty wind.</hi>—The immature fruits of the Zionist +movement were dashed to the ground by the great war. +Thousands of the Jews already in Palestine were deported +to Egypt at the breaking out of the war. At this writing +the British are besieging Jerusalem and the Turks are +driving the Jews into the desert to perish rather than +permit them to remain and come under British control. +Out of this turmoil Zionism will soon start afresh and the +Jews become the actual rulers of their native land. +</p> + +<pb n='121'/><anchor id='Pg121'/> + +<p> +6:14. <hi rend='sans'>And the heaven departed as a scroll.</hi>—<q>The <q>sure +word of prophecy</q> indicates very clearly that the various +Protestant sects will form a coöperative union or federacy, +and that Catholicism and Protestantism will affiliate, +neither losing its identity. These are the two ends of +the ecclesiastical heavens which, as their confusion increases, +shall roll together <emph>as a scroll</emph> (Isaiah 34:4) +for their self-protection—as distinct and separate rolls, yet +in close proximity to each other.</q>—D. 258; Psa. 102:26. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>When it is rolled together.</hi>—<q>It will be impossible to re-establish +the present order, (1) because it has evidently +outlived its usefulness, and is inequitable under present +conditions; (2) because of the general diffusion of secular +knowledge; (3) because the discovery that priestcraft has +long blinded and fettered the masses with error and fear +will lead to a general disrespect for all religious claims +and teachings as of a piece with the discovered frauds; +(4) because religious people in general, not discerning +that God's time has come for a change of dispensation, +will ignore reason, logic, justice and Scripture in defending +the present order of things. It will be of little consequence +then that the ecclesiastical heavens (the religious powers, +Papal and Protestant) will have rolled together as a scroll. +(See Isaiah 34:4.) The combined religious power of +Christendom will be utterly futile against the rising tide +of anarchy when the dread crisis is reached. Before that +great army <q>all the host of heaven [the church nominal] +shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together +as a scroll.</q></q>—D. 551. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And every mountain.</hi>—Kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [island] HILL.</hi>—<q>Little hills</q> refer to governments +less autocratic than monarchies; but <q>hills</q> sometimes +refer to the sharpest, highest, most jagged mountain +peaks, and then mean the most autocratic of all governments. +This is evidently what is meant here. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were moved out of [their] THE places.</hi>—Did not occupy +the same position as before with reference to the people. +The places were never <q>theirs,</q> but belong <q>to Him whose +right it is.</q> (Z. '05-253.) In recent years Turkey and Persia +have been granted parliaments; China, Russia and Portugal +have become republics; and other countries have become +vast socialist communities.—Rev. 16:20. +</p> + +<p> +6:15. <hi rend='sans'>And the kings of the earth.</hi>—The aristocracy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the great men.</hi>—The clergy. (Rev. 18:23, comment.) +Rendered <q>lords</q> in Mark 6:21. See Job 12:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And the rich men,] and the chief captains, AND THE +RICH MEN.</hi>—The high military officers. Rendered <q>high +captains</q> in Mark 6:21. The magnates and financiers. +</p> + +<pb n='122'/><anchor id='Pg122'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the mighty men.</hi>—The labor organizers. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And every bondman.</hi>—Member of a labor organization. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And every free man.</hi>—Other worker (if not a bond-slave +of Christ). +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Hid themselves in the dens.</hi>—See Isa. 2:19-21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And in the rocks of the mountains.</hi>—<q>As the trouble increases, +men will seek, but in vain, for protection in the +great rocks and fortresses of society (Free Masonry, Odd +Fellowship, and Trades Unions, Guilds, Trusts, and all societies +secular and ecclesiastical), and in the mountains +(governments) of earth.</q>—B. 139; Jer. 3:23; Hos. 10:8. +</p> + +<p> +6:16. <hi rend='sans'>And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us.</hi>—<q>The +Greek word <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>epi</foreign>, here used, is generally translated <emph>on</emph>, +but has also the significance of <emph>over</emph> (Rev. 5:10) and <emph>about</emph>, +and is so translated many times in the common version. +The thought is that of protection, not of destruction. The +common view of this passage, that it teaches that wicked +men will get faith enough to pray for literal mountains to +fall, is absurd. The real fulfilment is already beginning: +the great, the rich, and no less the poor, are seeking to the +mountains and rocks and caves for shelter from the darkening +storm of trouble which all see is gathering.</q>—B. 139; +Hos. 10:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And hide us from the face.</hi>—Of Justice, now about to demand +an accounting for our stewardship. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Him that sitteth on the Throne.</hi>—Jehovah. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And from the wrath of the Lamb.</hi>—Whose followers we +have falsely professed to be. +</p> + +<p> +6:17. <hi rend='sans'>For the great day of [His] THEIR wrath is come.</hi>—The +wrath of the Father, the Son, and the glorified +saints.—Rev. 2:26, 27; Isa. 13:6-19; Zeph. 1:14-18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And who shall be able to stand.</hi>—<q>The answer through +the Prophet is, 'He that hath clean hands [an honest life] +and a pure heart [a conscience void of offence toward God +and man]: he shall ascend into the mountain [Kingdom] +of the Lord and stand in the holy place.'</q> (Psa. 24:3, 4; +D. 582.) <q>Oh, what sorrow it gives us at times to behold +some not standing well the testing of this hour, some who +are developing tendencies of weakness, disloyalty to the +cause, ambition for name and fame or position, desire to +be greatest, tendencies to lord it over God's heritage, and +who, unless recovered, will be surely cut off from membership +in the Body, even though, as the Apostle declares, they +may be saved so as by fire, as members of the <q>great company.</q>—1 +Cor. 3:15.</q> (Z. '06-309; Psa. 76:7.) The only ones +who will stand are the twelve tribes named in the next +chapter. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='123'/><anchor id='Pg123'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 7—Seventh Seal And Great Company</head> + +<p> +7:1. <hi rend='sans'>And after [these things] THIS.</hi>—After the events +disclosed by the opening of the sixth seal had already been +amply fulfilled, but not signifying that further, more elaborate +and final fulfilments on an immense scale will not +take place later. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the +earth.</hi>—The Little Flock, commissioned to carry the message +of Present Truth to the remotest outposts of civilization. +<q>They shall gather together His Elect from the four +winds.</q>—Matt. 24:31. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Holding the four winds of the earth.</hi>—<q>The winds of the +earth referred to here are, of course, symbolic. The +thought is that the winds from the four quarters—North, +East, South and West—are being held back, and that +when the restraint is withdrawn they will rush together, +and the result will be a whirlwind. Certain Scriptures tell +of a whirlwind that will be raised up from the coasts of +the earth. See Jer. 23:19; 25:32, 33; 30:23, 24. We do +not understand that this will be a physical whirlwind, but +this symbolic expression is used to convey the thought of +a severe strife of the powers of the air. These <q>powers of +the air,</q> or <q>winds,</q> are not powers of natural air, but are +the powers referred to by St. Paul when he speaks of +Satan as <q>the Prince of the power of the air,</q> (Eph. 2:2.) +Those spirits who have been under the control of Satan—the +fallen angels—were to be restrained until the Judgment +of the Great Day. (Jude 6.) The letting loose of these +winds, or air powers, would seem to show that God +will let go His hand of restraint; that He will have to do +with the permission of the terrible trouble that will come. +This outside influence will exercise a baneful effect upon +men, when finally granted the liberty. These fallen spirits +have been under restraint for these many centuries, but +they have exercised their influence to whatever extent they +have had permission. If they had had unlimited power +they would have wrecked the world long ago; but they +have been restrained. Apparently God will soon cease to +restrain the fallen angels, and they will then proceed to +vent their fury upon humanity, so that the whole earth +will be full of violence, the same as in the days of Noah. +<pb n='124'/><anchor id='Pg124'/> +The power manifested by the demons when loosed, will, +we believe, be with a view to the injury of mankind. <hi rend='italic'>We do +not know but that many of our readers will have a share +in that injury.</hi> We have every reason to suppose that, if +these fallen angels shall get loose, they will vent their +first anger upon the Lord's people.</q>—Z. '14-166. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That the wind should not blow.</hi>—<q>As soon as the power +that is now controlling them shall be removed, we shall +have a reign of evil all over the earth. The evil spirits +will do all the evil that is in their power, and this will constitute +the trial of all the fallen angels—the lifting of the +restraints to see whether they will go contrary to the Divine +will. All who thus manifest their alliance with evil +in any way will become subjects of the Second Death; +while others who show their loyalty to God will mark +themselves as worthy, presumably, of everlasting life. <hi rend='italic'>It +may be something in connection with the saints that will +constitute the test of these angels. This will be the key, +the secret connected with the awful Time of Trouble which +the Bible tells us will mark the conclusion of this Age and +which will constitute the forerunner or beginning of the +New Dispensation.</hi></q> (Z. '11-359.) <hi rend='italic'>THE TEST IS ON.</hi> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>On the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.</hi>—<q>Symbolically, +the earth represents organized society; the sea +represents the disorganized masses (Dan. 7:2; Lu. 21:25; +Rev. 10:2, 8), and the trees represent the Household of +Faith. The letting loose suddenly of the fallen angels will +account well for the suddenness of the coming trouble, +which everywhere in the Scriptures is one of its particular +features—<q>in one hour</q>; <q>suddenly as travail upon a +woman</q>; <q>as it was in the days of Noah,</q> and <q>as it was in +the days of Lot</q></q>—Z. '11-157. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is only one way, so far as we can see, in which +these fallen angels can have a trial, their trial consisting +in having a fuller opportunity to sin, if they so desire, or +an opportunity to show, if they wish, that they are sick of +sin and desire to return to harmony with God. We cannot +think that God will allow this trial of the angels during +the Millennial Reign, for then, nothing shall hurt; nothing +shall destroy; Satan will be bound and all evil influences +will be restrained. No; it cannot be then. And in order +to be tried at all, these fallen angels must have certain +liberties granted, to prove them. Otherwise, where would +be their trial? Consequently, reasoning along this basis +(2 Peter 2:4), we reach the conclusion that the trial of +these fallen angels is in the near future—perhaps to some +extent already begun. In what way?</q> (Z. '11-358.) He that +hath ears to hear, let him hear!—1 Cor. 6:2. +</p> + +<pb n='125'/><anchor id='Pg125'/> + +<p> +7:2. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw another angel.</hi>—The Messenger of the +Covenant; our Lord Jesus at His Second Advent.—Mal. +3:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Ascending from the east.</hi>—<q>This speaks symbolically of +the Sun of Righteousness and its full light of Divine truth +and blessing scattering the shadows of sin, ignorance, +superstition and death, and healing and restoring the willing +and obedient of humanity.</q>—D. 653; Luke 1:78; Mal. 4:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having the seal of the living God.</hi>—The seventh seal. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He cried with a loud voice.</hi>—Pastor Russell was the +voice used. Beautiful voice of the Lord: strong, humble, +wise, loving, gentle, just, merciful, faithful, self-sacrificing; +one of the noblest, grandest characters of all history +<q>I lift my pen, not in defense of any doctrine, creed or +dogma, but in defense of a man, in defense of fairness, +justice and righteousness. Pastor C. T. Russell, of Brooklyn, +N. Y., stands out prominently as a target for the +pulpits and religious press of the country today. I believe +there is no one more bitterly persecuted, harshly condemned, +woefully misrepresented and misunderstood than +this fearless, conscientious man of God. No infidel writer, +such as Hume, Voltaire or Ingersoll, ever suffered such +ruthless attacks as have been made upon Mr. Russell. +Whether this persecution and misrepresentation is due to +prejudice or ignorance of this man's real character and +writing, is not for me to say, but I believe both are +elements that play a part in the widespread criticism uttered +both from the pulpit and the press. Naturally, men +will resent any attack made upon the creed of their persuasion, +for they hold to their religious creed and affiliations +with more tenacity than they realize, until some +strong mind, backed by Scripture proof, begins to uproot +their doctrine by showing their inconsistencies and errors. +This is what Mr. Russell proceeds to do. As a logician +and theologian he is doubtless without a peer today. In +his research for Biblical Truth and harmony he is without +a parallel in this Age. Without a blemish in his character, +with the loftiest ideals of God, and the possibilities of man, +he towers like a giant, unmatched. His defects fade into +insignificance. He has been too busy spreading Divine +Truth, as he honestly sees it, to waste time in frivolous +speculation in matters not in some way connected with +man's future state, as outlined in <q>The Plan of the Ages.</q> +Unselfish, liberal and courteous to Christians of all denominations, +but fearlessly condemning, in unmeasured +terms, the errors and inconsistencies in their creeds, as he +sees them, he ranks with immortal benefactors, and is +stamping his opinion on the world as no other man has +<pb n='126'/><anchor id='Pg126'/> +done since the days of the Reformation. Efforts to throttle +the press to prevent the publication of his sermons have +repeatedly been made. Why this opposition? Why would +any one oppose investigation or revelation and searching +the Scriptures? Why? What right has any one to prevent +free thought, free speech, or the freedom of the press? +What manner of men are we? Let men, preachers or what +not, beware of blocking the way of such a man. Jesus +said, <q>And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones +that believe in Me, it is better that a millstone were +hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.</q> +Mark 9:42. Better be like Gamaliel in the days of the +Apostles, when St. Peter and others were on trial. Gamaliel +rose up and said, <q>Refrain from these men, and let +them alone, for if this work be of men it will come to +naught; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, for ye +fight against God.</q></q>—Prof. S. A. Ellis. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To the four angels.</hi>—The church in the flesh, the Harvest +workers.—Matt. 24:31. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To whom it was given.</hi>—By completing the Harvest work +and thus releasing the restraints on the evil spirits. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To hurt the earth.</hi>—Throw order-loving peoples into desperation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the sea.</hi>—So enrage the masses, not under religious +restraint, as to make it impossible to control them. +</p> + +<p> +7:3. <hi rend='sans'>Saying, Hurt not the earth.</hi>—Do not complete the +Harvest work too soon, and thus allow the demons to +invade the minds of men until the appointed time. (Many +writers claim that this has already happened to the ex-Czar +of Russia, to Kaiser Wilhelm and to the chief of +modern <q>evangelists.</q>) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Neither the sea.</hi>—I will see to it that the work of Harvest +shall hold in check those not under religious restraint +until the work of Harvest is finished and the demons are +released, when, maddened by the obsession of the evil +spirits, there are no lengths to which the godless will not +presume to go. All Bible Students, followers of Pastor +Russell, know how urgently he has warned for forty years +that this deluge of evil spirits is sure to come. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Nor the trees.</hi>—See Rev. 8:7. Have you enjoyed this +work thus far? Are you convinced it is of the Lord—prepared +under His guidance? Have you carefully and +prayerfully read the comments on Rev. 7:1? Then brace +yourself for the truth that it is evidently God's purpose +soon to allow the minds of many of His little ones to become +an open battle ground, upon which the fallen +angels shall be judged, and the manner in which we meet +the tests will prove our worthiness of crowns at the same +<pb n='127'/><anchor id='Pg127'/> +time that it proves these disobedient spirits unworthy of +life on any plane. This is something with which some +but not many are yet familiar. Truly, we know the +Apostle in writing of this evil day says, <q>We wrestle not +against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against +powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, +against spiritual wicked ones in heavenly places</q> (Eph. +6:12). Truly, we know the Lord Jesus, at the First Advent +began His ministry with forty days of conflict with the +Adversary, who all that time sought to sway His mind +(Matt. 4:1-11). Truly, we have reason to believe He must +have had other terrible battles when He spent all night +in prayer, and especially when He was so depressed in the +garden of Gethsemane. But without actual experience it is +quite impossible to conceive of the intensity of such struggles +as Eph. 6:12 suggests. The base of the brain is seized +as in a vise. Interpretations of Scripture, ingenious, but +misleading beyond description, are projected into the mind +as water might be projected through a hose. Visions may +be tried, wonderful illuminations of the mind as by a soft +but glorious greenish or yellowish haze. Seductive suggestions +may be made, based on circumstances of the +environment. Offers of inspiration may be made. The +privilege of sleep may be taken away for days at a stretch. +All this is with the object of forcing the unfortunate into +at least temporary insanity so as to destroy his influence +and, if possible, his faith in God. Failing in all other attempts, +the mind may be flooded with thoughts that are +vile beyond description. <hi rend='italic'>THEN REMEMBER THE VOW.</hi> +</p> + +<p> +The fact that Jehovah intends some unique experiences +for the antitypical Isaac may be judged from the fact that +between Isaac's conception (Gen. 17:19 and 18:10) and his +birth (Gen. 21:1) occurred the destruction of Sodom +(Gen. 18:16 to end of 19th Chap.) and <hi rend='italic'>Abraham's denial +of Sarah</hi> (Gen. 20). But reading the latter account, the +child of God is comforted with God's care of His little +ones (Gen. 20:3) with the assurance that none of Satan's +plans can mature (Gen. 20:18) without the Lord's permission. +Isaac was a type of the complete Christ; and if now +The Christ is complete, as we believe, and ready to be +born into the Kingdom, we should not be surprised at anything +that might look like our repudiation at the Father's +hands. If He pours the cup, it will only be because He +knows that we can drink it, and because He wishes to +prove to angels and to men that we are worthy of the +honors He is to give us.—Lu. 22:42, 43; 1 Tim. 1:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Till we.</hi>—You <q>four angels,</q> Harvest workers in the flesh, +and Myself, the Lord of the Harvest. +</p> + +<pb n='128'/><anchor id='Pg128'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Have sealed the servants of our God.</hi>—See Rev. 19:20; +14:1. Satan is a diligent student of time prophecy (Luke +12:39); but not having the Holy Spirit he is unable to +reach accurate conclusions. Seeing a definite Plan, and +a definite time for every important feature of that Plan, +his aim has ever been to thwart the purposes of the +Almighty. This attempt to destroy the Seed began with +the death of Abel and still continues. No doubt Satan +<emph>believed</emph> the Millennial Kingdom was due to be set up in +1915; and no doubt, also, he knew that seven years prior +to the time of the setting up of that kingdom the restraints +upon the evil spirits would be lifted. Be that as it may, +there is evidence that the establishment of the Kingdom +in Palestine will probably be in 1925, ten years later than +we once calculated. The 70 jubilees, reckoned as 50 years +each, expire October, 1925. (B. 186.) Gen. 15:1-16:3, read +connectedly, indicates that Abraham's vision as to when +he would receive the Kingdom was not granted until ten +years after the Covenant was made, or 2035 B. C. The +ages of the animals offered aggregated eleven years, +which, applied prophetically, on the scale of a year for a +day, equal 3960 years, the length of time from the date of +the visions to A. D. 1925 (Z. '07-79). It seems conclusive +that the hour of Nominal Zion's travail is fixed for the +Passover of 1918. (See Rev. 3:14.) That will be 7 years +prior to 1925. At that time there is every reason to believe +the fallen angels will invade the minds of many of the +Nominal Church people, driving them to exceedingly unwise +conduct and leading to their destruction at the hands +of the enraged masses, who will later be dragged to the +same fate. The great war now raging is most certainly +the work of evil spirits, and the Kaiser is not the only +clever ruler who has been deceived by evil spirits, as history +will sometime show.—Lu. 12:56. +</p> + +<p> +If our reasoning is correct, we inquire whether there was +any indication of a move on Satan's part 7 years prior to +1915, showing that he expected the restraints to be removed +from the evil spirits at that time; and we answer +that there was something very definite indicated at that +time. In the Vow, advised by Pastor Russell in that year, +and in the experiences of many, for and against it, it is +plain that the Enemy <emph>then</emph> attempted to come in like a +flood, but was held back—restrained until the sealing work +is done. (Matt. 10:25; Luke 22:42-44; Heb. 12:4; Isa. +63:3.) After the demons have been turned loose on the +<emph>swine</emph> class, we shall see what happens. (Matt. 7:6; +8:31-34.) Those now fearful that they might learn something +will be terror-stricken then for a different reason. +</p> + +<pb n='129'/><anchor id='Pg129'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In their foreheads.</hi>—<q>The storm is held in check until +the faithful servants of God are <q>sealed in their foreheads</q> +(Exod. 13:9; 28:36, 38. Deut. 6:8; Ezek. 9:4-6; Rev. 14:1), +i. e., until such are given an intellectual appreciation which +will not only comfort them, and shield them, but also be a +mark, seal or evidence of their sonship, as indicated by our +Lord when He promised that the Holy Spirit should show +to the faithful <q>things to come.</q> (John 16:13.)</q> (B. 169.) When +the demon test comes, those who have the mark of sonship +(Ezek. 9:2-4) will know it and will stand the test, +while all others will surely fail. A letter from one of the +Bethel workers, written shortly after Pastor Russell's +death, says: <q>About three months ago I asked several +questions at the table, the last one being as follows, <q>Since +I now see that the Jewish Time of Trouble did not end +until the year 73 A. D., as I fully proved to myself by consulting +the historians, what then are we to expect in the +parallel year 1918?</q> Brother Russell put the question to +three prominent brethren, all of whom replied that they +did not know, but were willing to wait and see. When he +called upon me I said, <q>Since the year 73 A. D. saw the +complete overthrow of nominal Natural Israel in Palestine, +so in the parallel year 1918, I infer we should look +for the complete overthrow of nominal Spiritual Israel; +i. e., the fall of Babylon. (Rev. 18.)</q> Brother Russell replied: +<q>Exactly. That is exactly the inference to draw.</q></q> The +conclusion of the Church's career comes first. (Rev. 3:14.) +</p> + +<p> +<q>If you see the <q>door</q> of opportunity for sacrifice and +service open before you, enter in. But enter quickly; for +the night of darkness and of intense opposition to the +truth will ere long be upon us and will hinder you from +engaging in the service. <q>The morning cometh, and also +the night.</q> <q>The night cometh in which no man can work.</q> +When that is true, you may know that <q>the door is shut.</q> +that all the wise virgins have entered in, that all have been +proved, and that all vacancies have been acceptably filled. +All the special <q>servants of God</q> having by that time been +<q>sealed in their foreheads</q> (given an intellectual appreciation +of God's Plan), the four winds will be loosed and will +produce the great <q>whirlwind</q> of trouble in the midst of +which the remnant of the Elijah class will be <q>changed,</q> +and exalted to Kingdom glory.</q>—C. 225. +</p> + +<p> +7:4. <hi rend='sans'>And I heard the number of them which were +sealed.</hi>—<q>We have every reason to believe that the definite, +fixed number of the Elect is that several times stated in +Revelation, namely, 144,000 <q>redeemed from amongst +men.</q></q> (F. 179; Rev. 14:1.) This is the equivalent of one +saint fully developed for each five days of the Age. +</p> + +<pb n='130'/><anchor id='Pg130'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there were sealed 144,000.</hi>—On this point one of Pastor +Russell's coworkers has well said: <q>That this is not +a symbolical, but an exact number, seems certain from the +fact that, in the same chapter reference is made to another +company, also spirit-begotten. In the 9th verse we read: +<q>I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could +number.</q> It is not probable that this multitude is so great +that no one could actually count them, but rather that +none can state their number, God having left it indefinite.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of all the tribes of the children of Israel.</hi>—<q>As a name, +Israel signified <q>The people blessed of the Lord,</q> <q>The +people of God,</q> <q>The Lord's people.</q>—2 Chron. 7:14.</q> (D. 654; +Gal. 6:16; Rom. 9:6-8.) Each of the saints is reckoned +as belonging to one of the twelve tribes of <q>Israelites indeed,</q> +which tribes bear the names of the twelve patriarchs +of natural Israel. In every family each child is beloved for +some characteristic peculiarly its own; and in the meaning +of the names of the children of Israel we may recognize certain +of the qualities which make each overcomer precious +in the Father's sight. +</p> + +<p> +7:5. <hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand.</hi>—Juda +signifies <hi rend='italic'>Celebrated</hi>, lauded, praised. Nothing is more +praiseworthy than justice, noble-mindedness, the doing to +everybody as one would wish to be done by. Our Lord +was the Just One of the tribe of Juda. All who knew +Pastor Russell intimately, recognized that justice was the +foundation principle of his character. The mention of the +Lord's tribe first shows that there is a Divine order in +the arrangement of the names, inasmuch as that order is +different from the order of the birth of Jacob's sons. +Doubtless the brightest crowns will be worn by those that +are wholly without self-love, either in heart or in life.—Gen. +38:12-26; 43:3-10; 44:14, 34; 46:28. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of Reuben [were sealed] twelve thousand.</hi>—Reuben's +name signifying <q><hi rend='italic'>See ye, a son, provided in my affliction</hi></q> +or <hi rend='italic'>The Pity of God</hi>, seems to refer to the five-talented +brethren who make their calling and election sure. +To be possessed of ability and means to get the fullest +enjoyment out of life, and to sacrifice it all gladly, requires +a standard of character so high that the Lord expressly +states that not many attain it. (1 Cor. 1:26; Gen. 37:21, +22, 29, 30; 42:22, 37.) A taint of love of the world (spiritual +uncleanness) is all that prevents from attaining the +very highest place.—Gen. 35:22; 49:3, 4; 2 Cor. 7:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of Gad [were sealed] twelve thousand.</hi>—Gad's +name, signifying <hi rend='italic'>A troop of children cometh</hi>, seems +to give the third highest honor to those faithful men and +women who have been blessed of God in bringing many +<pb n='131'/><anchor id='Pg131'/> +of their own descendants into the Divine family. Instances +are on record where as many as twelve children +in one family have all come into the light of Present +Truth and consecrated, as a result of the life and teachings +of a noble father and mother. There is a family interest +on the part of the Heavenly Father in every family that +rightly seeks His face. Not a crown is available for others, +so long as even one child of one of the consecrated is +ready to run for that crown. <q>The promise is unto you +[first], and to your children [next], and [after that] to +all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord your God +shall call.</q> (Acts 2:39; 1 Cor. 7:14.) <q>Of the childhood +and life of the patriarch Gad nothing is preserved. At the +time of the descent into Egypt, seven sons are ascribed +to him, remarkable from the fact that a majority of their +names have plural terminations, as if those of families +rather than persons.</q> (McC.)—Gen. 46:16; Num. 26:15-18. +</p> + +<p> +7:6. <hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of Aser [were sealed] twelve thousand.</hi>—Aser's +name signifies <hi rend='italic'>Happy</hi>. <q>And Leah said, +Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and +she called his name Asher.</q> (Gen. 30:13.) Apparently +the fourth highest place of honor goes to the happy Christians. +Wherever else the long-faced saints go they do not +get into the Asher tribe. <q>Rejoice in the Lord alway: and +again I say rejoice. <hi rend='italic'>Finally</hi>, my brethren, rejoice in the +Lord.</q>—Phil. 4:4; 3:1; 2 Chron. 20:22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of Nephtalim [were sealed] twelve thousand.</hi>—Naphtali's +name signifies <hi rend='italic'>Great wrestlings</hi>, and suggests +that the fifth highest place will go to those who have +especially sought the face of the Father in prayer. By +his birth Naphtali was allied to Dan, the class that goes +into the Second Death. (Gen. 35:25; 49:17.) The suggestion +is not strained, then, that here is a class that has +overcome largely because they have so much appreciated, +and have used to such good purpose, the privilege of seeking +the Father's face in prayer.—Luke 11:5-13; James 1:5; +3:17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of Manasses [were sealed] twelve thousand.</hi>—Manasseh's +name signifies <hi rend='italic'>Forgetting</hi>, <q>For God hath +made me forget all my toil and all my father's House.</q> +(Gen. 41:51.) The sixth honor apparently refers to a class +having naturally very strong human attachments, for the +dear ones of their earthly families, and yet love the Lord +still more. Great is the love, great the faithfulness of +those that hear and heed the Divine proposal: <q>Hearken, +O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget +also thine own people, and thy father's House.</q>—Psa. +45:10. +</p> + +<pb n='132'/><anchor id='Pg132'/> + +<p> +7:7. <hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of Simeon [were sealed] twelve thousand.</hi>—Simeon +signifies <hi rend='italic'>Hearing</hi>. <q>Because the Lord hath +heard that I was hated, He hath therefore given me this +son also.</q> (Gen. 29:33.) This suggests that the seventh +place of honor is reserved for those who have been hated +in their home circles because of faithfulness to the Word +of the Lord. The Lord saw that the beauties of their +characters would only shine forth to the best advantage +if they were made ready in just such environment. How +sweet, how beautiful, is the patient heart developed under +such conditions!—Rom. 5:3; Col. 1:11, 12; 1 Pet. 1:7; 4:12; +5:10; Rom. 8:17; 2 Tim. 2:12; James 1:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of Levi [were sealed] twelve thousand.</hi>—Levi's +name signifies <hi rend='italic'>A joining</hi>. <q>This time will my husband +be joined unto me, because I have borne him three +sons.</q> The next honor is apparently reserved for those +who have literally sacrificed all their possessions in this +world in order that they might be more closely joined to +the Lord and His service. Levi had no inheritance in the +land, as a tribe, and as an individual the only event +recorded in the life of the patriarch is one of destruction +of the unfaithful.—Gen. 34:25-29. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of Issachar [were sealed] twelve thousand.</hi>—Issachar +signifies <hi rend='italic'>There is reward</hi>, or <hi rend='italic'>He brings reward</hi>. +<q>God hath given me my hire, because I have given my +maiden to my husband.</q> <q>Issachar is a strong ass couching +down between two burdens: and he saw that rest was +good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his +shoulder to bear.</q> (Gen. 30:18; 49:14, 15.) This seems +to signify that the next honor goes to the zealous, those +who joyfully undertake, in the Lord's name and cause, to +work hard for the glory of His name.—1 Cor. 15:58. +</p> + +<p> +7:8. <hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of Zabulon [were sealed] twelve +thousand.</hi>—Zebulun signifies <hi rend='italic'>Habitation</hi> or <hi rend='italic'>Dwelling</hi>. It +signifies the blessed satisfaction that comes to those who, +like the Master, during their earthly pilgrimages have not +known where to lay their heads; but, although they have +wrestled with poverty throughout life's little day, have +nevertheless held faithfully to the Lord, serving Him, with +limited education, strength, talents and opportunities, in +hope of finally reaching <q>The Home where changes never +come, nor pain, nor sorrow, toil nor care.</q> What a homecoming +they will have! In the Father's House of many +mansions theirs will be the happiest home. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of [Joseph were sealed] BENJAMIN twelve +thousand.</hi>—Benjamin signified <hi rend='italic'>Son of my Sorrow</hi> originally, +but the name was changed to signify <hi rend='italic'>Son of the +right hand</hi>. The youngest of Jacob's children, he seems +<pb n='133'/><anchor id='Pg133'/> +in some aspects to typify the Great Company class (Z. '81-1-7), +but succeeds in gaining the higher reward, probably +because of being the companions of those that occupy +more advanced positions in the Body. Thus the humble-minded +and faithful servants and <emph>companions</emph> may and +do fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ, +even though their personal sufferings be slight.—Heb. +10:33. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the tribe of [Benjamin were sealed] JOSEPH twelve +thousand.</hi>—The Sinaitic MS. mentions Joseph last, with +peculiar fitness. Joseph was one of the most beautiful +characters of the Bible. His name signifies <hi rend='italic'>Whom may +God increase</hi>. He had so many virtues that it is inadvisable +to attempt their enumeration, but the story is told at +length in Gen. 37-50. He is one of the very few characters +named in the Bible about whom nothing uncomplimentary +is expressed. He well represents all the other members +of the Divine family, all of whom have attained the Divine +likeness in their hearts and given expression to that +likeness as well as the frailties and weaknesses of the +flesh would permit. +</p> + +<p> +It will be noticed that the tribes of Dan and Ephraim +are omitted from the foregoing list. Dan evidently represents +the class that goes into the Second Death. The +name signifies <q>God hath judged me.</q> (Gen. 30:6.) We +know that all God's judgments are just and look for the +reason for Dan's rejection. Jacob prophesied that it would +be Dan <q>that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall +fall backward.</q> (Gen. 49:17.) Horses are symbols of +doctrines. Dan evidently represents a class tampering +with doctrines, resulting in the overthrow of the New +Creature. A study of the history of the tribe of Dan confirms +this. Originally Dan was given one of the choicest +parts of Palestine, one of the most fertile and the most +secure. It was completely embraced by its two brother +tribes Ephraim and Benjamin, while on the south-east and +south it joined Judah, and was thus surrounded by the +three most powerful states of the whole confederacy. The +Danites however failed to conquer the land originally assigned +to them (representing the failure of the New Creature +to gain the victory over the mind of the flesh) and +chose another inheritance to the far north (Judges 18:1-31). +This selection of the farthest north resembles Satan's +similar choice (Isa. 14:13) and suggests that the Danite +New Creatures were led away from their original inheritance +by ambition. The context shows an unreasonably +high valuation of their own judgment and a wilful interference +with the priestly office, and this we may judge has +<pb n='134'/><anchor id='Pg134'/> +been a frequent offense of those who commit the great sin +that lies just beyond the sin of presumption. (Psa. 19:13; +2 Sam. 6:6, 7.) <hi rend='italic'>THE TEST IS ON</hi>; take heed! take heed! +</p> + +<p> +The half tribe of Ephraim represents the Great Company, +mainly to be found in the Nominal Church. They +are more or less intoxicated with error (Isa. 28:1, 7), they +fear to let go of their idols of creeds and catechisms (Hos. +4:17), they are, in a way, half-baked Christians, not +wholly devoted to the Lord—<q>Ephraim is a cake not +turned.</q> (Hos. 7:8.) From first to last the prophecy of +Hosea is eloquent with Jehovah's pleadings to the Great +Company class not to miss the great prize of Immortality. +</p> + +<p> +7:9. <hi rend='sans'>After this, I beheld, and lo, a great multitude.</hi>—When +the Apostle tells us in 2 John 8, <q>Look to yourselves +that ye lose not those things which we have wrought, but +that ye receive a full reward,</q> he is teaching that a +Heavenly reward may be gained that is not as full as if a +course more pleasing to the Heavenly Father is pursued. +</p> + +<p> +Instead of teaching that the saved of our race will all be +saved to the same thing, the Scriptures show two degrees +or kinds of Heavenly salvation, and two degrees or kinds +of earthly salvation. In the second chapter of Genesis the +stream which went forth from the Garden of Eden was +divided into four parts. This is a Scriptural recognition +of the fact that from Adam, the original fountain of life, +will flow four streams: The Little Flock, who are to sit +down with Christ in His Throne; the Great Company, who +are to stand before the Throne, having the palms of +martyrdom but without the crowns of glory; the Ancient +Worthies, the Jewish fathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, +Daniel, etc., who are to be made princes in all the earth; +and the world of mankind, who will constitute the subjects +of the Kingdom over which the Ancient Worthies will +rule. The same lesson is taught in the division of the +Levites into four camps, each located on a different side +of the Tabernacle. (Num. 3:15; F. 128, 129.) It is also +taught in the Apostle's statement in 2 Tim. 2:20, that in +God's great House there will ultimately be found four +classes of vessels to His praise. +</p> + +<p> +The question for the saints is not as to which of the +earthly classes may ultimately include them, for they have +given up their earthly hopes in exchange for Heavenly +hopes. The question is whether they shall be wise virgins, +faithful students of the Word, building with the gold, silver +and precious stones of Divine Truth instead of foolish +<emph>virgins</emph> (pure of heart) (Matt. 25:2; C. 91; F. 75) who build +faith structures with the wood, hay and stubble of human +tradition. The Apostle says the fiery trials of life will +<pb n='135'/><anchor id='Pg135'/> +try every man's work so as by fire, and intimates that +those who do not build wisely shall suffer loss—not go into +eternal torment, but fail to gain the great reward which +otherwise might be theirs. (1 Cor. 3:15; T. 69.) The question +is whether as branches in Christ the Vine, to go onward +to fruit-bearing, or as other branches, to be principally +devoted to leaves (professions), or tendrils (feelers after +earthly honors and emoluments). (John 15:2; F. 78, 170.) +Christ said of a similar class in His day, <q>How can ye believe +[effectively] which receive honor one of another, and +seek not the praise which cometh from God only!</q> The +question is whether we are to be termed children of disobedience +(Col. 3:6; Z. '99-140) because, though God's children, +we have failed to mortify, or put to death, our earthly +and sinful tendencies; whether we are sinners against the +covenant we have made with God to lay down our lives +in His service (Psa. 1:1; Z. '00-281), whether, like Lot's +wife, we look back to the earthly good things we have +given up (Gen. 19:26; C. 194), or whether we retain the +singleness of heart and purpose, without which the prize +of the High Calling cannot be gained. +</p> + +<p> +The question is whether, as babes in Christ, we shall +wink at the unscriptural divisions of God's people, into +followers of Paul or Apollos, Cephas or Luther, Calvin or +Wesley (1 Cor. 3:4; D. 17); whether, like Rahab, we shall be +in the citadel of error when it falls, or like Joshua who +caused it to fall (Josh. 6:25; Z. '07-267); whether, like the +fitches and cummin, we shall easily divest ourselves of the +entangling associations of life, represented by the pods +from which the fitches and cummin are so easily shaken, +or whether we shall be like the <q>bread-corn</q> which requires +a vast amount of threshing before it will let go of +the close-clinging chaff. (Isa. 28:27; Z. '84-1-4.) The question +is whether, like the rejected members of Gideon's +army, we shall forget our mission, and bury our heads in +the waters of truth; or whether, with equal appreciation +of its message, we shall remember why the Lord gave it +to us, and shall drink of it, with our eyes out over the +horizon, seeking to serve, to spend and be spent in the +Master's service. (Judg. 7:6; Z. '07-331.) The question is +whether, like Caleb and Joshua, we shall retain our confidence +in Him who has called us, and bring back true +reports of the land we hope ere long to possess, or, +whether we shall be of the larger company that through +fear and faint-heartedness never enter in. (Num. 13:31; +Z. '07-251.) Shall we rejoice to lay down our lives for the +Lord's brethren, or shall we, through fear of this sacrificial +death, be all our lifetime subject to bondage? (Heb. 2:15; +<pb n='136'/><anchor id='Pg136'/> +T. 70, 71.) The question is whether we shall be like the +servant who hid his Lord's talent in the earth (in earthly +enjoyments and pursuits) (Matt. 25:24; Z. '01-61; Z. '06-318), +whether we shall be double minded, having some idea of +attaining heavenly things and some idea of getting all we +can of earthly things (Jas. 1:8; Z. '07-316), whether, like +Obadiah, we are merely friendly toward the Truth and +those who stand for the Truth, but conceal our interest for +fear of the consequences to ourselves and our families.—1 +Ki. 18:3; Z. '04-221. +</p> + +<p> +If, in these tests of faith and character, we come off +victorious in the Lord's sight, we shall not need to be of +those who wash their robes and make them white in the +blood of the Lamb, in the great tribulation with which this +Age will close, but shall keep our robes unspotted so that +they will not need such a general cleansing. If we have +fled to the Lord before the winter time of His disfavor has +come upon the man-made systems of our day, we shall be +spared the rigors of the flight, of which He said, <q>Pray +that your flight be not in <emph>the winter</emph> [of 1917-1918 (?)]</q> +(Matt. 20:10; D. 578), and we shall be spared, too, the bitter +disappointment of saying at that time, <q>The Harvest [the +time of special favor] is past, the summer is ended and +we are not saved</q> [not saved with the chiefest salvation, +with the salvation to which we aspired]. (Jer. 8:20; D. 578.) +In the time of Zion's travail these children of God will all +be delivered. (Isa. 66:8; Z. '94-135.) Let us be glad of +our hope that we shall be of the Man-child delivered before +that travail comes. Let us hope we may not be of the +lambs (Isa. 34:6; D. 17) or the goats found together in the +nominal sheepfolds when the time has come to wind up +present ecclesiastical systems. All down the Age, some +of God's children have been <q>turned over to Satan for the +destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in +the day of the Lord</q> (1 Cor. 5:5; T. 69, 71), because they +have not lived up to their covenants. The sufferings of +the scapegoat class, turned into the wilderness, dying of +thirst, hunger, snake-bites, thorns, briars, burrs, fleas or +attacks of wild animals, were far greater than those of +the Lord's goat, killed sacrificially. (Lev. 16:7-10; T. 60.) +Those who withhold from the Lord what they have promised +Him suffer far more than those who fight manfully +the good fight of faith and lay hold with both hands on the +hope set before us. +</p> + +<p> +The Great Company class will say <q>Alleluia</q> as soon as +they perceive that the Church is complete. (Rev. 19:1; +A. 240; F. 128.) But like Rebecca's damsels of old, they +must go the same long journey as the Bride class, only to +<pb n='137'/><anchor id='Pg137'/> +be received as servants in the end. (Gen. 24:61; Psa. +45:14; F. 121, 171.) Shall we enter fully into our inheritance +now, while the door is still open to do and dare in +the Master's Cause; or shall we be like the class mentioned +in Ezekiel 44 that finds the door shut because the +start is made too late, and must know that forever the +Heavenly Priesthood, the prize of the High Calling, is +closed, and that the most that can be then attained is the +place as keepers or servants in the Temple? (Ezek. 44:1-14; +Z. '05-269.) Let us rejoice if we are heirs of salvation +at all; but let us resolve, by God's grace, that we shall, +in the words of our text, <q>Look to ourselves, that we lose +not those things that we have wrought, but that we receive +a full reward</q>—all that the Father is pleased to give +to those who love Him supremely. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What we see going on about us seems natural to our +minds. The way in which other people spend time and +money is a temptation to the Lord's people which must +be <emph>steadfastly resisted</emph>. For us to do what others do, and +to devote to the Lord's service only what the world considers +a reasonable day's work, would not be fulfilling our +Covenant of Sacrifice at all. Those who seek merely to +do right, and to put in eight hours or so a day faithfully, +after the manner of the world, will be judged from this +standpoint; and they will merely obtain a place in the +Great Company. They are not fulfilling the conditions +of the Covenant of Sacrifice.</q>—Z. '14-71. +</p> + +<p> +<q>We do not think we should understand the Scriptures +to teach that the Great Company will attain to the same +degree of spiritual development as the Little Flock. They +fail to display that love and zeal which the Lord has set +as the mark for participation in the Royal Priesthood.</q> +(Z. '14-68.) <q>In determining to sacrifice themselves piecemeal +when and how they and their friends might please, +is the primary mistake.</q> (Z. '96-191.) <q>While the living +members of the Bride are being separated from others by +the <emph>Truth</emph>, the ears of this class are dull of hearing and +they are slow to believe and slow to act.</q> (A. 240.) <q>In one +parable the Lord styles this class a wicked and slothful +servant. He does not deny him the honor of being a servant, +He does not charge him with becoming an enemy. +He is counted wicked and slothful because, having undertaken +certain responsibilities as a servant, he has failed +to manifest the proper spirit of earnest devotion.</q>—Z. '07-315. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which no man could number.</hi>—<q>Whose number no man +is able to tell (i. e., it is not a foreordained or fixed number—none +were called to be of this company.)</q>—Rev. 5:11. +</p> + +<pb n='138'/><anchor id='Pg138'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.</hi>—<q>As +the number of the Bride of Christ is to be 144,000, it +would be reasonable to think that each number of this +class may have 144,000 to look after, as 144,000 x 144,000 +equals 20,736,000,000 (twenty billions seven hundred and +thirty-six millions), evidently just about the right number +to be cared for—144,000 would be quite a host for each +individual of the Bride class to look after. So we can see +the necessity for the work of the Great Company.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Question +Meeting.</hi> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Stood before the Throne.</hi>—Not in the Throne, as in the +case of the Bride. (A. 214.) <q>The Scriptures inform us that +as that which is begotten of the flesh is flesh, so that +which is begotten of the Spirit is spirit. That is to say, +that whoever has been begotten of the Holy Spirit has +experienced a change of nature so radical that it would +be impossible for him to share a resurrection with the +world on the human plane.</q>—Z. '07-316. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And before the Lamb.</hi>—<q>Since their hearts are loyal to +the Redeemer, and since they maintain their faith in the +precious blood and hold fast and do not deny the same, +therefore the Lord Jesus, the Advocate, the Captain of our +Salvation, who leads the Very Elect to glory through the +steps of willing sacrifice, will lead these to a spiritual +blessing—to perfection on a lower plane of spirit-being—because +they have trusted in Him and have not denied +His name or His work.</q>—F. 169. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Clothed with white robes.</hi>—<q>They let slip their opportunity +for becoming members of the Bride; but they are, +nevertheless, <emph>virgins</emph>, pure in their heart-intentions.</q>—F. 127; +Rev. 7:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And palms in their hands.</hi>—<q>The palm is especially the +symbol of <emph>martyrdom</emph>. The palm of martyrdom has become +in the language of the Church, a classical and sacramental +expression. In the diptychs, the acts of the +martyrs, and the martyrologies, we read, <q>He has received +the palm of martyrdom</q>—he has been crowned with the +palm of the martyrs.</q> (McC.) Many of the martyrs of the +Dark Ages were undoubtedly of the Great Company. +</p> + +<p> +7:10. <hi rend='sans'>And [cried] THEY CRY with a loud voice.</hi>—In +grand and happy chorus of exultant praise and thanksgiving +over their final deliverance.—Rev. 19:1-3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Salvation.</hi>—Our glorious and unmerited boon of +life on so high a plane. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To our God.</hi>—Be ascribed to Him as the Author.—Psa. 3:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Which sitteth] upon the Throne.</hi>—Jehovah.—Rev. 4:2; +5:13. +</p> + +<pb n='139'/><anchor id='Pg139'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And unto the Lamb.</hi>—The Tower of the Flock, Christ as +the instrument of salvation.—Micah 4:8. +</p> + +<p> +7:11. <hi rend='sans'>And all the angels.</hi>—The beautiful sons of the +morning who shouted for joy in the dawn of earth's creative +week 48,000 years ago.—Job 38:7; Lu. 2:9-14; Matt. +4:11; 28:2; F. 51. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Stood round about the Throne.</hi>—With eager joy welcoming +this new addition to the family of God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And about the elders.</hi>—The prophecies, many of which +have pointed out this second and greater company. But +notice the exquisite nicety of the Word of God and the +Wisdom of our Father! Not <emph>all</emph> the elders do mention the +Great Company, and therefore the designation <q>four and +twenty,</q> in this instance, is omitted. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the four beasts.</hi>—Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And fell before the Throne on their faces.</hi>—No wonder +such humble characters <q>always behold the face of the +Father.</q>—Matt. 18:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And worshipped God.</hi>—There is no self-seeking among +the angels. When an angel appeared to Manoah and his +wife, and Manoah sought to know his name, he left an +everlasting lesson in his reply, <q>Why askest thou thus +after my name, seeing it is secret?</q>—Judges 13:2-23. +</p> + +<p> +7:12. <hi rend='sans'>Saying, Amen.</hi>—So be it! We are not at all +jealous. We are delighted to have these new helpers in +the Heavenly realm. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Blessing.</hi>—The praises and blessings of all who owe +their existence to His goodness. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And wisdom.</hi>—To continually and forever unfold some +new and wonderful features of goodness and grace towards +the work of His hands. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And thanksgiving.</hi>—From <q>every creature which is in +Heaven and on earth.</q>—Rev. 5:13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And honor.</hi>—To the Name so long and so unjustly and +foully dishonored, by the eternal torment theory. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And power.</hi>—Restrained for thousands of years, but now +about to be exercised in man's behalf.—Psa. 76:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And might.</hi>—The ability to accomplish fully all His purposes.—Isa. +55:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.</hi>—Be ascribed +to Jehovah for eternity.—Rev. 5:13,14. +</p> + +<p> +7:13. <hi rend='sans'>And one of the elders.</hi>—The prophecy of Isaiah +1:10-20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Answered, saying unto me.</hi>—Under symbolism of Sodom +because of their identification with spiritual Sodom's work +and hopes.—Rev. 11:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>What are these which are arrayed in white robes.</hi>—Who +are these of whom it is said, <q>Your hands are full of blood. +<pb n='140'/><anchor id='Pg140'/> +Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your +doings before mine eyes,</q> etc.?—Isa. 1:15, 16; Rev. 7:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And whence came they.</hi>—Why are they figuratively represented +as stained with blood? +</p> + +<p> +7:14. <hi rend='sans'>And I said unto him, [Sir,] MY LORD, thou knowest.</hi>—It +is doubtless contained in your prophecy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he said unto me.</hi>—In Isa. 34:5, 6, <q>My sword shall +be bathed in Heaven: behold, it shall come down upon +Idumea, and upon the people of My curse, to judgment. +The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat +with fatness, and with the blood of lambs.</q>—D. 17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These are they which came out of great tribulation.</hi>—<q><q>The +tribulation, the great one</q>—the twofold article being +specially emphatic. See Rev. 3:10; 6:17; Matt. 24:21.</q> +(Cook.) <q>They are those,</q> he said, <q>who have just passed +through the great distress.</q> (Weym.) <q>The slaughter of +this day of vengeance is said to be of the <q>lambs and +goats.</q> (Isa. 34:6.) The lambs would represent the tribulation +saints.</q> (D. 17.) <q>The Great Company will pass +through a great tribulation, with a view to effecting in +them a proper penitence for sin and a proper appreciation +of the Divine standard of truth and righteousness. This +class, particularly large in the present day, will be delivered +over to the Adversary—to suffer in a Time of Trouble +such as was not since there was a nation—the great time +of trouble with which this Age shall end. Such of them +as fail to respond to those tribulations and to seek the +Lord will die the Second Death, but such as respond faithfully +will be counted as overcomers.</q> (Z. '07-232.) +</p> + +<p> +<q>Many such are now being closely bound in with +the various bundles of tares for the burning; and not until +the fiery trouble of the latter end of the Harvest period +shall burn the binding cords of Babylon's bondage shall +these be able to make their escape—<q>saved so as by fire.</q> +They must see the utter wreck of Great Babylon and +receive some measure of her plagues.</q> (C. 364.) <q>Sad disappointments +attach to the experiences of this company: +it is because they <emph>fear</emph> the reproaches of Christ that they +shirk present privileges and opportunities for walking +with Him in white in the <q>sufferings of this present time:</q> +behold, they not only miss the present joy and rejoicing of +those who are faithful, but eventually they must come +through <emph>still greater</emph> sufferings, if they would attain even +to a lower place. Although loving the Lord and His +people, they are somewhat ashamed of them and hide, as +it were, their faces from them, in the presence of the +worldly: and behold the Master at His Coming for His +<q>Bride</q> cannot confess their names in the presence of the +<pb n='141'/><anchor id='Pg141'/> +Father and the holy angels.</q> (Z. '97-162.) <q>These will be +helped out of Babylon when she is falling, and will flee in +the winter-time, saying in the words of the Prophet, <q>The +Harvest is past, the Summer is ended [Winter has come], +and we are not saved.</q> (Jer. 8:20.)</q> (D. 578.) <q>These, +surely, we cannot expect to see shielded from the very +trouble which the Lord declares they need; and which in +special mercy He will inflict for their perfecting.</q>—Z. '96-191. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And have washed their robes.</hi>—Spotted and soiled by +contact with the world.—Z. '97-161. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And made them white in the blood of the Lamb.</hi>—<q>Not +that their sufferings will wash their robes, but that in their +sufferings they will learn to appreciate as never before +their relationship to the Lamb of God and to His atoning +merit, and by faith will be permitted to apply the same to +their own cleansing.</q>—Z. '07-233; 1 John 1:7. +</p> + +<p> +7:15. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore.</hi>—Because, in the final test, they suffered +martyrdom and cleansed their robes rather than deny +the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are they before the Throne of God.</hi>—<q>With the world in +the next Age, the Lord's power will be represented through +the Great Company class, under the Bride. They will be +a great police force, looking out for the whole people. +They will have enough to do; for God has guaranteed that +<q>nothing shall hurt or offend in all His holy Mountain</q>—Kingdom +(Isa. 11:9). That will mean a careful supervision. +Yes, indeed! How will they hinder wrong-doing? +If a person were about to speak blasphemy or slander, the +tongue might be instantly paralyzed. Very easy! A +policeman right on the spot!—not waiting until the offender +had done the mischief and then punishing him, but +fixing him so that he will not get the chance to do it, and +punishing him for trying to do so.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Question Meeting.</hi> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And serve Him day and night in His Temple.</hi>—<q>Although +they can never be the living Temple of which Christ is +the Head (Rev. 3:12; 11:1), we are told they shall be +<emph>servants</emph> in that Temple; and although they shall never +sit in the Throne, they are highly privileged to serve <q>before +the Throne.</q> Grand and glorious privileges will be +theirs.</q>—Z. '97-162; Rev. 22:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He that sitteth on the Throne.</hi>—Jehovah. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Shall dwell among] KNOWETH them.</hi>—To be known of +the Lord is to be the sure recipient of blessings. Not to +be known or recognized of Him is the greatest of all +calamities. God keeps a record of His friends (Mal. 3:16) +but no record of His enemies; and therein lies their ruin. +<q>I never <emph>knew</emph> you; depart from Me.</q>—Matt. 7:23. +</p> + +<pb n='142'/><anchor id='Pg142'/> + +<p> +7:16. <hi rend='sans'>They shall NOT hunger [no more].</hi>—Poor things, +how hungry they have been! How the light has shone in +their poor, hunted, starved faces, as they have listened to +Pastor Russell, by the tens of thousands; and yet, when +the lecture was over, they have wearily gone back to the +<q>husks,</q> from a sense of duty to the memory of some +man, dead for hundreds of years, who would, if alive today, +be a follower of <emph>the</emph> Reformer, Charles T. Russell, because +he followed Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Neither thirst any more.</hi>—<q>The waters of Truth shall no +longer be brackish with error, being healed at the very +spring by a clearer understanding of the Word of God.</q>—B. 266. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.</hi>—During +the Harvest time the Lord's people, illuminated +with the light of Present Truth, have been shining forth, +not with any brilliancy of their own, but with much of the +coming splendor of the <q>Sun of Righteousness.</q> Coming +in contact with them, it has been inevitable that the Great +Company class should frequently be singed, unable to +answer the Truth, and should feel considerable heat. Their +condition has been aptly described by the Prophet, <q>It +shall be a vexation only to understand the report.</q> (Isa. +28:19.) <q>As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met +him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the +wall, and a serpent bit him.</q>—Amos 5:19. +</p> + +<p> +7:17. <hi rend='sans'>For the Lamb.</hi>—Jesus Christ, their eternal Friend—<q>The +same yesterday, today, and forever.</q>—Heb. 13:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is in the midst of the Throne.</hi>—Authority, rulership.—A. 92; +Rev. 5:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall feed them.</hi>—Be their shepherd. (John 10:1-28; +21:16.) They will not have immortality. Their lives will +always require to be sustained, as in the case of the angels. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shall lead them unto [living] fountains of waters OF +LIFE.</hi>—They will not have within them the <q>well of water +springing up unto everlasting life,</q> as will the Bride class, +but may freely take of the <q>Water of life</q> which flows +forth from the united well-springs of the Fountain and its +144,000 associates.—John 4:14; Rev. 22:1, 17; Ezekiel +47:1-5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.</hi>—There +will be tears at first that will require wiping away, +when they see all they have missed. Nevertheless, <q>With +gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought into the +King's Palace.</q> (Psa. 45:15.) And it is a good place; +there we leave them, to bask in the sunlight of His presence +forevermore. We shall <emph>know</emph> them all, then, even as +we shall be known by them.—1 Cor. 13:12. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='143'/><anchor id='Pg143'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 8—Four Preliminary Reformations</head> + +<p> +8:1. <hi rend='sans'>And when He.</hi>—The Lord Jesus, whose privilege it +is to open them all.—Rev. 6:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Had opened the seventh seal.</hi>—<q>The seal of the living +God.</q> (Rev. 7:2.) The opening of the seventh seal is +<emph>progressive</emph>. The opening and unfolding of the Truth goes +on as the saints are sealed. By the time the saints are all +sealed in their hearts and minds with the Present Truth, +the deepest features of the Truth itself will have been disclosed. +<q>The time will undoubtedly come in the near +future when the number of the Elect will be complete. +Then only such vacancies as might still occur by some +falling out would remain.</q> (Z. '14-68.) <q>God's people down +through this Gospel age have been privileged to know +something of the <q>Secret of the Lord</q>—the Divine Plan. +But not until the last seal is broken, does the scroll fly +wide open, permitting the <q>Mystery of God</q> to be fully disclosed; +as it is written: <q>In the days of the voice of the +seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the Mystery +of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His +servants the Prophets.</q> (Rev. 5:1; 10:7.)</q>—Z. '97-257. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>There was silence.</hi>—<q>Assemble yourselves, and let us +enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: +for the Lord our God hath put us to silence.</q> (Jer. 8:14.) +<q>They (the clergy) somehow realize that neither reason +nor Scripture supports their false doctrines, and that the +wisest method is to keep silent, in the shadow of old superstitions +and under the protection of so-called Christian governments.</q>—C. 158. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In heaven.</hi>—In the nominal ecclesiastical heavens. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>About the space of half an hour.</hi>—On the scale of a year +for a day this would mean but a week, and indicates that, +as soon as the full number to complete the Body of Christ +have been sealed with the Present Truth, persecution in a +public way, and on an unprecedented scale, may be expected +to begin almost immediately. (This verse should +properly be included in Chapter 7.) +</p> + +<p> +8:2. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw.</hi>—As the next vision of the grand series. +Something never seen until the seventh seal is broken and +the Mystery of God finished. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The seven angels.</hi>—Instrumentalities suitable for the +work to be performed. +</p> + +<pb n='144'/><anchor id='Pg144'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which stood before God.</hi>—Featuring the <hi rend='italic'>Reformation</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to them were given seven trumpets.</hi>—Bugles with +which to blow bugle-blasts of liberty from the oppressions +of the papacy, leading up to and including the final blast +of <q>Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants +thereof.</q>—Lev. 25:10. +</p> + +<p> +8:3. <hi rend='sans'>And another angel.</hi>—Not the <q>voice of the Lord,</q> +mentioned in the preceding chapter, but the corporate +body—the <hi rend='smallcaps'>Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society</hi>, which +Pastor Russell formed to finish his work. This verse shows +that, though Pastor Russell has passed beyond the veil, +he is still managing every feature of the Harvest work. +<q><hi rend='smallcaps'>The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society</hi> is the +greatest corporation in the world, because from the time +of its organization until now the Lord has used it as His +channel through which to make known the Glad Tidings.</q>-Z. '17-22; +Rev. 14:18; 19:17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Came and stood.</hi>—Waited before the Lord, after the Pastor's +death, ready to do the Master's will. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>At the altar.</hi>—The Brazen Altar, the place of sacrifice. +(Ex. 38:1-7; Lev. 16:12, 13.) The fire for the sacrifice at +the Golden Altar was obtained here and then carried to +the Golden Altar where the incense was crumbled in it. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having a golden censer.</hi>—Censers, or fire-pans, were of +two forms, with handles and without. In this case the kind +with the handle, used only on the Day of Atonement, is the +one referred to. The incense was burnt while the high +priest held the censer in his hand. Thus, in this prophecy, +the great antitypical High Priest identifies Himself with +the work of the Society, and places in its care—holds in +His hand—the fire-pans, the things that lead us to the place +where we sacrifice ourselves. Thus seen, the censer represents +teachings, understandings of the Word; for it is our +understanding of the Word which leads us to offer up all +we have in the Lord's service.—Num. 16:6, 7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there was given unto him much incense.</hi>—The +heart's best endeavors of the faithful fellow-members of +the Body. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That he should offer it.</hi>—To Jehovah, through the Son.—Rev. +5:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With the prayers of all saints.</hi>—The Society is the only +entity in the world answering to this description. It alone +has offered on its behalf the prayers of all the saints, in +harmony with the clause of the Vow which reads, <q>Daily +will I remember at the Throne of heavenly grace the general +interests of the Harvest work—the dear co-laborers at +the Brooklyn Tabernacle and Bethel, and everywhere.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Upon the golden altar [which was] before the Throne.</hi>—The +<pb n='145'/><anchor id='Pg145'/> +offerings take place <q>before the Throne,</q> on this side +the veil.—Rev. 1:4; 5:6; Ex. 30:1-10. +</p> + +<p> +8:4. <hi rend='sans'>And the smoke.</hi>—The fragrant, sweet perfume. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the incense.</hi>—Life's dearest ties, sacrificed in the +Master's cause. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which came with the prayers of the saints.</hi>—In harmony +with the Vow of faithfulness.—Psa. 141:2; Luke 1:10; Acts +10:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.</hi>—<q>An +odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing +to God.</q>—Phil. 4:18. +</p> + +<p> +8:5. <hi rend='sans'>And the angel.</hi>—<hi rend='smallcaps'>The Watch Tower Society</hi> through +its proper representatives. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Took the censer.</hi>—The Seventh Volume of <hi rend='smallcaps'>Studies in the +Scriptures</hi>, Divinely provided. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And filled it with fire of the altar.</hi>—Coals from the altar +signify burning truths; and such the Lord's prophecies always +are, when rightly understood.—Isa. 6:5-8. This is a +plain intimation of God's purpose to use the <hi rend='smallcaps'>Society</hi> in +further unfoldings of His Truth as it becomes due. <q>We +believe that the Lord will not scatter, but will <q>turn His +hand [power] upon the little ones,</q> in this dark hour +of trial (Zech. 13:7).</q>—Z. '17-30. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And cast it.</hi>—Greek, <q>Deliberately hurled it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into the earth.</hi>—Among order-loving people.—Ezek. 10:2; +Luke 12:49. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there were [voices and] thunderings.</hi>—Seven Volumes +of <q><hi rend='smallcaps'>Scripture Studies</hi>,</q> this one being the last of the +series. (Rev. 10:3, 4.) Thunders are symbolical of controversy, +and this volume may cause some. Particularly +is it to be expected that the clergy will thunder against +whatever Truth it contains. Thunder is caused by the +flashing of lightning through the heavens, opening them +up, as it were. Immediately after the flash they come +together with an angry roar. Thunder, of itself, never +does anybody any harm.—Rev. 16:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And voices.</hi>—<q>These voices have been circulated here +and there throughout the whole civilized world, not by +worldly agents, not through book-sellers, but by those who +have themselves been blessed by the light, and who desire +to render a service to the Lord and to the Truth, and to +lay down their lives for the brethren by taking to them +the glorious and encouraging message now due to the +Lord's people.</q> (Z. '02-118.) Voices also symbolize discussion, +contention. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And lightnings.</hi>—See Rev. 4:5; 11:19; 16:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And an earthquake.</hi>—<q>The term earthquake is used to +symbolically represent revolution—it is in this sense of +<pb n='146'/><anchor id='Pg146'/> +the word that it is used throughout the Book of Revelation. +What we are to look for then will be a great revolution, +the great symbolic earthquake, the great shaking of +the present institutions which will overthrow everything +that is not of the Lord's establishment and approval. +Perhaps the symbolical earthquake will be accompanied by +a literal one.</q>—B. S. M. +</p> + +<p> +8:6 <hi rend='sans'>And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets.</hi>—<q>We, +in common with almost all expositors, recognize +that the seven trumpets of Revelation are symbolical +and not literal.</q>—Z. '02-116; Josh. 6:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Prepared themselves to sound.</hi>—<q>Christian people in +general understand that five of these trumpets have already +<q>sounded</q> and are in the past—we would say six. +It is admitted that those that have already <q>sounded</q> have +not been literal blasts of a bugle on the air. But literal +things are so much more easily received by the natural +man that many advanced Christians, Bible students and +ministers, are really expecting some day to hear what is +sometimes denominated <q>Gabriel's horn,</q> shrill enough and +loud enough to awaken the dead.</q> (Z. '02-116.) As thoughtful +Christians we should expect that, as this period is that +in which the great sects have risen, its history should pay +particular attention to them, and thus we find. The Reformation +particularly affected <q>three parts</q> of the papal +dominion, Germany, England and France.—Rev. 8:7-10. +</p> + +<p> +8:7. <hi rend='sans'>And the first [angel] sounded.</hi>—The movement +began, which later developed into the Lutheran General +Synod, Lutheran United Synod South, Lutheran General +Council, Lutheran Synodical Conference, United Norwegian +Lutheran Synod, Ohio Independent Lutheran Synod, +Buffalo Lutheran Synod, Hauge's Lutheran Synod, Eleisen's +Lutheran Synod, Norwegian Lutheran Synod, Danish in +America Lutheran Synod, Icelandic Lutheran Synod, Immanuel +Lutheran Synod, Suomai Finnish Lutheran Synod, +Finnish National Synod, Finnish Apostolic Synod, Norwegian +Free Lutheran Synod, Danish United Lutheran Synod, +Church of the Lutheran Brethren and Independent Lutheran +Congregations.—1 Cor. 3:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there followed hail.</hi>—Sharp, cutting, hard truth, contained +in Luther's 95 theses nailed on the church door at +Wittenberg. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And fire.</hi>—Destructive judgments upon the papacy. Luther +sized up the Papal system of <q>Heads, I win; and tails, you +lose</q> in a few words when he said, <q>The Romanists have +with great dexterity built themselves about with three +walls, which have hitherto protected them against reform. +In the first place, when the temporal power has pressed +<pb n='147'/><anchor id='Pg147'/> +them hard, they have affirmed and maintained that the +temporal power has no jurisdiction over them—that on +the contrary, the spiritual is above the temporal. Secondly, +when it is proposed to admonish them from the Holy +Scriptures they said, <q>It beseems no one but the pope to +interpret the Scriptures,</q> and thirdly, when they were +threatened with a council, they invented the idea that no +one but the pope can call a council.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Mingled with blood.</hi>—Blood is a symbol of death-dealing +doctrine, and this teaches that Luther did not get entirely +free from error. The following illustrates this point: +<q rend='pre'>There gradually developed a group of radicals who were +convinced that Luther had not the courage of his convictions. +They proposed to abolish the idolatry of the +Mass and all other outward signs of what they deemed +the old superstitions. Luther's colleague at Wittenberg, +Carlstadt, began denouncing the monastic life, the celibacy +of the clergy, the veneration of images; and before the +end of 1521 we find the first characteristic outward symptoms +of Protestantism. In January 1522, Carlstadt induced +the authorities of Wittenberg to publish the first evangelical +church ordinance. The service of the Mass was +modified, and the laity were to receive the elements in +both kinds. Reminders of the old religious usages were +to be done away with, and the fast-days were to be no +longer observed. These measures led Luther to return +to Wittenberg in March, 1522, where he preached a series +of sermons attacking the impatience of the radical party. +In 1525 the conservative party, which had from the first +feared that Luther's teaching would result in sedition, +received a new and terrible proof, as it seemed to them, +of the noxious influence of the evangelical preachers.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The peasant movements which had caused so much +anxiety at the diet of Augsburg in 1518, culminated in the +Peasant Revolt in which the common man, both in country +and town, rose in the name of God's justice to avenge +long-standing wrongs and establish his rights. Luther +was by no means directly responsible for the civil war +which followed, but he had certainly contributed to stir +up the ancient discontent. He had asserted that, owing +to the habit of foreclosing small mortgages, <q>Any one with +a hundred gulden could gobble up a peasant a year.</q> The +German feudal lords he pronounced hangmen, who knew +only how to swindle the poor man. Yet in spite of this +harsh talk about princes, Luther relied upon them to +forward the reforms in which he was interested. The +peasants demanded that the gospel should be taught them +as a guide in life, and that each community should be +<pb n='148'/><anchor id='Pg148'/> +permitted to choose its pastor and depose him if he conducted +himself improperly. More radical demands came +from the working classes in the towns. The articles of +Heilbronn demanded that the property of the Church +should be confiscated and used for the community; clergy +and nobility alike were to be deprived of all their privileges, +so that they could no longer oppress the poor man. +The more violent leaders renewed the old cry that the +parsons must be slain. Hundreds of castles and monasteries +were destroyed by the frantic peasantry, and some +of the nobles were murdered with shocking cruelty. +Luther, who believed that the peasants were trying to +cloak their dreadful sins with excuses from the gospel, +exhorted the government to put down the insurrection. +<q>Have no pity on the poor folk; stab, smite, throttle, who +can.</q> The German rulers took Luther's advice with terrible +literalness, and avenged themselves upon the peasants, +whose lot was apparently worse afterwards than +before.</q>—Brit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they were cast upon the earth AND THE THIRD +PART OF THE EARTH WAS BURNED UP.</hi>—Luther's +teaching had the effect of transforming the order-loving +German people into anarchists. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the third part.</hi>—The German part. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of trees.</hi>—Trees are symbols of saints. <q>St. Paul gives +us the picture of a tree, the roots of which push down +deep into the knowledge of the Divine Plan, while the tree +of character grows higher and higher, developing and maturing +the rich fruits of the Holy Spirit of God; for instruction +is a form of <emph>construction</emph>.</q>—Z. '14-312; Isa. 61:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was burnt up.</hi>—Hindered from standing alone, and absorbed +into the Lutheran system. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And all green grass.</hi>—Natural men of independent +thought.—Isa. 40:6, 7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was burnt up.</hi>—Similarly absorbed into the Lutheran system, +a welcome substitute for papacy's intolerable yoke. +</p> + +<p> +8:8. <hi rend='sans'>And the second [angel] sounded.</hi>—The Anglican +church movement began. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And as it were a great mountain.</hi>—England in the time +of Henry VIII. Mountains symbolize kingdoms.—Dan. 2:35; +Jer. 51:25. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Burning with fire.</hi>—Aflame with another great movement +destructive to the papacy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was cast into the sea.</hi>—Was suddenly thrown into a condition +of isolation from the papacy—no longer placed under +religious restraint to it. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the third part of the sea.</hi>—The English part. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Became blood.</hi>—The much-married Henry VIII., founder +<pb n='149'/><anchor id='Pg149'/> +of the Anglican Church, and the second great sect-founder, +has some slight blemishes on his escutcheon also. <q rend='pre'>Henry +VIII. himself stoutly maintained the headship of the pope, +and as is well known, after examining the arguments of +Luther, published his defence of the Seven Sacraments in +1521, which won for him from the pope the glorious title of +<q>Defender of the faith.</q> By 1527 the king had become hopeless +of having a male heir by Catherine. He was tired of +her, and in love with the black-eyed Anne Boleyn, who refused +to be his mistress. The king's agents secured the +opinion of a number of prominent universities that his +marriage was void, and an assembly of notables, which he +summoned in June 1530, warned the pope of the dangers +involved in leaving the royal succession in uncertainty. +Henry's next move was to bring a charge against the +clergy, accusing them of having violated the ancient laws +of praemunire in submitting to the authority of papal legates +(although he himself had ratified the appointment of +Wolsey as legate <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>a latere</foreign>). The clergy of the province of +Canterbury were fined 100,000 pounds and compelled to declare +the king their singular protector and only supreme +lord, and, as far as that is permitted by the law of Christ, +the supreme head of the Church and of the clergy.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The following year, 1532, an obedient parliament presented +a petition to the king (which had been most carefully +elaborated by the king's own advisers) containing +twelve charges against the bishops. For the remedy of +these abuses parliament turned to the king <q>in whom and +by whom the only and sole redress, reformation and remedy +herein absolutely rests and remains.</q> [These charges were +answered by the clergy, but the answer did not suit the +king so on the 15th of May, 1532.] The king's most humble +subjects, daily orators and bedesmen of the clergy of England, +in view of his goodness and fervent Christian zeal +and his learning far exceeding that of all other kings that +they have read of, agree never to assemble in convocation +except at the king's summons, and to enact and promulgate +no constitution or ordinances except they receive the +royal assent and authority. [Then Henry divorced Catherine +and married Anne Boleyn and the English Reformation +was officially launched.] The king had now clarified +the ancient laws of the realm to his satisfaction, and +could proceed to seize such portions of the Church's possessions +as he deemed superfluous for the maintenance of +religion. [On the 30th of July, 1540, three Lutheran clergymen +were burned and three Roman Catholics beheaded, the +latter for denying the king's spiritual supremacy. The +king's ardent desires that diversities of minds and opinions +<pb n='150'/><anchor id='Pg150'/> +should be done away with and unity be <q>charitably established</q> +was further promoted by publishing in 1543 A Necessary +Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man, set +forth by the King's Majesty of England, in which the tenets +of mediaeval theology, except for denial of the supremacy +of the bishop of Rome and the unmistakable assertion of +the supremacy of the king, were once more restated. The +First Prayer Book of Edward VI was issued in 1549 and +was followed in 1552 by the Second Prayer Book and] <q>The +foundations of the Anglican church were laid.</q></q>—Brit. +</p> + +<p> +8:9. <hi rend='sans'>And the third part.</hi>—The English part. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the creatures.</hi>—The clergy <q>apostolically</q> of the +Church of Rome, but actually doing business under Henry +VIII. Be it noted that they were not counted worthy of +being called <q>men.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which were in the sea.</hi>—No longer under religious restraint +to the papacy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And had life.</hi>—The apostolic succession, from the line of +popes, etc., described in Rev. 2:13 comments. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Died.</hi>—Were excommunicated by the pope, lost their +<q>apostolic (?) succession.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the third part.</hi>—The English part. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the ships.</hi>—Independent bodies of Christian worshippers +called Lollards, followers of Wycliffe.—Mark 4:36; +6:48-51; John 6:21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were destroyed.</hi>—Compelled to acknowledge Henry VIII +as head of the Church or lose their lives. <q>Thus, when the +English Reformation of the 16th century commenced, it +derived a new impulse from the earlier Lollard movement +which it was destined to absorb into itself.</q>—McC. +</p> + +<p> +8:10. <hi rend='sans'>And the third angel sounded.</hi>—The Calvinistic +movement began, which later developed into the Northern +Presbyterian Church, Cumberland Presbyterian Church, +Welsh Calvinistic Church, United Presbyterian Church, +Southern Presbyterian Church, Associate Presbyterian +Church, Associate Reformed Southern Presbyterian Church, +Reformed Synod Presbyterian Church, Reformed General +Synod Presbyterian Church, Reformed Covenanted Presbyterian +Church, Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United +States and Canada, Dutch Reformed Church, German Reformed +Church, Christian Reformed Church, Hungarian +Reformed Church, and Congregational Church.—1 Cor. 3:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there fell a great star from heaven.</hi>—John Calvin +tore a large-sized hole in the Catholic firmament when he +started the manufacture of a firmament of his own. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Burning as it were a lamp.</hi>—The precipitation of the Calvinistic +movement in France and Switzerland was as sudden +as the Anglican movement had been in England or the +<pb n='151'/><anchor id='Pg151'/> +Lutheran movement in Germany. In 1533 Francis I, King +of France, <q>anxious to conciliate both German Protestants +and anti-papal England, invited some of the reformers to +preach in the Louvre,</q> as an offset to a fierce attack that +had but lately been made upon them, caused by the mutilation +of a statue of the Virgin. On the festival of All Saints, +Cop, the rector of the University of Paris, was to deliver +the address, but Jean Cauvin (Calvin) persuaded the rector +to read an address which he had written. It was a defence +of the new evangelical views and so aroused the Sorbonne +that Calvin and Cop were both obliged to flee from Paris. +Calvin went to Basle, Switzerland, and in 1536 wrote and +published the first great textbook of Protestant theology, +<hi rend='italic'>Institutes of the Christian Religion</hi>. He did his best, but +his best was not very good. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And it fell upon the third part.</hi>—The French part. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the rivers.</hi>—Channels of religious instruction. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And upon the fountains of waters.</hi>—The Word of God. +Although Calvin misunderstood and misapplied them, yet +he constantly appealed to the Scriptures as the support +for his theories. +</p> + +<p> +8:11. <hi rend='sans'>And the name of the star.</hi>—Calvin is entitled to +the honor of having at one time been a papal star. <q>He +was from the first educated for the Church, and before he +was twelve years old was presented to a benefice in the +Cathedral of Noyon. Six years after this he was appointed +to a cure of souls at Montville, and thus, although not yet +twenty, and not even in the minor orders, he was enjoying +the titles and revenues of a cure.</q>—McC. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is called Wormwood.</hi>—What an ideal name for the doctrine +which has caused more bitterness against God than +any other doctrine ever taught, and for the man who roasted +Servetus at the stake. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the third part of the waters.</hi>—Many portions of the +Scriptures, misunderstood, misconstrued and misapplied. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Became.</hi>—Were made to appear in the eyes of many. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Wormwood.</hi>—Bitter as gall. <q>None now would justify +Calvin's course in sentencing Servetus to be burned. +Others burned at the stake usually had the fuel piled at +their feet. The flames were inhaled with the smoke, and +the victim was speedily unconscious to suffering. For +Servetus Satanic ingenuity arranged the burning fagots +at a distance. He literally roasted alive, in horrible torture, +nearly five hours—in the name of God, of Jesus, of +Righteousness, Truth, Justice, Love, Christianity and +Civilization.</q> (P. D.)—Jer. 9:15; 23:15; 9-40; Deut. 29:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And many men died of the waters.</hi>—Lost their manhood, +reason and common sense by becoming Calvinists. +</p> + +<pb n='152'/><anchor id='Pg152'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because they were made bitter.</hi>—Because the Scriptures +were made to appear to teach what actually they do +not. <q>It seems remarkable that only now are we realizing +that a man so deficient in the spirit of his Master as +to murder his brother, should not be an accepted teacher +of the Word of God and its spirit. Only now are Bible +students realizing that Brother Calvin was not the inventor +of the doctrine of election, but merely of the doctrine +that all the non-elect would suffer everlastingly. Now +we see that the terms, <q>the elect,</q> <q>the very elect,</q> are +Bible terms! and that those who make their calling and +election sure, will be glorified in the First Resurrection. +Now we see that the Elect will be associated with Jesus +in His Kingdom, which will bless the non-elect—<q>all the +families of the Earth.</q></q>—P. D. +</p> + +<p> +8:12. <hi rend='sans'>And the fourth angel sounded.</hi>—The Baptist sectarian +movement began, resulting in Baptist Churches +North, Baptist Churches South, Baptist Churches Colored, +Seventh-Day Baptists, General Baptists, Separate Baptists, +United Baptists, Baptist Church of Christ, Primitive Baptist +Church, Primitive Colored Baptist Church, Old Two +Seed in the Spirit Predestinarian Baptist Church, Church +of God and Saints of Christ, Mennonites, Six Principle +Baptist Church, Free Baptist Church, Freewill Baptist +Church—not forgetting the Selfwill Baptist Church, which +also has a large membership, but is not listed.—1 Cor. 3:3. +</p> + +<p> +From an examination of history <q>It does not appear that +the Baptists were formed into any stability (as a sect) +until the time of Menno, about the year 1536. About 1644 +they began to make a considerable figure in England, and +spread themselves into several separate congregations. +They separated from the Independents about the year +1638, and set up for themselves under the pastoral care +of Mr. Jesse; and, having renounced their former baptism, +they sent over one of their number to be immersed by +one of the Dutch Anabaptists of Amsterdam, that he might +be qualified to baptize his friends in England after the +same manner.</q> (Buck.) <q rend='pre'>Menno Simons, born in 1492 at +Witmarsum in Friesland, at the age of 24 entered the +priesthood. Doubts about transubstantiation made him +uneasy; some of Luther's tracts fell in his way, and he +was comforted by Luther's dictum that salvation does not +depend on human dogmata. Hence he began to study the +New Testament. The question as to the right age for +baptism came up; he found this an open matter in the +early church. Then the execution, in March, 1531, at +Leeuwarden, of the tailor Sicke Freerks, who had been +rebaptized in the previous December at Emden, introduced +<pb n='153'/><anchor id='Pg153'/> +further questions. Menno was not satisfied with the +inconsistent answers which he got from Luther, Bucer +and Bullinger; he resolved to rely on Scripture alone, +and from this time describes his preaching as evangelical, +not sacramental. Anabaptism of the Munster type repelled +him. A brother of Menno joined the insurgent followers +of Matthyzoon and was killed at Bolsward, April +1535. Blaming the leaders by whom these poor people +had been misled, Menno blamed himself for not having +shown them a straight course. Accordingly on the 12th +of January 1536 he left the Roman communion.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Among the so-called Anabaptists were four parties, +the favorers of the Munster faction, the Batenburgers, extremists, +the Melchiorites and the Obbenites. For a time +Menno remained aloof from both Melchior Hofman and +Obbe Philipsz. Before the year was out, yielding to the +prayer of six or eight persons who had freed themselves +from the Munster spell, he agreed to become their minister +and was set apart January 1537 to the eldership at +Groningen, with imposition of hands by Obbe Philipsz. +Menno repudiated the formation of a sect; those who had +experienced the <q>new birth</q> were to him the true Christian +church. His Christology was in the main orthodox +though he rejected terms such as Trinity which he could +not find in Scripture. Of the introduction of Anabaptist +views into England we have no certain knowledge. Fox +relates that <q>the registers of London make mention of certain +Dutchmen counted for Anabaptists, of whom ten were +put to death in sundry places in the realm, anno 1535; +other ten repented and were saved</q>. In 1536 King Henry +VIII issued a proclamation concerning faith agreed upon +by Convocation, in which the clergy are told to instruct +the people that they ought to repute and take <q>The Anabaptists' +opinions for detestable heresies and to be utterly +condemned.</q> Thomas Fuller tells us from Stow's Chronicles +that in the year 1538 four Anabaptists, three men +and one woman, all Dutch, bare faggots at Paul's Cross, +and three days after a man and woman of their sect +were burnt in Smithfield. The early English Baptists, +while they utterly rejected the baptism of infants, were as +yet unpledged to immersion and rarely practiced it.</q>—Brit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the third part of the sun was smitten.</hi>—Though not +apparently so stated in any confession of faith, it is a +prevalent view among Baptists that the Old Testament +has been entirely fulfilled. Believing thus they lose the +force of a large part of the Gospel Message, typified by +the sun. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the third part of the moon.</hi>—Similarly, they do not +<pb n='154'/><anchor id='Pg154'/> +see the force of the teachings of the Law Dispensation, as +in the Tabernacle arrangements, etc., in their application +to the Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the third part of the stars.</hi>—The teachings of the +true light-bearers, the Apostles, cannot be fully appreciated +except in connection with the prophecies of the Old +Testament. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>So as the third part of them was darkened.</hi>—If pressed +to estimate the relative worth to us as New Creatures +of the writings of the Old and New Testaments, we would +admit that the writings of the New Testament are worth +perhaps twice as much to us as those of the Old Testament +because they contain the message addressed to the +New Creation, but <emph>we</emph> want all <emph>three</emph> thirds of the Word. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the day.</hi>—The Scripture teaching of the coming +Millennial Day. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shone not for a third part of it.</hi>—At least a third of the +light we get on the subject of the Lord's Millennial Reign +is from the Old Testament. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the night likewise.</hi>—The same is true of the world's +dark night of sin and death, and the darkest feature +of that night—the Time of Trouble such as was not since +there was a nation. The Old Testament has much of +light and instruction on this subject. +</p> + +<p> +8:13. <hi rend='sans'>And I beheld, and heard an [angel] EAGLE.</hi>—One +of Pastor Russell's humble followers (Matt. 24:28) apprehending +correctly the significance of the three woes. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Flying through the midst of heaven.</hi>—Beginning with +the papal heavens and then in their order of development, +the Lutheran heavens, Anglican heavens, Calvinistic +heavens and Baptist heavens (and others shortly.) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying with a loud voice.</hi>—With considerable plainness +of speech. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth.</hi>—Great +distress and perplexity of mind to all supporters of Satan's +Empire. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By reason of the other voices.</hi>—Later movements in the +ecclesiastical heavens described in Chapters 9 and 10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the three angels, which are yet to sound.</hi>—The four +great denominations—Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian +and Baptist—were formed in swift succession within +twenty years from the time Luther nailed the theses on +the Wittenberg door. But the work of forming new movements +away from papal bondage did not stop there. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Ye curious minds, who roam abroad,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And trace creation's wonders o'er,</l> +<l>Confess the footsteps of your God,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>And bow before Him, and adore.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='155'/><anchor id='Pg155'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 9—Two Ineffective Reformation Woes</head> + +<p> +9:1. <hi rend='sans'>And the fifth angel sounded.</hi>—The Wesleyan +movement began, leading up to the Methodist Episcopal +Church, United American Methodist Episcopal Church, +African Methodist Episcopal Church, African United Methodist +Protestant Church, African Methodist Episcopal +Zion Church, Methodist Protestant Church, Wesleyan +Methodist Church, Methodist Episcopal Church South, +Congregational Methodist Church, New Congregational +Methodist Church, Zion Union Apostolic Church, Colored +Methodist Episcopal Church, Free Methodist Church, Reformed +Methodist United Episcopal Church, and Independent +Methodist Churches.—1 Cor. 3:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I saw a star.</hi>—John Wesley became a star in the +Anglican heavens in 1728, at which time he was ordained +a priest by Bishop Potter. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fall from heaven unto the earth.</hi>—For many years Wesley +had no thought of forming a sect; and yet, unconsciously, +he began to do so from the time he was ordained. +He was then in Oxford University, where <q>the +completeness of his self-devotion to the service of God, +combined with his rare moral courage and superior +strength of character, caused him to be recognized as the +leader of a group of under-graduates which was nicknamed +the <q>Holy Club</q> by the ungodly of the University, +who derided its members for their rigid rules and charitable +practices by calling them <q>Methodists.</q></q> (McC.) <q>He +fully accepted the recognized teaching of the Church of +England, and publicly appealed to the Prayer-Book and +the Thirty-nine articles in justification of the doctrines he +preached. Methodism began in a revival of personal religion, +and it professed to have but one aim, to spread +Scriptural holiness over the land. Its doctrines were in +no sense new.</q> (Brit.) The work in the Western World, +particularly in the United States, grew to vast proportions. +<q>The preachers in the South determined upon +administration of the sacraments, and a committee was +chosen who ordained themselves and others. The Northern +preachers opposed this step and for several years the +Connexion was on the verge of disruption. Wesley perceived +that the Society would disintegrate unless effective +<pb n='156'/><anchor id='Pg156'/> +measures were speedily taken, and, aided by two +presbyters of the Church of England, (one of whom was +James Creighton) early in 1784 he ordained Thomas Coke, +a presbyter of that Church, as Superintendent.</q>—Brit. +</p> + +<p> +His brother Charles heartily disapproved of this and +wrote the following (which does not, however, appear +with his other hymns in the Methodist hymnal): +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>So easily are bishops made</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>By man or woman's whim;</l> +<l>Wesley his hands on Coke hath laid,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>But who laid hands on <emph>him</emph>?</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +In 1787 the American Conference changed Mr. Coke's +title to <q>Bishop.</q> Mr. Coke tried to introduce this title +into the English Conference of which he was president, +but the English Brethren could not accept it, despite his +great earnestness in the cause. It must have been a +strange sight to see a bright man like Wesley engaging +those two presbyters of the Church of England to help +him ordain somebody to a higher office than any of <emph>them</emph> +had ever held. But <emph>the plan worked</emph>. All Methodists believe +that Bishop Coke, the first Bishop of the Methodist +Church received some <q>apostolic succession</q> from +the original line described in comments on Rev. 2:13. +These brethren have grieved that Pastor Russell did not +get his ordination from the same source. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to him was given the key of the [bottomless] pit +OF THE ABYSS.</hi>—Wesley was given the key to <emph>nothing</emph> +and to <emph>nowhere</emph>. +</p> + +<p> +9:2. <hi rend='sans'>[And he opened the bottomless pit].</hi>—Wesley +opened nothing. He did interpret Rom. 8:21 as meaning +that the lower animals would go to Heaven, but that was +an error. He was honest enough, however, to object to +using the word Trinity because he did not find it in the +Bible. <q>Christian Advocates</q> please note. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there arose a smoke.</hi>—Confusion—a blinding haze. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Out of] OVER the pit.</hi>—In the <q>air,</q> the ecclesiastical +heavens. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As the smoke of a great furnace.</hi>—Methodism was no +ordinary smudge. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the sun.</hi>—The true Gospel. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the air.</hi>—The Anglican Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.</hi>—Methodism +damaged the Anglican communion as much as +it did the Truth. +</p> + +<p> +9:3. <hi rend='sans'>And there came out of the smoke locusts.</hi>—An immense +number of followers.—Judges 7:12. +</p> + +<pb n='157'/><anchor id='Pg157'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Upon the earth.</hi>—Among order-loving people. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And unto them was given power.</hi>—To attend an old-time +Methodist meeting and witness the <q>getting the +power</q> was to see the sight of a life-time. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As the scorpions of the earth have powers.</hi>—<q>A well-known +injurious insect of <emph>hot</emph> climates, which is shaped +very much like a lobster. They are carnivorous in their +habits, and move along in a threatening attitude with the +tail elevated. The sting, which is situated at the extremity +of the tail, has at its base a gland that secretes +a poisonous fluid, which is discharged into the wound by +two minute orifices at its extremity. The scorpion makes +a painful wound in men and beasts which produces fatal +results unless speedy remedies be provided such as +scarifying the wound or sucking out the poison.</q>—McC. +</p> + +<p> +9:4. <hi rend='sans'>And it was commanded them that they should not +hurt the grass of the earth.</hi>—Men of independent thought.—Rev. +8:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Neither any green thing.] Neither any tree.</hi>—Saint.—Rev. +8:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But [only] those men.</hi>—The unconverted. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.</hi>—Methodists +understand that to be converted from being a +sinner means to have the seal of God in one's forehead. +All the energies of that church are devoted to gathering in +goats to the sheepfold. +</p> + +<p> +9:5. <hi rend='sans'>And to them it was given that they should not kill +them.</hi>—No such sane and merciful sentence as <q>The +wages of sin is death</q> has any place in Methodist theology. +Wesley was born at a time when the original +meaning of the word <q>Hell</q> had become hidden, and was +saturated with the later teachings that it signifies a place +of torment. He threw his whole heart into the work of +spreading this error throughout the earth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But that they should be tormented five months.</hi>—In symbolic +time, 150 years. (Rev. 2:21). Wesley became the +first Methodist in 1728. (Rev. 9:1). When the Methodist +denomination, with all the others, was cast off from favor +in 1878 (Rev. 3:14) its power to torment men by preaching +what Presbyterians describe as <q>Conscious misery, +eternal in duration</q> came to an end legally, and to a +large extent actually.—Rev. 9:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And their torment.</hi>—The torment of those tormented by +the tormenting doctrine of torment. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a +man.</hi>—See Rev. 9:10. +</p> + +<p> +9:6. <hi rend='sans'>And in those days.</hi>—Throughout the 150 years of +widely prevalent <q>Methodist hell-fire</q>. +</p> + +<pb n='158'/><anchor id='Pg158'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall men seek death.</hi>—Would be glad to know that +<q>The wages of sin <emph>is</emph> death.</q>—Rom. 6:23. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shall not find it.</hi>—Because all the texts which +plainly teach that <q>All the wicked will God destroy,</q> were +perverted to mean <q>All the wicked will God immortalize +in hell.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shall desire to die.</hi>—Real men would prefer to die +and stay dead rather than forever companion and worship +the greatest devil of the Universe. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And death shall flee from them.</hi>—They were told that +men only seem to die, although touch, hearing, sight and +smell all bear eloquent testimony to the contrary.—Rom. +6:23; Ezek. 18:4; Gen. 3:19; Psa. 115:17; Ecc. 9:5; Psa. +37:10, 20; Ecc. 3:19-21; 1 Cor. 15:13, 18; Dan. 12:2. +</p> + +<p> +9:7. <hi rend='sans'>And the [shapes] LIKENESSES of the locusts were +like unto horses prepared unto battle.</hi>—The battle-cry of +the old-time Methodist was <q>All at it, and always at it</q>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold.</hi>—Those +born of the spirit, changed from human conditions +and made like the Lord, have received the very highest +blessing, the <q>Crown of life</q>, the Divine nature. Gold is +a symbol of Divinity. To receive a crown of gold is to be +born of the spirit. All old-time Methodists felt certain +that they were <q>born of the spirit</q> when converted, no begetting +or quickening being necessary. But here is +pointed out that these good people had <q>as-it-were</q> +crowns instead of real ones. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And their faces were as the faces of men.</hi>—They were +not <q>Born of the spirit</q> as they supposed. +</p> + +<p> +9:8. <hi rend='sans'>And they had hair as the hair of women.</hi>—<q>If a +woman have long hair it is a glory to her: for her hair is +given her for a covering.</q> (1 Cor. 11:15.) The Church's +glory is her wedding robe, the robe of Christ's righteousness. +It is to the credit of old-time Methodists that they +trusted for salvation in the precious blood of Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And their teeth were as the teeth of lions.</hi>—Lions are +able to chew and swallow almost anything. When the +conference at Baltimore in 1787 turned John Wesley's +Superintendent into a Bishop, the Methodist people swallowed +it all; and to this day most of them really believe +that their clergy are a Divinely appointed institution, despite +the fraud perpetrated.—Joel. 1:4-6. +</p> + +<p> +9:9. <hi rend='sans'>And they had breastplates.</hi>—<q>Breastplates of +righteousness.</q>—Eph. 6:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As it were breastplates of iron.</hi>—An iron breastplate +would be a good one but an <q>as-it-were</q> breastplate +would need examination. It was not uncommon for old-time +Methodists to deceive themselves into thinking they +<pb n='159'/><anchor id='Pg159'/> +had not sinned for years. Those who had such breastplates +wore the <q>As-it-were</q> variety. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the sound of their wings.</hi>—When engaged in <q>getting +the power</q>.—Rev. 9:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was as the sound of chariots.</hi>—The noisiest vehicles +known in the Revelator's day. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of many horses running to battle.</hi>—The old-time Methodist +hell-fire revival was in days gone by the noisiest place +on earth, excepting the camp-meeting. Those good old +days have long since gone. +</p> + +<p> +9:10. <hi rend='sans'>And they had tails.</hi>—Followers—class-leaders. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Like unto scorpions.</hi>—The old-time class-leader was an +invaluable adjunct of the Methodist Church. Upon him +devolved the duty of requiring each probationer to attend +the class-meeting and report his spiritual progress weekly, +whether he had made any or not. After each report it +was the class-leader's duty to squirt in a little more of +the poisonous doctrines from the two orifices referred to +in comments on Rev. 9:3. From the <q>heaven</q> orifice came +the doctrine <q>If you are good you will go to Heaven when +you die</q>—and from the <q>hell</q> orifice came the message +<q>If you are bad you will go to hell when you die.</q> It was +all very simple. Everybody was simple in those days. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [there were] stings.</hi>—Revivals in which the attendants +were stung, doctrinally and financially. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND in their tails [and] WAS their power [was] to hurt +men five months.</hi>—One hundred and fifty years, from +Wesley's ordination in 1728 to the casting off of Methodism +in 1878.—Rev. 9:5. +</p> + +<p> +9:11. <hi rend='sans'>[And] they [had a] HAVE THEIR king [over +them].</hi>—The same king as exercises general rulership over +all the ecclesiastical affairs of this present evil world. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Which is] the angel of the [bottomless pit] ABYSS.</hi>—<q>The +prince of the power of the air.</q>—Eph. 2:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon.</hi>—And he +is <q>a bad one,</q> sure enough.—2 Cor. 4:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.</hi>—That +is, Destroyer. But in plain English his name is Satan, the +Devil. As a means for preventing people from seeing the +Truth, Methodism has been as efficient as any of the five +systems previously described, or any that follow. All have +been sadly misled and deceived by our great and wily +Adversary; <q>Taken captive by him at his will.</q>—2 Tim. +2:26. +</p> + +<p> +9:12. <hi rend='sans'>One woe is past.</hi>—Methodism was the first woe +of the epoch leading up to and associated with the Time +of the End. It was a serious blow to the pretensions of the +Papacy, but its days of usefulness have long since passed. +</p> + +<pb n='160'/><anchor id='Pg160'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And, behold, there come two woes more [hereafter].</hi>—One +outlined in the remainder of this chapter and one in +Chapter 10. It was the discovery of Methodism as the +first woe that led to an identification of the four movements +of the Reformation proper which preceded it.—Rev. +8:7-13. +</p> + +<p> +9:13. <hi rend='sans'>[And] AFTER THESE THINGS the sixth angel +sounded.</hi>—The Evangelical-Alliance-Spiritism movement began +in 1846-1848 culminating in the Federal Council of the +Churches of Christ in America. The following great denominations +which comprise 90% of the Protestant Church +membership are represented in this council: Baptist +(North), Free Baptist, Christian, Congregational, Disciples +of Christ, Evangelical Association, Evangelical Synod, +Friends, Lutheran General Synod, Methodist Episcopal, +Methodist Episcopal (South), German Evangelical Synod, +Colored Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Protestant, African +Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, +Mennonite, Moravian, Presbyterian, Presbyterian (South), +Welsh Presbyterian, Reformed Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, +Protestant Episcopal, Reformed Church in America, +Reformed Church in the U. S. A., Reformed Episcopal, +Seventh-Day Baptist, United Brethren in Christ, United +Evangelical, National Baptist Convention. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img165.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>Methodism</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img166.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>Babylon Perplexes The World</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +Although these sects are the only ones now members +of the Federal Council, yet, in hatred of the Truth, and +darkness in regard to God's Plan, the following are also +entitled to membership: Evangelical Adventists, Advent +Christians, Seventh-Day Adventists, Church of God, Life +and Advent Union, Church of God in Jesus Christ, fifteen +kinds of Baptists named in comments on Rev. 8:12, four +kinds of Dunkard brethren, the Conservative, Old Order, +Progressive and Seventh-Day German varieties, four kinds +of Plymouth Brethren, three kinds of River Brethren, the +Brethren in Christ, Old Order or Yorker and United Zion's +Children, Catholic Apostolic, New Apostolic, Christadelphians, +Dowie's Christian Catholic, Christian Union, +Church of Christ Scientist, Winnebrenarian Churches of +God, Colored Churches of the Living God, Christian Workers +for Friendship, Apostolic, Church of Christ in God, +Churches of the New Jerusalem, General Convention, +General Church, Church Transcendent, Communistic +Societies, Shakers, Amana, Churches of Christ, Apostolic +Faith Movement, Peniel Missions, Metropolitan Church +Association, Hepziba Faith Association, Missionary Christian +Association, Heavenly Recruit Church, Apostolic +Christian Church, Christian Congregation, Colored Voluntary +Missionary Society, Hicksite Friends, Wilburite +<pb n='161'/><anchor id='Pg161'/> +Friends, Primitive Friends, Friends of the Temple, German +Evangelical Protestant, Latter-Day Saints, Reorganized +Latter-Day Saints, twenty-one kinds of Lutherans shown +in comments on Rev. 8:7, Swedish Evangelical Missionary +Covenant. Swedish Evangelical Free Mission, Norwegian +Evangelical Free Church, twelve kinds of Mennonites, +Bruederhoef, Amish, Old Amish, Conservative Amish, Reformed, +General Conference, Church of God in Christ, Old +Wisler, Bundes Conference, Defenceless, Brethren in +Christ, sixteen kinds of Methodists shown in comments +on Rev. 9:1, Union Moravian, Pentecostal Church of the +Nazarene, Other Pentecostal Associations, twelve kinds of +Presbyterians shown in comments on Rev. 8:10, 11, Christian +Reformed, Hungarian Reformed, Reformed Catholic, +Salvation Army, Schwenkfelders, Social Brethren, Society +for Ethical Culture, Spiritualists, Theosophical Society, +Old Constitution Brethren, Unitarians, Universalists, etc. +</p> + +<p> +Their <q>faiths</q> are quite as varied as their names, but +without exception they deny the central truth of the Scriptures +(1 John 4:2, 3) that when Jesus Christ came to +earth He came as a man only, devoid of immortality or +Divinity, that when He died He was as dead as though He +never had lived, and that by that death He bought for +Adam and his race the Restitution of all things foretold +by <q>the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world +began.</q> (Rev. 4:10.) The common ground upon which +they stand is this, their denial of the Ransom, their affirmation +of Spiritism, in some form, and their adherence +to the principle of Federation. All of these things are +condemned in the Scriptures but the Scriptures will never +be allowed to stand in the way of those who live by +shearing the wool from the sheep. (2 Tim. 4:3, 4; Deut. +18:10, 11; Isa. 8:9-22.) The latter passage is full of the +deepest significance at this time. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Christian Heralds</q> that refused to publish advertisements +of Pastor Russell's books now give space to advertisements +of godless, Christless, Buddhist, demoniacal books, +glorifying the New Thought system of mind worship, the +boot-strap system of religion by which men, by cultivation +of the will, lift themselves into money, piety and immortality, +and by making assertions to and demands of the +alleged <q>sub-conscious mind</q> invite and receive the assistance +of evil spirits, and finally come under their control. +Modern <q>Christianity</q> is Buddhism. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Rev. Dr. Day, Chancellor of the Syracuse University, +recently, in an address to the Y. M. C. A., is reported +by the public press to have said: <q>Wouldn't you rather +live in America than in Heaven? I would. I'd like to +<pb n='162'/><anchor id='Pg162'/> +go to Heaven when I can't be here. In fact, I think I'd +be rather discontented in Heaven till I got adjusted. You +can get anything you want here. You can live under +forty odd governments, meet all the nations of the world, +eat all the fruits of the world and get any kind of climate +that you choose. So America is the beat place to live; +but I think when a man can't stay here any longer he +ought to steer for Heaven,</q></q> (Z. '08-196.) Having concluded +to stay here as long as possible, <q>Christians</q> are now +flocking by thousands to the purchase of works which will +show them how to use spiritism to take advantage of their +fellow men. The religious and other periodicals are now +filled with advertisements of these books. We quote a +few extracts to show their Satanic character: +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is necessary to control others, to discover their +plans. This you may be able to do if you have developed +your inner faculties. We show you how to so develop your +intuitional nature that you are able to detect the feelings +of others; to penetrate their secret motives; and to discover +what they try to conceal. The Golden Rule must +be followed in controlling others. <q>Do unto others as you +would that they should do unto you.</q> There comes more +and more the power of seeing the future, so that more +and more true becomes the old adage that coming events +cast their shadows before. Health in time takes the place +of disease; for all disease and its consequent suffering is +merely the result of the violation of law, whether consciously +or unconsciously. There comes a spiritual power +which, as it is sent out, is adequate for the healing of +others the same as in the days of old.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Many omniscient men and women will soon walk the +earth. Omniscience and Freedom are the goal of all, and +in this Great Age of Light many Egos are approaching the +blessed omniscience state.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Suddenly it seemed that the top of my head had been +lifted, and I became aware of an immense increase of +personal consciousness. I became conscious, I say—I +know what I am writing—of the vast sky above, and the +mighty deeps below, and the wide sweep of present human +life, and the long forward and backward stretch of human +history. It seemed that I could sense the All. Since that +day all is well. Life is deeper, richer, stronger—assured, +fearless, and saturated with perennial vital interests.</q> +(What really happened to this man was that he became +obsessed by demons.)—Rev. 7:3. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The strength of these delusions lies in the grave errors +mixed with truths long held by Christian people, because +of the <q>falling away</q> from the pure faith of the Apostolic +<pb n='163'/><anchor id='Pg163'/> +Church, foretold in the Scriptures. Among these errors +none is designed to open the heart and mind to these +delusive and destructive theories of today more effectually +than the general belief of the first lie—<q>Ye shall <emph>not</emph> surely +die.</q> (Gen. 3:4.) The general acceptance of it results from a +failure to understand the Bible doctrine concerning <emph>life</emph> +and <emph>immortality</emph>, which were brought to light by our Lord +Jesus through His Gospel of salvation from sin by His +Ransom-sacrifice. The advocates of these false doctrines +are surprisingly alert and active everywhere, especially +in the United States, where thought is most active and +where liberty often means license. Hundreds of thousands +have embraced these errors as new and advanced light. +The extent of their success is not fully apparent to many; +for their success lies in a <emph>still hunt</emph> for prey. Their advocates +are to be found in almost every congregation of every +denomination, and especially among the more cultured; +and the <q>angel of light</q> feature is seldom neglected. The +nominal churches are already permeated, <emph>leavened</emph> with +these false doctrines. The Scriptural prophecy that <q>a +thousand shall fall at thy [the true Church's] side, and +ten thousand at thy right hand</q> (Psalm 91:3-14), is now +fulfilled before our eyes.</q>—Z. '15-343. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I heard a voice.</hi>—William Miller, from A. D. 1829 +to 1844. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From [the four horns of] the golden altar which is +before God.</hi>—<q>The Golden Altar in the <q>Holy</q> would seem +to represent the <q>little flock,</q> the consecrated Church in +the present sacrificing condition.</q>—T. 120. +</p> + +<p> +9:14. <hi rend='sans'>Saying.</hi>—By pointing to the near fulfillment of +the 2300 days.—Dan. 8:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To the sixth angel which had the trumpet.</hi>—The Evangelical +Alliance-Spiritism movement. The Alliance proper +was organized Sept. 2nd, 1846, at the end of the 2800 years. +The spiritism feature began January, 1848. The two have +been growing towards each other ever since until now +they are substantially one and the same thing. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Loose the four angels.</hi>—Four errors in the nine fundamental +principles of the Evangelical Alliance. We give +the erroneous clauses by number: (3) <q>The unity of the +Godhead, and the trinity of persons therein.</q> See Rev. +6:4; 5:7. (5) <q>The incarnation of the Son of God.</q> +(8) <q>The immortality of the soul.</q> (9) <q>The Divine institution +of the Christian ministry</q> (i. e., the clergy). +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which are bound.</hi>—Hindered from gaining fullest expression. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the great river Euphrates.</hi>—The world of mankind.—B. 209, +D. 24. +</p> + +<pb n='164'/><anchor id='Pg164'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the four angels.</hi>—The four great errors of trinity, +incarnation, immortality and lordship over God's heritage. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were loosed.</hi>—Given greater liberties than ever before. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which were prepared.</hi>—Each sect for itself, and in its +own time. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For [an] THE hour.</hi>—The hour of judgment, 1918. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And a day] and [a] month, and [a] year.</hi>—Thirteen +symbolic months, the 390 years of Protestantism's siege +of the Papacy.—Ezek. 4:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For to slay.</hi>—To make nominal Christians of, to take +away the manhood of. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The third part of men.</hi>—According to the World Almanac +for 1917, the total number of Christians in the world +at the beginning of the twentieth century was 571,400,000, +of whom one third, 177,800,000, were Protestants. +</p> + +<p> +9:16. <hi rend='sans'>And the number of the army of the horsemen.</hi>—In +round numbers, at the time of identification. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were two hundred thousand thousand.</hi>—Approximately +two hundred millions. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] I heard the number of them.</hi>—Heard, heeded, or +noted, the count as given in the World Almanac, as correct. +This is a tribute to a journal notorious for its +ignoble, unjust and dishonest attacks on Pastor Russell. +<q>Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee.</q> And have +you noticed, on the same principle, that nearly all the +encyclopedic references herein are to the great standard +Protestant works to be found in every capable minister's +library? How is it that <emph>they</emph> do not know these things? +</p> + +<p> +9:17. <hi rend='sans'>And thus I saw the horses in the vision.</hi>—Horses +are symbols of teachings. It is the doctrines a man has +been taught that carry him along to do things. <q>As a +man thinketh, so is he.</q> The man and his beliefs are +inseparable.—Joel 2:4. (The four kinds of horses of +Zech. 6:1-8 seem to refer to four companies of saved ones. +Red, the Ancient Worthies; black, the Little Flock; white, +the Great Company; bay, the world of mankind.) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And them that sat [on] UPON them.</hi>—The total Protestant +church membership. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having breastplates of fire.</hi>—Keeping the doctrine of +hell-fire well to the front in their teachings. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of jacinth.</hi>—<q>The hyacinthus of the Romans is invariably +blue and lustrous. This description suggests the +blue flame which issues between the fire and the brimstone, +represented as <q>smoke</q> in verse 18.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And brimstone.</hi>—Yes, indeed, plenty of brimstone went +along with the hell-fire.—Rev. 14:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the heads.</hi>—<q>The ancient and honorable, he is the +head; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail.</q>—Isa. +<pb n='165'/><anchor id='Pg165'/> +9:15. <q>In a genus of serpents or ophidian reptiles +called <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>amphisboena</foreign> the tail and head are equally obtuse, +and the scales on the head so similar to those on the back +as to render it difficult to distinguish one extremity from +the other. Hence these reptiles have been supposed to have +the power of creeping backwards or forwards with equal +facility.</q> (Cook.)—Isa. 29:10-14; John 4:22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were as the heads of lions.</hi>—Able to swallow the most +ridiculous and impossible theories.—1 Chron. 12:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And out of their mouths issued fire.</hi>—Sermons full of +hell-fire. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And smoke.</hi>—See Rev. 9:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And brimstone.</hi>—O yes, surely; plenty of brimstone, to +go with the hell-fire. +</p> + +<p> +9:18. <hi rend='sans'>By these [three] PLAGUES was the third part of +men.</hi>—The Protestant third of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Killed.</hi>—Deprived of reason, manhood and dignity. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By the fire.</hi>—The sermons full of hell-fire. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [by] the smoke.</hi>—Smoke is a symbol of confusion. +The following is an extract from an article on the brain +written by a well-known physician and alienist: +</p> + +<p> +<q>To illustrate how effectually such conceptions served to +block all progress in the science of life we may quote one +instance from a ponderous volume in my library with the +date 1618 on <hi rend='italic'>Physiology and Anatomy</hi> by Hilkiah Crooke, +Physician and Professor on Anatomy and Chirurgery to His +Majesty, James I. Speaking of the origin and growth of +hair, he says: <q>The immediate matter of the haires is a +sooty, thicke, and earthly vapour, which in the time of the +third concoction (distillation) is elevated by the strength of +the action of naturall heate, and passeth through the pores +of the skin, which heate exiceateth or drieth this moysture +of these sootie and thicke vapours, for the vapour being +thicke, in his passage leaveth some part of it selfe, to +wit, the grossest, in the very outlet, where it is impacted +by a succeeding vapour arising where the former did, is +protruded and thrust forward, so that they are wrought +together in one body. The straightness of the passages +of the skin were through the matter of the haires is +anoyded, formeth them into a small roundness, even as +a wyre receyeth that proportion whereof the whole is, +where through it is drawne.</q> One great office of the hairs +of the head, therefore, Crooke perceived to be to lead off +<q>the vapors which otherwise would choke and make +smoaky the braine,</q> though how hopelessly choked the +brains of all bald heads hence would be he does not +mention.</q> A study of the foregoing leads to the conclusion +that the various churches must have been founded by +<pb n='166'/><anchor id='Pg166'/> +bald-headed men, and the smoke being unable to find its +way out through their scalps naturally had to come out +of their mouths! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [by] the brimstone.</hi>—Yes, indeed; plenty of brimstone. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which issued out of their mouths.</hi>—Especially when an +evangelist firm is in town looking for shekels. +</p> + +<p> +9:19. <hi rend='sans'>For [their power] THE POWER OF THE +HORSES is in their mouth.</hi>—Assuredly, assuredly; it certainly +is not in the Scriptures. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And in their tails.</hi>—Followers, <q>Workers,</q> class-leaders.—Isa. +9:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For their tails were like unto serpents.</hi>—Bright enough +to know better. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And had heads.</hi>—Wills of their own—unlike the <q>Beheaded</q> +saints (Rev. 20:4.) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And with them they do hurt.</hi>—Damage the cause of +Truth. +</p> + +<p> +9:20. <hi rend='sans'>And the rest of the men.</hi>—Those ordinary <q>good +fellows</q> (and bad ones too), men of the world who had too +much sense to swallow what is taught by any of the sects. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which were not killed by these THEIR plagues.</hi>—Who +remained <q>unconverted</q> to the mass of errors masquerading +in the name of religion. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Yet repented not of the works of their hands.</hi>—Failed +to turn their money, brains and service over to the nominal +church, but continued on in their own way. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That they should not worship devils.</hi>—Joining, if they +choose, the Masons, Odd Fellows and other secret organisations +teaching a debased form of religion.—Lev. 17:7; Deut. +32:17; 1 Cor. 10:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And idols of gold, and silver and [brass] COPPER.</hi>—Having +their affection set upon currency in hand and in the +bank.—Psa. 115:1-4; Dan. 5:22, 23. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And stone, and of wood.</hi>—Giving their attention to earthly +affairs, improvements in real estate, etc. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.</hi>—But are +more or less permanent, tangible and fixed. +</p> + +<p> +9:21. <hi rend='sans'>Neither repented they of their murders.</hi>—Teaching +hell-fire keeps nobody from being a murderer or a +slanderer.—Rev. 21:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Nor their sorceries.</hi>—Use of drugs, Greek. Teaching +hell-fire keeps nobody from being a drug fiend or pseudo-philosopher.—Rev. +21:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Nor of their [fornication] WICKEDNESS.</hi>—Teaching +hell-fire keeps nobody from being a wicked man. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Nor of their thefts.</hi>—Teaching hell-fire keeps nobody from +engaging in <q>high finance.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='167'/><anchor id='Pg167'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 10—The True Reformation Woe</head> + +<p> +10:1. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw another angel.</hi>—<q>The Messenger of the +Covenant,</q> the Lord Jesus.—Mal. 3:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Come down from Heaven.</hi>—At the time of the Second +Advent, Oct. 1874.—Rev. 3:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Clothed with a cloud.</hi>—<q><q>He cometh with clouds;</q> and +while the clouds of trouble are heavy and dark, when the +mountains (kingdoms of this world) are trembling and +falling, and the earth (organized society) is being shaken, +disintegrated, melted, some will begin to realize what we +now proclaim as already at hand—that Jehovah's Anointed +is taking to Himself His great power and beginning His +work of laying justice to the line and righteousness to +the plummet. (Isa. 28:17.)</q>—B. 138. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [a rainbow was] THE HAIR upon His head, and +His face was as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars +of fire.</hi>—See Rev. 1:14-16; 7:2; 18:1. +</p> + +<p> +10:2. <hi rend='sans'>And [He had] HAVING in His hand.</hi>—In His +power, given to Him by the Father.—Rev. 5:7, 5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A little book open.</hi>—The Present Truth message.—C. 89. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He set His right foot.</hi>—Exerted the strongest power +of restraint. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Upon the sea.</hi>—The masses not under religious control, +who, without the Lord's control of the situation, would +have long since swallowed up the present order of things.—Rev. +7:1-3; Luke 21:25; Psa. 46:2, 3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His left foot on the earth.</hi>—<q>Throughout the Scriptures, +earth, when used symbolically, represents society; +seas, the restless, turbulent, dissatisfied masses of the +world.</q>—A. 318. +</p> + +<p> +10:3. <hi rend='sans'>And cried with a loud voice.</hi>—Pastor Russell was +the voice used.—Rev. 7:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As when a lion roareth.</hi>—Symbolical of Justice.—Rev. +4:7; Amos 3:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And when.</hi>—In 1881 A. D. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He had cried.</hi>—With the first great cry, <q><hi rend='italic'>Food for Thinking +Christians</hi>,</q> 1,400,000 copies given away, <emph>free</emph>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Seven thunders.</hi>—Seven volumes of <q>STUDIES IN THE +SCRIPTURES.</q>—Rev. 8:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Uttered their voices.</hi>—Were foreseen as necessary to +the complete statement of the Plan, and the fulfillment of +this and other Scriptures. +</p> + +<pb n='168'/><anchor id='Pg168'/> + +<p> +10:4. <hi rend='sans'>And [when] WHATSOEVER the seven thunders +had uttered [their voices], I.</hi>—Pastor Russell as a representative +of the John class. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was about to write.</hi>—Intended to put on paper at once. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I heard a voice from Heaven.</hi>—The guidance of the +Heavenly Father, directing and overruling, knowing that +the results would be better if the interest of His little +ones were sustained by expectancy throughout the whole +time of Harvest, rather than to give them all the light +at once.—John 16:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying [unto me], Seal up [those] WHAT things [which] +SOEVER the seven thunders uttered.</hi>—Do not immediately +disclose their full contents.—Dan. 8:26; 12:4, 9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And write them not.</hi>—Observe how the Lord retarded +the publications: Vol. I was published in 1886. <q>In sending +forth this first volume of the MILLENNIAL DAWN, +it is but proper that we apologize to the many friends who +have waited for it so patiently since promised.</q> (A. 3.) +Volume II was published in 1889, and III in 1891. <q>Some +have urged greater haste in the writing and publishing of +the several volumes of this series, and, to a large extent, +I have shared the same feelings of impatience; but my +observations of the Lord's dealings and leadings and unfoldings +of His Plan are gradually convincing me that He +has not shared our impatience. Indeed, I can clearly trace +His hand in some of the hindrances encountered and can +realize by the delay I have been enabled to grasp the subjects +more thoroughly, and to present them more fully, +than if the work had been hastened more. Not only has +this delay worked for my good and yours, but in another +way also. It has afforded time for a more thorough digestion +of the truths of each volume, and thereby has given +to the faithful student the very necessary preparation for +that which was to follow. And not only so, but it has +also given opportunity for practicing the lessons learned, +and for exercising the talents of each in spreading the +advancing light before others of God's saints.</q> (C. 12.) +Volume IV was published in 1897, V in 1899, VI in 1904 +and VII in 1917. This makes a total lapse of 36 +years from the publication of <hi rend='italic'>FOOD FOR THINKING +CHRISTIANS</hi> to the last volume of the <hi rend='italic'>SCRIPTURE +STUDIES</hi>. Meantime the Harvest work grew to a movement +of vast proportions; and Volume VII was delayed. +</p> + +<p> +10:5. <hi rend='sans'>And the angel which I saw.</hi>—The Lord Jesus, since +1874.—Rev. 10:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Stand upon the sea and upon the earth.</hi>—In control of +the masses not under religious restraint as well as order-loving +society. +</p> + +<pb n='169'/><anchor id='Pg169'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Lifted up His RIGHT hand to Heaven.</hi>—The seventh +angel was in that hand when He did so.—Rev. 1:16, 20. +</p> + +<p> +10:6. <hi rend='sans'>And sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever.</hi>—By +Jehovah, His Father and our Father, His God and our +God.—John 20:17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Who created Heaven, and the things that therein are.</hi>—<q>The +heavens declare the glory of God.</q>—Psa. 19:1-6; +Neh. 9:6; Rev. 4:11; 14:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the earth, and the things that therein are, [and the +sea, and the things which are therein].</hi>—<q>When the morning +stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for +joy.</q>—Job 38, 39, 40 and 41 chapters. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That there [should be] IS time no longer.</hi>—<q>There shall +be no further delay.</q>—Weym. +</p> + +<p> +10:7. <hi rend='sans'>But in the days of the voice of the seventh +angel.</hi>—Pastor Russell was the seventh angel.—Rev. 3:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>When he shall begin to sound.</hi>—In the autumn of 1881, +at which time <hi rend='italic'>FOOD FOR THINKING CHRISTIANS</hi> was +circulated, and the General Call ceased.—Rev. 11:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The mystery of God [should be] WAS finished.</hi>—<q>The +great unfolding of the Divine mystery we are expressly +told was reserved until the close of the Gospel Age.</q> +(Z. '97-255.) <q>The Plan ceases to be a mystery, because +there is no further object in perpetuating its secrecy. The +greatness of the mystery, so long kept secret, and the +wonderful grace bestowed on those called to fellowship +in this mystery (Eph. 3:9), suggest to us that the work +to follow its completion must be an immense work, worthy +of such great preparations. What may we not expect in +blessings upon the world, when the veil of mystery is +withdrawn and the showers of blessing descend! It is +this for which the whole creation groans and travails in +pain together until now, waiting for the completion of +this mystery, for the manifestation of the Sons of God, +the promised <q>Seed</q> in whom they shall all be blessed.—Rom. +8:19, 21, 22.</q> (A. 87.) <q>While the door stands open, +it indicates that any believer who is anxious to enter and +ready to comply with the conditions may yet do so, even +though the general <q>call</q> or invitation to enter is no longer +sent out. The opportunity to labor and sacrifice has not yet +closed though the general call ceased in 1881.</q>—C. 213. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As He hath declared to His servants.</hi>—The Harvest +Workers. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND the Prophets.</hi>—Daniel (12:4-12) and Habakkuk +(2:1-3).—Rev. 1:1. +</p> + +<p> +10:8. <hi rend='sans'>And the Voice which I heard from Heaven.</hi>—The +Heavenly Father's voice.—Rev. 10:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Spake unto me again.</hi>—By His Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<pb n='170'/><anchor id='Pg170'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And said.</hi>—Through the Bible, His Word, His Voice. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Go take the little book.</hi>—<q>Study to show thyself approved +unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.</q>—2 +Tim. 2:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is open in the hand of the angel.</hi>—The Lord Jesus. +Rev. 10:1, 5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.</hi>—See +Rev. 10:2, 5. +</p> + +<p> +10:9. <hi rend='sans'>And I went unto the angel.</hi>—<q>In coming out of +bondage to human traditions, creeds, systems and errors, +we are coming directly to our Lord, to be taught and fed +by Him, to be strengthened and perfected to do His pleasure, +and to stand, and not fall with Babylon.</q>—C. 167. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And said unto Him.</hi>—By my act in obeying His command.—Rev. +18:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Give me the little book.</hi>—Take me into Your confidence; +give me Your Holy Spirit; show me, as promised, the +<q>things to come.</q>—John 16:13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He said unto me, Take it, and eat it up.</hi>—<q>It is +absolutely useless for us to pray Lord, Lord, give us the +Spirit, if we neglect the Word of Truth which that Spirit +has supplied for out filling.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>245</hi>, 225; Ezek. 2:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And it shall make thy belly bitter.</hi>—Lead to self-sacrifice, +with its attendant sufferings, but create an appetite for +more. <q>The after effects are always more or less blending +of the bitterness of persecution with the sweetness.</q>—C. 89; +Ezek. 2:10; 3:14; Dan. 8:27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.</hi>—<q>O the +blessedness.</q>—Dan. 12:12; Psa. 19:10; 119:103. +</p> + +<p> +10:10. <hi rend='sans'>And I took the little book out of the angel's hand +and ate it up.</hi>—<q>Thy words were found and I did eat them; +and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine +heart.</q>—Jer. 15:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And it was in my mouth sweet as honey.</hi>—<q>So I opened +my mouth, and He caused me to eat that roll. And it was +in my mouth as honey for sweetness.</q>—Ezek. 3:2, 3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was [bitter] +FILLED.</hi>—<q>It satisfies my longings as nothing else could +do.</q> +</p> + +<p> +10:11. <hi rend='sans'>And [He said] THEY SAY unto me.</hi>—The Scriptures +do the saying. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thou must prophesy again.</hi>—Continue to proclaim the +Message of Truth Divine. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and +kings.</hi>—Until it has been fully testified to all.—1 Tim. 2:6. +The concluding word of this Scripture suggests that the +last witness of the church in the flesh is, like their Lord's +as alleged malefactors, before earth's rulers. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='171'/><anchor id='Pg171'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 11—The Time Of The End</head> + +<p> +11:1. <hi rend='sans'>And there was given me.</hi>—The John class in the +Time of the End. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A reed like unto a rod.</hi>—The Lord's Word is both a +rod to lean upon, (Isa. 11:4) and a reed with which to +measure. (Jer. 1:11-12). The word here tendered <q>rod</q> +is rendered <q>staff</q> in Matt. 10:10; Heb. 11:21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And the angel stood, saying], HE SAITH.</hi>—It is the +<q>reed</q> or <q>rod</q> itself, the Divine Word, that does the saying. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Rise.</hi>—<q>At the exact <q>time appointed,</q> 1799, the end of +the 1260 days, the power of the Man of Sin, the great oppressor +of the Church, was broken, and his dominion +taken away. With one stroke of His mighty hand, God +there struck off Zion's fetters, and bade the oppressed +go free. And forth came, and are coming, the <q>Sanctuary</q> +class, the <q>holy people,</q> weak, and halt, and lame, and +almost naked, and blind, from the dungeon darkness and +filth and misery of papal bondage. Poor souls! they had +been trying to serve God faithfully in the very midst of +the lurid flames of persecution, clinging to the cross of +Christ when almost every other truth had been swept +away, and courageously endeavoring to emancipate God's +<q>Two Witnesses</q> (the Old and New Testaments), which +had so long been bound, and which had prophesied only +under the sackcloth of dead languages.</q>—C. 122. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And measure the Temple of God.</hi>—<q>That symbolic Temple +which is The Christ.</q> (T. 70.) <q>The mention of worshippers +proves that the measuring is symbolical. To +<q><emph>measure</emph></q> is to separate for sacred purposes; what is excluded +from the measurement is, accordingly, more or less +mingled with evil. Hence, in this place, what is measured—the +true believer typified—is to be exempted from the +Judgments in which what is <emph>not</emph> measured (ver. 2) is involved.</q> +(Cook). <q>If the direction be understood figuratively, +as applicable to the Christian Church, the work to +be done would be to obtain an exact estimate or measurement +of what the true Church was—as distinguished from +all other bodies of men, and as constituted, and appointed, +by the direction of God; such a measurement that its +characteristics could be made known; that a church could +be organized according to this, and that the accurate description +<pb n='172'/><anchor id='Pg172'/> +could be transmitted to future times.</q> (Barnes.)—Ezek. +40:3; Rev. 21:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the altar.</hi>—The Golden Altar, within the <q>Holy</q>, +the true Church, as sacrificers.—Ex. 30:1-10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And them that worship therein.</hi>—The several volumes of +<hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> and the booklet <hi rend='italic'>Tabernacle Shadows</hi> +are devoted to the <q>measurements</q> herein prophesied. +</p> + +<p> +11:2. <hi rend='sans'>But the court which is [without] WITHIN the Temple +leave out.</hi>—The court here represents the same thing +as is represented in the Court of the Tabernacle in the +wilderness, the condition of progression toward complete +Justification. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And measure it not.</hi>—Devote all attention to the higher +privileges of the <q>Holy</q>. The <q>Court</q> was merely provided +as a proper approach to the <q>Holy</q>. Acceptance of +Christ as one's Savior, appreciation of His work at Calvary, +and washing one's self in the water of the Word as +represented respectively by the First Gate, Brazen Altar, +and Laver of the <q>Court</q> are not the things to which we +are particularly invited; but consecration to God's will, +illumination by His Spirit, appropriation of His promises +and sacrifice of our all, acceptable to the Father through +our great High Priest, represented respectively by the +Second Gate or Door, the Candlestick, Table of Shew-bread +and Golden Altar of the <q>Holy</q>, are the things to +which we were called: so that we might pass the Third +Gate or Veil, actual death of the body, and finally become +a part of The Christ, represented by the Ark of the Covenant, +of which our Father is the Head. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For it is given ALSO unto the Gentiles.</hi>—With the deliverance +of the Little Flock, the condition represented by +the <q>Holy</q> ceases. This leaves the Great Company still +in the <q>Court</q> and the special objects of Gentile wrath +as their kingdoms fall into ruin. <q>Being denied the liberty +accorded to the Priests, these will have merely the +standing of justification, which, if they maintain, will +constitute them worthy of eternal life. But that life will +not be human life, because they gave that up in order to +become Priests. Their failure puts them out of the Holy +condition back into the Court condition.</q> (Z. '11-22.) +</p> + +<p> +<q>After the establishment of Messiah's Kingdom, this distinction +between the Church proper, joint-heirs with +Christ, and the larger company of antitypical Levites, will +be perpetual, and the services of the two will be different. +The former will be a Priesthood corresponding to that of +Melchizedek—a Priest upon His Throne. The work of +the latter will correspond more to that accomplished by +the Levites; namely, teaching the people, etc., as servants +<pb n='173'/><anchor id='Pg173'/> +of the Priests, from whom they will receive their +directions.</q>—Z. '14-79. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the Holy City.</hi>—The embryo Kingdom of God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall they tread under foot.</hi>—<q>The Kingdom of Heaven +suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.</q>—Matt. +11:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Forty and two months.</hi>—1260 years from papacy's establishment +as a temporal power, 539 A. D. to 1799 A. D.—B. +91, 310; C. 50, 64; Dan. 7:25; 12:7; Rev. 12:6, 14; 13:5; +Jas. 5:17. +</p> + +<p> +11:3. <hi rend='sans'>And I will give power unto My Two Witnesses.</hi>—<q>The +Lord refers to the Old and New Testament Scriptures, +and faithfully they have borne their testimony to +every nation.</q>—D. 258. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they shall prophesy.</hi>—Teach. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A thousand, two hundred and three score days.</hi>—1260 +years, from A. D. 539 to 1799. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Clothed in sackcloth.</hi>—<q>Kept covered in dead languages.</q>—C. +50. +</p> + +<p> +11:4. <hi rend='sans'>These are the Two Olive Trees.</hi>—Sources of the oil, +the holy Spirit.—Zech. 4:1-6; Rom. 11:17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the Two Candlesticks.</hi>—<q>The <emph>light</emph> of the world, +during all the darkness of the past.</q>—D. 652. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Standing before the [God] LORD of the earth.</hi>—Jehovah. +<q>The earth is the Lord's.</q>—Psa. 24:1. +</p> + +<p> +11:5. <hi rend='sans'>And if any man will hurt them.</hi>—<q>And if any man +<emph>desireth</emph> to hurt them. The present tense here points to +the continued enmity of the world to the Church, during +the entire course of the Witnesses' testimony.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fire proceedeth out of their mouth.</hi>—<q>I will make My +words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it +shall devour them.</q>—Jer. 5:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And devoureth their enemies.</hi>—<q>History supplies the +illustrations—the fire that consumed the opponents of +Moses (Num. 16:28, 35), and that which came down at the +word of Elijah. (2 Kings 1:10, 12)</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner +be killed.</hi>—<q>Therefore have I hewed them by the Prophets; +and I have slain them by the words of My mouth.</q>—Hos. +6:5. +</p> + +<p> +11:6. <hi rend='sans'>These have power to shut heaven.</hi>—The literal +heavens and the spiritual heavens.—1 Ki. 17:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That it rain not.</hi>—That there be no literal showers, or +spiritual showers of blessings. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the days of their prophecy.</hi>—Literally in the three +and one half years in Elijah's day in which there was no +rain (James 5:17) and spiritually in the three and one +half times, or 1260 years, from A. D. 539 to 1799 in which +<pb n='174'/><anchor id='Pg174'/> +the showers of blessing were withheld from the world.—Rev. +2:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And have power over waters.</hi>—Literal and symbolic. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To turn them into blood.</hi>—Literally as when Moses +turned the waters of Egypt into blood (Exodus 7:21.) +Symbolically during this Harvest time in which the Heavenly +Harvest truths have become <q>bloody</q>, repulsive, abhorrent, +symbolizing death where they should be received +as a blessing.—Z. '07-279. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] to smite the earth with all plagues.</hi>—Literal and +symbolic. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As often as they will.</hi>—Literally in the plagues which +Moses poured out upon the Egyptians (Exodus 7 to 11.) +Symbolically in the spiritual plagues, the seven last upon +Christendom.—Rev. 16. +</p> + +<p> +11:7. <hi rend='sans'>And when they shall have finished their testimony.</hi>—In +the dead languages, about the time of the end +of papacy's power to persecute. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The beast that THEN ascendeth out of the [bottomless +pit] ABYSS.</hi>—The government without a foundation; revolutionary +France during the <q>Reign of Terror.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall make war against them.</hi>—<q>In 1793 a decree passed +the French Assembly forbidding the Bible; and under that +decree the Bibles were gathered and burned, every possible +mark of contempt was heaped upon them.</q>—Smith. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shall overcome them, and kill them.</hi>—<q>All the institutions +of the Bible were abolished; the weekly rest day +was blotted out, and every tenth day substituted for mirth +and profanity. Baptism and the communion were abolished. +The being of God was denied, and death proclaimed +an eternal sleep. The Goddess of Reason, in the +person of a vile woman, was set up, and publicly worshipped.</q>—Smith. +</p> + +<p> +11:8. <hi rend='sans'>And their dead bodies shall lie in the street.</hi>—France. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the great city.</hi>—Christendom, the Old Roman Empire.—Rev. +14:8; 16:19; 17:9, 18; 18:2, 10, 16, 18, 19, 21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which spiritually is called Sodom.</hi>—<q><q>Remember Lot's +wife!</q> is our Lord's pointed warning. How intensely +forceful it is as a caution to God's people here, in the +close of the Gospel Age. When we learn that Babylon +is doomed, and hear the Lord's message, <q>Come out of her +My people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that +ye receive not of her plagues,</q> it is indeed like the voice +of the messengers who hastened Lot and his family out +of Sodom, saying, <q>Stay not in all the plain; escape for thy +life; escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed; look +not behind thee.</q> (Gen. 19:17). Christendom is <q>that great +<pb n='175'/><anchor id='Pg175'/> +city [Babylon] which spiritually is called Sodom.</q></q>—D. 607, +608; Rev. 17:5; Isa. 1:9, 10; 3:8, 9; Jer. 23:14; Ezek. +16:48, 41. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And Egypt.</hi>—<q>Egypt is recognized as a symbol or type +of the world of mankind, full of vain philosophies, but +ignorant of the true Light.</q>—C. 315; Ezek. 23:3, 4, 8, 27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Where also [our] THE Lord was crucified.</hi>—Catholic +France, through its connection with the papacy, is a part +of the old Roman Empire, in another part of which our +Lord was slain. In another aspect France is identified +with the death of the Lord. Anything done to the least +of one of the Lord's little ones is counted as done to +Himself. When Saul of Tarsus persecuted the Lord's +saints, the One who met him in the way said, <q>I am +Jesus whom thou persecutest.</q> (Acts 9:4, 5; 22:7, 8; 26:14, +15.) A plot was laid in France to destroy all the Protestants; +and on Aug. 24, 1572, sixty thousand were murdered, +and the streets of Paris literally ran with blood. The +Protestants were in Paris under a solemn oath of safety, +to celebrate the marriage of the king of Navarre. Admiral +Coligny, a Protestant of great ability and prominence, +was basely murdered in his own house, and his +head was sent to his holiness, the Pope, as proof that he +was really dead. The <q>Holy Father of Fathers</q>, the +<q>Vicar of Christ</q>, the <q>Chief Pastor and Teacher</q>, was so +pleased that <q>bells were rung, and guns were fired, bonfires +were set ablaze; and Gregory XIII, attended by cardinals, +archbishops, bishops, and a great throng of prelates, +marched in procession. A <hi rend='italic'>Te Deum</hi> was chanted, +and the Pope commissioned the painter Vasari to paint +the scene of the massacre, and employed an artist to engrave +a medal commemorative of the event. The preachers +in Rome delivered eloquent orations, and a messenger +carried a golden rose to Charles as a present from +the Pope.</q>—Coffin. +</p> + +<p> +11:9. <hi rend='sans'>And they of the people.</hi>—The Protestant people. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And kindreds and tongues and nations.</hi>—Of other parts +of Europe. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Shall] see their dead [bodies] BODY.</hi>—<q>As if though +silenced in death they continued witnesses still.</q> (Cook.) +Take note of the horrible effect upon France of their effort +to exterminate the Scriptures. <q>The more deeply the +French Revolution is considered, the more manifest is its +preeminence above all the strange and terrible things that +have come to pass on this earth. Every ancient institution +and every time honored custom disappeared in a +moment. The whole social and political system went +down before the first stroke. Monarchy, nobility and +<pb n='176'/><anchor id='Pg176'/> +church were swept away almost without resistance. The +good things of this world,—birth, rank, wealth, fine clothes +and elegant manners,—became worldly perils, and worldly +disadvantages. The people waged a war of such extermination +with everything established, as to abolish the +common forms of address and salutation, and the common +mode of reckoning time, abhorred <q>you</q> as a sin, and +shrank from <q>monsieur</q> as an abomination, turned the +weeks into decades, and would know the old months no +more. The demolished halls of the aristocracy, the rifled +sepulchres of royalty, the decapitated king and queen, the +little dauphin so sadly done to death, the beggared +princes, the slaughtered priests and nobles, the sovereign +guillotine, the republican marriages, the Meudon tannery, +the couples tied together and thrown into the Loire, and +the gloves made of men's and women's skins: these things +are most horrible.</q> (T. H. Gill, <hi rend='italic'>The Papal Drama</hi>.)—D. 537. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Three days and an half.</hi>—See Rev. 11:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [shall not] suffer NOT their dead bodies to be put +in [graves] A GRAVE.</hi>—On the contrary, this very attempt +<q>served to arouse Christians everywhere to put forth new +exertions in behalf of the Bible.</q>—Smith. +</p> + +<p> +11:10. <hi rend='sans'>And they that dwell upon the earth.</hi>—The people +of France, then infidels, without any hopes except for the +present poor earth-life. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Shall] rejoice over them, and make merry.</hi>—Literally +fulfilled when the Assembly proscribed the Scriptures. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [shall] send gifts one to another.</hi>—Literally fulfilled, +the gifts being expressions of joy over the sudden +<q>liberty,</q> <q>a custom usual in times of festivity.</q>—Neh. +8:10, 12; Esth. 9:19, 22.—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because these Two Prophets tormented.</hi>—By continuing +to proclaim the coming Reign of Christ and His Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Them that dwelt on the earth.</hi>—The classes whose hopes +and destinies are earthly. +</p> + +<p> +11:11. <hi rend='sans'>And after three days and an half.</hi>—Three years +and one half. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Spirit of life from God entered into Them.</hi>—In a +symbolic sense They were <q>raised from the dead.</q>—Ezek. +37:5, 9, 10, 14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And They stood upon Their feet.</hi>—See Ezek. 37:10. <q>In +1793, a decree passed the French Assembly suppressing +the Bible. Just three years after, a resolution was introduced +into the Assembly superseding the decree, and giving +toleration to the Scriptures. That resolution lay on +the table six months, when it was taken up, and passed +without a dissenting vote. Thus, in just three years and a +half, the Witnesses <q>stood upon their feet.</q></q>—Smith. +</p> + +<pb n='177'/><anchor id='Pg177'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And great fear fell upon them which saw them.</hi>—<q>Nothing +but the appalling results of the rejection of the Bible, +could have induced France to take her hands off these +Witnesses.</q> (Smith.) <q>In the light of the foretold character +of coming events of this battle, we may regard the +French Revolution as only the rumbling of distant thunder, +giving warning of an approaching storm; as a slight +tremor preceding the general earthquake shock; as the +premonitory click of the great clock of the ages, which +gives notice to those already awake that the wheels are in +motion, and that shortly it will strike the midnight hour +which will end the present order of affairs and usher in a +new order,—the Year of Jubilee, with its attendant commotion +and changes of possession.</q>—D. 535. +</p> + +<p> +In comments on Rev. 3:14, reasons are given for anticipating +the deliverance of the Little Flock about Passover, +1918 [possibly on the <hi rend='italic'>Passover day</hi>, as a result of activities +by the tribe of Dan. (Jer. 8:16.)] There we noted +the Lord's use of the half-week principle. In this prophecy, +we have the same principle. The French Revolution +is Divinely provided as a picture of events now at hand, +and we therefore expect three and a half years of proscription +of the Truth, from the spring of 1918 to the fall +of 1921. This will give the Great Company splendid +opportunities for martyrdom and allow another three and +a half years, to the spring of 1925, for the world to think +the matter over, by which time, doubtless, they will be +quite ready to listen to the voice that speaketh from +Heaven.—Heb. 12:19. +</p> + +<p> +11:12. <hi rend='sans'>And they heard a great voice from Heaven.</hi>—The +voice last referred to—the Lord Jesus Himself, the +<q>voice,</q> the <q>Word,</q> of the Heavenly Father. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying unto them, Come up hither.</hi>—<q>The Two Witnesses +of God, the Old and New Testaments, ascended to +heaven, the place of honor and power, as the Scriptures +symbolically represent the matter.</q>—Z. '15-199. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they ascended up to heaven.</hi>—<q>The British and +Foreign Bible Society (which has distributed 230,000,000 +copies of the Bible) was established in 1803; the New +York Bible Society in 1804; the Berlin-Prussian Bible +Society in 1805; the Philadelphia Bible Society in 1808; +and the American Bible Society (127,000,000 copies distributed) +in 1817. Bibles by the million, in over 300 languages, +are published yearly and sold at low prices, and +many thousands are given away to the poor. It is difficult +to estimate the wide influence of this work. Its quiet +teaching is the greatest of all levelers and equalizers.</q>—C. 51. +</p> + +<pb n='178'/><anchor id='Pg178'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In a cloud.</hi>—In a time of trouble, the French Revolution. +The exaltation which the Word of God received as a +result of the French Revolution is as nothing compared +with the exaltation which awaits it after the <q>Time of +Trouble such as was not since there was a nation.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And their enemies beheld them.</hi>—As the enemies of the +Word of God were compelled by the stern logic of events +to consent to its restoration in the French time of +trouble, so the Lord's enemies, and the enemies of His +Church, will be compelled to submit to the Reign of Truth +when their forces have been exhausted in the Battle of +the great Day of God Almighty.—Luke 19:27; Isa. 54:11-17. +</p> + +<p> +11:13. <hi rend='sans'>And the same hour was there a great earthquake.</hi>—<q>In +the symbolic language of Revelation, the +French Revolution was indeed a <q>great earthquake</q>—a +social shock so great that all <q>Christendom</q> trembled until +it was over; and that terrible and sudden outburst of a +single nation's wrath, only a century ago, may give some +idea of the fury of the coming storm, when the wrath of +all the angry nations will burst the bands of law and +order and cause a reign of universal anarchy. In fact, +the French Revolution seems referred to by our Lord in +His Revelation to John on Patmos as a prelude to, and +an illustration of, the great crisis now approaching.</q>—D. 531. +</p> + +<p> +The French Revolution lasted ten and a half years, from +June 17th, 1789, when the Assembly began its reign, until +Napoleon seized the government and caused himself to be +appointed First Consul, November 9th, 1799. This coincides +well with the thought previously expressed (Rev. +7:3) that all phases of Babylon will not be disposed of +until about ten and a half years from the fall of 1914. +The Assembly was in control from the first, but did not +execute the king until January 21st, 1793, three years and +one-half from the time the trouble started. The Assembly +continued in control until June 25th, 1795, six years +from the time the trouble began, when the government +was intrusted to five persons under the name of the +Directory. It was on October 4th of the same year that +Napoleon cleared the streets of Paris of the mobs, and +from that point onward his star began to rise. Some +interesting developments in connection with the setting +up of the Kingdom may occur in 1920, six years after the +great Time of Trouble began. It would not be strange +if this were so, when we recall that after forty years +wandering in the wilderness the Israelites came into possession +of the land of Canaan after a further six years. +As these matters are still future we can but wait to see. +<pb n='179'/><anchor id='Pg179'/> +We anticipate that the <q>earthquake</q> will occur early in +1918, and that the <q>fire</q> will come in the fall of 1920.—1 +Kings 19:11, 12; Z. '98-207, 208. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the tenth part of the city fell.</hi>—The French part of +Christendom; one of the ten toes of the image seen by +Nebuchadnezzar; one of the ten horns of Daniel's beast +and John's dragon.—Dan. 2:41-43; 7:24; Rev. 12:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand.</hi>—<q>And +by the earthquake were destroyed seven +thousand names of men.</q> (Diaglott.) <q>France made war, +in her revolution of 1793-98, on all titles of nobility. It is +said by those who have examined the French records, +that just seven thousand titles of men were abolished in +that revolution.</q>—Smith. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the +God of Heaven.</hi>—<q>Their God-dishonoring and Heaven-defying +work filled France with such scenes of blood, +carnage, and horror, as made even the infidels themselves +tremble, and stand aghast; and the <q>remnant</q> that escaped +the horrors of that hour <q>gave glory to God</q>—not +willingly, but the God of Heaven caused this <q>wrath of +man to praise Him,</q> by causing all the world to see that +those who make war on Heaven make graves for themselves; +thus glory redounded to God by the very means +that wicked men employed to tarnish that glory. For +the statistics and many of the foregoing thoughts on the +Two Witnesses, we are indebted to an exposition of the +subject of The Two Witnesses, by the late George Storrs.</q> +(Smith.) <q>And here I gratefully mention assistance rendered +by Brothers George Stetson and George Storrs, the +latter the Editor of <hi rend='italic'>The Bible Examiner</hi>, both now deceased. +The study of the Word of God with these dear +brethren led step by step into greener pastures and +brighter hopes for the world.</q>—Pastor Russell's Autobiography. +Z. '16-170. +</p> + +<p> +11:14. <hi rend='sans'>The second woe is past.</hi>—In the narrative of +Chapter XI are briefly summed up the three most important +events of the Time of the End. Between the +French Revolution and the great Time of Trouble occurs +a most significant event, which leads up to and is the +direct cause of the great Time of Trouble. That event is +the second woe. It is described in detail in Rev. 9:14-21. +But for this the great Time of Trouble would never have +been necessary (Mal. 4:6); but it is necessary now, as +necessary as was the Flood in Noah's day, and for the +same reason—to rid the earth of the progeny of the evil +spirits, the <q>abominations of the earth.</q>—Rev. 17:5; 9:13. +</p> + +<pb n='180'/><anchor id='Pg180'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.</hi>—The third +woe is the Reign of the Lord begun, with its attendant +upsetting of the present order. The woes are visited upon +those interested in maintaining the present order of +things, who would like to retain indefinitely the advantages +they have obtained. <q>The battle of this great Day +of God Almighty will be the greatest revolution the world +has ever seen. Behold, how, even now, the searchlight of +general intelligence is discovering the secret springs of +political intrigue, financial policies, religious claims, etc., +and how all are brought to the bar of judgment, and by +men, as well as by God, declared right or wrong as judged +by the teachings of the Word of God.</q>—D. 541. +</p> + +<p> +11:15. <hi rend='sans'>And the seventh angel.</hi>—Pastor Russell. See +Rev. 3:14; 10:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Sounded.</hi>—<q>We find the <q><emph>shout</emph>,</q> the <q><emph>voice of the Archangel</emph></q> +and <q><emph>the trump of God</emph></q> all symbols, and now in +process of fulfillment.</q> (B. 149, 197.) <q>The <q>great trumpet</q> +we understand to be the antitypical <q>trumpet of Jubilee,</q> +as symbolic as the preceding six, none of which ever made +any literal sound. It has been symbolically sounding +since October, 1874, and will continue to the end of the +Millennium.</q>—D. 601; Rev. 10:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there were great voices in heaven.</hi>—<q>These voices +have been uttered, and to some extent heard, in the symbolic +heavens, the nominal church. For some years past +a <q>volunteer work</q> has been steadily progressing +amongst the brethren—the work of rendering assistance +to the members of the Household of Faith still in Babylon, +still in darkness respecting the Lord, His true Character, +His true Plan, and respecting the nearness of His +Kingdom.</q>—Z. '02-118. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, The [kingdoms] KINGDOM of this world [are] +IS become the [kingdoms] KINGDOM of our Lord, and of +His Christ.</hi>—<q>The volunteer matter prepared for this present +year (the issues of our journal for February 15 and +March 15) had already been prepared before we thought +of how wonderfully this year's distribution will agree with +the declaration of our text. Here will be a million voices +proclaiming throughout the nominal Church (symbolic +heavens) the great message of this present time; namely, +the Second Presence of our Lord as the reaper of the +Harvest of the Gospel Age, gathering the <q>wheat</q> into the +<q>garner,</q> destroying the tares (as tares—not as human +beings) and establishing His glorious Kingdom upon a +firm foundation of righteousness and equity, for the blessing +of every creature.</q>—Z. '02-119. +</p> + +<pb n='181'/><anchor id='Pg181'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He shall reign for ever and ever. AMEN.</hi>—See Rev. +5:13; Dan. 2:44; 7:14, 18, 27. +</p> + +<p> +11:16. <hi rend='sans'>And the [four and] twenty-FOUR elders.</hi>—The +prophecies pertaining to the Kingdom of God.—Rev. 4:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which [sat] SIT before God on their seats.</hi>—Rev. 4:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fell upon their faces, and worshipped God.</hi>—Rev. 4:10. +</p> + +<p> +11:17. <hi rend='sans'>Saying, We give thee thanks.</hi>—See Rev. 5:11-13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O Lord God Almighty.</hi>—<q>Represented in Christ—<q>All +things are <emph>of</emph> the Father,</q> and <q>all things are <emph>by</emph> the Son,</q> +His honored Representative.</q>—D. 624. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which art, and wast, and [art to come].</hi>—See Rev. 1:4. +He is not to come. He <emph>has</emph> come. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and +hast reigned.</hi>—<q><q>Thy God reigneth!</q> The oft-repeated +prayer of the Church has been answered: the Kingdom of +God has indeed come. The dead in Christ are even now +risen and exalted with our Lord and Head. And the <q>feet</q> +members of the Body of Christ, who still tarry in the +flesh, catching the inspiration of the glorified throng who +have already ascended into the Mount (Kingdom) of God, +reflect a measure of that transcendent glory, as did Moses +when he came down from Mount Sinai.</q> (C. 301.) <q>In +describing the events under the Seventh Trumpet, this +order is observed:—(1) the power is taken by the Lord +as King of Earth, and His Reign begun; (2) as a consequence +the great judgment-trouble comes upon the +world.</q>—D. 622; Rev. 19:6; Psa. 99:1. +</p> + +<p> +11:18. <hi rend='sans'>And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is +come.</hi>—<q>Although they are called Christian nations, they +have not received the Spirit of the Lord; they have not +received the spirit of meekness, gentleness, long-suffering, +brotherly kindness and love, the fruits of the Holy Spirit; +but on the contrary, the spirit which St. Paul says consists +of hatred, wrath, strife, murder—works of the flesh +and the Devil. For this reason they did not even wait for +God's wrath to come, but began to bring it upon themselves +nearly two months in advance. They became so +angry that they began to destroy each other even before +their lease of power had expired.</q>—Z. '14-328. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the time of the dead, that they should be judged.</hi>—<q>They +cannot be judged without His words, and the vast +majority,—<q>dead in trespasses and sins,</q> blinded and deafened +by the Adversary, through sin,—have not thus far +been enabled to hear their Redeemer's wonderful words +of life. In the Millennial Kingdom the dead world will +have the eyes of its understanding opened and its ears +unstopped, and the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the +<pb n='182'/><anchor id='Pg182'/> +whole earth and reach every member of the dead race, +not only those who have not yet gone down into the +tomb, but <q>all the families of the earth;</q> for, <q>all that are +in the grave shall come forth</q> for the very purpose of +hearing the <q>wonderful words of life,</q> and of being judged +by them. If they shall accept them heartily they shall, by +restitution processes, be brought fully up to life conditions.</q>—Z. '02-116; +Dan. 7:10; Rev. 14:7; 15:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy Servants +the Prophets.</hi>—Who are therefore without their rewards +until Christ's Second Advent.—Heb. 11:39, 40. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to the saints.</hi>—<q>We hold that it is a most reasonable +inference, and one in perfect harmony with all the +Lord's Plan, that in the spring of 1878 all the holy +Apostles and other <q>overcomers</q> of the Gospel Age who +slept in Jesus were raised spirit beings, like unto their +Lord and Master.</q>—C. 234. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And them that fear Thy name, small and great.</hi>—All +other classes of believers, past, present and future. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shouldest destroy them.</hi>—The Papal and Protestant +sects. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which destroy the earth.</hi>—Corrupt the earth, Greek.—Rev. +19:2. +</p> + +<p> +11:19. <hi rend='sans'>And the Temple of God.</hi>—The true Church.—1 +Cor. 3:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was opened in heaven ABOVE.</hi>—Was revealed as in the +ascendency over the nominal ecclesiastical heavens. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there was seen in His Temple.</hi>—Clearly revealed to +His Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Ark.</hi>—The repository of the sacred and hidden +things of Revelation and Ezekiel. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of [His] THE testament of God.</hi>—The Secret—<q>The +Finished Mystery.</q>—Psa. 25:14; Col. 1:27; Rev. 14:17; +16:1, 17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there were lightnings, and voices and thunderings.</hi>—See +Rev. 8:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And an earthquake.</hi>—See Rev. 8:5; 16:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And great hail.</hi>—A deluge of Truth in its most compact +form.—Isa. 28:17; Rev. 16:21. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>The tidal wave is coming, the Year of Jubilee;</q></l> +<l>With shout and song it sweeps along, like billows of the sea,</l> +<l>The jubilee of nations shall ring through earth and sky;</l> +<l><q rend='post'>The dawn of grace draws on apace—'tis coming by and by.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='183'/><anchor id='Pg183'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 12—The Birth Of Antichrist</head> + +<p> +12:1. <hi rend='sans'>And there appeared a great wonder.</hi>—Sign, Greek.—Rev. +1:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In heaven.</hi>—In the power of spiritual control.—A. 318; +Eph. 2:4-6; Phil. 3:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A Woman.</hi>—The early Church, Nominal Zion, (D. 591), +originally a chaste Virgin.—2 Cor. 11:2; Matt. 9:15; 22:2; +John 3:29; Eph. 5:25, 32. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Clothed with the sun.</hi>—Resplendent in the full, clear +light of the unclouded Gospel.—D. 591. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the moon under her feet.</hi>—<q>The moon under her +feet represents that the Law which supports her is nevertheless +not the source of her light.</q>—D. 591. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And upon her head a crown of twelve stars.</hi>—<q>The +twelve stars about her head as a crown represent her +Divinely appointed and inspired teachers—the Twelve +Apostles.</q> (D. 591.) <q>Now if God ordained only twelve +stars as lights for His Church, as here represented, is it +not a great mistake for popes, bishops and clergy to regard +themselves as successors of the Apostles,—stars +also?</q>—D. 594. +</p> + +<p> +12:2. <hi rend='sans'>And [she] being with child.</hi>—As a result of the +Mystery of Iniquity which was working within her.—2 +Thes. 2:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Cried], AND SHE CRIETH travailing in birth.</hi>—Felt the +weight of the burden even in apostolic days.—Rev. 2:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And pained to be delivered.</hi>—Desired to get rid of the +loathsome thing from which, by the machinations of +Satan, she was at the time suffering. In a sense the birth +of the Antichrist from the early Church was a counterfeit +of the birth of Christ from the virgin Mary, the one a +manifestation of the power of God, the other of Satan.—John +16:21, 22. +</p> + +<p> +12:3. <hi rend='sans'>And there appeared another wonder in heaven.</hi>—Among +the ecclesiastical powers of the same epoch. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And behold a great red dragon.</hi>—The Pagan Roman Empire, +which had its own religious system. <q>The Roman +Empire had not only conquered the world and given it +politics and laws, but, recognizing religious superstitions +to be the strongest chains by which to hold and control +a people, it had adopted a scheme which had its origin +<pb n='184'/><anchor id='Pg184'/> +in Babylon, in the time of her greatness as ruler of the +world. That plan was, that the emperor should be esteemed +the director and ruler in religious as well as in +civil affairs. In support of this, it was claimed that the +emperor was a demi-god, in some sense descended from +their heathen deities. As such he was worshipped and his +statues adored; and as such he was styled <hi rend='italic'>Pontifex Maximus</hi>—i. e., +Chief Priest or Greatest Religious Ruler.</q>—B. 288. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having seven heads and ten horns.</hi>—See Dan. 7:7, 20; +Rev. 13:1; 17:3, 9-12; 5:6; 1 Sam. 2:10; Deut. 33:17; 1 Ki. +22:11. The Eastern, or Byzantine Empire, was founded +in A. D. 395, when Theodosius divided the Roman Empire +between his two sons, Honorius and Arcadius, assigning +to the latter all the portion lying east of the Adriatic sea. +At this time the Roman Empire became the two legs of +Nebuchadnezzar's vision. At the time the division was +made the five potential races in the East were the Greeks, +Lombards, Ostrogoths, Heruli and Vandals. The five potential +races in the West were the Franks, Britons, +Saxons, Visigoths and Suevi. During the next one hundred +and fifty years great migrations and invasions have +so confused history that there is great difference of opinion +among historians on many important details. It is +plain, however, that three of the migratory races disappeared +from history, all within a few years of each other, +apparently in order to leave Rome and its environs free +for the development of the papacy. The Heruli, a race +from Germanic territory, disappeared from Italian territory +in A. D. 489; the Vandals, a race from the shores of +the Baltic (never in control of Rome except on a brief +raid, but a great enemy of the papacy) disappeared in +A. D. 534; and the Ostrogoths, an Asiatic race, in A. D. +539. The Western Empire itself disappeared in A. D. 476. +The matter is treated by Pastor Russell at greater length +in C. 76, 77, and all his statements are, of course, correct. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And seven crowns upon his heads.</hi>—In the Eastern Empire, +corresponding to the present Turkey and the Balkans, +and in Lombardy, corresponding to the present +Austria, we may see the two horns which remained of +the five Eastern powers after the Ostrogoths, Heruli and +Vandals disappeared. And in the Visigothic Kingdom, +corresponding to Spain; Suevia, corresponding to Portugal; +the Kingdom of the Franks, corresponding to France +and the Netherlands; Saxonia, corresponding to Germany +and Scandinavia; and Britannia, corresponding to Great +Britain, we may see the five horns which represented the +<pb n='185'/><anchor id='Pg185'/> +five western powers. The following explains why Italy +is not included in the list: +</p> + +<p> +<q>The difficulty of Italian history lies in the fact that +until modern times the Italians have had no political +unity, no independence, no organized existence as a nation. +Split up into numerous and mutually hostile communities, +they never, through the fourteen centuries which +have elapsed since the end of the old Western Empire, +shook off the yoke of foreigners completely; they never +until lately learned to merge their local and conflicting +interests in the common good of undivided Italy. Their +history is therefore not the history of a single people, +centralizing and absorbing its constituent elements by a +process of continued evolution, but a group of cognate +populations, exemplifying divers types of constitutional +developments.</q>—Brit. +</p> + +<p> +The foregoing justifies Pastor Russell's thought that the +Western Empire should be counted as one of the horns +rooted up to make way for the Papacy. As to whether it +or the Vandal race should be counted as the third horn, +since both were destroyed, is a matter of no great importance +to us. The point of greatest interest now is +that the Lord is about to destroy the other seven, including +the Papacy. All the powers named, except Spain, are +already in the great War. Indeed, except South America, +which expects to be dragged in, the only countries of +the world not now (June, 1917) engaged in the war are +Scandinavia, Holland, Switzerland, Spain, Abyssinia and +Mexico.—Jer. 25:15-38. +</p> + +<p> +12:4. <hi rend='sans'>And his tail.</hi>—Constantine, last of the Roman emperors +to maintain his capital at Rome. <q>After the senate +and people of Rome had ceased to be the sovereigns of the +Roman world, and their authority had been vested in +the sole person of the emperor, the eternal city could no +longer claim to be the rightful throne of the state. That +honor could henceforth be conferred upon any place in +the Roman world which might suit the convenience of +the emperor, or serve more efficiently the interests he +had to guard. Furthermore, the empire was now upon its +defense. When Constantine, therefore, established a new +seat of government at Byzantium, he adopted a policy +inaugurated before his day as essential to the preservation +of the Roman dominion. He can claim originality +only in his choice of the particular point at which that +seat was placed, and in his recognition of the fact that his +alliance with the Christian church could be best maintained +in the new atmosphere. The city was founded by +Constantine the Great, through the enlargement of the +<pb n='186'/><anchor id='Pg186'/> +old town of Byzantium, in A. D. 328, and was inaugurated +as a new seat of government on the 11th of May, A. D. +330. To indicate its political dignity, it was named New +Rome, while to perpetuate the name of its founder it was +styled Constantinople. The chief patriarch of the Greek +church still signs himself <q>Archbishop of New Rome.</q></q>—Brit. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img199.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>Paganism Attacks the Early Church</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Drew the third part.</hi>—<q>The Roman Emperor Constantine +saw a vision—probably when wide awake—a vision of +greater prosperity for himself and his Empire, by a recognition +of Christianity as the religion of his Empire instead +of paganism, which had previously been recognized. Constantine's +influence in Church affairs became great. He +proposed the calling of a council of all the bishops, <emph>numbering +about one thousand</emph>. He wanted to know why these +apostolic bishops, all inspired with the same Spirit of +God, taught so differently. He offered to pay the expenses +of all the bishops to the Council of Nice; but the majority, +fearing that the Emperor would be under the control of +the Roman bishop (not yet claiming to be pope), declined +to attend. <emph>Only 384 came.</emph> But even they were unable to +agree. Many held to the Bible teaching, but the mystification +thought of trinity had gained a hold on some of the +bishops. Thereupon Constantine decided the matter; and +the Nicene Creed, backed by the Emperor's power, was +declared to be the Christian faith, and anything contrary +to it, heresy. Yet be it remembered that <emph>only about one-third</emph> +of the bishops were present at the Council; and +that they could not be coerced into substituting <q>mystery</q> +for the Word of God, until the Emperor lent his influence. +Thus was the mystery of trinity enshrined by a heathen +emperor, not baptized—not even sprinkled. The history +of the persecution of all who would not worship the trinitarian +mystery would fill volumes. One sad illustration is +familiar to all—the burning of Servetus, by good Brother +Calvin's signature to the death warrant. Is it any wonder +that with such conditions prevailing for centuries, the +Bible ignored and the creeds worshipped, the true teachings +of the Bible on many subjects were completely lost +sight of? Is it any wonder that, when in the sixteenth +century God began to bring the Bible back to the attention +of the world, it was burned by the Episcopal bishops in +front of St. Paul's Cathedral in London? Is it any wonder +that the Christians of that time were persecuted for +studying it, and could meet only in secret?</q>—B. S. M. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the stars of heaven.</hi>—False stars, <q>wandering stars,</q> +man-ordained lights of the nominal heavens.—D. 595. There +the bishops became substitutes for the true Apostolic stars. +</p> + +<pb n='187'/><anchor id='Pg187'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And did cast them to the earth.</hi>—Forced them to teach +what he told them or else be banished, as was Arius. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the dragon.</hi>—Imperial Rome, represented by Constantine. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered.</hi>—The +early Christian Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For to devour her child.</hi>—Absorb it, make it a subordinate +feature of the Roman system of government. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As soon as it was born.</hi>—As soon as the development of +the clergy class and others equally unfaithful to Christ +had made it impossible for them to be retained longer in +the true Church. +</p> + +<p> +12:5. <hi rend='sans'>And she brought forth a man child.</hi>—The papacy.—Z. '79-12-2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.</hi>—<q rend='pre'>In a +bull, or edict, Sixtus V declares: <q>The authority given +to St. Peter and his successors, by the immense power +of the eternal King, excels all the power of earthly kings +and princes. It passeth uncontrollable sentence upon them +all. And if it find any of them resisting God's ordinance, +it takes more severe vengeance on them, casting them +down from their thrones, however powerful they may be, +and tumbling them down to the lowest parts of the earth +as the ministers of aspiring Lucifer.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>A bull of Pope Pius V., entitled <q>The damnation and +excommunication of Elizabeth, queen of England, and her +adherents</q> reads as follows: <q>He that reigneth on high, +to whom is given all power in heaven and in earth, committed +one holy, catholic and apostolic church (out of +which there is no salvation) to one alone upon earth, +namely, to Peter, the Prince of the apostles, and to Peter's +successor, the bishop of Rome, to be governed in fulness +of power. Him alone he made prince over all people and +all kingdoms, to pluck up, destroy, scatter, consume, plant +and build.</q></q>—B. 311. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And her child was caught up unto God, and [to] UNTO +His throne.</hi>—<q>St Bernard affirms that <q>none except God +is like the pope, either in heaven or on earth.</q> <q>The +Emperor Constantine,</q> says Pope Nicholas I., <q>conferred +the appellation of God on the pope; who, therefore, being +God, cannot be judged by man.</q> Said Pope Innocent III.—<q>The +pope holds the place of the true God;</q> and the canon +law, in the gloss, denominates the pope—<q>our Lord God.</q> +Innocent and Jacobatius state that <q>the pope can do nearly +all that God can do,</q> while Decius rejects the word nearly, +as unnecessary. Jacobatius and Durand assert that <q>none +dare say to him any more than to God—Lord, what doest +Thou?</q></q>—B. 311. +</p> + +<pb n='188'/><anchor id='Pg188'/> + +<p> +Pope Martin stated the matter in his own behalf as +follows: <q>All the earth is my diocese, and I am the +ordinary of all men, having the authority of the King of +all kings upon subjects. I am all in all, and above all, +so that God Himself, and I, the vicar of God, have both +one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God +can do. In all things that I list my will is to stand for +reason, for I am able by the law to dispense above the +law, and of wrong to make justice in correcting laws and +changing them. Wherefore, if those things that I do be +said not to be done of man, but of God—What can you +make me but God? Again, if prelates of the church be +called and counted of Constance for Gods, I then, being +above all prelates, seem by this reason to be above all +Gods. Wherefore, no marvel if it be in my power to +change time and times, to alter and abrogate laws, to dispense +with all things, yea, with the precepts of Christ</q>—B. 314; +Dan. 7:25. +</p> + +<p> +12:6. <hi rend='sans'>And the woman.</hi>—The true Church of God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fled Into the wilderness.</hi>—<q>Error, always more popular +than truth, when exalted to influence and power, hunted +down, proscribed and made disreputable the truth, and all +who held it. This was the time when the true Church +(woman) fled into the wilderness—into solitude—an outcast +because of her fidelity to the truth, and to the true +Lord and Head of the Church.</q>—B. 329. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Where she hath a place prepared of God.</hi>—<q>The secret +place of the Most High.</q>—Psa. 91:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That they.</hi>—The antitypical ravens that fed the Elijah +class, the unknown, <q>faithful men</q> who, in secret, broke +the bread of life to those that hungered for righteousness. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Should feed her there.</hi>—As Elijah was fed in the wilderness.—Rev. +2:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A thousand two hundred and threescore days.</hi>—1260 +years, from A. D. 539 to 1799.—Rev. 11:2, 3. +</p> + +<p> +12:7. <hi rend='sans'>And there was war in heaven.</hi>—Between the two +ecclesiastical powers, Pagan Rome and Papal Rome. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Michael.</hi>—<q>Who as God,</q> the Pope.—B. 275; C. 62. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And his angels.</hi>—The Bishops. The following is the reply +given in the Catholic catechism to the question, <q>Who are +the successors of the Apostles?</q> Ans. <q>The bishops who +are rightly consecrated, and are in communion with the +head of the Church, the Pope.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Fought against] TO WAR WITH the dragon.</hi>—Attempted +to get the temporal power away from the civil rulers.—Rev. +2:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the dragon.</hi>—Imperial Rome.—B. 288; Rev. 12:3; 20:2. +</p> + +<pb n='189'/><anchor id='Pg189'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fought and his angels.</hi>—Did everything possible to circumscribe +the growing power of the papacy, but all in +vain.—Rev. 2:12. +</p> + +<p> +12:8. <hi rend='sans'>And THEY prevailed not AGAINST HIM, neither +was [their place] HE THEN found any more in heaven.</hi>—The +Papacy came out of the contest victorious. <q>Paganism, +defeated, relinquished all things pertaining to religious +affairs and contented itself with social, civic and political +affairs,</q> so stated one of Pastor Russell's coworkers. +</p> + +<p> +12:9. <hi rend='sans'>And the great dragon was cast out.</hi>—Verses 9 to 12 +contain the rejoicings of the Papacy over their triumph. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That old serpent, called the Devil, [and] Satan.</hi>—<q>To +this fourth beast, representing Rome, Daniel gives no +descriptive name. While the others are described as lion-like, +bear-like and leopard-like, the fourth was so ferocious +and hideous that none of the beasts of earth could be +compared with it. John the Revelator, seeing in vision +the same symbolic beast (government), was also at a loss +for a name by which to describe it, and finally gives it +several. Among others, he called it <q>the Devil.</q> He certainly +chose an appropriate name; for Rome, when viewed +in the light of its bloody persecutions, certainly has been +the most devilish of all earthly governments. Even in +its change from Rome Pagan to Rome Papal it illustrated +one of Satan's chief characteristics; for he also transforms +himself to appear as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), as +Rome transformed itself from heathenism and claimed to +be Christian—the Kingdom of Christ.</q>—A. 258. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which deceiveth the whole world.</hi>—By intimating that +anybody in it except the pope has any right to say anything +about how it should be run. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He was cast out into the earth.</hi>—We, the Papacy, are in +control! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And his angels were cast out with him.</hi>—We, the cardinals, +etc., have the positions of power once held by the +priests of Pagan Rome! +</p> + +<p> +12:10. <hi rend='sans'>And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven.</hi>—In +the Roman Catholic Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Now is come salvation, and strength.</hi>—<q>Cardinal Manning, +Papacy's chief representative in England, endorses +and draws public attention to the following clause of the +Catholic faith: <q>We declare, affirm, define, and pronounce +it necessary to salvation, for every human creature to be +subject to the Roman Pontiff.</q> And in a published discourse +he represents the pope as saying, <q>I claim to be +the Supreme Judge and Director of the consciences of +men; of the peasant that tills the field, and the prince +that sits on the throne; of the household that lives in the +<pb n='190'/><anchor id='Pg190'/> +shade of privacy, and the Legislature that makes laws +for kingdoms. I am the sole, last, Supreme Judge of what +is right and wrong.</q></q>—B. 317. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the kingdom of our God.</hi>—The Papacy really believed +that its exaltation to power was the exaltation of +the kingdom of God in the earth, and so it was, but not +<emph>our</emph> God.—2 Cor. 4:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the power of His Christ.</hi>—The pope really believes +he is the Vicar of Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the accuser of our brethren is cast down.</hi>—It seemed +to the Papacy that in undermining and supplanting Imperial +Rome they had gained a great victory for Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which accused them before our God day and night.</hi>—Pagan +Rome truthfully accused the Papacy of lying, +simony, murder, adultery, and every crime on the calendar.—Rev. +2:13. +</p> + +<p> +12:11. <hi rend='sans'>And they overcame him by the blood of the +Lamb.</hi>—This is the way it looks to Catholics even to this +day. <q>By this sign [the cross] conquer!</q> was the Crusaders' +standard. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And by the word of their testimony.</hi>—But not by the +testimony of history or of God's Word, both of which +show that <q>their testimony</q> (i. e., the testimony of the +papacy, in the forged decretals and otherwise) was one +of continuous lies.—Dan. 11:27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they loved not their lives unto the death.</hi>—This was +the Catholic viewpoint. +</p> + +<p> +12:12. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore rejoice, ye heavens.</hi>—Catholic heavens—popes, +bishops and prelates. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And ye that dwell in them.</hi>—<q>The under-priests of +Papacy, not parts or members of <emph>the</emph> church or hierarchy, +but called <q>Brothers.</q></q>—B. 303. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Woe to the [inhabiters of] the earth and [of] the sea.</hi>—It +seemed to the Papacy as though the Millennium, and +the great Time of Trouble which the Scriptures everywhere +show is to precede it, were just at hand.—Rev. 7:1 +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the devil is come down to you.</hi>—The papal thought +that Pagan Rome was a good representative of the Devil +is quite right; and the Scriptures return the compliment. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having [great] wrath.</hi>—Being very greatly angered at +Papacy's aggressions. The Papal policy has ever been to +crowd the civil powers as far as they could possibly go, +then wait until a generation had passed and crowd some +more. The horns have <emph>always</emph> hated the whore.—Rev. +17:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because he knoweth he hath but a short time.</hi>—Had +Papacy been able to bring it about it would surely, in +time, have deprived all the rulers of the world of every +<pb n='191'/><anchor id='Pg191'/> +particle of civil, social, ecclesiastical and financial power. +There has never been any limit to its ambitions or pretensions, +and there is none now. +</p> + +<p> +12:13. <hi rend='sans'>And when the dragon.</hi>—The civil powers of the +old Roman Empire, under the control of the Papacy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saw that he was cast unto the earth.</hi>—Deprived of the +superstitious reverence now almost wholly absorbed by the +Papacy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He persecuted.</hi>—Not on his own account, but under the +orders and instructions and encouragements of the Papacy, +and to win Papal approval. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The woman which brought forth the man child.</hi>—The +true Church. For details of the infamous work of Charles +V, Emperor of Germany and King of Spain and the Netherlands, +the Duke of Alva, Philip II of Spain, the French +kings Francis and Henry, see pages 337-338 of <hi rend='smallcaps'>Studies in +the Scriptures</hi>, Vol. II. These are but illustrations of what +occurred in all parts of the old Roman world, and were +all done at the behest of the Papacy. +</p> + +<p> +12:14. <hi rend='sans'>And to the woman.</hi>—The true Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were given Two Wings.</hi>—The Old and New Testaments. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of a great eagle.</hi>—The eagle is a symbol of wisdom, a +fit representative of the Scriptures in which are contained +the words of our God. (Rev. 4:7.) <q>I bare you on eagle's +wings, and brought you unto Myself.</q>—Ex. 19:4; Deut. +32:11-12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That she might fly into the wilderness.</hi>—Separateness +from the world; ostracism; represented by Elijah's three +and a half years in the wilderness.—Rev. 2:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into her place, where she is nourished.</hi>—By Divinely provided +means, of which almost no records have been permitted +to survive the ravages of papal persecution. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Both for a time, and times, and half a time.</hi>—1260 years +from A. D. 539 to 1799.—Rev. 11:2, 3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From.</hi>—Safe from. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The face of the Serpent.</hi>—Satan himself, the real instigator +of all persecutions from the Lord's time even until +now. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the Serpent.</hi>—Satan himself, at the close of the 1260 +years of Papacy's power to persecute. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Cast out of his mouth water as a flood.</hi>—<q>The strength +of the French revolution, to which reference is here had, +lay in the fact that it was instigated by many stern +truths, regarding priest-craft and king-craft, and regarding +the individual rights and liberties of all. Truths regarding +human rights were seen and expressed there which cause +us surprise when we consider the ignorance, superstition +and servility of that day, under which the masses had so +<pb n='192'/><anchor id='Pg192'/> +long rested. Many of the truths which then swept as a +flood over France, deluging it with blood, are now very +generally accepted among all civilized peoples.</q>—C. 65. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>After the woman, that he might cause her to be carried +away of the flood.</hi>—<q>Satan's design in instigating the +French revolution was to create an alarm throughout +Europe, especially the influential class, unfavorable to +liberty, and to illustrate in France the theory that, were +the superstitions of Rome to be overthrown and liberty +to be given full sway, all law and order would speedily +end.</q> This strategy Satan is now about to repeat—this +time with success, but his triumph will be short.—C. 66. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the earth.</hi>—The order-loving people of Europe. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Helped the woman.</hi>—The true Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the +flood.</hi>—<q>It is a fact of history that the flood of truth which +spread over France—arraigning Papacy and its priestcraft, +and monarchy and its parasitic aristocracy, as the +responsible causes of much of the ignorance, poverty and +superstition of the people—was swallowed up, or absorbed +by the people of Europe generally (The Roman <q>earth</q>). +And when the rulers of Europe formed what was called +<q>The Holy Alliance,</q> for the suppression of the liberties +of the people and the perpetuation of their own thrones, it +was too late to fetter the people; for, having drunk up the +flood of waters, they would not submit. It was too late +to think of re-establishing Papacy, which had been so terribly +humiliated and whose anathemas against liberty and +the French had so reacted against itself; so the pope was +not even invited to join the <q>Holy Alliance,</q> of which +before he would have been the recognized head.</q>—C. 66. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which the dragon cast out of his mouth.</hi>—<q>This sudden +flood of waters (truth) was designed to act as an emetic, +to lead to the casting out of the food of liberty, already +being received by the people from the Bible, as the result +of the Reformation, and thus to force rulers and teachers +to oppose the truth through fear of anarchy.</q>—C. 66. +</p> + +<p> +12:17. <hi rend='sans'>And the dragon was wroth with the woman.</hi>—The +protesting Church of God. This will apply with great +force shortly. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And went to make war with the remnant of her seed.</hi>—The +true saints in the Roman Catholic communion or +wherever otherwise found,—always objects of hatred and +oppression by ecclesiasticism.—Rev. 13:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which keep the commandments of God.</hi>—<q>The law is fulfilled +in us.</q>—Rom. 8:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And have the testimony of [Jesus Christ] GOD.</hi>—Have +HIS word as the man of their counsel.—Rev. 14:12. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='193'/><anchor id='Pg193'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 13—The Papal And Protestant Beasts</head> + +<p> +13:1. <hi rend='sans'>And [I] HE stood upon the sand of the sea.</hi>—The +sea represents the masses not under religious restraint. +It is this symbolic sea that is to overturn and swallow up +all kingdoms of earth in the great Time of Trouble. The +proper understanding of the vision is located down at the +edge of this sea, near the Time of Trouble. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img200a.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>Papacy As God Pictures It</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I saw a beast.</hi>—<q>This character is very forcibly delineated +even in the names applied to it by the inspired +writers. Paul calls it <q>That Wicked One,</q> <q>The Man of +Sin,</q> <q>The Mystery of Iniquity,</q> <q>The Antichrist,</q> and <q>The +Son of Perdition;</q> the Prophet Daniel calls it <q>The Abomination +that maketh desolate</q> (Dan. 11:31; 12:11); and +our Lord refers to the same character as <q>The Abomination +of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet</q> (Matt. +24:15). This same character was also prefigured by a +little horn, or power, out of a terrible beast that Daniel +saw in his prophetic vision, which had eyes, and a mouth +that spoke great things, and which prospered and made +war with the saints, and prevailed against them. (Dan. +7:8, 21.) John also saw and warned the Church against +this character, saying, <q>Ye have heard that Antichrist shall +come.</q> He then advises how to escape Antichrist's influence. +(1 John 2:18-27.) These various appellations and +brief descriptions indicate a base, subtle, hypocritical, deceptive, +tyrannical and cruel character, developed in the +midst of the Christian Church; claiming, to the last, peculiar +sanctity and authority and power from God.</q> (B. 271.) +<q>We need not look long to find a character fitting all the +requirements perfectly. But when we state that the one +and only system whose history fits these prophecies is +Papacy, let no one misunderstand us to mean that every +Roman Catholic is a man of sin. Popes, bishops and +others are at most only parts or members of the Antichrist +system, even as all of the Royal Priests are only members +of the true Christ.</q> (B. 277.) Antichrist now finds its expression +in the <q>Christian</q> governments of the world +founded upon its teachings—Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Rise up out of the sea.</hi>—See Rev. 17:15; Psa. 65:7; 93:3, +4; Isa. 57:20. At the time of papacy's birth the masses of +the Roman people had ceased to have reverence for the +<pb n='194'/><anchor id='Pg194'/> +ancient mythology of Pagan Rome. Constantine, a shrewd +politician, discerned this and discerned the growing influence +of the Christian religion. In adopting it, in forcing +the adoption of the Nicene Creed, and in removing his +capital from Rome, he gave the papacy its start. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having TEN HORNS AND seven heads [and ten horns].</hi>—See +Rev. 12:3; Dan. 7:7, 20; Rev. 17:3, 9-12; 5:6; 1 Sam. +2:10; Deut. 33:17; 1 Ki. 22:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And upon his horns ten crowns.</hi>—In this calculation are +included the three potential races plucked up to make way +for the papacy. (Rev. 12:3; 17:3, 9.) In this picture the +location of the crowns upon the horns instead of upon the +heads, as in Rev. 12:3, denotes the changed situation after +the papacy came into control. The papacy ruled not directly, +as did Pagan Rome, but through other powers to +which it was joined. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And upon his heads.</hi>—The seven kingdoms that still survive: +Spain, Portugal, France, England, Germany, Austria, +Greece, and their past and present dependencies. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The name of blasphemy.</hi>—Every one of these kingdoms +falsely claims, or has claimed, to be a part of the Kingdom +of God, though actually all part of the one great kingdom +ruled by <q>The god of this world.</q>—2 Cor. 4:4. +</p> + +<p> +13:2. <hi rend='sans'>And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard.</hi>—<q>The +body of the Papal beast was like a Leopard. +The Leopard was the third beast seen by Daniel, viz., +Grecia. Greece was noted as the center of learning, piety +and wisdom (Acts 17:23); so Papacy's chief claim, to be +the ruler of all kingdoms, is based on the claim that it +is the center of wisdom, learning and piety. Other peculiarities +of the Leopard are its activity, vigilance and secretiveness; +so with Papacy. Again, a Leopard is spotted +irregularly, so too Papacy's policy in various parts of the +earth.</q> (Z. '79-12-2.) <q>In one place it is liberal, almost white +in its professions or appearances; in another quarter black, +corrupt, degrading, brutal; and in still other places it has +various neutral and tawny shades of correspondence to the +natural depravity of the people it rules with its rod of +eternal torment and its staff of Purgatory. In Spain, for +example, which has been for centuries one of its dark +spots—as dark as the general civilization of the people +will permit,—the <q>leopard</q> has been accustomed to have +its way, and is incensed that freedom of worship, or even +of thought, should be dreamed of.</q>—Z. '99-262. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And his feet were as the feet of a bear.</hi>—<q>The bear suggests +another of Papacy's peculiarities as an empire, viz., +persistency. Like the Bear Empire (Medo-Persia) which +would besiege for years, and even turn a river aside to +<pb n='195'/><anchor id='Pg195'/> +accomplish its ends; so Papacy moves cautiously and gets +possession of kingdoms rather by strategy than by battles. +The bear hugs its prey to death with its paws.</q>—Z. '79-12-2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And his mouth as the mouth of [a lion] LIONS.</hi>—<q>Babylon +was celebrated for its splendor and pride—the Lion the +king or ruler of all beasts—so Papacy had a mouth of +this sort, i. e., it claimed to be the kingdom over all kingdoms +by Divine right, the kingdom of God, which was to +break in pieces and consume all others—a strong mouth.</q>—Z. '79-12-2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the dragon.</hi>—Imperial Rome, represented by Constantine. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Gave him his power.</hi>—<q>Ancient Pagan Rome had only a +mere skeleton of sacerdotal power as compared with the +complex and elaborate machinery and contrivances of +doctrine and practice of Papal Rome, the triumphant successor +to their scheme, who now, after centuries of cunning +and skill, has its power so intrenched that even +today, when its power is outwardly broken and it is shorn +of civil dominion, it rules the world and controls kingdoms +secretly, under cover, more thoroughly than the Roman +emperors ever ruled the kings subordinate to them.</q>—B. 288. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And his seat.</hi>—His place in the city of Rome, by transferring +his own headquarters to Byzantium, <q>New Rome.</q>—Rev. +12:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And great authority.</hi>—At the hands of the Roman Emperor +Justinian, in A. D. 539.—Rev. 12:3-5. +</p> + +<p> +13:3. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw one of his heads.</hi>—One of the dragon's +heads—Papacy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As it were wounded to death.</hi>—Whenever the Scriptures +use the expression <q>as it were</q> (as in Rev. 9:7, 9) what +seems or appears is not actually the case. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And his deadly wound was healed.</hi>—<q rend='pre'>At the Diet of +Augsburg, in 1555, the Religious Peace was concluded. +Every prince was to be allowed to choose between the +Catholic religion and the Augsburg Confession [of the +Reformers]; and the religion of the prince was to be that +of the land over which he reigned: that is, each government +was to choose the creed for its subjects.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>In fact, the political circumstances of the time, combined +with the fact that even the leaders of the reform +were only beginning to get awake to some of the moral +and a few of the doctrinal errors of Papacy, lead us to +wonder at the rapid strides taken toward the right, rather +than to harshly condemn them for not making the cleansing +more thorough. But when the Protestant churches +<pb n='196'/><anchor id='Pg196'/> +united with the state, progress and reform came to a +standstill. Soon creeds were formed which were almost +as unyielding and opposed to growth in knowledge as the +decrees of Rome.</q>—C. 111. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And all the [world] EARTH wondered after the beast.</hi>—The +reference is to the symbolic earth, the people, obedient +to the ruling powers.—Rev. 17:8. +</p> + +<p> +13:4. <hi rend='sans'>And they worshipped the dragon.</hi>—<q>Dragon means +civil power, Pagan Rome.</q>—Z. '79-12-2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Which] BECAUSE HE gave THE power unto the beast.</hi>—<q>The +people respected the civil power all the more because +it had so honored ecclesiastical authority. The various +kingdoms (horns) soon learned that their hold over the +people was strengthened rather than weakened by allegiance +to Papacy, for Papacy in turn recognized them, +and commanded the people to recognize those despots as +of divine appointment. Thus it is, that to this day, the +rulers of Europe claim to rule by Divine right and appointment, +and their children after them, no matter how +incompetent. For the same reason the Protestant churches +of Europe, to gain national favor, protection and assistance, +became State churches, and they, as Papacy did, +recognize the reigning families as possessed of Divine +title to the office and rulership of the people. God's Word, +on the contrary, denounces all the governments of earth +as beastly, selfish, oppressive, and recognizes only one +Kingdom as being of God's appointment, viz., the Kingdom +soon to be established in all the earth—Christ and His +saints in glory. (Dan. 7:27; Rev. 11:15; 2 Tim. 2:12.) It +is in that Kingdom only that the saints have their citizenship, +it alone they recognize, and for it pray <q>Thy Kingdom +come.</q></q>—Z. '80-1-1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they worshipped the beast.</hi>—<q>The following, +called The Adoration, is still a part of the ceremony connected +with the installation of a new pope: <q>The pope is +lifted up by the cardinals and placed by them upon the +altar-throne. One of the bishops kneels, and the singing +of <hi rend='italic'>Te Deum</hi> [We praise thee, O God] begins. Meantime +the cardinals kiss the feet and hands and face of the pope.</q> +A coin representing this ceremony, struck in the Papal +mint, bears the words, <q>Whom they create, they adore.</q></q>—B. 316. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Who is like unto the beast.</hi>—What other character +in history ever made such claims or received such +homage?—Rev. 18:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND who is able to make war with him.</hi>—<q>When, in +A. D. 455, the city of Rome was invaded and plundered +by the Vandals, and all around was distress and desolation, +<pb n='197'/><anchor id='Pg197'/> +Leo, the bishop of Rome, improved the opportunity +for impressing upon all, both barbarians and Romans, his +claim of spiritual power. To the rude and superstitious +barbarians, already greatly impressed by what they saw +about them, of Rome's greatness and wealth, Leo, arrayed +in his pontifical robes, exclaimed: <q>Beware! I am the successor +of St. Peter, to whom God has given the keys of +the Kingdom of Heaven and against whose church the +gates of hell cannot prevail; I am the living representative +of divine power on the earth; I am Cæsar, a Christian +Cæsar, ruling in love, to whom all Christians owe allegiance; +I hold in my hands the curses of hell and the +benedictions of Heaven; I absolve all subjects from allegiance +to kings; I give and take away, by divine right, all +thrones and principalities of Christendom. Beware how +you desecrate the patrimony given me by your invisible +king; yea, bow down your necks to me and pray that the +anger of God may be averted.</q></q>—B. 295. +</p> + +<p> +13:5. <hi rend='sans'>And there was given unto him a mouth.</hi>—The +mouth of Antichrist is one of its leading characteristics.—B. 305; +Dan. 7:8, 11, 25. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Speaking great things and blasphemies.</hi>—<q>How evident +it must be to the simplest minds that Papacy's great +swelling words and boastful claims have, one and all, been +blasphemies. The establishment of a counterfeit Kingdom +of God was a libel upon God's government, a gross +blasphemy, and a misrepresentation of His character and +Plan and Word. God's character, i. e., His <q>name,</q> was +blasphemed in the thousand monstrous edicts, bulls and +decretals issued in His name, by the long line of those +who claimed, as vice-gerents, to represent His Son by the +titles, appropriate only to the Father or to Christ, which +they have applied to themselves; and God's Tabernacle, +the true Church, was blasphemed by the false system +which claimed to take its place.</q>—B. 306; Dan. 7:8, 20, 25. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [power] IT was given unto him to [continue] DO +WHAT HE WILL.</hi>—He still continues, though he can no +longer do what he will. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Forty and two months.</hi>—1260 days, or a time, times and +a half; fulfilled in 1260 literal years from A. D. 539 to 1799 +A. D. (Rev. 11:2.) As a secondary fulfilment, we may +see the end of the rule of the Kaiser and others of his +mouthpieces in 42 literal months from Aug. 1, 1914. But +what folly it would be to try to see in the German Kaiser, +or any other <emph>one man</emph>, the foretold Antichrist.—Rev. 11:11. +</p> + +<p> +13:6. <hi rend='sans'>And he opened his mouth in [blasphemy] BLASPHEMIES +against God.</hi>—Misrepresentations of the Divine +Character and Plan. +</p> + +<pb n='198'/><anchor id='Pg198'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To blaspheme [His name] HIM.</hi>—God was blasphemed, +or misrepresented by the titles used by the popes, by +their claims to the exercise of Divine power on earth +(B. 311), by claims that the Pope is God on earth (B. 314), by +claims that he is the sole judge of right and wrong (B. 317), +by claims that he is infallible (B. 318), by proscribing the +Bible (B. 319), by the doctrines of eternal torture and purgatory +(B. 323), by masses for the dead and the sale of +indulgences (B. 324), and by devilish practices against His +saints, too numerous to name. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His tabernacle.</hi>—The church in the wilderness.—Rev. +12:6, 14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] Them that dwell in heaven.</hi>—God's Tabernacle is +His true Church in the flesh, but, nevertheless, <q>Our citizenship +is in Heaven.</q> (Phil. 3:20, R. V.) Even here +we have been made to <q>Sit together in heavenly places +in Christ Jesus.</q>—Eph. 2:6. +</p> + +<p> +13:7. <hi rend='sans'>And it was given unto him to make war with the +saints.</hi>—See Rev. 2:20; Acts 9:32; Rom. 15:25; 1 Cor. 6:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to overcome them.</hi>—See Rev. 6:8; Dan. 7:21, 22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And power was given him over all kindreds, AND PEOPLES, +and tongues, and nations.</hi>—This has been literally +fulfilled, but will have a secondary fulfilment soon, through +the beastly governments that are Papacy's living representatives +in spirit if not in fact.—Rev. 17:15. +</p> + +<p> +13:8. <hi rend='sans'>And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship +him.</hi>—Yield either willing or forced obedience to his mandates; +bow the knee in submission. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whose names are not written in the Book of Life.</hi>—<q>The +deception of Papacy was so complete that the world was +deceived, and all the church, except the overcomers, whose +names were <q>written in Heaven,</q> were deceived in the same +way, and hastened to unite themselves with, and to worship +the Beast, and have it enroll their names on its +books. From this has sprung the delusion so common +to all Protestants at this day, viz., that their names must +be connected with some such earthly system, or they are +not the Lord's saints. But the important item is, to have +our names recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life; His is +the only record of any value.</q>—Z. '80:1-1; Psa. 69:28; Dan. +12:1; Lu. 10:20; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 21:27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.</hi>—<q>This +selection of the Only Begotten to be the Head and +Chief of the New Creation—subject to the trials, disciplines, +humiliations and other necessary experiences to +prove His worthiness—had already been determined upon +in the Divine counsel before man was created.</q>—F. 65; 1 +Pet. 1:20; Eph. 1:4; Rev. 5:6; John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32. +</p> + +<pb n='199'/><anchor id='Pg199'/> + +<p> +13:9. <hi rend='sans'>If any man have an ear, let him hear.</hi>—<q>Only those +whose ears have been circumcised—those who had come +to a considerable knowledge of God's Word and who had +the hearing of faith—to respect Him and His Word, despite +the magnificence, success and power of error, would be +able to receive the foregoing statements concerning those +who were deceived by Papacy.</q>—Z. '80-1-1. +</p> + +<p> +13:10. <hi rend='sans'>[He that] IF ANY ONE leadeth into captivity +[shall go] HE GOETH into captivity.</hi>—<q>The Papal system +was one of bondage. All who acknowledge its claims must +of necessity render implicit obedience, as unto God; for +it claimed to be the kingdom of heaven; and its head, +the Pope, to be God's vice-gerent; consequently those who +were for, or in favor of such captivity of individual +thought, and who would acknowledge the right of that +Papal system to limit and define the faith of all, by consenting, +became captives.</q>—Z. '80-1-2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He that killeth with the sword must be killed by the +sword.</hi>—<q>There were some who asserted that Papacy was +a usurpation of the titles and power of the true Head and +Ruler of the Church, and claimed their rights to the individual +liberty wherewith Christ had made them free. +Such used the <q>Sword of the Spirit,</q> which is the Word of +God, in defense of their liberty, and such were put to +death by Papacy; it overcame the saints during its 1260 +years of power.</q>—Z. '80-1-2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.</hi>—<q>This +was a severe test of true saintship—Would they go into +captivity and join in the usurper's ranks, or would they +remain faithful to the true King and wait for the Kingdom +which He promised to establish? Those whose names +were written in Heaven stuck to the Word, and sealed +their testimonies by death.</q> (Z. '80-1-2.) The same situation +now confronts the saints, in the matter of aiding in +some way the murderous spirit of the governments which +are permeated by Antichrist's spirit.—Rev. 14:12. +</p> + +<p> +13:11. <hi rend='sans'>And I beheld another beast.</hi>—<q rend='pre'>If the preceding +wild beast represented an ecclesiastical power, as we have +just seen, then this beast called another should be understood +to represent a similar ecclesiastical or church power. +As the first beast had ten horns, or powers, which gave it +their strength, so this beast has <q>two horns</q> which indicates +that two powers or governments will support it. +Again, notice that this beast <q>ascended (came gradually) +out of the earth,</q> while the first came out of the sea. +Now, if our definitions be correct—as the coming of +Papacy from among the irreligious masses of the Roman +Empire was shown by its coming out of the <q>sea</q>—then +<pb n='200'/><anchor id='Pg200'/> +the coming of this second beast out of the <q>earth</q> should +signify that it sprung up among a professedly religious +people. The Two-horned Beast is one ecclesiastical system, +and the two horns show that it is supported, and its +authority recognized by two kingdoms. Remember that to +be simply aided or supported by the empire does not +make a symbolic <q>Beast</q>; a <q>Beast</q> is a government, and +to become a symbolic beast, a church must needs become +an element in, or part of the government.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>There is but one church which this symbol fits perfectly, +viz.: The established <q>Church of England and Ireland.</q> +This system, like the Papal, was a blending of +church and state, an ecclesiastical empire. In the year +1200 England became subject to the Pope. In 1531, owing +to a dispute between her king, Henry VIII, and the Pope, +England withdrew from allegiance to Papacy. The Convocation +of its clergy called the same year, in its decrees, +declared King Henry VIII to be <q>The one protector of the +English Church, its only and Supreme Lord; and as far as +might be, by the law of Christ, its Supreme Head.</q> Those +are the exact sentiments of Papacy; that is exactly the +sense in which the Pope is recognized as Christ's vice-gerent. +What a glorious representation of the Lord Jesus +they had in Henry VIII, who, out of six wives, was divorced +from two, beheaded two, and by many is supposed to have +poisoned one! He was a worthy rival of some of the +Popes as an Anti-christian claimant of headship to the +church. The Clerical Convocation which could acknowledge +such a head was not far from being as corrupt as +Papacy.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The proof that the title, <q>head of the church,</q> was not +an empty honor, appears from the historian's words—<q>At +the same time it was ordained that no regard should be +paid to censures which the Pope might pass on account +of this law and that Mass should be said, and sacraments +administered as usual. In 1534, all payments made to the +apostolic chamber, and dispensations, were abolished; +monasteries were subjected to royal government, and exempted +from all other; the right to summon Convocations, +approve or reject canons (laws or doctrines enacted by +the Convocation of clergy), and hear appeals from the +Bishops, was vested in the King alone. These matters +are but imperfectly understood by people in general, and +the same titles—<q>Supreme head of the church on earth,</q> +etc., are still applied to English sovereigns. It is needless +to remark that the Lord Jesus never gave this office to +any one, but claims it Himself; and any others who claim +it are usurpers. Paul said: <q>Christ is the Head of the +<pb n='201'/><anchor id='Pg201'/> +Church,</q> and that we are to <q>grow up into Him in all things, +which is the Head, even Christ.</q> Again he repeats that +<q>God gave Him to be the Head over all things in the +Church, which is His body.</q> (Eph. 1:22 and 4:15, and +5:23; Col. 1:18.) It is the church on earth that Paul is +speaking of, hence any Pope, Queen, Council, Assembly, +Conference, or any other man or company of men, who +claim or exercise the powers of the true Head—Jesus—are +opposing Him. And all who support such by influence, +presence or money, are abettors of evil and supporters +of false systems. Now does this system (the +English church) fill the picture? The second Beast had +two horns; what two kingdoms (horns) supported this +church? Bear in mind the distinction between a church +supported by a government, as the Presbyterian in Scotland, +and a church united in the government, as in England; +it is the latter relationship that constitutes a +<q>beast.</q></q></q>—Z. '80-1-2; Rev. 13:14, 15; 14:9, 11; 15:2; 16:2, 13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Coming up out of the earth.</hi>—<q>From the visible church of +God.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he had two horns like a lamb.</hi>—<q>Now about the two +horns. England, of course, was one of them, and Ireland +the other. Let us see. History says that in 1537 the Irish +Parliament in Dublin <q>passed the Act of Supremacy, declaring +Henry VIII Supreme Head of the Church, prohibiting +intercourse with the court of Rome, and making +it treason to refuse the oath of supremacy.</q> <q>Henry VIII +also took the title of King of Ireland.</q> Thus it is seen that +the second horn came up within the brief space of five +years after the first. The fact that Ireland was not a +powerful horn matters not, for it was stronger than some +that supported the Papal Beast. What effects result from +the disestablishment of the Church in Ireland? From 1538 +to 1871 (333 years), the title of the church was <q>The +Church of England and Ireland,</q> thus recognizing both +<q>horns.</q> On January 1, 1871 (by action of Parliament and +the consent of the Queen, the head of the church) the +Irish church was disestablished, or that horn was cast off. +So, too, all of the horns which once supported Papacy +have broken off from her; the difference being that in +the case of Papacy the horns have turned against her, +and in the case of the second Beast it casts off the Irish +horn of itself, believing it to be a weakness rather than a +strength. And it would not be at all remarkable if the +other horn (England) would be separated from this Beast. +<q>The two horns like a lamb,</q> would seem to indicate that +this Beast would be peaceably inclined—not aggressive, +but merely using the horns for defense.</q>—Z. '80-1-2. +</p> + +<pb n='202'/><anchor id='Pg202'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And, he spake as a dragon.</hi>—<q><q>He spake like a dragon.</q> +Notice, it is not said he spake like <emph>the</emph> dragon, but like <emph>a</emph> +dragon. We understand this to mean that its utterances +resembled those of a purely civil (dragon) power, and that +in its words there would be little to denote that it is an +ecclesiastical government.</q> (Z. '80-1-2.) England's conduct +in forcing opium into China is evidence enough of its +Satanic character. <q>China realizes that opium is her great +curse; she has passed laws against the growth of the +poppy and the manufacture of opium. But she finds that +the imports of opium amount to 5,000,000 pounds per year. +She cries out again, as in the past, that this Great Kingdom +of Christ (?) (Great Britain) will have mercy upon +her and cease to insist on this curse being introduced to +blight China morally and physically. The young men of +heathen China have started a monster petition for the +cessation of opium importation. The text of this appeal +appeared in the <hi rend='italic'>New York Herald</hi>, February 17. It recounts +that a previous appeal, of similar character, was +made without avail to the King's royal grandmother in +1858, when she was the representative of this branch of +Christ's Kingdom (?).</q> (Z. '11-115.) <q>The False Prophet +who causes the dwellers on earth to worship the Beast +symbolizes the deification of the world and of the world +power, throughout the conflict between the church and +Antichrist.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +13:12. <hi rend='sans'>And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast +before him.</hi>—<q>And the authority of the first Wild Beast—the +whole of that authority—he exercises in his presence, +and he causes the earth and its inhabitants to worship +the first Wild Beast.</q> (Weym.) <q>This shows that the +second does not take the place of the first beast, but that +they exist contemporaneously.</q> (Z. '80-1-2.) It also shows +that the sufferings of the last members of the Body of +Christ, under the combination of governments dominated +by Great Britain, may be expected to be as great as in +Papacy's palmiest days. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And causeth the earth and them which dwell therein.</hi>—<q>We +make a distinction between the earth and those who +dwell on it. As the earth symbolizes those obedient to +and supporting the Beast, so <q>those dwelling on the earth,</q> +we understand to mean independent Christians who do +not support either of these systems.</q>—Z. '80-1-2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was +healed.</hi>—<q rend='pre'>The Church of England claimed all the powers +and authority which Papacy claimed. It claimed to be the +Church; it acknowledged and repudiated some of the corruptions +complained of by the Reformers, such as the +<pb n='203'/><anchor id='Pg203'/> +sale of indulgence, transubstantiation, etc., and abandoned +these as well as the name Roman, for which they substituted +the word Holy, calling it the original <q>Holy Catholic +Church.</q> It claims the same governmental authority and +the same veneration for its decrees as Papacy does for +hers. And by establishing a similar system, devoid of +some of the grosser Papal errors, it attracted the attention +of all to those errors, as being the only possible fault of +Papacy. And when some of those errors were shortly +after discarded by Papacy, the inference was that both +Beast systems were right. People at that day, as now, +seemed to think those systems proper and right, if their +powers, etc., were properly exercised; but from God's +standpoint the systems are abominations, and wrong from +the very center. These systems are based upon errors, +and like a corrupt tree, <q>cannot bring forth good fruit.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The principal error was in this—the very basis of those +systems—their claim to be the <q>Kingdom of God</q> in reigning +power. That idea, once admitted, justifies their persecution +of individuals and nations, forcing them to submit +and bow in obedience. Scripture accords these powers to +the <q>Kingdom of God</q>—when <q>the Kingdom is the Lord's +and He is the Governor among the nations; all the ends +of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and +all the kindreds of nations shall worship before Thee.</q> +(Ps. 22:27, 28.) He shall <q>dash them in pieces as a potter's +vessel.</q> (Ps. 2:9.) Unto Him every knee shall bow, +and every tongue confess. (Phil. 2:11.) And if their claim +be good, who can object to their carrying out the Scriptural +statements? These Antichrists, to make their claim +of kingdom power appear true, had simply to take another, +viz., to compel obedience, backing up their right to do so +by the Scriptures just quoted. And not only was this great +evil sanctioned, but their claim, once admitted, that the +Kingdom was established and the reign in progress, those +who admitted it were hindered from looking for the true +Head of the Church to set up the true Kingdom under the +whole heavens, which shall break in pieces present imperfect +governments, establish righteousness in the earth, +and cause every knee to bow and every tongue to confess, +to the glory of God.</q>—Z. '80-1-2. +</p> + +<p> +13:13. <hi rend='sans'>And he doeth great wonders.</hi>—The strongest text +of Scripture forewarning against the impending Church +Federation is the strongest text of Scripture forewarning +against spiritism. (Isa. 8:9-22.) It is not by accident that +these warnings are placed together. <q>We shall not be at +all surprised if some later manifestation of the powers +of darkness, transformed to appear as the angels of light +<pb n='204'/><anchor id='Pg204'/> +and progress, shall be much more specious and delusive +than anything yet attempted. We do well to remember +the Apostle's words,—<q>We wrestle not with flesh and +blood, but with princely powers of darkness, with the +spiritual things of the Evil One.</q> (Eph. 6:12.) In 1842, +six years before <q>modern Spiritism</q> began to operate, +Edward Bickersteth, a servant of God and student of His +Word, wrote,—<q>Looking at the signs of the times, and the +long neglect and unnatural denial of all angelic ministration +or spiritual influence, and at the express predictions +of false Christs, and false prophets, who shall show signs +and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible they should +deceive the Very Elect, and that when men receive not the +love of the truth that they might be saved, for this cause +God shall send them strong delusion, that they shall believe +a lie; I cannot but think there is a painful prospect +of a sudden recoil and religious revulsion from the present +unbelief and misbelief, to an unnatural and undistinguishing +credulity.</q> Satan is the inspirer and supporter of +every Antichrist; and as he led those who had pleasure +in error rather than the truth to the organization of the +great Antichrist, Papacy, symbolically the <q>beast</q> of Rev. +13, and as he is now operating to produce a Protestant +<q>image of the beast</q> with life, which will cooperate with +the chief Antichrist, so in combination with these will be +the powers of darkness, the powers of the air, the lying +and seducing spirits, operating in some manner or in a +variety of ways,—Spiritism, Christian Science, New +Thought, Theosophy, Hypnotism, etc.</q> (S. 32.) <q>If we gain +the right conception of the matter these deceptions are to +affect the whole world, including its wise men, and indeed +practically everybody.</q>—Z. '09-123; Deut. 13:1-3; Matt. 24:24, +25; 2 Thes. 2:9-12; Rev. 16:14. +</p> + +<p> +Note the readiness of Christendom to fall into the trap: +<q>In a sermon in which he told of the effect of religious +seances and the efforts of certain writers to shatter belief +in a future life, the Rev. H. D. C. Maclachlan preached to +a large congregation in Seventh Street Christian Church +on <q>The New Spiritualism,</q> in which he gave scientific proof +of a future life and exhorted his hearers to be of good +cheer and continue to hope. Mr. Maclachlan spoke in part +as follows: <q>There has been no more remarkable change +in public opinion than that witnessed within the last few +years with regard to that class of facts known as spiritualistic. +There was a time when it was not quite respectable +to believe in them, but quite recently there has +been a change. Ghosts have become respectable; planchette +and table rapping are parlor amusements; the +<pb n='205'/><anchor id='Pg205'/> +popular magazines vie with each other in saying nice +things about mediums and their ways. The cause of this +change in public opinion has been a similar change in +scientific belief. It is not more than thirty years ago +that orthodox science refused so much as to investigate +the things of which we are speaking. Some twenty-five +years ago the Society for Psychical Research was formed +in England with such names as Crookes, Myers, Romanes, +Eidgwick, Barrett and others on its list of members, and +since that day telepathy, table rapping, clairvoyance, clairaudience, +telekinesis, apparitions, materializations, mental +healing and all the other phenomena which Professor +James, of Harvard, aptly calls <emph>residual</emph>, have been investigated. +Mediums have been transferred from back parlors, +where all sorts of trickery was possible, to the physical +laboratories of the universities. They have been put under +conditions of strictest control. Even the traditional darkness +has been denied them. And still the wonderful results +came. One after another leading scientists entered +into these investigations skeptical and contemptuous, but +came out of them believers in the facts on the evidence +of their own senses.</q></q>—Z. '09-164. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>So that he maketh fire come down from heaven.</hi>—Fire +from heaven was the test by which Elijah proved that +Jehovah is the true God, and was the method by which +Jehovah accepted the offerings made to Him on the Day of +Atonement. (1 Kings 18:38; Lev. 9:24.) In the test at +hand the second beast will be able to prove to all except +the Elect that his claims to Divine approval are correct. +<q>Our Lord warns us of danger from false Christs <q>then</q>—that +is now. Had it been foretold precisely what form +these deceptions would take, this would have somewhat +hindered their deceptive power. God permits these deceptions +for the very purpose of separating the <q>overcomers</q> +from all others, and merely guarantees us that the <q>Elect</q> +will be kept from falling. And yet it is quite possible that +some of these trials, siftings and delusions, may come +closest upon those possessing the largest degree of the +light of Present Truth.</q> (D. 581; Rev. 7:3.) <q>The Lord +allows the storms to press us more and more so that we +will cry unto Him. Then He will hear us and give us +the necessary deliverance. These storms may be right +inside, in our own person. Whether, therefore, storms +financial, political, religious or demoniacal, come his way, +the child of God may rest secure and be of good courage. +The Lord is both able and willing to care for his interests +and bring him off victor.</q> (Z. '13-150.) As soon as the +beast has apparently made out a clear case, perhaps by +<pb n='206'/><anchor id='Pg206'/> +outward, visible evidences, but surely by evidences from +the Scriptures (distorted) of its standing with God, we +may expect a very prompt and practical use of the <q>fire</q> +(Luke 9:54) thus obtained. <q>The Image, as soon as vitalized, +will very promptly use its influence, prestige, power, +in every way to punish in the name of the Lord those who +in any sense of the word it shall consider to be its opponents. +Speedily none will be allowed to buy or sell, in the +spiritual marts [or perhaps in any marts], except those +who have either the mark or the number of the Beast, or +of the Image, either in the right hand of co-operation or +in the forehead of public confession. This will mean that +the <hi rend='smallcaps'>International Bible Students Association</hi> and all +others not in affiliation with the Alliance will be subjected +to radically coercive measures. Truth shall fall +in the streets. (Isa. 59:14.) Righteousness will be unable +to enter under the stress of the new order of things. For +a time it will appear as though a great Christian victory +had been won, shared equally by Papacy and Federated-Protestantism—no +longer protesting.</q>—Z. '13-343. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>On the earth in the sight of men.</hi>—Amongst his own followers +and among Christians unattached to either beast. +</p> + +<p> +13:14. <hi rend='sans'>And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth.</hi>—The +independent Christians just named. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By the means of those miracles.</hi>—Signs, the laying on of +hands, doctrines of immortality, trinity and claims that +none are qualified to understand the Bible aright except +those consecrated by the imposition of holy orders by the +episcopal succession.—Z. '80-1-2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.</hi>—While +the papacy is still alive and active.—Rev. 19:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying.</hi>—By its own example. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To them that dwell on the earth.</hi>—Independent Christians. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That they should ALSO make an Image to the beast.</hi>—<q rend='pre'>From +the year 1800 to 1846 was a time in which great numbers +of new sects arose, whereas before that, they were few +and prominent. This gave rise to uneasiness among the older +denominations who wondered whereunto this thing would +lead. As the Bible came to be read more and more by +the masses, occasional individuals would feel free to +preach what they thought it taught, regardless of denominational +creeds and the views of the older sects. As a +consequence, Protestants were fast splitting up into fragments. +They began to say, By what means shall we check +and stop this disposition to individual thought and opinion +relative to the teachings of Scripture? They wanted to +stop the very thing God desired; viz., that each individual +<pb n='207'/><anchor id='Pg207'/> +should be free and independent of restraint, with his faith +based, not on the views of others, not on the decisions of +Councils or Presbyters, nor in the decision of the Pope, +nor in things approved of the head of the English church, +but in the Word of God. The question came: How can +we restrain these preachers? This was a quandary to all +except the Roman and Episcopal churches, since these both +claimed the <q>Apostolic Succession,</q> and that this, by ordination, +conferred upon their ministers special power and +authority to preach and to administer the <q>Sacraments</q>; +hence that no others had a right to do so, but were clerical +pretenders. Other denominations could not claim this continuation +of apostolic power through their preachers, but +simply set them apart by prayer, consequently those of +one denomination could not object that the preachers of +other denominations, as well as all laymen, were not as +truly authorized of God to expound the Scriptures as their +own clergy.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>But the example of the Church of England showed what +a prestige she had by reason of the voice of authority with +which she commanded a reverence for her clergy and her +teachings. This teaching by example was not lost. The +various denominations felt a necessity for some common +Standard of Doctrine which would be supported and upheld +by all of them, and thus give prestige to their teachings, +and bring the combined influence of all against any further +advance in knowledge or the development of any different +phase of truth. Thus they would protect themselves by +being able to say: The combined opinion of all Protestants +is against you; therefore you are heretics, and +therefore we will shun you, and not call you Brethren, +but use all our influence against you. This was done by +the formation of the <q>Evangelical Alliance.</q> It was stated +to be one of the objects of the Alliance (and we believe +the principal one) to <q>Promote between the different Evangelical +denominations, an effective co-operation in the +efforts to repel common enemies and dangers.</q></q> +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img200b.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>Evangelical Alliance—Church Federation The Image of The Beast</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Do not understand us as opposing the Christians represented +in that Alliance; we are opposed merely to their +attempt to muzzle truth, and to prevent the opening up +of any other truths buried by Papacy than those which +they had received. It is far from our purpose to say that +they intentionally combined against the unfolding of truth, +nor would we say this of Papists. But we do say, that +by their action they were following Papacy's tactics, and +that in that Alliance they did make the Image of the +Beast. It has tended to make a separation clear and distinct +between the Clergy and the Laity.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='208'/><anchor id='Pg208'/> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>How much the Image resembles the Papal Beast may +be judged from the fact that Papacy acknowledged the +Image—owned it as a creditable likeness—by the Pope +sending <q>Greetings</q> to the last meeting of the Evangelical +Alliance. Strange to say, the delegates to the Alliance +had so far lost sight of the principles and doctrines +which led to the protests against the Papal church (that +it was the Harlot church—Antichrist—Man of Sin—mentioned +in the Scriptures) that they actually felt flattered +by the Pontiff's notice, instead of becoming alarmed and +examining how and why he who is <q>The Chief Antichrist</q> +should feel pleased to greet them as fellows. A prominent +Presbyterian minister present at the above named meeting +mentioned the <q>Pope's Greeting</q> with evident pleasure and +satisfaction to the writer.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>A prominent characteristic of the Beast copied by the +Image is the honoring of a special class, the Clergy, with +special honors and titles. They are known as Revs., Divines, +etc., but Jesus the Divine said: <q>Ye call Me Lord +and Master, and ye say well, for so I am.</q> <q>Be not ye called +Rabbi, neither be ye called Master, for one is your Master, +even Christ, and all ye are brethren.</q> (Matt. 23:8.) These +titles are assumptions fashioned after those of Papacy. +When the various denominations began their existence, +more full of the spirit of Christ, they claimed no such +high-sounding titles. The Reformers were not known as +Rev., D. D., etc., but as John Knox, Martin Luther, etc. +Unpretentious, like Jesus and the Apostles, they were intent +upon serving God, and therefore became the servants +(ministers) of the Church. But now the Clergy are far +from being servants; they are Lords. They have itching +ears, loving the approval of men. As pride and worldliness +have come in, vital godliness and power have gradually +departed. For the very same reason, they are losing +all power to expound the Word of God—the gift of teaching—because +<q>God abhorreth the proud, but giveth grace +(favor) to the humble.</q> We find ministers of all denominations +ready to confess their ignorance of the Word. They +appeal, for their information, back to the early reformers, +and thus confess that they have less light than they. +That their light should grow dim, and their spiritual life +become dwarfed, is the natural result of their joining the +Image, and subscribing to creeds made in the fifteenth +century, which, like the shoe of China, will not admit of +any growth. It is a shoe a little larger than Papacy put +upon its followers, but of the same sort.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Papacy established the clerical hierarchy, who lorded +it over God's heritage instead of serving their brethren as +<pb n='209'/><anchor id='Pg209'/> +Jesus explained—<q>One is your Master; all ye are brethren,</q> +and as Paul said: <q>We are to speak the truth in love +and grow up into Him in all things who is the Head, even +Christ; from whom the whole Body fitly joined together +[not by creeds of men, but by love begotten by the one +Spirit of Truth] and compacted by that which every joint +supplied [every joint is every member, not the clergy only] +maketh increase of the Body unto the edifying of itself in +love,</q> thus coming <q>to the unity of the faith, and of the +knowledge of the Son of God.</q> (Eph. 4:15, 16.) As Papacy +established the priesthood over the church, so Protestantism +has established the same, and there is no opportunity +for the Body to edify itself, every joint taking part. True, +there is a seeming show of liberty at prayer meetings, etc., +but it is only upon the surface, for the ordained pastor is +to watch zealously lest anything contrary to the teachings +of his church should be expressed, and if so, to silence the +audacious member at once, for the church creed is the +rule, not the Word of God. If this is not sufficient, they +must have a sort of church trial and excommunicate him +(<q>kill him</q>). The trial, by the way, gives evidence of another +likeness to the Beast, namely, the exaltation of the +teachings of the organization above the Word of God, for +all such are tried according to <q>the authorities</q> of their +church.</q>—Z. '80-1-2. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Alliance endeavored to establish a standard of +orthodoxy. They saw the power of the Papal argument, +that it is the Church, and that all others are heretical. +In this sense it was a copy, or image, of the Papal institution. +It has been merely an Image without life or power +for now more than sixty years.</q> (Z. '13-342.) <q>And he told +the inhabitants of the earth to erect a statue (possibly a +symbol of corrupt public opinion) to the Wild Beast who +had received the sword-stroke and yet had recovered.</q>—Weym. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which had the wound by a sword, and did live.</hi>—Which +was smitten by the Sword of the Spirit in the hands of the +reformers, but not persistently enough to kill it. (Heb. +4:12.) <q>It is important to observe that the wound of one +of the heads is here ascribed to the whole beast.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +13:15. <hi rend='sans'>And he had power to give life.</hi>—Either <q>apostolic +succession</q> or its effect. <q>It may not be known to many +how much stress was laid upon the <q>apostolic succession,</q> +which was supposed to be a virtue transmitted through +hundreds of years of Papal corruption, by the laying on +of the hands of the Bishop. This, of course, was vested in +the Roman church, and also in the English church on +account of its being at first rather a secession from +<pb n='210'/><anchor id='Pg210'/> +Papacy than a reformation. To many minds; even among +the clergy, there was a veneration for that ceremony, which +neither Papacy nor the English church were averse to promoting.</q> +(Z. '80-1-2.) For the effect of this superstition +on the mind of Wesley, see Rev. 9:1, 2. <q>The Lord's symbolic +prophecy tells us that in the close of this Age the +Image will receive life, vitality, energy, power. No longer +will it stand as a mere Image. It will become as active +as the Beast. Moreover, it will not be antagonistic to the +Beast, but sympathetic, and cause that all shall either +worship the Beast or the Image—all must be in harmony +either with Catholicism, or with the Protestant Church +Federation as soon as it receives the vitalizing breath.</q>—Z. '13-343. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Unto the Image of the beast.</hi>—<q>The vitality of the Image +is to come from the two-horned Beast; the Church of England. +A few years ago the Episcopal Church took an important +step toward vitalizing the Church Federation movement. +That important step was the recognition of the +ministers of the denominations represented in the Evangelical +Alliance. Previously no minister not ordained by +the laying on of hands of a Catholic or an Episcopalian +bishop was allowed to preach from an Episcopalian pulpit. +Perhaps this recognition of the Image is all the vitalization +the Image needs, but we are inclined to expect more. For +years the Episcopalians have proffered reordination to the +ministers of the different denominations represented in +the Evangelical Alliance. And they still proffer it. We +have been inclined to expect that the ministers would +finally concede the point and accept a reordination at +the hands of an Episcopal bishop. But we are not sure +of this. It is possible that, to meet the requirements of +the case, some other way will be found by which the Episcopal +Church will recognize the Church Federation without +obligating the ministers to be reordained. We are +waiting for this.</q> (Z. '13-343.) <q>If the various ministers +of other denominations in considerable numbers accept reordination +as ministers at the hands of Episcopalian Bishops, +the validity of other ordination will be speedily +questioned. The authority of this so-called <q>Apostolic Ordination</q> +will give seeming right of authority, dignity and +power. After the prominent ministers of various denominations +submit themselves to such reordination, the <q>lesser +lights</q> will make a rush for it.</q>—Z. '10-308. +</p> + +<p> +Canon Henson, of Westminster Abbey, has said: <q>The +logical goal of modern tendencies is not toward Disestablishment, +but toward a fuller and worthier Establishment. +Why should not the nation draw into its service all the +<pb n='211'/><anchor id='Pg211'/> +organized Christianity instead of limiting itself to a single +denomination? I rejoice to observe a beginning made in +this direction by recent legislation, which has recognized +for certain civic purposes the status of Nonconformist +clergymen.</q> (Z. '06-6.) The change of name of the <q>Image of +the Beast</q> to that of <q>False Prophet</q> in Rev. 16:13, between +the <emph>sixth</emph> and <emph>seventh</emph> plagues, indicates it was vitalized +prior to the publication of Vol. VII (the 7th plague). +Truly it now <emph>lives</emph>—in the minds of the clergy—but it will +grow stronger. +</p> + +<p> +The matter is growing in the minds of those interested, +as the following dispatches show: <q>Washington, Dec. 31, +1916.—In a signed document addressed to the nation, +more than fifty prelates and laymen of various denominations +representing many sections of the country have +united in a warning against what they declare may be a +premature peace in Europe which <q>may bring a curse instead +of a blessing.</q></q> <q>Last winter commissions of all +American Protestant churches met at Garden City, L. I., +for the first time, and adopted a general platform on which +it recommended that the World Conference on Faith and +Order proceed. Pope Benedict XV. sent a letter to the +commissions, assuring them of his <q>deep interest and prayers.</q></q>—<hi rend='italic'>Literary +Digest</hi>, January 13, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That the image of the beast should both speak.</hi>—Thus far +he has been significantly <q>silent</q> as far as claiming any +real power or authority is concerned; but the time for the +breaking of the silence is near.—Jer. 8:14-17; Rev. 8:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And cause that as many as would not worship the Image +of the beast.</hi>—<q>Worship of this symbolic beast and his +image is to be the great test or trial upon professing +Christians in every province of symbolic Babylon in the +end of this Age. And we have the same inspired record +as authority for the statement that only those who refuse +to render worship to those powerfully influential religious +systems (symbolized by the beast and his image) will be +counted by the Lord as <q>overcomers</q> and be made His +joint-heirs as members of His elect Church. (Rev. 20:4.) +And there are some the world over who, with a courage +not less than that of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, +declare publicly that the Lord God alone shall have the +worship and the service which they can render. The +faithful few will be exposed to fiery experiences—boycotted +socially, boycotted in business, slandered in every conceivable +manner, and often by those of whom they least expect +it, who, according to the Lord's declaration, will say +<q>all manner of evil against them falsely.</q> (Matt. 5:11,12.)</q>—Z. '99-170. +</p> + +<pb n='212'/><anchor id='Pg212'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Should be killed.</hi>—<q>Soon we shall have their <q>Union</q> or +<q>Confederacy</q> (Isa. 8:12), and the bitter fruits of Union in +error will speedily manifest themselves in tyranny, as +during the Dark Ages.</q> (Z. '04-212.) <q>To us the Scriptures +indicate that the prosperity of the Federated Protestant +<q>Image</q> will for a little time be so great, so pronounced, +and its arrogance become so great that the sympathy of +the masses will be entirely alienated and turned into bitterness.</q> +(Z. '10-309). It may be objected that the Church +would have no part in the killing of their fellow worshippers, +but ecclesiastics themselves have a better understanding +of the ecclesiastical mind and ecclesiastical conscience. +The following is from the pen of Rt. Rev. Chas. D. Williams, +Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Michigan: +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is an appalling thought that the Church should have +had a part in the crime of Calvary, and yet it did, and +that the chief part. The ecclesiastical mind is a closed +mind—and there is nothing it resents so much as being +pried open to receive a new idea. Its settled rule of judgment, +its accepted test of truth, is, <q>What is new is never +true, and what is true is never new.</q> The other characteristic +of a perverted religion is the ecclesiastical conscience. +It is strikingly illustrated by one Good Friday +scene. A procession is sweeping through the streets of +Jerusalem, bound for the Governor's Palace. Who compose +this procession? They are the religious leaders of +the people the prominent divines, the chief ecclesiastics. +What is the business they have in mind? They are intent +on committing the greatest crime in history. But at Pilate's +threshold they stop. Why? Ah, they have stumbled +across a canon of the Church. If they should enter a +heathen house that Passover morning, they would become +ceremonially defiled and unfit to partake of the sacrament.</q> +(Z. '15-339.) <q>In 1526 Prof. Tyndale, having prepared his +MS., published it in Germany, because of the opposition +of the English clergy. He imported his New Testaments +into London, in whose shops the people began to purchase +them. At this same time the Germans were learning +something of the New Testament and its different teachings, +from Luther and his associates. The Church of +England bishops forthwith bought up the entire edition in +the shops, and publicly burnt them in front of St Paul's +Cathedral, London. They knew that the eighteen Ecumenical +Councils had declared to be true Christian faith +many things not taught in the Bible, and had omitted many +things that are taught therein. They feared that the people, +becoming Bible students, would know of these things, +and thus would be upset the general belief based in the +<pb n='213'/><anchor id='Pg213'/> +creeds—and not in the Bible. Then, too, they warned the +people against putting any construction upon the Bible +that would make it different from the teaching of the so-called +<q>Apostolic Bishops</q> in the creeds—threatening them +with eternal torment. As it was, Tyndale and some of the +others interested in the Bible suffered martyrdom, as enemies +of the <q>Apostolic Bishops,</q> and their creeds and institutions.</q>—Z. '15-253. +Are the clergy divinely ordained? +</p> + +<p> +13:16. <hi rend='sans'>And he causeth all, both small and great.</hi>—<q>The +great feast which preceded the fall of Babylon would seem +to correspond well with the great denominational union +expected soon, and the season of rejoicing which will +accompany it. The gold and silver vessels of the Lord's +house which were profaned may fitly represent not only +the precious truths of Divine Revelation, but also the +Lord's consecrated people—the golden vessels representing +the Little Flock, and the more numerous silver vessels +representing the <q>Great Company.</q> What may be the +character of the defilement and injury of these is of +course problematical; but in any case we remember that +those consecrated vessels were all highly honored, and +restored to the Temple by Cyrus, and likewise we know +that not only the truths of Divine Revelation will all be +cared for by our Lord, but also that all that are His shall +be glorified in the spiritual Temple which He will rear +shortly.</q>—Z. '99-175. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Rich and] Poor AND RICH.</hi>—<q>So popular will Federated +Churchianity become that to even criticize it will be a +<q>crime</q> worthy of crucifixion in some form—socially and +financially, if not physically. Politicians will quickly realize +that their bread is buttered on that side, and be ready +to enact legislation of any kind desired by the Federation. +Mammon-worship will take on new forms temporarily, but +power will soon debauch the unregenerate mass and drive +out the regenerate faithful who may temporarily be misled +by the great <q>Union</q> movement in the name of Christ, but +without His Spirit or authority.</q>—Z. '06-6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Free and bond.</hi>—<q>It is altogether possible, indeed probable +we think, that John's course which brought him into +conflict with Herod was in some degree typical of the +course of the Gospel Church in this present time; and of +the course of events that may be expected. If it be a +type, Herod would represent civil government, and the +unlawful wife would represent the nominal church, which +throughout the symbolic Scriptures is represented as a +woman, Jezebel, etc. Should it prove to be a type by its +fulfilment in antitype, the fulfilment will probably be on +something like the following lines: (1) A partial reunion +<pb n='214'/><anchor id='Pg214'/> +of Church and State. [This has now been accomplished +by the Alliance of the United States with Great Britain.] +(2) In such case it would become the duty of the true +Church, the forerunners and announcers of the Messianic +Kingdom, to reprove the civil powers as well as the +nominal church systems, and to declare their union unlawful—contrary +to the Word of God. (3) The effect of +this would pretty surely be to awaken the animosity of +both civil and religious powers; but it would draw out +specially the animosity and venom of the latter. (4) The +church nominal, in her false position would be anxious +to stifle the reproofs and to destroy the reprovers, and the +effect would be that the civil power would be induced to +pass such legislation as would restrain the liberty of the +faithful ones and hinder them from public utterances;—as +John was hindered by imprisonment. (5) Herodias' daughter +(united Protestantism) will become the tool for the +destruction of the most loyal servants of God.</q>—Z. '98-95. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To [receive] GIVE HIM a mark in their right hand or in +their [foreheads] FOREHEAD.</hi>—By contrast with Ex. 13:9; +28:26-38; Deut. 6:8; Z. '07-265; Rev. 7:3; 14:1; Ezek. +9:4-6. <q>Consecration to the service of the beast is what +is signified here.</q> (Cook.) (Lev. 19:28.) <q>All classes of +Christians must bow; all must, in some way, give evidence +of their support of the Image and consecration to its interests +and laws; either a public, open profession of being +members of the Alliance, and hence supporters (mark in +forehead), or at least a giving of some assistance and +influence to the principles of Image organisation—(the +right-hand support).</q> (Z. '80-1-2.) This implies a re-establishment +of the inquisition <emph>soon</emph>—in some form of house-to-house +<q>investigation</q> or public enrollment. +</p> + +<p> +13:17. <hi rend='sans'>[And] That no man might buy or sell.</hi>—<q>The +<q>buying and selling,</q> like the other features, is symbolic, +and refers to dealing in spiritual things. [But it may be +literally fulfilled as well in the year of prospective famine +now at hand.] None may be recognized as having any +right to teach or preach or baptize or administer the +emblems of our Lord's death, except those licensed by +some orthodox member of the Image, and acts of such persons +(<q>unlicensed</q>) are not counted valid.</q>—Z. '80-1-2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Save he that had the mark [or the name] of the beast.</hi>—Protestants +affiliated with the Federal Council of Churches—already +<q>marked,</q> stamped O. K. by the papacy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Or his name.</hi>—Roman Catholics. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Or the number of his name.</hi>—Consent to the principle of +clergy rule in matters of faith, order and war (murder.)—Rev. +15:2. +</p> + +<pb n='215'/><anchor id='Pg215'/> + +<p> +13:18. <hi rend='sans'>Here is wisdom. Let him that hath [understanding] +AN EAR count the number of the beast.</hi>—<q>Here is +scope for ingenuity. Let people of shrewd intelligence calculate +the number of the Wild Beast; for it indicates a certain +man, and his number is 666.</q>—Weym. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For it is the number of a man.</hi>—The Man of Sin, the +Papacy.—Rev. 19:20; 2 Thes. 2:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And his number is] Six hundred threescore and six.</hi>—In +the Greek this number is six hundred (represented by +the Greek letter χ), plus sixty (represented by the Greek +letter ξ), plus six (represented by the Greek letter ζ). It +is not as though it read six plus six plus six. +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The following extract on this point is from a work +entitled The Reformation, bearing the date of 1832:</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><q>Mrs. A.,</q> said Miss Emmons, <q>I saw a very curious +fact the other day; I have dwelt upon it much, and will +mention it. A person, lately, was witnessing +a ceremony of the Romish +Church. As the pope passed him in +the procession, splendidly dressed in +his pontifical robes, the gentleman's +eye rested on these full, blazing letters +in front of his mitre (tiara—crown): +VICARIVS FILII DEI, the +Vicar of the Son of God. His thoughts, +with the rapidity of lightning, reverted +to Rev. 13:18.</q> <q>Will you turn to it?</q> +said Mrs. A. Alice opened the New +Testament, and read: <q>Let him that +hath understanding count the number +of the beast: for it is the number of a +man; and his number is Six hundred +threescore and six.</q> She paused, and +Miss Emmons said, <q>He took out his +pencil, and marking the numerical letters +of the inscription on his tablet, it +stood 666.</q></q> (Smith.) This explanation +was approved by Pastor Russell, +and was given by him at a Convention Question Meeting. +</p> + +<table rend="latexcolumns: 'p{2cm} p{2cm}'; tblcolumns: 'lw(5) rw(7)'"> +<row><cell>V</cell><cell>5</cell></row> +<row><cell>I</cell><cell>1</cell></row> +<row><cell>C</cell><cell>100</cell></row> +<row><cell>A</cell><cell>0</cell></row> +<row><cell>R</cell><cell>0</cell></row> +<row><cell>I</cell><cell>1</cell></row> +<row><cell>V</cell><cell>5</cell></row> +<row><cell>S</cell><cell>0</cell></row> +<row><cell></cell><cell>——</cell></row> +<row><cell>F</cell><cell>0</cell></row> +<row><cell>I</cell><cell>1</cell></row> +<row><cell>L</cell><cell>50</cell></row> +<row><cell>I</cell><cell>1</cell></row> +<row><cell>I</cell><cell>1</cell></row> +<row><cell></cell><cell>——</cell></row> +<row><cell>D</cell><cell>500</cell></row> +<row><cell>E</cell><cell>0</cell></row> +<row><cell>I</cell><cell>1</cell></row> +<row><cell>——</cell><cell>——</cell></row> +<row><cell>Total</cell><cell>666</cell></row> +</table> + +<p> +On the pope's crown in the Vatican museum is the recognized +and most used title of the pope, VICARIVS FILII +DEI (Vicar of the Son of God.) The word VICARIVS is on +the top of the threefold crown. The word FILII is on the +second circlet; and the words are made from dark, shining +precious jewels. The word DEI is on the under part of +the threefold crown and is made of 100 diamonds. <q>The +Tiara is a bee-hive shaped, somewhat bulging head-covering, +ornamented with three crowns. It is first mentioned +<pb n='216'/><anchor id='Pg216'/> +by Pope Constantine, in A. D. 715. It first appears on +papal coins in the reign of Sergius III., A. D. 911. At this +period it was merely a cap of white stuff. The papal coins +of the 11th century leave it doubtful whether the ornamental +band at the lower edge of the tiara is intended +to represent a crown or merely a decoration. It is only +in representations dating from the late 13th century that +the circlet appears as a regular spiked crown. The second +circlet was added by Pope Boniface VIII., A. D. 1303. The +third was added under Clement V., A. D. 1311.</q> (Brit.) +The reason for the addition of any of these crowns is unknown, +or why the pope should have any crown at all. +The words VICARIVS FILII DEI are, it is said, also carved +over the entrance to the Vatican. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +Gideon's Band. +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q>Count Me the swords that have come.</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'><q>Lord, thousands on thousands are ready.</q></l> +<l><q rend='pre'>Lo! these are too many, and with them are some</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Whose hearts and whose hands are not steady.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>He whose soul does not burn,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Let him take up his tent and return.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><q>Count Me the swords that remain.</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'><q>Lord, hundreds on hundreds are daring.</q></l> +<l><q rend='pre'>These yet are too many for Me to attain</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>To the victory I am preparing.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Lead them down to the brink</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'><q rend='post'>Of the waters of Marah to drink.</q></l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Lord those who remain are but few,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>And the hosts of the foe are appalling,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>And what can a handful such as we do?</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='pre'>When ye hear from beyond, My Voice calling,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Sound the trump! Hold the light!</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'><q rend='post'>Great Midian will melt in your sight!</q></l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='217'/><anchor id='Pg217'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 14—The Five Harvest Messages</head> + +<p> +14:1. <hi rend='sans'>And I looked, and, [lo, a] BEHOLD THE Lamb.</hi>—See +Rev. 5:6; 13:8; John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32; 1 Pet. 1:19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Stood on the Mount Sion.</hi>—The Return of the Lord is +here pictured as accomplished the sleeping saints raised, +and the full number called. This was all fulfilled in 1878. +(Rev. 11:17.) At that time our Lord took unto Himself +His great power and began His Reign. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And with Him an hundred forty and four thousand.</hi>—See +Rev. 7:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having His [Father's] name AND THE NAME OF HIS +FATHER.</hi>—How beautiful and how true that we have <emph>both</emph> +the Father and the Son in our minds, while trinitarians +must necessarily have more or less, and are proportionately +confused. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Written in their foreheads.</hi>—Isa. 44:5; Rev. 7:3; Ex. +13:9; 28:26-38; Deut. 6:8; Z. '07-265; Ezek. 9:2-6. +</p> + +<p> +14:2. <hi rend='sans'>And I heard a voice.</hi>—The message of Present +Truth from the lips of the Lord's saints on this side of +the veil. They are on Mount Zion in the spirit of their +minds. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From heaven.</hi>—<q>We are seated with Him in Heavenly +places.</q>—Rev. 13:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As the voice of many waters.</hi>—A great outpouring of +Truth, in many tongues.—Rev. 1:16; 19:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And as the voice of [a great] thunder.</hi>—Seven thunders, +the seven volumes of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>.—Rev. 8:5; 10:3, 4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [I heard] the voice WHICH I HEARD WAS AS +THAT of harpers harping with their Harps.</hi>—<q>The Scriptures +of the Old and New Testaments constitute what the +Lord Himself designates <q>the Harp of God.</q> (Rev. 15:2.) +And the various testimonies of the Law and the Prophets +are the several chords of that Harp, which, when tuned by +the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, and swept by the +fingers of the devoted servants and searchers after Divine +Truth, yields the most enchanting strains that ever fell on +mortal ears.</q>—F. 233; Rev. 5:8. +</p> + +<p> +14:3. <hi rend='sans'>And they [sang as it were] SING a new song.</hi>—The +Lord particularly promised that in this Harvest time, out +of His Storehouse would come things <emph>new</emph>. (Matt. 13:52; +24:45.) <q>In symbol He pointed out to us the fact that +<pb n='218'/><anchor id='Pg218'/> +the Message of His grace in the closing days of this Gospel +Age would be so different from the commonly accepted +message, misnamed the Gospel, that it would properly +be termed a new song.</q>—Z. '00-37; Rev. 5:9; 15:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND IT WAS before the Throne.</hi>—While still on earth. +Compare Rev. 4:5 and 5:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And before the four beasts.</hi>—Every declaration of Present +Truth has for its object the presentation of one or +more of the Divine attributes—Justice, Power, Love and +Wisdom. All that we do in the service of the Truth is +done in their sight.—Rev. 4:7-10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And BEFORE the elders.</hi>—The prophecies. In all that +we do we are pointing to the prophecies and fulfilling +them. How often it was said of our Lord Jesus, that He +said or did this or that <q>That it might be fulfilled which +was spoken by the mouth of</q> one of the Prophets. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And no man could learn that song but the 144,000.</hi>—<q>Nothing +is more manifest than that it is necessary to +be somewhat of an <q>overcomer</q> of the world and its spirit +which pervades nominal Christendom, ere any would have +the courage to sing this song—to declare before men the +lengths, breadths, heights and depths of the goodness and +grace of the Divine Plan, of which Jesus and His Sacrifice +are the center. To all others <q>the fear of man bringeth a +snare,</q> and stoppeth their mouths from speaking <q>forth +the praise of Him who called us out of darkness into +His marvelous light.</q> <q>But the people that do know their +God [His Character and Plan] shall be valiant and do +exploits,</q> and like the Apostles of old will feel and say. +<q>Whether it be right to obey God or men, judge ye; but +we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and +heard,</q>—Dan. 11:32; Acts 4:19, 20.</q>—Z. '00-37. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which were redeemed from the earth.</hi>—<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Agorazo</foreign>, acquired +at the forum.—E. <hi rend='italic'>443</hi>, 429. +</p> + +<p> +14:4. <hi rend='sans'>These are they which were not defiled with +women; for they are virgins.</hi>—<q rend='pre'>All Bible exponents of the +Protestant kind recognize there are two Women especially +mentioned in Revelation; the one the true Woman, the +Bride class, the other the false Woman; and Protestants +in general understand that false Woman to represent the +papacy. Then again other Protestants understand that +the Scriptures which refer to the mother and daughters +refer to the papacy, and these denominational daughters, +or systems, which sprang from her, and have more or +less of her nature, disposition and characteristics. The +Bible proposition is that the Church is a Virgin Church; +viz.: not united to the world at all, and that this is the +error that was made by the early Church in leaving Christ +<pb n='219'/><anchor id='Pg219'/> +as the prospective Bridegroom and becoming united with +the nation of Rome. This constituted an illicit union; for +as the Bride of Christ she had no right whatever to be +associated with any earthly dominion; therefore in becoming +associated with the Roman Emperor she lost her +standing. We are to remember that this word <q>harlotry</q> +as used in Revelation is merely a symbolical term; there +is nothing more than that to be understood. God speaks +of some of His children as being in Babylon. Babylon is +the name for the mother, the papal system, and the +daughters also have the same name. It means confusion, +mixture and improper relationship. Now then some are +in Babylon and not of Babylon, just the same as the children +of Israel were carried captive into Babylon, but they +were not Babylonians. And in due time God sent forth +the Message to all Natural Israel that if those who had +been carried in captivity into Babylon desired to return +to the Lord their God, and to the Land of Promise, they +might do so. Cyrus gave that decree, you remember, and +many of them did return.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>No one is called out of Babylon until he hears the +Lord's voice. So you and I may have been in Babylon +for years and not have had any responsibility or any impurity; +we were not defiled, because we did not know +any better. But He says, <q>Come out of her, My people, +that ye be not partakers of her sins.</q> That implies that +you are not yet partakers of her sins; you are My people, +in her, but not yet partakers. I was not responsible for +what was in my head from childhood; and God did not +hold me responsible; nor you, nor anyone else; but after +we come to see the great errors which are taught by +Babylon's system then we are responsible. We have said +things about our Heavenly Father that we would be +ashamed to say about ourselves or of our earthly parents.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>We have said He created our world of mankind and +knew what He was doing, had full power and full wisdom, +and intended from the beginning to damn nine hundred +and ninety-nine out of every thousand, and to have them +roast through all eternity; and that He made fireproof +devils to handle them; that He created a great place +called hell in which all of this diabolical work was going +on. No honorable man would treat a poor rat that way—predestinate +the rat before it was born, foreordain it to +eternal torture. And now then after we once see that this +doctrine is blasphemy against God, after we once see that +it was evidently instigated by our great Adversary, the +Devil—after we once see what an awful thing it is—if then +we wish to uphold earthly systems and give our lives, +<pb n='220'/><anchor id='Pg220'/> +strength, talents and means, to upholding these diabolical +teachings, then we are worse than any others there; we +are the worst of them all. What right has any man to +stay inside of a denomination and deny the teachings of +that denomination? He is branding himself as a fraud, +professing to believe what he knows he does not believe, +claiming to teach what he knows he should not teach; or, +on the other hand, teaching that which he knows is wrong, +and professing that which he does not believe at all. The +whole matter is wrong; such are defiled by the Women.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But those who come out when they see the right and +wrong on the question, who take their stand for right, +they are delivering their souls from Babylon. <q>Flee out of +Babylon, saith the Lord; deliver every man his soul.</q> Now +no one is responsible to flee out unless he sees that it is +Babylon, but the very suggestion that it is Babylon to +every honest person means that he should make an investigation, +and a thorough one, to know whether or not he +is in Babylon. If he says, <q>Well, God's voice says <q>flee +out of Babylon,</q> and I believe that the system is Babylon, +but I do not wish to look into it for fear I find it true,</q> +that means he is dishonest with himself; he is defiling +himself. There is only one way of being thoroughly +honest, and that is to be honest.</q> (Pastor Russell.) <q>That +the words can only be understood spiritually seems to +follow from the whole tone of Apocalyptic symbolism:—see +the mention of the Bridegroom and the Bride, of the +Harlot and her fornications. Elsewhere we have the +language of Ps. 45, of the Canticles, of the Book of Hosea, +above all of 2 Cor. 11:2:—<q>I have espoused you to one +Husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to +Christ.</q></q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[These are they which] THOSE WHO follow The Lamb.</hi>—On +this side of the veil. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whithersoever He goeth.</hi>—Those who fail to <q>Walk in +the light as He is in the light</q> find sooner or later that +they <q>walk in darkness</q> for the light goes on and leaves +them.—John 1:6, 7; Prov. 4:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These were redeemed from among men.</hi>—They are a +separate class, <q>from among</q> men. <q>The thought is that +of public purchase; and all the other uses of this word +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>agorazo</foreign>, throughout the New Testament, emphatically support +a most commercial signification. We call especial +attention to the signification of this word, because the +tendency to deny that there was a purchase of our race +effected by a <emph>price</emph> given for man's release from the <q>curse</q> +is prevalent and a growing one—very subversive of the +true faith, once delivered to the saints.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>443</hi>, 430. +</p> + +<pb n='221'/><anchor id='Pg221'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Being the first-fruits] FROM THE BEGINNING unto +God and [to] IN the Lamb.</hi>—<q>Separated from the entire +mass as the best absolutely.—Num. 18:12.</q> (Cook) Deut. +26:2; Jas. 1:18. +</p> + +<p> +14:5. <hi rend='sans'>And in their mouth.</hi>—By contrast to the lies of the +False Prophet. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was found no [guile] FALSEHOOD.</hi>—They fully and +thoroughly believe the doctrines they teach.—Psa. 15:1, 2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For they are without fault [before the Throne of God].</hi>—<q>Faultless +before the presence of His glory with exceeding +Joy.</q>—Jude 24; Eph. 5:27; Psa. 15:1-5. +</p> + +<p> +14:6. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw [another] AN angel.</hi>—<hi rend='italic'>The Divine Plan +of the Ages</hi>, Volume I of the <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fly in the midst of heaven.</hi>—<q>From one end of heaven +to the other</q> amongst Christian people of all denominations.—Matt. +24:31. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having the everlasting Gospel.</hi>—The same Gospel +preached by our Heavenly Father (Gal. 3:8), the Lord +Jesus Christ (John 10:16), the holy Apostles (Acts 15:13-18), +the holy Prophets (Acts 3:19-24) and the holy Angels +(Luke 2:10, 13, 14); but entirely overlooked by the clergy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To preach unto them that dwell on the earth.</hi>—To independent +Christians.—Rev. 13:13, 14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [to] UNTO every nation, and kindred, and tongue, +and people.</hi>—All mankind, living and dead.—1 Tim. 2:4-7. +</p> + +<p> +14:7. <hi rend='sans'>[Saying] with a loud voice.</hi>—By millions of copies +circulated earth-wide. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fear God, and give glory to Him.</hi>—Rather than to creeds, +sects and clergy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the hour of His judgment is come.</hi>—The <hi rend='italic'>MILLENNIAL +DAWN</hi>, the dawn of the thousand-year Judgment Day +of Christ, is at hand.—Rev. 15:4; 11:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And worship Him that made Heaven, and earth, and the +sea.</hi>—God, our Heavenly Father, the Creator of all things.—Neh. +9:6; Psa. 33:6, 124:8; Acts 14:15; 17:24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the fountains of waters.</hi>—His Heaven-sent Word. +</p> + +<p> +14:8. <hi rend='sans'>And there followed another [angel] A SECOND.</hi>—Volume +II of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, [Babylon is fallen,] is fallen, [that] BABYLON, +THE great [city].</hi>—Chapters 7 and 9 of Volume II are particularly +devoted to this theme. <q>The name Babylon +originally signified God's gate-way; but afterward, in +derision, it came to mean <emph>mixture</emph> or <emph>confusion</emph>. In the +book of Revelation this name is applied specifically to the +church nominal, which, from being the gate-way to glory, +became a gate-way to error and confusion, a miserable +mixture composed chiefly of tares, hypocrites,—a confused +mass of worldly profession in which the Lord's jewels are +<pb n='222'/><anchor id='Pg222'/> +buried, and their true beauty and luster hidden.</q> (C. 153.) +<q>The name Babylon was applied, not only to the capital +city of the Babylonian empire, but also to the empire itself. +Babylon, the capital, was the most magnificent, and probably +the largest, city of the ancient world. It was built +in the <q>form of a square on both sides of the Euphrates +river; and, for protection against invaders, it was surrounded +by a deep moat filled with water and inclosed +within a vast system of double walls, from thirty-two to +eighty-five feet thick, and from seventy-five to three hundred +feet high. On the summit were low towers, said to +have been two hundred and fifty in number, placed along +the outer and inner edges of the wall, tower facing tower; +and in these walls were a hundred brazen gates, twenty-five +on each side, corresponding to the number of streets +which intersected each other at right angles. The city +was adorned with splendid palaces and temples and the +spoils of conquest.</q></q> (D. 23; Jer. 51:8; Rev. 18:2.) <q>This +use of the aorist—in the sense of the <q>prophetic preterite</q>—expresses +the certainty of the fall: see chapters 10:7; +11:18; 18:2; and see on chapter 15:1. The language is +taken from Isa. 21:9, the verb denoting the violent fall +and overthrow of kingdoms—see Ezek. 30:6; and see on +chapter 17:10. With the fall of Babylon, the capital of +the ungodly world-kingdom, the Old Testament connects +the redemption of the people of God.—Isa. 13:19; 47:1; +Jer. 51:1-10.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because [she made all nations drink of] ALL NATIONS +HAVE FALLEN THROUGH the wine of the wrath of her +fornication.</hi>—<q>The ruin of all the nations of earth is here attributed +directly to the fact that <q>Babylon made all the +peoples drunk with the wine [spirit, influence] of her +fornication</q>—worldly affiliation.</q>—C. 164, 104; Jer. 51:7; +Rev. 2:20; 17:2, 5; 18:3; 19:2. +</p> + +<p> +14:9. <hi rend='sans'>And [the] ANOTHER, A third angel followed +them.</hi>—Volume III of the <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> followed I and II. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying with a loud voice.</hi>—Proclaiming clearly, in chapters +2, 4 and 6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>If any man worship the beast.</hi>—The Papacy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And his image.</hi>—The Evangelical-Alliance-Spiritism combination.—Rev. +13:11, 13, 14, 15; 14:11; 15:2; 16:2, +13; 19:20; 20:10; Matt. 24:24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And receive his mark In his forehead, or in his hand.</hi>—See +Rev. 13:16, 17. +</p> + +<p> +14:10. <hi rend='sans'>The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath +of God.</hi>—The Message of Present Truth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is poured out without mixture.</hi>—Different from +Babylon's <emph>mixed</emph> wine.—Isa. 5:20-22. +</p> + +<pb n='223'/><anchor id='Pg223'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into the cup of His indignation.</hi>—<q>The Lord our God +hath put us to silence and given us water of gall to drink, +because we have sinned against the Lord.</q>—Jer. 8:14; +Isa. 51:17-20; Jer. 25:26-28; Rev. 18:6; 16:19; Psa. 60:3; +75:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone.</hi>—Whoever +worships, reverences, human institutions and +doctrines more than the Word of the Lord has experienced +the torment here specified. Doctrines of hell fire and +brimstone have been his portion.—Rev. 9:17-19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the presence of the holy angels.</hi>—The Harvest workers +on this side of the veil.—Matt. 13:39. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And in the presence of the Lamb.</hi>—<q>In the days of the +Son of Man;</q> after the Second Advent has taken place. +</p> + +<p> +14:11. <hi rend='sans'>And the smoke of their torment.</hi>—<q>A noun, unlike +a verb (or <q>time-word,</q> as the Germans call it), does not +indicate time. So <q>the smoke of their torment</q> may mean +that of pain endured once for all, and then at an end. +There is nothing in this verse that necessarily implies an +eternity of suffering. In a similar way the word <q>punishment</q> +or <q>correction</q> in Matt. 25:46 gives in itself no indication +of time. Cp. Gen. 19:28; Jude 7.</q> (Weym.) +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>About <emph>endless torment</emph>:</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>(a) The doctrine is found nowhere in the Old Testament, +nor any hint of it. The expression, in the end of +Isaiah, about the fire unquenched and the worms not dying, +is plainly of the corpses of men upon the physical earth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>(b) The doctrine of endless torment was, as a historical +fact, brought back from Babylon by the Rabbis.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>(c) St Paul accepts nothing of it as far as we can tell, +never making the least allusion to the doctrine.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>(d) The Apocalypse asserts that not only <emph>death</emph>, but +<emph>hell</emph> shall be cast into the Lake of Fire.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>(e) The Christian Church has never really held it +exclusively till now.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>(f) Since the Reformation it has been an open question +in the English Church.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>(g) The Church of England, by the deliberate expunging +of the 42nd Article, which affirmed endless punishment, +has declared it, authoritatively, to be open.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>(h) It is so, in fact. Neither I nor any others who +have denied it can be dispossessed or proceeded against +legally, in any way whatsoever.—Rev. Chas. Kingsley, May +9, 1857.</q>—Z. '11-363. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Ascendeth up for ever and ever.</hi>—<q>The remembrance of +the destruction of these systems of deception and error +will be lasting, the lesson will never be forgotten—as +smoke, which continues to ascend after a destructive fire, +<pb n='224'/><anchor id='Pg224'/> +is testimony that the fire has done its work.—See also +Isa. 34:8-10.</q>—H. 64; Rev. 19:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they have no rest day or night.</hi>—A literal fulfillment +of this is expected. (Rev. 7:3.) A few days of it +will be enough to satisfy the most ardent lover of the +torment system of religion. And it will be a just recompense +of reward. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Who worship the beast and his Image.</hi>—<q>All will at +once concede that if a literal worshipping of a beast and +image were meant in verse 9, then few, if any, in civilized +lands are liable to the penalty of verse 11; and if the +beast and his image and worship and wine and cup are +symbols, so also are the torments and smoke and fire and +brimstone.</q>—H. 64; Rev. 14:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.</hi>—Of +fear, sympathy or worship. +</p> + +<p> +14:12. <hi rend='sans'>Here is the patience of the saints.</hi>—Their +crowning trial. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Here are they] that keep the commandments of God.</hi>—The +commandments of God during the Harvest time are +to proclaim, <q>Gather My saints together unto Me;</q> <q>Flee +out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his +soul: be not cut off in her iniquity.</q>—Psa. 50:5; Jer. 51:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the faith of Jesus.</hi>—<q>He laid down His life for us; +and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.</q> +(1 John 3:16.) The Great Company class are our brethren +and we ought to show as much interest in them as we do +in the Little Flock. The gathering of the full number of +the Very Elect would give us no reason to discontinue +Harvest work. +</p> + +<p> +14:13. <hi rend='sans'>And I heard a voice from Heaven.</hi>—The Heavenly +Father's Word. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying [unto me], Write.</hi>—The message found in chapter +9 of Volume III. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.</hi>—<q>Each +member of the Body of Christ must finish his sacrifice in +actual death. They are reckoned of God as being already +dead, and they are exhorted so also to reckon themselves: +<q>Reckon ye yourselves dead indeed unto sin.</q> No other +dead men can be said to die but this class of dead ones, +who must finish their course of sacrifice in actual death.</q>—C. 241; +1 Thes. 4:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From henceforth.</hi>—From the spring of 1878. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Yea,] saith the Spirit.</hi>—The Word of God, in Rev. 6:11. +<q>Nowhere in the Scriptures is death represented as in any +sense a blessing, except in this one instance; and here +it is particularly limited and made applicable to a certain +specific time.</q>—C. 240. +</p> + +<pb n='225'/><anchor id='Pg225'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That they may rest from their labors.</hi>—<q>Poor, bruised +<q>feet,</q> now despised of men, none but yourselves fully +appreciate your privileges. None others can appreciate +the joy you have in proclaiming Present Truth.</q> (C. 236.) +<q>One by one the <q>feet</q> class will pass from the present +condition, in which, though often weary and wounded, +they are always rejoicing, to the other side the veil;—<q>changed</q> +in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, from +mortality to immortality, from weakness to power, from +dishonor to glory, from human to Heavenly conditions, +from animal to spirit bodies.</q> (C. 237.) <q>Instead of the +Kingdom waiting for the living members to finish their +course, the Kingdom work began at once; and the living +ones on this side the veil are privileged to know <q>the +mysteries of the Kingdom</q> and to engage in Kingdom +work before their <q>change;</q> and as they die (will not fall +<q>asleep,</q> but) will be <q>changed</q> in the moment of death, +resurrected as part of the blessed and holy First Resurrection.</q>—D. 622. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] FOR their works do follow them.</hi>—<q>Their <emph>work</emph> +will not cease with this change; for all those who will be +counted worthy of that change to glory will be already +enlisted in the service of the Kingdom on this side the +veil: only the weariness, the labor feature, will cease with +the change.</q> (C. 238.) <q>We may not be able to judge +accurately as to what features of the great work are now +being carried on by the Lord and His glorified saints +beyond the veil; but we may be sure that they are active +participants in the work assigned the members of the +same Kingdom class, whose course and service are not +yet ended on this side the veil—the Harvest work.</q>—D. 624; +1 Cor. 15:58. +</p> + +<p> +14:14. <hi rend='sans'>[And I looked], and behold a white cloud.</hi>—See +Rev. 10:1. As the cloud indicates the Time of Trouble, +so the white indicates the pure motive back of it. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And upon the cloud [one sat] I SAW ONE SITTING like +unto the Son of Man.</hi>—<q>To the Jewish House Jesus presented +Himself in three characters—as Bridegroom (John +3:29), Reaper (John 4:35, 38) and King (Matt. 21:5, 9, 4). +To the Christian House He presents Himself in the same +characters. (2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 14:14, 15; 17:14.)</q>—B. 238. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having on His head a golden crown.</hi>—The Divine nature, +Immortality, the highest form of life.—2 Tim. 4:8; +Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And in His hand a sharp sickle.</hi>—<q>This Harvest, like the +Jewish one, is to be first a time of trial and sifting upon +the Church, and afterward a time of wrath upon the world, +including the nominal Church. That which tried fleshly +<pb n='226'/><anchor id='Pg226'/> +Israel in the Harvest of their Age was the truth then +presented to them. The truth then due was the sickle, +and it separated the <q>Israelites indeed</q> from the nominal +Jewish Church; and of the true wheat there was but a +fragment compared to the professors. So also is the +Harvest of this Age. The Harvest of the Gospel Age, +like that of the Jewish Age, is under the supervision of +the Chief Reaper, our Lord Jesus, who must then be +present.</q>—A. 238. +</p> + +<p> +14:15. <hi rend='sans'>And another angel.</hi>—The Witness to the Lord in +the Land of Egypt. (Isa. 19:20.) See pages 309, 311, +Vol. III, and observe that Chapter 10, Vol. III, <hi rend='italic'>Scripture +Studies</hi>, is in reality a separate book. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Came out of [the] HIS temple, crying with a loud voice.</hi>—Throughout +the 66 pages of his testimony. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To Him that sat on the cloud.</hi>—To our Present Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come +[for thee] to reap.</hi>—The Great Pyramid confirms the +Bible's teaching that the time of Harvest has come. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the Harvest of the earth is ripe.</hi>—<q>The use of a +sickle is to gather wheat, not to ripen it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +14:16. <hi rend='sans'>And He that sat on the cloud.</hi>—The Lord Jesus, +during His Parousia, overruling and withholding the Time +of Trouble. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was +reaped.</hi>—Reading verses 13-16 connectedly, we note that +the resurrection of the sleeping saints is recorded, and is +immediately followed by the Harvest. This suggests that +the Harvest proper began in 1878; and that the three and +a half years prior to the spring of 1878 was devoted to +preliminary work, but not to Harvest work in the full +sense. It was not proper to say <q>Come out of her, My +people,</q> until Babylon was cast off, in the Spring of 1878.—Rev. +3:14; Matt. 13:30; 24:31. +</p> + +<p> +14:17. <hi rend='sans'>And another angel.</hi>—Pastor Russell himself, after +the harvesting of the saints was finished. (Volumes IV, V, +VI are not shown in this strictly Harvest chapter, as they +are more used for the upbuilding of the saints than as +Harvest instruments. They are, however, shown in Rev. +10:4; 15:8; 16:1-18.) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Came out of the Temple which is in Heaven.</hi>—The +Church in glory, on the other side of the veil. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He also having a sharp sickle.</hi>—The privilege of guiding +the work of bringing forth out of the Divine Storehouse +all the Master's store of provisions, as needed, and of +directing the execution upon the nominal church of the +chastisements promised in the Holy Word. <q>Blessed is +that servant, whom his Lord when He cometh shall find +<pb n='227'/><anchor id='Pg227'/> +so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that He will make +him ruler over <emph>all that He hath</emph>.</q>—Luke 12:44; Psa. +49:5-9; Isa. 21:1-10. +</p> + +<p> +14:18. <hi rend='sans'>And another angel.</hi>—The corporate body which +Pastor Russell organized to finish his work. See Rev. +8:3-5, which describes the same matter as here narrated. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Came out from the altar.</hi>—The place of sacrifice. The +<hi rend='smallcaps'>Society</hi> is maintained by the sacrifices of the saints. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which had power over fire.</hi>—Authority over the publication +and distribution of expositions of Ezekiel and John +the Revelator, symbolical <q>coals of fire.</q>—Isa. 6:6; Ezek. +10:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And cried with a loud [cry] VOICE to Him that had the +sharp sickle.</hi>—What a disappointed cry went up from the +whole Church that dear Brother Russell went beyond the +veil without writing the Seventh Volume of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture +Studies</hi>, for which we all have looked so long! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Thrust In Thy sharp sickle.</hi>—Oh, that the Lord +would wind up the present order of things, in whatever +way He might elect!—Joel 3:9-14, 13; Matt. 13:39-43. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And gather the clusters of the vine of the earth.</hi>—In +the Adventist cluster there are 6 bunches of smaller sects; +in the Baptist 15; Brethren (Dunkard) 4; Plymouth +Brethren 4; River Brethren 3; Catholic Apostolic 2; +Churches of the Living God 3; Churches of the New Jerusalem +2; Disciples of Christ 2; Evangelical Bodies 2; +Faith Associations 9; Friends 4; Latter-Day Saints 2; +Lutheran 21; Scandinavian Evangelical Bodies 3; Mennonite +13; Methodist 16; Moravian 2; Pentecostal bodies +2; Presbyterian 12; Protestant Episcopal 2; Reformed 4; +United Brethren 2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For her grapes are fully ripe.</hi>—All these sects have long +ago taken their stand against the Truth and therefore +against the Lord. O Lord, judge them with Thy Truth! +Thou hast called them the <q>abominations of the earth</q> +and so they are. Bring their man-made clergy-ridden +systems to an end and make their memory to perish from +the earth! Amen.—Isa. 65:17; Rev. 17:5; Jer. 6:9-30. +</p> + +<p> +14:19. <hi rend='sans'>And the angel thrust in his sickle [into] UPON +the earth.</hi>—Distributed far and wide among order-loving +people the good news that nominal Zion's travail is at +hand, and the new and better order of things near. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And gathered the vine of the earth.</hi>—Brought together +all the sects in virulent opposition to the Message of the +Truth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of +God.</hi>—<q>The fruitage of the True Vine is Love, and is +precious to the Father; but the fruitage of the Vine of +<pb n='228'/><anchor id='Pg228'/> +the Earth is selfishness in various forms, and will be +ultimately gathered into the great winepress of the wrath +of God in the great Time of Trouble with which this Age +will close.</q> (F. 207; Rev. 19:15.) <q>While the taking of +different names was wrong, it was an evidence of a deeper +wrong—of a selfish, party spirit. It was an evidence that +those Corinthians who took the party names had never +appreciated the oneness of the Body of Christ; that they +did not really appreciate that Christ is the only Head, +Leader and Standard; and that His is the only name by +which His followers should recognize themselves and +each other.</q> (Z. '08-116.) +</p> + +<p> +Many of the clergy are today followers of Darwin and +Socrates instead of Moses and Christ And both Darwin +and Socrates were mentally unsound. The following is +from Dr. Dorland's <hi rend='italic'>The Age of Mental Virility</hi>: <q>It is likewise +exceptional to find an unusually short nose, such as +that possessed by Darwin and Socrates, among men of +intellect. Nasal abbreviation is one of the well-known +signs of degeneracy, as is also the sessile or otherwise +misshapen ear, the sugar-loaf skull, the close-set eyes, and +other physiognomic irregularities, including the cretinoid +face. The latter, strange to relate, has been noted in +certain men of remarkable genius, including Darwin and +Carlyle, Rembrandt, Pope and Socrates. I wish to emphasize +at this point the assertion that not every individual +who chances to possess one of the above mentioned physical +peculiarities is to be immediately stamped as a degenerate. +It is only when there is a combination of two +or more of these traits, especially if this combination has +been noted as a family peculiarity, that the suspicion will +be awakened; and this may then be confirmed and the +condition established by close and careful investigation.</q> +<q>Socrates,</q> writes Pedigo, <q>presented one of the most +interesting studies in dual personality and subconscious +conditions in all history in his memorable daemon, which +he said guided him and inspired him with wisdom.</q> <q>Herbert +Spencer was the victim of a fixed delusion.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The clergy are the ones directly responsible for the war +in Europe. It was not their province to convince the +rulers of those countries that their kingdoms are parts of +God's Kingdom of peace, holiness, justice, love and truth—monstrous! +They are an entirely unauthorized class—except +by themselves; a self-perpetuating fraud. They +have brought upon their heads the blood of all the nations +of the earth in this world war; and God will require it at +their hands. In the spring of 1918, and from that time +onward forever, it will be as unsafe to tell the lies that +<pb n='229'/><anchor id='Pg229'/> +have filled Babylon's exchequers as it will to be a king.—Zech. +13:2-6. <q>Though controversy and words of passion and +arguments will be and are among the weapons used in this +battle, especially in the beginning of it, yet it will not end +with these. Every prophetic detail indicates that before it +ends it will be most sanguinary, a fierce and terrible +storm.</q>—D. 529; Jer. 25:26-38; Isa. 63:1-6; Lam. 1:15. +</p> + +<p> +14:20. <hi rend='sans'>And the winepress.</hi>—The Seventh Volume of +<hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>, the work that will squeeze the juice out +of the <q>Abominations of the earth.</q> Cook's <hi rend='italic'>Revelation</hi>, page +709, calls attention to the peculiar fact that this word is +<emph>both masculine and feminine</emph>. This seemingly indicates the +Lord's recognition of the co-operation of the <emph>sisters</emph>, particularly +in the closing feature of the Harvest work. Priscilla +was such a valuable helper that she was named before +her husband in Acts 18:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was trodden without the city.</hi>—<q>In symbolic prophecy a +<q>city</q> signifies a religious government backed by power and +influence. Thus, for instance, the <q>holy city, the new Jerusalem,</q> +is the symbol used to represent the established Kingdom +of God, the overcomers of the Gospel Church exalted +and reigning in glory.</q> (D. 25.) <q>The treading of the winepress +is the last feature of Harvest work. The reaping +and gathering is all done first.</q> (D. 18.) Worldly editors +have applied this verse to the great war now raging in +Europe; but this expression makes it impossible to so apply +it. If the war is the winepress and Christendom the city, +it is not being trodden <emph>without</emph> the city, but right in its +midst. This suggests that the Revelator referred to another +city; and with propriety; for this chapter is devoted to +Harvest work only. What city more appropriate to refer to +then than the Bethel, the Divinely appointed center for the +Harvest work, the embryo Kingdom of God on earth? See +Rev. 19:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And blood.</hi>—Teachings which though truthful will be +death-dealing and seem <q>bloody</q> to sectarianism. +(<q>And blood came out of the winepress even unto the horse bridles</q> is a parenthetical +clause. Without this parenthesis the verse reads: <q>And the winepress was +trodden without the city by the distance of a thousand and two hundred furlongs.</q>) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Came out of the winepress.</hi>—The exposition of the prophecies +of Ezekiel and the Revelator. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Even unto the horse bridles.</hi>—So deep as to strangle +and drown the old false doctrinal hobbies so long ridden. +Sectarianism will be the universal laughing-stock. See +Rev., chapters 8 and 9. <q>Because I have called, and ye +refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man +regarded; but ye have set at nought all My counsel, and +would none of My reproof; I will mock when your fear +<pb n='230'/><anchor id='Pg230'/> +cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your +destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and +anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, +but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they +shall not find Me; for that they hated knowledge, and did +not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my +counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall +they eat of the fruit of their own way.</q>—Prov. 1:24-31. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By the space of a thousand and [six] TWO hundred furlongs.</hi>—This +can not be interpreted to refer to the 2100 +mile battle line of the world war. A furlong or stadium is +not a mile and this is without the city whereas the battle +line is within the city. See Rotherham's translation. +</p> + +<p> +A stadium is 606-¾ English ft.; 1200 stadii are, mi., 137.9. +</p> + +<p> +The work on this volume was done in +Scranton, Pa. As fast as it was completed +it was sent to the Bethel. Half +of the work was done at an average distance +of 5 blocks from the Lackawanna +station, and the other half at a distance +of 25 blocks. Blocks in Scranton are 10 +to the mile. Hence the average distance +to the station is 15 blocks, or, 1.5 mi. +</p> + +<p> +The mileage from Scranton to Hoboken +Terminal is shown in time tables as 143.8 +and this is the mileage charged to passengers, +but in 1911, at an expense of +$12,000,000, the Lackawanna Railroad +completed its famous cut-off, saving 11 +miles of the distance. From the day the +cut-off was completed the trainmen have +been allowed 11 miles less than the time +table shows, or a net distance of 132.8 mi. +</p> + +<p> +Hoboken Ferry to Barclay Street Ferry, +New York, is 2.0 mi. +</p> + +<p> +Barclay Street Ferry to Fulton Ferry, +New York, is 4,800 feet or 0.9 mi. +</p> + +<p> +Fulton Ferry, New York, to Fulton +Ferry, Brooklyn, is 2,000 feet or 0.4 mi. +</p> + +<p> +Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn, to Bethel, is +1,485 feet or 0.3 mi. +</p> + +<p> +Shortest distance from place where the +winepress was trodden by the Feet Members +of the Lord, Whose guidance and +help alone made this volume possible. +(John 6:60, 61; Matt. 20:11.), mi., 137.9 +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='231'/><anchor id='Pg231'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 15—The Song Of The Saints</head> + +<p> +15:1. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw another sign.</hi>—<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Seemion</foreign>, the same word +used by our Lord when He said, <q>Then shall appear the +<emph>sign</emph> of the Son of Man.</q> The proofs of the Lord's Second +Advent are here referred to. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In heaven.</hi>—Among God's professed people. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Great and marvelous.</hi>—Very different in tone and contents +from other Bible <q>helps.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Seven angels.</hi>—The seven volumes of <hi rend='italic'>Studies in the +Scriptures</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having the seven last plagues.</hi>—The seven volumes of +<hi rend='italic'>Studies in the Scriptures</hi> together constitute the third and +last woe poured out upon papacy.—Rev. 16:1-21; 22:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For in them is filled up the wrath of God.</hi>—Their united +testimony is that the Times of the Gentiles have expired, +the Reign of Christ has begun, all earthly potentates—Civil, +Social, Ecclesiastical and Financial—must give way +to the New Order of things, and will not give way peaceably, +but must be ejected. +</p> + +<p> +15:2. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw as it were a sea of glass.</hi>—The Time of +Trouble made transparent. We can see why the Lord permits +it, and see the Golden Age of glory, peace and Divine +blessing that lies just beyond. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Mingled with fire.</hi>—The coming anarchy. <q>They are the +waves of the Red Sea, which appears on fire as the Sun of +righteousness arises upon them, on the margin of which +the true Israelites sing the song of Moses and the saving +Lamb. Standing on its shore are seen those who are delivered +from the beasts' sway as the Israelites were in their +exodus from the land of Pharaoh. The song of Moses is +sung by delivered Israel after the Egyptian plagues: here +the hymn of praise is sung by the redeemed before the +plagues are renewed and the Church gains its last victory +over the antichristian world.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And them that had gotten the victory over the beast, +and [over] his image.</hi>—Who understand and live in harmony +with the knowledge that both Papacy and Protestantism, +and the governments under their influence, are of +Satanic spirit.—Rev. 13:11, 13, 14, 15; 14:11; 16:2, 13; +19:20; 20:10; Matt. 24:24. +</p> + +<pb n='232'/><anchor id='Pg232'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And over his mark,] And over the number of his name.</hi>—Who +refuse to let any stand for them in the place of +Christ.—Rev. 13:14-18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Stand on the sea of glass.</hi>—Not in among the restless +and discontented, but on a higher plane.—Heb. 13:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having the harps of THE LORD God.</hi>—See Rev. 5:8; 14:2. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>God's Word is that harp, which has long been unstrung,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And men heard but discordant its notes;</l> +<l>Now as tuned are its chords from Moses to John,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>How grandly sweet melody floats.</q></l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +<p> +15:3. <hi rend='sans'>And [they sing] SINGING the song of Moses.</hi>—<q>Hebrew +scholars have remarked on the evidence of the antiquity +of the song of Moses, recorded in Exodus 15:1-20, +some even noting the fact that a few of the words showed +an intermingling of the Egyptian language. It is further +authenticated by the reference made to it in the book of +Psalms, where the entire matter of the deliverance of the +people and the overthrow of their enemies in the sea is +graphically described by the sweet singer of Israel. (Psa. +106:7-12.) If it was appropriate, as we all admit that it +was, that the Israelites should give glory to God for their +deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, much more is it +appropriate that spiritual Israel should recognize the still +greater deliverance from the power of Satan and the thralldom +of sin, accomplished for us through the blood of the +Lamb of God who died for our sins.</q>—Z. '07-158; Rev. 14:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Servant of God.</hi>—See Ex. 14:31. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the song of the Lamb.</hi>—<q>They sing in the sense of +declaring in harmonious and beautiful cadences the relationship +of the types and figures of the Law and the Prophets +of the Mosaic Dispensation with the antitypes of +these of the Gospel Dispensation; showing that all things +written in the Law and in the Prophets are finding glorious +fulfilments in the Lamb of God and in the great Plan +which the Father is working out through Him.</q>—Z. '00-310. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God +Almighty.</hi>—<q>First amongst the great and marvelous +works of the Almighty was the sentence of death upon +father Adam and his posterity. As we look at this marvelous +work, we must concede that it was just (in that it +was merited), that it is true (in the sense of not being an +unreasonable penalty), true in the sense that it was +exactly what God forewarned father Adam the penalty of +disobedience would be. <q>Just and true are thy ways, thou +King of Saints.</q> But Jehovah's first great and marvelous +work of condemnation was, after four thousand years, followed +by another great and marvelous work; <hi rend='italic'>viz.</hi>, the +<pb n='233'/><anchor id='Pg233'/> +work of redemption. How stupendous this work of the +ransoming of all Adam's race of hundreds of millions by +the sacrifice of one Man! How great and wonderful indeed +this act, and how just and true, and how fully in +Harmony with every feature of Divine Justice and Love!—1 +Tim. 2:5, 6; Rom. 5:12, 18, 19.</q>—Z. '00-310. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Just and true are Thy ways.</hi>—<q>As we have viewed the +failure of Christendom to adopt the spirit of Christ's teaching, +and seen how the knowledge and liberty gained from +His teachings were blended with the spirit of evil, selfishness, +and as from present foreshadowings we mark the +sure approach of anarchy and every evil work, yet realizing +its necessity and justice, and having learned also the +ends of mercy to be attained eventually by this very +means, our hearts exclaim, <q>Great and marvelous are Thy +works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are Thy +ways.</q></q> (D. 526; Deut. 32:4; Psa. 145:17.) <q>As Aaron and +the two remaining sons were forbidden to make lamentation +for their brethren who were cut off, this signifies +that all the faithful of the priests will recognize the justice +of the Divine decisions, and will bow to them in humble +submission, saying, <q>Just and true are Thy ways.</q></q>—Lev. +10:1-7; Psa. 89:14; Job 36:17; 37:23; Isa. 56:1; T. 40. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thou King of [saints] THE WORLDS.</hi>—The margin renders +this <q>King of nations or ages.</q> He will be King of all +nations by and by. He is King of all ages (worlds) in the +sense that the ages are working out His sovereign will. +</p> + +<p> +15:4. <hi rend='sans'>Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy +name.</hi>—<q>Here is still another feature to this song, and it is +glorious also. It looks forward to the glorious Millennial +Age, to the time when, under Divine providence, the +knowledge of the Lord, essential to faith, and to any acceptance +of His favor and mercy through Christ, shall be +extended to every creature. <q>Every knee shall bow and +every tongue confess.</q> (Rom. 14:11.) And while this bowing +and confessing may at first be compulsory, yet the +Scriptures assure us that ultimately all who will not come +into heart harmony with the Lord and with all His gracious +arrangements and provisions, shall be cut off from +amongst the people,—in the Second Death. (Acts 3:23.) +So that ultimately, instead of the Universe being filled +with hundreds of millions who to all eternity will wail and +gnash their teeth and blaspheme God's holy name in agony—instead +of this the time shall come when every tongue +in Heaven and in earth shall be heard praising God, and +giving honor to Him that sitteth on the Throne and to the +Lamb, forever, for by that time all evildoers shall be cut +off. (Rev. 5:13.)</q>—Z. '00-311; Jer. 10:7. +</p> + +<pb n='234'/><anchor id='Pg234'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For Thou only art holy.</hi>—<q>This song continues, and has +yet another strain. It declares, <q>Thou only art holy</q>. All +holiness, all perfection, wherever it is found, must proceed +from God, the great Fountain of holiness. How +strange, then, that any of God's dear people (and we ourselves +were once amongst this number) should so misunderstand +the Divine Character and Plan as to misrepresent +the same as being the very essence of unholiness, injustice, +unkindness, inequity, lovelessness, toward the +great mass of God's creatures!</q>—Z. '00-311. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For all nations shall come and worship before Thee.</hi>—<q>There +is still another strain in this song; and it is a +grand one also, like all the others,—reaching down into +the Millennial Age. It declares, <q>All nations shall come +and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made +manifest.</q> <q>All nations</q> will include, not only all the nations +then living, but all the nations of the dead, just as +does the promise which God made to Abraham, saying, +<q>In thy Seed [The Christ, Head and Body] shall all the +nations of the earth be blessed.</q> (Gen. 22:18.)</q>—Z. '00-311. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For [Thy] judgments are made manifest BEFORE THEE.</hi>—There +was a time when we could not sing this song (Psa. +137). We looked forward with dread to the time when the +Lord's judgments would be made manifest. We did not +see that the Judgment Day is a day of <q>assurance to all +men.</q> (Acts 17:31.) We did not see that the first judgment +day was against our race (Rom. 5:18), and that no +culprit can be on trial twice for the same offence. We did +not see that another Judgment Day, favorable to our race, +came at the time of our Lord's great victory over death +(John 12:31); nor did we see that our own, the Judgment +Day of the saints, is here and now. (1 Tim. 5:24; 1 +Cor. 11:31; 1 Pet. 4:17.) We did perhaps note, our duty +of judging wolves by their greed, dogs by their quarrelsomeness, +swine by their interest in earthly things, thorns +by their disposition to wound and tear, and thistles by +their disposition to scatter seeds that cause trouble (Matt. +7:6, 16, 15); and some of us went beyond and began judging +one another (Rom. 14:13; Matt. 7:1). We never wanted +the Lord to do it, even though we do know that He will +bring every secret thing into judgment. (Prov. 15:3; Ecc. +12:14.) Now we see that the world's Judgment Day is a +thousand years long (Psa. 90:4; 2 Pet. 3:7, 8); we have +learned that a day is not always merely a 24-hour period. +(Gen. 2:4; Heb. 3:8; 2 Cor. 6:2.) We see now that our +Lord Jesus at the first Advent judged nobody (John 12:47; +Luke 12:14), but that God has exalted Him to be the +world's Judge (Acts 5:31) a Deliverer (Judges 3:9; Isa. +<pb n='235'/><anchor id='Pg235'/> +1:26); that He will have associate judges (1 Cor. 6:2; +Rev. 20:6); that His judgments will end war, promote +righteousness and aid the poor and needy (Isa. 2:4; 11:4; +26:9), destroy unrighteousness and bring in everlasting +peace and joy.—2 Thes. 1:7; Isa. 65:18; 1 Cor. 15:25; 1 +Chron. 16:31; Psa. 96:13; Psa. 98:1-9; Psa. 72:1-14. +</p> + +<p> +15:5. <hi rend='sans'>And after that I looked, and, [behold].</hi>—Another +vision of the same thing. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Temple of the Tabernacle of the testimony in +heaven was opened.</hi>—Pastor Russell was given a clear, +beautiful, complete comprehension of the Plan of God as +revealed in the Tabernacle arrangements and sacrifices. +(Acts 7:44). This is the foundation of all his works. +</p> + +<p> +15:6. <hi rend='sans'>And the seven angels came out of the Temple.</hi>—The +seven volumes of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>, emerged, all in +harmony with the teachings of the Tabernacle, from which +they proceeded. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having the seven last plagues.</hi>—Though counted as +plagues by ecclesiasticism they are in reality blessings, +destined to rid the earth of every obnoxious thing, not the +least of which are the great whore and harlots, large and +small, that have defiled the earth with their unclean doctrines. +(Rev. 17:5.) <q>Suppose that the salaries and <q>livings</q> +of all ministers, bishops, priests, etc., were cut off, +all churches, chapels and cathedrals destroyed, all theological +seminaries broken up, and their professors turned to +other pursuits, all religious guilds and societies disbanded, +including all sectarian organizations—what would be the +effect? Who can doubt that it would be a real blessing under +the disguise of a great and terrible catastrophe? The +effect would be to bring <emph>true</emph> Christians together as the +family of God, and not as sectarian bands; to study God's +Word, and not human traditions and creeds formulated in +the Dark Ages. The Scriptures seem to indicate that +very much of this sort of destruction of present systems +must take place before all the <q>wheat,</q> the true Church, +will be separated from the <q>tares,</q> the mere professors.</q> +(Z. '08-119.) <q>The Church, or company of believers, probationers +for coming glory, in its <q>voluntary association,</q> +was indeed to <emph>recognize</emph> <q>teachers,</q> <q>helps,</q> <q>Apostles,</q> etc., +but not to <emph>make</emph> them. If they recognize a man <q>mighty in +the Scriptures,</q> <q>apt to teach,</q> they should be careful always, +even while rejoicing in and thanking God for such +a servant, to require a <q>thus saith the Lord</q> for every point +of doctrine, and to search the Scriptures daily to see +whether these things be so.</q>—Z. '08-120. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Clothed in pure [and white] BRIGHT linen.</hi>—<q>The <q>Linen +Girdle</q> indicated a righteous servant: linen—righteousness, +<pb n='236'/><anchor id='Pg236'/> +girdle—servitude.</q> (T. 30.) <q>A different word than in +Rev. 19:8. The word here used is suitable as describing +priestly attire and refers to ministrations on this side of +the veil.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And having their breasts girded with golden girdles.</hi>—<q>The +under-priests were robed in linen garments and wore +girdles. Their robes represented the righteousness of +Jesus, imputed to us, and their girdles represent us as +servants of righteousness.</q> (T. 36.) The <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> +are servants of the Church—righteous servants, clad in the +Lord's robe.—Rev. 1:13. +</p> + +<p> +15:7. <hi rend='sans'>And one of the four beasts.</hi>—Heavenly Wisdom.—Rev. +4:7; Matt. 24:45; Jas. 1:5; 3:17; Ezek. 10:2, 7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Gave unto the seven angels [seven] golden vials.</hi>—The +message of Present Truth. <q>The vial was the shallow bowl +in which they drew from the larger goblet.</q>—Cook; Psa. +79:6; Jer. 10:25; Zeph. 3:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Full of the wrath of God.</hi>—Against all untruth, injustice +and selfishness in organizations, Civil, Social, Ecclesiastical +and Financial. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Who liveth for ever and ever, Amen.</hi>—Whereas all of +those are to pass away.—Rev. 4:9, 10; 10:6. +</p> + +<p> +15:8. <hi rend='sans'>And the temple was filled with smoke.</hi>—The nominal +Church is filled with confusion as the deformities of +her errors are made manifest.—Isa. 6:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From the glory of God, and from His power.</hi>—As revealed +in His Word in this Harvest time.—2 Chron. 5:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And no man was able to enter into the temple.</hi>—No person +of mature thought. The large proportion of new +members now received in the various denominations is +from the Sunday School.—Rev. 9:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.</hi>—Until +the seven volumes of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> were written, +published and circulated. Shortly afterward the true +Temple will be in readiness, wherein men, women and +children of all races and ages will find their hearts' hunger +satisfied. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, +and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I +will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall +come: and I will fill this House with glory, saith the Lord +of hosts. The silver [the Great Company class that will +be used in connection with its ministrations] is Mine, and +the gold [the Little Flock, of which it will be composed] +is Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory of this latter +House shall be greater than the former, [the nominal +church], saith the Lord of Hosts; and in this place will I +give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts.</q>—Hag. 2:6-9. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='237'/><anchor id='Pg237'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 16—Ecclesiasticism's Seven Plagues</head> + +<p> +16:1. <hi rend='sans'>And I heard a great voice out of the Temple.</hi>—Pastor +Russell was the voice of the Lord thus used. (Rev. +7:2; 10:3.) He was of the true Temple, and <q>out of</q> the +nominal temple at the time these plagues were poured out. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying to the seven angels.</hi>—The seven volumes of +<hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>. See Rev. 8:2-5 and 14:17-20. <q>The +plagues upon Egypt were intended in some measure to +foreshadow, to illustrate, the plagues with which this Gospel +Age will end.</q> (F. 175.) Pastor Russell walked in the light. +When the plagues actually appeared, he no longer held to +the explanation published in 1883, before they appeared, +and so stated on many occasions. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Go your ways, and pour out the SEVEN vials of the wrath +of God upon the earth.</hi>—In the prefaces to the several volumes +of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> such expressions abound as <q>I +send forth this volume with prayers,</q> <q>and now it is sent +forth in the faith,</q> etc., etc. +</p> + +<p> +16:2. <hi rend='sans'>And the first went, and poured out his vial [upon] +INTO the earth.</hi>—Volume I was distributed among +those already under religious restraint. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there fell a [noisome and] grievous AND NOISOME +sore.</hi>—The book seemed to ecclesiastics like an evil and +malignant ulcer, a painful, running sore, which eats, corrupts +and destroys. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Upon the men which had the mark of the beast.</hi>—Roman +Catholics. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And upon them which worshipped his image.</hi>—Protestants +affiliated with the Federal Council of Churches. Rev. +13:11; 13, 14, 15; 14:9, 11; 15:2; 16:13; 19:20; 20:10; +Matt. 24:24. Another view of the book, from the standpoint +of the clergy, is afforded by the plague of flies (Ex. +8:20-32.) It seemed to them like an old-time Egyptian +curse, with which they were quite familiar, namely, one +more of the Evangelistic firms already cursing society, +and interfering with the regular clergy business. <q rend='pre'>The +Scriptural details are as follows: The <foreign rend='italic'>arab</foreign> filled the +houses of the Egyptians, they covered the ground, they +lighted on the people, the land was laid waste on their +account. A biting, insidious creature, which comes like a +dart, with great noise, and, rushing with great impetuosity +<pb n='238'/><anchor id='Pg238'/> +on the skin, sticks to it most tenaciously. They boldly beset +cattle, and not only obtain ichor, as other flies, but also +suck out blood from beneath, and occasion great pain.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They have no proboscis, but, instead, have double sets +of teeth, like wasps, which they infix deeply in the skin; +they greatly infest the ears of dogs. This genus is most +impudently pertinacious in its assaults, spares neither man +nor beast, gorges itself to bursting with blood, infusing an +irritating venom at the same time. No idea can be +formed of their obstinate rapacity. It is in vain to drive +them away; they return again in the self-same moment, +and their perseverance wearies out the most patient +spirit.</q> (McC.) These flies, flying a short distance into the +heavens, do their work around the dunghill of human tradition, +but the collections of one of them recently amounted +to $400,000 in eight American cities, so the business can +be made a money maker by those willing to cater to the +demand for sensationalism, and who have no hesitancy +in repeating ancient blasphemies against God's holy name. +</p> + +<p> +These flies are called dog-flies, because they infest the +ears of dogs; and when it is remembered that the Scriptures +refer to the clergy as <q>dumb dogs</q> (Isa. 56:10, 11; +Phil. 3:2) we can readily see the application. The clergy +of an entire city will sit on a platform, facing virtually the +whole population, and hear themselves called liars, hypocrites, +false-alarms and other villainous names. But because +they hope to get a few <q>converts,</q> and therefore a +few shekels for the <q>sanctuary,</q> they will take it all meekly, +and prefer to take it rather than humbly admit one +item of truth in all Pastor Russell's beautiful writings. +After the firm has left town, they frequently bemoan the +treatment received and think longingly of the wherewithal +taken by the fly that was not satisfied with mere ichor, +but wanted the real blood. +</p> + +<p> +At this point it may be well to explain the plagues of +frogs and lice. The former seems to represent the <hi rend='italic'>Old +Theology Quarterly</hi> which Pharaoh found everywhere +contaminating his kingdom, but which, at the hand of the +Lord, suddenly died out completely. The latter seems to +represent <hi rend='italic'>The Bible Students Monthly</hi>. There is no record +that the plague of lice was discontinued, and even yet +the Egyptians (people of the world) and Pharaoh (the +Devil) and his magicians (the clergy) scratch their heads +many a time, wondering how to deal with a plague which +they cannot duplicate. +</p> + +<p> +16:3. <hi rend='sans'>And the second [angel] poured out his vial upon +the sea.</hi>—Volume II, <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> seemed to the beast +and his image to reach and affect only the discontented, +<pb n='239'/><anchor id='Pg239'/> +those who never were very subservient to the ruler of +this present evil world, or any of his systems. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And it became as the blood of a dead man.</hi>—After death +the blood separates into a watery liquid, called serum, and +a solid substance termed clot. As soon as this separation +takes place the clot begins to putrefy or corrupt. Thus it +seemed to worshipers of the beast and his image that anybody +that would accept the teachings of Volume II would +be in a hopeless condition. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And every living soul died in the sea.</hi>—To the worshipers +of the beast and his image it seemed as though such would +be lost and would surely go to hell to be tormented forever. +An <q>evangelist</q> who held these views called at the +home of a lady in Scranton. Entering the hall he saw an +elegant picture of Pastor Russell. Instantly he lost control +of what mind he had and vehemently said, <q>I called +here as a Christian minister, but I see you have old Russell's +picture here. Are you a follower of his?</q> The lady +replied that she was. He then said, <q>He is in hell, and +you will be there too, if you follow him.</q> Quick as thought +the lady reopened the door through which he had just entered, +invited him to the porch overlooking the valley; and +as he stood there gazing into space she said, <q>Tell it to the +atmosphere,</q> and left him while she attended to more important +duties. +</p> + +<p> +Another picture of the effect of Volume II on the anti-typical +Egyptians may be seen from the plague of the murrain +(Ex. 9:1-7.) <q>This consisted in some distemper that +resulted in a sudden and dreadful mortality among the cattle +in the field, including horses, asses, camels, oxen and +sheep. It was, however, confined to the Egyptian cattle, +and to those that were in the field; for though the cattle +of the Hebrews breathed the same air, drank the same +water, and fed in the same pastures, not a creature of +theirs died. The Egyptian cattle that survived in the +sheds, and were afterwards sent into the fields, were destroyed +by the succeeding storm of fire and hail.</q> (McC.) +These creatures were valuable to the Egyptians. They +used them for bearing their burdens, for sacrifices and for +food. They represent the classes that go to make up the +nominal church and support it. Thus it seemed to the +worshippers of the Beast and his Image that the only way +to prevent the loss of all their live stock would be to keep +them securely impounded, allowing them no liberty whatever. +</p> + +<p> +16:4. <hi rend='sans'>And the third [angel] poured out his vial upon +the rivers and fountains of waters.</hi>—It seemed to the worshippers +of the beast and his image that the teachings of +<pb n='240'/><anchor id='Pg240'/> +Volume III of the <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> had contaminated the +Scriptures, the Waters of Life, at their very source, by extending +the call to people to come out of Babylon while +they were busy trying to get people in. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they became blood.</hi>—Seemed repulsive, undesirable, +bloody.—Z. '07-279; Ex. 7:20; Rev. 14:20. +</p> + +<p> +Another view of how Volume III appears to the worshipers +of the beast and his image is shown by the plague of +boils described in Ex. 9:8-12. <q>The boil was a scab or pustule, +which might or might not break out into an ulcerous +sore (Lev. 13:18). With this, in one of its worst forms, +Job was afflicted (2:7), and by this Hezekiah was brought +to the verge of the grave. (2 Kings 20:7; Isa. 38:21.) +It was an eruption of a very painful kind accompanied +with a burning itch, tending to produce a permanent +state of foul and wasteful disease. One form of this disease +which seized upon the legs and knees, and was regarded +as incurable, was peculiar to Egypt, and was hence +called <q>the botch of Egypt.</q> (Deut. 28:27, 35.) In the case +before us, this eruption had a tendency to break out into +larger swellings and became probably the disease called +elephantiasis, a disease said to be peculiar to Egypt, or +the black leprosy, a disease which also affects cattle.</q> +(McC.) It was <q>ashes of the furnace,</q> loyalty to the +memory of the bullock, the one perfect Sacrifice for all, +Christ Jesus, that caused the boils; and it is particularly +noted that the magicians (clergy) could not withstand this +plague, the message, <q>Come out of her, My People.</q> +</p> + +<p> +16:5. <hi rend='sans'>And I heard the angel of the waters.</hi>—Volume III, +<hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Say, thou art righteous, [O Lord] which art, and wast.</hi>—See +Rev. 1:4; 15:3; 19:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And shalt be], THE HOLY.</hi>—The Lord, the Holy One, +was present, at the time Volume III was written. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because Thou hast judged thus.</hi>—Made the beautiful +Harvest truths appear <q>bloody</q> to those not consecrated. +</p> + +<p> +16:6. <hi rend='sans'>For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets.</hi>—Literally +and figuratively.—Matt. 23:34, 35; Rev. +13:15; 18:24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And thou hast given them blood to drink; [for] THAT +WHEREOF they are worthy.</hi>—See Rev. 14:20; Isa. 49:26. +</p> + +<p> +16:7. <hi rend='sans'>And I heard [another out of] the altar.</hi>—The +<q>Altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt</q> (Isa. +19:19) at the time these plagues are being poured out +upon the antitypical Egyptians, is the Great Pyramid, discussed +in a separate section of Volume III. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Say] Saying Even so, Lord God Almighty.</hi>—The Lord +Jesus.—Rev. 1:8; John 5:22; Matt. 28:18. +</p> + +<pb n='241'/><anchor id='Pg241'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>True and righteous are Thy judgments.</hi>—The teaching +of the Great Pyramid is in full accord with the rest of the +book. See Rev. 14:15. <q>It is by no means an addition to +the written revelation: that revelation is complete and perfect, +and needs no addition. But it is a strong <emph>corroborative +witness</emph> to God's Plan. Isaiah testifies of an altar and +pillar in the land of Egypt, which <q>shall be for a <emph>sign</emph> and +for a <emph>witness</emph> unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt.</q> +And the context shows that it shall be a witness <emph>in the day</emph> +when the great Savior and Deliverer shall come to set at +liberty Sin's captives.</q>—C. 315. +</p> + +<p> +16:8. <hi rend='sans'>And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the +sun.</hi>—Volume IV of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>, as soon as published, +was sent free to all clergy whose names could be +obtained. They are taught, and teach others, that they are +important luminaries in the heavens, suns, rivalling in +brilliancy and wisdom the Lord Himself, whose place they +take in the minds of the people, by setting forth their own +views on every subject, rather than the Lord's Word. Volume +IV, then, sent to this class, and calling attention to +Babylon's fall, seemed to them as the height of all presumption +in wickedness. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And power was given unto him to scorch men.</hi>—Greek +<q>The Men,</q> i. e., the worshipers of the beast and his image. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With fire.</hi>—Perhaps some of the clergy became a trifle +warm as they read Volume IV, as their later conduct seems +to suggest. Why they should have disliked Pastor Russell +when he told the truth, and proved it, is remarkable. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And men.</hi>—Greek <q>The Men;</q> the clergy. In Rev. 8:9 +the clergy are not so honored. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were scorched with great heat.</hi>—Became warm, indignant +at the Pastor's kindly explanation of the whore and +the harlots, and the plainly evident application to the Papacy +and the Protestant sects. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over +these plagues.</hi>—Misrepresented the name and character of +the mighty one, Pastor Russell, to whom the Lord committed +the task of presenting to His Church this meat in +due season. This misrepresentation burst like a storm +after the publication of Volume IV, <hi rend='italic'>Studies</hi>, and continued +until the Pastor's death, yea, and shame to say it, even +afterwards, in the columns of such sheets as the New York +World and the Brooklyn Eagle. What monuments of infamy +these people have reared for themselves! They +richly deserve all they will get when the tide turns. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they repented not to give Him glory.</hi>—<q>One great +obstacle to many is the contracted idea generally entertained +of the meaning of the word god. They fail to note +<pb n='242'/><anchor id='Pg242'/> +that the Greek theos (god) does not invariably refer to Jehovah, +but signifies <hi rend='italic'>a mighty one</hi>. In the following texts the +word god (theos) is used to refer to others than the one +supreme being, Jehovah—viz.:—John 10:34, 35; Acts 7:40, +43; 17:23; 1 Cor. 8:5.</q>—B. 274. +</p> + +<p> +Another view of how the publication of Volume IV looks +to the worshipers of the beast and his image is shown +in the plague of hail, described in Ex. 9:13-26. <q>The character +of this and the following plagues must be carefully +examined, as the warning seems to indicate an important +turning-point. The ruin caused by the hail was evidently +far greater than that effected by any of the earlier +plagues; for it destroyed men, which those others seem not +to have done, and not only men, but beasts and the produce +of the earth. In this case Moses, while addressing Pharaoh, +openly warns his servants how to save something from the +calamity. Pharaoh for the first time acknowledges his +wickedness.</q> (McC.) The appropriateness of these comments +to the subject matter of <q>The Day of Vengeance,</q> +or <q>The Battle of Armageddon</q>, (as it is now called) as +the latter would appear to the mind of the clergy, is self-evident. +Your true clergyman has the greatest abhorrence +for any truth that would tend to lessen men's reverence +for himself or the systems which he aims to perpetuate. +</p> + +<p> +16:10. <hi rend='sans'>And the fifth [angel].</hi>—Volume V, of <hi rend='italic'>Studies</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast.</hi>—Thoroughly +and scripturally analyzing the subjects of trinity, +human immortality and eternal torment, the foundation of +all Papal doctrine, as well as constituting a large part of +the stock in trade of the Protestant aggregation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And his kingdom was full of darkness.</hi>—Complete ignorance +of the truths on these subjects as taught in the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they gnawed their tongues for pain.</hi>—<q>Note the expression +of Rev. Samuel T. Carter in a Presbyterian journal—<hi rend='italic'>The +Evangelist</hi>. He says: <q>It must be admitted that +if a Church is honest, that which stands in its Confession to +its faith. It must be acknowledged that what is contained +in its Confession is the faith of any honest church. The +Westminster Confession of Faith is still the unquestioned +Confession of the Presbyterian Church. Is the Presbyterian +Church honest in its zeal for purity first and peace afterward? +Be it known, then, to all the world that the Presbyterian +Church by its Confession declares that all the +heathen perish, that many men are hopelessly lost from +all eternity by the decree of God, and that there are infants +in hell.... In reality the church does not believe +these dreadful doctrines. Then it stands before God +and man with a lie in its right hand.</q></q>—Z. '00-148. +</p> + +<pb n='243'/><anchor id='Pg243'/> + +<p> +16:11 <hi rend='sans'>And blasphemed the God of Heaven.</hi>—<q>In token +of entire allegiance to the beast.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because of their pains [and their sores], and repented +not [of their deeds].</hi>—<q>The commotion amongst Presbyterians +continues—some standing firm for their church creed, +others repudiating it and begging to be released from it. +Many thus indirectly confess that they have despised it for +years, and have realized it to be a lie and a blasphemy +against God, and after confessing to this acting and confessing +a lie for years they beg to be released without cost +or loss either of human or Divine favor, and especially +without loss of bread and butter.</q> (Z. '00-148.) The way in +which Volume V, <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>, appeared to the worshipers +of the beast and his image is further illustrated in +the plague of locusts, described in Ex. 10:1-11. <q>This +plague has not the unusual nature of the one that preceded +it; but it even exceeds it in severity, and so occupies +its place in the gradation of the more terrible judgments +that form the latter part of the series. Its severity +can be well understood by those who have been in Egypt +in a part of the country where a plague of locusts has +alighted. In this case the plague was greater than any +ordinary visitation, since it extended over a far wider +space, rather than because it was more intense; for it is +impossible to imagine any more complete destruction than +that always caused by locusts.</q> (McC.) With what dismay +must the clergy have read the kind words for volume V, +which appeared in the columns of the secular press. +</p> + +<p> +16:12. <hi rend='sans'>And the sixth [angel].</hi>—Volume VI of <hi rend='italic'>Studies in +the Scriptures</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Poured out his vial upon the great River Euphrates.</hi>—Seemed +to the worshipers of the beast and his image to +be instituting a new and horrible thing, a people's church, +in which there is no place for clergy, collections, church +edifices, reverence for one day above another, or in fact +any of the customs cherished in the nominal church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the water thereof was dried up.</hi>—<q>Literal Babylon +was built upon the literal river Euphrates, while in the +Gospel age mystic or figurative Babylon, which carried +away captive Spiritual Israel, is portrayed as sitting upon +the mystic Euphrates. In the type, the golden vessels of +the Temple were carried away and profaned by literal +Babylon: in the antitype, the precious, Divine (golden) +truths, pertaining to the service of the true Temple, the +Church (1 Cor. 3:16, 17; Rev. 3:12), were far removed +from their proper places, perverted and misapplied by +mystic Babylon. Literal Babylon being built upon the +river Euphrates, which materially contributed to its wealth +<pb n='244'/><anchor id='Pg244'/> +and resources, its overthrow was accomplished by the +turning aside of those waters. So mystic Babylon sits +upon, is supported by, many waters (peoples, nations), +and its fall is predicted, through the turning aside of its +supporters and sustainers, the people.</q> (B. 209; Jer. 50:38, +51:36.) <q>Ecclesiastical circles in Germany are much exercised +at the rapidly increasing desertions from the State +Church. Although the process of official separation from +the Church is one of the greatest difficulty, delay and +expense, it is computed that in Berlin alone considerably +over 10,000 persons have severed their connection with the +Church during the past year. So great is the number of +those who are notifying their intention to terminate their +membership that special offices have been opened in Berlin +to receive their applications, which now number between +300 and 400 daily. Among the working classes, especially +those attached to the Social Democratic party, there exists +a bitter hostility to the clergy.</q>—Z. '09-83. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A program for a general strike against the Church is +the latest plan of action. The <q>No-Creeders</q> (Monists) +in league with the Socialists, convened mass meetings in +Berlin, Brunswick and Saxony, in which every means of +incitation was employed in an appeal toward a secession +from the State Church. At these meetings over 1,300 persons +signed a declaration announcing their intention to +secede from the Church. Four thousand more followed, and +according to judicial court-records received towards the end +of December, 17,000 secessions took place in December up +to the 23d, and the day after Christmas 8,000 more announced +their intention. The following press reports may +serve as a typical illustration of the mode of procedure in +such meetings. <q>Without exception, every one who even +by vague allusion, ventured to take a stand for his Church +was howled down, hissed from the rostrum and subjected +to filthy invectives. To illustrate: When a minister ascended +the platform, the following was heard, <q>He looks +it!</q> <q>Old Sky-pilot!</q> And from another part of the hall +the same evening we heard the following words aimed +at the ministers: <q>Damned Rags!</q> <q>Pig-priests!</q> A gentleman +who interrupted was yelled at, <q>Rous mit the Parson-face!</q></q></q>—Z. '14-133. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Reports in Great Britain show that Baptists, Congregationalists +and the various Methodist denominations there +are declining in numbers and prestige. The cause of this +is not far to see. Christianity has become merely another +name for decency and civilization. All doctrines are +abandoned as merely speculations. Churches are becoming +merely social clubs in which form and ceremony mark the +<pb n='245'/><anchor id='Pg245'/> +quality. This accounts for the growing unpopularity of +those sects which once stood for the highest standards +of earnestness and Christian zeal and liberty, non-conformity +and simplicity.</q> (Z. '10-324.) <q rend='pre'>The pastor of the +Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, New York City, Rev. Dr. +Charles F. Aked, who came to its direction from a London +pulpit, in his sermon Sunday said: <q>When I interview my +parishioners, and they are among the most representative +in the city, I find the spirit of religious depression very +unlike the spirit of abounding enterprise in business, in +manufacturing, in engineering and construction. There are +about 16,000,000 Catholics in continental United States. +Now, in our immigration for ninety years back, no less +than 15,000,000 were Catholics. If all remained loyal to its +tenets they would number 45,000,000 now instead of +16,000,000. The Protestants have lost ground, too, when +the filling up of the country is counted. Our own denomination, +the Baptists, reflects the general trend. The increase +among the Baptists of America has been equal to +only one-fourth of the birth rate among us, proving that +three out of four of our Baptist population have fallen +away from us. The decline of Christianity is universal.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>In England, in France, in Spain, Italy and Germany we +hear the same cry. Only lately I was talking to an English +clergyman. He told me that not merely is there a great +falling off in church-goers in England, but that the class +of people who frequent churches is becoming inferior.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The church is out of touch with the masses. Everything +has progressed except Christianity. The pulpit has too +many bigots, too many bores, too many <hi rend='italic'>hell-fire screechers</hi> +for the enlightened thought of the day. The church is +obliged to accept any applicant for the ministry who is +respectable. Even with this latitude, Baptist, Presbyterian +and Methodist vocations show a remarkable falling +off in twenty-five years.</q> (Z. '08-324.) <q>Rev. Charles A. +Eaton at the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, Cleveland, +spoke as follows: <q>In Italy one-third of the people at the +very outside, are more or less nominal followers of the +Church of Rome; another third, possibly, are more or less +sympathetic toward the Church; while another third are +out and out continually and completely antagonistic, apparently, +not only to the Church of Rome, but to all forms +of Christianity. You enter France—the same story is true, +only aggravated and multiplied a thousand fold. You enter +Great Britain, which I consider to be the last citadel of +Christianity in the world, with a people more robust and +sane in their religious interests and sympathies than any +other people. And what is the condition there? The non-conformist +<pb n='246'/><anchor id='Pg246'/> +churches of Great Britain last year not only +made no progress, but met, according to their statistics, +with an absolute loss of 18,000; the Baptist Church of Great +Britain last year lost 5,000 people. In the year 1905 there +were nearly 7,000 Presbyterian, Congregationalist and +Methodist churches that had not one single member unite +with them in twelve months. In a recent year in New +York city, according to the statement of Dr. Aked, of the +Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, 335 Protestant churches +reported a net gain that year of 386 members. That is +to say 335 churches gained one member apiece and fifty +of them gained two in twelve months. Brethren, I say to +you this morning, that the American Church is dying—it +is dying! <emph>It is dying!</emph> Don't forget it.</q></q> (Z. '08-211.) +</p> + +<p> +<q>A declaration by the Rev. Dr. Charles E. McClellan, +pastor of the Fairhill Baptist Church, that <q>Protestantism +in the United States is fast decaying and will soon be a +thing of the past,</q> aroused a storm at the fifty-third session +of the North Philadelphia Baptist Association. Doctor +McClellan spoke on what he called the decline of Protestantism +while making his report as chairman of the missionary +committee. <q>The spirit of Protestantism is dying +in the United States, and it will soon be a thing of the +past,</q> he said. <q>Philadelphia, both denominationally and +religiously, is going to perdition at a rapid rate. Recently +I attended the services in one of our churches, at which +I had been invited to speak. I found in attendance nineteen +adults and one child. The same condition exists all +over the city. We have large, magnificent churches, but +small congregations, showing that it is easy to get money, +but hard to get men.</q></q>—Z. '10-373. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.</hi>—<q>He +must be comparatively blind who cannot see +that the wonderful prophecies which speak of the fall of +Babylon (Isa. 14:22; Jer. 50 and 51) were not wholly fulfilled +by Cyrus the Persian. Much of the prophecy still +waits for fulfillment in mystic or symbolic Babylon today. +The Kings of the East, or kings from the sunrising, are, +we understand, the kings of Christ's Kingdom, who are +also priests—the Body of Christ, the Royal Priesthood. +<q>Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and +we shall reign on the earth.</q> From this standpoint, Cyrus, +who with his army overthrew literal Babylon, was a figure +or illustration of Messiah, King of kings and Lord of +lords. (Isa. 41:25; 44:28; 45:1-14.)</q>—Z. '99-174; Rev. 7:2. +</p> + +<p> +16:13. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw three unclean spirits.</hi>—Denoting demoniacal +origin. (Matt. 10:1; Mark 1:26; Luke 4:33.) +<q>The Lord's people must discriminate between doctrines +<pb n='247'/><anchor id='Pg247'/> +presented to them as truth—they must <q>try the spirits,</q> +whether they be holy or evil, of God or of the Evil One—the +Spirit of Truth or the spirit of error. These both are +introduced by prophets, or teachers.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>320</hi>, 295. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Like] AS IT WERE frogs.</hi>—Frogs are garrulous, have a +very wise look, large mouths, are much puffed up and +utter only croakings. In the <q>distress of nations with perplexity</q> +which has come upon Christendom as a result of +her sins, the croakings of the wise now fill the air everywhere. +Actually all knees are <q>weak as water.</q>—Ezek. +7:17; 21:7. See especially D. i-xvi. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Come out of the mouth of the dragon.</hi>—The three fundamental +truths of history are man's Fall, Redemption and +Restoration. Stated in other language these three truths +are the mortal nature of man, the Christ of God and His +Millennial Kingdom. Standing opposite to these Satan has +placed three great untruths, human immortality, the Antichrist +and a certain delusion which is best described as +race hatred—in reality murder, the spirit of the very Devil. +(1 John 3:15.) It is this last and crowning feature of +Satan's work that is mentioned first. The other two errors +are the direct cause of this one. The wars of the Old Testament +were all intended to illustrate the battlings of the +New Creature against the weaknesses of the flesh, and +are not in any sense of the word justification for the +human butchery practiced during the Christian era in the +name of religion, exemplified by the events of St. Bartholomew's +Day and by the wicked Inquisition. Nowhere in the +New Testament is hatred of other peoples encouraged. +Everywhere and always it is forbidden; and yet, under +one guise or another it has been encouraged for centuries +by the clergy class who should have been teaching the +people the message given them by the Prince of Peace. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And out of the mouth of the beast.</hi>—The Antichrist doctrine +of the Divine right of the clergy was the direct cause +of the great war. This frog has been coming out of the +mouth of the Papal beast for sixteen centuries. <q>These +false doctrines of the Dark Ages are bearing a terrible +fruitage at the present time. Similarly the teaching of +eternal torment, misrepresenting and blaspheming God's +character, is bearing an evil fruitage. Millions of people +are being turned away from faith in a God of Love and +from faith in the Bible as His Message by the most monstrous +blasphemies of the Dark Ages. I charge the responsibility +of all this against the sects and creeds of Christendom. +I charge that the ministers, whose eyes are now open +to a saner comprehension, have neglected the Bible, have +neglected the people, and, instead of helping them out of +the darkness, are now leading them into darkness in an +<pb n='248'/><anchor id='Pg248'/> +opposite direction—into Evolution and Higher Criticism +and everything contrary to the Word of God. God is still +misrepresented in the world. The creeds of the Dark Ages +are still hugged to the bosom in outward pretense, while +inwardly they are loathed. A great fraud, a great hypocrisy, +you say? I answer, Yes; the most astounding the +world has ever known. Two hundred thousand professed +ministers of God and of Christ are standing before the +world today telling the legends of the Dark Ages and seeking +to hinder the people from coming to a knowledge of +the Truth, meanwhile receiving the people's money and +reverence. Does not such hypocrisy, such blasphemy +against God, such deception of the people, such keeping of +them in darkness, deserve a great punishment, and is +it not nigh?</q>—B. S. M. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img256.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head><q>Pollute Ye My Holy Name No More</q></head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And out of the mouth of the false prophet.</hi>—The one +cardinal error upon which all protestant (false prophet) +sects agree is the doctrine of human immortality, the +original lie told in Eden (Gen. 2:17, 3:4). In speaking +<pb n='249'/><anchor id='Pg249'/> +of it our Lord says, <q>When he speaketh <emph>the</emph> lie, he speaketh +of his own.</q> (John 8:44, Diaglott.) Speaking of it again, +the Apostle Paul says, of the worshipers of the beast and +his image, <q>They admitted not the love of the Truth that +they might be saved. And on this account God will send +to them an energy of delusion, to their believing the falsehood.</q> +(2 Thes. 2:10, 11.) In each case the Greek gives +the definite article. The frog issuing from the false +prophet (the image of the beast) is the doctrine of human +immortality. These deluded souls actually believe this +error, and will be able to prove it to the satisfaction of +the dragon, without a doubt. This error lies at the bottom +of the doctrines of eternal torment and of the trinity. +There is a hint in 1 John 4:1-3 that the cardinal error +on which the false prophet will insist is that when Jesus +came from the Father He was more than flesh, i. e., had +at least an immortal soul.—Rev. 13:11, 13, 14, 15; 14:9, 11; +15:2; 16:2; 19:20; 20:10; Matt. 24:24. +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>All Christian people credit the book of Revelation to our +Lord, as St. John does. (Rev. 1:1.) Therefore we are not +responsible for the symbolism used in that book. There are +so many ways in which one might be misunderstood, even +by good Christian people, that we naturally feel a delicacy +about expressing our views. As we proceed to set forth +our understanding of the symbols of the Revelation, we +wish to state most emphatically that we are saying nothing +whatever against godly Christians anywhere, at any +time, whether in any church or out of any church. We +have nothing to say respecting people. We discuss PRINCIPLES, +DOCTRINES, ALWAYS; individuals, NEVER! +God has not commissioned us to discuss <emph>people</emph>; it is ours +to discuss <emph>His Word</emph>.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Throughout the Bible, a Beast is the symbol used to +represent a government. In Daniel's prophecy the great +universal empires of the earth are thus symbolized. Babylon +was the Lion, Medo-Persia the Bear, Greece the Leopard, +and <emph>Rome</emph> the <emph>Dragon</emph>. (Dan. 7:1-8.) The Roman Empire +still persists. The Dragon, then, symbolizes the Roman +power, represented by the civil power in the world. The +Beast is the Papal system of government. The third symbol, +the False Prophet, remains to be interpreted. This, +we believe, is another name for the system elsewhere called +<q>the Image of the Beast.</q> (Rev. 13:14.) According to the +Scriptures, this Image is a very exact representation of +the Beast. The False Prophet, or Image of the Beast, we +understand to mean the Protestant Federation of Churches.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'><q>Three unclean spirits like frogs came out of the mouth +of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and +out of the mouth of the False Prophet.</q> In this passage, +<pb n='250'/><anchor id='Pg250'/> +the spirit is a doctrine—an unclean doctrine—a false doctrine. +Each of these systems will utter the same things, +and these utterances will have the effect of gathering the +kingdoms of earth together to the Battle of Armageddon.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The symbolism of Scripture, rightly understood, is very +forceful, and there is always a close resemblance between +the symbol itself and the thing symbolized. When the +Holy Spirit uses a frog to represent certain doctrines or +teachings, we may be sure that the application will fit +well. While a frog is a small creature, yet it puffs itself +up until it almost bursts with the effort to be somebody. +A frog has a very wise look, even though it does not know +very much. Then a frog <emph>croaks</emph> whenever it utters a sound.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The three most prominent characteristics of a frog, +then, are pomposity, an air of superior wisdom and knowledge, +and a continual croaking. Applying these characteristics +to the picture given in the Divine Word, we learn +that from kingly power, from the Catholic Church and from +the Federation of Protestant Churches, will go forth the +same teachings. The spirit of all will be boastful; an air +of superior knowledge and wisdom will be assumed; all +will foretell dire results to follow any failure to obey their +counsels. However conflicting the creeds, the differences +will be ignored in the general proposition that nothing +ancient must be disturbed, or investigated, or repudiated.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The boasted Divine authority of the Church, and the +Divine right of kings aside from the Church, will not be +allowed to conflict; for both will be indorsed. Any persons +or teachings in conflict with these boastful, unscriptural +claims will be branded as everything vile, at the +mouths of the frogs, croaking from pulpits and platforms, +and through the religious and secular press. The nobler +sentiments of some will be strangled by the philosophy of +the same evil spirit which spoke through Caiaphas, the +high priest, respecting our Lord Jesus. As Caiaphas declared +it expedient to commit a crime in violation of justice, +both human and Divine, to be rid of Jesus and His +teachings, so this frog-like spirit will approve of any and +every violation of principle necessary to self-protection.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Every true Christian is ashamed to look back upon the +pages of history and see what terrible deeds were done in +the name of God and justice, and in the name of our Lord +Jesus. We are not to think for a moment that these frog +spirits, or doctrines, are all bad, but rather that they are +doctrines of bombast and pomposity, representing themselves +to be very wise and great, and having the backing +of centuries. Out of the mouth of the Dragon comes the +doctrine of the Divine right of Kings: <q>Do not look back +of the curtain of history to see where the kings got that +<pb n='251'/><anchor id='Pg251'/> +right. Accept the doctrine; for if you do not, and if men +look into the matter, there will be a terrible revolution and +everything will go down!</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The Beast and the False Prophet have similar croakings. +The Catholic Church says, <q>Do not look behind! Do +not question anything about the Church!</q> Protestantism +says, also, <q>We are great, we are wise, we know a great +deal. Keep quiet! No one will then know that you know +nothing.</q> All say (croaking), <q>We tell you that if you say +anything against present arrangements, terrible things will +come to pass.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Political parties are figuring in this. All declare, <q>If +any change should come, it will mean terrible disaster!</q> +Some have the backbone and some have the civil power +behind them, but unitedly they croak to the people that +if any change is made, it will mean ruin to the present +order. In the language of our day, <q>Stand pat!</q> is the +order in Church and in State; but the people are being +moved by fear. It is this croaking of the Beast, the Dragon +and the False Prophet that will arouse the kings of earth +and gather them together to the Armageddon Battle.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The ecclesiastical kings and princes, with their retinue +of clergy and faithful adherents, will be gathered in solid +phalanx—Protestant and Catholic. The political kings and +kaisers, princes, and all in high places, with their henchmen +and retainers, will follow in line on the same side. +The financial kings and merchant princes, and all whom +they can influence by the most gigantic power ever yet +exercised in the world, will join the same side, according +to this prophecy. They do not realize, however, that they +are coming to Armageddon; yet strange to say, this is a +part of their very cry, <q>Come together to Armageddon!</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Speaking of our day, our Lord declared, <q>Men's hearts +failing them for fear and for looking after those things +which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven +shall be shaken.</q> (Luke 21:26.) The kings of Europe know +not what to do. All sectarianism is being shaken.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The croaking of the frog spirits, or doctrines, will gather +the kings and princes, financial, political, religious and +industrial, into one great army. The spirit of fear, inspired +by the croaking, will scourge the passions of otherwise +good and reasonable men to fury—desperation. In +their blind following of these evil spirits, evil doctrines, +they will be ready to sacrifice life and everything on what +they mistakenly suppose is the altar of Justice, Truth and +Righteousness under a Divine arrangement.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Many noble people in this great army will assume an +attitude quite contrary to their preference. For a time +the wheels of liberty and progress will be turned backward, +<pb n='252'/><anchor id='Pg252'/> +and mediæval restraints will be considered necessary +for self-preservation—for the maintenance of the present +order of things and for the prevention of the new order +which God has decreed, the due time for which is at hand. +Even those who may be God's people do not stop to consider +whether it is His will that things should continue +as they have been for the past six thousand years. The +Bible says that such is not God's will, but that there is +to be a great overturning, that a new order is coming in.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>For a brief time, as we understand the Scriptures, these +combined forces of Armageddon will triumph. Free speech, +free mails, and other liberties which have come to be the +very breath of the masses in our day, will be ruthlessly +shut off on the plea of <emph>necessity</emph>, the glory of God, the commands +of the Church, etc. The safety-valve will be sat +upon, and thus will cease to annoy earth's kings with the +sound of escaping steam; and all will seem to be serene—until +the great social explosion described in the Revelation +as an <emph>earthquake</emph> will take place. In symbolic language +an earthquake signifies social revolution, and the Scriptural +declaration is that none like it ever before occurred. +(Rev. 16:18, 19.) Our Lord refers to it in Matt. 24:21.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>At this juncture, the Scriptures show, Divine Power will +step forward, and God will gather the marshaled hosts to +Armageddon—to the Mount of Destruction. (Rev. 16:16.) +The very thing which they sought to avert by their union, +federation, etc., will be the very thing that they will hasten. +Other Scriptures tell us that God will be represented by +Messiah, and that He will be on the side of the masses. +<q>At that time shall Michael [the Godlike One—Messiah] +stand up.</q> (Dan. 12:1.) He will assume authority. He +will take possession of His Kingdom in a manner little +looked for by many of those who erroneously have been +claiming to be His Kingdom, and authorized by Him to +reign in His name and in His stead.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Our Lord Jesus declared, <q>His servants ye are unto +whom ye render service.</q> Some may be rendering service +to Satan and to error, who claim to be rendering service +to God and to righteousness; and some may serve ignorantly, +as did Saul of Tarsus, who <q>verily thought that he +did God service,</q> in persecuting the Church. The same +principle holds true reversely. As an earthly king does +not hold himself responsible for the moral character of +each soldier who fights his battles, so the Lord does not +vouch for the moral character of all who enlist and fight +on His side of any question. His servants they are to whom +they render service, whatever the motive prompting them.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The same principle will apply in the coming Battle of +Armageddon. God's side of that battle will be the people's +<pb n='253'/><anchor id='Pg253'/> +side; and that very nondescript host, the people, will be +pitted at the beginning of the battle. Anarchists, Socialists, +and hot-headed radicals of every school of reason and +unreason, will be in the forefront of that battle. He who +has any knowledge of army life knows that a great army +is composed of all classes.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The masses will be restless under their restraints, but +will be conscious of their weakness as compared with the +kings and princes, financial, social, religious and political, +who will then hold sway. The masses have no sympathy +with anarchy. They realize truly that the worst form of +government is better than none. The masses will seek +relief through the ballot and the peaceful readjustment +of earth's affairs for the elimination of evil, for the placing +of monopolies and utilities and the supplies of nature +in the hands of people for the public good. The crisis will +be reached when the hitherto upholders of the law shall +become violators of the law and resisters of the will of +the majority as expressed by the ballot. Fear for the +future will goad the well-meaning masses to desperation, +and anarchy will result when Socialism fails.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The Lord's saints are not to be in this battle at all. +God's consecrated people, longing at heart for Messiah's +Kingdom and the glorious Year of Jubilee and Restitution +which it will inaugurate, will patiently abide the Lord's +time, and wait unmurmuringly for it. Their lamps trimmed +and burning, they will not be in darkness respecting the +momentous events of the impending battle; but they will +be of good courage, knowing the outcome portrayed in the +<q>more sure word of prophecy,</q> to which they have done +well to <q>take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark +place, until the Day dawn.</q>—2 Pet. 1:19.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The question now arises, Why did not God send His +Kingdom sooner? Why is Armageddon necessary? We +answer that God has His own times and seasons, and that +He has appointed the Great Seventh Thousand-Year Day +for the reign of Christ. Divine Wisdom has withheld +until our day the great knowledge and skill which is breeding +at the same time millionaires and discontents. Had +God lifted the veil of ignorance a thousand years sooner, +the world would have lined up for Armageddon a thousand +years sooner. God did not bring these things before the +present time because His Plan has various parts, all of +which are converging at the same time. In kindness God +veiled the eyes of mankind until the gathering to Armageddon +would immediately precede Messiah's taking to Himself +His great power and beginning His reign.</q> (Rev. +11:17, 18.)—D. v-xvi. +</p> + +<pb n='254'/><anchor id='Pg254'/> + +<p> +16:14. <hi rend='sans'>For they are the spirits of devils.</hi>—See Eph. 6:12. +<q>We are naturally led by the analogy of the influence of +evil spirits as described in the Gospels to compare the +<emph>effect</emph> produced by the demons referred to in this verse, +with the instances of <emph>possession</emph> of which we read elsewhere +in the New Testament.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Working miracles.</hi>—It is very possible that the strongest +<q>proof</q> of the immortality of man will yet be obtained +by the false prophet through materializations of evil spirits, +perhaps first at preachers' meetings, and afterwards in +public. We will wait and see. Meantime: the mental +invasions indicated in Rev. 7:3 and 2 Thes. 2:11 will +<emph>surely</emph> come, whether the physical materializations come +or not.—Rev. 13:13, 14. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The newspapers far and near are publishing the following +item: <q>Fred E. Foskett, a young machinist of +Orange, Mass., has attracted the attention of Prof. James, +of Harvard, and other leading members of the Boston +branch of the American Society of Psychical Research, who +gave him tests recently. Foskett poured a quart of alcohol +into the basin, lighted it and then washed his hands, +bathing them for nearly ten minutes in the burning fluid, +washing it up over his arms and to his face—literally +bathing himself in blazing alcohol. As soon as they were +finished the physicians present examined Foskett, and they +could not find the slightest trace of a burn or blister. +Foskett then told them that the flames did not give him +the slightest sensation of burning, that he felt comfortably +warm and pleasant, and nothing more. The second tests +were made at the home of Prof. James in Cambridge. A +scientist who was there said that Foskett performed all +of his experiments of the day before, and then <q>absolutely +and positively dematerialized</q>. He seemed to dissolve into +thin air as we watched, was gone forty-one seconds and +then materialized.</q></q>—Z. '09-83; Matt. 24:24; 2 Thes. 2:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which go forth unto the kings of the [earth and of the] +whole world, to gather them to the battle of [that] THE +great Day of God Almighty.</hi>—Of which the present horrible +European war is only the preliminary skirmish.—Rev. +17:14; 19:19. +</p> + +<p> +<q>This battle, which will end with the complete overthrow +of earth's present rulership, is already commenced. +The gathering of the armies is plainly visible from the +standpoint of God's Word. The Sword of Truth, already +sharpened, is to smite every evil system and custom—civil, +social and ecclesiastical. The internal conflict is already +fomenting. It will ere long break forth as a consuming +fire; and human systems, and errors, which for centuries +<pb n='255'/><anchor id='Pg255'/> +have fettered truth and oppressed the groaning creation, +must melt before it. Yes, truth—and widespread and +increasing knowledge of it—is the Sword which is perplexing +and wounding the heads over many countries.</q> +(Psa. 110:6; B. 101.) <q>Not until great Babylon is utterly +overthrown and her influence over the world broken—will +the great mass of mankind come to realize the true state +of the case. Then they will see that the great trouble +through which they will have passed was that symbolically +termed <q>The battle of the great Day of God Almighty;</q> that +in proportion as they have aided error and wrong, they +have been battling against the law and forces of the new +Empire and the new Ruler of earth; and that in proportion +as their tongues, and pens, and hands, and influence, and +means, were used to support <emph>the right</emph> and the truth on +any subject, they had been to that extent fighting on the +Lord's side. And during all the trouble there will be in +the world those who will bear witness to its cause, declaring +the Lord's presence and the setting up of His +Kingdom which is in opposition to the powers of darkness +to be the real cause of the trouble and shaking and overturning +of society.</q>—B. 141. +</p> + +<p> +16:15. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, I come as a thief.</hi>—A thief comes unexpectedly, +for the purpose of securing jewels only.—Mal. +3:17; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 3:3; Matt. 24:42-44; 1 Thes. 5:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Blessed is he that watcheth.</hi>—<q>Because not heedless, +careless, indifferent servants of the King, but faithful and +earnest ones, the Watchers discern that there are three +words of distinctly different signification, used in respect +to the Lord's Second Advent; namely, parousia and epiphania +and apokalupsis. Parousia is used in respect to the +earliest stage of the Second Advent, while apokalupsis +relates to the same Advent later.</q> (Z. '02-86.) <q>The Greek +words apokalupsis and apokalupto signify revealment, +uncovering, unveiling (as of a thing previously present but +hidden). The name of the last book of the Bible is from +the same root—Apocalypse or Revelation.</q>—Z. '02-92; 1 Cor. +1:7; 1 Pet. 1:7; Lu. 17:29, 30. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And keepeth his garments.</hi>—Holds fast to his pledge of +consecration even unto death. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Lest he walk naked.</hi>—As the nominal churches are doing +even since the war council at Washington, May 6, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they see his shame.</hi>—During the apokalupsis epoch +now at hand. (Rev. 3:18.) <q>The exposure to the world +that they lack what constitutes the Christian state.</q>—Cook.—Matt. +5:43, 44. +</p> + +<p> +16:16. <hi rend='sans'>And [he] THEY gathered them together.</hi>—The +three unclean spirits do the gathering.—Rev. 19:19. +</p> + +<pb n='256'/><anchor id='Pg256'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Unto a place called in the Hebrew tongue [Armageddon] +ARMAGEDON.</hi>—<q>The fact that St. John has employed a +word (Har-Magedon), <q>The destruction of their troop,</q> not +found in connection with any locality or historical event of +itself points to a figurative interpretation. (Zech. 12:11.) +Nor indeed are we to think of literal warfare.</q> (Cook.) +<q>The word <q>mountain</q> in the term Armageddon—<q>Mountain +of Megiddo</q>—seems to have been used because Megiddo was +in a mountainous region, though the battles were fought +in a valley adjacent. The meaning here is, that there +would be, as it were, a decisive battle which would determine +the question of the prevalence of true religion on +the earth. What we are to expect as the fulfillment of this +would seem to be, that there will be some mustering of +strength—some rallying of forces—some opposition made +to the Kingdom of God in the gospel by the powers here +referred to which would be <emph>decisive</emph> in its character.</q> +(Barnes.) Another view of Volume VI, <hi rend='italic'>Scripture +Studies</hi>, as it appeared to the worshipers of the beast +and his image, may be had in the plague of darkness upon +the Egyptians described in Ex. 10:21-29. The 3-½ days +of terrible darkness over the land of Egypt represent the +3-½ years of the great war and indicate its close shortly +after the publication of this final witness of the church. +While this plague was still in progress, Moses said to +Pharaoh, <q>I will see thy face again no more.</q> It is even +so; Pastor Russell passed forever out of reach of the antitypical +Pharaoh, Satan, in the fall of 1916. But in steadfast +belief that <q>his works do follow him,</q> we hold that he +supervises, by the Lord's arrangement, the work yet to +be done. See Rev. 16:1. +</p> + +<p> +16:17. <hi rend='sans'>And the seventh [angel].</hi>—Volume VII, <hi rend='italic'>Scripture +Studies</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Poured out his vial [into] UPON the air.</hi>—Seemed to +the clergy to be directed against the ruling powers. <q>The +terrors of the revelation of Christ will thus appear spread +out over the Universe.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there came a great voice.</hi>—An earnest and vigorous +setting forth of this prophecy and that of Ezekiel. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Out of the Temple of [Heaven, from the Throne,] GOD.</hi>—The +true Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, it is done.</hi>—See title of this book.—<hi rend='italic'>Ezek. 9:11.</hi> +</p> + +<p> +16:18. <hi rend='sans'>And there were [voices, and] thunders.</hi>—Seven +of them—indicating wide-spread interest in the <hi rend='italic'>Scripture +Studies</hi>. There will probably also be some thundering by +the esteemed clergy. If in the past they had thundered +less and lightened more, the world would not be in its present +predicament.—Rev. 8:5. +</p> + +<pb n='257'/><anchor id='Pg257'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And lightnings.</hi>—A good lighting up of the dark places +of the ecclesiastical firmament. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND VOICES.</hi>—The <q>voices</q> of the Great Company, who, +after the Little Flock have gone beyond, will display unparalleled +energy and faithfulness amid unparalleled difficulty.—Rev. +11:15; 8:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there was a great earthquake.</hi>—Social revolution. +The same mentioned in Rev. 8:5; 11:19 and 1 Kings 19:11, +12, following the War. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Such as was not since men were upon the earth.</hi>—World-wide +socialism, an unprecedented and sure-to-fail experiment +in government. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>So mighty an earthquake, and so great.</hi>—The following +is from an address given to the Chicago Bankers Club in +December, 1916, by Frank A. Vanderlip, president of the +National City Bank of New York. <q>State socialism in +Europe may develop problems, the like of which never +concerned our minds. We may have to meet collective +buying, State aided industries, forms of governmental control +of ocean borne commerce and novel factors in international +finance. There may come out of the war changes +in forms of government that will have profound and world-wide +influence.</q> +</p> + +<p> +16:19. <hi rend='sans'>And the great city was divided into three parts.</hi>—Christendom +is now divided into three parts: Socialistic +Russia, Imperial Teutonia, and the Representative Governments +of the West; but we think a religious division is +coming: The Greek church, the Papacy and the False +Prophet Protestant aggregation, all under papal control. +Or the city of Rev. 14:20, may be meant.—2 Ki. 2:10, 12, 15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the [cities] CITY of the nations fell.</hi>—The reference +is to Rome, the <q>city</q> mentioned in Rev. 17:18. By Rome +is meant the Papacy. All other kings have already drunk +deeply of the wrath of God and Sheshach's turn has come.—Jer. +25:26; Rev. 14:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And great Babylon came in remembrance before God.</hi>—<q>The +fall of Babylon will astonish the entire world, so complete +is the illusion that Christendom represents the Throne +and Government of Messiah among men. And, be it remembered, +the vast majority in all the various sects and +denominations of Christendom are worldly people who +have no conception whatever of the true Church and her +cause. Their ambition is to approximate righteousness and +a form of godliness, but no more than this seems to them +necessary, since they have not been begotten of the Holy +Spirit and therefore cannot appreciate things from the divine +standpoint.</q>—Pastor Russell. See Rev. 18:5. +</p> + +<pb n='258'/><anchor id='Pg258'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of +[His] THE wrath.</hi>—The wine of the vine of the earth.—Rev. +14:17-20; Jer. 8:14; Isa. 51:17-20; Jer. 25:26-28; Rev. 18:6. +</p> + +<p> +16:20. <hi rend='sans'>And every island fled away.</hi>—Even the republics +will disappear in the fall of 1920. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the mountains were not found.</hi>—Every kingdom of +earth will pass away, be swallowed up in anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +16:21. <hi rend='sans'>And there fell upon men.</hi>—Greek <q>The Men,</q> the +worshipers of the beast and his image, i. e., the clergy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A great hail out of heaven.</hi>—Truth, compacted, coming +with crushing force. A concluding statement +of how the seventh volume of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> appears +to the worshipers of the beast and his image.—Rev. +11:19; Isa. 28:17; 30:30; Ezek. 13:11; Joshua 10:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Every stone about the weight of a talent.</hi>—113 lbs. (Mal. +3:10.) Another view of the seventh volume of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture +Studies</hi>, as it appears to the worshipers of the beast and +his image, is found in the last of the Egyptian plagues, +the death of the first-born, Exodus 11th. and 12th. chapters. +As soon as this plague came the Egyptians, from Pharaoh +down, were anxious to speed the parting guest, and willing +to give up all the jewels of silver (the Great Company) and +the jewels of gold (the Little Flock). In connection with +the statement that <q>there was not a house where there +was not one dead,</q> it is admitted that if any sects were +overlooked in the lists cited in comments on Rev. 8th and +9th chapters the omission was unintentional and will be +corrected in later editions. The three days in which Pharaoh's +host pursued the Israelites into the wilderness represent +the three years from 1917 to 1920 at which time all +of Pharaoh's messengers will be swallowed up in the sea of +anarchy. The wheels will come off their chariots—organizations. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the +hail.</hi>—Apparently, the book will be unpopular for a time. +<q>As soon as Divine restraints upon Satan were released, +he moved the Sabeans to steal Job's cattle and to kill his +servants; he caused fire to come down from heaven, which +not only killed but burned up Job's flocks of sheep; he sent +the Chaldeans who stole Job's camels, and finally produced +a cyclone which smote the house in which Job's children +were feasting together, and destroyed the house and killed +its occupants; and he attacked Job's person with disease +as soon as granted permission. (Job. 1:9-2:7.)</q>—S. 80. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the plague thereof was exceeding great.</hi>—Quite a +shower. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='259'/><anchor id='Pg259'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 17—The Papacy's Last Stand</head> + +<p> +17:1. <hi rend='sans'>And there came one of the seven angels.</hi>—Volume +VII, <hi rend='italic'>Studies in the Scriptures</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which had the seven vials.</hi>—An explanation of the +plagues upon symbolic Babylon. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And talked with me.</hi>—The John class, the Church in the +flesh. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying [unto me] Come hither; I will shew unto thee.</hi>—In +the 8th, 9th, 16th and 18th chapters of Revelation, and +throughout the Book of Ezekiel.—Nahum 3:3, 4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The judgment of the great whore.</hi>—Papacy, the <q>beast.</q>—Rev. +19:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That sitteth upon many waters.</hi>—The peoples of the +earth.—Jer. 51:13; Rev. 17:15. +</p> + +<p> +17:2. <hi rend='sans'>With whom the kings of the earth have committed +fornication.</hi>—<q>The kingdoms of Europe today claim to be +Christian kingdoms, and announce that their sovereigns +reign <q>by the grace of God,</q> i. e., through appointment of +either Papacy or some of the Protestant sects.</q>—A. 268; +Rev. 18:3; Isa. 1:21; Jer. 2:20-24; 3:6; Ezek. 16:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk.</hi>—<q>So +great an institution as made all nations drunk with her +false doctrine must be very prominent, indeed, to those +who were made so under the influence of the stupefying +draft from her cup.</q>—Pastor Russell. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With the wine of her fornication.</hi>—The mixed doctrines, +part truth and part error, that originally led to the union +of church and state,—the spiritual harlotry.—Jer. 51:7; +Rev. 2:20; 17:5; 18:3; 19:2. +</p> + +<p> +17:3. <hi rend='sans'>So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness.</hi>—<q>All +who would get a true view of Babylon must, in +spirit, take their position with the true people of God 'in +the wilderness'—in the condition of separation from the +world and worldly ideas and mere forms of godliness, and +in the condition of entire consecration and faithfulness to +and dependence upon God alone.</q>—D. 27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I saw a woman.</hi>—The Roman Catholic Church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Sit upon a scarlet colored beast.</hi>—Pagan Rome, and its +successors. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Full of names of blasphemy.</hi>—<q>From Ferraris' <hi rend='italic'>Ecclesiastical +Dictionary</hi>, a standard Roman Catholic authority, we +<pb n='260'/><anchor id='Pg260'/> +quote the following condensed outline of papal power as +given under the word <foreign rend='italic'>papa</foreign>, article 2nd: <q>The pope is of +such dignity and highness that he is not simply a man but, +as it were, God, and the vicar [representative] of God.... +Hence the pope is crowned with a triple crown, as +king of heaven, of earth and of hell. Nay, the pope's excellence +and power are not only about heavenly, terrestrial +and infernal things, but he is also above angels, and is +their superior; so that if it were possible that angels could +err from the faith, or entertain sentiments contrary thereto, +they could be judged and excommunicated by the pope.... +He is of such great dignity and power that he +occupies one and the same tribunal with Christ; so that +whatsoever the pope does seem to proceed from the mouth +of God.... The pope is, as it were, God on earth, the +only prince of the faithful of Christ, the greatest king of +all kings, possessing the plenitude of power; to whom the +government of the earthly and heavenly kingdom is entrusted.</q> +He further adds: <q>The pope is of so great authority +and power that he can modify, declare or interpret +the Divine Law.</q> <q>The pope can sometimes counteract the +Divine Law by limiting, explaining, etc.</q></q>—B. 310. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having seven heads and ten horns.</hi>—See Rev. 12:3; 13:1: +17:9-12; Dan. 7:7, 20; Rev. 5:6; 1 Sam. 2:10; Deut. 33:17; +1 Ki. 22:11. +</p> + +<p> +17:4. <hi rend='sans'>And the woman was arrayed in purple.</hi>—Symbolizing +the apostate church's claim to royalty. <q>I sit a queen +and am no widow.</q>—Rev. 18:7, 12, 16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And scarlet color.</hi>—Symbolizing her claims to share in +Christ's work of sacrifice, in the doctrine of the mass. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And decked with gold.</hi>—Symbolizing her claim that she +includes in her membership all the true Church of God, +those who shall ultimately attain the Divine nature. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And precious stones.</hi>—Symbolizing her claim that she is +the sole custodian of the Lord's precious jewels of truth +and character.—1 Cor. 3:12; Mal. 3:17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And pearls.</hi>—Symbolizing her claim that she has sole +power over all that the Lord bought by His death.—Matt. +13:45, 46. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having a golden cup in her hand.</hi>—Symbolizing her claim +that she is the repository of all Truth Divine.—Jer. 51:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Full of abominations and [filthiness] FILTHINESSES of +[her] THE fornication OF HER AND OF THE EARTH.</hi>—<q>Babylon +hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that +made all the earth drunken; the nations have drunken of +her wine; therefore the nations are mad [intoxicated with +her errors]. (Jer. 51:7-9.)</q>—C. 156; Rev. 18:6; Isa. 65:4. +</p> + +<pb n='261'/><anchor id='Pg261'/> + +<p> +17:5. <hi rend='sans'>And upon her forehead [was a name written].</hi>—In +plain sight of all the spiritually minded. (And how strange +it is that <emph>everybody</emph> does not see it!) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Mystery.</hi>—<q>We have already called attention to the fact +that the Church of Christ is called in the Scriptures the +<q>Mystery of God,</q> because, contrary to expectation, the +Church was to be the Messianic <emph>Body</emph> which, under its +Anointed Head, Jesus, shall rule and bless the world. We +have also drawn attention to the fact that the Scriptures +refer to Babylon as a counterfeit system (mother and +daughters—some more and some less corrupt, some better +and some poorer counterfeits), and there designated the +<q>Mystery of Iniquity.</q> We are to remember that it is Satan +who in the Scriptures is credited with having <q>deceived +the whole world</q> on this subject; putting evil for good +and good for evil; light for darkness and darkness for +light. Satan <q>now worketh in the children of disobedience</q> +(Isa. 5:20; Eph. 2:2) even as he proffered his cooperation +to our Lord Jesus.</q>—F. 199; 2 Thes. 2:7; Prov. 5:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations +of the earth.</hi>—<q>Since Papacy, the mother, is not a +single individual, but a great religious system, in keeping +with the symbol we should expect to see other religious +systems answering to the illustration of daughters of similar +character. To this description the various Protestant +organizations fully correspond. The daughter systems +parted from the mother under circumstances of travail, +and were born virgins.</q> (D. 29.) <q>But some sincere +Christians may still be anxiously inquiring,—<q>If all Christendom +is to be involved in the doom of Babylon, what will +become of Protestantism, the result of the Great Reformation?</q> +This is an important question; but let the reader +consider that Protestantism, as it exists today, is not the +result of the Great Reformation, but of its decline.</q>—D. 28; +Ezek. 16:44; Hos. 2:2-5; Isa. 1:21; Rev. 18:9; 19:2. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The claims of apostolic succession and clerical authority +are almost as presumptuously set forth by some of +the Protestant clergy as by the Papal priesthood. And the +right of individual private judgment,—the very fundamental +principle of the protest against Papacy, which led +to the Great Reformation,—is now almost as strenuously +opposed by Protestants as by Papists. Protestants seem +to have forgotten,—for they truly ignore,—the very grounds +of the original protest, and, as systems, they are fast drifting +back toward the open arms of the <q>Holy (?) Mother +Church.</q> <q>Let us hold out to you our hand affectionately</q> +(says Pope Leo to Protestants in his famous Encyclical addressed +<q>To the Princes and Peoples of the Earth</q>), <q>and +<pb n='262'/><anchor id='Pg262'/> +invite you to the unity which never failed the Catholic +church, and which never can fail. Long has our common +mother called you to her breast.</q> The doctrine of <q>the +Divine right of kings,</q> taught or supported by almost every +sect, is the foundation of the old civil system, and has +long given authority, dignity and stability to the kingdoms +of Europe; and the doctrine of the Divine appointment and +authority of the clergy has hindered God's children from +progressing in Divine things and bound them by the chains +of superstition and ignorance to the veneration and adoration +of fallible fellow-beings, and to their doctrines, traditions +and interpretations of God's Word. It is this entire +order of things that is to fall and pass away in the battle +of this great day—the order of things which for centuries +has held the people docile under the ruling powers, civil, +social and religious. All this has been by God's <emph>permission</emph> +(not by his appointment and approval, as they claim). But +though an evil in itself, it has served a good, <emph>temporary</emph> +purpose in preventing anarchy, which is immeasurably +worse, because men were not prepared to do better for +themselves, and because the time for Christ's Millennial +Kingdom had not yet come. Hence God permitted the +various delusions to gain credence in order to hold men in +check until <q>The Time of the End</q>—the end of <q>The Times +of the Gentiles</q> (which expired October 1, 1914).</q>—D. 33. +</p> + +<p> +17:6. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of +the saints.</hi>—<q><q>But the blood of Protestants is not called +the blood of saints, no more than the blood of thieves, man-killers, +and other malefactors, for the shedding of which, +by the order of justice, no commonwealth shall answer.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Rhemish +(Catholic) translation, footnote.</hi></q> (B. 320.) <q><q>She +wore out the saints of the most high God.</q> and <q>was +drunken with the blood of the saints.</q>—Rev. 18:24.</q>—Z. '04-236; +Rev. 16:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.</hi>—Most of +these martyrs will doubtless be honored by a place in the +Great Company. (See Rev. 7:9.) This Scripture was fulfilled +in the Dark Ages, but we are still <emph>in</emph> the Dark Ages, +and will be until this system is destroyed. It takes more +than a mere profession of faith to make a Christian. +<q>Jezebel today has daughters—systems termed Protestant—which, +nevertheless, copy largely the mother's spirit. It +is through the influence of the daughters that the anti-typical +Elijah may expect future persecutions, instigated +by the mother, accomplished through the daughters, as +typically represented in the case of John the Baptist, beheaded +by Herod at the instance of Salome, but at the +instigation of Herodias—Jezebel.</q>—Z. '04-237. +</p> + +<pb n='263'/><anchor id='Pg263'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And when I saw her.</hi>—Discerned her true character. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I wondered with great admiration.</hi>—<q>With great wonder</q> +(Diaglott), that the Lord would permit such an institution +to exist. +</p> + +<p> +17:7. <hi rend='sans'>And the angel.</hi>—Volume VII, <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Said unto me.</hi>—See Revelation, Chapters 4, 5 and 6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Wherefore dost thou marvel.</hi>—This is all quite right and +necessary. The Papacy was foreseen and permitted as a +part of God's wonderful plan for developing and testing +His Church, proving who are worthy to be of the First +Resurrection, joint-heirs with Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I will tell thee the mystery of the woman.</hi>—The apostate +Church of Rome. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of the beast that carrieth her.</hi>—Pagan Rome, now +represented in earth's warring governments. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which hath seven heads and ten horns.</hi>—See Rev. 12:3; +13:1. The exposition of the remainder of this chapter was +greatly assisted by the following letter: <q rend='pre'>Your request for +my version of what I understood Bro. Russell's expectations +to be respecting the fulfillment of the 17th Chapter of +Revelation received and after considerable meditation +upon the matter I have decided to submit the following: +Brother Russell stated that there were three possible fulfillments +of this Chapter, and that he did not or would +not go on record as to which would be the correct interpretation, +for the reason that this Chapter could not be +interpreted in a positive way until after its fulfillment. +He stated that this Chapter was the key to all of the +pictures, or prophecies, of Revelation, which are as yet +wrapped in mystery. On various occasions I requested +Bro. Russell to give me his idea respecting the three possible +fulfillments; but he remained absolutely mum respecting +two of the ways, but freely expressed his opinion +respecting the third way, which he believed would be the +way in which the prophecy would be fulfilled. <q>The beast +that thou sawest was, and is not and shall ascend out of +the bottomless pit and go into perdition,</q> we understand to +be the Holy Roman Empire—Church and State, united in +power from 799 to 1799. The term <q>Thou sawest</q> refers +to the thousand-year reign of the Pope, and the term <q>And +is not</q> refers to the present non-existence of the Empire +in power, and the term <q>And shall ascend from the bottomless +pit and again go into perdition</q> refers to the re-establishment +of the Holy Roman Empire in power and its +subsequent destruction. The statement <q>When he cometh, +he must continue a short space,</q> was understood by Bro. +Russell to mean that the beast would rule only for a very +short time. In answer to a direct question on this point +<pb n='264'/><anchor id='Pg264'/> +Bro. Russell stated that he did not believe this short space +could be interpreted in days, months, or years, but that +it simply meant a short time. In the 12th verse, we read +that <q>The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which +have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as +kings one hour with the beast.</q> This seems to set forth +the Papal view respecting the various kings of Europe +which at the present time have not received the official +anointing by the Pope, and consequently have not as yet +received their kingdom. If this is correct, it would then +also mean that if the Pope should anoint these kings and +declare them to be ruling by Divine right, they thereby +would officially receive power as kings, and would rule +with the Pope and together with the Pope would constitute +the beast again in power.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Bro. Russell was anxiously awaiting the settlement of +the present world war for the reason that it seemed very +probable that the Pope would be the leading figure in +bringing about its settlement, and possibly the very basis +of the settlement will be the recognition of the Pope as the +Holy See. If the Pope receives such recognition, he could +in return immediately grant an official anointing of the +rulers of the various governments included in the settlement, +and they then as stated in Verse 13, will be <q>Of one +mind and shall give their power and strength unto the +beast.</q> If this is to be the fulfillment of this picture, then +it will only be a question of time until these same governments +will turn upon the Roman Church and <q>Shall make +her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn +her with fire.</q> (Rev. 17:16.) The foregoing briefly outlines +what Bro. Russell seemed to think would be the outcome +of the present war. He had certain articles in prospect +which, if backed up by fulfilled prophecies, were to be the +absolute and irrevocable proof to the world of all of the +leading pictures given in the entire book of Revelation. +Personally, I think everything seems to be shaping itself +towards the fulfillment of the Chapter on the line above +specified. If you are making any use of this letter, kindly +specify or emphasize the fact that Bro. Russell considered +the matter largely as a speculation, and that he positively +stated that he would not go on record in the matter for the +reason that when he treated the matter he would do so in +the light of fulfilled prophecy <hi rend='italic'>as the last word and as the +unsealing of the entire book</hi>, and that he would not attempt +to do this until such a time as the interpretation +could not be refuted.</q> That time has evidently now come. +</p> + +<p> +17:8. <hi rend='sans'>The beast that thou sawest.</hi>—The Antichrist. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was.</hi>—Exercised actual dominion until 1799 A. D. +</p> + +<pb n='265'/><anchor id='Pg265'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And is not.</hi>—Has not had even a vestige of temporal +power since 1870. Since then it has been in oblivion, the +<q>bottomless pit.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shall ascend out of the [bottomless pit], ABYSS.</hi>—<q rend='pre'>Private +letters from the Vatican, received by Dr. A. +Palmieri of the Library of Congress, a recognized writer +on ecclesiastical subjects, announce that Pope Benedict XV +is about to appoint a commission of four cardinals to renew +a movement begun by Pope Leo XIII, and abandoned by +Pope Pius X, looking to a reunion of Christianity and the +cultivation of friendly relations with the Anglican Church. +A public announcement on the subject from Rome is expected +soon. Dr. Palmieri said that the new movement, as +outlined in his advices, will be directed particularly toward +an establishment of the reunion of the Russian church and +the Papacy and to a thorough re-examination into the +validity of Anglican or Episcopal ordinations, which was +settled in the negative in a papal bull <q>Apostolica Sedis,</q> +by Pope Leo X. The interest of the Pope in the problem +of Christian unity is said to have been intensified by the +recent progress of the world congress, initiated by the +American Episcopal Church.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><q>The new Pope,</q> said Dr. Palmieri, summarizing the +information received from Rome, <q>has taken a considerable +part in the efforts of neutral nations to establish peace +among nations. The Vatican's efforts have been suggested +not only by a humanitarian spirit, but by a longing for +Christian unity and to end the conflict which long since +has divided Christian churches. Efforts of Leo XIII for +carrying out the reunion of Christianity were abruptly +stopped by Piux X, who aimed at an inner reform of the +Catholic clergy and turned all his energies to the crushing +of modernism [Higher Criticism and Evolution]. Benedict +XV thinks it is time to renew the policy of Leo XIII, also +that a re-establishment of a political peace would be the +first step toward renewed attempts to stop the splitting of +Christianity into a greater number of sects. It seems to +the Vatican that the Orthodox Slavs will be very soon +called to take a more active part in the life of western +nations, either Protestant or Catholic, and that it is necessary +to come to an understanding with them to avoid evils +produced by religious intolerance. The newly planned +commission of cardinals will pay attention to yearnings for +unity, which from time to time manifest themselves in the +Orthodox church, and to cultivate friendly relations with +the Anglican church. One of the most important tasks of +the new commission will be a thorough re-examination of +the arguments pro and con on the validity of Anglican +<pb n='266'/><anchor id='Pg266'/> +ordinations. The bull Apostolica Sedis by Leo X has +settled in the negative the problem of that validity, but +generally theological schools assume a more favorable attitude +toward acknowledgment the validity of Anglican +orders, and the new commission of cardinals will carefully +ponder the reasons set forth by Russian and Anglican divines +against the decision of Pope Leo X. The friendship +of the Anglican church is appreciated by Rome, for she +may be as a link of union between Roman Catholicism and +Russian Orthodoxy.</q></q> (Z. '17-52.) We assume that the foregoing +plan of the pope will succeed. <q>This is the supreme +chance for Christianity <q>to assert her authority and guide +the world out of the darkness enshrouding it,</q> observes +<hi rend='italic'>The Northwestern Christian Advocate</hi> (Methodist, Chicago), +and it wonders whether the organized Christianity that +<q>failed—ingloriously failed</q>—in 1914 will again <q>miss her +golden opportunity.</q></q> (Literary Digest.) <q>An old writer +has observed that the Beast reappears from the Abyss +(see on ch. 11, 7) without his diadems, as though, in this +last stage, he would symbolize rather the violence of popular +rage than the prescriptive sanctity of monarchical supremacy.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And go into perdition.</hi>—Be utterly destroyed at the hands +of the masses it has so persistently and outrageously deceived.—Rev. +17:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they that dwell on the earth.</hi>—All independent Christians, +not entangled in the systems of either the beast or +the image. See Rev. 13:13, 14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall wonder.</hi>—Be astounded, perplexed and dismayed, +<q>At the reappearance of the beast.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whose names.</hi>—As a class, not as individuals. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were not written in the Book of Life.</hi>—But not necessarily +in so-called Church books, kept here on earth, for collection +purposes. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From the foundation of the world.</hi>—<q>The book or scroll +covenanting life to an elect number was prepared from +the foundation of the world. The names in it have been +written as the individuals have made consecration of +themselves, coming under the terms of the Divine call. In +this view of the matter the book or scroll would represent +the original Divine purpose—God's intention to have a +Church, of which our Lord Jesus would be the Head.—(Rev. +3:5.)</q>—Z. '99-265. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>When they behold the beast that was, and is not, and +[yet is] SHALL AGAIN BE PRESENT.</hi>—The Papal Empire +restored. +</p> + +<p> +17:9. <hi rend='sans'>And here is the mind which hath wisdom.</hi>—A +problem requiring the aid of the Lord.—Rev. 13:18. +</p> + +<pb n='267'/><anchor id='Pg267'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The seven heads are seven mountains.</hi>—The kingdoms +enumerated in Rev. 12:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>On which the woman sitteth.</hi>—Over which she once +reigned in plentitude of power. Much of Revelation is +written in such a way that both a literal and a symbolical +explanation can be made, designed by the Lord to make +the understanding of the book impossible to any except the +fully consecrated. The following shows the physical explanation +of this text which would most appeal to the +unconsecrated. But it shows that the Mother of Harlots +has her headquarters at Rome. And when we know who +the mother is, it is impossible not to recognize the daughters. +Rome is called in history the <q>seven-hilled city.</q> +<q>The original settlement of Romulus is said to have been +limited to the Palatine mount. With this were united +before the end of his reign the Capitoline and the Quirinal; +Tullus Hostilius added the Caelian, Ancus Martius the +Aventine; and finally Servius Tullius included the Esquiline +and Viminal, and enclosed the whole seven hills with +a stone wall. The growth of the state closely followed +that of the city.</q> (Brit.) It would not be possible to limit +this explanation to seven forms of government which have +exercised sway over the city of Rome. There have been +many such governments. There were seven of them during +the nineteenth century alone—the Roman Republic +of 1798, the Kingdom of 1805, the Annexation of 1810, the +restoration of the temporal power in 1814, the Revolution +of 1848, the restoration of the temporal power in 1849, and +the Italian occupation in 1870. +</p> + +<p> +17:10. <hi rend='sans'>And there are seven kings.</hi>—Seven forms of government +of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, the devil's own +particular pattern of government. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Five are fallen.</hi>—(1) The Regal period, from 753 B. C. +to 510 B. C. The <q>Kings</q> of this period were <q>not simply +either the hereditary and patriarchal chief of a clan, the +priestly head of a community bound together by a common +<foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>sacra</foreign>, or the elected magistrate of a state, but a mixture +of all three.</q>—Brit. +</p> + +<p> +(2) The Republic, from 509 to 451 B. C. and from 448 to +60 B. C. <q>It is characteristic of Rome that the change +from monarchy to republic should have been made with +the least possible disturbance of existing forms. The title +of king was retained, though only as that of a priestly +officer (<foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>rex sacrorum</foreign>) to whom some of the religious functions +of the former kings were transferred. The two annually +elected consuls or prætores were regarded as joint +heirs of the full kingly authority, and as holding the imperium +and the correlative right of taking the auspices, +<pb n='268'/><anchor id='Pg268'/> +by direct transmission from the founder of the city.</q> (Brit.) +(3) The Decemvirate, a rule of ten men, from 451 to 449 +B. C. (4) The Triumvirate, a rule of three men, from 59 +to 49 B. C. and from 43 to 28 B. C. (5) The Dictatorship +of Cæsar, 48 to 44 B. C. All of these forms of the old +Holy Roman Empire have completely passed away. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] one is.</hi>—The Dragon, still represented in the +powers of Europe. (See comments on Rev. 12:3, 4, +7, 9, 13, 16, 17; 13:2, 4, 11; 16:13.) The rulership of +Papacy during the Dark Ages, both directly in its temporal +power, and through the governments which it controlled or +influenced, and still influences, was—as has been shown—merely +another aspect of the government of Pagan Rome, +generally styled the Empire, but in Revelation called the +Dragon, and the Devil, and Satan. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the other.</hi>—The final form, of Arbitrator (whatever +be the official title). +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is not yet come.</hi>—But is due to make its appearance with +the close of the war, probably early in the year 1938. +(See comments on Rev. 16:17-21; Ex. 10:23.) Pastor Russell +foretold the <emph>darkness</emph> would commence in <hi rend='italic'>1914</hi>, and +it did!! Egypt's plague of darkness lasted three days (years). +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And when he cometh, he must continue a short space.</hi>—Probably +from the fall of 1917 to the spring or summer +of 1918. <q>The language is indefinite, the words <q>must continue</q> +alone being emphatic. It is a duration such that by +means of it the Church should be exercised in patience.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +17:11. <hi rend='sans'>And the beast that was.</hi>—That once exercised +temporal dominion and, through influence of the European +governments, once actually ruled the world. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And is not.</hi>—Does not now have any temporal dominion. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Even] he is the eighth.</hi>—The eighth horn which took +the place of the three plucked up (Rev. 12:3); also the +final form of the <hi rend='italic'>HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And is of the seven.</hi>—<q>Cometh of the seven,</q> Greek.—Grew +up by the plucking of the three. The Papacy is +either the seventh or the eighth form, depending upon how +the matter is viewed. If it be viewed as having reigned +separately from the Dragon during the Dark Ages (as it +did, when it exercised temporal power), in its new guise +it will be the eighth form, its separate rulership during +the Dark Ages being counted as the seventh. But if it be +viewed as having been a co-partner of the Dragon during +the Dark Ages, then its forthcoming manifestation will be +the seventh form. In any event the eighth form is one of +the seven forms; and the regaining of the temporal power +this time will be the cause of the Papacy's destruction. +<pb n='269'/><anchor id='Pg269'/> +See Z. '03-325 for a hint that Benedict XV will never have a +successor. (He is personally the eighth pope reigning +since 1799. Five of these popes had died prior to 1878. +Here is a good secondary fulfilment.) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And goeth into perdition.</hi>—<q>Daniel, representing the +saints, says (Dan. 7:11), <q>I watched it then [after its +dominion was gone and it was powerless longer to crush +the Truth, the power of the holy people], <emph>because</emph> of the +voice of the great words which that horn spoke, and I saw +that [it obtained no power over the holy saints and the +Truth, but it did have another effect] the beast was slain, +the body thereof destroyed and given to the burning +flame</q>—general anarchy. The destruction of the remnant +of governments in the old Roman Empire, caused by the +misleading influence of Papacy's continued bombastic +utterances, even after its dominion is gone, is thus shown.</q>—C. 68; +2 Thes. 2:3. +</p> + +<p> +17:12. <hi rend='sans'>And the ten horns which thou sawest.</hi>—Three of +which were originally plucked up to make room for the +growth of the Papacy. See Rev. 12:3; 13:1; 17:3; Dan. +7:7, 8, 20; Rev. 5:6; 1 Sam. 2:10; Deut. 33:17; 1 Ki. 22:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are ten kings.</hi>—The rulers, whether kings, kaisers, presidents +or others who have dragged into the slaughter house +the descendants of the ten powers originally composing the +Roman Empire. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which have received no kingdom [as yet].</hi>—No official +sanction as rulers from the counterfeit <q>king of kings and +lord of lords</q>—the Pope. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But receive power as kings.</hi>—<q>The absence of the diadem +indicates that their kingdom is not full, regal power, but +as being transient, is represented as if it were royal +power.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>One hour with the beast.</hi>—The <q>one hour</q> in this verse +(17:12) may signify one year, or thereabouts. The word +in the Greek is <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>hora</foreign>. This is the same word which our +Lord used when, in speaking of John the Baptist He said, +<q>He was a burning and a shining light; and you were +willing, for a time (<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>hora</foreign>—one year—the length of John's +ministry before his imprisonment) to rejoice in his light.</q> +(John 5:35; Z. '04-60.) In matters that are still future we +can only use our best judgment as to the significance to be +attached to expressions like this. <q>Let every man be fully +persuaded in his own mind.</q>—Rom. 14:5. +</p> + +<p> +17:13. <hi rend='sans'>These have one mind.</hi>—All are desperately +anxious to stop the terrible waste of human life, now that +they see what their father, the Devil, has accomplished +through their worship and service of himself and his institutions. +</p> + +<pb n='270'/><anchor id='Pg270'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [shall] give their power and strength unto the beast.</hi>—Support +it in its apparently laudable but actually selfish +efforts in trying to stop the European war. <q>Deposit in +his hands all the available means which they possess.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +17:14. <hi rend='sans'>These shall make war with the Lamb.</hi>—Endeavor +to suppress the message of Present Truth.—Rev. 16:14; +19:19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the Lamb shall overcome them.</hi>—Zion need not +fear; for God is in the midst of her, and will help her. +Her consecration is unto death, and her privilege is to +prove her faithfulness: <q>The disciple is not above his +Master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for +the disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as +his Lord.</q>—Matt. 10:24, 25. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It will probably be in an effort at self-preservation on +the part of <q>Great Babylon</q>—<q>Christendom</q>—when she sees +her power in politics, priestcraft and superstition waning, +that the work of truth-spreading will be stopped as detrimental +to her system. And probably at this juncture the +Elijah class, persisting in declaring the Truth to the last, +will suffer violence, pass into glory and escape from the +severest features of the great Time of Trouble coming—just +in the crisis of affairs when men begin to feel that +desperate measures must be resorted to, to sustain the +tottering structure of Christendom. Although the exact +time of the deliverance or <q>change</q> of the last members of +the Body of Christ is not stated, the approximate time is +nevertheless clearly manifest, as shortly after the <q>door</q> +is shut (Matt. 25:10).</q>—C. 231. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For He is Lord of lords, and King of kings.</hi>—Has the entire +situation under perfect control—is the <emph>real</emph> Pope.—1 +Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they that are with Him are called.</hi>—When they hear, +understand and heed the message of complete consecration +even unto death (Rev. 19:9). This clause, in the Greek, +indicates that these also, as well as the Lamb, shall overcome +them. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And chosen.</hi>—Elected as soon as they comply with the +conditions, provided there are any vacancies. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And faithful.</hi>—<q>The door of opportunity to engage, with +Christ our Lord, in the work of the Gospel Age, will be +closed when <q>the night cometh wherein no man can work.</q> +And all who have not previously, by faithful service, developed +the necessary character and proved their sympathy, +devotion, love and zeal for the Lord and His Truth +(Matt. 10:37; Mark 8:38), will then be too late to do so. +The closing in of this night will evidently put a stop +<pb n='271'/><anchor id='Pg271'/> +to any farther labor to disseminate the Truth, which, misunderstood +by the public generally, will probably be accused +of being the cause of much of the anarchy and confusion +then prevailing, instead of being seen in its true +light as a foreshadowing of the Divine mind and revelation +concerning coming troubles on the world and their true +causes.</q>—C. 210; Rev. 2:10. +</p> + +<p> +17:15. <hi rend='sans'>And he saith unto me, [The] THESE waters +which thou sawest where the whore sitteth.</hi>—See Rev. +17:1, 9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are BOTH peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and +tongues.</hi>—And not, therefore, literal water or literal hills, +or forms of government which have ruled the city of +Rome.—Isa. 8:7. +</p> + +<p> +17:16. <hi rend='sans'>And the ten horns which thou sawest.</hi>—The rulers +of Europe and America, and their subjects, descendants of +the ten powers which originally composed the old Roman +Empire. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Upon] AND the beast.</hi>—The re-established temporal dominion +of the pope in Rome and elsewhere. <q>Of her boastings +and threats the following from a Catholic journal of +recent date is a fair sample: <q>The Papacy will regain its +temporal sovereignty, because it is useful and convenient +to the Church. It gives the head executive of the church +a fuller liberty and a fuller sway. The Pope can be no +king's subject long. It is not in keeping with the divine +office to be so. It cramps him and narrows his influence +for good. Europe has acknowledged this influence, and +will be forced to bow to it in greater times of need than +this. Social upheavals, and the red hand of anarchy, will +yet crown Leo or his successor with the reality of power +which the third circle symbolizes, and which was once +recognized universally.</q> Yes, as the day of trouble draws +on, ecclesiasticism will endeavor to use its power and +influence more and more to secure its own political welfare, +by its control of the turbulent elements of society; +but in the crisis of the near future the lawless element will +spurn all conservative influence and break over all restraints, +the red hand of Anarchy will do its dreadful work, +and Babylon, political and ecclesiastical, shall fall.</q>—D. 38. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate +and naked.</hi>—People and governments will have a common +hatred for their mutual enemy when the motives which +actuate her are clearly revealed.—Ezek. 16:35-44; 23:22, +29; Zech. 1:19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire.</hi>—Unite +to complete her utter destruction.—Rev. 18:8, 18; Dan. +7:11; C. 68; Gen. 38:24; Ezek. 16:41; Lev. 20:14; 21:9. +</p> + +<pb n='272'/><anchor id='Pg272'/> + +<p> +17:17. <hi rend='sans'>For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His +will.</hi>—As expressed in His Word. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to agree.</hi>—The European war would stop tomorrow +if it were not for the officers holding the men to the task +of butchery. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to give their kingdom unto the beast.</hi>—Put their liberties +into the hands of the Papacy, as Arbitrator. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Until the words of God shall be fulfilled.</hi>—And the travail +of nominal Zion shall disclose her true character. +</p> + +<p> +17:18. <hi rend='sans'>And the woman which thou sawest.</hi>—The Apostate +Church, the antitypical Jezebel. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is that great city.</hi>—The <q><hi rend='italic'>HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE</hi>.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which reigneth over the [kings] KINGDOMS of the +earth.</hi>—<q>Expositors of every school generally agree that +Rome Pagan, or Rome Papal, or Rome under both aspects, +is intended here. In order to repel the application to the +Papacy, many Roman expositors also apply what is said +of the destruction of Rome, to the future—to Rome again +become Pagan: This is the hypothesis, observes Bishop +Wordsworth, of Suarez, Viegas, Ribera, Lessius, Menochius, +C. à Lapide, and others, particularly Dr. Manning in +our own day. Thus Stern writes:—Babylon is really the +City of Rome, not only, however, according to the old-heathenish, +but also according to the new-heathenish signification +of the World's history.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +Could there ever come a time when men, the world over, +could be more heathenish at heart than now; and does not, +therefore, even Papal comment show that this Scripture +is ready to be fulfilled? +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Whene'er the storms come down on thee,</q></l> +<l>And days of peace all seem to flee;</l> +<l>This thought thy peace again shall bring,</l> +<l>Why should I fear?—the Lord is King.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>E'en when the tempest rages high,</l> +<l>And darkest clouds are drawing nigh,</l> +<l>With hands of faith to this, O! cling,—</l> +<l>Why should I fear?—the Lord is King;</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Amid the stormy waves of life,</l> +<l>Above the tumult and the strife,</l> +<l>The chimes of hope still sweetly ring,—</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Be not afraid—the Lord is King.</q></l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='273'/><anchor id='Pg273'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 18—The Fall Of Ecclesiasticism</head> + +<p> +18:1. <hi rend='sans'>[And] after these things.</hi>—As another view of the +Harvest epoch. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I saw another angel.</hi>—Messenger, the Messenger of the +Covenant, the Lord Jesus.—Mal. 3:1; Rev. 10:1; 14:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Come down from Heaven.</hi>—In 1874. See Rev. 3:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having great power.</hi>—<q>All power in Heaven and in +earth.</q>—Matt. 28:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the earth was lightened.</hi>—See Mal. 4:2; Rev. 7:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With His glory.</hi>—Some of the glories of the New Day, +all discovered since 1874, are adding machines, aeroplanes, +aluminum, antiseptic surgery, artificial dyes, automatic +couplers, automobiles, barbed wire, bicycles, carborundum, +cash registers, celluloid, correspondence schools, cream +separators, Darkest Africa, disk ploughs, Divine Plan of +the Ages, dynamite, electric railways, electric welding, +escalators, fireless cookers, gas engines, harvesting machines, +illuminating gas, induction motors, linotypes, match +machines, monotypes, motion pictures, North Pole, Panama +Canal, Pasteurization, railway signals, Roentgen rays, shoe +sewing machines, smokeless powder, South Pole, submarines, +radium, sky scrapers, subways, talking machines, +telephones, typewriters, vacuum cleaners and wireless +telegraphy.—Ezek. 43:2; John 1:9; Matt. 25:31; Titus 2:13. +</p> + +<p> +18:2. <hi rend='sans'>And he cried [mightily] with a [strong] MIGHTY +voice.</hi>—How apt are these Scriptures that refer to Pastor +Russell as a <q>voice</q>! (Rev. 7:2; 10:3; 16:1.) So modestly +are his works written that the author is nowhere manifest, +but attention is always and everywhere drawn to the +<hi rend='italic'>Lord</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, [Babylon the great is] fallen, is BABYLON THE +GREAT [fallen].</hi>—<q>The expression, <q>Babylon is fallen,</q> +indicates that at some time a sudden and utter rejection is +to come upon Babylon, when all favor will forever cease, +and when judgments will follow—just such a rejection as +we have shown was due in 1878.</q>—C. 155; Isa. 13:19-22; +21:9; Jer. 51:8-13; Rev. 14:8; 16:19. +</p> + +<p> +<q>In spite of all our wealth, the blight of poverty, with its +accompanying sickness, suffering, crime, insanity and vice, +continues. The social disease manifested in <q>atrophy and +hypertrophy,</q> in <q>extremities bleeding at the bottom, bloating +<pb n='274'/><anchor id='Pg274'/> +at the top, decay in both,</q> is a portent of the modern +world. The net result of our wonderful civilization is that +men have less time now than they have ever had since the +world began.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Current Literature</hi>; Z. '11-420. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Alienists the country over are sounding a solemn note +of warning to the American people over the alarming +rush in which we live. According to Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, +federal pure food and drugs expert, nearly every man and +woman at some time in their lives border on insanity. +That view is also indorsed by the famous Dr. William A. +White, head of the United States government hospital for +the insane, who backs up the stand taken recently by Dr. +Owen Copp, new head of the Pennsylvania Hospital for +the Insane. Because of the terrible ravages of drink and +drugs, particularly in the United States, thousands of +people are rendered so extremely nervous that they are +always on the verge of going crazy. The rush and worry +of modern life he gives as the causes.</q>—Z. '11-228. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And is become the habitation of devils.</hi>—<q>The <hi rend='italic'>New +York World</hi> publishes an interview with Bishop Fallows, +of the Reformed Episcopal Church, as follows: <q>Telepathy +is an established fact. In recent years great strides have +been made in the explanation of psychic phenomena and +in the years to come the science of communication with +the dead will be made a part of the curriculum of great +educational institutions. I have called the new science +<q>Immortalism</q> because it depends for its existence upon +the immortality of the soul, in which we all believe, and +the preservation of identity beyond the grave.</q> Bishop +Fallows will be recognized by many as one of the ministers +who have recently been taking a great interest in +Faith Healing clinics. We have already pointed out that +to our understanding these cures are effected by hypnotic +influences and that hypnotism is but another form of +Spiritism. We believe that through this channel the fallen +angels (<q>wicked spirits,</q> Eph. 6:12) are seeking to break +down the human will; and that the results, shortly, will +be direful in the extreme, leading to spirit control and +every evil work.</q>—Z. '09-355; Ecc. 9:5; 1 Pet. 3:19; Jude 6; +Jer. 51:37-41; Rev. 16:14; Isa. 13:19-22; 34:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the hold of every foul spirit.</hi>—Rev. Wm. Sunday +has exceptional opportunity for learning, and in his public +discourses repeatedly <q>scores the ministers because they +have no faith. He condemns their neglect of Bible study. +He says the theological seminaries are turning out infidels. +He refers to the large amount of saloon property +that belongs to church members. He enumerates all kinds +of worldly doings which go on in these denominations. He +<pb n='275'/><anchor id='Pg275'/> +would have us believe that the moral standard of thousands +high in the churches is so low as to almost stagger +reason. Now if what Mr. Sunday says about the denominations +is true they are not fit places for good, respectable +people, to say nothing of true Christians. In fact, if they +are only half as bad as he says, then every faithful child +of God ought to get out of them as quickly as he can. If +they are but one-quarter as bad as Mr. Sunday tells, then +the only safety on the part of one who wishes to retain +his faith is to get out of such spiritual pest-holes.</q>—Z. '15-207. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.</hi>—<q>How +true it is, that the most execrable of society seek and +wear the garb of Christian profession and ceremonialism, +in some of the various quarters (sects) of Babylon. Of +all the defaulters, and deceivers of men and of women, +how many are professedly members of Christ's Church! +and how many even use their profession as a cloak under +which to forward evil schemes! It is well known that a +majority of even the most brutal criminals executed die +in the Roman Catholic communion. Babylon has contained +both the best and the worst, both the cream and +the dregs, of the population of the civilized world.</q> (C. 162.) +A parliamentary report of the status of society in England +and Wales in 1873 showed that there were then no +Jewish criminals, 1 of every 20,000 infidels was a criminal, +1 of every 666 Dissenters was a criminal, 1 of every 72 +Church of England, and 1 of every 40 Roman Catholics. +(C. 163.) <q>The great system in which the <q>fowl of heaven</q> +delight to roost, and which they have grievously befouled +(Luke 13:18, 19), and which has in fact become <q>a cage of +every unclean and hateful bird,</q> is to be hewn down, and +shall deceive the world no longer.</q>—C. 187; Isa. 34:11; Jer. +50:39; Zeph. 2:14. +</p> + +<p> +18:3. <hi rend='sans'>For all nations have drunk of the wine of the +wrath of her fornication.</hi>—<q>The stimulating power is not +the spirit of a sound mind, but the delusion of a false +doctrine; as the Prophet declares, they are <q>drunken,</q> but +not with wine. (Isa. 29:9-13.) The people in general have +lost their taste and appreciation for the water of life, the +<hi rend='italic'>Truth</hi>; and false teachers warn them against it as poison. +The wine of false doctrines now being manufactured at +all the Theological Seminaries is the wine of evolution +and higher criticism, which does not satisfy the thirst, +but increases the confusion of mind. Even Babylon's +notables are dissatisfied, famished.—See Amos 8:11.</q>—Z. '01-349. +</p> + +<pb n='276'/><anchor id='Pg276'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the kings of the earth.</hi>—The governments of Austria, +Denmark, France, Germany, England, Russia, Spain, +Portugal, etc. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Have committed fornication with her.</hi>—Joined themselves +to the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and +Greek Catholic Churches. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the merchants of the earth.</hi>—Popes, Cardinals, Archbishops, +Bishops, Presiding Elders, Reverends, etc.—Rev. +18:11, 15; Isa. 47:15; 23:8; Ezek. 27:36. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.</hi>—Supplied +partly in cash and partly in left-overs from +church fairs, suppers, etc. +</p> + +<p> +18:4. <hi rend='sans'>And I heard another voice from heaven.</hi>—The +<hi rend='smallcaps'>Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society</hi>, the corporate body +which Pastor Russell personally organized to conduct the +Harvest work (Rev. 8:3; 14:18). This voice has been +exerted continuously since 1884. <q>Our thought is that it is +the Lord who calls His people out of Babylon; the call to +to be recognized especially as a Voice from Heaven. +Apparently, the Voice is Present Truth.</q>—Z. '14-180. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Come out of her.</hi>—<q>This call applies not only to +those in Babylon the Great, but to those in other denominations—mother +and daughters. Be not of those who +cannot see the errors of Babylon and who, consequently, +are not of the called ones. The object of the call to come +out is not for people merely to withdraw from a nominal +church. No one is called out of Babylon until he sees +her true condition. This call to associate with Christ, with +Messiah, is given by the Lord through the Prophet when +He says, <q>Gather My saints together unto Me; those that +have made a Covenant with Me by sacrifice.</q> (Psa. 50:5.) +They were to be gathered, not to the Roman or other +systems, but to the Lord, to become one with Him.</q> +(Z. '12-277.) <q>The Lord's call out of Babylon is not in +audible one—He merely calls us by the principles of righteousness. +He lifts the curtain before the eyes of understanding +of His consecrated ones and thus lets them see +some of the errors, some of the falsities in which they +and others of Babylon are involved—dishonoring the holy +name—blaspheming the holy name by misrepresentation +of the Divine character and Plan. This is and should be +call enough for those who are of the Lord's Spirit, for +those who love the Lord and the honor of His name more +than they love houses or lands or parents or children or +any other creature or thing—yea, more than they love +their own lives. Such are sure to respond and to come +out of Babylon; others who remain, in spite of seeing the +<pb n='277'/><anchor id='Pg277'/> +light, fail to be overcomers of the highest class—fail +therefore to be in the elect Bride class, and must be +counted in with the Great Company, which will come +through great tribulation, and will get out of Babylon only +when she has been cast as a great millstone into the +midst of the sea—in the time of anarchous trouble with +which this Age will close.</q> (Z. '06-343.) +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Baptists think their preachers have no authority. But +the Baptists cannot do anything without the consent of the +preachers. The preachers hold a power that God did not +repose there. God never authorized any men to go and +ordain another man to preach the Gospel. God does the +ordaining; and it is for the church to decide, according to +its best judgment, whom the Lord ordains or calls as a +pastor. The people in the Methodist church have almost +no liberty, except the privilege of giving money. The +bishops control the presiding elders, and under them the +presiding elders control the preachers; and so it is all the +way down to the class leaders. They have their head or +chief amongst them. They have a human head. The +General Conference is the highest authority. So the Presbyterian +church has a head in the way of a General +Assembly which has the deciding of matters.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>On one occasion I was called upon by a minister of the +Reformed church. He wanted to know how I managed +my church. I said to him, <q>Brother ——, I have no +church.</q> He said, <q>You know what I mean.</q> I answered, +<q>I want you to know what I mean, too. We claim that +there is only one Church. If you belong to that Church, +you belong to our Church.</q> He looked at me in surprise. +Then he said, <q>You have an organization; how many +members are there?</q> I replied, <q>I cannot tell; we do not +keep any membership rolls.</q> <q>You do not keep any list +of the membership?</q> <q>No. We do not keep any list; their +names are written in Heaven.</q> He asked, <q>How do you +have your election?</q> I said, <q>We announce an election; +and any or all of God's people, who are consecrated and +are accustomed to meet with this company, or congregation, +may have the privilege of expressing their judgment +of who would be the Lord's preference for elders and +deacons of the congregation.</q> <q>Well,</q> he said, <q>that is simplicity +itself.</q> I then added, <q>We pay no salaries; there +is nothing to make people quarrel. We never take up a +collection.</q> <q>How do you get the money?</q> he asked. I +replied, <q>Now, Dr. ——, if I tell you what is the simplest +truth you will hardly be able to believe it. When people +get interested in this way, they find no basket placed under +their nose. But they see there are expenses. They +<pb n='278'/><anchor id='Pg278'/> +say to themselves, <q>This hall costs something, and I see +that free lunch is served between meetings, for those living +at some distance. How can I get a little money into +this thing?</q></q> He looked at me as if he thought, <q>What do +you take me for—a greenhorn?</q> I said, <q>Now, Dr. ——, +I am telling you the plain truth. They do ask me this +very question, <q>How can I get a little money into this +cause?</q></q></q> (Pastor Russell <hi rend='italic'>Question Meeting</hi>. Gen. 19:15, +22; Isa. 48:20; 52:11; Jer. 50:8; 51:6, 45; Matt. 24:16.) +</p> + +<p> +<q>The present work of gathering the Lord's saints out +of Babylon is represented under various symbolic descriptions,—it +is the gathering of the wheat from the +tares into the barn (Matt. 13:30): it is the gathering of +the good fish into baskets and the casting of the unsuitable +fish caught in the Gospel net back into the sea +(Matt. 13:47-49); it is the gathering of His jewels (Mal. +3:17); it is the midnight cry to the virgins, which separates +the wise from the foolish (Matt. 25:6); and it is the +gathering of the <q>Elect</q> from all the non-elect of Christendom, +from the four winds—from every quarter.</q> (Matt. +24:31.) (D. 600.) <q>Lot's wife, after starting to flee as directed, +<q>looked back;</q> coveting the things behind: and so +with some now fleeing from Babylon to the mountain +(Kingdom) of the Lord; they are more in sympathy with +the things behind than with the things before. Only those +will run the race to the finish who set their affections on +the things above, and not on the things beneath.</q> (D. 608.) +</p> + +<p> +<q>Those who thus flee to the Lord will neither be consumed +by fear and dread, nor swallowed up by the projects +and false theories—science falsely so called—with which +this day abounds. And, withal, they may be in the devouring +fire [trouble], witnesses for God and His Plan, +and teachers of the people—pointers to the glorious outcome +of Jehovah's Plan, lifting up a standard for the +people.—Isa. 62:10.</q> (B. 31.) <q>The tables of the various +sects of Christendom were started as tables of the Lord, +and adorned to some extent with food from His storehouse, +the Word. But the great Adversary placed upon +these tables errors, delusions, doctrines of devils, which +have blemished them as a whole; wherefore it is appropriate +now to apply to them the words of the Scriptures, +<q>Come out from amongst them and be ye separate; touch +not the unclean thing.</q></q> (Z. '07-91.) <q>Our friends, like +Abraham's friends, would persuade us of the folly of leaving +Babylon, its comforts and associations: they assure +us that our opportunities for greatness, etc., will be distinctly +lessened by the course of obedience which we take. +Nevertheless we, like Abram, go forth taking all of our +<pb n='279'/><anchor id='Pg279'/> +possessions with us, great or small—nothing must be left +behind to be a treasure in Babylon and to attract our +hearts thither again. All things must be brought with us +so that not our own lives and talents only, but our influence +upon others, must all be made to count.</q> (Z. '01-231) +<q>As to missionary activities (Matt. 23:15), what advantage +can accrue to the heathen from giving them the +false doctrines of the Adversary? The few who may be +reached will have the more to unlearn when the Times +of Restitution begin.</q>—F. 641. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My people.</hi>—<q>We would not be understood as including +all Christians as <q>Babylonians.</q> Quite to the contrary. As +the Lord recognizes some in Babylon as true to Him and +addresses them now, saying, <q>Come out of her, <emph>My people</emph></q> +(Rev. 18:4), so do we; and we rejoice to believe that there +are today thousands who have not bowed the knee to the +Baal of our day—Mammon, Pride and Ambition. Those +who will not come out until Babylon falls and they come +through the <q>great tribulation</q> (Rev. 7:9-14) shall not be +accounted worthy to share the Kingdom. Compare Rev. +2:26; 3:21; Matt. 10:37; Mark 8:34, 35; Luke 14:26, 27.</q> +(See Micah 2:10; Jer. 12:7-11; 23:33-40; Jer. 11:14, 15; +Prov. 19:27; Matt. 14:28, 29; Hos. 4:6; Isa. 27:12.) <q>The +begetting of spiritual children of God, through the Word +of His grace, and their being to some extent cherished, +nourished and brought forward by these human sectarian +tare systems, is well illustrated by certain insects, the +young of which are injected into the backs of their +enemies, and there warmed, nourished and developed, up +to the time of their complete birth and deliverance, which +means, usually, the death of the insect which temporarily +carried them about.</q> (F. 656.) Now the point of deliverance +has been reached. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That ye be not partakers of her sins.</hi>—<q>If you fail to +obey the Lord through fear of earthly loss, it will prove +that these things are more precious to you than His favor, +and He will treat you as He treats the hypocrites; you will +have a share in their experiences.</q> (Z. '14-180.) <q>We do +not know but that they may go to the extreme in our day—to +kill socially, to kill ecclesiastically, perhaps to kill +physically. Nearly all the persecutions that have come to +God's people have come from professed Christians, fellow-believers. +<q>Your brethren that hated you, that cast you +out for My Name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified; +but He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be +ashamed.</q> (Isaiah 66:5.)</q>—Z. '14-181; Num. 16:26. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And that ye receive not of her plagues.</hi>—See Rev. +16:1-21. +</p> + +<pb n='280'/><anchor id='Pg280'/> + +<p> +18:5. <hi rend='sans'>For her sins [have reached] CLEAVED TOGETHER +unto Heaven.</hi>—Ezekiel has touched on this!—Jer. +51:9; Gen. 11:3, 4; Luke 10:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And God hath remembered her iniquities.</hi>—By seven +plagues; the seven volumes of <hi rend='italic'>Studies in the Scriptures</hi>.—Rev. +16:1-21. See also bottom of this page. +</p> + +<p> +18:6. <hi rend='sans'>Reward her even as she rewarded [you].</hi>—A diligent +attempt has been made in this direction. Anything +overlooked will be inserted in the next edition.—Psa. +137:8; Jer. 50:15, 29; 51:24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] double unto her double according to her works.</hi>—Make +a double exposition (explaining Revelation and Ezekiel) +that will show her up just as she is. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In [the] HER cup which she hath filled.</hi>—The Scriptures +which she has twisted, distorted and misapplied. <q>The +cup which she has used as a means of seduction shall +now be changed into the instrument of her punishment.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fill to her double.</hi>—Greek, <q>the double.</q> (Isa. 61:7.) +Give her enough light on Ezekiel and Revelation to show +her the exit.—Isa. 21:7-10. +</p> + +<p> +18:7. <hi rend='sans'>How much she hath glorified herself, and lived +deliciously.</hi>—And to what lengths has not Papacy gone in +this direction, with the Protestant sects doing their best +to keep the pace! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>So much torment and sorrow.</hi>—Mourning for the dead, +Greek.—Amos. 8:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Give her.</hi>—<q>I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art +also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware; thou art +found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against +the Lord. The Lord hath opened His armoury [Ezekiel +and Revelation] and hath brought forth the weapons of +His indignation: for this is the work of the Lord God of +Hosts in the land of the Chaldeans ... the vengeance +of the Lord our God, the vengeance of His Temple.... +Recompense her according to her work; according to all +that she hath done, do unto her.</q>—Jer. 50:24-29. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For she saith in her heart.</hi>—Babylon really believes her +prosperity will continue forever. They <q>shall <emph>believe</emph> the +lie.</q>—2 Thes. 2:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.</hi>—See +Isa. 47:8, 9; D. 43; Zeph. 2:15. +</p> + +<p> +18:8. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore.</hi>—<q>Because she will violently struggle +for life and power.</q>—D. 39. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall her plagues.</hi>—Death, mourning, famine and fire. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Come in one day.</hi>—The year of 1918. See Rev. 3:14; 11:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Death.</hi>—<q>By the hand of her enemies.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And mourning.</hi>—For the loss of her people.—Rev. 18:7. +</p> + +<pb n='281'/><anchor id='Pg281'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And famine.</hi>—Literal and symbolic. (Amos. 8:11). <q>As +we call to mind the long train of evils by which Babylon +has oppressed and worn out the saints of the most High +(the true Zion), and how it is written that God will avenge +His own Elect, and that speedily; that, according to their +deeds, He will repay recompense to His enemies; that He +will render unto Babylon a recompense (Luke 18:7, 8; Isa. +59:18; Jer. 51:6), we begin to realize that some fearful +calamity awaits her. The horrible decrees of Papacy,—the +reproach and reward of which Protestantism also is +incurring by her present compromising association with +her,—for the burning, butchering, banishing, imprisoning +and torturing of the saints in every conceivable way, executed +with such fiendish cruelty in the days of her power +by the arm of the State, whose power she demanded and +received, await full measure of just retribution.</q>—D. 39. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And she shall be utterly burned with fire.</hi>—Completely +destroyed in the anarchy to follow.—Rev. 17:16; Gen. +38:24; Ezek. 16:41; Lev. 20:14; 21:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For strong is <hi rend='sans'>GOD</hi> the Lord [God] who [judgeth] +JUDGED her.</hi>—<q>Compare Rev. 17:17, where the event is expressly +declared to have been overruled by God.</q> (Cook.) +<q>And I will punish Bel in Babylon [the God of Babylon,—the +Pope]; and I will bring forth out of his mouth that +which he hath swallowed up [he shall repudiate in his extremity +the <q>great swelling words</q> and blasphemous titles +which he has long appropriated to himself—that he is the +<q>infallible vicar,</q> <q>vice-gerent of Christ,</q> <q>another God on +earth,</q> etc.], and the nations shall not flow together any +more unto him. Yea, the wall of Babylon [the civil power +that once defended it, and that in a measure does so still] +shall fall.... Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: the broad +walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high +gates shall be burned with fire [shall be destroyed]; and +the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire [to +prop and save the walls of Babylon], and they shall be +weary.—Jer. 51:44, 58.</q>—D. 40. The people are already getting +weary of supporting murderous governments. +</p> + +<p> +18:9. <hi rend='sans'>And the kings of the earth, who have committed +fornication [and lived deliciously] with her.</hi>—In the illicit +unions of Church and State the advantage, from a worldly +viewpoint, has been on the side of the Church. She has +compelled the State to cleanse her filthy linen while she +proceeded to pollute another lot. Far from living deliciously, +the horns have really hated the harlot for her +impudent, shameless conduct. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall [bewail her], WAIL and lament for her.</hi>—Not because +they loved her, but because she was useful to them +<pb n='282'/><anchor id='Pg282'/> +in keeping the people in ignorance and subjection.—Jer. +50:46; Ezek. 26:15 to 27:36. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>When they shall see the smoke of her burning.</hi>—When +they witness her confusion and signs of imminent destruction +as portrayed in the seventh plague—<q>the handwriting +on the wall.</q>—Dan. 5:1-9; Rev. 18:18; 19:3. +</p> + +<p> +18:10. <hi rend='sans'>Standing afar off for fear of her torment.</hi>—Realizing +that this is a question of interpretation of the Scriptures +and not wishing to get entangled in it any more +than absolutely necessary.—Jer. 51:30-33. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty +city.</hi>—Alas, that great religious system that was always +eager to affiliate with us and give a religious coloring to +even wholesale murder by enticing its young men to enlist +under our banners! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For in one hour is thy judgment come.</hi>—In the one year +1917-1918.—Rev. 17:12. +</p> + +<p> +18:11. <hi rend='sans'>And the merchants of the earth.</hi>—Salesmen of +religious goods—Popes, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops +and smaller fry.—Ezek. 27:36; Isa. 23:8; 47:15; Rev. +18:3, 15, 23. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall weep and mourn over her.</hi>—Saying, in substance, +<q>What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the +stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.</q>—Luke +16:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For no man buyeth their merchandise any more.</hi>—<q>And +it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of +Hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols [all sectarian +denominations] out of the land, and they shall no +more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets +[the clergy] and the unclean spirit [their false doctrines] +to pass out of the land. And it shall come to pass that +when any [former clergyman] shall yet prophesy [try to +still further mislead the people into giving him reverence +and coin], then his father and his mother that begat him +shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest +lies in the name of the Lord: and his father and his mother +that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth +[so enraged will they be when they realize how they +have been deceived respecting fears of hell or assurances +of Heaven for themselves and other descendants of monkeys, +which the preachers have taught them they are]. +And it shall come to pass in that day that the prophets +[clergy] shall be ashamed every one of his vision [of the +creeds], when he hath prophesied [preached]; neither +shall they wear a rough garment [distinctive clothing—collars +fastened on backwards, in harmony with their +conceptions of religious things, and ties and clothing in +<pb n='283'/><anchor id='Pg283'/> +mourning to suit] to deceive: But he shall say I am no +prophet [no preacher of the gospel at all], I am an husbandman +[a farmer]; for man taught me to keep cattle +from my youth. [Ezekiel 34:1-31 shows how poorly they +kept the cattle]. And one shall say unto him, What are +these wounds [marks of rough usage] in thine hands? +Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded +in the house of my friends [by my parishioners].</q>—Zech. +13:2-6. +</p> + +<p> +18:12. <hi rend='sans'>The merchandise of gold.</hi>—Truths respecting the +Divine nature. There was a time when the nominal +church had the custody of these truths, but that privilege +passed in 1878. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of silver.</hi>—Truths respecting the Great Company. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And precious stones.</hi>—Truths respecting the Lord's +jewels.—Mal. 3:17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of pearls.</hi>—Truths respecting the things purchased +by the Lord's death.—Matt. 13:45, 46. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And fine linen.</hi>—Truths respecting the righteousness of +the Lord's saints.—Rev. 19:8; Rom. 8:4; 2 Pet. 1:9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And purple.</hi>—Truths respecting the Church's expectation +of coming royalty.—Rev. 5:10; 20:4; Luke 12:32; 22:29, +30; James 2:5; Mark 10:23; 1 Cor. 4:8; Rev. 3:21; 2 Tim. +2:12; Rev. 2:26, 27; Psa. 2:8-12; 49:14; Rom. 8:19; 16:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And silk.</hi>—Truths respecting the most beautiful of all +the fabrics of the loom—grand, beautiful characters made +so by the wisdom and mercy of God out of men and +women that to start with were only poor worms of earth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And scarlet.</hi>—Truths respecting the Ransom-sacrifice of +our Lord. (1 Tim. 2:6; Rom. 14:9; Rom. 5:18, 19; John +1:29; 1 John 2:2.) All these truths have passed away +from Babylon, but the errors must go, too. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And all thyine wood.</hi>—Errors respecting man's inherent +immortality. Thyine wood is a sweet-smelling wood; wood +is a symbol of human traditions. The sweetest of all +human theories is the declaration that when a man dies +he is not dead at all. (1 Cor. 3:12.) Very shortly men +will begin to come back from the dead, <q>the last first</q> +(Matt. 19:30; 20:16); and stories that they have been in +some fabulous hell or in Heaven will be at a considerable +discount. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And all manner vessels of ivory.</hi>—Stories of death-bed +repentance and dreams, used to decorate unscriptural doctrines. +Ivory was and is used in the harness of horses. +It was also used to decorate beds. (Amos 6:4.) Horses +symbolize teachings, and beds symbolize creed-beds. The +application fits, whichever way the symbol is applied.—Jer. +23:28. +</p> + +<pb n='284'/><anchor id='Pg284'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And all manner vessels of most precious wood.</hi>—Errors +that appeal to the heart of the natural man.—1 Cor. 3:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of brass.</hi>—Copper; errors respecting the nature of +man, created perfect and to be re-created in the same likeness.—Gen. +1:31; Rev. 21:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And Iron, [And marble].</hi>—Errors respecting the <q>iron +rule</q> and when it is to be exercised.—Dan. 2:40; Rev. 2:27. +</p> + +<p> +18:13. <hi rend='sans'>And cinnamon, and spice, and odours, and ointments.</hi>—Errors +respecting the nature and work of the +Holy Spirit. These principal spices represent things +which go to make up the anointing which we receive to +become priests and kings with Christ. +</p> + +<table rend="latexcolumns: 'p{2cm} p{2cm} p{2cm}'; tblcolumns: 'lw(19) lw(19) lw(19)'"> +<row><cell>EXODUS 30:23</cell><cell>EXODUS 31:3</cell><cell>ISAIAH 11:2</cell></row> +<row><cell>Holy Anointing Oil</cell><cell>Bezaleel</cell><cell>Christ</cell></row> +<row><cell>Olive oil, <hi rend='italic'>an hin</hi></cell><cell>Filled with the +Spirit of God.</cell><cell>Spirit of Lord resting upon Him.</cell></row> +<row><cell>Myrrh, 500</cell><cell>Wisdom</cell><cell>Wisdom</cell></row> +<row><cell>Cinnamon, 250</cell><cell>Understanding</cell><cell>Understanding</cell></row> +<row><cell>Calamus, 250</cell><cell>Knowledge</cell><cell>Knowledge</cell></row> +<row><cell>Cassia, 500</cell><cell>Workmanship</cell><cell>Counsel and might</cell></row> +</table> + +<p> +<q>In the above parallel we find knowledge parallel with +calamus and understanding with cinnamon, and of each a +like quantity is prescribed. We have the understanding of +all the knowledge received of God.</q>—Z. '07-349. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And frankincense.</hi>—Errors respecting the kind of praise +proper to offer. Much of the hymn-book theology is bad. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And wine.</hi>—Errors respecting our privilege of draining +the Lord's cup of sorrow now, that we may drink the cup +of joy with Him hereafter.—Matt. 20:22; 26:27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And oil.</hi>—Errors with reference to the anointing of the +Royal Priesthood.—Psa. 133:1-3; 1 Pet. 2:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And fine flour.</hi>—Errors as to why the true wheat are so +repeatedly crushed, broken and sifted—until <q>nothing of +earth is seen.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And wheat.</hi>—Errors as to who are the true wheat. A +sister on her first service of Truth literature at a church +door was asked by the pastor, <q>What are you doing around +here?</q> Startled, the Sister replied, <q>I am looking for the +wheat.</q> The pastor replied, with some anger, <q>Go away! +There is no wheat here.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And beasts.</hi>—Cattle; errors as to the nature of sacrifices +with which the Lord is pleased.—Psa. 66:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And sheep.</hi>—Errors as to how to care for the true sheep. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And horses.</hi>—Errors as to the kind of doctrines to employ.—Rev. +9:17-19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And chariots.</hi>—Errors in multiplying organizations not +authorized in the Scriptures and not in harmony therewith. +</p> + +<pb n='285'/><anchor id='Pg285'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And slaves.</hi>—Errors respecting what it means to be a +servant of the Lord.—Luke 16:13; 2 Tim. 2:24; Matt. 10:24, +25; 23:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And souls of men.</hi>—Errors respecting what is the soul.—Ezek. +18:4; Isa. 53:12. +</p> + +<p> +18:14. <hi rend='sans'>And the fruits that thy soul lusted after.</hi>—Love +of ease, money and praise of men. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are departed from thee.</hi>—Replaced by the conditions +affecting the common people. <q>Every valley [lowly and +depressed one] shall be exalted, and every mountain and +hill [highly exalted one] shall be made low: and the +crooked [doctrines] shall be made straight, and the rough +places [where the iron heel of oppression has made a hard +path for the weary multitudes to follow] shall be made +plain.</q>—Isa. 40:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And all things which were dainty and goodly.</hi>—Stained +glass windows, soft carpets and upholstery, church suppers, +etc. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Are departed] PERISHED from thee, and [thou shalt] +THEY SHALL find them no more at all.</hi>—The future of the +clergy is that in the Millennial Age they will have to work +for a living, like everybody else! Isn't it awful to contemplate? +It means an expense of 65c for an alarm clock in +every preacher's house in Christendom! +</p> + +<p> +18:15. <hi rend='sans'>The merchants of these things.</hi>—The salesmen of +these goods, the clergy.—Rev. 18:3, 11; Ezek. 27:36; Isa. +23:8; 47:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which were made rich by her.</hi>—Who have hitherto made +a good living in the profession of the ministry. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping +and wailing.</hi>—Over their lost jobs. +</p> + +<p> +18:16. <hi rend='sans'>[And] saying, Alas, alas, that great city.</hi>—Babylon, +mother and daughters. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That was clothed in fine linen.</hi>—Seemed to the worshipers +of the beast and his image very righteous. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And purple.</hi>—Seemed to be already reigning on the earth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And scarlet.</hi>—Seemed to have been faithful to the blood +shed on Calvary. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And decked with gold.</hi>—Seemed to have been the repository +of Truth Divine. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And precious stones.</hi>—Seemed to have included in her +membership all the Lord's jewels. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And pearls.</hi>—Seemed to be the sure heir of all that the +Lord purchased by His death. +</p> + +<p> +18:17. <hi rend='sans'>For in one hour so great riches is come to +nought.</hi>—In one short year, 1917-1918, the vast and complicated +system of sectarianism reaches its zenith of power, +only to be suddenly dashed into oblivion.—Rev. 18:10. +</p> + +<pb n='286'/><anchor id='Pg286'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And every shipmaster.</hi>—Pilot (sky pilot), Greek.—Ezek. +27:27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [all the company in ships] EVERY ONE WHO +SAILETH BY THE PLACE.</hi>—All the passengers.—Ezek. +27:29. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And sailors.</hi>—Mission workers. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And as many as trade by sea.</hi>—As many as work the sea, +Greek. Salvation Army, Volunteers of America, and others +who work solely among the masses not under religious +restraint. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Stood afar off.</hi>—Realized that the old doctrines and the +schemes for raising money would never work again. +</p> + +<p> +18:18. <hi rend='sans'>And cried when they saw the smoke of her +burning.</hi>—Her confusion and destruction by the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, What city is like unto this great city.</hi>—With its +millions of adherents, all professedly interested in mission +work. +</p> + +<p> +18:19. <hi rend='sans'>And they cast dust on their [heads] HEAD.</hi>—Did +a certain amount of mud-slinging.—Ezek. 27:30; Lam. 2:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And cried, weeping and wailing.</hi>—And gnashing their +teeth, too, no doubt. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Alas, [alas] that great city.</hi>—That wonderful +religio-political combination. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea.</hi>—All +preachers who were strong enough and clever enough +to manage people's churches, independent of the sects. +Many such <q>independent</q> churches have large memberships. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By reason of her costliness.</hi>—By reason of the amount of +money that can be raised in and for such institutions. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For in one hour is she made desolate.</hi>—<q>To them the fall +of Babylon at first is astounding, a perplexity, but will +work no real injury, because the reign of Babylon over +the earth will be superseded by the reign of the New +Jerusalem—the Kingdom of God's dear Son.</q>—Pastor Russell; +Rev. 18:8; 3:14; 11:11. +</p> + +<p> +18:20. <hi rend='sans'>Rejoice over her, thou Heaven.</hi>—New powers of +spiritual control, Christ and His Bride, appointed to take +her place.—Jer. 51:48; Phil. 3:20; Rev. 11:19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And ye [holy] SAINTS AND Apostles.</hi>—You who have +suffered at her hands.—Matt. 23:34, 35; Rev. 13:15; 18:24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And Prophets.</hi>—The faithful teachers of the Christian +church, and also the Prophets of old, who foresaw Mystic +Babylon's rise and fall, and knew that it stood between +them and the fulfilment of their hopes. <q>Daniel, who +was thinking specially of Israel, and of the fulfilment of +God's promises to the fathers, perceived that all that he +had heard could not occur in 2300 literal days, especially +when Gabriel said to him, <q>But shut thou up the vision, +<pb n='287'/><anchor id='Pg287'/> +for it will be fulfilled after many days.</q> And though he +knew not how long each symbolic day would be, he was +made sick at heart by the thought of so many evils as +were coming upon God's people—though he saw not the +change of that name from fleshly to spiritual Israel. We +read, <q>And I, Daniel, languished and was sick for some +days.</q></q>—C. 105. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For God hath avenged you on her.</hi>—This vengeance of +God for the wrongs done to His saints in all ages began +in 1878 (Rev. 6:10, 11), and closes with the full end of +the Harvest. When the last member of the Great Company +class is delivered the system will utterly perish. +</p> + +<p> +18:21. <hi rend='sans'>And a mighty angel.</hi>—The common people. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Took up a stone like a great millstone.</hi>—Temporarily +lifted ecclesiasticism to great heights. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And.</hi>—Experiencing a sudden conviction of their error in +so doing, and of the truly devilish character of the system. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Cast it into the sea.</hi>—Overwhelmed it in a flood of anarchy. +When this occurs there will be a <q>great hissing +noise</q> (2 Pet. 3:10, Diaglott), indicating that the millstone +will be warm, wrathy, at the moment of disappearance. +The effect of throwing a hot stone into water is to disintegrate +it completely.—Jer. 51:61-64; Ex. 15:5; Neh. 9:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon +be thrown down, [And shall be found no more at all.]</hi>—<q>The +masses of the people, no longer ignorantly stupid as +during the Dark Ages, will awaken to the true situation, +and will execute upon Babylon the Great—already repudiated +by the Lord—the judgment foretold. She shall be +cast like a great millstone into the sea, never to rise again. +The sea represents the masses of the people, especially +a restless opposition class.</q> (Z. '13-343.) <q>The fact is the +world has outgrown the redhot and peppery dishes that +suited the last generation, and it is quite beyond the power +of a very few solemn gentlemen to produce a reaction.</q>—D. 110; +Jer. 51:64. +</p> + +<p> +18:22. <hi rend='sans'>And there shall be no more found in her the +voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters.</hi>—Those +able to make melody and harmony out of +the Scriptures.—Isa. 24:8; Ezek. 26:13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>IT shall be heard no more at all in thee.</hi>—Even now +Ecclesiasticism is entirely unable to supply any explanation +of either Ezekiel or Revelation, or to understand the +one that is supplied. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And no craftsman, [of whatsoever craft he be,] shall be +found any more in thee; [And the sound of a millstone +shall be heard no more at all in thee].</hi>—God is the great +craftsman. <q>We are laborers together with God: ye are +<pb n='288'/><anchor id='Pg288'/> +God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the +grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, +I have laid the foundation and another buildeth +thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth +thereupon.</q>—1 Cor. 3:9, 10. +</p> + +<p> +18:23. <hi rend='sans'>[And the light of a candle shall shine no more +at all in thee;] And the voice of the Bridegroom and of the +Bride.</hi>—Christ and His true Church.—Jer. 7:34; 16:9; +25:10; 33:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall be heard no more at all in thee.</hi>—Neither Christ +nor His saintly ones have had anything to say in the affairs +of the nominal church since 1878; nor have they +wished to have. <q>The rejection of Babylon (<q>Christendom</q>), +in 1878, was the rejection of the mass of professors—the +<q>host,</q> as it is termed by Daniel, to distinguish +it from the Sanctuary or Temple class.</q>—C. 180. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For thy merchants were the great men of the earth.</hi>—They +said so, themselves. They have attempted to direct +everything from prize fights up. Rev. Rainsford even tried +to run a beer saloon, but was not able to make it a coin-producer +for the church and gave it up.—Isa. 23:8; 47:15; +Rev. 18:3, 11, 15; Ezek. 27:21, 36. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.</hi>—<q>Consider, +again, why Babylon is so named. Evidently, because +of her many errors of doctrine, which, mixed with a few +elements of Divine Truth, make great confusion, and because +of the mixed company brought together by the mixed +truths and errors. This sin of holding and teaching error +at the sacrifice of truth is one of which every sect of the +church nominal is guilty, without exception. Where is +the sect in which you can obey the Master's words and +let your light shine? We know of none.</q>—C. 181; Rev. 17:2; +2 Ki. 9:22. +</p> + +<p> +18:24. <hi rend='sans'>And in her was found the blood of Prophets.</hi>—They +are accounted as having slain the Prophets because +they refuse to heed them, and to that extent caused them +to lay down their lives needlessly!—Rev. 16:6; 17:6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of saints.</hi>—They are accounted as having slain the +saints because they have given no heed to their warnings, +and to that extent caused them to die in vain.—Jer. 51:49. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of all that were slain upon the earth.</hi>—The great +European war, and other wars, are justly laid at the door +of the system that has perpetuated the doctrines of Divine +right of clergy and kings; and it is for this reason that +God has decreed her sins must be wiped out first with +symbolical blood (Rev. 14:20), and afterwards with literal +blood in the red sea of anarchy.—Ex. 14:21-28; Isa. 63:1-6. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img297.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>The Traveler Inquires The Way To Heaven</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img298.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>Whom Should We Believe—God Or The Clergy?</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='289'/><anchor id='Pg289'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 19—The Overthrow Of Satan's Empire</head> + +<p> +19:1. <hi rend='sans'>[And] after these things.</hi>—After the saints are +glorified and present ecclesiastical systems are destroyed. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I heard AS IT WERE a great voice of much people.</hi>—The +Great Company.—Rev. 7:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In heaven.</hi>—The only heavenly-minded ones remaining +on earth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Alleluia; Salvation.</hi>—Deliverance from the Papacy +and other sects has come at last. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And glory, and honor,] and power [unto the Lord] OF +our God.</hi>—It has been accomplished not by human power, +but by the Wisdom and Power of God.—Rev. 7:12. +</p> + +<p> +19:2. <hi rend='sans'>For true and righteous are Thy judgments.</hi>—<q>God +is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.</q>—1 John +1:5; Rev. 15:3; 16:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For He hath judged the great whore.</hi>—Has executed the +judgments long foretold. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which did corrupt the earth with her fornication.</hi>—Her +illicit union with worldly governments. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And hath avenged the blood of [His] HER servants at +her hand.</hi>—The millions who have perished in the Great +War have been the servants of Babylon. The direct cause +of their slaughter is the doctrine of the Divine right of +the clergy. These have maintained the kings of Europe +on their thrones, falsely telling them they are ruling as +part of Christ's Kingdom. This position has led to the +death of all these millions, and their blood will be required +at Babylon's hand. +</p> + +<p> +19:3. <hi rend='sans'>And again they said, Alleluia.</hi>—The more they +think it over, the happier they will become. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And her smoke.</hi>—The evidences of her destruction; the +remembrance.—Isa. 34:10; Rev. 14:11; 18:9, 18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Rose up for ever and ever.</hi>—Will be recorded in secular +history, even as it is recorded in <q>the Word of God, which +liveth and abideth for ever.</q>—1 Pet. 1:23. +</p> + +<p> +19:4. <hi rend='sans'>And the [four and] twenty FOUR elders.</hi>—The +prophecies.—Rev. 4:4, 10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the four beasts.</hi>—Infinite Power, Justice, Wisdom +and Love.—Rev. 4:7. +</p> + +<pb n='290'/><anchor id='Pg290'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fell down and worshipped God that sat on the Throne, saying Amen; +Alleluia.</hi>—The God, the mighty One, here +referred to is the Lord Jesus.—Rev. 5:3. +</p> + +<p> +19:5. <hi rend='sans'>And [a voice] VOICES.</hi>—The Little Flock, beyond +the veil. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Came out of the Throne.</hi>—They will be <emph>in</emph> the +Throne at that time.—Rev. 3:21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants.</hi>—Of the +Great Company class.—Rev. 7:15; Psa. 134:1-3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] ye that fear Him, [both] small and great.</hi>—Your +deliverance was wholly due to the Lord. We did what we +could to help you, but it was as nothing. To the Lord +belongs all the glory for your deliverance and ours.—Rev. +11:18. +</p> + +<p> +19:6. <hi rend='sans'>And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude.</hi>—<q>In +the Age to come, when God shall <q>pour out His +Spirit upon all flesh,</q> as during the present Age He pours +it upon His <q>servants and handmaids,</q> then indeed all will +understand and appreciate the promises now being grasped +by the <q>little flock</q>; and they will rejoice in the obedience +and exaltation of the Church, saying, <q>Let us be glad and +rejoice, and give honor to God, for the Marriage of the +Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made herself ready.</q> +They will rejoice in the glorification of the Church, +through which blessings will then be flowing to them; and +while they will realize that the <q>exceeding great and +precious promises</q> inherited by the Anointed (Head and +Body) are not for them, but have been fulfilled upon us, +they will be blessed by the lesson illustrated in the +Church; and while they run for the blessings then held +out to them, they will profit by the example of the Church +and glorify God on her behalf. But this knowledge will +not bring covetousness; for under the new order of things +their calling to perfect human nature will fully satisfy +them, and will seem more desirable to them than a change +of nature.</q>—A. 86. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And as the voice of many waters.</hi>—All mankind.—Rev. +17:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And as the voice of mighty thunderings.</hi>—An overwhelming +and complete reaction in favor of the Truth. The +<q>seven thunders</q> will then be thundering as never before.—Rev. +10:4; 8:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying, Alleluia: for [the Lord] God OUR LORD THE +Omnipotent reigneth.</hi>—<q>Shows Himself to be king by subduing +His enemies.</q> (Cook.) Thoroughly convinced of the +greatness of the Lord's power, as all men will be by the +end of the Time of Trouble, they will be glad to entrust +all their interests to His care. +</p> + +<pb n='291'/><anchor id='Pg291'/> + +<p> +19:7. <hi rend='sans'>Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to +Him.</hi>—<q>Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy +power.</q>—Psa. 110:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the Marriage of the Lamb is come.</hi>—The marriage +of men and women is declared in the Scriptures to be a +type of the marriage of Christ and His Church. (Eph. +5:22-23.) It is a recognized principle that the antitype +is greater than the sum of all the types. The death of +Christ was greater than all the sacrifices throughout the +Jewish Age. Now call to mind that the wedding day is +the happiest of every human being. Think of all the +happiness caused by all the weddings that have ever occurred, +and know that the sum total is as nothing compared +to the joy that will pervade the Universe when the festal +day of eternity takes place, and Christ and His Bride are +made one. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His Wife.</hi>—<q>The Bride represents <q>all who have believed +up to the commencement of the Millennium. These +alone are the mystical Body of Christ. But after they are +completed, at the Second Advent the earth will be peopled +by the <q>nations of the saved</q> in flesh and blood,—a totally +different party from the then glorified Bride.</q></q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Hath made herself ready.</hi>—The witnessing to the world +during the present Age is quite secondary and incidental +to the Church's more important work of making herself +ready.—F. 608; T. 115; Matt. 22:1-14; 25:1; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. +5:27; Rev. 21:2, 9; John 3:29; Cant., all; Psa. 45:10-14; +Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19; Lu. 12:36. +</p> + +<p> +19:8. <hi rend='sans'>And to her was granted that she should be arrayed +in fine linen, BRIGHT AND clean and white.</hi>—<q><q>She +shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needle work</q> +(Psa. 45:14)—in the simple white robe of her Lord's own +furnishing, the robe of His righteousness, upon which she +will have wrought, with much carefulness, the beautiful +adornments of the Christian graces. And great will be +the rejoicing in Heaven and in earth at her abundant entrance +into the King's palace.—2 Pet. 1:5-8, 11.</q>—C. 193. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.</hi>—Here +and there throughout the Scriptures are keys which unlock +its mysteries. (Rev. 3:18; Psa. 132:9.) This is the +key to several otherwise obscure passages. +</p> + +<p> +19:9. <hi rend='sans'>And he.</hi>—The faithful and wise Servant to whom +the custody of all the things in His Storehouse was especially +promised by the Lord of the Harvest.—Luke 12:42-44; +Rev. 3:14; 1:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saith unto me, write.</hi>—To representatives of the John +class, commissioned to write something of encouragement +to the Church after he himself had ceased to write. +</p> + +<pb n='292'/><anchor id='Pg292'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Blessed are they which are called unto the [marriage] +supper of the Lamb.</hi>—The Marriage Supper (Lu. 14:15) +will be like all the other feasts the Church has had, not +of physical food, but of truths Divine. That will be the +time when the Lord, the Head of the family, will explain +to us every part of every verse in all His Holy Word. +We shall have perfect memories then, in which to treasure +every word He utters, and perfect bodies, too, in which +to perform to the full all God's holy will. We have the will +to do it now. We have tried to understand His Word, +and tried to help others to understand it; but the best +we could do was far from perfect. The Lord, in His love +and mercy, has accepted our best endeavors here as evidence +of our worthiness for the perfect opportunities that +await us. <q>Ultimately the full number purposed by the +great Householder will have been called, accepted, and +found worthy through Christ to have a place at that table—to +share in that great Feast. (Matt. 22:1-10.) At that +feast, we are assured, will be a secondary company, not +worthy to be of the Bride class. These may be figuratively +styled the bridesmaids, the Great Company class; +for after the account of the gathering of the Bride we +have the Lord's message to these subsequently delivered +from Babylon, saying, <q>Blessed are they that are called +to the marriage supper of the Lamb.</q> You can imagine +the honors and joys of that great banquet!</q>—Z. '14-74. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he saith unto me, These MY TRUE SAYINGS, are +the [true] sayings of God.</hi>— +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Ascend, beloved, to His joy;</q></l> +<l>Thy festal day has come;</l> +<l>To-night the Lamb doth feast His own,</l> +<l>To-night He with His Bride sits down,</l> +<l>To-night puts on the spousal crown,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>In the great Upper Room.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +19:10. <hi rend='sans'>And I fell at his feet to worship him.</hi>—<q>If there +come to any of us a thought of doing homage to the +Lord's messengers or servants it would be our duty to +fully recognize that God alone, however much He may use +human instrumentalities in conveying His blessings, is to +be honored and reverenced and appreciated as the Author +and Giver of every good and perfect gift.—James 1:17.</q>—Z. '07-105; +Rev. 22:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he said unto me, See thou do it not.</hi>—But Satan +said to the Lord, <q>All these things will I give thee, if +Thou wilt fall down and worship me.</q> (Matt. 4:9.) When +Papacy did this, Satan was true to his promise. By resorting +to worldly forms, customs and entertainments all +the daughters have followed the example of the mother. +</p> + +<pb n='293'/><anchor id='Pg293'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I am thy fellowservant.</hi>—<q>St. John in his humility forgets +his own share in imparting the revelation; and the +Angel in his humility brings this to light (Acts 10:25, 26).</q>—Cook; +Acts 14:14, 15; Rev. 22:9; Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; +Tit. 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of [thy] THE brethren that have the testimony of +Jesus: worship God.</hi>—<q>Whose servants we both are; of +Whose prophetic Spirit we alike partake in this our common +ministry; and therefore one of us may not worship +the other.</q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.</hi>—<q>All +Christians, in every age, who can receive and understand +prophecy, have this spirit.</q> (Cook; 1 Cor. 12:13.) +However, <q>The design of prophecy is to bear testimony to +Jesus. This is its great and ultimate end. The word +prophecy here seems to be used in the large sense in which +it is often employed in the New Testament—meaning to +make known the divine will, and the primary reference here +would seem to be to the preachers and teachers of the +New Testament. The sense is, that their grand business +is to bear testimony to the Saviour. They are all appointed +for this, and therefore should regard themselves as <q>fellow-servants.</q> +Thus understood, this passage has no direct +reference to the prophecies of the Old Testament, and +teaches nothing in regard to their design, though it is in +fact undoubtedly true that their grand and leading object +was to bear testimony to the future Messiah.</q>—Barnes; +Rev. 12:17. +</p> + +<p> +19:11. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw heaven opened.</hi>—The hidden things of +God as recorded in the Seventh Volume of <hi rend='italic'>Studies In +The Scriptures</hi>.—Rev. 11:19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And behold a white horse.</hi>—Teachings which, however +unpalatable to Churchianity, are nevertheless the truth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He that sat upon him was called Faithful.</hi>—<q>The +faithful and true Witness.</q>—Rev. 3:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And True.</hi>—<q>He that is holy, He that is true.</q>—Rev. 3:7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And in righteousness He doth judge and make war.</hi>—<q>While +the Lord forbids His people to fight with carnal +weapons, and while He declares Himself to be a God of +peace, a God of order and of love, He also declares Himself +to be a God of justice, and shows that sin shall not +forever triumph in the world, but that it shall be punished. +<q>Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.</q> (Rom. +12:19; Deut. 32:35.) And when He rises up to judgment +against the nations, taking vengeance upon all the wicked, +He declares Himself <q>a man of war</q> and <q>mighty in battle,</q> +and having a <q>great army</q> at His command.—Exod. 15:3; +Psa. 24:8; 45:3; Isa. 11:4; Joel 2:11.</q>—D. 549. +</p> + +<pb n='294'/><anchor id='Pg294'/> + +<p> +19:12. <hi rend='sans'>His eyes were [as] a flame of fire.</hi>—The Lord's +Wisdom sees that the time has come for the destruction +of present iniquitous systems.—Rev. 1:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And on His head were many crowns.</hi>—The right to rule +all the kingdoms of the earth.—Ezek. 21:27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He had a name written, that no man knew, but He +Himself.</hi>—This new name is to be also the name of the +Church, His Bride. Possibly it has not yet been revealed.—Rev. +2:17; 3:12. +</p> + +<p> +19:13. <hi rend='sans'>And He was clothed with a vesture [dipped in] +SPRINKLED WITH blood.</hi>—A reference to His faithfulness +even unto death, and a hint to His Body what to +expect shortly. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His name [is] HATH BEEN called the Word of God.</hi>—In +this picture He is represented as coming, not as the +Messenger of the Covenant, but in <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>apokalupsis</foreign>, revealment +as earth's rightful King.—John 1:1; Rev. 1:2. +</p> + +<p> +19:14. <hi rend='sans'>And the armies which were in heaven.</hi>—All the +armies of Rev. 7:5-8, the Little Flock, whether on this side +of the veil or on the other.—Rev. 17:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Followed Him.</hi>—<q>The sheep follow Him: for they know +His voice. And a stranger will they not follow.</q>—John +10:4, 5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Upon white horses.</hi>—Teachings clean and pure. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Clothed in fine linen, white and clean.</hi>—<q>The righteousness +of saints.</q>—Rev. 19:8. +</p> + +<p> +19:15. <hi rend='sans'>And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword.</hi>—<q>Our +examination, in a preceding volume, of the great +difference in character between the Kingdom of God and +the beastly kingdoms of earth, prepares us to see also a +difference in modes of warfare. The methods of conquest +and breaking will be widely different from any which have +ever before overthrown nations. He who now takes His +great power to reign is shown in symbol as the One whose +sword went forth out of His mouth, <q>that with it He should +smite the nations; and He shall rule them with a rod of +iron.</q> That sword is the Truth (Eph. 6:17).</q>—B. 100; Isa. +11:4; 49:2; 2 Thes. 2:8; Rev. 1:16; 2:12, 16; 19:21; Hos. +6:5; Heb. 4:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That with it He should smite the nations.</hi>—<q><q>He shall +smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the +breath of His lips [the force and spirit of His Truth] shall +He slay the wicked.</q> (Isa. 11:4; Psa. 98:1.) To no human +generalship can the honors of the coming victory for truth +and righteousness be ascribed. Wild will be the conflict +of the angry nations, and world-wide will be the battlefield +and the distress of nations; and no human Alexander, +Cæsar or Napoleon will be found to bring order out of the +<pb n='295'/><anchor id='Pg295'/> +dreadful confusion. But in the end it will be known that +the grand victory of justice and truth, and the punishment +of iniquity with its just deserts, was brought about by the +power of the King of kings and Lord of lords.</q>—D. 19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He shall rule them with a rod of iron.</hi>—<q>In this +<q>Day of Jehovah,</q> the <q>Day of Trouble,</q> our Lord takes His +great power (hitherto dormant) and reigns, and this it is +that will cause the trouble, though the world will not so +recognize it for some time. That the saints shall share +in this work of breaking to pieces present kingdoms, there +can be no doubt. It is written, <q>This honor have all His +saints—to execute the judgments written, to bind their +kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron</q>—of +strength. (Psa. 149:8, 9.) <q>He that overcometh, and +keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power +over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of +iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they [the empires] +be broken to shivers.</q></q>—Rev. 2:26, 27; Psa. 2:8, 9; B. 100. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath +of THE ANGER OF Almighty God.</hi>—The Lord assumes +an interest in and responsibility for the complete series of +<hi rend='italic'>Studies In The Scriptures</hi>, the last one of which +especially represents the winepress feature (Rev. 14:18-20), +but it would be unreasonable to expect that the Lord +would miraculously use imperfect tools to do an absolutely +perfect work and each must use his judgment as to the +value of the interpretations in this book. Additionally, it +should be remarked that the language here is more intense +than in Rev. 14, indicating the extension of the winepress +feature to other than ecclesiastical matters. +</p> + +<p> +19:16. <hi rend='sans'>And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a +name written.</hi>—<q>The thigh is introduced as the place where +the sword (which is not mentioned here, see ver. 15) is +usually found, in accordance with Psa. 45:3: <q>Gird Thee +with Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Most Mighty.</q></q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>King of kings and Lord of lords.</hi>—Before the controversy +aroused by this book is finished, every person in the +world will be convinced that it marks a distinct step by +the Lord in His seizure of Satan's Empire.—1 Tim. 6:15; +Rev. 17:14; Dan. 8:25. +</p> + +<p> +19:17. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw [an] ANOTHER angel.</hi>—The Elijah +class after the publication of Volume Seven, <hi rend='italic'>Studies in the +Scriptures</hi>. See Rev. 8:3-5; 14:18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Standing in the sun.</hi>—Resplendent in the light of the +Gospel.—Rev. 12:1; Matt. 13:43. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he cried with a loud voice.</hi>—Fearlessly and plainly +declaring the Truth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying to all the fowls.</hi>—Birds, Greek.—Matt. 24:28. +</p> + +<pb n='296'/><anchor id='Pg296'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That fly in the midst of heaven.</hi>—First to the <q>eagles,</q> +the far-sighted ones, the Little Flock, and then, by extension, +to all who live, mentally, on any plane above the +grossly material. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Come [and gather yourselves] BE GATHERED together +unto the GREAT supper of [the great] God.</hi>—We should +look for applications appropriate to the symbolical book we +are studying, even though it develop later, as it will, that +these passages will have a literal and terrible fulfilment +in a deluge of actual bloodshed, of which the European +War is but a preliminary. +</p> + +<p> +19:18. <hi rend='sans'>That ye may eat the flesh of kings.</hi>—Five of these +kings or rulers are enumerated in Rev. 6:4. Doubtless the +reader has eaten them, in the symbolical sense. They are +there to be eaten. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the flesh of captains.</hi>—Lesser commanders, enumerated +in Rev. 8:7-12. No doubt the reader has eaten +these also. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the flesh of mighty men.</hi>—Warriors. These warriors +are referred to in Rev. 9:7, 9, although there mentioned +under the name of locusts. If the reader has not +eaten (appropriated, absorbed, digested) the account, the +task should be undertaken at once, or something will be +missed. +</p> + +<p> +That the Lord made no mistake in selecting the Locust +as a symbol of the Methodist system of blindly following +leaders is clear from the following extract from the works +of a traveller: <q>While sojourning in Syria I was told that +the whole country round Mt. Lebanon was dismayed one +year by the news that a vast army of marching locusts +was coming from the eastern desert. The governor of the +district ordered a regiment of soldiers to aid the people +to construct a great rampart of heath bushes to be set +on fire as the locusts came up to it, hoping thus to save +the gardens of Beyrout. These locusts always hopped +straight ahead, deviating neither to the right nor left, and +on coming to a house went up its stone walls, over it +and down it, as if it were a level place, and in such inconceivable +numbers that an American resident described +the noise of the great host passing over the roof as like +to that of a tremendous hailstorm. At every green leaf +on the way each took a bite, and then went on for the +next one to take his bite, until in an incredibly short +time not a green thing could be seen. When they reached +the prepared heaps of heath, and these were set on fire, +the locusts marched on without pausing, until in a brief +time they put the bonfires completely out. As the sea +was not far off everybody hoped that they would take to +<pb n='297'/><anchor id='Pg297'/> +surf bathing. And so they did. Just as certain injurious +political crowds among us can always be always depended +upon to march up to the polls and vote the straight ticket, +when the vanguard reached the waves, like all good true +locusts, in they hopped, followed by all the rest, till the +billows seemed to roll only grasshoppers; nor did the +scene end until the last of the rear guard had skipped +over the heaps of his dead comrades to make his last jump +into the blue waters of the Mediterranean.</q>—Jer. 51:64. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the flesh of horses.</hi>—Did you not see the horses in +Rev. 9:17, 18, and did you not eat them, fire, jacinth, brimstone +and all? +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of them that sit on them.</hi>—Did we not find two +hundred millions of these horsemen, and did you not eat +them?—See Rev. 9:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small +and great.</hi>—And did we not find all the rest of the men +included in Rev. 9:20, 21, and did we not eat them in the +same manner? We did, indeed. We ate or appropriated +the truth concerning them. It is our eating of these truths +that lead to the events next narrated. +</p> + +<p> +19:19. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw the beast.</hi>—The Papacy restored to +power. Weymouth's New Testament in Modern Speech +translates this verse as follows, and adds a footnote that +the <q>once for all,</q> though not expressed in the Greek, is +implied in the aorist tense of the verb: <q>And I saw the +Wild Beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, +all assembled to make war, once for all, against the Rider +upon the horse and against His army.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the kings of the earth.</hi>—Called to the war by +demons. (Rev. 16:13-16.) <q>The kings of the earth set +themselves [in opposition], and the rulers [not knowing +that they are fighting against the establishment of the +Lord's Kingdom], take counsel together against the Lord +and against His Anointed, [but] He that sitteth in the +heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision.</q>—Psa. +2:2, 4; D. 52. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And their armies.</hi>—Their following, Civil, Social, Ecclesiastical +and Financial. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Gathered together to make war.</hi>—<q>The war,</q> Greek. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Against Him that sat on the horse, and against His +army.</hi>—Although composed of the twelve symbolical tribes +(Rev. 19:14; 7:4-8) they are, after all, but one army, all +<q>One in Christ Jesus.</q> <q>Let it be seen that the best and +the worst of earth's nations are but <q>kingdoms of this +world,</q> whose lease of power from God is now expired, that +they may give place to their ordained successor, the Kingdom +of Messiah, the Fifth Universal Empire of earth (Dan. +<pb n='298'/><anchor id='Pg298'/> +2:44; 7:14, 17, 27)—and it will do much to establish truth +and to overthrow error. But as it is, the actions of Papacy +in this regard, sanctioned by the Protestant Reformers, go +unquestioned among Christian people. And since they +should uphold the Kingdom of Christ, they feel themselves +called to the aid of the present falling kingdoms of so-called +Christendom—to the side of the kingdoms of this +world, and the prince of this world, rather than to the side +of the coming true Kingdom of Christ.</q>—A. 270; Rev. 16:16; +17:13, 14. +</p> + +<p> +19:20. <hi rend='sans'>And the beast was taken.</hi>—The Papacy was +caught. (Jer. 50:43-46.) No doubt the publication of this +book has come at a time unfavorable to the schemes of +Papacy and will interfere greatly with its efforts at re-establishment—Rev. +17:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And with him the false prophet that wrought miracles +before him.</hi>—The Image of the Beast.—Rev. 13:11, 13, 14 +15; 14:9, 11; 15:2; 16:2, 13; 19:20; 20:10; Matt. 24:24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With which he deceived them that had received the +mark of the beast.</hi>—Catholics. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And them that worshipped his image.</hi>—Protestants. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These both.</hi>—Both of these <emph>systems</emph>, not the people. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were cast alive.</hi>—While they are still organized and +operative.—H. 59. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.</hi>—Into the +complete and everlasting destruction, of the anarchy (symbolized +by fire) of the Time of Trouble. This utter destruction +of these systems is the beginning of the annihilation +of everything out of harmony with God's righteous +arrangements. It was typified by the valley of Gehenna, +just outside of Jerusalem. By the aid of brimstone the +bodies of specially detestable criminals were there burned +with the other refuse of Jerusalem. Standing upon the +edge of this valley at night it had the appearance of a +lake burning with fire and brimstone. Burning brimstone +is the most deadly agent known, and symbolizes utter +destructiveness.—Dan. 7:11. +</p> + +<p> +19:21. <hi rend='sans'>And the remnant.</hi>—The <emph>people</emph> who are left after +their <emph>systems</emph> are destroyed. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the +horse.</hi>—Will, in due time, come into loving and cheerful +submission to the truth.—Rev. 19:15; 2 Cor. 10:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which sword proceeded out of His mouth.</hi>—All should be +able to see that it is not a literal sword that is here +referred to. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And all the fowls were filled with their flesh.</hi>—See Rev. +19:18. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='299'/><anchor id='Pg299'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 20—The Thousand Years' Reign</head> + +<p> +20:1. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw an Angel come down [from Heaven].</hi>—The +Messenger of the Covenant at His Second Advent.—Mal. +3:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Having the key of the [bottomless pit] ABYSS.</hi>—Only +Infinite Wisdom could provide the key to the solution of +present difficulties in the earth. Here is a system of +superstition and crime two thousand years old, and the +praise and service of it ingrained into nearly every human +being. All literature is poisoned with it. Public opinion +is for it. The educated, the refined, the wealthy, the +powerful are all for it and all against any change that +would give the lower strata of society a fair chance. To +overcome conditions like this is a task for Divinity itself. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And a great chain in His hand.</hi>—The TRUTH, as contained +in the Seven Volumes of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>. This +chain of Truth has been forged, link by link, over a period +of forty years. Each volume has made it more certain +that old systems can never hope to stand against it. +</p> + +<p> +20:2. <hi rend='sans'>And He laid hold on the dragon.</hi>—The iniquitous +system of civil government which has associated with it +the principle of holding the masses in subjection by preying +upon their fears beyond this life. The subject of +special condemnation in this regard, the masterpiece of +Satan, is the old Roman Empire, still living in the Papacy +and the Church-State governments of Europe. This system +is about contemporaneous with the (seven) Times of +the Gentiles (2520 years ending in Oct., 1914), which began +in the Fall of 607 B. C., or, as we would say, at the beginning +of 606, Jewish Time. Rome was already well started +on its upward path at that time. <q>Lucius Tarquinius +Priscus, fifth legendary king of Rome, 616-578 B. C., appointed +guardian to the sons of Ancus Marcius, he succeeded +in supplanting them on the throne on their father's +death. He laid out the Circus Maximus, instituted the +great games, built the great sewers, and began the construction +of the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol. He +removed from Tarquinii in Etruria to Rome by the advice +of his wife, the prophetess Tanaquil. Tanaquil was famous +for her shrewdness and prophetic gifts, which enabled her +to foretell the future greatness of her husband.</q> (Brit.) +</p> + +<pb n='300'/><anchor id='Pg300'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan.</hi>—<q>While +the name Old Serpent includes Satan, <q>the prince +of devils,</q> it is here evidently used as a synonym for all +the sinful agencies and powers which had their rise in +him.</q> (S. 32.) <q>Our Lord's declaration that Satan is the +great Adversary, not only of God, but of humanity, is by +no means a fancy sketch, but the plain truth. Satan alone +is the wilful, intelligent plotter and schemer who uses a +superhuman intelligence and, so far as permitted, superhuman +powers, in opposing righteousness and truth and +those who are of the Truth. The inspired record asserts, +persistently and consistently, that Satan began the rebellion +against the divine law, and seduced our first parents +into disobedience, through his own ambition for power; +and that since man's fall this same Adversary has been +the implacable opponent of God, of righteousness and of +truth; and not only the ensnarer of mankind, but the opposer +of the great Plan of Atonement which God devised +and is prosecuting through Christ. From the Scriptural +account it does not appear that Satan had any sympathizers +or associate conspirators amongst the angels at the +time of his secession and attempt to establish a lordship +or dominion of his own in the earth.</q>—F. 611. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And bound him.</hi>—<q><q>The god of this world has blinded the +minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious +gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should +shine unto them.</q> (2 Cor. 4:4.) God wills that all should +be so saved from all the train of evils following Adam's +sin and curse, that they may come to a knowledge of the +Truth. Why does He will this? To the intent that having +a clear knowledge of the Truth they may make the very +best possible use of the new trial for life secured for them +by their Redeemer's Ransom-sacrifice. It is for the carrying +out of this, God's will, that the Redeemer will inaugurate +His Millennial Kingdom, which will first bind Satan +(restrain all outside evil influences) and then release man +from his blindness;—as it is written, <q>the eyes of the blind +shall be opened.</q> (Isa. 35:5.) For the same reason, <hi rend='italic'>viz.</hi>, +that the new trial shall be most favorable for man, it is +the Divine arrangement that its work shall be done gradually +and require a thousand years.</q> (E. <hi rend='italic'>480</hi>, 470.) <q>The +Millennial Day is dawning, with its change of earth's rulership +from the control of the <q>prince of this world</q> and his +faithful, to the control of Him <q>whose right it is</q> (by purchase) +and His faithful saints. We have seen that though +the result of this change will be a great blessing; yet the +time of the transfer, while the present prince, the <q>strong +man,</q> is being bound and his household driven out of power +<pb n='301'/><anchor id='Pg301'/> +(Matt. 12:29), will be a time of intense trouble.</q> (C. 341.) +<q>In reference to it Jesus said, <q>No man can enter into a +strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he will first +bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house.</q> +(Mark 3:22-27; Luke 11:22.) This effective binding of +Satan is accordingly shown to be the first work of the +New Dispensation.</q> (A. 68.) <q>The Adversary's every deceptive +and misleading influence will be restrained—so +that evil shall no longer appear to men to be good, nor +good appear undesirable, evil. Truth shall no longer appear +to men untrue, nor falsehoods be caused to appear +true.</q> (D. 519.) <q>The words of inspiration give us to understand +that Satan's struggles to retain control of mankind +will be especially desperate at its close.</q>—S. 78. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A thousand years.</hi>—The Millennial Day, the Day of the +Lord's rest, following the six thousand years of evil which +ended in 1874. <q>One Day is with the Lord as a thousand +years.</q> (2 Pet. 3:8; Psa. 90:4.) <q>It was the claim of the +Papacy that the thousand years of Christ's Reign, the +Millennium, promised in Scripture to follow Christ's Second +Advent, began in the year 800 A. D., under Pope Leo +III., who claimed to be the representative of Christ, His +vice-gerent, to begin Christ's Reign in His stead. In that +year the <q>Papal states</q> were ceded to the Church by Emperor +Charlemagne. Their <q>Millennium</q> ended, it was +claimed, in the year 1799, when Napoleon confiscated the +territories granted to the Church and took the Pope, Pius +VI., a captive to France, where he died. The succeeding +freedom from Papal persecution, and the widespread circulation +of the Bible in the languages of the people, was +declared by the Papal leaders to be the <q>little season</q> +(Rev. 20:3) to follow the thousand-year Reign of Christ on +earth; and they are hoping that soon they will regain their +former power and prestige and once more reign supreme, +and that their rule will be permanent. This Papal Millennium +is known in history as the <q>Dark Ages.</q> During those +dark centuries millions were tortured, exiled and murdered +for refusing to bow to the mandates of the apostate Church, +under the leadership of Popes, Bishops and priests. Agents +and spies were employed to apprehend and bring to punishment +any who were found to express sentiments contrary +to the Papal hierarchy, or who failed to bow in +abject submission to their authority. Thus were the nations +of Europe paganized, and steeped in error and superstition +and in reverence for men who falsely claimed to +be the special and authorized representatives of God on +earth. They presumed to have authority to alter the Laws +of God when it seemed advisable to them to do so, and +<pb n='302'/><anchor id='Pg302'/> +thought to change the time for the Reign of Christ as +we have shown.</q> (Dan. 7:25; Z. '16-181; B. 354.) <q><q>Those +who lived next to the Apostles, and the whole Church for +300 years, understood them [the <q>Thousand Years</q>] in the +plain literal sense.</q> According to Jewish theology, as collected +from the Talmud, Messiah is to gather in from the +Dispersion all the scattered descendants of the Tribes, to +discomfit their foreign oppressors, and from Jerusalem as +a centre to rule over the whole earth which is to be a +scene of temporal enjoyment and prosperity. Thus R. Salomon +writes: <q>It is fixed that the world shall stand for +6000 years, according to the number of the days of the +week; but on the <emph>seventh</emph> Day is the Sabbath, and during +the <emph>seventh</emph> Millennium the world has rest.</q></q>—Cook. +</p> + +<p> +20:3. <hi rend='sans'>And cast him into the [bottomless pit] ABYSS.</hi>—Oblivion. +In this instance it signifies Satan's enforced +idleness, which will surely be oblivion for him after the +busy time he has had during the past six thousand years. +How small he will feel when he sees the Lord Jesus undo +in one thousand years all that he accomplished in six thousand! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shut him up, and set a seal upon him.</hi>—The Spirit +of Truth in the hearts of men; the desire to win the favor +of earth's new King, will deprive Satan of all his subjects. +All his evil companions, human and angelic, will be destroyed +in the Time of Trouble. Alone, idle and humiliated +constantly for a thousand years, is a punishment he +richly deserves. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That he should deceive the nations no more, till the +thousand years should be fulfilled.</hi>—<q>Some have become +so deluded by the sophistries of Satan, by which he has +deceived all nations, that they do not believe that there is +a God; others believe in Him as a great and powerful +adversary, without love or sympathy, ready and anxious +to torment them to all eternity; others are confused by +the Babel of conflicting reports that have reached them, +concerning the Divine character, and know not what to +believe; and, seeking to draw near unto God, are hindered +by their fears and by their ignorance.</q> (E. <hi rend='italic'>19</hi>, 18.) <q>The +trial, or judgment, of the overcomers of the Christian Dispensation +and of the Dispensation that preceded it, has +been much more severe than the trial of the world will be +in its judgment day; for these have had to withstand +Satan, the prince of this world, with all his wiles and +ensnarements, while in the world's judgment day Christ +will be reigning, and Satan will be bound, that he may not +deceive the nations. These have suffered persecution for +righteousness' sake, while then men will be rewarded for +<pb n='303'/><anchor id='Pg303'/> +righteousness, and punished only for unrighteousness. +These have had great stumbling blocks and snares in the +way, which will be removed when the world is placed on +trial. But though the trial of these two special companies +has been much more severe than the trial of the world will +be, the rewards are correspondingly greater.</q>—A. 146. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] after that he must be loosed a little season.</hi>—To +see who are in heart harmony with the Lord's will, and +who are governed by other motives. As evil will be bound +by the prompt infliction of punishment upon the would-be +evil-doer, so we may presume it will be loosed by allowing +evil deeds to go temporarily unpunished.—Rev. 20:8. +</p> + +<p> +20:4. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them.</hi>—The +thrones of present earthly kingdoms.—Z. '82-3-6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And judgment was given unto them.</hi>—Judicial sentence +was passed upon them as unfit to longer continue. (Z. '82-3-6.) +This word is rendered condemnation in Luke 23:40; +Jas. 3:1; Jude 4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I saw the souls.</hi>—Persons, beings.—Z. '82-3-6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus.</hi>—<q>All +constituting the Kingdom class are here referred to +as beheaded. The Apostle gives us the key, saying. <q>The +Head of every man is Christ; the head of the woman is +the man; and the Head of Christ is God.</q> (1 Cor. 11:3.) +As a woman who becomes a wife accepts her husband as +the head of the family (loses her name, her individuality, +to become his bride), so the Church accepts Christ as her +Head, and each member of the Church thus comes into +relationship with the Lord as a member of His Body. It +is required of every one who would be counted in as a +member of the true Church, that he should be not only +beheaded (lose his self-will), but that he shall be united +to the true Head of the Church and recognize himself as +a member of the true Body of Christ—<q>the Church of the +living God, whose names are written in Heaven.</q></q>—Z. '01-227; +Rev. 1:9; 19:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And for the word of God.</hi>—On account of the Word of +God and by means of it. We are <q>Begotten by the Word +of Truth,</q> and to live in fullest harmony with its every +precept, at any cost to the flesh, is the distinguishing peculiarity +of the overcoming Church of God. <q>Only now are +Bible students beginning to emerge from under the great +cloud of false doctrine which for fifteen hundred years has +misrepresented God and the Bible, putting darkness for +light. Only now can Bible study be prosecuted in its true +spirit, without the fear of man, which brings a snare. Only +now is there general education, which permits of Bible +study in this true sense. Only now have we the convenient +<pb n='304'/><anchor id='Pg304'/> +Bible, cheap and in every home. Only now have +we more leisure and opportunity for Bible study. Only +now have we good light by which to study.</q>—Z. '13-366. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And which] IF ANY THEREFORE had not worshipped +the beast, neither his image.</hi>—See Rev. 13:13-18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Neither had received his mark upon their [foreheads, or +in their hands] FOREHEAD AND ON THEIR HAND.</hi>—In +years to come millions will be surprised to know that they +had these marks of assent and service to Satan's empire. +<q>The gospel of Satan is not a system of revolutionary principles, +nor yet a programme of anarchy. It does not inspire +wars and strife, but peace and security. It does not set the +mother against her daughter and the father against his +son, but promotes the fraternal spirit whereby the race is +regarded as one great Brotherhood. It does not seek to +drag down and degrade the natural man, but to improve +and uplift him. To use a popular phrase, it appeals to +<q>the best, all that is good within us.</q> It aims to make +this world such a comfortable and congenial habitat that +the absence of Christ will not be felt and God will not be +needed. It endeavors to make men so satisfied with this +life that they shall be totally indifferent to the life hereafter. +It propagates the principles of self-sacrifice, mercy, +charity and benevolence, teaching men to live for the good +of others and to be kind to all. For those who observe +its conditions and obey its commands, it promises the +development of certain inherent occult powers, the solution +of the more recondite problems of man's constitution +and the accumulation of esoteric knowledge which is withheld +from the multitude. In short, it declares that all +who will eat of the forbidden fruit shall <q>be as gods.</q> The +gospel of Satan is one of works. The Devil's Delusion is +that we can be saved by our own works, and justified by our +own deeds. Whereas God tells us, <q>By grace are ye saved +through faith, ... not of works, lest any man should +boast.</q> And again, <q>Not by works of righteousness which +we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.</q>—Eph. +2:8, 9; Tit. 3:5.</q>—Z. '16-42. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] they BOTH lived and reigned with Christ.</hi>—See +Rom. 8:17; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A thousand years.</hi>—<q>The loss of this hope by our forefathers +led on to all the grievous errors from which we are +now seeking to escape. Do we not still pray, <q>Thy Kingdom +come, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in +Heaven?</q> The Messiah's coming Kingdom is the key to the +world's blessing by Restitution back to human perfection +in a world-wide Eden.</q>—Pastor Russell. Observe how +many times this period is mentioned in Rev. 20:2-7. +</p> + +<pb n='305'/><anchor id='Pg305'/> + +<p> +20:5. <hi rend='sans'>[But the rest of the dead lived not again until the +thousand years were finished.]</hi>—<q>These words are not found +in the oldest and most reliable Greek MSS., the Sinaitic, +Vatican Nos. 1209 and 1160, nor the Syriac MS. However, +the repudiation of this clause is not essential to the <q>Plan</q> +as herein set forth; for the rest of the dead—the world at +large—will not live again in the full sense, in the perfect +sense that Adam lived before he sinned and came under +the sentence <q>dying thou shalt die.</q> Perfect life without +weakness or dying is the only sense in which God recognizes +the word life. From His standpoint all the world has +already lost life, is dying, and might now be more properly +described as dead than as alive.</q>—2 Cor. 5:14; Matt. 8:22. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The word resurrection (Greek, <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>anastasis</foreign>) signifies <hi rend='italic'>raising +up</hi>. As related to man, it signifies raising up man to +that condition from which he fell, to full perfection of +manhood—the thing lost through Adam. The process of +resurrection will be a gradual one, requiring the entire +Age for its full accomplishment; though the mere awakening +to a measure of life and consciousness, as at present +enjoyed, will of course be a momentary work. And since +anything short of perfect life is a condition of partial +death, it follows that, although the above words are no +part of the inspired record, it would be strictly true to +say that the rest of the dead will not live again (will not +regain the fulness of life lost) until the thousand years +of restitution and blessing are complete.</q>—A. 288. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>This is the First Resurrection.</hi>—<q>It is impossible for the +tongue to describe this great honor and dignity.</q>—1 Cor. +2:9; Pastor Russell. +</p> + +<p> +20:6. <hi rend='sans'>Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the First +Resurrection.</hi>—<q><q>We shall be like Him [the glorified +<q>changed</q> Jesus], for we shall see Him <emph>as He is</emph>.</q> He is +a Spirit Being, <q>the <emph>express image of the Father's person</emph>,</q> +<q>far above angels, principalities and powers, and every +name that is named,</q> and hence, far above perfect manhood. +If we shall be like Him and share His glory and +His nature, it means that we too shall be images of the +Father's person, <q>whom no <emph>man</emph> hath seen nor can see, +dwelling in light which no <emph>man</emph> can approach unto;</q> but to +whom we can approach and whom we can see as He is, +because we have been <q>changed.</q> (1 John 3:2; 1 Tim. +6:16, 1:17; Exod. 33:20.) Lest any should misunderstand +him, the Apostle guards the above language by adding, +<q>As <emph>we</emph> [the Church] have borne the image of the earthly +[one], <emph>we</emph> shall also bear the image of the Heavenly +[One].</q> It is not the Apostle's thought that all shall bear +the image of the Heavenly One, in this sense, ever. Such +<pb n='306'/><anchor id='Pg306'/> +was not the design of our Creator. When He made man +He designed to have a <emph>fleshly</emph>, <emph>human earthly</emph> being, in His +own likeness [mentally, morally], to be the lord and ruler +of the earth, as the representative of His Heavenly Creator.</q> +(Gen. 1:26-28; Psa. 8:4-7; F. 722.) <q>If we know how +to reproduce the human voice, it gives us a little illustration +of how God, with His unlimited Power, can preserve +everything recorded by the convolutions of our brain, and +of how these could be preserved in the future absolutely—everything +by which we could know ourselves in the future.</q>—Z. '14-315. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>On such the Second Death hath no power.</hi>—Aside from +the Father and the Son, these are the only ones in the +Universe that will forever be beyond the possibility of +death.—Rev. 2:11; Rom. 2:7; 1 Tim. 6:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But they shall be priests.</hi>—<q>The antitypical consecrating +of the antitypical priests is confined to the present Gospel +Age. It has progressed steadily since our Lord and Forerunner +<q>offered up Himself</q>—and will be complete before +this Age has fully ended. And if we fail to be among +the priests now, during the time of consecration, we cannot +be of them when they begin their service for the +people in the Kingdom, when these same priests (now +despised of men, but a <q>sweet savor to God</q>) will have the +title of King added, and will, with their Head, Jesus, rule +and bless all nations.</q>—T. 47; 1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of God and of Christ.</hi>—<q>No mention is made here of being +priests of the Holy Ghost as it would undoubtedly have +been mentioned if it had been the third person of the +<q>trinity.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shall reign with Him a thousand years.</hi>—<q>The <q>kingdoms +of this world,</q> even while being crushed by the +Kingdom of God, will be quite ignorant of the real cause +of their downfall,—until, in the close of this <q>day of wrath,</q> +the eyes of their understanding shall open, so that they +will see that a New Dispensation has dawned, and learn +that Immanuel has taken to Himself His great power, and +has begun His glorious and righteous Reign.</q>—C. 129; Rev. +20:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall +be loosed out of his prison.</hi>—<q>It will be for only a little +season; for, his heart remaining unchanged, he will soon +see a new avenue to the success of his long-cherished ambition. +He will see not merely a perfect human pair +with power to produce a mighty race destined to live forever, +but a race restored to life and vigor. His thought +will be, <q>If I can win this mighty race to my standard, my +triumph and exaltation will be speedily accomplished.</q> +<pb n='307'/><anchor id='Pg307'/> +Again, therefore, he will figure as a leader, though, as +now, unrecognized by men. Doubtless the temptation will +again rest upon his old doctrine—that they shall not surely +die, even if they do disregard the will of God.</q>—Z. '94-251. +</p> + +<p> +20:8. <hi rend='sans'>And shall go out to deceive all the nations.</hi>—<q>At +the close of the Millennial Age there will be a 'harvest' +time, for sifting and separating amongst the billions of +human beings then living, each of whom will have enjoyed +a full opportunity of attaining perfection. The Harvest of +the Millennial Age will witness the complete separation of +the <q>goats</q> from the <q>sheep.</q></q> (D. 644.) <q>While the blessing +of the Lord will provide an abundance for all, nevertheless +we may safely assume that the provision will be +in the hands of their fellows. It will be the 'sheep' that +will be especially interested in, praying for and preparing +for, those who are in the great prison-house of death. +And by so engaging their time and energy these <q>sheep</q> +will be manifesting a purpose, a will, in harmony with +that of the Creator. (John 5:28, 29.) Any one not interested +in that work will be lacking in God's Spirit; and +this is what is charged against the goat-class.</q>—Z. '14-268. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Which are] in the four [quarters of the earth] CORNERS, +Gog.</hi>—Proud (Gog means high), Natural Israelites. +(1 Chr. 5:3, 4.) <q><q>Ye [proud and unfaithful Jews] shall see +Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the +Kingdom of God [the earthly phase], and ye yourselves +thrust out,</q> (Luke 13:28).</q>—Z. '07-302. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And Magog.</hi>—Those who, during the Gospel Age, were +nominal Spiritual Israelites, but at heart were never anything +but <q>tares</q> and always remain such. Magog was +the descendant of Japheth. (Gen. 10:2.) Europe was peopled +by his descendants, and it was to them that the +Gospel call of the Age now ending was by Divine appointment +sent. (Acts 16:6, 9.) The Gospel was sent into +Europe that it might be demonstrated that God could call +and make into Christlike characters representatives of +even the most cruel, bloodthirsty, quarrelsome, rapacious +people on earth. Such they are. Japan is proof that contact +with Europeans will in a generation transform a contented, +peace-loving people into a people of unbounded +ambition, imbued with the spirit of the very Devil.—Ezek. +38:2; 39:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND to gather them together to battle.</hi>—<q>When at the +close of the Millennial Age all the obedient of mankind +shall have attained all that was lost in Adam and redeemed +by Christ—then all, armed with complete knowledge and +experience, and hence fully able to stand the test, will be +tested severely (as was Adam), but individually, and only +<pb n='308'/><anchor id='Pg308'/> +those found in fullest heart-sympathy, as well as in outward +harmony, with God and His righteous arrangements, +will be permitted to go beyond the Millennium into the +everlasting future or <q>world [age] without end.</q> All others +will be destroyed in the Second Death.</q> (E. <hi rend='italic'>418</hi>, 402.) +<q>We read, regarding that testing, that Satan will endeavor +to lead astray all mankind, whose numbers will then be as +the sand of the sea for multitude; but that many of them +will choose evil and disobedience, with past experience +before them, and unhampered by present weaknesses and +blinding influences, we do not suppose.</q>—H. 62. +</p> + +<p> +20:9. <hi rend='sans'>And they went up on the breadth of the earth.</hi>—<q>Building +upon a supposed weakness in the Divine character, +these may be led to try to take advantage of the +grace (favor) of God, and to use it as a license for wilful +sin.</q>—H. 62. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And compassed the camp of the saints about.</hi>—<q>Just as +in Great Britain, the people have gone to Parliament to +protest, so the rebellious faction of mankind will protest +against their faithful princes. The separation of the Ancient +Worthies from the rest of the world seems to imply +that God has some special purpose in respect to them. +The term camp itself implies that theirs is only a temporary +condition or arrangement, and that God has some +better thing in store for them.</q> (Z. '13-53.) <q>The noble +work of elevating the race by sure and steady steps (under +the direction of the unseen spiritual members of the Kingdom) +is the high honor to which the Ancient Worthies are +appointed, and for which they will come forth prepared +soon after the final wreck of the kingdoms of this world.</q> +(A. 291.) <q>Israel as a nation will be the first among the +nations to come into harmony with the new order of +things; the earthly Jerusalem will be rebuilt upon her old +heaps; and their polity will be restored as in the beginning +under princes or judges. (Isa. 1:26; Psa. 45:16; Jer. +30:18.)</q> (A. 294.) <q>Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the +Prophets</q> and Ancient Worthies referred to by our Lord +and by the Apostles (Matt. 8:11; Heb. 11:4-40), having +passed their trial, will be awakened from death perfect. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Just as Adam, while perfect, before transgression, could +commune direct with the Heavenly powers, so will these +Worthies commune, when restored to the same state of +perfection.</q> (D. 619.) <q>The veil which Moses wore before +the people, but laid off when with the Lord in the Mount +would seem to typify the earthly phase of his Kingdom, +the <q>princes in all the earth,</q></q> (D. 630.) <q>The friendship +of David and Jonathan seems to be suggestive of that +beautiful accord which shall exist between the glorified +<pb n='309'/><anchor id='Pg309'/> +Church and the earthly princes who shall be next to them +in the Kingdom of God. Each will be delighted to fill his +honored place in the wonderful Plan of God, and will love +the other as his own soul.</q> (Z. '95-291.) <q>As we consider +the heavens, the work of God's hands, and the innumerable +worlds therein under preparation for inhabitants, we +may reasonably suppose that these Ancient Worthies, who +were faithful during the reign of evil, even unto death, +will have some further honorable service, not only during +the Millennial Age, but subsequently. For various reasons, +therefore, we rank them higher in honor than the Great +Company.</q> (Z. '04-313.) <q>These Ancient Worthies will be +unlike the remainder of mankind, not alone in the fact +that their trial is past while the trial of the world in general +will just be beginning; but they will be unlike them +also in the fact that they will have attained the reward +of their faithfulness—they will be perfect men. When +Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the Ancient Worthies have +been resurrected, and shall appear amongst the regathered +Israelites, their perfect minds will quickly grasp present-day +knowledge and inventions. (John 7:15.) And as +Jesus taught the people positively, definitely, clearly, and +not doubtfully and in a confused way, as did the scribes, +so it will be with the perfected Ancient Worthies, when +they appear amongst men.</q>—D. 625. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Isa. 11:10 points us to the Millennial Day, and another +root of Jesse, as connected with the blessing of the Gentiles. +This latter seed seems to be referred to also in +Heb. 11:39, 40. The Ancient Worthies shall not only be +the princes, the representatives of the spiritual, invisible +Kingdom, but also grand ensigns or standards set up before +mankind, as illustrations of what all mankind may +attain unto.</q> (Z. '98-312.) <q>The painful experiences of the +Ancient Worthies during the Jewish age will be a store of +blessings, instruction and help, by which they, when made +subordinate <q>princes</q> in the Kingdom, will assist in the +restitution work.</q> (T. 111.) <q>While the Worthies are not +in any sense part of the Sin-Offering, they are nevertheless +connected with the cleansing from sin: their ashes +(the knowledge and remembrance of their faithfulness +unto death), mingled with the water of Truth, and applied +with the purgative, cleansing hyssop, is valuable, purifying, +sanctifying.</q> (T. 108.) <q rend='pre'>The service which the Ancient +Worthies will be given will be more than God would +ordinarily entrust to a perfect human being. It will be +a part of this service to deal with the imperfect, fallen +creatures and to help them up out of sin and imperfection. +While in one sense of the word this work is desirable, +<pb n='310'/><anchor id='Pg310'/> +yet it is not what a perfect human being would prefer. +These Ancient Worthies will come forth from the tomb +perfect; but during the entire Millennium they will be +amidst imperfect surroundings.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>A part of the evidence that the Ancient Worthies will +be made sharers of the spirit nature and become members +of the Great Company class is built upon the fact that +they seem to be represented typically by the tribe of Levi. +The fact that this tribe had no inheritance in the land +seems to imply that the Ancient Worthies will have no +earthly inheritance. Since the Heavenly Father has been +pleased to arrange for the Great Company a place on the +spirit plane, and since He is operating according to some +general principles of righteousness, we are inclined to +think that He may have something more for the Ancient +Worthies than will come to the remainder of mankind. +When Abraham was called upon to offer up his son Isaac, +he exhibited a degree of loyalty greater than the Great +Company will be called upon to manifest. Furthermore, +in Gen. 17:8, God said unto Abraham, <q>And I will give unto +thee and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou +art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting +possession; and I will be their God.</q> Two thousand years +later, St. Stephen said that God never gave Abraham so +much as a foot of the promised land (Acts 7:6); but he +implied that Abraham will yet receive that land and afterward +leave it to his posterity. If the land is to be given +to Abraham and his coadjutors, and then to be left to his +seed and mankind in general, the thought would seem to +be implied that the Ancient Worthies will pass to the +spirit nature.</q>—Z. '13-52. +</p> + +<p> +<q><q>O Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength! [After +the Church, the Bride, has been glorified with the Lord, the +faithful ones of the fleshly seed of Abraham will begin to +come into prominence before the world by reason of the +leaders whom God will then raise up for them.] Lift it +up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah [all who +shall then be in covenant relationship with God], Behold! +Your God is here!</q> [Thus the message now given by +<q>the feet</q> of Christ—that the Millennial Kingdom is already +beginning its rule (Isa. 52:7)—will be taken up by +the earthly class when the <q>feet of Him</q> have passed beyond +the veil.]—Isa. 40:9.</q>—Z. '92-78. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the beloved city.</hi>—<q>The <q>beloved city</q> is the New +Jerusalem, the Church in glory, not the Church in the +flesh. The rebellion incited by Satan will be not only +against the earthly princes, but also against The Christ.</q>—Z. '13-53. +</p> + +<pb n='311'/><anchor id='Pg311'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And fire came down from God out of Heaven, and devoured +them.</hi>—They will be instantaneously and mercifully +electrocuted, not tormented. +</p> + +<p> +20:10. <hi rend='sans'>And the devil that deceived them was cast into +the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.</hi>—<q>He is to be destroyed, +together with all his angels—his messengers, all who follow +his leading and his course.—Matt. 25:41; Heb. 2:14.</q>—F. 619. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Where the beast and WHERE the false prophet are.</hi>—Papacy +and the Protestant Church Federation will have +been in destruction a thousand years at the time this +Scripture is fulfilled.—Rev. 13:11, 13, 14, 15; 14:9, 11; +15:2; 16:2, 13; 19:20; 20:10; Matt. 24:24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shall be tormented day and night for ever and +ever.</hi>—The Seven Volumes of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> are the +instruments the Lord is using to bring these iniquitous +systems to their end; and so long as these books remain, +the torment of these systems will be in evidence. The +systems will cease, but the <q>Seven Plagues</q> will continue +forever.—Rev. 14:11; 19:3. +</p> + +<p> +20:11. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw a great white Throne.</hi>—<q>The whiteness +of the Throne indicates the purity of the justice and +judgment which will be meted out.</q>—B. S. M. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And Him that sat on it.</hi>—<q>The Throne is Messiah's; it +represents His Mediatorial Dominion of earth for a thousand +years.</q>—B. S. M. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, +and there was found no place for them.</hi>—<q>The heavens and +earth which will flee from the presence of the great Immanuel +will not be the Heavens of God's Throne, nor the +earth which he has given to the children of men. The +heavens and earth which will flee away, and for which no +place will be found, are, of course, the symbolical ones. +The symbolic heavens represent spiritual influences—Ecclesiasticism, +Churchianity. Thus interpreted, our text +declares that when Messiah assumes control of the world, +the result will be that the social system of to-day, as well +as present-day ecclesiasticism, will pass out of existence—no +place will be found for them.</q> (B. S. M.) <q><q>Heaven and +earth</q>: To our Lord's contemporaries the religious and +social system under which they lived seemed almost as +fixed and as eternal as the earth and sky. Indeed, <q>heaven +and earth</q> appears to have been a name which they gave +to the then-existing order of things in recognition of what +they deemed its permanence and fixity.</q>—Weym.; Rev. +21:1; Dan. 2:35. +</p> + +<p> +20:12. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw the dead, [small and] BOTH great AND +SMALL stand before [God] THE THRONE.</hi>—What a grand +<pb n='312'/><anchor id='Pg312'/> +privilege is that which awaits <q>Him whom man despiseth, +Him whom the nation abhorreth, a servant of rulers,</q> <q>That +thou mayest say to the prisoners [the twenty billions in +the prison-house of death], Go forth; to them that are in +[the] darkness [of the tomb], Show yourselves.</q> (Isa. +49:7, 9; Rev. 11:18; 19:5). (The dead are standing while +they are dead. See Rev. 20:5 comments.) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the books were opened.</hi>—<q>The books of the Bible +will then all be opened—understood. All will then see +that the Golden Rules laid down by inspiration through +Moses and the Prophets, Jesus and His Apostles, are the +very ones which God will require of men in the future and +which Messiah will then enable the willing and obedient +to comply with by assisting them up out of their sin and +degradation.</q> (B. S. M.) The entire Word of God will +not be opened until after the Church is beyond the veil. +Much of it (perhaps nearly all) will be opened by the +Great Company class during the Time of Trouble, but some +of it may wait for the Prophets themselves. Meantime, all +that is necessary for salvation and service has been provided.—Dan. +7:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And another book was opened, which is the Book of +Life.</hi>—<q>In the great Day of the world's trial or Judgment +another Book of Life will be opened. A record will be +made of all who, by obedience, show themselves worthy of +everlasting life on the human plane.</q> (B. S. M.) <q>The +First Book of life is called the Lamb's Book of Life, containing +the names of the elect Church, His Bride. This +other Book of Life will be the book, or record, of those +who shall pass the restitutional trial or judgment satisfactorily.</q>—Z. '00-239. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the dead were judged.</hi>—<q>This judgment, or rulership, +cannot begin until Christ, whom Jehovah hath appointed +to be the Judge or Ruler of the world, has come again—not +again in humiliation, but in power and great glory: +not again to redeem the world, but to judge [rule] the +world in righteousness. A trial can in no case proceed +until the judge is on the bench and the court in session +at the appointed time.—Matt. 25:31.</q>—A. 345. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Out of those things which were written in the books.</hi>—<q>It +is by the Word of the Lord that men are judged (John +12:48-50); and not by the opinions or precedents of fellow-men +in any capacity. Therefore all should imitate the +noble Bereans who <q>searched the Scriptures daily</q> to see if +the things taught them were true. (Acts 17:11.) <q>To the +Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according +to this word, it is because there is no light in them.</q>—See +1 Thes. 5:21; Isa. 8:20.</q>—D. 66. +</p> + +<pb n='313'/><anchor id='Pg313'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>According to their works.</hi>—<q>The judgment of that time, +the test, will not be of faith; for knowledge will be universal, +and all the darkness and obscurity created by +ignorance and superstition will have passed away. The +test at that time will be of works, whereas the tests of +the Church at the present time are of faith.</q>—B. S. M. +</p> + +<p> +20:13. <hi rend='sans'>And the sea.</hi>—The masses of mankind, not under +religious restraint—the condition of the whole world in +the time of anarchy due in its full severity in the fall of +1920. See page <ref target='Pg178'>178</ref>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Gave up the dead which were in it.</hi>—Earth's new Ruler +will deal first with those who survive the Time of Trouble, +reckoned dead, even though actually having a small measure +of life. When the Lord said, <q>Let the dead bury their +dead</q> (Matt. 8:22), He used the same word to describe +both classes. Those under the death sentence are counted +by the Lord in the same class with those upon whom the +sentence has been already executed. None but God's +people have <q>passed from death unto life.</q> (1 John 3:14.) +All the rest of the world, in God's sight, are dead. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And death.</hi>—<q>From the first, or Adamic death, a resurrection +has been provided. All that are in their graves +shall come forth. It was in view of God's plan for redeeming +the race from that first death that in both the Old +and New Testaments it is called a <q><emph>sleep</emph>.</q></q>—H. 58. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And hell.</hi>—<q>The dark, secret condition, the grave, which +in the present time speaks to us of a <emph>hope</emph> of future life +by God's resurrection power in Christ.</q>—Z. '10-41. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Delivered up the dead which were in them.</hi>—<q>Thus God +tells us through the Prophet, <q>I will ransom them from +the power of the grave [<foreign rend='italic'>Sheol</foreign>]. I will redeem them from +death.... O grave [<foreign rend='italic'>Sheol</foreign>] I will be thy destruction.</q> +(Hos. 13:14.) The first or Adamic death shall no longer +have liberty or power over men, as it has had for the +past six thousand years; no longer shall any die for +Adam's sin. (Rom. 5:12; Jer. 31:29, 30; Ezek. 18:2.)</q>—Z. '10-41. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they were judged every man according to their +works.</hi>—<q>Since all mankind will not be raised at once, but +gradually, during the thousand years, each new group will +find an army of helpers in those who will have preceded +it. The love and benevolence which men will then show +to each other (the brethren of Christ) the King will count +as shown to Him. (Rom. 13:10.)</q>—Z. '10-39. +</p> + +<p> +20:14. <hi rend='sans'>And death and hell were cast into the lake of +fire.</hi>—<q>The destruction of the first death and Hades commences +with the beginning of the Millennial Reign and +continues to its close. Hades (the grave) will be destroyed +<pb n='314'/><anchor id='Pg314'/> +when all the dead in it have heard the Lord's +voice and come forth. (John 5:25.) But <q>death</q> will still +have hold upon these, since every ache and pain and every +mental and moral imperfection is a part of the inherited +Adamic penalty. The millions awakened will be still +under condemnation, still in death; but in proportion as +they render obedience to the terms of the New Covenant, +progress will be made toward health, perfection and life. +On the other hand, those who, after full knowledge, refuse +to accept and personally apply the merit of the sacrifice +of Christ, will remain under condemnation; because their +wills consent to evil, they will progress toward the Second +Death. In the case of the obedient, death will be swallowed +up of life. In the case of the disobedient, death +will be swallowed up of the Second Death. (1 Cor. 15:26, +54, 55; Isa. 25:6-8.)</q>—H. 66. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND this is the Second Death; THE LAKE OF FIRE.</hi>—<q>This +destruction or death is called the Second Death in +contradistinction to the First or Adamic death, and not to +signify that everything which goes into it dies a second +time. For instance, death (the first or Adamic death), and +Hades, the grave, are to be cast into it, which work will +require the entire Millennium to accomplish it; and in no +sense will they ever have been destroyed before. So also +the devil, the beast, and the false prophet, will never have +been destroyed before.</q>—H. 58; Rev. 21:8. +</p> + +<p> +20:15. <hi rend='sans'>And whosoever [was] SHALL not BE found +written in the Book of Life.</hi>—The writing, the judging, is +still future. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was cast into the Lake of Fire.</hi>—<q>The Second Death, +during the Millennial Age, is a part of the utter destruction +which will include every improper, injurious and useless +thing. (Isa. 11:9; Psa. 101:5-8.) But the Second +Death, the sentence of that individual trial, will be final: +it will never be destroyed. We rejoice that there is no +danger of this, but that Divine Justice unites with Divine +Wisdom, Love and Power, to bring in everlasting righteousness +on a permanent basis.</q>—H. 67; Rev. 19:20; Psa. +50:22. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>A thousand years, earth's coming glory,</q></l> +<l>'Tis the glad Day so long foretold;</l> +<l>'Tis the bright Morn of Zion's glory</l> +<l>Prophets foresaw in times of old.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>What if the clouds do for a moment</q></l> +<l>Hide the blue sky where Morn appears?</l> +<l>Soon the glad Sun of Promise given</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Rises to shine a thousand years!</q></l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='315'/><anchor id='Pg315'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 21—The Descending Kingdom</head> + +<p> +21:1. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.</hi>—<q>It +may be that this, rather than <q>the Millennium,</q> is the +name which we ought to give to the Golden Age, of purity +and bliss which next awaits the world. The words seem +to include a transformation and glorification of our material +globe.</q>—Weym. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Paradise, the Garden of God, applicable as a name to +Eden, where our first parents resided, is Scripturally applied +to the new earth when Restitution blessings shall, +during the Millennium, have brought it to perfection. This +Paradise of the future is referred to by the Apostles as +<q>the third heaven,</q> and as <q>a new heavens and a new earth.</q> +(2 Corinthians 12:2; 2 Peter 3:13.) They are not referring +to new planets, nor to heavens ranged one above another, +as many have supposed, but to the third of three +great periods of time, beginning with man's creation and +extending into the illimitable future. The first of these +periods, termed the first heavens and earth—the old order +of things—passed away with the Deluge of Noah's day. +The second period, <q>the heavens and the earth which are +now,</q> the present order of things, are reserved of God +to pass away with a great symbolic fire of trouble—revolution, +etc.—which will utterly destroy the present spiritual +powers and the present social arrangements. (2 Peter +3:6, 7; Galatians 1:4; Zephaniah 3:8, 9.) The third +great period is to be a <q>world without end,</q> under Divine +administration. This will be the third heavens and the +third earth, or the new heavens and the new earth, which +will differ from the present condition of things in that +they will be righteous! whereas the present arrangement +is imperfect, unrighteous. The <q>new heavens</q> will consist +of the new spiritual ruling powers of the future—Christ +the Head, and the Church His Body.</q>—Z. '16-392. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the first heaven and the first earth were passed +away.</hi>—<q>The Scriptures show us that in this general rupture +the nominal church (including all denominations) will +be gradually drawn more and more to the side of the governments +and the wealthy, will lose much of its influence +over the people, and will finally fall with the governments. +Thus the heavens [ecclesiastical rule] being on fire, will +<pb n='316'/><anchor id='Pg316'/> +pass away with a great hissing.</q> (A. 333.) Two of the +causes that operate to <q>burn</q> the present <q>earth</q> are declared +to be hunger, and the misrule of beastly governments. +(Deut. 32:24) In the end all will be glad to see +the unclean heavens pass away (Job 15:15) rent in twain +(Isa. 64:1) and the new heavens planted (Isa. 51:16) which +will be heard in their lightest petition to the God of all +grace (Hos. 2:21). <q>Drop down, ye Heavens from above.</q>—Isa. +45:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there was no more sea.</hi>—<q>Under the control of the +new Heaven—spiritual powers—the reconstructed social +order will be so satisfactory, so complete, so thorough, +that there will be no more dissatisfied masses. Everything +will be reduced to law and order, obliterating the differences +of wealth and power as they now exist.</q>—Z. '16-392. +</p> + +<p> +21:2. <hi rend='sans'>And I, [John] saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem.</hi>—<q>The +New Jerusalem is not <q>that great city [government] +which ruleth over the kings of the earth</q> (Revelation +17:18) but is the new Spiritual Government of the +Millennial Age. It is not reared by men; but, descends +from God out of Heaven. It is for this Kingdom, this +Government, that our Lord taught His disciples to pray, +<q>Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is +done in Heaven.</q></q>—Z. '16-392; Isa. 52:1; Matt. 5:35; Heb. +11:10, 16; 13:14; Rev. 3:12; 21:10; 11:2; 22:19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Coming down [from God] out of Heaven, FROM GOD.</hi>—<q>We +are not to think of this Holy City as being composed +of literal stones, but of <q>living stones</q> (1 Peter 2:4-7; +Ephesians 2:19-22.) Neither Christ nor the saints in glory +can be seen of men. But the whole world will quickly be +made aware of the fact that a new Government has been +instituted—a government of righteousness and all power.</q>—Z. '16-392; +Heb. 11:10; 12:22; Rev. 3:12; 21:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.</hi>—<q>This +declaration implies its beauty, grandeur and perfection, as +a bride's adornment on such an occasion is particular and +elaborate to the last degree. Additionally, the statement +reminds us that in the government of the future the +world's judges are to be the saints selected throughout the +Gospel Age and frequently called <q>the Bride, the Lamb's +Wife.</q></q>—Z. '16-392; 2 Cor. 11:2; John 3:29; Eph. 5:31, 32. +</p> + +<p> +21:3. <hi rend='sans'>And [I heard] a great voice.</hi>—The Lord Jesus, the +Father's Word. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Out of heaven] WAS saying, OUT OF THE THRONE, +Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men.</hi>—<q>This verse +associates this City with the other figure of a symbolic +Temple, which the Lord is now preparing, of which the +<pb n='317'/><anchor id='Pg317'/> +saints will constitute the <q>pillars.</q> God will dwell in this +Temple, and the world of mankind will approach God in it +to receive the Divine blessings, as Israel approached the +typical Tabernacle and the Temple in their typical religious +services.</q> (Z. '01-199.) <q>When we think of the Church as +the Temple under construction, it impresses upon us the +thought that there is a future work to be accomplished. +Why construct a Temple, and then not use it? St. Paul +says, the Church is God's workmanship. (Ephesians 2:10.) +And His work will be so perfectly accomplished that there +will be no need of rectification or alteration beyond the +veil,—beautifully illustrated in the erection of Solomon's +Temple, of which we read that its stones were prepared at +the quarry and then finally assembled for the construction +of the Temple, and that they were so perfectly shaped and +marked for their various places that they came together +without the sound of a hammer.</q>—Z. '15-189; 2 Cor. 6:16. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He [will dwell] DWELLETH with them and they +shall be His people.</hi>—<q>All mankind will be treated from the +standpoint of reconciliation, the Propitiation (price) for +the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2) having been provided +at Calvary, and the due time having then come for +the manifestation of Divine favor.</q>—Z. '01-200; Psa. 68:18; +Ezek. 37:27; Zech. 8:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] God Himself shall be with them, [and be their +God].</hi>—<q>It will be the Kingdom of God, because God's dear +Son and His joint-heir, the Church, will be in absolute +accord with the Father, and all that shall be done under +their control will fully and completely represent the Divine +will respecting men. Nevertheless, it will be a separate +Kingdom from that of the remainder of the Universe, +as the Apostle Paul indicates. (1 Cor. 15:24, 25, 28.)</q>—Z. '01-200; +Jer. 30:22; 31:33; Ezek. 11:20. +</p> + +<p> +21:4. <hi rend='sans'>And [God] HE shall wipe away all tears from +their eyes.</hi>—<q>The wiping away of tears implies a gradual +work, such as we see will be the process of that glorious +time. Man will not be exempt from every weakness and +trial and difficulty at the beginning, but if he will conform +to the Laws of the Kingdom, all cause for distress +will gradually pass away, as restitution blessings will lift +him out of death into life.</q>—Z. '01-200; Isa. 25:8; 65:19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there shall be no more death; neither sorrow nor +crying SHALL BE.</hi>—<q>What a glorious sun-burst of blessing +is in these words! What a grand fulfilment will be there of +the Apostle's declaration respecting <q>Times of Restitution +of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all +the holy Prophets since the world began</q>! The declaration, +however, applies to the very end of the Millennial Age, +<pb n='318'/><anchor id='Pg318'/> +and not in full to any previous time in that Age. (John +5:28, 29.)</q>—Z. '01-200; 1 Cor. 15:26, 54; Rev. 20:14; Isa. +35:10; 51:11; 65:19. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Neither shall there be any more pain] For the former +things are passed away.</hi>—The reign of Satan, sin and +death will have ended forever. <q>To gain a place in the +earthly phase of the Kingdom of God will be to find the +gratification of every desire and ambition of the perfect +human heart.</q>—A. 291. +</p> + +<p> +21:5. <hi rend='sans'>And He that sat upon the Throne said, Behold, I +make all things new.</hi>—<q>This expression does not relate +merely to rocks and trees, etc., but to the great work +which our Lord undertook; viz., the regeneration of humanity +to the complete perfection contemplated in the +original Divine Plan.</q>—Z. '01-201; Rev. 20:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And He said unto me, Write: for these words are [true +and] faithful, AND TRUE.</hi>—<q>Present conditions seem so +contrary to all this grand Restitution outcome that it cannot +be fully believed and trusted by any except those who +have learned to walk with the Lord. To all others these +things will appear untrue, and God will appear unfaithful, +and the matters which we are here discussing will seem +<q>idle tales,</q> as fables and golden fancies: but to us who believe, +these promises are precious.</q>—1 Pet. 2:7. +</p> + +<p> +21:6. <hi rend='sans'>And He [said] SAITH unto me, [It is done.] I am +Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.</hi>—<q>It was +the Father's good pleasure that the Blessed One, the Only +Begotten of the Father, should accomplish the entire program +of redemption and restitution; and be forever the +Associate and Representative of the Father, through whom +and by whom all things should continue, as He was the +one through whom all things were made that were made.</q>—Z. '01-201; +Rev. 1:8; 22:13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of +the water of life freely.</hi>—<q>It is this one who, during the +Millennial Age, will extend to all the willing and obedient +the Water of Life, everlasting life—the privilege of perpetual +existence. But they must thirst for it, must desire +it; and this desire must be manifest in obedience to the +terms, the laws, upon which it will be supplied freely.</q>—Z. '01-201; +Rev. 22:17; Isa. 55:1; John 7:37. +</p> + +<p> +21:7. <hi rend='sans'>He that overcometh shall inherit [all] THESE +things.</hi>—These earthly things.—Acts 3:21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I will be his God, and he shall be My son.</hi>—<q>Those +addressed are not the Bride class, selected during the +Gospel Age, (1 John 3:2) but the sheep class of Matt. 25—such +of mankind as during the Millennial Age become the +Lord's sheep and obey His voice. They shall inherit the +<pb n='319'/><anchor id='Pg319'/> +earth, the purchased possession—which Jesus will restore +at the close of the Millennium to all the children of Adam +who shall have accepted His gracious favors and been regenerated +by Him, and thus become His sons, and He +their God—their Father. (Isa. 9:6)</q>—Z. '01-201; Zech. 8:8; +Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:21. +</p> + +<p> +21:8. <hi rend='sans'>But the fearful.</hi>—<q>If any, enlightened by the +Truth, and brought to a knowledge of the love of God, and +restored to human perfection, become <q>fearful,</q> and <q>draw +back</q> (Heb. 10:38, 39), they, with the unbelievers, will be +destroyed from among the people. (Acts 3:23.)</q>—A. 107. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And unbelieving.</hi>—Who will not trust God, after all the +marvels of His grace they will have seen and experienced.—Heb. +11:6; Rom. 10:17; John 20:31; John 17:20; 1 Tim. +6:12; Luke 17:5; James 2:17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the abominable.</hi>—<q>Those abominable characters +among men, who, knowing the truth, yet love unrighteousness.</q>—H. 60. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And murderers.</hi>—Slanderers.—Psa. 141:3; Deut. 5:17; +Matt. 5:21, 22; 15:18-20; 1 John 3:15; James 3:2-12; James +4:11; Prov. 4:23, 24; Matt. 12:34-37; Eph. 4:31; Psa. 15:1-3; +19:14; 34:13; 101:5; Prov. 12:19; 16:28; 17:4; 26:20-21; +Jer. 20:10; 1 Cor. 10:10; James 1:19; Deut. 32:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And whoremongers.</hi>—Not at heart faithful to the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And sorcerers.</hi>—Dreamers, theorists, pseudo-philosophers, +endeavoring to accredit to themselves the great salvation +wrought.—Rev. 22:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And idolaters.</hi>—<q>Such as misappropriate and misuse Divine +favors, who give to self or any other creature or +thing that service and honor which belong to God.</q>—H. 63. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And all liars.</hi>—<q>All who do not love the Truth and seek +it, and at any cost defend and hold it.</q> (H. 63.) <q>If something +is six inches long, let it be just six inches for six +inches.</q>—Z. '12-147. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with +fire and brimstone.</hi>—<q>The severest punishment inflicted +by the Jews upon any criminal. The corpse (after the +man had been stoned to death) was thrown out into the +Valley of Hinnom (Gay-Hinnom) and was devoured by the +worm or the flame.</q>—Weym. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is the Second Death.</hi>—<q>Such company would be +repulsive to any honest, upright being. It is hard to tolerate +them now, but in the close of the Millennial Judgment, +when the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall have +given every advantage and opportunity of knowledge and +ability, the righteous will be glad when the corrupters of +the earth, and all their work and influence, shall be destroyed.</q>—H. 63. +</p> + +<pb n='320'/><anchor id='Pg320'/> + +<p> +21:9. <hi rend='sans'>And there came [unto me].</hi>—To the John class, +the Church, on this side of the veil. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>One of the seven angels.</hi>—The Seventh. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which had the seven vials full.</hi>—They are still full after +they are poured out on ecclesiasticism! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the seven last plagues.</hi>—The Seven volumes of <hi rend='italic'>Studies +in the Scriptures</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew +thee.</hi>—See Lu. 4:21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Bride, the Lamb's Wife.</hi>—<q>As a grand lesson of the +Divine sovereignty, and as a sublime contradiction to all +evolution theories, God elected to call to this place of +honor (as <q>the Bride, the Lamb's Wife and Joint-heir</q>—Rom. +8:17), not angels and cherubs, but some from among the +sinners redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb. The +continued permission of evil is for the purpose of developing +these <q>members of the Body of Christ</q> and to furnish +them the opportunity of sacrificing their little and redeemed +all, in the service of Him who bought them with +His precious blood; and thus of developing in their hearts +His spiritual likeness, that when, at the end of the Age, +they are presented by their Lord and Redeemer before the +Father, God may see in them <q>the image of His Son.</q></q>—Col. +1:22; Rom. 8:29; E. <hi rend='italic'>412</hi>, 395; Rev. 19:7; 21:2. +</p> + +<p> +21:10. <hi rend='sans'>And he carried me away in the Spirit.</hi>—<q>God +hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.</q>—1 Cor. 2:10; +Rev. 1:10; 17:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To a great and high mountain.</hi>—How similar is the language, +recording the experience of the first and greatest +Member of the Church, at the beginning of His ministry. +Concerning the Lord's third temptation we read: <q>In this +temptation the Lord is taken, not physically, but in the +spirit of His mind, up into a high mountain—a very +exalted kingdom. Physically He was all this time in the +desert near Jerusalem; and as a matter of fact there is +neither in that desert nor anywhere in the world a mountain +from which all the kingdoms of the world could be +viewed except with the mind's eye.</q>—Z. '06-43. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img331.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>St. John's Vision of the Descending Kingdom</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And shewed me [that great] THE HOLY City, [The holy] +Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God.</hi>—The city +came down from Heaven to earth. If we went up to +Heaven, it would not be found there. If Rev. 21 is to be +literally interpreted, then the whole surface of Palestine +is far from sufficient to hold a city of this size. Besides, +its height, length and breadth were to be equal.—Rev. 21:2. +</p> + +<p> +21:11. <hi rend='sans'>Having the glory [of] FROM God.</hi>—The Church +has a foretaste of this glory on this side of the veil.—1 +Pet. 4:14. +</p> + +<pb n='321'/><anchor id='Pg321'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] her light.</hi>—<q>The Lamb is the Light thereof.</q>—Rev. +21:23; 22:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was like unto a stone most precious.</hi>—<q>The brightness +of His [the Father's] glory, and the express image of His +person.</q>—Heb. 1:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.</hi>—A beautiful +green-tinted diamond.—Rev. 4:3. +</p> + +<p> +21:12 <hi rend='sans'>And [had] HAVING a wall great and high.</hi>—The +pictures here are all pictures of the Bride. Nevertheless, +the wall, the protection of that Heavenly City, in a special +sense represents our Heavenly Father. No picture of the +Bride would be complete that did not include Him who +dwells within us, who is the Author of the Plan, and the +Source of all our joys. Now as to the application of the +picture of the wall to the Bride herself, one of Pastor +Russell's coworkers has aptly said: <q>We are like living +<emph>stones</emph>, in the plural—144,000 stones in one, if you will. +There was one perfect Stone to begin with, and all the +others had to be conformed to the image of that Stone. +Men have discovered a way of taking two glasses of different +density and fusing them together, so you cannot +tell where the point of fusion is. And so, with this Little +Flock of 144,000, they are going to be welded together in +one—there will be but one mind in that whole 144,000. +There is only one thing they have in view, and that is to +perform Jehovah's will; and they rejoice in doing His will +absolutely.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [had] HAVING twelve gates.</hi>—The twelve mystical +tribes of Israel.—Rev. 7:5-8; Ezek. 48:31-34. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And at the gates twelve angels, and THEIR names written +thereon.</hi>—The entire Little Flock; twelve thousand of +each tribe, each working together, under God's direction, as +one angel, or messenger. Doubtless certain special work is +reserved for each tribe. All who gain membership in that +tribe will be particularly suited to the work to which they +will be assigned. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children +of Israel.</hi>—Their names, and the characteristics they signify, +are given in Rev. 7:5-8. +</p> + +<p> +21:13. <hi rend='sans'>On the East.</hi>—Toward the Sun-rising, toward the +Dawn, toward the Little Flock, specially honored and +blessed in their sacrifices on behalf of the Church. The +side of the Amramites.—Num. 3:19; F. 128. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Three gates.</hi>—The mystical tribe of Joseph, Benjamin +and Manasseh—Manasseh taking the place of Dan.—Ezek. +48:32; Rev. 7:5, 7, 8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND on the North.</hi>—The side of the Merarites, the Great +Company.—Num. 3:33; F. 129. +</p> + +<pb n='322'/><anchor id='Pg322'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Three gates.</hi>—The mystical tribes of Judah, Reuben +and Levi.—Ezek. 48:31; Rev. 7:5, 7. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND on the South.</hi>—The side of the Kohathites, the Ancient +Worthies.—Num. 4:2; F. 129. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Three gates.</hi>—The mystical tribes of Simeon, Issachar +and Zebulun.—Ezek. 48:33; Rev. 7:7, 8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And on the West.</hi>—The side of the Gershonites, the Restitution +classes.—Num. 4:22; F. 129. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Three gates.</hi>—The mystical tribes of Gad, Asher and +Naphtali.—Ezek. 48:34; Rev. 7:5, 6. +</p> + +<p> +Although the pictures here given are pictures of the +Bride, and the gates apply as above shown, nevertheless +these gates also represent the Ancient Worthies, who during +the Millennial Age will be the earthly representatives +of the Church, and, perhaps, exactly 144,000 in number. +Additionally, the Ancient Worthies are <emph>called</emph> <q>gates</q> in +Isa. 26:2. <q>The gates or entrances of the City, which are +twelve in number, are inscribed with the names of the +twelve tribes of Israel. This is in harmony with what we +have learned of the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God +that the Ancient Worthies from the various tribes of +Israel, selected during the Jewish Age, will be the visible +representatives of the Heavenly Kingdom in the earth +through whose instrumentality the nations may enter into +the blessings of the Kingdom.</q>—Z. '92-16. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The city lies open and accessible to all quarters, and to +all quarters alike.</q>—Luke 13:29. Weym. +</p> + +<p> +21:14. <hi rend='sans'>And the wall of the City had twelve foundations.</hi>—<q>The +Lord himself, is the foundation, <q>Other foundations +can no man lay than that is laid—Jesus Christ.</q> (1 Cor. +3:11.) He is the great Rock, and St. Peter's confession of +Him as such was, therefore, a rock testimonial—a declaration +of the foundation principles underlying the Divine +Plan. St. Peter disowned any pretension to being the +foundation-stone himself and properly classed himself to +with all the other <q>living stones</q> (Gr. <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>lithos</foreign>,) of the +Church,—though <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>petros</foreign>, rock, signifies a larger stone than +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>lithos</foreign>, and all the Apostles as <q>foundation</q> stones would in +the Divine Plan and order have a larger importance than +their brethren.</q>—F. 220; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [in] ON them the TWELVE names of the Twelve +Apostles of the Lamb.</hi>—<q>We are entirely out of accord with +the views of Papacy, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of +the Catholic-Apostolic Church, and of the Mormons, all of +whom claim that the number of the Apostles was not limited +to twelve, and that there have been successors since +their day who spoke and wrote with equal authority with +the original Twelve. (2 Cor. 11:13.)</q> (F. 209.) <q>We still have +<pb n='323'/><anchor id='Pg323'/> +with us the gift of Apostles, in that we have their teachings +in the New Testament, so full and complete as to require +no addition; and hence the Twelve Apostles have no +successors, and need none, since there are but <q>Twelve +Apostles of the Lamb;</q> they are the twelve stars; the +twelve foundations.'</q>—John 6:70; E. <hi rend='italic'>229</hi>, 207. +</p> + +<p> +12:15. <hi rend='sans'>And he that talked with me.</hi>—Volume VII of +<hi rend='italic'>Studies in the Scriptures</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Had a [golden] MEASURING reed of gold.</hi>—The Divine +Word. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To measure the City, and the gates thereof, and the wall +thereof.</hi>—Surely, if we can not find the measurement in +the Scriptures it is hopeless to look elsewhere.—Zech. 2:1, +2; Rev. 11:1; Ezek. 40:3. +</p> + +<p> +21:16. <hi rend='sans'>And the City lieth foursquare, and the length is +[as large] as the breadth.</hi>—A perfect cube, like the Most +Holy of the Tabernacle. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he measured the City with the reed, twelve thousand +furlongs.</hi>—<q>The number of <q>buildings</q> in the City +seems to be indicated by the measures—12,000 times 12,000 +furlongs equals 144,000,000 square furlongs. This area +contains 144,000 building-lots of one thousand square furlongs +each—which circumstance may well signify that the +144,000, faithful ones will reign with Jesus during a thousand +years (one square furlong representing a year.</q>) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The length and the breadth and the height of it are +equal.</hi>—Each view of the City, from any side, presents to +view, Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +21:17. <hi rend='sans'>And he measured the wall thereof.</hi>—Its thickness. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>An hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the +measure of a man.</hi>—The measure of a man, the Man +Christ Jesus, is 1,000. His Day is to be 1,000 years +in length. Adam's Day was a thousand years long. +The total measure is 144,000, the number of the Elect. +We should expect to find the number of those rescued +during the Millennium shown somewhere in these +measurements; and this we also find. The cubit, in symbolism, +is flexible in length, like the word <q>day.</q> If we multiply +the number of square furlongs in any wall by the +<hi rend='italic'>144 measures of a man</hi>, i. e., 144,000,000 X 144, the result is +20,736,000,000, the estimated number of the sheep class at +the end of the Millennial Age.—Matt. 25:34-40; Z. '05-271. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That is, of the angel.</hi>—As interpreted by the angel. +</p> + +<p> +21:18. <hi rend='sans'>And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.</hi>—<q>The +solid fabric of the wall was jasper; and the city +itself was made of gold, resembling transparent glass.</q>—Weym. +</p> + +<pb n='324'/><anchor id='Pg324'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the City was pure gold, like unto clear glass.</hi>—Of +Divine origin, and made up of those who have the Divine +nature. +</p> + +<p> +21:19. <hi rend='sans'>And the foundations of the wall of the City were +garnished with all manner of precious stones.</hi>—Mosaic +manufacturers make 15,000 colors; and it is estimated the +trained eye can detect a million colors. In selecting and +polishing the 144,000 gems and putting them in place in +the Temple God is preparing a beautiful harmony of characters +in infinite variety that will delight the hearts of all +His creatures to all eternity.—1 Chron. 29:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The first foundation was jasper.</hi>—Likeness to the Father. +See comments on Rev. 4:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND the second, sapphire.</hi>—Faithfulness. The sapphire +of the ancients is the modern lapiz lazuli, or azure stone, +a mineral substance valued for decorative purposes in +consequence of the fine blue color which it usually presents. +It has the appearance of being spotted with gold +dust. <q>The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and +it hath dust of gold.</q> (Job. 28:6.) The brilliant spots +in the deep blue matrix invite comparison with the stars +in the firmament. The crystals form into units having +twelve equal sides. The blue is the color of faithfulness; +the gold shows the faithfulness towards God; the star-like +appearance shows the faithfulness towards all the +Heavenly beings—angels, archangels, and the Great Company; +the crystalline formation shows the faithfulness +towards the symbolical and actual twelve tribes of Israel +which, in the last analysis, include all who shall become +heirs of salvation. Those who gain the prize of the High +Calling can be trusted.—1 Cor. 4:2; Luke 16:10-12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>AND the third, a chalcedony.</hi>—Obedience; Submission. +A green quartz, found in the copper mines of Chalcedon. +It crystallizes in the twelve-sided and twenty-four-sided +forms of cubic crystalline formation. In the twelve sided +crystals each side is a surface of five equal sides and +angles. The Church's obedience is perfect towards God +as indicated in the faces of the crystals, five being a +symbol of Divinity. It is operative towards the brethren +as in the twelve-faced crystals, and towards both phases of +the Kingdom, as in the twenty-four-sided crystals. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The fourth, an emerald.</hi>—Deathlessness. One of the +most beautiful of gems, of a bright green color, without +any mixture, crystallizing in long, hexagonal (six-sided) +crystals. The stone loses color when strongly heated. +From those originally imperfect (as shown in the six-sided +crystals) God is creating a race of deathless ones. +Nevertheless, though begotten to the Divine nature, should +<pb n='325'/><anchor id='Pg325'/> +they cling to the dross of their fleshly natures too determinedly, +so great fires may be applied to burn away the +dross as will destroy the value of the gem. This gem, +too, represents the Church's power to bestow life upon +the dead world. The crystals may be broken or split +crosswise. The everlasting life for the world, which may +be made continuous, is nevertheless susceptible of being +broken off at any time for disobedience. +</p> + +<p> +21:20. <hi rend='sans'>The fifth, sardonyx.</hi>—Humility; Purity; Martyrdom. +An ornamental stone much used for seals and +cameos. It was considered by ancient oriental authorities +that a fine oriental sardonyx should have at least three +strata, a black base, a white intermediate center, and a +superficial layer of red; these colors typifying the three +cardinal virtues—humility, black; chastity, white; modesty +or martyrdom, red. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The sixth, sardius.</hi>—Loyalty to Christ. A reddish stone +much used by the ancients as a gem stone; it has been +in all ages the commonest of the stones used by the gem +engraver.—Rev. 4:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The seventh, chrysolyte.</hi>—Heavenly Wisdom. Greek +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Chrysos</foreign>, gold, and <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>lithos</foreign>, stone. The meaning of the term +makes it the golden stone. It is a gem of a golden color, +lightly tinted with green. It is very transparent. <q>The +wisdom that is from Above is first pure.</q>—Jas. 3:17. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The eighth, beryl.</hi>—Love of the Father. A pellucid gem +of a bluish green color, much prized as a gem stone by +the ancients. It crystallizes in the hexagonal system, +with sixty-six sides of various sizes and shapes. On each +of the six principal sides are diamond-shaped marks, alternately +five and eight marks to a side, with four marks at +the end. The sixty-six sides represent the sixty-six books +of the Bible; the two ends represent the Old and New +Testaments; the diamond shaped marks represent the +Heavenly Father; the three groups of eight each represent +the twenty-four prophecies of the kingdom; five is a symbol +of Divinity, and four represents Justice, Power, Wisdom +and Love. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The ninth, topaz.</hi>—Benevolence. It is generally held that +the mineral now called topaz was unknown to ancient +writers, and that their topaz is our peridot. This is the +name applied by jewelers to <q>noble olivine.</q> It is a dark, +decidedly green-colored mineral. Much mystery for a long +time surrounded the locality which yielded most of the +peridot for commerce; but it is now identified with the +island of St. John in the Red Sea, probably the <q>Topaz +Isle</q> of the ancients. It crystallizes in twenty-six-sided +figures. In some views—i. e., when the Great Company +<pb n='326'/><anchor id='Pg326'/> +or the classes that are to be destroyed are taken into +consideration—the tribes of Israel number thirteen; and +when Spiritual and Fleshly Israel are considered separately, +the total number is twenty-six. It is not the wish +of the Heavenly Father that any of these should perish, +and it is the wish of the Church to do all humanly and +Divinely possible to save the unworthy from the final +consequences of their own willfulness. This spirit will +be exercised to the last limit of love. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The tenth, chrysoprasus.</hi>—Constant, cheerful endurance. +The modern Chrysoberyl is a yellow or green gem stone, +remarkable for its hardness, being exceeded in this respect +only by the diamond and the jacinth. It is not infrequently +cloudy, due to microscopic cavities. The hardness signifies +ability to <q>endure hardness as good soldiers,</q> and the +clouds signify difficulties, troubles, to be overcome. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The eleventh, jacinth.</hi>—Unchangeableness. The modern +sapphire, next to the diamond in hardness; a beautiful +blue stone. Many of the crystals are parti-colored, the blue +being distributed in patches in a colorless stone; but by +skillful cutting the deep-colored portion may be caused +to impart color to the entire gem. This stone crystallizes +in the most beautiful and wonderful pattern conceivable, +consisting of a six-sided pyramid at either end, separated +by three different sets of surfaces of six each and two +different sets of surfaces of three each. We may think +of the two ends as representing the teachings of the +Twelve Apostles, and the twenty-four surfaces between +as representing the twenty-four elders (prophecies pertaining +to the Kingdom of God). God is unchangeable; +although the different operations of His Plan, in different +ages, make Him seem changeable to mankind. But the +perfected Plan will be the adoration of all His creatures. +This gem also shows how God can take characters whose +conduct may have been very irregular, and by skillful +cutting make them copies of Himself. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The twelfth, an amethyst.</hi>—Royalty. A stone of a violet +color, bordering on purple, composed of a strong blue and +deep red. The name is derived from the Greek <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>a</foreign>, not, +and <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>methyskein</foreign>, to intoxicate, expressing the old belief +that the stone protected its owner from strong drink. It +was held that wine drank out of a cup of amethyst would +not intoxicate. It crystallizes in double pyramids (base to +base) of three sides on each pyramid. Amethyst was +Pastor Russell's birth-stone; and behold how perfect its +application! He was true blue in his faithfulness, and +fully loyal to the blood of Christ, as shown by the red. +He has the royalty now, thank God! The cup which he +<pb n='327'/><anchor id='Pg327'/> +poured never intoxicated with error those who drank its +live-giving draughts from the Fountain of all Truth, our +Father's Word. The six-sided crystallization represents +his Six Volumes of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>, and this, the +Seventh, a summary of all, represents the stone as a whole. +There are over ninety varieties of crystals in nature. +Surely, <q>The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The following is William Miller's dream, as given in +<hi rend='italic'>The Three Worlds</hi>, the first of Pastor Russell's books, long +since out of print, where it is told only as a dream. (Jer. 23:28.) +It calls to mind a dream of Pastor Russell's, often told +in private. In his early youth he dreamed of sleeping in +an attic. Suddenly he awoke to see the morning sun, just +emerged over the hill-top, blazing directly in his face. +He jumped to his feet with a start, thinking that it must +be late. In doing so he stumbled over several forms still +asleep. He was about to reproach himself for thus rudely +awakening them, when he discovered that not one of the +sleepers had been disturbed. The application is evident. +<q>The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth +it not.</q> Pastor Russell was awakened by the +light of the Sun of the New Day. He tried to waken +others, and succeeded with <q>just one here, one there;</q> +but the great mass are still asleep. However, the Dawn +comes on apace. Now for William Miller's dream: +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>I dreamed that God, by an unseen hand, had sent me +a curiously wrought casket, about ten inches long by six +square, made of ebony and pearls curiously inlaid. To +the casket there was a key attached. I immediately took +the key and opened the casket, when, to my wonder and +surprise, I found it filled with all sorts and sizes of jewels—diamonds, +precious stones—and gold and silver coin of +every dimension and value, beautifully arranged in their +several places in the casket; and thus arranged, they reflected +a light and glory equalled only by the sun. [These +jewels are the beautiful truths which the open casket unfolded +to his sight.] I thought it was my duty not to +enjoy this wonderful sight alone, although my heart was +overjoyed at the brilliancy, beauty and value of its contents. +I therefore placed it on a center-table in my room, +and gave out the word that all who had a desire might +come and see the most glorious and brilliant sight ever +seen by man in this life. The people began to come in, +at first few in number, but increasing to a crowd. When +they first looked into the casket, they would wonder and +shout for joy. But when the spectators increased, every +one would begin to trouble the jewels, taking them out +of the casket and scattering them on the table.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='328'/><anchor id='Pg328'/> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>I began to think that the owner would require the +casket and jewels again at my hand; and that if I suffered +them to be scattered, I could never place them in their +places in the casket again as before, and felt I should +never be able to meet the accountability; for it would be +immense. I then began to plead with the people not to +handle them, nor take them out of the casket. But the +more I pleaded, the more they scattered; and now they +seemed to scatter them all over the room, on the floor, +and every piece of furniture in the room. I then saw that +among the genuine jewels and coin they had scattered an +innumerable quantity of spurious jewels and counterfeit +coin. I was highly incensed at their base conduct and +ingratitude, and reproved and reproached them for it; but +the more I reproved, the more they scattered the spurious +jewels and false coin among the genuine. I then became +vexed in my very soul, and began to use physical force to +push them out of the room; but while I was pushing out +one, three more would enter, and bring in dirt, shavings, +sand, and all manner of rubbish, until they had covered +every one of the true jewels, diamonds and coins from +sight. They also tore into pieces my casket and scattered +it among the rubbish. I thought that no man regarded +my sorrow or my anger. I became wholly discouraged +and disheartened, and sat down and wept. [When the +1844 time passed, how perfectly was this fullfilled.] While +I was thus weeping and mourning for my great loss and +accountability, I remembered God, and earnestly prayed +that He would send me help.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Immediately the door opened and a man entered the +room, when the other people all left it. Then he, having +a dirt brush in his hand, opened the windows and began +to brush the dust and rubbish from the room. I cried +to him to forbear; that there were some precious jewels +scattered among the rubbish. But he told me to fear not, +for he would take care of them. Then while he brushed +the dust and rubbish, the false jewels and counterfeit coin, +all rose and went out of the window like a cloud and the +wind carried them away. In the bustle I closed my eyes +for a moment. When I opened them the rubbish was all +gone, and the precious jewels, the diamonds, the gold and +the silver coins lay scattered in profusion all over the +room. He then placed on the table a casket, much larger +and more beautiful than the former, and gathered up the +jewels, the diamonds, the coins, by the handful, and cast +them into the casket, till not one was left, although some +of the diamonds were not bigger than the point of a pin. +He then called upon me to come and see. I looked into +<pb n='329'/><anchor id='Pg329'/> +the casket, but my eyes were dazzled with the sight. The +contents shone with ten times their former glory. I +thought that they had been scoured in the sand by the +feet of those wicked persons who had scattered and trod +them in the dust. They were arranged in beautiful order +in the casket—every one in its place—without any visible +pains on the part of the man [Pastor Russell] who cast +them in. I shouted for joy; and that shout awoke me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +21:21. <hi rend='sans'>And the twelve gates were [twelve] pearls; +every several gate was of one pearl.</hi>—<q>The peculiar lustre +of a pearl is dependent on the fact that the surface is not +perfectly smooth, but covered with the irregularly sinuous +edges of innumerable layers of inconceivable thinness, +deposited one over the other. The distance of these edges +from each other varies indefinitely, the pearls of the finest +water having them closest. They are always, however, +too fine to be detected by the naked eye. The edges make +so many steps, so to speak; and the iridescence is produced +by the mutual interference of the rays of light +reflected from these thousands of angles. For their water, +or lustre, as distinguished from iridescence, pearls are +indebted to their being composed of thin layers, which +allow light to pass through them, while their numerous +surfaces disperse and reflect the light in such a manner +that it returns and mingles with that which is directly +reflected from the exterior. The thinner and more transparent +the constituent layers, the more perfect is the +lustre. The immediate occasion of the production of a +pearl appears to be always the presence of some extraneous +substance inside of the shell of the mollusk.</q> (McC.) +The mollusk is the earthly tabernacle; the extraneous substance +is the New Mind. The successive layers are the +additions made to it, <q>precept upon precept, precept upon +precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and +there a little.</q>—Isa. 28:13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the street of the City was pure gold, as it were +transparent glass.</hi>—There will be but one street in that +City, the street which has been in process of construction +throughout the Age. The Prophets tell us of it.—Prov. +16:17; Isa. 40:3; 49:11; 35:8; 62:10-12. +</p> + +<p> +21:22. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw no temple therein.</hi>—No special place +of worship, for the use and benefit of the Little Flock. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[For] BECAUSE the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb +are the Temple of it.</hi>—The Bride's whole life is completely +wrapped up in the Father and the Son. Her one consuming +wish is to glorify the Lord's dear name. Of what need +is any special place of worship for one who can say, <q>For to +me to live is [for] Christ [to live]?</q>—Phil. 1:21. +</p> + +<pb n='330'/><anchor id='Pg330'/> + +<p> +21:23. <hi rend='sans'>And the City had no need of the sun, neither +of the moon, to shine [in] ON it.</hi>—<q>The sun signifies the +light of this Gospel Age; the moon signifies the typically +reflected light of the Gospel in the Law and the Prophets +of the previous Dispensation. The glorified Church will +have no need of the light which in the present time she +so much enjoys through the Word and the Spirit, and the +Law and the Prophets. She will have, instead of these, +a much more excellent glory, being, herself, a part of the +Sun of Righteousness.</q> (Z. '01-201.) <q><q>Then shall the righteous +shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their +Father</q>—our Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church, of course +being included. The Prophet mentions the same Sun of +Righteousness, saying, <q>The Sun of Righteousness shall +arise with healing in His beams.</q>—Malachi 4:2.</q>—Z. '16-393. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the +light thereof.</hi>—<q>We are not to lose sight of the fact that +Christ is the Head of the Church, even as the Father is +the head of Christ Jesus. (1 Cor. 11:3.) Hence the Lord +God Almighty and the Lamb will always be an inner +Temple in this great Temple which God has provided for +the world's blessing during Restitution Times.</q>—Z. '16-393; +Isa. 24:23; 60:19, 20; Rev. 21:11; 22:5. +</p> + +<p> +21:24. <hi rend='sans'>And the nations [of them which are saved] shall +walk [in] BY the light [of it] THEREOF.</hi>—<q>The word +<q>nations</q> here signifies peoples, and is intended to show that +all peoples, not merely the Israelites, will be thus favored +under God's Kingdom. The world will not be divided into +nationalities as at present.</q>—Z. '16-394; Isa. 60:3, 5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the kings of the earth do bring their glory [and +honor] into it.</hi>—<q>When mankind reaches perfection at the +close of the Millennial Age, as already shown, they will +be admitted into membership in the Kingdom of God and +given the entire control of earth as at first designed—each +man a sovereign, a king.</q> (A. 296.) <q>That Kingdom, in +which all will be kings, will be one grand, universal Republic, +whose stability and blessed influence will be assured +by the perfection of its every citizen, a result now much +desired, but an impossibility because of sin.</q> (Z. '10-39.) +<q>During the Millennial Age the kings will be the Ancient +Worthies; but subsequently a New Dispensation will open, +under new conditions, in which mankind (perfected) will +be granted the privilege of ruling themselves in harmony +with the Divine Law.</q> (Z. '97-304.) In this verse the +Ancient Worthies are <emph>directly</emph> referred to; while in verse +26 the rest of mankind are referred to. Notice the tenses +of the verbs <q><emph>do</emph> bring</q> and <q><emph>shall</emph> bring</q>—present and future—in +the Millennium and after. +</p> + +<pb n='331'/><anchor id='Pg331'/> + +<p> +21:25. <hi rend='sans'>And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by +day.</hi>—Throughout the long Millennial Day of a thousand +years all who will may seek and find salvation through +the broad gates of the City of God that will then be wide +open. (Isa. 60:11.) Now, <q>Narrow is the way that leadeth +unto life, and few there be that find it.</q>—Matt. 7:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For there shall be no night there.</hi>—<q>The period in which +sin is permitted has been a dark Night to humanity, never +to be forgotten; but the glorious Day of righteousness and +Divine favor, to be ushered in by Messiah, who, as the +Sun of Righteousness, shall arise and shine fully and clearly +into and upon all, bringing healing and blessing, will +more than counterbalance the dreadful night of weeping, +sighing, pain, sickness and death, in which the groaning +creation has been so long. <q>Weeping may endure for a +night, but joy cometh in the morning.</q>—Psa. 30:5.</q> (A. 9.) +</p> + +<p> +The Psalmist explains how the smile of the Father +was turned away from mankind. He describes mankind +as <q>Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, +being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled +against the words of God [by disobedience of His express +command] and contemned [set at naught] the counsels of +the Most High. Therefore He brought down their heart +with labor [each sex with its own peculiar kind]; they +fell down, and there was none to help.</q> (Psa. 107:10-12.) +This disobedience brought our entire race into the Valley +of the Shadow of Death (Psa. 23:4); but the Prophets +encouraged us to hope for a watchman who would tell us +of the coming of the Day. (Isa. 21:12.) In the Apostle's +time he declared the night was far spent, being then more +than two-thirds gone. (Rom. 13:12.) The event that is +to bring in the Day is the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. +(Mal. 4:2.) When here at the First Advent Christ +was the light of the world (John 8:12); and the people +in His immediate neighborhood saw a great Light, shadowing +forth His coming glory. (Isa. 9:2.) He declared that +we, too, should be lights in the world. (Matt. 5:14.)—<q>You +in your little corner, and I in mine;</q> and that in +the resurrection all these 144,000 brightly burning candles +should be brought together and with Him constitute the +Sun of Righteousness that is to heal and bless the world. +<q>Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the +Kingdom of their Father.</q>—Matt. 13:43. +</p> + +<p> +The sun rises quietly, like a thief. (1 Thes. 5:1.) When +the Morning comes, the first work is banishing the works +of the night. (Ezek. 7:7-12.) Next comes the opening of +the spiritually blind eyes of those that have physical sight. +(Amos 5:18.) Surely, the best time for a great oculist to +<pb n='332'/><anchor id='Pg332'/> +open the eyes of the blind is in the day time. (Isa. 35:5.) +Now matters are more or less obscured (1 Cor. 13:12); but +the time is coming when the blind shall be shown a way +of life they have not hitherto known. (Isa. 42:16.) Will +the Lord show wonders in the dark? (Psa. 88:10.) He +will indeed; and when the nations come forth from the +tomb, they will seek Him that turneth the shadow of +death into the morning. (Amos 5:8; Isa. 42: 6, 7.) They +will seek Him and will find Him. No wonder, then, that +the Psalmist, looking down the stream of time to that +happy Day, exultingly exclaims, <q>Then [after full experience +with sin and death] they cried unto the Lord in +their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. +He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of +death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh, that men +would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His +wonderful works to the children of men! For He hath +broken the gates of brass [that stood between them and +perfection], and cut the bars of iron asunder [that held +them in death's prison house].</q> (Psa. 107:13-16.) <q>And +there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, +neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things +are passed away.</q> (Rev. 21:4.) <q>For there shall be no +night there.</q> <q>Weeping may endure for a night, but joy +cometh in the Morning.</q>—Psa. 30:5; Zech. 14:7. +</p> + +<p> +21:26. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall bring the glory and honor of the +nations into it.</hi>—<q>This rendering of glory to the Kingdom +will continue throughout the entire Millennial Age; for +the princes throughout the earth will make known to the +peoples that not in their own name or authority do they +rule and execute judgment and establish righteousness, +but in the name of the glorified Christ, Head and Body, +whose representatives they are.</q>—Z. '16-394. +</p> + +<p> +21:27. <hi rend='sans'>And there shall in no wise enter into it anything +[that defileth] COMMON.</hi>—No one who could or would contaminate +others by speech or example, will ever find a place +in that City. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Neither whatsoever worketh abomination.</hi>—Nor anything +tending in the direction of pride or sectarianism. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Or maketh a lie.</hi>—Nor anything countenancing the +teaching of error for pleasure or profit.—1 John 2:22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But they which are written in the [Lamb's.] Book of THE +Life OF HEAVEN.</hi>—<q>The Lamb's Book of Life we must +understand to include only those who attain to the position +of joint-heirship with Christ, those whose names are +written in Heaven during this Gospel Age and who are +faithful to their Covenant. (Psa. 50:5.)</q>—Z. '16-394; Phil. +4:3; Rev. 3:5, 13:8. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='333'/><anchor id='Pg333'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Revelation 22—The River Of Grace And Truth</head> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img332.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>The River Of Life</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +22:1. <hi rend='sans'>And he showed me a [pure] River of Water of Life, +clear as crystal.</hi>—<q>One would think that, even with no +knowledge of the symbols of Revelation, no thinking Christian +should have any difficulty in realizing that the book +portrays trouble for the Church throughout this Gospel Age +and the triumphant Millennial Reign at its close.</q>—Z. '05-170; +Ezek. 47:1-12; Joel 3:18; Zech. 14:8; Psa. 46:4. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb.</hi>—<q>The +Scriptures nowhere speak of the River of the Water +of Life now. There is none, and can be none until the +Heavenly City descends, for the river must flow from the +midst of it, from the Throne. Describing the condition of +the Lord's saints at the present time very differently, the +Lord declares that those who are His have in them a +well of water springing up into life eternal.</q>—Z. '05-172; +Ezek. 47:1; Zech. 14:8. +</p> + +<p> +22:2. <hi rend='sans'>In the midst of the street of it.</hi>—In the midst of +the Highway of Holiness.—Rev. 21:21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And on either side of the River.</hi>—Nourished and blessed +by the life-giving Waters of Truth.—Ezek. 47:12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was there the Tree of Life.</hi>—The Christ, Head and Body. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her +[fruit] FRUITS every month.</hi>—Twelve kinds of fruit, +twelve times a year, for a thousand years—a total fruitage +of 144,000. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the leaves of the [tree] TREES were for the healing +of the nations.</hi>—<q>The symbolic picture suggests nourishment +and healing for the sin-sick, starving world, which +then may partake freely of all the blessings and privileges +thus symbolized.</q>—Z. '05-171; Rev. 21:24; Ezek. 47:12. +</p> + +<p> +22:3. <hi rend='sans'>And there shall be no [more] curse.</hi>—<q>Instead of +the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier +shall come up the myrtle tree: and it [the removal of the +curse] shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting +sign that shall not be cut off.</q> (Isa. 55:13.) <q>Upon no +subject is the testimony of the Scriptures more positive, +consistent and conclusive than on this subject of the curse, +its effects upon man, the redemption from it, and its ultimate +removal.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>421</hi>, 405. +</p> + +<pb n='334'/><anchor id='Pg334'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it.</hi>—<q>A +spiritual police force will have humanity under absolute +control. Every misdeed will be punished as soon as it +is determined upon and before it shall have been put into +effect. Likewise, every good act, good word and good +thought will bring a blessing of restitution, health, strength—mental, +moral, physical.</q>—Z. '15-267. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His servants shall serve Him.</hi>—Beautiful inheritance +of the Great Company class.—Rev. 7:15. +</p> + +<p> +22:4. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall see His face.</hi>—This will be worth +all they will be called upon to endure.—Matt. 5:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His name shall be [in] ON their foreheads.</hi>—At +present many of this class do not have clear perceptions +of the Father's character. All misunderstandings will be +cleared up shortly. They only await the departure of the +last of the Elijah class, in the spring of 1918. +</p> + +<p> +22:5. <hi rend='sans'>And there shall be no MORE night [there].</hi>—Doubtless, +at first, the Great Company's memories of her +dark night will be very keen.—Rev. 7:14; 21:23, 25. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they need [no] NOT THE LIGHT OF A candle.</hi>—Light +from the Church in the flesh. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Neither] AND light of the sun.</hi>—The Gospel, through +the Word. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the Lord God [giveth] WILL GIVE them light.</hi>—<q>Blessed +are they which are <emph>called</emph> unto the Marriage +Supper of the Lamb.</q>—Rev. 19:9; 7:16-17; Psa. 84:11. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they shall reign for ever and ever.</hi>—They—Christ +and His Bride, in whose blest Heavenly courts the Beloved +Bridesmaids will always find their happy station.—Dan. +7:27; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 3:21. +</p> + +<p> +22:6. <hi rend='sans'>And he.</hi>—The same angel mentioned in Rev. 1:1; +19:9, 10; representing Pastor Russell, beyond the veil. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Said unto me.</hi>—The John class, in the flesh. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>These sayings are faithful and true.</hi>—<q>There hath not +failed one word of all His good promise.</q>—1 Kings 8:56. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the Lord God of the [holy] SPIRITS OF THE +Prophets.</hi>—It is still possible to have the same spirit as +filled the Prophets of old, even though the prophecies +themselves have ceased to be miraculously uttered or interpreted.—1 +Cor. 13:8. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Sent ME His angel to shew unto His servants the things +which must shortly be done.</hi>—Especially the events of the +immediate future.—Rev. 1:1. +</p> + +<p> +22:7. <hi rend='sans'>AND behold I come quickly.</hi>—See Rev. 16:15; +22:10, 12, 20. Jesus is the speaker. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy +of this book.</hi>—The Elijah class, who see its clear import +and accept the responsibilities implied.—Rev. 1:3; 3:14. +</p> + +<pb n='335'/><anchor id='Pg335'/> + +<p> +22:8. <hi rend='sans'>And I John saw these things, and heard them.</hi>—Understood +them.—Rev. 1:3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And when I had heard and seen, I fell down before the +feet of the angel which shewed me these things.</hi>—<q>This +may signify that in the end of this Gospel Age as the +whole Church, the John class, comes to see the unfolding +of the Divine Plan, there might be a spirit or disposition +amongst them to do too much honor to the one used of +the Lord in communicating to them the Divine light now +due.</q>—Z. '05-173; Judges 13:17, 18. +</p> + +<p> +22:9. <hi rend='sans'>Then saith he unto me, see thou do it not: [for] +I am thy fellow-servant.</hi>—<q>The angel's refusal to accept +homage should be a lesson to all ministers (servants—messengers) +of God.</q>—Z. '96-305; Rev. 19:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of thy brethren the Prophets.</hi>—Prophets, in the New +Testament use of the word, refer to Christian speakers. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship +God.</hi>—<q>God alone should be worshiped: He is the +Author of the great Plan and will be the Finisher of it. +It is brought to our attention now by Him because it is +now <q>due time</q> for His people to come to an appreciation +of His plans.</q>—Z. '05-173. +</p> + +<p> +22:10. <hi rend='sans'>And he saith unto me, Seal not [the] THESE sayings +of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.</hi>—<q>Make +no secret,</q> he added, <q>of the meaning of the predictions +contained in this book; for the time for their fulfillment +is now close at hand.</q>—Weym. +</p> + +<p> +22:11. <hi rend='sans'>He that is unjust, let him be unjust still.</hi>—<q>At +the time that the features of this symbolical Revelation +shall come to be understood and appreciated by the Lord's +people, they may know that the time of the completion is +near at hand. We are not to expect that the telling of +this Message will have the effect of converting the world. +It was not intended to do this and will not do it.</q>—Z. '05-173; +Dan. 12:10. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still.</hi>—<q>Present +Truth, although full of comfort and encouragement to the +Church in respect to their dear friends who are out of +Christ, has no effect whatever upon those who love sin, +who are filthy, who are unrighteous. The unrighteous and +the filthy simply ignore this message and are not moved +specially by it.</q>—Z. '05-173. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he that is righteous, let him [be righteous] WORK +RIGHTEOUSNESS still.</hi>—<q>To lovers of righteousness, of +truth, the revelations of the Divine Plan now unfolding +commend themselves, and intensify their love for righteousness +and appreciation of full consecration to the Lord.</q>—Z. '05-173. +</p> + +<pb n='336'/><anchor id='Pg336'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And he that is holy, let him be holy still.</hi>—<q>The word +seems to denote development and crystallization of character, +immediately preceding the coming of the great +Judge of all.</q> (Weym.) <q>Love is patient and kind. Love +knows neither envy nor jealousy. Love is not forward and +self-assertive, nor boastful and conceited. She does not +behave unbecomingly, nor seek to aggrandize herself, nor +blaze out passionate anger, nor brood over wrongs. She +finds no pleasure in injustice done to others, but joyfully +sides with the truth. She knows how to be silent. She +is full of trust, full of hope, full of patient endurance.</q>—1 +Cor. 13:4-7.—Weym. +</p> + +<p> +22:12. <hi rend='sans'>[And] behold, I come quickly.</hi>—See Rev. 16:15; +22:7, 10, 20. The Lord Himself becomes the speaker. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And My reward is with Me, to [give] BE GIVEN every +man.</hi>—Every man in Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>According as his work [shall be] IS.</hi>—The Church's work +is practically finished. The reward is given on the basis +of the work already done, in character development and in +the natural outgrowth of that development—works. +</p> + +<p> +22:13. <hi rend='sans'>I am Alpha and Omega, THE FIRST AND THE +LAST, the Beginning and the End, [the First and the Last].</hi>—<q>Our +Lord tells us over and over again (See Rev. 1:8, 11, +17; 2:8; 3:14; 21:6), that He is the Beginning and the +Ending, the First and the Last, of the creation of God.</q>—Z. '93-115. +</p> + +<p> +22:14. <hi rend='sans'>Blessed are they that [do His commandments] +WASH THEIR ROBES.</hi>—The Great Company class.—Rev. +7:14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That they may have right to the Tree of Life.</hi>—Rev. 22:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And may enter through the gates into the City.</hi>—<q>Whose +Builder and Maker is God.</q> (Heb. 11:10.) To these dear +brethren we would say, The object of your trials is to +remove the dross (Ex. 30:7; Mal. 3:2) that you may be +fit companions of the Christ. (Ex. 12:8; Heb. 2:17; Rom. +5:3; Col. 1:11.) Do not think it strange. (James 1:12; +1 Pet. 1:7; 4:12; 5:10.) When you get the right viewpoint, +you will rejoice in your sufferings. (Deut. 13:3; +Psa. 23:4; 119:67.) The trials will not last forever (Psa. +39:1); and in them all you may hear the songs of deliverance. +(Psa. 32:6, 7.) There is nothing to turn back to +(Heb. 10:38); but there is joy untold to look forward to, +and it is nigh.—Rev. 19:9; Psa. 45:14, 15. +</p> + +<p> +22:15. <hi rend='sans'>[For] without are dogs.</hi>—There will be no clergy +class, as such, in the Kingdom.—Isa. 56:10; Phil. 3:2; +2 Tim. 3:8, 9. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and +idolators.</hi>—See Rev. 21:8. +</p> + +<pb n='337'/><anchor id='Pg337'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And whosoever [loveth and] maketh AND LOVETH a lie.</hi>—The +old lies will die hard; and some may try to carry +them far into the Time of Trouble, on the well-known +principle that if a pigeon's brains are removed, and the +wound allowed to heal, the bird will no longer seek its +food, though it can still swing on a perch and ruffle its +feathers and show fight. Ere long, however, the Truth +will be so manifest that all must give way before it. +</p> + +<p> +22:16. <hi rend='sans'>I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto +you these things in the churches.</hi>—All down the Age the +Church has had this Message; all down the Age holy men +of God have sought to understand its mysteries; all down +the Age it has remained a closed book. But now the +Mystery of God is <emph>finished</emph>; and the object of keeping the +book closed is accomplished. God wished the world to +know when the time for the complete removal of error +and for the establishment of His Kingdom would come; +and so He enables the last members of His Church to +give the Message. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I am the Root and the Offspring of David.</hi>—<q>According +to the flesh, our Lord Jesus was, through His mother, the +Son, the Branch, the Offshoot or Offspring of David. It was +by virtue of His sacrifice of His undefiled life that He +became the <q>Root,</q> origin, source of life, and development +of David.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>150</hi>, 136; Rev. 5:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the bright and morning Star.</hi>—<q>And I will give him +the Morning Star.</q> (Rev. 2:28.) Christ's gift of Himself +to the Bride is the greatest of all gifts.—Job. 38:7; Psa. +118:22-25. +</p> + +<p> +22:17. <hi rend='sans'>And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come.</hi>—<q>The +Gospel Age makes ready the chaste Virgin, the faithful +Church, for the coming Bridegroom. And in the end of +the Age, when she is made <q>ready</q> (Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9), +the Bridegroom comes; and they that are ready go in with +Him to the Marriage. The Second Adam and the Second +Eve become one, and then the glorious work of Restitution +begins. In the next Dispensation, the New Heaven and the +new earth, the Church will be no longer the espoused +Virgin, but the Bride.</q>—A. 98. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that +is athirst come.</hi>—<q>Blessed are they that do hunger and +thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.</q>—Matt. +5:6; Isa. 55:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[And] whosoever will, let him take of the Water of Life +freely.</hi>—<q>Now the prospective members of the Bride class +have the Lord's Spirit in them, <q>a well of water springing +up unto everlasting life.</q> (John 4:14.) By and by these +well-springs brought together in glory with the Lord shall +<pb n='338'/><anchor id='Pg338'/> +constitute the source of the great River of Life which shall +bless and heal all nations. By and by the prophecy will +be fulfilled: <q>He that believeth in Me, out of his belly shall +flow rivers of living water.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +22:18. <hi rend='sans'>[For] I testify unto every man that heareth the +words of the prophecy of this book.</hi>—To all who ever +understand it. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>If any man shall add unto these things.</hi>—As was done +in many instances during the Dark Ages, even in this very +verse.—Deut. 4:2; 12:32; Prov. 30:5, 6. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>God shall add unto him the plagues that are written +in this book.</hi>—His penalty will be, when he comes forth +from the tomb in the Times of Restitution, that he will +have to read the Seven Volumes of <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>, and +get the matter straightened out in his own mind. +</p> + +<p> +22:19. <hi rend='sans'>And if any man shall take away from the words +of the book of this prophecy.</hi>—Shall seek to nullify or minimize +its teachings, now that the time has come for it to +be understood. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>God shall take away his part [out of the Book] FROM +THE TREE of Life.</hi>—He will not be a part of the life-giving +Tree described in Rev. 22:2; not a part of the Little Flock. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And [out of] the Holy City, [and from the things] which +are written in this book.</hi>—He will not be one of the Lord's +jewels, counted worthy of a place in the New Jerusalem. +</p> + +<p> +22:20. <hi rend='sans'>He which testifieth these things TO BE saith, +surely I come quickly.</hi>—The <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>apokalupsis</foreign> is at hand! See +Rev. 16:15. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>[Amen. Even so] come, Lord Jesus.</hi>—The union with +the Bridegroom draweth nigh. +</p> + +<p> +22:21. <hi rend='sans'>The grace of [our] THE Lord Jesus Christ be +with [you all] THE SAINTS, Amen.</hi>—The first of the saints +to whom will be extended the unmerited favor of a raising +up out of death to perfection will be the Little Flock; the +next class of saints to be reached will be the Great Company; +next in order will come forth the Ancient Worthies; +and finally the millions and billions of mankind, until at +last Adam, himself, shall come forth from the prison-house +in which he has lain so long, and may, if he will, +receive again by the will of God, as a favor or grace at the +hands of Christ, the unspeakable boon of eternal life. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>The sweet persuasion of His voice</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Respects thy sanctity of will,</l> +<l>He giveth day; thou hast thy choice</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>To walk in darkness still.</q>—Whittier.</l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +</div> + +</div> + +<pb n='339'/><anchor id='Pg339'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Song Of Solomon</head> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Bridal Anthem</head> + +<p> +1:1. <hi rend='sans'>The song of songs</hi>—The harmony of harmonies—the +assembling in one beautiful picture of many of the +most beautiful figures of the Divine Word. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is Solomon's</hi>—Type of Christ in glory, as David +was a type of Christ in the flesh. +</p> + +<p> +1:2. <hi rend='sans'>Let him kiss me</hi>—A form of salutation signifying +closest fellowship. <q>Greet all the brethren with an holy +kiss.</q> <q>Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With the kisses</hi>—The oft repeated endearments. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of His Mouth</hi>—Of His Word, the Scriptures. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For Thy love</hi>—Thy caresses, the repeated assurances of +guidance, protection, companionship, love and care. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is better than wine</hi>—Wine is a symbol of doctrine. +<q>They also have erred through wine.</q> <q>They are drunken, +but not with wine.</q> <q>All nations have drunk of the wine.</q> +<q>I will not henceforth drink of this fruit of the vine.</q> <q>Be +not drunk with wine.</q> Although a sound faith is essential, +yet of faith, hope and love, the greatest is love; therefore, +love is better than wine. The Lord's assurances of love are +even more precious to the Bride than the precious doctrines +so vital to her happiness. +</p> + +<p> +1:3. <hi rend='sans'>Because of the savour</hi>—The sweet perfume. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Thy good ointments</hi>—The Holy Spirit, the holy anointing +oil of the priesthood. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thy name</hi>—Christ, which means <q>Anointed.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is as ointment</hi>—The holy anointing oil, the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Poured forth</hi>—At His baptism upon the Head, at Pentecost +on the Body. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Therefore</hi>—Because of their admiration and appreciation +of Christ's Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Do the virgins</hi>—The pure in heart. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Love Thee</hi>—Seek fellowship with Thee, aspire to learn of +Thee, to cultivate Thy graces, to be near Thee. +</p> + +<p> +1:4. <hi rend='sans'>Draw me</hi>—<q>No man can come to Me except the +Father draw him.</q> <q>All Thine are Mine.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>We will run</hi>—Not sit in the seat of the scornful, nor +stand in the way of sinners, nor walk in the counsel of the +ungodly, but run with patience the race set before us. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>After Thee</hi>—The Forerunner. The First-born from the +dead. The first to pass over the narrow way. The Head, +<pb n='340'/><anchor id='Pg340'/> +that in all things He might have the preeminence. Not +after the flesh, but after the Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The King</hi>—The Lord Jesus, typified by Solomon. <q>So +shall the King greatly desire thy beauty.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Hath brought me</hi>—Even in the present life. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into His chambers</hi>—Into the <q>Holy,</q> the spirit-begotten +condition, the first heavenly condition; made us to sit down +in heavenly places in Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>We will be glad</hi>—<q>Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye +righteous.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And rejoice in Thee</hi>—<q>And again I say, Rejoice.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>We will remember</hi>—Will meditate upon, think of. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thy love</hi>—Thy caresses, assurances of guidance, protection, +companionship, love and care. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>More than wine.</hi>—More even than the doctrines. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The upright</hi>—Those without deceit, guileless, honest. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Love Thee</hi>—Seek fellowship with Thee, aspire to learn of +Thee, to cultivate Thy graces, to be near Thee. +</p> + +<p> +1:5. <hi rend='sans'>I am black</hi>—The bride of Moses, Zipporah, type of +the Bride of Christ, was an Ethiopian woman—a Gentile. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But comely</hi>—<q>The King's Daughter is all glorious within</q>; +her intentions are pure, spotless in God's sight. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O ye daughters</hi>—Professed children. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Jerusalem</hi>—Of the Kingdom of God. The true Church +instinctively recognizes that her detractors are to be found +among God's professed people. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As the tents of Kedar</hi>—Kedar was one of the children of +Ishmael, and the name thus stands for the Ishmaelites, or +Bedouins. Their tents are their homes; and though made +of black goat's hair and outwardly stained they are often +luxurious in the interior, being hung with costly tapestries. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As the curtains</hi>—Between the Holy and the Most Holy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Solomon</hi>—Of Solomon's Temple. These curtains, or +rather a similar curtain which hung in Herod's temple, and +which was rent in twain on the day of our Lord's death, +was most wonderful, being some thirty feet long, fifteen +feet wide and five inches thick. +</p> + +<p> +1:6. <hi rend='sans'>Look not upon me</hi>—Look not <emph>so</emph> upon me (Leeser); +the Bride kindly expostulates with her critics. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because I am black</hi>—Because I am somewhat black +(Leeser); the Bride does not deny her imperfections, but +is not disposed to admit that she is altogether worthless. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because the Sun</hi>—The searching light of the true Gospel +which exposes every defect. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Hath looked upon me</hi>—Judgment must begin at the +House of God. The Bride's sins are open beforehand, known +to all men. God's Word exposes the weaknesses of almost +every noble character whose life is there recorded. +</p> + +<pb n='341'/><anchor id='Pg341'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My mother's children</hi>—Sitting and speaking against their +brother, their own mother's son. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were angry with me</hi>—<q>Your brethren that hated you, +that cast you out for My name's sake,</q> etc. <q>The brother +shall betray the brother to death.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>They made me</hi>—Elected me, appointed me. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The keeper</hi>—Class-leader, Sunday-school teacher, etc. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the vineyards</hi>—Sunday-schools, Christian Endeavor +societies, Epworth Leagues, Young People's unions. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But mine own vineyard</hi>—The cultivation of the fruits of +the Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Have I not kept</hi>—I have been too busy with <q>church +work,</q> to look after my own best spiritual interests. +</p> + +<p> +1:7. <hi rend='sans'>Tell me</hi>—The Bride continues. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O Thou</hi>—Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whom my soul loveth</hi>—Whom having not seen, we love. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Where Thou feedest</hi>—<q>Wheresoever the carcase is there +will the eagles be gathered together.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Where thou</hi>—The Good Shepherd. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Makest Thy flock</hi>—The Flock of God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To rest</hi>—My people have forgotten their resting-place. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>At noon</hi>—Where the grass is long and sweet, and where +there are opportunities to draw specially near to the Shepherd. +<q>He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For why should I be</hi>—Why should I longer appear to +others to be. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As one that turneth aside</hi>—As one that goeth astray. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By the flocks</hi>—Not <emph>in</emph> them; for I never was in any other +intentionally. I thought these other flocks <emph>were</emph> yours. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Thy companions</hi>—Other great teachers; heads of other +churches; Antichrist systems. +</p> + +<p> +1:8. <hi rend='sans'>If thou know not</hi>—The Heavenly One replies. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O thou fairest</hi>—The Lord does not taunt her with her +self-confessed stains. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Among women</hi>—Churches, true and false. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Go thy way forth</hi>—There is something for you to do. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By the footsteps</hi>—He goeth before them, and the sheep +follow Him. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the flock</hi>—Look about you; and when you see those +whose lives indicate that they are true sheep, and when +they urge you <q>Come and see,</q> follow Nathaniel's example. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And feed thy kids</hi>—Inquiring ones, newly interested, especially +if they manifest any goat-like tendencies. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Beside the shepherds' tents</hi>—Take them to the elders' or +deacons' homes for further instruction in the right ways of +the Lord; or, apply the same principle by bringing the +<hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> to their attention, thus introducing them +to the teacher who has answered all our hard questions. +</p> + +<pb n='342'/><anchor id='Pg342'/> + +<p> +1:9. <hi rend='sans'>I have compared thee</hi>—The Lord continues. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O My Love</hi>—<q>Love one another as I have loved you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To a company</hi>—144,000. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of horses</hi>—Fond of their Master, quick to do His bidding, +easily guided, quiet, faithful, temperate, long-suffering. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In Pharaoh's chariots</hi>—The best in the world. +</p> + +<p> +1:10. <hi rend='sans'>Thy cheeks are comely</hi>—The Lord continues to +shower compliments upon His Espoused. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With rows of jewels</hi>—Jewels of Divine Truth; the ornaments +of a meek and quiet spirit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thy neck</hi>—The yoke-bearing member. <q>Take My yoke +upon you</q>; a yoke is built for two—Jesus and one other. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With chains of gold.</hi>—The Divine nature. Each act of +loyal burden-bearing becomes a link in the golden chain. +</p> + +<p> +1:11. <hi rend='sans'>We</hi>—My Father and I. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Will make thee borders</hi>—<q>A House not made with hands +eternal in the Heavens.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of gold</hi>—The Divine nature. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With studs of silver</hi>—The House will be truly yours; +that which is your own. +</p> + +<p> +1:12. <hi rend='sans'>While the King</hi>—The Bride thus speaks of her +Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Sitteth at His table</hi>—Breaking the Bread of Life to His +Household. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My spikenard</hi>—Devotion, as Illustrated by Mary's alabaster +box. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Sendeth forth the smell thereof</hi>—<q>Did not our hearts +burn within us while He talked with us by the way, and +while He opened to us the Scriptures?</q> At such times the +fires of Heavenly love burn fiercest. +</p> + +<p> +1:13. <hi rend='sans'>A bundle of myrrh</hi>—Wisdom. <q>In Him are hid +all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is my well-beloved</hi>—Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Unto me</hi>—<q>Who of God is made unto us Wisdom.</q> <q>We +have the mind of Christ.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He shall lie all night</hi>—During this dark time while evil +is permitted. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Betwixt my breasts</hi>—I will take the Lord into my bosom, +<q>More dear, more intimately nigh than e'en the sweetest +earthly tie.</q> +</p> + +<p> +1:14. <hi rend='sans'>My Beloved</hi>—Christ, on the other side of the veil. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is unto me</hi>—The Bride, still toiling on this side of the +veil. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As a cluster of camphire</hi>—A cooling, fragrant shade, a +refuge from the fierce heat; <q>as the shadow of a great rock +in a weary land.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the vineyards of Engedi</hi>—Located on the shore of the +Dead Sea, in one of the hottest of climates. +</p> + +<pb n='343'/><anchor id='Pg343'/> + +<p> +1:15. <hi rend='sans'>Behold thou art fair.</hi>—The Bridegroom speaks +again. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My love</hi>—My Bride to be. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Behold thou art fair</hi>—Beautiful of heart. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thou hast dove's eyes</hi>—Heavenly wisdom—the wisdom +of the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +1:16. <hi rend='sans'>Behold Thou art fair</hi>—<q>Fairer than the children of +men.</q> The Bride returns the compliment. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My Beloved</hi>—<q>Greater love hath no man than this +that a man lay down his life for his friends.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Yea pleasant</hi>—The disciplines are as nothing compared +to the joy of your fellowship. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Also, our bed</hi>—The place of our rest; <q>let the saints be +joyful in glory, let them sing aloud upon their beds.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is green</hi>—Our rest will be everlasting. <q>They rest from +their labors.</q> +</p> + +<p> +1:17. <hi rend='sans'>The beams of our house</hi>—The covering over us; +<q>the Head of Christ is God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are cedar</hi>—Immortal. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And our rafters</hi>—Wainscoting; the environment on all +sides. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of fir</hi>—Everlasting. Where changes never come. +</p> + +<p> +2:1. <hi rend='sans'>I am the rose</hi>—Glorious, beautiful, without a peer. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Sharon</hi>—(The Plain). Not seeking exaltation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The lily</hi>—Pure, fragrant, exquisite. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the valleys</hi>—Meek and lowly of heart. +</p> + +<p> +2:2. <hi rend='sans'>As the lily</hi>—Pure, humble, defenseless; so the +Heavenly One responds. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Among thorns</hi>—Which scratch, tear and wound. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>So is My love</hi>—<q>Continue ye in my love.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Among the daughters</hi>—Nominal church organizations. +</p> + +<p> +2:3. <hi rend='sans'>As the apple tree</hi>—The Bride thus refers to Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Among the trees</hi>—With a fruitage greater in variety, +color, flavor, quantity and lasting quality. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the wood</hi>—Which run largely to leaves, professions. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>So is my Beloved</hi>—<q>We love Him because He first loved +us.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Among the sons</hi>—The other sons of God with whom we +are acquainted. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I sat down</hi>—<q>Come ye yourselves apart, and rest awhile.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Under His shadow</hi>—His protecting love and care. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His fruit</hi>—His perfect fruitage of love. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was sweet to my taste.</hi>—<q>Oh, taste and see that the +Lord is good!</q> +</p> + +<p> +2:4. <hi rend='sans'>He brought me</hi>—Guided me by His Word and providences. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To the banqueting house</hi>—To sup with Him and He with +me. +</p> + +<pb n='344'/><anchor id='Pg344'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His banner</hi>—The banner under which He fought +the good fight of faith. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Over me</hi>—And under which I also am enlisted. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was love</hi>—Love of the highest order. +</p> + +<p> +2:5. <hi rend='sans'>Stay me</hi>—Nerve me for the war. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With flagons</hi>—The pure doctrines of the Kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Comfort me</hi>—Strengthen me for the conflict. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With apples</hi>—Spiritual food; bread from Heaven. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For I am sick of love</hi>—Am lovesick, over-sentimental, +dreamy, not sufficiently awake to the fact that true love +includes service and sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +2:6. <hi rend='sans'>His left hand</hi>—His power as illustrated in the guidance +of His people into all necessary Truth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is under my head</hi>—Directing my mental faculties. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His right hand</hi>—His power as illustrated in overruling +all things that would harm me. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Doth embrace me</hi>—<q>Secure in His tender embrace, I've +nothing to doubt or to fear.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2:7. <hi rend='sans'>I charge you</hi>—I must give you this message. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O ye daughters</hi>—Professed children; nominal Spiritual +Israel. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Jerusalem</hi>—The Kingdom of God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By the roes</hi>—Which you regard as the loveliest things +of earth, as illustrated by the statuary on your estates. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And by the hinds</hi>—The things which you regard as most +full of grace; therefore typical of your churches, colleges, +hospitals, libraries and charitable institutions. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the field</hi>—The world, the present order of things. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That ye stir not up</hi>—Seek not to arouse. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Nor awake my love</hi>—To take charge of earth's affairs. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Till He please.</hi>—For when He does stand up to assume +control, <q>there will be a Time of Trouble, such as never +was,</q> in which all these beautiful things upon which you +have set your heart will be obliterated. +</p> + +<p> +2:8. <hi rend='sans'>The voice of my Beloved</hi>—The Church suddenly recognizes +the joyful sound, betokening the Second Presence +of her Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Behold He cometh</hi>—<q>At midnight there was a cry raised. +Behold, He cometh!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Leaping upon</hi>—Dismembering or changing the form of. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The mountains</hi>—The autocratic governments of Spain, +Portugal, Sweden, Russia, Turkey, Persia and China. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Skipping upon</hi>—Shattering old customs and old political +parties, and placing the people more in the ascendency. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The hills</hi>—The less autocratic governments of the United +States, Mexico, Great Britain, France, etc. <q>The hills +melt like wax at the presence of the Lord.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2:9. <hi rend='sans'>My Beloved is like</hi>—In swiftness of movement. +</p> + +<pb n='345'/><anchor id='Pg345'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A roe or a young hart</hi>—Swiftly leaping from mountain to +mountain; preparing the world for His coming Reign. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Behold He standeth</hi>—<q>There standeth One among you +whom ye know not.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Behind our wall.</hi>—The wall of our earthly house, unseen +by the eye of flesh. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He looketh forth</hi>—He looketh in. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>At the windows</hi>—The windows of the soul, the eyes of +the understanding. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Showing Himself</hi>—Revealing the fact of His Second Presence. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Through the lattice</hi>—Parallels and cross references of +Holy Writ. +</p> + +<p> +2:10. <hi rend='sans'>My Beloved spake</hi>—<q>Thine ears shall hear a voice +behind thee.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And said unto me</hi>—Through the words of the Prophets +and the Apostles. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Rise up, My love</hi>—<q>Awake, awake! put on thy strength.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My fair one</hi>—<q>Put on thy beautiful garments.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And come away</hi>—From earthly to Heavenly conditions. +</p> + +<p> +2:11. <hi rend='sans'>For lo, the winter</hi>—The time of the burning of the +tares; <q>pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is past</hi>—Will shortly be past. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The rain</hi>—The deluge of Truth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is over and gone.</hi>—The Harvest work is all accomplished: +will have been finished at the time here indicated. +</p> + +<p> +2:12. <hi rend='sans'>The flowers</hi>—Promise of a new fruitage. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Appear on the earth</hi>—Among the restitution class. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The time of the singing</hi>—The harmonious mating. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of birds is come</hi>—Of Heaven-sent prophecies and their +fulfilments. <q>Search ye out and see; not one of these shall +want her mate</q>; i. e., every word of every prophecy will +be fulfilled. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The voice of the turtle</hi>—The turtle-dove; <q>the congregation +of Thy poor</q> is thus described by the Psalmist. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is heard in our land</hi>—The poor begin to take hope; the +harbingers of the New Era are about us on every hand. +</p> + +<p> +2:13. <hi rend='sans'>The fig tree</hi>—The Jewish nation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Putteth forth</hi>—<q>Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; +when they now shoot forth ... know ye that the +Kingdom of God is nigh.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Her green figs</hi>—Plans for re-establishment in Palestine. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the vines</hi>—Of the Father's right hand planting. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With the tender grape</hi>—Bearing the precious fruitage of +love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, +meekness, self-control. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Give a good smell</hi>—Yield a sweet perfume to the husbandman. +<q>My Father is the Husbandman.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='346'/><anchor id='Pg346'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Arise My Love</hi>—<q>Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise +from the dead.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My fair one</hi>—The queen in gold of Ophir, Daughter of +the Great King. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And come away.</hi>—<q>Forget also thine own people and thy +father's house.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2:14. <hi rend='sans'>O my Dove</hi>—The Bride addresses her unseen +Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That art in</hi>—Directly <emph>in</emph>, fully <emph>in</emph>, guiding, controlling. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The clefts</hi>—The apparent fractures or injuries. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the rock</hi>—The Kingdom; the Stone cut out without +hands. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the secret places</hi>—The dark corners of life's experiences, +where we halt trembling and afraid. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the stairs</hi>—The stepping stones by which we ascend +to the Heavenly City. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Let me see Thy countenance</hi>—<q>I shall be satisfied when +I awake in Thy likeness.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Let me hear Thy voice</hi>—<q>The sheep follow Him; for +they know His voice.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For sweet is Thy voice</hi>—<q>Grace is poured into Thy lips.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And Thy countenance is comely</hi>—<q>I will that they may +be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2:15. <hi rend='sans'>Take us the foxes</hi>—Take away from us the sly +faults, originating in the deceitful mind of the flesh. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The little foxes</hi>—Secret beginnings of sin in the mind. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That spoil the vines</hi>—That prevent us from yielding the +fruitage of love so precious in Thy sight. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For our vines</hi>—<q>I am the Vine; ye are the branches.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Have tender grapes</hi>—Have begun a fruitage, which is +ripening beautifully in the Father's sight. +</p> + +<p> +2:16. <hi rend='sans'>My Beloved is mine</hi>—<q>The Head can not say to +the feet, I have no need of you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And I am His</hi>—<q>If the foot shall say, Because I am not +the hand, I am not of the body, is it not of the body?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He feedeth</hi>—Bestows His spiritual favors upon. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The lilies</hi>—<q>The meek will He guide in judgment; the +meek will He teach His way.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2:17. <hi rend='sans'>Until the day break</hi>—Until the Messianic Morning +has fully dawned. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the shadows</hi>—Of the reign of sin and death. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Flee away</hi>—Depart forever. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Turn my Beloved</hi>—Continue to hide Thyself from earthly +eyes. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And be Thou like</hi>—In Thy swiftness of movement. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A roe or a young hart</hi>—Leaping from mountain to mountain—kingdom +to kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Upon the mountains</hi>—Gentile dominions. +</p> + +<pb n='347'/><anchor id='Pg347'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Bether</hi>—Of divisions, which separate us from Thee +and separate Thee from Thy long-promised Reign. +</p> + +<p> +3:1. <hi rend='sans'>By night</hi>—While I was still in the dark in regard +to God's great Plan. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>On my bed</hi>—My creed bed, the one from which I have +now been taken, but in which many others are still left. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I sought Him</hi>—Sought intimate fellowship with Him. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whom my soul loveth</hi>—<q>He that loveth father or mother +... son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I sought Him</hi>—Christ, the Heavenly Bridegroom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But I found Him not</hi>—Certainly not; how absurd of me +to expect to greet the Bridegroom when I was in bed, +sound asleep! +</p> + +<p> +3:2. <hi rend='sans'>I will rise now</hi>—This creed bed is uncomfortable; it +is <q>shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And go about the city</hi>—Interest myself in the activities +of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the streets</hi>—Enter into the affairs of its governments. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And in the broad ways</hi>—Plunge into its pleasures—<q>gay +white ways,</q> etc. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I will seek Him</hi>—Try to find the place of rest. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whom my soul loveth</hi>—For which my soul longs. <q>We +who have believed do enter into rest.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I sought Him</hi>—Sought rest of heart in all these ways. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But I found Him not</hi>—<q>All that my soul has tried left +but an aching void.</q> +</p> + +<p> +3:3. <hi rend='sans'>The watchmen</hi>—Of nominal Zion; the clergy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That go about the city</hi>—Christendom, Babylon. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Found me</hi>—Drew me under their influence. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To whom I said</hi>—Having become deeply interested in the +subject of the Lord's promised Return. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saw ye Him</hi>—Have you discerned the fact of the Bridegroom's +Presence? +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whom my soul loveth</hi>—There was no reply, for the +reason that <q>His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant: +they are all dumb dogs; they cannot bark.</q> +</p> + +<p> +3:4. <hi rend='sans'>It was but a little</hi>—<q>He is not far from us.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That I passed from them</hi>—Became unbound, unfettered. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But I found Him</hi>—Was made acquainted with the proofs +of the Parousia. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whom my soul loveth</hi>—We ought to live for Him who +died for us. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I held Him</hi>—<q>Hold that fast which thou hast, that no +man take thy crown.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And would not let Him go</hi>—<q>I will not let Thee go, +except Thou bless me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Till I had brought Him</hi>—Till I had accompanied Him. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into my mother's house</hi>—The antitypical Sarah tent. +</p> + +<pb n='348'/><anchor id='Pg348'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And into the chamber</hi>—Heaven itself. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of her that conceived me</hi>—The Sarah Covenant; the +Oath-bound Covenant. +</p> + +<p> +3:5. <hi rend='sans'>I charge you</hi>—I must give you this message. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O ye daughters</hi>—Professed children. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Jerusalem</hi>—The Kingdom of God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By the roes</hi>—Which you regard as the loveliest things +of earth, as illustrated by the statuary on your estates. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And by the hinds</hi>—The things which you regard as most +full of grace; therefore typical of your churches, colleges, +hospitals, libraries and charitable institutions. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the field</hi>—The world, the present order of things. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That ye stir not up</hi>—Seek not to arouse. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Nor awake my Love</hi>—To take charge of earth's affairs. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Till He please</hi>—For when He does stand up to assume +control, <q>there will be a Time of Trouble such as never +was,</q> in which all these beautiful things upon which +you have set your heart will be obliterated. +</p> + +<p> +3:6. <hi rend='sans'>Who is this that cometh</hi>—The Lord's professed +people thus speak of the evidences of the Lord's Second +Presence. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Out of the wilderness</hi>—The Time of Trouble having come, +they recognize that the long-promised Second Coming of +the Lord is an accomplished fact. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Like pillars of smoke</hi>—Terrible in majesty, definite, personal, +intangible. <q>I will show wonders in the heavens +and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Perfumed with myrrh</hi>—Anointed with Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And frankincense</hi>—Praise to Jehovah. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With all powders</hi>—All ingredients of the holy anointing +oil, type of the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the merchant</hi>—The apothecary; the Heavenly Father. +<q>God gave not the Spirit by measure unto Him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +3:7. <hi rend='sans'>Behold His bed</hi>—The place of His ultimate rest +and ours. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is Solomon's</hi>—Christ's, in glory. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Threescore valiant men</hi>—The sixty centuries during +which evil has been permitted. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are about it</hi>—Standing between the people of God and +the rest which He has promised. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the valiant</hi>—Invincible, immovable. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Israel</hi>—Of the people of God. All the centuries belong +to God; they are His servants, working out His sovereign +will. +</p> + +<p> +3:8. <hi rend='sans'>They all hold swords</hi>—Since the slaughter of Abel, +all the centuries have been filled with bloodshed. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Being expert in war</hi>—War has prevailed throughout the +earth during all that time. +</p> + +<pb n='349'/><anchor id='Pg349'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Every man hath his sword</hi>—Every century has its implements +of war. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Upon his thigh</hi>—Ready for use upon the slightest provocation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Because of fear</hi>—The present world-war is due to mutual +fear and distrust. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the night</hi>—The time of the permission of evil; the +time for dark motives and dark deeds. +</p> + +<p> +3:9. <hi rend='sans'>King Solomon</hi>—Christ, in glory. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Made Himself a chariot</hi>—<foreign rend='italic'>Appiryon</foreign>, palanquin; a magnificent +vehicle provided for a queen's reception and her +entrance into the royal city, and in which the King goes +forth to meet her; typified by the chariot of fire which +bore Elijah away from earthly scenes: the magnificent +spectacle with which this Age will end.—See page <ref target='Pg063'>63</ref>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the wood of Lebanon</hi>—The saints. The typical temple +was built, in part, of cedar and fir timber cut from +Mt. Lebanon. +</p> + +<p> +3:10. <hi rend='sans'>He made the pillars thereof</hi>—The corner posts, +just outside the place of greatest honor. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of silver</hi>—The Great Company. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The bottom thereof</hi>—The canopy overhead; <q>that in all +things He might have the preeminence.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of gold</hi>—The Divine nature. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The covering thereof</hi>—The seat; the Throne of the Royal +Priesthood. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of purple</hi>—Royalty. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The midst thereof</hi>—The heart of it. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Being paved with love</hi>—Love of the highest order—love +for enemies. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the daughters</hi>—The professed children; nominal +Spiritual Israel. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Jerusalem</hi>—The Kingdom of God. +</p> + +<p> +3:11. <hi rend='sans'>Go forth</hi>—<q>Come out of her,</q> out of Babylon. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O ye daughters of Zion</hi>—My people; God's people. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And behold King Solomon</hi>—Get clear views of Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With the crown</hi>—The Crown of Life; the Divine nature. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Wherewith His mother</hi>—The Sarah Covenant. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Crowned Him</hi>—With glory and honor. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the day</hi>—Pentecost. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of His espousals</hi>—When the antitypical Eliezer was received +by the antitypical Rebecca. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And in the day</hi>—Now at hand, praise the Lord! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the gladness of His heart</hi>—When the marriage of the +Lamb takes place. <q>Blessed is he that is called to the +marriage supper of the Lamb.</q> +</p> + +<p> +4:1. <hi rend='sans'>Behold thou art fair</hi>—The Lord addresses His Bride +anew. +</p> + +<pb n='350'/><anchor id='Pg350'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My love</hi>—<q>Greater love hath no man than this, that a +man lay down his life for his friend.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Behold thou art fair</hi>—<q>So shall the King greatly desire +thy beauty.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thou hast dove's eyes</hi>—The Heavenly wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thy hair</hi>—Woman's hair was given her for a covering, +and it is her glory. The righteousness of Christ is the +Bride's covering, and it is her glory. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is as a flock of goats</hi>—Thick, luxuriant. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That appear from Mt. Gilead</hi>—The flocks of goats on Mt. +Gilead are of unusual size to this day. +</p> + +<p> +4:2. <hi rend='sans'>Thy teeth</hi>—Masticators, grinders, assimilators of +spiritual food. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are like a flock</hi>—In glistening array. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That are even shorn</hi>—When the lips are parted. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which come up from the washing</hi>—Cleansing by salivation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whereof every one bear twine</hi>—Whereof they come forth +in pairs. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And none is barren</hi>—None is without its mate. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Among them</hi>—The teeth are perfect in form and number, +illustrating the Bride's ability to feed upon the strong +meat which <q>belongeth to them that are of full age.</q> +</p> + +<p> +4:3. <hi rend='sans'>Thy lips</hi>—<q>O Lord open Thou my lips!</q> <q>My +mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are like a thread of scarlet</hi>—As the scarlet thread of +redemption runs through the Divine Word, so it is with +you, and on your lips—the all-absorbing theme of life. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And thy speech is comely</hi>—<q>My speech shall distil as the +dew.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thy temples are like</hi>—Thy mind, the mind of the New +Creature, may be properly compared to. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A piece of pomegranate</hi>—The pomegranate curiously combines +the flavors of all fruits. It thus well illustrates the +New Mind, which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, +brings to perfection the fruitage of love, the sum of all +the Christian graces. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Within thy locks</hi>—Behind thy veil; concealed by the veil +of the flesh. +</p> + +<p> +4:4. <hi rend='sans'>Thy neck</hi>—Willingness to bear burdens. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is like the tower of David</hi>—David was a type of the +Church militant. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Builded for an armory</hi>—Designed to accommodate a +great number. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whereon there hang a thousand</hi>—<q>One shall chase a +thousand.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Bucklers of shields of mighty men</hi>—<q>I can do all things +through Christ, which strengtheneth me.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='351'/><anchor id='Pg351'/> + +<p> +4:5. <hi rend='sans'>Thy two breasts</hi>—<q>The breasts of her consolations, +whereof ye may suck and be satisfied, milk out and be +delighted.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are like two young roes</hi>—The Scriptures, the Word of +God, quick and powerful. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That are twins</hi>—The Old and New Testament Scriptures +are identical in origin, spirit and purpose. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which feed among the lilies</hi>—<q>The meek will He guide +in judgment; the meek will He teach His way.</q> +</p> + +<p> +4:6. <hi rend='sans'>Until the Day</hi>—The Millennial Day. The Bride is +the speaker. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Break</hi>—Has fully dawned. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the shadows</hi>—Of the Valley of the Shadow of Death +in which I now walk. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Flee away</hi>—Are gone. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I will get me</hi>—In spirit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To the mountain of myrrh</hi>—The Kingdom of Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to the hill of frankincense</hi>—Praise, heart adoration. +</p> + +<p> +4:7. <hi rend='sans'>Thou art all fair</hi>—Blameless, faultless. The Lord +responds. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My love</hi>—His love is commended to us in that <q>while +we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>There is no spot</hi>—You have kept your garments unspotted +from the world. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In thee</hi>—<q>If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just +to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us.</q> +</p> + +<p> +4:8. <hi rend='sans'>Come with Me</hi>—To our Heavenly inheritance. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From Lebanon</hi>—From your present unfinished condition. +The typical temple was built, in part, of cedar and fir +timbers from Lebanon; but they had to be hewn and finished +before they could be used. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My spouse</hi>—My espoused Bride. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With Me from Lebanon</hi>—You are but following in the +path I trod. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Look from the top of Amana</hi>—The view from this peak +is said to be indescribably grand. Look away to Heaven. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From the top of Shenir</hi>—(Peak or pointed.) Look beyond +the sharp experiences of the present. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And Hermon</hi>—(Rugged or abrupt.) Look beyond the +unkind words and deeds you now encounter. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From the lions' dens</hi>—You are now in the lions' dens, +but look beyond them. Satan goes about as a roaring lion; +but no lion shall be there. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From the mountains</hi>—Kingdoms of this world. Look beyond +them. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the leopards</hi>—Papacy and those of her spirit. <q>And +the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard.</q> +</p> + +<p> +4:9. <hi rend='sans'>Thou hast ravished My heart</hi>—Taken it away. +</p> + +<pb n='352'/><anchor id='Pg352'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My sister, My spouse</hi>—The Bride of Christ is His sister. +His Father is their Father. His mother, the Sarah covenant, +is their mother. <q>We, brethren, as Isaac was, are +the children of the Promise.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With one of thine eyes</hi>—With thy singleness of vision. +<q>If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be light.</q>—Matt. +6:22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With one chain of thy neck</hi>—With thy one bond of servitude; +consecration to the service of the Great King. +</p> + +<p> +4:10. <hi rend='sans'>How fair is thy love</hi>—How various and beautiful +are its forms of expression. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My sister, My spouse</hi>—My Father's Daughter, My espoused +Bride. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>How much better is thy love</hi>—The ways in which you +show your devotion to me. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Than wine</hi>—Than thy doctrines, some of which, in the +past, have been badly mixed. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the smell</hi>—The sweet fragrance. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of thine ointments</hi>—The anointing oil; the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Than all spices</hi>—Than all other virtues. +</p> + +<p> +4:11. <hi rend='sans'>Thy lips, O My spouse</hi>—My beloved Bride to be. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Drop as the honeycomb</hi>—Distil a dropping of pure honey; +sweet and helpful words. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the smell</hi>—The sweet perfume. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of thy garments</hi>—The robe of Christ's righteousness. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is like the smell</hi>—The life-giving odors. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Lebanon</hi>—The cedar and fir trees of Lebanon. +</p> + +<p> +4:12. <hi rend='sans'>A garden enclosed</hi>—A heart-garden, shut out of +sight of all but its owners. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is My sister, My spouse</hi>—My Father's daughter, My espoused +Bride. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A spring shut up</hi>—<q>It shall be in you a well of water +springing up unto everlasting life.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A fountain sealed</hi>—Sealed with the King's own signet, +until the time comes that all the well springs are brought +together in the first resurrection, to constitute the fountain +from which will flow the River of the Water of Life. +</p> + +<p> +4:13. <hi rend='sans'>Thy plants are</hi>—The plants in your heart-garden +are illustrated by. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>An orchard of pomegranates</hi>—The pomegranate curiously +combines the flavors of all fruits and thus well represents +love, the sum of all the Christian graces. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With pleasant fruits</hi>—Pleasing characteristics. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Camphire</hi>—Rest, trust, confidence. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With spikenard</hi>—Fragrant devotion, as illustrated by +Mary's alabaster box. +</p> + +<p> +4:14. <hi rend='sans'>Spikenard and saffron</hi>—Fragrant devotion and +long-suffering. +</p> + +<pb n='353'/><anchor id='Pg353'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Calamus and cinnamon</hi>—Knowledge and understanding. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With all trees of frankincense</hi>—Praise, heart adoration. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Myrrh and aloes</hi>—Wisdom and patience. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With all chief spices</hi>—All the remaining elements of +Christian character. +</p> + +<p> +4:15. <hi rend='sans'>A fountain</hi>—In the midst. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of gardens</hi>—Beautiful, clear, sparkling, life-giving. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A well of living waters</hi>—Invigorating the whole world in +the New Age. <q>The water that I shall give him shall be +in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And streams from Lebanon</hi>—Pure, refreshing. +</p> + +<p> +4:16. <hi rend='sans'>Awake O North wind</hi>—Storms of adversity. The +Bride speaks. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And come thou South</hi>—Balmy breezes. <q>Some days are +bright and sweet with praise, some with accepted pain.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Blow upon my garden</hi>—My heart-garden, in which I seek +to develop the fruits most pleasing to my Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That the spices thereof</hi>—The aroma of good deeds, kind +words and noble thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>May flow out</hi>—Manifest itself to the Lord and to others. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Let my Beloved</hi>—Bridegroom, Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Come into His garden</hi>—Come into my heart. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And eat</hi>—Appropriate to His use and pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>His pleasant fruits</hi>—The fruits of love, which He has +cultivated within me. +</p> + +<p> +5:1. <hi rend='sans'>I am come</hi>—The Lord responds. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into My garden</hi>—I have accepted your invitation to come +in and make My abode with you. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My sister, My spouse</hi>—My Father's Daughter, My espoused +Bride. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I have gathered My myrrh</hi>—Wisdom; generally the result +of bitter experience. Myrrh means bitter. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With My spice</hi>—The fragrant and sweet ingredients of +the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I have eaten</hi>—Accepted, appropriated, consumed. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My honeycomb</hi>—The sacrificers themselves. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With My honey</hi>—With the sacrifices of praise which +they offered. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I have drunk My wine</hi>—Taken note of the doctrines you +teach. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With My milk</hi>—Noticed also the manner and spirit with +which you present the milk of the Word to those not so +far advanced. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Eat, O friends</hi>—The Lord addresses the needy world. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved</hi>—<q>He, every one +that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no +money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and +milk without money and without price.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='354'/><anchor id='Pg354'/> + +<p> +5:2. <hi rend='sans'>I sleep</hi>—<q>While the Bridegroom tarried, they all +slumbered and slept.</q> The Foolish Virgin class is here +represented as speaking. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But my heart waketh</hi>—At heart the Foolish Virgins are +loyal to the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>It is the voice of my Beloved</hi>—She recognizes the evidences +of the Lord's Second Advent. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That knocketh</hi>—<q>Behold, I stand at the door and knock.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saying Open to me</hi>—<q>If any man hear My voice and +open the door, I will come in to him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My sister, My love</hi>—The Foolish Virgins are children of +the same Father, and are also born of the Sarah Covenant, +but the Lord does not address them as His spouse. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My dove, My undefiled</hi>—The Great Company class are +pure in their hearts intentions. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For My head</hi>—<q>As one who has vowed a vow of a +Nazarite to separate himself unto Jehovah.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is filled with dew</hi>—Freshness, vigor. <q>Thou hast the +dew of Thy youth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And My locks</hi>—<q>All the days of his separation there +shall no razor come upon his head. Till the days be fulfilled +in the which he separateth himself unto Jehovah, he +shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his +head grow.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With the drops</hi>—Experiences. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the night</hi>—My consecration to Jehovah has been +steadfast throughout the world's dark night of sin. +</p> + +<p> +5:3. <hi rend='sans'>I have put off</hi>—Temporarily laid aside. The Foolish +Virgins reply. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My coat</hi>—The wedding robe which You provided. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>How shall I</hi>—How can I see to. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Put it on</hi>—I am in the midst of the dark night of the +Time of Trouble. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I have washed my feet</hi>—I am a church member, in good +and regular standing. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>How shall I defile them</hi>—Why should I leave my creed +bed and obey Your call to come out of Babylon? +</p> + +<p> +5:4. <hi rend='sans'>My Beloved</hi>—In His great love and pity for me. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Put in His hand</hi>—Exerted His mighty power. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By the hole of the door</hi>—Rattled the time-lock. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And my bowels</hi>—My heart. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Were moved for Him</hi>—Was stirred to action, but too late +to go in with Him to the wedding. +</p> + +<p> +5:5. <hi rend='sans'>I rose up</hi>—Roused myself to activity. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To open to my Beloved</hi>—Just as the Harvest was past. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And my hands</hi>—Holding the keys to the Bible, the <hi rend='italic'>Studies</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Dropped with myrrh</hi>—Wisdom, gleaned from the <hi rend='italic'>Scripture +Studies</hi>, till then neglected. +</p> + +<pb n='355'/><anchor id='Pg355'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With sweet smelling myrrh</hi>—A knowledge of all the +precious things of Present Truth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Upon the handles</hi>—The lines of prophetical evidence. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the lock</hi>—The time features of the Lord's Plan. +</p> + +<p> +5:6. <hi rend='sans'>I opened to my Beloved</hi>—After the Harvest work +was finished. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But my Beloved</hi>—True to His word. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Had withdrawn Himself</hi>—<q>And they that were ready +went in with Him to the marriage.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And was gone</hi>—And the door was shut. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My soul failed when He spake</hi>—I lacked the love, faith +and hope to obey promptly. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I sought Him</hi>—<q>Many shall strive to enter in but shall +not be able when once the Master of the House hath risen +up and shut to the door.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But found Him not</hi>—<q>I am He that shutteth and no man +openeth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I called Him</hi>—<q>Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, +Lord, shall enter in.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>But He gave me no answer</hi>—No hope of being His Bride +and Joint-heir. +</p> + +<p> +5:7. <hi rend='sans'>The watchmen</hi>—Watchmen in nominal Zion, the +clergy of the nominal church. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That went about the city</hi>—Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Found me</hi>—Observed my course in accepting Present +Truth and withdrawing from their systems. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>They smote me</hi>—<q>With arrows, even bitter words.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>They wounded me</hi>—Wounded my reputation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The keepers</hi>—Civil authorities. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the walls</hi>—The Governments, the bulwarks of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Took away my veil from me</hi>—Were instigated to destroy +me, to cause me to pass into death. +</p> + +<p> +5:8. <hi rend='sans'>I charge you</hi>—The Foolish Virgin class continues. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O daughters of Jerusalem</hi>—O all who profess to love Him. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>If ye find my Beloved</hi>—If you yourself expect to be of +the Bride class. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That ye tell Him</hi>—In my behalf. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That I am sick of love</hi>—Hungering for His companionship, +longing to see His face, despite the fact that I did +not open to Him promptly. +</p> + +<p> +5:9. <hi rend='sans'>What is thy Beloved</hi>—The Lord's professed people, +now in nominal Zion, speak. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>More than another beloved</hi>—Why is Christ any more to +you than He is to me? +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O thou fairest among women</hi>—The Lord's professed people +in nominal Zion begin to awake to the fact that the +last of the spiritually-minded ones are leaving them. +</p> + +<pb n='356'/><anchor id='Pg356'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>What is thy Beloved</hi>—To you. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>More than another beloved</hi>—To another. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That thou dost so charge us</hi>—We would like to understand +the reasons why you are so deeply concerned, and +why you persist in saying, <q>The Harvest is past, the summer +is ended, and we are not saved.</q> +</p> + +<p> +5:10. <hi rend='sans'>My Beloved is white</hi>—<q>Holy, harmless, undefiled +and separate from sinners.</q> The Foolish Virgin class +responds to the Lord's professed people in nominal Zion. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And ruddy</hi>—A reference to His pierced side. <q>He was +clothed in a vesture dipped in blood.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The chiefest</hi>—The standard-bearer or chieftain. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Among ten thousand</hi>—Among ten thousand warriors. +</p> + +<p> +5:11. <hi rend='sans'>His head</hi>—<q>God gave Him to be the Head over all +things to the Church which is His Body, that in all things +He might have the preeminence.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is as the most fine gold</hi>—<q>Who only hath immortality.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>His locks are bushy</hi>—His consecration is perfect and +complete. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And black as a raven</hi>—And He remained steadfast in it +unto death. +</p> + +<p> +5:12. <hi rend='sans'>His eyes</hi>—Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are as the eyes of doves</hi>—Pure, peaceable, gentle. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By the rivers of waters</hi>—By the channels of truth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Washed with milk</hi>—Primary elements of the Truth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And fitly set</hi>—All in perfect harmony. +</p> + +<p> +5:13. <hi rend='sans'>His cheeks</hi>—His countenance towards me. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are as a bed of spices</hi>—The personification of every +virtue and every grace. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As sweet flowers</hi>—Towers of perfumes (margin), flowers +trained upon trellises; shedding a beauty and fragrance +compelling the attention of all. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>His lips like lilies</hi>—His speech modest, beautiful and +sweet. <q>Never man spake like this Man.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Dropping sweet smelling myrrh</hi>—Distilling Heavenly wisdom. +<q>My speech shall distil as the dew.</q> +</p> + +<p> +5:14. <hi rend='sans'>His hands</hi>—As in rolling or unrolling a scroll or +parchment. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are as gold rings</hi>—Conform to the shape of the roll. +<q>Thou art worthy to take the roll and to open the seals +thereof.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Set with the beryl</hi>—Love of the Father. See page <ref target='Pg335'>335</ref>. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>His belly</hi>—The word signifies the whole body, from +shoulders to thighs. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is as bright ivory</hi>—A beautiful vision. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Overlaid with sapphires</hi>—Faithfulness. See page <ref target='Pg334'>334</ref>. +<q>And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under His +feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='357'/><anchor id='Pg357'/> + +<p> +5:15. <hi rend='sans'>His legs</hi>—The members that have been carrying +on the work of the Body. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are as pillars of marble</hi>—<q>Him that overcometh will I +make a pillar in the Temple of My God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Set upon sockets</hi>—Feet, the foot members. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of fine gold</hi>—<q>How beautiful upon the mountains are +the feet of Him!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>His countenance</hi>—Smile of favor. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is as Lebanon</hi>—Pure, invigorating, refreshing. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Excellent as the cedars</hi>—Everlasting life. +</p> + +<p> +5:16. <hi rend='sans'>His mouth</hi>—His Word. <q>Man shall not live by +bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the +mouth of God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is most sweet</hi>—<q>All bare Him witness and wondered at +the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Yea, He is altogether lovely</hi>—It is impossible to describe +all His excellencies; He is the sum of all that is to be +desired. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>This is my Beloved</hi>—This is the One I love supremely. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And this is my Friend</hi>—<q>I've found a Friend, O such a +Friend!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O daughters of Jerusalem</hi>—O you who are nominally His. +</p> + +<p> +6:1. <hi rend='sans'>Whither is thy Beloved gone</hi>—After the door is +shut, those who have been nominally Christ's begin to give +heed to the message of the Foolish Virgins. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O thou fairest among women</hi>—O most spiritually-minded +amongst us. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whither is thy Beloved turned aside</hi>—We realize that +He has entirely withdrawn Himself from us. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That we may seek Him with thee</hi>—Show us in the Word +how He is now to be found. <q>All that a man hath will +he give for his life.</q> +</p> + +<p> +6:2. <hi rend='sans'>My Beloved</hi>—The Foolish Virgin class, now thoroughly +aroused to the facts, explain to the Lord's professed +children in nominal Zion. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is gone down</hi>—His Second Advent is accomplished. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into His garden</hi>—He has taken His Bride to Himself. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To the beds of spices</hi>—To accept from her heart-garden +the fragrant and sweet ingredients of the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To feed in the gardens</hi>—To receive to Himself the precious +fruits love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, +goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to gather lilies</hi>—To take the humble sweet ones +home; to gather the wheat class into the Heavenly garner. +</p> + +<p> +6:3. <hi rend='sans'>I am my Beloved's</hi>—The Great Company can not +forget that they are precious in the Lord's sight. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And my Beloved is mine</hi>—<q>Fade, Fade, each earthly joy, +Jesus is mine.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='358'/><anchor id='Pg358'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He feedeth among the lilies</hi>—<q>The meek will He guide +in judgment; the meek will He teach His way.</q> +</p> + +<p> +6:4. <hi rend='sans'>Thou art beautiful</hi>—At heart. The Lord again addresses +His Bride. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O My love</hi>—<q>Love one another as I have loved you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As Tirzah</hi>—A delight. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Comely as Jerusalem</hi>—<q>The City of the Great King.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Terrible</hi>—In the conquest of evil. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As an army with banners</hi>—To an opposing host. +</p> + +<p> +6:5. <hi rend='sans'>Turn away thine eyes from Me</hi>—Observe the Lord's +modesty and humility. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For they have overcome Me</hi>—How the Lord delights to +express His appreciation of the virtues of His Bride, +despite the fact that they are all but feeble reflections of +His own! +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thy hair</hi>—Righteousness. Woman's hair was given her +for a covering, and it is her glory. The righteousness of +Christ is the Bride's covering, and it is her glory. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is as a flock of goats</hi>—Thick, luxuriant. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That appear from Mt. Gilead</hi>—The flocks of goats on Mt. +Gilead are of unusual size to this day. +</p> + +<p> +6:6. <hi rend='sans'>Thy teeth</hi>—Masticators, grinders, assimilators of +spiritual food. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are as a flock</hi>—In glistening array. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which go up from the washing</hi>—Cleansing by salivation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Whereof every one bear twins</hi>—They come forth in +pairs. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And there is not one barren</hi>—None is without its mate. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Among them</hi>—The teeth are perfect in form and number, +illustrating the Bride's ability to feed upon the strong +meat which <q>belongeth to them that are of full age.</q> +</p> + +<p> +6:7. <hi rend='sans'>As a piece of pomegranate</hi>—The pomegranate curiously +combines the flavors of all fruits. It thus well illustrates +the New Mind, which, under the influence of the +Holy Spirit, brings to perfection the fruitage of love, the +sum of all the Christian graces. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are thy temples</hi>—Thy mind, the mind of the New Creature. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Within thy locks</hi>—Behind thy veil; concealed by the veil +of the flesh. +</p> + +<p> +6:8. <hi rend='sans'>There are threescore queens</hi>—Nominal church organizations +openly joined to earthly heads. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And fourscore concubines</hi>—Even more are secretly violating +their pledges of spiritual virginity. Altogether the +census shows about 150 sects. See page <ref target='Pg160'>160</ref>, where all the +principal sects are enumerated. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And virgins without number</hi>—Foolish Virgins, really pure +at heart. +</p> + +<pb n='359'/><anchor id='Pg359'/> + +<p> +6:9. <hi rend='sans'>My dove, My undefiled</hi>—The Virgin Bride of Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is but one</hi>—<q>That they may be one, as We are.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The only one</hi>—To share the glory, honor and immortality +of Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of her mother</hi>—The Oath-bound Covenant. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>She is the choice one</hi>—The specially favored one. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of her that bore her</hi>—The antitypical Sarah. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The daughters</hi>—Professed children of God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Saw her</hi>—Discerned her, at the time of the manifestation +of the Sons of God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And blessed her</hi>—Called her blessed. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Yea the queens</hi>—Those openly affiliated with worldly +churches in union with worldly governments. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the concubines</hi>—Those secretly thus affiliated. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And they praised her</hi>—Acknowledged, in the end, that +her course was right and her exaltation merited. +</p> + +<p> +6:10. <hi rend='sans'>Who is she</hi>—The Bride. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That looketh forth</hi>—Beams resplendent. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As the morning</hi>—The Millennial Morning. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fair</hi>—Pure, just, holy, good. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As the moon</hi>—<q>The law is fulfilled in us who walk not +after the flesh but after the Spirit.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Clear</hi>—Glorious, light-giving. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As the Sun</hi>—<q>Then shall the righteous shine forth as the +Sun in the Kingdom of their Father.</q> <q>Who hath ears to +hear, let him hear.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And terrible</hi>—In the conquest of evil. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As an army with banners</hi>—To an opposing host. +</p> + +<p> +6:11. <hi rend='sans'>I went down</hi>—Following the exaltation of the +Bride. Christ speaks. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into the garden of nuts</hi>—The heart-gardens of the Foolish +Virgin class. A garden of nuts does not as quickly +yield its treasures as a garden of spices, to which the +Bride's heart garden is likened. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To see the fruits of the valley</hi>—Of the class that had +not risen with the Bride to the Pisgah heights of faith and +hope and love. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And to see whether</hi>—As a result of their experiences in +the Time of Trouble. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The vine flourished</hi>—Their characters had been properly +affected. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the pomegranates budded</hi>—To see whether there is +promise of the fruits of the Spirit coming to perfection. +</p> + +<p> +6:12. <hi rend='sans'>Or ever I was aware</hi>—I knew not how it was. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My soul</hi>—Filled with love and pity for them. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Made me like the chariots</hi>—Swiftly speeding to them to +bless and help them in their hour of extremity. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of Amminadib</hi>—Of My willing people, the Bride. +</p> + +<pb n='360'/><anchor id='Pg360'/> + +<p> +6:13. <hi rend='sans'>Return, return</hi>—<q>Return, ye backsliding children, +and I will heal your backslidings.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O Shulamite</hi>—(Uneven one), you who have been uneven +in your love, hope and faith. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Return, return, that We</hi>—My Father and I. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>May look upon thee</hi>—Smile upon thee; bestow blessings. +<q>With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they +shall enter into the King's palace.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>What will ye see</hi>—You who study the matter. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the Shulamite</hi>—The Foolish Virgin class. The answer +is that you will see. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As it were the company</hi>—The Great Company. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of two armies</hi>—<q>A great multitude which no man can +number.</q> +</p> + +<p> +7:1. <hi rend='sans'>How beautiful are thy feet</hi>—<q>How beautiful upon +the mountains are the feet of them that preach the Gospel +of peace.</q> The Lord again addresses His Bride. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With shoes</hi>—<q>Feet shod with the preparation of the +Gospel of peace.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O Prince's daughter</hi>—Daughter of the King, Jehovah. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The joints</hi>—<q>The whole Body, fitly joined together and +compacted with that which every joint supplieth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of thy thighs</hi>—(Softness) gentleness, tenderness. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are like jewels</hi>—<q>They shall be Mine, saith the Lord +of Hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The work of the hands</hi>—<q>For we are His workmanship.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of a cunning workman</hi>—<q>As for God, His work is perfect.</q> +</p> + +<p> +7:2. <hi rend='sans'>Thy navel</hi>—Umbilical cord; by which you are +joined to the Oath-bound Covenant, the Sarah Covenant; +the cord of faith. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is like a round goblet</hi>—Generous in capacity. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which wanteth not liquor</hi>—Is full of the Divine promises. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thy belly</hi>—Spiritual digestive tract. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is like a heap of wheat</hi>—Solid spiritual food. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Set about with lilies</hi>—Flowers of humility. +</p> + +<p> +7:3. <hi rend='sans'>Thy two breasts</hi>—<q>The breasts of her consolations, +whereof ye may suck and be satisfied, milk out and be +delighted.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are like two young roes</hi>—<q>The Scriptures, the Word of +God, quick and powerful.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That are twins</hi>—The Old and New Testament Scriptures +are identical in origin, spirit and purpose. +</p> + +<p> +7:4. <hi rend='sans'>Thy neck</hi>—Willingness to bear burdens. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is as a tower of ivory</hi>—Purity and strength. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thine eyes</hi>—Wisdom, Heaven-sent. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Like the fishpools in Heshbon</hi>—Pure, deep. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By the gate of Bath-Rabbim</hi>—Calm and strong. +</p> + +<pb n='361'/><anchor id='Pg361'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thy nose</hi>—Scent for spiritual food. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is as the tower of Lebanon</hi>—Lofty, high, noble. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which looketh toward Damascus</hi>—<q>Visions of beauty +rise before us.</q> <q>He that lacketh these things is blind +and can not see afar off.</q> +</p> + +<p> +7:5. <hi rend='sans'>Thine head upon thee</hi>—Thy reasoning faculties. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is like Carmel</hi>—(Crimson.) <q>Come now and let us reason +together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as +scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be +red like crimson they shall be as wool.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the hair of thine head</hi>—Thy righteousness. Woman's +hair was given for a covering, and her glory. The righteousness +of Christ is the Bride's covering, and her glory. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Like purple</hi>—Royalty. The robe of Christ's righteousness, +which the Bride now wears, will ultimately become +the robe of the Queen. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The King is held</hi>—Bound, captive. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the galleries</hi>—The happy prison-house of the charms +of His Bride. +</p> + +<p> +7:6. <hi rend='sans'>How fair</hi>—Beautiful at heart. <q>The King's daughter +is all glorious within.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And how pleasant</hi>—When the New Creature is in full +control. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Art thou, O beloved</hi>—<q>Who shall separate us from the +love of Christ?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For delights</hi>—For one with whom to enjoy the Father's +favors and blessings throughout eternity; heirs together of +the grace of life. +</p> + +<p> +7:7. <hi rend='sans'>This thy stature</hi>—The stature of the fulness of +Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is like a palm tree</hi>—Tall, upright. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And thy breasts</hi>—<q>The breasts of her consolations.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To clusters of grapes</hi>—Suggestive of food and refreshment +for the hungry, when they shall suck and be satisfied, +milk out and be delighted. +</p> + +<p> +7:8. <hi rend='sans'>I said</hi>—The world, in the Messianic Age, is the +speaker. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I will go up to the palm tree</hi>—<q>And many people shall +come and say, Come and let us go up to the House of the +Lord.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I will take hold</hi>—Lay hold of eternal life. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the boughs thereof</hi>—The members bending over to +lift me out of the miry clay and the horrible pit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Now also thy breasts</hi>—Feeding and helping the famishing +world in the New Age. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Shall be as clusters of the vine</hi>—Giving life and health. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the smell of thy nose</hi>—Thy scent for spiritual things +and the blessed results that follow. +</p> + +<pb n='362'/><anchor id='Pg362'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Like apples</hi>—Food for the hungry. +</p> + +<p> +7:9. <hi rend='sans'>And the roof of thy mouth</hi>—Where the praises of +Jehovah reverberate. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Like the best wine</hi>—The new wine of the Kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For my Beloved</hi>—Christ will then be the world's Beloved, +also. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That goeth down sweetly</hi>—<q>I will not henceforth drink +this fruit of the vine till I drink it new with you in the +Kingdom.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Causing the lips</hi>—<q>Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the +dust.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of those that are asleep</hi>—In death. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To speak</hi>—Shall the dead arise and praise thee? +</p> + +<p> +7:10. <hi rend='sans'>I am my Beloved's</hi>—The Bride speaks again. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And His desire is towards me</hi>—<q>So shall the King greatly +desire thy beauty.</q> +</p> + +<p> +7:11. <hi rend='sans'>Come My beloved</hi>—The Lord addresses His Bride +after the Time of Trouble. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Let us go forth</hi>—On our great mission of love and +mercy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into the field</hi>—Into the world, which needs us so much. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Let us lodge</hi>—Take up our temporary dwelling-place. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the villages</hi>—<q>Have thou authority over ten cities!</q> +<q>The tabernacle of God is with men.</q> +</p> + +<p> +7:12. <hi rend='sans'>Let us get up early</hi>—In the dawn of the New Age. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To the vineyards</hi>—The hearts of mankind in general. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Let us see if the vine flourish</hi>—If men are beginning to +draw nigh to God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The tender grape appear</hi>—If there is promise of an ultimate +fruitage pleasing to the Father. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And the pomegranates appear</hi>—If there are evidences that +love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, +meekness, are going to abound. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>There</hi>—When you see with what infinite patience and +wisdom and love I cultivate the heart-gardens of men. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Will I give thee</hi>—Cause thee to appreciate fully. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>My loves</hi>—The love with which I have loved thee. +</p> + +<p> +7:13. <hi rend='sans'>The mandrakes give a smell</hi>—The regeneration of +the world is nigh. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And at our gates</hi>—The Ancient Worthies are the gates +by which the restitution classes will come to the Mediator. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are all manner of pleasant</hi>—Agreeable, attractive, pleasing. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Fruits new and old</hi>—The virtues which the Bride cultivated +and others especially appropriate to the changed +conditions of the New Age. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which I have laid up</hi>—As a part of the much-diversified +Plan of the Ages. +</p> + +<pb n='363'/><anchor id='Pg363'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For thee, O My beloved</hi>—For thy enjoyment. +</p> + +<p> +8:1 <hi rend='sans'>O that Thou</hi>—My Lord and Head. The Bride addresses +her Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Wert as my brother</hi>—Not so immeasurably above me in +character and station. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That sucked the breasts of my mother</hi>—So that we +would be on an equality with each other. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>When I should find Thee without</hi>—Beyond the house of +flesh. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I would kiss Thee</hi>—Would feel free to express in Thy +presence the great love I feel. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Yea I should not</hi>—Under such circumstances. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Be despised</hi>—By the critics who now blame me for presuming +to so high a station as to be Thy Bride. +</p> + +<p> +8:2. <hi rend='sans'>I would lead thee and bring thee</hi>—But now it is +Thou alone that are competent to lead. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Into my mother's house</hi>—The antitypical Sarah tent. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Who would instruct me</hi>—<q>They shall be all taught of +God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I would cause Thee to drink</hi>—Accept, appropriate, enjoy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of spiced wine</hi>—Doctrines flavored with the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of the juice of my pomegranate</hi>—The pomegranate curiously +combines the flavors of all fruits. It thus well illustrates +the fruitage of love, the sum of all the Christian +graces. +</p> + +<p> +8:3. <hi rend='sans'>His left hand</hi>—His power as illustrated in the guidance +of His people into all necessary truth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Should be under my head</hi>—Directing my mental faculties. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And his right hand</hi>—His power as illustrated in overruling +all things that would harm me. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Should embrace me</hi>—<q>Secure in His tender embrace, I'd +have nothing to doubt or to fear.</q> +</p> + +<p> +8:4. <hi rend='sans'>I charge you</hi>—I must give you this message. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>O daughters of Jerusalem</hi>—Professed children of God. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That ye stir not up</hi>—Seek not to arouse. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Nor awake my Love</hi>—To take charge of earth's affairs. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Until He please</hi>—For when He does stand up to assume +control, <q>there will be a Time of Trouble such as never +was,</q> in which all the earthly organizations upon which +you have set your heart will be obliterated. +</p> + +<p> +8:5. <hi rend='sans'>Who is this</hi>—The Heavenly Father thus speaks of +the Bride. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That cometh up</hi>—That cometh forward into prominence. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>From the wilderness</hi>—At the end of 1260 years of wilderness +hiding and papal supremacy. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Leaning upon her Beloved</hi>—Upon her Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>I raised thee up</hi>—<q>It is God that justifieth. Who is he +that condemneth?</q> +</p> + +<pb n='364'/><anchor id='Pg364'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Under the apple tree</hi>—Under Christ, the Author and Finisher +of your salvation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>There thy mother</hi>—The antitypical Sarah. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Brought thee forth</hi>—<q>Shall I bring to the birth and not +cause to bring forth?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>There she brought thee forth</hi>—The Oath-bound Covenant +accomplished its end. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That bare thee</hi>—From earthly to Heavenly conditions. +</p> + +<p> +8:6. <hi rend='sans'>Set me as a seal</hi>—Indelibly impressed. The Bride +beseeches her Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Upon Thy heart</hi>—Thine infinite love. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As a seal upon Thine arm</hi>—Thine infinite power. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For love</hi>—Such love as I have for Thee. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is strong as death</hi>—<q>Neither death nor life shall be able +to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ +Jesus our Lord.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Jealousy</hi>—The fear that I may not, after all, prove acceptable +to You, as Your Bride. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is cruel as the grave</hi>—Sheol, oblivion. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The coals thereof</hi>—The weaknesses of my fallen flesh. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Are coals of fire</hi>—Burned into my very soul. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which hath a most vehement flame</hi>—These burning +thoughts of my imperfections will be with me as long as I +am in this tabernacle. +</p> + +<p> +8:7. <hi rend='sans'>Many waters</hi>—Nor angels nor principalities. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Cannot quench love</hi>—The Father reassures the anxious +Bride. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Neither can the floods</hi>—<q>Nor things present nor things +to come.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Drown It</hi>—Extinguish it. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>If a man</hi>—The Man whom I have ordained. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Would give all the substance of his House</hi>—All His own +glorious station with me on the Throne of the Universe. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For love</hi>—In exchange for the love you have manifested +for Him throughout the dark night of your earthly career. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>It would utterly be condemned</hi>—Despised by the courts +of Heaven. +</p> + +<p> +8:8. <hi rend='sans'>We</hi>—The Lord and His Bride together speak. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Have a little sister</hi>—The Foolish Virgin class, born of +the same Father and the same antitypical Sarah, the +Oath-bound Covenant. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And she hath no breasts</hi>—Is not fully developed. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>What shall we do</hi>—What will be the Divine arrangement? +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For our sister</hi>—The Great Company class. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>In the day</hi>—The close of the Time of Trouble. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>When she shall be spoken for</hi>—Called to render up her +account. +</p> + +<pb n='365'/><anchor id='Pg365'/> + +<p> +8:9. <hi rend='sans'>If she be a wall</hi>—Bulwark of truth, on the One +Foundation. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>We will build upon her</hi>—<q>Other foundation can no man +lay.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A palace of silver</hi>—Give her a place with the Great Company +class. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And if she be a door</hi>—By which men and women have +found the Lord and the Truth. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>We will inclose her</hi>—Give her an environment. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>With boards of cedar</hi>—Everlasting life. +</p> + +<p> +8:10. <hi rend='sans'>I am a wall</hi>—The Bride thus refers to herself as +having been a staunch defender of the Truth. <q>Lo, we +have left all and followed Thee.</q> What then shall we +have? +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And my breasts</hi>—Unlike the Foolish Virgins. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Like towers</hi>—<q>Whereof ye may suck and be satisfied +milk out and be delighted.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Then</hi>—Because I reached the development of character +He desired. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was I in His eyes</hi>—The eyes of the Bridegroom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>As one that found favor</hi>—Peace (margin). +</p> + +<p> +8:11. <hi rend='sans'>Solomon</hi>—Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Had a Vineyard</hi>—For growing the fruitage of love. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>At Baalhamon</hi>—(Lord of the multitude.) A reference +to the Messianic Reign, in which Christ will be Lord of all. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>He let out the vineyards</hi>—Gave the immediate care. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Unto keepers</hi>—The Ancient Worthies, <q>whom Thou mayest +make princes in all the earth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Every one</hi>—Of the keepers. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>For the fruit thereof</hi>—The kind of fruitage expected. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Was to bring</hi>—Present, offer. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>A thousand pieces of silver</hi>—Yield a rich return of truth +and praise from the hearts cultivated. +</p> + +<p> +8:12. <hi rend='sans'>My vineyard</hi>—The same vineyard. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Which is mine</hi>—We are made joint-heirs with Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Is before me</hi>—Will take a thousand years to till. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Thou, O Solomon</hi>—Christ. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Must have a thousand</hi>—Tributes of praise. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And those that kept the fruit thereof</hi>—The Ancient Worthies. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Two hundred</hi>—A fifth as much, as their portion. +</p> + +<p> +8:13. <hi rend='sans'>Thou</hi>—The restitution classes, address their Lord. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>That dwellest in the gardens</hi>—The heart-gardens of the +redeemed race. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The companions</hi>—The Great Company; the companions +that followed the Bride. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Hearken to thy voice</hi>—Have entered with joy into the +King's palace. +</p> + +<pb n='366'/><anchor id='Pg366'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Cause me to hear it</hi>—O Lord, I see there is hope to +<emph>me</emph>. I <emph>also</emph> would be Thine. Show <emph>me</emph> Thy will. +</p> + +<p> +8:14. <hi rend='sans'>Make haste, my Beloved</hi>—The restitution classes +continue. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>And be Thou like</hi>—In thy swiftness of movement. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>To a roe or to a young hart</hi>—Leaping from mountain to +mountain, kingdom to kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Upon the mountains</hi>—The various divisions of the Kingdom +of God during the Messianic Reign. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Of spices</hi>—Good deeds, kind words and noble thoughts. +<q>And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways +shall be exalted.</q> <q>The kingdoms of this world are +become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and +He shall reign for ever and ever.</q> Amen. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Heavenly Bridegroom</head> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l>That He is mine and I am His, Oh! wondrous thought.</l> +<l>I am so poor, so weak, so lowly, can there aught</l> +<l>Of worthiness in me be found, that He should love</l> +<l>And seek me for His Bride? I hear His voice, <q rend='pre'>My Dove,</q></l> +<l>Thou art all fair, My Spouse, there is no spot in thee;</l> +<l>Thy speech is comely, better is thy love to Me</l> +<l>Than wine! Thine eyes as Heshbon's fish-pools, and like flocks</l> +<l>Upon Mount Gilead are thy spiced and flower-decked locks.</l> +<l>The winter's past, My Dove, come, come with Me away,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Far spent the night, make ready for thy nuptial day!</q></l> +<l>My heart responds, <q rend='pre'>Throughout the many-centuried night</q></l> +<l>I've longed for Thee. I've waited for the dawning light;</l> +<l>And I have laid Thee like sweet myrrh upon my breast,</l> +<l>Thine arm beneath my weary head hath brought me rest.</l> +<l>Thou whom my soul doth love, Thy countenance is fair</l> +<l>To see within the secret places of the stair;</l> +<l>Thy head is like fine gold, how beautiful Thy feet!</l> +<l>Thine eyes as doves' eyes, and Thy lips with honey sweet.</l> +<l>I rise, my Lord, I leave my father's house, behold</l> +<l>My Robe of Righteousness, my raiment of wrought gold!</l> +<l>Oh! wealth of love divine, that claims me for Thine own.</l> +<l>Oh! miracle of grace, to seat me on Thy Throne.</l> +<l>Oh! glorious future hopes, Oh! bliss beyond compare,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Through all eternity Thy love and work to share!</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +—G.W.S. +</p> + +<p> +June 25, 1917. +</p> + +</quote> + +</div> + +</div> + +<pb n='367'/><anchor id='Pg367'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Book Of The Prophet Ezekiel</head> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 1—God's Character And Plan</head> + +<p> +1:1. <hi rend='sans'>Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the +fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, at I was among +the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were +opened, and I saw visions of God.</hi>—Christ promised that +at His Second Advent He would raise up a <q>faithful and +wise servant,</q> or <q>steward,</q> who should watch and give +forth in due season meat for the Household of Faith. This +one should be given charge of all the Storehouse, the Word +of God, to bring out of it things new and old. (Matt. 24:44-47; +Luke 12:42-44.) The Prophet Ezekiel types this +servant. As Ezekiel was among the Lord's people, the +Hebrews, in captivity in literal Babylon, this servant was +among those in captivity in Mystic Babylon, beside the +great river Chebar (<q>Joining</q>), the stream of commerce +which joins the nations, on which Christendom is founded, +and from which she draws her support, as did in a literal +sense Babylon from her great river, Euphrates. In the +early seventies Charles Taze Russell found himself engaged +in commerce, but earnestly studying the Word of God, and +striving to teach what he found therein. In fulfilment of +the Divine promise the Heavenly things were opened to +him (Matt. 3:16), and he saw the significance of the visions, +prophecies, given in olden times by the Almighty. He was +given a crystal-clear understanding of the character of +Jehovah. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img382.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>Ezekiel's Vision By The River Of Chebar</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +1:2, 3. <hi rend='sans'>In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth +year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, the Word of the Lord +came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, +in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the +hand of the Lord was there upon him.</hi>—Men do not raise +themselves up to become great and honored agents in +God's outworking of the Divine Plan of the Ages (Luke +18:14; Eph. 3:11); but now and then throughout the centuries +Jehovah Himself (1 Cor. 12:18) has raised up Christian +men to carry forward one step or another of His purposes. +God made special use of St Paul, St John, Arius, +Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Martin Luther and Charles T. +Russell. The significance of the word Ezekiel is <q>God is +<pb n='368'/><anchor id='Pg368'/> +strong,</q> and epitomizes the faith and the message of Pastor +Russell. He shows the power of Jehovah to save His people +now (Acts 15:14), and later to save all the willing and +obedient of mankind. (Acts 15:17.) As Ezekiel was the +son of Buzi, <q>Contemned of God,</q> Pastor Russell was born +the child of a nominal religious system which is unfaithful +to Jehovah. Pastor Russell, by the faithful carrying out +of his vow of consecration to Divine service, was accepted +as a true priest of the Almighty. He sacrificed himself +and all that he had until, in October, 1916, he died penniless, +but rich in the things of God. Chosen expressly by +God to declare the message of Present Truth to the last, +or Laodicean age, of the Church, the hand, power, of Jehovah +was upon him. +</p> + +<p> +1:4. <hi rend='sans'>And I looked and behold, a whirlwind came out of +the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a +brightness was about it; and out of the midst thereof as +the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.</hi>—As a +young man Charles T. Russell was looking intently to see +what might be discerned in the Word of God. <q>Watch,</q> +said the Master. Pastor Russell took for his motto, <q>I will +stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will +watch to see what He will say unto me.</q> (Hab. 2:1) He +called his semi-monthly publication, <q><hi rend='smallcaps'>The Watch Tower</hi></q>; +and, firm in the belief that the Second Advent took place +in 1874, he included as a sub-title, <q>And Herald of Christ's +Presence.</q> The north symbolizes the spiritual phase of +the Kingdom of God. (Isa. 14:13; D. 653.) Pastor Russell +beheld coming, permitted by God, a great Time of Trouble, +a whirlwind of warfare, revolution and anarchy. (Jer. 25:32; +Psa. 58:9, 10; D. 528.) It was the cloud accompanying +the approach to human affairs of Him for whose Kingdom +many have so long prayed. <q>Clouds and darkness are +round about Him: righteousness and judgment are the +habitation of His Throne, a fire goeth before Him and +burneth up His enemies round about.</q> (Psa. 97:2) A +conflagration, beginning with world war, is upon the earth, +developing into revolution and anarchy. Fire symbolises +the last of these misfortunes. (Dan. 7:11) The situation +is complicated, infolding, perplexing. None of the national +leaders understand the situation. To the poor world, in +gross darkness, and lying <q>in the wicked one,</q> the cloud +is full of darkness (Isa. 60:2), of gloominess (Joel 2:2; +Zeph. 1:15); but to those who are taken out of the world +and into Christ, it is full of brightness and hope—a white +cloud, with a silver lining. In the bright light of the +dawning Day of Christ the faces of the Lord's people light +up with joy as they see these things coming to pass; for +<pb n='369'/><anchor id='Pg369'/> +their <q>deliverance draweth nigh</q> (Luke 21:28)—the deliverance, +too, of the whole world from the kingdom of Satan, +the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4), into the glorious Kingdom +of God, the other side of the trouble. With the understanding +of God, His work, plan and purpose, there +shone forth the amber, golden glow of the Divine presence, +and of the true character, nature and glory of the Almighty +God of Love. The Father Himself is supervising the troublous +commotion, bruising to heal (Hos. 6:1), and <q>shortening +the days.</q>—Matt. 24:22. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img383a.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>One Of The Living Creatures</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +1:5. <hi rend='sans'>Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of +four living creatures. And this was their appearance; +they had the likeness of a man.</hi>—Out of the contemplation +of the cloud of trouble, the worldwide commotion, the +destructive anarchy, and of the golden amber glow of +God's presence, came a wonderful understanding of something +long misunderstood and misrepresented—the character +of God. As the vision showed <q>four living creatures,</q> +so the Divine character was seen by the Laodicean steward +to consist of four active principles (Rev. 3:14); Justice, +Power, Love and Wisdom. The four have the likeness of +a perfect man. +</p> + +<p> +1:6. <hi rend='sans'>And every one had four faces, and every one had +four wings.</hi>—Each of the four attributes has four characteristics +or attributes; and each has the Word of God +(wings—Rev. 12:14), in the Old and New Testament, in +two different ways of operation (two pairs). +</p> + +<p> +1:7. <hi rend='sans'>And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of +their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled +like the colour of burnished brass.</hi>—The feet members +of Christ, embodying the Divine attributes on earth, are +righteous (straight) in Christ's righteousness, pure, unblemished +in God's sight, holy, acceptable, living sacrifices +(the calf is a type of unblemished sacrifice); and they +shine with the imputed perfection of the Man Christ Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +1:8. <hi rend='sans'>And they had the hands of a man under their +wings on their four sides: and they four had their faces +and their wings.</hi>—The hand is symbolic of power and of +execution of purpose. Overshadowed by the Word of God +is the Divine power (hand) to execute the thing purposed, +operating through human channels, through the power of +men. He shows the qualities of the Divine mind through +man. Shielded, protected, sustained by the Word (wings)—(Psa. +61:4), the work of the Almighty goes on through +<q>the foolishness of preaching.</q> (1 Cor. 1:21.) Men and +women are <q>coworkers with God.</q> (2 Cor. 6:1.) The +hands (powers) of man are instruments for the operation +of infinite Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom. +</p> + +<pb n='372'/><anchor id='Pg372'/> + +<p> +1:9. <hi rend='sans'>Their wings were joined one to another; they +turned not when they went; they went everyone straight +forward.</hi>—The wings (Psa. 91:4; Rev. 12:14) are perfectly +joined together in unity of purpose and action. Straight +on to the end ordained of God goes His Word, upholding +and strengthening.—Isa. 46:10, 11. +</p> + +<p> +1:10. <hi rend='sans'>As for the likeness of their faces, they four had +the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: +and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they +four also had the face of an eagle.</hi>—The character of Jehovah +possesses four fundamental attributes, each composed +of all the others. The four faces or features of the living +creatures represent the four attributes of God, each inseparable +from the others, and in each operate each and all of +the four. Divine Justice operates in the fulness of Power, +Love and Wisdom. In the fall of man into sin, unbending +Justice enforced death for disobedience. Love delayed the +execution of the sentence upon Adam 930 years (Gen. 5:5), +that Wisdom might impress upon the erring human son +an indelible lesson of the exceeding sinfulness of sin (Rom. +7:13) and the extent of the penalty, death, that man, by +said experience, might <q>know evil.</q> (Gen. 3:5.) Divine +power will raise man from the dead, that he may learn to +<q>know good</q> and experience the fulness of the Father's +Love and Wisdom. All who are willing and obedient, who +consecrate fully to God's will, shall enjoy <q>pleasures forevermore</q> +(Psa. 16:11) in the sunshine of Divine favor. +The unwilling and disobedient shall suffer the full penalty +of Justice in the Second Death (Rev. 21:8), <q>utter destruction</q> +(2 Thes. 1:9), final and eternal obliteration. (Psa. +37:10.) The face of a man symbolizes the quality of Love, +in the character image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27), the +God of love. (1 John 4:8.) The ox represents Power +(Rev. 4:7); for no animal is stronger, or more patient in +the exercise of strength. The majestic lion is God's Justice, +roaring its message of death, and executing all that +oppose its voice. (Psa. 89:14.) No other creature is so +far-sighted, or soars so high as the eagle. The eagle +symbolizes Wisdom, far-seeing, ordering all the affairs of +the Almighty along the lines of Justice, Power and Love. +</p> + +<p> +1:11. <hi rend='sans'>Thus were their faces: and their wings were +stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined +one to another, and two covered their bodies.</hi>—Each pair +of wings (Rev. 12:14) symbolizes a separate function of +God's Word; one pair to fly with, to carry forward the +Plan in the spirit realm, the powers of the air (Eph. 2:2), +the other to uphold <q>all things by the Word</q> (Heb. 1:3) +and to cover and protect.—Psa. 91:4. +</p> + +<pb n='373'/><anchor id='Pg373'/> + +<p> +1:12. <hi rend='sans'>And they went every one straight forward: +whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned +not when they went.</hi>—Not with wavering, as darkened +minds imagine, proceeds the Divine Word, but <q>without +variableness or shadow of turning.</q> (Jas. 1:17.) Wheresoever +the mind, or Spirit, of Jehovah sends forth His +Word, thither straight onward go perfect Justice, Power, +Love and Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +1:13. <hi rend='sans'>As for the likeness of the living creatures, their +appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the +appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living +creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire +went forth lightning.</hi>—God's Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom +glow with the light of wisdom. The understanding +of God's attributes makes every quality of the Almighty +to glow with a wondrous illumination to anyone given to +see the <q>visions of God</q> first perceived clearly by the +Laodicean Servant. <q>Thy Word is a lamp</q> (Psa. 119:105), +shedding light in the darkness, effecting a personal local +illumination. The Word is a lamp to the <q>feet</q> members +of Christ. (Eph. 1:23.) Up and down, everywhere, +throughout all the Divine qualities, wherever manifested, +spreads the illumination now shining through the Lamp, +the Word. +</p> + +<p> +1:14. <hi rend='sans'>And the living creatures ran and returned as the +appearance of a flash of lightning.</hi>—In the operation of +Divine Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom are sudden +gleams of Heavenly wisdom upon great problems, such +as now light up the dark clouds of the Time of Trouble. +</p> + +<p> +1:15. <hi rend='sans'>Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one +wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four +faces.</hi>—The word <q>cycle,</q> or <q>wheel,</q> is familiar in bicycle, +motorcycle, and in cycle as applied to epochs. The +Divine attributes operate upon human society, the symbolic +earth, in cycles, or ages (Eph. 3:11), and in the +mechanisms of ages by which God's Plan is carried forward, +His character, or face, is seen. +</p> + +<p> +1:16. <hi rend='sans'>The appearance of the wheels and their work was +like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one +likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it +were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.</hi>—Pliny says of the +beryl or chrysolithos, <q>It is a transparent stone with a +refulgence like that of gold.</q> Says Smith's Bible Dictionary, +<q>The ancient chrysolithos, or modern topaz, appears +to have a better claim than any other stone to represent +the <foreign rend='italic'>tarshish</foreign> of the Hebrew Bible.</q> Gold is symbolic of +things Divine. These golden cycles are the Divinely appointed +ages in connection with the four attributes of +<pb n='374'/><anchor id='Pg374'/> +Deity. The Divine operations are not in one simple age, +cycle, or manner of operation, but cycle within cycle, age +within age, many operations working together <q>manifold</q> +(Eph. 3:10), like a vast and complicated machine. +</p> + +<p> +1:17. <hi rend='sans'>When they went, they went upon their four sides; +and they turned not when they went.</hi>—Divine Justice conflicts +not with Divine Love, nor with Wisdom nor Power, +but all qualities are in simultaneous operation. They proceed +along lines planned ages ago.—Jas. 1:17. +</p> + +<p> +1:18. <hi rend='sans'>As for their rings, they were so high that they +were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round +about them four.</hi>—<q>As the heavens are higher than the +earth, so are My ways (plans) higher than your ways.</q> +(Isa. 55:9.) The Plan of the Ages reveals the lengths, +breadths, heights and depths of the purposes of God, and +fills the reverent soul with awe. The Plan of God is full +of the infinite Wisdom (eyes—Psa. 32:8) of its Author.—B. 305. +</p> + +<p> +1:19. <hi rend='sans'>And when the living creatures went, the wheels +went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted +up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.</hi>—Whenever +God's attributes operate they are in accordance with the +Divine Plan; sometimes the Divine qualities are exercised +towards celestial things and sometimes towards things terrestrial.—1 +Cor. 15:40. +</p> + +<p> +1:20. <hi rend='sans'>Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, +thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted +up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature +was in the wheels.</hi>—The Spirit, or Power of God, is in all +His attributes and in all their operations. +</p> + +<p> +1:21. <hi rend='sans'>When those went, these went; and when those +stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from +the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them; +for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.</hi>—In +whatever direction the Divine Spirit is to act, whether in +earthly things or among spirit beings, thither the operations +of the Spirit go in the cooperative action of all +God's attributes. When an age is finished and one attribute +ceases its action, they all cease. +</p> + +<p> +1:22. <hi rend='sans'>And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads +of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, +stretched forth over their heads above.</hi>—The firmament +in the air or atmosphere (Gen. 1:20), and symbolizes the +powers of spiritual control. Above the attributes of God +and controlling their operations is the Divine will. The +expression of God's will during the time indicated by the +vision is the Christ, Head and Body. <q>All power in Heaven +and in earth</q> (Matt. 28:18) is given unto Christ, and will +<pb n='375'/><anchor id='Pg375'/> +be shared by His Bride and Joint-heir. (Rev. 20:4.) <q>The +terrible crystal</q>—literally <q>the reverential ice</q>—suggests +the reverence due to the ruling Christ Head and Body, +and their own reverential attitude towards the Father. +The color is that of ice, clear as crystal, pure, unmixed +<q>truth in the inward parts</q> (Psa. 51:6), characterizing +the new ruling powers in the spiritual phase of the Kingdom +of God. +</p> + +<p> +1:23. <hi rend='sans'>And under the firmament were their wings +straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, +which covered on this side, and every one had two, which +covered on that side, their bodies.</hi>—Beneath, subject to the +direction of the Christ, Head and Church triumphant, are +the wings (Word of God—Rev. 12:14). Whenever Divine +Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom are in action, the Word +of God points straight up to the Father as the Source of +every good thing. +</p> + +<p> +1:24. <hi rend='sans'>And when they went, I heard the noise of their +wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the +Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of a host: when +they stood, they let down their wings.</hi>—The sound of the +Father's Word is as the voice of great waters (Rev. 1:15), +mighty truths, in <q>the voice of speech,</q> for the benefit of +His children. It is the voice of God, too, when spoken by +His people. When Divine Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom +operate upon human society, then the Word of God is +in full harmony therewith. +</p> + +<p> +1:25. <hi rend='sans'>And there was a voice from the firmament that +was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down +their wings.</hi>—It is through the reigning Christ, Zion, that +the voice of Jehovah shall sound forth. <q>The Lord will +roar from Zion.</q> (Amos 1:2.) <q>Out of Zion shall go forth +the Law.</q> (Isa. 2:3.) Through The Christ sounds forth +the Word of God bespeaking to the world infinite Justice, +Power, Love and Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +1:26. <hi rend='sans'>And above the firmament that was over their +heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of +a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was +the likeness as the appearance of a Man above upon it.</hi>—<q>THE +HEAD OF CHRIST IS GOD.</q> (1 Cor. 11:3.) Above +the triumphant Christ, Head and Body, is the Throne of +Almighty God. <q>The Son [is] subject to Him that put all +things under Him.</q> (1 Cor. 15:28.) The Throne represents +the dominion of God. As the blue sapphire (symbolic +of faithfulness), so is the rulership of the Almighty. <q>God is +faithful.</q> (1 Cor. 1:9.) In the contemplation of the +watchers, the faithfulness, unchangeableness of God, is +seen shining through the Christ, the firmament, like the +<pb n='376'/><anchor id='Pg376'/> +soft blue of the sapphire stone. Man is in the image and +likeness of God. Reigning over all is One whom men can +understand, a Deity whose perfect Justice, Power, Love +and Wisdom elicit complete consecration. God is seen to +be not a ferocious demon, belying His own command of +love, but a just, reasonable, loving God, able to save all the +willing and obedient. Jesus, the friend of sinners, was +and is the perfect image of the Father. +</p> + +<p> +1:27. <hi rend='sans'>And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance +of fire round about within it, from the appearance +of His loins even upward, and from the appearance of His +loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of +fire, and it had brightness round about.</hi>—<q>God dwelleth in +light whereto no man can approach.</q> (1 Tim. 6:16.) +Radiant is the Almighty with the golden glow of the +Divine nature. <q>Our God is a consuming fire</q> (Heb. 12:29); +only the perfect can stand in His presence; for all +dross, not refinable (Mal. 3:2, 3), is consumed by Justice. +The essence of the Divine Revelation is Love, the golden +light radiating in every direction from Our Father. <q>He +that loveth his brother abideth in the light</q> (1 John 2:10), +in the Divine love-light that surrounds the Throne and +pervades the entire spirit realm. This love is the light of +the world, to light men unto God. +</p> + +<p> +1:28. <hi rend='sans'>As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud +in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness +round about. This was the appearance of the likeness +of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell +upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.</hi>—The +Throne and He that sat thereon were surrounded by +all the colors of the rainbow. (Rev. 4:3.) The love spirit +finds fruitage in character fruits. So the light of our +Father is divisible into the warm red of love, the glowing +blue of faithfulness, the brilliant green of immortality, the +royal purple of kingship, for those on any plane who are +worthy of that honor, etc.—the manifestation of every +good character fruit and every good purpose for the blessing +of all His creatures. (John 15:8; Gal. 5:22.) The +glory of God is not a display of blinding light to terrify +men; but it is to do good, to manifest to the uttermost His +character of love. When the watchman of the Laodicean +age discerned the Divine character and Plan he fell upon +his face (Rev. 1:17), in reverential worship and in complete +consecration to do the will of his Father in Heaven. +There sounded forth and through him, from the pages of +God's Word (Isa. 30:21), the voice of the Sublime One +who has been speaking to Christendom during this dawn +of the Golden Age. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='377'/><anchor id='Pg377'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 2—The Rebellious House And The Book</head> + +<p> +2:1. <hi rend='sans'>And He said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy +feet, and I will speak unto thee.</hi>—It is a mark of favor to +stand before a king. (Prov. 22:29.) Those who stand +before rulers receive commissions, are invested with authority +and power. +</p> + +<p> +2:2. <hi rend='sans'>And the spirit entered into me when He spake +unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard Him that +spake unto me.</hi>—<q>The words which I speak, they are +spirit.</q> (John 6:63.) When the full import of the Word +was discerned, Pastor Russell took a firm stand. The +spirit, power, influence of God entered into him, never to +leave. He stood firmly, before God, before his friends, and +before all the hostile hosts of Mystic Babylon the Great. +</p> + +<p> +2:3. <hi rend='sans'>And He said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to +the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath +rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed +against Me, even unto this very day.</hi>—Pastor +Russell's work was largely among professing Christians—not +slum work, Christian work among the professedly non-Christians, +or a revivalistic work calling to repentance and +conversion. This was not the work appropriate to the +Harvest of the Christian Age. John the Baptist announced +the First Presence of Messiah, and began the harvesting +of Jewry, and was not sent to the heathen, but to the +Lord's people, the Jews, to acquaint them with the First +Advent, expose those withholding the keys of knowledge +(Luke 11:52), and warn of the impending destruction of +Jerusalem and Judea in A. D. 70 and 73. (Matt. 3:7; +24:2.) A like work was to be accomplished in Spiritual +Israel, Christendom, after the Lord's Second Advent in +1874. The man raised up, <q>set upon his feet,</q> and given +wisdom, grace and power for the task, was Pastor Russell. +</p> + +<p> +2:4. <hi rend='sans'>For they are impudent children and stiff-hearted. +I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, +Thus saith the Lord God.</hi>—Few things are more trying +than a family of impudent children. Forwardness in evil-doing +and evil-speaking was one of the characteristics of +the Hebrew people. They violated the Word of God and +justified the violation. (Matt. 15:5.) By impudent—hard +faced—tradition they made void the Word of God. The +<pb n='378'/><anchor id='Pg378'/> +effrontery of the <q>Christian</q> era has been unsurpassed. +Possessing greatest light, they have sinned most grievously. +The Word said, <q>He that is begotten of God sinneth not</q> +(1 John 3:9); yet John Tetzel was, and in some countries +Roman Catholic priests still are, selling indulgences to +commit sin. Professing <q>Christians</q> keep Christianity +out of their affairs with the phrase, <q>Business is business.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2:5. <hi rend='sans'>And they, whether they will hear, or whether they +will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall +know that there hath been a Prophet among them.</hi>—The +work of Ezekiel among the Hebrews in captivity proved a +thankless task. He was rejected by both those in captivity +and those remaining at Jerusalem under Zedekiah. +His following was almost nothing. But he witnessed faithfully, +and no Hebrew could say that he had not been cautioned +of danger and warned of impending catastrophe. +Whether the clergy and people of Christendom wished to +heed Pastor Russell or not, they certainly heard his words. +(Z. '03-436.) His work was peculiarly prospered. Against +difficulties it grew and extended beyond the wildest dreams, +until it compassed the civilized world. In the face of the +united opposition of Protestant and Romanist clergy, the +steward of Almighty God accomplished the most gigantic +preaching work ever done by one man. <q>I cannot open +the morning paper without Pastor Russell staring me in +the face,</q> said a prominent minister. In the newspapers, +in the theatres, on the bill-boards, in billions of tract pages +distributed gratis, in millions of home libraries, in the +questions of inquiring church members, it was evident +everywhere that a great preacher was faithfully sounding +forth a trumpet message. With a voice of many waters, +reverberating like thunder throughout the world, spoke +Pastor Russell; and ere long <q>they shall know that there +hath been a Prophet [preacher] among them.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2:6, 7. <hi rend='sans'>And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, +neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns +be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions; be +not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks +though they be a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak +My words, unto them, whether they will hear, or whether +they will forbear; for they are most rebellious.</hi>—Fearlessness +characterized Ezekiel and Pastor Russell, both outcasts +among the <q>best</q> people. Pastor Russell was thrust +by the church people into a wilderness condition, amid +the briers of opposition and reproach. Though the thorns +of persecution crowned his head, he was never afraid of +words nor of angry looks. (Jer. 1:8-10.) <q>I would rather +see him stoned to death,</q> said a Wilkes-Barre, Pa. +<pb n='379'/><anchor id='Pg379'/> +preacher, in answer to a kindly invitation to come and +hear Pastor Russell preach. <q>He ought to be skinned +alive, and his hide stretched on a door,</q> remarked a Chicago +<q>divine</q> to another <q>divine,</q> coming out from one +of Pastor Russell's addresses. A scorpion has a great +swelling, formidable looking head, but it stings with its +tail. (Rev. 9:5, 10.) Ecclesiasticism is made up of organizations +whose heads utter boastful, swelling words, +but which do injury through their followers. The sting +of a scorpion—of the followers of synods and popes—is +through poisoned words. Every great reformer has had +some turn on him who were very close to him. Not from +outside did Pastor Russell suffer most. A few from among +his own household, whom he had befriended, helped, +pushed, advanced, struck at him to ruin him and destroy +his influence and his work. It is characteristic of the +scorpion to sting and poison in the dark corners of a +man's own home. <q>Be not afraid, though thou dost dwell +among scorpions.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2:8. <hi rend='sans'>But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; +Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house; open thy +mouth, and eat that I give thee.</hi>—The attitude of the rebellious +Christian was not that of God's chosen servant. +Never did he rebel against the Divine leading, nor seek +to pervert the Word of God. <q>My flesh is meat (food) +indeed.</q> (Jno. 6:55.) <q>Man shall not live by bread alone, +but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of +God.</q> (Matt. 4:4.) Whatever the word or message that +came from the Father's lips through the inspired pages of +the Bible, the Laodicean steward was to appropriate, assimilate.—Rev. +10:9. +</p> + +<p> +2:9. <hi rend='sans'>And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto +me; and lo, a roll of a book was therein.</hi>—The Divine hand +sent from God is the Divine power, support, upholding +and advancing the interests of whatever is in the hand. +<q>The book therein</q> is the Divine Plan of the Ages, Present +Truth, especially as relating to the impending downfall +of Christendom in the end of this Age. Ancient books +were written on a continuous sheet, rolled up. The sheet +was often written on both sides. The writing outside +could be plainly read until covered by the rolling, but +that inside was entirely hidden from view. Present Truth, +the Divine Plan of the Ages, contains features which are +plain to any one who looks at them; such as those relating +to the earthly features of God's Plan—the evil in the +earth, the clashing interests of rich and poor, and various +other elements of the present order of things, the great +war, and the approach of a better order of things after +<pb n='380'/><anchor id='Pg380'/> +the present troubles are over. Present Truth, <q>the roll +of the book,</q> also contains hidden, deep truths, discernible +only to those who have the Holy Spirit. It possesses features +impossible for natural men, not anointed with the +Spirit, to perceive. <q>The natural man perceiveth not the +things of the Spirit, neither can he know them; for they +are spiritually discerned.</q> (1 Cor. 2:14.) Many thousands +of consecrated Christians are upheld, comforted and +rejoiced by the deep things of God, made clear for the +first time in centuries by the <q>roll of the book.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2:10. <hi rend='sans'>And He spread it before me; and it was written +within and without; and there was written therein lamentations, +and mourning, and woe.</hi>—What an honor to be +the person before whom the Almighty would clearly spread +out His purposes,—the honor which came to Pastor Russell, +and with it a witness work of vast extent and responsibility! +The purpose of Present Truth is to inform the +Lord's people and the people of the world, as far as they +may listen, concerning the significance of the times. All +classes profit more or less from the warning of Pastor +Russell, as the message goes broadcast throughout the +world. It comes with a different significance to Church +and to world. To the Church it is a trumpet call of truth +(Rev. 10:2-7), to get ready quickly for deliverance, +resurrection glory, honor and immortality. To the world, the +worldly-minded, the Present Truth is something to be +dreaded. (Isa. 28:19.) This world, age, state of affairs, +is in process of destruction. The destroying agencies, as +portrayed in the Scriptures (1 Kings 19:11, 12; Z. '04-249; +Z. '98-207, 208) are world-wide war, then revolutions on an +unprecedented scale, and finally universal anarchy—savagery. +The significance of anarchy is appreciated by but +few. It means an utter absence of government, first the +paralysis, and ultimately the ceasing, of the governmental +functions which now afford protection, peace and safety to +property and life. As matters progress to the climax, as +disaster after disaster overtakes human effort, and disintegration +descends into the dissolution of law and order, +the whole earth will be <q>filled with violence</q>. (Gen. 6:11; +Micah 6:12); and men's hearts will utterly fail. (Luke +21:26.) Picture the worst revolutions ever known; this +trouble will outdo them all. Paint the darkest picture, +and none will be as black as the sable pall of this dreadful +night, this reign of terror already settling down upon mankind. +Truly, <q>mourning, lamentation and woe</q> were the +burden of God's Prophet Ezekiel, as he foresaw the destruction +of his beloved city, Jerusalem—and of Pastor Russell, +as he foreknew the desolation of a world! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='381'/><anchor id='Pg381'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 3—Pastor Russell's Divine Ordination</head> + +<p> +3:1. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover He said unto me, Son of man, eat that +thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house +of Israel.</hi>—The Prophet was to find something. As Ezekiel +ate the book in the hand of God, so the <q>faithful and wise +servant</q> of this day absorbed, assimilated, the Plan of the +Ages which was in the power (hand) of the Almighty. +Pastor Russell searched diligently to find all that he could +of the purposes of God. As he understood, he was to go +speak to <q>the House of Sons</q> (Heb. 3:6), all the children, +sons of God—to nominal Spiritual Israelites. +</p> + +<p> +3:2. <hi rend='sans'>So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat +that roll.</hi>—<q>I never knew any one so willing to do the will +of God,</q> said the private secretary and traveling companion +of Pastor Russell. He was eager to learn all he +could about the Heavenly Father's will. It was not of +himself that he learned and taught the Divine Plan; but +God Himself caused him to learn, believe and teach. +</p> + +<p> +3:3. <hi rend='sans'>And He said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly +to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. +Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for +sweetness.</hi>—No mere casual scanning of Present Truth +would suffice. The man of God was to be filled with the +great Message. (Rev. 10:9, 10.) <q>The sweetest story ever +told</q> (Psa. 19:10; 119:103) brought inexpressible peace. +It sweetened the experiences of a life of sacrifice. Whoever +eats, assimilates Present Truth, finds every heart +question answered, every doubt silenced. He learns <q>the +peace of God that passeth understanding</q> (Phil. 4:7), and +a sweetness as of honey in the promises, plans, and purposes +of the Father of Love. +</p> + +<p> +3:4. <hi rend='sans'>And He said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto +the house of Israel, and speak with My words unto them.</hi>—From +apostolic days to today all to whom the Spirit gives +utterance begin to speak (Acts 2:1-18) because constrained +to do so, because they <q>love to tell the story.</q> To Ezekiel, +and to the greatest preacher of modern times, came a +readiness of speech, when Jehovah Himself gave them His +Spirit, and commanded to <q>get thee unto the house of +Israel, and speak with My words unto them.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='382'/><anchor id='Pg382'/> + +<p> +3:5. <hi rend='sans'>For thou art not sent to a people of a strange +speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel.</hi>—Present +Truth was not to go to the heathen, the drunkards, +unbelievers, but to the Christian people of the world, the +spiritual House of Israel. +</p> + +<p> +3:6. <hi rend='sans'>Not to many people of a strange speech and of a +hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. +Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened +unto thee.</hi>—If the Message of Present Truth had been +sent to the heathen with its glad tidings for all, they +would have turned from devil worship, to worship the +true God. (Matt. 11:21, 23.) On two occasions the +trumpet sound was heard by <q>people of a strange speech +and of a hard language.</q> Pastor Russell passed through +Japan and India on a round-the-world tour. In Japan the +people requested that he stay. It was the message they +had longed for. In India the natives heard him gladly. In +eastern and southern Africa a believer in Present Truth +found his way from Nyassa to the Cape, and many thousands +of natives embraced the Truth and were baptised. +</p> + +<p> +3:7. <hi rend='sans'>But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; +for they will not hearken unto me; for all the house of +Israel are impudent and hardhearted.</hi>—Christendom has +never hearkened unto God. They hear and do not. (Jas. +1:22.) They are forgetful hearers of the Word. (Jas. +1:25.) They know their Master's will and do it not. (Luke +12:47.) Because they hear not God, they heed not the +Word of God when brought to them by His servants. +</p> + +<p> +3:8. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, I have made thy face strong against their +faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.</hi>—Whatever +situation Pastor Russell faced, God made him +more than equal to it. This last and most illustrious of +the reformers never asked for money; yet he had enough +entrusted to him to carry on the work. Champions of +Christendom met him on the debating platform; each encounter +widened and strengthened the witness for Present +Truth. He faced the modern enemies of Reformation with +books by tens of millions, and they were unable to combat +their power. <q>To read the <hi rend='italic'>Studies in the Scriptures</hi>,</q> admonished +a Southern preacher to his flock, <q>is to believe +them.</q> No argument could be devised to stem the flood +of Truth, only a ban on the reading of the books. In +innumerable places priestcraft caused the public burning +of the books. Practically every home in America, England, +Germany, Sweden, Australia, and other Protestant +countries was reached by a deluge of free tracts. Such a +tracting of the world with billions of pages, was never +known. The enemies of Truth were wholly unable to +<pb n='383'/><anchor id='Pg383'/> +check the spread of knowledge. A further situation faced +was the production of the free Photo-Drama of Creation, +seen and heard by twelve millions. No answer could be +put forth by clerical foes of truth, but baseless, cruel libels +on the private life of one of God's noblemen. Audiences +by the thousands listened to Bible lectures by Pastor Russell +and by hundreds of public speakers, and their voice +is still heard all over the world. Stinging assaults of slander +were ignored by a man of destiny, who had too much +of God's work to do to pay attention to the yelpings of +little men—of the D. D.'s of Christendom (Isa. 56:10), who +love slumber, but who snarl and bite when disturbed in +their dreams of <q>peace, peace</q> (Jer. 6:14), social and +civic gospels, church unity, and evangelistic raids on the +pockets of the masses. Not a situation or a person but +was faced victoriously.—Isa. 54:17. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img397.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>Pastor Russell in the Critics' Den</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +3:9. <hi rend='sans'>As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy +forehead; fear them not, neither be dismayed at their +looks, though they be a rebellious house.</hi>—The forehead is +symbolic of wisdom. A man of high forehead, as was +Pastor Russell, is of a high type of intellect. Pastor Russell's +mind was made strong against opponents of the +Reform which is ushering in the everlasting Kingdom of +Messiah. It is impossible for error to withstand truth. +(Luke 21:15.) As in apostolic days, believers in Present +Truth call themselves <q>in the Truth</q> (2 Pet. 1:12), the +teachings of the Word of God are termed <q>the Truth</q> (1 +John 3:19), and those who believe them are known as +<q>Truth people.</q> (3 John 4.) The mind of Pastor Russell +was filled with Truth. Crystal clear, with hard, irresistible +logic, the Present Truth, which constituted his wisdom and +understanding, was the hardest proposition ecclesiasticism +ever encountered. (Isa. 50:7.) The mind of God's steward +was as adamant. Adamant is literally, in Hebrew, <q>a diamond +point.</q> With diamond hardness (Rev. 4:3), the +Present Truth cuts its way through all opposition, though +the opposing thought be hard as flint. The diamond is +the most crystal clear of stones, and represents the truth +in irresistible form. It is futile to oppose the mind of +any Present Truth believer, for truth is irrefutable. To +those who have it, it imparts the mind of an intellectual +giant—the mind of Christ, of God. (1 Cor. 2:16.) Their +foreheads are made as diamond. In the light of the sun +the diamond sparkles with indescribable beauty. It breaks +the sunlight up into its component parts and reflects and +refracts in prismatic flashes of rainbow colors. The sun +is the Gospel of Divine Love and its embodiment, Jesus +Christ. The component parts of Christian love are the +<pb n='384'/><anchor id='Pg384'/> +character fruits. <q>The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, +long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.</q> +(Galatians 5:22-3.) The minds, wisdom, characters +of God's true people are full of manifestations of +the shining upon them of the glorious Gospel of the Son +of Righteousness—full of the beauty of righteousness. The +minds of God's saints are made as the diamond in its +excelling hardness and sunlit radiance. +</p> + +<p> +3:10. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover He said unto me, Son of man, all My +words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart +and hear with thine ears.</hi>—Like Ezekiel, Pastor Russell +was to hold back, pervert, or wrest <emph>nothing</emph>. +</p> + +<p> +3:11. <hi rend='sans'>And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto +the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell +them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or +whether they will forbear.</hi>—It was to be a message for the +Lord's people in captivity to the king of this world. Satan, +bound in Mystic Babylon the Great, the governmental-ecclesiastical-commercial +system of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +3:12. <hi rend='sans'>Then the Spirit took me up, and I heard behind me +a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of +the Lord from His place.</hi>—Through the begetting of the +Holy Spirit we are raised up to walk in newness of life +(Rom. 6:4), to sit with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. +2:6), in the Spirit-begotten condition. The Spirit raised +Pastor Russell up to an understanding and appreciation of +Heavenly things. (Matt. 3:16.) At Pentecost the place +where the Apostles were sitting was filled with a rushing +sound as of a mighty wind, and they received the Holy +Spirit (Acts 2:2.) The mighty rushing sound represented +Pastor Russell's receiving a rich endowment of the +Spirit of God, to whose leadings he was fully consecrated +and to whose influence and guidance he wholly devoted +his life. The words of Christ and of God are contained +in the Bible, written thousands of years ago, behind in the +stream of time. It was in the Word of God, behind him in +time (Isa. 30:21), that Pastor Russell perceived the rushing +sound, the utterances of the Holy Spirit. The message +of the Bible has been perverted by Catholic and Protestant +misunderstandings into anything but a glorious and blessed +Gospel. It is a thing to be dreaded, if the glory of God +is to eternally torment the vast majority of humans. But +the Message of Truth sounded forth by Pastor Russell +declares the grace of the Gospel which is to reach every +man, woman and child (1 Tim. 2:6) with its blessed influence, +power, wisdom and love, so that all creation in +due time may join in a mighty paeon of praise. <q>Blessed be +the glory of Jehovah from His place.</q>—Psa. 106:48. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img398.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>The Clergy Would Censor The Bible</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<pb n='385'/><anchor id='Pg385'/> + +<p> +3:13. <hi rend='sans'>I heard also the noise of the wings of the living +creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the +wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.</hi>—Many +Christian ministers have had glimpses of the Word +of God, knowledge of some details of the Plan, some measure +of the Holy Spirit; but to Pastor Russell, God's messenger +to the last stage of the Church, was given a superabundance +of gifts, to set the things of God in order (Isa. +44:7), to proclaim an harmonious understanding of all the +Divine purposes for mankind and of some for the angels. +(Eph. 3:10.) He heard the full harmony of <q>the song of +Moses and the Lamb.</q> (Rev. 15:3.) To him the wings +(Rev. 12:14), the Word of God, Old Testament and New, +sounded their Glad Tidings, a message whose parts +<q>touched one another,</q> were in complete touch, full harmony. +He heard for the first time since Apostolic days +the Plan of God, <q>the noise of the wheels [cycles, ages].</q> +He heard the manifestations of the operation of the Holy +Spirit, the <q>noise of a great rushing,</q> and was filled with +the Spirit in a measure beyond the portion of most Christian +men. His patience with the stupid and erring was +godlike and his love-lit face was an inspiration. +</p> + +<p> +3:14. <hi rend='sans'>So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; +and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the +hand of the Lord was strong upon me.</hi>—<q>God hath taken +you out of the world</q> (John 17:16); raised <q>to sit with +Christ in Heavenly places.</q> (Eph. 2:6.) The Spirit took +Pastor Russell away from earthly aims and raised him up +to the plane of sacrificing priesthood. He turned from +commercial pursuits to devote his life to the Heavenly +Message. He tasted the bitter herbs of persecution, of suffering +with Christ; and amid ostracism and persecution he +lived the life of Christian service. He carried on his +work in fervency of spirit; for the power of God was +upon him, strengthening him with might in the inner man +(Eph. 3:16), and with wisdom to deliver, in the face of +the determined opposition of priestcraft, the trumpet message +announcing the Presence of Christ—the sound of the +Seventh Trumpet, the trump of God.—Rev. 10:7. +</p> + +<p> +3:15. <hi rend='sans'>Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, +that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they +sat and remained there astonished among them seven +days.</hi>—Future historians will record, as most remarkable, +the mental, moral and spiritual bondage in which professing +Christians were held during the Gospel Age, through +the machinations of priestcraft, under the king of the +age, Satan himself. Pastor Russell came with his message, +in a day of supposed enlightenment, to a people +<pb n='386'/><anchor id='Pg386'/> +bound hand and foot. Tel-abib in Hebrew is <q>Hill of +Grass</q> (from <q>Tel,</q> hill, and <q>Abib,</q> sprouting, budding). +Abib was another name for Nisan, the first month of the +Hebrew sacred year, corresponding to April. In type or +symbol a place represents a condition, or a stage in historic +development. The <q>hill of budding,</q> the beginning +of the sacred year, symbolizes the dawn of the Times of +Restitution, the <q>Millennial Dawn.</q> The Millennium (Rev. +20:3, 4, 7) began in 1874, with the Return of Christ. It +was at about that time that Pastor Russell came to his +fellow-Christians with the beginning of a better understanding +of the Bible, <q>the vision of God.</q> It was, as it +were, the budding-time of the good promises of God for +the blessing of all peoples. The Christian people lived on +and by the stream of commercial, social and economic intercourse +that feeds and supports Christendom, Babylon. +</p> + +<p> +3:16. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that +the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying.</hi>—In a time +prophecy a day in the prophecy usually signifies a year in +fulfillment. For seven years after Christ's Return in 1874—until +1881—Pastor Russell, although he knew much of +God's Plan, was in some degree in the same condition as +other Christians in imperfect understanding of God's Word. +In 1881 a former associate, Mr. Barbour, of Rochester, +N. Y., who had been a faithful fellow-watcher, developed +into the <q>Evil servant</q> of Matt. 24:48-61 and Zechariah +11:17, and produced a work on the Hebrew Tabernacle +types in opposition to the fundamentals of true Christianity. +Pastor Russell desired the truth on the subject. +He gave himself up to prayer and study of this matter +alone. For days he struggled with the problem and +wrestled with God in supplication. At length the matter +cleared up. He then wrote <q><hi rend='italic'>Tabernacle Shadows of the +Better Sacrifices</hi>.</q> of which 1,500,000 copies have since +aided Christians to understand the deeper things of the +Word and to make complete consecration unto death. This +was in 1881, at which time he also published <q><hi rend='italic'>Food for +Thinking Christians</hi>,</q> a work embodying much afterwards +expanded into the six volumes of <q><hi rend='italic'>Studies in the Scriptures</hi>.</q> +The same year, 1881, is prophetically marked at +the time for the final withdrawal of favor from the +churches, a favor which had begun to be withdrawn in +1878—the year in which the clergy were cast off as +representatives of the Divine Word, and when Pastor Russell +began his work by the publication of 50,000 copies of <q><hi rend='italic'>Object +and Manner of the Lord's Return</hi>.</q> In 1873 the +stewardship of the things of God, the teaching of Bible +truths, was taken from the clergy, unfaithful to their age-long +<pb n='387'/><anchor id='Pg387'/> +stewardship, and given to Pastor Russell. In the +interim, until 1881, the new steward was setting the things +in order, getting the truths of the Bible in logical and +Scriptural form for presentation, until the last great item +of the Hebrew Tabernacle types, was ready. Then, in +1881, he became God's watchman for all Christendom, and +began his gigantic work of witness. +</p> + +<p> +3:17. <hi rend='sans'>Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto +the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at My mouth, +and give them warning from Me.</hi>—The function of watchmanship +was not given until 1881. (Jer. 6:17; Isa. 21:6-12.) +Faithfulness in individual watching during a trial +period of seven years was rewarded by the bestowal of the +office of the greatest servant whom the Church of God +has had since the Apostle Paul. <q>Whosoever will be chief +among you let him be your servant.</q> (Matt. 20:27.) Pastor +Russell at all times served the Church in great things +and small. No request was too insignificant to get his +careful attention. Rich and poor alike were faithfully +served in every possible way. This work prior to 1881 +was a great work for any ordinary man, but insignificant +compared with what was to follow. By 1884 the watchman's +work had grown to such proportions as to cause the +founding of <hi rend='smallcaps'>The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society</hi>. +This is the agency through which God's appointed watchman +has delivered his message to Christendom. Pastor +Russell paid no attention to the words or opinions of man, +however learned or pious, whether men of modern days +or the <q>early fathers</q> of post-apostolic times. He listened +to the word direct from the mouth of God, spoken by holy +men of old as moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21.) +Ezekiel was raised up shortly before the destruction of +Jerusalem to warn the Hebrews of the impending calamity. +Pastor Russell's warning to Christendom, coming direct +from God, has been of the imminent collapse of the +present <q>Christian</q> civilization in a welter of war, +revolution and anarchy, to be succeeded by the early +establishment of the Kingdom of God. In all his warnings he +claimed no originality. He said that he could never have +written his books himself. It all came from God, through +the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +3:18. <hi rend='sans'>When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely +die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn +the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the +same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood +will I require at thine hand.</hi>—Pastor Russell saw and revived +the teaching of the Word of God that death is death. +<q>All have sinned.</q> (Rom. 3:23.) <q>Death passed upon all.</q> +<pb n='388'/><anchor id='Pg388'/> +(Romans 5:12.) <q>The wages of sin is death.</q> (Rom. 6:23.) +<q>There is none righteous.</q> (Rom. 3:10.) <q>The dead sleep +in the dust.</q> (Isa. 26:19.) <q>Their thoughts perish.</q> (Psa. +146:4.) He taught clearly the Word of God first enunciated +to Adam, <q>Thou shalt surely die.</q> (Gen. 2:17.) Man is +not inherently immortal. At death he is dead, unconscious, +asleep until the resurrection, not <q>more alive than ever,</q> +as taught by a blinded and apostate priestcraft. Man, soul +and body, is not a being whom God cannot destroy. <q>Fear +Him who is able to destroy both soul and body.</q> (Matt. +10:28.) To all erring mankind Pastor Russell was directed +by God to reiterate the Divine penalty for sin, as +death, and not eternal torment. This was a fundamental +part of the message both of Ezekiel and of Pastor Russell. +</p> + +<p> +3:19. <hi rend='sans'>Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not +from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall +die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.</hi>—Pastor +Russell faithfully warned the wicked. He published +a complete exposition of the Bible statements regarding +the Adamic death—3,000,000 copies of a pamphlet, +<q>What Say the Scriptures About Hell,</q> quoting all Bible +passages mentioning Sheol and Hades, the death state. +He scarcely ever spoke in public without dwelling on this +cardinal tenet, that the dead are dead. To the very best +of his ability he taught Christendom the truth. By faithful +testimony he delivered himself from liability. +</p> + +<p> +3:20, 21. <hi rend='sans'>Again, When a righteous man doth turn from +his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock +before him, he shall die: because thou hast not +given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness +which he hath done shall not be remembered; +but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if +thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, +and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is +warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.</hi>—Another cardinal +teaching of God's Word, clearly taught by Pastor +Russell, is the nature of the eternal punishment to be +visited upon the incorrigible backslider. Clergy, bishops +and popes have taught for centuries on this subject an +irrational combination of extreme symbolism with gross +literalism, as suited their ambition to exercise worldly +power and hold the masses in subjection—minds, bodies +and pocketbooks. They have interpreted one symbolism +symbolically and the next literally. They have said that +the <q>Lake of Fire</q> and the <q>torment</q> are literal, but that +the <q>beast</q> and the <q>false prophet</q> are symbolic (Rev. +19:20), even though it involved the absurdity of a symbolic +beast going into a literal lake of fire! Blind and deaf to +<pb n='389'/><anchor id='Pg389'/> +those who have pointed out the unreasonableness of such +foolishness, they have turned savagely upon those that +have the Truth. In eighteen centuries they have killed +fifty million adherents of Christ, and persecuted innumerable +others. It is impossible to compute the number that +they will do to death in this, the close of the Gospel-Age +Harvest, when governmental protection shall be withdrawn +from lovers of truth, except that, this time, they +will get <emph>all</emph> such! +</p> + +<p> +An important feature of Pastor Russell's teaching is that +the Scriptural punishment of the incorrigibly wicked is not +life in torment but oblivion, annihilation, the <q>second +death</q> (Rev. 21:8); that every one is, either in this life or +after the resurrection, to be brought to a full knowledge of +the Truth (1 Tim. 2:4); to receive some measure of the Holy +Spirit; that those who incur the extreme penalty for sin +will be only those who backslide beyond recovery. In full +conformity with Ezekiel's prophecy Pastor Russell taught +that <q>when a righteous man doth commit iniquity, he shall +die</q>—the Second Death. +</p> + +<p> +3:22. <hi rend='sans'>And the hand of the Lord was there upon me; and +He said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will +there talk with thee.</hi>—Ezekiel was impelled by the Holy +Spirit to depart from the river Chebar with its teeming +activities. Pastor Russell's consecration led him to separate +himself from commercial activities and to give his +life to the service of God. The hand of the Lord was upon +him to do this. The Lord's people, the Hebrews, mingled +with the Chaldeans, living in the plain—literally <q>vale</q> or +<q>valley.</q> Pastor Russell turned from ordinary avocations +to all the people dwelling in the Valley of the Shadow of +Death (Psa. 23:4); and in that condition God communed +with His true Watchman. Pastor Russell has been known +to pass entire nights in prayer, and go about his work the +next day as though nothing unusual had taken place.—Rev. +3:14. +</p> + +<p> +3:23. <hi rend='sans'>Then I arose, and went forth into the plain; and, +behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory +which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.</hi>—Continually +the vision was before Pastor Russell of the +character, plan and work of the Almighty. Daily he renewed +his covenant of consecration and daily sought to +carry it out. +</p> + +<p> +3:24. <hi rend='sans'>Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon +my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut +thyself within thine house.</hi>—A thought possesses propulsive +power, and must result in action unless hindered +by an opposing thought. The Spirit, thoughts, words of +<pb n='390'/><anchor id='Pg390'/> +God were continually entering, from the Bible, into Pastor +Russell's mind and setting him into action. All who have +set themselves apart to do the will of God and have received +the Holy Spirit, are members of Christ, in the +House of Sons (Heb. 3:6), the Royal Priesthood. In the +consecration of the typical priesthood, the priest shut himself +in the Tabernacle for seven days. (Lev. 8:33.) +(Seven symbolizes completeness.) So Christ and those in +Him abide continually in the antitypical Holy, the spirit-begotten +condition. Pastor Russell lived in the Spirit from +his consecration to his death. +</p> + +<p> +3:25. <hi rend='sans'>But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put +bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou +shalt not go out among them.</hi>—Each forward step in any +branch of knowledge renders institutions based on past +partial knowledge functionless; and consequently the adherents +and beneficiaries of such institutions oppose the +march of events. The clergy, trying to stem the tide of +Truth, to uphold an effete ecclesiasticism tottering to its +fall, put every restraint upon the influence of Pastor Russell; +but the bands upon him served also to bind the tares +more tightly into the organization bundles. (Matt. 13:30.) +In fulfillment of the prophetic parable the bundles are to +be destroyed in the anarchy about to ensue. Church members +have been urged to get rid of every scrap of paper +bearing the Message of Present Truth; the Truth has been +preached against in practically every church in the English, +German and Swedish speaking world; people have +been warned against reading the Truth; Truth people have +been discharged or refused employment; in Europe they +have been imprisoned at hard labor; some have been done +to death by firing squads; they have been forbidden to +hold meetings. Neither Pastor Russell nor his fellow-believers +were permitted to utter the Bible Truth before +the congregations of ecclesiasticism. It was not to go out +among <q>them,</q> and his greatest work was the deepening +of the spirit of consecration among those of the <q>House +of Sons.</q> +</p> + +<p> +3:26. <hi rend='sans'>And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of +thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to +them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.</hi>—It is +impossible to witness spiritual things to the carnally-minded +(1 Cor. 3:1; John 16:12). But Pastor Russell +never refrained from speaking or publishing the Word of +God. The Bible teaches that the service of God must be +of a willing heart. It is a privilege which may be accepted +or rejected, as the hearer desires. Yet to the worldly, +Pastor Russell was as <q>dumb</q>, for they would not hear. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='391'/><anchor id='Pg391'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 4—The Papal And Protestant Sieges</head> + +<p> +4:1. <hi rend='sans'>Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it +before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem.</hi>—In +Ezekiel's days, in Chaldea, a book was a collection +of inscribed tiles. The Laodicean servant was to be a +writer of books. In many articles and chapters on the +kingdoms of this world and their judgment and fall, and +that of their ecclesiastical, political and business systems, +Pastor Russell portrays Christendom, typically spoken of +as Jerusalem. It bore the Lord's name, but was defiled by +the evil practices of its inhabitants. (C. 295.) As a type, +Jerusalem represents particularly the ecclesiastical phase +of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +4:2. <hi rend='sans'>And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, +and cast a mount against it, set the camp also against +it, and set battering rams against it round about.</hi>—Ecclesiasticism +was to experience prolonged siege by a class +symbolized by Ezekiel. The siege was to be conducted by +Truth, encompassing the stronghold of the nominal city +of God. Beleaguered ecclesiasticism was to go through +experiences like that of a besieged city shut off from its +province, shorn of its actual dominion, while nominally +retaining it, cut off from the supplies that had flowed from +the tributary peoples. In addition to the slow weakening +of a close besiegement, it was to withstand occasional assaults, +make sorties and go through a period of warfare, +with only one possible end, the utter destruction of the +city. The besieged city was surrounded on every side with +a line of military works, trenches, palisades and forts, +collectively called a fort; from which, especially from the +principal center of offense, it was continually harassed by +wearing-down activities and assaulted by surprise attacks. +So ecclesiasticism was to be surrounded and placed on +the defensive, by strongly entrenched and fortified enemies. +<q>God is our fortress.</q> (2 Sam. 22:2.) It was to be done +by a class of progressive and liberty-loving Christians in +revolt against and attack upon the intolerance, superstition, +and tyranny of priestcraft. +</p> + +<p> +Ancient cities were surrounded by high walls, with frequent +towers for watchmen, spearmen, bowmen and +slingmen. The walls, in emergencies, were lined with such +<pb n='392'/><anchor id='Pg392'/> +fighters and with throwers of boulders and firebrands. The +attack was made upon a weak point in the wall; and an +earthen mound or mounds was cast up to furnish an +elevation from which to equalize for the besiegers the +advantages of the defenders. The walls of ecclesiasticism +are its defense of creeds and of formalism and, not least +of all, of the civil powers and the men who stand as a +bulwark against attack. A <q>mount</q> symbolizes a government. +(Dan. 2:44, 45.) The nation (mount) was organized, +militant Protestantism. The camp is the temporary +abiding place of those who are fighting on the Lord's side. +(Heb. 13:13.) A battering ram was a device for battering +down the wall of a city to make a breach for the attack +of the soldiery. Ecclesiasticism has surrounded itself with +walls of living stones, soldiers, police and other officers of +the civil powers who protect the churches and church +people (Isa. 59:10), educators to build up belief in ecclesiasticism, +writers to write articles and books, and a host +of other adherents and supporters. In the siege of ecclesiasticism +the Lord's yeomen have attacked aggressively +with books, newspapers, missionaries, lectures and education; +seeking to loosen and dislodge some of the living +stones surrounding organized error.—Jer. 6:6. +</p> + +<p> +4:3. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set +it for a wall of iron between thee and the city; and set thy +face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay +siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.</hi>—An +iron pan, literally a <q>thin plate,</q> was between besieging +Protestantism and beleaguered ecclesiasticism. +<q>They were holpen with a little help</q> (Dan. 11:34). The +civil powers were to stand as a wall of iron protecting the +Lord's people from the persecuting power of ruling priestcraft. +No breaches could be made in the wall. It was a +<q>wall of iron.</q> <q>No evil shall befall thee.</q> (Psa. 91:10.) +<q>Greater is He that is for thee than all these that be +against thee.</q> (2 Kings 6:16.) Iron, as in the iron claws +and teeth of the beast of Daniel, symbolizes the agencies +of an irresistible power. Turning the face toward or +against anything was a mark of favor or of disfavor. (Psa. +104:29.) The Lord's people were resolutely to disfavor +established ecclesiasticism and to besiege it from the +Reformation to the close of the Harvest. When Ezekiel +sees another doing something it usually signifies another +than Pastor Russell doing it, but may signify Pastor Russell +seeing himself, or the Ezekiel class. The Ezekiel +prophecy types and symbolizes Pastor Russell or the Reformer +class seeing Pastor Russell or the Reformer class +or some member of that class doing the thing typed or +<pb n='393'/><anchor id='Pg393'/> +symbolized. Here, the Protestant class from the Protestant +Reformation down through the Harvest period, is seen +systematically and effectually besieging established ecclesiasticism. +The house of Israel ordinarily meant the Hebrew +nation, the nominal fleshly house of Israel. The Hebrews +were divided into the ten tribes (Israel), thoroughly infected +with Pagan beliefs and practices, and the two tribes +(Judah), holding more closely to Jehovah. In antitype, +when both Israel and Judah are mentioned, and the +prophecy is intended for an antitypical fulfillment, Israel +signifies the Papacy and Judah signifies established +Protestantism. Here the sign was to be the whole nominal +house of Israel—all professing Christians, Catholics and +Protestants.—Z. '05-179. +</p> + +<p> +4:4. <hi rend='sans'>Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity +of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of +the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their +iniquity.</hi>—In verses 4 to 6 Israel and Judah are included +in the same picture, and signify Papacy and established, +corrupted Protestantism. The left side was a sign of less +favor. Romanism kept on in sin and kept adding, multiplying +evil deeds, until iniquity should come to the full (Gen. +15:16). A day in prophecy signifies a year in fulfillment. +(Num. 14:34.) Ezekiel here represents the reformer class +which had to endure the iniquities of Papacy, both by persecution +and by the shame of seeing professed Christians +believing grossest error. The iniquity of Papacy, the house +of Israel, lay in the fact that the Reformers had shown +them insistent proofs of their wrong course, and yet they +continued in their own way, heedless of the Divine warnings. +Hence less favor has been felt by Jehovah toward +them than toward Protestantism. +</p> + +<p> +4:5. <hi rend='sans'>For I have laid upon thee the years of their +iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred +and ninety days; so shalt thou bear the iniquity of +the house of Israel.</hi>—Upon the reform element was laid +the burden of seeing the dupes of Papal priestcraft continually +learning and living error. This was a burden upon +conscience, and was repugnant to the enlightened mind +of the reform element, known for centuries, in name at +least, as Protestant. Priestcraft of the larger division of +Christendom was to be under attack for 390 years, during +which time the besieging element, the reformers, were to +be protected from Papacy by the <q>iron wall</q> of the civil +powers. This began in 1528 and ends in 1918. The year +1528 is one of the turning points of history. Protestantism +in England and in Germany was in the balance. The sudden +rise of Charles V of Germany to great power had +<pb n='394'/><anchor id='Pg394'/> +emboldened Pope Clement to side with Charles. He induced +the Emperor to support a measure designed to limit +the spread of Protestantism, to be followed by its utter +destruction. Under the proposed law no Protestant was +to convert a Romanist to the reformed faith, nor would +it be allowable for Protestantism to spread to other countries. +It meant for all Protestants an end such as the +Huguenots came to in France, the suppression of the +Renaissance with its <q>increase of knowledge</q> (Dan. 12:4), +and the end of the prosperous and comparatively enlightened +civilization of modern times. The future of the whole +world, and of the Divine Plan, was at stake! A general +war was barely avoided to destroy Lutheranism. Philip +Landgrave of Saxony discovered the plot, took arms, and +in 1528 forced indemnity from a Catholic bishop. Other +princes of Germany stood with Philip. +</p> + +<p> +To quote from Dr. Peter Bayne, LL. D., the historian +(<q>Martin Luther</q>), page 486: <q>These (the princes of +the reformed faith) were inflexibly determined that the +decree of the majority should not be assented to. Philip +of Hesse, John of Saxony, Markgraf George the Pious of +Brandenburg-Anspach, the Dukes of Lunenburg and Brunswick, +the Prince of Anhalt, and the representatives of +Strasburg, Nurnberg and twelve other free cities, entered +a solemn protest against the prospective revolution. They +were called <hi rend='italic'>Protestants</hi>! All, to this hour, who claim that +Truth shall be unveiled, and that no Pope, or Kaiser, shall +congeal the ever-advancing stream of progress and improvement, +may take an honorable pride in tracing their +spiritual descent to the intrepid Philip and the magnanimous +and simple-hearted John.</q> (p. 481): <q>How thoroughly +is the whole pageant of that war, 1528, erased from +the memory of the present generation! And yet the effect +of those events is not yet exhausted; nor would it be +possible for any one without forming some comprehension +of them, to understand how link added itself to link in +the evolutionary chain of modern history.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Thus Germany set up the iron wall of civic defense +between the besieging Protestants and beleaguered Papacy. +In England, too, the other great empire which has stood +as an iron wall between the reform element and Papacy, +the break with Rome began to take form in 1528. This +was the year when Pope Clement appointed his legates, +Correggio and Wolsey, to conduct the divorce trial of +Queen Katherine of Aragon, at the behest of Henry VIII. +(Rev. 8:8, 9.) As God raised up a willful, stubborn +Pharaoh when He purposed to deliver the Hebrews from +Egypt, so He raised up the lustful Henry VIII as the agent +<pb n='395'/><anchor id='Pg395'/> +through whom the break should come between England +and Rome. <q>The natural result</q> [of Henry's divorce proceedings], +says A. F. Pollard, the historian, in his <q>Henry +VIII,</q> <q>was the separation of England from Rome.</q> Thus +did Divine wisdom use <q>the wrath of man to praise Him</q> +and cause the <q>iron wall</q> of the civil, military and naval +powers of the British Empire, Germany, and of the United +States, to stand an impregnable barrier against the persecuting +power of Great Babylon. Safe behind the iron wall, +the reform element was able to live and grow in its camp +and to keep up its siege of Roman Catholic priestcraft. +</p> + +<p> +4:6. <hi rend='sans'>And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again +on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the +house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day +for a year.</hi>—The right side signifies less disfavor than to +Papacy. The house of Judah represents Protestantism, the +Protestant churches. Until 1878, when cast off by the +returned and present Messiah, Protestantism enjoyed Divine +favor, just as the two tribes, collectively called Judah, +did as compared with the idolatrous ten tribes of Israel. +After 1874 the Present Truth took the form of a general +overhauling of creeds and the announcement of Christ's +Second Presence. This was unanimously rejected by the +Protestant churches; and organized Protestant ecclesiasticism +from 1878 on for forty years became the Judah of +this type, besieged on every side by the reform element, +under the leadership of the steward of Divine Truth, Pastor +Russell. Until 1918, Hebrew reckoning, beginning in +the fall of 1917, the civil powers continue as a <q>wall of +iron,</q> protecting the Lord's people in their witness against +error.—Rev. 3:14; B. 66, 91. +</p> + +<p> +4:7. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege +of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou +shalt prophesy against it.</hi>—The Ezekiel class, the true +Protestant reform class, during the 390 and the 40 years +set themselves to the attack upon priestcraft. Pastor +Russell seldom spoke without some words of objection to +or warning about ecclesiasticism. The arm symbolizes +power (E. <hi rend='italic'>50</hi>, 47) and the uncovering of the arm is as when +a man takes off his coat in attacking a task. The siege +was to be carried on with energy. The reform element +was to preach continually, not condoning or excusing +priestcraft, but directly and pointedly attacking it. +</p> + +<p> +4:8. <hi rend='sans'>And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou +shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast +ended the days of thy siege.</hi>—God bound His true people +to this work. The reform element were not to change +their attitude, but continually to keep at the attack upon +<pb n='396'/><anchor id='Pg396'/> +ecclesiastical corruption until the siege should end in 1918. +The Hebrew year 1918, begins in October, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +4:9. <hi rend='sans'>Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and +beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them +in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to +the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side; +three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.</hi>—These +grains represent different grades of spiritual food, +each kind of food to be eaten by the kind of Christian +represented by the food. Wheat represents the true Gospel +of the Kingdom, as in the parable of the sower (Matt. +13:1-30), and is the food of the Little Flock. Barley among +the Hebrews was little esteemed, for it was the price of +an adulteress. (Hos. 3:2.) It signifies the spiritual food +of a class guilty of spiritual adultery, unhallowed alliance +with the world in the bringing forth of <q>strange</q> children. +(Hos. 5:7.) Beans, lentiles, millet and fitches represent +grades of food inferior to wheat (which contains every +element to support life) and inferior even to barley. Their +continued use as foods, causes physical deficiencies, weaknesses +and disease. Lentiles are usually cultivated for +fodder. Millet is still inferior. Symbolically it represents +Christians who <q>have no depth of earth.</q> (Matt. 13:5.) +Vetches, sometimes called <q>tares</q> or <q>prickly spelt,</q> are +a very poor food. Their prickly nature suggests a type +of hard-to-get-along-with Christians, and the kind of mental, +moral and spiritual food that produces them. In with +some of the true wheat, in established churchianity, as +shown by verse 16, were to be gathered Christians of +various degrees of development, each eating the kind of +food corresponding to his Christian development, the wheat +class assimilating the best of the Divine Word, and so on +down to those who absorbed the poorest grade of spiritual +provender, some of it food usually regarded as fit only +for animals. This was the food the various classes should +subsist on, each according to his capacity, from 1528 to +1918, and from 1878 to 1918. +</p> + +<p> +4:10, 11. <hi rend='sans'>And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by +weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt +thou eat it. Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the +sixth part of a hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.</hi>—A +shekel was half an ounce; twenty shekels were ten +ounces. A hin was a gallon and a half. The sixth part +of a hin was one quart. This was the daily ration, a +starvation allowance. They were not to feed on it continuously, +but on Sundays, or two or three times a week—<q>from +time to time.</q> The people would, as a class, have +a scanty spiritual subsistence during the siege period. +</p> + +<pb n='397'/><anchor id='Pg397'/> + +<p> +4:12. <hi rend='sans'>And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou +shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their +sight.</hi>—Cakes, made of this mixture, were used by the very +poor in times of scarcity, depicting the scarcity of spiritual +food among the followers of ecclesiasticism. The poor, +not having stones or ovens, baked their bread or cakes +on heated stones or in the fire, or roasted them by placing +them between layers of dung, which burns slowly. Only +the dung of animals was used ordinarily. No insult or +defilement was greater than to turn a man's house into a +receptacle for human excrement. (Deut. 23:12-14.) Our +Lord associated human dung with <q>that which defileth a +man.</q> (Matt. 15:11.) Luther spoke of the <q>dunghill of +Roman decretals.</q> The human dung signifies human traditions, +clerical additions to the Word of God. +</p> + +<p> +4:13. <hi rend='sans'>And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children +of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, +whither I will drive them.</hi>—The spiritual food, poor as +the mixture was, was to be thoroughly defiled. +</p> + +<p> +4:14. <hi rend='sans'>Then said I, Ah Lord God! behold, my soul hath +not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now +have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn +in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my +mouth.</hi>—This typifies the heart desire of the reformer +class to keep clear of defiling errors. +</p> + +<p> +4:15. <hi rend='sans'>Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's +dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread +therewith.</hi>—The spiritual food would be unsavory enough. +</p> + +<p> +4:16. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, +I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; and they shall +eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink +water by measure; and with astonishment.</hi>—The type +enacted by Ezekiel was intended to depict spiritual conditions +in ecclesiasticism, Romish after 1528 A. D. and +Protestant after 1878 A. D., in Jerusalem (churchianity), +the besieged city, where there would be a famine of the +Word of God. As prophecies often have a literal as well +as a symbolic fulfillment, this refers also to the straitness +of the siege of literal Jerusalem and to the literal scarcity +of food in the Time of Trouble upon Christendom, with its +high cost of living, food dictators and food tickets.—Lev. +26:26. +</p> + +<p> +4:17. <hi rend='sans'>That they may want bread and water, and be +astonied one with another, and consume away for their +iniquity.</hi>—Like as people on poor food in starvation quantities +weaken and die, so Christians weaken and die spiritually +on the diet provided by priests and clergy. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='398'/><anchor id='Pg398'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 5—The Severed Hair Calamities</head> + +<p> +5:1. <hi rend='sans'>And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take +thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head +and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and +divide the hair.</hi>—This is located <q>after the days of the +siege</q> of Jerusalem, or in antitype after Romanism's and +Protestantism's siege is ended in 1918. It had a literal +fulfillment in 606 B. C. and is to have a literal and a +symbolic fulfillment in and after 1918. It depicts the several +kinds of troubles upon Christendom, and the causes +provoking them. The shaving of the head represents the +affliction of Christendom. (Isaiah 3:17, 20, 24; Jer. 7:29.) +The shaving of the beard was part of the ceremonial +treatment of a leper (Lev. 14:8, 9), and signifies that after +1918 Christendom will be treated by outraged Justice at +a moral leper, unclean with incurable iniquity, the perverseness, +which, in the face of continual preaching of the +Gospel, led up to the recent wars. +</p> + +<p> +Ezek. 5:2, 12, 16, 17, relate to features of the destruction +of literal Jerusalem in 606 B. C. and 70-73 A. D. and +of Christendom in 1914 to 1918 A. D. Since in verse 12 a +third part of the persons were to suffer death or affliction, +the hair in verses 1, 2 and 3 signifies the people in Jerusalem—Christendom. +In Samson's case the hair represented +his strength; and here the hair cut off signifies that +the people who are the strength of Christendom shall be +cut off in the brief but terribly eventful period beginning +in 1918 A. D. A third part are <q>burned with fire in the +midst of the city.</q> Fire symbolises destruction. One +large part of the adherents of ecclesiasticism win die from +pestilence and famine. (Deut. 32:24.) In 5:16, 17 the +shafts of hunger are represented as the evil arrows of +famine. The staff is that upon which one leans; the staff +of bread is the food supply of Christendom. In 1916 there +was already a 25 per cent. crop shortage throughout the +world, presaging worse conditions to come. In verse 18 +the evil beasts sent upon Christendom are the savage +<q>Christian</q> governments of the world (Deut. 32:24), which, +by unheard-of barbarity in war, are bereaving the people +by millions and causing bloodshed unparalleled in history. +</p> + +<pb n='399'/><anchor id='Pg399'/> + +<p> +5:2. <hi rend='sans'>Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst +of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and +thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a +knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and +I will draw out a sword after them.</hi>—A third part of the +hair was to be smitten with a knife. See 5:12. This represents +people not definitely in or under ecclesiasticism, +but associated with it, favoring it, and benefiting from it +These are to be smitten with the sword drawn for destruction +of life in the Time of Trouble. A considerable portion +of the people will be separated by the winds of warfare +and commotion from all connection with churchianity. +These have been connected with, sympathizers with, or +beneficiaries from churchianity. This class also will be +involved in the bloodshed of the <q>great tribulation.</q>—Matt. +24:21; Rev. 7:14. +</p> + +<p> +5:3, 4. <hi rend='sans'>Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, +and bind them in thy skirts. Then take of them again, +and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in +the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the +house of Israel.</hi>—To bind in the skirts is a symbol of close +affiliation. A few adherents of churchianity will affiliate +themselves with those believing Present Truth, but so +searching will be the circumstances of the trouble period +that none not at heart <q>in Present Truth</q> (2 Pet. 1:12) +will be able to remain in the protection overshadowing the +Lord's people. These few will be separated, and finally +become involved in the destruction upon all supporters of, +sympathizers with and beneficiaries of churchianity. Not +one shall escape; it will be upon <q>all the house of Israel.</q> +Babylon's conflagration will be hastened by the adherents +here described. After 1918 the people supporting churchianity +will cease to be its supporters, be destroyed as +adherents, by the spiritual pestilence of errors abroad, and +by the famine of the Word of God among them. The +Sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17), which is the Word of +God, will be wielded in the hands of <q>Present Truth</q> believers +in such a manner as to cause conscientious supporters +of ecclesiasticism to cease to be supporters. +</p> + +<p> +5:5. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have +set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are +round about her.</hi>—God, through the increase of knowledge, +the Renaissance, and the dynamic power of belief in the +Word of God, has set up Christendom on a pinnacle of +power in the midst of the heathen nations or the world. +</p> + +<p> +5:6. <hi rend='sans'>And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness +more than the nations, and my statutes more than +the countries that are round about her: for they have +<pb n='400'/><anchor id='Pg400'/> +refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not +walked in them.</hi>—God taught Christendom the principles +of Justice and gave her His law of Divine, self-sacrificing +love—<q>A new law, that ye love one another.</q> (John 13:34.) +Relatively to the light of Christendom and heathendom, +Christendom is far the more wicked; for, having the instructions, +exhortations and examples of the Bible, she +has both refused them and not walked in them. +</p> + +<p> +5:7. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye +multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, +and have not walked in My statutes, neither have kept My +judgments, neither have done according to the judgments +of the nations that are round about you.</hi>—Christendom under +the blessing of God has multiplied in material things +and in knowledge more than heathendom, and yet has not +only not walked in God's Law of Love, but has not lived +up to the standards of righteousness and justice of the +heathen. Chinese are more reliable in business engagements +than are Christians. Some tribes in Africa are more +moral sexually than are whites, and explorers have noted +the natural kindness of the negroes of Nyassa and Soudan. +</p> + +<p> +5:8. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God: behold, I, even +I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the +midst of thee in the sight of the nations.</hi>—Because of +Christendom's wickedness against light, God is against this +system calling itself by Christ's holy name, and will execute +upon it judgment of such unprecedented awfulness +as to constitute a lasting lesson to <q>uncivilized</q> peoples. +</p> + +<p> +5:9. <hi rend='sans'>And I will do in thee that which I have not done, +and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of +all thine abominations.</hi>—The punishments come because of +churchianity's illicit union of church and state, termed +spiritual <q>fornication</q> (Rev. 17:2); her licensing of liquor, +vice and crime; her doctrines of devils (1 Tim. 4:1), such +as eternal torment, inherent immortality and Trinity; her +desolating abomination in the Romish mass (Matt. 24:15); +and her Phariseeism in the face of wilful butchery of +millions. +</p> + +<p> +5:10, 11. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the +midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I +will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of +thee will I scatter into all the winds. Wherefore, as I +live, saith the Lord God; Surely, because thou hast defiled +My Sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all +thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; +neither shall Mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.</hi>—The +Hebrew sanctuary or temple typed the Christian +Sanctuary class, the Church of living stones (1 Pet. 2:5), +<pb n='401'/><anchor id='Pg401'/> +the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16, 17.) True +Christianity, pure in apostolic days, was defiled (2 Chr. +36:14) with practices and doctrines detestable and abominable +to God, until now it is termed <q>the great whore,</q> +(apostate church of Romanism) and the daughters <q>harlots</q> +(Protestant churches). (Rev. 17:5.) Divine Justice +will not spare nor pity, until upon Christendom has been +visited all the righteous blood of hundreds of millions of +victims of her long centuries of unchristian wars and persecutions. +</p> + +<p> +5:12, 13. <hi rend='sans'>A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, +and with famine shall they be consumed in the +midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword +round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all +the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thus +shall Mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause My +fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they +shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in My zeal, +when I have accomplished My fury in them.</hi>—Job hoped +for the time when God's wrath should be past. (Job 14:13.) +The wrath of God will be over forever when this trouble +time is past. (Isa. 10:25.) Divine Justice will be comforted, +will rest, having accomplished its sentence of +death, with the accompaniments of sickness, sorrow, tears +and degradation, mental, moral and physical, upon the +human race. +</p> + +<p> +5:14-17. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach +among the nations that are round about thee, in +the sight of all that pass by. So it shall be a reproach and +a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations +that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments +in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. +I the Lord have spoken it. When I shall send upon them +the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, +and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase +the famine upon you, and will break your staff of +bread: So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, +and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall +pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. +I the Lord have spoken it.</hi>—Christendom is to be laid waste +by war, revolution, anarchy, famine (Luke 21:26), and +pestilence, from end to end. Her vaunted and envied eminence +will pass, through self-destruction, due to false ideals +of honor, into a desolation causing the taunts and reproaches +of the heathen, and being to the heathen nations +a cause of astonishment and source of instruction. The +fury of God's anger against her appears in the expression +<q>in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='402'/><anchor id='Pg402'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 6—Sword—Famine—Pestilence</head> + +<p> +6:1-4. <hi rend='sans'>And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, +Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, +and prophesy against them, and say, Ye mountains of +Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the +Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers +and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword +upon you, and I will destroy your high places. And your +altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: +and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.</hi>—This +chapter relates to the Divine wrath, after 1918 A. D., +upon the governments, symbolically called <q>mountains and +hills,</q> and the rivers, the denominations. +</p> + +<p> +6:5-7. <hi rend='sans'>And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children +of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones +round about your altars. In all your dwelling places the +cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be +desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made +desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your +images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. +And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye +shall know that I am the Lord.</hi>—All state churches are to be +destroyed, literally by the sword, and by the truth about +them in the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit. (2 Ki. +23:13-22.) At the tops of the hills and mountains, +the governments, are the altars, the centers of the nation's +worship. Great sacrifices are made by the masses to maintain +these altars. +</p> + +<p> +6:8. <hi rend='sans'>Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some +that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye +shall be scattered through the countries.</hi>—Heathendom will +be the safest place on earth in the time of Zion's travail! +(Jer. 44:28.) +</p> + +<p> +6:9. <hi rend='sans'>And they that escape of you shall remember Me +among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, +because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath +departed from Me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring +after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the +<pb n='403'/><anchor id='Pg403'/> +evils which they have committed in all their abominations.</hi>—God +has completely broken relations with the churches, +which with heart and eye have <q>departed from Me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +6:10. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that +I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.</hi>—After +the trouble is over, the survivors will have a thousand +years in which to recognize the hand of God. +</p> + +<p> +6:11. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; Smite with thine hand, +and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil +abominations of the house of Israel: for they shall fall by +the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.</hi>—The +attitude of the Lord's true people, <q>the mourners in Zion</q> +(Isa. 61:3), is that of righteous indignation against the +abominations of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +6:12. <hi rend='sans'>He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and +he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth +and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will +I accomplish My fury upon them.</hi>—In spite of the manifest +judgments of God, the devotees of Mystic Babylon, <q>Christians,</q> +will not turn to God but, while doing reverence and +rendering service to their altars and idols, will be overtaken +by literal sword, famine and pestilence (Jer. 15:2) +and by the spiritual Sword of the Spirit, by starvation +from the lack of God's Word, and by pestilential doctrines.—Psa. +91:6, 7. +</p> + +<p> +6:13. <hi rend='sans'>Then shall ye know that I am the Lord, when their +slain men shall be among their idols round about their +altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, +and under every green tree, and under every thick +oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their +idols.</hi>—In the Roman and Greek churches the idols, images +and ikons are literal. There are other idols in all the +churches—power, prestige, social position, clerical honor, +gold, worldly education, etc. As in the Tabernacle types, +zealous, obedient sacrifice caused a <q>sweet savor</q> to rise +to God, so the same service raises a sweet savor to the +idols of Christendom. The <q>green trees</q> and <q>thick oaks</q> +were favorite objects of idolatry (Jer. 2:20; Hos. 4:13), +and typed the worship of prominent preachers and other +men.—Psalm 37:35. +</p> + +<p> +6:14. <hi rend='sans'>So will I stretch out My hand upon them, and +make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness +toward Diblath, in all their habitations; and they shall +know that I am the Lord.</hi>—Christendom is to be made +more desolate than the wilderness surrounding Palestine, +wiped off the face of the earth, to make way for the New +Order of things, <q>the world to come</q> (Heb. 2:5), <q>wherein +dwelleth righteousness.</q>—2 Pet. 3:13. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='404'/><anchor id='Pg404'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 7—Dawn Of The Evil Day</head> + +<p> +7:1-6. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, +saying, Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God +unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the +four corners of the land. Now is the end come upon thee, +and I will send Mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee +according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all +thine abominations. And Mine eye shall not spare thee, +neither will I have pity; but I will recompense thy ways +upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst +of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Thus saith +the Lord God; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come. An +end is come, the end is come; it watcheth for thee; behold, +it is come.</hi>—Chapter 7 includes what Ezekiel saw in +type and what the Ezekiel class now sees in antitype—the +destruction of the symbolic earth (the social order), and +the causes therefor; the escape of the remnant who will +pass alive through the trouble into the better order of +things; the defilement and destruction of God's <q>ornament,</q> +Christendom; and the binding and destruction of +the rule of wicked might. Pastor Russell's mission, in +large part, was to advise Christendom of its impending +end, in the time of world-wide trouble. It is the Divine +judgment upon the nations. They reap as they have +sown. In times past God winked at the iniquity of men +(Acts 17:30); but now evil shall receive its just recompense +in the wrath of long-insulted Justice. It will be a +period of unmixed evil upon Christendom, the purpose of +which will be to demonstrate to men's certain knowledge +that <q>thy God reigneth.</q> (Isa. 52:7.) There will be no +chance of escaping from destruction, though the nations—as +in cases of Germany, the Allies and the United States—earnestly +seek in vain for some way of securing peace. +The trouble is due to the dawning of the Day of Christ, +the Millennium. It is the Day of Vengeance, which began +in the world war of 1914 and which will break like a +furious morning storm in 1918.—Lam. 4:18. +</p> + +<p> +7:7-9. <hi rend='sans'>The morning is come unto thee, O thou that +dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble +is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. +<pb n='405'/><anchor id='Pg405'/> +Now will I shortly pour out My fury upon thee, and accomplish +Mine anger upon thee; and I will judge thee +according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all +thine abominations. And Mine eye shall not spare, neither +will I have pity; I will recompense thee according to thy +ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; +and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.</hi>—The +chiefest sufferers will be those setting affections on +earthly things, earth dwellers and earth lovers. Steep +mountain valleys are full of echoing sounds, falling trees, +dislodged rocks, avalanches, landslides, waterfalls, or the +thunders of local storms. Earth's nations have been resounding +for centuries with local wars, seditions, revolutions, +famine and pestilence. (A. 318.) These passed away; +but the present commotion and impending revolution and +anarchy will not cease, but will spread and increase until +this order of things is destroyed. +</p> + +<p> +7:10. <hi rend='sans'>Behold the Day, behold it is come: the Morning +is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.</hi>—<q>Pride +goeth before destruction.</q> (Prov. 16:18.) Human +pride [among kaisers, clergy, labor leaders, and capitalists], +has budded, blossomed forth into acts that will bring destruction. +The rod is a symbol of authority. Organized +authority is perverted from its Divinely appointed function +of restraint and punishment of crime into a ruthless rule +of might and bloodshed. +</p> + +<p> +7:11. <hi rend='sans'>Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness; +none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of +any of theirs; neither shall there be wailing for them.</hi>—Those +who rule by violence shall be utterly rooted out of +the earth in the Time of Trouble, unhonored and unwept +(Jer. 16:4-6), accursed for the evil they have wrought. +The clergy, for whom many would even have died in the +past, but who have preached the people into this war and +into the world's ruin, will become objects of popular hatred. +</p> + +<p> +7:12. <hi rend='sans'>The time is come, the Day draweth near; let not +the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is upon +all the multitude thereof.</hi>—The year 1918, with its fearful +revolutions and succeeding anarchy, is at the door. +</p> + +<p> +7:13. <hi rend='sans'>For the seller shall not return to that which is +sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching +the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; +neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his +life.</hi>—This indicates the languishing and eventual decline +and cessation of business. (Isa. 33:8.) Symbolically, it +represents the ceasing of the clergy from <q>selling</q> religion +and the people from buying. <q>Success consists in +knowing how to be discreetly dishonest</q> is now a common +<pb n='406'/><anchor id='Pg406'/> +rule of practice; but the time is at hand when iniquitous +practices and precepts will no longer profit any. +</p> + +<p> +7:14. <hi rend='sans'>They have blown the trumpet, even to make all +ready; but none goeth to the Battle; for My wrath is upon +all the multitude thereof.</hi>—There are other trumpets than +the trumpet of Truth. Established error has its trumpet +message. Ecclesiasticism, capitalism, and governments together +have blown the trumpet of the Divine right of +kings, magnates, and clergy, of the civic-betterment gospel +and of <q>preparedness.</q> Labor leaders have rallied the +people to fight for their unions. Trumpet messages will +summon the people of the world to yet other strife. But +so furious and heart-breaking will be the trouble that none +will have the spirit to respond. There is a hint here that +conscription will meet with opposition. +</p> + +<p> +7:15. <hi rend='sans'>The sword is without, and the pestilence and the +famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the +sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence +shall devour him.</hi>—Worldly people in Christendom, not professors +of Christianity, will be pressed into the active fighting +of the Time of Trouble and will perish. (Deut. 32:25; +Jer. 14:18.) Those in the city refer to the professors of +Christianity—church members. +</p> + +<p> +7:16. <hi rend='sans'>But they that escape of them shall escape, and +shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of +them mourning, every one for his iniquity.</hi>—There will be +survivors of the Time of Trouble who will live on into +the Millennium proper. Those of dove-like character will +be most likely to survive. The dove has a mournful note. +This class will appreciate their iniquity, repent of it and +pray for forgiveness and deliverance.—E. <hi rend='italic'>231</hi>, 212. +</p> + +<p> +7:17. <hi rend='sans'>All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be +weak as water.</hi>—The hands symbolize power. The people +of Christendom will realize their helplessness. The extremity +of the situation will weaken the strongest.—Zeph. +1:14; A. 315. +</p> + +<p> +7:18. <hi rend='sans'>They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, +and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all +faces, and baldness upon all their heads.</hi>—In mourning for +their dead, men's minds and hearts will revolt at the horrors +of the calamity. All will realize with shame that by +drunkenness with Babylon's mixed teachings (Rev. 17:2) +they have brought the trouble on themselves. In grief +the Hebrews shaved the head.—Isa. 3:24. +</p> + +<p> +7:19. <hi rend='sans'>They shall cast their silver in the streets, and +their gold shall be removed; their sliver and their gold +shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath +of the Lord; they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill +<pb n='407'/><anchor id='Pg407'/> +their bowels; because it is the stumbling-block of their +iniquity.</hi>—With the demonetization of silver, gold has become +as a thing unclean (is losing its purchasing power). +All forms of money, bonds, stocks and valuables will be +worthless when governments are gone and whole nations +are starving. (D. 45.) There was a literal fulfillment of this +Scripture in 1898 when in Italy a miller who had publicly +thanked the Virgin for dear bread, literally threw gold +and silver to a crowd in the streets in a vain endeavor to +pacify them. They demanded his life and took it.—Z. '98-331. +</p> + +<p> +7:20. <hi rend='sans'>As for the beauty of His ornament, He set it in +majesty; but they made the images of their abominations +and of their detestable things therein; therefore have I set it +far from them.</hi>—<q>Jerusalem is a crown of glory and a +royal diadem</q>. (Isa. 62:3.) Christianity, the embryonic +Kingdom of God, was originally <q>His ornament,</q> in the +apostolic age of the Church. Literal images were set up +by the Hebrews in secret places, and to this day are worshipped +by Romanists literally. Romanists and Protestants +alike worship the images of world-power, wealth, state-church +affiliation, clergy lordship, eternal torment, human +immortality and trinity, all alike detestable to a jealous +God. The actual ornament of God, His jewel, His diadem, +is the true Church, composed mostly of the poor, rich in +faith (Jas. 2:5)—of the reform element who since 1878 have +been withdrawing from ecclesiasticism and coming to God. +</p> + +<p> +7:21. <hi rend='sans'>And I will give it into the hands of the strangers +for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and +they shall pollute it.</hi>—The nominal jewel, churchianity, has +become the prey of clerical and social anarchists.—D. 550. +</p> + +<p> +7:22. <hi rend='sans'>My face will I turn also from them, and they shall +pollute My secret place; for the robbers shall enter into +it, and defile it.</hi>—The secret place is the condition of consecration, +which an apostate clergy pollute by misrepresentations, +such as that bravery in battle, suffering in the +trenches, devotion to a falling order of things (Hab. 2:13), +win a place in Heaven—won only by loyal devotion to +God's Word, and by the spirit-begotten alone. <q>I am the +Door. He that entereth in by another way is a robber.</q>—John +10:1. +</p> + +<p> +7:23. <hi rend='sans'>Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody +crimes, and the city is full of violence.</hi>—Bind, unite them +together, let the Divinely (!) appointed clergy and the governments +for which they stand sponsor, make common +cause. (D. 550.) Christendom is full of the beastly crimes of +the most barbarous warfare ever known. A city symbolizes +a government. +</p> + +<pb n='408'/><anchor id='Pg408'/> + +<p> +7:24. <hi rend='sans'>Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, +and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the +pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall +be defiled.</hi>—Macaulay, the English historian, spoke of +America as destined to be destroyed by its own Huns and +Vandals, the unassimilated, uncivilized elements, especially +of the cities. The anarchistic masses will literally live in +the houses of the erstwhile rulers and prominent people. +The display of power and magnificence of the strong one, +Satan, the alleged eternal-torment God, and the devil-worshipers +of Christendom shall cease. Literally, the +churches, Y. M. C. A.'s, monasteries and convents, supposedly +holy, will be defiled by the impious. +</p> + +<p> +7:25. <hi rend='sans'>Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, +and there shall be none.</hi>—There shall be no peace with +God, or peace among the conflicting elements of society. +</p> + +<p> +7:26. <hi rend='sans'>Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour +shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the +prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and +counsel from the ancients.</hi>—Literally <q>accident upon accident</q> +will befall the affairs of Christendom. (Jer. 4:29.) +The people, wild with perplexity, will seek to the clergy for +an understanding of the world-holocaust; but the true Law, +the Word of God, has departed from a clergy more learned +in church politics and money-raising schemes than in the +Bible. The ancients, the <q>reverends,</q> college professors +and savants do not know what counsel to give to meet the +crisis.—Isa. 29:9-14. +</p> + +<p> +7:27. <hi rend='sans'>The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be +clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of +the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their +way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and +they shall know that I am the Lord.</hi>—Satan shall mourn +the downfall of his power, as will the heads of the savage, +beastly governments under his control. (Matt. 4:8, 9.) +<q>The exalted one</q> or prince, Satan's chief representative +among men, is the pope; and he, with his princes, cardinals, +archbishops, bishops, priests and clergy, shall see the +desolation due to their work. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>O thou of little faith, who dost thou fear?</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>The tempest hath no power when I am near;</l> +<l>Will not the angry waves be still at My command?</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Step out, I'll hold thy hand,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Then, wherefore dost thou fear?</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='409'/><anchor id='Pg409'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 8—Molech, The Torment Deity</head> + +<p> +8:1. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth +month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, +and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of +the Lord God fell there upon me.</hi>—Chapters 8 to 24 continue +the recital of the sins of Jerusalem, Christendom, and +the Divine punishment to be inflicted on her. Chapter 8 +refers literally to the temple, and its defilement by the +seating of an idol of Baal at the door near the Brazen Altar, +by the desecration of its interior with symbols of Egyptian +heathenism and by the practicing of heathen worship +within the temple. This types the condition of the spiritual +Temple of God, <q>which Temple ye are</q>, the Church of +God, originally pure and holy, but defiled by the clergy +with pagan practices. The type refers back to 2 Chronicles +33:1-9, where King Manasseh established heathen +worship throughout Palestine, set up a carved image in +Solomon's temple and <q>made Judah and the inhabitants +of Jerusalem to err and to do worse than the heathens +whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of +Israel.</q> This resulted in Manasseh's overthrow at the +hands of the Assyrians. The name Manasseh means <q>causing +forgetfulness.</q> He typed Satan, the god of this world, +who, by his lying deceptions has made professing Christians +forget God. Satan's chief <q>angel of light</q> is the pope +of Rome, ably seconded in keeping the people in the dark +by the cardinals, bishops, priests, monks and sisters of +apostate Rome and by the bishops and ministers of an +apostate Protestantism. These keep <q>their people</q> from +real Bible study, and encourage them in their forgetfulness +of God and their individual obligations to God, the +Word of God, to fellow-Christians and to the world. The +house is the House of the Sons of God, the consecrated. +The elders, chosen by the people, represented all the people. +The Protestant clergy continually sat before the Lord's +steward, could not pick up a paper that they did not see +his sermons in it; but they would not hear his words, and +they rejected him and the truths which he so plainly and +so kindly stated. +</p> + +<pb n='410'/><anchor id='Pg410'/> + +<p> +8:2, 3. <hi rend='sans'>Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance +of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, +fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance +of brightness, as the colour of amber. And He put +forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of mine +head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and +the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, +to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward +the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, +which provoketh to jealousy.</hi>—Through the illumination of +the Holy Spirit, the Ezekiel class is now taken up mentally +into the powers of spiritual control, to discern the significance +of the evil done by Satan and the clergy. They are +brought to Jerusalem the anti-typical, to consider established +priestcraft. They are brought to the door of the +inner gate, the gate of the altar between the people's court +and priest's court—(the same as the Tabernacle court.) +They are brought to the antitypical Temple, to the Chord +of God, to the Lord's people—<q>Ye are the Temple of God</q>. +(1 Cor. 3:16.) <q>I am the Door</q> (John 10:9.) The Door +represents Christ, through whom all that enter must come. +The North symbolizes the seat of Divine government, the +spiritual phase of the Kingdom. (Isa. 14:13.) The Door, +Christ, looks toward, tends toward spiritual things. Those +that enter through Christ are expected to look forward +from the condition of belief to that of full consecration, +the spirit-begotten condition. In the Door, in the very +place of Christ, Manasseh, type of the devil, and an +apostate clergy set up an idol, an image of the Devil himself. +Those who thereafter entered the court had to worship +the image, typing that under clergy rule all entering +the church, the condition of belief, had to do honor to +Satan, whose seat of chief power is at Rome, and whose +influence spreads wherever the clergy class is found. +</p> + +<p> +The word <q>Baal</q> means <q>Lord.</q> The clergy have set +themselves as lords over God's heritage (1 Pet. 5:3), the +Church. By perversion of the plain meaning of literal +Bible statements, they have set up in the place of God the +deity of the Devil. This God of Romanism and Protestantism +is not one, but three; he inflicts tortures eternal; his +favor can be bought for money; he dwells in earthly buildings +(Acts 7:48), which are consecrated to him; he teaches +the direct opposite of the Word of God—that the dead are +alive; he favors spiritual adultery—the union of the church +with the governments of this world; he fosters lordship of +the clergy class. The clergy's God is plainly not Jehovah, +but the ancient deity, hoary with the iniquities of ages—Baal—the +Devil himself. God pity the clergy, who have so +<pb n='411'/><anchor id='Pg411'/> +long deceived themselves and the people with their <q>carved +image, the work of their own hands!</q> <q>I am jealous for +Zion with a great jealousy.</q> (Zech. 1:14.) <q>I, Jehovah, +thy God, am a jealous God.</q> (Ex. 20:5.) There is little +wonder that the literal typical Baal of the Jews and the +anti-typical eternal-torment God of the clergy should provoke +Jehovah to jealousy. +</p> + +<p> +8:4. <hi rend='sans'>And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was +there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.</hi>—The +usual place of the Shekinah Light was in the Most Holy +between the cherubim above the golden Mercy Seat. It +was from this glory that fire came out at times like lightning +to consume and destroy iniquitous offenders. (Lev. +10:2.) It bodes ill for the devotees of the eternal-torment +god that the glory of Jehovah has come out against them. +</p> + +<p> +8:5, 6. <hi rend='sans'>Then said He unto me, Son of man, lift up thine +eyes now the way toward the North. So I lifted up mine +eyes the way toward the North, and behold northward at +the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. He +said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what +they do? even the great abominations that the house of +Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from My +sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater +abominations.</hi>—It is needless to look for abominations far +off when such an abomination has been set up by <q>impudent +children</q> at the very door of the Church. +</p> + +<p> +8:7. <hi rend='sans'>And He brought me to the door of the court; and +when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.</hi>—In Solomon's +temple the court of the priests was surrounded not by a +simple wall, but by a row of rooms or chambers where the +priests and Levites stayed. The hole in the wall was an +opening or window into one of the chambers. +</p> + +<p> +8:8. <hi rend='sans'>Then said He unto me, Son of man, dig now in the +wall, and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.</hi>—The +wall was the wall of secrecy, misrepresentation and deception, +by reason of which the pagan practices and beliefs +of various classes of professed Christians were hidden from +publicity and consequent popular judgment. A little was +known about them, represented by the little hole in the +wall. It is the work of the Ezekiel class to dig through +the wall and throw the light on these hidden things. The +time has come for judgment, and for everything that is +done in a chamber to be proclaimed from the housetops. +(Luke 12:3.) Once the wall of secrecy is dug through, the +door is open to see whatever transpires. +</p> + +<p> +8:9. <hi rend='sans'>And He said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked +abominations that they do here.</hi>—The court typifies the condition +of faith—tentative justification. The chambers +<pb n='412'/><anchor id='Pg412'/> +surrounded the court. They symbolize the condition of +those who profess faith and justification, but whose lives +and beliefs contradict their professions. +</p> + +<p> +8:10. <hi rend='sans'>So I went in and saw; and behold every form of +creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols +of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.</hi>—To +the Egyptians, artistic portrayals of creatures had a +religious significance. All kinds of living creatures were +worshipped. Chief of these was the bull Apis, which symbolized +life and especially the power of procreation. The +devotees of the antitype are never so happy as when giving +life to new spiritual offspring. The children thus begotten +are mostly tares. But few of them have the life that comes +from consecration to the Word of God. The revivalist and +the clergy care little for any begotten of the Word of God +and do little to help them grow up in Christ. They grow, +if at all, like starved, neglected children. As the service of +this worship could be conducted only by the regular priests +of Egypt, so the antitypical work can be done only by the +man-made clergy class of the world (Egypt) and those +<q>ordained</q> by them. Among the creeping things, objects +of worship, was the fly—the evangelist. (Rev. 16:2.) The +prince of the flies was Beelzebub. Flies breed in and feed +upon the <q>dung hill of Popish decretals</q> and other <q>traditions +of men.</q> They never get far above earthly things, +but circulate in the lower strata of the air—ecclesiasticism. +They bite and annoy both worldly people and the Lord's +people, as did the plague of flies in Egypt, and are specially +persistent in the humid condition of a rain—a downpour of +Truth. These, like all clergy-approved workers, are looked +up to, worshipped by the people of Christendom. Other +creeping things that fly signify degrading of forbidden beliefs +and practices, attractive, garbed in the cloak of religion, +under church auspices, as typed by their flying in +the air, ecclesiastical powers; but they are displeasing to +God and tending toward death. +</p> + +<p> +8:11. <hi rend='sans'>And there stood before them seventy men of the +ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them +stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his +censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.</hi>—Worshipping +the pictured images were the elders, or ancients, +appointed by and representing all the people of +Jerusalem. Jaazaniah was a Levite, typical of a believer in +Christ. The word Shaphan means <q>sly</q>, and suggests the +slyness of the adherents of wrong beliefs. Jaazaniah +means <q>God is listening,</q> and signifies the fact that whatever +<q>Christian</q> sinners may say, God is actually paying +attention. The censer was used to carry the fire in which +<pb n='413'/><anchor id='Pg413'/> +incense was burned. (Rev. 8:3.) It types the bearing of +the fiery trials signified by the fire. The devotees of error +suffer in its behalf, as Truth people suffer for the Truth. +Incense types the heart's best endeavors, here wrongly +directed by many professing Christians in the service of +Satan, as were Saul's in persecuting Christians. (Acts +22:3, 4.) Tares are often more devoted to their errors than +are the Lord's people to the Truth. <q>The children of this +world are wiser in their generation than the children of +light.</q> (Luke 16:8.) It was unlawful for a Hebrew to +burn incense, except as in the regular temple service. It +is an abomination for a professing Christian to put forth +his heart's best endeavors except in the service of God. +</p> + +<p> +8:12. <hi rend='sans'>Then said He unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen +what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, +every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, +The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.</hi>—These +departures from true Christian belief are carried +on <q>in the dark.</q> (John 3:19.) Every tare, imitation +Christian, has his own peculiar beliefs and practices in +<q>the chamber of his imagery,</q> his mind. Because God +knows how to defer retribution until the Day of Judgment +(2 Pet. 2:9), these unwise ones delude themselves that the +All-Seeing One does not see. Those not familiar with the +Divine Plan of the Ages, seeing the conditions of savage +war trending into worse things, apparently have the delusion +that the Lord has forsaken the earth. +</p> + +<p> +8:13, 14. <hi rend='sans'>He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and +thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then +He brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house +which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women +weeping for Tammuz.</hi>—Tammuz means <q>perfect (tam) by +burning</q> (muz). He was a heathen god whose death was +lamented annually by women idolaters. He was the god of +fire worship, the same as Molech, to whom children were +burned alive. He types the eternal-torment-purgatory God, +who perfects (supposedly) by the fires of purgatory. The +women weeping for him typify the once-virgin churches, +who honor the alleged hell-fire god and lament the ones +in the fire. There is a unity of heathen religions with +apostate <q>Christianity</q> which stamps them all as pagan. +The original heathen god was Nimrod, <q>the mighty hunter</q> +of Gen. 10:8-14, where is related the origin of Babylon and +Ninevah. Nimrod led men and women from the true religion +of devout Noah into gross sensuality and neglect of +the worship of Jehovah. He was beloved by fallen women. +For his iniquitous influence, Nimrod was condemned to +death by the council of judges; and his dead body was +<pb n='414'/><anchor id='Pg414'/> +cut into pieces, which were sent to all parts of the inhabited +world, with the threat of death to any who practiced +his evil ways. Nimrod married his own mother, Semiramis, +so that, in a sense, he was his own father and his +own son. Here was the origin of the Trinity doctrine. +</p> + +<table rend="latexcolumns: 'p{1.5cm} p{1.5cm} p{1.5cm} p{1.5cm}'; tblcolumns: 'lw(16) lw(16) lw(16) lw(16)'"> +<row><cell>Nation</cell><cell>Father-Husband</cell><cell>Son</cell><cell>The Woman</cell></row> +<row><cell></cell></row> +<row><cell>Asia</cell><cell></cell><cell>Decius</cell><cell>Cybele</cell></row> +<row><cell>Assyria</cell><cell>Winged bull</cell></row> +<row><cell>Babylonia</cell><cell>Lord of Heaven</cell></row> +<row><cell>Babylonia</cell><cell>Ninus</cell><cell>Tammuz</cell><cell>Queen of Heaven</cell></row> +<row><cell>Chaldea</cell><cell>Bal</cell><cell></cell><cell>Ishtar</cell></row> +<row><cell>Chaldea</cell><cell>Cahna-Bel (Cannibal)</cell><cell>The Seed</cell></row> +<row><cell>Chaldea</cell><cell>Molech</cell><cell></cell><cell>Ashtaroth</cell></row> +<row><cell>Chaldea</cell><cell>Zoroaster</cell><cell>The Seed of the Fire</cell></row> +<row><cell>China</cell><cell></cell><cell>Child</cell><cell>Madonna</cell></row> +<row><cell>Egypt</cell><cell>Apis bull</cell><cell></cell><cell>Cow of Athor</cell></row> +<row><cell>Egypt</cell><cell>Osiris</cell><cell>Horus</cell><cell>Isis</cell></row> +<row><cell>English</cell><cell>The Devil</cell></row> +<row><cell>Greece</cell><cell>Bacchus</cell><cell></cell><cell>Rhea</cell></row> +<row><cell>Greece</cell><cell>Capricornus</cell><cell></cell><cell>Astarte</cell></row> +<row><cell>Greece</cell><cell>Kissos</cell><cell></cell><cell>Mother of gods</cell></row> +<row><cell>Greece</cell><cell>Kronos</cell><cell></cell><cell>Aphrodite</cell></row> +<row><cell>Greece</cell><cell>Orion</cell><cell>Babe</cell><cell>Ceres</cell></row> +<row><cell>Greece</cell><cell>Saturn</cell><cell></cell><cell>Venus</cell></row> +<row><cell>Greece</cell><cell></cell><cell>Plutus</cell><cell>Irene</cell></row> +<row><cell>India</cell><cell>Vishnu</cell><cell>Christina</cell></row> +<row><cell>India</cell><cell></cell><cell>Tsi</cell><cell>Eswara</cell></row> +<row><cell>Italy</cell><cell>Pope</cell><cell></cell><cell>Virgin Mary</cell></row> +<row><cell>Japan</cell><cell></cell><cell>Child</cell><cell>Madonna</cell></row> +<row><cell>Nineveh</cell><cell>Nimrod</cell><cell>Nimrod</cell><cell>Semiramis</cell></row> +<row><cell>Palestine</cell><cell>Baal</cell></row> +<row><cell>Persia</cell><cell>Sun</cell><cell></cell><cell>Moon</cell></row> +<row><cell>Persia</cell><cell>Sun God</cell></row> +<row><cell>Persia</cell><cell></cell><cell>Child</cell><cell>Madonna</cell></row> +<row><cell>Philistia</cell><cell>Dagon</cell></row> +<row><cell>Rome</cell><cell>Jupiter</cell><cell>Jupiter Puer</cell><cell>Fortuna</cell></row> +<row><cell>Scandinavia</cell><cell>Woden</cell><cell>Thor</cell><cell>Frieda</cell></row> +<row><cell>Thibet</cell><cell></cell><cell>Child</cell><cell>Madonna</cell></row> +</table> + +<pb n='415'/><anchor id='Pg415'/> + +<p> +The practices of Nimrod were continued in secret by +Semiramis; and as every caution had to be taken, the +things done were veiled in mystery. Each act and person +was represented only in symbols known to the initiated. +Here originated the various secret societies, with their +blood-curdling oaths of secrecy—Masonry, Oddfellowship, +Jesuitism, Knights of Malta, and so on. These are lineal +descendants of the <q>mysteries</q> of pagan sensuality, all of +them abominations to God. Semiramis, to further her +schemes, pretended that Nimrod, the father-son, had been +raised from the dead in the form of the sun, which thus +became an object of worship. She represented herself as +the moon, which was also adored. This was the original +Trinity—Nimrod the father, Nimrod, or Tammuz, the son +and Semiramis the mother, the power, or spirit, back of all. +As the people multiplied and scattered they took with them +this heathen Trinity which appears in various nations in +the partial list shown on the preceding page. +</p> + +<p> +These under inspiration of the Devil, put the false seed +of the woman—Nimrod, Tammuz, etc.,—in the stead of the +true Seed, pushed Jehovah aside, then into the background, +and then out altogether. The Devil, through the Pope of +Rome, substituted forms of paganism for the simplicity of +true Christianity. <q>Such things are,</q> says Cardinal Newman, +<q>the very instruments and appendages of demon worship,</q> +but <q>sanctified by adoption into the church.</q> Roman +Catholicism is a heathen religion. Protestantism also +worships Molech, the fire god, Tammuz, the deity of torture, +whom popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, clergy, ministers, +and laymen unite in honoring and worshipping under +the delusion that they are worshipping Jehovah, God +of Abraham, the true God of the Bible. However, ignorantly, +<q>they worship devils.</q>—1 Cor. 10:20. +</p> + +<p> +8:15, 16. <hi rend='sans'>Then said He unto me, Hast thou seen this, O +Son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see +greater abominations than these. And He brought me into +the inner court of the Lord's house, and behold, at the +door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the +altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs +toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the +east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.</hi>—In +the court itself (1 Ki. 6:36), in the very presence of the +blood-bought sacrifice, these men were gathered. Only +priests and Levites might be in this court. They typified +the believers and spirit-begotten ones of the Christian +Church. They were divided into about twenty-five courses +or sections and served in rotation. These typed the divisions +of Christians into about twenty-five principal denominations. +<pb n='416'/><anchor id='Pg416'/> +In the United States these are Adventists, Baptists, +Brethren (Dunkards), Catholics (Greek), Christian, +Churches of Christ Scientist, Churches of God, Congregationalists, +Disciples of Christ, Evangelical, Friends, German +Evangelical Protestant, German Evangelical Synod, +Latter Day Saints, Lutherans, Scandinavian Evangelical, +Menonites, Moravians, Methodists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, +Protestant Episcopals, Reformed, Salvation Army, +and United Brethren. With their backs toward the Temple +of the Lord (Jer. 2:27), these treat with contempt and +scorn the little company of God's true saints, rich in faith, +<q>the Temple.</q> To turn the back is a gross insult. Their +faces are toward the east. (Jer. 8:2.) All these denominations +worship the fire-god, the sun, the heathen god whose +identity with paganism appears foregoing. +</p> + +<p> +8:17. <hi rend='sans'>Then He said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O Son +of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they +commit the abominations which they commit here? for +they have filled the land with violence, and have returned +to provoke Me to anger; and, lo, they put the branch to +their nose.</hi>—So lightly do modern Babylonians, apostate +religionists, regard their abominable beliefs, that they will +not even give consideration to the presentation of the +truth about Jehovah and His Divine Plan of the Ages. It +is the church—clergy and members—who brought on the +barbarous world-war. They could have stood like a rock +for peace; but the clergy, with devilish exhortations, urged +their fellow-savages to bloodshed. The Divine judgment +has gone against them and soon will swallow them up +in the earthquake (revolution) and fire (anarchy) of the +Time of Trouble. The last clause should read. <q>They +send a stench to My nostrils.</q> +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img431.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>Destructive Criticism Of The Bible</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +8:18. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore will I also deal in fury; Mine eyes +shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they +cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear +them.</hi>—The fury of <q>Christians</q> in this savage war will +be visited upon them in the succeeding revolution and +anarchy. When the real Time of Trouble is on, after +the war, Christendom will realize the terrible truth that +it is the punishment of Divine Justice—and will pray +mightily to God. Their prayers cannot be favorably answered +(Prov. 1:28) until <q>the great tribulation</q> (Rev. 7:14) +has finished its work of <q>bruising to heal.</q>—Hos. 6:1. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>In the world despised, neglected,</q></l> +<l>Deemed its refuse and its dross,</l> +<l>She whose Lord the earth rejected</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Shares His sorrow, bears His loss.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='417'/><anchor id='Pg417'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 9—The Man With The Inkhorn</head> + +<p> +9:1. <hi rend='sans'>He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, +Cause them that have charge over the city to draw +near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his +hand.</hi>—Chapter 9 depicts the slaughter of the idolaters of +Jerusalem. It types the literal slaughter of the spiritual idolaters +of Christendom in the Time of Trouble, and also their +destruction as tares (Matt. 13:40) by the Word of Truth, +which will manifest their true condition and cause them +to cease the pretense of being Christians. The picture +corresponds to the harvesting of wheat and tares by the +sickle of Truth (Rev. 14:15), and the burning of the tares. +There is a two-fold significance here—those having material +charge of Christendom, and those having spiritual charge +(D. 527.) The first class comprises the rulers of the great +nations; the second class, the feet members of the Little +Flock (Luke 12:32)—<q>All things are yours.</q> (1 Cor. 3:21); +<q>Inheritors of the Kingdom</q> (Gal. 5:21); <q>Given charge of +all His goods</q> (Luke 12:44), the Bible truths. The first +class has as weapons the armies and navies. The second +has the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img432.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>Seats Free And No Collection Was Never Babylon's Slogan</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +9:2. <hi rend='sans'>And, behold, six men came from the way of the +higher gate, which lieth toward the North, and every man +a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them +was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his +side: and they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.</hi>—The +six with earthly weapons are the rulers of the six +great nations—Russia, Germany, Austria, France, England +and Italy. The six with the Sword of the Spirit symbolize +all the Elijah class, the six, with one other, making +up the seven, the complete number. These have their +commission from <q>the north,</q> from the seat of Divine Dominion, +from God Himself. Practically all Bible translators +and commentators agree that the one with a writer's +inkhorn by his side was not one of the six, but a seventh, +garbed as a priest, or as a clerk or officer in an army of +the East. The linen signifies the imputed righteousness of +Christ, (Rev. 19:8.) The writer's inkhorn symbolizes that +the seventh man's function was to write. God identified +him thus: When <hi rend='smallcaps'>The Watch Tower Bible and Tract +Society</hi> was at Allegheny, Pa., an open Bible was to be +<pb n='418'/><anchor id='Pg418'/> +painted on one of the large front window of the office. A +sign painter, not in the Truth, painted the open Bible; and +without instruction from any one, of his own volition, he +painted the Bible as open at Ezekiel, Chapter 9. The man +in linen was the Laodicean servant, the Lord's faithful +and wise steward, Pastor Russell. When Pastor Russell +saw this, he turned pale. Ezekiel seeing the man in linen, +types Pastor Russell thereafter seeing himself to be the +antitype of that man—one of the most prolific writers of +the Age, and the only one to write and publish widely the +glad tidings of the actual Second Presence of Christ. The +seven men stood beside the brazen altar—there, in connection +with God's Plan, based upon the Ransom sacrifice +to receive their Divinely appointed commission. +</p> + +<p> +9:3. <hi rend='sans'>And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up +from the cherub, whereupon He was, to the threshold +of the house. And He called to the man clothed with linen, +which had the writer's inkhorn by his side.</hi>—One of the +four living creatures is here designated a <q>cherub.</q> This +one was Justice, about to operate upon the iniquities of +ecclesiasticism. The threshold of the house refers to the +door of the Holy, the condition of the spirit-begotten. <q>The +spirit of glory and of God is upon thee.</q> (1 Pet. 4:14) +The message was to sound forth from the Lord's consecrated +people during the Harvest of the Gospel Age, from +1878 to 1918. +</p> + +<p> +9:4. <hi rend='sans'>And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst +of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark +upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for +all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.</hi>—The +center of Christendom is the nations of the United +States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia +and Scandinavia. Hither and thither, traveling and +preaching for nearly forty years Pastor Russell obeyed +this command; and through the printed page of books, +tracts and newspapers he went into every corner of the +world. <q>Set a mark</q>, literally <q>set a <q><foreign lang='he' rend='italic'>tav</foreign></q> upon the foreheads.</q> +The <q><foreign lang='he' rend='italic'>Tav</foreign></q> was the twenty-second letter of the +Hebrew alphabet, and in its earlier form had the shape of +a cross (†). The forehead signifies the intellect (Rev. 7:3; +14:1). Pastor Russell's great work was to imprint indelibly +in the minds of certain ones the truth about the Cross, +the sacrifice of the Christ, Head and Body, and the part of +the Church therein. It was the duty of the clerk or officer +of an oriental army to mark the people, either for slaughter +or to be left untouched. The <q>mourners in Zion</q> (Isa. +61:3) are those faithful ones in Christendom that appreciate +that conditions are evil in churchianity, perhaps without +<pb n='419'/><anchor id='Pg419'/> +understanding just how. All these are to be marked +in their minds with the knowledge of the Present Truth. +</p> + +<p> +9:5. <hi rend='sans'>And to the others He said in mine hearing, Go ye +after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye +spare, neither have ye pity.</hi>—After Pastor Russell's writings +have reached an individual, the other members of the +Elijah class, the <q>Truth people,</q> approach him with the +Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. This is to each individual +a <q>savor of life to life, or of death to death.</q> (2 +Cor. 2:14-16.) Those not believing Present Truth will become +only the more confirmed in error. (2 Thes. 2:11.) +They will be smitten by the Sword of the Spirit, which in +them will operate at this time to destroy any pretense of +being Christians, and cause them to take their proper +stand as worldings—to be destroyed as tares. In this, +God's <q>strange work</q> (Isa. 28:21), the Word of God will +operate seemingly without pity, to separate the people +into two classes, in Present Truth or out of it. In a literal +sense the rulers of this evil Age will pitilessly carry the +Sword throughout the lengths and breadths of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +9:6. <hi rend='sans'>Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little +children, and women: but come not near any man upon +whom is the mark; and begin at My Sanctuary. Then they +began at the ancient men which were before the house.</hi>—Here +are depicted the savagery of the revolutions and the +anarchy succeeding the great war. Though they are to be +literally martyred, the consecrated in Present Truth cannot +be hurt of either slaughter weapon; their hopes and +their treasures are in Heaven (Matt. 6:20), and no earthly +calamity can in any wise work them ill. Symbolically the +Sword of the Spirit will do no harm to mature Christians—<q>men,</q>—but +many young or undeveloped believers, not +having the Holy Spirit, regardless of sex, will fall as tares, +as will all of the idol worshipers of Christendom. The +literal trouble will begin with a revolutionary outburst of anarchy +against the churches and the clergy (1 Pet. 4:17), as +responsible for the trouble because of having preached the +people into the war, in the face of innumerable Scriptures +against fighting with carnal weapons (Matt. 5:39, 44; John +18:11; 2 Cor. 10:4) and of those teaching Christians to +love one another and to forgive trespasses (Luke 6:27-38), +personal or national. (Rom. 12:17-21.) The Sword of the +Spirit will begin its work with the sanctuary class, the +professing Christians (1 Pet. 4:17). It will begin with <q>the +ancient men</q>, the representatives of the people—the +clergy, doctors of divinity, priests, bishops and other +ecclesiastics. +</p> + +<pb n='420'/><anchor id='Pg420'/> + +<p> +9:7. <hi rend='sans'>And He said unto them, Defile the house, and fill +the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went +forth, and slew in the city.</hi>—Typically the house of God +was defiled by a dead body. The Temple, the Body of +Christ, the true Church, is defiled by the presence in it of +any one who has become spiritually dead. The priests and +Levites alone might enter the priests' court; and this +types that many professing to be consecrated Christians +will lose all claim to being followers of Christ—be slain +religiously. So many will thus lose belief that Christendom +will be filled with them. Literally the sanctuaries and +the streets of Christendom will be filled with the slain of +the Time of Trouble. +</p> + +<p> +9:8. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass, while they were slaying +them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, +and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou destroy all the residue +of Israel in Thy pouring out of Thy fury upon Jerusalem?</hi>—It +will almost seem that none in Christendom will escape +alive; and, indeed, <q>Except those days be shortened, no +flesh should be saved.</q>—Matt. 24:22. +</p> + +<p> +9:9, 10. <hi rend='sans'>Then said He unto me, The iniquity of the +house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land +is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they +say, The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth +not. And as for Me also, Mine eyes shall not spare, neither +will I have any pity, but I will recompense their way upon +their head.</hi>—On account of the light of the Gospel of Love +they possess, both Romanism and Protestantism are guilty +to an extraordinary degree before God. Christendom, +through its savage wars, is drenched with blood. Churchianity +is full of wilful sin. God will seem to have left the +social order to its own destruction. +</p> + +<p> +9:11. <hi rend='sans'>And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which +had the inkhorn by His side, reported the matter, saying, +I have done as Thou hast commanded me.</hi>—Pastor Russell +was faithful to his great task of writing and publishing the +Truth and imprinting the <q><foreign lang='he' rend='italic'>tav</foreign></q> of Present Truth in the +minds of the spirit-begotten. In October, 1916, he died, +and beyond the veil has, ere this, undoubtedly, reported in +the presence of Christ that he has done the work he was +given to do. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Faithful when with tears thine eyes were dim,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Faithful when joys' cup o'erflowed its brim;</l> +<l>Faithful when God seemed to veil His face,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Faithful when He crowned thy work with grace,</l> +<l>Faithful till was fled life's fleeting breath,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>Eager hands were folded still in death.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='421'/><anchor id='Pg421'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 10—Scattering Coals Of Fire</head> + +<p> +10:1. <hi rend='sans'>Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that +was above the head of the cherubim there appeared over +them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of +the likeness of a throne.</hi>—Verses 1, 8-11, 12, 14-22 are explained +in Chapter 1. The repetition of the symbols of the +Justice, Wisdom, Love and Power of God, of the wings +(Word of God), of the wheels, and the wondrous light, are +assurances that in the anarchous destruction of Christendom, +our Father is acting wisely, justly, lovingly and in +accordance with His Word and Plan for the good of mankind.—T. 125. +</p> + +<p> +10:2. <hi rend='sans'>And He spake unto the man clothed with linen, +and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, +and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the +cherubim, and scatter them over the city. And he went in +in my sight.</hi>—Ezekiel, typing Pastor Russell, sees himself +as acting in the manner here described. He was to go in +between the wheels, to do his work in accordance with the +Divine Plan, to act under the dictates of the Divine Justice, +<q>the cherub.</q> The coals of fire are symbolic of the +fiery trials, distress, <q>great tribulation,</q> with which Christendom +will be overwhelmed in the last period of the Time +of Trouble, and the prophecies of these events. (Rev. 8:5.) +These Divinely permitted troubles have the approval of Divine +Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power, as necessary from +every viewpoint, and the inevitable retribution of a long-forbearing +God. Pastor Russell was to do this work,—<q>fill +his hand,</q> with all his might, to devote himself wholly to +this task. Over the whole world was scattered the warning +of impending trouble.—D. 57. +</p> + +<p> +10:3. <hi rend='sans'>Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the +house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the +inner court.</hi>—The cherubim stood by the nominal Temple +class—to inquire and visit the offences of Christendom. +The house was on their left, the place of disfavor. When +no priests were in the Holy, it was filled with a cloud. +In 1 Kings 8:10 and in 2 Chron. 5:11-14 the cloud filled the +Holy, and the priests were unable to serve there because +<pb n='422'/><anchor id='Pg422'/> +of it. When the cloud filled the Court, no one could see to +serve in it. This types that in the Harvest period, from +1878 to 1918, while Pastor Russell was dispensing as part +of the <q>food in due season</q> the impending downfall of +Christendom, those who had been serving in the believing +Court condition—clergy and other church workers—were +no longer permitted to do so. It corresponds to the passing +of the stewardship from the clergy to Pastor Russell +in 1878. This applies also to verse 4, where the presence +of the cloud also types the presence of Jehovah to visit +punishment for wickedness.—B. 138. +</p> + +<p> +10:4. <hi rend='sans'>Then the glory of the Lord went up from the +cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the +house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of +the brightness of the Lord's glory.</hi>—Pastor Russell saw +more clearly than any one in this end of the Age the glorious +Gospel of God in the Ransom for all (Court and altar). +</p> + +<p> +10:5. <hi rend='sans'>And the sound of the cherubim's wings was heard +even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God +when he speaketh.</hi>—Here is indicated the sounding forth +of the Word of God through Pastor Russell's proclamation +of Present Truth. The inner Court typed the condition of +faith and justification, and the outer Court typed the condition +of those not fully believing, nor directly serving God. +The preaching and writings of Pastor Russell were heard +by all classes of believers and unbelievers. It was the +voice of Jehovah, represented as almighty to save, that +was heard throughout the world. +</p> + +<p> +10:6. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass that when He had commanded +the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from +between the wheels, from between the cherubim; then he +went in, and stood beside the wheels.</hi>—In the Divine +Plan of the Ages Pastor Russell was to find clearly indicated +the great tribulation then close at hand. +</p> + +<p> +10:7. <hi rend='sans'>And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between +the cherubim unto the fire that was between the +cherubim, and took thereof and put it into the hands of +him clothed with linen; who took it, and went out.</hi>—Justice +gave to Pastor Russell the knowledge of impending +troubles, to go out and publish to Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +10:8. <hi rend='sans'>And there appeared in the cherubim the form of +a man's hand under their wings.</hi>—The work of witness +here depicted is carried out by human beings, under the +power and protection of the Word of God. +</p> + +<p> +10:9-11. <hi rend='sans'>And when I looked, behold the four wheels by +the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel +by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was +<pb n='423'/><anchor id='Pg423'/> +as the colour of a beryl stone. And as for their appearance, +they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been +in the midst of a wheel. When they went, they went upon +their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the +place whither the head looked they followed it; they +turned not as they went.</hi>—See Chapter 1 for explanation. +The leading face in the head was the man's face, typical +of Divine Love. This is the dominating attribute of God's +character, directing the course of the other three. +</p> + +<p> +10:12. <hi rend='sans'>And their whole body, and their backs, and their +hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes +round about, even the wheels they four had.</hi>—Every part +of the Divine character, as well as every operation of the +Divine attributes and of the human beings through which +God acts is full of Wisdom.—B. 305. +</p> + +<p> +10:13. <hi rend='sans'>As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my +hearing, O wheel.</hi>—Very emphatic was the Divine directing +of the attention toward the wheels—the Divine Plan +of the Ages. Pastor Russell always directed the Bible +student's mind toward the great Plan. +</p> + +<p> +10:14-22. <hi rend='sans'>And every one had four faces; the first face +was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face +of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth +the face of an eagle. And the cherubim were lifted up. +This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar. +And when the cherubim went, the wheels went by +them: and the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up +from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside +them. When they stood, these stood; and when they +were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also; for the +spirit of the living creature was in them. Then the glory +of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, +and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up +their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: +when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, +and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the +Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was over +them above. This is the living creature that I saw under +the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that +they were the cherubim. Every one had four faces apiece, +and every one had four wings; and the likeness of the +hands of a man was under their wings. And the likeness +of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river +of Chebar, their appearance and themselves: they went +every one straight forward.</hi>—See explanation of these +verses in Chapter 1. (Hos. 9:12) <q>Yea, woe also to them +when I depart from them.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='424'/><anchor id='Pg424'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 11—The Wicked Counsel</head> + +<p> +11:1. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought +me unto the east gate of the Lord's house, which looketh +eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and +twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah, the son of +Azur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, princes of the +people.</hi>—The east gate types Christ, the entrance to true +Christianity. (John 10:9.) At the door of the gate were +the leading sects, Jaazaniah, the son of Azur (helper) types +the idea that by self-help man can please God. Pelatiah +(Jah delivers), the son of Benaiah (Jah is intelligent), +types the belief that earthly wisdom will deliver the world +from its difficulties. (1 Cor. 1:21.) These were <q>princes +among the people</q>—very popular ideas. +</p> + +<p> +11:2. <hi rend='sans'>Then said He unto me, Son of man, these are the +men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this +city.</hi>—These teachings have actuated many of the erroneous +beliefs and wicked acts of nominal Christians. +</p> + +<p> +11:3. <hi rend='sans'>Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: +this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.</hi>—Ecclesiasticism's +thought is that the Time of Trouble is not near, +and the destruction of Christendom is not to be thought +of. (1 Thes. 5:3.) <q>Let us build houses</q> is an expression +implying confidence in the permanence of things as +they are. (2 Pet. 3:4.) <q>This city is the caldron, and we +be the flesh</q> (Jer. 1:13) is a proverb, here applied to the +iron sides of the caldron keeping away the fire, or in +antitype civil and military powers, protecting from actual +anarchy (fire), however hot things may become. +</p> + +<p> +11:4, 5. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O +son of man. And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and +said unto me, Speak: Thus saith the Lord; Thus have +ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that +come unto your mind, every one of them.</hi>—The false +teachings of the clergy are nothing new. Every one of +them is the old worship of Nimrod and Baal. +</p> + +<pb n='425'/><anchor id='Pg425'/> + +<p> +11:6. <hi rend='sans'>Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye +have filled the streets thereof with the slain.</hi>—There never +was a war that a clergy did not preach <q>their people</q> into +it, and multiply the slain. Furthermore, the number is +legion of those who would have liked to gain spiritual +life, but the clergy have discouraged (John 7:48), and in +millions of cases caused their actual death. +</p> + +<p> +11:7. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Your slain +whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, +and this city the caldron: but I will bring you forth out +of the midst of it.</hi>—Another sense in which the Jerusalem +Jews used this proverb was that the Jews taken captive +into Babylon were worthless, and they in Jerusalem were +the valuable flesh remaining. (Mi. 3:3.) God here tells +that the only ones to remain in Christendom will be the +literally dead, or those who are dead to the claims of +Mystic Babylon. These have the best chance of surviving +the trouble. The walls, defences, military and police, will +be broken down by war and revolution; and nothing can +save the adherents of ecclesiasticism from their fate. +</p> + +<p> +11:8. <hi rend='sans'>Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a +Sword upon you, saith the Lord.</hi>—The devotees of established +priestcraft fear both the literal sword and the Sword +of the Spirit. The armies of the nations will be in open +revolt against the established powers, religious, political +and economic. Also the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of +God, will cut through all pretense and bring about the +death of religion in all not begotten of the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +11:9. <hi rend='sans'>And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and +deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute +judgments among you.</hi>—Christendom win fall literally into +the hands of revolutionists and anarchists, Industrial +Workers of the World, Syndicalists, Socialists, unfriendly +to established systems, and spiritually into the power of +the Word of God in the hands of His <q>strangers.</q> (1 Pet. +1:1; 2:11,) a <q>just recompense of reward.</q> (Heb. 2:2.) +</p> + +<p> +11:10, 11. <hi rend='sans'>Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in +the border of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. +This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be +the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the +border of Israel.</hi>—The Jews taken captive out of Jerusalem +were tried and slain at Riblah (a bare place) outside of +Palestine, typifying that the destroying judgments on +Christendom will come upon her after her institutions have +gone to pieces, and she is desolated. +</p> + +<p> +11:12. <hi rend='sans'>And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye +have not walked in My statutes, neither executed My judgments, +but have done after the manner of the heathen +<pb n='426'/><anchor id='Pg426'/> +that are round about you.</hi>—The people of Christendom will +finally appreciate that their distress is a punishment from +God, because of not having followed the plain injunctions +of the Bible, having mistaught the Word of God, and having +lived no better than unbelievers. +</p> + +<p> +11:13. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that +Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, died. Then fell I down upon +my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord +God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?</hi>—While +Pastor Russell's reasonable and Divinely appointed +teachings are doing their good work throughout Christendom +the idea that human wisdom, Prussian culture, etc., +can save the old order of things, will be seen lifeless. +</p> + +<p> +11:14. <hi rend='sans'>Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, +saying.</hi>—Verses 14 to 25 are the message of comfort and +hope to those who are now out of harmony with ecclesiasticism. +</p> + +<p> +11:15. <hi rend='sans'>Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, +the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, +are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have +said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given +in possession.</hi>—The Jews in captivity were despised by +those remaining in the <q>holy</q> city, Jerusalem. They type +the people of Christendom who honestly own themselves +to be of the world and are despised by the <q>best people,</q> +the educated, religious <q>holy</q> Churchianity. <q>Get you far +from the Lord</q> is the attitude of the tares toward those +who do not pretend as much, but who are often much +better in God's sight. The <q>best people</q> not merely own +most of the earth now, but expect to own Heaven too—with +the now worldly people forever consigned to a devil-imagined +hell of eternal torment. +</p> + +<p> +11:16. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although +I have cast them far off among the heathen, and +although I have scattered them among the countries, yet +will I be to them as a little Sanctuary in the countries +where they shall come.</hi>—God especially favors the honest-hearted, +humble-minded, however far they may now be +from Him in outward appearance. Christ avoided the +Scribes and the Pharisees, but freely associated with the +publicans and sinners. +</p> + +<p> +11:17. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will +even gather you from the people, and assemble you out +of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will +give you the land of Israel.</hi>—In the coming Kingdom God +will gather first the outcasts from their condition of disfavor, +even from the dead, and will give them possession +of the earth before the proud-minded ecclesiastics are permitted +<pb n='427'/><anchor id='Pg427'/> +to return from the dead. This is to have also a +literal fulfillment on Fleshly Israel.—Z. '94-76. +</p> + +<p> +11:18. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall come thither, and they shall take +away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations +thereof from thence.</hi>—The common people, free +from the perverse influence of priestcraft, in Christ's Millennial +Kingdom will abolish all the clergy-fostered ideas +and practices now so abominable to God. +</p> + +<p> +11:19. <hi rend='sans'>And I will give them one heart, and I will put a +new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out +of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.</hi>—They +will be single-hearted to serve God and do His will alone. +(Jer. 32:39.) From having the spirit or mind of natural +men they will be given the Holy Spirit, when God <q>pours +out His Spirit upon all flesh.</q> (A. 333; Z. '03-171.) From +being hard-hearted they will become tender-hearted, forgiving +one another even as God, for Christ's sake will +forgive them.—Eph. 4:32. +</p> + +<p> +11:20. <hi rend='sans'>That they may walk in My statutes, and keep +Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My +people, and I will be their God.</hi>—They will keep God's +Law of Divine love. The <q>best people,</q> who now regard +themselves as God's people, in the Age to come will learn +that God opposes the proud and favors the humble. +</p> + +<p> +11:21. <hi rend='sans'>But as for them whose heart walketh after the +heart of their detestable things and their abominations, +I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith +the Lord God.</hi>—Those who at heart love established ecclesiasticism +are counted as having the heart, mind or will +of the author of priestcraft, the Devil. <q>Ye generation of +serpents (devils), how scarcely shall ye escape the condemnation +of Gehenna (Second Death).</q>—Matt. 23:33. +</p> + +<p> +11:22, 23. <hi rend='sans'>Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, +and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of +Israel was over them above. And the glory of the Lord +went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the +mountain which is on the east side of the city.</hi>—God, and +Divine favor, has ceased to be in or with Christendom +(D. 527), but is upon and with the true Kingdom (mountain) +of God (A. 318), toward the east (Zech. 14:4), the antitypical +Mount of Olives.—D. 653. +</p> + +<p> +11:24, 25. <hi rend='sans'>Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought +me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them +of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up +from me. Then I spake unto them of the captivity all +the things that the Lord had shewed me.</hi>—These things +seen in the Scriptures are now preached and published to +the captives in Mystic Babylon. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='428'/><anchor id='Pg428'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 12—Christendom's Blind Flight</head> + +<p> +12:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>The word of the Lord also came unto me +saying, Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious +house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they +have ears to hear, and hear not; for they are a rebellious +house.</hi>—In Chapter 12:1-16 is depicted the blind flight of +Christendom into revolution and anarchy. Pastor Russell +and his co-workers once dwelt in the midst of the rebellious +nominal house, or church, of God, with eyes blinded and +ears made deaf by their spiritual defection.—Matt. 13:13. +</p> + +<p> +12:3. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for +removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou +shalt remove from thy place to another place in their +sight: It may be they will consider, though they be a +rebellious house.</hi>—He found in the Bible the Truth of God, +which exhorts to <q>come out of her, O My people</q> (Rev. +18:4); and in obedience, he came out of his church home +into a condition of separateness, by every means of publicity +(in their sight) drawing the attention to his removal, +in the hope that those left behind might turn truly back +to God. +</p> + +<p> +12:4. <hi rend='sans'>Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in +their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth +at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.</hi>—In +their estimation, he did this as one taken by the Evil +One. +</p> + +<p> +12:5. <hi rend='sans'>Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and +carry out thereby.</hi>—He dug through the creeds walls and +thus <q>came out of her.</q> +</p> + +<p> +12:6. <hi rend='sans'>In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, +and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover +thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee +for a sign unto the house of Israel.</hi>—To them he was one +not knowing whither he went, with eyes blinded; whereas +his action and his publishing of the Truth was but God's +way of beseeching Christendom and warning her of her +own fate. +</p> + +<p> +12:7. <hi rend='sans'>And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth +my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I +digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth +<pb n='429'/><anchor id='Pg429'/> +in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their +sight.</hi>—Pastor Russell and the Truth people did this with +their limited power (hand), and laboriously (upon shoulder) +made their way with their goods, the precious Truths, +<q>out of her.</q> +</p> + +<p> +12:8-9. <hi rend='sans'>And in the morning came the word of the Lord +unto me, saying, Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, +the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?</hi>—The +nominal church (home) of Spiritual Israel have often +inquired of Pastor Russell and of the Truth people, <q>What +doest thou?</q> +</p> + +<p> +12:10. <hi rend='sans'>Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; +This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all +the house of Israel that are among them.</hi>—The import of +the answer concerns the exalted class (prince, exalted +one), the lords in Christendom, the clergy, and all professing +Christians that are with them. +</p> + +<p> +12:11. <hi rend='sans'>Say, I am your sign, like as I have done, so +shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into +captivity.</hi>—What has been, is a lesson for them; as the +Royal Priesthood has done, so shall it be done unto them; +they shall move down from their exalted place and go into +captivity to the laborite and revolutionary elements. The +Jews were literally to go into captivity into ancient Babylon, +which they did. +</p> + +<p> +12:12. <hi rend='sans'>And the prince that is among them shell bear +upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they +shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby; he shall +cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.</hi>—As +to the Jews, their ruler Zedekiah was by night to try to +escape from Jerusalem, but he should not see the way. Regarding +Christendom's clergy, they shall at the close of +their day, abandon Christendom in the time of revolution, +to save what they can for themselves, and <q>get out of her.</q> +They shall find a still more worldly way out of their creed +walls and shall be self-blinded to the real condition of +society (the earth). +</p> + +<p> +12:13. <hi rend='sans'>My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall +be taken in My snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to +the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though +he shall die there.</hi>—Like a snare shall revolution, in the +guise of freedom for all, come upon them; and, utterly +blind to the significance of world events, they shall be +forced into revolution and anarchy, and there shall this +lordly class come to its end. (Hos. 7:12.) The literal +application upon King Zedekiah is of course understood; +for he went to Babylon, but never saw it, because his +eyes were put out. +</p> + +<pb n='430'/><anchor id='Pg430'/> + +<p> +12:14. <hi rend='sans'>And I will scatter toward every wind all that are +about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw +out the sword after them.</hi>—God will scatter in war, tumult +and confusion and in error; all that adhere to the clergy +class, and all their congregations (bands); and against +them shall He direct weapons of war and the Word of +God, the Sword of the Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +12:15. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall know that I am the Lord, when +I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them +in the countries.</hi>—And they shall appreciate that Jehovah +is God, when this has come. +</p> + +<p> +12:16. <hi rend='sans'>But I will leave a few men of them from the +sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they +may declare all their abominations among the heathen +whither they come: and they shall know that I am the +Lord.</hi>—From among them God will leave a few manly believers, +who shall escape the sword, the famine, literal and +of the Word, and from the pestilential errors; that they, as +then faithful members of the Great Company, may explain +to the revolutionists and anarchists the Truth about the +Divinely forbidden doctrines and deeds of the clergy, and +their following. +</p> + +<p> +12:17, 18. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto +me, saying, Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and +drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness.</hi>—The +Lord's people were to eat, drink and live with great +economy. +</p> + +<p> +12:19. <hi rend='sans'>And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith +the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land +of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and +drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be +desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence +of all them that dwell therein.</hi>—They were to say to the +people of Christendom: <q>God says to the clergy and people +of nominal Spiritual Israel, the churches: You shall eat +your food by measure, and with economy—on the food-ticket +plan—and drink your Truth with amazement at the +famine; for Christendom is to be desolated of its people, +because of the violent wars, and the revolutions and +anarchy of the people.</q> +</p> + +<p> +12:20. <hi rend='sans'>And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid +waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know +that I am the Lord.</hi>—The governments (cities) shall be +destroyed and the social order desolated in anarchy; and +they shall feel the outworkings of Jehovah's purposes +upon them. +</p> + +<p> +12:21, 22. <hi rend='sans'>And the Word of the Lord came unto me, +saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in +<pb n='431'/><anchor id='Pg431'/> +the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and +every vision faileth?</hi>—Nominal clergy and Christians say +concerning the Bible, that this Age will last for thousands +of years and that Bible prophecies fail of fulfillment—2 +Pet. 3:4. +</p> + +<p> +12:23. <hi rend='sans'>Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God; +I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more +use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days +are at hand, and the effect of every vision.</hi>—God says +that He will make their saying to cease; for close at hand +is the Time of Trouble and of the Kingdom of God, and +the fulfillment of prophecy. +</p> + +<p> +12:24. <hi rend='sans'>For there shall be no more any vain vision nor +flattering divination within the house of Israel.</hi>—There +shall be no more, in the churches, delusive theories of +the everlasting welfare of Christendom or of evolution, +or immortality, or flattering prediction of peace, peace.—Lam. +2:14. +</p> + +<p> +12:25. <hi rend='sans'>For I am the Lord; I will speak, and the word +that I shall speak shall come to pass; It shall be no more +prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say +the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Jehovah's +Word shall come to pass promptly, in the present +day.—Isa. 55:11. +</p> + +<p> +12:26, 27. <hi rend='sans'>Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, +saying, Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel +say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, +and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.</hi>—The +clergy say that Pastor Russell's predictions of early +trouble and the setting up of the Kingdom are for hundreds +or thousands of years to come, and about things that +are far off.—Amos. 6:3. +</p> + +<p> +12:28. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord +God, There shall none of My words be prolonged any +more, but the Word which I have spoken shall be done, +saith the Lord God.</hi>—Jehovah says that none of the words +spoken through His servant Pastor Russell, shall wait any +longer for fulfillment, but the things shall come as spoken. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And sun and stars forevermore have set,</l> +<l>The things which our weak judgment here has spurned—</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet—</l> +<l>Will flash before us out of life's dark night,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;</l> +<l>And we shall see how all God's plans were right,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>And how what seemed unkind was love most true.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='432'/><anchor id='Pg432'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 13—The Gaps In The Wall</head> + +<p> +13:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>And the Word of the Lord came unto me +saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of +Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy +out of their own hearts, Hear ye the Word of the +Lord.</hi>—God's Word is to write and speak against the +preachers of Christendom that say things originating in +their own imaginations; let them listen now to the Words +of Jehovah. +</p> + +<p> +13:3. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish +prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen +nothing.</hi>—Woe to the foolish preachers, who as blind +leaders have seen nothing respecting today's crisis in the +Word of God, or in the signs of the times! +</p> + +<p> +13:4. <hi rend='sans'>O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the +deserts.</hi>—O Christendom, thy preachers will be like cunning +foxes, finding profit in the desolation of their country! +</p> + +<p> +13:5. <hi rend='sans'>Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made +up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle +in the Day of the Lord.</hi>—They have not preached God's +Truth to fill up the breaches among Christendom's defenders, +or to build up the broken-down forsakers of +Christendom's moral and spiritual defenses, to enable +Christendom to have strength to stand before God in the +Time of Trouble. +</p> + +<p> +13:6. <hi rend='sans'>They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, +The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: +and they have made others to hope that they would confirm +the Word.</hi>—They have taken and taught fallacious +and delusive theories of evolution, destructive criticism of +the Bible, the Divine right of kings and of clergy, and +preached their people into savage warfare, saying it was +the Word of God, when God has not said it; and they +have made others believe their lies. +</p> + +<p> +13:7. <hi rend='sans'>Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not +spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith +it; albeit I have not spoken.</hi>—They have misrepresented +Jehovah. +</p> + +<p> +13:8. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye +have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am +<pb n='433'/><anchor id='Pg433'/> +against you, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Wherefore God is against +them. +</p> + +<p> +13:9. <hi rend='sans'>And Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that +see vanity, and that divine lies; they shall not be in the +assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in +the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter +into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the +Lord God.</hi>—God will stretch out His hand against these +preachers. They shall not be in the Church triumphant +(Heb. 12:23), nor shall they be written as members of +the spirit-born Great Company; nor shall they enter the +Heavenly phase of the Kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +13:10. <hi rend='sans'>Because, even because they have seduced My +people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one +built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered +mortar.</hi>—Because the clergy have deceived and ruined +Christendom (Micah 3:5-7) proclaiming peace when there +was no peace (Jer. 6:14); and when one of them would +build up a slight wall of workers of earthly, civic, social +betterment, the others would bind it together with the +binder of self-interest, not with truth (water) or love. +</p> + +<p> +13:11. <hi rend='sans'>Say unto them which daub it with untempered +mortar, that it shall fall; there shall be an overflowing +shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a +stormy wind shall rend it.</hi>—It shall fall; there shall be an +overflowing downpour of the water of Truth; and hard +truths, great hard facts shall fall upon the wall; and +gigantic wars and world wide commotion shall tear to +pieces the preachers' earthly-civic-social defense. +</p> + +<p> +13:12. <hi rend='sans'>Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said +unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye daubed it?</hi>—Behold, +when Christendom's slight defense against the +forces of evil, is fallen, it shall be inquired of the clergy, +<q>Where is that worthless, loveless, selfish binder wherewith +you inefficiently cemented together its members?</q> +</p> + +<p> +13:13. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even +rend it with a stormy wind in My fury; and there shall be +an overflowing shower in Mine anger, and great hailstones +in My fury to consume it.</hi>—Therefore God says: I will +destroy your defense with a furious storm of war and +revolution, with a flood of Truth and great hard facts. +</p> + +<p> +13:14. <hi rend='sans'>So will I break down the wall that ye have +daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to +the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, +and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in +the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.</hi>—So +will I break down your flimsy defenses of selfishness; +they shall fall and you shall be buried in their fall. +</p> + +<pb n='434'/><anchor id='Pg434'/> + +<p> +13:15. <hi rend='sans'>Thus will I accomplish My wrath upon the wall, +and upon them that have daubed it with untempered +mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither +they that daubed it.</hi>—The defense of Christendom exists +no more, neither they that plastered it with showy self-interest. +</p> + +<p> +13:16. <hi rend='sans'>To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy +concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for +her when there is no peace.</hi>—Namely, the preachers of +Christendom who preach peace when there is no peace. +</p> + +<p> +13:17. <hi rend='sans'>Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against +the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their +own heart; and prophesy thou against them.</hi>—God directs +true Christians to set their faces against the man-made +churches, which preach things of their own imagining. +</p> + +<p> +13:18. <hi rend='sans'>And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the +women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs +upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will +ye hunt the souls of My people, and will ye save the souls +alive that come unto you?</hi>—Woe to the churches (women) +that practice superstition (sew amulets about their +elbows—an oriental method of incantation), and wear +veils of mystery to ensnare men. +</p> + +<p> +13:19. <hi rend='sans'>And will ye pollute Me among My people for +handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the +souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that +should not live, by your lying to My people that hear your +lies?</hi>—Shall they continue to profane and prostitute My +name among My people, for the price of the spiritual +fornication of church-state union (barley was the customary +offering for an adulteress) and for the weekly collections +offering, to discourage, persecute and kill the godly? +</p> + +<p> +13:20. <hi rend='sans'>Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I +am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt to make +them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will +let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them +fly.</hi>—God will strip the churches of the power of their superstitions, +and will let the people go out of the bondage. +</p> + +<p> +13:21. <hi rend='sans'>Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver My +people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in +your hand to be hunted, and ye shall know that I am the +Lord.</hi>—Their veil of mystery will He tear away, and deliver +His people, the Great Company, out of bondage. +</p> + +<p> +13:22. <hi rend='sans'>Because with lies ye have made the heart of the +righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened +the hands of the wicked, that he should not return +from his wicked way, by promising him life.</hi>—Wherefore +the churches shall no more hold forth delusive hopes. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='435'/><anchor id='Pg435'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 14—Insincere Inquirers</head> + +<p> +14:1. <hi rend='sans'>Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto +me, and sat before me.</hi>—There will come certain of the +clergy of Christendom to the Truth people to listen and +inquire. +</p> + +<p> +14:2, 3. <hi rend='sans'>And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, +Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their +heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before +their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?</hi>—God's +Word for them will be that these men have insincerely +set up in their hearts their idols of gold, power, etc., and +with a pretended face-to-face sincerity, have retained their +iniquitous stumbling block of love of sin. Should God be +inquired of at all by such men? +</p> + +<p> +14:4. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, +Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of +Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth +the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and +cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that +cometh, according to the multitude of his idols:</hi>—Every +man in the nominal church that insincerely clings to his +idols and to his love of iniquity, and yet comes to one of +God's people, Jehovah will answer not with words, but +with the retribution deserved for his idolatry. +</p> + +<p> +14:5. <hi rend='sans'>That I may take the house of Israel in their own +heart, because they are all estranged from Me through +their idols.</hi>—God will treat the nominal Christian church +in a manner like their own insincere hearts, because by +the idols they serve they are all estranged from their love +for Him.—2 Thes. 2:11, 12. +</p> + +<p> +14:6. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith +the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; +and turn away your faces from all your abominations.</hi>—Say +first to them: Repent of your evil deeds, turn away +from your idols, O Christendom, and resolutely turn your +faces unto Him, and from superstition, error, and from +practices which are abominable to His standards. +</p> + +<p> +14:7. <hi rend='sans'>For every one of the house of Israel, or of the +stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself +from Me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and +putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, +<pb n='436'/><anchor id='Pg436'/> +and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me; +I the Lord will answer him by Myself.</hi>—Every church +member and every one associated with him, who ceases +to love God supremely, sets his heart upon other subjects +of love or worship, clings to iniquitous practices, and then +comes to the Truth people to find what God says, verily +Jehovah Himself will answer him—with deeds, not with +words merely. +</p> + +<p> +14:8. <hi rend='sans'>And I will set My face against that man, and +will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him +off from the midst of My people; and ye shall know that +I am the Lord.</hi>—God will thoroughly disfavor that man, +and make him an example and a by-word; He will cut him +off from a place among His people. +</p> + +<p> +14:9. <hi rend='sans'>And if the prophet be deceived when he hath +spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and +I will stretch out My hand upon him and will destroy him +from the midst of My people Israel.</hi>—And if any preacher—even +one of the Truth people—shall get so wrong in heart +that he is deceived in what he says (Jer. 20:7), Jehovah +will <q>send him a strong delusion that he should believe +a lie,</q> and will be against him and will destroy him from +the midst of His people. +</p> + +<p> +14:10. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall bear the punishment of their +iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as +the punishment of him that seeketh unto him.</hi>—Both shall +bear the same punishment for their iniquity—the preachers +and the man that listens to him. +</p> + +<p> +14:11. <hi rend='sans'>That the house of Israel may go no more astray +from Me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; +but that they may be My people, and I may +be their God, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Professed Christian +people shall stray no longer from Him, nor become unclean +spiritually through their wrongdoing, but may truly be +God's people, and He their God. +</p> + +<p> +14:12, 13. <hi rend='sans'>The Word of the Lord came again unto me, +saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me +by trespassing grievously then will I stretch out Mine hand +upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and +will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast +from it.</hi>—When a whole country sins against God with +grievous, willful sin, then will He exercise His power +against it, and cut off the necessary supply of material +(Lev. 26:26) and spiritual food—send a famine of food and +of the Word of God upon it, and cut off all life from it. +</p> + +<pb n='437'/><anchor id='Pg437'/> + +<p> +14:14. <hi rend='sans'>Though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, +were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their +righteousness, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Though in that country +were the three most upright men of history, Noah, Daniel +and Job—typing here the Little Flock, the Great Company, +and the Household of Faith—they should by their righteousness +save but their own lives. +</p> + +<p> +14:15. <hi rend='sans'>If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the +land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man +may pass through because of the beasts.</hi>—God has caused +savage governments to overrun Christendom with military +and naval forces, and to ruin and desolate it, so that no +manly independent man can exist there. +</p> + +<p> +14:16. <hi rend='sans'>Though these three men were in it, as I live, +saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor +daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall +be desolate.</hi>—Though these three classes be in Christendom, +they shall deliver no one but themselves; they only +shall be delivered, but Christendom shall be desolated. +</p> + +<p> +14:17. <hi rend='sans'>Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, +Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and +beast from it:</hi>—God has brought upon Christendom destroying +weapons (Lev. 26:25), and the Sword of the Spirit +is to go through Christendom and cut off all that can be +cut off, and no one shall save aught but himself. +</p> + +<p> +14:18, 19. <hi rend='sans'>Though these three men were in it, as I live, +saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor +daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. +Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My +fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast.</hi>—God +will permit a pestilence, both of literal disease and +of pestilential errors in Christendom, in wrath to take +away life. +</p> + +<p> +14:20, 21. <hi rend='sans'>Though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I +live saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son +nor daughters; they shall but deliver their own souls by +their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; How +much more when I send My four sore judgments upon +Jerusalem—the sword, and the famine, and the noisome +beast, and the pestilence—to cut off from it man and +beast.</hi>—Christendom is so corrupt that God is sending +upon her His four dreadful punishments—the sword, the +famine, the savage government and the pestilence—as +His destroyers! +</p> + +<p> +14:22. <hi rend='sans'>Yet behold, therein shall be left a remnant +that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: +behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see +their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted +<pb n='438'/><anchor id='Pg438'/> +concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, +even concerning all that I have brought upon it.</hi>—There +shall be left from the anarchy a few who shall be brought +through into the Kingdom as samples of Christendom's +pollution. They will live among those who have suffered +in Christendom's trouble, and amid the blessed Kingdom +influences by contrast the others shall see their continued +evil ways and doings. And they will cause everyone to feel +satisfied, content, over the trouble God is bringing upon +Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +14:23. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall comfort you, when ye see their +ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not +done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the +Lord God.</hi>—When the others see their evil ways and +doings, they will be content as to the need of the Time +of Trouble, for they shall realize that not without good +cause shall God have done all that He will do to Christendom. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 15—Fit For Fuel Only</head> + +<p> +15:1-8. <hi rend='sans'>And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, +Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, +or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? +Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men +take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it +is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the +ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for +any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for +no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, +when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned? Therefore +thus saith the Lord God, As the vine tree among the +trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, +so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will set +My face against them; they shall go out from one fire, +and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know +that I am the Lord, when I set My face against them. And +I will make the land desolate, because they have committed +a trespass, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Ecclesiasticism, +which imagines itself to be the true vine (John 15:1) with +the sects as branches, is a wild vine (Rev. 14:18), unable +to support itself and clinging like a parasite upon others +for support. It brings forth no character fruitage, is unfit +for any Divine purpose, is slender, half-charred by the +assaults of Higher Criticism, and fit only to be destroyed.—Psa. +80:8-16. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='439'/><anchor id='Pg439'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 16—Unfaithfulness Of God's People</head> + +<p> +16:1-5. <hi rend='sans'>Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, +Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, +and say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; +Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy +father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. And as +for thy nativity, in the day thou was born thy navel was +not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; +thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None +eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion +upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open +field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou +wast born.</hi>—Chapter 16 is an amplification of the symbolic +description of Babylon the Great (Jerusalem), ecclesiasticism +(Rev. 17), as a once virgin but now apostate woman +(church). The peoples of whom the church was composed +were originally heathen (16:3), in and of the world (field). +</p> + +<p> +16:6-8. <hi rend='sans'>And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted +in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast +in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast +in thy blood, Live. I have caused thee to multiply as the +bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, +and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are +fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast +naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee, and looked +upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I +spread My skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: +yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with +thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest Mine.</hi>—God +through Christ loved these people and espoused them, +He caused the church to grow beautiful. +</p> + +<p> +16:9-12. <hi rend='sans'>Then washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly +washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed +thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, +and shod thee with badger's skin, and I girded thee about +with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked +thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy +hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on +thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful +crown upon thine head.</hi>—He anointed them with the Holy +Spirit (16:9, oil), clothed them with the robe of Christ's +<pb n='440'/><anchor id='Pg440'/> +righteousness (Matt. 22:11) with the embroidery of character +fruits (Psa. 45:14), and gave them precious ornament +of Divine (golden) promises, put a jewel (pure, +diamond-sparkling Truth—1 Cor. 3:12) on their forehead +(minds—Rev. 7:3), golden earrings in their ears (ears to +hear Divine things—Gen. 24:22), and a beautiful crown on +their head (tentative kingship).—Rev. 2:10. +</p> + +<p> +16:13. <hi rend='sans'>Thus was thou decked with gold and silver; and +thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; +thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; and thou wast +exceedingly beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.</hi>—He +gave them the purest and best food from the +Word of God (Psa. 147:14); and they became beautiful in +the beauty of holiness (Psa. 110:3), and prospered even +unto inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven.—Col. 1:13. +</p> + +<p> +16:14. <hi rend='sans'>And thy renown went forth among the heathen +for thy beauty; for it was perfect through My comeliness, +which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.</hi>—They +became renowned for their holy, kindly characters; obtainable +through sacrificial suffering.—Heb. 2:10. +</p> + +<p> +16:15. <hi rend='sans'>But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and +playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst +out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it +was.</hi>—The spirit of fornication in a church is the desire +to form a union with any world-government (Rev. 18:3); +this spirit was manifested to every government.—Isa. 1:21. +</p> + +<p> +16:16. <hi rend='sans'>And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst +thy high places with divers colours, and playedst +the harlot thereupon; the like things shall not come, neither +shall it be so.</hi>—The high places are the tops of mountains, +the rulers of governments; there the church displayed her +greatest attractions, and induced the spiritual fornication +of governments, to an extent never to be witnessed again. +</p> + +<p> +16:17. <hi rend='sans'>Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of My gold +and of My silver, which I had given thee, and madest to +thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with +them.</hi>—She took the Divine treasures of Truth, and shaped +and distorted them into the form of traditions of men. +</p> + +<p> +16:18, 19. <hi rend='sans'>And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst +them; and thou hast set Mine oil and Mine incense +before them. My meat also, which I gave thee, fine flour, +and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even +set it before them for a sweet savour; and thus it was, +saith the Lord God.</hi>—The spiritual food of the Word of +God was spiced with human errors; such as Divine right +of kings and clergy, immortality, Trinity and eternal torment, +preached in a way to please the ruling powers and +serve their unholy purposes.—Hos. 2:8. +</p> + +<pb n='441'/><anchor id='Pg441'/> + +<p> +16:20, 21. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy +daughters, whom thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast +thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy +whoredoms a small matter? That thou hast slain My children, +and delivered them to cause them to pass through +the fire for them?</hi>—The Church gave the children of God, +begotten of the Word, to endure doctrines of hell fire (Jer. +7:31) and fiery trials in the warfares of governments. +</p> + +<p> +16:22. <hi rend='sans'>And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms +thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, +when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy +blood.</hi>—In her pride of place, the church forgot the +heathendom from which her members had been raised. +</p> + +<p> +16:23-25. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, +(woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord God.) That thou hast +also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee +a high place in every street. Thou hast built thy high place +at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to +be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that +passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.</hi>—Woe, woe, distress, +trouble and destruction to such an apostate, who in +every conspicuous way (Isa. 57:7) served the interests of +the god of this world, made her <q>virtues</q> detestable to +thoughtful men, and offered herself for state-church union +to every government (street), state, city and town! +</p> + +<p> +16:26. <hi rend='sans'>Thou hast also committed fornication with the +Egyptians thy neighbors, great of flesh; and hast increased +thy whoredoms, to provoke Me to anger.</hi>—She united herself +with the most worldly people, great in earthly things. +</p> + +<p> +16:27. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, therefore I have stretched out My hand +over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and +delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the +daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy +lewd way.</hi>—God has now, since 1878, brought the powers +of judgment against the apostate church and caused a famine +of the Word of God within church doors. He has given +her over to the encroachments of church daughters of aggressive +worldliness and doctrines of devils (Philistines)—Christian +Science, Theosophy, New Thought, Higher Criticism +and Spiritism. Even these churches, founded on doctrines +of devils, are ashamed of the worldly, self-debasing +ways of the professedly orthodox Church of Christ. +</p> + +<p> +16:28, 29. <hi rend='sans'>Thou hast played the whore also with the +Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast +played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. +Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in +the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not +satisfied herewith.</hi>—The Church has even sought union +<pb n='442'/><anchor id='Pg442'/> +with the forces (Assyrians) destined to overthrow Christendom—Socialism, +Communism, Industrial Workers of +the World, Trade Unions, Syndicalists, revolutionists, +anarchists,—insatiable in her desire for power. +</p> + +<p> +16:30-34. <hi rend='sans'>How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, +seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious +whorish woman, in that thou buildest thine eminent +place in the head of every way, and makest thine high +place in every street; and hast not been as a harlot, in that +thou scornest hire, but as a wife that committeth adultery, +which taketh strangers instead of her husband! They give +gifts to all whores; but thou givest thy gifts to all thy +lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on +every side for thy whoredom. And the contrary is in thee +from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth +thee to commit whoredoms; and in that thou givest +a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou +are contrary.</hi>—How despicable is the attitude of the professed +church! ... lower even than an harlot! +For a harlot has some self-respect and gives herself only +for gifts in return; but the <q>Christian</q> church has offered +inducements to every possible kind and grade of governmental +power to enter into Divinely condemned union of +church and state.—Hos. 8:9. +</p> + +<p> +16:35-37. <hi rend='sans'>Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the +Lord: Thus saith the Lord God; Because thy filthiness +was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy +whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy +abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou +didst give unto them. Behold, therefore I will gather all +thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all +them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast +hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, +and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may +see all thy nakedness.</hi>—Therefore God will cause the governments, +with which the apostate church has made alliance, +to hate and burn her with fire.—Rev. 17:16. +</p> + +<p> +16:38-40. <hi rend='sans'>And I will judge thee, as women that break +wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee +blood in fury and jealousy. And I will also give thee into +their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, +and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip +thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and +leave thee naked and bare. They shall also bring up a +company against thee, and they shall stone thee with +stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.</hi>—By +Moses' Law women that broke wedlock were stoned to +death; in earlier days they were burned alive; and the +<pb n='443'/><anchor id='Pg443'/> +guilty men also were killed. (Lev. 20:10, 14, 27.) Ecclesiasticism +will be smitten down with the stones of hard +facts, and be destroyed in the fires of anarchy, <q>with the +fire of God's Jealousy.</q> (Zeph. 3:8.) She shall be stripped +of her tinsel and gilt (imitation immortality), her purple +(imperial) and scarlet (bloody) colors, and of her real and +imitation jewels of Truth. The masses, incensed by vain +sacrifices and privations of a world-war, will despatch her. +</p> + +<p> +16:41. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and +execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women; +and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and +thou also shalt give no hire any more.</hi>—Her houses (denominations) +will be wiped out in the anarchy. She will +receive her terrible judgments in the wondering sight of +many heathen religions (women). +</p> + +<p> +16:42, 43. <hi rend='sans'>So will I make My fury toward thee to rest, +and My jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet +and will be no more angry. Because thou hast not remembered +the days of thy youth, but hast fretted Me in all +these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy +way upon thine head, saith the Lord God: and thou shalt +not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.</hi>—Not +till ecclesiasticism has perished from the face of the +earth will God's fury and jealousy cease its retributions. +</p> + +<p> +16:44, 45. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall +use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is +her daughter. Thou art thy mother's daughter, that +loatheth her husband and her children; and thou art the +sister of thy sisters, which loathed their husbands and +their children: your mother was a Hittite, and your father +an Amorite.</hi>—The Hittites, Amorites, Samaritans and Sodomites +were all worshipers of Baal and Astarte, under one +name or another, and were adepts in the heathen and immoral +beliefs and practices of that religion, typical not of +fleshly but of spiritual uncleanness, as explained in foregoing +pages. The true Church's father was our Father, +her mother the Sarah Covenant of Grace, and her espoused +husband, Christ. Ecclesiasticism's parentage, as becometh +the <q>dwellers in the summits,</q> the proud <q>best</q> people, +was the proud, self-sufficient one, the Devil (John 8:44.) +Romanism and Protestantism are begotten, not by the +Word of God, but by the words of pride, of selfishness, of +earthly ambition. Her mother was of the Hittites, a commercial +people, descendants of Ham, under Divine disapproval; +her spiritual mother was the false promises of +human tradition, which would barter a Divine promise for +an earthly meal; she loves compromise, and knows not +principle. <q>Like mother, like daughter.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='444'/><anchor id='Pg444'/> + +<p> +16:46. <hi rend='sans'>And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her +daughters that dwell at thy left hand; and thy younger +sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her +daughters.</hi>—Samaria and Sodom were worshipers of Baal. +With like parentage, ecclesiasticism is a sister religion +with the heathen religions, even acknowledging in many +volumes the unity of all religions, herself included. Samaria, +the ten apostate tribes, mingled the religion of Jehovah +with that of Baal—a fit religious sister of the <q>nominal +church,</q> which reads the Bible and serves the god of +selfishness. Samaria elsewhere types not merely ecclesiasticism's +sister, but churchianity herself. Sodom, here +named Jerusalem's (ecclesiasticism's) sister religion, is +directly identified as churchianity in Rev. 11:8—<q>The +great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, +where also our Lord was crucified.</q> It types professed +Christianity in its lowest phase. +</p> + +<p> +16:47. <hi rend='sans'>Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor +done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very +little thing, thou was corrupted more than they in all thy +ways.</hi>—As though the ill-fame of Sodom were not enough, +(apostate) Christianity has excelled her in corruption; +Sodom's literal depravity was <q>a very little thing</q> to +ecclesiasticism's ways. +</p> + +<p> +16:48-50. <hi rend='sans'>At I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister +hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, +thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of +thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of +idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she +strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they +were haughty, and committed abomination before Me; +therefore I took them away as I saw good.</hi>—Sodom's greatest +depravity (A. 111, 112) was a result of depraved sexuality +in connection with the religion of Baal. <q>This dreadful +<q>consecration</q> spread over Phoenicia, Syria, Phrygia, +Assyria and Babylonia. Ashtaroth, the Greek Astarte, was +its chief object.</q> Its antitype in the churches was, for +national, state or municipal rulers, under guise of advancing +religion, to cause their tributary governments to become +<q>Christianized.</q> Whole nations were thus <q>Christianized</q> +and baptized—the peoples of savage governments. +Through a letting down of the bars of immorality, +spiritual and fleshly, this ministered to the beastly propensities +of rulers and of others. The clergy, from Pope +to class leader, prostituted religion for the pleasure and +profit of association with the rich and powerful. Rulers +were assured of the <q>Divine right of kings,</q> and received +homage, as God's representatives. The people were led +<pb n='445'/><anchor id='Pg445'/> +to believe that death for rulers was entrance to Heaven, +and thousands died in the exhilaration—mistaken for religious +uplift—of self-sacrifice in their behalf. Ministers +of Satan masquerading as angels of light, preached these +falsities and millions believed them, and for their own +good, and the good of the world which they have corrupted, +God is about to take them away.—Z. '95-56. +</p> + +<p> +16:51, 52. <hi rend='sans'>Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy +sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more +than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations +which thou hast done. Thou also, which hast +judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that +thou hast committed more abominable than they; they are +more righteous than thou; yea, be thou confounded also, +and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.</hi>—As +Jerusalem's moral corruption justified Sodom and +Samaria, so ecclesiasticism's moral and spiritual depravity +have justified those elements in Christendom typed by +Samaria and Sodom. The clergy, and their churches, because +of pride of being the <q>best people</q>, have been more +abominable than those of baser sort.—Psa. 119:113; Prov. +6:17; 8:13; 16:18. +</p> + +<p> +16:53-55. <hi rend='sans'>When I shall bring again their captivity, the +captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity +of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the +captivity of thy captives in the midst of them. That thou +mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded +in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto +them. When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall +return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters +shall return to their former estate, then thou and +thy daughters shall return to your former estate.</hi>—In the +resurrection of the dead, <q>just and unjust</q> (Acts 24:15), +Jerusalem, in shame, will face Sodom and Samaria, confounded +and abased by the fact that her evil practices +justified, excused and <q>comforted</q> Sodom and Samaria. +Likewise ecclesiasticism, the clergy and their following +of <q>best people</q>, will be in shame over the fact that their +iniquity was an incentive to the evil doing of the baser +elements of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +16:56-59. <hi rend='sans'>For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by +thy mouth in the day of thy pride. Before thy wickedness +was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the +daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the +daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round +about. Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, +saith the Lord. For thus saith the Lord God; I will +even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised +<pb n='446'/><anchor id='Pg446'/> +the oath in breaking the covenant.</hi>—Among a proud +and corrupt <q>best</q> people it was a tabooed subject even to +mention the depravities of the <q>worser kind</q>; but in the +last two score years of merciless <q>muckraking</q> and publicity +of <q>Christian</q> criminality in choir lofts, Sunday +School rooms, church <q>studies</q>, belfries, orphan asylums +and convents, <q>the wickedness was discovered</q> of clergy +and church people, and so widely published that the heathen +religions (daughters of Syria and of the Philistines) +have come to know about it and to despise so-called +<q>Christianity.</q> Christendom has despised its vow of consecration +to God and the Covenant of Grace, by which <q>We, +as Isaac was, are the children of the Promise.</q> (Gal. 4:28), +and under which she was betrothed to Christ. God will +deal with Christendom in like manner as Christendom has +dealt with God. +</p> + +<p> +16:60. <hi rend='sans'>Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with +thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee +an everlasting covenant.</hi>—Nevertheless, <q>God is faithful</q>, +(1 Cor. 1:9); and as He made a covenant with the church +in the pure and faithful days of her youth, He will remember +that covenant, and in the Times of Restitution will +make with all people, through the Jews, the New Covenant, +everlasting, under which there will be showers of +blessing.—Ezek. 34:26. +</p> + +<p> +16:61. <hi rend='sans'>Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be +ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder +and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, +but not by thy covenant.</hi>—When the people of Christendom, +come back from the dead to life on the earth they +will remember their evil, faithless ways, and experience +deepest shame when people of the baser sort are given to +them as daughters, to love and cherish in the Lord.—D. 633. +</p> + +<p> +16:62. <hi rend='sans'>And I will establish My covenant with thee: and +thou shalt know that I am the Lord.</hi>—The coming blessings +are not for any faithfulness of Christendom, but because +God is faithful. +</p> + +<p> +16:63. <hi rend='sans'>That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, +and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, +when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, +saith the Lord God.</hi>—Then the once apostate people, at +last returned to <q>the Bishop and Shepherd of their souls</q> +(1 Pet. 2:25), will realize the fullness of God's eternal +goodness and love, and come into the peace of God (Phil. +4:7)—a peace that will be eternal.—A. 111; Z. '94-46. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='447'/><anchor id='Pg447'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 17—Parable Of The Eagles</head> + +<p> +17:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, +Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable, +unto the house of Israel.</hi>—Chapter 17 pictures ecclesiasticism +as a king, his partial captivity to the forces destined +to destroy him, his turning for support to the forces of +worldly wisdom and power, the failure of the attempted +alliance, and his final downfall. +</p> + +<p> +17:3. <hi rend='sans'>And say, Thus saith the Lord God, A great eagle +with great wings, long-winged, full of feathers, which had +divers colours, came unto Lebanon and took the highest +branch of the cedar.</hi>—The Assyrians (a great eagle) with +great wings, long-winged, full of feathers (strong of +wing, powerful), which had divers colors (many varieties +and phases of appearance) came to Lebanon (the +Hebrew kingdom) and took the highest branch of the +cedar (carried King Jehoiachim captive). In antitype this +signifies: The power destined to destroy Christendom +(anarchy, Nihilism, Socialism, and their wisdom expressed +in schools of thought tending to destroy respect for Christendom) +like an eagle (wise one) with great wings (impressive +words) long-winged (far-reaching), full of feathers +(full of argument), has quietly made its way into Christendom +since 1878 and taken captive the highest ones, many +of the leading class of Christendom (the Cedar) with +doctrines of Evolution, Socialism, and Higher Criticism, +all destructive of the existing order of things. +</p> + +<p> +17:4. <hi rend='sans'>He cropped off the top of his twigs, and carried +it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.</hi>—These +were taken captive by these systems of thought +into a condition where the Heavenly ideals of the church +were abandoned for mere trafficking for position and +power, and in human, earthly theories and philosophies. +</p> + +<p> +17:5. <hi rend='sans'>He took also of the seed of the land, and planted +it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set +it as a willow tree.</hi>—The remaining people of ecclesiasticism, +more lowly, the seed from whom had once sprung +the ruling classes, will be planted in rich, deep soil, well +saturated with waters of the great truths of fraternity, +equality and liberty. +</p> + +<pb n='448'/><anchor id='Pg448'/> + +<p> +17:6. <hi rend='sans'>And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low +stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots +thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought +forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.</hi>—The new ecclesiasticism, +fostered by revivalists, evangelists, social and civic +workers and other earthly reformers, will grow and flourish +into a form of ecclesiasticism, low, never far above earthly +things, whose numbers (branches) tended toward anarchous +systems of thought, and whose roots, fundamental +philosophy, will be under the sway of the same. +</p> + +<p> +17:7, 8. <hi rend='sans'>There was also another great eagle with great +wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend +her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward +him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation. +It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that +it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, +that it might be a goodly vine.</hi>—But the new, low-born +ecclesiasticism, alarmed at the anarchous trend of thought, +shall turn toward another great system of wisdom (an +eagle) equally of demoniacal origin; i. e., conservative, +worldly wisdom tending to uphold the present unholy state +of affairs. +</p> + +<p> +17:9. <hi rend='sans'>Say thou, Thus saith the Lord God: Shall it prosper? +shall he not pull up the roots thereof, cut off the +fruit thereof, that it wither? It shall wither in all the leaves +of her spring, even without great power or many people +to pluck it up by the roots thereof.</hi>—The time of God's +Kingdom having come, God purposes to uproot the new +ecclesiasticism. Its character fruitage, being of the spirit +of this world, must be cut off and withered in the fiery +trials of this tribulation time. Its promise (leaves) shall +wither away, even as it has withered wherever the great +war has touched. +</p> + +<p> +17:10. <hi rend='sans'>Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? +shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth +it? It shall wither in the furrows where it grew.</hi>—From +the east, the direction of the rising Sun of Righteousness +comes a wind, a teaching, Present Truth, that shall touch +the new ecclesiasticism and wither it in a time when there +is <q>perplexity and distress of nations, men's hearts failing +them for fear of the things coming on the earth</q> (Luke +21:24, 25)—the social order—ecclesiasticism—<q>the vine.</q>—Rev. +14:18. +</p> + +<p> +17:11, 12. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover the word of the Lord came unto +me saying, Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not +what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the King of +Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king +thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him +<pb n='449'/><anchor id='Pg449'/> +to Babylon.</hi>—The king of Babylon, Satan, has already +come to ecclesiasticism and taken captive the ruling class, +the prominent clergy. +</p> + +<p> +17:13. <hi rend='sans'>And hath taken of the king's seed, and made +a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him; he +hath also taken the mighty of the land.</hi>—He holds the +chief ones captive by reason of their agreement with his +modern, false, religious, social and economic teachings. +</p> + +<p> +17:14. <hi rend='sans'>That the kingdom might be base, that it might +not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it +might stand.</hi>—As a result ecclesiasticism will not be able +to rise above earthly things nor lift itself up to combat +anarchous systems of thought. If it could do so, it might +not be overthrown immediately, but might continue to +stand for yet a little while. +</p> + +<p> +17:15. <hi rend='sans'>But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors +into Egypt that they might give him horses +and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that +doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and +be delivered?</hi>—Ecclesiasticism has rebelled by crying out +to the established wisdom of this world (Egypt), relying +upon strong, conservative worldly doctrines (horses) and +many supporters of the reactionary ideas, to save it from +complete overthrow. +</p> + +<p> +17:16. <hi rend='sans'>As I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place +where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath +he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him +in the midst of Babylon he shall die.</hi>—As God lives! In +the condition of lawlessness, wherein Satan, the king of +anarchy, liveth, who elevated ecclesiasticism to its place +of power, there, in anarchy, in the midst of lawless hosts, +shall ecclesiasticism perish. +</p> + +<p> +17:17. <hi rend='sans'>Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and +great company make for him in the war, by casting up +mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons.</hi>—Neither +shall worldly wisdom, with its mighty following, +accomplish anything for ecclesiasticism in its death +struggle with anarchy, not even by raising up governmental +support (mounts) nor by the united efforts of the +strongest elements of this world's might. +</p> + +<p> +17:18, 19. <hi rend='sans'>Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the +covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done +all these things, he shall not escape. Therefore thus saith +the Lord God; As I live, surely Mine oath that he hath +despised, and My covenant that he hath broken, even it +will I recompense upon his own head.</hi>—Ecclesiasticism has +been faithless to Jehovah and will be faithless to its newly +acquired philosophy. +</p> + +<pb n='450'/><anchor id='Pg450'/> + +<p> +17:20. <hi rend='sans'>And I will spread My net upon him, and he shall +be taken in My snare, and I will bring him to Babylon +and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath +trespassed against Me.</hi>—Like a snare, a net, shall the +Time of Trouble come upon ecclesiasticism; and it shall +not escape destruction at the hands of anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +17:21. <hi rend='sans'>And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall +by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered +toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the Lord have +spoken it.</hi>—Millions that abandon churches and clergy in +the trouble shall fall physically by violence, and be slain +spiritually by the Sword of the Spirit; and those that +escape death shall be scattered in the world-wide commotion +(winds) far from the systems they once supported. +They shall know that God has spoken truly, when the day +of anarchy shall come. +</p> + +<p> +17:22. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God: I will also take of the +highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will +crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and +will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent.</hi>—Thus +says the Lord God: One of the highest branches of ecclesiasticism +is Judaism. I will establish Judaism. I will +take, in Judaism, one of its young and tender aspirations—Zionism—and +will plant it, establish it at the very pinnacle +of the coming Kingdom of God—the Jews ruling, through +the resurrected Ancient Worthies—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, +etc.—over the earthly phase of that Kingdom.—Psa. 45:16; +Heb. 11:10. +</p> + +<p> +17:23. <hi rend='sans'>In the mountains of the height of Israel will I +plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, +and be a goodly cedar; and under it shall dwell all fowl +of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall +they dwell.</hi>—It shall branch above all nations (boughs) +and bear character fruit unto life eternal. (John 4:36.) +It shall be the desire of all nations (Hag. 2:7) (a goodly +cedar). Under it shall dwell in peace all the truly wise +ones of earth. +</p> + +<p> +17:24. <hi rend='sans'>And all the trees of the field shall knew that +I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted +the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made +the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have +done it.</hi>—All the people (trees) of the world (field) shall +know that the Lord has brought down nominal ecclesiasticism +and exalted the Ancient Worthies, has dried up +<q>Christianity</q> and given vitality to Zionism and Judaism. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='451'/><anchor id='Pg451'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 18—<q>The Soul That Sinneth</q></head> + +<p> +18:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>The Word of the Lord came unto me again, +saying, What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning +the land of Israel, saying, the fathers have eaten sour +grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?</hi>—The +Word of God came to be clearly understood by Pastor +Russell as to the equity of Jehovah's dealings with man +in condemning all to death. Both Jews and Christians +have asked, <q>How is it just to visit the sins of the fathers +upon the children to the third and fourth generations?</q> +<q>Why have the children's teeth been set on edge by the +fathers' eating the sour grape of sin?</q>—H. 59; E. <hi rend='italic'>334</hi>, 309. +</p> + +<p> +18:3. <hi rend='sans'>As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have +occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.</hi>—The +doubters queried, <q>Doth not the son bear the iniquity of +the father?</q> (18:19.) They complained, <q>The way of the +Lord is not equal</q> nor just. (18:25.) Pastor Russell, +expounding the Word of God, demonstrated clearly that +God's way is just (18:25); that man's ways are unequal, +unjust (18:29); and that God takes no <q>pleasure at all +that the wicked should die, but rather that he should turn +from his ways and live.</q> (18:23-32.) The time will soon +be when the scornful proverb shall no longer possess any +force.—H. 46. +</p> + +<p> +18:4. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the +father, so also the soul of the son is Mine; the soul that +sinneth, it shall die.</hi>—In the earthly phase of the thousand-year +probationary Kingdom of God the equal justice of +God will be manifest, father and son will be treated alike, +no one dying for a parent's sin; but each soul that sinneth +shall die for his own sin.—E. <hi rend='italic'>354</hi>, 331; A. 128. +</p> + +<p> +18:5-9. <hi rend='sans'>But if a man be just, and do that which is +lawful and right, And hath not eaten upon the mountains, +neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of +Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither +hath come near to a menstruous woman, and hath not +oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, +hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the +hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; he +that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken +any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, +<pb n='452'/><anchor id='Pg452'/> +hath executed true judgment between man and man, hath +walked in My statutes, and hath kept My judgments, to +deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord +God.</hi>—The Father of equal love will beseech each sinner to +repent and turn from his transgression, that iniquity, wilful +sin, be not his ruin. <q>Wherefore turn yourselves and +live ye.</q> (Ezek. 18:30, 32.) The days of death from Adamic +and parental imperfection will be over; each one will be +solely responsible for his own life or death. To clearly +explain the changed situation the several cases are presented. +If a righteous man continue in a righteous course +he shall live eternally. +</p> + +<p> +18:10-13. <hi rend='sans'>If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder +of blood, and that doeth the like to any one of these things, +And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten +upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife, hath +oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, +hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes +to the idols, hath committed abomination, hath given forth +upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? +he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he +shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.</hi>—If a man's +son is a wilful sinner, <q>he shall surely die; his blood shall +be upon himself.</q> +</p> + +<p> +18:14-18. <hi rend='sans'>Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his +father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and +doeth not such like, that hath not eaten upon the mountains, +neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the +house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife, +neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the +pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given +his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with +a garment, that hath taken off his hand from the poor, +that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed +My Judgments, hath walked in My statutes; he shall not +die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. As +for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his +brother by violence, and did that which is not good among +his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.</hi>—If the +wicked man have a good, upright son, the good son shall +live; but the father shall die. +</p> + +<p> +18:19-23. <hi rend='sans'>Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the +iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that +which is lawful and right, and hath kept all My statutes, +and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that +sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity +of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of +the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon +<pb n='453'/><anchor id='Pg453'/> +him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. +But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath +committed, and keep all My statutes, and do that which +is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. +All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall +not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he +hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that +the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that +he should return from his ways, and live?</hi>—The wicked +man who turns to righteousness shall not have his former +sins held against him; but he shall live. +</p> + +<p> +18:24-30. <hi rend='sans'>But when the righteous turneth away from his +righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according +to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, +shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done +shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, +and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall +he die. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. +Hear now, O house of Israel; is not My way equal? are +not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth +away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and +dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he +die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his +wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which +is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because +he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions +that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall +not die. Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the +Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not My ways +equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge +you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, +saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all +your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.</hi>—The +righteous man who turns to iniquity shall die. +</p> + +<p> +18:31, 32. <hi rend='sans'>Cast away from you all your transgressions, +whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart +and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? +For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, +saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live +ye.</hi>—This will be true of individuals as soon as the last +member of the spirit-begotten Body of Christ has died. +And it is true now—and has been true since 1878—of the +institutions of <q>this present evil age,</q> which have been +in Divine judgment since 1878. If ecclesiasticism, <q>the +house of Israel,</q> would cast away all their transgressions, +and gain a new heart and a new spirit, they would abide +forever; but they will never change their evil ways; their +destruction will be their own wilful act—<q>Why will ye die?</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='454'/><anchor id='Pg454'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 19—The Lion's Whelps</head> + +<p> +19:1. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for the +princes of Israel.</hi>—Chapter 19 has the form of a dirge. It +represents in antitype the downfall, in the Time of Trouble, +of ecclesiasticism pictured first, as two roaring lions which +are taken captive; and secondly, as a vine destroyed by +fire of internal origin. The princes of Israel are the clergy. +</p> + +<p> +19:2. <hi rend='sans'>And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay +down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young +lions.</hi>—As the father and the mother of Isaac were Abraham +and Sarah, and the spiritual father and mother of +the true Church are Jehovah and His Covenant of Grace +(Gal. 4:22-28), so the spiritual father and mother of ecclesiasticism, +priestcraft, are the Devil and his covenant with +death. (Gen. 3:4; Isa. 28:18.) <q>The Devil goeth about like +a roaring lion.</q> (1 Pet. 5:8.) Their nourishment has been +<q>doctrines of devils.</q> +</p> + +<p> +19:3. <hi rend='sans'>And she brought up one of her whelps; it became +a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured +men.</hi>—Ecclesiasticism divided into two classes; one higher, +richer, more educated than the other—<q>one of her whelps.</q> +They learned to devour men, make them their prey. +</p> + +<p> +19:4. <hi rend='sans'>The nations also heard of him; he was taken in +their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land +of Egypt.</hi>—The unbelieving peoples heard them; they, the +clergy, were taken in the pit of corrupt doctrine; they +were captivated, taken captive, into worldliness, the wisdom +of this world, of <q>Egypt.</q> +</p> + +<p> +19:5. <hi rend='sans'>Now when she saw that she had waited, and her +hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and +made him a young lion.</hi>—Another class of ecclesiasticism +was developed, under the same false covenant with death, +into a full-fledged lion, an embodiment and child of the +eternal torment, trinity, inherent-immortality teachings. +</p> + +<p> +19:6. <hi rend='sans'>And he went up and down among the lions, he +became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and +devoured men.</hi>—This was the popular evangelist well +trained in catching men and shekels. +</p> + +<p> +19:7. <hi rend='sans'>And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid +waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness +thereof, by the noise of his roaring.</hi>—The revivalists +caught men by thousands, and <q>the fulness thereof,</q> great +contributions for a few weeks of noisy evangelism. +</p> + +<pb n='455'/><anchor id='Pg455'/> + +<p> +19:8. <hi rend='sans'>Then the nations set against him on every side +from the provinces, and spread their net over him; he was +taken in their pit.</hi>—Then the <q>unconvertible</q> people, anarchists, +Socialists, etc., spread the net of their teachings. +The people, indignant at their sufferings from wars and +high cost of living, declined further support. +</p> + +<p> +19:9. <hi rend='sans'>And they put in ward in chains, and brought him +to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that +his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of +Israel.</hi>—Revolution and anarchy will place a complete restraint +upon the revivalists, and bring them to their end. +</p> + +<p> +19:10. <hi rend='sans'>Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted +by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by +reason of many waters.</hi>—The false covenant-mother of +ecclesiasticism is a system of thought, in the very blood; +it is part and parcel of the existence of ecclesiasticism. +It is <q>the vine of the earth,</q> of Rev. 14:19. This system +of error was once fruitful in gaining adherents. +</p> + +<p> +19:11. <hi rend='sans'>And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them +that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick +branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude +of her branches.</hi>—The vine had seeming strong authority +for the rulership <q>of them that bare rule,</q> the +clergy, <q>lords over God's heritage.</q> (1 Pet. 5:3.) To a +mighty and lofty height did the vine of the earth grow. +</p> + +<p> +19:12. <hi rend='sans'>But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast +down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: +her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed +them.</hi>—But in the fury of the world-wide war she +will be <q>cast down to the ground.</q> The truths arising from +the presence of the dawning Sun of Righteousness will dry +up the support of her fruit (church members). Her authority—rod—will +be broken, withered, and destroyed in +anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +19:13. <hi rend='sans'>And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a +dry and thirsty ground.</hi>—In a world of hostile doctrines of +Socialism and anarchy, in a world-wide drought of the +water of the Word of God, the old system of sophistries +will soon be in the wilderness condition, in a state of +complete ostracism. +</p> + +<p> +19:14. <hi rend='sans'>And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, +which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong +rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and +shall be for a lamentation.</hi>—The savage application in the +world-wide war of the rod of the Divine authority of rulers +will cause revolt, revolution and anarchy to spring up, like +a fire, which will bring to an utter end the denominational +clusters, the fruit of the vine of the earth. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='456'/><anchor id='Pg456'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 20—The Hypocritical Ecclesiastics</head> + +<p> +20:1. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the +fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the +elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before +me.</hi>—The elders of Israel came to confer with Ezekiel, but +he would not be interviewed by them, because of their +idolatrous tendencies. The Hebrews had always had such +propensities. God had refrained from destroying them +in order to preserve His own good name among the heathen +peoples; but now He was about to punish them, until the +appointed time should come when He would regather them. +The destruction of Judaism is here pictured as a fire in +a forest. This chapter introduces another group of prophecies +against Christendom, ending with Chapter 24. Some +of the prominent ecclesiastics will read up or consult +Pastor Russell and his writings, and the <q>Truth people,</q> +ostensibly to learn what they can. +</p> + +<p> +20:2, 3. <hi rend='sans'>Then came the Word of the Lord unto me, saying, +Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say +unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Are ye come to inquire +of Me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be +inquired of by you.</hi>—Present Truth will refuse any favorable +answer to ecclesiasticism. +</p> + +<p> +20:4. <hi rend='sans'>Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge +them? cause them to know the abominations of their +fathers.</hi>—Instead, it will pronounce judgment upon them. +It will cause them to realize the abominations in doctrine +and in life of professed Christians, as a result of the teachings +of the Dark Ages. +</p> + +<p> +20:5. <hi rend='sans'>And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: in +the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up Mine hand unto +the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known +unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up Mine hand +unto them, saying, I am the Lord your God.</hi>—First viewed +as God's people <q>in the world,</q> Egypt, God chose them, +made Himself known to them, and lifted up for them the +hand of His power.—Z. '94-357. +</p> + +<p> +20:6. <hi rend='sans'>In the day that I lifted up Mine hand unto them, +to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that +I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which +is the glory of all lands.</hi>—He promised to bring them in +<pb n='457'/><anchor id='Pg457'/> +the resurrection, if faithful, into the <q>mansion</q> prepared +for them—Heaven itself, the most glorious condition in +God's Universe. +</p> + +<p> +20:7. <hi rend='sans'>Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man +the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with +the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.</hi>—God had +told them to cast away all filthiness of the flesh and the +spirit (2 Cor. 7:1), to do away with the desire of things +seen with the fleshly eyes (1 John 2:16), and no longer to +defile themselves spiritually with cravings for earthly +power. But while professing Christ's name, they rebelled +in their heart against God, and would not listen to Him. +</p> + +<p> +20:8. <hi rend='sans'>But they rebelled against Me, and would not +hearken unto Me: they did not every man cast away the +abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the +idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out My fury upon +them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst +of the land of Egypt.</hi>—Over and over, throughout the Gospel +Age, God was indignant enough to bring destruction +upon them; but He did not, in order that His name and +reputation might not come into disrespect among the +worldly people, who were taught by professing Christians +that God was with them. +</p> + +<p> +20:9, 10. <hi rend='sans'>But I wrought for My name's sake, that it should +not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they +were, in whose sight I made Myself known unto them, in +bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. Wherefore +I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and +brought them into the wilderness.</hi>—God's Word views professing +Christians also as in the wilderness condition of +separateness from and ostracism by the worldly—as +<q>brought forth out of the land of Egypt.</q> +</p> + +<p> +20:12. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover also I gave them My sabbaths, to be a +sign between Me and them, that they might know that I +am the Lord that sanctifieth them.</hi>—He gave them the +privilege of entering in advance of the world into His +sabbath (Millennial) rest—the rest of peace with God by +faith, of justification freely given through the blood of the +<pb n='458'/><anchor id='Pg458'/> +Son of God. The Lord Himself set them apart for His +holy service. +</p> + +<p> +20:13. <hi rend='sans'>But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in +the wilderness: they walked not in My statutes, and they +despised My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even +live in them; and My sabbaths they greatly polluted: then +I said, I would pour out My fury upon them in the wilderness, +to consume them.</hi>—As a class, professed Christians +have rebelled against being in the wilderness condition of +separateness from and ostracism by the worldly. They +have lived not according to the Law of Divine Love, but +have despised the opportunities of the trial period. They +have despised the Scriptural doctrine of the Millennium, +and have made a common thing of the rest of faith by +introducing all kinds of penances, masses, alms, and other +deeds whereby to earn the peace with God, freely offered +through faith in Jesus' atoning Sacrifice. Often was God +indignant enough to destroy them. +</p> + +<p> +20:14. <hi rend='sans'>But I wrought for My name's sake, that it should +not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought +them out.</hi>—But for His own name's sake, not theirs, God +refrained from permitting the Time of Trouble to come +before the appointed time, that the people of this world +might not belittle Him and His protecting power. +</p> + +<p> +20:15, 16. <hi rend='sans'>Yet also I lifted up My hand unto them in +the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land +which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, +which is the glory of all lands; because they despised My +judgments, and walked not in My statutes, but polluted +My sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.</hi>—Yet +the Word of God has made it plain that those in the wilderness +condition who have not given their whole heart +to God shall not be changed to the spirit nature and +brought to the Heavenly plane of being. +</p> + +<p> +20:17-21. <hi rend='sans'>Nevertheless Mine eye spared them from destroying +them, neither did I make an end of them in the +wilderness. But I said unto their children in the wilderness, +Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither +observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their +idols: I am the Lord your God; walk in My statutes, and +keep My judgments, and do them; and hallow My sabbaths; +and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that +ye may know that I am the Lord your God. Notwithstanding, +the children rebelled against Me; they walked not in +My statutes, neither kept My judgments to do them, which +if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted My +sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out My fury upon them +to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness.</hi>—God +<pb n='459'/><anchor id='Pg459'/> +did not at once destroy those in the wilderness condition, +but gave the same fatherly admonition to those +who succeeded them, all in vain. +</p> + +<p> +20:22-24. <hi rend='sans'>Nevertheless I withdrew Mine hand, and +wrought for My name's sake, that it should not be polluted +in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them +forth. I lifted up Mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, +that I would scatter them among the heathen, and +disperse them through the countries; because they had not +executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, and +had polluted My sabbaths, and their eyes, were after their +fathers' idols.</hi>—God repeated His forbearance, in not scattering +them back into the world, nor destroying them. +</p> + +<p> +20:25. <hi rend='sans'>Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were +not good, and judgments whereby they should not live.</hi>—At +last God gave them up <q>to their own heart's desires</q> +(Psa. 81:12), to <q>worship the hosts of heaven,</q> their own +pulpit stars (Acts 7:42), who <q>changed the truth of God +into a lie,</q> into <q>human traditions,</q> and <q>worshipped and +served created things rather than the Creator</q> (Rom. +1:25)—following evil statutes, <q>customs,</q> and enduring +worldly trials and temptations, bringing them, not life, but +death. +</p> + +<p> +20:26. <hi rend='sans'>And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that +they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the +womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that +they might know that I am the Lord.</hi>—God gave them up +to doctrinal pollutions, in that they believed in and worshipped +the eternal torment god, Moloch, the Devil, and +singed, scorched spiritually, with the fear of <q>the hot +place,</q> all their children, those young in nominal Christianity. +(Jer. 32:35.) This caused them to be desolate, +deserted, abandoned by the true God, like the heathen +without God—though not that God might ultimately destroy +them; for in the Times of Restitution they will by contrast +appreciate the true God. +</p> + +<p> +20:27-28. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house +of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Yet +in this your fathers have blasphemed Me, in that they have +committed a trespass against Me. For when I had brought +them into the land, for the which I lifted up Mine hand to +give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the +thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and +there they presented the provocation of their offering: +there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out +there their drink offerings.</hi>—The Christian's course was +typed by the experience of the Hebrews in the land of +Canaan (Isa. 57:5), in the blessedness of Divine favor and +<pb n='460'/><anchor id='Pg460'/> +in the abundance of God's gifts. When brought into this +condition of favor, instead of being thankful and giving +their whole hearts to God in devoted consecration, the +great mass of professing Christians committed the same +abominations that the heathen were guilty of—union of +church with worldly power, making the high ones the +heads of the church, as the King of England and the Czar +of Russia; doing homage to all of earth's great ones (the +thick trees); rendering service and obedience (sweet +savor) to traditions of men; and preaching (pouring out) +strong doctrines, intoxicating wine of their mixed teachings +(drink offerings). +</p> + +<p> +20:29. <hi rend='sans'>Then I said unto them, What is the high place +whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah +unto this day.</hi>—In verse 29 Ezekiel speaks with contempt +of the Hebrew apostasy. He uses a play upon words, not +apparent in the English translation. He asks them, <q>Mah +ba</q> (Where go?), and answers, <q>Ba-mah</q> (the high places) +is the name to this day. Pastor Russell frequently spoke +with contempt—deserved, from the Divine viewpoint—of +the <q>high-place,</q> nominal church, her clergy and her laity, +always going to the <q>high ones.</q> +</p> + +<p> +20:30. <hi rend='sans'>Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus +saith the Lord God; Are ye polluted after the manner of +your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?</hi>—Again, +in the phase of captivity in <q>Babylon,</q> +the Lord's people were guilty of doctrinal and moral pollution +and of illicit union of church and earthly power. +</p> + +<p> +20:31. <hi rend='sans'>For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your +sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with +all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be inquired +of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord +God, I will not be inquired of by you.</hi>—God will not even +listen to the prayers of such professed Christians. +</p> + +<p> +20:32. <hi rend='sans'>And that which cometh into your mind shall not +be all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families +of the countries, to serve wood and stone.</hi>—Their +heart's real desire to become good-fellows in the world's +fellowship (Jer. 44:17) shall fail. +</p> + +<p> +20:33. <hi rend='sans'>As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a +mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury +poured out, will I rule over you.</hi>—God began at the appointed +time, 1914, to punish the accumulated sins of +Christendom <q>with a mighty hand (power) and with a +stretched out arm</q> (Christ present the Second time, Isa. +53:1), and with fury poured out <q>a great Time of Trouble +such as never was</q> (Dan. 12:1), and which the Lord declared +would never require a repetition. +</p> + +<pb n='461'/><anchor id='Pg461'/> + +<p> +20:34. <hi rend='sans'>And I will bring you out from the people, and +will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, +with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, +and with fury poured out.</hi>—But even this tribulation will +be done in a Father's love and for the good of His erring +children, to cleanse them. Through this trouble God will +search out all professed Christians, make them manifestly +separate from the openly worldly.—Z. '94-76. +</p> + +<p> +20:35. <hi rend='sans'>And I will bring you into the wilderness of the +people, and there will I plead with you face to face.</hi>—God +will bring them into a wilderness condition of separateness +from the world and of ostracism and persecution by the +revolutionary and anarchistic masses, and face to face He +will plead with the nominal church to forsake evil and +idolatry. +</p> + +<p> +20:36. <hi rend='sans'>Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness +of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith +the Lord God.</hi>—As He did with the Hebrews in their trial +time in the Wilderness of Sinai. +</p> + +<p> +20:37. <hi rend='sans'>And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and +I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.</hi>—God will +cause His people, all those not utterly devoid of the Holy +Spirit—<q>the Great Company</q> in the churches—to pass +under the rod of correction and to resume their fidelity to +their vow of consecration. +</p> + +<p> +20:38. <hi rend='sans'>And I will purge out from among you the rebels, +and them that transgress against Me: I will bring them +forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall +not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that +I am the Lord.</hi>—He will permit conditions of persecution +by Socialists, revolutionists, syndicalists, nihilists and anarchists, +against persons professing Christianity (<q>the religion +that got the world into trouble</q>), such that every +person not possessing the Holy Spirit will renounce all +pretense of being Christian and will get out of the deplorable +condition (country) wherein the true Christians will +be. This outcast class, being entirely <q>of the earth, +earthy,</q> shall not enter the spiritual phase of the Kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +20:39. <hi rend='sans'>As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the +Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter +also, if ye will not hearken unto Me: but pollute ye +My holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.</hi>—Let +who will then serve their idols; but they shall no +longer associate themselves with God's children, nor falsely +bear the name of Christ, nor pollute God's holy name nor +His Church with their presence or their practices. <q>If the +Lord be God, <emph>follow Him</emph>; if Baal, follow <emph>him</emph>.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='462'/><anchor id='Pg462'/> + +<p> +20:40. <hi rend='sans'>For in Mine holy mountain, in the mountain of +the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all +the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve Me: +there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, +and the first fruits of your oblations, with all your +holy things.</hi>—God wounds to heal. In the real <q>high +places,</q> the Kingdom of God now at hand, planned for +man's blessed restitution, all who are truly God's shall +serve Him, some in the spiritual phase of the Kingdom, +some in the earthly phase. (Mal. 3:3, 4.) There God will +accept all comers, <q>The Spirit and the Bride say, Come +... and whosoever will, let him take of the Water of +Life freely</q> (Rev. 22:17.) There God will accept their +offerings of themselves in heartfelt consecration, and the +first and best of their offerings and all their possessions, +then hallowed by the influences of the Kingdom of Love. +</p> + +<p> +20:41. <hi rend='sans'>I will accept you with your sweet savour, when +I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of +the countries wherein ye have been scattered, and I will +be sanctified in you before the heathen.</hi>—God will accept +their heart's best endeavors (incense), when He gathers +His children—His spirit children and His earth children—out +from the prison-house of death, and out from the dark +shadows of a world-wide heathenism. Then God win be +seen to be holy, sanctified, in His children, in the sight of +all the Satan-blinded idolaters of earth. +</p> + +<p> +20:42. <hi rend='sans'>And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I +shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country +for the which I lifted up Mine hand to give it to your +fathers.</hi>—God's children, who have not known Him as He +is, will know Him then as the God of infinite Justice, +Wisdom, Love and Power,—when they shall be established +in the Kingdom, in whatever phase they are fitted for—the +Kingdom whose earthly phase God promised to give +to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the Ancient Worthies +(Psa. 45:16), and whose Heavenly phase He covenanted +to give to the spirit class of the Gospel Age.—Heb. 11:40. +</p> + +<p> +20:43. <hi rend='sans'>And there shall ye remember your ways, and +all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall +loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that +ye have committed.</hi>—Then those who have not loved the +God of Love as they should shall remember their former +ways and loathe themselves for the evil done against such +Love Divine. +</p> + +<p> +20:44. <hi rend='sans'>And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I +have wrought with you for My name's sake, not according +to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, +O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.</hi>—They will humbly, +<pb n='463'/><anchor id='Pg463'/> +thankfully and with fervent gratitude and love know +that Jehovah, who is Love (1 John 4:8), dealt with them, +for the carrying out of His all holy purposes, and not as +Justice might have called for in connection with their +ways. +</p> + +<p> +20:45, 46. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, +saying, Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and +drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the +forest of the south field.</hi>—The words of Ezekiel return to +the impending destruction of Jerusalem—of Christendom. +Pastor Russell was to speak, as from the Divine viewpoint +(the North) against the multitudes (trees in the forest) +in the earthly phase (the south) of the Kingdom of God, +already established invisibly by God in 1878-1914. Jerusalem +(ecclesiasticism) was in a southerly direction (belonging +to the earth, earthy), from the Prophet's point of +view. +</p> + +<p> +20:47. <hi rend='sans'>And say to the forest of the south, Hear the +word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I will +kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every dry tree: +the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from +the south to the north shall be burned therein.</hi>—God permitted +in 1914 the kindling of the present unquenchable +conflagration of war, and of revolution and anarchy to +come. Righteous (green tree) and wicked (dry tree) alike +are to suffer in the fiery trials of the trouble time. All +who are of the earth, earthy (of the south, earthly phase +of the Kingdom), but who pretend or claim to be of the +spiritual phase, to have the Holy Spirit (look toward the +north, the spiritual), are to be burned, as the tares are +burned after the gathering of the wheat into the Heavenly +garner.—Matt. 13:30. +</p> + +<p> +20:48. <hi rend='sans'>And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have +kindled it: it shall not be quenched.</hi>—All mankind will +understand, before the Time of Trouble is over, that <q>the +strange work</q> is of Jehovah. +</p> + +<p> +20:49. <hi rend='sans'>Then said I, Ah Lord God! they say of me, Doth +he not speak parables?</hi>—The people of ecclesiasticism, misled +by the clergy, are unable to understand Pastor Russell's +teachings regarding the trouble, or to get the Divine viewpoint. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>There are great truths that pitch their shining tents</q></l> +<l>Outside our walls, and though but dimly seen</l> +<l>In the gray dawn, they will be manifest</l> +<l><q rend='post'>When the light widens into perfect day.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='464'/><anchor id='Pg464'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 21—The Thrice-Doubled Sword</head> + +<p> +21:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, +Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy +word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land +of Israel.</hi>—The Lord has drawn the sword against Jerusalem +and sharpened and pointed it in fury. (21:1-17.) +The king of Babylon (Satan) uses divination as to the +route by which to bring the sword against Jerusalem; the +Jews deride such a method (21:18-24), but the Hebrew +crown is to be overturned. (21:25-57.) The Ammonites +(aggressive worldly believers), too, are to be given to the +sword.—21:28-32. +</p> + +<p> +21:3. <hi rend='sans'>And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord: +Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My sword +out of its sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous +and the wicked.</hi>—Jehovah is against Christendom, has +drawn against it both the literal weapons of war, in warfare +and revolution, and the Sword of the Spirit, the Word +of God. (Eph. 6:17.) He will cause both righteous and +wicked to die in the Time of Trouble; and by His Word +He will bring about conditions such that all wicked professing +Christians will abandon all pretense of Christianity, +and the righteous will <q>come out of her</q> (Rev. +18:4) and be gathered as wheat into the Divine garner—Heaven. +</p> + +<p> +21:4. <hi rend='sans'>Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the +righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My sword go +forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to +the north.</hi>—Cannon, rifle, shot, shell, bomb and torpedo +shall be unleashed and turned against all flesh, from those +of the earthly (of the south) to those having the Holy +Spirit (of the north). The Word of God will be taken out +of its sheath of mystery and plainly show the meaning of +this trouble, and that it is to be upon all. +</p> + +<p> +21:5. <hi rend='sans'>That all flesh may know that I the Lord have +drawn forth My sword out of its sheath: it shall not return +any more.</hi>—All the people shall know that the trouble +has come from Jehovah, and that its consummation is a +certainty. +</p> + +<p> +21:6. <hi rend='sans'>Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking +of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.</hi>—Pastor +<pb n='465'/><anchor id='Pg465'/> +Russell and the Truth people have carried a heavy +heart burden in this message of the ills coming upon +Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +21:7. <hi rend='sans'>And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore +sighed thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings, +because it cometh. And every heart shall melt, and all +hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all +knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall +be brought to pass, saith the Lord God.</hi>—For the days are +near when even the strongest shall falter. +</p> + +<p> +21:8, 9. <hi rend='sans'>Again the word of the Lord came unto me, +saying, Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the +Lord; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished.</hi>—Modern +weapons of destruction are brought to a +hitherto unknown efficiency, as is the Sword of the Spirit +in the hands of the <q>feet</q> members of Christ.—Isa. 52:7. +</p> + +<p> +21:10. <hi rend='sans'>It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is +furbished that it may glitter: should We then make mirth? +it contemneth the rod of My Son, as every tree.</hi>—The +weapons of war will make a frightful slaughter among +men; and the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, will +cause millions to cast off Christianity. It glitters with +flashes of enlightenment reflected from the risen Sun of +Righteousness, which to its idolatrous enemies are gleamings +of trouble and distress. Who could rejoice over the +trouble? Not the Lord's people; for it presages the destruction +of the power (rod) of all professing to be of the +Son of God, together with all their institutions. +</p> + +<p> +21:11. <hi rend='sans'>And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may +be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to +give it into the hand of the slayer.</hi>—It is given, bright and +sharp, to be swung in the hand of skillful slayers. +</p> + +<p> +21:12, 13. <hi rend='sans'>Cry and howl, son of man; for it shall be upon +My people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors +by reason of the sword shall be upon My people: smite +therefore upon thy thigh. Because it is a trial, and what if +the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith +the Lord God.</hi>—The destruction by the weapons of war and +by the Word of God shall be upon <q>My [professed] people,</q> +upon all the clergy (princes). Fear shall take hold of +churchianity. +</p> + +<p> +21:14. <hi rend='sans'>Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite +thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the +third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the +great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy +chambers.</hi>—Pastor Russell was to give expression to the +final wrath of Jehovah. The destruction will be of double +<pb n='466'/><anchor id='Pg466'/> +severity three times—in war, revolution and anarchy. The +Sword of the Spirit was to be wielded by Pastor Russell +twice three times, in his six volumes of <hi rend='italic'>Studies in the +Scriptures</hi>. The weapons of destruction will pursue all +the great ones of earth, penetrating into all their most +secret places. The Sword of the Spirit will search out all +the lords of God's heritage (1 Pet. 5:3), the clergy, exposing +their inmost ideas contrary to Jehovah and His Plan. +</p> + +<p> +21:15. <hi rend='sans'>I have set the point of the sword against all +their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be +multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the +slaughter.</hi>—The point of the sword against ecclesiasticism, +revealing its true nature and imminent fall, is the present +exposition of the prophecies of Revelation and Ezekiel. +The Hebrew says that it is made <q>lightning brightness.</q> +It is an illumination of the whole Babylonish system, for +ages wrapped in the mystery of types and symbolisms. +How gladly the clergy would have destroyed these two +books of the Bible, had they known what they taught! +</p> + +<p> +21:16. <hi rend='sans'>Go thee one way or the other, either on the right +hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.</hi>—Wheresoever +Pastor Russell and the Truth people set their face +to go, it is authorized for them by the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +21:17. <hi rend='sans'>I will also smite Mine hands together, and I will +cause My fury to rest: I the Lord have said it.</hi>—God will +manifest His anger and cause His fury to rest upon ecclesiasticism. +</p> + +<p> +21:18, 19. <hi rend='sans'>And the Word of the Lord came unto me +again, saying, Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two +ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: +both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose +thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.</hi>—There +were two ways that the weapons of war, revolution +and anarchy might strike; in either way the blow would +come from Satan, the king of anarchy. It was to come +from Riblah, the fork of the roads. Riblah means <q>desolate.</q> +Since 1878 the worldly churches, and since 1914 +the worldly governments, have been <q>left desolate</q> (Matt. +23:38) and subject, the one to desolation by the Sword of +the Spirit, the other to desolation by carnal weapons. +</p> + +<p> +21:20. <hi rend='sans'>Appoint a way, that the sword may come to +Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem +the defenced.</hi>—The sword might go east of Jordan against +the Ammonites (Amos 1:14; Jer. 49:2), or west of Jordan, +directly at Jerusalem, first of all. It might strike the Great +(Rabbath) Company (Rev. 7:9) of <q>fellow companions</q> +(Psa. 45:14) (Ammonites), or directly and first strike +against churchianity (Judah) and ecclesiasticism proper—<q>the +<pb n='467'/><anchor id='Pg467'/> +fenced off,</q> exclusive, superior, <q>best</q> people, hitherto +so thoroughly defended from harm. +</p> + +<p> +21:21. <hi rend='sans'>For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of +the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he +made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he +looked in the liver.</hi>—The forces that will overthrow Christendom +are thoroughly under the influence and guidance of +evil spirits—as is suggested by the shuffling of arrows +named for the two cities, by the consulting of idols (theories), +and by the looking in the liver (spiritism), by interpretation. +The Devil chooses bitter words (arrows) +(Psa. 64:3), consults evil spirits (images), and is guided +even in his opposition to Jehovah by his own interpretations +of Scripture.—Matt. 4:6; 2 Cor. 11:14. +</p> + +<p> +21:22. <hi rend='sans'>At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, +to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the +slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint +battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to +build a fort.</hi>—The proof from the Scriptures shows that the +evil spirits directed that the revolutionary and anarchistic +movement should proceed first to the destruction of Christendom. +The ex-Czar of Russia was a spiritualist, and +maintained mediums for consultation. Kaiser Wilhelm +of Germany, for years prior to the great war, followed the +guidance of a demon which spoke to him clairaudiently, +urging him to his present course. A surprising number of +prominent men consult spirit mediums. The voice of the +spirits was for war by every conceivable means, nation +against nation, but destined to effect the desolation of +ecclesiasticism as well. +</p> + +<p> +21:23. <hi rend='sans'>And it shall be unto them as a false divination +in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but He will +call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.</hi>—In +the sight of those that have sworn allegiance to ecclesiasticism's +god, the father of lies, this true prediction of +the downfall of the nations will seem an erroneous expectation—as +it has appeared to all the great ones of +Christendom. They have thought that this war would be +as other wars. But the end of the Age (world) has come; +and ecclesiasticism's iniquities shall no longer go unpunished. +</p> + +<p> +21:24. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye +have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your +transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings +your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to +<pb n='468'/><anchor id='Pg468'/> +remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.</hi>—Universal +muck-raking by Socialists, Anarchists, magazine writers, +social surveyors and reformers has caused Christendom's +forgotten iniquities to be freshly remembered, and her +transgressions uncovered, so that there is no department—commercial, +financial, political or religious—in which her +sinful practices do not appear. These things God has permitted +to be made manifest that she may be taken red-handed. +</p> + +<p> +21:25. <hi rend='sans'>And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose +day is come, when iniquity shall have an end.</hi>—The profane +and wicked prince of the Jews was Zedekiah, their +last king. (A. 248; Z. '04-343.) The antitype is churchianity's +lordly class, the clergy, profaning the holy Temple +of God, the Church, the Body of Christ, with doctrines of +devils (1 Tim. 4:1), as wicked in the sight of God as were +their prototypes, the scribes, doctors and Pharisees, with +their hypocritical pretense of holiness. Their time has +come—1918—when iniquity in the House of the Sons of +God shall have an end. +</p> + +<p> +21:26. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, +and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt +him that is low, and abase him that is high.</hi>—Thus says +Almighty God: Remove the mitre (mistranslated <q>diadem</q>). +The mitre was a band of linen about the forehead, +typing the righteousness of Christ, supposed to be in the +minds of the clergy, but no more actually in them as a +class than in whited sepulchres. (Matt. 23:27.) The king +wore a golden crown on his head, held there by a white +linen mitre. (A. 248; B. 76, 79; Z. '98-359.) The clergy, the +lords of God's heritage, have crowned themselves with the +rulership of earth, in the person of the pope and in the +general desire of clergymen to rule in the affairs of men, +a lordship based upon their supposed righteousness +(mitre). This great crisis will not be like the temporary +setbacks of ecclesiasticism in past centuries. The lowly, +revolutionary, anarchistic masses will exalt themselves to +power in the Time of Trouble, and the lofty clergy shall be +utterly abased.—Matt. 23:12. +</p> + +<p> +21:27. <hi rend='sans'>I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall +be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will +give it Him.</hi>—In warfare, revolution and anarchy Jehovah +will triply overthrow Christendom until Christ in great +power will take the crown and rule the affairs of earth.—E. <hi rend='italic'>147</hi>, +133; A. 248; B. 76, 79; Z. '05-253; H. 61. +</p> + +<p> +21:28. <hi rend='sans'>And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus +saith the Lord God concerning the Ammonites, and concerning +their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the +<pb n='469'/><anchor id='Pg469'/> +sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume +because of the glittering.</hi>—Nor will the openly +worldly, professing Christian escape, for war, revolution +and anarchy are abroad—<q>the sword is drawn</q>—to consume +the worldly, too. +</p> + +<p> +21:29. <hi rend='sans'>While they see vanity unto thee, while they +divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them +that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their +iniquity shall have an end.</hi>—Destruction will come even +when the worldly-wise are mistakenly asserting that it +will not come nigh them. +</p> + +<p> +21:30. <hi rend='sans'>Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will +judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the +land of thy nativity.</hi>—The tribulation shall not be quieted—the +sword shall not <q>return unto his sheath;</q> for God will +condemn the worldly Christian also, in the condition of +unbelief wherein they have been. +</p> + +<p> +21:31. <hi rend='sans'>And I will pour out Mine indignation upon thee; +I will blow against thee in the fire of My wrath, and deliver +thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.</hi>—God +will pour out His wrath upon the worldly professing +Christians. He will blow upon them fiery blasts of war, +revolution and anarchy. They shall be delivered into the +hands of a revolted soldiery, brutal, destructive, pitiless, +skilled in the arts of slaughter, taught by Teutons and +Allies to know the utmost efficiency in war. The Sword +of the Spirit, the Word of God, too, will be in the hands +of consecrated ones, seemingly but not actually cruel, +skilled through Divine power to use it with telling effect. +</p> + +<p> +21:32. <hi rend='sans'>Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall +be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: +for I the Lord have spoken it.</hi>—Institutions Divinely +condemned shall be as fuel for the fires of bloody anarchy +and pass into oblivion. The war is the melting-pot of ecclesiasticism. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Beautiful hands are they that do</q></l> +<l>The work of the noble, good and true,</l> +<l>Busy for them the long day through;</l> +<l>Beautiful faces—they that wear</l> +<l>The light of a pleasing spirit there,</l> +<l>It matters little if dark or fair;</l> +<l>And truly beautiful in God's sight,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Are the precious souls who love the right.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='470'/><anchor id='Pg470'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 22—The Melting Pot Of War</head> + +<p> +22:1-4. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, +saying, Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou +judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her +abominations, then say thou, Thus saith the Lord God; the +city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may +come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself. +Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; +and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast +made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and +art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee +a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.</hi>—In +Chapter 22 the various iniquities of Jerusalem +are related. (22:1-12.) Their punishment is described under +the figure of a melting-pot. (22:13-22.) Christendom, and +especially ecclesiasticism, is guilty of bloodshed and of defiling +paganism. This, by a natural process, has brought +about a situation which could not continue. The present +outbreak of evil and trouble, in view of the lofty pretenses +of the past, has made paganized Christendom a byword +among acknowledgedly pagan peoples.—D. 72. +</p> + +<p> +22:5. <hi rend='sans'>Those that be near, and those that be far from +thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much +vexed.</hi>—The unbelievers, both in and out of <q>Christian</q> +countries, scoff at <q>Christendom</q>—now defiled of name and +<q>full of tumult.</q> +</p> + +<p> +22:6. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in +thee to their power to shed blood.</hi>—In Christendom all the +rulers, in the mania for war, have used every power to +promote bloodshed. The spiritual rulers have, by false +teachings, destroyed the spiritual hopes of millions.—Luke +11:52. +</p> + +<p> +22:7. <hi rend='sans'>In thee have they set light by father and mother: +in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with +the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and +the widow.</hi>—They have dealt unjustly by the classes needing +help. Spiritually they have despised our Father and +His Covenant of Grace, and oppressed those who are His +pilgrims and strangers in the world.—1 Pet. 1:1. +</p> + +<pb n='471'/><anchor id='Pg471'/> + +<p> +22:8. <hi rend='sans'>Thou hast despised Mine holy things, and hast +profaned My sabbaths.</hi>—They have despised the holy +teachings of God's Word, respecting the seventh thousand-year +Day of rest, and have attempted justification by +works instead of in the rest of faith. +</p> + +<p> +22:9. <hi rend='sans'>In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: +and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of +thee they commit lewdness.</hi>—In the churches are gossipers, +evil speakers, assassins of reputation. In them are some +that feast at the tables of devils (1 Tim. 4:1; 1 Cor. 10:21), +like lords or rulers at the heads of the nations; they long +for unhallowed church-state union. +</p> + +<p> +22:10, 11. <hi rend='sans'>In thee have they discovered their fathers' +nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was set +apart for pollution. And one hath committed abomination +with his neighbor's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled +his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his +sister, his father's daughter.</hi>—They have not only made +state-churches in every possible direction, but have been +in vast numbers guilty of sexual immorality. +</p> + +<p> +22:12. <hi rend='sans'>In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou +hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily +gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten +Me, saith the Lord God.</hi>—They have used the gifts of God +for evil purposes, even to slay God's holy martyrs; they +have even practised extortion upon those close to them. +This they have done because they have forgotten the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +22:13. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, therefore I have smitten Mine hand at +thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood +which hath been in the midst of thee.</hi>—God has shown +plain signs of anger against ecclesiasticism's hypocrisy +and her spirit of murder. +</p> + +<p> +22:14. <hi rend='sans'>Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be +strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord +have spoken it, and will do it.</hi>—Her heart must fail her, +and her powers weaken, before an abused conscience, in +the days when God will deal with her iniquities. +</p> + +<p> +22:15. <hi rend='sans'>And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and +disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness +out of thee.</hi>—He will scatter the ecclesiastics and by +fiery trials consume the uncleanness out of ecclesiasticism. +</p> + +<p> +22:16. <hi rend='sans'>And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself +in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am +the Lord.</hi>—She shall be profaned, desecrated and destroyed +in the sight of earth's nations. +</p> + +<p> +22:17, 18. <hi rend='sans'>And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, +Son of man, the house of Israel is to Me become dross; +all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst +<pb n='472'/><anchor id='Pg472'/> +of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.</hi>—Ecclesiasticism, +clergy and laity alike, are to the just and holy +God become as the refuse of the baser metals in a fiery +furnace of affliction; they are the dross of the Great Company +(silver). (Jer. 6:30.) The baser metals type degrees +of earthly natures; brass (human perfection), tin (tares, +begotten of error), iron (savage worldly power), and lead +(sin, iniquity). +</p> + +<p> +22:19. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye +are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you +into the midst of Jerusalem.</hi>—God will gather the corrupt +peoples and the nations of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +22:20. <hi rend='sans'>As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and +lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the +fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in Mine anger +and in My fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.</hi>—This +great conglomeration of persons of all shades of baseness +shall be gathered as into a blast furnace, where God +will permit indescribable troubles to afflict them; and there +He will leave them. +</p> + +<p> +22:21. <hi rend='sans'>Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the +fire of My wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst +thereof.</hi>—They are to be melted in heart and spirit in the +fiery afflictions of His wrath. +</p> + +<p> +22:22. <hi rend='sans'>As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, +so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall +know that I the Lord have poured out My fury upon you.</hi>—As +the Great Company of God's spirit-begotten children +have suffered by the millions, so shall it be with the clergy +and laity, who profess Christianity without its spirit. +</p> + +<p> +22:23, 24. <hi rend='sans'>And the Word of the Lord came unto me, +saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that +is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.</hi>—Christendom +in this Time of Trouble is without the +cleansing, refreshing showers of the water of God's Word. +</p> + +<p> +22:25. <hi rend='sans'>There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the +midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they +have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and +precious things; they have made her many widows in the +midst thereof.</hi>—Among the clergy there is a conspiracy +against the Truth. The <q>Federation of the [so-called] +Churches of Christ in America,</q> like a very devil (roaring +lion), will yet tear to pieces the Present Truth people, will +put many to death, and cause some weaker ones to lose +their spiritual lives. They will take and destroy the literature +containing the precious Bible truth. Literally the +preachers by preaching the men into war have made +widows by the millions. +</p> + +<pb n='473'/><anchor id='Pg473'/> + +<p> +22:26. <hi rend='sans'>Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned +Mine holy things: they have put no difference between +the holy and profane, neither have they shewed +difference between the unclean and the clean, and have +hid their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among +them.</hi>—The Roman Catholic priests—and the Protestant +clergy—have violated the Law of Divine Love; have polluted +God's truths with pagan teachings, have shown no +difference between those cleansed by the blood of Christ +and those still in their sins, have denied the Bible teaching +of the Millennium (Rev. 20:2-7), have hidden the Sabbath +rest of justification by faith, and have promoted a +money-grabbing system of penances and masses for sin and +of collections, which discredits and profanes God's name. +</p> + +<p> +22:27. <hi rend='sans'>Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves +ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to +get dishonest gain.</hi>—The ecclesiastics, <q>wolves in sheeps' +clothing</q> (Matt. 7:15), tear their prey, the Body members +of Christ, shed blood in persecution, and destroy spiritual +life—all to acquire money to perpetuate their infamous, +paganized religion.—Micah 2:9-11. +</p> + +<p> +22:28. <hi rend='sans'>And her prophets have daubed them with untempered +mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, +saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not +spoken.</hi>—The preachers of Protestantism have whitewashed +the whole crowd of ecclesiastics, imagining empty +doctrines of Evolution and Higher Criticism, and lying to +the people by giving their own theories as God's Word. +</p> + +<p> +22:29. <hi rend='sans'>The people of the land have used oppression, and +exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy; yea, +they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.</hi>—The laity +of both Romanism and Protestantism have oppressed the +poor in spirit, have robbed those needing God's help of +what comfort they had, and have wrongfully oppressed the +<q>pilgrims and strangers</q> (Heb. 11:13) among them. +</p> + +<p> +22:30. <hi rend='sans'>And I sought for a man among them, that should +make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the +land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.</hi>—God +promised not to destroy Sodom if there should be ten +righteous men in it; He will seek for even <hi rend='italic'>one</hi> who is +righteous in Christ's righteousness, in ecclesiasticism, to +make up the wall of her goat-fold, and stand in the gap, +that He should not destroy her; but He will find not one! +</p> + +<p> +22:31. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore have I poured out Mine indignation +upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My +wrath; their own way have I recompensed upon their +heads, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Therefore ecclesiasticism is +doomed to extinction. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='474'/><anchor id='Pg474'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 23—Two Apostate Church Systems</head> + +<p> +23:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>The Word of the Lord came again unto me, +saying, Son of man, there were two women, the daughters +of one mother.</hi>—Chapter 23 describes the church-state +unions of the Roman Catholic church, pictured as an unchaste +woman, Aholah, and of the Protestant church, her +unchaste sister, Aholibah, and the destruction of both in the +Time of Trouble by the nations with which they have made +unions.—Jer. 3:6-10. +</p> + +<p> +23:3. <hi rend='sans'>And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they +committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their +breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their +virginity.</hi>—Both of these churches have always catered to +worldly ideas and people, and even in their youth were +guilty of unions of church with state. +</p> + +<p> +23:4. <hi rend='sans'>And the names of them were Aholah the elder, +and Aholibah her sister: and they were Mine, and they +bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria +is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.</hi>—Their names are +significant. Aholah means <q>her own tent.</q> God is not in +Romanist ecclesiasticism at all; it has its own tabernacle, +called (Acts 7:43) <q>the tabernacle of Moloch.</q> Satan +himself dwells in and actuates the Papal system. Aholibah +means <q>My tent is in her.</q> God's Tabernacle, the true +Church, has been among the Protestants chiefly. In this +picture, an unchaste Protestant ecclesiasticism is designated +<q>Jerusalem.</q> They both have sons—prominent ones—and +daughters—sectarian churches. +</p> + +<p> +23:5. <hi rend='sans'>And Aholah played the harlot when she was Mine; +and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors.</hi>—The +Romish church dates back to apostolic days, +when she was God's Church [Mine]; but she fell in love +with her neighbors, the rulers of that brutal age, and sought +temporal power. +</p> + +<p> +23:6. <hi rend='sans'>Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, +all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon +horses.</hi>—The leaders and rulers in worldly affairs were +apparently faithful (clothed in blue, typical of faithfulness), +and seemed desirable and attractive to be associated +with. They were men of thought and men of action, riding +hobbies of vain philosophies. +</p> + +<pb n='475'/><anchor id='Pg475'/> + +<p> +23:7. <hi rend='sans'>Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, +with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and +with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled +herself.</hi>—The Church associated with them for gain +of worldly power, set her affections on them, instead of on +things Above, and defiled herself with their pagan ideas. +</p> + +<p> +23:8. <hi rend='sans'>Neither left she her whoredoms brought from +Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised +the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom +upon her.</hi>—Nor did she give up her worldliness when she +took up oriental asceticism. +</p> + +<p> +23:9, 10. <hi rend='sans'>Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand +of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom +she doted. These discovered her nakedness: they took +her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: +and she became famous among women; for they had executed +judgment upon her.</hi>—The rulers discovered the +naked, unprotected condition of Romanism; and by hundreds +of thousands poured in from the East, literal Tartars, +Vandals, Huns and Turks, and the pagan ideas from +the same sources, and slew the sons and daughters of +Romanism with the literal sword, as well as her children +spiritually. Among the Pagan religions (women) Romanist +<q>Christianity</q> became a name and a byword; for the invaders +had executed the judgment of God upon her. +</p> + +<p> +23:11. <hi rend='sans'>And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was +more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her +whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.</hi>—Protestantism +began in comparative purity, but later on +developed an inordinate love for temporal power. Even +more than Papacy she tried in every nation to <q>run things.</q> +</p> + +<p> +23:12. <hi rend='sans'>She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, +captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen +riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.</hi>—She, +too, set her affections on popularity with earth's rulers, +great and small, conservative, radical and revolutionary. +</p> + +<p> +23:13-17. <hi rend='sans'>Then I saw that she was defiled, that they +took both one way. And that she increased her whoredoms: +for when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, +the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, +girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed +attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, +after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land +of their nativity: and as soon as she saw them with her +eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them +<pb n='476'/><anchor id='Pg476'/> +into Chaldea. And the Babylonians came to her into the +bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, +and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated +from them.</hi>—God saw that both churches, Romish +and Protestant, were of like tendency to church-state +union, especially Protestantism; for she never saw or +heard of a great worldly man, even down to the local +leaders of the smallest rural communities, that she did +not desire their influence and help—particularly their +money—and systematically invited them to connect themselves +with a church, quite regardless of whether or not +they remained worldly. So much did the prominent people +in every place crowd into the Protestant churches and try +to <q>boss</q> things, that the rank and file even of ecclesiastics +and of the less prominent supporters of ecclesiasticism +grew sick of them. +</p> + +<p> +23:18. <hi rend='sans'>So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered +her nakedness: then My mind was alienated from her, like +as My mind was alienated from her sister.</hi>—The newspaper +writers, Socialists, anarchists and muck-rakers, exposed +the worldliness of the Protestant churches; and +God Himself, from 1878 on, has been alienated from them. +</p> + +<p> +23:19-21. <hi rend='sans'>Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling +to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had +played the harlot in the land of Egypt. For she doted +upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, +and whose issue is like the issue of horses. Thus thou +calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in +bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy +youth.</hi>—Protestant ecclesiasticism multiplied her worldly +alliances; and the prominent and wealthy, <q>of the earth, +earthy,</q> filled the churches with tares, worldlings, desirous +of profiting by association with prominent people. +</p> + +<p> +23:22. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord God: +Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom +thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee +on every side.</hi>—Therefore, O Protestantism, thus saith the +Lord Jehovah: I will raise up, in warfare and revolution, +the worldly people in you, of whom you are already sick, +and bring them against you on every side. +</p> + +<p> +23:23. <hi rend='sans'>The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, +and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; all +of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great +lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.</hi>—The +worldly, the worldly-wise (Chaldeans), the officers (Pekod), +princes (Shoa), and rulers (Koa), and all the discontented +and anarchistic with them shall come against you, riding +hobbies destructive to you. +</p> + +<pb n='477'/><anchor id='Pg477'/> + +<p> +23:24. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall come against thee with chariots, +wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, +which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet +round about: and I will set judgment before them, and +they shall judge thee according to their judgments.</hi>—They +shall war against thy welfare with organizations of +their own (chariots), with leaders (riders, mistranslated +wagons), with a systematic plan of operation (wheels), +and with a great following of revolutionists; and they shall +condemn thee by their own perverted ideas of justice. +</p> + +<p> +23:25. <hi rend='sans'>And I will set My jealousy against thee, and they +shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy +nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the +sword; they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and +thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.</hi>—Unknown to +Protestantism, God's jealousy has been excited by her +worldliness; and He will permit the masses to deal with +her in fury; they will destroy her spirituality, taking away +her ability to discern spiritual things (nose), and to hear +(ear) the Word of God. They will force Protestantism's +sons and daughters into service in war and revolution; and +the remnant will be destroyed in the ensuing anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +23:26. <hi rend='sans'>They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, +and take away thy fair jewels.</hi>—Protestantism shall be +stripped of her robes of self-righteousness and of her imitation +jewels—those not truly Christianized; for they will +cast off all pretense of religion. +</p> + +<p> +23:27. <hi rend='sans'>Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from +thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: +so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor +remember Egypt any more.</hi>—Being no longer attractive or +useful to the ruling powers, she will perforce cease her +advances toward the grasping of worldly power. +</p> + +<p> +23:28. <hi rend='sans'>For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will deliver +thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into +the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated.</hi>—All +law-abiding people, and especially Protestant ecclesiasticism, +hate and fear the lawless forces destructive of +society; but into the cruel hands of such shall they be delivered. +</p> + +<p> +23:29. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and +shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked +and bare; and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be +discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.</hi>—These +evil forces shall deal hatefully with Protestantism, take +away all the results of her work, and strip her completely, +because of the ultimate evils wrought by union of church +and state. +</p> + +<pb n='478'/><anchor id='Pg478'/> + +<p> +23:30. <hi rend='sans'>I will do these things unto thee, because thou +hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou +art polluted with their idols.</hi>—God will do this because +Protestantism has sought and made church-state unions, +and has been polluted with worldly ideas and practices. +</p> + +<p> +23:31. <hi rend='sans'>Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; +therefore, will I give her cup into thine hand.</hi>—She has +walked in the way of Papacy; therefore will God give to +her also Papacy's cup of tribulation.—Jer. 25:15. +</p> + +<p> +23:32. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God: Thou shalt drink of +thy sister's cup deep and large; thou shalt be laughed to +scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.</hi>—Protestantism +shall drink deep and large the measure of Romanism's +cup of trouble; it contains much. As a result of wars +and devastation brought on by worldliness, in the face of +boasted godliness, Protestantism shall be scorned and +derided by the whole world.—Rev. 9. +</p> + +<p> +23:33. <hi rend='sans'>Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, +with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the +cup of thy sister Samaria.</hi>—Protestantism shall be intoxicated +with the war spirit (Jer. 13:13), and later stupefied +with amazement at the ruinous results of her own course, +ending in the same cup of trouble, utter ruin, as confronts +her sister-church, Catholicism. +</p> + +<p> +23:34. <hi rend='sans'>Thou Shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou +shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own +breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Protestantism +shall drain the cup of desolation and sorrow and +shall suck out the very dregs. (Isa. 30:14.) It shall be +broken up in anarchy, and shall lose all the features that +made it attractive to this world's governments for purposes +of union of church and state. +</p> + +<p> +23:35. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because +thou hast forgotten Me, and cast Me behind thy back, +therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.</hi>—Because +she has forgotten the Lord and cast Him out +of her mind, Protestantism shall endure unaided by Him +the results of her own evil course. +</p> + +<p> +23:36. <hi rend='sans'>The Lord said moreover unto me: Son of man, +wilt thou judge Aholah and Ahollbah? yes, declare unto +them their abominations.</hi>—In Verses 36 to 49 Romanism +and Protestantism are together jointly condemned. +</p> + +<p> +23:37. <hi rend='sans'>That they have committed adultery, and blood is +in their hands, and with their Idols have they committed +adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare +unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour +them.</hi>—They have both effected church-state unions. They +have blood guilt, for wars, and for causing the spiritual +<pb n='479'/><anchor id='Pg479'/> +death of multitudes. They have given their hearts to +idol doctrines. They have caused God's children to endure +fiery troubles, and have scorched, scarred and burned their +religious lives with the eternal torment theory. +</p> + +<p> +23:38. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover this they have done unto Me; they +have defiled My Sanctuary In the same day, and have profaned +My sabbaths.</hi>—They have defiled God's Sanctuary, +the Church, with soul-destroying doctrines in the same +Day, the Gospel Age. They have derided the Millennium, +and have substituted works for the rest of faith, as the +basis of justification before God. +</p> + +<p> +23:39. <hi rend='sans'>For when they had slain their children to their +idols, then they came the same day Into My Sanctuary to +profane it; and lo, thus have they done in the midst of +Mine house.</hi>—They would slay their people in war and the +same day go to worship God, even in the midst of God's +Sanctuary, the Little Flock of the true Church. +</p> + +<p> +23:40. <hi rend='sans'>And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to +come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, +lo, they came; for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst +thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments.</hi>—They +sought for union with and sent preachers to prominent +men, at heart in a condition far from God; for them they +<q>whitewashed</q> themselves, made their wisdom (eyes) attractive +with worldly philosophies, and adorned themselves +with the imitation jewels of courtesy, tact and politeness. +</p> + +<p> +23:41. <hi rend='sans'>And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared +before it, whereupon thou hast set Mine Incense and +Mine oil.</hi>—They took their seat upon a stately creed-bed, +adapted to worldly, regal purposes, with a table of religious +food, teachings, philosophies, not of God, where they gave +their hearts' best endeavor and prostituted what measure +of the Holy Spirit they had to worldly ends. +</p> + +<p> +23:42. <hi rend='sans'>And a voice of a multitude being at ease was +with her; and with the men of the common sort were +brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets +upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.</hi>—With +the ecclesiasticism of Papacy and Protestantism was +the voice of a multitude of worldly church members, thoroughly +at ease in apostate Zion. (Amos 6:1.) Among +the church members were men of the blackest character +(Sabeans, descendants of Ham, disfavored of God), who +belonged outside the pale of religion, who adorned themselves +with seeming character jewels and crowns of +inherent immortality, not of God, but of Plato. +</p> + +<pb n='480'/><anchor id='Pg480'/> + +<p> +23:43. <hi rend='sans'>Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, +Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with +them?</hi>—It seemed impossible that the churches should +unite with such evil men, to gain influence and power. +</p> + +<p> +23:44. <hi rend='sans'>Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a +woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto +Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women.</hi>—Nevertheless, +both Romish and Protestant ecclesiasticism did so. +</p> + +<p> +23:45. <hi rend='sans'>And the righteous men, they shall judge them +after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of +women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and +blood is in their hands.</hi>—But men with a sense of decency, +justice and the fitness of things will condemn both +churches, Romish and Protestant, as adulteresses were +judged among the Hebrews—stone them to death with +hard facts, and by the ravages of revolution and anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +23:46. <hi rend='sans'>For thus saith the Lord God, I will bring up a +company upon them, and will give them to be removed +and spoiled.</hi>—God will bring up against them a great rabble +of people with a keen sense of outraged justice—Socialists, +trades-union men, laborites, social democrats, nihilists +and anarchists. Also a multitude of God's children, begotten +of the Holy Spirit, will rise up against these apostacies. +</p> + +<p> +23:47. <hi rend='sans'>And the company shall stone them with stones, +and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their +sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with +fire.</hi>—This multitude will down ecclesiasticism with hard +facts, and destroy her with material weapons and with +the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. The anarchists +will literally slay church members by millions; and the +sons of God will by His Holy Word cause them to cease +their pretense of being Christians. +</p> + +<p> +23:48. <hi rend='sans'>Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the +land, that all women may be taught not to do after your +lewdness.</hi>—Thus will the Lord cause the desire for the +union of churches with worldly power to cease out of +human society, that all religious bodies may learn forever +to avoid this abominable practice. +</p> + +<p> +23:49. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall recompense your lewdness upon +you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall +know that I am the Lord God.</hi>—Thus shall ecclesiasticism's +faithless apostasy be recompensed upon her when she +suffers the results of the sinfulness of loving other mighty +ones than Jehovah, and thus shall she learn the supremacy +of God in the affairs of men. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='481'/><anchor id='Pg481'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 24—The Boiling Caldron</head> + +<p> +24:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in +the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came +unto me, saying, Son of man, write thee the name of the +day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself +against Jerusalem this same day.</hi>—It was in the fall +of 1916—a year and seven months before the city was +to be smitten in the spring of 1918—that the forces of laborism, +revolution and anarchy, began to assert themselves +against the established order of things in Christendom—the +siege of the city began. +</p> + +<p> +24:3. <hi rend='sans'>And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and +say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: Set on a pot, +set it on, and also pour water into it.</hi>—Jerusalem is likened +to a boiling caldron from which meat is taken; then it is +set empty on the fire and the rust burned out. Ezekiel's +wife dies; but he suppresses his feelings, and, after the +ordinance for a priest, makes no mourning for the dead—a +picture of the dumb sorrow of the Hebrews on the destruction +of Jerusalem. The prophecy of this chapter was +uttered on the same day that the king of Babylon, +Nebuchadnezzar, <q>came, he and all his host, and pitched +against it; and they built forts against it round about; and +the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king +Zedekiah.</q> (2 Kings 25:1, 2.) Its antitype is that on or +about November 1, 1916, the date of Pastor Russell's death, +ecclesiasticism began to enter upon its life-and-death +struggle, materially, with the forces of laborism and anarchy, +and religiously with the consecrated children of +God, whose work from then on was increasingly to bear +witness to the apostasy and imminent destruction of +churchianity. Ecclesiasticism, rebellious against her God, +is as an organization, like a caldron of brass (copper), +typing that many of its members believe the Word of God. +It is set amid the fiery troubles of revolution and anarchy. +There is water in it, symbolic of what Truth there is in +ecclesiasticism.—Jer. 1:13. +</p> + +<p> +24:4. <hi rend='sans'>Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good +piece, the thigh, and the shoulders: fill it with the choice +bones.</hi>—In it are gathered the great and prominent (good +pieces), and also the strong ones (bones) of her flock. +</p> + +<pb n='482'/><anchor id='Pg482'/> + +<p> +24:5. <hi rend='sans'>Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the +bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe +the bones of it therein.</hi>—The social elements will grow hot +in the Time of Trouble until the truths in ecclesiasticism +make it exceedingly warm for her members. Then the +heated, excited, troublous condition will be transmitted, +and as the truths warm up, will get all the church members +into exceedingly hot water, even the strongest ones. +</p> + +<p> +24:6. <hi rend='sans'>Wherefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the +bloody city, to the plot whose scum is therein, and whose +scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let +no lot fall upon it.</hi>—Woe to Christendom, ecclesiasticism, +bloody in the blood of soldiers, peasants, workingmen, +martyrs and saints, by the millions, and blood guilty for +the spiritual hopes of millions, extinguished by her false +doctrines. Her rust (R. V.) is in her. Bring out her leading +members, one by one, indiscriminately, into captivity +to the forces of revolution. +</p> + +<p> +24:7. <hi rend='sans'>For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it +upon the top of a rock; the poured it not upon the ground, +to cover it with dust;</hi>—Her infamy of blood is in her very +substance. She has not been able to conceal it, but it is +exposed to full view in <q>the top of her rock,</q> in the kings +and the kaisers, her heads in church-state union. +</p> + +<p> +24:8. <hi rend='sans'>That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; +I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that +it should not be covered.</hi>—The fury of a revolted soldiery +and populace will rise up against the heads of the governments, +who are also heads of the churches, to take vengeance +upon ecclesiasticism's sins. +</p> + +<p> +24:9. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the +bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great.</hi>—Innumerable +will be the opponents of churchianity, and +blazing hot their wrath. +</p> + +<p> +24:10. <hi rend='sans'>Heap on the wood, kindle the fire, consume the +flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.</hi>—Heap +up the fires of discontent and anarchy, consume the tares +in Christendom, as tares. Thicken the broth (R. V.), boil +it down until the very bones, the strong church members, +cease to be such. +</p> + +<p> +24:11. <hi rend='sans'>Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that +the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the +filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may +be consumed.</hi>—Then ecclesiasticism, the clergy class, with +emptied pews, shall sit amid the fiery trouble and be consumed, +that their corruption may be done away. +</p> + +<p> +24:12. <hi rend='sans'>She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great +scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the +<pb n='483'/><anchor id='Pg483'/> +fire.</hi>—She has wearied even the preachers with the dishonesty +of preaching things not believed in, and yet they +did not cast out her doctrinal corruption, which shall be +fuel for the fire of anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +24:13. <hi rend='sans'>In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have +purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be +purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused My +fury to rest upon thee.</hi>—Her corruption was in her desire +to become prominent and powerful through the power of +earth's great ones. God purged her of these things to +some extent through godly preachers and reformers; but +she was not purged in heart and quickly reverted to the +things Divinely proscribed. Since 1878 God has made no +further attempt to reform ecclesiasticism; and she shall +not be purged, but the fury of God's jealousy shall rest +upon her. +</p> + +<p> +24:14. <hi rend='sans'>I the Lord have spoken it; it shall come to pass, +and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, +neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according +to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord God.</hi>—God +Himself has spoken this and will do it. He will not +go back, neither spare, nor change His Plan; but in just +recompense for her doings shall the Socialists and anarchists +condemn her. +</p> + +<p> +24:15, 16. <hi rend='sans'>Also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, +Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire +of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn +nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.</hi>—God took +away from Pastor Russell the desire of his eyes, her whom +he loved, with a stroke, or <q>plague</q> of spiritual error, +which completely separated them. By the Mosaic ordinance +a priest on the death of father, mother, or wife, was +to show no special sign of grief, but was to remain in the +Tabernacle, or Temple, and attend as usual to the service +of God. Pastor Russell, as a member of the great High +Priest and as Christ's representative in the world, the sole +steward of the <q>meat in due season,</q> suffered deeply, but +shed no tears. +</p> + +<p> +24:17. <hi rend='sans'>Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, +bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes +upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread +of men.</hi>—Rather, he made no mourning for her that was +to him as dead, but continued in the work of the sacrificing +priesthood. He was sustained in his affliction, not by +human aid, but by the consolations of his Father's Word. +</p> + +<pb n='484'/><anchor id='Pg484'/> + +<p> +24:18. <hi rend='sans'>So I spake unto the people in the morning: and +at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was +commanded.</hi>—He continued his addresses and writings to +the Lord's people; his wife became to him as one dead: +and he continued uninterruptedly in the work of the ministry. +</p> + +<p> +24:19. <hi rend='sans'>And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell +us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?</hi>—Why +was Pastor Russell caused by his Father to endure the +fiery trials and ecclesiastical falsehoods in connection with +this incident of his life? +</p> + +<p> +24:20, 21. <hi rend='sans'>Then I answered them, The word of the Lord +came unto me, saying, Speak unto the house of Israel, +Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will profane My Sanctuary, +the excellency of your strength, the desire of your +eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and +your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.</hi>—God +gives the reason. It was as a picture or parable of +what is to happen to Christendom. Until 1878 the nominal +church had been in a sense God's sanctuary or Temple; +but He was from then on, culminating in 1918, to remove it +with a stroke or plague of erroneous doctrines and deeds +Divinely permitted. The Church was the strength of Christendom, +that about which its life centered, and around +which its institutions were built. It was the desire of the +eyes of the people, that which all Christians loved. Nevertheless, +God was to make manifest the profanation which +ecclesiasticism had made of the Christian Church, and to +cause the church organizations to become to Him as one +dead, an unclean thing, not to be touched, or mourned. +And the <q>children of the church</q> shall perish by the +sword of war, revolution and anarchy, and by the Sword +of the Spirit be made to see that they have lost their hope +of life on the spirit plane—that <q>the door is shut.</q> +</p> + +<p> +24:22. <hi rend='sans'>And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not +cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.</hi>—So universal +and dreadful will be the troubles that the dead will literally +lie unburied and unwept. There can be no mourning +for the dead in a period when the living are overwhelmed +by troubles worse than death. +</p> + +<p> +24:23. <hi rend='sans'>And your tires shall be upon your heads: and +your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; +but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one +toward another.</hi>—The mourning will be an inner sorrow +of a people stupefied by terrible experiences, who pine +<pb n='485'/><anchor id='Pg485'/> +away and without outward expression sink together into +the fellowship of helpless grief. +</p> + +<p> +24:24. <hi rend='sans'>Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all +that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye +shall know that I am the Lord God.</hi>—Thus the silent sorrow +at Pastor Russell's heart was to be a sign to Christendom. +The sorrowful experiences of Pastor Russell in this +connection shall later on be those of all Christendom; +<q>and when this cometh</q> they shall know that Jehovah God +is supreme, and back of all the judgments of the trouble +time. +</p> + +<p> +24:25, 26. <hi rend='sans'>Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the +day when I take from them their strength, the joy +of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon +they set their minds, their sons and their daughters. That +he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause +thee to hear it with thine ears?</hi>—Also, in the year 1918, +when God destroys the churches wholesale and the church +members by millions, it shall be that any that escape shall +come to the works of Pastor Russell to learn the meaning +of the downfall of <q>Christianity.</q> +</p> + +<p> +24:27. <hi rend='sans'>In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him +which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more +dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall +know that I am the Lord.</hi>—Pastor Russell's voice has been +stilled in death; and his voice is, comparatively speaking, +dumb to what it will be. In the time of revolution and +anarchy he shall speak, and be no more dumb to those +that escape the destruction of that day. Pastor Russell +shall <q>be a sign unto them,</q> shall tell them the truth about +the Divine appointment of the trouble, as they consult his +books, scattered to the number of ten million throughout +Christendom. His words shall be a sign of hope unto +them, enabling them to see the bright side of the cloud +and to look forward with anticipation to the glorious +Kingdom of God to be established. Then <q>they shall know +the Lord.</q> +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 8'>As the swift seasons roll!</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 8'>Leave thy low vaulted past!</l> +<l>Let each new temple, nobler than the last,</l> +<l>Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 8'>Till thou at length art free,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='486'/><anchor id='Pg486'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 25—Recompense Upon The Tares</head> + +<p> +25:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, +Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and +prophesy against them.</hi>—Chapter 25 foretells that after +the fall of apostate ecclesiasticism in revolution, in 1918, +the end of the various discordant non-Christian elements +of Christendom, hostile to true Christianity, which will +seek to profit by her fall, will come. The Ammonites +(25:1-7) and the Moabites (25:8-11), both children of Lot—who +was himself a type of the Great Company class—are +a type of a class brought into being by their father, the +Great Company class (Lot), while he was in a state of +drunken stupor from mixed doctrines, through Lot's daughters, +type of the worldly churches of the Great Company. +The Edomites, descendants of Esau, represent a class who +sell their birthright to sonship of God for a mess of pottage, +worldly advantage (25:12-14); and the Philistines, a +people who migrated from Egypt, and aggressively preyed +upon the Jews, type of a class of aggressive, middle-course, +professing Christians who prey upon true Christians. The +message begins with words against the Ammonites, types +of those believing worldlings who were brought into the +churches by the more or less faithless Great Company, +and who in an aggressive and predatory fashion as Jesuits, +persecuting Romish priests, and Protestant clergy and +their kind persecuted the true Christians. The Ammonites +are described as <q>fierce marauders, crafty, cruel, predatory.</q> +The Ammonites worshipped Baal, under the name +Chemosh, the god of fire and of fornication, type of the +eternal-torment-purgatory god, the encourager of the spiritual +adultery of church-state union. +</p> + +<p> +25:3. <hi rend='sans'>And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the +Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God; Because thou saidst, +Aha, against My Sanctuary, when it was profaned; and +against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and +against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity.</hi>—When +God's true Church shall be persecuted in the +<pb n='487'/><anchor id='Pg487'/> +world-war and revolution, and true Christian faith shall +be desolated, and the multitude of those that praise God +(Judah, praise) shall go into captivity to the infidel revolutionists, +the persecuting, world-loving church members +(Ammonites) will he glad of it. +</p> + +<p> +26:4. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of +the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces +in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat +thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.</hi>—God will deliver +this class unto the anarchists, to possess them, and make +themselves at home with their property, and to make +away with their doctrines (milk). +</p> + +<p> +25:5. <hi rend='sans'>And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and +the Ammonites a couching place for flocks: and ye shall +know that I am the Lord.</hi>—And I will make the lordly +clergy class (Rabbah, great) waste and abandoned. +</p> + +<p> +25:6. <hi rend='sans'>For thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast +clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced +in heart with all thy despite against the land of +Israel.</hi>—Because they shall rejoice greatly, in their despite +against Christianity. +</p> + +<p> +25:7. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, therefore I will stretch out Mine hand +upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen: +and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause +thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; +and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.</hi>—Therefore God +will stretch out His hand against them, and deliver them +to be despoiled by the infidel anarchists in their midst. +He will cut them off as a class, cause them to cease and +destroy them, and they shall know that He is God. +</p> + +<p> +25:8. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God: Because that Moab and +Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the +heathen.</hi>—The Moabites (<q>Seir</q> should be omitted) were +the civilized part of the descendants of Lot, born of incest, +of a drunken father, Lot, and worshippers of Baal, while +acknowledging Jehovah. They typed a church membership +begotten by the mixture of truth and error, by the +Great Company class, through their world-loving churches +(daughters of Lot), and worshipping the eternal-torment +God, imagining him to be Jehovah, and practicing the +spiritual harlotry of union of church and state. Moab was +<q>a nation high spirited, wealthy, populous, civilized, and +of wide reputation and popularity.</q> They type a like class. +</p> + +<p> +25:9. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab +from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, +the glory of the country, Beth-jeshi-moth, Baal-meon, and +Kiriathaim.</hi>—God will cause this class to be attacked in the +anarchy (Beth-jeshimoth, place of desolation), on two +<pb n='488'/><anchor id='Pg488'/> +grounds, their apostate clergy (Baalmeon, lord of the habitation) +and church-state system (Kiriathaim, double city). +</p> + +<p> +25:10. <hi rend='sans'>Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, +and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may +not be remembered among the nations.</hi>—The anarchists +will also overcome the aggressive class (Ammonites). +</p> + +<p> +25:11, 12. <hi rend='sans'>And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and +they shall know that I am the Lord. Thus saith the Lord +God; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of +Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and +revenged himself upon them.</hi>—The professedly Christian +<q>Edomites</q> (D. 14-19)—nominally believers in God (descendants +of Abraham), but worshipping a variety of gods of +power, wealth, and worldliness, especially the eternal-torment +God—(Josephus says the Edomites worshipped Cese, +the destroyer)—will help greatly in pulling down Christianity. +</p> + +<p> +25:13. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will also +stretch out Mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man +and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; +and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.</hi>—God will +stretch His hand against this class (Edom-Idumea) and +from end to end they shall fall by the weapons of destruction, +and by the Sword of the Spirit.—Isa. 34:5, 6; Jer. +49:7-17. +</p> + +<p> +25:14. <hi rend='sans'>And I will lay My vengeance upon Edom by the +hand of My people Israel: and they shall do in Edom +according to Mine anger and according to My fury; and +they shall know My vengeance, saith the Lord God.</hi>—The +Truth people shall declare what God will do to this class +in His furious anger.—Isa. 15:1-9; Jer. 48:1-47. +</p> + +<p> +25:15. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; Because the Philistines +have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a +despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred.</hi>—The +worldly professing Christians (Philistines, emigrants from +Egypt) persecute God's true people, and shall in the revolution +despitefully aid in destroying Christianity.—Joel 3:4. +</p> + +<p> +25:16, 17. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I +will stretch out Mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will +cut off the Cherethim, and destroy the remnant of the sea +coast. And I will execute great vengeance upon them with +furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, +when I shall lay My vengeance upon them.</hi>—God will, +through the anarchists, stretch out His hand against this +class, and will cut off those that carry out persecution and +death upon His people (Cherethim, executioners), and all +worldly professing Christians as such, including those that +border on anarchy (sea coast). +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='489'/><anchor id='Pg489'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 26—Downfall Of Philosophy</head> + +<p> +26:1. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the +first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came +unto me, saying.</hi>—Chapter 26 depicts ecclesiasticism in +the guise of an elaborate system of philosophy. The name +Tyrus signifies <q>Rock;</q> and human philosophy, particularly +Greek Platonic philosophy, is the real rock foundation +of ecclesiastical teachings. Any true ecclesiastic, +when driven by the Word of God from his untenable +errors, claims sanction for them by reference to the philosophy +of Plato and the inherent immortality of man, etc. +</p> + +<p> +26:2. <hi rend='sans'>Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against +Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the +people; she is turned unto me; I shall be replenished, now +she is laid waste.</hi>—This system and its adherents will +manifest their essentially non-Christian nature when Christendom +(Jerusalem) falls at the hands of the revolutionists +in 1918. Philosophy, Higher Criticism, will rejoice that +ecclesiasticism, which claimed to be the gateway to God +for the people, is broken. They will imagine that the +adherents of a Christianity that has failed will turn to +philosophy, and that the adherents of philosophy will be +increased now that ecclesiasticism is desolated. Human +philosophy will seem to be the sole refuge of the people +of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +26:3. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am +against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to +come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to +come up.</hi>—Because Christendom has borne the name of +Christ and had the oracles of God, therefore God is against +philosophy and will cause the many nations of Christendom +to come up against established philosophy, as a sea +of anarchy, with the discontented masses attacking, wave +after wave, endlessly. +</p> + +<p> +26:4. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and +break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from +her, and make her like the top of a rock.</hi>—The anarchists +shall destroy the walls of defense, composed of the adherents +to human philosophy, and shall break down the +loftiest and strongest organizations, its towers of defense. +<pb n='490'/><anchor id='Pg490'/> +God will remove the last vestiges of human adherence to +Christendom's system of philosophy. +</p> + +<p> +26:5. <hi rend='sans'>It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the +midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: +and it shall become a spoil to the nations.</hi>—In the anarchy, +human philosophy shall be utterly abandoned—deprived of +all its former supporters, by whole nations of anarchists. +</p> + +<p> +26:6. <hi rend='sans'>And her daughters which are in the field shall be +slain by the sword: and they shall know that I am the +Lord.</hi>—The religious organizations (daughters) founded on +philosophy, which are in the world (field), shall be wiped +out; and in the Kingdom their former adherents shall +come to know Jehovah as He is. +</p> + +<p> +26:7. <hi rend='sans'>For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring +upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of +kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and +with horsemen, and companies, and much people.</hi>—Jehovah +God declares that against human philosophy (Tyrus) and +its systems and adherents, He will array Satan—the king +of this evil world, ruler of mystic Babylon, <q>the gateway +to Bel,</q> to devil worship, king over the kings and other +children of disobedience. He shall be permitted to come +by God Himself (the North) (Jer. 1:14), with teachings +(horses) of anarchy, with institutions based upon such +teachings (chariots), with leaders and teachers riding +these hobbies (horsemen), with an organised following +(companies) and with many people following after anarchy +in unorganized mobs (much people). +</p> + +<p> +26:8. <hi rend='sans'>He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the +field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a +mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.</hi>—With +weapons of destruction (swords) anarchy shall seek +to destroy the philosophical churches and other religious +organizations (daughters) in the world (field) and shall +systematically besiege them. +</p> + +<p> +26:9. <hi rend='sans'>And he shall set engines of war against thy walls +and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.</hi>—Anarchy +shall make war against their defenders (walls), and +with keen, strong, cutting arguments (axes), shall break +down philosophy's strongholds (towers). +</p> + +<p> +26:10. <hi rend='sans'>By reason of the abundance of his horses their +dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise +of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, +when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a +city wherein is made a breach.</hi>—Anarchistic teachings +(horses) without limit shall fill the air with confusion +(dust); philosophy's defenders (walls) shall fear and quake +at the tumult (noise) of the leaders and teachers of +<pb n='491'/><anchor id='Pg491'/> +anarchy (horsemen), and of their systematic plans +(wheels) of destruction, and of the anarchistic organizations +(chariots), when Anarchy shall pour its forces +through the great ones (gates) of Philosophy, for the great +ones will become channels (breaches) for the inpouring +teachings of anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +26:11. <hi rend='sans'>With the hoofs of his horses shall be tread down +all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and +thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.</hi>—With +the impact (hoofs) of doctrines (horses) of destruction, +anarchy shall beat down all the orderly ways (streets) of +philosophy. Anarchy shall destroy the adherents of philosophy +with weapons of destruction, and the learned and +mighty colleges and universities (garrisons) shall go down +in failure and ruin. +</p> + +<p> +26:12. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and +make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break +down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they +shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the +midst of the water.</hi>—And the anarchists shall spoil the +ideals (riches), and stop the teaching (merchandise) of +philosophy; they shall break down the defense of philosophy's +adherents (walls), and destroy the pleasing philosophical +organizations (pleasant houses). They shall engulf +the believers (stones) and supporters (timbers) in +the rising tide of anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +26:13. <hi rend='sans'>And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; +and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.</hi>—And +God will cause the noise of philosophy's siren songs, her +falsely pleasant teachings (songs) to cease; and the utterance +of her melodious books (harps) shall be no more +heard forever. +</p> + +<p> +26:14. <hi rend='sans'>And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou +shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built +no more: for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord +God.</hi>—Philosophy, falsely so-called, shall be utterly desolated, +and shall be built up no more forever; for Jehovah +God has spoken it. +</p> + +<p> +26:15. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus; Shall not the +isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, +when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?</hi>—The +world will be full of revolutionary republics (isles), devoid +of Christian principles and following man-made ideas; +these republics shall be shaken to their foundations, when +anarchy begins its dread slaughter of men and of systems. +</p> + +<p> +26:16. <hi rend='sans'>Then all the princes of the sea shall come down +from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off +their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves +<pb n='492'/><anchor id='Pg492'/> +with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall +tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee.</hi>—Then +shall the rude rulers of the revolutionary, half-anarchistic +republics lose their positions of power +(thrones), and lay aside their honors (robes), and discard +their works of revolution (broidered garments); they shall +be filled with dread and with trembling, and shall marvel +at the downfall of their socialistic and revolutionary +philosophies. +</p> + +<p> +26:17. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, +and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited +of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong +in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror +to be on all that haunt it!</hi>—They shall lament; for the +great systems of human philosophy shall be destroyed, +where abode polished cosmopolitan men of the world (seafaring +men), the renowned system of thought which was +strong among all peoples (in the sea), even in the midst +of a world of restless, discontented masses. +</p> + +<p> +26:18. <hi rend='sans'>Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy +fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at +thy departure.</hi>—Now shall the revolutionary republics +(isles) tremble in the year of philosophy's downfall; the +republics in the midst of the anarchistic peoples (sea) +shall be in trouble with the failure of the system of man-made +philosophy. +</p> + +<p> +26:19. <hi rend='sans'>For thus saith the Lord God; When I shall make +thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; +when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters +shall cover thee.</hi>—For God will utterly desolate philosophical +teachings; when He brings up the sea of anarchy upon +them, and engulfs them in the tidal wave. +</p> + +<p> +26:20. <hi rend='sans'>When I shall bring thee down with them that +descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall +set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of +old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not +inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living.</hi>—God +will bring human philosophy down to destruction, +without an adherent and in disgrace and reproach (into +the pit), in order that He may establish His glorious truth +in the Kingdom of resurrection and of life. +</p> + +<p> +26:21. <hi rend='sans'>I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no +more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be +found again, saith the Lord God.</hi>—God will make human +philosophy a wasted, desolated thing (a terror); never +shall it exist any more; though men and devils should +seek to reestablish it, never shall it be found again, saith +Jehovah God. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='493'/><anchor id='Pg493'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 27—Philosophy's Utter Ruin</head> + +<p> +27:1. <hi rend='sans'>The Word of the Lord came again unto me, saying.</hi>—In +Chapter 27 Christendom, regarded as an independent +system of pagan philosophy, is represented as a +gallant ship. Its component parts are represented symbolically +(27:4-7), as are its mariners and pilots (27:8-9). +In verses 9 to 25 the figure reverts to a mercantile city, +and the sources of its articles of trade. It is again pictured +as a ship, which is steered by its mariners into an +angry sea, and wrecked.—Verses 26 to 36. +</p> + +<p> +27:2. <hi rend='sans'>Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for +Tyrus.</hi>—The man-made system of Pagan philosophy must +fall. +</p> + +<p> +27:3. <hi rend='sans'>And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at +the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people +for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God: O Tyrus, thou +hast said, I am of perfect beauty.</hi>—O Christendom, thou +that hast the entree to the ears of the peoples (sea), which +art a salesman (merchant) of philosophical doctrines for +the people of many revolutionary republics, thus says the +Lord God: O Christendom, ecclesiasticism, thou hast regarded +thy pagan philosophies as perfect, faultless and +beautiful. +</p> + +<p> +27:4. <hi rend='sans'>Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy +builders have perfected thy beauty.</hi>—Thou, as an independent +pagan religious organization or system, belongest +among the disobedient children (sea) of the world. Thy +philosophers, doctors of divinity, professors and writers, +have perfected thy seemingly beautiful philosophy. +</p> + +<p> +27:5. <hi rend='sans'>They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of +Senir; they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make +masts for thee.</hi>—They have made as thy fundamental supporters +(boards) believers in everlasting human life (firs, +evergreen trees), in high stations in society (Mount Senir, +or Hermon, <q>pointed rock</q> was in Benjamin, one of the +Hebrew tribes, and type of the Great Company). They +have taken as the support (masts) of thy seeming righteousness +(linen sails) earth's greatest men and the rulers, +believers in inherent immortality (cedars), picturing them +as from the loftiest, purest sources. (Lebanon, a great +mountain range, means <q>white, snowy.</q>). +</p> + +<pb n='494'/><anchor id='Pg494'/> + +<p> +27:6. <hi rend='sans'>Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; +the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of +ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim.</hi>—The prominent +tares, leaders (oaks), whom other tares follow and worship, +and who are fruitful in producing more tares (Bashan +means fruitful), are the mechanism (oars) for making +thee move and progress among the people. The company +of free-thinkers (Ashurite means freemen) have made thy +white (supposedly righteous) seats (ivory signifies dreams—of +immediate spirit life when they die) to be the seats +(seats of the mighty), of the rowers who work the oars. +</p> + +<p> +27:7. <hi rend='sans'>Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was +that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and +purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered +thee.</hi>—Thy ensigns, banners, sails, over thee, to be driven +by the winds of error, are false righteousness (linen), with +innumerable works of self-righteousness (broidered work), +and of worldliness (Egypt); thou wast covered with the +faithfulness (blue) and royalty (purple) of the worst of +earth's pagan peoples (Elishah, descended from Javan, +European, the most cruel and ferocious people of earth, +as shown by their history, including this furious world-war.) +</p> + +<p> +27:8. <hi rend='sans'>The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy +mariners; thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were +thy pilots.</hi>—The adherents of the belong-to-a-church or go-to-hell +idea (Zidon meant <q>fortress,</q> and the idea is the +fortress of ecclesiasticism), and the supporters of the +falsely comforting refuge of Platonic immortality of the +soul (Arvad means refuge, and Platonic heathen philosophy +is the refuge of philosophic Christendom) were thy +mariners, the ones who <q>worked</q> thy oars; thy philosophers +(wise ones), from Plato to Nietsche, charted thy +evil course, and were the real <q>sky-pilots</q> for the rowers +to row by. +</p> + +<p> +27:9. <hi rend='sans'>The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof +were in thee thy calkers; all the ships of the sea with their +mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.</hi>—The +doctors of divinity (ancients of Gebal) (Psa. 83:7) and +the creed builders said enough on both sides of any question +for theological authorities (calkers) to keep the people +(sea) from getting on the inside, or having any real participation +in thy affairs. In the middle of verse 9 the +figure changes back to that of the prosperous mercantile +city that Tyre was. All the independent religious and +philosophical churches and other organizations (ships) of +the sea (peoples and nations) with their sky-pilots +(mariners) were in thee, O Christendom, thou aggregation +<pb n='495'/><anchor id='Pg495'/> +of confused and contradictory philosophies, to receive, hold +and disseminate thy teachings, doctrines, traditions, fables +and philosophies (merchandise). +</p> + +<p> +27:10. <hi rend='sans'>They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in +thine army, thy men of war; they hanged the shield and +helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.</hi>—Believers +in the hell-fire superstition (Persians were fire worshippers), +and middle-course, conservative worldly men of sin +(the people of Lud and Phut were dark-skinned men, living +probably west of Egypt, type of worldly compromisers +with sin) were in thine army, those that fight the bad fight +of error for thee; in thee they hung the shield of credulity +(faith) and the helmet of a false salvation; they extolled +the loveliness of thy philosophy. +</p> + +<p> +27:11. <hi rend='sans'>The men of Arvad with thine army were upon +thy walls round about, and the Gammadim were in thy +towers; they hanged their shields upon thy walls round +about; they have made thy beauty perfect.</hi>—The believers +in human immortality, thy philosophic refuge (Arvad +means <q>refuge</q>) with thine army just mentioned were the +wall of thy defense and thy watchmen, college professors, +economists (the Gammadim are thought to mean watchmen +or guards) were in thy watch towers; upon thy walls, in +the minds of thy supporters (walls) they hanged their +shields of credulity; they have made thy philosophies and +sophistries seem perfectly beautiful. +</p> + +<p> +27:12. <hi rend='sans'>Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the +multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and +lead, they traded in thy fairs.</hi>—Thy preachers (merchants, +trading in philosophy for gain) were a hard proposition +(Tarshish means hard), with an abundant supply of teachings +regarded worth while by the world; with worldly +truth—silver—with strong earthly authority—iron—with +actually worthless philosophies (tin was as the dross of +silver) and with downright wicked doctrines (lead symbolized +wickedness—Zech. 5:7-8) they taught and preached +(traded) in thy preaching places (fairs). +</p> + +<p> +27:13. <hi rend='sans'>Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: +they traded the persons of men and vessels of +brass in thy market.</hi>—Believers in Greek philosophy +(Javan represented the Greek race), and believers in the +most far-fetched and uncouth ideas, such as monkey-born +evolution (Tubal and Meshech were the remotest and +rudest of nations), were thy preachers (merchants). They +sold men into bondage to sin, and presented teachings of +human perfection (brass) attainable otherwise than +through Christ. Brass should be translated copper, and +signifies perfect human nature.—T. 18. +</p> + +<pb n='496'/><anchor id='Pg496'/> + +<p> +27:14. <hi rend='sans'>They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy +fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.</hi>—The representatives +of the rudest and crudest ideas (Togarmah) +preached in thy churches with doctrines (horses) and with +followers of the doctrines and with mixed human and +spirit nature ideas (mules). +</p> + +<p> +27:15. <hi rend='sans'>The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many +isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought +thee for a present, horns of ivory and ebony.</hi>—Men of low +ideals (Dedan means low) were thy preachers; many +revolutionary republics (islands) were thy preaching +places; they presented thee with dreams, visions (ivory) +of power (horns), good and bad (ebony). +</p> + +<p> +27:16. <hi rend='sans'>Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude +of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy +fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and flat +linen, and coral, and agate.</hi>—Believers in doctrines of lofty +self-righteousness (Syria signifies high land) were thy +preachers; they traded for gain in philosophies of eternal +life (emeralds) without Christ's purchase, with teachings +of self-kingship (purple), with works of self-mastery +(broidered work), with self-righteousness (linen), with an +imitation ransom (red coral), and imitation character +jewels (agate). +</p> + +<p> +27:17. <hi rend='sans'>Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy +merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, +and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.</hi>—With thine +errors were mingled God's Truth to make up thy mixed +doctrines. Some of thy preachers were really believers in +the Bible (of Judah and Israel), taught the wholesome +spiritual Bible truths (wheat), good teachings for the +natural man (Pannag means millet), and teachings about +Christ's Second Coming (honey), the anointing oil of the +Holy Spirit (Rev. 10:9, 10), and the balm of the comfort +of the Word of God.—Rom. 15:4. +</p> + +<p> +27:18. <hi rend='sans'>Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of +the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; +in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.</hi>—Thy preachers +(merchants) were among the chiefest of the lofty, self-righteous, +lordly ones (Damascus was capital of Syria, +the high land), trading in all varieties of thy doctrines and +philosophies, especially the mixed doctrines (wine) of +earthly prosperity (Helbon, fruitfulness) and in natural +human righteousness (white wool). +</p> + +<p> +27:19. <hi rend='sans'>Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in +thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy +market.</hi>—Apostate Christians (Dan was the seat of idolatry +and types a class once spirit-begotten but fallen away) +<pb n='497'/><anchor id='Pg497'/> +and Grecian pagans (Javan represented the Greeks) +preached in thy church gatherings; lordship, authority +(iron), the claim of apostolic authority (cassia, deputyship), +and a claimed knowledge of the Bible (calamus) +were in thy churches (markets). +</p> + +<p> +27:20. <hi rend='sans'>Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for +chariots.</hi>—Preachers of low ideals (Dedan, low) preached +that thy church organizations (chariots) should be made +presentable by being robed in the embroidery of many +works, church fairs and suppers, institutional work, and +civic and social service (chariot clothes or robes). +</p> + +<p> +27:21. <hi rend='sans'>Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied +with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these +were they thy merchants.</hi>—Thy preachers, with claims of +consecration, separateness (Arabia, wilderness), and all +the powerful right reverends, fathers, and other lords +(Kedar, powerful), they traded (exchanged from one +church to another) their converts (lambs), old church +members (rams), and out-and-out tares (goats). +</p> + +<p> +27:22. <hi rend='sans'>The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were +thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all +spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.</hi>—The +preachers in captivity (Sheba, captivity) to Satan, and +those who tremble at Satan's word (Raamah, trembling) +set forth a counterfeit of the Holy Spirit (principal spices, +Exodus 30:23), all kinds and degrees of self-development +of character (precious stones), and the alleged inherent +spark of the Divine (!) in man (gold). +</p> + +<p> +27:23. <hi rend='sans'>Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of +Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.</hi>—The +preachers of New Thought, Theosophy, Christian Science +and other phases of Spiritism, self-styled, strong and enlightened +(Haran), set up and distinguished (Canneh), and +believers in delightful delusions (Eden, delight), are in +captivity (Sheba, captivity) to Satan, and really without +hope of Kingdom honors (Chilmad, level, plain, without +mountains). +</p> + +<p> +27:24. <hi rend='sans'>These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, +in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich +apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy +merchandise.</hi>—These self-reliance preachers set forth the +robes of a counterfeit faithfulness (blue), fruitless works +of self-improvement (broidered work), and organizations +(chests) offering an imitation righteousness (rich apparel), +bound with cords of free-thought love and a delusive hope, +and represented as having eternal life (cedar). +</p> + +<p> +27:25. <hi rend='sans'>The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy +market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious +<pb n='498'/><anchor id='Pg498'/> +in the midst of the seas.</hi>—The mighty independent religious +sects (ships of Tarshish—Isa. 3:16) did preach of +thy philosophies and thou wast richly supported (replenished) +and made of great reputation (glorious) among the +peoples and nations (seas). +</p> + +<p> +27:26. <hi rend='sans'>Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: +the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.</hi>—The +picture changes back to a gallant ship. Thy strong +preachers (rowers) have steered thee into angry seas +(anarchy); the doctrines (winds) from the presence of +Christ the Sun of Righteousness (east wind) have broken +thy power in the midst of a time of anarchy (seas). +</p> + +<p> +27:27. <hi rend='sans'>Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy +mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of +thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, +and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall +fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.</hi>—Thy +philosophies, thy churches, thy doctrines, thy preachers, +thy philosophers, thy Doctors of Divinity (sky-pilots), +thy church members, all thy church workers, and all the +multitude that come to church, shall fall in the anarchy in +the day of thy ruin. +</p> + +<p> +27:28. <hi rend='sans'>The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry +of thy pilots.</hi>—Those affiliated with thee shall quake at the +shoutings and threatenings of thy sky-pilots. +</p> + +<p> +27:29. <hi rend='sans'>And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and +all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, +they shall stand upon the land.</hi>—All those that work, the +influential church members, the preachers, and all the sky-pilots +of the anarchistic masses (sea) (Rev. 18:17-18), +shall abandon their independent organizations or their +heathen religions, and shall try to find more solid ground +to stand on than thou wast on. +</p> + +<p> +27:30. <hi rend='sans'>And shall cause their voice to be heard against +thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon +their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes.</hi>—They +shall speak against thee, and cry out with bitterness +against thee, they shall show signs of grief. +</p> + +<p> +27:31. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall make themselves utterly bald for +thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep +for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.</hi>—It +was a custom in ancient times for those who had suffered +great calamities to shave their heads. The Lord +promises such an occasion for weeping to Zion, His professed +people.—Isa. 3:24. +</p> + +<pb n='499'/><anchor id='Pg499'/> + +<p> +27:32. <hi rend='sans'>And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation +for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is +like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?</hi>—In +their bemoaning the downfall of so-called <q>Christian +philosophy</q> they shall lament over thee, saying, What +organization was ever like Christendom, like her who has +been destroyed in anarchy? +</p> + +<p> +27:33. <hi rend='sans'>When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou +filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the +earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.</hi>—When +thy philosophies were accepted by the +masses, thou didst satisfy many people. Thou didst enrich +materially and mentally the rulers and the clergy-lords of +society with thy innumerable philosophies and thy doctrines. +</p> + +<p> +27:34. <hi rend='sans'>In the time when thou shalt be broken by the +seas in the depths of the waters, thy merchandise and all +thy company in the midst of thee shall fall.</hi>—When thou +shalt be broken and engulfed in the roaring waves of +anarchy, thy doctrines shall cease and all thy supporters +shall fall. +</p> + +<p> +27:35. <hi rend='sans'>All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished +at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they +shall be troubled in their countenance.</hi>—All the people of +the revolutionary republics shall marvel at thy fall, and +the rulers of that brief era shall be troubled and afraid +of meeting thy fate in the anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +27:36. <hi rend='sans'>The merchants among the people shall hiss at +thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.</hi>—The +preachers (merchants) then taking their place +among the unbelieving masses shall scoff at thee; thou +shalt be a <q>worn-out and wasted thing</q> (literal) and never +shalt thou exist any more. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l>O bliss of the purified! bliss of the free!</l> +<l>I plunge in the crimson tide opened for me;</l> +<l>O'er sin and uncleanness exulting I stand,</l> +<l>And point to the print of the nails in His hand.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>O bliss of the purified! Jesus is mine;</l> +<l>No longer in dread condemnation I pine;</l> +<l>In conscious salvation, I sing of His grace,</l> +<l>Who lifteth upon me the light of His face.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>O Jesus, the crucified! thee will I sing,</l> +<l>My blessed Redeemer, my God and my King;</l> +<l>My soul filled with rapture shall shout o'er the grave,</l> +<l>And triumph o'er death in the <q>Mighty to save.</q></l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='500'/><anchor id='Pg500'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 28—Destruction Of The Devil</head> + +<p> +28:1. <hi rend='sans'>The Word of the Lord came again unto me, saying.</hi>—Chapter +28:1-10 depicts the destruction of priestcraft by +the sword of revolution and anarchy and by the Sword of +the Spirit, the Word of God. +</p> + +<p> +28:2. <hi rend='sans'>Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus +saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and +thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the +midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though +thou set thine heart as the heart of God.</hi>—To the exalted +class, the clergy (prince) of Christendom, as a system of +paganized philosophy: Because of thy pride of heart, thou +hast said through thy chief representative, the Pope of +Rome, I am as a god, I am the vice-gerent of Jehovah, my +seat is <q>upon many waters</q> (Rev. 17:1), upon <q>peoples +and multitudes and nations and tongues</q> (Rev. 17:15), yet +thou art man-made, man-ordained, and not of God, not +Divinely ordained, even though thou set thine heart to +pose before the people as Divinely ordained. +</p> + +<p> +28:3. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no +secret that they can hide from thee.</hi>—Behold, thou thinkest +that thou art wiser than Daniel (Z. '05-280); that through +supposed Divine inspiration, the confessional and the universal +clergy-spy system, there is nothing in Heaven or +earth which thou dost not know. +</p> + +<p> +28:4. <hi rend='sans'>With thy wisdom and with thine understanding +thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and +silver into thy treasures.</hi>—With thy false philosophy and +thy misunderstanding thou hast acquired riches, much gold +and silver into thy treasury—many, too, of both Little +Flock (gold) and Great Company (silver) into bondage. +</p> + +<p> +28:5. <hi rend='sans'>By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick has thou +increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because +of thy riches.</hi>—By scientific suppositions of infidel Evolution +and Higher Criticism, and by good salesmanship of +these worthless goods, thou hast heaped up wealth; and +thou hast become proud, because of thy riches of materials, +doctrines and membership. +</p> + +<pb n='501'/><anchor id='Pg501'/> + +<p> +28:6. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou +hast set thine heart as the heart of God.</hi>—Therefore Jehovah +says, Because thou hast set thyself up in pride to be +as God, claiming to represent Him on earth as God's vice-gerent. +</p> + +<p> +28:7. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, +the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their +swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall +defile thy brightness.</hi>—I will bring upon thee paganized +anarchists, strangers to thy theories, the terror of the +nations—and also My pilgrims and strangers, the sons of +God, those whom thy philosophy dreadest; and the anarchists +shall turn their weapons of destruction against +thee, and the sons of God shall smite with the Sword of +the Spirit thy falsely beautiful philosophy, and shall expose +the real pollution of thy wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +28:8. <hi rend='sans'>They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou +shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst +of the sea.</hi>—They shall bring thee down to a dishonored +oblivion, and materially and religiously thou shalt die the +deaths of those slain in the roaring waves of anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +28:9. <hi rend='sans'>Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I +am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand +of him that slayeth thee.</hi>—Though thou sayest to the anarchy +that shall slay thee materially and to Him that shall +destroy thee religiously, <q>I represent God!</q>—yet thou shalt +be seen to be man-made and not ordained by God, in the +power of the destroyer appointed by Jehovah. +</p> + +<p> +28:10. <hi rend='sans'>Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised +by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the +Lord God.</hi>—Thou shalt die the deaths of the wicked by the +hand of the anarchists, and be destroyed religiously as one +of unclean conscience (uncircumcised) at the hand of the +sons of God, My strangers and pilgrims in the earth (1 +Pet. 1:1); for Jehovah hath spoken it. +</p> + +<p> +28:11. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, +saying.</hi>—Verses 11 to 26 deal with the destruction of the +Devil, pictured as the King of Tyrus. +</p> + +<p> +28:12. <hi rend='sans'>Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the King +of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; +Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in +beauty.</hi>—Satan, the Devil, the father of lies and king over +Christendom's system of pagan philosophy, is by nature +the summation of perfection, the personification of Wisdom +(Wisdom was one of the cherubs) and by nature perfect +in the beauty of holiness.—Z. '03-135. +</p> + +<p> +28:13. <hi rend='sans'>Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every +precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, topaz, and +<pb n='502'/><anchor id='Pg502'/> +the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, +the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship +of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in +thee in the day that thou wast created.</hi>—Thou wast in the +garden of Eden at the fall of man. Every good fruit of +character wast thine adornment (Rev. 21:18-21); with +this perfection of character endowment thou wast created. +</p> + +<p> +28:14. <hi rend='sans'>Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and +I have set thee so; thou wast upon the Holy mountain of +God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the +stones of fire.</hi>—Before thy fall thou wast appointed the +care-taker (coverer) of the innocent pair in Eden. Thou +wast the embodiment of Wisdom (cherub), and endowed +with the Holy Spirit (anointed); and I so made thee. Thou +wast in high position in the holy heavenly Kingdom of +God (Eph. 6:12); thou hast had thy course of life among +God's holy angels (Isa. 14:13)—stars, fiery stones. +</p> + +<p> +28:15, 16. <hi rend='sans'>Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day +that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. +By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled +the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: +therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain +of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from +the midst of the stones of fire.</hi>—By their multitudinous +trading in mixed doctrines (merchandise) <q>for revenue +only</q> thy adherents, demons and clergy, have filled thy +following with violence and warfare; and thou hast sinned +unto death. Therefore I will cast thee as polluted out of +the Kingdom of God (A. 318); and I will destroy thee from +amongst My holy angels. +</p> + +<p> +28:17. <hi rend='sans'>Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, +thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness; +I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before +kings, that they may behold thee.</hi>—Thou becamest proud +because of thine endowment of beauteous character. Thou +hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy conceited +teaching of counterfeit wisdom (brightness); I will humble +thee to the dust, and expose thy real character. +</p> + +<p> +28:18. <hi rend='sans'>Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude +of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick: +therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, +it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon +the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.</hi>—Thou +hast defiled the churches of Christendom by thine iniquitous +doctrines and the teaching of them. Therefore I +will utterly destroy thee with annihilation, and thy following +with anarchy, in the sight of all that behold thee, in +Heaven and on earth. +</p> + +<pb n='503'/><anchor id='Pg503'/> + +<p> +28:19. <hi rend='sans'>All they that know thee among the people shall +be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never +shalt thou be any more.</hi>—All shall marvel at thy destruction; +thou shall become wasted, devastated (a terror), and +never shalt thou exist any more. +</p> + +<p> +28:20. <hi rend='sans'>Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying,</hi>—Verses +20 to 26 relate to the destruction of organized +Churchianity. +</p> + +<p> +28:21. <hi rend='sans'>Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and +prophesy against it.</hi>—Zidon meant <q>fortress</q>; and the +fortress of churchianity since the third century A. D. has +been the doctrine that, to be saved, men must belong to +a church organization. The King of Zidon typed the Devil. +</p> + +<p> +28:22. <hi rend='sans'>And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am +against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst +of thee; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I +shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified +in her.</hi>—God says, I am against thee, organized churchianity, +and I will be glorified and made holy in thee, only +when I have executed retribution and justice upon thee. +</p> + +<p> +28:23. <hi rend='sans'>For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into +her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst +of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall +know that I am the Lord.</hi>—For I will afflict thee with literal +and spiritual sickness and death (shed blood). +</p> + +<p> +28:24. <hi rend='sans'>And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto +the house of Israel, nor any grievous thorn of all that are +round about them, that despised them; and they shall +know that I am the Lord God.</hi>—The adherents to the +church-organization idea have persecuted and dispersed +both Jews and Christians, but they shall do so no more. +</p> + +<p> +28:25, 26. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have +gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom +they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the +sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land +that I have given to My servant Jacob. And they shall +dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; +yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have +executed judgments upon all those that despise them round +about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their +God.</hi>—The Jews shall enjoy God's earthly blessings, and +the true Christians His Heavenly blessings, when He has +executed justly earned judgments upon the people that +have adhered to or taught the belong-to-a-church-or-go-to-hell +idea.—Z. '94-76. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='504'/><anchor id='Pg504'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 29—The Egyptians A Type</head> + +<p> +29:1. <hi rend='sans'>In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the +twelfth day of the month, the Word of the Lord came unto +me, saying.</hi>—Chapters 29 to 32 are directed against Egypt, +its king and people, and against the surrounding peoples. +Egypt was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt, and was +known as Mizraim, which meant <q>Middle Country,</q> and +typed organized, entrenched and enthroned middle-course +worldliness. The word Egypt means <q>that binds or oppresses,</q> +and signifies the bondage of the Lord's people +to the oppressive, enslaving spirit of the world—the spirit +that slew our Lord (Rev. 11:8), and has enslaved and +slain millions of God's saints. Chapter 29:1-7 represents +worldliness as a crocodile, the dragon of Revelation 12:3, +etc. +</p> + +<p> +29:2. <hi rend='sans'>Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh, king of +Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt.</hi>—This +message is against Satan, the Devil, the king of this +present evil world, and against all worldliness. +</p> + +<p> +29:3. <hi rend='sans'>Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, +I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon +that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said. My +river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.</hi>—Jehovah +says, I am against thee, Satan (Pharaoh means +the sun, the god of the sun worshipper, the Devil), the +great wicked dragon, also called Pagan Rome (later Papal +Rome), that dwells in the midst of the church denominations +(rivers, channels of Truth), and says, The church +system is mine own, and I (not God) made it for my own +purposes. +</p> + +<p> +29:4. <hi rend='sans'>But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause +the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will +bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the +fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.</hi>—God will bind +thy utterances (jaws) with a chain (hook means chain or +ring) (Rev. 20:1), and will cause thy active worldly church +members and other adherents in thy churches (rivers) to +adhere to thy protecting doctrines (scales) and will +alienate thy churches from thee (corresponds to drying up +Euphrates) and from all thy active supporters. +</p> + +<pb n='505'/><anchor id='Pg505'/> + +<p> +29:5. <hi rend='sans'>And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, +thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the +open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: +I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field +and to the fowls of the heaven.</hi>—And I will cause thee to +be forsaken (in the wilderness), thee and all thy adherents +(fish). Thou shalt fall unprotected into the hands of +a cold, cruel world (open fields), not to be established +again in power, but to be destroyed by the evil revolutionary +governments (beasts) of the world (field), in +world-wide revolution, and by wicked criminals, jail birds +(fowls) and anarchists. +</p> + +<p> +29:6. <hi rend='sans'>And the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I +am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to +the house of Israel.</hi>—The worldly people who have been +no real support to either Jews or true Christians (Isa. +36:6; Z. '95-144), shall realize that Jehovah is the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +29:7. <hi rend='sans'>When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou +didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they +leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins +to be at a stand.</hi>—When they in their weakness sought +some aid of thee, thou didst roughly abuse them; and didst +try to destroy them in persecution. +</p> + +<p> +29:8, 9. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will +bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out +of thee. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; +and they shall know that I am the Lord: because he hath +said, The river is mine, and I have made it.</hi>—And worldliness +shall be destroyed, and the people shall know Jehovah +as He is; because Satan said, The churches are mine. +</p> + +<p> +29:10. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against +thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste +and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border +of Ethiopia.</hi>—I am against thee and thy churches, and will +utterly destroy worldliness from end to end. +</p> + +<p> +29:11, 12. <hi rend='sans'>No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot +of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited +forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate +in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her +cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate +forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among +the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.</hi>—Christendom +shall be uninhabited and desolate for forty +years after its devastation. +</p> + +<p> +29:13. <hi rend='sans'>Yet thus saith the Lord God; At the end of forty +years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither +they were scattered.</hi>—After forty years God will gather +into the Kingdom the scattered worldly people. +</p> + +<pb n='506'/><anchor id='Pg506'/> + +<p> +29:14. <hi rend='sans'>And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and +will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into +the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base +kingdom.</hi>—And will bring them back from the dead into +their own country, where they shall be insignificant. +</p> + +<p> +29:15. <hi rend='sans'>It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither +shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will +diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.</hi>—This +has been literally fulfilled upon Egypt, which +for many centuries has not enjoyed self-government. +</p> + +<p> +29:16. <hi rend='sans'>And it shall be no more the confidence of the +house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, +when they shall look after them: but they shall +know that I am the Lord God.</hi>—Neither Jews nor Christians +shall ever again look to the worldly people (Egypt), +(Isa. 30:1-5) for help; for the sight of the worldly will +make them remember Christendom's iniquity. +</p> + +<p> +29:17, 18. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth +year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, +the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, +Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve +a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, +and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor +his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served +against it.</hi>—The forces of anarchy's king, the Devil, will +perform a great service in the Divine Plan of the Ages, but +there will be nothing in it for the anarchists. +</p> + +<p> +29:19. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will +give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; +and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, +and take her prey; and it shall be the wages of his army.</hi>—Jehovah +will give worldly Christendom to anarchy: and +this shall be the material reward of the forces of anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +29:20. <hi rend='sans'>I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour +wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for +Me, saith the Lord God.</hi>—God will give worldly Christendom +to anarchy, for its labor in serving the interests of +God's plans against pagan religion masquerading as Christendom, +because in doing so anarchy will do its part. +</p> + +<p> +29:21. <hi rend='sans'>In that day will I cause the horn of the house of +Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the +mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I +am the Lord.</hi>—During the Time of Trouble God will cause +the power (T. 42) of the Jews to bud forth in Zionism, and +make known the glad tidings of the Kingdom, taught in +<hi rend='italic'>Studies in the Scriptures</hi>.—Isa. 19:1-25. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='507'/><anchor id='Pg507'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 30—Pharaoh's Two Arms Broken</head> + +<p> +30:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>The Word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, +Son of Man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord +God, Howl ye, Woe worth the day.</hi>—Thus saith Jehovah: +Weep, and cry! O woeful day! +</p> + +<p> +30:3. <hi rend='sans'>For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is +near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.</hi>—The +day is near, the day of Jehovah, a gloomy day—the +time of infidel anarchy!—Joel 1:15; Zeph. 1:7. +</p> + +<p> +30:4. <hi rend='sans'>And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great +pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in +Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her +foundations shall be broken down.</hi>—The weapons of anarchy +and the Sword of the Spirit shall come against +worldly Christendom. Great distress shall be upon non-church +members (Ethiopia, black) socialists, laborites and +revolutionists, when Christendom's slain shall fall literally +and spiritually, when her multitude shall abandon her, and +when her foundations—social, economic, moral and religious—shall +be broken down in war, revolution and anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +30:5. <hi rend='sans'>Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the +mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is +in league, shall fall with them by the sword.</hi>—The worst +peoples, darker religiously and morally—the socialists, +laborites and revolutionists, in touch with worldly Christendom—shall +fall with Christendom by literal weapons +and by the Word of God. +</p> + +<p> +30:6. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord; They also that uphold Egypt +shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: +from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, +saith the Lord God.</hi>—All supporters of worldly Christendom +shall fall; her pride of power shall be humbled; from +end to end of Christendom shall they fall. +</p> + +<p> +30:7. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall be desolate in the midst of the +countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the +midst of the cities that are wasted.</hi>—Worldly Christendom +shall be utterly desolated. +</p> + +<p> +30:8. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I +have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be +destroyed.</hi>—They shall know that Jehovah permitted anarchy +<pb n='508'/><anchor id='Pg508'/> +to start in Christendom, and will recognize Him, +when they see that all their helpers are destroyed. +</p> + +<p> +30:9. <hi rend='sans'>In that day shall messengers go forth from me in +ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great +pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, +it cometh.</hi>—At the time of Christendom's fall, the message +from God shall be borne by independent religious organizations +to the too-confident socialists, laborites, and revolutionists +that shall make them afraid of anarchy, and +great distress shall ensue upon them, as in Christendom's +fall. +</p> + +<p> +30:10. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; I will also make the +multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar +king of Babylon.</hi>—God will make the multitude of adherents +to worldly Christendom to cease adhering to her, by +the power of revolution and anarchy and their instigator, +the Devil. +</p> + +<p> +30:11. <hi rend='sans'>He and his people with him, the terrible of the +nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they +shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land +with the slain.</hi>—Satan and his followers—devils and humans—the +most terrible of all the nations—the anarchists—shall +destroy Christendom's worldly order of things. +They shall attack Christendom with their weapons and +fill the land with their slain—as will the Sword of the +Spirit with those slain spiritually. +</p> + +<p> +30:12. <hi rend='sans'>And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land +into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land +waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I +the Lord have spoken it.</hi>—God will cause the denominations +to become dry of members and of money, will give +the order of things over into the power of the wicked anarchists, +and will desolate Christendom's order of things +and all belonging to it, literally by the power of anarchists, +strangers to the existing order of things, and spiritually +by the sons of God. +</p> + +<p> +30:13. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; I will also destroy the +idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; +and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: +and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.</hi>—God will destroy +Christendom's idols of love of gold, power, etc (Jer. +43:12, 13), and will cause these gods to cease among the +more prosperous people of Christendom (Noph was the +Delta and richer part of Egypt); and there shall be no +<pb n='509'/><anchor id='Pg509'/> +more an exalted class, a worldly clergy class, in Christendom; +but God will put in her fear and failing of heart. +</p> + +<p> +30:14. <hi rend='sans'>And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set +fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No.</hi>—God will +make the upper classes (Pathros, upper Egypt), desolate, +will permit anarchy and destruction to start among them +(Zoan, capital of Egypt), and will execute retributive judgments +upon the leaders of the upper classes (No, capital of +Upper Egypt). +</p> + +<p> +30:15. <hi rend='sans'>And I will pour My fury upon Sin, the strength +of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.</hi>—God will +pour His fury upon Papacy, the strength of worldly Christendom, +and will cut off the multitudes that support the +upper classes. +</p> + +<p> +30:16. <hi rend='sans'>And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great +pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have +distresses daily.</hi>—God will let anarchy start in Christendom. +Papacy shall have great distress; the upper classes +shall be rent asunder, and the lower classes shall suffer +daily distress. +</p> + +<p> +30:17. <hi rend='sans'>The young men of Aven and of Pi-beseth shall +fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity.</hi>—The +young men who follow Christendom's vain show +(Aven, vanity), and her honors (Pi-beseth, very exalted), +shall fall by the sword of anarchy; for these things shall +come to their end in anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +30:18, 19. <hi rend='sans'>At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, +when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp +of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall +cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity. Thus +will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know +that I am the Lord.</hi>—For the lower classes also (Tehaphnehes, +in Lower Egypt), it shall be a dark day when God +breaks the bondage imposed by worldly Christendom. Her +pompous power shall cease. A cloud of trouble shall cover +her, and her churches (daughters) shall be taken and lost +in anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +30:20, 21. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in +the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the +word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, I +have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, +it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to +bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.</hi>—Ecclesiasticism, +Satan's right arm shall be broken, never to be healed. +The Lord's time for their punishment has come. +</p> + +<pb n='510'/><anchor id='Pg510'/> + +<p> +30:22. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I +am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his +arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will +cause the sword to fall out of his hand.</hi>—God is against +Satan, the mighty king of worldliness, and will break also +the civil powers, and make him powerless to use his +sword. +</p> + +<p> +30:23. <hi rend='sans'>And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, +and will disperse them through the countries.</hi>—God +will scatter the worldly people among the anarchists. +</p> + +<p> +30:24. <hi rend='sans'>And I will strengthen the arms of the king of +Babylon, and put My Sword in his hand: but I will break +Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the +groanings of a deadly wounded man.</hi>—God will strengthen +the civil and philosophic (infidel, anarchistic religions) +powers of Anarchy; and anarchy shall both use the Bible +(God's Sword) and shall wield the sword of earthly weapons, +as His own sword; and this evil order of things, with +powers broken down, shall utter its dying groans of distress. +</p> + +<p> +30:25. <hi rend='sans'>But I will strengthen the arms of the king of +Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and +they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall put My +sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall +stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.</hi>—But this order of +things, with powers broken, and the anarchistic state of +affairs with strengthened power, shall realize that it is of +Jehovah's might, when anarchy grows in power and attacks +the existing order of things. +</p> + +<p> +30:26. <hi rend='sans'>And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, +and disperse them among the countries; and they +shall know that I am the Lord.</hi>—And the worldly peoples +scattered everywhere, shall by the fulfillment of this +prophecy know that Jehovah rules in the affairs of men. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Mine eyes can see the glory of the presence of the Lord;</q></l> +<l>He is trampling out the winepress where his grapes of wrath are stored;</l> +<l>I see the flaming tempest of His swift descending Sword:</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 8'>Our King is marching on.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>I can see His coming judgments, as they circle all the earth,</q></l> +<l>The signs and groanings promised, to precede a second birth;</l> +<l>I read His righteous sentence, in the crumbling thrones of earth:</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 8'><q rend='post'>Our King is marching on.</q></l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='511'/><anchor id='Pg511'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 31—Christendom Not To Endure</head> + +<p> +31:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the +third month, in the first day of the month, that the Word +of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak unto +Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art +thou like in thy greatness?</hi>—Chapter 31 represents Christendom +as a cedar tree which is cut down. It opens with +a message respecting Satan (Pharaoh, the sungod) king +of worldly Christendom (Egypt) and her multitudes. What +comparison could be made of her greatness! +</p> + +<p> +31:3. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with +fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high +stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.</hi>—Behold, +Satan and his counterfeit Christian system (tree; <q>Assyrian</q> +should probably read <q>teashur,</q> a box-tree), thought +of as never to end (cedar, type of man with eternal life), +and as a righteous kingdom (Lebanon, a mountain, white, +snowy), having as members (branches, like the branches +of Christendom) the great, the evil and the good, worldly +people, with protecting power (shadowing shroud) and +very prominent, with the greatest people at the very top. +</p> + +<p> +31:4. <hi rend='sans'>The waters made him great, the deep set him up +on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and +sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.</hi>—The +peoples and the secular truth (waters) made Satan's +system great; the great nations and the apparently profound +truths of liberty, fraternity and equality, made it +prominent, with its roots (plantings) nourished by nations +and sects (rivers) and sending out national and denominational +influences throughout all the systems of the world. +</p> + +<p> +31:5. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore his height was exalted above all the +trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his +branches became long because of the multitude of waters, +when he shot forth.</hi>—Therefore Christendom's prominence +was exalted above everything like it in the world; and its +mighty members were increased in number and made of +far reaching influence, because of the multitude of their +people and of their teachings. +</p> + +<p> +31:6. <hi rend='sans'>All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his +boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the +field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt +<pb n='512'/><anchor id='Pg512'/> +all great nations.</hi>—All the jail-birds (fowls) of the powers +of spiritual control, made their church organizations +(nests) among its members; and under the power of its +membership (branches) did all of the governments (beasts) +of this world (field) bring forth their progeny; and under +its defense (shadow) dwelt all nations. +</p> + +<p> +31:7. <hi rend='sans'>Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of +his branches: for his root was by great waters.</hi>—Thus +was it magnificent in its greatness, and in the extent of +its ramifications; for it was rooted in great peoples and in +great secular truths. +</p> + +<p> +31:8. <hi rend='sans'>The cedars in the garden of God could not hide +him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut +trees were not like his branches; not any tree in the +garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.</hi>—In Christendom's +egotism there was nothing equal to her in this +age or the next. +</p> + +<p> +31:9. <hi rend='sans'>I have made him fair by the multitude of his +branches; so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the +garden of God, envied him.</hi>—Christendom felt itself the +envy of everything, present and to come. +</p> + +<p> +31:10. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou +hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his +top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in +his height.</hi>—Because of Christendom's self-exaltation and +pride. +</p> + +<p> +31:11. <hi rend='sans'>I have therefore delivered him into the hand of +the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with +him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.</hi>—God will +deliver Christendom into the power of the god (el, mighty +one) of the heathen, the Devil himself; He shall surely +deal vengeance to her; He will drive her out of existence. +</p> + +<p> +31:12. <hi rend='sans'>And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have +cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in +all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are +broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of +the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left +him.</hi>—The anarchists, the terror of the nations, will lay her +low; upon the kingdoms (mountains), and among the people +(valleys) her members (branches) will fall, and be +broken off by her seceding denominations; all the people +of this order of things will leave her protection, and abandon +her. +</p> + +<p> +31:13. <hi rend='sans'>Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven +remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his +branches.</hi>—The jail-birds of ecclesiasticism, and all the +revolutionary governments of this state of affairs, shall +profit by her ruin and through her members (branches). +</p> + +<pb n='513'/><anchor id='Pg513'/> + +<p> +31:14. <hi rend='sans'>To the end that none of all the trees by the waters +exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up +their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand +up in their height, all that drink water; for they are all delivered +unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the +midst of the children of men, with them that go down to +the pit.</hi>—No other earthly system may follow her proud +example; for all of them are delivered, as systems, into +death, to a dishonored place among the lowest in society. +</p> + +<p> +31:15. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; In the day when he +went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered +the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and +the great waters were stayed; and I caused Lebanon to +mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.</hi>—In +the year 1918, when Christendom shall go down as a +system to oblivion, (Sheol) to be succeeded by revolutionary +republics, God will cause mourning. He will restrain +and defer for a brief period the threatening waves of anarchy. +He will cause the nations to mourn for Christendom, +and all the man-made systems (trees) of the world (field) +to become weak on account of her fall.—E. <hi rend='italic'>392</hi>, 372. +</p> + +<p> +31:16. <hi rend='sans'>I made the nations to shake at the sound of his +fall, when I cast him down to hell (Sheol) with them that +descend to the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice +and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted +in the nether parts of the earth.</hi>—God will cause the +nations to shake with gigantic revolutions, when He shall +cast worldly Christendom, as an organized system, down +to oblivion (as He did the Jews in the Dives parable). +</p> + +<p> +31:17. <hi rend='sans'>They also went down into hell (Sheol) with him, +unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were +in his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the +heathen.</hi>—But they also shall go down to oblivion (Sheol) +(E. <hi rend='italic'>392</hi>, 372), with Christendom, as well as those that were +her power, that dwelt under her defense among the people. +</p> + +<p> +31:18. <hi rend='sans'>To whom art thou thus like in glory in greatness +among the trees of Eden? yet thou shalt be brought down +with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth; +thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them +that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his +multitude, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Though worldly Christendom +is unsurpassed in glory and in greatness among other +systems, yet shall she be brought down to be one of the +most disesteemed grades of the social order; she shalt be +counted as one of the ungodly. The Egyptians practiced +circumcision, typical of worldly Christendom's counterfeit +ease of conscience through belief in error. This is said of +Satan, the god of Christendom and all his multitude. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='514'/><anchor id='Pg514'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 32—Christendom's Utter Downfall</head> + +<p> +32:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the +twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word +of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a +lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, +Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a +whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, +and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their +rivers.</hi>—In Chapter 32 Christendom's destruction is depicted +in several ways: as the catching of a sea monster +(32:1-6); as the putting out of her light (32:7-8); also, in +addition the downfall of her systems (32:9-10) as a worldly +system destroyed by anarchy (32:11-16); as the going down +of worldly Christendom to oblivion (32:17-21); as the +fall into oblivion of the anarchists (32:22-23); of the Eastern +mysticism in Christendom (32:24-25); of her worst +classes (32:26-28); of the worldly religious people (32:29); +of the church organization of ecclesiasticism (32:30), and +of Christendom's king, Satan, and all his multitudes. +(32:31-32.) The message begins with a lamentation over +Satan (Pharaoh), king of worldly Christendom (Egypt), +and his visible representatives, the apostate clergy. Among +the nations they are as a lion in power and ferocity (lion +also symbolizes the Devil); and as a monstrous power +(whale) among the peoples (seas); they came with their +sects (rivers), and muddied the Truth (waters) with their +earthly-minded members, the clergy (feet), and filled their +churches (rivers) with worldliness. +</p> + +<p> +32:3. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; I will therefore spread +out My net over thee with a company of many people; and +they shall bring thee up in My net.</hi>—God will gradually +bring the Time of Trouble upon Christendom like a snare, +as a movement toward liberty for the people, through a +multitude of progressives, radicals, revolutionists and anarchists; +and these shall ensnare her unknowingly in the +great tribulation, and bring her up out of favor with the +people (out of the sea.) +</p> + +<p> +32:4. <hi rend='sans'>Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast +thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls +of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts +of the whole earth with thee.</hi>—Then God will leave her +<pb n='515'/><anchor id='Pg515'/> +defenseless against the whole world, and will cause the +worst classes (birds) of an apostate Christianity (heavens) +to feed upon her, and will cause the evil revolutionary governments +(beasts) of the whole earth to fill themselves +up with her former members. +</p> + +<p> +32:5. <hi rend='sans'>And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and +fill the valleys with thy height.</hi>—And her prominent members +shall die, and of her lesser people a great number. +</p> + +<p> +32:6. <hi rend='sans'>I will also water with thy blood the land wherein +thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall +be full of thee.</hi>—The loss of life shall extend to her highest +government officials and rulers (mountain); and the +churches shall be full of her dead. +</p> + +<p> +32:7, 8. <hi rend='sans'>And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the +heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the +sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. +All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, +and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God.</hi>—When +God shall put out Christendom's light in 1918, He will +blind the minds of ecclesiasticism (heaven) (A. 318), and +deprive their pulpit stars of wisdom from the true apostolic +stars, the Apostles. (D. 591). He will darken the understanding +of the Gospel (sun) of Jesus Christ (D. 590) +with the cloud of the Time of Trouble; and the light +(truth) of the Mosaic Law shall not shine forth in her. +</p> + +<p> +32:9. <hi rend='sans'>I will also vex the hearts of many people, when +I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the +countries which thou hast not known.</hi>—God will also trouble +the hearts of many other peoples, when He shall visit +the same Time of Trouble upon other nations, where the +clergy had no sway. +</p> + +<p> +32:10. <hi rend='sans'>Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, +and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I +shall brandish My Sword before them; and they shall +tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in +the day of thy fall.</hi>—Yea, He will make many nations to +marvel at Christendom's fall; and their rulers shall fear +and quake on account of her destruction, when they are +threatened with destruction by anarchy. Every moment +shall every man of them tremble for his life. +</p> + +<p> +32:11. <hi rend='sans'>For thus saith the Lord God; The sword of the +king of Babylon shall come upon thee.</hi>—The destructive +weapons of the Devil, the King of Confusion (Babylon), of +Anarchy, shall be turned against worldly Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +32:12. <hi rend='sans'>By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy +multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: +and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude +thereof shall be destroyed.</hi>—By the weapons of a +<pb n='516'/><anchor id='Pg516'/> +mighty, revolted soldiery will God cause their multitudes +to fall, even all the terrible men of all Christendom; and +the anarchists shall take as their spoil the pomp of the +nations, and all the adherents of the nations of Christendom +shall cease to support them. +</p> + +<p> +32:13. <hi rend='sans'>I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from +beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man +trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble +them.</hi>—God will destroy all of the ferocious governments +from beside the great nations (waters); neither shall +worldly men trouble the people any more, nor the down-treading +oppression of savage governments make them +trouble. +</p> + +<p> +32:14. <hi rend='sans'>Then will I make their waters deep, and cause +their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Then will +God give the people peace (deep waters), and make their +course to run with quiet smoothness. They shall know +the deep things of God, and have the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +32:15. <hi rend='sans'>When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, +and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was +full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then +shall they know that I am the Lord.</hi>—When God shall have +made worldly Christianity desolate, and worldliness shall +be destitute of its prosperous worldlings, when He shall +have smitten with the great tribulation all that are at +home in their worldliness, then, in the better days to come, +shall they know Him as He is. +</p> + +<p> +32:16. <hi rend='sans'>This is the lamentation wherewith they shall +lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: +they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her +multitude, saith the Lord God.</hi>—The heathen religions +(daughters) shall lament worldly Christendom's downfall, +and the downfall of her adherents. +</p> + +<p> +32:17, 18. <hi rend='sans'>It came to pass also in the twelfth year, +in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of +the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, wail for the +multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the +daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of +the earth, with them that go down into the pit.</hi>—These +verses depict the mourning for the multitudes of +worldly Christians, tares, when they and worldly Christendom +and the churches (daughters) of the great powers +(nations) are cast down to the disesteemed lower strata +of the social order, with those that die a disreputable +death (pit). +</p> + +<p> +32:19. <hi rend='sans'>Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and +be thou laid with the uncircumcised.</hi>—Worldly Christendom +has imagined herself of unsurpassable desirability, +<pb n='517'/><anchor id='Pg517'/> +but she shall go down to oblivion, with those regarded +as polluted (uncircumcised). +</p> + +<p> +32:20. <hi rend='sans'>They shall fall in the midst of them that are +slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw +her and all her multitudes.</hi>—Her populace shall fall by +weapons of destruction, and by the Sword of the Spirit; +she is delivered to destruction. They shall draw her as +a system, and her adherents, as adherents, away for burial! +</p> + +<p> +32:21. <hi rend='sans'>The strong among the mighty shall speak to +him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: +they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the +sword.</hi>—The one strong among Christendom's great men, +no longer men of power, and those that helped her shall +speak of her downfall, in their fallen condition (Sheol); +they shall have fallen from high positions, and be as men +outcast and polluted, reduced to lowliness by the might of +anarchy, and by the Sword of the Spirit.—E. <hi rend='italic'>392</hi>, 372. +</p> + +<p> +32:22, 23. <hi rend='sans'>Asshur is there and all her company: his graves +are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword: +Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her +company is round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen +by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the +living.</hi>—The revolutionists (Asshur, Assyria, the revolutionary +anarchists) in multitudes shall go down to oblivion, +dead literally or dead to their order of things. +</p> + +<p> +32:24. <hi rend='sans'>There is Elam and all her multitude round about +her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are +gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the +earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; +yet have they borne their shame with them that go down +to the pit.</hi>—There in oblivion shall be buried New Thought, +Christian Science, and other forms of Oriental religion or +Mysticism (Elam, Persia, home of Mysticism), and the +multitude of their believers, ceased then to be mystics; +all fallen by the literal sword or by the Sword of the Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +32:25. <hi rend='sans'>They have set her a bed in the midst of the +slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about +him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though +their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have +they borne their shame with them that go down to the +pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.</hi>—The +anarchists shall put Mysticism to rest in destruction. +</p> + +<p> +32:26. <hi rend='sans'>There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: +her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, +slain by the sword, though they caused their terror +in the land of the living.</hi>—There shall be the worst classes +of Christendom, the anarchists themselves, in oblivion, all +in disrepute, destroyed in the destruction they wrought. +</p> + +<pb n='518'/><anchor id='Pg518'/> + +<p> +32:27. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall not lie with the mighty that are +fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell +with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords +under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their +bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the +land of the living.</hi>—And they shall not be mentioned, not +even with these great men who have gone down as evil +but with some small degree of repute; and with them shall +be the end of war (H. 16); but the very memory of the anarchists +shall be as of iniquity personified. +</p> + +<p> +32:28. <hi rend='sans'>Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the +uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with +the sword.</hi>—They shall be thought of as evil only, slain +with the sword, and disesteemed by the Word of God. +</p> + +<p> +32:29. <hi rend='sans'>There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, +which with their might are laid by them that were slain +by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and +with them that go down to the pit.</hi>—In the general ruin +shall be worldly apostate persecuting Christendom, slain +by anarchy's weapons and by the Word of God. They shall +be polluted, and come to a disreputable end. +</p> + +<p> +32:30. <hi rend='sans'>There be the princes of the north, all of them, +and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; +with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and +they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the +sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to +the pit.</hi>—The great ecclesiastical lords (north) and all +the adherents of the belong-to-a-church-or-go-to-hell doctrine +(Zidonians, among whom was Jezebel) shall go to oblivion. +Though a dreadful terror in their activities, they shall be +ashamed; they shall go down, as polluted with iniquity. +</p> + +<p> +32:31. <hi rend='sans'>Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted +over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain +by the sword, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Satan (Pharaoh), the +god of worldly Christendom, then bound for a thousand +years, shall see the fall of these his multitudes, slain by +the literal sword, or by the Word of God. +</p> + +<p> +32:32. <hi rend='sans'>For I have caused My terror in the land of the +living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised +with them that are slain with the sword, even +Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Satan +and his multitude shall cease to trouble the earth, gone +down finally to oblivion, as one polluted with iniquity. +</p> + +<p> +From chapters 25 to 32 Ezekiel prophesied against seven +foreign nations (Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, +Sidon and Egypt), indicating <emph>ALL</emph> non-Christian elements. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='519'/><anchor id='Pg519'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 33—Why Ecclesiasticism Must Perish</head> + +<p> +33:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, +saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, +and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, +if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and +set him for their watchman.</hi>—A mutual responsibility +exists between one of God's watchmen and His people, +the one to speak and the other to listen. (33:1-19.) +Ezekiel recites his warning of Jerusalem's fall. (33:20-29.) +The people listen, but do not believe. (33:30-33.) This +chapter repeats the statements of 3:17-21 and 18:5-29 regarding +the watchman set to warn the people of Christendom, +his message and responsibility, and the responsibility +of the Christian people toward the watchman—Pastor Russell, +and his message and warning from God. <q>A man of +their coasts</q> refers to the clergy class appointed and ordained +by the people, and set by them as <emph>their</emph> watchman. +</p> + +<p> +33:3. <hi rend='sans'>If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, +he blow the trumpet, and warn the people.</hi>—Who of the +clergy class have blown the trumpet of Truth and warned +<q>their</q> people of the impending doom of Christendom? +</p> + +<p> +33:4. <hi rend='sans'>Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, +and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him +away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard +the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his +blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning +shall deliver his soul.</hi>—The people who have heard the +warning have only themselves to blame.—Isa. 58:1. +</p> + +<p> +33:6. <hi rend='sans'>But if the watchman see the sword come, and +blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if +the sword come, and take any person from among them, +he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require +at the watchman's hand.</hi>—The clergy have an awful +responsibility. Faithful watching on their part with their +great influence among the people, would have saved tens +of millions from physical death, and a host from the religious +death that will overtake so many. The outraged +people will turn on the clergy, as they did in the French +Revolution, and in a frightful carnival will exact full toll +for the lives lost in war. Responsibility for the Time of +Trouble lies squarely at the door of ecclesiasticism; for +<pb n='520'/><anchor id='Pg520'/> +had the clergy taken a united stand upon the Word of +God against industrial, social, political, moral and religious +evils, they could have reformed Christendom and prevented +the world war and the ensuing revolution and anarchy. +Our Lord said, prophetically, <q>Upon this generation shall +come all the blood—to the blood of Zechariah, whom you +will murder between the sanctuary and the altar.</q> (Matt. +23:35 Diaglott, foot-note.) Josephus says of this man that +he boldly accused the clergy of Jerusalem with being the +cause of the trouble upon the city. He was tried, accused +of inciting anarchy, was found innocent, and was then slain +by the clergy class. His fate represents experiences +coming upon the Lord's true people shortly. +</p> + +<p> +33:7-9. <hi rend='sans'>So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman +unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear +the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me. When +I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely +die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his +way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his +blood shall I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou +warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not +turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou +hast delivered thy soul.</hi>—Pastor Russell faithfully taught +that <q>the wages of sin is death</q> (Rom. 6:23), and not +eternal torment. He also warned the wicked systems of +earth, political, economic and religious, that they should +surely perish from the earth, if they did not turn whole-heartedly +to Jehovah, the God of infinite Love. +</p> + +<p> +33:10. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the +house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions +and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, +how should we then live?</hi>—The nominal Christians of our +day were typed by the Hebrews who went to Ezekiel with +insincere objections. They have treated Pastor Russell +with a seeming but insincere respect. When they inquired +into his writing and predictions, based upon the Word of +God, they had no sincerity either in their questions or +their professions toward him or the Word set forth by him. +</p> + +<p> +33:11-19. <hi rend='sans'>Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, +I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that +the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye +from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of +Israel? Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children +of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not +deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the +<pb n='521'/><anchor id='Pg521'/> +wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the +day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall +the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the +day that he sinneth. When I shall say to the righteous, +that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, +and commit iniquity, all his righteousness shall not +be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, +he shall die for it. Again, when I say unto the +wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, +and do that which is lawful and right; if the wicked restore +the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes +of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely +live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he hath committed +shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that +which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. Yet the +children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not +equal: but as for them, their way is not equal. When the +righteous turneth from his righteousness, and commiteth +iniquity, he shall even die thereby. But if the wicked turn +from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, +he shall live thereby.</hi>—God has no pleasure in the destruction +of Christendom. If it had turned from its spiritual +idolatry and harlotry to obey God it would have been saved +from its impending doom. Its destruction is traceable +directly to a <q>small group of willful men,</q> leaders and +guides of the masses; namely the pope, the cardinals, +bishops, priests, ministers, revivalists and other religious +leaders who have mistaught rulers and people, and by their +combination of worldly and religious teachings brought the +world into a condition where the social elements are +working their mutual destruction. God pity the clergy +for what is coming upon them; for the people will surely +recognize the part they have signally failed to play in +not, by concerted preaching of true godliness, checking the +world's mad rush to anarchy and annihilation. +</p> + +<p> +Literally the Scriptures foregoing are an affirmation that +any one who kept the Mosaic Law perfectly should enjoy +life indefinitely as long as he kept the law. Spiritually +it teaches the Christian that if he has turned from sin +to serve God, under the spirit of the Divine Law of Love, +he shall have life everlasting. (Rom. 8:13, 14.) Symbolically +it speaks to this evil state of affairs, or world, +especially to that wicked one, ecclesiasticism, and enumerates +its iniquities: it has sinned before God: it has broken +God's Law of Love and every other Law, and excused the +breach by sophistries. Romanism, with which Protestantism +has linked hands, teaches the most iniquitous and +wicked things. +</p> + +<pb n='522'/><anchor id='Pg522'/> + +<p> +<q>A culprit or a witness questioned by a judge, but in +an illegal manner (of which the culprit, of course, is the +judge) may swear that he knows nothing of the crime +about which he is questioned, although he knows it well, +meaning mentally, that he knows nothing in such manner +as to answer.</q>—Alphonso Maria de Liguori, Popish theologian, +bishop and founder of the order of Redemptorists, +1696-1787. +</p> + +<p> +Again <q>Saint</q> Liguori: <q>He may swear that he knows +nothing, when he knows that the person who committed +the crime committed it without malice; or if he knows +the crime, but secretly, and there has been no scandal. +When a crime has been well concealed, the witness and +even the criminal, may and even must, swear that the +crime has never been committed. The accused may deny +his crime under oath, understanding that he has not committed +this crime in such a manner as to be obliged to +confess it. He who has sworn to keep a secret is not +obliged to keep his oath, if any consequential injury to him +or to others is thereby caused. If any one has sworn +before a judge to keep the truth, he is not obliged to +say secret things. (A woman who has really committed +adultery may deny it under oath, provided she has been +to confess: for then the sin has been pardoned, and has +really ceased to exist.) It is right to advise any one to +commit a robbery, or a fornication in order to avoid a +murder. We may be allowed to conceal the truth, or disguise +it under ambiguous or equivocal words or signs, +for a just cause, and where there is no necessity to confess +the truth.</q> And Liguori is still a <q>saint</q> in the +Roman ecclesiasticism, <q>where Satan's seat is,</q> and with +whom Episcopalians, Church of England men, and Protestants +generally, are trying to come together in a church +union or federation, destined fortunately to an early +decease. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are not to be called oaths, but rather perjury, +which are in opposition to the welfare of the Romish +church.</q>—The Lateran Council (<q>infallible</q>). <q>If any, +either alone or before others, whether asked or of his own +accord, or for the purpose of sport, or for any other object, +swears that he has not done something else which he has +done, or in a different way from that in which he has +done it, or any other truth that is added, he does not +really lie, nor is he perjured.</q>—Pope Innocent XI, another +of the <q>saints.</q> 1611-1689. <q>A man may swear that he +never did such a thing (though he actually did it), meaning +within himself that he did not do so on a certain day, +or before he was born, or understanding any other such +<pb n='523'/><anchor id='Pg523'/> +circumstances, while the words which he employs have no +such sense as would discover his meaning.</q> <q>Promises +are not binding, when the person in making them had no +intention to bind himself.</q>—<q>Saint</q> Antonio Escobar of +Mendoza, a Spanish Casuist and Jesuit, 1589-1699 (<q>Papacy +and Civil Power,</q> page 607). <q>I pronounce all Roman +Catholic priests, bishops, popes, monks, friars and nuns +to be the most deliberate and willful set of liars that ever +infested this or any other country, or disgraced the name +of religion.</q>—William Hogan, a prominent southern lawyer, +formerly a priest, on page 172 of his book, <q>Popery.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Stealing is authorized by Popish ecclesiasticism: <q>A +servant has the right to rob his master, a child his father, +and a poor man the rich. The poor man who has concealed +the goods and effects of which he has need, may +swear that he has nothing.</q> In Romish theology it is ordinarily +a mortal sin to steal two pieces of gold; but, +<q>If any one steal small sums at different times, either +from the same or from different persons, not having the +intention of stealing large sums, nor of causing a great +damage, his sin is not mortal. If several persons steal +from the same master, in small quantities, each in such +a manner as not to commit a mortal sin, though each +knows that all of these little thefts together cause a considerable +damage to their master, yet no one of them commits +a mortal sin, even when they steal at the same time. +A son does not commit a mortal sin when he steals only +twenty or thirty pieces of gold from a father who has +an income of 150 pieces of gold.</q>—<q>Saint</q> Liguori. +</p> + +<p> +Ecclesiasticism, the dominant power of the Gospel Age, +authorizes murder: <q>A man who has been excommunicated +by the Pope may be killed anywhere, because the Pope +has an indirect jurisdiction over the whole world, even in +temporal things.</q>—Dens, a Roman Catholic theological +authority in his <q>Theologica Morales.</q> Pope Gregory VII +(alias <q>Saint</q> Hildebrand), 1020-1085, pronounced that it +was no murder to kill an excommunicated person. <q>This +rule has been for 700 years and continues to be, part of +the ecclesiastical law. One of the later popes has declared +that the murder of a Protestant is so good a deed that +it atones and more than atones for the murder of a +Catholic.</q>—Lord Acton in the London Times, July 26, +1872. Says Dr. Isaac J. Lansing in <q>Romanism and the +Republic;</q> <q>Every person who had anything to do with +the assassination of Abraham Lincoln was a Roman Catholic. +John Wilkes Booth was a Roman Catholic; Payne +and Atseroth, also Dr. Nudd, who dressed Booth's leg; +Garrett, in whose premises he was killed; also Harold was +<pb n='524'/><anchor id='Pg524'/> +a Roman Catholic; Mrs. Suratt and her son were Roman +Catholics; their house was the headquarters for Roman +Catholics and for the Jesuit priests. All this was brought +out before the military tribunal which condemned some +of them to death. When John Suratt fled from Washington +he was taken charge of by Jesuits, and under a Jesuit +convoy was carried to France.</q>—Page 272. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Catholics who shall assume the cross for the extermination +of heretics, shall enjoy the same indulgences and +be protected by the same privileges as are granted to those +who go to the help of the Holy Land. We decree, further +that all who may have dealings with heretics, shall be +excommunicated.</q>—The Lateran Council (composed of +candidates for Roman Catholic <q>saintship.</q>). +</p> + +<p> +Papacy, the mother of harlots, also permits her clergy +to become criminals: <q>Were even the lives of her ministers +debased by crime, they are still within her pale, and therefore +lose none of the powers with which her ministry +invests them.</q>—Catechism of the Council of Trent. <q>A +mortal sin is that which kills the soul and deserves hell,</q> +says Archbishop John Hughes, of New York. Papal ecclesiasticism +controls the education of the nations under +threat of mortal sin: <q>Catholic electors (voters) in this +country, who do not use their electoral (voting) power in +behalf of separate (religious public) schools, are guilty +of mortal sin. Likewise parents not making the sacrifices +necessary to secure such schools, or sending their children +to mixed schools. Moreover, the confessor (priest) who +would give absolution to such parents, electors or legislators +as support mixed schools, to the prejudice of separate +schools, would be guilty of a mortal sin.</q>—Right +Reverend Charbonnel, Bishop of Toronto, Canada. +</p> + +<p> +The chastity of an attractive and obedient young +nun may hang by the following slender thread: <q>When a +nun receives a precept from her prelate, superior, or confessor, +she should immediately execute it, not only to +please them, but principally to please God, whose will is +known by their command. If then, you receive a command +from one who holds the place of God (a man-made priest!) +you should observe it as if it came from God Himself. +There is more certainty of doing the will of God by obedience +to our superiors than by obedience to Jesus Christ +should He appear in person and give His command. The +nun shall be most certain of not having to render an account +of the actions performed through obedience; for these the +superior only, who commands them, shall be accountable.</q>—Liguori, +<q>Saint,</q> in Popish constellation of fallen stars. +According to Cardinal Manning, a bright star in the Roman +<pb n='525'/><anchor id='Pg525'/> +Catholic heavens (page 89 of his <q>True Story of the Vatican +Council</q>) the pope is infallible in matters of faith and +morals: and the canonizing of <q>saints</q> comes under this +head. Cardinal Newman on page 84 of his <q>Via Media,</q> +1887 edition, asserts concerning the canonizing of <q>Saints:</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The infallibility of the church must certainly extend to +this solemn and public act, canonization; and that because +so serious a matter, affecting the worship of the faithful, +the church, that is, the Pope, must be infallible.</q> One of the +persons duly authorized by infallible Romish canonization is +<q>Saint</q> Bridget, who lived in 1360. This <q>saint</q> says: <q>The +Pope is a murderer of souls. He destroys the flock of Christ +and fleeces it. More savage is he than Judas, and more +unjust than Pilate, and worse and more wicked than +Lucifer. He has exchanged all the ten commandments +of God for this single one of his own, <q>Give me money, +money, money.</q> The Pope with his clergy are the forerunners +of Antichrist, rather than the servants of Christ. +The Pope's court on earth plunders the Heavenly court +of Christ. The clergy never read the Book of God; but +they are ever studying the book of this world. I once +loved priests more than men and even angels. The kiss +of those fornicating priests is the kiss of Judas when he +betrayed our Lord!</q>—Montagu, pages 305-6. +</p> + +<p> +An essential factor in the power of this evil one, and an +important part of the iniquity of ecclesiasticism is the +Romish confessional, which many Episcopal and Protestant +ecclesiastics would, if they could, establish in the harlot +daughters, the daughter churches, Protestantism. This +feature is of Pagan origin. <q>Auricular confession was enjoined +in the Elusinian mysteries, by Zoroaster in Persia, +by Buddha in India, and was practiced by the ancient Babylonians +and Egyptians, the Mexicans before Cortez, the +Peruvians before Pizarro, by the Japanese, the Siamese, +and others.</q> The confessional has made of every priest +a spy upon the privacy of the home, the inner secrets of +business and the confidential affairs of city, state, province, +and nation. Theoretically the confessions are confidential, +as Dr. Dens says: <q>It is not lawful to reveal anything +that is told in confession, though it be to avoid the greatest +evil that can happen; but actually the secrets of the confessional +are revealed.</q> <q>De Sanctis,</q> page 122, says: +</p> + +<p> +<q>While the penitent arraigns his faults with all the fatuity +of a simpleton, what is the confessor doing? Laughing +at the simplicity of the penitent: and afterwards in the +priestly orgies that follow a morning of great confessions, +in the hilarity that flows from wine, amid coarse explosions +of laughter, they describe the stupid folly of their +<pb n='526'/><anchor id='Pg526'/> +penitents; and each priest vies with his fellows in rendering +his own penitents more ridiculous than the rest. This +breach of faith extends to the highest of Rome's degraded +ecclesiasticism.</q> History records that Pope Pius V, +<q>saint</q> (1504-1572) <q>for the punishment of certain offences +took advantage of the confessional, which ought to be an +inviolable sanctuary.</q> Pope Sixtus V (1521-1590) told the +under clergy that <q>they could make a report to the Pontiff, +without any danger attached to revealing a confession, he +giving them absolution for the whole.</q> Elliott, a former +priest, in <q>Delineation of Roman Catholicism,</q> says, <q>All +our conversation ran upon the stories he [another priest] +heard in confession. It is the ordinary discourse of the +priests, when they meet, to inform one another of what +they have heard in confession. I was often present at +such conferences, where the conversation was so indecent +that even an honest pagan would have blushed.</q> <q>Every +day they (the Dominican monks) came and talked most +licentiously, relating things that had happened at the Holy +office at Perugia, confessions they had heard, etc.</q>—Scipione +Ricca, Bishop of Pistoria, and an Italian reformer, 1741-1810. +</p> + +<p> +Bishop Hugh Latimer, of England (1485-1555), whom the +Romish ecclesiasticism caused to be burned at the stake, +said: <q>And so they came to know all the secrets that were +in men's hearts, so that neither emperor nor king could +say nor do, nor think anything in his heart, but they +knew it, and so applied all the purposes and intents of +princes to their own commodities. And this was the fruit +of their auricular confession.</q> Finally, from De Sanctis, +page 133, etc: <q>Confession in relation to society may be +defined as an universal spydom, organized and complete. +Confessors are not content to know the sins of those who +confess; but they must learn the regulation and management +of the family; and when an ingenuous youth or innocent +maiden comes under the fangs of a knavish confessor +(and which of them is not a knave?) they do not escape +until they have first revealed the secrets of the family +circle—without, however, being aware of it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>De Sanctis</q> continues: <q>Encouragement is given to +theft, as to every other crime, by the facility of obtaining +pardon, and absolutions are given to robbers, usurers, +murderers, without their having made any restitution whatever. +They repair to the confessor, present him with a +goodly offering for a mass; or, if they are robbers of +celebrity, men abounding in wealth, they found a chapelry, +a benefice, or something of the kind. At Rome, for instance, +every one knows that Pius VII (1742-1823) granted +<pb n='527'/><anchor id='Pg527'/> +to all who hear confessions in the Holy house Ponterotto, +the privilege of absolving from restitution all who have +defrauded the Rev. Apostolic Chambers, or the government; +and all defraud, and run there to receive absolution. +But this is not enough. Leo X (1475-1521), in his bull +beginning with <q>Postquam ad Apostulatus</q> gives confessors +the privilege not only of absolving robbers, but +of permitting them to retain in all good conscience, the +fruits of their usury, robberies, thefts, etc., on condition +that part of the goods be given to the church!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Ecclesiasticism is a greedy robber: <q>By confession many +families are immersed in poverty; because the grasping +confessor, taking advantage of the weak moments of a +dying man, has had the will made to the profit of the +clergy; and facts of the kind may be reckoned by the +million. The grasping cupidity of ecclesiasticism's will-hunters, +and the consequent ruin of innocent and helpless +families, formed the subject of an indignant remonstrance +of the German princes at the Diet of Nuremberg. To such +a length was this execrable practice sometimes carried +that the last sacraments were denied to the dying man +until he consented to make a will in the priest's favor.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Ecclesiasticism's apostasy, in teachings and in life, has +sown the seeds of the fiery harvest of anarchy: <q>The +horrible consequence for religion is that infidelity advances +with huge strides, especially in Roman Catholic countries. +The enlightenment of the age no longer permits men to +believe in the priests blindly, as in the times of ignorance. +Free discussion alone could show that the doctrines of the +Roman church are not those of the Gospel; discussion, +as it would prove their falsehood to a demonstration, would +establish the truth. Discussion being prevented, it follows +that, seeing clearly the falsehood and iniquity of the +Roman doctrines, men believe them, because they are not +discussed, to be the doctrines of the Christian religion, +and abandon them, and live in indifference and infidelity.</q> +Protestantism, ecclesiasticism, has been an apt follower +of Papacy in suppression of discussion. Witness the systematic +world-wide ban on any discussion of Present Truth +as presented by God's watchman, Pastor Russell! Ecclesiasticism, +priestcraft, had for ages supplanted the worship +of God with paganism, and in the Gospel Age has insidiously +transformed the Gospel of Christ, has tried to destroy +liberty and progress and has built up a gigantic +system of oppression and destruction of the friends of the +Truth. The most ferocious of the popes are made the +<q>saints</q> of Satan's church. And, says De Sanctis: <q>In +canonizing such men, the Popes have canonized their doctrines; +<pb n='528'/><anchor id='Pg528'/> +hence it cannot he said that despotism, obscuration +[suppression of Truth], oppression of nations, and hatred +for any kind of progress, exist through the mal-practice +of any one of the popes; they exist by the very system of +the Papacy. The corruption of religion ought not to be +attributed to abuse of it by the individual, but to the +system; therefore the Gospel ought to reign in its purity, +and ought to be delivered from this great enemy; and Italy +and Rome ought to confer upon the world this great benefit +of despoiling the popes of their usurped power.</q> Why +not reform, purge, cleanse ecclesiasticism? As well try to +reform cancer. The sole safeguard is the destruction, excision +of the germs. Any real reform would cause the +prompt dropping out of the system-loving millions who +would soon reorganize into another vicious system. The +very constitution of ecclesiasticism forbids its ever being +other than what the Wall Street Journal denominates, +<q>that international nuisance, the church-state.</q> Here are +some of the articles of Papacy's present, past and future +constitution (infallible): +</p> + +<p> +1. All human power is evil, and must therefore be under +the Pope. 2. The temporal powers must act unconditionally, +in accordance with the orders of the spiritual. 3. The +Church is empowered to grant or take away any temporal +possession. 4. The Pope has the right to give countries +and nations which are non-Catholic to Catholic regents, +who can reduce them to slavery. 5. The Pope can make +slaves of those Christian subjects whose prince or ruling +power is interdicted by the Pope. 6. The laws of the +Church concerning the liberty of the Church and the Papal +power are based upon Divine inspiration. 7. The Pope has +the right to practice the unconditional censure of books. +8. The Pope has the right to annul state laws, treaties, +constitutions, etc.; to absolve from obedience thereto, as +soon as they seem detrimental to the rights of the Church, +or those of the clergy. 9. The Pope possesses the right of +admonishing, and if needs be of punishing, the temporal +rulers, emperors and kings, as well as of drawing before +the spiritual forum any case in which a mortal sin occurs. +10. Without the consent of the Pope no tax or rate of any +kind can be levied upon a clergyman or upon any church +whatsoever. 11. The Pope has the right to absolve from +oaths, and obedience to the persons and the laws of the +princes whom he excommunicates. (Note. All Protestants +are excommunicated.) 12. The Pope can annul all legal +relations of those in ban, especially their marriage. 13. The +Pope can release from every obligation, oath, vow, either +before or after being made. 14. The execution of Papal +<pb n='529'/><anchor id='Pg529'/> +commands for the persecution of heretics causes remission +of sins. 15. He who kills one that is excommunicated is +no murderer in a legal sense.<q>—The Canon Law</q>, by Dr. +G. F. von Schulte, Professor of Canonical Law at Prague. +</p> + +<p> +Here the crafty and wicked Mother of Harlots, ecclesiasticism, +asserts her infallible right to permit, directly +or indirectly, any and every crime possible for depraved +humanity to commit. +</p> + +<p> +Protestantism longs for the old-time power of the clergy. +It has the spirit, disposition, of spiritual fornication, +goes to the limit in its efforts to control affairs through +local, state, and national governmental agencies, and now +is ready and willing to ally itself with liberty-destroying +papal ecclesiasticism. It displays its true nature and its +indifference to the good of the people in its willing eagerness +to unite in any manner with the force which has for +centuries throttled liberty, banished the Word of God, and +stifled freedom in blood. Let not the people of Christendom +overlook this when the Protestant clergy advocate +church union, as they will. What can be done with such +an organization as apostate ecclesiasticism? The truly +Christian individual's answer must be to obey the Divine +command, <q>Come out of her, My people, that ye be not +partakers [partners in] of her sins [outlined foregoing, +<hi rend='italic'>ad nauseam</hi>] and that ye receive not of her plagues.</q> +(Rev. 18:4.) The Lord's people, all that really have the +Holy Spirit, will and must <q>come out of her,</q> clean away +from this unhallowed partnership and federation with +iniquity. Ecclesiasticism, however, may rest assured that +she will not suffer greatly in loss of members or of persons +of wealth and power; for but few of the Lord's +people are in her. Each ecclesiastic can be assured that +<q>his people,</q> the tares, the worldly church members, the +Babylonians, the spiritual idolaters and fornicators, the +congregation of Molech, will stick by him until the heat +of the fiery trials of the time of trouble drives even <q>the +clergy's people</q> out into the open of worldliness. +</p> + +<p> +Verse 13 shows that, in view of the enormity of ecclesiasticism's +iniquity, both Roman and Protestant, their +partnership in criminality, and their stubborn and willful +persistence in evil, <q>For his iniquity that he hath committed, +he shall die.</q> +</p> + +<p> +33:20. <hi rend='sans'>Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. +O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his +ways.</hi>—O house of nominal churchianity, the time has +<pb n='530'/><anchor id='Pg530'/> +come for God to Judge you, to recompense you double, +according to your ways!—Rev. 18:6. +</p> + +<p> +33:21. <hi rend='sans'>And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our +captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, +that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, +saying, The city is smitten.</hi>—In 24:25-27, after having cited +the skepticism of the Jews as to Ezekiel's message, it +was stated that from the time of Jerusalem's fall until the +tidings of the fall should arrive, Ezekiel was to be dumb, +having no new message to be heard by the people. The +intervening prophecies, chapters 26 to 32 are not against +the Hebrews, but against the heathen nations. The city +fell in the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, the fourth +month, the ninth day (2 Kings 25:2, 3), from which to +the coming of the tidings of the city's fall, on the twelfth +year, tenth month and fifth day, was one year, five months, +twenty-six days. On that momentous day came the tidings, +<q>The city is smitten!</q> Pastor Russell's voice was +stilled in death on October 31, 1916. If an application of +Ezekiel's period of dumbness is valid here as a time feature, +the tidings, the realization that Christendom is +smitten by the onslaughts of revolution, might be expected +to flash throughout the world on or about April 27, 1918, a +year, five months and twenty-six days after the death of +God's great watchman. As in Ezekiel 24:27, this would be +a sign, an indication to Christendom of the truth of Pastor +Russell's commission from the Almighty. +</p> + +<p> +33:22. <hi rend='sans'>Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the +evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened +my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my +mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.</hi>—The Lord +made good His promise while the news was approaching; +and removed Ezekiel's dumbness half a day before, in the +evening, before the morning when the tidings arrived. +It was on the same day; for in the Hebrew system of +time, the evening began the day. This signifies that perhaps +half a year prior to the general realization of Christendom's +downfall, Pastor Russell, though dead, shall again +speak through this, the seventh volume of his <hi rend='italic'>Studies in +the Scriptures</hi>—for this is but the completion of his great +work of admonition and warning for the Church and for +Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +33:23, 24. <hi rend='sans'>Then the Word of the Lord came unto me, +saying, Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the +land of Israel speak, saying Abraham was one, and he +<pb n='531'/><anchor id='Pg531'/> +inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given +us for inheritance.</hi>—After Jerusalem had been sacked and +King Zedekiah captured, as related in 2 Kings 25, <q>the +captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be +vine-dressers and husbandmen.</q> These (<q>those inhabiting +those wastes of the land of Israel</q>) imagined that <q>the +land is given to us for an inheritance.</q> They thought they +would be left in undisturbed possession, but certain of +them came into further conflict with the Assyrians. Then +the land was made utterly desolate. This signifies, in +fulfillment, that while the revolution overthrowing ecclesiasticism +will make quite a clean sweep, there will still +remain some of the more lowly adherents of ecclesiastical +systems, who will imagine that they and their ideals are +to prosper and spread even to the control of the revolutionary +order of things. +</p> + +<p> +33:25, 26. <hi rend='sans'>Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the +Lord God; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes +toward your idols, and shed blood; and shall ye possess +the land? Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, +and ye defile every one his neighbor's wife; and shall +ye possess the land?</hi>—But God knows their hearts, and is +against them, for their continuance in the evil ways of +ecclesiasticism. +</p> + +<p> +33:27. <hi rend='sans'>Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord +God; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall +fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will +I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in +the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.</hi>—A +sad awakening awaits them. As Jehovah lives, those +tares then surviving the ravages of revolution shall be +slain by the sword of anarchy, and shall have taken away +all pretense of being Christians. Those that have the +spirit of earthly ambition shall be given to be destroyed +by the savagery of anarchy; and those in the strongholds +and in the protected conditions of revolution shall die +literally of pestilence and be destroyed religiously by the +pestilential teachings of those evil days. +</p> + +<p> +33:28. <hi rend='sans'>For I will lay the land most desolate, and the +pomp of her strength shall cease; and, the mountains of +Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through.</hi>—God +purposes to utterly desolate this evil order of things +and to completely abase the last vestiges of its pride and +pomp, and to cause the governments of this Age, even in +their changed forms of revolution, to pass away. +</p> + +<p> +33:29. <hi rend='sans'>Then shall they know that I am the Lord, when +I have laid the land most desolate, because of all their +abominations which they have committed.</hi>—Then at last +<pb n='532'/><anchor id='Pg532'/> +the people that remain will realize that the war, revolution +and anarchy, were the righteous judgments of the +Almighty against the spiritual, political and economic +abominations of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +33:30. <hi rend='sans'>Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people +still are talking against thee by the walls and in the +doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one +to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what +is the Word that cometh forth from the Lord.</hi>—Reverting +to the present time, about contemporary with the realisation +that Christendom is smitten, the hypocrisy of professed +Christians is spoken against. The tares in their +churches (houses) will talk of Pastor Russell and his +works and words—they will read this book, and will urge +one another to <q>hear what is the Word that cometh from +the Lord.</q> +</p> + +<p> +33:31. <hi rend='sans'>And they come unto thee as the people cometh, +and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy +words, but they will not do them; for with their mouth +they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their +covetousness.</hi>—They will come in numbers, apparently <q>as +My people;</q> and like all tares, imitation Christians, they +will listen respectfully to God's Words urging haste in +consecration for the coming Kingdom; but they will not +do the things they hear. They will manifest with their +mouths great love for God, but will at heart be the self-seekers +they always were! +</p> + +<p> +33:32. <hi rend='sans'>And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song +of one that hath a voice, and can play well on an instrument: +for they hear thy words, but they do them not.</hi>—To +these people, in their insincerity and hypocrisy, Pastor +Russell's works will be scarcely a grade higher than an +entertainment, a beautiful song, <q>the song of Moses and +the Lamb,</q> well played on the many-stringed harp, the +Bible, but not heeded as of solemn import. +</p> + +<p> +33:33. <hi rend='sans'>And when this cometh to pass (lo, it will come), +then shall they know that a prophet hath been among +them.</hi>—But when the things predicted in the entire sens +volumes of the <hi rend='italic'>Studies in the Scriptures</hi> come to pass, +then shall the tares, too late, realize that a great and +Divinely ordained preacher <q>hath been among them.</q> +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Master, speak! Thy servant heareth,</q></l> +<l>Longing for Thy gracious Word,</l> +<l>Longing for Thy voice that cheereth;</l> +<l>Master, let it now be heard.</l> +<l>I am listening, Lord, for Thee;</l> +<l><q rend='post'>What hast Thou to say to me?</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='533'/><anchor id='Pg533'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 34—The Unfaithful Shepherds</head> + +<p> +34:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, +Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, +prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto +the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do +feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the +flocks?</hi>—God is against the clergy. Chapter 34 is a burning +arraignment of ecclesiasticism. It is to be taken in a dual +sense as concerning the clergy's treatment of God's true +people, the true Church on the spiritual plane, and of the +Jews on the earthly plane, both of whom the self-appointed +shepherds, the clergy, have neglected, abused and scattered. +(34:1-8, 17-21.) God will judge ecclesiasticism +(34:9, 10, 16, 17, 20, 22), and will Himself, through His +own agencies, regather and bless His true flock, Jewish +and Christian. (34:10, 11-17, 22-31.) The words <q>shepherd</q> +and <q>pastor</q> have the same meaning (D. 62; F. 287). Thus +saith Jehovah God to the clergy, from Pope to preachers, +Woe—in the revolution and anarchy, from 1918 on—woe +to the clergy that selfishly look out for <q>No. 1,</q> that +seek big salaries, live in tax-free and rent-free parsonages +and rectories, that apply to themselves every promise of the +Divine Word. Should not the clergy, the pastors, unselfishly +feed the flock of God? +</p> + +<p> +34:3. <hi rend='sans'>Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, +ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.</hi>—Ye +live on the choicest offerings of the people. Ye <q>fleece</q> +the sheep of their golden fleece. Them that are fed to +fatness with the Word of God, ye kill spiritually if ye +can. Ye have literally killed over fifty millions in bloody +persecutions. Ye have preached millions into a dreadful +death in the trenches. Ye do everything to the sheep but +feed them. Did I not command you thrice, <q>Feed My +sheep?</q>—John 21:17; 1 Pet. 5:2. +</p> + +<p> +34:4. <hi rend='sans'>The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither +have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound +up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again +that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that +which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye +ruled them.</hi>—Those weakened by spiritual disease—by the +pestilence of false doctrines—ye have not strengthened +<pb n='534'/><anchor id='Pg534'/> +with the pure Word of God, the Bread of Life. Rather ye +have thrown them poisonous, death-dealing doctrines +(1 Cor. 10:21) from the <q>table of devils.</q> Ye have not +healed with the Divine Word of comfort (2 Cor. 1:3-7; +Rom. 15:4) those spiritually sick with temporary ailment +of the soul. Ye have not bound up, with the strong +promises of God, the broken in spirit (Isa. 61:1.) Neither +have ye brought back into renewed faithfulness those driven +away by your treatment, nor sought to find and bring to +renewed relation to God those sheep that have strayed +from him in life and doctrine. Rather than feed them, +serve and shepherd them, ye have ruled them, lorded over +God's heritage (1 Pet. 5:3), as concerns both God's true +Christian sheep and His sheep of the Hebrew race. +</p> + +<p> +34:5. <hi rend='sans'>And they were scattered, because there is no +shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the +field, when they were scattered.</hi>—<q>My sheep know My voice +[of love], and a stranger will they not follow.</q> (John +10:4, 5.) They were not kept together, cared for and +cherished in the bonds of Christian love. There were not +among you the true under-shepherds having My Spirit of +Divine Love; and you, adulterous priests of Baal, and of +Molech—the cruel, fiery-torment God—none having My +Spirit could hear or follow. And when they were scattered, +they, the inoffensive, unresisting ones, became the +prey of every evil government and of every evil employer +and corporation. Ye made them cannon-fodder by the +thousands for the blood-guilty kaisers, czars, kings and +generals of your evil order of things. +</p> + +<p> +34:6. <hi rend='sans'>My sheep wandered through all the mountains, +and upon every high hill: yea, My flock was scattered upon +all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek +after them.</hi>—My people wandered homeless and friendless +throughout all the nations of this evil world. My flock +of Apostles, martyrs, sacrificers, was scattered throughout +all human society. Not one of the selfish, idolatrous clergy +of either Romanism or Protestantism cared for them, or +loved My beloved ones enough to seek after them; but +rather ignored them, ostracized them, compelled their +silence, drove them out from the churches, and stilled their +voices in persecution and in death. +</p> + +<p> +34:7. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the Word of the +Lord.</hi>—Ye have done this for centuries; and God permitted +you to continue, because the time had not come. +But now has come the hour of your judgment, ye popes, +cardinals, bishops, priests, preachers, revivalists, and +clergy of Baal, of every order and grade. Hear ye the +Word of Jehovah. +</p> + +<pb n='535'/><anchor id='Pg535'/> + +<p> +34:8. <hi rend='sans'>As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because My +flock became a prey, and My flock became meat to every +beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither +did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds +fed themselves, and fed not My flock.</hi>—As I live, saith +the Living God, surely because My true flock became a +prey, and was exploited by every evil ruler and employer, +because there was no true shepherd among you, and you +clergy did not love and cherish and seek for My beloved +flock, but you loved and fed yourselves, and starved My +true people with a famine for the hearing of the Word of +God.—Amos 8:11. +</p> + +<p> +34:9. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the +Lord.</hi>—Therefore, ye clergy, hear the Word of the true +God, Jehovah. +</p> + +<p> +34:10. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against +the shepherds; and I will require My flock at their hand, +and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither +shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will +deliver My flock from their mouth, that they may not be +meat for them.</hi>—Thus saith Jehovah God; Behold, I am +against the clergy (H. 12), great and little, high and low; +and I will exact from them an accounting for My beloved +people; I will take My flock entirely from them. <q>Come +out of her, O My people, and touch not the unclean thing.</q> +(Rev. 18:4; 2 Cor. 6:17.) And I will cause the clergy to +cease from feeding or attempting to preach to My flock, or +any flock in My name; for in a Time of great Trouble I +will deliver My people from the mouths of the clergy (Rev. +9:17-19), that My flock may not furnish them support any +more, that My people may not ever again be preached by +the clergy into slaughter. +</p> + +<p> +34:11. <hi rend='sans'>For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, +will both search My sheep, and seek them out.</hi>—Jehovah +will ignore the hireling, faithless clergy, and through an +agency of His own lowly despised, caluminated, ostracised +will patiently, persistently, lovingly search for all His +<q>little ones,</q> those having His Spirit, and will seek them +out. +</p> + +<p> +34:12. <hi rend='sans'>As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day +that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I +seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places +where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark +day.</hi>—As an oriental shepherd, who knows and loves his +sheep and is known and loved of them, seeks them out, +when they are scattered (John 10:4-15), so will God seek +<pb n='536'/><anchor id='Pg536'/> +out every one of His beloved ones, and will deliver them +out of the condition of loneliness, distress, famine and persecution, +where they have been scattered by the apostate +clergy in the troublous and dark period of the Gospel Age. +</p> + +<p> +34:13. <hi rend='sans'>And I will bring them out from the people, and +gather them from the countries, and will bring them to +their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel +by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.</hi>—God +himself will bring them together from the various +paganized <q>Christian</q> denominations, into the joy and +peace and love of a condition at one with Himself and with +others of like precious faith. Upon the height of the Heavenly +Kingdom will He feed them, by rivers of crystal +clear Truth, and amid the rejoicing throngs of the Heavenly +courts. His chosen people, the Jews, will God bring +by the agency of the resurrected Ancient Worthies to Palestine, +where He will feed them upon the historic mountains +of that hallowed land, in the then great cities of a +realized Zionism. +</p> + +<p> +34:14. <hi rend='sans'>I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the +high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall +they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed +upon the mountains of Israel.</hi>—God will feed His Little +Flock, first on Present Truth and then, at the Marriage +Supper of the Lamb He will appoint their place as Kings +and Priests of the Kingdom. He will make them abide forever +in the place, the Divine spirit nature, which Christ +went to Heaven to prepare. Upon the Word, fresh from the +mind of God, shall they feast forever, in the spiritual phase +of the Kingdom. To the Jews will be fulfilled these promises +in the earthly phase of the Kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +34:15. <hi rend='sans'>I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie +down, saith the Lord God.</hi>—God will feed His Flock with +Present Truth, and will give them the rest of <q>the peace +that passeth understanding.</q>—Phil. 4:7. +</p> + +<p> +34:16. <hi rend='sans'>I will seek that which was lost, and bring again +that which was driven away, and will bind up that which +was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick; but +I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with +judgment.</hi>—Not one true sheep shall be lost. God's unerring +eye will seek every one, and bring all back, first into the +Truth, and then into the Kingdom. He will bind up the +broken in spirit and strengthen the spiritually sick. In +the latter part of this verse the picture of the shepherds +is dropped and a new parable begins, likening the clergy +and their strong supporters and <q>laity</q> to different classes +of sheep and goats (cattle). God purposes in the impending +revolution and anarchy to destroy all the fat priests +<pb n='537'/><anchor id='Pg537'/> +and clergy of all grades—as priests and clergy, at least—and +those that, like the Pharisees of old, are sure they +will securely stand in the presence of the Lord. <q>Let +him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.</q> (1 +Cor. 10:12.) He will feed them with famine and destruction, +and with the judgments pronounced in His Word. +</p> + +<p> +34:17. <hi rend='sans'>And as for you, O My flock, thus saith the Lord +God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the +rams and the goats.</hi>—The nominal flock is made up of +clergy and laity of sheep and goats. In the flock God discerns +the weaker sheep and the stronger rams and the +goats—the clergy, class-leaders, etc.,—some of whom are +real sheep and some goats, destined to the left side of disfavor. +Many of these are even wolves in sheep's clothing.—Matt. +7:15. +</p> + +<p> +34:18. <hi rend='sans'>Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten +up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your +feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of +the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your +feet?</hi>—The stronger ones have not helped the weak to feed +and grow strong; but, as though it were a small matter, +the clergy, have lived on the fat of the land, relatively to +their poorer congregations. They have eaten up the good +Word of God for themselves, particularly the Romish +clergy; and what spiritual food they have given the laity, +they have walked all over with muddy feet—mingled it +with earthly doctrines, social and civic betterment and traditions +of men. They have drunk of the water of Truth +(C. 65) coming from the Bible, but have spoiled the waters +by mingling it with Evolution and Higher Criticism. +</p> + +<p> +34:19. <hi rend='sans'>And as for My flock, they eat that which ye have +trodden down with your feet; and they drink that which +yet have fouled with your feet.</hi>—And the laity, God's flock, +whom God commissioned the shepherds to feed with the +good Word of God, have eaten and drunk spiritual food +polluted by the clergy with doctrines of devils. +</p> + +<p> +34:20. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God unto them; +Behold I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between +the lean cattle.</hi>—Therefore God Himself is about to +judge and make a manifest difference between the unfaithful, +rich in learning and opportunity, and the poorer ones +on whom they have imposed. +</p> + +<p> +34:21. <hi rend='sans'>Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, +and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye +have scattered them abroad.</hi>—Because the rich, learned and +exclusive have shoved aside the weaker ones, and have, by +their earthly power, pushed out of the churches all His +flock, those not <q>at ease in Zion.</q>—Amos 6:1; Isa. 66:5. +</p> + +<pb n='538'/><anchor id='Pg538'/> + +<p> +34:22. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore will I save My flock, and they shall no +more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.</hi>—Therefore +will God Himself save His own in these troublous +times, by teaching them Present Truth; and they +shall <q>come out of her</q> (Rev. 18:4), out of the churches +altogether, so that the clergy and the <q>best</q> people can no +longer exploit them. +</p> + +<p> +34:23. <hi rend='sans'>And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and +He shall feed them, even My servant David; He shall feed +them, and He shall be their Shepherd.</hi>—God has established +Jesus (David) the Beloved (Jer. 23; 4, 5; John +10:11), and Pastor Russell as a faithful and wise under-shepherd, +to bring forth from the Bible Storehouse truths +new and old, to feed the sheep. +</p> + +<p> +34:24. <hi rend='sans'>And I the Lord will be their God, and My servant +David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it.</hi>—Jehovah +(not the eternal-torment Molech God) will be their +God, and His beloved Son and his under-shepherds shall +occupy exalted places among them. In the Times of Restitution +the Beloved Christ, Head and body, (David, beloved) +will be the true Shepherd to the earthly flock, the Jews. +</p> + +<p> +34:25. <hi rend='sans'>And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and +will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and +they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the +woods.</hi>—With the truly Christian flock God will make a +covenant of the peace that passeth understanding (Phil. +4:7); and with the Jews will make the New Covenant +through its Mediator, The Christ. He will cause the roaring +lion (Isa. 35:9), Satan, to cease from troubling (Job +3:17), and will forever restrain in oblivion the evil governments. +His flock shall dwell securely, even in the wilderness +condition, until their change come (Job. 14:14), and +shall rest in the cooling shadows (Cant. 2:3), in the refreshing +truths brought forth from the Storehouse by righteous, +strong teachers and leaders among them. +</p> + +<p> +34:26. <hi rend='sans'>And I will make them and the places round about +My hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come +down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.</hi>—The +Lord will make the Truth people, His flock, and everything +and every condition related to His Kingdom, a blessing +to others (Mal. 3:10); they shall be the Seed of Abraham, +to bless all the families of the earth. (Gal. 3:8.) God +has caused showers of truth to descend upon His flock at +their appointed times, down-pours of spiritual blessing in +the <q><hi rend='italic'>Studies in the Scriptures</hi>.</q> At the appointed time of +the beginning of returning favor to the Jews, 1878, the latter +rains began to fall in Palestine, making that fertile land +a fit habitation again for the chosen nation. +</p> + +<pb n='539'/><anchor id='Pg539'/> + +<p> +34:27. <hi rend='sans'>And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and +the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe +in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I +have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them +out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.</hi>—Thinking, +manly men, gathered into Present Truth from +the world, yield their fruitage of spirit fruits of character; +and the blessed condition in which they are yields its increase +of spiritual blessing and food; they are safe in their +place, <q>seated with Christ in the Heavenlies</q> (Eph. 1:3, +20), where they assuredly know God with heart knowledge. +God has broken the bands of the heavy yoke of ecclesiasticism, +and delivered them out of the hand of a clergy that +lived upon His flock, calling it <q>their people.</q> For Fleshly +Israel and those who shall become Israelites there shall be +the blessings of an earthly Eden, with an abundance of fruitage +from trees and soil (A. 192). +</p> + +<p> +34:28. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, +neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they +shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.</hi>—God's +flock of spirit-begotten ones shall be no more preyed upon +by paganized <q>Christians,</q> nor persecuted, devoured, destroyed, +by the great <q>beast</q> of Christendom, the Papacy, +with its <q>Holy Inquisition;</q> but they shall dwell safely in +the hollow of His hand, His power, and none can make +afraid those sealed in their foreheads with the Truth. +</p> + +<p> +34:29. <hi rend='sans'>And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, +and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the +land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.</hi>—God +raised up, in 1878, in the First Resurrection of the +dead, the Body members of His Son, <q>the Stem of David,</q> +and previously in 1874, had sent again His Son to feed the +flock, to serve them (Luke 12:37), and sup with them +(Rev. 3:20) in a feast of fat things spiritual—the Present +Truth. Those in the Truth shall never again suffer from +famine of the Word of God; nor shall they, when raised up +to sit with Christ in power and glory (Matt. 19:28), ever +again bear reproach from a paganized <q>Christian</q> apostasy. +</p> + +<p> +34:30. <hi rend='sans'>Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God +am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are +My people, saith the Lord God.</hi>—This is the way that the +Lord's Spiritual Flock and both Jews, and nominal Christians, +shall come to know of a certainty that Jehovah is +with them, that they are His people. +</p> + +<p> +34:31. <hi rend='sans'>And ye My flock, the flock of My pasture, are +men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.</hi>—This prophecy, +this type, this symbolism, refers to the people who +constitute God's flock, Jewish and nominal. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='540'/><anchor id='Pg540'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 35—Edom A Type</head> + +<p> +35:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover the Word of the Lord came onto me, +saying, Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and +prophesy against it.</hi>—Mount Seir and Edom are practically +synonymous; for the Edomites inhabited the mountain +range region along the east side of the valley, extending +from the Dead Sea to the Elamitic or Persian Gulf. What +Edom types Pastor Russell makes clear in volume IV of +<hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>, pp. 14, 20. +</p> + +<p> +One of the features of the Time of Trouble will be upon +the fleshly-minded Christians, tares, who after the fall of +ecclesiasticism, will repudiate Christianity, and take their +stand as worldings, Edomites—the <q>people of Mount Seir,</q> +mere tares. These, having assisted in the downfall of ecclesiasticism, +will seek to take the place and power of defunct +Christendom in an utterly Christless arrangement of +things. +</p> + +<p> +35:3. <hi rend='sans'>And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, +O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch +out Mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most +desolate.</hi>—The godless nations that will succeed fallen +Christendom will also find God against them, and that His +power is stretched out against them and will make them, +too, most desolate. +</p> + +<p> +35:4. <hi rend='sans'>I will lay the cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, +and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.</hi>—God will, +through anarchy, lay waste the Socialistic, labor-union, social-democratic +and other governments which will emerge +as the outcome of the revolutions of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +35:5. <hi rend='sans'>Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and +hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of +the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that +their iniquity had an end.</hi>—These economic-political movements—Socialism, +labor-unionism, syndicalism, nihilism, +and others, but not including anarchy, which will swallow +them up—have had a long standing hatred against ecclesiasticism, +have spoken and worked against it, and against +the social order characteristic of the past age. In the +overthrow of ecclesiasticism, the fleshly-minded tares, +<q>Edomites</q> and the classes mentioned, will turn on the +<pb n='541'/><anchor id='Pg541'/> +clergy and laity of the churches, as well as upon the Lord's +spirit-begotten children—upon any remaining to profess +Christianity, whether through adherence to the church systems +or through consecration to God—and will slaughter +them by thousands. +</p> + +<p> +35:6. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare +thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee; since +thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.</hi>—In +gatherings of Socialists, there is no end to the differences +of opinion as to what Socialism is and how it is to be +worked out in practice. This factional division contains +the seeds of the destruction of the short-lived governmental +system of Socialism, under whatever name, for a bloody +end. They courted revolution and shall receive of the same. +</p> + +<p> +35:7. <hi rend='sans'>Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and +cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth.</hi>—Thus +will God cause the brief Socialistic phase of the +Time of Trouble to become <q>most desolate.</q> Not one person +connected with it shall escape the universal anarchy, +the last and worst phase of the tribulation. +</p> + +<p> +35:8. <hi rend='sans'>And I will fill his mountains with his slain men; +in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall +they fall that are slain with the sword.</hi>—The Socialistic, +labor-ridden nations (mountains), shall be filled with the +slain; among the upper classes of socialism, and among the +more insignificant people (valleys) and in connection with +all their channels of Socialistic truth (rivers), the people +of that order of things shall be slain. In a sense the Sword +of the Spirit, will slay them; it foretells their destruction. +</p> + +<p> +35:9. <hi rend='sans'>I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy +cities shall not return; and ye shall know that I am the +Lord.</hi>—The Socialistic state shall be utterly destroyed, and +its various forms of government (cities) go to oblivion. +</p> + +<p> +35:10. <hi rend='sans'>Because thou hast said, These two nations and +these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; +whereas the Lord was there.</hi>—The then non-religious Socialists, +laborites, etc., will say: <q>These two systems (nations), +Catholic and Protestant, and the condition of things +characteristic of them, shall come under the sway of Socialism, +and we Socialists, etc., shall rule over and control +them</q>, whereas they will overlook the all-important fact +that God has been among these people, and they were +called God's people.—<q>The Lord was there.</q> +</p> + +<p> +35:11. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will +even do according to thine anger, and according to thine +envy, which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; +and I will make Myself known among them, when I have +judged thee.</hi>—Therefore as the Socialists, etc., will turn +<pb n='542'/><anchor id='Pg542'/> +upon ecclesiasticism and Christianity in anger and fury +and with hateful envy, so God will do to the Socialistic +laborite order of things. As they aid in smiting down +Christianity, so will the anarchists smite them down. +</p> + +<p> +35:12. <hi rend='sans'>And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and +that I have heard all thy blasphemies, which thou hast +spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are +laid desolate, they are given us to consume.</hi>—The laborites, +etc., will learn that God rules in the affairs of men, and +that the Almighty will pay attention to their utterances +against the nations (mountains) of Christendom (Israel), +when, after ecclesiasticism's fall, the laborites shall say, +<q>The nations have been desolated, and are given to us +working people to divide up for ourselves.</q> +</p> + +<p> +35:13. <hi rend='sans'>Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against +Me, and have multiplied your words against Me: I have +heard them.</hi>—The Socialistic and kindred movements, while +speaking savagely against capitalism, and covertly against +Christianity, have in reality been speaking against an order +permitted by God, and in which God was—in the indwelling +of His Holy Spirit, in such true Christians as were +in the systems. In expressing the determination to lead +the world out of the darkness of evil economic, social and +political conditions, they unwittingly boast against God by +presuming to perform what God previously planned to be +done by His faithful Church, and which by any lesser +agency is absolutely impossible of accomplishment, God +will not pass by unnoticed the words of Socialists, syndicalists, +laborites, etc. He will hear them, and remember +them for just recompense. +</p> + +<p> +35:14. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; When the whole earth +rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.</hi>—When the Times of +Restitution of all things come, one of the things not to be +restored is the Socialist, laborite movement. When all +society rejoices in the new order of things ordained of +God, the Socialistic state will have been utterly and forever +desolated. +</p> + +<p> +35:15. <hi rend='sans'>As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the +house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do onto +thee; thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, +even all of it: and they shall know that I am the Lord.</hi>—As +the fleshly-minded apostates from Christianity, siding +with the radicals and revolutionaries, will rejoice at the +inheritance of desolation that will be Christendom's after +1918, so will God do to the successful revolutionary movement; +it shall be utterly desolated, <q>even all of it.</q> Not +one vestige of it shall survive the ravages of world-wide all-embracing +anarchy, in the fall of 1920. (Rev. 11:7-13) +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='543'/><anchor id='Pg543'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 36—Christendom's Early Restoration</head> + +<p> +36:1. <hi rend='sans'>Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains +of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the +Word of the Lord.</hi>—In Chapter 6 is described the iniquities +of the nations of Christendom and their doom. Chapter +36 describes the rejoicing of the non-Christian elements +over her fall, and God's jealous anger against them. It +foretells the early re-peopling of the nations of Christendom, +their conversion to true Christianity, and the reason +for God's action in behalf of the nations just previously +destroyed. Taken literally, it foretells the same good future +for His chosen but long-chastised people, the Jews. +This is the message to the nations (mountains) of Christendom, +as the Word of Jehovah concerning them. +</p> + +<p> +36:2. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; Because the enemy hath +said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours +in possession.</hi>—Because the revolutionists, who shall overthrow +the nations of Christendom, shall say against them, +<q>Aha, even the oldest and greatest nations of Christendom +are under the control of us revolutionists, Socialists and +laborites.</q> +</p> + +<p> +36:3. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord +God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed +you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto +the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips +of talkers, and are an infamy of the people.</hi>—Thus saith +Jehovah God to the nations of Christendom: Because the +revolutionists shall have justly made you desolate and overrun +you in every direction, so that you might be ruled over +by pagan, fleshly-minded, infidel, revolutionary rulers, and +because you shall be the subject of flippant discussion +among the revolutionaries, and through your fall become +infamous among all the heathen peoples of the world, in +Europe, America and elsewhere.—Lam. 2:15, 16. +</p> + +<p> +36:4. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the Word +of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains +and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, to +the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, +which became a prey and derision to the residue of the +heathen that are round about.</hi>—Therefore, ye nations of +Christendom, thus saith Jehovah to the nations, great and +<pb n='544'/><anchor id='Pg544'/> +small, to the religious denominations, to the lowly members +of society, to the masses wasted and desolated by +war and revolution, to the governments, local and national +that shall be abandoned, which shall become the victims of +the Socialists, laborites and other revolutionists, who shall +hold you in derision for your fall from eminence to desolation. +</p> + +<p> +36:5. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Surely in the +fire of My jealousy have I spoken against the residue of +the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed +My land into their possessions with the joy of all their +heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.</hi>—Therefore, +saith God, surely I am jealous over the reflections +they cast upon Me, and at the mouths of many prophets +have I foretold the destruction by anarchy of the +rest of those who falsely profess My name and then help to +desolate Christendom—the <q>Christian</q> infidels and all the +former fleshly-minded Christians (Idumeans) who shall +have presumed, with malicious joy, to overthrow the order +of things which bears My name—Christendom! +</p> + +<p> +36:6. <hi rend='sans'>Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, +and say unto the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers +and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I have +spoken in My jealousy and in My fury, because ye have +borne the shame of the heathen.</hi>—O nations of fallen Christendom, +My people, because you shall have borne shame +and reproach from the ungodly revolutionists, I will bring +My jealous fury to bear upon your destroyers. +</p> + +<p> +36:7. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I have lifted +up Mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they +shall bear their shame.</hi>—Jehovah has sworn (lifted the +hand) that the Socialists, laborites, etc., shall bear a similar +shame and reproach, when their short-lived order of +things has in turn been desolated by the anarchists. +</p> + +<p> +36:8. <hi rend='sans'>But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth +your branches, and yield your fruit to My people of Israel; +for they are at hand to come.</hi>—A branch signifies a person +born from another; as, Christ was a Branch of David. Here +the branches shooting forth from the mountains are the +people of Christendom, slain in revolutions and anarchy, +springing forth, rising from the dead, to people Christendom +again. But you, O nations, of Christendom, your dead +shall rise up from their sleep in the dust of the earth, to +the earthly restitution—resurrection; you shall yield proper +fruitage as the truly Christian people of Christendom; for +they are close at hand to come back in the dust of the +earth, in the mire of trenches, fortresses and battle fields. +They sleep in death, ready to come, for <q>All that are in +<pb n='545'/><anchor id='Pg545'/> +their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and +shall come forth</q> to resurrection.—John 5:28, 29. +</p> + +<p> +36:9. <hi rend='sans'>For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, +and ye shall be tilled and sown.</hi>—Now that the Times of +Restitution are at the door, God will be for them and will +turn his favor unto them, and they shall be cultivated by +truly Christian preachers commissioned by the resurrected +Ancient Worthies at Jerusalem, and sown with the seed +of the true Gospel of the Kingdom of restitution and blessing +for all people. +</p> + +<p> +36:10. <hi rend='sans'>And I will multiply men upon you, all the house +of Israel, even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, +and the wastes shall be builded.</hi>—The dead, fallen by the +sword of war, revolution and anarchy, shall come forth +from their graves to inhabit the earth. Thus, as they multiplied +the dead, will God multiply the living, to the number +of all the dead of Christendom, even every one of them; +they shall become in His sight, not dead in trespasses +and sins, but living, true-blue, manly men for the Christ +of divine love. The governments (cities) shall be reestablished; +and commerce, transportation, industry and art, +wasted by the Time of Trouble, shall be built up again, +upon the foundation of the wholly righteous principles of +the New Era. +</p> + +<p> +36:11. <hi rend='sans'>And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and +they shall increase and bring fruit; and I will settle you +after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at +your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.</hi>—God +will multiply useful workers in industries, and the invention +of labor-saving machinery—the beasts of burden and +of the productive arts and trades. They shall increase in +numbers and in service to mankind, and shall multiply the +productivity of the workers, bringing forth with the busy, +happy hum of industry, plenty for all, fruitage abundant +for the needs of humanity. God will settle them, establish +them in permanent conditions, and will do for them far better +than He could do in the former days of Christendom, +when the operation of His Spirit energizing mind and +spirit in invention, art, industry, commerce and religion, +was hindered by apostasy of clergy and rulers. Men shall +learn by happy experience how good is Jehovah and how +truly He is love, and not the fire-god, eternal-torment Molech, +whom they ignorantly worshipped, thinking they did +Jehovah service. +</p> + +<p> +36:12. <hi rend='sans'>Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even My +people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt +be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth +bereave them of men.</hi>—God will cause men, perfected by +<pb n='546'/><anchor id='Pg546'/> +processes of restitution and resurrection, to live in the nations +of resurrected Christendom. Men of this highly exalted +type shall possess Christendom, when Christ's Kingdom +shall be inherited by the kingly men for whom it was +prepared from the foundations of the earth. Never more +shall the nations of Christendom bereave themselves of +men, as they have done in centuries of oppression, misrule +and persecution, and especially in the Time of Trouble. +</p> + +<p> +36:13. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; Because they say unto +you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy +nations.</hi>—Because the infidel revolutionists will throw at +Christendom the taunt, <q>Your social order, economic, political +and religious, eats up, destroys men, in industry, +persecution, war, and revolution, and bereaves the nations +of their best men.</q> +</p> + +<p> +36:14. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither +bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Never +shall this be any more, says God. +</p> + +<p> +36:15. <hi rend='sans'>Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the +shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear +the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou +cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Neither +will God permit men to hear the infidel peoples +put Christendom to shame, nor to heap reproach upon +her; for Christendom shall be no more a reproach among +the heathen, nor shall she cause her nations to fall again. +</p> + +<p> +36:16, 17. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, +saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their +own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: +their way was before Me as the uncleanness of a +removed woman.</hi>—While ecclesiasticism and its adherents +control Christendom, they defile it spiritually by their traditions, +doctrines and actions. Their spiritual condition is +before God as a church polluted, unclean spiritually, unfit +to touch, which ought to be <q>cut off from social privileges +and her citizenship among God's people put in abeyance,</q> +as long as the spiritually unclean condition lasts, an uncleanness +which may be removed only by a liberal application +of <q>the waters of separation</q> (Lev. 15:19-31)—the +cleansing reformation of the pure, unadulterated, fearlessly +preached and applied Word of God, <q>the water of the +Word.</q>—Eph. 5:26. +</p> + +<p> +36:18. <hi rend='sans'>Wherefore I poured My fury upon them for the +blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols +wherewith they had polluted it.</hi>—The penalty for wilful +violation of the Hebraic precepts regarding uncleanness +was the final cutting off of the culprit from the Lord's people. +Wherefore God shall pour out upon ecclesiasticism +<pb n='547'/><anchor id='Pg547'/> +His fury in war, revolution, and anarchy, for the lives—physical +and religious—taken throughout the lengths and +breadths of human society, and for the idolatrous worship +of Molech, the eternal-torment God, and of Baal, the god +of adulterous church-state union, wherewith she has polluted +Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +36:19. <hi rend='sans'>And I scattered them among the heathen, and +they were dispersed through the countries: according to +their way and according to their doings I judged them.</hi>—God +will scatter the church adherents among the revolutionists, +and disperse them throughout a variety of infidel, +Socialistic, laborite and other like conditions, judging the +ecclesiastics according to their apostasy. +</p> + +<p> +36:20. <hi rend='sans'>And when they entered unto the heathen, whither +they went, they profaned My holy name, when they said to +them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth +out of His land.</hi>—Wherever these fleshly-minded Christians +shall be scattered, they will blaspheme God's holy +name, with the reproach that though they had claimed to +be Jehovah's people, God had been unable to safeguard +them and they had abandoned all pretense of being Christians. +</p> + +<p> +36:21. <hi rend='sans'>But I had pity for Mine holy name, which the +house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither +they went.</hi>—But God will have regard for the prestige of +His reputation for justice, power, love and wisdom, which +the apostate of Christendom shall impugn during the revolutionary +order of things. +</p> + +<p> +36:22. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus +saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of +Israel, but for Mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned +among the heathen, whither ye went.</hi>—Therefore +Jehovah says that what He is about to do, He will not do +for their sakes, for they deserve nothing at His hand but +the judgments justly visited upon them; but that He will +do it for His holy name's reputation, which they have persistently +misrepresented and blasphemed. +</p> + +<p> +36:23. <hi rend='sans'>And I will sanctify My great name, which was +profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in +the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am +the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in +you before their eyes.</hi>—God will make His name sacred, +and forever hallowed, among the pagan peoples, the name +which apostate Christians have profaned and defamed +among them; and God will make the infidel peoples to +<pb n='548'/><anchor id='Pg548'/> +know of a certainty that He is the all-wise, just, loving +and almighty Jehovah, when He finally converts all such to +true Christianity. +</p> + +<p> +36:24. <hi rend='sans'>For I will take you from among the heathen, and +gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your +own land.</hi>—God will save His professed people from the +faithless, unbelieving condition of the revolutionists and +the professedly pagan peoples, and will gather them out of +all the evil conditions into which they shall fall, into a condition +of genuine conversion and consecration to Himself. +How much like God! all will exclaim, who know Jehovah. +What an example does the Father set to His children, the +sons of God!—Eph. 5:1; Z. '92-63. +</p> + +<p> +36:25. <hi rend='sans'>Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and +ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all +your idols, will I cleanse you.</hi>—Then will Jehovah wash +His apostate people with the pure, unpolluted water of the +Word of Truth; and from all their filthiness of flesh and +spirit, of life and of doctrine, and from their idolatry of +Molech and of Baal, will He cleanse them; and they shall +be clean.—A. 333; Z. '92-64. +</p> + +<p> +36:26. <hi rend='sans'>A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit +will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart +out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.</hi>—God +judges the thoughts and intents of the heart, and He +will give His professed people a pure heart to serve Him +and to love Him with fullness of consecration. He will take +away from them the stony heart (Jer. 31:33), wherewith +for sake of earthly emoluments and honor of men, they +have resisted Him and hardened their consciences against +His Truth. He will put within them a new spirit which they +have not known—the spirit of willing service and obedience +to Jehovah, the spirit of the truth, the spirit of wisdom, +of courage, of a sound mind, and of Divine love.—2 +Tim. 1:7; Z. '99-187; A. 310; Z. '03-171. +</p> + +<p> +36:27. <hi rend='sans'>And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause +you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, +and do them.</hi>—God will give them His Holy Spirit +and cause them to walk in His <q>royal law of love</q> (Jas. +2:8), so that they shall keep that law and do it—Z. '99-138. +</p> + +<p> +36:28. <hi rend='sans'>And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your +fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.</hi>—And +they shall abide in the condition of Divine favor +that the fathers walked in, and truly be God's people; and +Jehovah, the God of love—not Molech, nor Baal—shall be +their God. +</p> + +<p> +36:29. <hi rend='sans'>I will also save you from all your uncleanness: +and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay +<pb n='549'/><anchor id='Pg549'/> +no famine upon you.</hi>—God will save the people now constituting +His professed, but apostate church, from all their +spiritual and fleshly uncleanness. He will call for the +wheat, the bread of life, the Word of God, and will give +them to feed on this good Word, and will permit no more +famine of the Word of God among them. +</p> + +<p> +36:30. <hi rend='sans'>And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the +increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach +of famine among the heathen.</hi>—God will multiply the fruits +of righteousness, and cause the new social order to increase +its character fruitage, so that Christians shall receive +no more from the heathen the reproach that there is +among them a famine of God's Word, and that they fail to +practise what they profess.—Amos. 8:11. +</p> + +<p> +36:31. <hi rend='sans'>Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and +your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves +in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.</hi>—Then, +in the abundance of the wonderful and undeserved +goodness and love of God, God's professed people +shall remember their former evil doctrines, that misrepresented +His holy character, and their doings that were not +good, especially their grasping for world power and their +persecution of the sons of God. Then they shall loathe +themselves for their iniquitous doctrines and for their sectarian +abominations. +</p> + +<p> +36:32. <hi rend='sans'>Not for your own sakes do I this, saith the Lord +God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for +your own ways, O house of Israel.</hi>—Be it known, in advance, +that Jehovah will do these good things, not for their +sakes in any sense; for they merit far different treatment +at His hands. They shall be ashamed and utterly confounded +at His goodness. Thus, with goodness and with +love overflowing will God recompense the evil they have +done Him and His true children. +</p> + +<p> +36:33. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; in the day that I shall +have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause +you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.</hi>—In +the 1,000-year day, the Millennium, the <q>Times of Restitution +of all things</q> (Acts 3:19-21), when God shall have +cleansed those who are now His professed people from +their iniquities, He will cause them to abide in new governments +of the nations and cities of Christendom (Lu. +19:17), whose wasted arts, manufactures, industries, +transportation and commerce shall be built up again. +</p> + +<p> +36:34. <hi rend='sans'>And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it +lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.</hi>—Christendom, +utterly desolated in war, revolution and anarchy, and +lying desolate in the sight of the whole world, shall be cultivated +<pb n='550'/><anchor id='Pg550'/> +in the arts, sciences, trades and professions, and +especially with the true Gospel of the Kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +36:35. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall say, This land that was desolate +is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and +desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.</hi>—And +the infidel peoples shall exclaim, <q>Christendom +that was utterly desolated, has become like the Garden +of Eden!</q> For governments, national, city, and local, which +were wasted, desolated and ruined, have been replaced by +better and permanent (fenced) arrangements brought about +by the mighty power of Jehovah's Love. +</p> + +<p> +36:36. <hi rend='sans'>Then the heathen that are left round about you +shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and +plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, +and I will do it.</hi>—Then the unbelieving peoples will come +to the realization that the One that shall rebuild ruined +Christendom and plant the desolate people with the seed +of the glad gospel of the Kingdom is Jehovah. Jehovah has +spoken it, and will bring it to pass. +</p> + +<p> +36:37. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be +inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will +increase them with men like a flock.</hi>—God will yet be supplicated +by desolated Christendom to do this for them. +Then, in answer to their prayers, He will, by awakenings +from the dead, increase their numbers with men in multitudes. +</p> + +<p> +36:38. <hi rend='sans'>As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her +solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks +of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.</hi>—Like as +vast flocks of sheep and cattle were gathered for sacrifice +at the annual feasts at Jerusalem, so shall the devastated +nations of Christendom be filled with great crowds of consecrated, +holy men, each devoted as a willing thank offering +forever to live for God. And they shall know, when +God has brought them back from the dead, that He is Jehovah, +a God of infinite Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l>Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning!</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Joy to the lands that in darkness have lain!</l> +<l>Hushed be the accents of sorrow and mourning!</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Zion, in triumph, begins her glad reign.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>See the dead risen from land and from ocean;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Praise to Jehovah ascending on High;</l> +<l>Fall'n are the engines of war and commotion;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Shouts of salvation are rending the sky.</l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='551'/><anchor id='Pg551'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 37—The Valley Of Dry Bones</head> + +<p> +37:1. <hi rend='sans'>The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried +me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the +midst of the valley which was full of bones.</hi>—Chapter 37:1-14 +has a fourfold application: (1) to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, +the Adamic death, into which the Hebrew nation +has gone; (2) to the captivity of the Hebrews in literal +Babylonia; (3) the captivity of the Hebrews in Mystic +Babylon, Christendom; and (4) the dead condition of the +hopes of Christendom in and after the Time of Trouble. It +is because the Jews were types of the Christians that the +blessed fulfilment of this prophecy applies with peculiar +force to Christendom in and after the Time of Trouble. +The power (hand) of Jehovah was upon Ezekiel to enable +him to see and expound this vision for the benefit of the +Hebrews and their dead hopes in captivity (2) in literal +Babylon, (3) in Mystic Babylon (Christendom) and (1) +in the Adamic death. (Z. '99-190; '01-358.) The power of +God is now upon His people to understand the application +of the vision of dry bones as pertaining to the hopes of +(4) the people of Christendom, who, though believers in +God, have not the Holy Spirit to illuminate their mental +vision, and who will find themselves in the depths (valley) +of despair in and after the Time of Trouble. +</p> + +<p> +The condition of the withered hopes of Christendom in +the Time of Trouble and death is pictured by the Valley of +Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:2, 9-14): <q>I will gather all nations, and +will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat [of +judgment and death], and will plead [in war, revolution +and anarchy] with them there for My people and My heritage +Israel [the true Church] whom they have scattered +among the nations, and parted My land [into several hundred +denominations]. Proclaim ye this among the nations: +Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the +men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your plowshares +into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let +the weak [Belgium, etc.] say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, +and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together +round about; thither cause thy mighty ones [the +Little Flock, mighty in the power of the Lord] to come +down, O Lord. Let the heathen [in Christendom, and out] +<pb n='552'/><anchor id='Pg552'/> +be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat: for +there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put +ye in the sickle, for the harvest [of the vine of the earth, +(Rev. 14:19) Christendom] is ripe; come, get you down; +for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness +is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision +[for or against God and His Word] for the Day [of +vengeance] of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.</q>—Joel +3:2, 9-15. +</p> + +<p> +Vast will be the slaughter, complete the devastation, +heart-rending the ruin and the desolation of the hopes +and aspirations of Christendom in the dark and gloomy +valley of the Day of Vengeance of Jehovah. It will indeed +be a valley—a cast down, humbled, lowly condition, in +which the people of proud Christendom will suddenly find +themselves, a condition full of the memories of ruined +hopes, (bones) (Mal. 4:1.) The valley is full of dried-up +hopes (bones): (1) the twelve tribes of Israel in death; +(2, 3) the Hebrews in captivity to literal and mystical +Babylon; and (4) the hopes of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +37:2. <hi rend='sans'>And caused me to pass by them round about: and +behold, there were very many in the open valley; and lo, +they were very dry.</hi>—The hopes of the Hebrews, held out +to them in Scripture, were very many, but until the regathering +out of literal and mystical Babylon, and from the +dead, were and shall be lifeless. Pastor Russell, in Volume +IV of <hi rend='italic'>Studies in the Scriptures</hi>, compassed the entire range +of the afflictions and desolated hopes of mankind in war, +revolution and anarchy of the great Time of Trouble. +</p> + +<p> +37:3. <hi rend='sans'>And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones +live! And I answered, O Lord God, Thou knowest.</hi>—<q>Is +there any hope for the scattered people of Israel, that they +will ever be restored as a nation? Can the good hopes of +Christendom, ruined by war, revolution and anarchy, be +revived?</q> <q>O Jehovah God, Thou knowest and hast foretold +the answer by the mouths of Prophets and Apostles, +and Thine own Son!</q> +</p> + +<p> +37:4. <hi rend='sans'>Again He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, +and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the Word of the +Lord.</hi>—And God says about the Scriptural hopes of both +Jews and of Christendom, whose fall, ignominy and captivity +in literal Babylon, in mystic Babylon, in the Adamic +death and in the Time of Trouble have caused, and will +cause, so great sufferings and so many tears. <q>Hear the +good Word of Jehovah concerning thy ruined hopes.</q> +</p> + +<p> +37:5. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, +I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall +live.</hi>—Thus saith Jehovah God about the hopes of Christendom: +<pb n='553'/><anchor id='Pg553'/> +Behold, in the blessed Times of Restitution, the +time for His great love for men to be revealed, He shall +cause the people that are left among the Hebrews and in +Christendom to talk and pray about their good hopes for +the uplift of themselves and all the world to better, higher +things. And their hopes shall live again; for God will +cause the spirit of life, life-energy, to enter into their hopes +and into their dead—those captive in the Adamic death +and in the ruin of the great tribulation.—E. <hi rend='italic'>341</hi>, 316. +</p> + +<p> +37:6. <hi rend='sans'>And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up +flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in +you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the +Lord.</hi>—God will make their hopes strong; for His Word +encourages their realization; and He gives them power, +form and substance and protection, and will finally give +them vitality, and they shall live, shall become a bright +and vital reality. Then with thanksgiving they shall know +Him truly as Jehovah.—E. <hi rend='italic'>341</hi>, 316. +</p> + +<p> +37:7. <hi rend='sans'>So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I +prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and +the bones came together, bone to his bone.</hi>—While Ezekiel +was speaking there began <q>a shaking</q>—the commotion incident +to the fall of Babylon and the transfer of the empire +to the Medes and Persians, typifying the coming Time of +Trouble. And while Pastor Russell was preaching there +began—in 1914—the shaking of Christendom, in wars, revolutions +and anarchy, preparatory to the transfer of the +rulership from Mystic Babylon, Christendom, to the two-phase, +spiritual and natural, Kingdom of God; also the +Zionistic hopes of the Jews began to assume definite, connected +and Scriptural form. In due time, after the hopes +of Christendom shall have been utterly ruined in the +trouble, there will be <q>a noise,</q> as of the rushing wind of a +second Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit <q>upon all +flesh.</q> It will be upon all Christendom, where men will be +awaiting it with prayer and supplication. And behold! all +Christendom will be shaken with emotion and with a revival +of hope; and all the good hopes of Christendom, +whose realization hitherto had been vague and disconnected, +will be seen in their proper and Divinely appointed +relation (bone to his bone).—Z. '99-191. +</p> + +<p> +37:8. <hi rend='sans'>And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh +came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: +but there was no breath in them.</hi>—As a result of Ezekiel's +prophesying among the Hebrews captive in Babylon, hope +grew strong and positive, and the protection of Jehovah +(skin) was seen to be upon it, but yet there was no vitality +to it. The time was not ripe for the fruition of hope. +<pb n='554'/><anchor id='Pg554'/> +Pastor Russell, too, preached to the Jews about their Zionist +hopes, and pointed them to the Hebrew Bible to understand +the proper fulfillment of their hopes; and while he +was preaching Zionism grew into a strong movement. +There is a due time also for Christendom's hopes to be +strengthened by the books of Pastor Russell in millions of +homes throughout Christendom. The surviving people of +Christendom will read the <hi rend='italic'>Studies in the Scriptures</hi> during +and after the time of the ruination of their hopes. But +even then something will be lacking—the Spirit, power, to +cause the fulfillment of hope.—E. <hi rend='italic'>341</hi>, 316. +</p> + +<p> +37:9. <hi rend='sans'>Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, +prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the +Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and +breathe upon these slain, that they may live.</hi>—Ezekiel was +commissioned to say, as the Word of God Himself, concerning +the operation of the Holy Spirit (wind, <foreign lang='he' rend='italic'>ruach</foreign>) or +power of God, that the whole power (four winds) of God +as concerned the Hebrew nation in captivity in literal +Babylon should be exercised to cause the revival of their +national and Messianic hopes. <q>The words that I speak, +they are Spirit.</q> The whole Word of God (four winds, the +whole Spirit) foretold the regathering of the willing and +obedient of the Hebrews from Babylon to Jerusalem, after +seventy years' captivity. Pastor Russell, as Ezekiel's antitype, +was commissioned to say to the Hebrews, scattered +throughout the world in captivity in Mystic Babylon, Christendom, +that the whole Word of God pointed to two great +blessings: (1) the revival of their Zionist hope and its +realization in the regathering of many Hebrews to Jerusalem, +and the founding there of the world-wide Hebrew +dominion over the whole world, into which should be gathered, +out of Mystic Babylon, all the Hebrews in the world, +wherever they might remain; and (2) the regathering of +the Hebrews of all ages from the captivity of death—the +tomb—to live on earth again in the earthly phase of the +Kingdom of God, under the invisible spiritual dominion of +Christ, Head and Body, and under the visible earthly +rulership of the resurrected Ancient Worthies. Beginning +in October, 1910, Pastor Russell called the attention of +Hebrews by thousands, throughout the world, to the fact +that the whole Old Testament foretold this as the legitimate +aspiration of the Hebrews. For the Christian people +of the world Pastor Russell has a similar message: +</p> + +<p> +(1) For believing Christians having the Holy Spirit, he +revived their hopes and pointed out clearly their gathering +out from captivity in Mystic Babylon and in death, unto the +glorious spirit phase of the Kingdom of God. (2) For the +<pb n='555'/><anchor id='Pg555'/> +mass of professing Christians, who through some measure +of unbelief or of unfaithfulness are not begotten of the +Spirit to a change of nature from human to spiritual, He +has a Divine message, which in due time will bring strong +hope and comfort. As the Time of Trouble progresses, +professing Christians by the millions, losing faith, as did +the Apostles when, on the arrest of Christ they all forsook +Him and fled, will forsake Christianity and all profession +of being Christians. They will lose all the hopes they had +as Christians. Then Pastor Russell's message will preach +to Christendom the necessity of receiving the Holy Spirit +in its entirety, in order to realize their hopes; will turn the +people to the whole Truth of the Word of God (the four +Winds, all the Truth), all the witness of the Spirit for +them, that <q>salvation cometh of the Jew</q> (John 4:22), and +that they must connect themselves with the Ancient +Worthies, resurrected and reigning at Jerusalem; for without +these Worthies their hopes must remain inactive—through +them alone hope can be vitalized. Then Christendom +will pray to God, <q>We submit ourselves wholly to +Thee in heartfelt consecration. Come, O Spirit, all the +Spirit, in the appointed way, and breathe life into our +hopes, that they may live at last!</q> +</p> + +<p> +37:10. <hi rend='sans'>So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath +came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon +their feet, an exceeding great army.</hi>—From paying attention +to Ezekiel's message, the Hebrews captive in Babylon +realized their hopes at the end of the seventy years captivity. +As a result of Pastor Russell's teaching, Zionistic +hopes have gained new vitality; and in due time the +Hebrew dead will come forth from the Adamic death in +multitudes. From his teachings to the true Church, captive +in Mystic Babylon, Christendom, the Scriptural hopes +of the Church were clearly seen, and vitalized for those in +Present Truth. From his teachings hope will grow afresh +in the hearts of the survivors of desolated Christendom; +and as a result of their prayers the dead of Christendom +will come forth, an exceeding great army.—E. <hi rend='italic'>341</hi>, 316. +</p> + +<p> +37:11. <hi rend='sans'>Then He said unto me, Son of man, these bones +are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones +are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.</hi>—The +dried bones represent all the Hebrews, Fleshly +Israel, and all the professing Christians, Spiritual Israel. +As outlined foregoing, they say that their hopes are lost, +and that they are cut off from Divine favors for their evil +course in life.—Isa. 49:14; Z'99-191. +</p> + +<p> +37:12. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus +saith the Lord God; Behold, O My people, I will open your +<pb n='556'/><anchor id='Pg556'/> +graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and +bring you into the land of Israel.</hi>—The various classes mentioned +were to be brought up from their condition—dead +as to their hopes—and brought, the Hebrews into Palestine; +the true Christians, into the Spirit phase of the +Kingdom; and the nominal Christians, into a place of favor +in the earthly phase of the Kingdom.—Isa. 60:21; Z. '99-196. +</p> + +<p> +37:13, 14. <hi rend='sans'>And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when +I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you +up out of your graves, And shall put My Spirit in you, and +ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then +shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed +it, saith the Lord.</hi>—They shall all know that God +is the Jehovah of infinite Justice, Wisdom, Love and +Power, when the wonderful power of God has thus wrought +in them for their blessing.—E. <hi rend='italic'>341</hi>, 316; Z. '99-190. +</p> + +<p> +37:15. <hi rend='sans'>The Word of the Lord came again unto me, saying.</hi>—Verses +15-28 recount the separation of the Hebrews +into two distinct kingdoms; Israel, the corrupt ten tribes; +and Judah, the less corrupt two tribes. In antitype it represents +corrupt Catholicism, the larger branch of Christendom, +and Protestantism, the smaller and less corrupt. +</p> + +<p> +37:16, 17. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one +stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of +Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write +upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the +house of Israel and his companions: And join them one to +another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine +hand.</hi>—By the power of God the two were to be made one +nation in the return of the Hebrews from Babylonia, and +again will be made one in their return from Mystic +Babylon, Christendom, to Palestine. Likewise the denominational +divisions of Christian people have been obliterated +among those gathered out of Mystic Babylon into Present +Truth, as they will yet be in the regathering of the dead +of Christendom in the resurrection, and in the unifying +influences that will work among the survivors of Christendom's +trouble. All these are to have as their Prince forever, +the Beloved (David, beloved) of God, The Christ in +glory. +</p> + +<p> +37:18. <hi rend='sans'>And when the children of thy people shall speak +unto thee, saying, Wilt Thou not show what Thou meanest +by these?</hi>—Both Jews and Christians have long inquired +what God has signified by this prophecy. +</p> + +<pb n='557'/><anchor id='Pg557'/> + +<p> +37:19. <hi rend='sans'>Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold +I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of +Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put +them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make +them one stick, and they shall be one in Mine hand.</hi>—The +reuniting of the Hebrews and of the divisions of Christians +will be by the power of God, and they shall remain one. +</p> + +<p> +37:20. <hi rend='sans'>And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be +in thine hand before their eyes.</hi>—The uniting of the +Hebrews was apparently due to the prophecy of Ezekiel. +That to come—of the Hebrews and of the Christians—will +be in accordance with the teachings of Pastor Russell. +</p> + +<p> +37:21, 22. <hi rend='sans'>And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; +Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the +heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on +every side, and bring them into their own land: And I +will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains +of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and +they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be +divided into two kingdoms any more at all.</hi>—In 536 B. C. +God regathered the Natural Israelites into Palestine as +one nation, and will soon regather them out from all the +nations of the world. He will gather true Spiritual Israel +into the Heavenly phase of the Kingdom, where they shall +ever be one people in mind in Christ, no longer separated +as Little Flock, loving Heavenly things, and Great Company, +loving the earthly. He will regather nominal Spiritual +Israel from the dead and from their hopeless earthly +condition, into the earthly phase of the Kingdom, no longer +divided as Catholic and Protestant.—Jer. 50:4-6. +</p> + +<p> +37:23. <hi rend='sans'>Neither shall they defile themselves any more +with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with +any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all +their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will +cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be +their God.</hi>—God will cleanse them all from everything relating +to this present evil age and will save them out of +their dwelling-places—the spirit children from their corrupt +bodies; the Great Company from their spiritual bondage; +the nominal Christians from their sects; and the Jews +from their domiciles in all nations; and all classes from +the sleep of death. They shall all be truly God's people; +and Jehovah, Just, Wise, Loving and Powerful, their God. +</p> + +<p> +37:24. <hi rend='sans'>And David My servant shall be king over them; +and they shall all have One Shepherd: they shall also walk +<pb n='558'/><anchor id='Pg558'/> +in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them.</hi>—Over +them as King shall be Christ Jesus, the Beloved +Head of His Body the Church, and the whole Beloved +Christ, Head and Body, for all the other classes. Christ +Jesus the Head shall be the Shepherd of the Spirit classes; +and The Christ, Head and Body, the Shepherd and Pastor +of all the others. All classes in Heaven and on earth shall +walk in the royal Law of Love. +</p> + +<p> +37:25. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall dwell in the land that I have +given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have +dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they and their +children, and their children's children for ever: and My +servant David shall be their prince for ever.</hi>—The promise +to Jacob is to be understood as both spiritual and earthly, +a place spiritually typifying a condition. The Jews, living +and resurrected dead, shall dwell forever in Palestine, +given by God to Jacob, wherein their fathers, Abraham, +Isaac and Jacob, dwelt. The Little Flock and the Great +Company will dwell forever in the Heavenly condition, +where their great Father dwells. The nominal Christians +will dwell in the whole earth, wherein their then Father. +The Christ, Head and Body, dwelt in bodies of humiliation +and sacrifice. The Christ shall forever be their King. +</p> + +<p> +37:26. <hi rend='sans'>Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with +them; it shall be an everlasting Covenant with them: and +I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My +Sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.</hi>—God will +make effective with the Jews the everlasting New Covenant, +guaranteeing eternal earthly blessings to the willing +and obedient; and the nominal professing Christians will +come under the benefits of the Covenant. He will make +effective the complete fulfillment of the Covenant of Grace +for the Church in the spirit phase of the Kingdom. He +will set both classes up in power—the Church as spiritual +Kings and Priests unto God; and the Jews as the rulers of +the earth. He will multiply their numbers by the resurrection. +He will dwell in the spiritual class, making them +His Sanctuary to the earthly class. +</p> + +<p> +37:27. <hi rend='sans'>My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I +will be their God, and they shall be My people.</hi>—God's +abode will be in the spiritual class; and they will be God's +Temple or Dwelling-place, from which the Law of Love +shall proceed for the earthly class. +</p> + +<p> +37:28. <hi rend='sans'>And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do +sanctify Israel, when My Sanctuary shall be in the midst +of them for evermore.</hi>—Then will follow the conversion of +the heathen peoples of the earth—<q>the residue of men, +even all the Gentiles.</q>—Acts 15:17. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='559'/><anchor id='Pg559'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 38—Final Overthrow Of Pride</head> + +<p> +38:1, 2. <hi rend='sans'>And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, +Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, +the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy +against him.</hi>—The Truth people, the reformers, are to set +themselves against the proud, lofty rulers (Gog, high, +mountain, D. 554) of the revolutionary republics after the +war and the fall of Christendom, and of the ignorant, degraded +revolutionists. (Magog was Scythia, a rude, ignorant, +degraded people, including the savages of Europe +[D. 556], savage by nature and made doubly so in the most +barbarous wars of history. Meshech, north of Armenia, +and Tubal, south of the Black Sea, and also Spain, represented +the remotest and rudest nations of the world.) The +prophecy is to have a double fulfillment, for it refers also +to the gathering, at the close of the 1,000 years, of Satan, +and the deceivable among restored mankind against the +camp of the saints.—Rev. 20:7-10. +</p> + +<p> +38:3. <hi rend='sans'>And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am +against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.</hi>—God +will be against the rulers of the worst of earth's +peoples. +</p> + +<p> +38:4. <hi rend='sans'>And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy +jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses +and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, +even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of +them handling swords.</hi>—God will lead them on (Revised +Version) and bring them forth to do this deed, them and +all their multitude, equipped with every conceivable +weapon of destruction. +</p> + +<p> +38:5. <hi rend='sans'>Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them +with shield and helmet.</hi>—The dark peoples of Africa (descendants +of Ham, typical of sinful, degraded peoples), +trained and equipped in the European war. +</p> + +<p> +38:6. <hi rend='sans'>Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah +of the north quarters, and all his bands; and many people +with thee.</hi>—The remotest peoples of Europe (D. 556) (Gomer +was ancestor of the Celts, Scotch, etc.; Togarmah was +north of Armenia) and their armies, and a multitude with +them; and, a thousand years later, all whose heart attitude +answers this description. +</p> + +<pb n='560'/><anchor id='Pg560'/> + +<p> +38:7. <hi rend='sans'>Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, +and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be +thou a guard unto them.</hi>—The foregoing and their savage +multitudes of revolutionists are to be the vanguard of the +evil host. These people symbolize also those after the +1,000 years whose heart condition will be like the actual +state of these savages. +</p> + +<p> +38:8. <hi rend='sans'>After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter +years thou shalt come into the land that is brought +back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, +against the mountains of Israel, which have been always +waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they +shall dwell safely all of them.</hi>—After the career of the +Ezekiel class is terminated in the flesh, the nations of +Europe (and after the thousand years are finished the +hosts of Satan, unbound) shall be called to do their dreadful +work. At the close of the turbulent revolutionary era +Europe shall come against Palestine, then living in a peace +contrasting with their turbulence; and, at the close of the +Millennium Satan shall come against the Millennial order +of things, abounding in holiness and peace. +</p> + +<p> +38:9. <hi rend='sans'>Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou +shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy +bands, and many people with thee.</hi>—They shall make the +attack in vast numbers. +</p> + +<p> +38:10. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to +pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy +mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought.</hi>—At the end of +the revolutionary era turbulent Europe and Africa will be +obsessed with an idea full of evil for them and for the +Hebrews; and at the close of the Millennium Satan and +the hosts in sympathy with his deceptions will dream of +seizing the established Kingdom of God. +</p> + +<p> +38:11. <hi rend='sans'>And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of +unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that +dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having +neither bars nor gates.</hi>—They shall say that they will go +up against Palestine, against the Hebrews living in unwonted +peace in a turbulent world.—D. 553. +</p> + +<p> +38:12. <hi rend='sans'>To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine +hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and +upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which +have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of +the land.</hi>—They will seek to plunder their property, to turn +their weapons against once desolate Palestine, against the +regathered Hebrews, enjoying some measure of prosperity. +In like manner the hosts of Satan will seek to seize the +restored Kingdom of God, at the close of the 1,000 years. +</p> + +<pb n='561'/><anchor id='Pg561'/> + +<p> +38:13. <hi rend='sans'>Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, +with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art +thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company +to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away +cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?</hi>—The people surrounding +Palestine (D. 556), with their soldiers, will join +in the plunder. After the Millennium all classes not in +heart harmony with <q>the camp of the saints,</q> will seek +to capture the Kingdom, to take captive the power of the +Little Flock and the Great Company (silver and gold), and +the masses of perfect humanity (cattle, etc.). +</p> + +<p> +38:14. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto +Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when My +people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?</hi>—When +God's people, the Hebrews, are living peacefully in +Palestine, the fact will be well known by revolutionary +Europe and Africa. After the Millennium Satan and his +former associates, the apostate clergy of Christendom and +the Hebrew Pharisees, bound for a thousand years, and +loosed for a short time, will behold the prosperity of restored +mankind. +</p> + +<p> +38:15. <hi rend='sans'>And thou shalt come from thy place out of the +north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them +riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army.</hi>—Europe's +hosts shall come from the countries north (D. 555) +of Palestine with many people, riding on horses, motor cars +and railroad trains, a vast and mighty army. And a thousand +years later, Satan will appear, permitted to come by +the spiritual phase of the Kingdom (the north), with many +new, lying doctrines (horses) to deceive the people. +</p> + +<p> +38:16. <hi rend='sans'>And thou shalt come up against My people of +Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter +days, and I will bring thee against My land, that the +heathen may know Me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, +O Gog, before their eyes.</hi>—The revolutionists will come +against the Hebrews in the closing years of the Time of +Trouble, just at the outbreak of anarchy (D. 555). This +invasion will be permitted by God, that the peoples may +know that Jehovah is God, when His mighty power shall +perform a dreadful work upon these wicked peoples, raised +up and set apart (sanctified) for the enhancing of Divine +prestige. It will also be to demonstrate the Divine attributes +that the Satanic hosts will be permitted later to +conspire against <q>the camp of the saints.</q> +</p> + +<p> +38:17. <hi rend='sans'>Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom +I have spoken in old time by My servants the prophets of +Israel, which prophesied in those days many years, that I +would bring thee against them?</hi>—Jehovah declares that +<pb n='562'/><anchor id='Pg562'/> +these evil multitudes, who will shortly organize a crusade +against the Jews, will be the ones of whom, thousands of +years before, the Hebrew Prophets wrote. +</p> + +<p> +38:18. <hi rend='sans'>And it shall come to pass at the same time when +Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord +God, that My fury shall come up in My face.</hi>—The Divine +wrath of furious retribution will be against these classes. +</p> + +<p> +38:19. <hi rend='sans'>For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath +have I spoken, Surely In that day there shall be a great +shaking in the land of Israel.</hi>—In jealous love for His beloved +people and in jealous destructive (fire) wrath against +their assailants (D. 527) has God foretold a world-shaking +holocaust of the hosts of evil in the land of Palestine, and +a thousand years later of the minions of the Devil. +</p> + +<p> +38:20. <hi rend='sans'>So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the +heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things +that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon +the face of the earth, shall shake at My presence, and the +mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall +fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.</hi>—The result +will be that the men (fishes, C. 214) not under religious +restraint (Z. '86:1), the most execrable of the people of +the world (fowls, C. 162), the revolutionary governments +(beasts, A. 261), and all the lowest of mankind shall be +thrown into revolutionary commotion; and the nations +(mountains, A. 318) shall be overthrown in anarchy, together +with all the civil powers (walls, D. 40) of the world. +</p> + +<p> +38:21. <hi rend='sans'>And I will call for a sword against him throughout +all My mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's +sword shall be against his brother.</hi>—God will do His dreadful +work of ending this present evil world, and will call +for the universal arming of mankind with destroying +weapons, so that every man's weapons will be against every +other man. +</p> + +<p> +38:22. <hi rend='sans'>And I will plead against him with pestilence and +with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, +and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing +rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.</hi>—God +will fight miraculously against the hosts of evil with pestilence +and death, and will overwhelm them with a flood of +Truth—with hard facts, to smite their hearts—and with +anarchy, destruction, utter and complete. So also will the +Almighty deal with the rebels of a thousand years later. +</p> + +<p> +38:23. <hi rend='sans'>Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself; +and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and +they shall know that I am the Lord.</hi>—So will God magnify +His reputation as the One to be reverenced, and the fame +of His power will spread throughout the world. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='563'/><anchor id='Pg563'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 39—Death Of Pride's Multitude</head> + +<p> +39:1. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, +and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against +thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.</hi>—This +has a triple fulfillment: (a) the destruction of the +literal armies that will attack the Hebrews at the beginning +of the Millennium; (b) the destruction of their pride +and their sophistries by the Truth; and (c) at the end of +the Millennium the literal annihilation of the hosts that +will then be deceived by Satan, and the destruction of their +errors by the loyal members of the Kingdom. Jehovah is +against these evil leaders and their multitude. The +greatest curse of God's people in all times has been +pride.—Matt. 5:3; 1 John 3:12; John 8:44; Isa. 14:14; +Psa. 119:113; Prov. 6:17; Psa. 101:5; Prov. 8:13; Isa. +2:12; Prov. 16:18; 2 Thes. 2:4; Mal. 3:15; Mark 10:43. +</p> + +<p> +39:2. <hi rend='sans'>And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth +part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the +north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of +Israel.</hi>—Jehovah will lead them on (R. V.), controlled and +directed by the spiritual phase of the Kingdom (north) to +(a, b) bring a host against restored Israel; and (c) a +thousand years later another Satanic multitude against +the entire restored Kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +39:3. <hi rend='sans'>And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, +and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.</hi>—God +will (a, b) destroy the weapons and the power of the +anti-Hebrew crusade; and (b, c) He will also end, in those +hosts, their hatred (bow) and their bitter words (arrows). +</p> + +<p> +39:4. <hi rend='sans'>Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, +and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will +give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the +beasts of the field, to be devoured.</hi>—These evil hosts +(a, b, c) shall die; and God will give the first one to be +disorganized, disrupted and destroyed by the most +execrable of mankind (birds and beasts); and He will +deliver (b) both it and (c) the second into the power of +the spiritual phase of His Kingdom, to be wiped out. +</p> + +<p> +39:5. <hi rend='sans'>Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have +spoken it, saith the Lord God.</hi>—They shall fall defenseless +at the hands of their destroyers. +</p> + +<pb n='564'/><anchor id='Pg564'/> + +<p> +39:6. <hi rend='sans'>And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them +that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that +I am the Lord.</hi>—God will (a, b) send anarchy (fire) among +the peoples of the revolutionary republics (isles); and +literal miraculous annihilation upon the second uprising +of Satan and his deceived followers. +</p> + +<p> +39:7. <hi rend='sans'>So will I make My holy name known in the midst +of My people Israel; and I will not let them pollute My +holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I +am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.</hi>—Through this miraculous +deliverance (a) the Hebrews shall be converted to the +Truth, so that they shall never again be a discredit to +God's name; and (b, c) all mankind also shall thereby +learn fully to know God. +</p> + +<p> +39:8. <hi rend='sans'>Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord +God; this is the day whereof I have spoken.</hi>—It shall surely +come; it shall be done; thus shall be the day of the end +of evil and the final establishment of right, whereof God +has spoken in His Word. +</p> + +<p> +39:9. <hi rend='sans'>And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall +go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both +the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and +the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them +with fire seven years.</hi>—The regathered Hebrews of Palestine +(a) shall be seven years burning and destroying the +weapons of war of this evil rabble, (a) The hosts of +heaven and of earth (b, c) shall eternally (seven years) +recount the lesson of the utter end of Satan's deceptive +doctrines, of credulity (shield) of hatred (bows), evil-speaking +(arrows) and other evil character-fruits. +</p> + +<p> +39:10. <hi rend='sans'>So that they shall take no wood out of the field, +neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall +burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that +spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the +Lord God.</hi>—So numerous will be the weapons of war (a) +of those Divinely vanquished armies that the Hebrews +will need no other firewood, but will burn the weapons. +They shall plunder those that plunder them. The innumerable +sophistries (b, c) by which Satan's legions shall +seek to grasp the Kingdom power, and their miraculous +overthrow, shall forever furnish lessons to help the inheritors +of the Kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +39:11. <hi rend='sans'>And It shall come to pass in that day, that I will +give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley +of the passengers on the east of the sea; and it shall stop +the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury +Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it, The valley +of Hamon-gog.</hi>—God will give (a) the self-exalted anti-Semite +<pb n='565'/><anchor id='Pg565'/> +crusaders a place of burial in Palestine. In the +valley used as a highway east of the Dead Sea, the dead +shall be a stench to the passers-by; and there shall they +bring the proud (Gog, high, proud ones) hosts to their +end, and they shall call it the Valley of Pride's Multitude +(Hamon, multitude). Then, and a thousand years later +(b, c), the memory of the proud dead shall be offensive +to all that recall it. +</p> + +<p> +39:12. <hi rend='sans'>And seven months shall the house of Israel be +burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.</hi>—For +seven months (a) the Hebrews shall be burying the crusaders, +that they may cleanse the land defiled by the dead. +And then, and after the Millennium (b, c), for many years +shall the spiritual members of the Kingdom be neutralizing +the sophistries of Satan, that they may thoroughly cleanse +the Kingdom of its spiritual defilement. +</p> + +<p> +39:13. <hi rend='sans'>Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; +and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be +glorified, saith the Lord God.</hi>—Yea (a) all the nations shall +bury the dead; and the day of pride's (Gog's) overthrow +shall be a celebrated day among them. All the people of +the Kingdom (b, c) shall loyally assist in cleansing their +beloved Kingdom of the spiritual defilement. It will always +be a day to be remembered.—Mal. 4:1. +</p> + +<p> +39:14. <hi rend='sans'>And they shall sever out men of continual employment, +passing through the land, to bury with the passengers +those that remain upon the face of the earth, to +cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.</hi>—After +the seven months (a) men shall be hired regularly +to search through the land, in cooperation with any travelers, +for any dead remaining on the earth, to thoroughly +cleanse the land. And then, and after the thousand years +(b, c) spiritual teachers shall be detailed to remove any +remaining spiritual defilement, by teaching the Truth. +</p> + +<p> +39:15. <hi rend='sans'>And the passengers that pass through the land, +when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign +by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of +Hamon-gog.</hi>—Any travelers (a) passing by, that see even +a human bone, shall mark it for the buriers to bury in the +Valley of Pride's Multitude. And then, and a thousand +years later (b, c) any one noticing any vestige of death-dealing +error shall mark it for the special teachers to +cleanse away with truth. +</p> + +<p> +39:16. <hi rend='sans'>And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. +Thus shall they cleanse the land.</hi>—There shall (a) be a city +there named Multitude (Hamonah, Multitude). Thus shall +they cleanse the land; and then (b, c) and beyond the +thousand years there shall be a perfect government (city)—not +<pb n='566'/><anchor id='Pg566'/> +such a government as Satan would establish again, +not usurped by the few, Satan and his agents, but a government, +under God—of multitudes of restored and perfect +men—a Divine Republic, called <q>Multitude.</q> +</p> + +<p> +39:17. <hi rend='sans'>And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; +Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of +the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves +on every side to My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for +you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, +that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.</hi>—God says: (a) +When the proud revolutionists shall set themselves in array +against His people, to call to the most execrable of men +(fowls) and to the revolutionary rulers (beasts); Come to +the great destruction of hosts of rebellious humanity, +where you, in anarchy, shall destroy these people; symbolically +(b, c) a call to the far-sighted spiritual ones +(eagles) and the believing ones of earth (beasts—members +of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah) to gather themselves +to feast upon, to destroy with the weapons of Divine +Truth, the evil doctrines (flesh, as the flesh of Jesus +symbolizes true doctrines) and the corrupting errors +(blood) of Satan. +</p> + +<p> +39:18. <hi rend='sans'>Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink +the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, +and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.</hi>—They +shall (b, c) consume the sophistries of Satan (the +mighty), and annihilate the errors of earth's great false +teachers and rulers—New Thought doctrines of devils relating +to the attainment of perfection, to whatever kind +and degree desired—to be as mature leaders (rams), among +the sheep, as tender-charactered lambs, as self-willed, self-masters +through thought-power (goats), or as perfect human +beings (bullocks), all imagining themselves actually, +fully developed (fatlings), under the delusions of Satan's +fruitful mind (Bashan, fruitful). +</p> + +<p> +39:19. <hi rend='sans'>And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood +till ye be drunken, of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed +for you.</hi>—They shall (b, c) with the Truth consume and +destroy these false philosophies, until satiated with the +glorious witness for God's Truth. +</p> + +<p> +39:20. <hi rend='sans'>Thus ye shall be filled at My table with horses +and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, +saith the Lord God.</hi>—Thus (b, c) at God's table of spiritual +food, His people shall have an abundant feeding upon the +truths which shall destroy the errors of the Time of +Trouble, the doctrines and the organizations actuated by +these doctrines and the rulers, philosophies, teachers and +workers in the cause of evil. +</p> + +<pb n='567'/><anchor id='Pg567'/> + +<p> +39:21. <hi rend='sans'>And I will set My glory among the heathen, and +all the heathen shall see My judgment that I have executed, +and My hand that I have laid upon them.</hi>—God will (a, b, c) +make Himself renowned among all nations; and they shall +realize that He shall have executed judgment upon them, +and that it is His hand of Justice that has been laid upon +them for their misdeeds. +</p> + +<p> +39:22. <hi rend='sans'>So the house of Israel shall know that I am the +Lord their God from that day and forward.</hi>—Thus shall +(a) the Hebrews and (b, c) all professing Christians know +Jehovah as their God, from that time on forever. +</p> + +<p> +39:23. <hi rend='sans'>And the heathen shall know that the house of +Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they +trespassed against Me, therefore hid I My face from them, +and gave them into the hand of their enemies; so fell they +all by the sword.</hi>—The whole world shall know that the +Hebrews (a) went into captivity to literal Babylon and to +Mystic Babylon, and that the unfaithful professing Christians +went into captivity (b) to Mystic Babylon and (c) to +Satan's deceptions, because they sinned against God. For +this reason He disfavored them and gave them over into +the power of their enemies. So shall they fall, by literal +weapons of destruction and (b, c) be slain by the Sword of +the Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +39:24. <hi rend='sans'>According to their uncleanness and according to +their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid My +face from them.</hi>—According to their physical, mental, +moral and spiritual pollution, and to their sinfulness, God +will recompense and disfavor them. +</p> + +<p> +39:25. <hi rend='sans'>Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I +bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon +the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for My holy +name.</hi>—Then when the punishment is over (D. 557), will +God (a) release the Hebrews (A. 300) from their captivity +in Mystic Babylon and in the tomb, and antitypically that +of Christendom. He will show His mercy and love toward +all the Hebrews, living and dead (D. 557), and (b, c), toward +all of Christendom, the quick and the dead, and will vindicate +His reputation for righteousness. +</p> + +<p> +39:26. <hi rend='sans'>After that they have borne their shame, and all +their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against Me, +when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them +afraid.</hi>—After they (a) have thus (D. 558) endured their +shame and the punishment for all their sins, wherein they +have erred against the Lord, while the Jews were peacefully +dwelling in Palestine (b, c) and the professing Christians +in Christendom, and while no one made them afraid, +the sure results shall follow. +</p> + +<pb n='568'/><anchor id='Pg568'/> + +<p> +39:27. <hi rend='sans'>When I have brought them again from the people, +and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am +sanctified in them in the sight of many nations.</hi>—In Zionism +(a) God shall regather the Jews and (b, c) bring Jews +and Christians alike back from the great enemy, death, +and by their holy, consecrated lives, He will be hallowed +in the regard of the whole world. +</p> + +<p> +39:28. <hi rend='sans'>Then shall they know that I am the Lord their +God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the +heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, +and have left none of them any more there.</hi>—Then shall +they in humble thankfulness appreciate that God is the +beloved Jehovah, the Just One, who shall have punished +them with captivity among the nations, and then in infinite +Wisdom, Power and Love shall have gathered all of them, +living and dead, (a) back to their former homes in Palestine +(b, c) and in Christendom, and shall have left not one +in captivity any more. +</p> + +<p> +39:29. <hi rend='sans'>Neither will I hide My face any more from them: +for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, +saith the Lord God.</hi>—God will not disfavor them any more: +for He will pour out upon them (a) Jews and (b, c) Christians +together, His Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to abide +in them forever. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l>Great truths are dearly bought. The common truth,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Such as men give and take from day to day,</l> +<l>Comes in the common walk of easy life,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Blown by the careless wind across our way.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Great truths are dearly won; not found by chance,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream;</l> +<l>But grasped in the great struggle of the soul,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Hard buffeting with adverse wind and stream.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Not in the general clash of human creeds,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Nor in the merchandise 'twixt church and world,</l> +<l>Is truth's fair treasure found, 'mongst tares and weeds;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Nor her fair banner in their midst unfurled.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Truth springs like harvest from the well-ploughed fields,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Rewarding patient toll, and faith, and zeal.</l> +<l>To those thus seeking her, she ever yields</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Her richest treasures for their lasting weal.</l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='569'/><anchor id='Pg569'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ezekiel 40-48—God's Temple And River Of Truth</head> + +<p> +This vision of the prophet Ezekiel depicts the established +theocratic Kingdom of God on earth, civil and religious, +spiritual and earthly. While the Temple is an architectural +possibility, as shown in the accompanying illustrations, +(and may be erected at Jerusalem), it, in its various parts, +surroundings, rites and worshippers, is a type and symbol +of <q>better things to come,</q> after the wars, revolutions and +anarchy of the period from 1914 to 1925 have passed. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Time</hi> of the establishment of the Kingdom in power +is indicated as <q>in the fourteenth year after that the city +(Christendom) was smitten</q>—or thirteen years after 1918, +viz., in 1931.—Ezek. 40:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Place.</hi>—The Temple was seen in the <q>land of Israel</q>—in +Palestine. As a place types a condition, the land of +Israel is typical of the condition of the whole world of +mankind; and the city, at the south side of a very high +mountain, is symbolic of the established earthly phase +(south) of the Divine Government overshadowed by the +autocratic (very high) spiritual phase of the Kingdom +(mountain).—Ezek. 40:2. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>By Whom.</hi>—The one who showed the Temple to the +Church, the Elijah class, was <q>the man in linen</q>—Pastor +Russell. The brass (copper) of vs. 3 represents his justification. +In his power (hand) were the Divine standards of +measurement—the reed (Word of God) and the <q>line of +flax</q> (linen, righteousness). His standing was in the east +gate of the Sanctuary—in Christ (gate). With the Word +he measured the Temple (the Church, and the subsidiary +classes) and with the standard of perfect Divine righteousness +(flax, linen) he measured the progress of the +life-giving River of Truth.—Ezek. 40:3; 43:6; 44:4; 47:1-3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Purpose.</hi>—The vision is important. Those that have eyes +to see and ears to hear, must set their heart upon all that +the Laodicean steward shows them, <q>for to the intent that +I might show them unto thee, art thou brought hither.</q> +(40:4.) The hearers are to declare all that they see, to +professing Christians (house of Israel), that they may be +ashamed of former beliefs and practices, and in complete +consecration seek to conform themselves to all the Divine +standards.—Ezek. 43:10-12; 44:4-6; 47:6. +</p> + +<pb n='570'/><anchor id='Pg570'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Measures.</hi>—The standards of the Kingdom will be +the fulness of the Word of God (the reed of 9 feet of six +<q>great cubits,</q> each about 18 inches, or of a 15-inch cubit +and a handbreadth) (Ezek. 40:3, 5), and the standard of +Divine righteousness.—Ezek. 40:3, 47:3. +</p> + +<p> +An interchangeable decimal system of dry and liquid +measures is given, symbolic of just and righteous dealing. +An ephah (dry measure) equals a bath (liquid measure), +and ten of either is a homer or cor. The homer is about +75 gallons and the ephah and the bath, one tenth of a +homer, or 7-½ gallons each. (Ezek. 45:10-11). +</p> + +<p> +The measures of volume are to be used chiefly in connection +with the sacrifices—so many ephahs of wheat or +baths of oil as a meat or drink offering with a bullock, etc. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Symbolisms of Numbers.</hi>—Numbers are used as symbols +of completeness or perfection, or their opposite. The +common conception of the symbolisms of numbers is: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +One—Unity, self-sufficiency. +</p> + +<p> +Two—Duality, couples. +</p> + +<p> +Three—That in itself complete, invisible, infinite. +</p> + +<p> +Four—That in which God reveals Himself completely, +as the four cherubim, the four-sided altar, and the +cubic shaped Most Holy. +</p> + +<p> +Five—Used in connection with ten, completeness in +the stage, degree, or power attained or ordained; +a symbol of Divinity. +</p> + +<p> +Six—Secular completeness, or completeness according +to man; imperfection; also full measure of the Word.—Ezek. +40:5. +</p> + +<p> +Seven—The sum of three and four; religious or Divine +completeness or perfection; the covenant number. +The half of seven (3-½), the broken number, appears +in connection with suffering. +</p> + +<p> +Ten—The natural symbol of perfection, completeness, +complete development, a complete and perfect whole. +</p> + +<p> +Twelve—Three times four; the number of the covenant +people; completeness of organization; national completeness. +</p> + +<p> +Multiples or powers of these numbers combine or intensify +their symbolism. +</p> + +</quote> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img587.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<pb n='572'/><anchor id='Pg572'/> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Symbolism of Directions.</hi>—The north points to spiritual +things, the south to earthly things, the east to Christ and +His ransom sacrifice. The right is the side of favor, the +left of less favor, or of disfavor. Higher elevations represent +higher planes of being or of power; lower planes the +opposite. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img588.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>Figure 1. The Division Of The Land</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Land and Its Divisions.</hi>—As places typify conditions, +the land of Canaan, of the children of Israel, types the +whole world of mankind. Its division among the twelve +tribes, in equal parts varying in nearness to the central +sacred portion, suggests, among restored humanity, twelve +conditions or degrees of honor in the Kingdom, each individual +being accorded a place befitting his loyalty and +love during his trial or judgment period. The meaning of +the names of the tribes is suggestive, the names being in +<pb n='573'/><anchor id='Pg573'/> +order of nearness to the central sacred portion. (See +Figure 1.)—See Rev. 7. +</p> + +<p> +To the north of the sacred portion: Judah (praise, Gen. +49:8-12); Reuben (behold a son, Gen. 49:3-4); Ephraim +(doubly fruitful, Gen. 48:15-20); Manasseh (causing forgetfulness, +Gen. 48:15-20); Naphtali (wrestling, Gen. 49:21); +Asher (happy, Gen. 49:20); and at the extreme north, Dan +(judge, Gen. 49:16-18).—Ezek. 48:1-7. +</p> + +<p> +To the south of the central sacred portion: Benjamin +(son of the right hand, Gen. 49:27); Simeon (hearing, +Gen. 49:5-7); Issachar (bearing reward, Gen. 49:14-15); +Zebulun (dwelling, Gen. 49:13); and at the extreme south, +Gad (seer, lot, fortune, Gen. 49:19). (Ezek. 48:23-29.) The +name meanings and Jacob's prophetic blessings are significant +of Kingdom conditions. +</p> + +<p> +Figure 1 shows the division of Palestine into the strips +assigned to the tribes and the central sacred portion. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Boundaries of the Land</hi> (Ezek. 47:13-21) are through +places whose name-meanings are suggestive of Kingdom +conditions. On the north side: Hethlon (stronghold), +Hamath (defended, walled), Berotha (food), Sibraim +(double hill), Hazar-Hatticon (middle court), Hauran (cave +district), Hazar-enan (court of the fountains) and Damascus +(similitude of burning). On the east side: Gilead +(strong, rocky), Israel (ruling with God), and Jordan (descender). +On the south side: Tamar (palm), and Kadesh +(holy). On the west: the Great Sea (peoples and nations). +</p> + +<p> +The land is to be apportioned by lot, symbolizing that +the station of Kingdom honor of individuals in the Times +of Restitution is not predestinated but the result of the +degree of effort and of consecration. (Ezek. 45:1.) Whatever +the honor attained, it cannot be taken away. (Ezek. +46:18.) All are to have an equal chance. (Ezek. 47:14.) +Former pagan and heathen persons (strangers) are to +have the same chance as God's chosen people, the Jews, +as though born to the same honored favor.—Ezek. 47:22-23. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Holy Offering of Land.</hi>—(Figure 2.) The people are +not to occupy all the land, but are to devote as a sacred +offering, or <q>oblation,</q> a central strip across Palestine, +25,000 reeds or about 42.6 miles wide, to sacred and governmental +uses. Figure 2 shows the holy offering of land +and its divisions. The two ends of the strip will be for +the Prince, typing the condition of the Prince, or Ancient +Worthy class. The 25,000-reeds-square dimensions of the +central section—as powers and multiples of ten and five—combined +with the full measure (reed) of the Divine Word +as applying to the classes therein represented, suggest the +exalted degree of perfection of these classes. The conditions +<pb n='574'/><anchor id='Pg574'/> +represented are: at the north (spiritual) the Divine +nature of the Little Flock (priests); in the middle, the +intermediate, lower spirit nature of the Great Company +(Levites); at the south, of half the width, of a lesser +degree of honor (secular), the perfect human nature of +those engaged in the actual government of the world. As in +many other types the same antitypes are presented repeatedly +in their several phases.—Ezek. 45:1, 4, 7; 48:20. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Land of the Priests.</hi>—The northern section, 10,000 reeds +wide, of the holy central square, typifies the condition of +the Little Flock, of the highest spirit nature, the Divine, +(northernmost). This is a <q>most holy</q> condition. (Ezek. +48:9-12.) In it, as appertains to the inheritors of the nature +of God, will be the Sanctuary—the entire Temple and its +courts—typing the spiritual domain of the ruling Christ +over all the affairs of the coming Kingdom of Heaven on +earth.—Ezek. 44:28; 45:3-4; 48:8-12. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img590.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>Figure 2. The Holy Offering Of Land</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Land of the Levites.</hi>—Inferior as to direction, toward +the south (toward earthly things), the spiritual condition +(land) of the Great Company (Levites) will be, as have +been their religious lives—trending from heavenly to +earthly throughout the Gospel Age of Divine opportunity. +This will be their condition throughout eternity, unchangeable, +inalienable—but <q>holy unto Jehovah.</q> There will be +among them twenty grades of honor—<q>twenty chambers.</q>—Ezek. +45:5; 48:13-14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Secular Land for the City.</hi>—At the extreme south (earthly) +of the holy square will be a 5,000-reed-wide section +which will be <q>secular for the city.</q> This represents in +miniature the perfect human condition of the visible rulers +(city) of the earthly phase of the Kingdom and of all those +<pb n='575'/><anchor id='Pg575'/> +under that Divine government—the whole world of mankind +(Israel). The city will be in the middle of this section, +a 4,500-reed square, which, with a border or suburb +250 reeds wide all around, reaches across the secular land, +symbolizing the dominance of the coming world government +over the human race. (Ezek. 45:6, 7; 48:15-20, 35.) +So extraordinary and heart-satisfying will be the methods +of and the blessings from the Divine government (city) +that it will appropriately be called <q>The Wonder of +Jehovah.</q>—E. <hi rend='italic'>46</hi>, 43. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Land for Sanctuary.</hi>—In the center of the priests' land +will be the land for the Sanctuary, an area 500 cubits, or +750 feet square, surrounded by a 50-cubit, or 75-foot, border +or <q>suburb.</q> In this square will be the walls, courts and +structures of the sanctuary. It will type again in miniature, +in detail, the conditions of all classes in the Kingdom +from the Christ (priests) down, as regards their religious +relationship to one another and to God.—Ezek. 45:2-3. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Land for the Prince.</hi>—Both of the ends of the 25,000-reed-wide +offering of land, east and west of the central +holy square, will be given to <q>the Prince,</q> typing the perfect +human condition of the Ancient Worthies, or overcomers +before the Gospel Age, who shall be <q>Princes +in all the earth.</q> As the Prince's land will not be inalienable +but may be given away by the Prince, so to certain +classes it will be given to share in the perfected condition +of the Ancient Worthies.—Ezek. 45:7-8; 46:16-18; 48:21-22. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Classes.</hi>—In the Kingdom there will be several distinct +classes, according to opportunity and degree of faithfulness +in ages preceding establishment of the Kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +The priests will be the glorified Little Flock, faithful +unto death, sons of God, the Righteous One (Zadok, righteous), +who during the Gospel Age <q>kept the charge of +God's Sanctuary,</q> by faithfulness to the Word of God at +any cost. They will be <q>of the Divine nature.</q>—Ezek. +40:44-46; 43:18-27; 44:15-31; 45:4; 48:10-12. +</p> + +<p> +The antitypical Levites (Great Company), will have spirit +nature akin to the angelic, because though during the Gospel +Age they were also begotten of the Spirit, sons of God +(Zadok, righteous), they <q>went astray from God, after +their idols;</q> they ministered unto the people before their +idols and caused the house of Israel (Christendom) to +fall into iniquity. They shall bear their iniquity.—Ezek. +44:10-14; 45:5; 48:13-14. +</p> + +<p> +The Ancient Worthies (the Prince), who in the Jewish +Age were faithful unto death amid incredible trials of +faith (Heb. 11), will during the 1,000 years be of the perfect +human nature, and will be on earth the visible leaders +<pb n='576'/><anchor id='Pg576'/> +and rulers of mankind.—Ezek. 44:1-3; 45:7-17, 21-25; 46:16-18; +48:21-22. +</p> + +<p> +The servants of the city will be of the perfect human +nature, and engaged in the multifarious duties of a world +wide government. They will be taken from amongst mankind. +Some are spoken of as servants and some as sons +of the Ancient Worthies.—Ezek. 48:18-19; 46:16-18. +</p> + +<p> +The people of the Kingdom will be first the resurrected +Hebrews, making progress during the 1,000 years toward +human perfection, but who in previous ages had not been +consecrated to God and had been far astray from Him. +(Romans 1.)—Ezek. 43:7-9; 44:6-12, 15, 19, 23-30; 45:6-21; +46:1-3, 9-10; 47:13-14; 48:11, 18-19, 23-29. +</p> + +<p> +The <q>strangers</q> will be the resurrected billions of +humanity, not Jews, who gaining the heart circumcision +of a conscience cleansed by the blood of Jesus, shall be +as though born to the same conditions as the Hebrews. +None of them shall have part in the direct service of +God.—Ezek. 44:9; 47:22-23; Zech. 14:20-21; Numbers 31:47; +Joel 3:17; Joshua 9:22-27; Rev. 21:27. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Sanctuary and Outer Court.</hi>—The Sanctuary will be the +entire enclosure devoted to the Divine service. According +to Ezekiel 45:2 the exterior wall is around a square of +500 cubits, and by 42:16-20 it is 500 <hi rend='italic'>reeds</hi>, or 3,000 cubits +square; but the latter is translated <q>cubits</q> in the Septuagint, +and the former agrees minutely with the internal +measurements. About the outer court of 500 cubits square +will be a border or suburb 50 cubits wide to separate the +Sanctuary from the surrounding land. (Ezek. 42:20.) The +outer court types the condition of the Ancient Worthies +and of the Hebrews and the world of mankind, the former +of actually perfect humanity, and the latter of a perfect +heart condition and striving toward human perfection. +This court will be at an elevation above the surrounding +land and will be reached by seven steps, symbolizing the +human perfection, actual or heart, of those that enter the +court. It will be surrounded by a wall one reed high and +a reed thick. The wall types Christ in the Ancient +Worthies, who will constitute the embodiment of the +Divinely appointed wall of faith about the Sanctuary. The +reed indicates the full measure of the Divine Word as +regards the human nature.—Ezek. 40:6, 17-19, 22-23, 27, 34; +42:1, 7-9, 14-20; 43:1-5; 44:1-3, 19; 45:1-2; 46:19-24. +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img593a.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>Figure 3. The Sanctuary</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img593b.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>Figure 4. The Temple</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img594b.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>Figure 5.</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img594c.png" rend="width: 60%"> + <head>Figure 6. One Of The Outer Court Gates</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url="images/img594a.png" rend="width: 80%"> + <head>Figure 7. Section Through Most Holy Across The Sanctuary</head> + <figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Inner Court.</hi>—The inner court will be an enclosure +toward the rear or west of the outer court, 200 cubits wide +by 300 deep. It types the spirit-born condition of the +Great Company (Levites), and is at an elevation of eight +steps, symbolizing by one step the change to spirit nature +<pb n='579'/><anchor id='Pg579'/> +and by seven steps the perfection of that nature—perfect, +though not the highest nature. Its wall represents Christ +in the Great Company, and the absence of dimensions for +the wall represents that <q>it doth not yet appear</q> what the +spirit nature is like. Both inner and outer courts will be +adorned with colonnades of pillars, probably along the +inner border of the pavements, typing those on each plane +of being who shall be <q>pillars in the house of Jehovah.</q>—Ezekiel +40:27, 28, 34, 37, 39-47; 42:2-4; 43:4-5; 44:17-18, +21, 25-27; 46:19-24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Temple.</hi>—The Temple building (Figure 4) will be +toward the rear and reaching to within 50 cubits of the +rear of the inner court. It will be on a platform 60 cubits +wide by 100 deep. This types the condition of the Little +Flock, born from the dead to the nature of God. It will +be elevated one reed above the inner court, representing +that the Divine nature is the full measure of the Word +of God above any other spirit nature, <q>far above angels, +principalities and powers.</q> Its infinite height above other +natures is indicated by the fact that the number of steps +up to it is not stated, for it is an immeasurable, infinite +elevation. (41:8-11.) The Temple will be entered by a +porch, and will contain <q>the holy</q> twenty by forty cubits, +and the <q>Most Holy</q> or <q>oracle</q> twenty cubits square, inside +measurement. These rooms type the glorious condition +of the Christ, Head and Body, of the nature of God. That +the person being shown tills did not enter the Most Holy +(Ez. 41:3, 4) suggests that it is not given to know yet +<q>what we shall be,</q> in that condition where <q>the glory of +Jehovah filled the house.</q>—Ezek. 41:1-2, 43:5. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Pavements and Open Ways.</hi>—The outer and inner courts +will not be simple inclosures, as was the Tabernacle +court, but each will include a bordering space, or pavement, +50 cubits wide, occupied by gates, buildings, and +passage ways, typing conditions and activities in the condition +typed by the inclosure. That embraced by the +outer court will be the <q>lower pavement.</q> (40:17-18.) +This will contain the east, north and south gates of the +outer court, and four corner courts where the Levites +will bake and boil the sacrifices of the people. It will also +contain 30 chambers, typing that number of conditions +or activities among those resurrected and perfected or +progressing toward human perfection. Each of the four +corner courts upon the lower pavement will be 30 by 40 +cubits in size and will be surrounded by a row of structures +under which will be the boiling places for the preparation +of their sacrifices to be eaten by the people. +(Ezek. 46:21-24.) At the center of the east, north and +<pb n='580'/><anchor id='Pg580'/> +south lower pavements will be the outer gates, like covered +corridors or lobbies extending entirely across the +50-cubit pavement to the outer court proper, as shown in +Figure 3. +</p> + +<p> +The corresponding 50-cubit pavement of the inner court +is not definitely termed a pavement, but the name is inferred +from the designation <q>lower pavement</q> for the +outer court pavement. It will contain the inner court +gate, and buildings for certain activities of the priests and +the Levites. The inner court 50-cubit pavement leaves +an inner space of 100 cubits square—the inner court +proper—facing the Temple and with the brazen altar in +the middle. This 100-cubit-wide area will extend west +about the Temple platform, surrounding it on the north, +west and south, with an open space 20 cubits wide, called +<q>the separate place.</q> On the upper pavement, flanking +the Temple north and south, and of the same length—100 +cubits—as the Temple, will be two buildings on each side +for the priests, called the <q>priests' chambers.</q> These +buildings will be separated from each other by a 10-cubit +walk along the center line of the upper pavement. The +outer of each of the two pairs of <q>priests' chambers</q> will +be 50 cubits long, half the length of the inner buildings. +These are located on the upper pavement. At the rear +or west end of the upper pavement will be little square +courts, similar to the corner courts of the lower pavement, +and used by the priests for boiling and baking the sacrifices +eaten by the priests.—Ezek. 40:17-18; 41:10-15; +42:1-14; 45:2; 46:19-24. +</p> + +<p> +The lesser elevation of the plane of these pavements, +courts and ways, types the lower plane of Spiritual being +of the persons, and their activities type things to be done +on that plane. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Chambers and Galleries for Priests.</hi>—In the inner court +near the north gate will be a chamber (Fig 3, D) with a +door looking toward the south, and one near the east gate +with its door looking toward the north. These will be +for the Priestly singers, the sweet singers in Israel, the +Little Flock, singing to God and to the people concerning +the Kingdom blessings. These immortal ones will sing +the praises of God for His goodness to those in the spirit +phase (north) of the Kingdom, and for the blessings flowing +from Christ's ransom altar (east gate) through restitution +to those in the earthly (south) phase of the Kingdom.—Ezek. +40:44-46. +</p> + +<p> +On the north and on the south pavements of the inner +court flanking the Temple will be the two pairs of parallel +priests' chambers (Figures 3 and 5), in each pair the inner +<pb n='581'/><anchor id='Pg581'/> +building 100 cubits long and the outer 50 cubits. They +will be three stories high, the top story narrower than +the others and leaving galleries facing each other across +the 10-cubit way between them, into which their doors +will open one on each side of the way. In these chambers, +lighted by narrow windows the priests will lay the most +holy things, and eat the most holy things, including the +meat, sin and trespass offerings of prince and people in +the Millennial Age; humanity having been bought by +Christ will make the consecration of themselves and their +all to Christ, Head and Body. The Christ (priest) will +accept their consecrations (lay them in the priests' chambers) +and appropriate them to themselves (eat the offerings). +In the sacred conditions represented by the priests' +chambers the priests will have their feasts of love, as +they rejoice over the consecrated efforts of earth's billions +in their progress toward human perfection, and +thereafter. When the priests come out to the outer court +with the people they will change the holy garments they +wore in the priest's chambers and put on other garments. +The holy garments type the promises and Word of God as +concerns the Divine immortal nature, and the other garments +will be the Word and covenant of God as respects +things concerning the people and their restitution hopes +and blessings.—Ezek. 42:1-14; 44:19, 29-30; 46:19 20. +</p> + +<p> +The Temple will be built with double walls all around, +except the porch in front (Figures 3, 4 and 5). This will +leave a space within the walls termed the <q>side chambers,</q> +in three stories reached by winding stairs, and reaching +up set quite to the top of the Temple inner wall. Each +story will be divided into 30 rooms. The second story +rooms will be wider than the first, and the third story +wider than the second. This will be accomplished by making +the thick walls thinner each story up. The floor +beams will rest, not in the walls, but on the recessions of +thickness with each story. No function is stated by Ezekiel, +but the similar side chambers in Solomon's Temple +were utilized for keeping Temple treasures and vessels. In +antitype the Temple is the Church, the Christ, Head and +Body, and in the chambers of memory of the Divine Christ +will be stored up not only the character treasures of oil +and incense and of gold and silver and precious stones +laid up in Heaven during the Gospel Age, but also the like +treasures offered by mankind throughout the Millennial +Age. Only the priests will have access to these treasures +and the Little Flock will forever guard these most precious +offerings. The three stories, each wider, suggest the character +treasures laid up by those on the three planes, +<pb n='582'/><anchor id='Pg582'/> +Human, Spirit, and Divine.—Ezek. 41:5-9; 1 Kings 6:5-10; +2 Chron. 3:9. +</p> + +<p> +The Ezekiel Temple represents God's finished work. The +Holy does not type the spirit-begotten condition, but rather +the <emph>memory of it</emph> as a Divinely accomplished work—for +the experiences of the spirit-begotten condition will never +be lost. The Most Holy types the accomplished Divine +nature. No furniture appears in either of these sacred +chambers, except in the Holy, an altar of a kind of wood +not stated—an altar designated as <q>This is the table that +is before Jehovah.</q> If it is to be the same as is in Solomon's +Temple it will be cedar—type of immortality, the +Divine nature. No mention is made of offerings at this +altar, for the time of the Christ's sacrifice will be past. +The interior of both chambers will be sheathed with wood—presumably +cedar, type of immortality—up to the narrow +windows at the top of the inner wall of the Temple. +The interior decorations of palm trees, alternating with +two-faced cherubim, with the faces of a lion and of a man, +type that the purpose and concern of God's glorious Temple +will be the administration of the affairs of perfect righteous +men (palm trees) under the joint auspices of Divine +Justice and Love. If the two-leaved doors into the Holy +and the Most Holy are to be of the same wood as in Solomon's +Temple, they will be of olive, type of the peace of +God that passeth understanding for those privileged to +enter through the door of Christ.—Ezek. 41:13-25. +</p> + +<p> +Back of, or west of the rear of the Temple, and separated +from it by the twenty cubits of the separate place +will be the western building, a structure of inside dimensions +70 by 90 cubits and with walls 5 cubits thick, making +the outside dimensions 80 by 100, or including the 20-cubit +separate place, 100 cubits square, indicating the Divine +perfection of the class represented by it. This is not connected +in any way with the altar or the Holy or Most Holy, +and its use is not stated. It answers the description of +such a class of beings as the angels.—Ezek. 41:12-13. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Chambers for the Levites.</hi>—Certain chambers will be set +apart for the activities of the Levites. Near the outer +door of the north gate of the inner court (a work done by +the spirit phase of the Kingdom) on the upper pavement +will be a chamber where the Levite will wash the burnt +offerings of the people. In the porch or lobby of the same +gate will be four tables of hewn stone, each 1-½ cubits +square by a cubit high, on which will be laid the instruments +for slaying the sacrifices, and whereon the sacrifices +will be slain and their flesh laid out. In the outer +court outside the inner court gate and beside the steps +<pb n='583'/><anchor id='Pg583'/> +leading up to the gate, will be the four more tables for +slaying the sacrifices, two on each side of the steps. In +antitype, the offerers will make or renew the consecration +of themselves, under the various required conditions, and +will be accepted by the Great Company (Levites) who will +act between the people and the Little Flock (priests). +The utter consecration of the persons, typed by the death +of the animals, will be supervised and directed by the +Great Company, and the offerers will endeavor to conform +themselves to the character pattern, suggested by +the cut stone of the tables and the resting of the flesh and +the slaughter instruments upon the tables. Those offering +themselves in heartfelt consecration as an expression +of their thankfulness to God (burnt offering) will be +cleansed in character by the teachings of the Word of +God (washed with water) imparted by the Great Company +(Levites).—Ezek. 40:39-43. +</p> + +<p> +Certain of their offerings the people are to eat, figuring +their assimilation in their very beings of the consecrations +made. This process will not be without fiery trials, +ameliorated by the Word of God (hot water), chastenings +at the hands of the Great Company (Levites)—typed by +the boiling of the sacrifices by the Levites preparatory to +their being eaten by the people. This activity of the +Great Company is typed in the boiling places at the courts +in the corners of the lower pavement.—Ezek. 46:21-24. +</p> + +<p> +Further activities by the Levites of thirty kinds in behalf +of or in cooperation with the people, may be typed in +the thirty chambers along the lower pavement of the +outer court.—Ezek. 40:17-18. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Gates, Doors, Porches, etc.</hi>—In the Tabernacle the gate, +the door and the veil, all facing the east, typed Christ and +in a certain sense those in Him. None might enter these +holy entrances except those having to do, as actual or +probationary, participants in the sin offering. So in the +Ezekiel Temple, in connection with the east gate of the +outer and inner courts is pictured the entrance of those +in previous ages having to do with the fiery sufferings +connected with the sin offering—the Little Flock and the +Ancient Worthies. The Little Flock is depicted as the +glory of God entering by the east gate of the outer court +and the east gate of the inner court, and finally into the +Temple (Ezek. 43:1-5), typing the progress of the Christ +Body through Christ Jesus, as the way (gate) into +imputed human perfection (outer court) through the +<q>change</q> to the Spirit plane (inner court) and up to the +immeasurable exaltation of the nature of God (Temple). +After the full entrance of the Body of Christ the outer +<pb n='584'/><anchor id='Pg584'/> +gate shall be shut, and no one shall enter except the +Ancient Worthies, who were privileged to enter their +honorable estate by the door of self-sacrifice unto death. +(Ezek. 44:1-3.) In the condition of being in Christ, in +the mind of Christ, the Ancient Worthies shall <q>sit</q>, +communing with Christ and with God, assimilating the +Word of God (eating), which shall strengthen them for +their stupendous task of the government and regeneration +of the whole world of mankind. +</p> + +<p> +The eastern gate of the inner court, the way to the +Divine nature through sacrifice, will be closed after the +entrance of the glory of God, the Body of Christ, in whom +God dwells, and no one shall ever enter therein, as pictured +in the parable of the foolish virgins. (Z. '05-267; +Ezek. 46:1). In this gate, in Christ, at the very inner door +of the gate, having met all the conditions qualifying for +entrance upon the spirit nature, throughout the Millennium, +God's seventh day (the Sabbath), and the day of +the New Covenant (new moon), the Ancient Worthies will +have their standing. There in intimate communion with +the glorified Christ they will make their thankful consecrations +of themselves and their vows fulfill (burnt and +peace offerings), having their standing in Him Whom they +preceded in suffering, and Whom they follow in time and +place.—Ezek. 46:1-8, 12. +</p> + +<p> +Entrance at the north or south gates of the inner or +outer courts signifies, not participation in, but benefit +from the Sin Offering. The gate looking toward the +north (spirit phase) types the looking toward the Divinely +provided ransom. It will be where the people will present +their sacrifices, and figures their consecrations and their +acknowledgment of the altar, the blood of Jesus Christ. +The gate looking toward the south will look figuratively +toward restitution. Those entering it, too, will acknowledge +the blood, for in entering it they will face directly +toward the altar. On the solemn feast days, the people +and the Prince entering the north gate must not go out by +the same gate, but by the south gate, and vice versa. +This types that every one entering the plane of actual or +heart perfection on the human plane must acknowledge +that the restitution (south) blessings were brought by the +spiritually (north) provided blood of the Redeemer.—Ezek. +40:20-31; 44:4-6; 46:9-10. +</p> + +<p> +The typical importance of the gates, doors and porches +is emphasized in Ezekiel 44:5 <q>Mark well, and behold with +thine eyes (of understanding), and hear with thine ears +(of spiritual hearing), all that I shall say (write) unto thee +concerning all the ordinances of the house of Jehovah, and +<pb n='585'/><anchor id='Pg585'/> +the laws thereof, and mark well the entering in of the +house, with every going forth of the Sanctuary.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The court gates (Figure 6) will be hallways crossing +the 50-cubit pavements. The size will be 50 by 25 cubits. +The outer court gate will be entered from a flight of +seven steps over the outer threshold through a door. The +narrow hallway will be flanked by six little chambers projecting +out one cubit into the hallway, three in a side, +and will end over an inner threshold in a porch or lobby, +frequently translated <q>arch</q>, from which an inner door +will open into the court. The inner court gate will be +of identical but reversed construction, the porch or lobby +coming first. The interior will be dimly lighted by narrow +windows. The walls along the hallway—the posts—will +be adorned with palm trees, reminders, antitypically, +that the purpose of the entire sanctuary is to promote the +glory of God by the restoration of mankind to perfection +(palms). The six little chambers type six conditions to +be complied with by those actually or at heart on the +perfect human plane, the size of the chambers—one reed +square—signifying that each of these conditions embraces +the full measure of the Word of God (reed)—perfect requirement +in that respect.—Ezek. 40:6-43; 43:1-4; 44:1-5; +46:1-12. +</p> + +<p> +The porch of each gate and of the Temple types Christ, +as the resurrection—<q>I am the resurrection.</q> In the outer +court gates the person entering will pass the little chambers +first and the porch afterward, typing that during the +Times of Restitution the world of mankind will meet the +conditions before being fully resurrected to perfection. +In the inner court gates the porch will come first, signifying +that the person is first raised to the spirit condition +and then is developed. In connection with the Temple +porch there will be no little chambers, typing that the +Little Flock will have met all the conditions before their +exaltation.—Ezek. 40:8-9, 16, 20-22, 24-26, 33-36, 39-43, 48-49; +41:23-26. +</p> + +<p> +The entrance to the Temple will be through a +lofty porch, flanked by two great pillars. These pillars +will be suggestively named, as in Solomon's Temple, the +right one, Jachin (He shall establish) and the left one, +Boaz (In it is strength). In these inspiring reminders +are seen the mighty strength of The Christ, possessors +of all power in Heaven and in earth, with which God +through them will establish His Kingdom.—1 Kings 7:13-22. +</p> + +<p> +The priests' chambers on the upper pavement of the +Inner court will be entered by a separate gate and separate +stairs from the outer court, suggesting that the +<pb n='586'/><anchor id='Pg586'/> +entree to the love feasts of the Little Flock will be exclusively +for them alone. (Ezek. 46:19). The gates of +the city will be twelve in number, three on a side, and +each named for one of the twelve tribes.—Ezek. 48:31-34. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Altars.</hi>—As the entire Plan of salvation centers +about the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ, so at the mathematical +center of the Ezekiel Temple will be the great +brazen altar, with its rites, and offerings, and the blood, +typing the ransom and the antitypical sin offering. It +will be at the center of both the outer court and of the +inner court, and of the priests' land and of the land divided +among the tribes, typical of the world. The court +gates will all point toward it, and facing it will be the +steps, porch, and outer and inner doors of the Temple. +The construction and dimensions of the altar are given in +Fig. 7. The brazen altar will be 4x12x12 cubits; it will be +reached by stairsteps from the east, and will rest upon +two borders or <q>settles,</q> respectively, 4x14x14 cubits and +2x16x16 cubits, the lower of which will rest upon a bottom +or foundation 1x18x18 cubits. The Tabernacle altar was +3x5x5 cubits, the dimensions suggesting incompleteness, +as compared with the numerical symbolism of the Ezekiel +altar. This altar types the completed work of the Sin +Offering and will be seen to be of far greater magnitude +and importance than even the eye of faith can now +perceive while the suffering work is in process. Its +elevation by the bottom and two settles suggests the lofty +exaltation of The Christ who participated in the Sin Offering +far above the beneficiaries from the blood—the +Great Company and the perfected world of humanity. It +will be approached by stairs to the height of the base of +the altar proper, typing that the evidence of the sacrifices +by the offerers will be carried into Heaven itself.—Ezek. +40:44-47; 43:13-27; 45:18-20; 47:1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Offerings.</hi>—The various offerings typify the following: +</p> + +<p> +A burnt offering will be a thankful prayer to God, acknowledging +His mercy, wisdom and love as manifested +in the broken Body of the offerer's great Ransomer. +</p> + +<p> +A peace offering will be the fulfilment of a vow or a +willing thank offering; the offerer eating the sacrifice will +be his appropriation to himself of the consecration; with +it he will eat certain things such as unleavened cakes, oil +and anointed wafers, signifying his faith in Christ's character +which he will copy. +</p> + +<p> +A trespass offering signifies reconsecration in connection +with restoration for wrong, with recognition of the offerer's +imperfection and the value of the ransom. +</p> + +<pb n='587'/><anchor id='Pg587'/> + +<p> +A meat offering of fine flour, unleavened cakes, oil, etc., +signifies the consecration of the offerer's all, the sample +burned on the altar meaning the consecration's approval +and acceptance by Jehovah. +</p> + +<p> +The sin offering will be an acknowledgment of past +sins and of the application of the merit of the Ransom, +with repentance and reconsecration of the offerer. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Defilement and Cleansing.</hi>—There will be defilement of +individuals and the past defilement of the whole world. +The general defilements involving all—referring in part to +the typical location of the palace of Solomon and the kings, +close to the Temple—are Christendom's defilement of +God's holy name by their erroneous teachings about Him +and by the lives of those evil clergy and laity who presumed +to bear His name; their <q>whoredoms,</q> or unhallowed +union of church and state; their permitting of prominent +persons—clergy and laity—who were dead in trespasses +and sins, to assume elevated places in the worship +of God; their conjoining the entrance into the Temple +class (a church) with entrance into places of influence; +their establishing the same wall of living members of the +churches as the wall of business and the state; their encouraging +unconsecrated persons, not spirit-begotten, to +serve in the holy things in the church as teachers and +clergy; their breaking their covenant, made solemnly with +God in their consecrations; and their not keeping the +charge of the Divine Word of truth but hiring paid clergymen +to look after it for them. The great mass of the Spirit +begotten (Levites) had gone astray from God after their +man-made idols of earthly honor, power and wealth; and +they had served the evil tendencies of church members in +their idol worship. Between the people and the clergy +every conceivable abomination in the sight of God had +been practiced, and will require cleansing and a wholesome +memory of it, to safeguard against future outbreaks and +to manifest continual appreciation of the holiness of any +service of God.—Ezek. 43:7-9; 44:6-14. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Times for Offerings.</hi>—The times of certain offerings, as +on the sabbaths and new moons, type that the Jews and the +world might not effectively consecrate themselves until +the Millennial Age—God's seventh Day and the time of +the New Covenant. (Ezek. 44:24; 45:17.) The sacrifices +by the prince for all the people on the first month, first +day, type the universal consecrations during the first 1,000-year +Day of blessing for mankind, when all consciences +will be cleansed by the application of Christ's merit. +Those on the Seventh day type the same consecration during +the Millennium regarded as God's great seventh Sabbatical +<pb n='588'/><anchor id='Pg588'/> +thousand year Day, when sinners and the simple +minded will be cleansed from sin and set right. (Ezek. +45:20.) On the fourteenth day the celebration of the passover +memorial, and the seven-day feast thereafter, picture +the memorial of the Lamb of God and the feast of thankfulness +and consecration for the fulness of the New Covenant +forever (Ezek. 45:21-24); that on the fifteenth of the +seventh month, and for seven days, type the application of +Christ's merit through the Sin Offering and the thankfulness +and consecration of the people in the Spirit, eternally +thereafter. (Ezek. 45:25.) The sacrifices and worship +of prince and people at the east gate, on the sabbaths +and the new moons, figure the consecrations and reconsecrations +of Ancient Worthies and people throughout the +1,000-year Day of Restitution.—Ezek. 46:1-11. +</p> + +<p> +At any time the Ancient Worthies representing the +people also may, of their own free will express their thankfulness +and celebrate the fulfilment of their consecration +vows, signifying this as their continuing state of mind. +(Ezek. 46:12). The daily burnt and meat offering for the +nation, morning and evening, signify the continued thankful +consecrating of all classes on all planes of being in +memory of and through, <q>the Lamb of God which taketh +away the sin of the world.</q> (Ezek. 46:13-15). Throughout +the Millennial Age this Little Flock will necessarily be in +contact with defiling and death-dealing error in some, with +whom they are intimately connected, in process of restoration +to human perfection; by the close of the great +seventh Day, before the eighth Day the application of the +merit of the Sin Offering will have cleansed or destroyed, +all such cases and The Christ will no more have to be in +touch with such defilements. (Ezek. 44:25-27). Offerings +to cleanse the altar with blood type the memory that the +altar class—The Christ, Head and Body—were cleansed by +the blood, and that all offerings are sanctified by the +blood. (Ezek. 43:18-27). Salt cast upon the offerings +types the preserving power of the Word.—Ezek. 43:23-44. +</p> + +<p> +Throughout the Millennium the world of mankind are +to regard the perfect human condition toward which they +are progressing, as their inalienable possession, <q>bought +by the blood.</q> No ruler, or other power, is to interfere +with this right, nor teach them otherwise. (Ezek. 46:13; +48:29.) The Hebrews, the original beneficiaries, are to +welcome the rest of mankind and treat them as of their +own number.—Ezek. 47:22-23. +</p> + +<pb n='589'/><anchor id='Pg589'/> + +<p> +They are to submit loyally to the rulership of The Christ, +Head and body, and to that of the Divinely appointed +earthly phase of government. (Ezek. 44:24; 45:6.) They +are to receive the instructions of the Christ.—Ezek. 44:23. +</p> + +<p> +Through the Ancient Worthies, the rulers of the +earthly phase, the people are at heart to consecrate their +all, typed by offerings of tenths or multiple thereof. (Ezek. +45:13-25.) To The Christ they are to consecrate their +hearts' best endeavors, their firstfruits, and everything +which they dedicate by vow or consecration. (Ezek. 44:29-30.) +The Great Company they are to love, and to them +they must be loyal.—Deut. 14:27-29. +</p> + +<p> +The people must be thoroughly cleansed in conscience. +(Ezek. 44:9). They are to put away all their former defilements +and abominations and are to worship and serve +God throughout the Times of Restitution and thereafter, +observing that holy period as a solemn feast to the Lord. +(Ezek. 43:6-7; 46:1-3, 9-10; 45:17.) They are to consecrate +themselves daily, with thankfulness, with repentance and +restitution for sin, and with vows fulfilled.—Ezek. 44:29-30; +45:1, 13-25; 46:19-24; Zech. 14:20-21. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Duties of Prince.</hi>—The duties of the ruling Ancient +Worthies will be: to remove violence and exploitation, +execute judgment and justice and take away all former +exactions imposed upon the people. (Ezek. 45:8-9). They +are to see that the commercial intercourse of the people +is on a just and equal basis for all. (Ezek. 45:10-12). +They will receive taxes or offerings from the people, with +special attention to the spiritual offerings symbolized by +the things offered. (Ezek. 45:13-16). The land they are +to keep holy, as they will their own condition of favored +perfection, symbolized by the land. (Ezek. 48:21-22). +Certain ones for special merit—such as any during the +Gospel Age who lived up to their consecrations as mere +believers, not being taught the things of the Spirit, and as +those through devoted loyalty making special progress +during the Millennium—they may cause to have the same +honored position as themselves, which will be permanent +if the recipients manifest the spirit of sonship, but lasting +only to the close of the 1,000 years to those failing to +show this spirit. (Ezek. 46:16-17). They will be privileged, +as favored participants in the application of the Sin +Offering merit, to go in and out of the outer court east +gate—as in the place of Christ—and there to feed upon +the meat in due season from Christ's bounty. (Ezek. 44:1-3). +In all holy things they are to be the leaders of the +people. (Ezek. 46:9-10). They are, during the entire Millennial +Age—God's sabbath—to make offerings (Ezek. +<pb n='590'/><anchor id='Pg590'/> +45:17-25) of thankfulness, praise and recognition of the ransom, +directly through the Christ with whom they shall be +in intimate relations.—Ezek. 46:1-12. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Duties and Privileges of Levites.</hi>—On account of Gospel +Age disloyalty the Great Company, while enjoying the +Spirit nature (Numb. 18:23-24), will occupy an inferior +place as servants—not priests—in the service of God. +(Ezek. 44:10-14). Their lower nature on the spirit plane +will be inalienable and unchangeable. (Ezek. 48:13-14). +Rather than serve in the Temple at all, they are to render +service at the various gates, for whatever functions +are typed at or by the gates. (Ezek. 44:11). Rather than +do the direct service of Jehovah, they will continue as in +the Gospel Age when they courted and served the desires +and lusts of the people—to serve directly and perpetually +the people rather than the direct interests of their God. +(Ezek. 44:11-12). They shall not come near to God nor +approach to an appreciation of the things of the Divine nature, +but they shall do whatever menial services there may +be given them by the Little Flock to do. (Ezek. 44:13-14.) It +will be their part to receive and make effective the consecrations +of the people, to cleanse them with the water of the +Word, and to administer the stripes and chastening, many +or few, tempered by the water of the Word, whereby the +people may thoroughly assimilate (eat) the significance of +their consecrations. They may possibly restore the literal +sacrifices of animals as object lessons (Z. '05-269).—Ezek. +40:35-43; 46:21-24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Duties and Privileges of the Priests.</hi>—The Little Flock, +the Church, will enjoy the nature of God, who Himself, in +His nature, will be their inheritance and possession. (Ezek. +44:27-28, Numbers 18:20.) They will serve the Divine +purposes in direct and intimate contact with their Father, +Jehovah, and will continue to keep the charge of God's +holy doctrines and truths, as they faithfully kept it during +the Gospel Age. (Ezek. 40:46; 44:15-16; 45:4; 48:10-12.) +They will continue having charge of God's house, His +Church, His people. (40:44-45; 44:8.) They will be in +various grades of honor (houses), as <q>star differeth from +star in glory.</q> (Ezek. 45:4.) They alone will have the +privilege of entering the Divine Temple, or Christ class. +(Ezek. 44:15-16.) They will forever regard their blessed +condition most holy, most consecrated to Jehovah. (Ezek. +48:12.) They will keep the law of Divine Love in all its +manifestations and judge the people according to that +exalted standard (Ezek. 44:24, Deut. 17:8-13); teach all +mankind to know the pattern of true godliness in all its +particulars and to discern between holy and secular, good +<pb n='591'/><anchor id='Pg591'/> +and evil (Ezek. 43:10-12; 44:23); sanctify and bless humanity +according to the Oath-bound Abrahamic Covenant on +terms of willing obedience. (Ezek. 44:19, 30; 46:19-20.) +These priests will make union with and make fruitful the +various covenants and promises (wives) by God, avoiding +those not Divinely approved. (Ezek. 44:22; Lev. 21:7, 13-14.) +They will receive tithes of the Levites. (Numbers +18:25-32.) All dedicated things will belong to them—that +is, all covenants, vows and consecration of the people will +be made to the Christ. (Ezek. 44:29-30; Josh. 6:19; Lev. +27:20-34; Numbers 18:8-20.) Theirs will be the charge of +the altar—of applying the merit of Christ to the people +(Ezek. 40:44-46), and they alone shall make the offering +to God, declare the Divine forgiveness and approval of +the people and of their consecrations.—Ezek. 43:18-27; +44:15-16, 25-27; 45:18-25; 46:1-7, 11-24. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>The Life-Giving River.</hi>—The benefits of Divine Love +flowing to save and bless all the willing and obedient of +mankind are pictured in the Life-Giving River. From underneath +the threshold, the place of rulership, the Throne of +The Christ (Rev. 22:1), the water of the Word of Divine +Love flows forth. Under the favor of the Church (right of +Temple) the truth about the loving mercy through the +blood of Jesus Christ (altar) is for the restitution of all +in the earthly (south) phase of the Kingdom. (D. 650, 655; +Z. '05-269; Z. '99-196; Ezek. 47:1.) Through Christ, the +Gate, with all His loving favor (right) it flows toward +the Sun-rise. (Ezek. 47:2.) The same one—Pastor Russell—who +measured the race for the mark of the prize, +with the line of Divine Righteousness (love, <q>the fulfilling +of the law</q>), measured also the requirements for character +attainment of the Millennial Age. One who will have that +degree of love, which is duty love to God and man, even +though reaching the utmost fulness of the measure of +Divine Justice (1,000 cubits), will be as it were, only up +to the ankles in the stream. He who attains the fulness +of the Divine standard as to love for God, for His glorious +character, will be in the stream to his knees. He who +shall reach the fulness of love for the <q>least</q> brethren +of that Age will be up to the loins; but he who so acquires +the spirit of Divine Love, as to love all, including his +enemies, will have reached the utmost fulness of love. +(Ezek. 47:2-5.) Any that appreciate this, see the full +purpose of Divine Love. It is important—<q>Son of man, +hast thou seen this?</q> (Ezek. 47:6.) This is the love that +will insure the healing of the sin-sick, anarchistic world +lying in a deadness like the Dead Sea. (A. 318, D. 653, +Z. '99-196, Ezek. 47:7-8.) Whoever becomes immersed in +<pb n='592'/><anchor id='Pg592'/> +the fulness of Divine Love shall thereby gain life; and +for everyone everywhere, to whom the water comes, +there shall be life. (E. <hi rend='italic'>357</hi>, 335; C. 214; Ezek. 47:9.) In +connection with the gospel of the fulness of Divine Love +there shall be a multitude of fishers of men to spread +the net of the gospel of glad tidings of great joy for exceeding +many. (C. 215, Ezek. 47:10.) But the people who +are hopelessly polluted with worldliness (miry places) +and those impregnated beyond saving with miasmas of +iniquity (marshes) shall not be healed even when <q>brought +to an accurate knowledge of the truth.</q> (Ezek. 47:11.) +And the stream of the truth of Divine Love shall cause +many righteous ones to come up (Dan. 12:3) whose loving +teachings shall never be forgotten nor its character +fruitage ever pass away; for they shall bring forth continued +fruitage, because of the Divine Truth of perfect +love coming to them out of Zion, the glorified Church. +And the character fruitage shall forever be for spiritual +food (John 4:34) and the teachings (leaves) for the +healing of all the willing and obedient of the sin-sick +world of mankind.—Z. '05-269; Matt. 10:8; Mal. 4:2; Ezek. +47:12. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Come all ye saints to Pisgah's mountain,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Come view our Home beyond the tide:</l> +<l>Millennial Canaan is before us,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Soon we'll sing on the other side.</l> +<l>O there see the 'white Throne of glory,'</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And crowns which the saints then shall gain;</l> +<l>And all who shall love Christ's appearing,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Shall be blessed by His glorious reign.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Thence springs of life will e'er be flowing,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Robing the earth in living green.</l> +<l>Visions of beauty rise before us</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>When the King and the saints shall reign.</l> +<l>Soon our conflicts and toils will be ended;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>We'll be tried and tempted no more,</l> +<l>And mankind of all Ages and nations</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Shall be blessed in that triumphant hour.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Faith now beholds salvation's River,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Gliding from underneath the Throne,</l> +<l>Bearing its life to whomsoever</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Will return to his Father's Home.</l> +<l>They will walk 'mid the trees by the rivers,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>With the friends they have loved by their side;</l> +<l>They will sing the glad songs of salvation.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And be ready to follow their Guide.</l> +<l>O! the prospect! it is so transporting,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Reapers, hasten the gath'ring, we pray;</l> +<l>We rejoice in the glory that's promised,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>And the dawn of Millennial Day.</q></l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +</div> + +</div> + +<pb n='593'/><anchor id='Pg593'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Advertisements</head> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head><q>Go Ye Also Into The Vineyard</q></head> + +<p> +<q><hi rend='italic'>He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit.</hi></q> +<hi rend='italic'>John 4:36.</hi> +</p> + +<p> +All interested in the subjects of this volume, and who +consider its presentations to be <q>meat in due season,</q> +will feel more or less constrained to become servants of +the truth, and to bear the <q>things new and old</q> to yet +others of the <q>Household of Faith.</q> Your measure of +zeal for such service will of course measure your activities +in its service, and determine how much of time, +influence, means, etc., you will devote to its spread. We +are glad to cooperate with all, that those who love +much may do much, and that those who love some may +do something, in the name of the great Shepherd and +in the interest of His sheep. +</p> + +<p> +To this end we wish you to know that special provision +has been made whereby you may be a co-laborer +in this work, regardless of whether you have financial +means to invest or not. We have quite a variety of +excellent tracts, which we supply free and in large +quantities for judicious circulation. We also publish +twice a month a 16 page journal, The Watch Tower, +and desire that our list should bear your name, if you +are interested. If interested in this volume you will +undoubtedly be interested in the journal, which treats +similar themes, and we are prepared to supply you +with it upon your own terms—you may have it on credit +if it is not convenient to pay for it in advance, and if +never able to pay for it we will, upon application, cancel +the indebtedness. If you have no prospect of being able +to pay for it you will be welcome to it free as one of +the <q>Lord's poor,</q> on application, and upon renewal of +the same yearly. If you can afford to pay, the price +is $1 (4s.) a year. +</p> + +<p> +We have various helps for Bible study, which we supply +to all who are on our Watch Tower list at extremely +low prices—these include various translations +of the Bible, Concordances, etc., and especially the +<hi rend='smallcaps'>Scripture Studies</hi>—<q><hi rend='smallcaps'>The Bible Keys.</hi></q> +</p> + +<p> +Colporteuring And Loaning The <q>Studies.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Some have numbers of friends to whom they take +pleasure in supplying the Studies <foreign rend='italic'>gratis</foreign>; others keep a +quantity at hand which they constantly loan out +amongst their friends, after the manner of a circulating +library; and still others enter the Colporteur work, +as being one of the most favorable opportunities to +them for serving the truth to others, traveling from +town to town introducing the <q>Bible Keys,</q> soliciting +orders and delivering the books. Our Society does all +in its power to facilitate these various methods of circulating +the truth, encouraging each to serve the cause +to the extent of his zeal and ability, according to his +own preference; assisting in the matter very materially +by supplying the books at remarkably low prices. See +page 2 of <hi rend='smallcaps'>The Watch Tower</hi> for wholesale rates to +subscribers, and if the Colporteur work appeals to you, +write for <q>Hints to Colporteurs.</q> +</p> + +<p> +We shall be glad to hear from you, and to coöperate +with you, and we assure you that you will find a blessing +in every sacrifice you may make on behalf of the +truth. Very truly, Your fellow-servants, +</p> + +<p> +Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, +</p> + +<p> +Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A. +</p> + +<p> +Branches:—London, W.; Elberfeld, Melbourne, Copenhagen, +Orebro, Christiana, Geneva, Yokohama. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='594'/><anchor id='Pg594'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head><q>Both the Houses of Israel</q></head> + +<p> +Correspondencies Of The +Mosaic And Christian Dispensations. +</p> + +<table rend="latexcolumns: 'p{3.5cm} p{3.5cm}'; tblcolumns: 'lw(30) lw(30)'"> +<row><cell>Israel After the Flesh</cell><cell>Israel After the Spirit</cell></row> +<row><cell>A House of Servants. 1 Cor. 10:18; Rom. 9:7, 8; 4:16; Heb. 3:5.</cell> + <cell>A House of Sons. Gal. 4:5, 6, 7, 30, 31; 6:15, +16; John 1:12; Rom. 8:15.</cell></row> +<row><cell>Founded in Jacob's Twelve Sons. 1 Kings 18:31.</cell> + <cell>Founded in Jesus' Twelve Apostles. Rev. 21:14.</cell></row> +<row><cell>A Kingdom and Priesthood, A Holy Nation. Exod. 19:6.</cell> + <cell>A Royal Priesthood, A Holy Nation. 1 Pet. 2:5, 9.</cell></row> +<row><cell>Aaron, Fleshly High-Priest. Heb. 9:7.</cell> + <cell>Jesus, The Spiritual High-Priest. Heb. 9:11.</cell></row> +<row><cell>Circumcision of the Flesh. Rom. 2:28, 29.</cell> + <cell>Circumcision of the Heart. Rom. 2:28, 29.</cell></row> +<row><cell>Law of Sin and Death. Rom. 8:2.</cell> + <cell>Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Rom 8:2.</cell></row> +<row><cell>Earthly Promises. Gen. 13:14-17; Acts 7:2-5.</cell> + <cell><q>Better Promises</q>. Heb. 9:23; 11:40.</cell></row> +<row><cell>In Captivity To Literal Babylon. 2 Chron. 36:20.</cell> + <cell>In Captivity To Mystic Babylon. Rev. 17:5; 18:4.</cell></row> +<row><cell>Length of Favor 1845 Years, From Jacob's Death to Israel's +Rejection and the Beginning of Spiritual Israel, A. D. 33.</cell> + <cell>Length of Favor 1845 Years, From Jesus' Death to the Beginning of +Christ's Reign and the Rejection of Babylon, A. D. 1878.</cell></row> +<row><cell>The Nominal System Cast Off, A. D. 33. Matt. 23:38.</cell> + <cell>The Nominal System Spewed Out, A. D. 1878. Rev. 3:16.</cell></row> +<row><cell>40 Years in Falling, to A. D. 73.</cell> + <cell>40 Years in Falling, to A. D. 1918.</cell></row> +<row><cell>The end of the age. A harvest of 40 years. Luke 10:9, 16.</cell> + <cell>The end of the age. A harvest of 40 years, Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43.</cell></row> +<row><cell>Our Lord's Presence and the Sacrificial Character of His Death, the +Stumbling-Stone.</cell> + <cell>Our Lord's Presence and the Sacrificial Character of His Death, the +Stumbling-Stone.</cell></row> +</table> + +</div> + +<pb n='595'/><anchor id='Pg595'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Watch Tower And Herald Of Christ's Presence</head> + +<p> +This journal, founded by the author of Scripture +Studies, should regularly visit all who have the slightest +interest in the topics discussed in this and the other +volumes of the <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> series. It is issued +twice a month, 16 pages, at one dollar (4s.) a year in +advance. +</p> + +<p> +That <emph>none</emph> of the interested may be without it, the +arrangement is that those who need may have it on +credit on application, while those too poor to pay may +receive it regularly <emph>free</emph> by stating the facts and making +request each December. All new tracts are sent to +<hi rend='smallcaps'>The Watch Tower</hi> list which it is desired shall represent +all interested in Present Truth, the <q>Harvest</q> message. +</p> + +<p> +Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='smallcaps'>Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A.</hi> +</p> + +<p> +Branches:—London, W.; Elberfeld, Melbourne, Copenhagen, +Orebro, Christiana, Geneva, Yokohama. +</p> + +<p> +This Society never solicits donations, but it uses +voluntary contributions as wisely and economically as +possible in the propagation of Christian knowledge +along the lines presented in <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi>. It +yearly circulates tons of tracts and papers free, through +the mails and through voluntary agents. +</p> + +<p> +It justifies that portion of its name which relates to +the Bible—(not by publishing Bibles, nor by circulating +them gratuitously, but)—by supplying Bibles and Bible-study +helps at wholesale prices; and often below the +usual wholesale rates. We mention a few of these on +succeeding pages, of course ranking <hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> +as the most important helps or <q>Bible Keys,</q> and <hi rend='smallcaps'>The +Watch Tower</hi>, semi-monthly, their efficient supplement. +</p> + +<p> +Readers who desire to coöperate in the circulation of +<hi rend='italic'>Scripture Studies</hi> will be supplied at cost prices, and +can have tracts ad libitum. Write us respecting this! +</p> + +<p> +The Bible Students Monthly +</p> + +<p> +Treating Live Topics, Supplied Free. +</p> + +<p> +Samples will be sent free to anyone requesting them: +and quantities for free circulation will be supplied free +to all subscribers to <hi rend='smallcaps'>The Watch Tower</hi>, they being +considered working members of the Society, whether +they specially contribute to its funds or not. Send for +free samples. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='596'/><anchor id='Pg596'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>What Say The Scriptures About Hell?</head> + +<p> +An Examination Of Every Text Of Scripture In +Which The Word <q>Hell</q> Is Found +</p> + +<p> +A Correct understanding of the subject of this +booklet is almost a necessity to Christian steadfastness. +For centuries it has been the teaching +of <q>orthodoxy,</q> of all shades, that God, before creating +man, had created a great abyss of fire and terrors, +capable of containing all the billions of the human family +which He purposed to bring into being; that this abyss +He had named <q>hell;</q> and that all of the promises +and threatenings of the Bible were designed to deter as +many as possible (a <q>little flock</q>) from such wrongdoing +as would make this awful place their perpetual +home. +</p> + +<p> +While glad to see superstitions fall, and truer ideas +of the great, and wise, and just, and loving Creator prevail, +we are alarmed to notice that the tendency with +all who abandon this long revered doctrine is toward +doubt, scepticism, infidelity. Why should this be the +case, when the mind is merely being delivered from an +error?—do you ask? Because Christian people have so +long been taught that the foundation for this awful +blasphemy against God's character and government is +deeplaid and firmly fixed in the Word of God—the +Bible—and consequently, to whatever degree their belief +in <q>hell</q> is shaken, to that extent their faith in the +Bible, as the revelation of the true God, is shaken +also;—so that those who have dropped their belief in +a <q>hell,</q> of some kind of endless torment, are often +open infidels, and scoffers at God's Word. +</p> + +<p> +Guided by the Lord's providence to a realization that +the Bible has been slandered, as well as its Divine +Author, and that, rightly understood, it teaches nothing +on this subject derogatory to God's character nor +to an intelligent reason, we have attempted in this +booklet to lay bare the Scripture teaching on this subject +that thereby faith in God and His Word may be +reëstablished, on a better, a reasonable foundation. +Indeed, it is our opinion that whoever shall hereby find +that his false view rested upon human misconceptions +and misinterpretations will, at the same time, learn +to trust hereafter less to his own and other men's +imaginings, and, by faith, to grasp more firmly the +Word of God, which is able to make wise unto salvation; +and on this mission, under God's providence, it +is sent forth. +</p> + +<p> +Price 10 Cents (5d.) Per Copy.—88 Pages. +</p> + +<p> +Special wholesale rates to colporteurs and those who +desire to aid in circulating these booklets widely. +</p> + +<p> +Address +</p> + +<p> +Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='smallcaps'>Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A.</hi> +</p> + +<p> +Branches:—London, W.; Elberfeld, Melbourne, Copenhagen, +Orebro, Christiana, Geneva, Yokohama. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='597'/><anchor id='Pg597'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>What Say The Scriptures About Spiritism?</head> + +<p> +Proofs That It Is Demonism. +</p> + +<p> +Also +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Spirits In Prison</q> And Why Are +They There! +</p> + +<p> +The necessity for this little brochure lies in +the fact that Spiritism is showing an increased +activity of late, and meeting with considerable +success in entrapping Christians who are feeling +dissatisfied with their present attainments +and craving spiritual food and better foundation +for faith. +</p> + +<p> +The aim is to show the unscripturalness of +Spiritism, and to point those who hunger and +thirst for truth in the direction of God's +Word—the counsel of the Most High. <q>Thou +shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward +receive me to glory.</q>—Psa. 73:24. +</p> + +<p> +119 pages; in paper covers, 10 cents (5d.) +</p> + +<p> +Address +</p> + +<p> +Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, +</p> + +<p> +Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A. +</p> + +<p> +Branches:—London, W.; Elberfeld, Melbourne, Copenhagen, +Orebro, Christiana, Geneva, Yokohama. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='598'/><anchor id='Pg598'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Miscellaneous Advertisements</head> + +<p>Old MS. Translations, Concordances, Etc. +Recommended as Aids to Bible Study</p> + +<p> +The Emphatic Diaglott +</p> + +<p> +This Greek New Testament, with interlinear word-for-word +rendering, and a free reading emphasized translation +alongside, is based upon the famous Vatican MS. +No. 1209. With each copy sold, we give one year's +subscription to <hi rend='smallcaps'>The Watch Tower</hi>—if a New subscription. +If you already take <hi rend='smallcaps'>The Watch Tower</hi>, your +purchase of the <hi rend='smallcaps'>Diaglott</hi> entitles you to send <hi rend='smallcaps'>The +Tower</hi> to a friend who may want it, but this New +Subscription must accompany the order, as we cannot +apply subscriptions on back orders. +</p> + +<p> +Leather bound, divinity circuit, gilt edges, good Bible +paper. Price $3.25 (or $2.50 without <hi rend='sans'>Watch Tower</hi>). +</p> + +<p> +Young's Analytical Concordance +</p> + +<p> +In English, Hebrew and Greek, by Prof. Young (Presbyterian.) +1240 pages, cloth binding, price, $6.00 postpaid. +As we are not permitted to reduce the publisher's +price, we will, however, send <hi rend='smallcaps'>Free</hi> with each order any +two volumes of Studies In the Scriptures. +</p> + +<p> +Smith's Bible Dictionary +</p> + +<p> +Interesting and valuable, 1020 pp. Cloth, $1.30 postpaid. +</p> + +<p> +Berean Bible Helps (<hi rend='smallcaps'>Bound Separate</hi>) +</p> + +<p> +These are the same as in the latest <q>I. B. S. A.</q> Bibles +described on another page. Full leather, divinity circuit, +$1.15 postpaid. Karatol, red edges, 60c. postpaid. +Also carried in German (leather and cloth), prices same +as English. +</p> + +<p> +International Bible Students Association +</p> +<p> +Brooklyn, N. Y. +</p> + +<p> +I. B. S. A. Berean Bibles +</p> + +<p> +These are Common Version Bibles +but their distinguishing feature +consists of +</p> + +<p> +Over 500 Pages Of +Special Berean Helps +</p> + +<p> +in Four Sections as follows: +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Part I. Bible Teachers' Manual</hi> +</p> + +<p> +Biblical Comments from Genesis +to Revelation explaining the +text and referring to the <hi rend='smallcaps'>STUDIES +IN THE SCRIPTURES</hi> and other +publications where the subject +is more fully treated. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Part II. Instructors' Guide Texts</hi> +</p> + +<p> +Texts relating to various important +subjects topically arranged +for ready reference. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Part III. Berean Topical Index</hi> +</p> + +<p> +An alphabetical arrangement of +over 800 subjects of peculiar +interest, with reference to page +where treated in our publications. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='sans'>Part IV. Spurious Passages Noted</hi> +</p> + +<p> +A full list of spurious passages not +found in the oldest Greek MSS. +</p> + +<p> +In Addition To The Above +</p> + +<p> +the Bagster Concordance, Maps +and Students Helps are incorporated +in Nos. 1919, 1939 and 1959. +</p> + +<p> +Descriptions and Prices +</p> + +<p> +No, 1918. Size 4-1/4 x 6-1/4 India Paper, +Minion type, French Seal, divinity +circuit, red under gold edges, +Berean Helps, colored maps, marginal +reference. $2.00 postpaid. +</p> + +<p> +No. 1919. Same as No. 1918, with +Bagster Concordance, Maps, etc., +added. $2.25 postpaid. +</p> + +<p> +No. 1928. Same as No. 1918, except +bound in Genuine Morocco, +leather-lined. $2.85 postpaid. +</p> + +<p> +Ionic Type, Self-Pronouncing. +</p> + +<p> +No. 1939. Size 5-1/2 x 7-1/2 India Paper, +Ionic type, French Seal, divinity circuit, +red under gold edges, Berean +Helps, also Bagster Concordance, Maps, +etc. Marginal reference. $3.60 postpaid. +</p> + +<p> +No. 1959. Same as No. 1939, except bound +in genuine Morocco, calf-lined. $3.95 postpaid. +</p> + +<p> +Patent Index, 25c Extra; Registry 10c. +</p> + +<p> +Publishers lists of other Bibles sent on request. +</p> + +<p> +International Bible Students Assn., Brooklyn, N. Y. +</p> + +<p> +Volume I. <q>Studies in the Scriptures</q> Series +</p> + +<p> +Things You Ought To Know As +</p> + +<p> +Christian Bible Students +</p> + +<p> +The Satisfactory Proofs That +</p> + +<p> +The Bible is a Divine Revelation—reasonable and +trustworthy, revealing a systematic Plan full of Justice, +Wisdom and Love. <q>The Key of Knowledge</q> of +the Scriptures, long lost is found, and gives God's +faithful people access to the <q>Hidden Mystery.</q>—Luke +11:52, Col. 1:26. +</p> + +<p> +The Lord Jesus and His faithful are to be not only +priests but kings, and will reign over the earth. +</p> + +<p> +This Kingdom is to come at Christ's Second Advent. +</p> + +<p> +God's Plan is to select and save the Church in the +Gospel Age, and to use this Church in blessing the +world in the Millennium. A <q>ransom for all</q> implies +an <emph>opportunity</emph> to all for restitution. The Day of +Judgment is 1,000 years long—the world's trial day. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The narrow way</q> of self-sacrifice will cease with +this Age. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The highway</q> of righteousness will be open to all +the redeemed race in the Millennium.—Isa. 35:8, 9. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The kingdoms of this world</q> are but for an ordained +period and must give place to the <q>Kingdom of +Heaven.</q> +</p> + +<p> +God has permitted evil for six thousand years for a +wise purpose. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>These subjects and many others of deep interest to +all of God's people are discussed fully and in +language easy of comprehension in</hi> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Divine Plan of the Ages</q> +</p> + +<p> +(In English, German, Swedish, Dano-Norwegian, +Italian, French, Greek, Hungarian, Spanish, Polish, +Hollandish, Finnish, Arabic, Slovak, Roumanian, +Lettish, Ukrainian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean; +also Braille, for the blind). +</p> + +<p> +416 Pages—Cloth Bound. 50 Cents, Postpaid or +Delivered by Colporteurs. Magazine Edition +(Eng. and Ger.) 10 Cents Postpaid. +</p> + +<p> +International Bible Students Association +</p> + +<p> +Brooklyn, N. Y. +</p> + +<p> +Volume II. <q>Studies in the Scriptures</q> Series +</p> + +<p> +A Remarkable Book +</p> + +<p> +Skeptics Should Read it . . . +</p> + +<p> +Christians Should Study it. +</p> + +<p> +Things You Want To Know As +</p> + +<p> +Christian Bible Students +</p> + +<p> +There Are Evidences That +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Six thousand Years from Adam ended in <hi rend='smallcaps'>A. D.</hi> 1872.</l> +<l>The Date of our Lord's Birth was October <hi rend='smallcaps'>B. C.</hi> 2.</l> +<l>The Date of Annunciation to Mary, Dec 25th, <hi rend='smallcaps'>B. C.</hi> 3.</l> +<l>The Date of our Lord's Baptism was October <hi rend='smallcaps'>A. D.</hi> 29.</l> +<l>The Date of our Lord's Crucifixion, April <hi rend='smallcaps'>A. D.</hi> 33.</l> +<l>The <q>Seventy Weeks</q> of Israel's favor ended <hi rend='smallcaps'>A. D.</hi> 36.</l> +<l>The Jewish Age <q>Harvest</q> was 40 years <hi rend='smallcaps'>A. D.</hi> 30 to 70.</l> +<l>The Christian Age <q>Harvest</q> is its parallel.</l> +<l>The Jewish Jubilees were typical of the <q>Times of +Restitution of all Things.</q>—Acts 3:19-21.</l> +<l>The Typical Jubilees mark the Date of their Antitype.</l> +<l>The <q>Times of the Gentiles</q> ended <hi rend='smallcaps'>A. D.</hi> 1914.</l> +<l>The Jewish Age, in its Lengths, its Ceremonies, etc.,</l> +<l>Typified the Realities of the Christian Age and its Length.</l> +<l>Elias or <q>Elijah the prophet</q> was a Type.—How fulfilled.</l> +<l>The Antichrist has come!—What? When? Where?</l> +</lg> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>These subjects and many others deeply interesting +to <q>the Household of Faith,</q> and <q>Meat in due +season</q> to all who love and study God's Word, can +be had in</hi> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Time Is At Hand</q> +</p> + +<p> +(In English, German, Swedish, Finnish and +Dano-Norwegian.) +</p> + +<p> +482 Pages—Cloth Bound, 50 Cents, Postpaid or +Delivered by Colporteurs +</p> + +<p> +International Bible Students Association +</p> + +<p> +Brooklyn, N. Y. +</p> + +<p> +Volume III. <q>Studies in the Scriptures</q> Series +</p> + +<p> +Do You Know That +</p> + +<p> +We are now living in <q>the Time of the End</q> of this +Gospel Age? +</p> + +<p> +Our Epoch is <q>the Day of God's Preparation</q> for the +Millennial Age? +</p> + +<p> +The <q>Days of Waiting</q> are ended and the <q>Cleansing +of the Sanctuary</q>—the Church—the separating of +its Wheat and Tares, is now in progress? +</p> + +<p> +This the reason for the beginning of the Return of +Divine Favor to Fleshly Israel—blinded for centuries—to +permit the gathering of an Elect Class from +among the Gentiles? +</p> + +<p> +This favor now taking shape is known as Zionism? +</p> + +<p> +Immanuel's Kingdom is now being established? +</p> + +<p> +The Great Pyramid in Egypt is a Witness to all these +events of the past and present—testifying in symbols? +The Pyramid's Downward Passage under <q>A Draconis</q> +symbolizes the course of Sin? Its First Ascending +Passage symbolizes the Jewish Age? Its Grand Gallery +symbolizes the Gospel Age? Its Upper Step symbolizes +the approaching period of tribulation and anarchy, +<q>Judgments,</q> upon Christendom? Its King's Chamber +the Divine Nature, etc., of the Overcoming Church—the +Christ, Head and Body? Its Ante-Chamber the +Correction in Righteousness of the <q>Great Company</q> +etc.? Its Queen's Chamber symbolizes those of Israel +and the world who eventually attain Restitution? +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>All these interesting topics with ten Pyramid illustrations +can be had in</hi> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thy Kingdom Come</q> +</p> + +<p> +(English, German, Swedish, Finnish, Dano-Norwegian) +</p> + +<p> +482 Pages—Cloth Bound, 50 Cents, Postpaid or +Delivered by Colporteurs +</p> + +<p> +International Bible Students Association +</p> + +<p> +Brooklyn, N. Y. +</p> + +<p> +Volume IV. <q>Studies in the Scriptures</q> Series +</p> + +<p> +<q>None Of The Wicked Will +Understand</q> +</p> + +<p> +But <q>The Wise Shall Understand</q> That +</p> + +<p> +This Gospel Age is closing with a <q>Day of Vengeance.</q> +It will affect the whole world, specially Christendom. +All Political, Social, Financial and Religious systems +will fail. +</p> + +<p> +These Judgments, beginning with the House of God, +must extend to all. +</p> + +<p> +Our day is noted by the Prophets as <q>the Day of +Jehovah.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is symbolically styled <q>a Dark Day,</q> a <q>Day of +clouds,</q> etc. +</p> + +<p> +Its trouble is symbolically likened to a Hurricane, to +a Flood, to a Fire, etc., these strong figures being used +to give an appreciation, yet to hide the real nature, of +that <q>Time of Trouble such as Never Has been since +there was a Nation.</q>—Dan. 13:1. +</p> + +<p> +Preparations for this symbolic <q>Fire</q> and <q>Tempest</q> +are now well under way and shortly will rage furiously +throughout the world. +</p> + +<p> +It will be a contest between Masses and Classes. +</p> + +<p> +Many see it upon us and trust to various schemes to +avert it. +</p> + +<p> +But all worldly Schemes and Panaceas will fail utterly. +God's Kingdom, the only hope for Church and world, +is sure. +</p> + +<p> +Man's extremity will prove to be God's opportunity—in +the establishment of God's Kingdom—Christ's Millennial +Kingdom which will establish righteousness +by force.—Rev. 2:26, 27; Dan. 2:34, 35, 44, 45. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>All these subjects are simply yet forcefully treated, +and Matthew 24th Chapter elucidated, in</hi> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Battle Of Armageddon</q> +</p> + +<p> +(In English, German, Swedish, Finnish and +Dano-Norwegian.) +</p> + +<p> +720 Pages—Cloth Bound, 60 Cents. Postpaid or +Delivered by Colporteurs +</p> + +<p> +International Bible Students Association +</p> + +<p> +Brooklyn, N. Y. +</p> + +<p> +Volume V. <q>Studies in the Scriptures</q> Series +</p> + +<p> +The At-One-Ment Is Believed In By All +</p> + +<p> +Christian Bible Students +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, but few could explain its philosophy +</p> + +<p> +All Should Know +</p> + +<p> +About the great Mediator of the At-one-ment, our +Lord Jesus Christ. +</p> + +<p> +Respecting the necessity for the At-one-ment +</p> + +<p> +And the necessity that the <q>Only Begotten</q> must be +<q>made flesh,</q> and then die, and then rise from the +dead in order to effect the At-one-ment. +</p> + +<p> +Respecting the office and work of the Holy Spirit in +connection with the At-one-ment. +</p> + +<p> +And the important part of the At-one-ment not yet +finished—which awaits the Second Coming of our +Lord in His Kingdom glory. +</p> + +<p> +Respecting the central doctrine of At-one-ment, +namely, the <emph>Ransom</emph>—what is was—why it was and is +the center or <q>hub</q> around which and into which all +Bible doctrines fit. +</p> + +<p> +How this doctrine is the test of the truth or falsity of +all doctrines; so that once understood clearly it is a +guard against error in every form. +</p> + +<p> +Respecting man, the subject of the great At-one-ment, +his nature; his sin; his penalty; his deliverance +through Christ; his future possibilities through acceptance +of the At-one-ment. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>All these interesting and very important themes +are lucidly discussed in simple language, and corroborated +by fourteen hundred Scripture citations, in</hi> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The At-One-Ment Between God And Man</q> +</p> + +<p> +(In English, German, Swedish, Finnish and +Dano-Norwegian.) +</p> + +<p> +600 Pages—Cloth Bound 60 Cents, Postpaid or +Delivered by Colporteurs. +</p> + +<p> +International Bible Students Association +</p> + +<p> +Brooklyn, N. Y. +</p> + +<p> +Volume VI. <q>Studies in the Scriptures</q> Series +</p> + +<p> +Things You Ought To Know As +</p> + +<p> +Christian Bible Students +</p> + +<p> +The Creative Week of Genesis—its actual length—scientifically +corroborated. +</p> + +<p> +The true Church of Christ, begotten of the Spirit as +the New Creation; the steps of Grace Divine—Justification, +Sanctification, and Deliverance in the First +Resurrection. +</p> + +<p> +The duties and obligations of the New Creation—toward +the Lord, toward each other, toward earthly +friends and neighbors, toward parents, children, +husbands, wives, etc. +</p> + +<p> +The Lord's Memorial Supper or Sacrament: what it is +and what it is not should be clearly discerned by all +of God's people. +</p> + +<p> +True Baptism—what it is. The many mistakes of +nearly all denominations are pointed out in kindly +spirit, and then the true Baptism is set forth in convincing +style—indisputable, incontrovertible. +</p> + +<p> +The foes and besetments of the New Creation, and +the Scriptural method of overcoming them; also the +present and the future inheritance of the saints. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>These subjects and many others deeply interesting +to all who love and study the Bible +are fully treated in</hi> +</p> + +<p> +The New Creation +</p> + +<p> +(English, German, Swedish, Dano-Norwegian +and Finnish) +</p> + +<p> +816 Pages—Cloth Bound, 60 Cents, Postpaid or +Delivered by Colporteurs +</p> + +<p> +International Bible Students Association +</p> + +<p> +Brooklyn, N.Y. +</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +</body> +<back rend="page-break-before: right"> + <div id="footnotes"> + <index index="toc" /> + <index index="pdf" /> + <head>Footnotes</head> + <divGen type="footnotes"/> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: 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