Commercial Interest in Heathendom . Messiah the only Capable Commission “And Be Ye Thankful”.................  .

Fountain and Channel of Mercy......

Dhine Instructive Methods.............

Memorial Reports . ......................

Sort Sense ........................................

Take a “Dead” I locomotive...........

A Handcuffed Soul..................... .

Where Are Our Dead Loved Ones'' puiFNTAL Responsibility......

The Lord Our Shepherd . .. .

The Cup of Blessing..........

The Noble Life of Samuel. ....

Prayer for the 1’eople............

nay unto me. what answer 1 shall make to them that oppose me”.—llabakkuk 2:1.

THIS JOURNAL AND ITS SACRED MISSION

THIS journal is one of the prime factors or instruments in the system of Bible instruction, or “Seminary Extension”, now being presented in all parts of the civilized world by the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, chartered A. D, 1884, “For the Promotion of Christian Knowledge”. It not only serves as a class room where Bible students may meet in the study of the divine Word but also as a channel of communication through which they may be reached with announcements of the Society’s conventions and of the coming of its traveling representatives, styled “Pilgrims’, and refreshed with reports of its conventions.

Our “Berean Lessons” are topical rehearsals or reviews of our Society’s published Sti dies most entertainingly arranged, and very helpful to all who would merit the only honorary degree which the Society accords, viz., Verbi Dei Minister (V. D. M.), which translated Into English is Minister of God's Word. Our treatment of the International Sunday School Lessons is specially for the Older Bible students and teachers. By some this feature is considered indispensable.

This journal stands firmly for the defense of the only true foundation of the Christian’s hope now being so generally repudiated -—redemption through the precious blood of “the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom [a corresponding price, a substitute] for all”. (1 Peter 1:19; 1 Timothy 2:6) Building up on this sure foundation the gold, silver and precious stones (1 Corinthians 3: 1115; 2 Peter 1:5-11) of the Word of God, its further mission is to “make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which. . .has been hid in God, ... to the intent that now might bp made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God"—“which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed”.—Ephesians 3 : 5-9,10.

It stands free from all parties, sects and creed* of men. while it seeks more and more to bring its every utterance into fullest subjection to the will of God in Christ, as expressed in the holy Scriptures. It is thus free to declare boldly whatsoever the Lord hath spoken—according to the divine wisdom granted unto us to understand his utterances. Its attitude is not dogmatic, but confident; for we know whereof we affirm, treading with implicit faith upon the sure promises of God. It is held as a trust, to be used only in his service ; hence our decisions relative to what may and what may not appear in its columns must be according to our judgment of his good pleasure, the teaching of his Word, for the upbuilding of his people in grace and knowledge. And mp not only invite but urge our readers to prove all its utterances by the infallible Word to which reference is constantly made to facilitate such testing.

TO US THE SCRIPTURES CLEARLY TEACH

(That the church is “the temple of the living God", peculiarly “his workmanship”; that its construction has been in progress throughout the gospel age—ever since Christ became the world’s Redeemer and the Chief Corner Stone of his temple, through which, when finished, God’s blessing shall come “to all people", and they find access to him.—1 Corinthians 3 : 16, 17 ; Ephesians 2 : 20-22 ; Genesis 28:14; Galatians 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 “living stones”, “elect and precious,” shall have been made reads. the great Master Workman will bring all together in the first resurrection: and the temple shall be tilled with his glory, and he the meeting place between God and men throughout the Millennium.—Revelation 15 : 5-s.

That the basis of hope, for the church and the world, lies in the fact that “Jesus Christ, by the grace of God. tasted death for ereiy man,” “a ransom for all,” and will he “the true light which lighteth eiery man that cometh into the world", “in due time".— Hebrews 2:0; John 1:9; 1 Timothy 2 : 5, 6.

That the hope of the church is that she may bo like her Lord, “see him as he is.” bp “partakers of the divine nature’,' and share his glory as his joint-heir.— 1 John 3:2: .John 17:24: Romans 8:17; 2 Peter 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.—Ephesians 4 : 12 ; Matthew 24 : 1 1 : Revelation 1:6; 20 : 6.

That the hone 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 Jost in Adam, to all the willing and obedient, at the bands of their Redeemer and his glorified church, when all the wilfully wicked will be destroyed.3: 19-23; Isaiah 35.

pUBLISHE-D Oy

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Editorial Committee: This journal is published under the supervision of an editorial committee, at least three of whom have read and approved as truth each and every article appearing in these columns. The names of the editorial committee are: J. F. Rutherford, W. E. Van Amburgh, F. H. Robison, G. IL Fisher, W, E. Page.

Terms to the Lord*8 Poor: All Bible students who, by reason of old age or other Infirmity or adversity, are unable to pay for this journal, will be supplied free if they send a postal card each May stating their case and requesting such provision. We are not only willing, but anxious, that all such be on our list continually and in touch with the Berean studies.

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IN RE CONVENTIONS

Many of 1lie dear friends are anxious to know about convention dates for the summer in order that they might make arrnim<*men(* tor their vacations. Our Coin ention Committee has decided that it will not attempt a big convention such as was held at Cedar Point last year. Such entails a great deal of expense, both in transportation and hotels, besides the long travel. It seems to be the consensus of opinion that it would be much better for the friends this year to have a number of conventions than to attempt one Uirgo general convention.

it is the present purpose to hold a convention at Denver, Colo., for three days. Juno 11-13 This convention would sene the friends In Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Nebraska. Wyoming, and oilier points.

At San Francisco tor Oakland). Cai.if., June 25-27; Los ANGELES. Calif., July 3 5.

At Tacoma, Wash., July 8-11. The purpose is to make this the convention for all the Northwest: and all classes in this territorv will have the privilege of joining with the Tacoma fiiend* for a big public meeting. At Minneapolis. Minn.. July 16-18. This convention will serve the friends for Northern Central States.

At each one of these conventions it is expected that Brother Rutherford will be present and address both the friends and the public, and a number of the Pilgrim brethren will aKo be there. A more detailed statement will probably appear in our next issue. We may be able then io announce another com ent ion for the Middle West or Last for the first week in August

At each one of the conventions at least a portion of one dav will be devoted specially to the Golden Age. Colporteur, and other field workers.

Other local conventions. May 29-31, as follows: Sr. Louis and St. Joseph, Mo., and Columbus, Ohio.

STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES

These Studies are recommended to students as veritable Bible keys, discussing topically every vital doctrine of the Bible. More than eleven million copies are in circulation, in nineteen languages. Prices are net, postpaid, and barely cover cost of production and handling. Two sizes are issued (in English only) : the regular maroon cloth, gold stamped edition on dull finish paper (size 5"x 7i"), and the maroon cloth pocket edition on thin paper (size 4" x 6j") ; both sizes are printed from the same plates, the difference being in the margins ; both sizes are provided with an appendix of catechistic questions for convenient class use. Prices for both editions are uniform. The leather bound and fine India paper editions formerly issued are permanently out of stock.

Series I, ‘‘The Divine Plan of the Ages,” giving outline of the divine plan revealed in the Bible, relating to man's redemption and restitution : 350 pages, plus indexes and appendixes. 75c. Magazine edition 15c. Also procurable in Arabic, Armenian, Dano-Norwegian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hollandish, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Roumanian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, and Ukrainian; regular cloth style, price uniform with English.

Series II, ‘‘The Time is at Hand,” treats of the manner and time of the Lord’s second coming, considering the Bible testimony on this subject: 366 pages, 75c. Obtainable in Dano-Norwegian, Finnish, German, Polish, and Swedish.

Series III, “Thy Kingdom Come,” considers prophecies which mark events connected with ‘ the time of the end”, the glorification of the ehureh and the establishment of the Millennial kingdom; it also contains a chapter on the Groat Pyramid of Egypt, showing its corroboration of ce-t.iin Bible teachings : 3S0 pages, 75c. Furnished also in Dano-Norwegian, Finnish, German, Polish, and Swedish.

Series IV, ■■The Pattie of Armageddon,” shows that the dissolution of the present <u-der of things is in progress and that all of the human panaceas offered are valueless to avert the end predicted by the Bible. It contains a special and extended treatise on our Lord’s great, prophecy of Matthew 2t and also that of Zechariah 14:1-9: 656 pages. Sac. Also in Datto-Norwegian, Finnish, Greek, German, and Swedish.

Series V, “The Atonement Between God and Man,” treats an all important subject, the center around which all features of divine grace revolve. This topic deserves the most careful consideration on the part of all true Christians: 61S pages, Sac. Procurable likewise in Dane-Norwegian, Finnish, German, Greek, and Swedish.

Series VI, “The Kern Creation,” deals with the creative week (Genesis 1,2), and witli the church, God's new creation. It examines the personnel, organization, rites, ceremonies, obligations, and hopes appertaining to those called and accepted as members of the body of Christ : 7111 pages, s5<- Supplied also in Dano-Norwegian, Finnish, German, and Swedish.

.Vo foreign editions in the pocket size.

AND HERALD OF CHRISTS PRESENCE

Voi. XLI                                             May 15, 1920                                               N<». 10

VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER

IT IS not tin' buHiiev of tin¹ Lord’s people to feed on the cariioi. of the dead and decomposing world that was. Their food is more akin to the ’feast of fat things and wines on the lees’ which Jehovah has prepared for the strengthening and enthusing of the world under Messiah’s kingdom of peace and plenty. But while the Lord’s people do not feed upon the current affairs of the world. they are deeply interested tn watching and in observing them, because in them th'y see fulfillment of prophecy and signs of the activities of their Lord and Head.

The Reverend William Allan, Pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in New York, in asking the question, “Is the Lord among us or not?" is reported by the New-York American as saving in reply:

" ‘You will observe that the question is not. ‘Are the rich among us or not ?’ The value of riches we would not dispute, especially when, in the >ame person, you have gold wedded to grace. Neither is it, ‘Are the talented among us or not?’ although when talent i-, laid at the feet of Christ a valuable as.-»et is added to the power of the gospel. However, if the Lord is not among tn, none of these—riches, talents, or anything else—can take his place or do what he alone can do.

'To have him among us we must be prepared to pay the price. There must be no half-measures; no compromise with the enemy; no flirting with the world. Christ must be master; and the kev-note of our lives, ‘Tie must increase; I must decrease'.

‘‘‘When the Lord is among us the spiritually dead will be quickened into newness of life: the near-sighted will have length anti breadth of spiritual vision; the fearful Ite made bold as lions, fearing not the frown of man, but courting only the favor of God. . . .

“ ‘One reason why there is so much cause for complaint about poor attendance at most churches is because the Lord is not. among us. In too inanj cases Christ is on the outside seeking to gel in. while we are proud of the large sums of money we are able to raise by our great mass movements, acting all the lime as it silver and gold could take the place of spiritual power mid Ilie grace of God. both of which only come when the Lord is among ns. When he is among us ‘it will be noised abroad that he is in the house' and the weld will once more Hock to the place where Jesus is.

"'<>11. for !I return nt Ilie old days, with the Lord in the midst of the assembly of his people, directing and dominating the manifold activities of the churchy"

They are missing the voice of the Bridegroom

THE WORLD IN THE CHURCH

The Interchurch World Movement, alluded to in the above quotation, is having a great deal of publicity these days. Indeed the movement publishes a paper of its own. If the support of the great and mighty and astute ones of the world could bring success, this World Movement would surely be crowned with glory. But we fear that the movement is too nearly just what its name implies

the world moving among the churches, a movement on the part of the world in and among the professed church of Christ to dominate its policies and to determine its course in harmony with worldly wisdom.

In Canada it is called the Interchurch Forward Movement and for the first time in the history of that country the Anglicans have joined with four other large denominations--the Baptist, the Methodist, the Presbyterian, and the Congregaiionalist--in a simultaneous drive. There have been two sets of objectives, spiritual and financial. The results, financial of course, have been much to the gratification of the participants, and the rejoicing of the leaders is great.

But all the denominations do not. look with equal approval upon the Inierchurch World Movement as being a panacea for all the church’s ills. Some of them seem to think that it is an added ill. The Southern Baptists have rejected its approaches kindly but firmly. The Shreveport (La.) Times reports the action of seven local churches, endorsing action previously taken by the Southern Baptists in Louisville, as follows:

“ ‘Inasmuch as the Interchurch World Movement is seeking to superintend and direct the energies of all evangelical denominations;

“ ‘And inasmuch as pastors and churches are being called upon to join in plans and programs for promoting this superchiirch organization ;

“ ‘We. the pastors, deacons, and members of the seven Baptist, churches of Shreveport, Louisiana, in mass meeting assembled, deem it wise Io faithfully, frankly and fraternally state our position upon this movement.

“ ‘first of all, we would declare our sincere Christian affection for all peoples of whatever name or faith who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and would give grateful thanks for that spiritual unity which can neither be made nor marred by mere mechanical union;

“‘We rejoice also in the privilege of cooperating with those of any ffaithl or of Christian faith, in the promotion of such humanitarian Interests as do not impinge upon the fundamental principles of conscience and conviction:

“ 'And wo hereby allirm as the supreme standard of our conduct, not sentiment, nor elticiem-y. nor the united powers of divergent organiz:ilions, hut the law of the Lord Jesus as expressed in the New Testament ;

“‘Wo cannot look with favor nor cooperate in conscience with Ibis inlerchurch movement.'"

AN INTERPRETATION DESIRED

The Cincinnati Christian Standard, a Disciple organ, wishes that someone would be so kind as to come along and interpret the movement. It says:

“When men organize u stock company, they work out the details of their enterprise and give the public definite information concerning it. A religions movement, in which the public is asked to invest sentiment and time ami money, should operate upon a like basis. Information respecting an enterprise is the nugget of gold greatly desired.

“The Interchurch World Movement is an enterprise, speedily launched, with trumpets at its lips and bells on its fingers. No other religious movement in the history of the church has ever made so much noise in such a short time as has the Interchurch Movement. On borrowed capital, it has hired a thousand and one brass bands which have been sent marching down the various streets—all the musicians playing on their instruments until they are red in the face. The attention of the public has been enlisted—a noise always attracts attention. And when the public looks It sees the extraordinary—if the extraordinary is in sight. Conventions, conferences, state ‘set-ups’ (each affair costing a fortune), an army of high-salaried men on Pullman trains and in first-class hotels, a rental of ,$350,000 per annum for office space in New York, and other odds and ends of glint and glare too numerous to mention—it is all passing in bold relief before the astonished gaze of the world. Naturally, people everywhere are asking: What’s it all about?

“A sympathetic editor answers: ‘It is God’s after-the-war program.’ Another editor avers that it is Christian union in active operation—union that has unexpectedly and spontaneously appeared just at the psychological moment when all the denominations are ready to drop their differences and join hands in the ta^k of saving the world. On the other hand, platform men (especially at the Atlantic City Convention) have gone out of their way to explain that the Interchurch World Movement is not endeavoring to promote Christian union, and that it exists primarily to strengthen denominationalisin. Again, bulletins anil other official literature have encouraged federation, even to the extent of announcing it as a part of the program, and at the same time Interchurch leaders are on record as having insisted that the movement is minus the very suspicion of federation. And so it goes—official interpretations of the Interchurch Movement are cross-wired, evasive, noncommittal, and, as a whole,they are about as clear as a London fog.”

It cannot be gainsaid by the most ardent friend of the movement that commercial and financial interests are strong therein and that these are much more pronounced than any spiritual phase of the matter. There is of course <?t«z«i-spiritual work for those who are spiritually inclined; but that does not stand out prominently. The New York News rather implies that besides being a financial movement in the name of Christ it also has a strong political coloring, when it states:

“Directors of the Interchureh World Movement announced today that ‘Big Business’ and ‘Wall Street’ are behind the nationwide movement to combat bolshevism and the ‘Reds’, and that various multi-millionaires are pledged to support the campaign of education and relief directed against radicalism."

COMMERCIAL INTEREST IN HEATHENDOM

From the Interchureh Bulletin we take the following paragraphs which are intended to impress upon the mind of the reader the fact that missionaries have been a real aid to commerce in pagan lands:

“To the missionary China owes her expertness in printing, as well as cotton and fruit agriculture.

"Siam has become proficient in tanning leather through the scientific aid of missionaries.

“Brazil and India have increased the food production of their soils through the guidance of men of the missions.

“Japan is richer through the introduction of American fruit trees by the advance agents of Christianity and progress.

“Natives of South Africa, formerly unemployed, now earn wages in sugar plantations and in the cultivation of cocoa beans, introduced by missionaries.”

Christianity would seem to be but another name for good business, as another extract from the same paper tends to show. At all events it shows that Christianity, as is, goes hand in hand with big business:

“George W. Wickersham, formerly United States attorney general, says in an interview that there is nothing incompatible between Christianity and modern business methods. A leading lay official of the Episcopal Church declares that what the churches need more than anything else is a strong injection of business methods into their management."

The Bible strongly suggests that there arc several things more needed in the church than modern business methods, useful though those might be. A paragraph from the Cincinnati Christian Leader on “The Coming of Our Lord” is willing to go half way and admit that some other things are at least as important:

“Disciples generally do not wish 10 see him come; seldom if ever, mention Ids coming, and never, as Paul and John did. pray for him to come. No subject is given greater prominence in the sacred Oracles than the coming of our Lord, and no other subject is as sadly neglected, unless it lie ’he subject of ‘church finance’. This sfaiement is based upon and measured by our deportment and our speech, our teach ng and preaching, and our prayers, belli privately and puhla-ly '

A VOICE IN PROTEST

The Leader, however, is far from being in favor of the Interchureh World Movement. Editorially it says on that subject:

“The Interchureh World Movemen-t seems Io be one v, uh jingling bells on its neck and loud-sounding trumpets in iis mouth. W hile it proposes great things ( ?) it is yet appear that it proposes Scriptural unity and organize’ mi among the denominations taking a part in it. It is nt being received everyvvhere with open arms, even among tlio-.e named as the ones to form Ilie merger. 'J'hc Journal nnii Messent/cr, a Baptist paper, says editorially:

“ ‘It is coming more and more to look as though the Baptist*, the Congregationalists and a section of the Disciples are to be the principal supporters of the Interchureh World Movement At least three of the Presbyterian papers are either lukewarm or positively arrayed against it. The Episcopalians have aslwil to he counted out. The Southern Baptists are positively against it. The Methodists put their own church interests before it, and many of the Disciples are quite indifferent to it. Some of the smaller sects, with possibly the Lutherans, may be counted on to support it, but so far as now appears, the Baptists have the laboring oar, and are expected to do a very large proportion of the work. Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and a few wealthy men in New York, are standing by, financially, and so long as they are willing to foot the bills, the machinery, at least, will he kept in motion?

“In nil that we have read thus fur concerning it and u hat is proposed to be accomplished by it, we have, yet to see the Bible teaching on the question of becoming a Christina and living the Christian life mentioned ns the standard by which all faiths and practices are to be tried and maasuted. The policy seems to be. ‘We'll be as you are, ami you bo as we are: we'll say nothing about your teaching and practice, however absurd and un-Scriptural it may bo, and you are to say nothing about our faith ami practice, lie it ever wi carnal and un-Scriptural'."

“Any effort to secure apparent unity m sentiment and organization apart from the doctrine of Christ is wholly unworthy of the indorsement of any one who professes tn acknowledge the sovereignly of our I.ord ami Savior. Neither the unity for which be so fervently prayed, nor the oni.iii-ization which meets his approval, nor the spirit of his life, can be obtained by rejecting the doctrine of Christ. Th* spirit and life of the Christ can not be manifest in the individual or in the organization of individuals unless there first be the doctrine of Christ. All talk therefore about accomplishing a union in spirit and organization without appealing to all to obey the gospel of Christ, is a cheat, a fraud, a deception, a device of Satan to deceive the unwary. It is a conglomerate farcical union for the purpose, chiefly, to bring the church of Christ into a compromising position and thus break the force of the distinctive gospel which she preaches, or to make her so odious in the sight of all denominationalists for not uniting in the Movement that all a ill shun her.”

■Shortsightedness, or the inability to ‘see afar off, but only the things that are near,’ may lead to a failure to see the proper model and will lead to ‘measuring ourselves by ourselves, and comparing ourselves with ourselves,’ which is not recommended as a wise thing to do. The proper model is pointed out to us.

"The beloved Apostle John, in his first epistle, says: ‘That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen witli our eyes, that which we beheld concerning the Word of life, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us; yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ’.—1 John 1:1- 3.”

WHISTLE STOPS BOAT

The Continent, a leading Presbyterian journal, contains some significant words:

“What is the matter, anyway? Never did we have so much money. Never so many great secretaries I Never so much talk, and a 28,000 slump in membership. Has it taken all our strength to keep the machine going? I fear we are in the position of Lincoln's steamboat that had such a small engine and big whistle that every time it blew the whistle the boat had to stop.”

The Aberdeen (Scot.) Daily Journal in giving an editorial review of an address by a Scottish missionary to China reveals the fact that the commercial tinge of "C/irtsf-ianity'’ and of "Christian” activities is by no means limited to this side of the Atlantic or of the Pacific. Some of its paragraphs read:

“When we say that the address delivered by Dr. Dugald Christie on China yesterday to the members of the Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce is the most interesting that the members have yet heard we are not detracting in any way from the high standard maintained since these luticlieon-address gatherings were instituted. The subject cannot be regarded as a particularly absorbing one, yet Dr. Christie convinced those present that China has trade possibilities in directions which are worth the attention of the whole British commercial community, and also closely touch Aberdeen itself, which has already a Chinese tradition built up by the famous Aberdeen-Line clippers.

“Dr. Christie is the head of the Moukden Medical College, Manchuria, and lie is proving himself during his visit to this country to be a missioner in two ways. He desires the development of the Manchuria College, witli which he has been connected for thirty-eight years, but he also pleads for the extension of our commercial relations with that vast tableland of Eastern Asia over which there are spread four hundred million people.”

There is no doubt at all that missionaries have aided commercial advancement in heathen countries. Neither is there any doubt that such commercial or industrial advancement has sometimes worked for the benefit of the natives. That is not the question: the question is whether these things should be flouted as visible and tangible fruits of Christianity with a view to cajoling -hekels from the reticent and retiring pockets of the man of affairs.

The China manager of the Standard Oil Company, for instance, is, or was recently, an ex-missionary who had learned the language and the people. All the evidence goes to show that the Doctor is a very capable manager and that he has more statistical information on the Chinese Empire than the Pekin government itself has. But what has that to do with missions? Nothing at all; unless the missions themselves be, as many people suspect them to be, really commercial missions instead of Christian missions. They have not, as a rule, been established as commercial missions. There are doubtless many earnest and honest missionary workers, but they are just as often indebted to commercial or semi-religious powers for protection or favors, and this fact tends to minimize their influence for good.

MESSIAH THE ONLY CAPABLE COMMISSION

A special issue of Babson's Reports, devoted to the interchurch cause, suggests how nice it would be if everything were only nice in the world:

“The question arose as to how to interest the wageworkers of the country in the church. Also how to re-create in these wage-workers a desire to produce and take joy in service. I stated that this could be done only when we Christian business men, who could afford It, would make a real demonstration of public service from the employer's standpoint. I suggested that we could operate our industries as a public trust the same as we do our library associations, hospital boards and charitable institutions.

"The answer was made that if any one business man did this at the present time he would be severely criticized by his associates and perhaps would be misunderstood by his wife and children. This probably is true, hut would it be true if a large group did it! If a thousand manufacturers and merchants, with a gross business of a billion dollars a year, should agree to use their profits as some impartial commission might deem best for the community, I am sure that none of these thousand men would be criticized. Instead. I believe that they would go down into history like the signers of the Declaration of Independence. They would do for industry what our forefathers did for democracy.”

And who would constitute such an “impartial commission” ? Impartial means, naturally, that the members of such a commission would be of known sympathy with the donors and not partial to some lower element of society. If any other stratum of society even intimates the desirability of the very thing Air. Babson has here suggested, that stratum of society at once becomes dangerously radical, red, bolshevistic, etc., etc. But Mr Babson is perfectly safe in his offer; for no thousand business men are going to resign their holdings in favor of an impartial commission.

The Reverend Colonel David Carnegie in an article in the Toronto Globe remarks:

“All organized Christianity, which I regard as the ‘Church', is involved in the great industrial issues of today. The way out of the present industrial tangle is the problem. The increasing dillleulty of living decently and with reasonable comfort, is a disturbing element in the consideration of plans for procuring and maintaining industrial peace. Few people are normal. Some despair of reaching any just and equitable settlement. Others are bent on revolution, considering it inevitable. Well-balanced judgment, courage and common sense are at a premium. Never before has been such a sense of insecurity in the plans of men.”

“The Church, on this side of the Atlantic, at any rate, has taken sides with the employing and governing classes because of .-elf-interest. She has been disloyal and faithless to the charge committed Io her, but. in spite of all, she remains the one great avenue through which all that Christianity stands for is expressed. She alone has the spiritual message for the regeneration of industry.

“How can the Church discover and u-e I he secret of her power? She 1ms to discover that society and industry are inseparably linked together, that underlying both are fundamental principles of which she is the exponent.

"She has Scriptural warrant for taking her place in industry. and she holds the only ‘rules of the game’ in commeri e and manufacture which matter. She cannot escape from her rightful place in industry.”

THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS AND HIGHER CRITICISM

The Chicago Herald and Examiner reports an address by a Methodist minister thus:

“Methodist ministers were told yesterday that the theological schools of America are drifting away from the teachings of Christ, and that the Bible is no longer regarded by many preachers as the standard of faith.

“Dr. Henry Paul Sloan of the New Jersey annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church spoke at the ministers’ meeting held at First Church, Clark and Washington Sts., on the course of study required by the church for every minister. He said twenty-five annual conferences had sent a petition to the coming general conference to be held at Des Moines next May, demanding the course be revised.

“ ‘Many Methodist ministers disbelieve some of the fundamental conceptions of Christianity and teach the higher criticism, which is destructive of the foundations of evangelical belief.’ said the speaker.”

At least one preacher had more religion than he could comfortably hold, according to the statement in the Hamilton (Ont.) Herald of the Reverend Mr. F. W. Holl inrake upon resigning his pastorate of twenty-six years:

“ ‘Inasmuch as many friends are asking why I have decided to withdraw from the pastorate of Barton street church this coming conference, it seems only fair that I should make some explanation. This local action became a necessity because of my decision to withdraw from the Methodist church, and this latter decision has been reached after much conflict of soul, because I find myself out of harmony with the polity and teachings of the church in which I was brought up, and with which I have been connected as a student and minister for 29 years.

“ ‘My acceptance, teaching and preaching of the premillen-nlal view of Christ’s coming kingdom is the primary reason for my action. Since Jesus and his apostles all taught that he was coming for his church and then afterwards for the purpose of establishing the kingdom of God on earth, I cannot do otherwise than believe this. The acceptance of this teaching brings joy to my soul and is the main inspiration of my preachings.

“‘On the other hand the teaching and preaching of this premillennial truth the Methodist church repudiates and will have none of it. While individuals in other communions do not hesitate to combat this interpretation of Scripture, yet Methodism acts as though it were commissioned with the divine task of rooting out premlllennialism as a noxious growth from the theological field. Interpreting the Scriptures as I do, I am forced to two conclusions:

“‘(1) That present-day church agencies are not intended in the plan of God to bring about the conversion of the world, but rather the evangelization of the world that a people may be called out from all nations to form the church which is his body.

“‘(2) That this age of grace will end in judgment as other former dispensations, because of the sin of the world and the apostasy of the professing church. Taking this position and accepting the Scriptures just as they read, I find myself out of harmony with my church on the question of the inspiration and divine authority of the Word of God.’”

" ‘Implicitly do I believe that holy men of old wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and when they say that Jesus is coming again I cannot do otherwise than believe, teach and preach it, even though the position created be so uncomfortable as to lead to my going out of my church. The whole question of the supernatural stands or falls with the acceptance or rejection of the words of Jesus and Paul as being inspired of the Holy Ghost.

“ ‘Coincident with this all but general challenging of the Inspiration and authority of the Word of God, there ha» come to pass a decided doctrinal declension in the church. The deity of our Lord is being denied. The substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins through the shedding of his precious blood is relegated to the heap as a worn-out doctrine. . . .

“ ‘This doctrinal declension is becoming so marked today that it would seem impossible to hope for improvement by remaining in the denomination.

" ‘The blessed hope as bound up in the premillennial position accentuating, as it does, the spiritual in all my inner life and outward activity, forces me to pronounce the stresss-laid on social service by my church a mistake.’ ”

“ ‘Since preaching boldly the truth, as God has given me to see it, means constant friction, locally as well as in wider circles, resulting in breaking of fellowship, life is thus robbed of much of its real joy. I must now seek fellowship among those who sympathize with my views.’ ”

‘AND BE YE THANKFUL”

"In every thiny yire thanks: for this is the will of (lod in ('hrist .Im eoneerniny you."—1 Th< ssalonians 5: IS.

THANKFULNESS is here described as being a part of God’s will for us. In another place the same Apostle impresses upon our minds the importance of gratitude by saying. “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body ; and be i/e thankful". (Colossians 3 :15) One of the most reprehensible things in the world is ingratitude. Indeed, ingratitude stands out as a most prominent factor in human experience. The Apostle says as much in describing the causes which have contributed so largely to human depravity. Concerning the Gentiles he says: “When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened”.-Rom. 1:21.

Gratitude is like a box of ointment which blesses not only the possessor but fills the room and the whole house with its pleasing aroma. It is suggestive of the finer things of life. Gratitude is a humble recognition and heart acknowledgment of benefactions received or of benevolent intentions exercised on our behalf. We find it springing forth (1) when we are not expecting such good deeds or good wishes, (2) when we have no legal claim to them, or (3) when we had expected bare justice and got mercy or clemency instead. Gratitude is a special affection which seems to combine kindly feeling with some sort of emotional recognition of superiority, in one act at least,

GOD’S GOODNESS APPRECIATED

Gratitude begins with appreciation. We come to appreciate God’s goodness, as revealed in his Word. Our minds grasp some of the facts involved; we con them over; we reflect upon and admire them; we appreciate God’s wisdom and God’s interest in mankind as manifested in his wonderful provision for their blessing. If this mental appreciation of God’s qualities finds i espouse in our hearts, then appreciation sinks down into and takes hold of our inmost all’ections. Appreciation thus grows into gratitude, and gratitude is merely a modern word for thankfulness.

If the heart be full of gratitude it will seek avenues of expression. At (‘very appropriate opportunity, at every reasonable opening, the grateful heart will seek to call attention to the goodness of God as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ. The thankful person will not be among those who “give not God the glory”.

We find our gratitude going out first toward God Jehovah. Thankfulness is a part of our devotional attitude toward him. As the Apostle expresses it: “In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God”.

Philippians 4: 6.

“Fountain of mercy. whose perv mliim eve ('an look wil liin and see what passes there.

Accept m.v thoughts for thanks: 1 have no words -My soul, o'erfratight with gratitude.

Rejects the use of language: Lord, hehold my heart!"

Secondly, our gratitude goes out not only to Jehovah and to his Son Jesus, who are vastly our superior in every respect, but also toward our equals, toward those on the same plane of being, for deeds of benefaction and sympathy. Thirdly, it is not an unknown thing that our gratitude go out to inferiors. It is hard to imagine ourselves being grateful to a hog. but we might under certain circumstances be verv grateful to a dog or to a horse.

In respect to those on the same plane of being as ourselves, the Apostle gives us a recipe whereby appreciation and gratitude may develop. He says: "Let each esteem other better than themselves". (Philippians 2: 3) If we have a true appreciation of our own shortcomings and an equally true appreciation of the points of virtue in other members of the body of Christ we can honestly look about us and say to ourselves: 1 wish that I had the fortitude of that sister, the courage of that brother, the generosity of mind of this one, or the kindness of heart of that one. If we are unable to see some admirable fruit of the spirit in other members of the body of Christ it is an unfavorable sign a> re-jiects our own spiritual health. "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not -eim ? " 1 John 4 ■ ?<>

FOUNTAIN AND CHANNEL OF MERCY

But though there are । ontinually occasion-- for gratitude toward our brethren, toward members of the human lace, or toward lower orders of animal life, there can be no quest ion that the chiel recipient-- of our thankfulness are Jehovah God and hi> Sou Je-iis ('lirist our Savior. As the author and source of everv bounty Jehovah deserves all the grat itudc we । an muster As the channel for conveying those blessings to u.~ our Lord Jesus should be likewise honored. 'This is not a mere matter of court etiquette or set form. It is not an unpleasant duty to perform in any perfunctory manner. It is a genuine attitude of heart toward God for his goodness toward ns. or it is nothing at all. Doubtless one of the reasons why Jehovah -o approved of King David, lay in the fact tba! he was grateful, thankful, tilled with appreciation of his own unworthiness and of God’s great kindness. On one occasion he said: “Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits”. (Psalm 103:2) Divine benefits, heavenly boons, are so numerous and ever present that we are sure to forget some of them, but it is a matter wholly without excuse if we forget them all. Some go much further than this and say. "There is no God” (Psalm 53:1), even while subsisting on the very benefits which God has provided, even while employing the very breath and the very power of speech which his wisdom made possible for man.

lien all tliy mercies. <) my God.

M.v rising soul surveys.

Transported with the view I’m losi In wonder, love, and praise.’

'I’ho tendency to ingratitude is attributable to Satan, the father of it. When he was set as the covering cherub in Eden, instead of using bis extraordinary opportunities for glorifying God and for strengthening in man the tendency toward thankfulness, he misused his powers and succeeded in impressing on Mother Eve’s mind an ungrateful thought. This thought was to the effect that God was trying to keep some blessing from them and that he was doing so with jealousy as a motive.

INGRATITUDE AND ISRAEL

Ingratitude lay at the base of the sms of fleshly Israel. In Deuteronomy 8; 9:5, 6, and in other places, the Lord through Moses strove to impress upon the minds of the Israelites the blessings of gratitude and the baneful results of unthankfulness. He says: “Beware lest thou forget Jehovah thy God, . . . [and] thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget .Jehovah thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage ; who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents ano scorpions, and thir-ty ground where was no water; wno brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; win ted thee in tb.e wilderness with manna, which thy fathers l;new not; that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end: and lest thou ,-ay in thy heart. Aly power and the might of my hand hath gotten me thi< wealth But thou shall remember Jehovah thy God, for it is he that giveth fliei' power to get wealth."

The I’-almist David in a hur<t of gratitude devotes the whole thirty-third Psalm to reviewing the benefaction-, of Jehovah. Among other things he says: “Til* earth i.~ full of the loving kindness of Jehovah. . Let all the eaifb fear Jehovah; let all the inhabitanu of the woild stand m awe of him. Eor he spake, and r. wa- done; he commanded, and it stood fast. Jehovah In i ngel h the counsel of the nations to naught; he maketr the thought.- of the peoples to be of no effect. [But] the eoun.-el of Jehovah standeth fast for ever, the thoughts of ln< heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God i< Jehovah, the people whom he hath chosei¹ lor Ins own inheritance. . . . Gui soul hath waited for Jehovah; ho is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice m him. because we have trusted in his holy name. Det thy loving kindness, 0 Jehovah, tie upon u--. a.iording as we have hoped m thee.”

There are many occasions for our gratitude toward Jehovah. Some of them may bo profitably mentioned: We can and should be thankful for the support of our being—for life, even fragmentary life.

■‘Lord, I am glad for the great gift of living:

Glad for life’s day of bright sun and of rain ; Grateful for toil, with an endless thanksgiving;

Grateful for laughter, and grateful for pain.”

What if the life which we now have is beset with all manner of imperfections and difficulties? It is the only life we have; and it behooves us to make use of this much of divine favor. Surely we cannot be ungrateful toward him who “holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved”.—Psalm 66: 9.

FOOD, RAIMENT, SHELTER, SENSE

As contributing to the support of our being, and as making possible a continuance of the lessons and experiences which the Lord would have us learn as new creatures, we have the divine provision for food, for raiment, and for shelter for the natural body. Without Jehovah’s wonderful provision for productiveness of the earth’s surface we could not have any of these things, unless special miracles were worked on our behalf. Bible history shows us that even when as marvelous a thing tis bread from heaven was given the Jews the time came when their appreciation lagged and even died. There is great danger of overlooking God’s provision for our daily needs and of thinking or saying that our own astuteness and energy have brought us these things.

Again, we can and should be thankful to the Lord for the delight of our senses—for the privilege of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling. These are the inly avenues by which sense perception can reach us. If all of these things were suddenly removed from us we vould be in a veritable living death. Indeed, it is ioubtful whether the body would continue to function for any length of time. All of these senses have been used of the Lord as figures of speech to convey to our til-too-dulled perceptions some idea of the truth which he wished to bring to us. Even the natural and daily exercise of these senses becomes a delight to the thankful heart.

“There Is -.omethiiig in the sunlight Which I never saw before;

There’s a note within the robin's song I did not hear of jure."

And again:

“Sweet prospects, sweet birds, and sweel flowers.

Have all gained new sweetness to me.”

Another occasion for gratitude is the privilege of agreeable exercise of our rational faculties. We are invited to do this by none less than Jehovah himself: ‘‘Come now, and let us reason together”. (Isaiah 1:18) All the sublime subjects, all the exalted prospects brought to our attention in the Lord’s Word could not be considered by us if the human organism had not been endowed with such faculties as make it possible for us 'o think in some degree from God’s standpoint.

EARTHLY HOME AND FRIENDS

We can be grateful for earthly home and friends. Not ±11 of the Lord’s people have an earthly home; but all of them have friends. Nearly, if not quite all, have had some kind of home in their lifetime. They can be thankful for this because it furnishes a basis of comparison with the heavenly home, the home that is to be, and where no difficulties and no imperfections, no death, no unhappiness shall enter. The highest form of friendship is that which exists between those of similar characters; and since all the Lord’s people are striving to please the same Lord and have more in common than any other group of people on earth they have a basis for the truest, most lasting, and most fruitful friendship. This friendship is sorely tried; it is constantly put to the test because of imperfections in the organisms of those whom the Master has called friends. But there is unspeakably \aluable practice in it all, to say nothing of the joys of gratitude toward God that he has not left us alone in the narrow way.

We will not overlook nor fail to be thankful for the privilege of having responded to the high, the heavenly calling.

“Not alone hath grace redeemed me. Bought me with Christ’s precious blood.

Sought me out when I a stranger

Wandered from the fold of God : But beyond this great salvation God hath shown me wondrous grace. Called me with a heavenly calling Ever to behold his face.”

In running for the prize of this high calling we have many privileges of divine service. In the first place we have the incomparable honor of being brought into the divine family through Jesus, the only means of access to God. Then we have the privilege of practicing with certain possessions. None of the Lord’s people has vast possessions; but each has something. And with that something we can demonstrate either our faithfulness or unfaithfulness so thoroughly that the King of kings and the Lord of lords will determine our destiny in harmony, with our conduct. Suppose we had absolutely nothing, hot even a pocket knife or a watch or a lead pencil: how would we practice? We can surely be grateful for possessions, though they do increase our responsibility. Likewise, we all have some time, some personal influence, some education, some experience, some power of utterance with which we can practice and demonstrate to the Lord our good intentions and the honesty of our desire to serve him.

DIVINE INSTRUCTIVE METHODS

Perhaps we are not always grateful enough for the methods which the Lord uses in instructing us. Surely we should Im thankful for the freedom he allows us in our conseciated vay. He deals with us in such a manner as not to i: al?> automatons out of us, but rather in such a way a- enable us to worship God in spirit and in truth. The instructive providences which he gives us are with a \ iew to convincing us of the desirability of his way, and of the inferiority of our own. Sometimes this end is best accomplished in us by letting us have our way, just to show us how miserable our judgment or our taste is, just to let us see how unutterably better it had been to have followed more carefully the Lord's instructions. If we try long enough and hard enough to have our own way very likely he will let us have it, but there will bo corresponding leanness of soul.-Psa. 106:15.

The grateful, thankful heart may go on from grace to .grace, from strength to strength, from knowledge to knowledge, from attainment to attainment; but if gratitude begins to wane and our advantages are accepted either as matters of our own attainment or of good luck, in that same proportion we will find ourselves growing ■cold spiritually; and with unthankfulness will come unholiness, spiritual conceit and pride, and all of this will lead to spiritual dearth, and, if persisted in, to spiritual death.

It is plain, therefore, that in the cultivation of the spirit of praise, thanksgiving, and loving appreciation of the manifest goodness of God, is the Christian’s secret of a happy life. And in order to the cultivation of such a spirit it is necessary that we continually call to mind Jehovah’s acts of mercy and of grace; that in our prayers we frequently tell him how all his goodness is remembered, how every fresh evidence of his love and care causes faith to take deeper root and makes the sense of his presence and favor more fully realized.

Thankfulness will make every trial and sacrifice on our part seem small and proportionately easy to be offered; and it will make all of God’s mercies and favors toward us proportionately grand and great and inspiring.

“Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory ; Amen, and Amen.”—Psalm 72:18, 19.

. "Father, whate’er of earthly bliss Thy sovereign will denies, Accepted at thy throne of grace, Let this petition rise.

"Give me a calm, a thankful heart b rom every murmur free:

The blessings of thy grace impart.

And make me live to thee.

“Let the sweet thought that thou art mine Sly every hour attend;

Thy presence through my journey shine, And crown my journey’s end.”

MEMORIAL REPORTS

Brooklyn, N. Y........

London, Eng

Chicago, Ill

■Glasgow, Scot

Los Angeles, Calif. _____ .

Cleveland, Ohio.......

Pittsburgh, Pa. ...

Helsingfors, Finland

Boston, Mass

Detroit, Mich..........

Liverpool, Eng

Vancouver, B. C

•St. Louis, Mo. . ..

Philadelphia, Pa...........

Toronto, Ont

Port of Spain, Trin.....

Winnipeg, Man

Baltimore, Md

Stockholm, Sweden

Washington, D. C.        ...215

Manchester, Eng

Seattle, Wash

■Roseland, Ill

Columbus, Ohio

Buffalo, N. Y

Denver, Colo

Dayton, Ohio

•Copenhagen, Denmark .... 175 Indianapolis, Ind..........

San Francisco, Calif

Cincinnati, Ohio

Oakland, Calif

Manor Park, (Lon. E.) Eng. 15*

Edinburgh, Scot

San Antonio, Tex........

Spokane, Wash

Tacoma, Wash. . ...........  .

Toledo, Ohio

Minneapolis, Minn

Milwaukee, Wis

Leeds, Eng. .

Bristol, Eng

•Georgetown, B. G......    . .112

Akron, Ohio

Oldham, Eng. ______ . ..... 107

Louisville, Ky

Erie, Pa

St. Joseph, Mo

Oklahoma, City, Okla

Duluth, Minn

San Diego, Calif

Jacksonville, Fla. .

Victoria, B. C............

Belfast, Ire. . ..       .. .. .. .

Leicester. Eng

Lancaster, Pa

Worcester, Mass

Binghamton, N. Y

Chicago, Ill. (Lithuanian).

Everett, Wash

Bridgetown, Barbados ...

Richmond, Va

Youngstown, Ohio ..

Santa Ana, Calif

Nottingham, Eng

Paterson, N. J

Duquesne, Pa

East Kirkby, Eng

Rochester, N. 1. .      ..

London, Ont

Wichita, Kans

Edmonton. Alta .   ...

Bridgeport, Conn

Allentown, Pa

Pasadena, Cal

York, Pa..........

Bay City, Mich

Panama, R. P

Fresno, Calif

Croydon, Eng.........

Hull, Eng......

Sharon, Pa

Southend-on-Sea, Eng

Donain, France ..

Hamilton, Ont

Wallasey. Eng......

St. Petersburg, Fla

Bloomfield, bt J

Burlington, Wash

Canton, Ohio

Elizabeth, N. J

Port Huron, Mich

South Bend, Ind.....................

Ft. Smith, Ark.........................

Lawrence, Mass.......................

Crooksville, Ohio ....................

Dubuque, Iowa ........................

Knoxville, Tenn.......................

Oxford, Eng.............................

Quincy. Mass.............................

Tonawanda, N. Y.....................

Wolverhampton, Eng...............

Danville, III.............................

Lincoln, Neb.............................

Saginaw, Mich.........................

Abilene, Kans...........................

Elgin, Ill...................................

Springfield, Ill.........................

Stockton, Calif.........................

Airdrie, Scot.............................

Kingston, N. Y.......................

Mansfield, Eng.........................

Paso Robies, Calif...................

Tiffin, Ohio ..............................

BROTHER GILLESPIE’S COURSE ENDED

MANY of our readers have known Pilgrim Brother J. A. Gillespie, as he lias tnitelled from town to town and from city to city with words of comfort and cheer from God’s Word. We are just informed that he has finished tiis course of sacrifice, faithful in embracing opportunities for service of the truth till the last.

He died in sleep at Akron, Ohio, Friday evening, at 6 o’clock, April 23. The immediate cause of deatli was described as being high blood pressure and exhaustion. Up to within a few days of his demise Brother Gillespie was serving both friends and public with the truth in both the oral and the mute languages. The following brief information was found in his pocket:

“John A. Gillespie, born in Pennsylvania, June 5, 1845; educated in Iowa State University; enlisted and served in the 2tith Iowa Cavalry in the Civil War two years and three months; taught public school two terms; taught six years in the Iowa School for the Deaf; served nineteen years as Superintendent of the Nebraska School for the Deaf at Omaha, Neb.; author of “The Auricular Method of Teaching the Semi-Deaf”; found the truth, God’s plan, about 1910; served as a Pilgrim under auspices of I.B.S.A. from 1912—”

SOUL SENSE

[Some earnest and clear-sighted student of the Scriptures has written the following interesting treatise on the soniL It came to us as sheets from a magazine, with no page headings. It is so fully in harmony with our own understanding on the subject that we offer the major portion of it in reproduction.—Ed. Com.]

THE only possible way to understand correctly the meaning of an individual’s statement is by what he says. To assume any other meaning than what is said, is sheer nonsense. This is preeminently true of the soul question, which, in the light of Holy Scripture alone, is as plain as a b c. But when a person accepts absurd and ridiculous human interpretations about the soul, in place of the sensible teachings of the Bible, he becomes almost case-hardened against the fundamental truths of the gospel.

The first one to assume that man by nature is immortal was Satan. In Genesis 3: 4 may be found that sentence sermon in which the wily foe injected a ‘‘not” into the very words of God, making them read, “Ye shall not surely die’’. So the author of the popular theory that all men tire immortal is the one whom Jesus declared to be “a liar from the beginning”. Yet in spite of all the world’s cemeteries, life insurance corporations, wills, hearses, undertakers, tombstones, etc., the devil’s first lie to man is insistently, persistently, but not consistently, peddled to-day, particularly in the general run of funeral discourses.

Said a little fellow to his widowed mother, at his father’s grave: “Why did our pastor say that papa went to heaven, when he knows we put him in the grave? Mamma, why do you look up? Isn’t papa in the ground?”

“Of course, the body is in the ground,” says one; “but what about the soul?” As though a supposed conscious entity could live on independent of the body! If such were the case, why the need of a resurrection to saddle a material body on a supposedly conscious, invisible, happy spirit? And where are such invisible butterflies before the birth of the body ? He who assumes, as Satan suggested, that man has an immortal something which lives on after death, independent of the body, has also created the need of supposed intermediate states for such supposed conscious spirits.

PAVES THE ROAD TO NONSENSE

Such a theory not only discounts and muddles the plain Scriptural truth concerning certain parables, visions, the resurrection, the judgment, the second adtent, rewards and punishments, and not only paves the way for spiritualism- -the devil’s masterpiece in deception-but such a nonsensical and un-Scriptural assumption most logically and inevitably leads one to beliexe. in an eternally burning lake of fire and everlasting punishing, instead of “everlasting punish-wenf’. As if the wages of sin were eternal life! As if the devil himself were the Lord’s trusty immortal (?) servant and ally, instead of being a lying, deceiving, wonder-performing adversary, who is himself doomed for destruction, and who well knows it, too.—Revelation 12: 12.

Spirit and soul are mentioned in the Bible over <810 times; but not once are they said to be immortal or never dying. But we do read, in Ezekiel 18: 4. 20. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die”. Please note: "Jf shall ,1k¹". "It shall die.” "It. shall die."

But what is the soul?

First, I desire to say, I am no hair-splittingtheologian. I have no pet theories of my own to present. I shall not go beyond nor above what is written, but shall endeavor to call attention to what the Word of God says about the soul, and how the word “soul” is generally used in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.

God is the “fountain of life”. (Psalm 36: 9) He has given life and breath to all. (Acts 17 : 25) All creatures have breath. They could not live without it. Furthermore. all creatures have “one breath”. (Ecclesiastes 3: 19) Lot no one assume that the breath of life is an immortal, conscious entity; for that would inevitably tie one to the logical conclusion that every creature that crawls, jumps, runs, swims, or flies, likewise has an immortal soul of such conception. Of all creatures, man only was made in the image and likeness of God. As an accountable being, he alone has hope beyond the grave, yet only through Jesus Christ, who holds the keys.

But how was man created, and what is the soul?

LIKE A “DEAD” LOCOMOTIVE

Genesis 2: 7 explains all. And remember, this is the first place in the Bible where the soul is mentioned. Now in all simplicity, please note what it says: “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and’ breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [not an immortal soul]; and man became a living soul”. Though formed in the image and likeness of God, man was lifeless until he received “the breath of life”. As the result of receiving “the breath of life”, the formed man became a living soul. The bodily organs were then active. There was function. There were thoughts. The whole living, throbbing man is the living soul.

But when man loses that same “breath of life”, bodily functions have ceased entirely, and man is still in death. Without the “breath of life” man can no more be active than can a "dead” locomotive pull a train of cars. And on the other hand, “the breath of life” can no more live on, and think and act, independently of the body, than can coal, water, and fire, without the locomotive, pull a train of cars.

The whole living man is the living soul, but not an immortal sou). ITis eternal life was conditioned on obedience. After the fall, he va< shut away from the guarded "tree of life”, lest he partake of it. after he had sinned, and li\e forever. Sinners are never to be immortalized. The unbeliever is to perish. John 3:16.

EASY MARKS FOR PURGATORY

I have before me a catechism entitled, “Catechism for the Catholic Parochial Schools of the United States,” by IV. F.urber. On page 11 the question is asked:

"How did God make man?”

Then the question is answered thus:

"God made the body of Adam out of earth, and breathed an immortal soul into it.”

Yet all the time, the Roman Catholic Pouay version ef the Bible truthfully says, “God formed man from the slime of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul". When people accept the dogmatic, superstitions fables of human catechisms in place of the sensible truths of Holy Scripture, they are thus led on to a blind belief in intermediate states, saint worship, prayers for the dead, masses; and they become easy marks for purgatorial exploiters.

I repeat, The entire living man is the living soul. The breath of life and the spirit of life are one and the same. See Job 2'7 : 3; 33:4; Psalm 104 : 29 ; and James 2: 26, margin. Genesis 7: 21, 22, margin, speaks explicitly of “the breath of the spirit of life".

When we read, in the daily press, headlines to the effect that so many souls were drowned, burned, or otherwise killed, everybody knows at once that so many persons were killed; and that is strictly the soul sense of the Bible. But when the same word is used by theologians in religious circles, especially in the general funeral service, too many imagine that it means a sort of invisible, immortal, conscious butterfly something altogether apart from the body; and that is solely nonsense.

A HANDCUFFED SOUL

Quoting Genesis 2: 7, Paul declares, in 1 Corinthians 15:45, that “Adam was made a living soul”—not that an immortal soul was given him, but he was made a living soul. Since then, souls are “born”, as we read in Genesis 46:15, 18, 22, 25, Souls have ears, lips, and hands, Leviticus 5:1-4 informs us; and have blood, according to Jeremiah 2: 34. We read, in Leviticus 7: 27 and Luke 12: 19, that souls cat; and in Proverbs 25: 25, that they drink. In Genesis 46 : 27 and Exodus 1: 5, we read of seventy souls going down into Egypt; and Deuteronomy 10: 22 says they were persons. Persons, in turn, are souls, we are informed in Gen. 14:21, margin.

Joseph’s soul was “laid in irons”. (Psalm 105:18) Imagine the constable going down the street with an invisible butterfly soul securely handcuffed.

Souls can be bought. (Leviticus 22:11) Imagine a slave buyer having the. popular conception of a soul "knocked down’’ to him for a few thousand dollars, and then have the satisfying task of walking off with it. You know that slaves are bought to work; but in Proverbs 19:15, 16, we read that souls can be idle.

Psalm 63:9 says that Saul sought for David’s soul. Could any one have convinced Saul that he had it. until lie had the man David himself?

Acts 27:37 tells about 276 souls being shipwrecked; and 1 Peter 3: 20 with Genesis 7 : 21, 22 tells of souls being drowned. Isaiah 47 : 14. margin, informs us that they can be burned. So concerning this first death, souls can be put to death by man ; but concerning the second death, only the Lord can administer that. (Matthew 10: 28 and Luke 12: 4, 5) Joshua, with his sword, “utterly destroyed" souls. “Every man they smote, . . . neither left they any to breathe.” (Joshua 10 : 28, 30, 32, 35, 37. 39. 40; 11:11. 14) So living souls breathe, but dead souls do not. When the breath of the spirit of life permanently leaves the man. he is dead : he is absolutely unconscious, and soon molders away in the tomb. See Ecclesiastes 12:7 ; Psalm 104 :29 ; James 2 :26, margin ; Psalm 14 6: 3, 4 ; and Ecclesiastes 9: 5, 6, 10.

* * *

Why will professedly Protestant Christian ministers persist in serving the chaff of the “immortal soul” theory, “'trimmed” with the red-hot sauce of “everlasting torment”, when the world is fairly starving for the soulsatisfying truths of the Word of God? Life only through Christ, to the individual believer, is the sensible teaching of the Book.

THE DEVIL’S BANYAN TREE

In that first lie to man, the devil planted the seed of the "immortal soul tree”. Like the banyan tree, it has dipped down into the carnal heart, and has grown to monstrous proportions, cursing the entire world with all its heavily loaded and baleful fruit. Yet that old tree must come down; for the Word says, “Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up”. (Matthew' 15: 13) Its branches are not a safe place in which to roost. Those who humble themselves to come down out of that old Babylonian tree, and build safely upon the Word of God, will have access to the tree of life.

After partaking of the following symposium, mark these important texts in your own Bible. God is “immortal” (1 Timothy 1:17) God “only hath immortality”. (1 Timothy 6:16) Christ “hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”. (2 Timothy 1:10) Man is “mortal” (Job 4:17), and must “by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glorv and honor and immortality, eternal life”. (Romans 2:7) Such are to be “clothed upon”, “swallowed up of life” (2 Corinthians 5:1 - 1) -not unclothed, as though some invisible butterfly spirit were to be released from the body; but clothed upon. Who ever saw an overcoat | walking | around without a person in it? The breathless Punch and Judy talk only when the breathing ventriloquist is on duty.

Mortal believers are to “put on immortality” at Christ’s second coming. (1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thes-alonians 4:16-18; Revelation 20:5, 6) Thus eternal life i< a “gift of God” through .lesus Christ, but only to the individual believer. (Romans 6 : 23; John 3: 16; Revelation 22:11) “He that hath the Son hath life." (1 John 5: 11. 12) Eiki' Abraham’s promised seed and the inheritance. God "ealleth those things which be not as though they were" (Romans 4: 17), because of the certainty of it all. By faith, the individual believer has eternal life, even as a man receives a bank cheek. But the “eternal life" check will not be actually cashed until the second coming of Christ ; “for yc are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him m glorv". -Colo«sians 3:3. 1.

'rake God at his word. He means what he savs, and has said just what he means. Anti-biblical teaching is nonsense. What is the chaff to the wheat?

WHERE ARE OUR DEAD LOVED ONES?

[We reprint the following article from the Christian Leader, of Cincinnati, because of its notable faithfulness to the Bible teaching. It will be recalled by some of our readers that it was the Leader which supported Eider White in his debate with Brother Russell in 1908. It is gratifying to know that most of the points for which Brother Russell contended in that debate are now published on the first page of an opposing paper. Our interest is in the spread of the truth; and if some do not see the particular work which Is ours because of our understanding of the second presence of Christ, we can at least rejoice to the extent that the good news Is being spread by any one. The italics are not ours.l

IN A recent issue of the Leader some brother was asking that someone give him some information as to the punishment of the dead, and as yet I have seen nothing in the Leader columns [in reply] to this inquiry. Brethren, when we consider the importance of this question, it should not pass unnoticed; for since death is pronounced on all men, why should not we be willing to “search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have everlasting life, and they are they that testify of me”?

Now for a few Scriptures for our consideration. First, let us go to the beginning, yea. before death was abroad in the land. The God that made “all things”, including man, told the “highest” of his earthly creation to “dress and keep the garden”, and that he could eat of all the fruit of the garden except of the tree in the midst, which was the tree of knowledge of “good and evil”, and if he ate of it “that day he should surely die”. Dear reader, look again at this word, die; this means nothing else but cease to live. Webster says, “Die—to expire, perish”. Then if Adam’s curse, which the Lord that made him told him “he should surely die”, then he perished, not living on earth or elsewhere, but is dead. For God, who cannot lie, pronounced this sentence upon him, and if it were not for our adversary appearing on the scene and making an opposite statement, that Eve (and a great majority of her children still believe, and take it in preference of the blessed Lord’s statement) would not die. Remember he is the father of lies. He did not tell the truth to Mother Eve, for she did die as God said she would, so she and Father Adam brought death on the earth. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22) So we see, dear reader, we shall not remain dead, for Christ bought us with his own blood. “For since by man came death, by [one] man came also the resurrection of the dead.” (1 Corinthians 15:21) Then remember, “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price”. (1 Corinthians 6:19) (Christ’s life the price.) Again we see that Jehovah, God, did not let the human race remain dead, but that he “gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish [die] but have everlasting life”. (John 3:16) It took this perfect life (man), dear reader, to restore or purchase us back from the dead state. “I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Again: “Christ came to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many”. —Matthew 20: 28.

We have seen that it was the sin of our parents that brought death into the world. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Let us note the above quotation of Saint Paul. He did not say that the "wages of sin is” eternal, everlasting tortures, nor that it was life on some other plane; but it was death. So we see here that neither God nor Saint Paul agree with Satan that Eve “did not die”. And, too, there is nothing in the Holy Bible, in speaking of the departure of the people, that would indicate that they were more alive after they left this world than before, but to the contrary we read : “And they slept with their fathers,” “They were laid to sleep,” “Sleep the sleep of death,” “Sleep in the dust”. While there are many more kindred remarks, let this suffice.

Now we have seen somewhat at length that our loved ones really die, not living in torture, nor elsewhere; now let’s see where they go. We will consult the wisest man that has ever lived, first: “Whatsoever thy hands find to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest”. (Ecclesiastes 9:10) Now, to the fairminded this would be sufficient proof that everybody went to their graves at death, but let us hear “the man after God’s own heart”: “0 Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave”. (Psalm 30:3) Another, the most patient man, testifies in these words: “His soul draweth near unto the grave”. (Job 33:22) The great old Prophet said that the good and the bad went to the same place. The perfect man, Christ, “made his grave with the wicked”.—Isaiah 53: 9.

But, thank God, he will not always allow them to remain in their graves; they shall be brought forth. The grave [shall be] destroyed. “O grave, I will be thy destruction.” (Hosea 13:14) The grave shall lose its victory. “0 grave, where is thy victory?”—1 Cor. 15:55.

Now, in conclusion, let us hear what God will do with those that have not lived after his ordinances. “I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning.” (Isaiah 1: 26) He has also spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, that there would be a time that he would 'restore all things’.—Acts 3: 21.

This is submitted that the inquiring brother might see more of the love of the Father in dealing with the fallen race, which is 'groaning and travailing in pain together . . . waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body’. (Romans 8: 22, 23) May he, with all the rest that read the scriptures above referred to, have a better knowledge of God’s way of dealing with his creatures. May this be taken in love, as it is given from a sincere desire to help someone.

IM

PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

A DEAR brmher, who ue are sure has the interests of the Lord's people at heart, writes us thus: "There is a lamentable indifference on the part of many respecting the religious instruction of their children. This is evidenced by the manifest lack of parental control over the children and by the disorder and confusion caused by children in homes where parlor meetings are held. Evidently the tendency is for children to lose respect for parents who are giving time and study to their own spiritual welfare but neglecting to do this for their children, who are allowed io run at large and not receive any religious instruction. Some of the friends are much concerned about the matter and make inquiries and I try to show them the advantages of the Juvenile Bible Study lessons in The Golden Age others allow their children to go to the nominal Sunday Schools, to imbibe the multitudinous errors taught there, and feel that they are discharging their proper responsibility toward their oilspring. Brother Russell's oft-repeated suggestion. Hint the Word of God makes the parent responsible lor the religious training of the child, has too often fallen mi deaf ears.

"I think many of the truth friends uiuZereslinmlo the importance and value of those questions, as well as tlicir object. Some seem to think that they are designed for the children of the world. Others think the questions are 'loo old’ or ‘too deep' for children as young as live or six .vein's. Still others think that, since they are designated as ‘juvenile questions’, they are of no value to grownups. 1 understand that all of these suggestions are erroneous; but rather that the questions are to serve the world and especially the truth triends—the questions being asked and proof texts quoted lor the convenience of parents who are lacking in time or ability to do this themselves. 'This makes instruction very simple and easy. It is a mistake to consider these questions loo old for children old enough to go to school, or too young for anybody under a hundred years, at least. Truth parents can get much profit out of these studies in the instructing of their children, the thought as well as the lexi becoming more and more definitely fixed in the mind.

ONE QUESTION EACH DAY

“The suggestion that the parent use one quest ion each day, helping the child to a correct understanding of the text cited, is an excellent one. And in addition it would seem to be an excellent idea that the classes which have two or more children either of consecrated or unconsecrated parents choose some tactful sister (or brother) to review the seven questions of the week in a thirty-minute study, as a class •itmiy, on Sunday. This study might follow or precede one of the regular class studies.”

We heartily approve the suggestions contained in the above communication and we are reminded of the Bible instance of the High Priest Eli, who failed in dealing with Ins children, while in the same land and at the same time the parents of young Samuel were faithful and had the blessing of the God of Israel. While, under the divine arrangement of things in the world, man is the head of I he woman, it must be observed that both num and woman constitute the head of the home, as far as Ilie minor children are concerned. “Children, obey your patents in the Lord.” I Ephesians (1:1) The relationship of the mother to the child is masculine (in point of authority, but not necessarily m manner of dealing) even as, conversely, the relationship of both man and woman toward Christ Jesus is feminine— he “is the Head over all things to the church which is his body”. These are broad and basic facts, but a proper application of them bears directly on the question of parental responsibility. If the child's idea of its parents is that they are partly convenience and partly nuisance, it will be missing some of the most valuable lessons of life.

RESPONSIBILITY A BLESSING

Our observation is that there is no more common mistake made by parents than that of supposing their children to be unable properly to appreciate religious things at an early-age— say twelve years. Samuel's exjierienee and the experiences of many others assure us that some of the deepest religious sentiments may be experienced as early as twelve years of age. This should be watched for by the parents and should be cultivated with much more care than that bestowed upon the tenderest flowers in their gardens. The blossoms of veneration, spirituality, hope, faith, trust, in the child-mind need and should have the tenderest care, watering, weeding and assistance. The parent, by nature and by divine direction occupying a responsible position as gardener to these, must appreciate flowers in the hearts of Ins own lainiiy. If he neglect his responsibilities m tins direel ion, Iio is culpable, and will surely suffer, not only disappointment in respeci to his children in the I ul tire, bin will also ], ise cert a tn blessings in his own hea rt . Ini' il is pa ri ol 11 io di \ me a rr.i i icemen I 11 m t lie t ha I w a I ei'H I. others shall biniself be watered.—Proverbs 11:2a.

Public responsibilities and duties, and efforts to saw oilier people's children. can never excuse any l'hri-.|nin parent from Ins responsibilities toward his own children; nor can he shift his responsibilities upon Sunday School teacheis. His neglect of duty will surely work io his own disadvantage as well as to that of his offspring; and if in the past he has been negligent m tins matter he cannot rectify matters too soon, though he will need to pray for and to seek to exercise greater wisdom in order to over come his past neglect.

TWO KINDS OF UNFAITHFUL PARENTS

There are two kinds of parental unfaithfulness;

• (1) The harsh, cruel, wicked parents, who not only Inbreed an evil disposition, but inculcate the same by precept and example. If both parents be of this stripe, the child's condition is almost a hopeless one for the present life. The restitution conditions of the Millennium will be needed Io eradicate the taint. Yet where one parent belongs to God, the result may, under divine providence, be the reverse. The child may not only be better born, but discerning the evil of his parent's course be thereby repelled and prepared to take the opposite course.

• (2) Some “kind and indulgent parents” are very unfaithful to their trust. With our children partakers of the general weaknesses of the race, a kindness and indulgence which allows noxious weeds to develop in their characters is gross unkindness, very reprehensible in the sight of (hid and of those in accord wiili his Word. Indeed, il is possible that Ibis term, "kind and indulgent parents." is frequently used very inappropriately In many instances it would be more tiutlifid if less pohte. to say ■ "A weak and incompetent parent".

Surely all proper parents from the divine viewpoint will be kind to their cbildien: and all such should tie glad to be indulgent also, to the extent that the best interests of their cbildien will permit and not one meh fnrlher. But while the correcting rod must mil be spared when necessary, nor loo seveiely Used, yet the best rule where possible, where the disposition of the child will permit, is the rule of love. Beginning early. the parental love combined with firmness should so mould the child's mind that it would have absolute confidence in the parents' love and ill their loyalty to God's regulations in all of life's interests. To such a child the look of sadness and regret or the tear of sorrow on the parent's face will be more efficacious than many blows and much violent language.

THE LORD OUR SHEPHERD

--June 20 — Psalm 23 —

A FREQUENT AND SIGNIFICANT Pil l I RE— PROMINENT CHARACTERISTICS OF SHEEP — THE VOICE OF THE SHEPHERD — THE SHEPHERD’S GUIDANCE AND TENDER WATCHCARE OVER THE SHEEP—• REST, REFRESHMENT AND FEARLESSNESS—THE CUP OF DIVINE APPORTIONMENT.

“Jehovah. is my shepherd; I shall not scant.’’—Psalm 23:1.

THE Lord, iii calling his people his sheep, chose a very significant emblem of the character he would have manifested in them. The most noticeable characteristics of the sheep are meekness, docility, and obedience to the shepherd to whose care they fully entrust themselves. They are very true to the shepherd: they study his voice, watch for the indications of his will, and trustfully obey him. When they hear his voice, quickly, and without the slightest hesitation or faltering, they run to obey it. But the voice of a stranger they will not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers.

What a lesson is here for the Lord’s “little, flock”, over whom he is the good Shepherd. The weakest lamb in the flock knows his voice and hears him say: “This is the way: walk ye in it”. And while there are thousands of voices ■calling, now in this direction and now in that, the Lord’s sheep, acquainted with his spirit and his Word, iiirn away from all save the well-known voice of the Shepherd. In various ways our Shepherd speaks to his flock of sheep anil lambs. His written words treasured up in the heart mark the way of truth continually; his special providences further shape the peculiar course of each individual; and the abiding presence of his holy spirit makes manifest every intuition of any other spirit which seeks to beguile and to lead astray. The true sheep will carefully listen for the faintest accents of the voice of the Shepherd—i. e., they will treasure up his words in their heart; they will study his prosidences; and they will cultivate that communion and personal fellowship ■with the Lord which are their privilege. Those who thus abide in him can never go astray.

“They can neier, never lose their way.”

The wealth of their relationship to the ‘Great Shepherd” and his Son increases in their appreciation in proportion as they grow in knowledge. As our Redeemer said: “This is life eternal, that they might know thee and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent".—John 17:3.

NO GOOD THING WITHHELD

“I shall not want” may be applied to the necessities of the present life. We are assured that ‘no good thing will he withhold from us’; but lie specially means that we shall not want, not lack the disciplines, the trials, the instructions, the encouragements, the reproofs, and the assistance necessary to our attainment to all ‘the glorious things that God hath in reservation for those that love him’. The only •condition connected with the promise is that we shall abide in his love, abide in his flock, continue to hearken to his voice and to follow his directions. How dangerous then to all of the true sheep would be any measure of worldly ambition, pride, or self-esteem I How necessary that the heart should be right, desirous of knowing and obeying the Shepherd's voice! With what care should the sheep scrutinize the motives which actuate tlieir daily conduct, their words, and the thoughts of their hearts!

To lie down is to be at rest, to be happy. This is the privilege of all the Lord's true sheep. Outwardly they may be distressed and “on the run”, assailed by the world, the flesh, and the adversary, but as “new creatures” they maybe at rest, tit peace, because of their nearness to the Lord, the Shepherd, and because of tlieir faith in his overruling providence, which is able to make “all things work together for good”. “Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend [stumbleJ them.” These let the “peace of God rule in their hearts . . . and are thankful." It is to these that our Lord’s words apply: “My peace I give unto you, . . . Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

This rest, this peace of heart, is absolutely essential to <*ir development us “new creatures”, even as the crystals are deposited from the liquids when they are quiet and not when they are in agitation. So the crystalline character which God is developing in us absolutely demands that a condition of rest, peace, quietness of heart, shall be attained : and to the attainment of this condition patience, faith, and love, the chief graces of the spirit, are necessary.

RESTORED AND LED ARIGHT

He who carefully follows the Master, experiences the truth of the declaration, “He restoreth my soul”. Some find their spiritual strength refreshed as they walk in the paths of righteousness in which the Lord leads. He leads them “for his name’s sake”. This is one of the considerations. Our Lord, the Shepherd, has undertaken to do a shepherding work; to gather a flock. His promise is involved; his honor is at stake! We may be sure that not only because of his love for us will lie guide us aright, but because it would be a dishonor to him to make the slightest mistake in respect to our guidance. He is the Faithful Shepherd. The angelic hosts are watching and learning lessons in respect to all this shepherding of the flock in the narrow way—“Which things the angels desired to look into”.—1 Peter 1:12.

“The valley of the shadow of death” was entered by our race because of our first parents’ disobedience. We have been in the valley more than six thousand years. The shadow of death has been over the human family, and its accompaniments of sickness, pain, and sorrow have extended to every creature. Our text represents the true sheep as saying, “I will fear no evil”. How appropriate; how true! Weak and poor and insufficient and surrounded by foes, we nevertheless need not fear, and the developed sheep does not fear what the evil men or evil angels may seek to do, knowing that “all power in heaven and earth” is in the hands of our Shepherd King, and that he is directing our ways, and has guaranteed that our every experience shall work out a blessing, and that in permitting trials he merely designs our correction and instruction in righteousness and seeks to draw us nearer to himself and make us copies of his Son, to the intent that by the first resurrection change he may take us to himself and give us a share in the Millennial kingdom.

The shepherd’s rod or club was of hard wood, sometimes open and preferably of the shape of a golf stick, except that it was shorter and much heavier. With it the shepherd was prepared to defend the flock, combatting every foe. The staff was lighter and more like a cane and longer, with a crook at the end. With its point the shepherd at times prodded the sheep that were careless, and with the hook he sometimes helped out one that had stumbled into the ditch, by putting the crook under its forelegs. Our Shepherd, too, has a rod for our enemies and a staff for his sheep—the one for our protection, the other for our relief and assistance and correction.

THE CUP OF BLESSING

The picture of the shepherd and the sheep has been gradually fading, and now is in the past. Instead of pastures and the water-brooks we now have the table and the cup. In harmony with the promise of the Scriptures contained in verse 5. to all who open their hearts to receive the Lord he comes in and sympathizes with them. Yea, he girds himself as a servant and comes in and serves us—things new and old. Under this service all the old truths become fresh and appetizing, refreshing and strengthening. And new truths are ours, fitting to the peculiar time in which we are living and the special trials and tests now due to come upon the Lord’s faithful brethren.

Let us not spoil this beautiful picture with any thought of anointing a sheep's head, but rather take the. grander and -nobler view that our Lord .Tertis is the Christ, the Anointed; and that his anointing was typified by the anointing of Aaron with precious oil (which typified the holy spirit), which ran down his beard and unto the skirts of his garment. I.et us think of this ns the holy spirit of Pentecost, which has anointed all the sheep which have come into the fold and the body of Christ. I.et us appreciate this anointing and abide under it, allowing it more and more to be what the Apostle terms an unction from the Holy One. affecting our every talent and power ami bringing them all into subjection to the divine law of love.

“My cup runneth over." Our Master's cup was one of suffering, ignominy, shame, and death. We partake of it. It becomes our cup also; but he promises us a new cup of joy and rejoicing, which lie will share with us fully in the kingdom. That cup of joy and peace and divine favor and blessing our Master partook of by faith. And we now also have the same cup full to overflowing; but we cannot appreciate it fully until we shall be changed and made like our Head and share his glory. By faith we can enjoy it ■now and realize that it is full to overflowing. And our joys in the eternal future will be exceedingly and abundantly more than we could have asked or thought.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.” This appears to be the stricter translation and it contains a beautiful thought. These sheep of the Lord’s “little flock"—these “new creatures” of Christ Jesus, instead of being pursued by fears and terrors and trapped and ensnared, are following the Good Shepherd and hearkening to his voice; and. according to his promise, God’s goodness and mercy are pursuing them, keeping after them, watching over them, assisting them, caring for them, upholding them in trials. These are doubtless included in the statement of the Apostle: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister unto those who shall be heirs of salvation?”

The conclusion of the whole matter—the end of the journey, is what? To occupy a place in the heavenly mansions of our Father's house! What a glorious consummation to the grandest of all hopes! Why should we murmur or complain at the roughness of the journey which will bring us to such a glorious goal'

THE NOBLE LIFE OF SAMUEL

--Ji ne 27 — 1 Samuel 12:1-5, 13-25---

THC TIME FOR KING SAUL’S CORONATION— A Pl'HItC BENDEBINO OF SlSttEI.'s ACCOUNT s AS .1 I IHIE OF THE CEOPLE— HEARTY TESTIMONY IO His FAITHFULNESS — AN INDICATION OF DIVINE DISAPPROVAL Ol- THi: IT OPI.F's (TKIICI — SAMIEI.'S DUTIFULNESS AND LOVE FOK THE PEOPLE.

“I will instruct you in the good and the right tray.’'—1,Samuel

SAMUEL the Prophet stands out on the pages of sacred history a very noble character—very similar in many respects to Moses. He had served the Lord and the people faithfully for a long period, and then, at the urgent request of the people and with God’s assent, he had anointed Saul their king. The latter had beem received rather halfheartedly, but the battle witli the Ammonites and the great victory which the Lord granted to his people on that occasion united their hearts to him who had been the visible leader tn that victory, and Samuel perceived that the right time had come for a public coronation of the king, and the formal transfer of allegiance to him as the Lord's representative in the temporal affairs of the nation. Accordingly, a general convocation of the people was called to meet at Gilgal—one of the several prominent places for public gatherings—one of the places at winch Samuel was in the habit of holding court when, as a kind of supreme judge, he went at different •seasons of the year to various parts of the territory of Israel to hear and to decide causes and differences which the elders of the tribes could not adjudicate satisfactorily.

Samuel chose this occasion for a public rendering up of his own accounts. As God’s servant, he had occupied the place of a chief justice to the nation, but the choice of a king relieved the Prophet of political influence and responsibility. He called upon them as a whole people to declare ■whether or not he had ever taken from them aught that could be construed as a bribe, aught that in any sense of the word could be said to influence his judgment or decision of their matters. With one voice, the people declared that he had been faithful : ami he in turn called upon the king and upon the /Almighty Sovereign to witness this declaration of the iKTiple as a saleguard against anything that could ever he said against him in the future.

GREAT RESPONSIBILITIES OF KINGSHIP

From verses 13-18, the Prophet reviews the present situation of the people. They had rejected the Lord from ■being their King, but lie had not rejected them and would not do so. They had not chosen the best, but the Lord did •not cross them in this matter. He, therefore, had anointed their king as his representative, and their future blessings would depend now upon how truly they and their king would remain in accord with the Lord. Under the new arrangement, the king of their choice represented them ; and at sin on bis part, a deflection from obedience to the Lord would mean a national sin. for which the people as well as the king would lie punishable: whereas, before, under the judges whom the Lord had raised up, if the judge was faulty, he was the Lord's agent and was punished as such ; and, if the people were faulty, the punishment was theirs. Thus they had run a great risk in choosing a representative, in placing power in his hands, because the weakness and selfishness of humanity is such that the one thus exalted would be the more liable to transgress the divine statutes. In harmony with this, note how the sin of David was esteemed a national sin and brought a national penalty. —1 Chronicles 21:12-27.

In summing up by the Lord's direction, Samuel gave a sign to corroborate his declaration that their calling for a king was a rejection of the Lord as their King, and a sin on the part of the people. There should be a thunderstorm in the midst of their harvest-time, an occurrence said to be very rare in southern Palestine. Coming promptly as a fulfillment of Samuel's prediction, it appealed to the people, convincing them for the first time that their course was a reprehensible one and a sin of gross ingratitude. They said to Samuel: “Pray for thy servants unto the laird thy God. that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king".

PRAYER FOR THE PEOPLE

After assuring the Israelites that they need not fear the I,ord. that he is gracious, and that if they should follow him faithfully under a king or otherwise, he would surely never forsake them, the Prophet proceeds to answer their query respecting his praying for them. He said: “As for me. God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you". What a sublime character is thus brought to our view ! It is the more remarkable when we note that Samuel did not belong to the spirit dispensation; that he therefore had not all the advantages which we, the Lord's people of this gospel age since Pentecost, enjoy, and yet. alas! how few of the spirit-begotten ones manifest this spirit, this same degree of likeness to the Lord’s character and spirit ! In how many would the natural mind rise up and say. You have a king now, I have foretold you that it was a sin of ingratitude against the Almighty and against me. now go your way and see if what I have told you does not come true, and observe that you will be worse off.