Religious and Scientific Gleanings

2,000 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES WITHOUT MINISTERS.

That there are 2,000 pastorless churches in the Presbyterian denomination was the assertion made by Dr. Joseph Wilson Cochran, secretary of the board of education, to the general assembly at Louisville, Ky.

“We are gaining barely enough .jnen to supply the church,” he said. “In calling •for more men we are calling for heroes who must face starvation wages.”

THE STATE OF THE CHURCH.

What is the state of the church? Does it stand four-square against the introductions of the world? Parents have no time to teach their children. Families do without morning prayer. Why does not the chtirch demand that the standards of the church should not be lowered? We are living the life of heathen. The worship is materialism and commercialism. Are we going to let the church sink to these low levels, or are we going to devise some means whereby the worship of God shall be established for every day?—Hon. S. H. Blake at the Anglican Synod.

A METHODIST BROTHER DEFENDS PASTOR RUSSELL.

Editor of Age-Herald, Birmingham, Ala.

“I note there is strenuous opposition to the ‘Scripture Studies’ as promulgated by Pastor Russell, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and inis ^position has become so pronounced that the Pastors’ Union on various occasions has given verbal expres-. sion to their views on the subject, and that recently a movement was started throughout the country to muzzle the press, and stop the publication of his sermons in the newspapers.

“It is evident from this that we have reached a crisis in the religious world, hitherto unknown since the Dark Ages, and which I thought impossible in this enlightened Age. To hinder free thought, free speech, free investigation and the publication of religious truth, is the most daring venture I have ever known ministers of the Gospel to make.

“Rather than to take the step of stopping the mouth of one of God’s humble servants who is earnestly setting forth his views on the Bible, I would suffer my arm severed from my body—yea, my head. Remember what Jesus said about offending one of His little ones who believes on Him: ‘And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in Me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the sea.’ (Mark 9:42.) Why do they not meet Mr. Russell in the forum and from their pulpits combat his teaching by the Scripture ? Are they not able to meet him? Does he not support every argument and every thought presented, by Scripture?

"Again, why do they not rest their case fn the hands of God like the wise Gamaliel did, in the days of the Apostles, when Peter and others were on trial? Gamaliel rose up in the council and said: 'Refrain from these men, and let them alone, for if this work be of men, it will come to naught, but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, for you fight against God.’

“In some places Mr. Russell’s books have been collected and burned in the streets, with the result that his books multiplied many fold in those places. God will take a hand in this fight as sure as we live. Beware! I warn them that the more thoughtful among them may not bring condemnation upon themselves.

“There is already widespread discontent. Somehow our people are feeling after God and looking around for spiritual food more substantial than they have been feeding upon. Let them look. Let them search for Truth wherever it may be found. Our people are intelligent and able to think for themselves and will do it. All can read, and have Bibles and other books explaining the Bible, or can get them if desired. When leaders of churches unite to force people to accept or reject creeds according to their views by restraining the liberty of speech and the liberty ©f the press, to prevent the publication of doctrines of the Bible according to other men’s views, they have departed from the rational idea of dealing with the subject, and we cannot hold with them.

“S. A. ELLIS.”

’’TODAY THIS prophecy is fulfilled in our midst! Notwithstanding the fact that during the past century Bibles have been printed and circulated among the people by the million, and notwithstanding the fact that education has become general so that rich and poor, old and young, have the ability to read God’s Word, nevertheless, we are in the midst of the very famine specified by the Prophet. It seems almost incredible that we should be famishing now with Bibles in our homes, when our saintly forefathers did not famish, though education was limited.

The secret lies in the fact that increasing intelligence on every hand has awakened our reasoning faculties along religious lines, and the result is the gnawing of hunger in our hearts. Our hearts and our flesh cry out for a living and a true God—a God greater than ourselves—more just, more powerful, more loving. Feeling our own impotency, we more than ever feel our need of the Friend above all others with a love that sticketh closer than a brother’s.

Consequently we cannot find the rest and refreshment and comfort from the Scriptures which our forefathers derived. Consequently the young men and the purest of heart in the world are repelled by the religion of the past as represented in the. creeds of ,a.Jl denominations. They! are hungry for the Truth. They are thirsty for the refreshment which they need. Intellectually many are looking, wandering, from sea to sea desiring the bread of life and the water of life. Scanning the creeds Of all denominations they find them practically alike as respects theories of eternal reprobation and damnation for all except the Elect, the saints. They are faint for lack of spiritual food and drink. They even look to the heathen, and examine the Theosophy of India, the Buddhism of Japan and the Confucianism of China, seeking for some satisfying portion of Truth.

These are in some respects like the Prodigal Son—far from home. They perceive the swinish content with the husks of business, money, pleasure and politics, but their spiritual longings cannot be satisfied with the husks which the swine eat. They are thought peculiar because of their interest in spiritual things. They are misunderstood by their best earthly friends. They must learn that in their wanderings along the highways of science and world-religion they will never get satisfaction. There is a famine in every denomination, in every part of the world. No one thinks of looking to the Bible for refreshment and strength. The Higher Critics of all denominations have branded it unreliable. The Professors in all the great Colleges are reprobating the Bible and openly laugh at the thought of finding there either bread for the hungry or water for the thirsty.

This is the very picture given in our context. “They shall wander from sea to sea, from the North even to the East; they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst.”—Amos 8:12, 13.

The Bread of Life and Water of Life.

These hungry hearts must learn that there is only the one satisfying portion under the Sun—the living and true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent to be the Bread of Life for the worltj, and the message of grace from His lips to be the Water of Life. It is ours to call the attention of this Truth-hungry class to the Great Teacher who declared, “My flesh is food indeed and My blood is drink indeed; except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.” (John 6:55, 53.) But scarcely will the intelligent of our day hearken to these words, so prejudiced are their minds by the fallacies which becloud their understanding. They see not, neither do they understand the goodness of God.

Why is this? Why are these Bibles in millions of homes, Catholic and Protestant, neglected? Because the people know not that the Bread of Life and the Water of Life which they seek are hidden therein. Why is this? We answer that conditions were very much the same in Israel at the time of our Lord’s First Advent. The explanation He then gave is applicable now. He said, “Ye do make void the Law of God through your traditions”—“the traditions of the ancients.”—Mark 7:13; 1 Peter 1:18.

So now, the traditions handed down from our forefathers really make void, meaningless, ungracious, the message of God’s Wisdom and Love sent to us through the Lord, the Apostles and the Prophets. Those who still hold tenaciously to the creeds of the past are thoroughly blinded now to the true teachings of God’s Word, while, alas, the majority of the independent thinkers, in rejecting the dogmas of the past, have rejected the Bible also, believing that the teachings of, the creeds truthfully represent God’s Word. These are wandering hither and thither, hungering and thirsting, looking for the Bread of Life and Water of Life, and finding it nowhere, because they seek not where alone it is to be found.

“Ho, Every One That Thirsteth, Come Ye.”

Ho! Ye all that hunger for Truth, Come ye. There is an abundance for us all in our Heavenly Father’s wonderful provision—in the Bible. Deserting all the creeds and traditions of men, let us gather at our Heavenly Father’s Board .as His. .family, as His ..children . T-et us prove the truthfulness of His declaration that “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that reverence Him.” Let us seek and obtain the satisfying portion. Let us satisfy our longings at the table of Divine provision. Mark the Lord’s words and consider how truthful they are, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”—Matthew 5:6.

It is this Truth-hungry class that we address. We know their heart-longings, for we had the same. We know the satisfaction which they crave, for we have received it and are therefore doubly glad to hand forth the Bread of Life and the Water of Life to those who desire it. There are plenty ready to serve the appetites of those who long for pleasure—• ball games, society fetes, chess, travel, etc. We have not a word to say against these. It is not our thought that they are going to eternal torment; hence we do not frantically beset them, annoy them. Let them have their pleasure. Let them wait for the time to come when something may occur in their experiences which will put them into the class of the broken-hearted and contrite of spirit and cause them to feel after God, if haply they might find Him as a satisfying portion.

In harmony with the Master’s direction, it is our aim to “bind up the broken-hearted; to comfort those that mourn”; to tell them of the Oil of Joy which the Lord is willing to bestow for their spirit of heaviness and sorrow for sin. (Isaiah 61:1-3.) As the Master expressed no reproof of those engaged in any form of moral reform, even asceticism, so it is with us. We desire to oppose no one who is doing any good work, whether he follow with us in every particular or not. There are so many engaged in doing evil works, and so few engaged in doing good, that not one of the latter class can be spared from the ranks of the service of righteousness.

As the Master did not give His time to temperance reform, nor social reform, nor political reform, but did give his time to the instruction of the people in the doctrines of the Divine Word, so let us be intent to follow His instruction in this matter, not teaching for doctrines the precepts of men, but the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever—expounding unto the people the Scriptures and assisting them to see the length and breadth of their meaning. Nevertheless, as the religious teachers of the Master’s day hated Jesus and His disciples for this cause, “Because they taught the people,” and persecuted them because they did riot walk in the beaten paths of their day, so we may expect also to be hated without cause; so we may expect that the scribes and Pharisees and Doctors of the Law today will be grieved because the people are taught, because the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ is presented to the people as an incentive to love and obedience, instead of the doctrine of eternal torment.

It matters not that all the educated ministry today well know, and would not for a moment deny, their disbelief in the doctrine of eternal torment, if cross-questioned. Nevertheless, many of them hate us and oppose us, because we show the people the true interpretations of God’s Word, and lift before the eyes of their understanding a God of Love —Just, Merciful, Righteous altogether, and fully capable both in Wisdom and Power to work out all the glorious designs which He “purposed in Himself before the foundation of the world”:

• (1) They perceive that the teaching of the doctrines of Purgatory and eternal torment has not had a sanctifying influence upon mankind in all the sixteen centuries in which it has been preached. They fear that to deny these doctrines now would make a bad matter worse. They fear that if the Gospel of the Love of God and of the Bible—that it does not teach eternal torment for any—were made generally known, the effect upon the world be to increase its wickedness, to-make life and property less secure than now and to fill the world still more than now with blasphemies.

• (2) They fear also that a certain amount of discredit would come to themselves because, knowing that the Bible does not teach eternal torment, according to the Hebrew and Greek orig-inal, they secreted the knowledge from the people. They fear that this would, forever discredit them with their hearers. Hence, they s+UL ovd'^ardiy lend influence to the doctrine of eternal torture, which they do not believe, and feel angry towards us because we teach the people, the Truth upon the subject, which they know will bring to them hundreds of questions difficult to answer or dodge.

God’s Love Constraineth Us.

We ask you, dear readers, Were you. constrained to become children of God and to render to the Lord the homage-and the obedience of your lives through fear or through love? We are not asking you whether you never have feared; but we are asking you what brought you to the point of consecrating your life to God? Surely that was not fear!

We are aware, of course, that there is a proper, godly fear, reverence, and that the Scriptures declare it—-“The fear (reverence) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10.) But this is not the fear of eternal torment which tends to drive out love. How could we love or esteem or truly worship a God purposing the eternal torment of His* creatures from before their creation?

We could give you many proofs of the power of love over the human heart, in contrast with the ungodly fear of the error. God says to us in so manywords, “Their fear toward Me is not of" Me, but is taught by the precepts of men.” As an illustration: At a Bible Students’ Convention not long ago in Ohio, a well-dressed gentleman in attendance told us of how his heart had: been touched with our presentations of the “Love Divine, all love excelling.”

He said, “For years I have been a. member of the Presbyterian Church without being really a Christian at all. Occasionally I went on sprees, sometimes I gambled and drank, etc., etc. Not until I received a knowledge of the true character of God as set forth in Studies in the Scriptures did my heart ever come to the proper attitude of surrender to the Lord. Then I was glad to give Him my little all, and wished it: were more.” The next day, passing from the hotel to the auditorium to a question meeting, this gentleman put a slip of paper in our hand, which we supposed was a question. On the platform we drew it forth as one of the questions•-to be answered, and, to our astonishment, found it was a check for $1,000. The man had not been asked for one cent; but the Love of God had captivated his heart and gotten control—not only of it, but of his pocket-book and all. He wished to show the Lord his appreciation of the Love Divine, the length and breadth and height and depth of which he novi comprehended as never -before.

Another case: We met with a Convention of Bible Students in Chattanooga some years ago. A gentleman-attended who introduced himself, saying -that he was from Mississippi and that:

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EVOLUTIONISTS ARE PERPLEXED.

Time after time the world’s scientific conclusions have contradicted each other. It is not long since Evolutionists gave the impression to the public that but a little while ago they ascended from monkey parentage. Their latest pronouncement is that man three hundred thousand years ago was quite intelligent, perhaps equally so with man of the present time. They have dug up a skeleton in England which they claim teaches this. Hear the testimony set forth by the “London Standard”:

In a work-room of the Royal College of Surgeons, in Lincoln’s Inn-fields, there lies at the present moment the skeleton of what is probably the earliest European man yet discovered, with the sole exception of that specimen of our species who owned the huge “Heidelberg” jaw. It has been brought to light in the ordinary course of extending a brickyard about a mile to the north of Ipswich, and English scientists and archaeologists have carefully lifted it, and are investigating its claims to antiquity. Professor Keith, curator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, who removed it from the earth in which it was preserved, showed it to a “Standard” representative.

First, there is soil, then a boulder-clay layer riddled with chalk, and then midglacial sand. The skeleton was found just where the boulder-clay meets the midglacial sands, and its preservation is due to the chalky glacial sand. One may calculate, perhaps, that the man dates from 300,000 or 400,000 years ago, for all the beds of the rivers of England were cut out subsequently to the period marked by the boulder-clay and glacial sand.

Highly Civilized.

Professor Keith took up the jawless head of the skeleton, and pointed to the cast of the brain formed by the infiltration of the boulder-clay. “There is the third frontal convolution, you notice, with which speech is eormectisd." It is very well developed, and so one may conclude that our friend belonged to a stage of advanced civilization. The forehead is sloping, but quite similar to our own foreheads. Here is a bit of it—the supra-orbital bone— just above the eyes, and you note that it is not pushed to the extreme and menacing development of the later ‘Neanderthal’ man.

“However, the remarkable thing is the similarity of form between this earliest European and ourselves. In fact, the later ‘Neanderthal’ man is quite old-fashioned, so to speak, while this man, in most of the configuration of his skeleton, is of our ■own time. If our surmises are correct, this means that, physically, modern man was a developed creature before the beginning of the glacial period. Thus two types of primitive man existed side by side, but one type endured.”

Our learned professors get themselves into all this difficulty because they have concluded that the Bible is a foolish, old Book, not at all Divinely inspired. A return to faith in the Bible would correct all their difficulties. To our understanding the Bible teaches that man has been on the earth only six thousand years— and surely the present rate of increase of population accords well with this theory. According to the Bible account we may understand that the last glacial period was at the time of the last great flood, which occurred in Noah’s day, as previous great floods had occurred long before man came into the world. These floods were all accompanied by glacial periods. They came from the falling in upon the earth of great bodies of water which previously surrounded the earth like rings, as now seen around Saturn. These rings gradually, one after the other, drew nearer the earth, spread out like an envelope, made it temperate for a time, and finally burst at the poles, bringing floods. These floods produced the Arctic glaciers. According to the Bible account, therefore, we would say that the man whose skeleton has recently been found was drowned in the flood in Noah’s day—about 4,300 years ago. instead of 300,000 years ago.

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•THE HUMAN HEART has its hungers * and appetites as well as the human body; and as the latter’s cravings are various, so are the cravings of the former. These appetites or cravings, mental or physical, are either natural or depraved, and should be dealt with accordingly. If we imagine the perfect man we must picture in him such physical cravings or appetites as would be reasonable and proper—such as would require neither undue cultivation nor undue restraint. But, alas, we are aware that the race is so fallen from perfection that, as the Scriptures declare, the whole course of nature is deranged so that with the majority health can only be preserved by giving careful attention to diet, using the experiences of others as a guide and assistance to judgment, whose decree must be enforced by the will power. So also the various appetites of the. heart, the mind, the soul, in our fallen condition, require regulation through knowledge applied and enforced by the will; otherwise our soul-hunger is sure to lead to distress rather than to the pleasure we anticipate and desire.

This soul-hunger is not confined to any particular class; it is common to the entire human family. Some of its appetites are, (1) craving for sympathy and fellowship; (2) craving for ease and comfort; (3) craving for name and fame, for “honor amongst men,” whether on a high or a low plane; (4) craving for pleasure. Each individual has his special preference, choice or appetite, his special craving, but more or less all have a measure of all these cravings, just as our physical appetites call for meats, vegetables, etc., some having special preference for one kind of diet more than for another.

Improper Soul Diet.

We may assume that there is often considerable transgression by many, of the dietary properties. As a result some have unfavorable experiences physically —loss of appetite and sickness. They lose their appreciation of some of the appetizing dainties of the season, temporarily, at least; a revulsion of feeling follows the temptation and gratification of depraved cravings.

Similarly, crises are sometimes brought about in respect to our soul-hungerings, because we have fed them improperly, producing discomfort and disappointment instead of the hoped-for pleasure. For instance, the man or woman whose heart has specially yearned for pleasure and who has sought to satisfy it through the ordinary channels of the world, finds disappointment, finds that the only pleasure enjoyed was in the pursuit of pleasure, and that in proportion as anything was grasped the pleasure died. Another, whose special craving has been for honor amongst men, or for name and fame, finds that in proportion as he attains his object he grasps a bubble. He who hungers for ease and for comfort finds that, in proportion as he attains these, they are not what he really sought— that physical ease and comfort are not usually accompanied by mental ease and heart rest. He or she who craves sympathy and fellowship, after sacrificing much to attain these, have usually found disappointment, vexation of spirit, loneliness. The general condition of all is expressed in the words of the poet:

“All that my soul has tried left but an aching void;

Jesus has satisfied, Jesus is mine!”

But, alas, how few can appreciate tbs latter half of this poetic statement! Hew few have found Jesus; how few have found satisfaction of soul-hunger, the peace, the rest, the joy, the fellowship, the satisfaction of ambition, the loving companionship and pleasure of soul atmyself and do injury to none; and now my whole life is devoted to the service of God and my fellow-men.”

Three murderers confined in the Columbus, Ohio, Penitentiary, had from childhood been trained in the doctrines of eternal torment in different churches and yet committed murder. Those men, under God’s providence, received some of our literature—Studies in the Scriptures—and were cut to the heart when they learned of the Love of God, as expressed in the Divine Plan of the Ages. To be brief: A knowledge of the Love of God made such a change in the hearts and lives of those three murderers that the prison-keepers took knowledge of them that they had “been with Jesus and had learned of Him.” By and by they were paroled and today two of them are preaching the Gospel of the Love of God, seeking to bring their fellow-men out of the condition of darkness and sin into the glorious sunlight of Divine Love and Truth. Having tried the Gospel of fear and damnation and torture for sixteen centuries; having seen that under this teaching there is more blasphemy and general wickedness than even in the heathen world, is it not due time to give the True Bread and Water of Life to the hungry and thirsty ones who, for lack of it, are searching the earth and many of them falling into Higher Criticism, infidelity and other delusions peculiar to our day?

tainable in this direction and not elsewhere. It is such that our text specially addresses. It admonishes us all that soulhunger can find no true or lasting satisfaction aside from the Lord and the blessings and joys of His arrangements.

Hunger for Righteousness.

Righteousness is the condition of being right—not wrong, not in error. That which is right is that which is true; hence to love righteousness is to love truth, honesty, uprightness. Everything that is right in God’s sight, right according to the perfect standard, is embraced in this word righteousness.

The majority Of mankind have little or no appreciation of righteousness. Born in sin, shapen in iniquity, our appetite for righteousness must be cultivated. All that the natural man has in this direction is the realization that selfish and unrighteous appetites cannot be satisfied: he is very apt, indeed, to think that all men are like himself, dissatisfied. Only from the one quarter, the Word of God, do we get radical, positive teaching on this subject of righteousness; only from that quarter do we obtain information respecting the satisfactory food for our souls.

The Scriptures point out that the only reasonable and proper course for all to pursue is that the Lord be recognized by each heart; that His way, His Plan, be accepted and adopted as the rule of our hearts and lives; that His blessing and our fellowship with Him shall be preeminently the satisfaction of our heartlongings for sympathy; that the ambitions set before us in the Divine Plan shall be accepted as above and beyond all others; and that the blessings associated with righteousness and with fellowship with the Lord are the only satisfying ones.

Hungry Souls Filled.

No one can come to the Lord truly hungering and thirsting after righteousness and at the same time love sin. He may, indeed, realize a weakness toward sin, a craving of the fallen flesh in that direction, but his will, which the Lord regards, must be set firmly, positively, toward righteousness. This implies that to some extent he has had acquaintance with sin and has found it unsatisfactory; that the craving of his soul, his heart, for the things that are right, pure and good have been so directed of the Lord that he has learned to despise sin and to desire righteousness, not only outwardly but inwardly. It means also, usually, that the person has tried, has grasped after righteousness, has sought to appropriate it and has been unable to do so—has realized himself a fallen being, depraved in his appetites, both mental and physical.

The Lord’s providential care is over such, to bring to their attention the great Saviour from sin—Jesus—who not only •delivers us from the penalty of sin, death, but also assists us in overcoming sin and will, eventually, if we abide in Him, under His care and instruction, bring us off conquerors, victors, through the resurrection “change” promised.

The hungering and thirsting thus began while we were yet sinners, before we had found Jesus—the “Bread from Heaven” which alone can satisfy. He who never hungered or thirsted for righteousness is wholly unprepared to come to Jesus; hence, amongst the most unlikely ones to receive the Lord’s favors in this present Age are those who are morally of a superior class and who feel less, therefore, their need of Divine aid. They are not satisfied, but they are less dissatisfied than some who have tasted and tried the various selfish condiments proffered them for the satisfaction of their soul-hunger. For this reason those who are the least impaired mentally and morally are found to have the least heart-hunger for righteousness and to constitute but a small minority of those who come to the Lord to be fed, to , be soul-satisfied with the Bread from Heaven—the Lord and His gracious mes- — sages and promises.

Steps of Grace.

The primary condition necessary to approach to the Heavenly table and its soul-satisfying viands is a regard for righteousness, for truth, and a recognition of personal unworthiness. Hence the first step toward the table is the ac- -ceptance of Christ as a personal Saviour, the acceptance of His work “finished”' at Calvary as the basis for an approach to God. The forsaking of sin and accept- " ance of Christ as our Sin-bearer and Justifier before the Father brings us to the condition which the Scriptures term “justified by faith.”

There, as the Apostle declares, we find peace with God—rest of heart in the realization that while we are still imperfect, God, henceforth, is willing to accept _ us and our best endeavors as perfect. We must differentiate between actual perfection and this reckoned perfection, for, although the Lord and alj who are His and who sit at His table recognize such believers as “holy and acceptable” (Rom. 12:1), nevertheless they also realize that this is but a reckoned standing, the one thus admitted to the Father’s family and table having still the weaknesses of the flesh as formerly, which ~ must now be battled against.

Those who have taken this step toward God and the table, spread with the heavenly bounties that satisfy soulhunger, are figuratively spoken of as covered with a white robe of righteousness—covered with the merit of the Redeemer’s purity, imputed to all who believe in His redemptive sacrifice and who seek to walk in His ways.

A beautiful figure of this justified standing was in an ancient custom of the Jews, that all the guests at a marriage supper should put on an outer robe provided by their host. Thus clothed, the rich and the poor were, for a time, on a common level as guests. So it is with all who come unto God through Christ, accepting the terms of the Gospel call; they are on a common level—all sinners covered, justified, with the merit of Christ, the “wedding garment.”

The Second Step to the Table.

While the first step of justification is all-important, it does not admit to the Lord’s table except in the sense that it prepares us for it, makes us acceptable to the Lord. The second step is that of^r' full consecration to the Lord—a full renunciation of our own wills, recognized as imperfect, warped, twisted by inherited weaknesses and surrounding temptations. With a full consecration to the Lord and full acceptance of His will instead of our own, we are inducted into all the privileges of sons of God—“heirs of God, joint-heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord, if so be that we suffer with Him.”

This position as sons was reached through the Lord’s providence as a result of our hungering for righteousness, and our coming in the Divinely appointed way to the Giver of every good and perfect gift. We may now partake to full satisfaction. We hear our text, the Master’s words, addressed to all such: “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

But as it is necessary to have the appetite, necessary to hunger and thirst, before we approach the Lord and His supplies, so we find that it is only in proportion as we have a deep hunger and thirst that we will partake liberally of the blessed provisions. Quite evidently many of the Lord’s people reach His table without having a very keen appetite—such are quickly satisfied. Our appetites for the spiritual good things of the Lord’s table are largely in proportion to our experience in seeking satisfaction in other quarters.

The foregoing explains why it is that religious revivals frequently follow financial panics. When the mind and heart are pursuing earthly things, and hope’s brilliant coloring is cast over all of life’s affairs in anticipation of various successes, the Lord and His proffered peace and blessing and satisfaction are overlooked or not appreciated.

Many, indeed, of the Lord’s people can look back and rejoicingly say that their trials and difficulties have indirectly worked out for them their greatest blessings, by leading them to look away from themselves and the world to Him who is the Mighty to save, and whose voice, speaking peace, can alone give satisfaction, and whose fellowship can alone give comfort and rest and the confidence sought.

With nearly every one there is more pleasure in hope, in anticipation, than in realization, and the reaction occasioned by disappointment of selfish hopes and ambitions has the tendency to turn the mind to the Lord. And this is not only true of those who are coming to the Lord, but also true of those who had previously come to the Lord’s table; their attention had been turned from the heavenly promises and hopes to earthly things, which are sure to be all more or less disappointing. The present, then, is a specially favorable time for us to consider afresh the privileges we enjoy of being fed, refreshed and strengthened with the good things of the Divine Word —the right things, the true things, the things of righteousness.

Cultivating an Appetite.

The Lord’s people who have had experience will know that their appetite for spiritual things can be cultivated, encouraged, developed. We recognize this principle in our appetites for natural food—that they need guidance, cultivation, and the same applies with still greater force to our spiritual appetites. He whose appetite for spiritual things is deficient should tempt himself to eat even as he would do with his physical appetite. Nothing is more conducive to a spiritual hunger than approach to the Throne of Grace. As the hunger is thus awakened, we should go freely to the Scriptures, the storehouse of Divine, gracious provision, and should select from amongst the exceeding great and precious promises therein, those most tempting to our appetites.

If faint and discouraged from opposition, we should partake of such promises as assure us in the Lord’s own words, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” If discouraged by reason of failure to do as well as we might have done in any case, we should partake of the promises which assure us that “He knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust”; “He will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape”; that He was tempted in all points like unto us, yet without sin”; that He is our competent High Priest, sympathizer and Advocate on our behalf.

Should we feel discouraged, downcast, overwhelmed by the opposition of the world and the Adversary, let us partake of the promises which assure us that “All things are working together for good to them that love God,” and that, Greater is He who is for us than all they that be against us. If tempted to think of God as no longer interested in us, no longer mindful of us, no longer sympathetic with our endeavors to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, let us remember the Apostle’s suggestion that if God so loved the world while we were yet sinners as to give His Son for our redemption, much more does He love us now that we have hungered and thirsted after righteousness and have approached His table, coming by the way of the all-prevailing Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

“They Shall Be Filled.”

The Lord’s people who follow the above course outlined in the Scriptures get filled in this present time—get repeatedly filled as full as the present poor earthen vessels will contain. But “still there is nlore tofollow," and with the tilling comes the enlargement of our hearts, our capacities, our appreciation, and a still further filling and a further enlargement, and so on. The course of the proper child of God, therefore, is one of progress from start to finish. But the finish in perfection will not be in the present life—will not be until our change in the First Resurrection. Then we shall be like our Lord and Redeemer, and see Him as He is and share His glory.

We leave our subject here, merely reminding you all afresh that there is nothing in unrighteousness to fill any man; that there is a filling power in righteousness, and that there is but one way to come to this Fountain of life eternal and present and everlasting blessings. Let us not deceive ourselves and trudge along tediously day after day, year after year, looking for satisfaction, comfort, rest, peace of heart, joy, in earthly things.

Let us realize that these are. to be found only by those who find the Lord, and that to these, because of the new joy which comes into their hearts, there are new experiences. To these the beauty of every flower, bird, and every noble song is enhanced in value; to these the only things lost are the things that are not worth having, the things which belong to sin and selfishness, which they desire to be rid of and with which they are glad to part.

We have already intimated that hungering and thirsting for righteousness includes the thought of hungering and thirsting for the Truth. Alas, how many of those professing to be the Lord’s consecrated people seem not to have learned a love of righteousness in the sense of loving the truth, hating untruth. Nowhere is this more manifest than in respect to various religious creeds. We hear continually from men and women, that they are careless of the truth, that they are day by day acting a falsehood before God and man in that they profess certain creeds, doctrines, which they are free to say privately they do not believe, have not believed for years.

If all true Christian people could be brought to the point of so loving righteousness, truth, that they would renounce and denounce their bondage and would stand forth, if need be, alone, for the Truth, it would make a revolution amongst the Lord’s people that would be a blessing indeed to every one of them.

It would not, indeed, affect the masses of the nominal churches, for the masses make no profession of love of righteousness, love for truth—the masses are children of this world, who hunger and thirst for the prizes and emoluments of the present life, for the honors of men, for the peace and comfort which money can secure; they are comparatively ignorant of the meaning of our text, a hunger and thirst after righteousness.

“Give Ye Them to Eat.”

Righteousness is so interwoven in its various parts and elements, Justice, Truth, Holiness, that whoever is careless in one element is deficient in all; whoever hungers and thirsts after righteousness in one of its phases, is sure to hunger and thirst for it in all; whoever loves justice and righteousness will surely love the truth; whoever loves the truth will surely love righteousness and justice. Let us, then, more and more cultivate our appetite for righteousness in every sense of the word, with the Master’s assurance that our satisfaction shall be complete. ' Already it satisfies our longings as nothing else can do, and by and by we shall be fully satisfied when we awake in His likeness.

One of our Lord’s miracles illustrates a lesson on “Soul-hunger.” He was surrounded by hungry thousands, the supply of food seemed inadequate—five barley loaves and two small fishes. The disciples were about to send the people away unfed, but our Lord said to them, “Give ye them to eat.” As the disciples divided

O™ TEXT is one among many that ^v point out that the judgment of the Church is totally separate and distinct from that of the world. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of the Lord’s people who have not discerned this fact are confused rather than enlightened by it. They do not comprehend, for instance, the full import of the Apostle’s declaration that “God hath appointed a Day [a future, thousand-year day], in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained.”—Acts 17:31.

One great difficulty connected with the subject is the erroneous idea respecting the meaning of the word “judgment” in such connections. A misconception of the Divine character and Plan has interpreted the reference to a coming day of judgment of the world to signify a twenty-four-hour day, and such a hasty acquittal or condemnation as would be possible in so brief a time for the living 1,600,000,000 and the dead 20,000,000,000.

No wonder that instead of thinking of the coming judgment of the world as signifying a schooling, a disciplining, a time of trial under righteous conditions, many have come to think of it as merely the time for the expression of a sentence. Indeed, we see how even a sentence upon each individual of the human family would be impossible within a twenty-four-hour day under any imaginable conditions, reasonable or unreasonable. It is here that we need to remember the words of the Apostle Peter—“Be not ignorant of this one thing, brethren, that a day with the Lord is as a thousand years” [with man]. -

The Church Now Being Judged.

This Gospel Age of nearly nineteen centuries has been the Church’s period of judgment or trial. During this time those who have been called and who have accepted the call, and who have been begotten of the Holy Spirit and received as probationary members of the Church of Christ, have been on trial, have been subjected to testings and instructions ’in righteousness with a view to develop in them the Christian graces, the fruits of the Spirit—in preparation for the glories and services to which they have been called by the grace of God.

The Apostle tells us ’that these are subjected to “corrections in righteousness.” He tells us that they will need and receive chastisements at the Lord’s hand, to the intent that they may develop proper characters and learn the proper lessons of obedience and be trained up in the way they should go for the inheritance to which they are called as sons of the Highest. The Apostle intimates that there is no exception to this rule, saying, “If ye be without chastenings, then are ye bastards and not sons.”

Here the Apostle uses the word chastisements as signifying judgments, disciplines, corrections in righteousness. Indeed, the word judgments is broader than the word chastisements, because the latter is applicable only to corrections for wrong doing, whereas judgments include the thought of either punishments for wrong doing or rewards for right doing. “The Lord shall judge His people,” His blessing shall be upon those who seek to walk in the narrow way, upon those who hear the Shepherd’s voice and follow Him. His chastisements or judgments will be upon those who incline to wander from the narrow way, and are not destructive but corrective—intended to reclaim, to bring back, to teach, to establish in the ways of righteousness.

True, those who have entered the school of Christ and who are subject to these judgments of the Lord, these rewards and corrections, will be liable to the extreme penalty of the Divine Law should they wilfully, intentionally, perversely oppose the Divine leadings, and sin wilfully after they have received a knowledge of the Truth. For such the Apostle tells us there is no more hope. the portion it increased and was more than sufficient for all.

Similarly the whole world has a soulhunger and only the Lord’s disciples, His “brethren,” know of the food which will really satisfy. His message to such is, Give ye the multitude food that they may eat to genuine satisfaction. Those who attempt so to do now are richly blessed, but find the world so blinded with selfishness that but “few,” a “little flock,” hunger and thirst after righteousness at its present cost—the renunciation of glittering bubbles of earthly hopes.

Thank God for the precious promise, that soon our Lord’s presence and His Kingdom will bind Satan and every evil influence, and open the blinded eyes of all humanity to an appreciation of the Truth, showing them clearly the table of the Lord at which soul-hunger can be satisfied. “The knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall fill the whole earth.” Who can doubt that then the many will hunger and thirst for righteousness and shall be filled, and that comparatively few will then starve willfully to death— the “Second Death.”

“There is a sin unto death.” Such, resisting the rewards and chastisements of the Lord and hardening their hearts, who put the Lord to shame wilfully, intelligently, dishonoring and trampling upon that blood of the Covenant with which they were once sanctified—there remaineth no more a sacrifice for their sins, and hence nothing that we could hope for them. We must merely look forward in the case of such for the ultimate manifestation of God’s destructive indignation, to. be manifest 1 in the Second Death, which will be their portion.

If We Would Judge Ourselves.

’ The Apostle points out to the class he is addressing, the Church, the awakened ones who have passed from death unto life, who are no longer of the world or under the world’s condemnation, an alternative. They are favored of the Lord in having their judgment or trial experiences, encouragements, rebukes and chastisements toward righteousness in advance of the world; and now, if they will note the privilege, it is largely with themselves to determine how quickly they will learn the lesson of full obedience to the Divine requirements. The kipostle pointed out liovv we may become adept pupils, who will need the less of the Lord’s chastisements and corrections. He points out how we can learn our lessons more quickly, and with the greater joy and with the realization of pleasing our heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus. This the Apostle calls “judging ourselves.”

The word here rendered judge is dlakrino and signifies to search ourselves thoroughly, to prove ourselves, and carries with it the thought of correcting ourselves. When we bear in mind that the Lord’s people during this Gospel Age are being judged, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit, according to the intention, according to the desire of their hearts, we see that this matter of judging ourselves means not merely a judging of the flesh, but a special judging or scrutinizing of the thoughts and intents, the motives and desires of our own hearts. Of course, this will include the correction of our flesh in so far as is possible. The Apostle assures us that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” and so we may correspondingly conclude that the activities of life are largely governed by the attitude of our hearts.

Hence the importance of criticizing or judging our hearts, the necessity of purging from them everything rebellious and sinful, that we may be of the class mentioned by our Lord, saying, “Blessed are the pure in heart”—the pure in intention, the pure in effort, in desire—they shall see God. Not only shall they see God in the future, when they shall have experienced the resurrection change and be like the Lord Jesus and see Him as He is and share His glory, but they shall see God in the present life with the eye of faith.

Our Judgment of Others.

The majority of people, saints as well as sinners, seem to find it very much easier to judge others than to judge themselves. They know how to critically examine the words and conduct of others; they think they know how much blame should attach to imperfections of thoughts and words and deeds of others, but generally there is a blindness toward the weaknesses and imperfections of self. Our Lord points, this out in one of His discourses, suggesting that the man with a beam in his own eye is very apt to offer suggestions respecting the removal of a mote or speck from the eye of another, using this as an illustration of the faultfinding disposition common in the world.

The Divine instruction to the Lord’s people is, not that we should be wholly blind to the weaknesses and failures of others so as to be imposed upon by them or to foster evil, but we are continually exhorted in the Scriptures to be gener ous-minded and disposed to take a charitable view of the weaknesses and frailties of others, and to hope that their misdeeds are not so much the result of evil intention as of temptation and weakness. Everywhere, throughout the New Testament especially, this attitude of mind is encouraged.

Our Lord indeed assures us that unless we learn to look kindly and mercifully upon others we must expeet no mercy ourselves at His hands; He assures us that this is the condition upon which we may be the children of our Father in Heaven, who is kind to the unthankful. He declares that if we forgive not men their trespasses neither will our Heavenly Father forgive our trespasses, and with what measure we mete out punishment or threats or condemnations upon others, we may know that we will be in a condition to deserve and receive, for a time at least, similar chastisements without mercy.

Realizing this to be the Divine teaching on this subject, and the teachings of our Lord and the Apostles, what manner of persons ought we to be, how kind and merciful, how generous and sympathetic, in dealing with the poor, blind, drowsy, deaf world, as well as in dealing with the brethren of the household of faith. Not that our mercy should blind us to the best interests of others and our proper dealings with them, but that nothing should be done toward them in a spirit of strife and antagonism and vainglory, but that all of our conduct in respect to them should be actuated by love, kindness and desire for their welfare. We are to remember that, although called of the Lord to be the judges of the world, we are not authorized to judge others now—we are not qualified to be judges yet. Not until we shall have our new resurrection bodies, with their perfect powers and the perfect knowledge of that time, will we be competent for the judging of the world.—1 Cor. 4:5.

How We Judge Ourselves.

Until then we must view others leniently and give them credit for any good motives they claim to have, especially if they are of the household of faith—• though not to the extent that we would jeopardize our own interests or the interests of others in our care by a confidence not warranted by the outward conduct. But however our judgments may tell us that some people must be held sit arm’s length, our hearts should be committed to no bitter judgment against them; rather we should hope that they possess an honesty of intention to' the extent that they have light and knowledge, and should hope for them also that, under the favorable conditions which God will ultimately grant to all. they may develop characters which will be pleasing and acceptable to God and result in His bestowal upon them the gift of God, eternal life, at the close of the Messianic Age.

The first step in correction is unquestionably to go to the Throne of Grace in prayer. This implies faith in God’s mercy; faith also that He has opened the door, the way, by which we may avail ourselves of that mercy; faith in the value of the precious blood of Christ, which not only effected for us a cancellation of our old sins or Adamic condemnation, but which also is effective for the cleansing of all the blemishes which our hearts through weaknesses of the flesh inherited from Adam. After having received Divine forgiveness we can properly manifest our disapproval of sin and our penitence of heart and our thankfulness to the Lord by putting restrictions upon ourselves, upon the flesh along the lines of obedience, with a view to strengthening character in those particulars, with a view to being more guarded when next a temptation shall come to us along that line, with a view to impressing upon our flesh the lesson which the new mind desires it to learn. As an illustration, a story is told of a wealthy man who, when driving, passed a poor man whom he recognized as a proper object of charity. He concluded to give him a quarter, and then the thought came, why will not a nickel do as well? His better judgment realized that this was an assault of selfishness upon his new self. He resented the matter, and by way of penalizing himself he determined to give the poor man a dollar. Brethren, let us judge ourselves, that we may not be judged of the Lord, for if we need chastisement He will not spare the rod, because He loves us and because He has separated us from the world, to Himself, and is disciplining us for the glorious things He has in reservation for them who love Him—called, chosen, faithful.

“STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES”

By Pastor Russell.

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fOR LONG CENTURIES God’s people * have been confessing a Divine trinity, taught by the creeds, which was incomprehensible; and meantime they have been neglecting the trinity taught by the Bible, which is more reasonable. If the trinity of the creeds was questioned, holy hands were lifted in horror, and the questioner was told that the subject was a mystery, which he could not possibly understand, but to doubt it would mean his damnation! Therefore he must profess to believe what he did not understand, and therefore could not believe.

The mysterious proposition was sometimes put in one form and sometimes in another. Some stated it to be 3 x 1 is one. But others stated it differently, 1x3 is one. No wonder if some of the more intelligent specimens of our race declared themselves incapable of understanding such mathematics, and too honest to confess and profess what they could not believe. Many of these honest souls have been forced by their candor to remain outside the various denominations of Christendom.

Under such pressure it should not surprise us that there has sprung up an equally unscriptural theory, ,styled Universalism, desiring to worship God, yet too honest and Conscientious to make false pretensions of faith. These have been driven to an antagonism of the popular theory of the trinity to the extent of ignoring the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teachings of the Bible to this effect. In a Word, the great Adversary, during the Dark Ages, succeeded in swinging the pendulum first to one extreme and then to the opposite extreme, while the very Truth, which the Bible presents, lies midway between them. As Bible students, let us seek to know the mind of the Lord on this subject, as well as on other subjects, assured that the Wisdom which comes from above is alone capable of giving us proper instruction and guidance, and of solving our manmade mysteries.

Consider Now Our Text.

Note the simplicity of the Bible statements—our text being an example. Not once from Genesis to Revelation does the word trinity occur. Not once is there any hint of such a trinity as the creeds describe—except in the one text—1 John 5:7—which all scholars, including trini-tarians, agree is spurious—not found in Greek manuscripts of an earlier date than the seventh century—evidently “doctored” by some trinitarian Doctor of Divinity to meet his long-felt want. Our Revised English Version omits the interpolated parts of this text—introduced about the seventh century to support the trinitarian theory—although the revisers all profess to be trinitarians. When one’s attention is called to this spurious passage, the bungling character of the addition to the Apostle’s words is quickly discerned. St. John is thereby made to say that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are going about heaven testifying to the angels that Jesus is the Son of God. Even a child’s mind can discern the absurdity of this statement, for surely the angels knew that Jesus was the Son of God be-:■ fore He came into the world and during His earthly ministry and since, without any necessity for a testimony to this effect from the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The Testimony of the Bible.

TAe Bible sets forth that Jehovah is the Almighty God, and that our Lord Jesus is His Son, His offspring, gloriously exalted to the Father’s right hand of power, dominion and glory—as His Chief Representative and Agent in all matters. The Father and the Son, although different persons, are one in the sense in which our Lord Jesus stated—one in mind, in purpose, in plan, in action, in everything except in person. How clearly the Master stated this to us, and how strangely we overlooked the force of His words when He prayed for the Church that we might all be “one, even as Thou, Father, and I are one!” The oneness of the Church is certainly not a oneness of person, but a oneness of faith, hope, harmony, fellowship, even as is the oneness of the Father and the Son. Read over the Master’s Words at your convenience at home. They v are found in the 17th chapter of St. John’s Gospel.

As for the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Truth, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the spirit of holiness, the spirit of a sound mind—it is the antithesis, or opposite of a spirit of error, a spirit of vacillation, the spirit of Satan, or opposition to God, a spirit of unrighteousness, or unholiness. These are not different spirit beings, but emanations from spirit beings. As the spirit of Satan is a spirit of evil, or an evil influence, mind or disposition, a power emanating from Satan, so contrariwise, the Spirit of God is a spirit of holiness, righteousness, truth, the emanation and display of the Divine will, purpose, energy and power; and this Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father.

And our Lord Jesus Christ, being in the fullest harmony with the Father, His Spirit is the same spirit of holiness and truth. And all of God’s consecrated people, to the extent that they have the mind of Christ, the Spirit of Christ, have the Holy Spirit, and shed forth this holy influence upon all with whom they come in contact.

Thus we see that there is a trinity of the Scriptures very different from the trinity of the creeds—a beautiful trinity. Before we proceed to demonstrate the Bible trinity and to give an array of Scripture texts proving it, let us glance backward and note well the conditions and circumstances which gave rise to the erroneous theory of the trinity set forth in our creeds, namely, as stated by some, that there are three Gods in one person— God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Or, as stated by some other persons, There is one God in three persons, or a trinity of Gods with one aim and object.

The Origin of the Error.

It will not be disputed that for more than four thousand years there was no suggestion of a trinity of Gods, nor of more than one God, amongst the Israelites. The heathen nations recognized gods many—polytheism—and at least one of these as having a trinity. But God’s people were warned against all these, being instructed in these words, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord—Jehovah.” “Thou shalt have no other gods [mighty ones, rulers] before Me.” (Deut. 6:4; Ex. 20:3.) It should be noted that our Bible recognizes earthly gods or rulers, but none of these were ever to rank with the great Eternal One, whose Word and authority must stand supreme with those who would be His people. Indeed, the word elohim, as used in the Bible, and translated gods, signifies merely mighty ones.

Jehovah, being the Mightiest One of all, is frequently referred to by this word elohim. And sometimes, by way of showing His pre-eminence over other mighty ones (elohim), He is styled the All-Mighty One. The word elohim is also used in the Bible in respect to angels, because they are mightier than men, especially when they came to men as Divine agents, bearing the Divine message. In one instance the term elohim, or gods, is used in referring to men—men placed in positions Of might or authority—the seventy elders of Israel.—Exodus 21:6; 22:8, 9, 28; Psalm 82:6.

As we shall shortly show, the words of Jesus and the Apostles fully corroborate the teaching of the Old Testament, adding that Jesus is the Son of God, and that the call of this Gospel Age is for the gathering of the Church, to be under and associate sons, “partakers of the Divine nature.”—2 Peter 1:4.

It was after the death of the twelve Apostles that, without Divine authority, the bishops of the church were proclaimed to be the successors of the Apostles, and to possess apostolic authority, as teachers in the church, and whose words were to be taken as of plenary inspiration. It was these bishops in council who declared the doctrine that 3 x 1 is one—that God is one being, of three personalities or manifestations, all three being equal in power and in glory. The question is, Why did they make such a statement? Why should they concoct so unscriptural and so unreasonable a proposition? The answer is that it was done to combat certain errors prominent in their day. They flew from one extreme to another.

As soon as Christianity became prominent enough in the world to attract the attention of the Grecian philosophers, they confessed some of its teachings to be grand and noble, but they attacked the thought that Jesus was more than a man and that His death was in any sense of the word necessary as the Atonementprice for the sins of the world. In proportion as they endeavored to discredit the Redeemer and to deny His prehuman existence, proportionately did the other party exalt and extol Him until they claimed for Him that which neither He nor the Apostles ever claimed, namely, that He was the Father as well as the Son—that He was not only equal to the Father in power and glory, but was the same in person, etc., etc.

Hearken to the Words of Jesus.

A little Scripture is worth far more than a great deal of reasoning, much more than all the statements in all the creeds, because the Word of God is Truth, and the testimony of our creeds has long ago been proven untrue in many particulars. We will take the words of Jesus first, of whom the Father said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” “hear ye Him!”—Matthew 3:17; Luke 9:35.

Jesus declared, “My Father is greater than I.”—John 14:28.

“My Father is greater than all.”—John 10:29.

“Of Mine Own Self I can do nothing.”— John 5:30.

“As the Father hath sent Me, so send I you.”—John 20:21.

“I came not to do Mine Own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.”—John 6:38.

There is a unity here manifested—an absolute unity of mind and purpose, because the Redeemer sought not to do His own Will, but the Father’s will. Hence they were one, even as we shall be one with each other if we as disciples are in harmony with the Father’s will and Word, and in harmony with our Redeemer’s counsels.

Text Says Nothing About Trinity.

Hear Jesus again: After His death, after His resurrection, when speaking to Mary, He said, “I have not yet ascended to My Father. * * * I ascend to My Father and to your Father; to My God and to your God.” (John 20:17.) “Say ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God?”—John 10:36.

Perhaps the strongest testimony of the Scriptures respecting the exalted position held by the Redeemer is the word of our Lord Jesus Himself, “That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” (John 5:23.) This is in harmony with the thought of the Father and the Son being of one mind, one will, one purpose; but it distinctly shows that they are separate persons, otherwise we could not reverence the one as we reverence the other.

Our text is to the point. It declares the faith once delivered to the saints, and says nothing about the trinity—three Gods in one person. "To us there is one God, the Father.” The context shows that the Apostle is contrasting our faith with the faith of others who recognize gods many and lords many. We Christians, says the Apostle, recognize only One Supreme God of all gods—“The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” as St. Peter styles Him.—1 Peter 1:3.

Our text declares that all things are of or proceed from the Father. He is the Source and Fountain, the Father of mercies, “from whom cometh every good and perfect gift.” His great Gift to mankind was the Gift of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom He sent into the world to be man’s Redeemer.

Three Gods, equal in power and glory, could not be said to send each other; neither would they pray to each other, as Jesus prayed to the Father—“Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryings and tears unto Him [Jehovah] that was able to save Him from death, was heard in that He feared.” (Hebrews 5:7.) An angel was sent to comfort Him and to assure Him of the Father’s love, that the Father had not forsaken Him, that He was well pleasing in His sight, and that He should have a glorious resurrection by the Father’s power in due time.

Our text proceeds to acknowledge our Lord Jesus, saying to us, "There is one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”—only one, “The Son of the Highest,” our gracious Redeemer, “The chiefest among ten thousand, and the One altogether lovely”—He who is to be the Bridegroom, the King of the future; He who is shortly to receive the Church to Himself as His Bride and Joint-heir in HL< Kingdom; He who, as King of the wort. and as Lord of the world, will reign for a thousand years, and, backed by Divine power, will bring all into subjection to the Divine will.

It is He who will thus deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, that Jehovah may be All and in all, and that the glorified Christ may be at the right hand of the Majesty on high—next to the. Father—and we as His glorified Bride next to Him, at His right hand.

The Logos—“First and Last.”

The Scriptures very explicitly declare to us that the Heavenly Father is from everlasting to everlasting—God. But not so His creatures. From time to time He has exercised His Omnipotent Power and Wisdom in a variety of creations. Necessarily, however, these had a beginning— one was first, and the Bible most clearly and repeatedly and distinctly tells us that that first One, “The Beginning of the creation of God,” was the Logos.

And the Bible explains that Jehovah’s First-Born Son was highly honored, in that the Father used Him as the Channel and Agency through whom all subsequent creations were effected. He it was who was given the honorable commission and privilege of becoming man’s Redeemer, and of thereby proving His loyalty to Jehovah, and of being exalted to the Divine nature, “far above angels, principalities and powers.” From the very beginning He was above all other creations effected through Him; but by this last exaltation He attained, in His resurrection from the dead, a place far and away above all others—next to the Father—at God’s right hand, where He shall ever remain without a peer.                        ¹

And, wonderful thought! The Call of this Gospel Age is to become heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ our Redeemer, by a manifestation of His spirit of obedience to the Father, and drinking the cup which the Father hath poured, and thus attesting our loyalty to Jehovah and to His perfect will in all things, even unto death.

“The Logos Was a God.”

In the opening of St. John’s Gospel we have a record of the greatness of the Logos. And it is much more clear and distinct in the Greek than in our English. The word logos, we remind you, signifies the “word,” the "message,” and hence is a proper term for a special messenger. In olden times kings addressed their people, not directly, but through such a messenger, or logos, who stood before the king,, the latter being screened behind a lattice- fK work. As the logos, or messenger, re- ’ ceived the message from the king, he uttered or proclaimed it to the people; hence he was styled the logos, the word.

This is one of the grandest titlesgiven to our Redeemer. He was the Father’s Logos, or Messenger, or Mouthpiece. He was the Channel of the Highest in all His dealings with the angels, and in His creative work; and later He became to men the Voice of Him who speaketh from on high, for God hath spoken to mankind peace, through the blood of the cross of Christ.

Let us read together the inspired record of St. John (1:1-3, 14, 10, 11): “In the-beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with the God, and the Logos was a god. The same was in the beginning with the God. By Him were all things made that were made, and without Him was not one thing made. . . . And the Logos was made flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld His glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came to His own [people—the Jews] and His own received Him not; but to as many as received Him, to them gave He liberty [privilege] to become sons of God” [partakers of the Divine nature] (2 Peter 1:4), even to those who believe on His Name, who were begotten, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God—at Pentecost and subsequently.

How beautiful, simple and straightforward and non-mysterious is the Divine record respecting the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and their absolute oneness or harmony! How different from the nonsense which for so long we endeavored to believe, because we thought it supported by the Bible! Good Brother Wesley was one of those honest souls who was seriously troubled on the subject. He remarked that only the one text, 1 John 5:7, could be used as a foundation for this doctrine. He knew not that the difficulty , lay in an interpolation—an addition' to the s Apostle’s words. It is only in compara- * tively recent years that the three original Greek manuscripts have been brought to light, namely, the Sinaitic, Vatican No. 1209 and the Alexandrian.

The Beginning of God’s Creation.

Let us hearken to the Apostle Paul’s statement respecting our dear Redeemer and His glorious station. He uttered not a word favoring the absurd theory that,............

our Redeemer was His own Father and His own Son—one in person. He declared, in harmony with St. John’s statement, that our Lord Jesus was “the Beginning of the creation of God.” (Revelation 3:14). St. Paul declared that Jesus was “The First-Born of every creature, that in all things He might have the pre-eminence” (Colossians 1:15, 18). And when in one of his statements he spoke of our Lord Jesus as though He were pre-eminent, the Apostle promptly followed the statement with another, saying, “It is manifest that the Father is excepted” (1 Cor. 15:27) in all comparisons, for, as Jesus declared, the Father is above all.

Our Lord Jesus’ own testimony is that He is the First and the Last, “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” of the Divine creation. In other words, aftei- the Father had created the Son, He never directly created any other • person or thing. The Logos was the First and the Last, and by Him were all things made that were made.

Let us then honor the Son as the Son and as the glorious Agent and Representative of the Father in all things—by whom (through whom) are all things of the Divine Plan; and let us honor also the Father, as “the Father of lights,” and Father of mercies and grace and Truth, “of whom are all things.” The testimony of the Bible is beautiful, honoring to the Father, to the Son and to the spirit of holiness. As the Scriptures declare, “The words of the Lord are pure, making wise the simple”—the teachable.

“WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS.”

“ ‘What a friend we have in Jesus,’ Sang a little child one day;

And a weary woman listened To the darling’s happy lay.

“All her life seemed dark and gloomy, All her heart was sad with care;

Sweetly rang out baby’s treble— ‘All our sins and griefs to bear.’ “She was pointing out the Savior,

Who could carry every woe;

And the one who sadly listened Needed that dear Helper so!

“Sin and grief were heavy burdens For a fainting soul to bear;

But the baby singer bade her ‘Take it to the Lord in prayer.* “With a simple, trusting spirit,

Weak and worn, she turned to God, Asking Christ to take her burden, Owning Him as her dear Lord.

“Jesus was her only Refuge, He could take her sin and care, And He blessed the weary woman When she came to Him in prayer

“And the happy child, still singing, Little knew she had a part

In God’s wondrous work of bringing Peace unto a troubled heart.”