International Bible Students Association, f^uAJisAers.

THAT our Lord intended his disciples to understand that for some purpose, in some manner, and at some time, he would come again is, we presume, admitted and believed by all familiar with the Scriptures, for, when he said, “If I go, I will come again” (John 14:3), he certainly referred to a second personal coming.

Quite a number think that when sinners are converted that forms a part of the coming of Christ, and that so he will continue coming until all the world is converted. Then, say they, he will have fully come.

These evidently forget the testimony of the Scriptures on the subject, which declare the reverse of their expectation; that at the time of our Lord’s second coming the world will be far from converted to God; that “In the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3:1-4); that “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” (Verse 13.) They forget the Master’s special warning to his “little flock”; “Take heed to yourselves lest that day come upon you unawares, for as a snare shall it come on all them [not taking heed] that dwell on the face of the whole earth.” (Luke 21:34, 35.) Again, we may rest assured that when it is said, “All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him,” when they see him coming (Rev. 1:7), no reference is made to the conversion of sinners. Do all men wail because of the conversion of sinners? On the contrary, if this passage refers, as almost all admit, to Christ’s presence on earth, it teaches that all on earth will not love his appearing, as they certainly would do if all were converted.

Some expect an actual coming and presence of the Lord, but set the time of the event a long way off, claiming that through the efforts of the Church in its present condition the world must be converted, and thus the Millennial Age be introduced. They claim that when the world has been converted, and Satan bound, and the knowledge of the Lord caused to fill the whole earth, and when the nations learn war no more, then the work of the Church in her present condition will be ended; and that when she has accomplished this great and difficult task the Lord will come to wind up earthly affairs, reward believers and condemn sinners.

Some Scriptures, taken disconnectedly, seem to favor this view; but when God’s Word and plan are viewed as a whole these will all be found to favor the opposite view, viz., that Christ comes before the conversion of the world, and reigns for the purpose of converting the world; that the Church is now being tried, and that the reward promised the overcomers is that after being glorified they shall share with the Lord Jesus in that reign, which ie God’s appointed means of blessing the world and causing the knowledge of the Lord to come to every creature. Such are the Lord’s special promises: “To him that over-cometh will I grant tp sit with me in have been but one. For God has evidently designed the permission of evil for six thousand years, as well as that the cleansing and restitution of all shall be occomplished during the

seventh thousand.

Thus seen, the coming of Jesus, as the sacrifice and ransom for sinners, was just long enough in advance of the blessing and restoring time to allow for the selection of his “little flock” of “joint-heirs.” This will account to some for the apparent delay on God’s part in giving the blessings promised, and provided for, in the ransom. The blessings will come in due time, as at first planned; though for a glorious purpose, the price was laid down longer beforehand than men would have expected.

Those who claim that Jehovah has been trying for six thousand years to convert the world and failing all the time, must find it difficult to reconcile such views with the Bible assurance that all God’s purposes shall be accomplished, and that his Word shall not return unto him void, but shall prosper in the thing whereto it was sent. (Isa. 55:11.) The fact that the world has not yet been converted, and that the knowledge of the Lord has not yet filled the earth, is a proof that it has not yet been sent on that mission.

Differ ent Ciasses of “Eicul."

Glancing backward, we notice the selection, or election of Abraham and certain of his offspring as the channels through which the promised Seed, the blesser of all the families of the earth, shall come. (Gal. 3:16, 29.) We note also the selection of Israel from among all nations, as the one in whom, typically, God illustrated how the great work for the world should be accomplished—their deliverance from Egypt, their Canaan, their Covenant, their laws, their sacrifices for sins, for the blotting out of guilt and for the sprinkling of the people, and their priesthood for the accomplishment of all this, being a miniature and typical representation of the real priesthood and sacrifices for the purifying of the world of mankind. God, speaking to Israel, said, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” (Amos 3:2.) This people alone was recognized until Christ came; yes, and afterwards, for his ministry was confined to them, and he would not permit his disciples to go to others—saying, as he sent them out, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not.” Why so, Lord? Because, he explains, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 10:5, 6; 15:24.) All his time was devoted to them until his death, and there was done his first work for the world, the first display of his free and all-abounding grace, which in “due time” shall indeed be a blessing to all. When the called-out company (called to be sons of God, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord—who have made their calling and election sure) is complete, then this feature of the plan of God for the world's salvation will be only beginning.

Not until it is selected, developed, and exalted to power, will the Seed bruise the serpent’s head. “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. 16:20; Gen. 3:15.) The Gospel Age makes ready the chaste virgin, the faithful Church, for the coming Bridegroom. And in the end of the age, when she is made

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Those who get the benefit of the pure spiritual atmosphere into which Pastor Russell leads them, need not be told tha t the many vile attacks are merely the desperate efforts of opponents who. e nefarious schemes Pastor Russell is so thoroughly exposing.

The fact is that nobody has cause for grievance against Pastor Russell, except that he is telling the common people truths the clergy wish them not to know.

appreciation. The same principle applies to all; in God’s due time it will be testified to all, and all will then have opportunity to believe and to be blessed by it.

The prevailing opinion is that death ends all probation; but there is no Scripture which so teaches. Since God does not purpose to save men on account of ignorance, but “will have all men to come unto the knowledge jf the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4); and since the masses of mankind have died in ignorance; and since “there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave” (Eccl. 9:10); therefore God has prepared for the awakening of the dead, in order to knowledge, faith and salvation. Hence his plan is, that “as all in Adam die, even so shall all in Christ be made alive, but each one in his own order”—the Gospel Church, the Bride, the Body of Christ, first; afterward, during the Millennial Age, all who shall become his during that thousand years of his presence (mistranslated coming), the Lord’s due time for all to know him, from the least to the greatest.—1 Cor. 15:22.

Thus we see that all these hitherto difficult texts are explained by the statement—“to be testified in due time.” In due time, that true Light shall lighten every man that has come into the world. In due time, it shall be “good tidings of great joy to all people.” And in no other way can these Scriptures be used without wresting. Paul carries out this line of argument with emphasis in Rom. 5:18, 19. He reasons that, as all men were condemned to death because of Adam’s transgression, so, also, Christ’s righteousness, and obedience even unto death, have become a ground of justification; and that as all lost life in the first Adam, so all, aside from personal demerit, may receive life by accepting the second Adam.

Peter tells us that this restitution is spoken of by the mouth of all the holy prophets. (Acts 3:19-21.) They all teach it. Ezekiel says of the valley of dry bones, “These bones are the whole house of Israel.” And God says to Israel, “Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I . .. shall put my Spirit in you, and I shall place you in your own land; then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.”—Ezek. 37:11-14.

Plan of the Ages—The God-Given Key.

Without the key, how dark, how inconsistent, these statements appear; but when we find the key to God’s plan, these texts all declare with one voice, “God is love”! This key is found in the latter part of the text last quoted—“Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” God has a due time for every thing. He could have testified it to these in their past lifetime; but since he did not it proves that their due time must be future. For those who will be of the Church, the Bride of Christ, and share the Kingdom honors, the present is the “due time” to hear; and whosoever now has an ear to hear, let him hear and heed, and he will be blessed accordingly. Though Jesus gave our ransom before we were born, it was not our “due time” to hear of it for long years afterward, and only the appreciation of it brought responsibility; and this, only to the extent of our ability and

Thieves in Paradise

Luke 23 :43.—This greatly misunderstood text explained in Peoples Pulpit, Volume one, Number 7.

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to them, while sometimes having a suckling, ox and sheep, camel and special application to themselves, gen- ass.” (1 Sam. 15:3.) This apparent-erally have also a wider application ly reckless destruction of life seems to the whole world of mankind which irreconcilable with the character of that nation typified. While Israel as ^love attributed to God, and with the a nation was typical of the whole teachings of Jesus, “Love your world, its priesthood was typical of enemies,” etc., until we come to the elect “little flock,” the Head and recognize the systematic order of Body of Christ, the “Royal Priest- ^God’^s P^lan» ^the “^{due time}” ^{for tbe} hood”; and the sacrifices, cleansings accomplishment of every feature of and atonement made for Israel typi- *t, and the fact that every member of tied the “better sacrifices,” fuller ^the human race has a place in it. cleansings and real atonement “for ^{We can now see that} those Amale-the sins of the whole world,” of which ^kites» Sodomites and others were set they are a part.                        forth as examples of God’s just in

dignation, and of his determination

A Crucial Test—The Sodomites. to destroy finally and utterly evil-And not only so, but God mentions doers, examples which will be of ser-by name other nations and promises vice not only to others, but also to their restoration. As a forcible illus- themselves, when their day of judg-tration we mention the Sodomites, ment or trial comes.

Surely, if we shall find the restitution Some, who are willing enough to of the Sodomites clearly taught, we accept of God’s mercy through Christ may feel satisfied of the truth of this in the forgiveness of their own tres-glorious doctrine of restitution for all passes and weaknesses under greater mankind, spoken by the mouth of all light ^and knowledge, cannot conceive the holy prophets. And why should ^of the same favor being applicable not the Sodomites have an opportun- under the New Covenant to others; ity to reach perfection, and everlasting though they seem to admit the life as well as Israel, or as any of us? Apostle’s statement that Jesus Christ, True, they were not righteous, but hy the favor of God, tasted death for neither was Israel, nor we who now every man. Some of these suggest hear the Gospel. “There is none that the Lord must, in this prophecy, righteous; no, not one,” aside from the ^be speaking ironically to the Jews, imputed righteousness of Christ, who implying that he would just as will-died for all. Our Lord’s own words ^{ingly bring back} the Sodomites as tell us that although God rained down them, but had no intention of restor-fire from heaven and destroyed them i^ag either. But let us see how the all because of their wickedness, yet succeeding verses agree with this the Sodomites were not so great sin- ^idea- <^Ezek- 16:60-63.) The Lord ners in his sight as were the Jews, ^says» “Nevertheless I will remembar who had more knowledge. (Gen* ^my Covenant with thee in the days of 19:24; Luke 17:29.) Unto the Jews ^{thy youth}. and I will establish unto of Capernaum he said, “If the mighty ^{thee an} everlasting covenant. Then, works which have been done in thee ^{thou shalt} remember thy ways and be had been done in Sodom, it would ^asbamed when thou shalt receive thy have remained until this day.”—Matt. ^sisters • • • ^And I will establish my 11:23.                               * Covenant with thee and thou shalt

Thus our Lord teaches that the ^{know that 1 am the Lord; tbat tbou} Sodomites did not have a full oppor- mayest remember and be confounded, tunity; and he guarantees them such ^{and never open tby moutb} any more opportunity when he adds (v. 24) because of thy shame, when I am “But I say unto you, that it shall be P^acified toward thee for all that thou more tolerable for the land of Sodom, ^{bast done saith the Lord God}’’ in the day of judgment, than for “All Israel Shall Be Saved.” thee.” The character of the day of To this Paul adds his testimony, judgment and its work is shown else- saying, “And so all Israel [living and where.* Here we merely call atten- dead] shall be saved [recovered from tion to the fact that it will be a toler- blindness], as it is written, ‘There able time for Capernaum, and yet shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, more tolerable for Sodom; because, and shall turn away ungodliness though neither had yet had full knowd- from Jacob. For this is my Covenant edge, nor all the blessings designed unto them when I shall take away to come through the “Seed,” yet their sins . . . They are beloved Capernaum had sinned against more for the fathers’ sakes; because the light.                                   gracious gifts and callings of God are

And if Capernaum and all Israel are pot things to be repented of”—Rom. to be remembered and blessed under 11:26-29.

the “New Covenant,” why should not How different is this glorious plan, the Sodomites also be blessed among of God for the selection of a few now, “all the families of the earth”? They in order to the blessing of the many assuredly will be. And let it be re- hereafter, from the distortions of membered that since God “rained these truths, as represented by the down fire from heaven and destroyed two opposing views—Calvinism and them all” many centuries before Arminianism! The former both deJesus’ day, when their restoration is nies the Bible doctrine of free grace, spoken of, it implies their awaken- and miserably distorts the glorious ing, their coming from the»tomb. doctrine of election; the latter denies

In “due time” they will be awak- the doctrine of election, and fails to ened from death and brought to a comprehend the blessed fulness of knowledge of the truth, and thus God’s free grace.

blessed together with all the families The day of trouble will end in due of the earth, by the promised “Seed.” time, when he who spake to the rag-They will then be on trial for ever- ing Sea of Galilee will likewise, with lasting life.                       . authority, command the raging sea of

With this thought, and with no human passion, saying, “Peace! Be other, can we understand the deal- still!” When the Prince of Peace ings of the God of love with those shall “stand up” in authority, a great. Amalekites and other nations whom calm will be the result. Then the he not only permitted but commanded raging and clashing elements shall Israel to destroy, saying, “Go smite recognize the authority of “Jehovah’s Amalek and utterly destroy all they Anointed,” “the glory of the Lord have, and spare them not; but slay shall be revealed, and all flesh shall both man and woman, infant and see it together”; and in the reign of —------- the Christ thus begun “shall all the

* See Vol. I., "Scriptube Studies,” "Tht f_arQnj_{es o}f the earth be blessed.” Divine Plan of the Ages.”

“WHERE ARE THE DEAD?”

This sermon was published in Peoples Pulpit, Volume one. Number 3. The interest aroused, and the great demand tor c P this sermon has been remarkable. A sample copy will be mai e any one free.______________________

"How wise are God’s commands, How just his precepts are!”

OUR conception of God measures our highest ideals and principles. Whoever, therefore, has a mean or slipshod conception of the Almighty is bound to be more or less mean and slipshod in his conduct of life, for every man or woman to some extent worships his own highest ideal. And this is authorized by our Redeemer’s words, “Be ye like unto your Father which is in heaven.” Our forefathers during the dark ages burned one another at the stake, and otherwise tortured one another, because of their misconception of the Divine character; because their ideals were too low. They truly believed what they formulated in their creeds and handed down to us; namely, that God in the present time is gathering from amongst men a handful of saints for the heavenly condition and that he will turn over the remainder—all who W’alk not after the spirit, but after the flesh—to eternal torment at the hands of demons.

Having before their minds this misconception of the Bible teachings, they merely copy that misconception. That civilized men have gotten beyond those standards of the dark ages is a matter for congratulation. We regret, nevertheless, that their freedom from an error has not brought them all the blessing that it should. They have attained the higher ideal mostly by ignoring the Bible, by denying its infallibility, by accepting their own judgment and reasoning in supposed contradiction of the Bible teachings. How sad is the fact that a majority of the noble minds of Christendom today deny that the Bible is a divinely inspired revelation of God and consider it merely the work of well-intentioned but ignorant men, in comparison with whom the theologians of today are past-masters every way, quite competent to write, out of their own wits, matter much superior to that of the Bible, the Divine inspiration of which they deny.

The Foundation of God’s Throne

The Bible declaration that justice is the foundation of the divine Kingdom or Throne gives the mind pictorially an appreciation of the value of justice in its relationship to every element of the divine character. “Be just before you are generous,” is a proverb amongst men, which evidently is in full accord with what the Scriptures declare of God’s character. He is first just—never anything less than just. His wisdom, his power, his love must all co-ordinate with and rest upon this quality of Justice. And so it is with all those who would copy this character. They must first be just. A character built upon a foundation to any extent ignoring this is faulty, improper, sinful. The first man, made in God’s image and moral likeness, must have had justice as the foundation of his character. And all of his descendants still possess this quality, though in varying degrees. We call it also conscientiousness, righteousness. Some indeed have this quality in so weak a degree that it is easily overbalanced by their other stronger qualities of mind, such as acquisitiveness, approbativeness, etc. It is for this reason that prisons are necessary to restrain all the stronger organs of men’s minds and to encourage their conscientiousness, their sense of justice, righteousness. These standards of righteousness have, from the first, been considered and esteemed the Divine standards, and are still so es-teemtd, except by atheists.

During the dark ages reasoning minds tried the various expedients whereby to harmonize the justice of God w’ith the “doctrines of of demons,” which misrepresented the Divine Program for mankind. (I Tim. 4:1.) But in our day the dawning light from every quarter reveals to the awakened conscience the fact that the old creeds require of humanity far higher standards than they accredit to our Maker. We are to be just, generous, kind, loving. The pattern held up to us in the misleading creeds portrays our Almighty Creator as claiming all of those qualities, but by his course of dealing with humanity violating them, every one. .

Who, with an enlightened mind, can anv longer claim that it would be just or kind or loving for God to bring into being a race of intelligent creatures, for the great mass of whom he had no better provision than an eternity of torture, and knew all this before he created them? Who can deny that it would have been more just, more kind,

some extent have seen justice to be the foundation of the Divine character. The Golden Rule does not express all of the Christian’s duty; he is expected to make progress in conduct and character development much beyond this. But this further progress marks his development in love. The Golden Rule marks the very lowest standard which must measure our dealings with others, in the Church and in the world —justice. In a word our text, although far above the ordinary course of humanity, should be in use every day and. every hour by every follower of Christ. “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” That our Lord was not giving this as a Gospel standard and love standard, we note the fact that he added the words, “This is the Law and the Prophets”—this is the teaching or demand of the law and the prophets upon all who would seek to do righteousness—'Justice.

The measure of our development as New Creatures in Christ is whatever we attain in love above the standard of the Golden Rule. Justice demands us to render to others as we would have them render to us. Love says, I demand nothing, but show you the length and height and depth of Love Divine and wait expectantly to note your appreciation of this and how you will seek to be copies of God’s dear Son, who laid down his life on our behalf. Addressing those who had made a. consecration to discipleship, to walk in the Lord’s footsteps, St. Paul says, “We ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren”—after the example of Jesus.

"Love Worketh No III”

All of the Lord’s people are to love him and the brethren; yea, even their enemies. However, let us now stop short of love and merely consider what the simple justice of the Golden Rule would imply in our conduct. How do our daily lives square with this Golden Rule of absolute justice, omitting love entirely?

If you are an employer, do you treat your employee in harmony with this rule and do unto him as you would have him do unto you, if your positions were reversed? If you are an employee, inquire of yourself, “Do I treat my employer and his business as I would have him treat me and my business, if our relationship were reversed?” Do you treat your butcher, your baker, your grocer, etc., as you would like to have them treat you, if your positions were reversed? Are you polite to them and not inclined to give them unnecessary trouble? Do you pay them promptly? Or, if you are the tradesman, do you treat your customers as you would wish to have them treat you, if conditions were reversed? Do you charge them a reasonable price only? Do you give them proper weight and measure? Do you properly represent your goods to them, as you would have them represented to you? Are you a good neighbor? Do you see to it that your children are not a nuisance to others; that your chickens are not permitted to damage your neighbor’s garden; that your dog is not a. ferocious one, and that his bark does not keep the neighborhood awake? In a word, do you treat your neighbor justly, along the lines of the Golden Rule, doing unto him only as you would wish him to do to you?

Let us now step into your home and measure things there by the Golden Rule. As husbands, how do you treat your wives? As wives, how do you treat your husbands? Can you apply the Golden Rule to your words, to your conduct, to your demands of each other? Or do you act meanly, selfishly, taking advantage of each other, to the limit that the other will forbear? Do you deal with your children according to the lines of the Golden Rule? Are you an ideal parent, according to your own advanced standard of what a parent’s duty should be to his children? Do you remember that you have a responsibility for their training; a responsibility so far as your circumstances will permit, for their environment and happiness and education and general preparation for usefulness in life? Or are you indifferent to their interests, neglectful of your responsibilities? Do you recognize that your children have certain, rights and that these increase as they near maturity, or are you forgetful of these, disposed to keep the children under the restraints of childhood, souring their dispositions and making them unhappy, until they resent the injustice and a family quarrel results? As children, are you thoughtful of your parents, their welfare, their wishes, their happiness, as you would like your children to be thoughtful of yours? De you remember the hours and weeks of feebleness and sickness and toil which you cost them in your infancy, and are you seeking to repay those kindnesses and seeking to make their last days the happiest of their lives? Are you observing the Golden Rule toward your parents? How is it in your relationship to your brothers and sisters? When they borrow your things without leave, do you retaliate by borrowing theirs without leave, and thus keep up a continual fret and vexation of spirit in the family? Or do you practice the Golden Rule of justice and do nothing to your brother and sister, or their belongings, that you would not wish them to do to you or your things?

The Golden Rule in Church

Surely in the Church you should remember the Golden Rule laid down by the Head of the Church. Nevertheless, I am sure that if you are unjust in your own family, and to your business associates, you will be unjust also in your dealing with the “Church, which is the Body of Christ.” He that is unjust in little things would be unjust in greater ones. He who is faithful in little things will be faithful in the greater ones. He who practices the Golden Rule during the six days of his contact with business will surely be faithful on the seventh, but faithfulness to the Golden Rule on the bne day only will never win Divine approval.             -

If I have taken upon me a denominational name, which stands for a denominational creed, do j really believe that creed and endorse it and uphold it? Or am I in a measure out of accord with it? Does it misrepresent me, or do I misrepresent it? Am I doing to my associates, and to the Lord, the Head of the Church, as I would have them do to me? If not, I should square my conduct by the Golden Rule. I should be honest with my Lord, with my brethren and with myself, and make no- false professions. Do I treat all the brethren as such, as the Apostle says, "Without partiality and without hypocrisy?” Or do I pick out some 6f special class oi* calibre or style, and measurably ignore some of the poorer or less literate, who_o perhaps, need my assistance more? Am I doing to all these a brother’s part, as I would that they should do to me, if bur positions were transposed? As the pastor, am I thoughtful of the interests of the brethren? Do I watch out for their liberties? Do I seek to impart to them freely whatever knowledge I possess, or am I trying to hoodwink them and to keep them in ignorance, and t«t hold them down? In a word, am I da-ing for the Lord’s sheep, as an under-i shtpherd, what I Would wish to be done to me by an under-shepherd, if I were one of the Lord’s sheep under his care? Or, as one of the Lord’s sheep, under a pastoral head, dm I seeking by word, and act to encourage and assist the pastor, as I Would like to have the Lord’s people do for me, if I were in|, pastoral service? ’

EVERY THINKING

CHRISTIAN

SHOULD READ

in the

Scriptures”

COME apply the first text only and think of the Divine Program as being merely an endeavor to rescue mankind from sin and death to righteousness and eternal life in the present time. Such as hold this view are much confused, because it must be acknowledged that comparatively little has been done, or is now being done, for man’s uplift. After six thousand years it is still true that “The whole world lieth in the Wicked One’^-; “Darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the heathen.” In order to have any confidence at all in this theory those who hold it are obliged to greatly lower their standards. They are forced to hope that God will admit millions of unfit people, crude, rude, ignorant and wicked to eternal life and happiness, or perchance provide for them Purgatorial experiences, to make them fit, righteous a-nd acceptable for life eternal. As a whole, Christian people are great-it bewildered. The tendency of their bewilderment is toward doubt, skepticism, atheism.

The other view, briefly stated, is that God never intended the salvation of the world, but merely the salvation of the Church, “elect according to the foreknowledge of God through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the Truth.” Those w-ho hold this theory have great confusion also, because it seems incomprehensible that God would make no provision for “thousands of millions” of Adam’s race, but arrange for them to be born in sin, shapen in iniquity, and to go down to the tomb (or worse) without a clear knowledge of God and his purposes and will respecting them.

As we have already frequently set forth, both of the described theories are erroneous. The Scriptures set forth two salvations, entirely separate and distinct. They are different as respects time, in that the one “salvation began to be spoken by our Lord” at his First Advent, and began to be applicable to his Church at Pentecost, and will wholly cease at his Second Coming in the end of this Age. The other salvation neither applied before our Lord’s First Advent nor during this Gospel Age, but will apply to all mankind, except the Church, during the Millennium—the thousand years of the reign of Christ and the Church, specially designed for the blessing of the world and its uplifting out of sin and death conditions.

These two salvations are distinctly different as to kind, as well as respects their plan of operation. The salvation of the Church during this Gospel Age ■—since Pentecost—means not only a deliverance from sin and death conditions to eternal life, but provides that the eternal life will be on the heavenly or spiritual plane and not on the earthly or human plane of existence. Thus the Apostle declares that our “inheritance is incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away and is reserved in heaven for us, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” (I Peter 1:4, 5.) Our Lord also told that in the resurrection we shall be like unto the angels. The Apostle also declares that at that time we shall be partakers of the divine nature and like our Lord and Redeemer.

The world’s salvation which will follow will be wholly different from this. It will not include a change from earthly to spirit nature. It will mean a rescue from sin and death to the earthly perfection of the original man, in the image and likeness of his Creator, and surrounded by every necessary blessing for his comfort. Human perfection and the Eden home were lost through disobedience to God. The Divine arrangement is that the merit of our Lord’s obedience unto death, when ultimately applied for mankind, shall fully cancel the death sentence upon him. More and better than this, God has promised that the same Sin-Offering shall seal a New Covenant between himself and mankind. The blessings of that New Covenant arrangement will then immediately begin. The great Redeemer will thenceforth be the great Mediator of that New Covenant. The whole world of mankind will be fully under his supervision and government for their blessing, their correction in righteousness, their uplifting out of sin and death conditions—back, back, back, to all that was lost in Eden. All of this was the original design of the Great Creator. All of this will be outworked through the Great Redeemer. All of this was secured or suretied by his death, finished at Calvary.—Heb. 7:22.

St. Peter, pointing down to that glorious time of the world’s blessing, calls it “times of refreshing and times of restitution.” He tells us that all the holy prophets described the blessings of those restitution times — the thousand years, the Millennium. (Acts 3: 19-21.) When once we get the eyes of our understanding opened, we find the Apostle’s words thoroughly corroborated by the Divine records, which debrought to a knowledge of the Truth would prove some of them to be pure in heart and such as the Lord would desire should have eternal life and all of his favors.

Terms of Salvation Differ

Of course, these different salvations imply different terms or conditions, God’s requirement of Adam, that Iio might continue to live forever and everlastingly enjoy Divine favor, his Eden Home, etc., was obedience to reasonable, just requirements. It was his violation of the Divine Law that brought upon him the sentence of death—“Dying thou shalt die”—with all that this has implied to him and his posterity of mental, moral ana physical decline, weakness, death. The requirement of God for the world of mankind during the Millennial Age will similarly be — obedience to God’s just, reasonable regulations, laws. Whoever then will render obedience may with proportionate rapidity go up on the highway of holiness toward perfection at its end. Whoever refuses obedience to the extent of his ability will fail to make progress and ultimately die the Second Death, from which there will be no redemption and no resurrection.

Such obedience as will be required of mankind in the great Mediator’s Kingdom will include their co-operation in the resistance of their own fallen weaknesses. It will include the exercise of patience and kindness towards their fellow-creatures, fellow-sufferers. The Divine Law of love to God with all the heart, mind, soul, strength and for the neighbor as for one’s self they must learn fully. As they will realize their own blemishes and strive to overcome them and ask, not the Father, but the Mediator, for forgiveness, they will be obliged to follow the Divine rule of exercising towards others similar mercy and forgiveness to that which they desire for themselves.

. The conditions governing the salvation of the Church are wholly different from those which will appertain to the world. The Church is called out of the world under a Divine invitation to suffer with Christ in the present life and during this Gospel Age and then to reign with Christ during the Millennial Age, participating in his Mediatorial Kingdom for the blessing, uplifting, salvation of the world. It is not in vain, therefore, that our Lord and the Apostles, in setting forth the call of the Church, during this Age, specified particularly and frequently the necessity for all who would share in this salvation to participate with the Redeemer in his sacrificing, in “his death,” and consequently participate in “his resurrection” and in his reign of. glory. Hark to the words, “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give the > a crown of life;” “To him that over-cometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne.”

THE false view of the Day of Judgment began to be introduced in the Second Century and human fear and superstition continually made it worse and worse. The Bible, on the contrary, represented it as a period of glory and blessing. The Psalmist’s declaration, calling upon humanity and all creation to rejoice because the Lord would come to judge the earth in righteousness and the poor with equity (Psalm 98:9), is worthy of note.

A Blessed Judgment Day.

According to the Bible the world’s Judgment Day will be the world’s time •of opportunity for coming to a knowledge of God and then being tried, tested, or judged, as to their willingness to serve and obey God and his righteous government. Those found heartily obedient will be granted everlasting life with every joy and blessing appropriate to man in his perfection. Those rebellious to the light of the righteousness of Jehovah will be destroyed in the Second Death without hope of any future whatever.

That will lie the time when all the heathen will have their trial, after they shall all be brought by Messiah’s Kingdom to a clear knowledge of the Truth. That will lie the time when the great masses of Christendom will for the .first time hear of the real character of God and his requirements of thorn. , Although some of them may have been in churches occasionally and ma.v have seen Bibles occasionally, nevertheless the eyes of their understanding were darkened. They saw not; they heard not; they understood not. The god of this world blinded them (II Corinthians iv, 4).

That Judgment Day, the thousand years of Messiah’s Kingdom, will not only bind Satan, but chase away with the glorious beams of the Sun of Righteousness all the darkness, superstition and error of the world.

The Church will not be judged during that thousand-year Judgment Day because her trial, her judgment, takes place now—during this Gospel Age. The saintly few who will gain the great prize of joint-heirship with the Redeemer, Messiah, will be his Queen and sit with him in the Great White Throne of Judgment mentioned in the text; as the Apostle declares, “Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?” (I Cor. vi, 2; Psa. 45:9.)

Former Views Were Erroneous.

Our former and very unreasonable view was that man, “born in sin, shapen in iniquity,” depraved in all of his appetites, wmuld be condemned of God in the Judgment Day on account of this heredity and environment, for which he is not responsible. The theory was that the heathen also would be damned in that Judgment Day, because they did not know and did not accept “the only name given under heaven.” The theory was also that the masses of civilized society would in that Judgment Day be damned because they would not, and because they did not, live perfectly, notwithstanding their heredity.

Now we see that the death sentence was upon Adam and all of his race, who were in his loins when he sinned. We see that they could not be put on trial a second time until released from the first sentence. We see that their release will be at the Second Coming of Messiah in the glory of his Kingdom, when ho shall cause the knowledge of the Lord to fill the whole earth and open all the blinded eyes. Then, because of having satisfied the claims of Justice against the race, the Great Redeemer, as the Mediator of the New Covenant, will grant the world of mankind another judgment or trial—additional to the one given to Adam, in which they all failed and from the penalty of which failure Jesus redeemed them.

True, the measure of light and knowledge now enjoyed and wilfully sinned against will work a corresponding degradation of character; all downward steps will need to be retraced.

“The Great White Throne.”

Rev. 20:11.

Symbolically the whiteness of the throne indicates the purity of the justice and judgment which will be meted out by the Great Redeemer as the Messiah-King. The heavens and earth which will flee away from the presence of that throne are not the literal, but the symbolical. The ecclesiastical heavens and the social earth of the present time will not stand in the presence of that August Tribunal. The people will not be judged nationally nor by parliaments and systems in society, but individually. The judgment or trial will not merely test those living at the time of the establishment of the Kingdom, but will include all the dead.

The books of the Bible will then all be opened—understood. All will then see that the Golden Rules laid down by inspiration through Moses and the Prophets, Jesus and his Apostles, are the very ones which God will require of men in the future and which Messiah will then enable the willing and obedient to comply with by assisting them up out of their sin and degradation. The judgment of that time, the test, w’ill not be of faith, for knowledge will be universal and all the darkness and obscurity created by ignorance and superstition will have passed away. The test at that time will be of works, whereas the tests of the Church at the present time are of faith.

Another Book of Life Opened.

Pastor Russell declared that the Lamb’s Book of Life alone is open now and only those called to be members of the Bride class and who accept the call are written therein. But in the great day of the world’s trial or Judgment another book of life will be opened. A record will be made of all who, by obedience, show themselves worthy of everlasting life on the human plane, and, if faithful, they will eventually be accepted of the Father to life eternal. All the incorrigible, all those who after the most favorable opportunities, will not give their hearts to the Lord and be obedient to the laws of the Messianic Kingdom -‘shall be destroyed from amonst the people.”—Acts 3:i9-21.

YOURS FOR THE ASKING.

. Some of the Interesting Topics published in issues of Peoples Pulpit are as follows. In ordering please do so by volume and number. Sample copies free:—

Vol. I., No. 3.

‘‘Where Are the Dead ?”

“I'orgivable and Unpardonable Sins.”

“What Say the Scriptures Respecting Punishment?”

Vol. I., No. 4.

“Rich Man in Hell.”

“In the Cross of Christ We Glory.” “Hosanna! Hosanna!”

Vol. I., No. 6.

“Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!”

“End of the Age Is the Harvest.”

“Length and Breadth, Height and Depth.”

Vol. I., No. 7

“Thieves in Paradise.”

“Christ Our Passover Is Sacrificed.”

“The Risen Christ.”

Vol. I., No. 3.

“Koreordination and Election.”

“The Desire of All Nations.”

“Peace, Be Still.”

Vol. I., No. 9.

“Sin’s Small Beginnings.”

“Paradise Regained.”

“The Coining Kingdom.”

Vol. I., No. 10

“Sin Atonement.”

“Spiritual Israel—-Natural Israel.”

“The Times of the Gentiles.”

VoL II., No. 1.

“Gathering the I,ord’s Jewels.”

“Thrust in Thy Sickle.”

“Open Letter to Adventist.”

Vol. II., No. 2.

“Weeping All Night.”

“Every Idle Woid.”

“Refrain Thy Voice from Weeping.”