THE BIBLE STUDENTS MONTHLY

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bis absolute love by his submission and obedience. Our Lord’s own words were, “Father, glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee befor6 the world was” (John ,xvii, 5). He knew of the Father’s proposed exaltation of him as a reward, but he did not mention this; he would merely ask of the Father that when he had accomplished the Divine purpose, he might have back the same honor and position and Divine favor which he had laid aside when he humbled himself to become Adam’s redemption price, the world’s Savior. Such modesty and loyalty are difficult for us to comprehend because of our fallen, imperfect •conditions.

The Exaltation of Christ and the Church.

But the Apostle explains to us, speaking under the power of inspiration, that because of our Lord’s obedience in leaving the glory and becoming a man and dying for our sins, therefore “God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth” (Philippians ii, 9, 10). Elsewhere in the Scriptures we are assured that our Lord became partaker of the divine nature in his resurrection; that thus he attained a reward far above anything that could have been thought, not only above angels, but also far above his own prehuman •condition. In thus rewarding the faithful the Lord is carrying out the spirit of our text—he has been exemplifying what is otherwise taught in the Scriptures—“whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap” (Galatians vi, 7). --------Adam sowed disobedience and he and bis race have reaped a terrible harvest of degradation, suffering and death. The Only Begotten sowed obedience, as prophetically expressed of him at the time of his baptism, “I delight to do thy will, O my Gdd; thy law Is written in my heart” (Psalm 40:8). Laying down his life in harmony with the Divine program was his sowing and the reaping at the resurrection was glory, honor and immortality, the divine nature. How richly Jehovah rewards every demonstration of loyalty to himself and the principles of righteousness!

Responsibility and the decision as to life eternal and death eternal, come to each member of Adam’s race as soon as he is brought into a clear knowledge of the Truth. This privilege of coming to a knowledge of the Truth, the opportunity of eternal salvation, is secured to all the families of the earth, to Adam and every member of his race, through the great Redeemer’s sacrifice finished at Calvary. "While thanking God for the length and breadth and height and depth of his glorious provision for the world in general, we who now hear this message and heed it have the special blessing and opportunity of joint-heirship with Jesus the Redeemer in his great Messianic Kingdom work. Let us not only accept the Divine favor, but let us run with patience the race set before us, looking ilnto Jesus, the Author and the One who shall be the Finisher of our faith, seeking for needed aid to make our calling and election sure!

Let us continue to endeavor to walk more and more closely in Jesus’ footsteps until we shall hear the sweet “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joys of thy Lord.”

The Hope of Immortality

This subject which has been so misunderstood, is convincingly and Scripturally treated in Peoples Pulpit, Volume 2, Number 4.

17 OR twenty-five years we have ¹ sought to forewarn God’s people and the public against the influence of the Fallen Angels, the Wicked Spirits in high positions. (Eph. 6:12). The pamphlet we publish treating this subject* has had a wide circulation. We have been much encouraged by the many reports received, showing that its influence has been widely felt for good, not only among the Lord’s people, re_T straining them from “curious arid dangerous investigations,” but also among those who had been partially ensnared by the “wiles” of these adversaries— some of them “mediums.”

We remind our readers afresh that the Scriptures expressly show that the fallen spirits would be held under restraint for a long time, and that those restraints would gradually be relaxed in the closing of this Gospel Age, in the lapping of the Millennial Age. The record is that they were “restrained [in Tartarus, our atmosphere] in lasting chains of darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day.” (Jude 6; 2 Pet. 2:4.) As now the “Great Day” nears, it is not surprising to watchers to note that the chains are being gradually loosened, and that these “wicked spirits” have greater liberties than ever before.

“Be Not High-Minded, But Fear.”

There is still danger to those who “don’t believe in spirits,” and who regard as superstitious the Bible narratives of how our Lord and the Apostles cast out demons, "and how all wizards, witches, necromancers and others who proposed to hold intercourse with the dead were strictly prohibited in Israel. There is more danger to the self-confident, who “dare investigate anything,” and who boast “a mind of their own,” than of the humbler ones who say, “Let us fear to tamper with what God has forbidden.” To many of the boldly self-confident curiosity is the demons’ trap. Before they are aware of it they are snared. The beginning of the trap is a bait to curiosity—a visit to a “medium,” "a seance” with friends, or a “planchette” at a neighbor’s home.

The Scriptures forewarn us that we are no match intellectually for the Wicked Spirits, and need to give heed to the protections afforded us in the counsels of the Lord’s Word. In the end of the Jewish Age many were afflicted with evil spirits, and a considerable part of our Lord’s work and that of the Apostles was referred to by the latter when reporting to our Lord— “Even the demons are subject unto us in thy name.” (Luke 10:17.) So prominent is this matter in the four Gospels that they contain forty-two references to these demons—mistranslated “devils” in our Common Version.

These Are the “Strong Delusions.”

The Apostle points out that in the end of this age the Lord will “send,” or permit to come upon Christendom, “strong delusions,” that they may believe a lie—that they all may be condemned. (2 Thess. 2:11, 12). Thank God, we see clearly that they will not be condemned to everlasting torture. Oh, no! That blasphemous misrepresentation of God’s Word is one of the devices of these “Wicked Spirits,” by which they would drive men away from God, by which they would blind them to his real character. But we are now in the “harvest,” and the wheat must be separated from the tares, and these “strong delusions” will be permitted to demonstrate who have loved and obeyed the Lord’s counsel and who, not doing this, are to be adjudged unworthy of the high rewards soon to be given to the “overcomers.”

The context shows this, declaring in so many words that the “delusions” will ensnare them because “they received not the truth in the love of it.” The “truth” is that the dead are dead, and cannot re-live except by Divine power exercised for their awakening from this death-sleep. This plain truth, so abundantly set forth in the Scriptures, is not relished by any except the truth-hungry. Others tell us that they do not like to believe thus; that they prefer to think of the dead as not being dead, but more alive than ever. Rejecting the plain truth as God presented it, and

‘What say the Scriptures about Spiritualism?—128pp., 10c. preferring Satan’s lie, “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen. 3:4), these are easy marks for the demons who are constantly striving to perpetuate the lie which deceived Mother Eve in Eden. They will now be permitted to personate the dead so successfully as to be a “strong delusion,” which “if it were possible [if the Lord did not protect them by the ‘armor of God’] would deceive the very elect.”—Matt. 24:24.

Hypnotism and Telepathy Modern Demonism.

Spiritism cunningly feigns, for a time, that its manifestations are the exercise of human powers. Thus it gains access to the hearts of men and women who dread demonism instinctively. Gradually, however, it comes to be conceded that the spirits are at the bottom of these powers, which are at least partially “occult.” For years we have been almost alone in opposing hypnotism, telepathy, etc., as Spiritism in a new form; but now no less a celebrity than Professor J. H. Hyslop, formerly “Teacher of Logic and Ethics” in Columbia University, and now a leading light in The American Society for Psychical Research, seems to concede that spirits have to do with such matters—not demons, but in his supposition “spirits of dead humans.”

Prof. Hyslop is quoted in the New York “American” thus: —

“Telepathy is not a matter of thought waves. The solution is so simple as to be astounding. Messages are carried from mind to mind by the spirits. Me-diumistic qualities are necessary, but, possessed of these and able to get in touch with the spirit world, telepathy should become as easy of accomplishment as the telegraphing of a message with wires.

“None but scientists should tamper with the weird phenomena of nature represented by telepathy,” said Dr. Hyslop. “Every investigation should be made sanely and every experiment approached with a mind clear, impartial and prepared to weigh and balance every fact as carefullv as though it were a precious gem.

“Our experiments In telepathy I regard as convincing if not wholly satisfactory in number or in the ability to repeat them at will.

“In these experiments we used Mrs. Piper, who was sent to England in care of the British Society. She was allowed to come into contact with no one not in league with the persons making the experiments. We began our experiments in long distance telepathy in the hope of eventually getting a message across the Atlantic, but failed time after time.

“Finally we scored a success. It was as remarkable as it was unexpected. The message was sent across the ocean in a way to demonstrate perfectly the possibilities of long distance telepathy. The experiment was conducted in a manner to eliminate any trace of fraud or deception. It was sent in English and delivered in Latin.”

Communication With the Dead.

In an article over his own signature in the New York “World,” Prof. Hyslop says:—

“That there .would be great difficulties in communicating, if spirits actually exist, would naturally be taken for granted by intelligent people. The silence of so many discarnate spirits through the ages, if they exist, would be sufficient proof of that fact, as well as what we know of the difficulty ef communications between living people when they have no common language as a means of it. But there happen to be additional reasons for this difficulty, and they should be mentioned in order that the layman (I ought not to mention it to the scientist) may see and appreciate the. reasons why the communications take the form which they show. The first of these is the abnormal mental and physical condition of the medium, specifically to illustrate, as in the case of Mrs. Piper. But this is not the chief reason that the communications are trivial and confused, or lacking in the kind of information wanted. The reason for these characteristics is deeper still. It is that the communicator is himself in an abnormal mental condition while communicating. It may be compared to a delirious dream, or to certain types of secondary personality in the living, or even to the trance of Mrs. Piper, in some of its aspects.”

Rev. I.' K. Funk, D.D., “Touched.”

Rev. I. K. Funk, D.D., of New York City, the widely known Methodist minister, has had some thrilling experiences with spirits and has published them to the world, asserting, however, what even Spiritualists will admit, that some of the so-called manifestations are frauds; that others are by deceiving or “lying spirits.” His investigations, like those of Prof. Hyslop, show the trend of our times, and give a hint of what we may expect when shortly the whole world will turn to the investigation of Spiritism as “the only proof that the dead are not dead.”

Rev. R. Heber Newton’s Views.

‘Discussing psychical science in an address tonight before the American Institute for Scientific Research in the home of C. Griswold Bourne, the Rev. R. Heber Newton made the assertion that the spirits of the dead communicate with the living; that telepathy is a power possessed by many men and women, and that clairvoyance is an established scientific fact. Said he in part:—

“ ‘Clairvoyance was nothing but a will o’ the wisp, but it is now a confessed power of certain organizations. Mollie Fancher, over in Brooklyn, has proved stronger than the incredulity of our savants. The belief in the existence of unseen spirits and of their power of communication with us in the flesh is one of the oldest, most widespread and most insistent beliefs of man, and it has revived strangely in our day.

“ ‘For the first time in the history of man these powers have been scientifically investigated in our day. Already the result is that a considerable number of eminent men of science have had the courage to avow that, after allowing for illusion, fraud and every possible hypothesis of interpretation, they have been driven up to the ultimate solution of the problem—the belief in the actual communication of the spirits of those whom we call dead with the living.

“ ‘Anyone who walks with his eyes open, ready to hear what men have to tell, will find stories pouring in upon him from men whom he cannot mistrust as liars, and whom he knows to be sane and sensible, which will stagger him. These experiences are not at all confined to the seance and the medium. Their most impressive forms occur in the privacy of the home without a professional medium present.’ ”— Pittsburg Gazette.

The standing of Dr. Newton in the Protestant Episcopal Church will carry a weight of influence, and is being published and discussed in every quarter.

Suggestive Facts Noted.

It does not surprise us that Spiritism. like Christian Science, is aiming for the influential. Whatever else the fallen angels may be they are “wily,” cunning. The Lord’s people, on the contrary, number “not many wise, not many great, not many learned, not many rich, not many noble, but chiefly the poor of this world, rich in faith.” —Jas. 2:5.

A lady who has but recently come into the light of Present Truth, and who previously was a Spiritist, tells of how she had developed the “clair-audient ear,” or the power of hearing the spirits when others heard nothing. (And, by the way, all should avoid everything of this kind as they would avoid a plague; they should, . if approached thus, at once turn their hearts to the Lord in prayer for aid to resist the intrusion.) This woman’s relatives have been interested for some years in Present Truth, and pointed out to her that her communings were not with dead friends, but with the fallen angels, “demons,” and finally got her to the point of reading “Studies in the Scriptures.” This displeased the “spirits,” who for a time almost prevented her study by an incessant opposition, such as “Don’t read that,” “That’s not true,” etc., etc. Gradually she asserted her will, calling on the Lord for help, and we understand that now she is quite free from their intrusions.

Another case which recently came to our attention, is that of a boy of 19 years, in Eastern Pennsylvania, who is terribly oppressed by demons. One of the brethren, hearing of the case, called to see him, taking a copy of the “Spiritism” pamphlet and a copy of “The Watch Tower.” The presence of the papers so aggravated the boy that they had to be removed before the brother could talk to the possessed one. The spirits having him under their control nearly set him wild until the books were removed. “The darkness hateth

the light.” We do not doubt that these evil spirits would do injury to the servants of the Truth if permitted. Evidently they are under some restraint as respects the Lord’s people. Later on they may be permitted to operate

through others, as Satan entered Judas before the betrayal.

Experiences in Spiritualism.

quence of reading what Mr. Stead wrote in the ‘Review of Reviews’ about Spirit-Writing. Thus was the first step taken on this forbidden yet fascinating course. I look back on that first step and remember that I never uttered, in the perplexity that filled my mind, a prayer to God. I should have at once sought the guidance of God. Before I thought of so doing, I was seized with the desire to seek this newly-found source of help. I fear mueh I am not alone in being foolishly misguided by the perusal of spiritualistic literature which is now being circulated far and wide in England.

“The spirit that came and offered me his aid forbade my praying to God, assigning as a reason that I was now perseding the need of prayer, and that my heavenly inheritance was sure. That was strange counsel, and it 'was still stranger that" I should have for messenger of of the Scrip-commenced a she entreated me to transmit a message to a relative residing abroad, and that, though I was ignorant of the purport of inis message, she would herself guide my pen in writing it down. I took the pen into my hand, holding it loosely for her to guide it. A strong wish came upon me to see my mother s form. Then, to my great astonishment, her portrait was instantaneously and with consummate skill drawn on the paper before me. I now watched with breathless interest the writing of the message. It was traced in her well-known (to me) handwriting. Only two words were written, but they were written three times. The words written, with tremulous haste and urgency, were SAVE SOULS, and with a quick movement the pen was made to drop.

“Such a message from such a source smote my heart with its deep solemnity. But I could not bring myself to send the message. I felt it would be wrong to send it. The relative for whom it was intended was already engaged in Christian mission work, and somehow I shrank from bringing on his mind the influence of a message from whence I hardly knew. I felt a total disinclination for any further communications from spirits, and 1 determined to receive no more from so dubious a source. But I was no. t<o be so easily disentangled from this net i to which in an evil moment I had de liberately placed my feet.

The Spirits Betray Their Evil Intention.

“In disgust, and as if to take a plunge out of the vortex into which I had been stealthily drawn, I threw into the fire the portrait of my mother and all the spirit-writing. I would not believe that the spirit of that dear Christian—my mother—was wandering on this earth in company with others who gave me such disastrous counsels, and failed in their promise to strengthen and aid me. I even came to the conclusion that these spirits had attempted an impersonation of that departed saint, and had written that solemn message in order to induce me to believe in their celestial character and the sanctitv of their intentions, that I might be induced to follow their perilous injunctions.

“To justify their proceedings they were apt in misquoting Scripture. There was a terrible mystery in this,

study. They determined to keep me from the knowledge of a full deliverance.

“They compelled me to listen to their account of an insurrection on earth against Divine power which they had long been planning, but which was ere long to be carried out. They asserted that their mighty potentate and chief had obtained the vicegerency of earth, that he was the prince of this world, and that he would subjugate it as it never yet had been subjugated to his control, and that he would raise a storm of persecution against the followers of Christ. There was, in fact, to be a new putting forth of hellish influence upon the earth.

“I. was compelled to hear from these spirits the unfolding of their diabolical scheme. They brought many proofs to substantiate the fact that their power on earth was already greatly increased and was increasing. The prospects, therefore, that seemed in store for the world overwhelmed me with dismay. They asserted that their great potentate—‘the god of this world’ (Satan) had so subverted Christendom that at least the great ecclesiastical systems known as the Roman Greek, and Anglican churches would more entirely be subservient to him. I was inclined to disbelieve their statements. I wished that they could have been disproved, but facts appeared to corroborate them. I then for the first time observed that the Church of Rome was gaining great power, and as for the Greek Church in Russia, it was then Inflicting terrible persecutions on the true followers of Christ—Christians—who would not practise idolatry.

“It was now made apparent to me that these spirits who had hypocritically proffered their aid for the persecuted Christians had themselves instigated idolatrous Churchmen to persecute them. I gathered further that the servants of the great potentate of darkness had sown error and discord freely in the other churches in Christendom, and that these would advance in error and in distance from God; that they had power to distract the attention and to deaden the perceptions of men who otherwise would

Arrest the Progress of Evil.

“The spirits then spoke with sardonic triumph of their school of materialistic philosophy and their teaching on Cosmogony as opposing that of the Book of Genesis—a system that modern science has found so acceptable as appearing to fit in with what the bowels of the earth have displayed, but which entirely leaves out of its thoughts the operation of God’s hand in judgment at the fall of man, when not only man was morally and physically ruined, but that which was once pronounced ‘very good’ fell with the first man, so that the ‘whole creation’—material and immaterial—groans for deliverance.

“A spirit calling himself Lord Beaconsfield declared that he would aid me by dictating a work of fiction that should surpass all his earthly efforts and would produce a small fortune for me, and that I should thus obtain the reputation of being a great genius by simply acting as his amanuensis, and he added the more alluring temptation to me—that the spirits could and would confer on me such knowledge and power that I myself should be considered by the world as a brilliant writer, and win fame and fortune

“Perhaps his offer has been made to and accepted by some of our present writers of brilliant but pernicious fiction, especially those who have popularized and dignified Satan himself; some of whom I know are students of Occultism.

“One spirit professed to be the originator of such systems as Theosophy and Agnosticism. They had previously declared that ‘thought-reading’ was under their domination and effected by them. I gathered, generally, though it was not very clearly expressed, that mesmerism and hypnotism were likewise agencies in their hands.

The Triumph and Defeat of Satan.

“And now, as another confirmation of the ascendancy the spirits still had over me, they fulfilled their previous threat to call blaspheming demons to madden me. At their bidding these base spirits came and uttered horrible blasphemies until it seemed as if all hell was let loose upon me for a little while. Then the spirits used one last awful device to overthrow me, and nearly succeeded.

“In the midst of all these difficulties and dangers by which I was well-nigh overwhelmed, a commanding voice from an invisible spirit called me, saying words to this effect, ‘That I had become so environed and besieged by evil spirits that there was no deliverance for me on earth, and that he—an angel of the Lord—had descended from heaven to bear me this command from the Lord Jesus—that I must die by my own hand to escape my persecutors, and that my soul should then find rest in heaven.’ I had so strong a desire for life that nothing less than a Divine command, as I believed .t, could have induced me to take my life.

“I did not question the words proceeding evidently from so high an authority. I could not conceive it possible that the spirits would command mortals to die by using the sacred name of Christ. Yet it was the device oi the Devil and I fell into it.

“I was perfectly calm in my mind and determined I would obey the Divine command, and trust in the Lord. Then, in the last prayer I thought to breathe on earth, I protested to the Almighty that I took my life believing I was acting at the bidding of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thereupon I drank a poisonous draft and quickly fell into a comatose state, but I did not awake in hell or in heaven, for I was allowed to recover, though only after much difficulty and suffering.

“But whilst I was recovering, the inexorable voice repeated the previous message, upon which I seized an instrument; the only instrument at hand was a very small dagger, with which, having failed to cut my throat, I severed the temporal artery. Determined to make death swift and sure this time, I endeavored to cut another artery, and with the blood streaming from my head I fell to the ground insensible.

“Again the spirits were foiled in their intention. The noise of my fall instantly brought assistance, and I recovered. My recovery was, I might almost say, a miracle. I am convinced that God did in a very remarkable wav interpose his healing hand that I might be

Physically Healed.

“But above all I was delivered from the tormenting presence and persecution of these demons. Christ, who when on earth healed those who were demonized, and ‘healed all that were oppressed of the devil,’ mercifully healed me; He commanded them to leave me. I recognized the supreme need of a Redeemer. I believed his Word that ‘No man cometh unto the Father but by Me, and he that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.’ I knew of the Blood of Jesus which cleanses from all sin— of that ONE offering perfected on the Cross by which Christ has perfected His believing people. This blessed knowledge dawned upon my soul despite all the efforts of the powers of darkness to prevent me from obtaining it.

“I beg every reader of this to fly from Spiritualism. Do not play with tools such as ‘Planchette,’ ‘thought-reading,’ etc. I feel that my life has been preserved that I might use this personal experience and knowledge of Satanic power that I have passed through, and witness against the snares of Spiritualism, declare its Satanic nature, and the potency of Christ as a Deliverer from it.”

EVERY THINKING

CHRISTIAN

SHOULD READ

PASTOR

BOOKS

in the

A LTHOUGH the words of our text ** were not addressed by St. Paul to the worldly, they would, nevertheless, be excellent advice and very profitable to all. In a general way all civilized people recognize that “cleanliness is next to godliness.” In a general way the pure, the clean, are recognized as the beautiful; and impurity and filthiness are detested ever by the impure and the filthy. Outwardly at least we are in a time when w’ater is plentiful, when soap is cheap, and when filthiness of the flesh is almost inexcusable as respects the outward man. But filthiness of the spirit cannot be touched, cannot be cleansed, with ordinary soap and water and this is undoubtedly the reason why the Lord and the Apostles have not addressed these words to the world.

“Having These Promises.”

Our text tells the difference between the well-intentioned worldly person and the thoroughly consecrated Christian. The latter has heard through the Word of God certain “exceeding great and precious promises,” which the well-meaning worldly class have not yet heard—heard in the true sense of hearing, in the sense of appreciating, understanding. The whole civilized world, in one sense, has the same Bible, the same Word of God, the same precious promises, but it has not appreciated these. It has not understood them. It has not accepted them and made them its own by a surrender to the Lord. The Church, on the contrary, is composed of those individuals who have heard the Lord’s promises intelligently, and who have accepted those promises upon God’s conditions. Those promises of God constitute the power of God, which works in the heart of each of the Church, first to will aright, and, secondly, to do, to the extent of ability, the Lord’s good pleasure (Phil-ippians ii, 13).

This is the class addressed in our text—the followers of Jesus. These have heard of the grace of God—that it is the Divine intention to bless Adam and his race through the great Mediator—the Messiah, the Christ. They have heard that Jesus left the glory with the Father and humbled himself to human nature, in order that he might redeem the human race. They have heard that the application of the merit of his sacrifice, when applied in due time, will be sufficient for the sins of the whole world, and that then the Heavenly Father will turn over the world to the Redeemer. They have learned that the Redeemer, backed by Divine authority, will put all things into subjection under his feet, will institute a heavenly Kingdom or rule in the earth, and for a thousand years reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. They have heard that when he shall thus reign, his Kingdom shall be “under the whole heavens,” although the King himself will be the King of Glory on the spirit plane, “far above angels, principalities and powers and every name that is named” (Ephesians i, 21).

They have heard that his Kingdom will prevail from sea to sea and unto the ends of the earth and that eventually unto him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess allegience and obedience, and that all refusing thus to submit to that reign of righteousness will be destroyed from amongst the people in the Second Death (Acts iii, 22, 23). They have heard that this great Kingdom will not only lift up, raise up, resurrect humanity from its fallen condition, from sin and death, but that it will also bring the whole earth to the condition foreshown in the Garden of Eden, making God’s footstool glorious and every way fit to be the eternal habitation of such of the human race as will be saved by that glorious Kingdom for which we pray, “Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.”

But these have heard something more—something that belongs to the present time. They have heard that it is the Divine purpose to select from amongst mankind a “Royal Priesthood,” to be associated with the great Redeemer in his Mediatorial Kingdom. They have heard that a call went forth to this effect eighteen centuries ago, inviting, first of all, the Jews who were ready and willing to accept this very highest favor of God—joint-heirship with his Son in the spiritual Kingdom which is to bless mankind in general by and by. They have heard that to attain membership in this Royal Priesthood means the attainment of the character-likeness of Jesus, to become copies of God’s dear Son (Romans viii, 29). This implies, as its cost, the sacrifice of earthly interests. They have heard the message of the Lord, not only inviting to the glories of the Kingdom, but also informing them that the way to that crown of glory is a narrow and difficult one. They have heard the voice of the Master, saying, “Sit down first and count the cost,” before you undertake such a consecration of your life, such a sacrifice of your earthly interests. “No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back would be fit for the Kingdom”—fit for a place on the Throne as a joint-heir with Christ (Luke ix, 62).

“Beloved, Let Us Cleanse Ourselves.”

We doubt not that as the Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus so loved the world as to provide the great sacrifice for sin, so St. Paul loved the world—and all others of God’s people must have a sympathetic love for the world. But when we think of those who are dearly beloved by the Father and by the Son and by the Apostles and by each other, we think of the special class of consecrated saints who Scripturally are described as of no earthly sect or party, but as “The Church of the First-borns whose names are written in heaven.”

These are “dearly beloved” because they have the mind of Christ, which is also the mind of the Father. According to the flesh they are not all lovely or beautiful. St. Paul elsewhere admonishes us that amongst these “dearly beloved” are not many great, not many wise, not many noble, not many rich, but chiefly the ignoble and the poor of this world. Their riches and their nobility are not of the flesh, but of the spirit, of the heart, of the new will, to which they have been begotten of God by the holy Spirit. This is surely the Apostle’s thought, for, in the preceding verse, he speaks of these “dearly beloved” ones as “sons and daughters” of the Lord, children of the Almighty—hence, begotten again of the holy Spirit—“new creatures in Christ Jesus” (II Corinthians v, 17). Ah, how wonderful it seems that there should be such a class as this in the world yet not separated from the world, except by their new Spirit. These are in the world, but not of the world, as the Master declared. These have died to worldly aims and objects and have become alive toward God through the holy Spirit and through the quickening influences of God’s exceeding great and precious promises given unto them. God’s purpose respecting them is that they may be transferred from human nature to spirit nature—from participation with the world in the blessings coming to it to receive instead the divine nature, with the glory, honor and immortality attaching thereto, as “new creatures,” sons of the Highest (II Peter i, 4).

Christian “Filthiness of the Flesh.”

Having located definitely the class addressed by the Apostle, “the saints” (II Corinthians i, 1), let us note how and why it is necessary that saints should receive such an exhortation. Why should the Apostle write to saints respecting the cleansing of their flesh from filthiness? Could one be a saint and yet have filthiness of the flesh?

We reply that these saints, begotten of the holy Spirit, will not be perfected as New Creatures until they experience the “change” of the “First Resurrection.” Meantime they have the treasure of the divine nature, the holy Spirit, the first fruits of their inheritance in imperfect human bodies. It is not the flesh that is begotten again by the holy Spirit, but a new mind, a new will. The will of the flesh they sacrifice. They give up all earthly rights and ambitions and accept instead the will of God, the will of Christ, the holy Spirit, that they may walk in newness of life. However, from the very beginning of their Christian experience all of these members of the Royal Priesthood, in the present life, pass through difficulties which arise from three different sources:

• (1) The Adversary is in opposition to them and will do them all the harm the Lord will permit. Their protection is the Divine promise that they will not be permitted to be tempted above that they will be able to bear—that the Lord will supervise their interests so that with every temptation there will be provided a way of escape.

• (2) They are in a world that is dark with sin and selfishness, superstition and ignorance of God and out of harmony with his righteousness. The world and its spirit surge about them every day, from morning until night. Its tides and currents seek to sweep them away from their resolutions of self-sacrifice and loyalty to God and righteousness. In various ways it holds out to them enchanting prospects, pleasures and riches, ease and affluence. These have their weight, even though it be known that comparatively few who follow the world’s beckoning and allurements ever receive the fulfillment of the promises held out to them.

• (3) The great fight of the New Creature, his closest and most persistent adversary, is his own flesh. The longings of his depraved nature cry out against restraints and insist that he is taking an unreasonable course in that he undertakes to follow the Lord Jesus, and thus to go in an opposite direction from the course of the world and at the cost of the crucifixion, the mortification, of his own flesh and his natural preferences.

In the World, and Yet Not of the World.

Thus viewed, every Spirit-begotten Christian is an object of sympathy from the Divine standpoint, and this should be their standpoint toward each other. But the world has no sympathy. The world sees not, neither does it understand nor appreciate the exceeding great and precious promises which lie behind the consecration of the “saints,” “the Church of the firstborns.” So much the more, each of these brethren, “dearly beloved,” should have sympathy for each other, and should encourage one another, strengthen one another, build one another up in the most holy faith, and by all means, do nothing to stumble each other in the narrow way.

The great work for the Church is the good fight of faith manifested in the putting away of the filth of their own flesh and spirit. Some by nature have more filth of the flesh and spirit, more meanness, more selfishness, more natural depravity, etc., than have others. Nevertheless, “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong”; for the Lord’s arrangement with each member of the Royal Priesthood is that he shall be judged according to the spirit or intention, and not according to the flesh. From the time of the Christian’s consecration to the Lord he is reckoned dead as a human being and alive as a spirit being. His test or trial is not with a view to seeing whether or not he can do the impossible thing of living an absolutely perfect life in an imperfect body. His trial or test, on the contrary, is to see to what extent his mind, his will, fights a good fight against his natural weaknesses and frailties. “There is none righteous, no, not one.” All the trying in the world could not prove this Divine statement an incorrect one. Righteousness of the will, holiness of heart, purity of heart, are the possibilities; for these God seeks and these he will reward in the “First Resurrection” by granting perfect spirit bodies, in full harmony with their pure hearts, their loyal intentions and purposes.

How to Put Away Filth of the Flesh.

If it is impossible for the New Creature to perfect the flesh, what does the Apostle mean by urging the saints to cleanse themselves from the filth of the flesh? He means that we should not, as New Creatures, be discouraged and say that, because we cannot hope to attain perfection in the flesh, therefore we will make no endeavors in that direction. He wishes us to understand, that it is the Lord’s will that we fight, against the weaknesses of the flesh with a two-fold purpose:

• (1) That we may gradually cleanse ourselves—gradually become more and more what the Lord would have us be and what we should like to be ourselves.

• (2) Additionally, this fight against sin in the flesh will make us stronger and stronger as New Creatures, in the spirit of our minds. It is this firmness, this determination, this positiveness of the New Creature against sin and for righteousness that God desires. Those who develop it are called “overcomers,” and all of their experiences in these trials and battlings against the world, the flesh and the Adversary, are designed to make them “strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.” Their experiences are so ordered and directed as to lead them to more and more of faith in God and obedience to, him. In order to be acceptable, they must reach the place where they love righteousness and hate iniquity—inequity.

Christian Filthiness of Spirit.

The word spirit in the Bible and in ordinary language is used in a variety of senses. In our text it does not signify that the saints, as spirit beings,, are filthy and need cleansing. Quite to the contrary, the New Creature, begotten of the spirit, is holy, pure. But as the New Creature must use the body of flesh until it receives the New Body, so it must use the brain or mind of the flesh wherewith to do its thinking and reasoning, until that which is perfect shall be attained in the “First Resurrection.” The Apostle’s meaning, therefore, is that the saints should not only put away filthiness of words and actions, and all sympathy with impurity of every kind, but that their minds (their thoughts) also should be pure, should be cleansed of everything not fully in sympathy and accord with the mind of Christ. Nor are we to suppose that this work is purely God’s work in us. It is his to forgive the sins of the past. It is his to cleanse us from all condemnation of the past. It is his to cover through Christ all of our unintentional blemishes. It is his to encourage by his promises. But it is ours to show our loyalty to the principles of his Word and character by putting away, to the extent of our ability, all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.

INTERESTING SERMONS.

Some of the Interesting Topics published in previous issues of Peoples Pulpit are as below. In ordering please do so by volume and number.

Vol. I., No. 3.

“Where Are the Dead?”

“Forgivable 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. 8.

“Foreordination and Election.”

“The Desire of All Nations.”

“Peace, Be Still.”

Vol. I., No. 9.

“Sin’s Small Beginnings.”

“Paradise Regained.”

“The Coming Kingdom.”

Vol. I., No 10.

“Sin Atonement.”

“Spiritual Israel—Natural Israel.’*

“The Times of the Gentiles.”

Vol. II., No. 1.

“Gathering the Lord’s Jewels.”

“Thrust in Thy Sickle.”

“Open Letter to Adventist.”

Vol. II., No. 2.

“Weeping All Night.”

“Every Idle Word.”

“Refrain Thy Voice from Weeping.”

Vol. II., No. 3.

“What Is the Soul?”                 ,

“Electing Kings.”

“Do You Know?”

Vol. II., No. 4.

“The Hope of Immortality.”

“The King’s Daughter, the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife.”

Vol. II., No. 5.

“Calamities—Why Permitted.”

“Pressing Toward the Mark.”

“Christian Science Unscientific and Unchristian.”

Vol. II., No. 6.

“Our Lord’s Return.”

“The Golden Rule.”

“The Two Salvations.”