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WU FIND WHAT YOU LOOK FOR.

“He that bath a freward heart findeth Be goad.” Whoever would be happy must make up his mind to see only the ¹ g®ed in others, to hunt for the beautiful things in their characters and to ignore 4 the ugly things; to look for harmony and to avoid discord.

| To hold the loving thought, as a mother ' does toward her children, develops the better side. The delicate flower of man-( hood or womanhood will not blossom in ! the foggy, chilly atmosphere of hatred, «f jealous envy and condemnation. It must have the warm sun of love, of praise, of appreciation, of encouragement, to call out its beauty and to produce the perfect flower.

Never allow yourself to condemn or form a habit of criticizing others. No matter what they do, hold toward them perpetually the kindly thought, the love thought. Determine to see only that which is good and sweet and wholesome and lovely in them. Try to see the man or woman that God intended, not the warped, twisted and deformed one which a vicious life may have made; and you will generally find what you are looking for.

You will never find the straight by looking for the crooked, or holding the crooked thought in mind. If you are constantly criticizing or finding fault, instead of praising or appreciating, you will ruin your power of seeing the beautiful and the true, just as a habitual liar loses the power to tell the truth.

If you habitually hold the deformed * thought, the ironical, the skeptical, the pessimistic, the depreciative thought, you will ruin your ability to see or appreciate fenerlt, or what is good and true.

PROFITING EY PAST ERRORS, Whilst Catholics are returning to

riot'-Ltants are drifting ..rapidly into Infidelity under the modern designation* Of Higher Criticism and Evolution. Our fathers, during the Dark Ages, got *way from the Bible by supposing an "apostolic succession.” Gradually the Creeds usurped the Bible’s place under the supposition that they agreed. Now, having outgrown those Creeds, in rejecting them many are rejecting the Bible also. This is a mistake! The Bible is the most wonderful book in the world when allowed to interpret Itself. It furnishes the only rallying ground for human brotherhood and Christian brotherhood. The world otherwise is facing anarchy. A lost religion will soon mean a lost God, and a lost future hope, and a selfish strife for the present life only. The hell-torture theory is nauseating people. They are rejecting the Bible because they erroneously think that it teaches it.

Let us not mourn our errors of the past unduly, but at once, now,. get right with God and His Book! Its presentation is logical from Genesis to Revelation. It tells of the perfection of our first parents, of the test of their loyalty, of their failure, and its penalty, death—not eternal torture. (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5:12.) It tells that all of present imperfections, mental, moral and physical, are incidental to the death penalty. 20,000,000,000 have been born dying and soon toppled over into the tomb. They are not being tortured in hell or purgatory, but, according to the Bible, are unconscious until their resurrection. _________________

GRATITUDE.

."‘All glory to Jesus bet given,

That life and salvation are free, And all may be washed and forgiven;

Yes, Jesus has saved even me.

“From the darkness of sin and despair, Out into the light of His love,

He has brought me and made me an heir To kingdoms and mansions above.”

ydx xtx xtx xtz xtx xtx xtx xtx xtx xtx xtx Xfc 3 THE RICH MAN ASH] LAZARUS *

All Christians have wondered re-2 specting this parable. When taken I ■0 literally it seems unreasonable. Why & J’should a man suffer torture merely L Z because he was rich, well clothed, and bountifully fed? And why should L » another man be carried to glory simply because he was sick and poor L ■fi and a companion of dogs? In the « clear light now shining, this parable C m is luminous and beautiful to such & w an extent that one is compelled to L m laugh at his own foolish misunder- K¹ m standing of it in the past.          L

W The full explanation of this par-M able is given in another number,

upon postal-card Bible & Tract

from 1st 4>th esinom.) wtSi a blessing u$ea the Hearv-

Walling In Outer Darkness.

Another text dealing with "wailing a®d gnashing at teeth” deserves consideration here. It eeeurs in connection with the parable of the Wedding Garment. That parable pictures the closing time of this Age, when under Divine blessing God’s most saintly people will be given greater light on His Word and be enabled thereby to more fully appreciate the lengths, breadths, heights and depths of His Love and its wonderful providences.

These consecrated ones are represented as being gathered into a great banquet hall, radiantly beautiful. In it they tarry, waiting to be ushered into the banquet proper, in ah adjoining apartment. The light of these apartments is, in the parable, vividly contrasted with the darkness that prevails outside, which darkness represents the condition of the world and all of God’s people who have not yet come into the light of “present truth.”

The parable is given specially to show the necessity of the “wedding garment” —that none may enter into the marriage feast except he acknowledges and uses the “wedding garment.” On such festival occasions in ancient times it was customary that all guests should be fur-which would cover their own garments, and for the time being, as his guests, this placed them all on the same footifig, whatever their ordinary station in life. Thus we have pictured the justification which all God’s people receive as a gift through the merit of their Redeemer; Being justified by faith the consecrated have not only peace with God, but they have access to this figurative “marriage supper.”—Matthew 22:11-14.

The parable is laid in the end of this Age and points out that at this time an inspection of the Church may be expected. “When the king came in he beheld a man who had not on a wedding garment.” The implication is that the man had .put on the wedding garment, else he could not have gone in at all;

gent creature. And the more the light increases on the pathway the more reasonable the Divine Plan appears to us. Why should God select one nation or people of one religious cult for glory and make preparations from the very beginning of creation for the eternal torture of all others? Surely we have been most inconsistent in our interpretations of the Divine Message, yet just as surely the all-wise One knew of our plight and permitted us to remain in darkness until now; and He is able to overrule our measure of blindness so that it will be of no injury to us.

Perhaps, indeed, the beauty of the Divine Word and Plan is much more perspicuous now because of the darkness in which we all were so recently involved, and perhaps the same principle later on will apply to the whole world. When all shall emerge out of the darkness and ignorance and superstition into the glorious sunlight of Divine Truth and grace, undoubtedly the contrast will make the blessings of the future all the more precious, and the more incline every knee to bow.

After Divine favor had first granted opportunity to the Jews to accept the Redeemer, shedding upon them first the special light of the Gospel, then the Message was sent forth without restriction, gradually through Asia Minor, into Greece and into Rome, and then it favored chiefly the Germanic nations—and amongst these we include the British people and the larger proportion of our American population. In these peoples, too, the Reformation Movement found its chief adherents. The Message of Christ has made great in civilization all the nations it has touched, in proportion as they have received the Message in simplicity and purity, and in proportion as they have lived out their Christian profession as footstep followers of Jesus.

Less Favored, Not Less Worthy.

So far as human judgment can discern, the Divine records show that these favored peoples were not superior to others less favored. The Bible shows us some noble characters amongst the Gentile nations before the Redeemer’s day, and plainly intimates that God intentionally bestowed His favor upon a stiff-necked race, less tractable than others at that

and gross darkness the heathen.” The only ones who are in the light are the ones whom the Lord has specially received and specially enlightened and specially privileged because they wear the “wedding garment” of Christ’s righteousness. The casting out of the one without the “wedding garment” into “outer darkness” therefore would mean merely that such a one, despite his struggles and desire to remain in the Light, would by Divine providence be forced into the darkness common to the whole world and lose those special privileges which he*tiad enjoyed as one of the Chil

About the time that the faithful will be ushered into the marriage the great “time of trouble” will break upon the world, and all who are in darkness will have “weeping and gnashing of teeth” as they behold the collapse of those things upon which they have set their hearts and affections—the things of the present Order.* Thank God, their weeping and gnashing of teeth may ultimately be turned into joy, because there is a silver lining to the dark cloud which is about to envelop the world! ‘ft will be the dark hour preceding the dawning of the New Dispensation and the blessing of all the families of the earth by Messiah and His Bride, to a place in which, by the grace of God, dear hearers, let us strive to make our calling and election sure.

J.h ssage than the fierce Goths and Ltu.s and Franks to whom the Gospel was mere particularly directed. How unlikely it "would be that the less-favored nations should have no provision in the Divine Plan!

class was made during the Jewish Age— simple that we wonder th^t we have all so long overlooked Jt. The key is found in the promise made to Abraham that his Seed was to be the Elect—Jesus the Head and the Church His members—Jesus the

promise, is to be the         for btaMiag

all the families of the earth—tbs Rvlhs a and the dead. The biewtxg tfoat "fa te come to all is clearly stipulated by Paul, saying, “God our Savior w® have < all men to be saved (from the ooadeHHm- . tion that came on them through Adam) and to come unto the knowledge ef the Truth.”—1 Timothy 2:3-6.

The basis of the Apostle’s argument is set forth in Romans 5:12. He there shows that Adam, and not his race, was put on trial in Eden—that Adam and hot his race was directly condemned—but that Adam’s race is involved through heredity, by inheriting the weaknesses and dying conditions of their parent. St. Paul then shows forth in the same argument that as condemnation and death thus passed from Adam to all of his race,.-so Christ Jesus, having become Adam’s Redeemer, Divine mercy through Him extends beyond Adam to all the,- members of his race who were involved with him in the death sentence by laws of heredity. The argument is plain. To see it is to be convinced, because it is so logical. And it could not be supposable for a moment that God would provide the RanSom-price for all mankind and fail to make it operative, because the great mass of mankind went down to death without a knowledge of it—many of them during the four thousand years before Christ came into the world to give His life a Ransom.

The explanation is that all went doVqa into the Bible hell—down to the tomb^ the death state, in harmony with the*-;, sentence, “Dying thou shalt die.” Pro-vision is made for the redemption of all from Sheol. (Hosea 13:14.) Christ died for all, and, as a result, there is to be a resurrection of the dead, both the just^ and the unjust. (Acts 24:15.) The Just * -«r are the justified, and are the comparatively few who have heard of God’s grace . and have responded and come into fellowship with the Father, and being ap-

proved of Him are to or First Resurrection, the world, equally precious blood from tomb, are' to come forth unto a resur- i rection of the dead, “For as all in Adam die, even so. all in Christ shall be made aliv< each ♦n his own order.”—1 Cosr^ inthians 15:22, <23.

The Church's Sin—the World's Sin.'

How clearly our text defines the ft that the Church Is a separate and dis the world..’’ The ordination of the Church’' is to association with the Redeemer 'la -His great work of witnessing now for the ' Truth, showing faithfulness even unto ' death and sacrificing all the earthly in- " terests, to the intent that they with the

the work of blessing the world as the ₅ anti typical, the Spiritual, Seed ®f the _; Abrahamic promise. (Galatians 3:29.) AB < along we read ih our Bibles that “Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death 'ⁱ for every man,” (Hebrews 2:9.)        g

other texts misunderstood, becloude«ElRBt /

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PASTOR RUSNELL’S SGRIPTURfi

STUDIES.

These volumke.deserve a careful study by all who are hqt thoroughly satisfied with the Bible interpretations of th* “dark ages.” Tire/ can be bought for a trifle or borrowed free. Address publishers, as below. /-"

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• ili. “Thy Kingdom Come” .

• IV. “The Battle of Armageddon’ . . . .. ___

V. “The Atonement Between God and Man” 600

. teat meant evwy man in Christ. We all knew that the Bible declares that “God Igse Inved the werid that He gave His only-^tegettea Son, that whosoever believeth on TClm might not perish but have eternal (John 3:16.) We found it difficult in Knsrit this text to the Church when it Bpseifiealiy declares the world. We see j|®w that it applies to the Church first B»d to the remainder of the world after-Wa«L-.,

Those'T*o in the present life, during this Gospel'Age, hear of Christ and have their e/es of understanding opened to recognize Hirii as the Son of God and the Savior cf men—these shall be delivered from the Adajnic death, and pass immediately by faith to a reckoned everlasting life, which will fc3 completely theirs when they shall have experienced the glorious “change” of the First Resurrection. We are glad nmy to see jhat the Divine purpose still holds on with respect to the world that was lost and redeemed. We perceive now that God intends to bring all men to a knowledge of the Truth. More than this, He intends to give the world the assistance of the Royal Priesthood for a thousand years for their edification, instruction and uplifting out of sin, degradation, death, back Into full perfection of the image of God in the. flesh, freely provided for all who will come unto the Father through the precious arrangements then operative.

The penalty of the sin of Adam was inherited by all of his race and therefore was as mucn against the class chosen as the Church as against the remainder of the world. This the Apostle declares, paying, “We (the Church) were children of wrath, even as others.” (Ephesians 2:3.) We have merely been delivered from the curse, the death sentence, in advance Of the world as a result of special Divine favor enjoyed by us—whether that favor consisted in not being so seriously fallen as some, or whether it consisted in special opportunities for coming into this grace. And if the Church has enjoyed some special favor of God in being constituted the flrsf-fruits of His creatures to be delivered from the power of sin and death, why should we ever have imagined that lie had no grace whatever remaining for o»r less fortunate brethren (the world in

of the Church of Hge/^and the salvation of the willing of

■.e world in the next Age—two distinc’ aeitivatio.ic—noth piocced oi ic—ait x.o.xi the dne. redemptive sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ finished at Calvary. Notice t|ie statement, “He is the propitiation ''satisfaction) for our sins (the Church’s dhs), and not for ours only, but also for •'.lie sins of the whcrte world.”

'         Will Truth Injure?

’Many ministers all over the world, fol-tafying the suggestions of the I. B. S. A. Convention, have informed their congregations and the world in general through t'ie newspapers that they do not believe .'4 a hell of eternal torture, and that they do not believe that the Bible, rightly interpreted, teaches this. But there are others who, by some influence, take an opposite course. They denounce the Bible Students for telling the people the Truth. These ministers, generally without much .influence even in their own congrega-- - tlons, have, we are told, threatened the ' newspapers all over the world that are publishing the sermons of Pastor Russell that they will boycott them and influence

finding out that never have much Hence these sermons still appear ita nearly fifteen hundred newspapers in tlie English language and are spreading into the German and Swedish. These brethren claim that the world is likely to be injured and to be turned away from God ^nd the Bible by its proper interpretation. We answer, Not so. After the preaching of eternal torment for sixteen centuries the net result is that everybody is losing faith in the Bible, which has been misinterpreted, and many are even losing faith in a personal Creator. Is it not time, even for policy’s sake, to discontinue the misrepresentation of God and His Character to see if the Truth will not accomplish more than the error has done? And aside from the policy question, if we have been slandering our Creator and misrepresenting the Bible for Centuries, is it not all the more incumbent upon us now to set the matter Tjgfit?

WJKr'will deny the fact that life and property are less secure in so-called Chris-tieuf lands, where eternal torment has bedta preached for centuries, than in any otipSr part of the world? We assure the dear brethren who are fearful, that we have many evidences to prove the very corm-ary of their fears—to prove that a better knowledge of God and His Love, as expressed in the Divine Plan of the Ages, fax helping many, not only out of ignorance and darkness, but also out of in-djrference and wickedness, into fellowship with God. But anyway, how dare we, as Christian ministers, either directly or in-cBrectly, slander the character of our God Ui a way and to a degree that we would

enemy?

We fear that erne ef these misguided brethren are more solieitows far their own supposed welfare and the supposed interests of their own churches than for the glory of God or the welfare of the people. They are afraid to have the people see the light of Present Truth and gain a clear comprehension of the Bible, possibly because they fear that this would reflect upon them as not having properly instructed the people. They seem to know that if the people will read they will be convinced—and if convinced, they will no longer be sectarian, nor pay good money to help to misrepresent God’s character and keep the people in ignorance of the

<TFE have chosen for our topic on this W occasion what we believe is an important, yea, a vital question of deep interest to all humanity: “What is Man?” This great question the Bible alone answers distinctly and satisfactorily, as we hope we shall be able to demonstrate. The answer of Science to our query is at least in one respect right and in full accord with the Bible. Science tells us that man is an animal of the highest order—genus homo. The Bible agrees with this and declares man distinctly different from the lower animals, and also distinctly separate from angels and spirit beings. He is terrestrial, “of the earth, earthy”—he is not spiritual, not celestial or heavenly. The earth, not heaven, was made for his home.

The Bible does tell of man’s fall from Divine favor and of his Divine condemnation, but his fall was not from a heavenly condition to an earthly condition, but from an earthly condition of perfection to a dying condition of imperfection. The Bible teaches that if man had not sinned his life would have been everlasting, in earthly perfection, and that his home would have been an earthly Paradise in which he would have enjoyed the blessing uluiu unio the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” And of the faithful execution of this Divine alty against the sinner we are all nesses.—Genesis 2:17; 3:17, 18.

And Yet How Grand Is Mani

As we stood by the ruins of ancient Memphis, where Joseph rose from being a slave to being the Governor, next to King Pharaoh, we were impressed with some of the mighty monuments which persist despite the ravaging hand of time. We said to ourself, What is man? What a king of earth he is, and has been, notwithstanding his deterioration through sin and the fall! As we noted the sculptures of thirty-five hundred years ago we said, Truly the Bible is right when it declares that God made man in His own image—that to man, the highest earthly creature, the great Creator, Himself a Spirit, imparted an impress of His own character and a measure of His own power, so that man really was created a god of earth toward the lower creatures which were put under his care, as his Creator is the God of the Universe.

Our admiration for our race and its greatly enhanced as we thus The pyramids, and especially Pyramid of Gizeh, near Cairo, us similarly. When we considered the wonderful accomplishments of that long-ago period and reflected that we could scarcely do more today with our most improved machinery, our appreciation of our ancestors was enhanced, and we said, It would be very difficult for many to accept the modern scientific theory that our forefathers but a short time ago were cousins to the ape.

Some of the temples of India and China similarly impressed us. Athens, too, with its museums of ancient structure, similarly said to us, Truly man in his original perfection must have been created in the image of his Maker! Our visits to Rome impressed upon us the fact that although the work of death has progressed in our race, nevertheless, in a measure the decay of the masses has by Divine providence found compensation; for although we have no Michael Angelo today we have legions who are inspired by his example, and who have copied him with wonderful success, so that today our treasures of art are not only multitudinous but grand beyond those of any previous day.

The great St. Peter’s at Rome is itself a treasury of art such as never before was known in the world, besides .which all the great capitals of Europe abound with art galleries which illustrate the power of the human mind and the skill of the human hand in the appreciation and execution of the beautiful. And in this con-for the wiki and fanatteal and untruthful misrepresentations of our teachings! They give the people horrible misrepresentations of our teachings to hinder them from doming to a knowledge of the Truth. In three different cities, ministers in this enlightened Twentieth Century have, under one pretext or another, collected, our books and burned them after the style of the autodafe of centuries ago. In every case, where this vindictive spirit has been shown, good has resulted. Saner or more honest minds have been led to investigate —just as when, centuries ago, the Bishop of London bought up and burned publicly the Bibles which Tyndale had translated and published.

nection we must not forget the similar treasures of our home land, America.

Utilities of Our Day.

But, dear friends, you and I are living in a specially utilitarian Age. The skill of humanity has during the last century been turned into a new channel, which is making for us a new world. Instead of the narrow streets and lanes of a century ago, we have broad asphalt avenues and boulevards; instead Of ordinary houses of a century ago, our cities are replete with handsome and commodious residences that in comparison are palaces. Beautiful, graceful bridges span our great rivers and serve to consolidate our interests. Wonderful tunnels pierce our mountains and facilitate the movement of luxurious railway coaches. Palatial steamers with regularity connect port with port.

Often of late we have found ourself admiring some of our grand hotels and palatial capitols and engineering feats of bridge work and tunnels, saying to ourself the while, What is man? And then we reflect, If man in his fallen condition has learned gradually to accomplish so much, what may we reasonably expect would have been the ultimate capacity of perfect man had sin not entered into the world, and had the experience of centuries been accumulating in many brains! By now how wonderful a being Father Adam might have been!

Times of Restitution.

consolation, that God looked down in pity on us as a race in our fallen condition and that He planned even before our fall for our recovery as a race from the curse, from sin, from death. We hearkened to St Peter’s words of encourage-, ment respecting the glorious blessings to be ushered in by the great Redeemer when at His Second Advent He shall take unto Himself His great power and begin His Messianic reign for the blessing, recovery and uplift of our race. We will remind you of His words, although you are familiar with them. He said, “Times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and He shall send Jesus Christ, who before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must retain until the Times of Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy Prophets since the world began.”—Acts 3:19-21.

Ah, God is better than all our fears! During the Dark Ages a terrible nightmare became associated with the glorious Gospel of God’s Love and Mercy revealed by Jesus and the Apostles. Under that nightmare we lost sight of all the glorious promises of the Bible and lost our confidence in God because^- of the terrible propositions declared to us to be His intentions toward our race. True, all acknowledged th hope that a saintly few would attain an eternal weight of glory on the heavenly plane, but all the remainder except the saintly ones, the Elect, were consigned either to a terrible purgatorial fire or to an eternal holocaust of torture. What blasphemies against our God, the God of Grace, we thus unwittingly, unde-siringly entertained!

The effect of these teachings in all parts of the world, in every religion, has been to convert man’s natural quality of reverence for his Creator into a terrible fear, and this fear has more and more separated us from God and the Bible.

Mankind and the Church.

We are now coming to understand more fully the Bible doctrine of Election,-and we see it to be not unjust and cruel as it once appeared, but beautiful and blessed, for both Elect and non-elect. The Divine Plan was, and still is, a universal Plan— a Plan granting universal opportunity to Adam and to all his race for a recovery from the penalty of sin—for a recovery from sin and death to all that Father Adam had in the beginning and which he lost through disobedience, and which Jesus redeemed for him and his race at Calvary, and which all the willing and obedient may have back again at the hands of the Redeemer, if they will, during the period of His Messianic reign.

This is the Restitution which St. Peter tells us God spoke “through the mouth began.* And the blessing will net merely restitutionary, but indeed all the experiences of the present time with sin and sorrow, pain and death will be blessed, helpful lessons for the future-guards against any repetition of the scenes of disobedience against the Divine regulations made for man’s comfort, happiness and everlasting joy.

The work accomplished by our Rex deemer at Calvary was merely a preparatory one. His death provided the Ransomprice for Father Adam, and hence fer all Adam’s race who share his condemnation. The work of Divine grace which has progressed since Jesus’ death and resurrection is also a preparatory work. During this period of more than eighteen centuries God has been gathering out of the world a special class, willing to pass through specially severe trials and testings of faith and obedience, under ths inspiration of certain “exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4)— of a share with Jesus in the Divine nature and glory, honor and immortality.

This selecting work began with natural Israel, and has extended now gradually the world around, gathering from every nation samples and representatives, but all saintly; all in heart, at least, copies of God’s dear Son, the Redeemer. With the dawning of the Seventh Great Day— the Day of Christ—this work of electing or selecting a special class of saints te constitute His Bride and joint-heirs in the Kingdom will be complete. Then will begin the salvation of the world—the reclamation or Restitution of the world from sin and death conditions, made possible by the great redemptive work of Calvary.

“Glory In the Highest.”        <1

From what we have seen of the Divine provision for man’s recovery we grasp the force of the prophetic declaration fol-lowing the question of our text—“What is man, that Thou art mindful of him— the son of man, that Thou visitest him?” . When we think of the greatness of our God, and the littleness of ourselves, even in our best estate, and especially when we think that we are all sinners, we are > amazed that our great Creator was mindful of us—mindful of preparing a great-Plan of Salvation—willing to provide fear our redemption, and making preparation for the Kingdom which is to bless the race! Can we doubt that He who has so loved the world while they ~were yet sinners will bring His Plan to a glorious consummation? Can we doubt that He will do all that He has promised, ex-Sding abundantly more than we could re asked pr thought?—Ephesians 3:2®.

Do not understand us to say^Jaif ths

E    WELLT IS THE SOI L 1

Q A postal request to the Editor w31 <3 secure a free copy of this paper in J which this interesting subject is xl treated in a manner sure to satisfy.

tions, its rewards. “If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him." And the only way to enter into that reign of glory will be through the power of “His Resurrection”—the Chief [First] Resurrection.

accorded us of having fellowship with our Redeemer in the suffering of this present^ time, and being counted worthy to shanw with Him in the glory which shall follew-C into which the faithful will be ushered by the power of the First Resurrection. \

THE resurrection of the dead seems to be the most difficult thing in the Bible for the worldly-minded to grasp by faith. This must be because the human mind instinctively realizes the majesty of the Power and Wisdom necessary to the reproduction of the same individuality which lived and thought centuries ago, * before passing into the silence of the tomb. The Bible makes no denial of the stupendousness of the resurrection miracle—so far beyond the wildest flights of human imagination—it confesses this and calls upon us to exercise faith in the great Creator, the Omnipotent One, whose greatness we can but feebly sense and surely cannot comprehend.

Hence, the doctrine of the resurrection Of the dead, from its first announcement in the Scriptures, has called for the strongest faith on the part of believers and has excited the general resentment of unbelievers, who seem to find it easier to believe anything else respecting the dead. Undoubtedly this is the reason why so many who give evidence of general intelligence accept the absurd theory that when a dog dies he is dead, but when a man dies he is more alive than ever.

These properly claim to hope for everlasting life, but not having faith enough to believe in the Divine power to perform the resurrection of the dead, they are driven to the theory of Plato. Indeed, who has not heard Plato quoted by ministers and other learned men when discussing the future life? They do not quote Jesus and the Apostles, because the explanations of Jesus and the Apostles are all to the contrary, proving that the dead are dead, and that the only hope of a future existence is by a resurrection.

Jesus’ Answer to the Sadducees.

Note the answer of Jesus to the Sadducees of His day, who, we are told, specially denied the resurrection of the dead. Jesus answered, “That the dead are [to be] raised was shown to Moses 'at the burning bush,” when God’s message was, “I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” (Luke 20:35-38; Acts 7:32.) Jesus commented that God would not declare Himself to be their God if they were dead in the absolute sense that brutes die. Jesus’ argument tbe-^araLthat-Gal-still-Feeog:— nized them as persons while dead implied that their souls merely slept and will be granted a¹ resurrection of the dead, in God’s due time and in better bodies— under more favorable conditions than those under which they died.

We remember that St. Paul’s letters and sermons abound in references to the dead. We call to mind his great resurrection chapter (1 Corinthians 15), in which he declares that “As all in Adam die, so all in Christ shall be made alive —every man in his own order.” (Verses 22, 23.) He does not say that every man Is alive, but that they shall be made alive in the resurrection. The intermediate state he declares is a sleep, from which, by Divine arrangement through Jesus, they will all be awakened in the resurrection morning, at and after the Second Coming of Christ.

We remind you afresh of his positive statement that if there be no resurrection of the dead, then all whom we have supposed have fallen asleep have perished. (Verses 16-18.) But that God is able to raise all the dead he declares is demonstrated by the fact that He raised up Jesus from the dead on the third day; and BO likewise on the Third Day of a larger scale—the third thousand-year Day from the time Jesus was raised—God will raise up all those who have died because of . Adam’s sin.

That Third Great Day, the Millennium, Will be the Great Seventh Day (from man’s creation) or Sabbath. Our Lord gave Himself a Ransom-price in the Fifth Day, from which the Seventh would be the Third Day, the Day of the world’s resur-•rcctioB—“the last Day”—the end of the present Week of 1000-year Days in which sin and death have reigned, ushering in the glorious Epoch when God’s will shall be done on earth as it is done in Heaven.

The Chief Resurrection.

' The tenor of all the Scriptures is that the Church alone will participate in the First or Chief Resurrection—the world in general will have no share in it. Hearken to Jesus’ words on this subject, and note their explicitness of statement to the effect that all who participate in this First Resurrection will be the elect overcomers of this Age, and they will be the Royal Priests, or Priestly Kings, of the next Age, in Which the world will be dealt with and, so far as willing, uplifted from sin and death. He says, “Blessed and holy are all they that have part in the First Resurrection; on such the Second Death hath no power; they shall be priests unto God, and unto Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”—Revelation 20:6.

The word in this text rendered first signifies chief, foremost, superior. It will indeed be first in order of time, too; but the particular thought is that it is superior. Its superiority rests in the fact that aU’whp share in its blessings will not only

“But the Rest of the Dead.”

The statement of our text that the rest of the dead will not live until the thousand years of Christ’s reign are finished has proven a stumbling block to many who have studied too superficially. Let us not forget that the Spirit does not reveal the deep things of God, except to those who search for Truth “as men search for silver”—patiently, persistently, delving deeply.

It is very easy for all to grasp the thought that Messiah’s Kingdom is to last a thousand years, and that all who shall be alive at that time, all who shall be born during that period, will participate in the wonderful blessings and privileges which it will bring to the human family. They are ready, too, to admit the reasonableness of giving an equal opportunity to those of our race who have gone down into death with either no knowledge of Christ, as was the case for four thousand years, or with the too limited knowledge to benefit them, as has been the case during the past two thousand years, and today, only this text respecting the “rest of the dead” stands in their way. We shall be glad if our words through the press shall reach many who have been perplexed by this Scripture.

It is not necessary for us to set this Scripture aside, even though all Bible scholars know, or should know, that this portion of Revelation 20:4, 5 which relates to “the rest of the dead which live not again until the thousand years are finished” is spurious—that it is not found in any of the old Greek manuscripts. It is supposed that it got into the text, not through any desire to corrupt the same and falsify the record, but that in the days when the manuscripts were copied by pen, some copyist made this memorandum on the margin of his manuscript as a helpful thought, and that other'copy-ists, using his manuscript, supposed it to be a part of the original and incorporated it in the text;

However, the additional words are in no sense in conflict with the facts, which are these: Adam, created in his Maker’s likeness, perfect, was alive in the sense that he enjoyed perfection of life and that he had a right to a life everlasting, except as he should forfeit the same .’i.sobedience. The moment he d^ _L___

"God’s command be came unde. ;he's®n-.tence of sin, naniely, death. From that moment onward he was judicially dead, even though the dying process lasted for more than nine hundred years.

Similarly, all of his posterity, from the Divine standpoint, are dead, “children of wrath.” Jesus carried out this same thought in His teaching, saying, “Let the dead bury their dead.” Only those who have accepted Him as their Life-giver are even reckonedly considered alive, from the Divine standpoint.

. And so,' during the thousand years of Messiah’s reign, “All in their graves shall come forth,” “every man in his own order”; but they will still be, from the Divine standpoint, judicially dead—without the right to everlasting life. The work of the Lord Jesus, as the Great Prophet, Priest, King and Judge, and the Church with Him, will be the instruction and assistance of these for their gradual uplifting cut of sin and weakness and imperfection—toward perfection—toward acceptance with God—toward everlasting life. Such as reject the assistance offered will die the Second Death. Such as avail themselves of the blessed privileges of that time will attain human perfection. But still they will not have everlasting life accorded to them. They will merely be in a good, suitable and ready condition for God to grant them everlasting life, if they shall stand His tests.

The tests for eternal life will come at the close of the Messianic reign—when the great Mediator between God and men, having accomplished His work of restitution of the race, shall deliver over everything into the hands of the Father—the hands of Justice. Everlasting life will not be given as a matter of mercy, but as a matter of justice—to those who will demonstrate their loyalty and worthiness of everlasting life. The mercy of God will bo exercised in the bringing of them to this condition, where perfection in word, deed and thought will be possible.

The great temptation which will then come to all the world, through the loosing of Satan—the temporary permission of evil in the world—will demonstrate which of these resurrected from the dead God can approve and consistently grant the great gift of eternal life. All those who fail in their trial will be destroyed with Satan in the Second Death, while all who prove their loyalty will be acknowledged worthy of everlasting life.

Thus the rest of the dead, aside from those now on trial, the Church class, will not live in the full sense of Divine recognition as worthy of everlasting life, until the thousand years of Messiah’s reign shall have ended.

But, beloved brethren, much as we are interested in the glorious blessings that the Messianic Kingdom shall bring to the world of mankind, the Lord wishes us to be specially interested in, the glorious opportunity and privilege which He has

DEPART AND BE WITH CHRIS'!./

Ah, says one, I have great faith in St. Paul, and I remember his words: X3L am in a strait between two things:.having a desire to depart and to be jwith Christ, which is far better.” If St. Raul expected to depart and be with Christ, why is it not reasonable to suppose that he did so, and that all others, at least,of the saintly, at death so depart and pass at once into the presence and fellowship of Jesus?

Such a misunderstanding of St. Paul’s words and thoughts are excusable in view of the general trend of Christian thought on this subject fon centuries, and in view of the error mp.de in this case by the translators. We are not faulting the translators, because they had the erroneous thought firmly embedded in their minds and presumably were trying to make the Apostle here say what they conscientiously thought he ought to say.

But what we are* interested in knowing is, What did he say on the subject? Let us read the Apostle’s words critically He was in a strait between two things— whether he would prefer to live and suffer further for the Truth’s ‘sake, and assist the brethren, or whether he would prefer to die and rest from his labors. Between these two positions he had no choice. But there was a third thing—and if this had been a possibility he would have haS| no difficulty in deciding—he had a jrea^ positive desire respecting it; neither of the things which were possible to hirii would have stood in comparison at alt, this third thing would have been so desirable.

Now what was that third thing? It * was not to live and suffer and help tiie brethren, nor was it to die and be at rest from his labors. The third thing, according to a literal translation, is expressed thus: "I have a desire for the returning, and being with Christ, which is far better”—far better than either living under the present trying conditions dr dying, sleeping, resting and waiting for the Kingdom.

But, says one, by what authority 'do you render the word depart by a word .of very opposite meaning, namely return. ' We answer that we give this rendering on the authority of the Greek text; 3$ Greek word is analusai; it is fotr^W' another place in the Bible, and ther "

ndered return. In this othe^: c&hb*enoquestidn~as to the proper - ani lation.—See Luke 12:36.       .     ^;    <>

THE CONCEITED DOOR-KNOB, s

Said the door-knob to the door: “Pleasg, let me go, I beg, implore. I’m tired of swinging here with you, from day to day, the decades through.         _

“I’m handled by the rich and great; for me all classes pause and wait; and when I turn, you open wide; but if I’m still, you still abide.

“To me it then is clearly plain, for me to travel would be gain. I’d see the world; I’d get me fame; I’d have renown, and honored name.”

The door replied, with patient smile) “You’d better bide with me awhile; ’Tis here you are of greatest use; Away from me you’ll find abuse.”

“Don’t be alarmed,” the knob replied, "for me, all doors will open wide. The rich, the poor, the small, the great—all on my motions meekly wait.”

“Well, be it so,” the door replied, “but when you’ve fallen from my side, you’ll find your fancied greatness o’er, and wish to be with me once more.”

The knob fell off with rattling sound, and tumbled helpless to the ground. Nor rich, nor poor, nor high, nor low, cared where the poor door-knob should go. The door-knob soon with sorrow learned that door-knobs, out of place, are spurned. His pride and fancied greatness o’er, he wished himself back on the door.

’Tis only those who keep their place, and do their w<5rk by help of grace, who can be counted great at all. Pride always goes before a fall.—T. H. Jeys.

FREE LITERATURE!

Send postal-card request for free copies of this paper. Some of the interesting subjects you may have for asking are:

Calamities—Why Permitted?

Creed Idols Smashed!

The Rich Man in Hell.

Thieves in Paradise.

Spiritism is Demonism! /

Our Lord’s Return. ,

Which is the True Gospel?

The Handwriting on the Wall! ;

Social Conditions Beyond Humatvgower., The Battle of Armageddon.

Where Are the Dead?

What Is the Soul?

Prince Lucifer of Old, Now Prinqg of

Demons.

The Most Precious Text.

The Sabbath Day.

Responsibility to Creeds.

Missionaries in China.

Purgatory Fires! Not Now, but Soon.: The Lost Key of Knowledge.

A Famine in the Land.

Cardinal Gibbons’ Sermon. '

Immortality of the Soul.

Do You Believe in the ResurrectionjJC the Dead?

Some Foreign Mission Facts.