Old Theology Quarterly

No. 72—To Hell and Back! Who Are There. The Great Prison House to be Destroyed. The Oath-Bound Covenant. Selling the Birthright

OLD THEOLOGY QUARTERLY.

PRIMARY. STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES ENTERED AT THE POST OFFICE,           ALLEGHENY, PA,           as

A CKbiE KO A’ kOKOGTTK

TO HELL AND BACK! WHO ARE THERE

Hope for the Recovery of Many of Them.

(Reprinted from the Pittsburg, Pa., "Dispatch,” Jan. 1, 1906.)

A LARGE audience listened attentively yesterday in Allegheny to Pastor C. T. Russell’s antiinfidelity discourse, entitled, “To Hell and Back. Who are There? Hope for the Return of Many of Them.” He said:

Although the caption of my topic has a sensa-'Y tional aspect, I assure you all that it is not really

so, that I shall treat the subject most earnestly O and prove every assertion most conclusively from W the Scriptures. God forbid that I should treat lightly a subject which has caused more distress, more heartache, more sorrow of mind, than all other subjects combined—caused these distresses ^5a"| to the very best among the Lord’s followers. I I care not to specially address those who are so 3 selfish as to regard merely themselves and their W family connections, and who are quite content

A that all others might suffer an eternity of torture F | so long as their friends are saved from such a

| calamity. I would reach especially those whose Ky hearts and heads have been troubled almost to the ' extent of distraction over this subject—those who have wept and prayed as they remembered M sons and daughters, friends and neighbors, parents

and children, who died without having accepted ’W Jesus as their Savior, without having taken upon B them the only name given under heaven and among men whereby we must be saved.—Acts 4:12.

I hold that it is the best of God’s people, the ) \ ten derest of heart, the most Christlike, who have had trouble with the question of eternal torment. I know how to sympathize with them because once I had similar distress of mind, and, like others,

was obliged to say, “ If I believe this doctrine and meditate upon it, it will surely make me crazy, as it has done hundreds and thousands of others.”

Such loving hearts have found a palliation but not a relief, not a satisfaction, in the thought that somehow, perhaps, somewhere, at some time, God’s character would be cleared of the dreadful stain cast upon it by this doctrine, which we believed to be the teaching of God’s book, the Bible.

I, too, once so believed and feared, and was ashamed of my God because of the injustice, lovelessness, devilishness implied in the theory taught me from infancy, that God, knowing the end from the beginning, had created our race under conditions as we see them; that He provided a great place called hell for their torture, and created a corps of fireproof devils to attend to the matter, and provided also fuel enough to perpetuate the torture to all eternity. I felt thankful indeed to realize myself an object of divine mercy and favor, but my heart went out for the thousands of millions of human beings of civilized as well as heathen lands who had gone down into death utterly ignorant of “the only name given under heaven and among men whereby we must be saved”—• “neither is there salvation in any other.”

THE PASTOR’S EARLY EFFORTS

That I thoroughly believed this doctrine you may know when I tell you that at 17 years of age it was my custom to go out at night to chalk up words of warning in conspicuous places, that peradventure I might save some from the awful doom. And the while I wondered why God, who is of infinite power, did not blazon forth some words of warning upon the sky or cause angel trumpeters to announce positively and forcefully the doom to which the world in general was, I supposed, hastening. I was an admirer of the great Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon, and esteemed him very highly for the honesty and candor which made his sermons so dreadfully hot, believing as I did that he was an exceptionally honest minister, and that others who believed similarly were grossly derelict of duty in not preaching hell more strenuously.

But I am here this afternoon, dear friends, to explain to you how in great mercy God opened the eyes of my understanding to see that the doctrine of eternal torment is not the teaching of the Bible, but on the contrary is a misrepresentation and blasphemy of the great and holy name. I am here to prove to you that the doctrine of eternal torment has come down to us from the “dark ages” in the hymns and catechisms and creeds, and that it is not only contrary to reason, but also contrary to the word of God.

Demon gods—vicious, spiteful, merciless—are known to all the heathen peoples. The Bible alone of all religious books teaches a God of love, sympathy and compassion, sympathetic with His creatures and desirous of rescuing them from their fallen estate. It was during the dark ages when the spirit of Christ, the spirit of love, became so nearly extinct even among Christians, that they thought it perfectly; proper and pleasing to God that they should tear one another limb from limb on the rack, that they should bum one another at the stake, that they should torture one another with thumbscrews and fill each other’s mouths and ears with molten lead—it was at that time and by those of our deluded ancestors that this doctrine of eternal torment was tom from heathendom and engrafted upon the teachings of Jesus and His apostles.

We find indeed that the inquisitors of old justified the tortures of their fellow creatures with the very claim that they were thus copying God, and that their victims would receive still worse treatment when after death they should come into the hands of the Almighty. People will copy their conceptions of the Creator—how necessary, therefore, that we have the right conception, that we worship a God who is greater in Justice, Wisdom, Love and Power than ourselves. With such a terrible misconception of God the wonder is that Christianity made any progress at all. The only offset has probably been the thought of the love of Jesus and of His willingness and endeavor to rescue men.

INFIDELITY FOSTERED BY HELL THEORY

Intelligent people everywhere are very generally discarding the doctrine of eternal torment as being contrary to reason. But, alas, thinking that it is taught in the Scriptures these same intelligent people are rejecting the Bible, losing faith in it, drifting into unbelief in general—into Christian Science, spiritism, theosophy, etc.

If this afternoon I shall succeed in proving to you that the Scriptures do not teach this unreasonable theory of eternal torment, which is supposed to be built upon its statements—if on the contrary I shall show you that the “hell” of the Scriptures is logical and reasonable, I shall hope to have planted the feet of some upon firmer ground, to have re-established to some extent faith in the Bible as the Word of God and to have prepared your minds to see that as this error is not of Scriptural foundation, so likewise all the unreasonable teachings of the creeds of the dark ages are without foundation in the Bible. I hope thus to lay a foundation for your future growth in knowledge and in grace. I could not possibly ask for you'of the Lord a greater blessing than has already come to my own heart and life through better knowledge "of the Scriptures along these lines.

I will endeavor to give you Scriptural proofs that the hell of the Bible is not a place of torment at all; that the word refers to the state of death, the tomb, the grave. I shall show you that the Scriptures teach that both the good and the bad alike go to the Biblical hell, the tomb, and that their hope of salvation is a resurrection hope—to be delivered from the power of death by the Redeemer in God’s due time.

THE HELL OF THE BIBLE

You are all aware that the Old Testament portion of the Bible was written in the Hebrew language and the New Testament in the Greek. We will commence with the Old Testament. We find that the word “hell” everywhere throughout the Old Testament is a translation of the Hebrew word “sheol,” which occurs altogether 66 times, and is translated three different ways in our common version; 32 times grave, 31 times hell and three times pit. It should have been translated grave or pit or tomb in every instance. Indeed, in two instances, where it is rendered hell in the common version, the marginal reading says, “Hebrew, the grave.”

One of these is Jonah 2:2. Jonah is represented as telling how he prayed to God while he was in the belly of the great fish. He was buried alive, entombed. Our common version reads, “Ouc of the belly of hell cried I;” the literal meaning is, “Out of the grave-belly I prayed.” Adding these two instances to the last we would have grave 34 times, pit three times and hell 2g times, or the word is erroneously rendered 29 times out of 66. I shall not weary you by giving you all of these 66 passages, nor is this necessary, for we have a free pamphlet to which you are all welcome on request.¹ It takes up every text in which the word hell occurs, from Genesis to Revelation, and every passage which in any sense of the word appears to teach an eternity of torture. It analyzes these with their context and shows what they do and what they do not mean. It will convince any fair-minded man who will give it careful reading.

In passing I remark that much of the difficulty on this subject has arisen from careless handling of the word of God, adding to its statements in our minds if not in our words. For instance, when we read in the Bible, “All the wicked shall God destroy.” (Psalm 145:20,) we unwittingly said to ourselves, “Destroy must mean preserve, preserve in fire, preserve in torment, preserve with devils eternally.” Thus we distorted the word of God to our own injury as well as to the injury of others. Similarly the word “die,” when we read in the Scriptures, “The soul that sinneth it shall die,” (Ezekiel 18:20), we perverted the word of God as we would not think of perverting any other writings and said, “Die must here mean live, live in torment eternally with devils in suffering.” Similarly the word perish; on reading in the Scriptures that the “wicked shall perish” (Psalm. 37:20), we turned the language upside down and said, “ Perish means preserve.” Thus our confusion continued; we were blinded by the Adversary on the lines on which he has blinded the entire heathen world, hindering the glorious light of the goodness of God from shining more and more into the hearts of men.—2 Corinthians 4:4.

GRAY HAIRS IN HELL

The first occurrence of the word sheol is in connection with the patriarch Jacob and his 12 sons. His two youngest sons, nobler than their brethren, were most beloved by Jacob. Joseph, his favorite, clothed in his handsome coat of many colors, was sent to his brethren, who were pasturing the sheep at a distance from home, to take them delicacies and bring back word of their welfare. The brethren, moved with envy, first thought to kill him, and subsequently sold him to the Ishmaelites, who in turn sold him to the Egyptians, in whose land under God’s providential care he in after years became ruler next to the king. Meantime the brethren took the peculiar coat of many colors, bedraggled it in the blood of a goat and in the dust, and sent it home to Jacob, inquiring if he recognized it. He answered, Alas, it is Joseph’s coat; wild beasts have devoured him. I will go down to sheol to my son mourning. (Gen. 37:35.) What did he mean? Did he mean by sheol a place of fire and torment? Did he believe that Joseph, his best son, had gone there, and that he, Jacob, also expected to go to that place? No, we answer. He meant that evidently Joseph was” dead, and that he would mourn for him the remainder of his life, until he also should go into the state of death, into sheol, into hell.

The second occurrence of the word is a little further on in the same narrative. The brethren had been to Egypt to buy corn, because of famine in Canaan. It was necessary that they should go for more, but they explained to Jacob that the Governor, whom they knew not was Joseph, had required of them that if they came again they must bring with them Benjamin, their brother, the one whom Jacob now specially loved. Jacob protested, but finding that there was no escape he finally told them to take Benjamin, but told them also that if they did not bring him back alive and safe they would bring down his gray hairs in sorrow to the grave, sheol. Jacob evidently meant not that he would go to a place of eternal torment if Benjamin did not return, but that a failure to bring Benjamin back would hasten his death through sorrow. Does any sane person have any doubt as to the meaning of sheol in these instances, the first two occurrences in the Bible? No! you have no doubt, nor reason for any. And the word has the same meaning exactly in its every occurrence throughout the Scriptures, as you will see when you read carefully our free pamphlet.

HELL IN OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE

Just a word in defence of the translators of our common version, English Bible. All living languages are subject to variation in meaning, and this seems to have been particularly true of the English: To illustrate, the word hell at one time meant the grave in the English language. But gradually this-meaning has been dropped out of the word, until now it is never used in ordinary conversation. As-illustrations of its use in bygone times we find in ancient English literature reference to the helling of a house, meaning not the burning of the house nor the torturing of it, but the thatching of it.. Similarly we read of the farmer helling his potatoes^ the meaning of the expression being not the roasting of potatoes nor the torturing of them, but the putting of them into a pit for preservation from, the frosts, etc., until needed for use.

As for the translators of the revised version they seem to have been too honest to use the word hell as a translation for sheol and hades, but not honest enough to tell the people the truth on the subject. Hence you will find that in the revised version notranslation at all is given, but the Hebrew word sheol in the Old Testament and the Greek word hades in the New Testament are used instead of the word hell when grave is not used. The translators evidently anticipated what occurred, namely, that the public, knowing nothing about Greek and Hebrew, would esteem this as an attempt todo away with hell, whereas the real animus of the translators was to perpetuate it. The translators knew that the public would say that hell was just as hot and just as real although now called sheol and hades. They knew that the public would never suspect that the wool was being pulled over the eyes of their understanding to hinder them from, seeing the plain teaching of God’s Word, that sheol means the grave or tomb or death state—nothing more, nothing less.

PRAYING TO GO TO HELL

Job, one of the most prominent characters of the Old Testament, one especially mentioned as a. favorite with God, made a most eloquent prayer that he might go to hell, to sheol, to the tomb. And no wonder, poor man, for surely in his case was fulfilled the statement, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” (Psa. 34:19.) Unwilling to suicide, he craved relief from his sorrows and troubles in death. Refresh your memory respecting his' troubles: The Almighty, while approving him, permitted the Adversary to vex him sorely, to the extent of taking away every earthly possession except the mere thread of life itself. His children, gathered for a birthday party, 'were killed by a cyclone; later his flocks and herds and property in general were destroyed. Finally his health gave way, and he broke out in boils from head to foot.

To add to his sorrows his friends and neighbors, instead of consoling him, turned against him and declared that he had been acting the part of a hypocrite, and that God was now exposing him— showing His disapproval. In vain did Job protest his innocence and appeal to the Lord, until subsequently the Lord gave His verdict in favor of Job against the friends. But as though all these trials and difficulties were not enough for the poor man, to cap the climax his wife exclaimed, “You are accursed of God and should die.” Then poor job poured forth his prayer for death, saying: “0, that Thou wouldst hide me in sheol until Thy wrath- be past! ’ ’—Job 14:13.

Does anyone of same mind think that poor Job, after passing through all these afflictions, was in these words praying to God to cast him into a place of eternal torment, to be the sport of devils? No; such a supposition would be irrational. Very evidently Job meant that, if God were willing, he would be glad to die, to go into sheol, the tomb, the state of death.

SHEOL NOT DESIRABLE FOREVER

But Job had a hope for the future—he was not desirous of being annihilated; hence his prayer is, ”0, that Thou wouldst hide me in sheol [hell, the tomb] until Thy wrath be past.” The “wrath” here mentioned is elsewhere called the “curse.” Back in Eden, when our first parents were perfect, by disobedience they brought upon themselves the divine sentence of “curse” or “wrath”—the death sentence, which includes all mental, moral and physical degeneracy known to our race, and which has been afflicting us as a whole for now d,ooo years. Job was looking beyond the period of the permission of this “curse” or “wrath” to a time future, when the “curse” would be removed, and instead of it a “blessing” would come to every member of the race, himself included. As a prophet he recorded his hope of a coming Redeemer: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the earth.” Through ■this Redeemer’s work he realized that the “curse” would be abolished, and his prayer to be hid in .sheol’, the grave, the tomb, was merely until the “curse” the “wrath” would be over—until the great blessing time, the millennial reign, should begin. His prayer continuing shows his hope of a resurrection, “that Thou wouldst appoint me a set time and remember me.” Then particularly referring to the resurrection, he says, “Thou shalt call and I will answer Thee, for Thou wilt have regard unto the work of Thy hands.”—Job 14:15.

We remember also the Prophet David’s prayer for deliverance from death. He said, “O, save me for Thy mercies’ sake. For in death there is no ■remembrance of Thee; in sheol [hell, the tomb] who shall give Thee thanks?” (Psa. 6:4-5.) We remember the good King Hezekiah also, whose life w^Tas spared 15 years in answer to prayer. In thanking the Lord for this he said, “Death cannot celebrate Thee; sheol [the tomb] cannot praise Thee.”—Isa. 38:18.

QUOTE THE ENTIRE PROVERB

One of Solomon’s inspired proverbs much ' quoted is, “Do with thy might what thy hand findeth to do,” but very rarely do we ever hear the remainder of the quotation, namely, “because there is neither wisdom nor knowledge nor device in sheol [the grave] whither thou goest.” (Eccl. 9:10.) ' How reasonable is this statement, rightly understood—there 'is no wisdom nor knowledge nor work in the hell to which the good and the bad, all mankind, have been going for the past six thousand years. The dead are really dead, extinct, except as God has provided for them a resurrection from the dead, a reawakening to sentient being. The very moment of their awakening will seem to each to be the next moment to the one in which he died, because there is no wisdom or knowledge in the tomb, in sheol, in hell. Flow wonderful the goodness and mercy of God will appear to the great mass of our race when they are awakened from the sleep of death and 3 learn for the first time of the goodness of God, that C > instead of having provided devils and torture, He F has provided through His Son an opening of the Cl prison doors of the tomb and a setting at liberty of the captives of death, providing also for their w future uplift out of sin a.nd degradation under the i favorable conditions of the millennial kingdom of God’s dear Son.

SHEOL IS IN THE GREEK HADES |

We now call your attention to the fact that V the word sheol in the Old Testament, which we have shown means merely tomb, the death state,. is the exact equivalent of the word hades in the ' $ ' New Testament Greek, which likewise means the tomb, the state of death. For instance, in Psalm II0 16:10 we read, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in sheol” (hell, the tomb), and we find St. Peter I quoting this on the day of Pentecost (Acts ^2:27^_3ⁱ)j|^ “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hades,” hell,-'thef grave. St. Peter proceeds to explain that David) .,’V/ spoke this not respecting his own soul, but the soul of Jesus, and thus foretold our Lord’s resurrection from the dead on the third day. How simple, how plain the entire matter is from this the Scriptural standpoint.

Take another illustration: the prophet Hosea declares, “I will ransom them from the power of sheol [the grave, hell], I will redeem them from death: O death where is thy sting? O sheol [grave, hell], I will be thy destruction.” The Apostle Paul quotes this passage in' his great discourse on the resurrection, saying, “O death where is thy sting? O hades [grave], where is thy victory?” (1 Cor. 15 :55.) What could be simpler, plainer? All that we need is to get the smoke of the dark ages out of the eyes of our understanding, and to allow the true light from the inspired Word of God to speak to us plainly and be its own interpreter.

For further information write to WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY, ALLEGHENY, PA., U.S. A.

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HIGHER @RITI&SM REPULSED

Ube ©atb^Bounb Covenant

GOD’S MARVELLOUS CONDESCENSION. THE OATH CONFIRMS THE WORD. THE DIVINE PLAN OF THE AGES IN A NUTSHELL. IT GLORIOUSLY REVEALS GOD’S JUSTICE, WISDOM, LOVE AND POWER.

^aeGod, willing mere abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed &

by an oath "—Heb. 6:ig.

ONLY those who have strong living faith in the

Almighty God and his Son Jesus could have much Interest in the words of our text. To the evolutionist these words have little meaning, as he is

looking to a natural development rather them to any supervening power of God to bring the blessing which the world so greatly needs. To the “higher critic,” the Apostle’s reference to God’s dealings with Abraham are nonsensical, believing as he does that the statements of Genesis are foolishness, written hundreds of years after the death of Moses.

, How-ever, some of God’s true children, whose <H|eyes of understanding have not yet been opened 3^ to a clear apprehension of the divine plan of the X J j ages, may be inclined to question what interest we

’ could possibly have in God’s oath to Atoraham—■ given more than 3000 years ago. Such are inclined to say to themselves, “That event was helpful to th Abraham, but has nothing whatever to do with tas or our day.” It is our hope that an examina-

A । tion of this covenant, which God attested with

F I His oath, as stated in our text, may be helpful to %Jr I tnany of the Lord’s people today, enabling them v W ^see fhat God had a plan in Abraham’s day; that He is still working according to that plan; and

that its completion will be glorious—a blessing to

His creatures and an honor to Himself.

The context shows distinctly that the apostles and the early Church drew comfort from this oathbound covenant, and clearly implies that this same comfort belongs to every true Christian down to the end of this age—to every member of the body of Christ. The Apostle’s words imply that God’s promise and oath were intended more for us than for Abraham—more for our comfort than for his.

Note the Apostle’s words: “That by two immutable things [two unalterable things], in which it was impossible for God to lie, we [the gospel Church] might have a strong ■ consolation; [we] who have fled for refuge [to Christ] to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”

Doubtless Abraham and all of his family, Israel after the flesh, drew a certain amount of blessing and encouragement from this covenant or promise; and the oath of the Almighty-—which doubly sealed it—gave double assurance of its certainty of accomplishment, but the Apostle intimates in the words quoted that God’s special design in giving that covenant and in binding it solemnly with an oath, was to encourage spiritual Israel—to give us a firm foundation for faith. God well knew tha/t, although 3000 years from His own standpoint would be but a brief space, “as a watch in the night,” nevertheless to us the time would appear long, and the strain upon faith would be severe; hence the positive statement, and the still more deliberate oath that bound it. We cannot but wonder at such condescension upon the part of the great Creator—that He should stoop to His fallen creatures, and above all that He should condescend to give His oath on the subject. An upright man feels that his word should be sufficient in any matter, and, therefore, would hesitate except under special conditions to confirm, his word with an oath. How much more might the Heavenly Father have so regarded the matter: But our text explains the reason for such condescension. He was “willing more abundantly to show the unchangeableness of His plan.”

It was not God’s intention to show His plan to everybody—to the world in general—nor has He done so. The world by wisdom knows not God., understands not His great and gracious operations which for thousands of years have been gradually unfolding, and which are now near of accomplishment. God wished to show the natural seed of Abraham something of His plan, and, hence, they were granted an external glimpse of it; but the Apostle points out that the clear showing of the matter was especially intended for the “heirs of the promise.”

JOINT-HEIRS WITH JESUS

Our Lord Jesus was the great heir of ths Abrahamic promise, and the faithful of His consecrated people of this gospel age are declared to b® His joint-heirs in that promise, which is not yet fulfilled. For its fulfilment not only the Church

is waiting, as the bride or fellow members of the body of Christ, to be participants with the Lord in the glories implied in the promise, but additionally the whole creation (the entire human family) is groaning and travailing in pain together, waiting for the great fulfilment of that oath-bound promise or covenant.—Rom. 8:22.

' Those who follow the Apostle’s argument and realize that we as Christians are still waiting for rhe fulfilment of this promise, will be anxious to know what are the terms of this covenant which is the hope of the world, the hope of the Church, and the object of so much solicitude and care on the part of God, in that He would promise and then back His word with His oath. We answer that ■every Christian should know what this promise is, since it lies at the foundation of every Christian hope. The Christian who cannot understandingly ■call to mind this oath-bound covenant or promise ■evidently lacks information very necessary to his spiritual development.

How can this hope be an anchor to our souls in all the storms and trials and difficulties of life, in all the opposition of the world, the flesh and the adversary, if we do not know what the hope is, if we have not even recognized the promise upon which this hope is based ? '

Let us awake in time, dear friends, before the poisoned darts of infidelity strike us and wound us and poison our minds, and blind the eyes to t he glorious things of God’s Word.

Need I quote the promise—the one so repeatedly referred to in the apostolic writings—the one which is the basis or anchorage of our souls? It was made to Abraham and reads thus: “In thy ■seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” It was the promise for the future and not for Abraham’s own time. Th? world was not blessed •in Abraham’s day, nor did he even have a child at the time this promise was given. Isaac did not fulfil the promise; he was merely a type of the greater seed of Abraham who in due time would fulfil itt Jacob and his twelve tribes, fleshly Israel, did not fulfil the promise, but still looked for a greater Messiah to fulfil it, to bless them and through them all the families of the earth. The Apostle Paul referred to this very promise, declaring that the seed of Abraham mentioned therein is Christ. All Christians agree to this, even though they have not distinctively and properly associated it with the declarations of the promise. But the Apostle makes clear to us that, In saying that Christ is the seed of Abraham, he had in mind not only the Lord Jesus as the head of the body, the head of the Christ, but also the overcoming saints of this Gospel age as the body of Christ. This he distinctly states in many places, for instance Galatians 3:16,29. Here he declares the matter expressly, saying: “If ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to -the promise.”

THE SEED NOT COMPLETE

The seed of Abraham is the gospel Church, with her head the Lord Jesus, as the Apostle states again saying: “ We, brethren, as Isaac was [typified by Isaac], are the children of promise.” (Gal. 4:28.) It follows that the seed of Abraham mentioned in the promise is not yet complete, for the Gospel Church is not yet complete and will not be until the full close of this gospel age—the harvest time of which we believe we are now in. But what a wonderful thought is involved in this plain interpretation of the Divine Word. It is big with hope for spiritual Israel, the spiritual seed, and no less it seems a blessing to the natural seed, fleshly Israel, and ultimately the millennial blessings to all the families of the earth. Let us examine these three hopes: The hopes for these three classes center in this oath-bound covenant. Let us thus obtain what the Apostle tells us was the Lord’s intention for us, namely, strong consolation—strong encouragement.

All through the prophecies the Lord foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow; nevertheless the glories to follow have been granted much more space in the Divine revelation than the sufferings of this present time. The implication suggested by the Apostle is that when the glories of the future shall be realized, the trials and sufferings and difficulties of the present time will be found not worthy to be compared, but those glories and blessings have been veiled from our mental vision, and instead a great pall hangs over the future in the minds of many of the Lord’s people. With some it is merely a mist of doubt and of uncertainty, with others it is the smoke of confusion, blackness and despair as they think of their own friends in connection with an eternity of torture, and the probability that a large majority of those whom they love will spend an eternity of horror in torment—from the dark

^& OURS IS CREAM OF PROMISE

Now, what hope and interest has the Church of Christ in this promise made to Abraham? To us belongs the very cream of the promise, “The riches of God’s grace.” The promise implies the greatness of the seed of Abraham—which seed is Christ and the overcoming Church. This greatness is so wonderful as to be almost beyond human comprehension. The overcomers of this gospel age who “make their calling and election sure” in Christ, are to be joint-heirs with Him in the glorious millennial Kingdom, which is to be God's agency or channel for bringing about the promised blessings—the blessing of all the families of the earth. How great, how wonderful, is to be the exaltation of the Church is beyond human conception, as the Apostle declares, “Eye hath not seen, neither ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man [the natural man] the things that God bath in reservation for them that love Him”—that love Him more than they love houses or lands, parents or children or any other creature—more than they love themselves—and who show this by ■walking in the narrow way, in the footsteps of their Redeemer. Again the Apostle speaks of the great blessings coming to the Church as the seed of Abraham: “It doth not yet appear what we shall be [hove great we shall be made in our change], but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him.” (i John 3:2.) The Apostle Peter has a word on this subject of the greatness that shall belong to the Church, the spiritual seed of Abraham, saying, “God hath given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might become partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4.) To whatever extent we are able to grasp the meaning of these wonderful promises, they speak to us of blessings, favors, “exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ask or think.”~Eph. 3:20.

PROMISE TO THE JEWS

The second class to be blessed under this Abra-hamic covenant is fleshly Israel. We are not forgetting that the Jews were a rebellious and stiffnecked people; that they slew the prophets and stoned the Lord’s ministers ■ and caused the crucifixion of our Redeemer. Nevertheless, the Scriptures clearly hold forth that after they have had a period of chastisement, which they have been undergoing as a nation since the Lord’s crucifixion, and after spiritual Israel shall have been glorified in the Kingdom, then a blessing from the Lord will come upon natural Israel; they shall be saved or recovered from their blindness, and as the prophet declares, “They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him,” because the eyes of their understanding shall be opened. We rejoice, too, that the promise is clear and distinct that the Lord will pour upon them the “spirit of. prayer and supplication.”—Zech 12:10.

The Apostle Paul elaborates this subject. In Romans, chapters nine and ten, he points out how Israel failed to obtain the special blessing of this Abrahamic covenant by rejecting Christ—how only a remnant received the great blessing and the mass were blinded. In chapter eleven he proceeded to explain that their blindness is not to be perpetual, but only until the Church shall have been gathered out, and that then the Lord’s blessing will come to fleshly Israel, saving them from their blindness and granting them mercy through the glorified spiritual Israel. I trust that every person in this audience will feel interested enough in this feature of the divine plan to examine carefully on his return to his home verses 25 to 33 of the eleventh chapter of Romans. The Lord will do this for the natural seed, not because of their worthiness, but because of His promise made to the fathers;“For this is my covenant with them, when I will cancel their sins.”

But if God is to have mercy upon the natural Israelites, whom he declares to have been stiffnecked and hard-hearted and rebellious, would it surprise us that the divine, benevolent intention should be to bless others than the Jews—others who had not in the past the favors and privileges of this favored nation, and whose course, therefore, was less in opposition to the light? It should not surprise us, and so we find in this great oathbound covenant a blessing for all nations—all peoples. Let us look at the promise again—remembering that our Heavenly Father made fa deliberately and subsequently bound himself to its provisions by an oath, so that we might not only be sure that he could not break his word, but doubly sure that he could not break his oath, and therefore without peradventure this promise shall be fulfilled. It reads: “In thy seed shall all th® families of the earth be blessed/'

What is the blessing so greatly needed by all mankind ? it is the very blessing that Jesus declared he came to give, saying “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it mor® abundantly,” - Ah, yes, Life! Life! Life! It fa life that the whole world needs, and our Lord Jesus declares himself to be the great life-giver. Indeed, in the Syriac language, in which probably our Lord discoursed, the word life-giver is the equivalent to our word savior. Jesus came to save man from sin and from the penalty of sin—namely, death. It is a human invention of the dark ages to attach eternal torment as the penalty for sin. It is the divine arrangement to attach to sin a reasonable and just, but an awful penalty—Death? It' is because we are sinners that we are all dj ing creatures, and for the Lord to give life implies that he will take away the sin and all necessity for this penalty. Hence, “Christ died for our sins.”

THE MILLENNIAL PROMISE

The great blessing of forgiveness of sins which are past, and even the blessing of being awakened from the sleep of death, would profit mankind but little if the arrangements of that future time--th® millennial age—were not on such a scale as to permit a thorough recovery from present mental, moral and physical weakness. Hence we are rejoiced to learn that in that time Satan will be bound, every evil influence and every unfavorable condition will be brought under restraint, and th® favor of God, through the knowledge of G-odL will be let loose among the people—“th® knowledge of the Lord shall fill the whole earth as the waters cover the great deep.” Blessing! Ay, favor upon favor, blessing upon blessing, is the Lord’s arrangement and provision. All shall know him from the least unto the greatest, and none shall need say to his neighbor or brother, “Know thou the Lord.”—Isa. 11:9; Jer. 31:34-

But so accustomed have we all become to measuring the divine plan by our narrow minds that I

doubt not there may be some in this audience ready to say, “I believe, Brother Russell, that in your love of heart you would delight to do good in this manner to the whole world of mankind, and so would we; but God’s ways are not so great as our conceptions would be.” Stop, my dear brother; you are looking at the matter from the wrong standpoint. Remember that our God is all-wise, all-just, all-loving, all-powerful, and that it is His own Word that declares that as the heavens are higher than the earth so are His plans higher than our plans, and His methods higher than our methods. (1 sa.5518,9.) As the poet has expressed it:

"We make God’s love too narrow By false standards of our own.”

It is time for us to wake up to the fact that we are no better than our God, but that we are poor, Imperfect creatures of the dust, fallen by nature, and that it is time for us to stop misconstruing the divine character and plan as against His creatures, and to hearken to the Lord’s own Word when He declares, “Their fear toward me is not of me, but is taught by the precepts of men.” It is time for us to be praying for ourselves and for each other as the Apostle prayed for some, saying, “I pray God for you that the eyes of your understanding may be opened, that ye may be able to comprehend with all saints the lengths and breadths and heights and depths—to know the love of Christ which passeth all knowledge.”—Eph. 1:18; 3:18-19.

Do not misapprehend tis; we are not teaching that heathen and imbeciles and the unregenerate in general shall be taken to heaven, where they would be utterly cut of harmony with their surroundings and require to be converted and to be taught. Such an inconsistent view we leave to those who are novo claiming that in the hereafter they will be saved in their ignorance. We stand by the Word of God, that there is no present salvation without faith in Christ Jesus, and hence that the heathen and the imbeciles have neither part nor lot in the salvation in' the present time. We stand by the Scriptures which declare that any who are saved in the present time must walk in the narrow way, of which the dear Redeemer says they be few that find it. 'We stand by the Scriptures which say that salvation at the present time is only for the little flock who, through much tribulation, shall enter the Kingdom. We stand by the Scriptures, which say that this Kingdom class now being developed is the seed of Abraham under the Lord their Head, the Elder Brother, the Bridegroom. We stand by the Scriptures which say that through this Christ, when complete, a blessing shall extend to every member of Adam’s race—the blessings of opport unity to know the Lord, to understand the advantages of righteousness, the opportunity of choosing obedience and by obedience obtaining everlasting life.

JUDGMENT-DAY * OPPORTUNITY

The blessings of the future will be of such a kind that every individual who does not have his full opportunity in this present life will have it then. Not an opportunity to become members of the little flock. Not an opportunity of becoming members of the seed of Abraham. Not an opportunity to have part in the great ‘ ‘ change ’ ’ from human nature to divine nature. Not an opportunity to sit with the Lord in His throne. But an opportunity to obtain that which was lost—human perfection, everlasting life under human, earthly, paradisaical conditions. An opportunity of coming again into the divine likeness, almost obliterated in the human family through the 6000 years of fall.

FUTURE OF HEATHEN PEOPLE

As our hearts go out with sympathy towards the poor groaning creation in heathen lands and in home lands, and as we take pleasure in doing the ■little now possible for us to do, what is our joy when we think of that future glorious opportunity that is to be ours, and of the great results that are to accompany it? Surely the hearts of the Lord’s people are stimulated as we contemplate the meaning of this great oath-bound covenant! Surely, as the Apostle declares was God’s intention, we have strong consolation in our ineffectual efforts to bring the majority of mankind to an appreciation of God’s mercy and love now, but it gives its consoha-tion also in respect to our neighbors and friends and members of our own families who are not saints, who are still blind to the grace of Goel as we see it, the grace which has brought salvation to our hearts in the present time, and which eventually is to bring salvation to the uttermost in the resurrection. It encourages us further, as the Apostle points out, to lay hold upon the hope set before-us—to take a firmer'grasp of the divine character and plan. It gives our souls encouragement beyond the veil when we see how gracious is the character of our Heavenly Father, how wonderful is the plan which He has devised and how he has been carrying it forward step by step up to the present hour, and that by His grace we are what we are, and have been called to joint heirship with our Redeemer, as members of the seed of Abraham.

We reason that if the Lord so loved us while we were sinners, that much more does He love us now that we have accepted Christ and are under the robes of His righteousness and seeking to do those things in harmony with the divine will.

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OLD THEOLOGY QUARTERLY.

PRIMARY STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES

Selling tbe Birthright

THE ALLEGORY OF JACOB AND ESAU APPLIED. THE WORLD NOT IN THE ALLEGORY AT ALL. HOW THOSE REPRESENTED MAY

DECIDE THEIR. PLACE IN IT.                    !

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthrightE—Hebrews I2:iy, 16.

THE story of Jacob and Esau, the sons of Isaac, and grandsons of Abraham, is familiar to many of you. Abraham was very rich, according to his day, in flocks and herds, etc., but his special wealth consisted in his favor with God, on account of which he was known as the friend of God. In line with this friendship he became the heir of the great oath-bound covenant, which in few words embraced all of the divine plan for the redemption and blessing of the world of mankind. That promise was to Abraham and his seed, his posterity; and as Isaac had already been accepted of the Lord as the channel through which the blessing would descend to later generations, Esau and Jacob, his twin sons, were in the line of favor. The fact that Esau was born first gave him the natural pre-eminence, and under the Jewish code he was the heir of two-thirds of his father’s property and the sole heir of his titles and dignities, etc., which in this case would include the oath-bound covenant.

Our text refers to Esau as a fornicator and profane person, but these words convey a false impression to the average reader. A more easily comprehended translation of the passage from the Greek to the English would say that Esau was heathenish, a prostitutor or seller of his birthright for base, unworthy considerations. In a word, Jacob had great respect for God’s promise and a strong desire to be the heir of that promise; Esau had a less noble mind, and pandered to his appetite at the expense of the higher interests of the future, represented in God’s promise. Jacob was not only willing to give up his mess of pottage and go hungry that he might inherit the blessings of the oathbound covenant but, more than this, he was willing subsequently to flee from his father’s house, from his brother’s wrath, and be a stranger from home for years on this account.

There were two parts to the blessing, as we have shown. Esau’s chagrin evidently was in the thought that he had parted with the larger share of the father’s estate. Apparently he cared little or nothing for any share he might have in the oafh-bcwnd covenant. Tacob. on the contrary. cared nothing for the family estate, and had solely in mind his inheritance of the covenant. This is shown by the fact that when he returned later to the same country he not only made no endeavor to secure the elder-born’s share, two-thirds, but permitted Esau to keep the entire property and tendered him a present from his own flocks and herds. In other words, the two brothers each got what they preferred—Esau the earthly portion, Jacob the intangible blessing of the future, whose only possession was faith in God and in his oathbound covenant.

APPLICATION OF THE ALLEGORY

The A.postle Paul in his letter to the Galatians (4:22-31) refers to incidents connected with Abraham and Isaac, and in general terms informs us that while all those events were literal enough, true enough, their great lessons, their chief importance to us, are as allegories or word-pictures representing great truths applicable to the Lord’s people during this Gospel age. In the text he leads the thought in the same direction, and by implication tells us that all of the Lord’s people should have a trust in God and in His oath-bound covenant, which would correspond to the confidence manifested by Jacob of old, and that we all should be on guard against any and everything that would in any degree correspond to the attitude of heart allegorically represented by Esau and his course of action.

All this is generally recognized by Christian people, but usually a mistake is made in the application of the matter. The world in general is considered to be the Esau class, which appreciate not God’s favor, while the Church, nominal, is supposed to correspond to the Jacob class, which did appreciate and greatly desired a share in the inheritance of tlie oath-bound covenant. This is a mistake. Tjre world cannot sell its birthright, for the simple .reason that it has no birthright—as the Apostle declares, the world is without God and without hope.; (Eph. 2:12.) The hope we have for the world lies in the future, built upon this very oath-bound covenant—that ultimately all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

WHO HAVE THE BIRTHRIGHT

The birthright, the inheritance of the oathbound covenant, with all of its powers and blessings, belongs to those who are in relationship to God. The Jewish nation occupied a position of relationship to God, and therefore were in the Jacob plane of favor, while the posterity of Esau were outside of the promise and favors and privileges of the same, although they also were children of Isaac and children of Abraham. During this Gospel age, in which we have the antitypes of the things of the past, the fulfilment of-those allegories, we find that two steps are necessary to bring us into God’s favor and to make us spiritual Israelites, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord. The first step is that of justification through faith in the redeeming work of Christ, whose sacrifice was finished at Calvary. The second step is a full consecration of ourselves to the Lord. Those who have taken these two steps are heirs of God, the antitypical heirs with Christ of the oath-bound covenant made to Abraham. This the Apostle shows, saying, “If ye|be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”—Gal. 3:29.

THE SEED OF ABRAHAM

It is amongst these, the antitypical seed of Abraham, that we must look for the two classes represented allegorically by Jacob and Esau, and whoever will seek for them in the light of the Apostle’s words will find them both. One class of consecrated, spirit-begotten children of God, the seed of Abraham, like Jacob so appreciate the favor of God represented in that oath-bound covenant, so rejoice in the hope set before them, that they are prepared to have it at any cost, at any sacrifice. The thought of inheriting that promise sustains and strengthens them in every discouragement, in every trial, and they are ready to endure all things through Christ who strengthens them. They have appetites, cravings of nature, ambitions, etc., in common with the world, but they forego these. In the Lord’s providence matters so turn out that it will test and prove everyone of this class, whether they prefer the earthly favors and blessings and comforts and privileges, or whether they prefer the spiritual blessings which belong to the future and may be enjoyed now only by faith. If they choose the one, they miss the other.

On the other hand there is also a class of those who have the favor of God, have come to a knowledge of him, have become members of the family, and who are thus heirs to the great spiritual blessings coming, but who are not appreciative, and are ready to sell their hopes and prospects of eternity for temporary gratifications of this present time. These in the allegory ere represented in Esau, and their course is briefly pictured in his sale of his birthright.

THE MESS OF POTTAGE

The class of Christian people represented by Esau in the allegory are not always rude and uncouth; they are not always coarse, as was represented in Esau’s hairyness. Sometimes they are refined and titled and wealthy, as Esau was titled and wealthy; sometimes they are ministers, doctors, lawyers, judges, merchants, mechanics. In every station the Esau class may be expected, and likewise in every station the Jacob class may be found, though apparently among the Jacob class are not many great, or wise, or learned, or honorable, as the Apostle points out.-—1 Cor. 1:26.

Coming down to a more particular application of what would now be implied in selling the birthright: We see, for instance, an illustration in the case of the minister who, when asked whether or not he had read the books entitled “Millennial Dawn,” answered “Yes.” “What did you think of them?” Answer: “There are some very good things in them.” “Why do you not preach those good things?” Answer: “Young man, my bread is not buttered on that side.” This minister was unwilling to have the truth at any cost. He did not appreciate it as a pearl of great price, for which he would sell all. He appreciated more the good opinion of his fellow-clergymen, his title and position and income. He said to himself, “I prefer these things that are tangible, and am willing to part with my share of the Abrahamic covenant. I will take what is in sight, rather than wait for the good things promised for the future.”

POTTAGE TEST TO MERCHANTS

The Christian merchant comes to the place represented in the allegory, where he must decide as between rhe prosperity of his business, perhaps, and his faithfulness to the Lord and the truth. He has certain ambitions, and as he finds that he cannot serve God and Mammon, but must choose whether or not he will pursue his worldly ambitions for wealth or name, etc., or whether he will renounce these and pursue the study of the Lord’s Word and a life of consecration to him, with greater economy and smaller^- income, he must decide whether he will liave the mess of .pottage or be an heir of the Abrahamic covenant. Sometimes the' test seems even more severe than this, and it is not merely a question of more business or less business, but perhaps a question of no business for a time if he is faithful to the Lord: we have known instances in which business men have been boycotted for the Truth’s sake. Therein they had a, test respecting their love for the Lord’s favor and their participation in the Abrahamic covenant on the one side, with earthly hopes and comforts, the mess of pottage, on the other.

Sometimes it is the laborer or mechanic who, because of faithfulness to the Truth, because of his love for the Lord and devotion to his service, finds himself hated of all men for the Lord’s sake, for the Truth’s sake, and finds that he will escape such petty persecution by putting his light under a bushel, by holding the Truth secretly, unworthily, contrary to the divine arrangement. It is for him to decide whether or not he will have a share as an inheritor of the covenant, or whether he will choose instead the mess of pottage of present social and earthly advantage.

DOCTORS TESTED BY POTTAGE

The consecrated man who is a physician has also a test along this line of a mess of pottage— earthly prosperity for the seeking, and loss of that prosperity if he gives the attention of which it is worthy to the endeavor to gain the great prize of joint-heirship with Christ as an inheritor of the provisions and blessings of the oath-bound covenant. In the Lord’s providence the Truth has never been popular, and we understand him to teach that it will not be so during this Gospel age. Thus he provides the opportunity for our testing—whether we love the approval of the world and its reward of money and name and fame, or whether we prefer his approval and are ready to risk the cost.

We know of several physicians who are in just such a case. One of these embracing the Truth and seeking to circulate it amongst his friends was greatly opposed by those who nominally were fellow-ChristiansJand who, like Esau of old, were exceedingly angry with him because of his love for the oath-bound covenant of God and his faithfulness in telling the good tidings. As a result of that faithfulness, from having the largest practice in his city, he to-day has practically lost it all, but he thanks God as he realizes that he has gained in divine favor and is making sure his hold upon the divine promises, by the faithfulness which has thus cost him something in the loss of earthly advantages.

SISTERS TESTED ALSO

These principles apply not only to the more educated and those in the higher walks of life, but even to the small merchant and to the laborer. Everyone who is in the Lord’s family must expect that at some time or other he will be tested to see which he loves the more, the mess of pottage or his prospects for inheritance in the oath-bound covenant and its blessings. The trials are by no means similar in every case. Sometimes they do not at all touch on the question of money. Look at the sisters, for instance—more generally their trials are along social lines.

As an illustration we think of a sister who, having been very prominent in one of the nominal churches in a Southern city, in due time was brought to a knowledge of the divine plan, and saw that the Church of God is one, and that the organization of sects and parties is entirely contrary to divine authority, and that to be faithful to the Lord and to all of his people she should stand simply as a member of Christ’s body,, the true Church, separate and distinct from earthly organizations, united only to the Lord, and thus united indirectly by heart and faith to all who are his everywhere. She sent a letter to the pastor explaining that she was still a child of the Lord, but that having received greater light upon the meaning of his Word she discerned that it was a mistake to fence herself off from other Christians and to have fellowship only with the one denomination, and by so doing to imply separation from the others; that for this reason she must now withdraw, not from the one Church of the living God whose names are written in heaven, but from an earthly sect which God and his Book never authorized nor recognized. The step was taken with the full expectation that it would cost something, but that the blessing of .the Lord and a manifestation of her respect for the inheritance in Christ -was well worth the sacrificing that might be implied and the enduring of all the difficulties that might result.

A REVEREND EDOMITE

Her pastor was apparently of the Esau class, willing to barter anything for the maintenance of his own standing, and this to him included the standing of the denomination in numbers and influence. Hence, instead of appreciating the character of the sister, who had been one of the most prominent in his congregation—instead of admiring and loving her the more because of her faithfulness to principle, he undertook her assassination—not literally, however, but the assassination of her reputation. He deliberately circulated, amongst her friends in the Church a story of her insanity, urging them by no means to see her or speak to her. The Lord blessed the trying experiences of that sister, who through these, we trust, is being polished, to be accounted worthy tc be an heir of the oath-bound covenant, while the minister who thus sold himself to evil doing, falsehood. for the sake of his personal standing and the standing of his sect—what shall wc think of him. except that he belongs to the class represented in the allegory by Esau?

With some the trial comes at home. An unreasonable husband seeks to bind the conscience oi his wife, or an unreasonable wife seeks to bind the conscience of her husband. The Esau class is always aggressive, and rarely, if ever, just in such matters. They would be ashamed to have friends or neighbors know of the meanness of their hatred. -of the petty annoyances as well as the great ones by which they seek to persecute those who love else Truth and who are desirous of laying hold upon the Abrahamic Covenant anc becoming joint-heirs thereto with Jesus Christ tie Lord. These persecutors are usually nominal Christians. Sometimes.. like our Lord’s persecutors, they are scribes, Pharisees, doctors of divinity, whose cause for opposition is the darkness of their own hearts, which love not the light nor come to it lest their secret ways should become manifest. However the test comes to the Lord’s people, it is to be taken as one of the necessities of the case. If those who have been begotten of the Spirit succumb, and for the sake of peace and harmony sacrifice principle and truth, they thus demonstrate that they are unworthy of the Truth, that they are unworthy to be jointheirs of the Abrahamic covenant; they take their place as belonging not to the Jacob class of faithful sacrificers but to the Esau class, who for temporary advantages of this present life are willing to sacrifice the Lord’s favor and their prospective share in the coming blessings.

The public would hardly credit the various manifestations of the Esau spirit amongst Christian people in our day. It seems difficult to believe that ministers would deliberately falsify respecting the character and mental condition of Christian people in order to hold their interest and influence in their pastorates, as already stated. But we are to remember that it was the ministers who plotted our Lord’s assassination and who trumped up the false charges against him on account of which he was crucified. We remember well that those doctors of divinity, scribes and Pharisees declared that the death of Jesus was necessary for the maintenance of the Jewish system, which they prized above the Truth.

The same sprit is manifest now. Many journals throughout this land to-day would publish these discourses were it not for the interposition of professed ministers of the truth in opposition. The publishers, usually worldly men, would be glad to print them did they not fear the power of the ministers to institute a boycott. Ministerial power over the people, however, is overestimated. General intelligence is on the increase, and misrepresentations are not as powerful as once they were. One of the journals which publishes these discourses weekly was called upon by five ministers in a body, who endeavored to use their influence in opposition to their publication. The answer they got from the independent manager was that so long as the public wanted the discourses end the proprietors could realize an increase of circulation for their publication, they would continue.

It may be asked, Why should Christian ministers oppose the presentation of Scriptural teaching? We answer, For ffie same reason that the ■scribes and Pharisees came upon the apostles and forbade them to teach the good tidings, as we read, “They were grieved that they taught the people. (Acts 4:2.) fihey preferred to have the people in ignorance.

"GRIEVED THAT THEY TAUGHT"

They realized that for the people to have the eyes of their understanding opened would measurably decrease their power and influence over them in proportion as they would find that they had been misrepresenting God’s Word and plan.

Where is the Jacob and Esau test in this matter? We answer that the ministers mentioned, for “one morsel of meat,” are apparently willing to sell their birthright—their share in the glorious things which God hath in reservation for them who love him and love righteousness. They are willing to prostitute their office and influence to the doing of that which is evil, willing to sell their future prospects for their present advantage. In these various particulars they have the distinctive marks of Esau which the Apostle told us to look for. On the other hand, a small minority are willing, yea, rejoice, t$ have their names cast out as evil, to have themselves and their teachings misrepresented, slandered, by the Esau class. We are satisfied that this should be our experience, if it is the test which the Lord permits to come to prove our faithfulness to him and to his Word—if by this means or any means we may be of the true Israel class who will inherit the promise, the oath-bound covenant.

In conclusion, dear friends, it is for each of us to decide, first of all, Have we entered the Lord’s family at all, so that we could be of either of these classes ? Have we been begotten of the holy Spirit, so that we could be heirs of this great promise ? If not, the primary work is a full consecration of ourselves to the Lord that we may be accepted of him and become his dear children. If we have already taken the steps of faith and obedience it is proper that we now question ourselves as respects our loyalty of heart to the Lord and the Truth.A To what extent do we love this better than we love houses, lands, parents or children, yea, and self also? Are we willing, if circumstances so require, to lay down our lives for the Truth, in its service, etc? If so we may safely count ourselves with the Israel class, and trust by the Lord’s grace to be amongst those “overcomers” to whom he will grant to sit with him in his throne and be associated with all the work of the Millennial Kingdom.

But if we permit ourselves to be dominated by a time-serving spirit, a selfish spirit, it will blind us to the beauties and advantages of the things unseen as yet, and make all the more important before our minds the things of this present time, which the Apostle tells us are not worthy to be compared with the things reserved for us. It depends on which place we have the treasures,—with the Lord or in the earth—for where our treasures are there will our hearts be also, and our lives in accord.

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