The Divine Program

THE STRUCTURE of the brain places veneration at the very top, and thus, by implication, confirms the statement of the catechism that "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever." However great the depravity of our race in the dark places of the earth, this element of veneration, of an instinctive appreciation of a God and a feeling of responsibility toward him constitutes a foundation upon which to build, to reconstruct, to reorganize the depraved elements of character.

Without this fulcrum, missionaries and philanthropists might well lose all heart and all hope in respect to the moral and social uplift of the masses and the classes.

Whoever, therefore, is intelligently a friend to his race must do everything in his power to maintain this center of mental balance of mind and to utilize it as an essential feature in the Divine arrangement for human well-being. Whoever in any manner or degree undermines this element of the mind is surely doing a destructive work, instead of a constructive one, whether he realizes the fact or not. But, alas, that we must say it! Some of the most intelligent of our most intellectual day are rapidly drifting away from the fundamental truth that there is a living and true God.

These intellectuals are accepting the thought of an impersonal God, which, from our standpoint, is tantamount to saying, "There is no living and true God." This is the position taken, not only by theosophists and Christian Scientists, but also by many scientific and professional thinkers. Rarely is an attempt made to define the impersonal God. Rather the term God is used merely as a concession to popular sentiment and the "ignorance of the unlearned." Those who hold this view often use the word nature as a synonym for God. Their thought really seems to be that there is no intelligent creator in the universe; that our sun and stars and planets are governed by what they term "natural laws," and that humanity prospers and progresses merely as it learns by experience the operation of these laws, and seeks co-operation and avoids conflict with them. Christian Science, dealing less with the scholastic and more with the ordinary reason, attempts to explain that the word God simply signifies Good. And then, with something of a play upon words, which confounds the reasoning faculties of the untrained mind, they tell us that whatever is useful is good, and therefore is God. Proceeding with the explanation, they declare that every tree and rock have good or usefulness in them, and hence to that extent have God in them. Elaborating further, they say that God is in the air, because of its vitalizing effect; he is in the flower because of its goodness and usefulness for beauty and fragrance; he is in the tea-kettle, because of its usefulness; likewise in the chair, the table, the floor, the ceiling—everything.

Whoever entertains such views proportionately destroys his faith in a personal God, "The Living and True God," and in the Bible as his revelation. How could an impersonal God have a purpose, a will, a plan, a program? And how could he give a revelation of that purpose or program in the Bible or otherwise? "He that cometh unto God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." He shall be found of them. He will reveal his true character to them. "He that seeketh findeth." But our Christian Science friends meet our objection with the assertion that Buddhists and Theosophists hold the same and represent a large proportion of the human family. Furthermore, they claim that the same thought of an impersonal God is taught in all the principal creeds of Christendom, when they declare faith in an omni-present God! Alas, we must admit that the charge is well founded; that the seed of error on this subject was planted in our minds and confessions of faith long ago. Be it noticed, however, that this inconsistency cannot be charged against the Bible, for, although our confessions of Faith were ostensibly made to be in harmony with the Scriptures, the truth is, that not one word of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, declares Divine Omni-presence, but every utterance on the subject affirms the personality of the Father, and that our Lord Jesus is the "express image of his person."— Heb 1:3. "God is a Spirit," but he is a being, a person. The Scriptures distinctly tell us that a spirit has not flesh and body, as we have, but they as distinctly inform us of the Divine personality and use the members and qualities of the human body to bring the Creator within the range of our apprehension. The Hand of the Lord (his Divine power), and the Eye of the Lord (his Divine wisdom) are in every place. The Ear of the Lord is bowed down to hear the groaning of the prisoner. And the Heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.

Heaven is his Throne and the earth is his footstool. True, these expressions are pictorial, figurative; nevertheless they figure not an impersonal Creator, but a personal one, who feels, who thinks, who exercises his power; who has displeasure with those who are sinful and loves those who seek to do his will; to walk in the paths of righteousness. Whoever cultivates this thought of a righteous, personal God, assists in establishing his own heart along lines of corresponding character. He seeks a further knowledge of such a Creator; seeks his compassion and his protecting care, and learns to love him, as he could never appreciate nor love Nature nor any disorganized conception of a space-pervading non-entity. He whose mind and heart grasps the Scriptural Personality of the Heavenly Father catches the significance of our Savior's words, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall to the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows." Such may worship in spirit and in truth proportionate to their knowledge of the Infinite One, whom they were directed to address, "Our Father, which art in heaven." Thinking of the Almighty as everywhere present is entirely unsatisfactory to our comprehension, which calls for a God whose throne is in heaven. This was the same thought that our Savior again impressed on the women who met him after his resurrection. To these he said: "I have not yet ascended to my Father, and to your Father; to my God and to your God." Thus the general trend of Scriptural testimony confirms the thought which we receive by nature, and intensifies and elaborates it, by giving location and quality of heart and mind and power. Regardless of the truth of the two theories, the Bible presentation is surely the one most helpful to humanity.

To have no personal God must eventually signify to the reasoning mind no Law-Giver, no Judge, no justice, no love, no mercy, no personal relationship, as between father and child. Thus would be lost the very basis of Christian faith and doctrine.

The Scriptural presentation of the Almighty is, therefore, the one most consistent to our reason and most helpful to us, namely, that he is a great God, infinite in his wisdom, his justice, his love and his power. His personality has heaven for his locality, but his influence and powers pervade the universe. We may but imperfectly imagine the various channels of his information and the innumerable agencies through which he can exercise the Almighty Power. But in the light of present day invention, we have at least suggestions of it, for cannot man communicate by wireless telegraphy over hundreds of miles? And not only so, but cannot he use the Hertz-waves for the transmission of power? And can he not with the telescope greatly enlarge his vision, and with the microscope see things otherwise indiscernible? And if puny man, imperfect and fallen, "Born in sin and shapen in iniquity and of few days and full of trouble," can thus enlarge his natural powers, what limitations might he justly or wisely set upon the intelligence and power of his Creator? "He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that formed the ear, shall he not hear?" He that gave to humans our sense of justice, shall we not consider him the very Embodiment of Justice? He who gave to us the power of sympathy and compassion and love, shall we not consider him, the Author of our powers, as infinitely superior to the very highest of our human ideals? For our present purpose it is not even necessary that we be believers in the Bible in order to formulate before our minds something of the glorious character and attributes of our Maker. True, correct views of the teachings of the Scriptures will surely aid us in our conceptions, but at this time we are addressing not merely believers in the Scripture, but also unbelievers. We urge, then, that rational thought on the subject bids us believe that man is the highest type of earthly intelligence, and this teaches us that there must be an intelligent Creator as much superior to us as we are to the crawling worm. Yea, more than this, that he who gave us our intelligent being must be separated from us by a still wider gulf than that which separates us from the worm, because we cannot even create a worm. And it is but a logical process of reasoning that the noblest of our talents and powers are but feeble reflections of the same qualities in our Creator.

From this standpoint, how great is the God which our intelligent reason would picture! How worthy of our reverence, our devotion, our love, our service! The Scriptures assist us by showing that the blemishes which we find in ourselves and others are results of disobedience to the Divine instruction—the results of the fall from the more particular image and likeness of our Creator. Filled with so noble a conception of Deity, we would naturally hasten to worship and bow down, but are stopped by the voices from the Dark Ages, which misrepresent the Almighty, implying that he is not the embodiment of justice, wisdom, love and power. These voices assure us that, although we are commanded to love our enemies, to do good to them that hate us and persecute us and say all manner of evil against us falsely, nevertheless the Almighty, who gave these commands, does not love or forgive his enemies, and does them good but inadequately, and has made preparation for their eternal torture. There is something wholly inconsistent between these voices from the past and the voice of our reason. It is claimed by many that the Bible substantiates the voices of the Dark Ages, the creeds, but we hold that this is a mistake, partly attributable to poor translation and partly to misunderstood parables.

The reasoning mind surely rebels against the theory which in the Dark Ages held sway and led to the Inquisition and the stake. And it is glad that it has gotten rid of so gross a misconception of the "Father of Lights." A well-balanced and reverential intellect will rejoice to find and to recognize a God that not only is not devoid of justice, wisdom, love and power, and on a plane lower than our own, but who, on the contrary, is infinite in these attributes and worthy of our reverence and worship. We assent that the Divine Word, the Bible, has been greatly misrepresented by us all in the past, and deserves reconsideration. If our forefathers read the Bible with smoking lamps and blurred vision, and nevertheless got some blessing, what a power of God it should be to us now, if, in the light of the electric arc, we should find it the store-house of Divine grace and truth, perfectly co-ordinated and surpassing our highest ideals!

Wherever we go, whether in heathen or in civilized lands, we find the most intelligent people associating themselves in various secret societies. They do indeed make prominent certain general objects, which these societies profess to serve—but more than this, the public are not to know. Their secrets are carefully guarded by grips and signs and pass-words and vows. There is a reason for this secrecy, too. It is to prevent the methods and operations of the societies becoming known to those not in sympathy with them, who might seek to frustrate them. What shall we say if we find that our Creator, for similar reasons, has kept secrets from alienated mankind many of his purposes? And would it seem strange if we should find that those in fullest harmony with their Maker should proportionately be granted a knowledge of the Divine purposes hidden from others? We hold that these are the facts—that the Bible so declares. In a word, from the Scriptural standpoint, Jehovah God was the organizer of the most remarkable secret society known to men up to the present time! The Jewish Church was a kind of Junior Order and prepared the way for the Gospel Church, which for nearly nineteen centuries has constituted the great Divine Secret Society. True, there are many nominally associated who are hypocrites and who have neither part nor lot in the Society, its privileges, its blessings and its secrets. Then there are others who have taken the first step or degree, and who are thus privileged to know the merest rudiments of the Divine Purpose. Others have taken the second and subsequent degrees, and have grown in grace and knowledge, having become wise with the wisdom which cometh from above. Let us prove from the Bible that there are such secrets of the Divine Purpose, and that they are revealed to some and not possible to be understood by others. Do not the Scriptures declare that "The secret of the Lord is with them that reverence him, and he will show them his covenant?"—Ps 25:14. Did not St. Paul declare: "The mystery hid from all ages and generations is now made manifest to his saints?" (Col 1:26.) Note well that this mystery is not made known to the world, but unto the saints—and in proportion as they are saintly. Note again that our Redeemer, addressing the Father, said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." (Mt 11:25-26.) Hearken to his words again when asked of his disciples why he spoke to the people in parables and dark sayings; he responded, "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God; but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: that seeing they may see and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand."—Mr 4:11-12. There is one prominent difference between the operation of the Lord's Secret Society and the worldly ones. The latter have great difficulty in preserving their secrets, while the former has no difficulty.

While the Lord's people are advised not to cast their pearls of knowledge before the swinish, it is not because the latter might understand and thwart the Divine Purposes or reveal the Divine Secret, but, as he expressed it, "Lest they turn again and rend you." Otherwise God's people may tell anything and everything they please, to the extent of their knowledge, respecting the Divine Mysteries, but the while should know that none can understand these mysteries except the initiated—the spirit begotten. Mark the Apostle's clear expression on this subject: "The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world. ...We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory....God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit: for the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." —1Co 2:6,7,10,14.

Proceeding, the Apostle shows the necessity for this secretiveness as respects the Divine Purpose—shows that if it were generally known amongst men, the Divine program would at times be interfered with. He tells us that none of the princes or prominent ones of the world understand this wisdom of God—for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. It is with them, as it was previously foretold by the Prophet Isaiah (Isa 64:4). "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit.... We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the holy spirit teacheth."—1Co 2:8-13. We shall assume that we have established our point; that there is a mystery connected with the Divine purpose, and that it can be understood only in proportion as any shall come into harmony with God, and is understood completely only by the spirit-begotten and fully developed saints of God. We may proceed to show from the Bible additionally that the Revelation of this mystery, even to the "saints" was to be a gradual one, whereby the mysteries, the secrets, would become "meat in due season to the Household of Faith." (Mt 24:45.) For instance, our Lord at his first advent declared to his followers: "I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." (Joh 16:12.) In the same connection he promised that in the future, as due, these still hidden things would be gradually revealed according to the necessities of his followers. A full knowledge of the mystery of the Lord was not promised until the end of this Gospel Age, when, under the sounding of the seventh symbolical trumpet, "the mystery of God shall be finished," which he hath kept secret from the foundation of the world.—Re 10:7; Ro 16:25. Our Lord pointed to this culmination of knowledge, when he said to his followers that in the future the holy spirit "should show them things to come." (Joh 16:13.) It is in full harmony with this that special visions and revelations were given to St. Paul, not for the benefit of himself alone, but for the blessing and encouragement and assistance of all the members of the Church of Christ, God's Secret Society. For although the Apostle tells us that he was forbidden to make known the secret things revealed to him, nevertheless by Divine intention the knowledge given to him greatly illuminated his writings and made them specially helpful to the saints throughout the Age. And St. Paul's writings, be it remembered, constitute more than one-half of the New Testament. Thus did God provide a storehouse of spiritual food, to be gradually dispensed to the Household of Faith throughout the age, as "meat in due season" —dispensed by the holy spirit. We remember, furthermore, that the Law and Prophecies given to typical Israel were clothed in figurative, symbolical language, and these also constituted "meat" for the Household of Faith, the understanding and appropriation of which would be possessed gradually, as the holy spirit would guide them and grant the necessary enlightenment, that the spirit-begotten ones might understand "the deep things of God." Moreover, the writings of St. Paul constitute a key to the understanding of the many features of the typical Law Covenant. This principle of keeping secret the Divine purpose, yet providing a key to its understanding, which would unlock it in due time, reminds us of the time-locks now in common use for the protection of the treasures of our banks. The combination will not operate until the due time has been reached, and then it will yield only to those who have the combination, and who will use it. As an illustration in point, note the statement of Daniel's experience and the Divine message to him. The Prophet had been given a vision and a part of it had been interpreted to him, but the remainder perplexed him. He plead with the Lord, he tells us, with fasting and prayer for weeks, and then obtained a further interpretation of a portion of it, but was told respecting the remainder, "Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end (in the time of the end of the present order of things.) Many shall run to and from (by steam and electric power), and knowledge shall be increased (through compulsory education.) And then the wise (with heavenly wisdom) shall understand." (Da 12:4,9-10.) As a further illustration remember our Redeemer's words to the disciples when they asked at his first advent, "Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?" he answered and said unto them, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." (Ac 1:6,7.) "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but my Father only." (Mt 24:36.)

There is nothing here to intimate that the Son would never know the time, nor that the angels in heaven would never know the time, nor that men would never know the time; but merely that the time for the knowledge was not yet due. It was still in the Father's hands, unrevealed even to the Son. Another illustration of this fact that there are great secrets connected with our subject—the Divine Program—is shown in the Book of Revelation. That Book itself is full of signs and symbols, evidently designed to barricade its mysteries from all except a certain class, the saints, and from them, also until the time was due for the secrets to be revealed. Note the words, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear (understand) the words of this Prophecy." (Re 1:3.) The very reading of it will bring a blessing, and, as its mysteries gradually dissolve, the understanding thereof will bring still additional blessing. Note again in the introduction of the Book the statement of its mysterious and symbolic character. Its name, Revelation, signifies the uncovering, and implies something hidden. The opening sentence is, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it (revealed it in symbolic form) by his messenger."—Re 1:1. We close this testimony respecting the mystery, the secret enshrouding the Divine purpose, with the account of Revelation, Fifth Chapter. Here a beautiful symbolism represents our Creator, Jehovah, upon his Throne of Glory, holding in his hand a scroll of manuscript, written within and on the outside, and sealed with seven seals. That scroll pictured the Divine Purpose respecting our race. Not a seal had yet been broken. This confirms our Redeemer's words that the Father had kept all things pertaining to his Divine Purpose in his own hands or power. Then we note the proclamation made throughout heaven: "Who is worthy to be granted the custody of the scroll, to open its seals, to know its mysteries, and to be entrusted with the honor of carrying them to completion?" A hush prevailed—silence in heaven! Apparently none was found worthy of so high an honor as to interpret and execute the Divine Purpose. The Revelator John says, "I wept much." He had great grief that the wise and gracious Program of the Almighty must remain sealed and unfulfilled, because no competent agent was to be found. But the scene changed. An angel touching the Revelator, said: "Weep not; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the scroll, by loosing the seals thereof." St. John wiped his tears and looked again. A fresh symbolic picture met his eye. He beheld a lamb as it had been slain, to whom the scroll was entrusted, and he heard in symbol the united voice of the heavenly host declaring the Will of God, "Thou art worthy to take the scroll and to open the seals thereof." Here we see, then, that great and honorable as our Redeemer had been before he left the glory which he had with the Father before the world was, he had not then proven himself worthy of this great glory and service, represented by the giving to him of the scroll of the Divine Purpose, with authority and power to carry the same to completion. Nor did he reach this climax during his earthly ministry. It was after he had finished the Sacrifice, after he had died on Calvary as the Lamb of God, after he had ascended to heaven. Then he was highly exalted. In the Apostle's language, he was "Given a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."—Php 2:9-11. Then all the heavenly host hailed him, as he was entrusted with the execution of the Divine Program, "Worthy the Lamb."

But he had not yet executed the Divine purpose, which was still immature, undeveloped. He had, however, begun the execution of it in the organization of his Church. At Pentecost he sent forth the begetting spirit, which since has represented him in the world, and through it he has begotten to newness of nature the faithful, consecrated believers throughout this Age. Soon this church, which is called the Mystery of God, shall have been finished—when the last member shall have been accepted, chiseled, polished and made ready for association with himself, as the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, and Joint-Heirs in the Kingdom, which Kingdom, by the grace of God, will bless all the families of the earth, by a release from the powers of Sin and Death, which now hold it in slavery.

I. The fact that there is a supreme, intelligent, wise, just, powerful and good Creator; and

II. That he had special reasons for keeping certain features of his program secret (a mystery) and in revealing some gradually to those in fellowship with himself, we now proceed.

III. To consider to what extent the Bible furnishes reasonable evidence that it is a Divine revelation worthy of acceptance by those who are capable of heart accord with their Creator and his great program of the ages. The Bible is the only book in the world which in a logical and rational manner sets forth the order of creation in respect to earth, and shows man as its Lord and ruler and his Divine authority over the "beasts of the field, the fowls of the air and the fish of the sea," giving a detailed account of the processes of the creative epochs. The Bible alone gives man a proper standing as the Son of God, made in the Divine image and likeness as respects mental and moral qualities. The Bible alone explains to us how and why sin and death prevail amongst mankind and not amongst the angels. We find ourselves "born in sin and shapen in iniquity," "prone to sin as the sparks fly upward;" yet the Bible only explains to us how and why this is our condition and how and when and what relief God has provided for our race. The Bible alone gives an orderly record of the first man and his descendants to the flood. The Bible alone gives an explanation why the flood came and what purposes it served in the Divine program. The Bible alone gives a record of the epoch immediately following the flood and carries a genealogical line from Adam to Noah, to Abraham, to the nation of Israel. It is true that other so-called sacred books do in some degree effect to give an account of creation, but the story they tell is so wildly absurd as to be unworthy of the slightest credence. The Chinese, for instance, relate that the elder God and his son in a skiff together grounded, and the son in shoving the boat free caught a handful of earth and shells which he moulded in his hands and tossed out upon the surface of the water, where it grew and grew until it became this earth. Who will compare such an absurd statement with the orderly and logical presentations of Genesis? We grant that the Genesis account is not as full and complete as we could have wished for, yet later on when we shall take up this subject of creation we shall find a perfect agreement between its brief, epitomized statements and the most accurate deductions of the most careful geologists of the Twentieth Century. In studying the Bible we should remember that it was written neither to the world nor for the world, nor yet concerning the world, except as the world is related to the Divine program. From the time of Abraham, the Divine program attached itself to him and his posterity, natural and spiritual Israel—proposing a blessing for Abraham and his seed and recovery from the sin and death conditions, and that these blessings through Abraham's seed shall in due course extend to and bless "all the families of the earth." Only from this standpoint can the Bible be rightly viewed or judged. While the Bible claims no Divine inspiration in respect to the history of affairs from creation to Moses, a Divine supervision of that history is unquestionably implied and is explained as proper, necessary, because of the relationship between God's dealing through Abraham and Moses under the Covenants and his previous dealings with the race, leading up to these Covenants and properly making them necessary to man's recovery from the dominion of sin and death. Divine interposition and revelation to Abraham is directly claimed and the ground therefore is explicitly stated—God's time had come for beginning the work of rescue for our race and Abraham's faith marked him as the appropriate one through whom the good tidings (Gospel) of Divine mercy should be made known, saying: "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." That promise became the basis of hope, the magnet for faith and the inspiration for righteousness to all those who foreshadowed, typified the blessings to come through the Abrahamic Covenant.

The prophets merely foretold certain details connected with the fulfilling of that promise made to Abraham and his seed, and encouraged the favored nation to whom these promises were made to stand firmly for the Lord and continue to be his typical people. It is that Covenant that St. Paul referred to as the oath-bound Covenant, the Divine promise of a future blessing to mankind through Abraham's seed, firmly bound by the Divine oaths to the intent that all believers might have strong consolation in fleeing from sin, in resisting its allurements, in denying self, in taking up the cross, in seeking to be affiliated with God, and to be accounted worthy of association with the great Messiah promised—the seed of Abraham to bless the world. (Heb 6:10-14.) The Apostle assures us that by it the twelve tribes of Israel continually serving God were inspired and held in loyalty to him and separated from the nations surrounding them. "Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come." (Ac 26:7.) We are stating the matter simply, just as set forth in the Scriptures. It is for the Evolutionists and Higher Critics to explain away their difficulties. Ignoring the Bible account and claiming man's origin to have been primordial protoplasm, they trace his ascent by evolutionary processes to Adam, the first "monkey-man." The intelligence displayed by Moses and the Egyptians of his time they find it difficult to account for, and so in defense of their theory they surmise thousands or millions of years, regardless of the fact that in so long a period the world would be vastly over-populated. Moreover, they have another difficulty, inasmuch as the intelligence displayed by Moses and recorded in the Bible is far beyond the intelligence of the masses of today and even of broader basis than the most intelligent of today; so that in the most learned circles and in courts of justice the words and laws of Moses and Israel are cited as standards of wisdom and justice. Indeed, it is safe to say that the laws of the most civilized nations of the world today have either been constructed out of the so-called Laws of Moses or have been diligently compared and revised in the light thereof. Pause for a moment to consider some of the features of that Law. Notice that some of its accepted provisions have modified Latin laws, much to their advantage, and that other neglected features of the Mosaic Law are being cried for by Socialists today, and, not being forthcoming, in the estimation of many our present civilization is beset with danger from anarchy.

We refer, for instance, to the Law of Moses respecting debtors and creditors—that a debt could not extend beyond fifty years—that the fiftieth or Jubilee year wiped out every responsibility, personal and financial, and permitted each estate to come back to its original possessors, and each family to recover from its disasters and financial difficulties. It is the neglect of this very provision which has been recognized to some extent and been offset somewhat by the "Laws of Bankruptcy," which in the last few years have been adopted by all civilized nations—limiting the duration of the debt—hindering it from crushing out hope and ambition. Unlike all other Governments that instituted by Moses recognized God himself as the ruler, and the nation as his people. The "holy of holies" of their Tabernacle was the Divine meeting place, and around it circled in order the various tribes. The sentiment of personal responsibility to God was maintained in all of their laws, and the spirit of the Decalogue is today recognized as the very best statement of human obligation—" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, being, and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself." Thirty centuries have failed to improve upon this statement.

The Government instituted by Moses was in many respects a model of fairness and justice as between brethren, and even the rights of the stranger, the foreigner, were stipulated. Israel was in many respects a republic whose officers acted under the Divine Commission and law, and so continued for over four hundred years. Then at the request of the Elders it was changed to a monarchy by the Lord's permission, but without his approval. He said to Samuel who acted as a representative of the people: "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me." Under Divine direction, the prophet explained to the people how their Divine rights and liberties would be disregarded by the kings and they would lose their liberty in a considerable measure by this change.—1Sa 8:6-22. Considering the anxiety of the people to have a king, how evidently Moses might have taken that position amongst them without the slightest opposition! The judges were representatives of the various families and tribes.

Respecting them, Moses declared "And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's."—De 1:16-17. The laws of the most civilized peoples of today do not more carefully provide that rich and poor shall stand on a level in accountability before the civil law. The Jubilee arrangement, as we have seen, is in this order; and all the laws were made public, thus establishing the poorest in a knowledge of his rights. Respecting the rights of the foreigner, for instance, we read, "Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your God." (Le 24:22.) "And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself."—Le 19:33,34. The laws protected the weak, the stranger, the servant.

For instance, "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." (Ex 22:21-24; 23:9; Le 19:33,34.) "Thou shalt not oppress him that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren or the strangers that are in the land, within thy gates. At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it; lest he come against thee to the Lord and it be sin unto thee." "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man." (Le 19:13,14,32.) All of this, yet not one word of special honor for the priestly tribe.

Note again the equity: "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee, lying under his burden, wouldst thou forbear to help him? Thou shalt surely help him." (Ex 23:4-5.) Mark how dumb animals were not forgotten: the ox must not be muzzled while threshing the grain, because any laborer is worthy of his food. An ox and an ass must not be hitched together, because so unequal in strength and tread; it would be cruelty. Their rest was also provided for.—De 25:4; 22:10; Ex 23:12. A priestly tribe was indeed indicated, but so far from being selfishly put into power, the reverse was done, in that no political power was given to the priesthood. They were to teach the people and to minister holy things, but not to be their rulers. Moreover, they were cut off from an inheritance with the other tribes in the land and made dependent upon the voluntary offerings of their brethren. Nor was their position fortified by threats of present or future calamity. If they were negligent of their teachers, the simple exhortation was: "And the Levite that is within thy gates: thou shalt not forsake him: for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee." (De 14:27.) To say that this arrangement was selfish or that the scheme was concocted by "priests and knaves" is to declare one's ignorance of the institutions of Israel. On the contrary, if the Bible were more thoroughly studied there would be many to inquire with the celebrated attorney who made a study of the Jewish law: "Where did Moses get that Law?" The answer surely would be that it was not the product of a "monkey-man," and more, that it gave evidence of a Divine authorship as well as of a highly intelligent, humble, patriotic, noble instrument. We must leave for future consideration the typical features of Moses' Law, competent understanding of which serves an important place in the instruction of spiritual Israel concerning spiritual things. This the Apostle declares, saying that the "Law is a shadow of things to come," (Col 2:17), and that as cleansings were made with the blood of bulls and of goats, these prefigure antitypical cleansings through "better sacrifices."—Heb 9:23.

Who can reasonably or truthfully say that these laws and regulations were the work of crafty, designing men animated by selfish desires? And the same principle applies to the historical books and to the prophecies of the Scriptures. Everything tests the sincerity of the writers and their loyalty to God and men. The messages which they delivered often cost them popular disfavor and sometimes their lives.—Heb 11:30- 40. The very fact that the sins and weaknesses of prophets, kings and priests are laid bare in the Scriptures, yet without any apparent animosity or any desire to color or whiten them, indicates fairness and a loyalty to Truth beyond anything we are accustomed to today. Indeed, although many bad men of influence are criticized in the Scriptures, there is no evidence whatever of any endeavor to tamper with the records. Apparently the sacred writings held the reverence of the people to a remarkable degree. Much along the same line could be said for the New Testament writings. They are simply told. Unfavorable truths are not ignored. It is freely conceded that Jesus died between two thieves; that he was betrayed by one of his own disciples; that they all forsook him and fled; that one of them even denied him with cursing. The humble origin of the disciples is stated, yet without parade, and in narrative form it is innocently declared that even when the apostles Peter and John preached under the power of the Holy Spirit their learned hearers could "perceive that they were ignorant and unlearned men." (Ac 4:13.) What biographies or other writings of today display as much candor as we thus see at a glance as we open the Bible?.

The Bible Itself a Miracle.

When we consider the fact that the Bible is composed of sixty-six books written by thirty-eight different pens, during a long period of nearly two thousand years it is a miracle surely that these writers are in full accord, telling the one story. This cannot be accounted for except upon the lines which the Scriptures themselves lay down, namely: that these various writers were supernaturally guided in respect to their utterances. To get a view of how stupendous this miracle is, let us suggest that an equal amount of writing from any thirty-eight men living contemporaneously, members of one denomination, influenced by one general shade of thought, would be found widely conflicting and contradictory—even if they were the most learned men in the denomination and picked for the very purpose of this demonstration. Permit another suggestion along this line, namely: that amongst those who reverence the Bible as a Divine revelation, we find such dissimilarity of thought that it has developed hundreds of denominational creeds which contradict and oppose one another in a most violent manner, so that the peace-loving of today are constrained to avoid doctrines as much as possible in the interest of unity. More than this, what shall be thought of it if we find that all the creeds of Christendom not only antagonize each other and antagonize reason, but that they violently antagonize the Scriptures themselves?

What shall we say to it if we find the Scriptures alone harmonious with themselves and with reason? Will not this demonstrate that the Bible is the most wonderful Book in the world—assaulted both by friends and foes, it has withstood them all and still stands the great Divine monument and record of the purposes which God purposed in himself before the foundation of the world?

Harmony from Genesis to Revelation.

We hold and shall endeavor to make plain that the Bible is not, as is generally supposed, a collection of wise and unwise rules, regulations, statements, etc., but that it is a Divine record so arranged that when its various parts and their relationship to each other is discerned, it reveals the wonderful outlines of the Divine purpose.

Notice briefly what we will more particularly outline and develop later, namely: that from the opening statement to the closing one the theme is The Divine Program:

(1) Creation;

(2) The Fall;

(3) Suggestive promises, intimations and types of recovery for the fallen race through the mercy of the Creator.

(4) The development of the thought that sin is unholiness and that it must be abhorred and repelled and put away, in order to approach harmony with the Holy Creator.

(5) That this is not possible to us because of our inherited weaknesses.

(6) That God foresaw this and provided for it by sending his Son to be man's Redeemer and Reconciler.

(7) That since one sinner could not redeem another, the Redeemer must be "holy, harmless and separate from sinners," and that to this purpose Christ was peculiarly begotten by the transference of his life in a miraculous manner from the heavenly condition to the earthly.

(8) That he "died, the just for the unjust," that thus the sinner's penalty being paid, the sinner himself might ultimately go free.

(9) The necessity for co-operation on the part of the sinner, if any grace be accomplished in him and for him.

(10) The call of the Church class to be associated with the Redeemer in the sufferings of this present time, in self-denials and sacrifices in the interests of the Cause of Truth and righteousness.

(11) The incentive, the reward offered to such as will now emulate their Redeemer and thus become "copies of God's dear Son," and thus "make their calling and their election sure" to a joint-heirship with their Redeemer in his coming Kingdom.

(12) A trial and testing of the Church as to love and loyalty to the Lord and to the brethren and sympathetic love toward mankind in general, yea, even for their enemies.

(13) With the conclusion of this elective or selective purpose will.come the resurrection of the Church, their change from earthly to heavenly conditions, their entrance into the joys of their Lord, "changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," to glory, honor and immortality.

(14) The work will end with the establishment of Messiah's Kingdom in which he and his faithful Bride, the "elect" Church, will supervise all the affairs

OV13 of earth to the intent that Satan will be bound and all evil influences will be restrained. The knowledge of the Truth will be widely proclaimed until every creature shall appreciate it fully. The stopple of death to those who then, during the Millennium, shall come into harmony with The Christ and be obedient to the laws of the Kingdom.

(15) Next in order will come the awakening of the thousands of millions who have died, the bringing forth of these, "every man in his own order," that they may be brought to a complete knowledge of the Truth, to a full opportunity of deciding for righteousness and its reward, eternal life; or contrariwise, the penalty of the Second Death.

(16) The full restitution of man to his original perfection and the bringing of earth to the glorious estate of Paradise restored will be the culmination of this Divine program, because by that time "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess" the Messiah, and only the wilfully disobedient will have been cut off, "destroyed from amongst the people."—Ac 3:23.

(17) Then, at the end of the Millennium, the perfected race will be turned over in its completeness and perfection to the Father, without any mediatorial interposition or covering of sin or weaknesses; then according to Re 20:7, the Father will permit a strong temptation to come upon the entire human family to prove the loyalty or disloyalty to God and to righteousness of these favored people for whom so much will then have been done through the operation of Divine Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power. The Book which thus teaches in contradiction to the various and varied traditions of men, which for centuries have surrounded it, is certainly worthy of universal acknowledgment and acceptation as the Divine Message respecting "The Divine Program."

THE WORD OF TRUTH

THE Word of Truth is like a stained-glass window rare, We stand outside and gaze, but see no beauty there, No fair design, naught but confusion we behold; 'Tis only from within the glory will unfold, And he who would drink in the rapture of the view Must climb the winding stair, the portal enter through.

The sacred door of Truth's cathedral is most low, And all who fain would enter there the knee must bow In deep humility. But once inside, the light Of day streams through and makes each color heavenly bright, The Master's great design we see, our hands we raise In reverent ecstasy of wonder, love and praise!.

They reason that if he were All-Powerful as they had supposed, he would never have permitted present conditions to come upon mankind. They reason that if he were All-Loving he would make an end of the present conditions of things one way or another. It may seem strange to many that our claim should be the very reverse of the foregoing, namely, that it is the very perfection of Divine Character that has made possible the present condition of affairs. It is because of the absolute perfection of our Creator that he permits evil in the world. Let us demonstrate this and show the philosophy of it. Granting an All-Wise Creator, just, loving and powerful, it is but reasonable to expect him to exercise his power, in harmony with his other attributes, not merely in the creation of inanimate things, but specially in the creation of beings of a highly intelligent order, and possessed of qualities and characteristics resembling his own. Such beings might properly be called "sons of God." The Scriptures declare to us several orders of these sons on various planes of existence. While revelation respecting the archangels, the cherubims and a lower order of angels is set before us in the Divine Word, comparatively little is told us respecting them and Divine dealings with them. However, a sufficiency has been told us, as we shall soon see, to enable us to comprehend the operation of the Divine attributes in dealing with these. The Scriptures inform us that man was made subsequently to the above-mentioned spiritual beings, and that, . because endowed with moral qualities and reasoning faculties, he also, in his perfection, was styled a "son of God," made in his image, although at the same time declared to have been "made a little lower than the angels."— Ps 8:5. Accepting the foregoing Scriptural statements, and giving them full weight, it will be admitted that for them to be in God's image and likeness would mean that they must have liberty to do right or to do wrong—they must be free moral agents. If their Creator is a free moral agent and they were created in His image and likeness, this would mean their liberty to obey or disobey the Divine command to follow righteousness or sin. As their Creator is influenced in his conduct by principles of righteousness, but is not bounden or restrained, so with these. Consequently there would always be a liability of their falling into error of judgment or personal ambition or other sin, and thus stepping out of accord with the Divine Government. This is exactly what has occurred. The Creator, by the exercise of his power, could have kept his creatures shielded from temptation and continually prompt in obedience and adoration; but to have thus limited their sphere of reasoning and liberty would have been contrary to his noble designs respecting them. Moreover, "the Father seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit and in truth." Those who would not serve him loyally, intelligently, gladly; those who would develop in any degree a spirit of opposition to the Divine standards, and a love for sin should be manifested, should be known, should be dealt with accordingly. On the contrary, those found loyal under every test should be the more highly appreciated and blessed in their association with their Creator in his great Divine Program of the Ages.

Satan the First Rebel.

According to the Scriptures, Satan was the first rebel against Divine authority. He is represented as being one of the highest order of the angels, a "covering cherub," glorious and beautiful. His name was Lucifer, which signifies bright morning star, and corroborates the thought that he was one of the chiefest of the angels, who are figuratively called stars or bright ones, as when we read, "The morning stars sang together." Satan's ambition, which led up to the change of his name, is expressed in the words, "I will ascend above the other stars (angels.) I will be as the Most High"—an emperor, a ruler, having separate jurisdiction from that of the Creator. Lucifer is represented as first of all entertaining a disloyal and ambitious design, which for considerable time lay dormant, merely as an ambition, until in Divine providence the time came which seemed to Satan to be opportune for the realization of this ambition. Then came the test and his fall. This was when our race was created, represented in our first parents. In their innocency and perfection, they enjoyed their Eden home, nor even thought of disobedience to their Heavenly Father. Satan beheld in them a new feature of Divine creation, such as had not been conferred previously upon any of the orders of angels, namely, the power of propagating their own species. In them he beheld the highest order of animal creature and animal powers, combined with the image of God, moral and intellectual. Here was the opportunity for the gratification of his long-cherished ambitions. If he could bring over to loyalty to himself the first human pair, he could doubtless establish such a control over them as would bring him his longed-for separate empire. The method of procedure was a simple one. He would persuade them that he was their friend and benefactor, and that their Creator was tyrannical and desirous of keeping them in ignorance. God had furnished the opportunity for such a suggestion by putting our first parents upon trial for life or for death, the conditions being obedience. One special kind of fruit tree in Eden was selected for the testing. They were forbidden to eat of it. Satan, "that old serpent," endeavored to show them that the fruit of that tree was the most desirable of any in the Garden to give wisdom, to make them as gods. He assured them that the Divine Word, "In the day thou eat thereof thou shalt surely die," was an untruth; that their Creator was a falsifier; that his motive was to deceive them, and that it was backed by an ignoble intention to hold them in slavery to himself—in ignorance. The sequel is briefly stated in the Divine record. Mother Eve believed the serpent and disbelieved the Creator. Thus she became a transgressor.

Father Adam, perceiving that his wife had come under condemnation, ate of the forbidden fruit, knowingly, willingly, that he might die with his beloved spouse, without whom life seemed not worth living. Thus the great catastrophe of Sin and Death was launched upon our race. We estimate, we believe reasonably, that twenty thousand millions of Adam's posterity since born have been overwhelmed by this catastrophe and have gone down in sin and degradation and in death to the tomb—the hell of the Bible—the sheol of the Old Testament, the hades of the New Testament.

The Intelligent and the Unintelligent Tested.

Behold the wisdom of God in the method here pursued: One of the most glorious of the angels, long-experienced in fellowship with the Creator, finds his testing, his opportunity for sin, and in connection with the newest of God's creatures. And the youngest of God's sons found his trial, his testing, his temptation, at the hands of one of the oldest and by nature one of the most glorious of his brethren. Note another difference. The one of long experience and transgressor against great light was merely ostracized as respects heavenly companionship, while the one of little experience was subjected to the full penalty of the Divine Law, "Dying thou shalt die," "The soul that sinneth it shall die."— Eze 18:4. Let us not hastily decide that our Creator was unjust in this arrangement, but rather with the poet say: "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.

"Blind unbelief is sure to err And scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain."

The dying processes which from the time of disobedience took hold upon our race were not unjust. He who gave life originally had the full right to take it away when it was exercised in disobedience to the Divine command. Its infliction was in full conformity with the original declaration, "Thou shalt die." The dying began forthwith, and was consummated within the thousand-year day. "A day with the Lord is as a thousand years" ( 2Pe 3:8.) Since then the same penalty has continued with Adam's race. It has indeed been "a reign of Sin and Death"—and has had many sad features, even though entirely just. But our Creator informs us in the Scriptures that he purposes that all the present lessons given to our race respecting the exceeding sinfulness of sin "and the bitterness of its fruit shall ultimately prove valuable, assistful and educational to our race—before the Divine Program shall have finally ended. Meantime, in permitting Satan to seemingly thwart the Divine purpose in Eden and in permitting him still to live untrammeled, undying, the Creator gave opportunity to all the angels of Heaven to doubt the greatness of his power—to doubt his ability to cope with one of his highest creatures. We can imagine the wonderment of the angels and their queries respecting what their Creator would do with the arch-rebel who had thus defied him. Failure to visit condign punishment upon him could easily be misunderstood to signify weakness, deficiency of power, in the very place where omnipotence was supposed to reside—and really does reside.

The Angelic Hosts All Tested.

If only one of the angelic host failed along the lines of unbounded ambition, the Creator would extend a testing to all of the angelic hosts along various lines. Not that he would delight in the fall of any more, not that he would participate in tempting them, but he would permit such a reign of sin and such an apparent over-riding of Divine power as would encourage all of the angelic host who had the slightest tendency toward disloyalty to manifest themselves. Thus would the Lord test, prove, manifest, those who are in heart obedience of love and loyalty and those whose obedience is of fear or ignorance. The occasion of testing of the angels presented itself during a period of time in which they were permitted to have free intercourse with humanity, ostensibly with a view to helping them back again into full harmony and fellowship with God.

A part of their privilege was materialization, by which they were enabled to appear as men amongst men. The exercise of this power was fully set forth in the account of Genesis, Sixth Chapter. It is related that the special angel or messenger of the Lord and two others of the Heavenly messengers appeared to Abraham in broad daylight.

He knew them not from men. They ate with him and talked with him and subsequently revealed their identity, the two inferior angels (messengers) going down to Sodom for the deliverance of Lot. According to the Divine Plan and Word it was not possible for the angels to lift mankind out of sin and condemnation back to Divine fellowship. But if the opportunity had not been granted, the angels might have supposed to this day that the redemption which God purposes through Christ was not the only possible one, but that they, if permitted, might have accomplished wonderful results for mankind. God not only demonstrated that they were not competent to save mankind, but at the same time He brought a test upon the angels themselves, which at first they little suspected. As they beheld sin in humanity and realized something of the "pleasures of sin," the test came to them whether they would prefer the pleasures of sin for a season or would remain absolutely pure and loyal to God—whether they would retain their original state as angels, or, failing to appreciate this, would desire to live as men and to participate in human affairs and sinful propensities. A considerable number chose to "leave their own habitation"—the spiritual realm—and to live as mankind and with men. These were probably emboldened to this step by the example of Satan, whose disloyalty to the Divine will had not been punished with death nor with any diminution of his power. The suggestion was that there were limitations to Divine power which they had not at first suspected, and this belief made them free to exercise their own volition and to choose sin. It is in harmony with this that we read, "The sons of God (angels) saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose....There were giants in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God (angels) came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown." — Ge 6:2-4. This very plain record of the Old Testament is also substantiated by the inspired writers of the New Testament. Both St. Peter and St. Jude refer to the matter of those angels quitting their own habitation or plane of existence and preferring the lower human plane and its intercourse with humanity. Thus we read: "The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation (preferring the human), He hath reserved in everlasting chains of darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." (Jude 6.) "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus (our earth's atmosphere), and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."— 2Pe 2:4

The Earth Filled with Violence.

The distinct intimation of Genesis is that the posterity of the angels amongst men possessed greater virility than Adam's race, which had been fallen through sin and its death penalty for fifteen centuries. Selfish ambition threatened to utterly destroy with violence the race of Adam and to leave the earth in full possession of Satan and the fallen angels and their human offspring. This would have been going too far—would have been frustrating the Divine Program. Every feature of it, however, was foreknown and had all been permitted to come to pass of angelic volition and human volition at the most appropriate time—at a time when the last of earth's Saturn-like rings was ripening for collapse, as a flood of water to destroy every living creature on the face of the earth, saving only Noah and his family, who were specially provided for and cared for in the ark. That flood of waters drowned the giant descendants of the angels and the members of the human family who had come under their influence willingly and unwillingly. The justice of the destruction, so far as the progeny of the angels is concerned, cannot be questioned. They were exercising life rights and privileges which the Almighty had never authorized nor countenanced. Consequently no provision would ever be made for them no redemption, no resurrection. As for those of Adam's race who perished in the flood, they were no worse off than if they had perished by some other means, famine or pestilence, or what is sometimes designated "natural death." Their lives were already under sentence of death. No injustice was done. We shall see, however, in due course that the Divine Program includes certain privileges and opportunities of blessings for those and for all of Adam's children involved in his condemnation to death and subsequently redeemed from the power of death by Jesus the Son of the Highest.

Noah Perfect in His Generation.

Noah as the son of Adam was partaker of his condemnation and inherited his weaknesses. Therefore he was not a perfect man, nor is such the intimation of the words used in describing him, namely, "Now Noah was perfect in his generation."

His generation or birth is the particular point in this observation. He and his family were not polluted, contaminated by the improper, angelic intercourse. Thus we have in few words the assurance that our entire race is of Adamic stock, and that we, therefore, were of those condemned in Adam, for whom provision was made for justification through the sacrifice of Christ. As for those angels who sinned, St. Peter declares that they were thereafter restrained of their liberties of materialization in chains of darkness—restrained from manifesting themselves to humanity in the light, in the open. We have reason, however, for believing that the mercy of God has not yet utterly forsaken those fallen angels. The basis of this thought is found in St.

Peter's words, to the effect that our Lord's death and his resurrection from death by the Father's power constituted a sermon to those fallen angels, demonstrating to them the power of God and his faithfulness to his obedient Son and his generous mercy to sinful humanity in the redemption thus accomplished. This sermon of Divine mercy coming to fallen angels would signify that there might be, eventually, mercy for them also. This thought was further supplemented by the Scriptural declaration, "Know ye not that the saints shall judge angels?" ( 1Co 6:3.) Since the holy angels will need no judging, disciplining or trial, it must be the fallen angels who are thus to be judged by God's saints in due time, and judgment or trial implies an opportunity for repentance and reconciliation to God. In view of this, we may reasonably assume that while all of those disobedient angels are restrained from liberties and separated from the holy angels, there are two classes of them—the one desirous of returning to harmony with God, the other delighting in sin and under the Prince of Demons, Satan, evil workers amongst men, operating through spirit mediums and obsessed persons and others less thoroughly given over to their control.

Walk by Faith, Not by Sight.

During the four thousand years since the deluge, this earth has been subject to what the Scriptures term "A Reign of Sin and Death." Humanity, struggling under these adverse conditions, has been subjected additionally to baneful influences from the fallen angels, so that the Apostle declares, "We wrestle not with flesh and blood (merely), but with wicked spirits in influential positions." ( Eph 6:12.) The degradation of man, originally made in the image of his Creator, has been dreadful in some quarters of the world, reducing him almost to the level of the brute. All this has certainly been a great trial of faith to the holy angels. Well might they inquire, "Why does the Almighty permit such conditions of imperfection to continue? What purpose has he in this permission of evil?" Meantime Satan has, through various agencies, sought to turn the hearts of men away from the Almighty, and from the revelation he has made of himself. These agencies have sought to represent him as base, vindictive, loveless, unjust and powerfully vicious. During this time God has, through the stammering lips of humanity and his prophets and evangels, proclaimed to the world a time of coming blessing through Messiah and a Messianic Kingdom. Nevertheless, all who so believed were required to "Walk by faith and not by sight." To outward appearances the Divine Program miscarried and Satan won the day. Only those who would exercise faith have been enabled to endure as seeing the invisible and believing in a grace not yet made manifest in full measure. Doubtless it was a trial to the holy angels and to the fallen ones, but specially to humanity.

Holy, Harmless, Undefiled.

More than four thousand years after the reign of Sin and Death began, God sent forth his Son to be man's Redeemer, to recover him from the fall. Yet here again the outward evidences seemed to believe the facts. The Son of the Highest, miraculously born, was thought to be illegitimate. Instead of appearing in regal, heavenly splendor, he appeared as "The man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," and died as a blasphemer and malefactor. Yea, and since then, those who have followed his footsteps most closely have corroborated his words that the friendship of God means the opposition of the world and the Adversary. What is the secret of Gospel Age, since Pentecost obscures Divine dealing? We reply that during this time the Creator has been selecting from amongst the redeemed sinners special classes to have association with himself and his Only-Begotten One in the work of blessing all the families of the earth. The Divine object in requiring all of these to walk by faith and not by sight is that thus he may find a select "Little flock" full of faith and zealous of good works.

The Grandeur of the Climax.

As the century plant develops very slowly its bloom, and then suddenly bursts forth most gorgeously, so, we hold, will the Divine Program ultimately show forth the Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power of the Creator. The poet caught this poetic thought and expressed it in the words:

"Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up his bright designs, And works his sovereign will.

"His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower."

By the permitted reign of Sin and Death, Divine Justice has been permitted to display itself in a manner which would not otherwise have been known to either angels or men, and in the Sacrifice of the Cross, Divine Love manifests itself to a degree never previously understood nor appreciated. When this age shall have accomplished its work of selecting an "elect" church, to be the Bride and Joint-Heir with Messiah in his Millennial Kingdom; when that Kingdom reign shall have brought blessings and glorious opportunities to all of the human race, and Divine Power shall have been manifested, even to the utmost limit of the Resurrection of the Dead, the Divine Purpose as a whole will be resplendent with the Wisdom of God.

In a word, then, evil has been permitted in order to manifest the Divine Attributes to obedient creatures and in order to test and prove the loyalty to God and the principles of his righteousness of both angels and men. The Grand Outcome will be satisfactory to all—that ultimately all not in heart harmony with God and his righteousness will be utterly destroyed, while all truly his will share his love and blessing eternally. Then every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth shall be heard praising him that sitteth on the throne, and the Lamb, forever.

We find the intelligence of the world hostile to the thought of redemption and specially hostile to the thought of redemption through the precious blood of Christ.

We believe that their hostility results from their having the wrong standpoint of view. Their opposition unconsciously perhaps associates itself with the erroneous thought that man was cursed to eternal torment on account of Adam's sin; and that redemption from the curse would signify God's purchase of a handful of mankind out of eternal torment. Human intelligence would assent to no such proposition of (1) injustice and cruelty, and (2) a commercial barter in the name of Justice and Love. But this is not the Bible presentation of redemption, and those who hold this view should lay it aside, should rid their minds of it, that they may approach the subject from the standpoint of God's Word and not from the standpoint of the superstitions and terrors of the dark ages.

Divine Justice Inexorable.

When we view our Creator as the Supreme Judge of the Universe and acknowledge him absolutely perfect in Justice, Wisdom, Love and Power, we can see that there could be no appeal from the decisions of this Supreme Court, and furthermore that this court could not reverse or set aside its own decisions. For instance, granted that the Divine Law is that no creature may have eternal life except upon the terms of absolute obedience to the Divine Law of righteousness; granted also the Scriptural proposition that Father Adam, under a fair trial in Eden, was disobedient and came under the sentence or curse, "Dying thou shalt die," it will be conceded that no relief could reach his case except through a Redeemer, a substitute. That is to say, man having lost his life rights and been sentenced to death justly, the Great Judge could not justly reverse that sentence. He could not declare his original sentence an unjust one. He could not declare Adam worthy of eternal life, nor could he excuse him and forgive him, and yet preserve the laws of the Divine Empire inviolate. For God to break his own laws and to cancel his own sentence, even once, would establish such a precedent as would mar our confidence in his unchangeableness. For instance, if God could lie, and, after having pronounced a death sentence were to revoke it and clear the guilty one, the changeableness thus manifested would call in question the Divine Wisdom which pronounced a sentence which it subsequently desired to cancel. It would call in question Divine Justice. For if it were right to sentence Adam to death, it would be wrong to cancel that sentence and to give him eternal life. The difficulty with us in reasoning on such a subject is, that we, yea, all mankind, acknowledge fallibility—liability to err; hence very properly we know very little or nothing of Justice in its last analysis, which would be fitting only to the Supreme Judge. For four thousand years God exhibited to mankind and to the angelic onlookers his unwavering Justice—in that he permitted the reign of sin and death to proceed uninterrupted and practically unchecked. Even the giving of the Law Covenant to the one nation of Israel worked no cessation of the sentence "Dying thou shalt die." Sin and death still reigned from Moses until Christ, and the nation of Israel under its Law learned still more thoroughly the lesson that fallen, depraved humanity could not keep God's perfect Law and hence could not, under the Divine arrangement, make any claim for life eternal. Then came the time for God to accomplish in another way the seemingly impossible thing of maintaining the dignity and Justice of his Supreme Court, and, at the same time, providing a way by which members of the condemned race might be released from the penalty of original sin.

An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth.

This line of strict Justice the Lord inculcated in his Law given to Israel to assist them in understanding the great principle of Justice underlying the Divine conduct.

The lines of the same Justice extended taught that a man's life is the penalty for a man's life. Thus our Lord prepared us to see how "he could be just, and yet be the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus," and release such a believer from the death sentence which came upon all through Adam's sin. We do not claim that the method which God adopted for dealing with our race was the only one open to him, but we do claim that the fact that Divine Wisdom selected this method of dealing with Adam's race is an assurance that in some respects, at least, it is the wisest method, the best adapted to the Divine purpose of developing the race and testing its members and their worthiness for life eternal—and also the best method for exhibiting the various qualities of the Divine character to angels and man. Jesus was the world's Redeemer, and the entire process by which he accomplished that work is scripturally styled redemption. It includes the satisfaction of Divine Justice as respects original sin and the penalty imposed upon it. It includes also indirectly the Redeemer's work of lifting the redeemed out of their sin and death condition—up, up, up to all that was lost in Eden and to all that was purchased back for them at Calvary by the Redeemer's sacrifice of himself.

Holy, Harmless, Separate from Sinners.

The exactness and particularity of Divine Justice was exemplified in the fact that God could not and would not accept as a redeemer any member of Adam's race.

Even if one of them could have been found willing to sacrifice in behalf of the others he would have been rejected; because, as the Scriptures declare: "No man can redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him." ( Ps 49:7.) To human judgment this would have settled the entire matter and marked man's condition hopeless as respects redemption and a future life. But man's extremity became God's opportunity. What man could not do for himself God arranged for him—he provided a Redeemer, "The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," Jesus Christ the Righteous. But our sense of justice cries out that it would be wrong for the Creator to compel one of his creatures to die for another or others. God's Word sustains this thought and assures us that no such injustice was practiced; that while the Heavenly Father planned a work of redemption, our Lord Jesus was in no sense of the word forced or compelled to sacrifice himself to carry out the Divine Program.

There was another and a better way by which to reach the results desired. God could have created another man Adam, and could have allowed him to redeem the first Adam and then could have rewarded him with life on a higher plane of being. But what assurance would there have been that another newly created Adam would have done better than the first? The logic of the situation shows us that there would have been two races of sinners to deal with instead of one. But behold the Divine Wisdom which offered this service, for humanity to the noblest, the chiefest of all the Heavenly Court!—the Logos, the Beginning of the creation of God!—the Beginning of all creation!— Joh 1:1; Re 3:14. With the proposition properly went a promise of reward; and so we read that "for the joy that was set before him," our Lord Jesus endured the cross, ignored the shame and redeemed us by the sacrifice of himself; "wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess." Thus did God reward him who was already the beginning of the creation of God, the Logos, making him the Prime minister of the Celestial Empire, Associate in the Throne and Partaker of his own Divine, immortal nature. Our Lord says: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."— Re 3:31. Every step of the Divine Program is interesting and instructive. The offering of the opportunity to make the greatest sacrifice and to perform the greatest service was made to the chiefest of the heavenly hosts. Had he declined the privilege, the offer might have been tendered to a subordinate—to Gabriel or others of the heavenly host. Being accepted by the Logos, the proposition went no further. He delighted to do the will of the Father—even to humbling himself unto Death, the death of the cross.

Humbled Himself Even Unto Death.

The redemption was not accomplished by the Logos as a spirit being. It was not a spirit being who was to be redeemed, but an earthly being, Adam. Hence the first step of our Lord, the Logos, was the leaving of the riches of the heavenly condition and humbling himself, debasing himself to the lower plane or state of the human nature. But although that was a great stoop, it was not the sacrifice for sin. As the Scriptures declare, it was "the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."— 1Ti 2:6. Just how the spark of life was transferred from the heavenly one to the earthly one may be beyond our power to explain or even fully to comprehend, but, all the same, it is a part of the Divine Revelation and fully consistent with and necessary to the Divine Program. The Scriptures show that it was because this spark of life came to Jesus, not from an earthly father, not from human stock, but as a transferred life, that our Lord Jesus was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." At another time we may indicate just how and why it was possible that he could be born perfect and yet have an imperfect mother. This is the Scriptural proposition, and can be shown to be in fullest harmony with the scientific laws governing progeny.

The Man Christ Jesus

In consistent harmony with every other feature of the Divine Program he was made flesh, "came into the world to save sinners" by the sacrifice of his life, "the Just for the unjust." He did not make that sacrifice until thirty years old, because it was not a child who had sinned and was to be redeemed, but a man. Promptly on attaining the age specified in the Law, Jesus consecrated his life, renouncing all except the divine promise of reward. He symbolized that consecration to death by baptism in water at the hands of John the Immerser. It was then that he received the anointing of the holy Spirit, which constituted him the Anointed One—the Christ—the Messiah. The same anointing constituted his begetting of the holy Spirit as a New Creature to the Divine nature. Thenceforth for three and a half years he was sacrificing his humanity, which was consecrated to death and reckoned as dead and was "dying daily," while his New Mind or Will, begotten of the holy Spirit, was developing day by day. The outward man was perishing, while the inward man (the spirit begotten new creature), was being renewed during the three and a half years of his ministry.

The end of the duality was reached at Calvary, when, as a man, he died once for all and forever. There the manhood which he consecrated and reckoned dead at Jordan became actually dead, and the New Creature, begotten of the holy Spirit and developed during his ministry, was "born from the dead" on the third day by resurrection power from on high. The work which the Father had given him to do had been performed, and he who had humbled himself to the human condition, "even unto death, even the death of the cross," was highly exalted and made partaker of the Divine Nature—glory, honor and immortality. He was put to death in the flesh; he was quickened in spirit; he was sown in death an animal body, and raised in resurrection a spirit body; sown in death, dishonored, numbered with the transgressors; raised in resurrection glory. We see that our Lord's glory of person was attained at resurrection, but his glory of office he has not yet fully assumed. He awaits the selection of the "elect" Church to be his Bride, his "joint-heir" and Associate in his throne in the Millennial Kingdom for the blessing of the world. It is written that he shall "see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied." He is not yet satisfied, however, nor will he be, thank God, until by his Millennial Kingdom reign he shall have triumphed over everything opposed to righteousness and shall have delivered from the power of sin and death so many of the human family as under full light and opportunity will be glad to obey him and experience his uplifting power in that glorious epoch of his reign. The Bible abounds with accounts of the wonderful blessings which will accompany his reign of righteousness, assuring us that the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the whole earth and reach every individual; that all the blind eyes shall be opened and all the deaf ears be unstopped; that the whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God; that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, and that all who neglect to come into the fullest harmony will die the Second Death, from which there will be no recovery.— Ac 3:23.

Bought With a Price—A Ransom.

The Apostle writes, "Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price." ( 1Co 6:19,20.) Listen to St. Paul again, "He gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." ( 1Ti 2:6.) There is one feature of the subject seen by remarkably few, even by few Christian Bible students; namely, how the one sacrifice of our Lord Jesus could redeem the world of mankind numbering thousands of millions. In their confusion some have suggested that our Lord suffered as much in connection with his earthly ministry as was due to all mankind as a penalty for sin. Some even go to greater absurdity in claiming that all the sufferings of the thousands of millions of Adam's race to all eternity in hell would have been less than our Lord's sufferings during his earthly life. We sympathize keenly with the poor souls whose minds can accept such nonsense. And we sympathize with intelligent worldly people who, disgusted with such nonsense, turn away from Christianity entirely. The Scriptural view of the matter is very simple and very reasonable. Its presentation is that Father Adam alone was placed on trial for life; that he alone failed: that he alone was sentenced to death, and that the payment of Adam's penalty to Justice would effect not only his release, but also that of all his children, who share in his condemnation—"born in sin and shapen in iniquity." Hence, how beautiful and simple is this Biblical philosophy!

How thoroughly it is confirmed by the Apostle's words, "By a man came death, by a man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive. But every man in his own order." ( 1Co 15:21-23.) Viewed from this standpoint, God's method in permitting sin to enter by the one man, and allowing his condemnation to pass upon the entire race, was in order that the sacrifice of one man, "holy, harmless and undefiled, separate from sinners," should fully satisfy the claims of Justice. What a masterpiece of economy, combined with Justice and Love, is thus brought to our attention! To catch the full force of the matter, we should see that if one hundred, instead of one, had been tried and failed and been condemned to death, Divine Justice must have required a hundred Saviors.

If a thousand had been tried and condemned a thousand Saviors would have been required. If a million had been tried and condemned, a million Saviors would have been requisite. Let us behold, then, the Wisdom of God in permitting the entire race to share the condemnation of their father, that they might also share in his redemption through the one Redeemer. No wonder the Apostle, noting these things, inquires, "Who hath been God's counsellor?" Who suggested to the Almighty such infinitely wise arrangements? We have discussed merely the broad, basic plan of redemption which will be available to all mankind through the Resurrection and the Millennial Kingdom; there is a still higher plane of redemption and a superior resurrection for the church, first. The glorious results at the consummation will be a world of humanity perfect in the Divine image and likeness, fully tried and tested and proven to be lovers of righteousness and haters of iniquity and worthy, under the Divine arrangement, to enjoy life eternal under most favorable conditions—the unwilling, recalcitrants, all being destroyed in the Second Death "like brute beasts."— 2Pe 2:12.

His Loving Kindness Toward Us.

Every feature of the Divine Plan is wonderful and gracious, but most wonderful of all is that of the Divine provision for the Church of this Gospel Age. St. Paul beautifully notes this, and declares ( Eph 2:6,7) that throughout ages to come God will show forth the exceeding riches of his grace and his loving kindness toward us who are in Christ Jesus—members of "the Body of Christ, which is the Church."

Here again the Divine character is shown by a procedure quite contrary to anything men could have expected, and yet superlatively grand in its merciful condescension and its strict justice. Those who now accept Christ as their Redeemer and Instructor, who turn their backs on sin and fully consecrate their lives, thoughts, words, deeds, to the Lord's service are accepted by the Lord as members of Christ, over whom he is the Head. This means that such as now willingly, gladly, joyfully take up their cross and follow after their Redeemer, suffering for righteousness' sake and laying down their lives in the service of Divine Truth and its servants, will be granted a share with the Redeemer in all his glories and honors of the Millennial Kingdom—and more than this, a share with him in the highest of all spirit natures—Divine nature.— 2Pe 1:4. It is this elevation of the Church that the Apostle designates "Our high calling of God in Christ," and exhorts us to attain to at any and every cost.

It is this great honor that our Lord compared to the pearl of great price—of great value, to obtain which one is well justified in selling all that he has that he may obtain it. Hence, also, the Scriptures represent that only through great tribulation shall the "little flock" enter the Kingdom—obtain this great prize. And our Lord declares, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way (which leads to this superlative life now offered), and few there be that find it." The redemption through the blood of Christ is general, for all the world. The salvation secured is alike to all—the privilege of return to human perfection and earthly inheritance, etc.

The advantage accruing to the Church of this Gospel Age is the privilege of sacrificing those earthly rights and blessings secured by Jesus' death—sacrificing them in the service of the Lord and thereupon in turn receiving heavenly blessings, spiritual life and glory.

IF WE ONLY UNDERSTOOD

COULD we draw aside the curtains That surround each other's lives, See the naked heart and spirit, Know what spur the action gives—Often we would find it better, Purer than we judge we would; We would love each other better If we only understood.

Could we judge all deeds by motives, See the good and bad within, Often we would love the sinner All the while we loathe the sin.

Could we know the powers working To o'erthrow integrity, We would judge each other's errors With more patient charity.

If we knew the cares and trials, Knew the efforts all in vain, And the bitter disappointments—Understood the loss and gain—Would the grim external roughness Seem, I wonder, just the same?

Would we help where now we hinder?

Would we pity where we blame?

Ah, we judge each other harshly, Knowing not life's hidden force; Knowing not the fount of action Is less turbid at its source.

Seeing not amid the evil All the golden grains of good, Oh, we'd love each other better If we only understood.

Three Worlds and Three Dispensations.

The English reader is somewhat disadvantaged by the fact that in our common version the word "world" does duty for three distinctly Greek words. Thus, for instance, when our Lord mentions the end of the age or dispensation our common version Bible renders it "the end of the world." This, to the average reader, signifies a general collapse of the earth—its destruction, in fact, or, as a habitation for man. No such thought attaches to the Greek word, aeon, however. An aeon is an epoch or age.

The Lord declared that the present aeon or age would end, ushering in a new age or "world to come." As a matter of fact, three different worlds are brought to our attention in the Bible—and the Millennium will be in the beginning of the third. The Scriptural declaration is that "the earth abideth forever"—"seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, as long as the sun and moon endure."— Ec 1:4; Ge 8:22. These three "worlds" or three dispensations noted in the Bible are so distinctly different and so accurately described that none need mistake them. The first dispensation or world lasted from Eden to the flood. It was marked as the period of the administration of the angels, and in it, as we have already seen, some of them fell from their first estate of loyalty and obedience, further corrupting the world of mankind. Following the flood a new dispensation began, marked by the fact that the fallen angels no longer were permitted of the Lord full liberty of association with men. Man was permitted to have control of the earth, and Divine providence worked little interference except to prevent sin from going to such extremes as would have defeated the Divine plans to be developed later. This period from the flood to the Second Coming of Christ is Scripturally designated "this present evil world"—not because there has been nothing meritorious during its forty-four hundred years, but because God has permitted evil to dominate the earth during this period. As we have already seen, God is not the author of its confusion, sin and disorder, but he has permitted mankind liberty within certain bounds. He has permitted Satan to oppose righteousness and permitted humanity to become the slaves of sin and of Satan. Satan is Scripturally declared to be the "Prince of this world," who now operates in the hearts of the children of disobedience. We are not to understand, however, that Satan is exercising a Divinely delegated authority to rule mankind, but rather that he has usurped his position by taking advantage of humanity's ignorance, fallen tendencies and superstitions. Neither are we to think that humanity knowingly and intentionally serves "the Prince of this world." Rather, under his delusions they are deceived.

While thinking to please themselves, to serve their own best interests, to attain happiness, they are misled into sin and sorrow and death by paths of ignorance and superstition. What St. Paul calls "this present evil world," St. Peter denominates "the world that now is," and points us forward to the New World, the New Dispensation, in which righteousness will reign, and styles that dispensation "the world to come."

All three of these "worlds" or dispensations are connected with our planet, the earth.

Following this figure, the Apostle divides these "worlds" or dispensations into heaven and earth, by the heavens referring to the spirit beings and influences, and by the earth referring to humanity subjected to those spiritual influences. Thus in the "world" or dispensation which ended at the flood, the angels, fallen and unfallen, constituted the heavens and mankind the earth of that dispensation. During "this present evil world" from the flood to the Second Coming of Christ the heavens represent Satan, the "Prince of the power of the air," and religious systems amongst men, more or less corrupt and more or less representative of Satan and of his organization—or rather of human organization more or less under Satanic direction.

"The world to come" is likewise represented as having a heaven and earth classification. The heavens of that new dispensation will be the glorified Jesus and his Church, in the Millennial Kingdom. In the first "world" or dispensation the corruption of its heavens or angelic class brought degradation and disaster to the earth class, humanity. During this "present evil world" the power of Satan and the corrupting spiritual influences which he has been able to manipulate have hindered the blessing of mankind, notwithstanding God's favor given to Israel under the Law Covenant and his still greater blessings to Jew and Gentile through Christ. The next "world" or dispensation, to be ushered in at the Second Coming of Christ, is Scripturally styled "a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." ( 2Pe 3:13.) That new heavens will be perfect, and consist of Christ and his "Elect" Church or "Bride" glorified—"called, chosen, faithful." ( Re 17:14.) That new earth will represent mankind under the new conditions of the New Covenant, sealed with the precious blood. Not only in the new heaven, but also in the new earth righteousness will prevail, even though in the latter it will require the thousand years of Christ's reign to fully conquer sin and death and to uplift humanity in general back into harmony with God.

In the Ages to Come.

St. Paul mentions "ages to come," though only one of these is specifically noted in the Scriptures—the Millennial age. The other ages beyond the Millennium will be beyond all the defilements and ensnarements and tribulations connected with sin; and are properly, therefore, styled by the poet, "Ages of glory." Looking back, however, we may discern clearly-marked ages or epochs, subdividing "this present evil world." First came the Patriarchal Age, in which God dealt with Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then came another distinctly different epoch in which He no longer dealt with individual patriarchs, but adopted the entire nation of Israel as his peculiar people and dealt with them accordingly. He entered into the Law Covenant with them and provided them a typical mediator, typical underpriests and judges and prophets, so that, as the Apostle Paul declares, the nation of Israel had "much advantage every way, chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God." That Jewish Age had a distinct beginning in the death of Jacob, whose twelve sons were designated the heads of the twelve tribes constituting the one nation of Israel. That age had an ending just as distinctly marked by the death of Christ, as shown by Jesus' words, "Verily I say unto you, your house is left unto you desolate." ( Mt 23:38.) A third age followed, namely, the Gospel Age, which began at Pentecost and is to terminate at the second coming of Christ and to gather to himself the completed church, the Bride of the Lamb and joint-heir in the Millennial Kingdom. The present Gospel Age, which is to end with the establishment of the Kingdom, the Church in glory, is the particular and all-important age of "this present evil world." Neither of those preceding it brought any fruitage to full perfection. The patriarchs received a blessing, but could not enter into the Kingdom privileges. The nation of Israel had a blessing through the Law Covenant, yet its highest service was the making of types of glorious conditions to follow it, some of the antitypes belonging to this Gospel Age and some to the Millennium. It is the Apostle who declares of that Age that its Law Covenant "made nothing perfect." Nevertheless, the same Apostle points out in Hebrews 11 that all who were faithful to God from Enoch down to the close of the Jewish Age will receive a special blessing, in accord with their faith and zeal—even though they lived before the time of the calling and proving of the spiritual Seed of Abraham—the Gospel Church, of which Christ is the Head. ("And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's Seed, and heirs according to the promise." ( Ga 3:29.)

Of those faithful ones St. Paul declares, "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better things for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."— Heb 11:39,40. In a word, the Divine Program arranged that the world should be blessed by Messiah—through his death and subsequently through his Millennial Kingdom reign. But instead of counting the work finished when the Redeemer died, the Divine Program set apart the entire Gospel Age for the selection of the Bride of Christ, under another figure spoken of as the "members in particular of the Body of Christ." ( 1Co 12:27.) These are said to fill up the afflictions of Christ, to suffer with him, to be dead with him, and are correspondingly promised a share with him in his glory, honor and immortality.

This Age Parenthetic.

It may help some to grasp the situation if they will consider the Gospel Age from Pentecost to the Second Coming of Christ as parenthetic, and in their minds link together the Jewish and the Millennial Ages. The Jews, properly enough, were expecting Messiah to come to their nation, to establish them as his "peculiar people," to sanctify them and to use them in the spread of his dominion world-wide, according to the promise made to Abraham that in "his Seed all the families of the earth should be blessed." They were right in that expectation, and it will be fulfilled at the Second Coming of Christ. What they did not see and what God did not wish them to see, but kept a "mystery," is the fact that the Divine Program included a Christ of many members, Jesus the Redeemer being the head over all, "God blessed forever." ( Ro 9:5.) "This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church." ( Eph 5:32.) "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." ( Col 1:26,27.) God will do no less for natural Israel than his original promise, for, as St. Paul declares, "The gifts and calling of God he will not repent of"—nor change from. The bringing in of the Bible hope of this Gospel Age, the selecting of a "little flock" for joint-heirship with the Redeemer on the spirit plane, was that much more than God had revealed to Israel through the Law and the prophets. Some of natural Israel profited by this—all those who, at the beginning of the Gospel Age, were in the right attitude of heart, "Israelites indeed in whom was no guile." Such were received to membership in spiritual Israel at Pentecost.

And then to filling up of the remainder of the predestinated number of the "elect," from among the Gentiles began; and this age has been devoted to the gathering of these "members" of the Christ, the Messiah, out of every land, people, kindred and tongue.

The Law Covenant—Old and New.

Continue the thought of this Gospel Age being parenthetic as respects the outward features of the Divine Program. Note the fact that the Law Covenant given to the Jews failed to secure for them eternal life—because they could not keep so high a Law, a Law which commanded love for God with all the heart, mind, soul and strength and love for one's neighbor as for himself. Moses, the Mediator of that Law Covenant, was unable to make up for the deficiencies of the people and hence eternal life was not secured under the Law Covenant. However, through the Prophet Jeremiah ( Jer 31:31) God sent to Israel a message of his love and assured them of a future relief under a New Covenant which, in some respects, would be better than the one they had. He said, "The days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt (the Law Covenant); which my Covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord."— Jer 31:31,32.

Christ and his Bride, his members, Spiritual Israel, surrender their earthly life rights and earthly inheritance in favor of Natural Israel, and thus are said to mediate and ultimately to seal for Israel a New Law Covenant, which will be far better than the old one. Not, however, that the Law of God will change in any respect; for God could not give an easier Law than the one given to Israel; he could not give an imperfect Law; he could not properly require less than love and obedience with all the heart. Wherein, then, will a New Law Covenant be better for Israel than the old one? We answer, It will be better in that it will have a "better mediator"—a more capable one. Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant; and all those called of God and accepted as his "members" during this Gospel Age will be members of the Mediator. To this Mediator, by reason of the merit of the Head and his sacrifice, God has granted "all power," so that he is able from the plenitude of his grace to make up for the unwilling, the unintentional, blemishes of the nation for which he will serve as Mediator during the thousand years of his Millennial reign. It is on the strength of this merit of the Mediator that all of Israel's sins and iniquities of the past will be forgotten and remembered no more. Moreover that Great Mediator will have full responsibility in the premises in dealing with all who shall accept that Covenant, because the virtue, the merit of Christ's sacrifice, is sufficient to meet, to cover, to cancel the sins of the whole world—all that are not willful and deliberate sins. Israel will thus become God's people, and all gentiles will be privileged to join them by "circumcision of the heart." Thus, ultimately, besides spiritual Israel there will be Natural Israel, which will include the willing and obedient of every nation and tongue as it is written, "I have constituted thee a father of many nations." During the Millennium, therefore, Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and "the church his Body," will not only apply the merits of his sacrifice in offset of Adamic sin and weaknesses, but will also have the right, power and authority to chastise for every misconduct and to reward every good endeavor, to the intent that under that New Covenant all Israel may have the opportunity of rising from the dead—rising from the condition of sin and death up to the full perfection of human nature and a perfect environment. As for the others not rightly exercised by these favorable providences St. Peter declares that they "Shall be utterly destroyed from among the people."— Ac 3:23.

From Amongst Your Brethren.

St. Peter explains the nature of the selection of the members of the Mediator, saying, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you from amongst your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear (obey) in all things, whatsoever he shall say unto you. (To that Prophet every knee must bow and every tongue confess.) And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people"—in the Second Death.— Ac 3:22,23. Notice that the Prophet was to be raised up from amongst the brethren. In fulfillment of this our Lord Jesus was called and accepted and begotten of the holy Spirit, and finally, in his resurrection, became the Firstborn from the dead, the Firstborn of many brethren. Meantime, since Pentecost the other members under that glorious Head have been in process of raising up—out of sin, out of death, out of the world, out of human nature, to glory, honor, and immortality.

And these have the promise that in the First Resurrection their raising up will be completed—they shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. The raising up and the changing begin with the present life. As the Apostle declares, "We are risen with him." And again, We are being changed from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. But still we wait for the grand climacteric change to Resurrection glory, honor and immortality. In view of the foregoing all will readily discern the value of order in the study of the Bible—the value of noting its dispensational features, the object served by the various "worlds" or dispensations and their various ages or epochs. The Bible, studied in the light of the Plan of the Ages, becomes a new Book. Its various statements, prophetic and otherwise, quietly drop into their proper places, so that the study of the Word becomes both interesting and profitable, as thousands are continually testifying—many of them rescued from agnosticism.

THE COMING STORM

O SAD is my heart for the storm that is coming; Like eagles the scud sweepeth in from the sea; The gull seeketh shelter, the pine trees are sighing, And all giveth note of the tempest to be.

A spell hath been whispered from cave and from ocean, The shepherds are sleeping, the sentinels dumb, The flocks are all scattered on moorland and mountain, And no one believes that the Master is come.

He's come, but whom doth He find their watch keeping?

O where—in His presence—is faith the world o'er?

The rich, every sense in soft luxury steeping; The poor, scarce repelling the wolf from the door.

O man, and O maiden, drop trifling and pleasure, O! hark, while I tell of the sorrows to be, —As well might I plead in the path of yon glacier, Or cry out a warning to wave of the sea!

The Erroneous View Criticized.

By way of emphasizing what the Bible does not teach, let us briefly review the rapidly-fading error on the subject of Predestination and election; errors which, perhaps, did more than almost any others to turn men away from God and from the Bible. Let it be understood that we are not criticizing men, but doctrines. While criticizing the doctrines of Brother Calvin, we are glad to admit that he had many noble qualities of heart and head, and that, in some respects, his teaching has exercised a powerful influence in the world for good. Undoubtedly his views of the sovereignty of God—his justice and his power—exercised a marked influence upon Christian sentiment along this line, leading to a greater reverence for Divine power, though we fear that it did not do much to cultivate love for God. From the Calvinistic standpoint, the Almighty, perfect in wisdom and power, mapped out in advance an unalterable program represented by the words Divine Predestination.

According to this theory, everything, both good and bad, was foreordained and in its execution unavoidable. This doctrine, applied to humanity, declares that the Supreme Creator had from the beginning designed, predestinated, that a little handful, a saintly few, should constitute his elect, his favorites and be granted glorious things in heaven. The catechism was careful to mark out that this favoritism on God's part was "not for any works or worthiness of ours, but of his own sovereign will." Giving these words their full weight would signify that if the sovereign will had exercised itself with similar benevolence towards the non-elect, they, too, would have shared the heavenly blessings. And since the Divine favor was not assumed to be connected with work or worthiness on our part it follows that the lack of works and the lack of worthiness, on the part of the non-elect, need not have debarred them from the chiefest of Divine favors had Divine benevolence willed favorably toward them. As for the fate of the non-elect, their case was treated with the greatest delicacy possible to the situation by the pen of an able man. We were quietly informed that "God passed them by." The doctrine of total depravity lay at the bottom of this theory. It was claimed that Father Adam's transgression of the Divine Law merited eternal torment as the portion of Justice for himself and every child of his that should ever be born. We were told that this was a just penalty, and that God through Christ merely released the elect as an exhibition of his love and grace—passing the others by—not electing to save them from torment.

And the doctrine of predestination attached to the doctrine of election by way of showing that God's elective preferences for those whom he would favor were determined long in advance of their birth, and that with equal deliberation he had foreordained that no help, no adequate relief, should be granted to the non-elect; they should be thoroughly passed by, and allowed to go to the doom to which they were sentenced—eternal torment. And that doom and the numbers of the non-elect were fully known to God in advance and approved as his unalterable will, his supreme good pleasure.

Wesley's Heart Rebelled.

John Wesley was reared under the influence of the above teachings, but, as a minister of the Episcopal Church, he felt that he could not so preach. His head declined to recognize such a course as loving even if it were just, and his heart wholly repudiated the thought that the Divine character and program could be after that manner. In his own largeness of heart Brother Wesley promulgated an opposite theory, namely, that since God is Love he must be doing all in his power to save our race from eternal torment. Brother Wesley urged that the millions who would reach eternal torment would get there on their own responsibility and in spite of God's best efforts to keep them out of it. Noble soul that he was, he braved persecution in his day in his attempt to tell of his love of God and to urge sinners not to consider themselves non-elect and doomed to eternal torture, but to hearken to the voice of Divine mercy and to turn to the Lord with their whole heart and be abundantly pardoned. Wesley's heart-teaching triumphed over Calvin's logic. Not only has it resulted in the formation of the enormous bodies of Christians called Methodists, but far more than this, it has transformed the views of the Christian world of all denominations so that today, regardless of the denominational vows, the membership of practically every institution of Christendom holds to Wesley's views.

Both Right and Both Wrong.

Having commended both Calvin and Wesley as children of God, and many of the followers of their teachings as saints, it might seem to some temerity on our part to offer criticism of either, and particularly of both. We are encouraged to do this, however, from two reasons:

1. We wish to show that in some respects both of these doctrines are right and scriptural, and in other respects wrong and unscriptural.

2. We are further encouraged to do this by the fact that denominationally these opposing doctrines are about evenly represented in the world, and all will admit that they cannot both be right while contradicting each other. 3. If we shall succeed in demonstrating that these two opposing systems can be harmonized and that elements of both can be shown to be Scriptural and to harmonize with each other, then we believe that the advocates of both schools of thought would have reason to thank us for the service, and thousands who, through the conflict of these doctrines, have lost their faith in the Bible as the Word of God, may be rescued from unbelief.

Reject the Errors First.

Before coming to the subject from the Scriptural standpoint, we must tear away some of the sophistries and errors connected with these popular doctrines and must see them in their true light, in order that we may properly appreciate the teachings of the Scriptures on the subject. First, then, let us note the strong points of Calvinism which must stand, which can never be repudiated by God's children with impunity—Divine Sovereignty, Foreknowledge, Purpose, Intention, Justice, and Power. "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." ( Ac 15:18.) Note his own declaration through the Prophet, "So shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the things whereto I sent it."— Isa 55:11. We must agree with Calvinism in the Divine foreknowledge of whatsoever comes to pass; and, more than this, that nothing could come to pass contrary to the Divine permission, although many things do come to pass, contrary to the Divine Law—being permitted for wise purposes. But while agreeing with Brother Calvin respecting these strong points of the Divine character, we must agree with Brother Wesley that love is not only an element of the Divine Character, but is, with justice, a dominating element in the Divine Program. We must agree with Brother Wesley that neither human justice nor human love could predestinate the doom of eternal torment for a majority of our race—nor for a single member of it. We must agree with Wesley that the Divine Program is that, eventually, God's grace of forgiveness for sin must be free grace, and must extend to every member of our race. If our standpoint of the freeness of this grace is broader than that of Brother Wesley, it may not signify that our hearts are broader than his, but that the due time has come for the lifting of the vail of ignorance and superstition and the permitting of the eyes of our understanding to see more clearly "with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of "Love Divine, all love excelling," "and to know the love of Christ, which passeth all knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."— Eph 3:18,19. Having shown that Brother Calvin's view recognized God as dignified and omnipotent, but deficient in love, it is appropriate that we show that Brother Wesley, while recognizing a God of Divine love theoretically, implied his deficiency in wisdom and foreknowledge. Brother Wesley admitted with Brother Calvin that only the handful of the saintly believers would enter heaven, and he admitted with him also that all the remainder would go to an eternity of torture. The difference between the two theories, therefore, had no practical bearing upon the sufferings of the lost, but merely upon the Divine character, and provision in connection with the suffering. Calvin taught that God willed it so. Wesley disputed this. Evidently "the God of all grace" would need to embody in himself not only the loving qualities of Wesley's ideal, but also the dignity, wisdom and power of Calvin's ideal—between the two we would find the God of the Bible and the God of whom our reasons could approve. Fully balanced, fully co-ordinated, God's Justice, Love, Wisdom and Power, should be displayed in his dealings with humanity. What would it profit us to have the loving God of Wesley's teachings, who desired all sorts of good things for his creatures, if, with that love, he lacked the wisdom to direct a favorable plan or lacked the power to execute the favorable plan approved by his Wisdom and his Love? Let us rest assured that the God revealed in the Bible is perfect in all of his attributes. His Foreknowledge, looking down the avenues of time, would have foreseen every incident connected with the interests of his creatures. And had that Foreknowledge perceived that Divine Justice could not grant to the creature eternal life in bliss, but must perpetuate the existence in eternal suffering, then Divine Wisdom and Love would surely have determined that Divine Power should not be exercised for the creation of that being; and Divine Justice would surely have decreed that no being should be created whom Divine Wisdom foresaw must spend an eternity of misery.

Specious Arguments Rejected.

We are not ignorant of the specious arguments advanced by Brother Wesley and his coadjutors:

1. That God could create a human soul, but could not destroy one. Absurd! Unscriptural! We answer, Is it not written "All the wicked will be destroyed?" ( Ps 145:20.) And again, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" ( Eze 18:4); "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna" ( Mt 10:28); "The wages of sin is death."— Ro 6:23.

2. The specious argument that God has left the destinies of the heathen in our hands and has determined that, dying at the rate of ninety-five millions a day, they should be sent to eternal torment if Christian people do not send them word respecting Christ and his redemptive work. How absurd! Is it any wonder that infidelity laughs to scorn so abominable a misrepresentation of Divine Justice and Love? Surely the Heavenly Father's character has been grossly traduced by his own family, his own children! Our hearts and our heads cry out for the living and true God of the Bible, who knew what he was doing when he undertook the creation of our race—a God not only benevolent in his designs, but thoroughly wise, capable and powerful for the carrying out of all his intentions. In the Bible, and in it alone, we find portrayed a God of this character, with a Plan of this caliber.

Election and Free Grace.

Briefly stated, the Scriptures teach an election in the present age of the "Church of the Firstborns, whose names are written in heaven," but it does not teach that the non-elect are doomed to eternal torment. It does teach that the dead are really dead, but not hopelessly dead, not dead as the brute beasts. It teaches that the sentence of death came upon our entire race, and has resulted in our mental, moral and physical blemish and decay. It teaches that the death sentence upon us as a race would have been an eternal one, had it not been for God's mercy expressed through Jesus and the work he has accomplished and will yet accomplish for our race. It teaches that the hope of our race is a resurrection from the dead, and a release from the domination of imperfection and sin. The Bible does not teach that Free Grace has yet reached mankind, but, on the contrary, that an elective process is now in operation, and that in due time, after the election shall have accomplished its selection of the Bride of Christ, then Free Grace will obtain throughout the whole earth and every creature will be brought to a knowledge of the Lord—"all the blind eyes shall be opened, all the deaf ears shall be unstopped." That time of Free Grace will be the Millennial Age; and throughout that Age the Church of Christ, now being elected, will be joint-heirs with Jesus in his Kingdom and its glorious work for human uplifting from sin and death conditions. Thus "the elect" of this present time will ultimately be used of the Lord as his "Royal Priesthood" under Christ Jesus their Head, their Chief Priest, in blessing of all the families of the earth with the fullest and most absolute opportunity of attaining restitution to human perfection and life eternal—or, rejecting this favor, to die the Second Death, to be as though they had never been. We are asked, Do not the Scriptural statements which teach that there will be an "elect" Church, thereby imply that the masses of mankind are non-elect? and if non-elect surely they cannot go to the same happy abode with the elect, but must be remanded to eternal torture! How strange that these evil surmisings respecting the character and Program of the Heavenly Father should so persist in our minds! Do we reason so falsely on other subjects? The civilized world in our day is accustomed to this word election. We elect Legislatures and Congresses. The number chosen to these offices is small indeed in comparison to the populace. Thus continually we have before our mind'