VOR S74) reign of the samts cannot be properly said to begin betore all the “jewels” have been gathered, nor before “the times of the Gentiles” end, in 1914. Nor is it said that their reign will he no longer than a thousand years. After the thousand years’ 1e@ien Satin shall be loosed and the above tital shall ensue; but the reign of Christ and the church will evidently continue long enough after the thousand years to destroy all found unworthy im that final test and to thus complete the work for which this reign is instituted ;—for, as expressed by the Apo-tle, “He must ragn Qi he hath put al! enemies under his feet. And when ail things shall be subdued unte nm fsome hy conversion and some by destruction], ¢aen shall the Son fameself he subgeet unto ham fthe Father [7 WHO CONSTITUTE ‘‘THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH’'’? Question -— Our Lord commands us to do good, “especially to the nousehold ef faith ” Who constitute this houschold—only the consecrated saimts” Or dees it imelude also the justified class. come of whom bave not vet reached the position et sanctification ov entine Consecration’ ilso Vor. XNI WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY'S YEARLY REPORT ZION’S WATCH TOWER ALLEGHENY, PA. DECEMBER 15, 1900 No. 24 ALLEGHENY, PA Answer.—We understand that the church of Christ, as viewed from the divine standpoint, and as addressed in the Scriptures, includes only “the sanctified in Christ Jesus;”— those who have taken the step of justification through faith and, additionally, the second step of consecration to the Lord. But “the household of faith” takes m a much larger number.—all who have faith in the Lord as their Redeemer from sin and its penalty,—all who are trusting in the precious blood of Christ, and seeking in any degree to be in harmony with the Lord and his rules of righteousness. The loving interest and care of all the “saints” (the consecrated) is to he exercised, not only toward each other, but also especially toward these members of the household of faith who are sup posed to be under “instruction in righteousness,” helping them forward to take the position of full consecration and become rechonedly dead to the world, and new creatures in Christ Jesus, risen with him, to walk in newness of lite and to be come his joint-heirs in the promised kingdom. DECEMBER 1, 1899, TO DECEMBER 1, 1900 Many oor the herd’. dear people decply interested in present truth, are quite rotated, and have comparatively Little opportunity ter leaiming op the peneral progress of the cause, except ar they mas iter ait trom oecastopal remarks in these volamns "Pluse and we trust all ot the Warcit ‘Power readers, will be tooking with espectaney for this aepert, that they may thous have uectiate information respecting the work which onterests us more tham afl else in the world he sides: the work orn whieh each according to his love, zeal and Heaty. dias coutrrbated either finenaally or threagh the oeah ton ot Tdterature. or otherwise, Weare tad to think of vou as lookimg tor and intere-ted in this repert, and wine thanks 46 our Lord that by his giace so Taverable a showsne ean he made, indeed, the grand totals for the year astentsh us ier altho we have been aware that rector efforts than ever were put forth, we were not aware, until the calculations wore rooted up, to what extent the vear post hid) franscended every previous year of this harvesttime in our mutual service ot the truth and in the evidences of good results attained. We are sure that our friends will be astonished, us they read the reports we have to offer: astomished, first of all, that a company of the Lord’s people so poor in this world’s goods, as those who embrace present truth generally aie, should contribute to the extent vur Report shows, and that without being “dunned,” urged, or oven requested to give:—merely upon the information that an opportunity for thus engaging in the Lord’, service is open to such as are able and willing fo serve in this manner. The astonishment will be doubled when it is seen how great a work, under the Lord’s blessing, has been accomplished with this comparatively small sum of money, which, amongst the nominal churches, would he considered only suftisient to pay the salanes of a few officers, and practically accomplish nothing im the way of propaganda. And our astonishment still increases as we reflect that the circulation of this amount of Iterature, accompanied by this amount of “Pilsiim” preaching, ete., supporting the most vlorious message that could possibly be heralded to mankind, shows so meagre results; that so few have cars to hear and eyes to see these things which enrapture our hearts. Let us, however. reflect that our Lord informs us that his “elect” will be but a “little flock”’—and in it not many great, mighty or wise; but chiefly the poor of this world, rich in faith. The comparatively small results of our efforts to reach the ripe “wheat” aim Babylon convinee us, all the more. that the “wheat” 1s very scarce in comparison with the “tares;” that we are living in the time of which the Apostle declares that the church nominal will have itching cars, and be turned away from the truth, turned to fables, and respecting which our Lord said, “When the Son of Man cometh shall he find the faith on the earth?” implying that it would be difficult to find —2 Tim, 4°3; Luke 18:8. True, the results may be more than we can at present discern: for we can estimate the widening influences of the truth chiefly by the growth of the WatTca Tower subscription lists These show considerable growth for the vear.—but not nearly so much as we had hoped for: and our offer of credit. and of special terms to the poor, should bring to our lists the names of all who have “tasted that the Lord is gracious” and are hungering and thirsting for his righteousness. We van only hope that an under-cmrent of influence 15 moving, ot which we have little outward manifestation; and that in the Lord’s own time and way during this “harvest” all of the true wheat” will be reached and ripened and garnered. THE COLPORTEUR BRANCH OF THE SERVICE We give this department of the work the first place in the Report, considering that those who aire engaged in it are doing the work of evangelists, and remembering that the Lord has specially blessed this service to the reaching of many who are now rejoicing in the light now shining upon the Word. We can think of no branch of the work in this harvest that more nearly corresponds to the style of service instituted by our Lord in the Jewish harvest, than does the colporteut wolk. The colporteurs usually go in couples, ag the twelve apostles, and afterward the seventy, went forth—from tewn to town and city to city. Like them, also, they go from house to house, and likewise their message is, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand! The time is fulfilled; repent, and be lieve the good tidings Going in this manner into all the homes of the civilized world, these colpurtenr brethren and sisters have opportunities for finding the truth-hungry as well, perhaps better, than if the pulpits of the land were open to them, and they all are competent to give able discourses upon the divine plan. Because in such a case they would be able either to preach but few discourses, or else to reach com paratively few hearers: whereas each colporteur can reach more than an average church audience every week; and with those whom he can interest he leaves reading matter repre senting many discourses, upon which the reader may feed for months. Where enough interest may not be awakened to lead to a purchase of the books, a tract is left, which some times bears good fruitage; and even tho some who purchase may neglect and fail to read at the time, experience shows us that the books thus scattered are often blessed of the Lord to the reaching of others, and sometimes years after, under more favorable conditions, the purchaser may also be blessed through conditions, the purchaser may also be blessed through them. You will be pleased to learn that the sale of the DAwNs and booklets during the year (chiefly through the colporteurs) was as follows:— p> In the English language 84,251 In the German language 9.137 In the Scandinavian tongues 6,712 In the French language (estimated) 543 Total 100.643 BOOKLETS: English 39,047 Foreign language~ 1,323 Total wo... c cece cee e ee eee ee renee 40,370 It should be remembered that altho we endeavor to keep this branch of the work on a self-supporting basis, it nevertheless comes short of this, by reason of the fact thot our wholesale prices are very low: in the case of the foreign translations considerably less than cost. We feel sure that this showing will greatly encourage the dear brethren and sisters who are giving their lives in this department of the Harvest work; and we trust that it will £2740]
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