Publication date
5/1/04
Volume
25
Number
9
The WatchTower
Views From the Watch Tower
The Watchtower Magazines
/../literature/watchtower/1904/9/1904-9-1.html
 
 
 
 
 
APRIL 
15, 
1904 
ZION}S 
WATCH 
TOWER 
(127-131) 
their 
lives 
according 
to 
covenant, 
but 
who 
have, 
nevertheless, 
not 
repudiated 
the 
Lord, 
will 
be 
brought, 
in 
the 
time 
of 
trouble 
approaching, 
into 
such 
straits 
tl.at 
they 
will 
be 
forced 
either 
to 
deny 
the 
Lord 
or 
to 
lay 
down 
their 
lives 
for 
the 
truth. 
But 
since 
this 
laying 
down 
of 
life 
will 
be 
in 
a 
sense 
compul­ 
sory, 
it 
is 
not 
reckoned 
as 
being 
a 
"sacrifice" 
but 
a 
"destruc­ 
tion 
of 
the 
flesh." 
Here 
your 
inquiry 
comes 
in, 
Why 
does 
the 
high 
priest 
confess 
oyer 
thiiil 
class 
certain 
sins 
which 
lIave 
already 
been 
atoned 
for 
by 
the 
blood 
of 
the 
bullock 
and 
the 
blood 
of 
the 
goat' 
We 
reply 
tlIat 
sin 
may 
be 
considered 
from 
two 
standpoints: 
First, 
as 
the 
divine 
condemnation, 
which 
cannot 
be 
liquidated 
by 
the 
sufferings 
of 
the 
transgressor, 
but 
which 
must 
be 
met 
by 
the 
atonement 
sacrifice 
of 
the 
great 
High 
Priest, 
head 
and 
body. 
Second, 
there 
is 
a 
retributive 
operation 
of 
divine 
law 
amongst 
men 
which 
brings 
upon 
the 
sinner 
a 
measure 
of 
suffering 
for 
sins. 
This 
latter, 
we 
belive, 
is 
represented 
in 
the 
sufferings 
of 
the 
scapegoat 
in 
the 
wiloer­ 
ness. 
As 
the 
Lord 
charged 
up 
against 
the 
living 
generation 
of 
Jews 
at 
the 
first 
aovent, 
who 
had 
the 
light 
and 
knowledge 
pecnliar 
to 
their 
own 
day, 
and 
who 
sinned 
against 
this 
light 
and 
knowledge, 
and 
required 
at 
the 
hands 
of 
that 
generation 
all 
the 
blood 
shed 
from 
Abel 
down, 
so 
we 
understand 
that, 
similarly, 
there 
is 
a 
great 
responsibility 
in 
God's 
siglIt 
rest­ 
ing 
upon 
those 
who 
today 
consitute 
nominal 
Christendom, 
who 
are 
nominally 
chilt1ren 
of 
the 
Lord 
and 
tethered 
at 
tlIe 
door 
of 
the 
tabernacle. 
At 
the 
hands 
of 
nominal 
Christianity 
toilay 
will 
he 
required 
much, 
for 
if 
nominn 
I 
Chri"temlom 
entire 
were 
consecrated 
to 
the 
Lord 
there 
would 
be 
no 
necessity 
for 
the 
time 
of 
trouble 
to 
come 
at 
all, 
but 
the 
Lord 
might 
come 
and 
set 
np 
his 
kingdom 
amongst 
a 
willing 
people 
without 
the 
necessity 
of 
overturning 
present 
institutions 
in 
a 
day 
of 
wrath. 
Consequently, 
when 
the 
day 
of 
wrath 
comes, 
it 
will 
be 
but 
the 
just 
recompense, 
and 
the 
<).ivine 
wrath 
should 
be 
fully 
mani­ 
fested 
upon 
and 
toward 
this 
nominal 
class. 
RESPECTING 
DEUTERONOMY 
29: 
29 
Question.-Please 
make 
some 
comment 
on 
Deut. 
29:29. 
Amwer.-We 
understand 
this 
to 
mean 
that 
the 
Lord's 
peo­ 
ple 
are 
to 
be 
careful 
to 
study 
and 
obey 
all 
that 
the 
Lord 
our 
God 
has 
commanded, 
searching 
diligently 
to 
appreciate 
it 
as 
it 
may 
become 
due 
to 
be 
understood. 
There 
are 
questions, 
nevertheless, 
respecting 
which 
the 
Lord 
has 
made 
no 
particular 
revelation, 
and 
we 
are 
to 
avoid 
the 
waste 
of 
time 
in 
considering 
those 
things, 
and 
to 
realize 
that 
had 
they 
been 
important 
for 
us 
to 
know 
the 
Lord 
would 
have 
revealed 
them 
in 
his 
Word. 
This 
is 
in 
harmony 
with 
the 
Apostle's 
statement, 
"All 
Scrip­ 
ture 
that 
is 
given 
by 
inspiration 
of 
God 
is 
profitable 
for 
doe­ 
trine, 
for 
reproof, 
for 
correction 
in 
righteousness, 
that 
the 
man 
of 
God 
may 
be 
perfect, 
thoroughly 
furnished 
unto 
every 
good 
work." 
These 
assurances 
of 
sufficiency 
of 
the 
meat 
in 
due 
season 
to 
the 
household 
of 
faith 
should 
not 
only 
relieve 
us 
from 
anxious 
thought 
on 
outside 
lines, 
but 
should 
make 
us 
suspieiollfl 
of 
anything 
and 
eVl'rythin~ 
that 
I 
... 
lwing 
taught 
that 
is 
additional 
to 
the 
Scriptures, 
as 
well 
as 
contrary 
to 
them. 
"TO 
OBEY 
IS 
BETTER 
THAN 
SACRIFICE" 
Obedience 
to 
the 
Lord 
our 
God 
Is 
what 
he 
doth 
require; 
He 
looketh 
not 
for 
sacrifice 
Without 
his 
Spirit's 
power. 
The 
light 
of 
truth 
that 
shines 
from 
God 
And 
shows 
to 
us 
his 
way, 
Reveals 
the 
path 
wherein 
to 
walk 
While 
in 
this 
house 
of 
clay. 
If 
God's 
great 
plan 
in 
vision 
speak,,;, 
As 
prophets 
said 
it 
would, 
Oh, 
may 
we 
heed 
its 
welcome 
voire 
And 
be 
among 
"the 
good." 
Pra.y, 
do 
not 
compromise 
the 
truth; 
Oh, 
sell 
it 
not, 
my 
friend: 
Obedience 
doth 
our 
God 
require 
Until 
our 
course 
shall 
('nd. 
If 
faithful 
to 
our 
trust 
on 
earth 
And 
hold 
"the 
faith" 
once 
giv('n, 
Then 
will 
our 
Master 
say, 
"Well 
done! 
Come 
thou, 
and 
enter 
heaven." 
-James 
Hay. 
VOL. 
XXV 
ALLEGHENY, 
PA., 
MAY 
1, 
1904 
VIEWS 
FROM 
THE 
WATCH 
TOWER 
No.9 
tIl(' 
Bible: 
the 
most 
pl'oductiyi' 
of 
originality, 
the 
most 
fertile 
in 
ideas, 
the 
most 
disciplinary 
of 
any 
work 
given 
to 
man. 
It 
is 
11 
misnomer 
to 
call 
any 
college 
Christian 
which 
studies 
pa­ 
gan 
authors 
six 
or 
eight 
years 
and 
gives 
the 
Bible 
only 
a 
nom­ 
inal 
recognition 
. 
. 
. 
. 
"Thesciences 
should 
have 
a 
large 
place. 
God 
has 
given 
m 
three 
bookfl, 
each 
one 
revealing 
himself. 
The 
first 
is 
external 
nature, 
the 
second 
is 
the 
nature 
of 
man, 
and 
the 
third 
i~ 
the 
\YOI'd 
of 
God. 
It 
is 
absurd 
to 
suppose 
that 
these 
three 
works 
hy 
the 
>lamp 
omIlJ~('ipnt 
Author 
arp 
1I0t 
In 
prrfl'l't 
a(','UI 
d 
\Yhel'ever 
a 
lac-k 
of 
harmony 
appears. 
there 
is 
a 
lack 
of 
the 
truly 
scientific. 
. 
. 
. 
Our 
education 
should 
be 
Christocentric, 
In 
flO 
far 
as 
nny 
education 
is 
not 
Christocentric, 
it 
is 
partial, 
inndelluate 
and 
unscientific." 
COLLEGE 
EDUCATION 
IS 
ANTI-CHRISTIAN 
\Yhat 
we 
have 
ah'ead~' 
pointed 
out,-that 
the 
whole 
trend 
of 
college 
training 
IS 
along 
the 
lines 
of 
skE'pticism 
as 
respect'! 
the 
revE'aled 
religion 
of 
Bible, 
along 
the 
lines 
of 
"higher 
criti­ 
cism"-is 
well 
sustained 
b~' 
the 
following 
"tatement 
of 
the 
matter 
by 
Doctor 
J. 
A. 
Lenvitt, 
President 
of 
Ewing 
College, 
Ill. 
Among 
other 
tllings 
he 
says 
in 
the 
March 
Homiletic 
Re­ 
view:- 
"Every 
ob8el 
vant 
person 
has 
known 
of 
numerous 
instances 
of 
helievers 
who 
have 
had 
their 
faith 
unsettled 
by 
their 
scien­ 
tific 
studies_ 
. 
. 
. 
Can 
studies 
so 
pursued 
as 
to 
atrophy 
one's 
spintual 
nature 
be 
said 
to 
tend 
toward 
Christ? 
Can 
an 
educa­ 
tion 
be 
truly 
Christian 
that 
does 
not 
increase 
one's 
powers 
to 
apprehend 
God 
and 
to 
make 
him 
known? 
"It 
will 
hnrdly 
be 
supposed 
by 
anyone 
that 
the 
study 
of 
the 
nncient 
classics 
tends 
toward 
Christ. 
Few 
thoughtful 
par- 
THE 
SEARCH 
FOR 
GOD 
ents 
will 
entertain 
for 
a 
moment 
the 
idea 
of 
having 
their 
ehil- 
\Ve 
extract 
the 
following 
from 
the 
public 
press. 
TIle 
more 
dren 
study 
for 
years 
modern 
authors, 
however 
beautifully 
writ- 
"e 
perceive 
the 
blind, 
unsucceflsful 
groping 
of 
the 
worl(!]y-wi'le 
ten. 
which 
are 
based 
upon 
the 
amours 
of 
characters 
like 
Paris 
nfter 
truth, 
the 
more 
do 
we 
value 
it; 
and 
the 
more 
do 
"I.' 
ap- 
aud 
Helen, 
and 
such 
corrupt 
beings 
as 
pagan 
gods 
and 
god- 
preciate 
the 
Scriptural 
declaration 
that 
"the 
secret 
of 
the 
Lord 
desses. 
It 
is 
known 
that 
the 
rites 
and 
practices 
in 
the 
worship 
is 
with 
them 
that 
fear 
him"-the 
humble. 
of 
some 
of 
them 
were 
prohibited 
by 
the 
heathen 
themselves. 
"The 
era 
in 
which 
we 
live 
has 
often 
been 
called 
an 
age 
of 
White. 
in 
his 
'Mythology,' 
sa~'fl: 
'There 
can 
be 
no 
doubt 
that 
religious 
doubt. 
Perhaps 
it 
could 
more 
correctly 
be 
descl'ibed 
the 
stories 
concerning 
them 
had 
an 
unfavorable 
influence 
on 
as 
one 
of 
religious 
hesitation 
and 
helplessness. 
The 
bewilder- 
the 
pagan 
world, 
and 
they 
contributed 
to 
weakl'n 
whatever 
re- 
ing 
changes 
of 
recent 
years 
have 
created 
for 
us 
a 
new 
world, 
speet 
remained 
for 
public 
or 
private 
virtue.' 
Is 
it 
reasonable 
but 
we 
have 
not 
discovered 
a 
heaven 
to 
match 
it. 
The 
old 
con- 
to 
suppose 
that 
the 
imagination 
of 
our 
youth 
can 
dwell 
for 
ception 
of 
God 
has 
become 
impossible, 
and 
WE' 
have 
not 
found 
years 
upon 
the 
vices 
of 
the 
pagans 
and 
their 
gods 
and 
remain 
another 
to 
tnke 
its 
place. 
So 
has 
come 
about 
what 
a 
recent 
untainted? 
writer 
regards 
as 
"one 
of 
the 
1ll0"t 
wonderful 
phenomena 
in 
the 
"Students 
should 
be 
grounded 
in 
the 
fundamentals 
of 
history 
of 
religion,"-the 
withdrawal 
of 
multitudes 
of 
good 
moral'!. 
Christian 
evidences 
should 
have 
a 
larger 
place. 
men 
f~om 
affiliation 
with 
the 
church. 
They 
have 
turned 
their 
Psychology 
should 
be 
Blblieal 
and 
emphaSized 
on 
tIl(' 
"piritllal 
hacks 
upon 
Christianity, 
not 
at 
all 
becaufle 
they 
are 
out 
of 
side. 
. 
. 
. 
sympathy 
with 
the 
religious 
impulse, 
but 
because 
they 
are 
in· 
"The 
ancient 
classics 
should 
be 
grE'atly 
curtailed. 
In 
its 
telleetually 
uneonvinced. 
They 
have 
lost 
faith 
in 
God. 
place 
we 
should 
have 
much 
of 
the 
oldest 
and 
purest 
history, 
"Such 
is 
the 
train 
of 
thought 
suggested 
by 
a 
perusal 
of 
the 
the 
most 
exalted 
poetry, 
and 
the 
profounde'!t 
thought 
found 
in 
Rev. 
S. 
D. 
McConnell's 
new 
book, 
entitled 
'Christ'; 
and 
the 
IV-39 
[3357] 
Apriy 15, 1904 their lives according to covenant, but who have, nevertheless, not repudiated the Lord, will be brought, in the time of trouble approaching, into such straits that they will be forced either to deny the Lord or to lay down their lives for the truth. But since this laying down of life will be in a sense compulgory, it is not reckoned as being a “sacrifice” but a “destruction of the flesh.” Here your inquiry comes in, Why does the high priest confess over this class certain sins which have already been atoned for by the blood of the bullock and the blood of the goat? We reply that sin may be considered from two standpoints: First, as the divine condemnation, which cannot be liquidated by the sufferings of the transgressor, but which must be met by the atonement sacrifice of the great High Priest, head and body. Second, there is a retributive operation of divine law amongst men which brings upon the sinner a measure of suffering for sins. This latter, we belive, is represented in the sufferings of the scapegoat in the wilderness. As the Lord charged up against the living generation of Jews at the first advent, who had the light and knowledge peculiar to their own day, and who sinned against this light and knowledge, and required at the hands of that generation all the blood shed from Abel down, so we understand that, similarly, there is a great responsibility in God’s sight resting upon those who today consitute nominal Christendom, who are nominally children of the Lord and tethered at the door of the tabernacle. At the hands of nominal Christianity today will be required much, for if nominal Christendom entire ZION’S WATCH TOWER (127-131) were consecrated to the Lord there would be no necessity for the time of trouble to come at all, but the Lord might come and set up his kingdom amongst a willing people without the necessity of overturning present institutions in a day of wrath. Consequently, when the day of wrath comes, it will be but the just recompense, and the divine wrath should be fully manifested upon and toward this nominal class. RESPECTING DEUTERONOMY 29:29 Question—Please make some comment on Deut. 29:29. Answer.—We understand this to mean that the Lord’s people are to be careful to study and obey all that the Lord our God has commanded, searching diligently to appreciate it as it may become due to be understood. There are questions, nevertheless, respecting which the Lord has made no particular revelation, and we are to avoid the waste of time in considering those things, and to realize that had they been important for us to know the Lord would have revealed them in his Word. This is in harmony with the Apostle’s statement, “All Scripture that is given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work.” These assurances of sufficiency of the meat in due season to the household of faith should not only relieve us from anxious thought on outside lines, but should make us suspicious of anything and everything that 1. being taught that is additional to the Scriptures, as well as contrary to them. “TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE” Obedience to the Lord our God Is what he doth require; He looketh not for sacrifice Without his Spirit’s power. The light of truth that shines from God And shows to us his way, Reveals the path wherein to walk While in this house of clay. If God’s great plan in vision speaks, As prophets said it would, Oh, may we heed its welcome voice And be among “the good.” Pray, do not compromise the truth; Oh, sell it not, my friend: Obedience doth our God require Until our course shall end. Tf faithful to our trust on earth And hold “the faith” once given, Then will our Master say, “Well done! Come thou, and enter heaven.” Vou. XXV COLLEGE EDUCATION IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN What we have already pointed out,—that the whole trend of college training 1s along the lines of skepticism as respects the revealed religion of Bible, along the lines of “higher criticism’—is well sustained by the following statement of the matter by Doctor J. A. Leavitt, President of Ewing College, Ill. Among other things he says in the March Homiletie Review :— “Every observant person has known of numerous instances of believers who have had their faith unsettled by their scientific studies... . Can studies so pursued as to atrophy one’s spiritual nature be said to tend toward Christ? Can an education be truly Christian that does not increase one’s powers to apprehend God and to make him known? “Tt will hardly be supposed by any one that the study of the ancient classics tends toward Christ. Few thoughtful parents will entertain for a moment the idea of having their children study for years modern authors, however beautifully written. which are based upon the amours of characters like Paris and Helen, and such corrupt beings as pagan gods and goddesses. It is known that the rites and practices in the worship of some of them were prohibited by the heathen themselves. White. in his ‘Mythology,’ says: ‘There can be no doubt that the stories concerning them had an unfavorable influence on the pagan world, and they contributed to weaken whatever respect remained for public or private virtue.’ Is it reasonable to suppose that the imagination of our youth can dwell for years upon the vices of the pagans and their gods and remain untainted ? “Students should be grounded in the fundamentals of morals, Christian evidences should have a larger place. Psychology should be Biblical and emphasized on the spiritual side. ... “The ancient classics should be greatly curtailed. In its place we should have much of the oldest and purest history, the most exalted poetry, and the profoundest thought found in IV—39 ALLEGHENY, PA., MAY 1, 1904 —James Hay. No. 9 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER the Bible: the most productive of originality, the most fertile in ideas, the most disciplinary of any work given to man. It is a misnomer to call any college Christian which studies pagan authors six or eight years and gives the Bible only a nominal recognition... . “The sciences should have a large place. God has given us three books, each one revealing himself. The first is external nature, the second is the nature of man, and the third is the Word of God. It is absurd to suppose that these three works by the same omniscient Author wre not in perfect aceoid Wherever a lack of harmony appears. there is a lack of the truly scientific. ... Our education should be Christocentric, In so far as any education is not Christocentric, it is partial, inadequate and unscientific.” THE SEARCH FOR GOD We extract the following from the public press. The more we perceive the blind, unsuccessful groping of the worldly-wise after truth, the more do we value it; and the more do we appreciate the Scriptural declaration that “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him’—the humble. “The era in which we live has often been called an age of religious doubt. Perhaps it could more correctly be described as one of religious hesitation and helplessness. The bewildering changes of recent years have created for us a new world, but we have not discovered a heaven to match it. The old conception of God has become impossible, and we have not found another to take its place. So has come about what a recent writer regards as “one of the most wonderful phenomena in the history of religion,’—the withdrawal of multitudes of good men from affiliation with the church. ‘They have turned their backs upon Christianity, not at all because they are out of sympathy with the religious impulse, but because they are intellectually unconvinced. They have lost faith in God. “Such is the train of thought suggested by a perusal of the Rev. S. D. McConnell’s new book, entitled ‘Christ’; and the [3357]

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