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May 15, 1908 house to which our Lord referred, quoting Isaiah’s prophecy and assuring us that ultimately he will open the prison-doors and bring forth the prisoners. Again he assures us that he has the key to this prison, the ‘‘key of death and of hades’’— the tomb. But men are never referred to as spirits; angels are so referred to; they are spirit beings; man is not, he is a human or earthly being. True, we sometimes speak of the spirit of life, the power of life in man, but we do not speak of it as a thing that could be preached to; it merely refers to his vitality. Every spirit that can be preached to must be a spirit being and must be alive and not dead, in order te be able to receive the preaching. With these points in mind it is very easy to see that the Apostle was referring to our Lord’s preaching in a figurative sense in much the same way that we are in the habit of saying, ‘*Actions speak louder than words.’’ Our Lord’s sermons to the fallen angels, the spirits in prison, restrained from liberty in the days of Noah, were along this line of action, not of words. When cast out by our Lord, some of these spirits who had obsessed humanity cried out, ‘‘We know thee who thou art!’’ They knew Jesus was the Logos, the Father’s representative who had created them; they knew that he had left the glory of the Father and humbled himself to take the earthly nature instead; they knew that he had consecrated his human life to death as a sin-offering for mankind. In all this they beheld a wonderful lesson, yet we cannot suppose that they any more than the apostles understood that our Lord would be raised from the dead. When, however, he was raised up by the Father’s power on the third day and they beheld him again a spirit being of the highest order, it must have been a matter of astonishment and wonderment to them. It preached a lesson, namely, that obedience to God is profitable. It must have preached another lesson also, that God who punishes evil doers is sure to bless and reward all those who seek to do his will. It was a sermon along still another line, namely: it taught the love of God, his compassion toward sinners, and it gave the fallen angels room to reflect that if God had such compassion upon the poor, fallen human race, he might ultimately have as much compassion upon them and grant them some opportunity for eseaping from the punishment which had come upon them for their sins. Theirs, indeed, was a different penalty from that upon man, but why might they not hope that the same God who was rich in merey upon Adam and his race wculd have compassion also upon any of those who would have the heart desire to come back into harmony with him. It is our thought that this was a powerful sermon, and we shall not be surprised to find by and by that as a result of this sermon some of those fallen angels repented and did there ZION’S WATCH TOWER (159-163) after strive to live in harmony with the Father, hoping that some time divine mercy might be extended to them for their release and their restoration to fellowship with the holy angels. And this very hope is held out by the Apostle when he tells us that the church shall judge not only the world of mankind but shall also judge angels. This means a judgment or trial time for the fallen angels, the holy angels needing no judging or trial. IT IS SOWN—i1T IS RAISED Before leaving this subject we call attention to the words of the Apostle descriptive of the resurrection change of the church. (1 Cor. 15:42, 43.) He says, ‘‘It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown an animal body, it is raised a spiritual body.’? And since the church’s resurrection is really a share or part of Christ’s resurrection, the first resurrection, these words must also describe our Lord’s resurrection. The question we raise is, What is it that was sown and that was raised? We answer that it was our Lord’s soul or being. When he was thirty years of age he was simply the perfect one, a man separate from sinners. But when he consecrated himself at baptism and was begotten of the holy Spirit he was then a new creature in embryo. It was our Lord the new creature who was the heir of all things, the High Priest whose privilege it was to sacrifice. He sacrificed his flesh, his earthly nature, which he covenanted to the Lord at his baptism. He finished the work of sacrificing at Calvary; for parts of three days he was dead, but when the resurrection moment came and the Father raised him up by his own power, he raised up not the sacrificed flesh but the new creature, the ‘‘it’’ to which the Apostle refers, the ‘‘it’’ which was sown, buried in the flesh, in dishonor, with the wicked and the rich. It was raised the third day to glory, honor and immortality, the divine nature. In other words the new creature was perfected by being given a new body. Thus seen all of the Lord’s people, as was their Lord, are dual beings. They as new creatures have a reckoned existence while their mortal bodies are reckoned dead. By and by when the mortal flesh is actually dead the new creature will be perfected by being granted a new body, a resurrection body. Let us remember the Apostle’s words and apply them to ourselves, I do count all things but loss and dross that I may win Christ... that I may know him and the power of his resurrection [sharing it], being made conformable to his death.—Phil. 3:8-10. BRITISH PILGRIMAGE OF BRO. F. W. WILLIAMSON Oxford, Eng., June 11, 12; Bristol, Eng., June 13, 14; Birmingham, Eng., June 15, 16; Leicester, Eng., 17, 18; East Kirkby, Eng., June 19. Vou. XXIX ALLEGHENY, PA., JUNE 1, 1908 No. 11 THE EDITOR’S BRITISH TOUR (Continued) To tHe DrsaR BIBLE House FAMILY, ALLEGHENY, PA, About noon (April 16th) we reached Leicester and were warmly weleomed by about eighteen dear brothers and sisters, whose greetings were most hearty and were expressed by the radiant faces and grasp of the hand. Brother and Sister Allsop most cordially entertained us. The afternoon discourse to the interested was held in their usual hall, about 100 being present, including about 50 visiting brethren. Three years ago there were no meetings here and only about three interested in present truth. The evening meeting was held in Temperance Hall and, considering it was the night before a holiday, was well attended, about 600 being present. The audience was a remarkably intelligent one and gave close attention to the ‘‘Overthrow of Satan’s Empire.’’ Despite our protests and the fact that our train for Glasgow left at 2 a. m., about a dozen of the friends stayed with us and accompanied us to the station. We thanked God for them as we beheld their love and zeal, and prayed for them heavenly compensations of spiritual] rest and refreshment. Glasgow, Scotland, was reached by 10 the next morning. As we alighted we were surrounded by about forty dear brothers and sisters—some of whom had been waiting there for us for three hours—and, as they said, for three years; for when leaving them in 1903, we had purposed returning in 1905. Some in greeting us remarked that the day was the anniversary of the day of our Lord’s return from the dead. We returned their hearty greetings and smiles and hand shakes to the best of our ability—inwardly commenting on the effect of the truth and its spirit—so unlike anything else in the world. Brother Edgar, M. D., claimed us as his guest, and arriving at his home we were warmly welcomed by Sister Edgar and others awaiting our arrival. At 3 p. m. of April 17th THE GLASGOW CONVENTION OPENED IN VICTORIA CHAMBERS We cannot undertake a report of it in the proper sense of that word, but can tell you briefly little more than your own experiences at other conventions would tell you, viz., that it was a season of refreshing long to be remembered. We had nothing to do with the program and hence had nothing to do with the apparent monopolizing of the convention’s time. We merely submitted to the wishes of the dear friends and served their desires to the extent of our ability. The convention was opened by a brief address of welcome by Brothers Edgar, Hemery and ourself, expressing the greetings of the Glasgow church and of the Society to all in attendance, with hopes for the Lord’s blessing upon the convention. This was followed by an address by Brother Johnson on ‘‘The Joy of the Lord.’’ Next came a precious testimony meeting, after which we had tea, and following this at 7.30 we spoke on ‘‘The Resurrection,’’ noting the fact that the day was the true anniversary of that great event. The dis course was published as our Sunday topic, with some variations. We were most hospitably entertained by Brother John {4177}