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Octoser 1, 1909 ful I was when I got up in full harmony with my Lord and Master, and with all the sons of God. I ask again, will you please forgive me for all I have done against you? My Brother, I feel ashamed to ask you such a favor, but I know the dear Lord has forgiven me, so with this comfort I also ask you. May the dear Lord bless you more and more abundantly and keep you faithful unto death, and also those dear fellow-laborers in the office-with you. I am now your loving Brother in Jesus Christ, Tom Hagpison. DeEaR PaSTOR RUSSELL :— To you it was graciously given on behalf of Christ, not only to believe into him, but also to suffer on his account. (Phil. 1:29—Diag.) I take the liberty, dear Brother, to write you a few lines to express my gratitude and praise to the dear Father for the blessings that have been and still are coming to me through the light of “present truth.” Surely the Lord has caused us to sit down to a glorious feast! I was very much impressed with the article, “Wresting the Scriptures,” which appeared in the July 15th Tower; and especially with the position the party referred to took regarding Hebrews 10:29. I do not see how he could take the position he does regarding this word rendered “unholy.” I have consulted a Greek and English Lexicon, by Donnegan, concerning this word “Koinos,” and he defines it thus, “common,” “unclean,” “prohibited food,” ‘“defilement from eating such food”; all the definitions, as can be readily seen, contain the thought of “unholy”; not any thought of “partnership,” as the party would have us believe. Concerning our participation in the suffering of Christ, as members of his body, I think the Apostle Paul shows us a most conclusive argument in Ephesians 5:31, 32, where he states, “For this cause shall a man leave his father. and his mother, and shall be joined unto his wife and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.” When we take this verse, together with what Jesus said in John 6:51, ‘My flesh I give for the life of the world,” we can see the great privilege the church has, to be counted in as a part of that “flesh”; as Paul states, “They two shall be one flesh . I speak concerning Christ and the church.” It is our Lord who is sacrificing his “flesh.” All the merit belongs to him. Surely it is a marvelous favor to be associated with our dear Lord as members of his body; as Paul again states, “joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.”—-Rom. 8:17. May the Father’s richest blessings rest upon you in abund THE WATCH TOWER (303-307) ance, comforting and strengthening you in this “evil hour,” is the prayer of your Brother. In the bonds of Love, Deak BROTHER RUSSELL :— I have been looking back over the twelve months that have elapsed since my formal registration of the vow; and feel constrained to write and acknowledge the great blessing it has proved in this time. This last year has been by far more fruitful in its harvest of spiritual blessings and privileges than the previous seven of my association with the glorious harvest work. I confess, however, that the first perusal of the vow did not impress me favorably, for the flesh at once put forward the objection that it was a very low moral standard for a Christian. How subtle the old mind; how crafty its sophistries, and what cunning objections it will raise when it discerns some definite action taken to bring it the more completely into subjection to world until then. Several months ago I was led to still further “mortify” the flesh by adding another feature to my vow, suggested by yourself at the Nashville convention, “to never murmur nor complain at any of the Lord’s providential leadings.” The year has not been without its trials and testing, but the resultant peace, and the confident assurance that every incident was working out the Father’s blessed will, has been like oil on troubled waters. ‘When he giveth peace, who then can make trouble?” You have my deepest sympathy, dear Brother, in every trial and hearteche. How true it is that they who are teachers, even in a small way, must receive heavier trial! But how thankful am I that the Lord has promised to keep all those that trust in him! So I am confident that he will permit you to glorify him by finishing the work which he has given you to do. How glorious to know that the prayers, on one another’s behalf, of the consecrated thousands, are now ascending in one grand, uninterrupted chorus to the Giver of every good and perfect gift, for the needed grace to lovingly submit to all the provings of the Lord as he seals our hearts and minds against the day of our deliverance, Yours in the bonds of Christian love, E. G. Berry. Wm. A. BAKER. Deak BRoTHER RUSSELL :— Have considered and prayed over the vow for many months, and at the beginning of the year took it with slight modifications, as a Resolution, continuing to ask divine guidance. The result has been a further opening of the eyes of my understanding, and I feel I can now take the vow with a full and proper appreciation. We continue to be thankful for your recent fellowship and help. May the Lord’s choicest blessings be yours. Pray for me. Your Sister by his favor. Corrine C. SHERMAN. Vout. XXX BROOKLYN, N. Y., OCTOBER 15, 1909 No. 20 HAVE “THE WATCH TOWER” Do the changes recently made in the teachings of THE WatcH Tower respecting the Covenants affect any of the fundamentals of doctrine, or any of the features of the divine plan of the ages as previously recognized and presented in Scriprure Stupies, Vols. I to VI.? If the word change be understood to signify a repudiation of anything once held as truth, then we deny that any change has occurred in our teaching. As we pass along a roadway over hill and dale, there are continua] changes in one sense of the word—changing scenes—but such do not imply a change in the traveler’s course— a retracing of his steps. So the “pathway of the just is as a shining light” and those who follow it find it shining “more and more unto the perfect day.” They will not need to say, as some have said recently, “For seventeen years we thought we were in the right way, but now must retrace our steps and go back to where we then began, and take a different path.” Such as were in the right path of shining light and stay therein will never need to say, “We once thought TaBERNACLE SHADOWS OF Berrer SacriricEes the most clear and only satisfactory solution of the subject in the world, but now we must retrace our steps and must repudiate all that we ever believed respecting the antitypical Atonement Day and its better sacrifices. We must go back and count all of those years as worse than wasted.” In this sense of the word change, THE WatcH Tower publications have been unchangeable from the first until now. What is spoken of as a “change’ should not be properly so termed. Nothing is changed. Every step of the journey has been right—not one step needs to be retraced or otherwise repudiated. This is one of the evidences of divine leading—-of our Lord’s supervision of the Father’s work during the time of his presence. TEACHINGS CHANGED? As recently shown in THE WatcH Tower, our presentations on the subject of the covenants today are in fullest accord with those we made a quarter of a century ago. What then is it that our opponents call a “change”? Merely the fact that from the first we used the term New Covenant too slackly— while we claimed that while it belonged to the future, to the Millennial age, it would not be operative to Israel and the world until then. We nevertheless held (unscripturally as we now see) that our justification was somehow connected with that New Covenant, although we could not explain how or why we should be under two covenants. We still see the necessity for our justification. We still see that it is based upon our Lord’s sacrifice. We still see that our share in it is obtained by faith—that we are “justified by faith.” But now we see that the New Covenant has nothing whatever to do with this faith or with our justification, and that no Scripture so teaches. Have we lost anything? No. We merely cast aside as useless, unscriptural, unnecessary, the thought that our justification had anything whatever to do with the New Covenant. We now see the force of the Bible presentation of the subject—that we are justified by faith—“faith in his blood’—faith in the sacrifice of Jesus, the Just for the unjust. We now see that the New Covenant is promised—not to us, but to Israel and all men. We have turned aside from nothing of any value to us. We have all the actualities which we ever had, and, additionally, the light shines the brighter upon our pathway. As an illustration: Suppose you were walking into the country to a friend’s home and an umbrella were given you to earry to him. Suppose that in the journey you thought that you needed the umbrella either for rain or shine and carried it over you. Suppose that by and by you discovered that you [4491]