9

1

9

download/literature/watchtower/1911-22.pdf

/../literature/watchtower/1911/22/1911-22-1.html

NOVEMBER 1, IQI1 the body of the ‘‘more than conquerors.’’ These will ultimately come off conquerors and attain the plane of spirit being to which they were begotten at the time of their consecration. These will be the ‘‘virgin companions’’ of the bride, serving in the temple. (c) A third class, described by St. Paul as falling away and counting the blood of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified an ordinary thing and despising the great favor and -privilege of sanctification through justification. These are described also by St. Peter as ‘‘the sow returned to her wallowing in the mire’’—as turned from spiritual hopes and promises to earthly. These, once counted members of the body of Christ, will die the second death, as brute beasts. GIFTS AND SACRIFICES FOR SIN Question.—-What is signified by the words of the Apostle that our Lord was ordained to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin? Answer.—From the Scriptures it is evident that during the Millennial age the world of mankind will be privileged to offer themselves to God as gifts, but not as sacrifices. Hence, during the Millennial age, part of the work of the great High Priest will be to accept these gifts and to make them aceeptable to God through his own merit and rights as the Melchizedck Priest. We can, however, apply this text very properly to the present time. The Apostie puts the word gifts first. We may, therefore, look to see whether there is not some way in which the High Priest offers gifts now. Surely our Lord’s consecration of his own life was a gift on His part. The Father accepted that gift and ultimately permitted our Lord’s gift to constitute a sinoffering for others. Likewise, throughout this Gospel age, the ‘‘brethren’’ are invited to present their bodies living sacrifiees—to give themselves to God.—Rom. 12:1, 2. When we thus make a present of ourselves to God, we are not making a sin-offering to God; for this we could not do. But the divine arrangement for accepting our gift is O! Oh! to be willing, willing, Thy will to do day by day, Obedient, humbie and loving— O help me, dear Savior, I pray. Willing that thou mightest use me, As forth with glad tidings I go, That all who are hung’ring and thirsting God’s mystery now may know. Oh! to be willing, willing, Just to be led by thy hand; ‘A messenger at the gaieway, Only waiting for thy command; ’’ Filled with thv snirit and ready The message to tell at thy will; ‘Willing shouldst thou not require me, In silence to wait on thee still.”’ BROOKLYN, N. Y., NOVEMBER 15, 1911 Vou. XAATT “IS MANKIND ADVANCING?” THE WATCH TOWER TO BE (415-419) that each gift will be acceptable through the merit of Christ; and that then, later on, these gifts will, according to the same divine arrangement, constitute the great sin-offering which the High Priest gives for the world. Thus the High Priest is ordained to make the ultimate offering of that gift as the sin-offering for the world. Amongst those who served in the office of typical high priest, says the Apostle, the uniform custom was that they should offer both gifts and sacrifices to God. Hence, he proceeds to point out that Jesus, as the Antitype of those priests, must have something to offer. He also must offer both gifts and sacrifices, in order to fulfil his priesthood. He presented himself without spot unto God; and, by virtue of that presentation, he is a sin-offering unto God; and, through his merit, he makes the same true of lus church, who voluntarily give themselves to God. SHOWS HOW MERIT OF RANSOM IS APPLIED Question.—Is there anything connected with the Atonement Day sacrifices which corresponds to the ransom? If so, what? Answer.—The word ransom would more properly be rendered ransom-price, corresponding price. On the Day of Atonement no type of the ransom-price is given us, but rather a type of the sin-offering, showing particularly how that ransom-price will be made applicab'e. If we serutinize this Atonement day type, however, we shall find that which points to the ransom, in the killing of the bullock; for the whole matter depended upon the killing of the bullock. The goat could not be killed first. The bul’ock must first be killed and the blood applied in the Most Holy before anything could be done with the goat. Hence, all that was done, not only with the Lord’s goat, but also with the scapegoat, was based on the death of the bullock. So if we look for anything that might correspond to the ransom-price in the day of atonement sacrifices, we shall see that the death of the goat was not necessary, but all depended on the bullock. WILLING! Oh! to be willing, willing, Whate’er the task may be, To do it as thou didst, dear Jesus, hat the world thy spirit may see. Rather be willing, willing, That Jehovah on earth be praised, To surrender all earthly blessings And walk the appointed ways. Oh! to be willing, willing, Each step to salvation to take, To suffer with thee in ‘‘the Holy,’’ And gladly all sacrifice make. To walk in the way with rejoicing, My lamp trimmed and well filled with oil. And I’ll soon hear the voice of the Bridegroom Saying, ‘‘Enter and cease from thy toil.’? Dr. AGNES HAVILAND. No. 22 [FROM CURRENT LITERATURE. | “*TIn a book of the above title Mrs. John Martin administers a stiff rebuke to the pride and self-confidence of our age. She fects, and she argues with great skill, that humanitv is not advancing in anv real sense. ‘The world today,’ she remarks, ‘is econvineed that it is making rapid progress. In western Europe and in America inereased wealth produetion, democratic institutions, free education, free thought, the opening of opportunities in new countries, the acceleration of travel and communication, have combined to produce upon our generation an exhilarating sense of expansion, of liberation, of growing power.’ But this impression, it seems, is an illusion. We have not really progressed. Mrs. Martin likens modern civilization to a runaway locomotive going at tremendous speed on a wrong track. ‘We have lost our way,’ she savs; and adds: ‘Man may have risen from the ape; also the ape may be a degenerate man. Men are headed ape-ward quite as frequently as angcl-ward, Time runs an elevator whieh goes hoth wavs. down as well as up.’ ‘* «What is progress?’ asks Mrs. Martin at the outset of her argument. She replics: ‘The word progress should, I believe, be exclusively used to express a rise in human capacity, the development of higher orders of human beings. Thus restricted, it remains, as it should, a strictly qualitative, never a quantitative, term. Improved conditions conduce to progress, and are necessary to progress, hut may exist without producing progress. Progress is something more than improvement. Progress means movement forward.’ This definition leads on to a wonderful picture: “¢ ‘Tooking back along the line of history, we can see that we (mankind) have been traveling a long, long road whose winding way, rising and falling century after century, we can trace back for a few thousand vears until if enters a trackless desert and fades utterly from our view in the mists of antiquity. Immediately behind the spot where we now stand there seems to lie a downward slope; that is to say, we seem to have been ascending since the eighteenth, the seventeenth, yes, part of the sixteenth centuries. But the Elizabethan cra and the period of the Renaissance in Italy do not lie below us. Life was very full and splendid then, man had climbed to a higher point of outlook than that upon which we now act out our little day. Behind those centuries the way becomes obscure; it seems to pass through deep and [4915]