May 1, 1919 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST AND THE IMAGE After identifying the ten-horned beast as Papal Rome, Brother Russell explained that the two-horned beast of Revelation 13 represented the church-nation of Great Britain and Ireland; for it also is a government which combines ecclesiasticism with civil power. The bishops of the church have seats in the British parliament, and the king is officially recognized as the head of the church ag well as of the nation. In 1846 A. D. the other Protestant denominations leagued together for the obvious reason of giving themselves mure dignity and authority. This league was called “The Evangelical Alliance,” but for about 70 years it has been merely an image—lifeless, having no power. The Revelator, however, indicates that this lifeless image would receive vitality or power in the end of the Gospel age, sometime between the outpouring of the sixth and seventh plagues, and that its name would then be changed to that of “false prophet.” We have seen this fulfilled. The vitalizing breath has already entered into the image, and it has already manifested its newly gained authority. But, like the new-born babe, it waxes stronger as time goes on. The Revelator shows that the vitalizing of the image was to come from the two-horned beast. A few years ago the Episcopal Church became friendly toward the Church Federation movement, and even permitted ministers of other denominations to enter its pulpits. Commenting upon this, in THe WatcH Tower of November 15, 1913, Brother Russell said: “Perhaps this recognition of the image is all the vitalization the image needs, but we are inclined to expect more. For years the Episcopalians have proffered, re-ordination to the ministers of the different denominations represented in the Evangelical Alliance, and they still proffer it. We have been inclined to expect that the ministera would finally concede the point and accept a re-ordination at the hands of an Episcopal bishop.” MINISTERS SEEK EPISCOPAL RE-ORDINATION Early last year certain Protestant ministers of the Evangelical Alliance, notably the leaders of the Congregational denomination, made overtures to the Episcopal House of Bishops then in session in New York City. Since then the movement has taken definite form; and now comes the report that twelve leading bishops and high churchmen of the Episcopal denomination and nine leading lights of the Congregational church have jointly formulated a canon to be presented at the triennial session of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, to be held in Detroit this summer. The canon contains a series of “proposals for an approach toward unity,” which have heen agreed upon by the Episcopal bishops and the non-Episcopal ministers, the principal feature of which is that ordained clergymen of the Evangelical Alliance shall receive, in addition to the present ordination at the hands of an Episcopal bishop, and yet remain ministers in good standing with their own respective denominations. The significance of this revolutionary procedure is further emphasized, following, as- it does, on the heels of the mission of the three Episcopal bishops to the Pope of Rome in behalf of church unity, as commented upon in our last issue. The canon on which the Episcopal and non-Episcopal ministers have agreed, reads in part as follows: “In conferring or in accepting such ordination [Episcopal] neither the bishop ordaining nor the minister ordained should be understood to impugn thereby the efficacy of the minister’s previous ministry. ...A minister so ordained may officiate in a diocese or missionary district of this church [Episcopal] when licensed by the ecclesiastical authority thereof, but he shall not become the rector or minister of any parish or congregation of this church [Episeopal].” The conditions upon which any member of the Evangelical Alliance may obtain re-ordination at the hands of an Episcopal bishop are outlined in the canon as follows: “At the time of his ordination the person to be ordained shall subscribe and make in the presence of the bishop a declaration that he believes the Holy Scriptures to be the Word of God; .... that in the ministry of baptism he will unfailingly baptize with water in the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Ghost; and that in the celebration of the Holy Communion he will invariably use elements of bread and wine, and will include in the service the words and acts of our Lord in the institution of the sacrament, the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ or the Nicene Creed as the symbol of the faith of the holy Catholic Church: that when thereto invited by the bishop of the church [Episcopai] having jurisdiction in the place where he lives, he, will, unless unavoidably prevented, meet with such bishop for communion and for counsel and co-operation; and that he shall hold himself THE WATCH TOWER (131 132) answerable to the bishop of this church [Episcopal] having jurisdiction in the place where he lives; or if there be no suet bishop, to the presiding bishop of this church {Episcopa ed The Congregationalists are not alone in making overtures for Episcopal re-ordination, and the bishops of the Church of England proffer it with no less enthusiasm than do their brethren of America and elsewhere. We quote the following London dispatch as published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger of March 27, 1919: “Definite proposals for a union of the Wesleyan Methodist Chureh with the Church of England are made by the Right Rev. Dr. Arthur F. W. Ingram, Bishop of London. The bishop suggests that Anglicans and Wesleyans should unite, because, he says, ‘No religious body was ever closer to the church than the Wesleyans.’ Under this plan, bishops would be present at the ordinations of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, which would become an order within the Church of England, but would retain its own practices. Wesleyan pastors would, if they preferred, be ordained by their own bishops. When the principle of union is established, the Bishop of London would favor an exchange of pulpits.” EPISCOPAL ASKS CATHOLIC TO FILL PULPIT Bishop David H. Greer, of the New York Diocese of the church unity has asked that a Roman Catholic priest be permitted to conduct one of the Holy Week services in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Thus the Episcopal church acts as “mediator” between the beast. and the enlivened image, proffering to each a friendly hand. We quote from the N. Y. Tribune of March 31: “I would gladly welcome a Catholic to take one of these services in the Cathedral,” said Bishop Greer. “I feel friendly toward all the orthodox denominations, and believe that broad and generous sympathy should prevail throughout the church. I don’t believe in breaking down the barriers of the church, but neither do I believe that they should be so high that you can’t get them down cr climb over them.” When asked if the unity program would not tend to destroy the individuality of the various Protestant churches, and give a certain precedent to the Episcopal Church, Bishop Greer is reported to have replied: “Certainly not. None of the churches would lose its imdividuality, Precedents would be given to the episcopate—not to the Episcopal Church. It would mean the universal recognition of a historic order dating back to apostolic times.” All this is in fulfillment of the teachings of the Laodicean servant, Pastor Russell, who foretold from the Scriptures more than thirty-five years ago the course which all denominations, including the Episcopal and Catholic churches, would take in the end of this age. We quote further from his statement in THE Watcn Tower of November 15th, 1913+ “According to the old, but erroneous thought handed down for centuries, the bishops of the Church of England and of the Church of Rome are ‘Apostolic Bishops,’ or successors to the Apostles, according to the old theory of Apostolic Succession. According to that same theory, no one on earth has one particle of right to teach and to preach except as those ‘Apostolic Bishops’ shall grant their permission by laying on their hands. According to this rule, then, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and all such, are preaching without authority. When they talk about ordination they merely mean that each sect ordains its own ministers. The Evangelical Alliance is attempting to get around this difficulty and to have the sects recognize each other’s ordination. The federation is building upon this general recognition of ‘orthodoxy,’ and is about to given life, virility, power, dignity, by something which the Church of England will do for them which will recognize their ordination as ministers. “We may be sure that they will make the road to the preaching and teaching of the Gospel a very narrow one to all attempting to preach without their recognition and ordination. These will be trying times upon us, and upon all who will refuse to worship the beast and his image, or to receive the mark of the beast upon his forehead or upon the hand.— Revelation 13:15-17.” RELIGIONISTS’ PROBLEMS INTENSIFYING An outstanding problem of “Church Christians” has always been, how to raise more money. Their perplexities are not decreasing as the days go by. Following we quote a few extracts from a booklet The Financial Resources of Methodism,” published recently by the Joint Centenary Committee of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This booklet is an appeal for money, an artful, an efficient, a business-like a aL but the same in substance as the old-time passing of the hat. [6425]
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