(383-387) their flank. He says, “The wall would not, by any Oriental, be supposed to be an actual wall rising up beside them, any more than ‘the wooden walls of Great Britain’ are board fences about the island: or ‘the hedge about the law,’ which the rabbis built by their precepts, was a growth of vegetation.” There are numerous lessons connected with this narrative, profitable to the spiritual Israelites. As already suggested, the experience of the Israelites and the Egyptians at this time represented the experience of the world in the close of this Gospel age, and in the dawn of the new dispensation— the period of deliverance of God’s people, too, from bondage to sin and death, which will be accomplished at the dawn of the Millenmal age We may reasonably understand that the last or tenth plague upon Egypt symbolizes the bitter experience of the world at the close of the present age, and that these experiences will be favorable to the Lord’s people, and upfaxorable to others, down to a certain point where the eontest will be abandoned, and those in authority in the world will agree to the full liberty of all who love righteousness and who desire to walk in the Lord’s way. Quite possibly “the powers that be’ may concede for a time the demands of the weak and the helpless, and subsequently repent, and attempt thei: re-capture under the slavery of selfishness, and so through a Red Sea of trouble the Lord will then admimster a final chastisement upon all those who oppose his deliverance of the poor and the needy and they that VoL ALLEGHENY, PA., ZION’S WATCH TOWER DECEMBER 15, 1901 ALLEGHENY, Pa. have no helper, and who ery for righteousness, and follow the leadings of his representative, Messiah. Surely, when the new dispensation has been opened up, and the silver trumpets of the Jubilee shall sound release and restitution through all the world, there will be a great rejoicing amongst all who love righteousness, and, in the language of our Golden Text, they may say, “I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously.” And already the spiritual Israelite can by faith thus rejoice and realize his release from sin and death. Another thought we may draw from this narrative is the unlimited power of God, who has promised us that if we are his, and will follow the leadings of our Master, the antitype of Moses, all things shall work together for good to us. We are to learn that nothing is too wonderful for our God to accomplish, and in proportion as faith increases our joys will increase, and we will have the full assurance of faith, the full assurance of victory, for “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” We are to learn that while the wicked may triumph for a time the Lord is against them. He is on the side of the poor and oppressed, who are seeking to know his will and to do it, and though he bear long with them, as represented in the parable, yet, finally he will avenge them of their adversary: their enemies shal] then become the enemies of the Lord, and the enemies of the Lord shall bite the dust—be destroyed.—Luke 18:7; Micah 7.17. No. 24 APPROVAL, WHETHER We know not to what extent the Lord may be pleased to use and bless our united efforts to keep open the door of opportunity afforded by present favorable postal laws. But in any event we fecl sure that he will appreciate our humble efforts in this direction. Any who have not yet written to the President, as suggested in our issue of Nov. 15th, we ad SUCCESSFUL OR vise to do so at once. Let us do our part and then rest content. The law is there, all right, and even the humblest foreigner has a right to appeal to it, and for its benefits, and to protect against its violation, But there we will let it stop. If protest is unavailing we will reckon that it is the Lord’s will that we endure the wrong cheerfully. NOT VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER “LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD’’ We have no sympathy with Count Tolstoy’s unscriptural religious views for which he was ex-communicated by the Greek Catholic church; yet we note with surprise that his published reply to his ex-communication has been forbidden sale by the Public Prosecutor of Leipsic, Germany. A cable dispatch to the New York Sun says: “The reason given for the seizure 19 that the work is calculate] to lning the church into contempt, and the prosecutor’s action is based on a paragraph of the German penal code Which imposes a maximum penalty of three years’ 1mprisonment on ansbody publicly insulting one of the Christian churches or other religious communities enjoying in Germany the privileges of a corporation. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the incident ig that Count Tolstoy’s indignant reply to his ex-communicators is allowed to circulate in Russia, the Holy Synod refraining from prosecution, while the officials of the country which indorsed Luther’s protest against the Roman church seek to extinguish the words of the Russian reformer ” There are any number of people, in all countries, of similarly narrow soul we have every reason to believe. Fallen human nature though not inclined to claim for itself perfection, loves to wield power and to destroy its enemies or those against whom it is prejudiced; although uncertain as to what is truth it is ready to decide what is error upon very slight evidence, Who ean doubt that God’s providence held back America until the due time, when its discovery opened a door of freedom for the oppressed and priest-and king-ridden Europe. “Liberty enlightening the world” has been a fact for now moe than a century. No well-informed person will doubt that much of the lnberty enjoyed by the peoples of Europe today are the result of the afluence which has gone back to the ‘fatherland’ trom the lberty-loving people who commingling here have lenined to think more justly and more broadly than they or their fathers could think under their old envirenments Custom becomes law: the illustration of American liberty with prosperity compels a liberty in Europe which otherwise would not exist todav. But it looks as though the pendulum has swung its full length liberty-ward, even in America, and as though it had started in a return movement, We believe that the next few years will witness a serious curtailment of liberty on the part of those in power, and that the general spirit of liberty and alertness to its defense is so deficient among the masses, here as well as in Europe, that its wings will be clipped rapidly, in the name of law, order, expediency —until the people finally awakening to the situation, in fear of a return to complete serfdom will revolt in anarchy. How comforting the thought that the bright hnimng to this cloud is the Millennial kingdom which will promptly be established on the ruins of “the present evil world’’—on the ashes of present civil, religious, political institutions We who thus hope for the salvation of the world which God has promised can possess our souls in peace as respects these matters, waiting and hoping for a share in the new order of things—the new heavens and new earth—wherein will dwell righteousness.—2 Pet. 3:13. FEDERATION OF METHODISTS, AND OTHERS Rev. Dr. George Elliott, pastor of the Central Methodist Episcopal church, who has just returned from attendance upon the Methodist Ecumenical conference in London, England, says that the recent assembly was especially marked by its constant response to spiritual religion and by the utter absence of dogmatism. Perhaps the most important matter that came before the assembly, which consisted of some 500 Methodists from all over the world, was that of church unity As a result of the ecumenical conference, held in Baltimore ten years ago, all the Australian Mcthodists are now united in a single body. At the late conference in London all the smaller English bodies signified their willingness to unite with the Wesieyan church, which is the strongest branch of the denomination in the British Isles. Dr. Elliott thinks the outlook good for a consolidation, or at least for a federation, of the different branches. The advance in this direction, however, was not so noticeable among the delegates from the United States, although some progress was made. The delegates from the Methodist Episcopal church south, which left the main body at the opening of the civil war, had little to say on the subject. Half a day was spent in considering the matter of a federation similar to the church federations in this country, which should include the Presbyterians, the Congregationalists, the Baptists and the Methodists. There already exists a free [2920]
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