(239-243) prescribed manner. They fail to see that the Lord was instituting types which must be carried out to the very letter, and which must illustrate the exactness of his dealings with the “royal priesthood.” Looking at the matter in a wrong light, they not only see the two men suddenly deprived of life, but they reason that if God's anger thus destroyed them—then, the very next moment, according to their theory, they would appear at God’s bar for their cternal sentence; and since they could not believe that the two men who were uufit to live amongst men were any more fit to Jive in heaven, they feel obliged to conclude, according to then theory, that the Lord not only suddenly smote them down ag respects their earthly life, but additionally turned them over for an eternity of torture at the hands ot devils. Those who really beheve this misrepresentation of the divine plan must necessarily be unfavorably influenced by it in their own dealings with their children, their neighbors, etc..—their ideas of justice and of love, etc., must necessarily be blunted by such misconceptions of the divine character and procedure, To our understanding of the teachings of the Lord’s Word, on the contrary, there would be no such difficulty as this. Nadab and Abihu were men, members of the fallen race, all whom are under sentence of death. They had been merely reckonedly, not actually justified. beeause “the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin.” They were, therefore, although typically occupying the place of priests, not really different from the remainder of the world—for they had recenved no release trom the Adamic condemnation. Hence, since their position and all were typical, so also their death under the circumstances could mean no greater loss to them than death under other circumstances would mean to their fellows—they merely went into the tomb a little sooner than they otherwise would have done. But long centuries after their death and the death of their fellows, —better and worse—in God's appointed time, the great antitypical sin-offering appeared ;—and the great antitypical Priest, offered the great sacrifice for sins accomphshed at Calvary, and the whole world was brought back from the sentence of sin and death—inecluding Nadab and Abihu, Aaron and Moses, and all the remainder of our race,—including also us who were not yet born. The Atonement day sacrifices begun by our Lord and Redeemer, continue; and we, his ealled ones of this Gospel age, are privileged to participate in the sacrificing work with our great High Priest, as the sons of Aaron participated with their father. Soon the entire work of sacrificing will be at an end; soon the great High Priest will finish the work of making an atonement, Vout. XXITI ZION’S WATCH TOWER ALLEGHENY, PA., AUGUST 15, 1902 ALLEGHENY, Pa and will then, as did the priest in the type, come out to the altar and hft up his hands and bless all the people—the dead and dying world. The day of blessing will be a long one, because “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years.” It will be quite sufficient to accomplish the purposes intended, of hfting up, helping, strengthening, blessing, bringing to full restitution, all who will come into harmony with the Father. In that day Nadab and Abihu with others of mankind, who have done better and who have done worse, will be on trial before the judgment seat of Christ,—the church, the royal priesthood, being associated with Him in the judgment. (1 Cor. 6:2) In proportion as any have had favorable opportunities and used them unfavorably, in similar proportion have they degraded themselves so that they will proportionately experience stripes and difficulties in getting started upon the great “highway of holiness,” which will then be opened up for the whole world of mankind, —that they may return thereon to the Lord and to eternal hfe; and only those who fail to come back under such gracious opportunities, into full harmony with the gracious divine plan, will be destroyed irrevocably in the second death. ‘“‘LET US WATCH AND BE SOBER’’ The Apostle’s exhortation in our Golden Text is well worthy of being continually borne in mind by all who would make their calling and election sure to a place in the glorious priesthood of the future—“Let us watch and be sober.” Let us watch in the sense of taking careful notice of all the directions which the Lord our God has given us, respecting what would not be acceptable service to him. Let us watch ourselves, striving to walk as nearly as possible in the footsteps of the @rert Thich Priest, who was, we are sure, right and acceptable to the Father in every particular. Let us be sober—not only not literally intoxicated with ardent spirits, but let us not be intoxicated with “the spirit of the world,” or the spirit of Babylon, churchianity. Let us have the spirit of Christ, the spirit of a sound mind, the spirit of meekness, the spirit of gentleness, the spirit of love for God, for our fellows, and for all men, seeking as we have opportunity, to do them good. Let us be sober in the sense that we will not be frivolous; that while happy, joyous in the Lord, free from the anxious cares that are upon many others through misapprchension of our Father’s character and plan, we may, nevertheless, be sober in the sense of earnest, appreciative of present opportunities and privileges in connection with the Lord’s service;—not thoughtlessly negligent, letting opportunities and privileges slip through our hands to be afterwards regretted. No. 16 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER INDUSTRIAL FEUDALISM The Independent has recently published an article from the pen of Mr. W. J. Ghent which has attracted general attention. Mr Ghent points us back to the days of feudalism when lords and barons led and governed the residents of their estates almost like slaves through under chiefs, and declares that in many respects similar conditions are now approaching. “The next distinct stage in the socio-economic development of America .... will be something in the nature of a benevolent feudalism,” is the way he puts it; “concentration of capital and the increase of wealth will continue, .... ‘the rich will crow aieher. and the malttmillonaives will approweh the billion-dollar standard’” Tle proceeds:— “The more the great combinations increase their power, the greater is the subordination of the small concerns. They may, for one reason o1 another, find it possible, and even fairly profitable. to continue; but they will be more and more confined to particular activities, to particular te1ritories, and in time to particular methods, all dictated and enforced by the pressure of the larger concerns. The petty tradesmen and producers are thus an economically dependent class; and their dependence increases with the years, In a like position, also, are the owners of small and moderate holdings in the trusts. The larger holdings—often the single largest holding—determinc- the rules of the game; the smaller ones are either acqmeseent, or, if recalcitrant, are powerless to enforce their will [specially i, this true in America, where the head of a corporation is often an absolute ruler, who determines not only the policy of the enterprise, but the personnel of the board of directors “The laborers and mechanics were long ago brought under the yoke through their divorcement from the land and the appheation of steam to factory operation. They are economivally un-free except in so far as their organizations make pos sible a collective bargain for wages and hours. The growth of commerce raised up an enormous class of clerks and helpers, perhaps the most dependent class in the community. The growth and partial diffusion of wealth in America has in fifty years largely altered the character of domestic service and increased the number of servants many fold, Railroad pools and farm-implement trusts have drawn a tightening cordon about the farmers. The professions, too, have felt the change. Behind many of our important newspapers are private commercial interests which dictate their general policy, if not, as is frequently the ease, their particular attitude upon every public question; while the race for endowments made by the greater number of the churches and by all colleges except a few state-supported ones, compels a cautious regard on the part of synod and faculty for the wishes, the views, and prejudices of men of great wealth. To this growing deference of preacher, teacher, and editor is added that of tuo yet more important classes—the makers and the interpreters of law. The record of legislation and judicial interpretation regarding stivery previous to the Cra) War dis been puatieled ino re cent years by the record of legislatures and courts in matters relating to the lives and health of manual workers, especially in such cases as employers’ liability and factory inspection. Thus, with a great addition to the number of subordinate classes, with a tremendous increase of their individual components, and with a corresponding growth of power in the hands of a few score magnates, there is needed little further to make up a socio-economic status that contains all the essenthas of a ocevtascent teudrh=m “Macaulay’s famous dictum, that the privileged classes, when their rule is threatened, always bring about their own ruin by making further exactions, is likely, in this case, to prove untrue. A wiser forethought begins to prevail among the autocrats of today—a forethought destined to grow and [3056]
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