ZIONS Vou. XXIV Perala of Csi Presene ALLEGHENY, PA., JANUARY 1, 1903 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER NEW YEAR GREETINGS, 1903 Thanks be to God that his grace has preserved us, “kept us from falling,” through another year!—that so many of us are still of one heart and of one mind in respect to his Word and its service! Our appreciation must be increased by the remembrance that every testimony of the Word is to the effect that the close of the “harvest” time is to be a time of special testing to all professing to be the Lord’s people; —“every man’s work shall be tried so as by fire.” When we remember that the adversary is to be permitted to bring “strong delusions” upon the Lord’s people for the very purpose of sifting out all not truly his—that they may believe lies and depart from the truth and be condemned as unworthy ;—because they received not the truth in the love of et”? (2 Thess. 2:10-12)—it surely should call forth our thanks to God that the opening of another year finds us still standing fast,—appreciating the truth and in full accord with all the divine appointments by which he has kept us from falling. The Apostle reminds us that rejoicings do noi belong as prorerly to him that putteth on the armor as to him who, having fought the good fight to the finish, shall lay aside the armor and put on robes of glory in the First Resurrection. (1 Kings 20:11: 2 Tim. 4:7. 8) Consequently we must not stnp too long even to rejoice that we are what we are by the grace of God. but must go on! The new year is surely full of blessings for the faithful, according to all the precious promises of our Father’s Word. We must grasp these afresh, allowing the Lord’s faithfulness of the past to establish our trust the more firmly for the future. Without faith es the trolley to connect us with the current of divine power we will fail to “go on unto perfection.” “Faith can firmly trust him,—come what may.” Love, too, should be stimulated by a retrospective glance; —discerning the mercies of the Lord toward us should enthuse us with loving zeal for him and his. “We love him hecause he first loved us!” We seek to do those things pleasing to our Lord because we love him, and in proportion as we love him we will delight in such obedience and service,— even at the cost of self-sacrifice. Good resolutions and the reéxamination of our idea] and standards of life are appropriate at this season, too. Not that the fully consecrated can add to their consecration— for if proper, it included our all, Not, either, that we should have an annual round up when we would seek pardon and start out afresh—as typical Israel did each “Dav of Atonement” at the beginning of their new year. Spiritual Israeljtes. rather, are to live a daily, an hourly life of nearness to the High-Priest. ‘The blood’ of the New Covenant is to be continually invoked for the cleansing of the slightest defilement of conscience. that thus the wedding garment of our Lord@’s imputed righteousness may not become bedraggled. but that the slightest spot being removed. we may have it “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” {3125} Nevertheless, self-examinations and good resolutions have a value at this season in particular. That reviews of business; taking account of stocks; ascertaining the profits and the losses of the year; etc., are profitable in respect to worldly affairs, all will admit; and the much more important affairs of the soul—the ascertainment of gains and losses as new creatures and how and when and where these came to us in the constant battle with the world, the flesh and the devil. will surely profit all who make such reckonings with an eye single to the pleasement of the Lord. Let us, then, set our spiritual aims, ambitions and endeavors still nearer to the perfect divine standard; remembering the while our Lord’s words, “Without me ye can do nothing,” let us be strong and courageous in the strength which he supplies and promises to increase as we are able and willing to accept it. * * * There is nothing specially new to note,—except that “all things are onward moving” in the direction indicated by the Word. The “churches” are coming more and more to favor the combination and trust principle and desire to apply it: —seemingly only a Morganizer is needed. Then the religious “irregulars” will be shamed and discomfited. Capital and labor are each fortifying—each preparing for the great struggle: yet neither realizes how tremendous the conflict will be-—nor the results, as we do in the light of the Word. Financial prosperity holds the winds in “Christendom,” though its continuance seems to depend on the expenditure of vast sums in outside wars. The financial conditions are becoming unfavorable in Great Britain, still more so in Germanv, and yet more so in Russia. We have recently noted the rapid progress of Socialism in Germany: below we quote from the New Orleans TimesDemocrat respecting its progress in the United States:— ‘What will be remembered as easily the most interesting -—and we had almost said the most alarming—feature in the Convention of the American Federation of Labor of 1902, was revealed when the Convention, by a vote of 4,744 to 4,344, rejected this resolution :— * Resolved, That. this twenty-second annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor advise the working people to organize their economic and political power to secure for labor the full equivalent of its toil, and the oyerthrowal of the ware svstem and establishing an industrial co-operative democracy.’ “Although defeated, the resolution is especially significant by reason of the great number of votes recorded in favor of its adoption. Out of a total of 9.088. the pro-Socialists lost by the exceedingly slender majority of 400 votes. In other words. the American Federation of Labor, as it is today constituted, is almost evenly divided on the question whether or not Socialism should be indorsed. To be exact 47.68 per cent of the Federation is in favor of, and 52.32 per cent is opposed to, Socialism. “These statistics are of themselves sufficient to make labor (3-4)
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