Jury 15, 1903 anointing of the Lord, the light of the truth shining in their faces, the confidence and hope of the truth inspiring them, and their lives indicating a transformation from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son,—often have we thought of such, that had the Lord sent us forth to seek his bride, we might have ignorantly passed by some of his choice jewels and have gathered in some whom he rejects as unworthy—because we are unable to read the heart. This thought should make us very humble, gentle and meek toward all, and very trustful of the Lord and very much inclined to look for his leading in respect to our labors as his servants, just as Samuel looked to the Lord in connection with the anointing of David. Samuel’s words, “We will not sit down until he come hither,” referred to the feast of which they were about to partake. It was the custom that, after the sacrifice had been offered, the sanctified persons present and those in spirit sharing in the sacrifice might join in a feast, eating the flesh, and thus celebrating a communion with the Lord. It was this feast that Samuel decided should not be commenced until David’s arrival ;—indeed, by reason of his being the Lord’s anointed, he would be the most important one present at the feast. Perhaps in this also we can see a figure of the Lord’s blessing in the divine plan. A great feast of fat things has been designed for the whole world of mankind, but it cannot be participated in until the justifying and sanctifying sacrifice has been killed -——and, more than this, the feast cannot be commenced until ZION’S WATCH TOWER (223-323) first the Anointed One shall come and shall receive the anointing. The anointing began with our Lord, the head of the church, and has throughout the Gospel age been flowing down upon all the members of his body, the church. The sacrifice has been killed, and we, a8 members of Christ, have been participating in the sacrifice. Shortly the whole matter will be accomplished and then, as the Lord’s anointed, the feast of fat things will be spread,—the Anointed One—head and body, being the principal in that great antitypical feast. The blessing and power of the Lord accompanied David’s anointing in some manner—just how we may not understand, because the manifestation of the spirit was not the same in that time as it is with us, the church, since Pentecost, respecting which the Apostle declares, “The holy spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:39) However, in some manner God’s blessing and power were with David, enabling him to progress in knowledge, etc., and _fitting and preparing him for the duties of the office to which he had been anointed. May we not consider as an antitype to this, the anointing which comes upon the church from the time of her acceptance with the Lord? Ours is not a physical anointing, nor are the blessings conferred of a temporal character: it is as new creatures that we are anointed; as new creatures that we grow in grace and knowledge and love; and as new creatures that, by and by, we shall be perfected in the first resurrection and come to the throne with our Lord and Master as our head. Vout. XXIV ALLEGHENY, PA., AUGUST 1, 1903 No. 15 “THE DIVINE PLAN OF THE AGES” VOLUME 1 “MILLENNIAL Dawn” Vou. XXIV ALLEGHENY, PA., AUGUST 15, 1903 No. 16 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER SINGULAR VIEWS OF THE DEATH OF POPE LEO XIII The death of Leo XIII. at the age of ninety-three years is said to have created “a profound impression throughout Christendom.” The President of the United States even felt it his duty to dictate a message to the Associated Press as the representative of seventy millions of people, more than one-seventh of whom were the pope’s followers :— “The President expressed his profound regret at the death of the venerable pontiff, whose long career, no less than his exalted character, has commanded the respect of all Christendom. The president said that in uttering these sentiments he was giving expression to the teelings of all the people of the United States, wholly without regard to their religious faiths.” We have no desire to say one word against any man, and surely have no grudge against this one of the more than fifty thousand millions of the dead; but we admire consistency, and fail to see how the deceased is worthy of all the adulation heaped upon him. We doubt not that he had an “exalted character.” as the President intimates, but we have had no opportunity for judging of this, as we had not his personal acquaintance —as the President may possibly have had. We certainly should expect good morals and good character generally from one making the high claims that Leo XIII. made. We personally know some very humble people who have “exalted character,” and therefore should not be surprised that a man claiming to be Christ’s personal representative as King of the World should be given at least a decent reputation by his supporters, who claim that he was infallible. The fact that some of his predecessors on the papal throne were admittedly infamous, morally and otherwise, perhaps should, by contrast, lead all to proportionately greater respect for this man, whose gross immoralities, if he had any, are unknown. Yes, we may well rejoice that the deceased was not viciously disposed as some of his predecessors on the “throne of Christendom,” who deluged the world with the blood of martyrs—in their endeavor to enforce the same false theories which this pope as tenaciously held but more covertly advocated. But while thanking God that the fallen representative of the great antichrist* was much less ferocious than many of his predecessors, let us allow also that all this change is not due to the man who died, but in great measure to the changed conditions—Papacy’s loss of civil power, together with the greater enlightenment of the masses, incident to the new condi * See “Great Swelling Words,’ MILLENNIAL Dawn, VOL. 11, page 304. tions which have prevailed since A. D. 1799. In this “time of the end,” as foretold by the Prophet Daniel (Dan, 12:4), many are running to and fro, and coincident with this commingling of the people has gradually come the equally predicted dissemination of knowledge amongst the masses of so-called “Christendom” (Papacy’s kingdom); and as a result the “bulls” and “thunders” of Antichrist dare not be of the same character as previously. Times have changed greatly since Papal bulls instructed the kings and princes of Europe that they must persecute heretics to the death through the Inquisition if they would maintain favor with the pope, who was proclaimed “A very God on earth.” Otherwise their subjects would be released from obedience to them and enjoined to favor and fight for some “more worthy” “son of the church.” In view of these known and widely recognized facts, let us thank God rather than Leo XIII. for the beneficence of antichrist during the last few pontificates. It is not necessary for us to suppose the pope to have been evil intentioned because he was for a time the head of the antichrist system; rather we may well give him the benefit of any doubt on the subject and suppose that he belonged to the vast throng of those mentioned by the Apostle as “deceiving and being deceived.” Satan, himself, is the great antichrist who, by his wiles and arts, has deceived almost the whole world into one form or another of misbelief and opposition to God and his great plan of the ages. Thanks be to God for the blessed hope of the Scriptures, that the true Messiah shall shortly take the throne of earth and subdue all things unto himself, bind Satan and illuminate the whole world. “This is the true light which lighteth [shall enlighten) every man that cometh into the world.” * * * Telegraphic reports told how before the pope’s death he received at the hands of a fellow-mortal “absolution,” freeing him from sin and its penalties, and how, when he did not die as expected that day, he asked for its repetition the next day, when he seemed to be sinking. Yet for all this, according to Roman Catholics, Leo XIII. went straight to purgatory. Evidently they doubt that his “exalted character” or his elaimed high office as Christ’s vice-regent on earth, or his “absolution”—any of these or all of them—were acceptable to God, and so the poor old man, they think, went to “limbo” to expiate his sins. [3227]
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