Apriy 15, 1904 their lives according to covenant, but who have, nevertheless, not repudiated the Lord, will be brought, in the time of trouble approaching, into such straits that they will be forced either to deny the Lord or to lay down their lives for the truth. But since this laying down of life will be in a sense compulgory, it is not reckoned as being a “sacrifice” but a “destruction of the flesh.” Here your inquiry comes in, Why does the high priest confess over this class certain sins which have already been atoned for by the blood of the bullock and the blood of the goat? We reply that sin may be considered from two standpoints: First, as the divine condemnation, which cannot be liquidated by the sufferings of the transgressor, but which must be met by the atonement sacrifice of the great High Priest, head and body. Second, there is a retributive operation of divine law amongst men which brings upon the sinner a measure of suffering for sins. This latter, we belive, is represented in the sufferings of the scapegoat in the wilderness. As the Lord charged up against the living generation of Jews at the first advent, who had the light and knowledge peculiar to their own day, and who sinned against this light and knowledge, and required at the hands of that generation all the blood shed from Abel down, so we understand that, similarly, there is a great responsibility in God’s sight resting upon those who today consitute nominal Christendom, who are nominally children of the Lord and tethered at the door of the tabernacle. At the hands of nominal Christianity today will be required much, for if nominal Christendom entire ZION’S WATCH TOWER (127-131) were consecrated to the Lord there would be no necessity for the time of trouble to come at all, but the Lord might come and set up his kingdom amongst a willing people without the necessity of overturning present institutions in a day of wrath. Consequently, when the day of wrath comes, it will be but the just recompense, and the divine wrath should be fully manifested upon and toward this nominal class. RESPECTING DEUTERONOMY 29:29 Question—Please make some comment on Deut. 29:29. Answer.—We understand this to mean that the Lord’s people are to be careful to study and obey all that the Lord our God has commanded, searching diligently to appreciate it as it may become due to be understood. There are questions, nevertheless, respecting which the Lord has made no particular revelation, and we are to avoid the waste of time in considering those things, and to realize that had they been important for us to know the Lord would have revealed them in his Word. This is in harmony with the Apostle’s statement, “All Scripture that is given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work.” These assurances of sufficiency of the meat in due season to the household of faith should not only relieve us from anxious thought on outside lines, but should make us suspicious of anything and everything that 1. being taught that is additional to the Scriptures, as well as contrary to them. “TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE” Obedience to the Lord our God Is what he doth require; He looketh not for sacrifice Without his Spirit’s power. The light of truth that shines from God And shows to us his way, Reveals the path wherein to walk While in this house of clay. If God’s great plan in vision speaks, As prophets said it would, Oh, may we heed its welcome voice And be among “the good.” Pray, do not compromise the truth; Oh, sell it not, my friend: Obedience doth our God require Until our course shall end. Tf faithful to our trust on earth And hold “the faith” once given, Then will our Master say, “Well done! Come thou, and enter heaven.” Vou. XXV COLLEGE EDUCATION IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN What we have already pointed out,—that the whole trend of college training 1s along the lines of skepticism as respects the revealed religion of Bible, along the lines of “higher criticism’—is well sustained by the following statement of the matter by Doctor J. A. Leavitt, President of Ewing College, Ill. Among other things he says in the March Homiletie Review :— “Every observant person has known of numerous instances of believers who have had their faith unsettled by their scientific studies... . Can studies so pursued as to atrophy one’s spiritual nature be said to tend toward Christ? Can an education be truly Christian that does not increase one’s powers to apprehend God and to make him known? “Tt will hardly be supposed by any one that the study of the ancient classics tends toward Christ. Few thoughtful parents will entertain for a moment the idea of having their children study for years modern authors, however beautifully written. which are based upon the amours of characters like Paris and Helen, and such corrupt beings as pagan gods and goddesses. It is known that the rites and practices in the worship of some of them were prohibited by the heathen themselves. White. in his ‘Mythology,’ says: ‘There can be no doubt that the stories concerning them had an unfavorable influence on the pagan world, and they contributed to weaken whatever respect remained for public or private virtue.’ Is it reasonable to suppose that the imagination of our youth can dwell for years upon the vices of the pagans and their gods and remain untainted ? “Students should be grounded in the fundamentals of morals, Christian evidences should have a larger place. Psychology should be Biblical and emphasized on the spiritual side. ... “The ancient classics should be greatly curtailed. In its place we should have much of the oldest and purest history, the most exalted poetry, and the profoundest thought found in IV—39 ALLEGHENY, PA., MAY 1, 1904 —James Hay. No. 9 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER the Bible: the most productive of originality, the most fertile in ideas, the most disciplinary of any work given to man. It is a misnomer to call any college Christian which studies pagan authors six or eight years and gives the Bible only a nominal recognition... . “The sciences should have a large place. God has given us three books, each one revealing himself. The first is external nature, the second is the nature of man, and the third is the Word of God. It is absurd to suppose that these three works by the same omniscient Author wre not in perfect aceoid Wherever a lack of harmony appears. there is a lack of the truly scientific. ... Our education should be Christocentric, In so far as any education is not Christocentric, it is partial, inadequate and unscientific.” THE SEARCH FOR GOD We extract the following from the public press. The more we perceive the blind, unsuccessful groping of the worldly-wise after truth, the more do we value it; and the more do we appreciate the Scriptural declaration that “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him’—the humble. “The era in which we live has often been called an age of religious doubt. Perhaps it could more correctly be described as one of religious hesitation and helplessness. The bewildering changes of recent years have created for us a new world, but we have not discovered a heaven to match it. The old conception of God has become impossible, and we have not found another to take its place. So has come about what a recent writer regards as “one of the most wonderful phenomena in the history of religion,’—the withdrawal of multitudes of good men from affiliation with the church. ‘They have turned their backs upon Christianity, not at all because they are out of sympathy with the religious impulse, but because they are intellectually unconvinced. They have lost faith in God. “Such is the train of thought suggested by a perusal of the Rev. S. D. McConnell’s new book, entitled ‘Christ’; and the [3357]
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