Ocroser 1, 1910 In what sense could this be of God? We answer that it is of God in the sense that every good and every perfect gift comes down from the Father. Our faith must have a foundation, must have a basis. We must have knowledge of a matter in order to have faith in it. We have knowledge of God, and this knowledge which is granted us as a grace or favor brings us to the place where we are enabled to exercise the faith. The faith in a great measure rests upon the knowledge. The knowledge shows us God’s character; the divine Revelation makes known to us certain facts respecting God’s purposes, and we see the purposes thus outlined to be in harmony with the character of God, and this enables one to believe the promises; and believing them, we are enabled to act upon them, and this is faith. So, then, our faith, while it is of ourselves in the sense that we must exercise it, is of God in the sense that he supplies the necessary elements from which that faith is to be compounded, Is THE CHURCH A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD NOW? Question.—Is the church in the flesh a royal priesthood? Answer,—We recognize that we are not a royal priesthood, in the full sense of the word, yet, because we are not yet certain that we shall be in the priesthood finally. We must first make our calling and election sure. THE WATCH TOWER (317-323) It will have to be determined whether we shall be in the “little flock” or “great company”—whether priests or Levites —or whether we shall be worthy of life at all. Since this matter, then, is in process of determination and will not be fully settled until our death, it follows that we are not in the fullest sense of the word officiating priests, but candidates for this priesthood, and temporarily acknowledged ag priests and counted as priests—just as some time you might meet a gentleman who had been nominated for Governor. By way of compliment you might say, “Good morning, Governor.” He is not really a Governor yet. That will be determined by the election, but before he is elected it might be proper or courteous to call him Governor. And so with us. We hope we shall make our calling and election sure; that we shall be of that royal priesthood in the fullest sense, and in one sense we are now members in the body, in that we have already received a begetting of the Spirit, acknowledgment of the Lord as ambassadors of God. This is an acknowledgment in one sense of the word of our priestly office, for these priests are “ambassadors,” and to whatever extent we are conducting ourselves as ambassadors of God, to that exent we are priests of God—oif the probationary kind, and not fully of the Melchisedec kind, which we shall be when our change shall come and we shall be like our Lord. Vou. XXAT BROOKLYN, N. Y., OCTOBER 15, 1910 No. 20 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER ‘‘PREPARE WAR! WAKE UP THE MIGHTY MEN"’ ing then takes place, and decreases are reported. Those who While peace conferences are being held and while disarmaments are being considered, preparation for war goes steadily on. Germany is fortifying her islands nearest to Great Britain, and is now demanding that Holland shall likewise fortify her seacoast. The apparent motive behind this interest in Holland’s fortification is that Germany proposes at no distant day to make Holland a part of the German Empire, and would like to have it fortified in advance. This would bring Germany within a few hours’ sail of British ports. The British believe that it is the intention that they shall be invaded and conquered and made a German Province. Undoubtedly both Holland and Belgium would be part of Germany today were it not for Great Britain, which protects these nations as a barrier between her and Germany’s army. A panicky feeling prevails in Great Britain. We make an extract from the Naval and Military Record, the writer being a secretary of the National Service League. We quote as follows: “We want a million men with six months’ training now, and after that another million in reserve, and these must be intact when all our regulars have left our shores. Without them we can neither fight by land nor sea. It is evident to all but to our ill-informed and apathetie people, that our supremacy at sea is slipping from our grasp, and our rivals feverishly prepare to dictate terms when we are least expecting war. “We must be prepared to send 500.000 of our finest manhood and maintain that force abroad if we would save our interests and keep our friends in Europe. By 1915 Germany will have her ports and naval arsenals, her wharves and jetties and her fleet and transports ready, and when ready she may strike like lightning. Then, not far from Waterloo, must come the clash of nations fighting for their very life. “Round Holland and Belgium the nets are drawing closer every day. We already harbor a million of the enemy within the gate. Our politicians mostly lie, or dare not speak the truth. Disaster stares us in the face. At the outbreak of war our food supplies will fail, and prices will be far beyond the pockets of the poor. Employment, then, will cease, and starving millions will demand surrender.” THE METHODISM OF WESLEY VANISHING “For the fourth year in succession the Wesleyan Methodist church reports a decrease in membership, running into thousands each year. Thousands of ‘pious persons’ are on the books, some paying to the support of the church, and some not. In the course of time many of these paper members, having no living interest in the church, drift away, and are then classed amongst those who have ‘ceased to mect,’ though they never have met in their lives. “Many others are still retained on the books long after the ‘ceased-to-meet’ period, the explanation often being given that the minister will not take the responsibility of ‘unchurching’ them. A time at length comes when the thing has grown to be such a palpable farce that something must be done. Besides, chapels and churches are assessed in their payments on the numbers on the class books, and grumblings begin to be heard from those who have to find the wherewithal. A drastic prun maintain that numbers mean nothing pooh-pooh the returns. ‘Things are just as they were,’ they say; ‘but honesty for the moment has prevailed.’ Numbers Unreliable “There is truth in this view of things, but not the whole truth. The plain fact is that the numbers reported are never wholly reliable. There are thousands of others on the class books whom the ministers know right well are not genuine members, but whom they are afraid to strike off because of the trouble their action might bring on them at the conferences. No church likes to see its membership declining, and any tendency that way is keenly questioned. Only recently the writer sat at a meeting called for the purpose of ‘pruning’ where many worthless names were allowed to pass muster through that unwholesome fear. Some little time ago the writer was shown two membership tickets written by the minister for two people who had been dead a considerable time, and another for a pergon who had removed from the neighborhood. “It is maintained by many loyal Methodists that a true and faithful record of membership would prove that the Wesleyan Methodist church is far more scriously declining than the returns to be discussed in the conferences show. “The causes of the decline are not far to scek. The old Methodism of John Wesley is rapidly vanishing, or, where it still lingers, is tabooed by the upper circles of the church. Not only that, but scores of the very men who are paid to maintain it are constantly declaring that the Methodism of John Wesley has had its day, and that it is not respectable enough for the age in which we live. Decline in Preaching “The preaching in the Methodist pulpits is another cause of the decline. There may be more scholarly men in the pulpits than formerly, but the impassioned note in the preaching common amongst the early Methodists, has almost clean gone out of the sermon. And this is acknowledged by many ministers themselves, but, in explanation, they will tell you that we are living today in a time of changing ereeds, and that the most careful languaye has to be employed in dealing with certain great themes. The truth, however, is that scores of ministers hardly know what they believe, and, therefore, it is not likely that they can grow impassioned over something of which they have only a very hazy idea. “I do not know whether they are right or not. I am a layman, and not an expert in theology, but the men in the pulpit who have thrown over the old views of the atonement, the resurrection and other great tenets which Methodists used to believe with all their strength cannot expect to fill churches with the dry husks which they offer their congregations instead.”— London Dispatch. DECLINE OF NON-CONFORMISTS IN GREAT BRITAIN Reports in Great Britain show that Baptists, Congregationists and the various Methodist denominations there are declining in numbers and prestige. The cause of this is not far to see. Gradually the common people are losing their sectarian spirit. Those once told directly or by implication that the [4697]
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