(287-291) is symbolic. It may refer to social upheaval and combustion, political troubles, fianncial troubles, and also some great physical manifestations of divine power in connection with the time of trouble. But all this is only suppositionary.. We are expecting a change; and if this change shall be accompanied by physical disturbances, now is the time for them to be coming. For the Lord says, ‘‘They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain’’—kingdom. The supposition that there would be catastrophe then would be out of harmony with this prophecy. Rather, the appropriate time, if there are to be THE WATCH TOWER Brooxtyn, N. Y. such calamities and changes, physical or electrical, would seem to be just now-——just at the time when, as the Lord forewarned, there is to be ‘‘a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation’’—at the time, apparently, when the ‘‘four winds,’’ the fallen angels, will become loose. All of these things together will constitute the ‘‘time of trouble such as never was.’’ And from this time of trouble, ‘‘Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape.’’ Watch that ye may ‘‘eseape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.’’—Luke 21:36. ARE SUICIDES MORALLY RESPONSIBLE? Question.—Please give the correct idea as to the end of one who commits suicide. Will he be punished for it? Or is death his punishment? Answer.—The theory that suicides are hopelessly lost was formulated during the dark ages. The thought was that selfmurder, being a sin committed as a Jast act, indicated a mind and heart out of accord with God’s arrangement to the last moment of life. The thought that death ends all hope elinched the theory that eternal torment is the wages of suicide. This, we believe, is thoroughly wrong in every way. The proper view according to the Bible is this: (1) Adam was disobedient, was sentenced to death. Thus his race was born under unfavorable conditions, mental, moral and physical; in degeneracy, some more, some less; some in very poor physical health, some of very low moral status, some with very weak mental powers. A suicide often has all three of these inducing eauses as provocations to such an act. Surely he was either mentally weak or uninformed, ignorant; else he would not take his own life. His trouble, then, was weakness of mind and judgment eaused by Adam’s transgression. H{e was a sharer of Adam’s penalty—the death penalty; and when he died—no matter how—he came fully under the effeet of that penalty—nothing more. Eternal torment is not in any way intimated in the death penalty. ‘“‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die.’?’ (2) God had merey upon Adam, not in the way of abrogating the decision of the divine court and clearing the guilty one, but in another way—by providing redemption through the death of Christ. Jesus’ death, by divine appointment, is to cover the sin of Adam—not only his original transgression and its penalty, but all the transgressions of his children, the world, which have resulted from his mental, moral and physical impairment. (3) This provision of God includes not only mental sickness, but moral sickness and physical sickness. All mankind are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. (4) The redemption of the world implies its eventual release from the condemnation of death. The time divinely appointed for the release of all is the thousand years of Christ’s reign—the Millennium. All mankind will then be liberated from the original condemnation, and will be granted a full opportunity for the recovery of all that was lost. The mentally sick, the morally sick, and the physically decrepit—all will have opportunity for a full return to human perfection. Vout. XXXIV BROOKLYN, N. Y., OCTOBER 1, 1918 (5) The only exceptions to this rule of restoration to Adam’s original perfection will be those who during this Gospel age—from the death of Christ to his sceond coming— are called out of the world, invited to become new creatures in Christ, and made associates with Jesus, sharers in his exaltation to the divine nature and in his office. These are justified (reckoned perfect) by faith in Christ’s redemptive sacrifice, and then given the opportunity to present themselves as living sacrifices—Romans 12:1. (6) As Christians, during this Gospel age, might sin wilfully and thus forfeit all relationship to God and die the second death, so in the coming age, during the Millennium, the world in general, after having been brought to an accurate knowledge of the truth, may by wilful sin forfeit all relationship to God, and die the second death. (7) In thus declaring that not only the sins of the church class, but the sins of the whole world, are covered by God’s arrangement through the sacrifice of Christ, we are not to be understood as meaning that the sinner is exempted from all punishment. On the contrary, each one has a responsibility for his own actions, even if he has but imperfect knowledge. His responsibility, as Jesus pointed out, is in proportion to his knowledge. The Master declared that he that knows his Master’s will, and does it not, shall be punished with many stripes—sevcre punishment; and he who knows less of his Master’s will, and does it not, shall be punished with fewer stripes—-less punishment. Sometimes those stripes, or punishments, come in the present life. With the chureh class it is uniformly so. But often the punishments are not meted out in the present life; however, they will be administered justly in the life to come. So the Apostle declares, ‘‘Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some they follow after.’’ —1 Timothy 5:24. (8) Along the above lines, we would not be inclined to hope that any suicide could be a member of the glorified church of Christ, but, at most, a part of the world—to have trial with the remainder of the world for life or death everlasting under the favorable conditions of Messiah’s kingdom. However, even upon this point we may not dogmatize, rementbering that some, apparently saintly, have been permitted of the Lord to lose their reason to a greater extent than some of the world who have committed suicide. No. 19 THE RACE-COURSE OF THE AGE—ITS “CLOUD OF WITNESSES” ‘‘ Wherefore, seeing we also are ecompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.’’—Hebrews 12:1. The opening words of this text direct our minds back to the preceding context, as though St. Paul were saying, In view of the great things accomplished by these faithful characters of the past, who manifested such faith and confidence in God that they were willing to deny themselves all earthly rights and privileges—seeing that we are thus encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses—martyrs—let the inspiration of their example spur us to the greatest faithfulness in Tunning our race. The Apostle speaks of the ancient worthies as a ‘‘cloud of witnesses.’’ He does not use the word witnesses in the sense in which it is used often today—-in the sense of onlookers. Originally, the word witness was used in the sense of a witness to the truth, or a martyr. Therefore, the text would seem to mean: Secing that you have many surrounding you of those whose lives testified to the truth—martyrs, who were cut off from home privileges and from life itself— it should have a strong influence upon you. These ancient worthies, through the achievements of their lives, are looking down upon you. The fact that the ancient worthies were even then dead need not detract from the Apostle’s figure of speech. This style of expression is commonly used by us all. As an illustration, we recall that on one occasion Napoleon addressed his army saying, ‘‘My men, thirty centuries look down upon you!’’ While, strictly speaking, centuries cannot look down, yet in one sense of the word they can; for we can look back into the past and realize matters that are thirty centuries old and more. The Apostle wishes us to remember that this ‘‘cloud of witnesses’’ is surrounding us, and that therefore we should run this race faithfully, While those noble characters will not obtain the prize for which we are running, they arc, nevertheless, to have a prize, As we recall how faithfully they [5318]
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