ANGELOPHONE COMPANY CLOSING OUT The friends who organized the Angelophone Co. had hoped to furnish good records dictated by Brother Ruseell. Some of the first were not as clear as desired, and Brother Russell expected to re-record them, but passed away before being able to do so. Orders came in so rapidly, the number of records to be handled was so great, and the requests so urgent, that it was impoasible to test each set before shipping; hence the filling of many of the orders in the original packages of the manufacturers. It was later found that these records were not even as good as those first received, and the manufacturers claim they cannot do better. So many complaints have lately been received that the Angelophone Co. has decided to close out at once. Some of the records are quite good, and all orders on hand will be filled as far as possible, unless otherwise ordered. Some may desire to have even these imperfect records. If so, orders should be sent at once. The WatcH TowER BIs_z anp Tract Society possesses two excellent Columbia records of Brother Russell’s voice, consisting of four introductory and four intermission talks of the PHoroDraMa OF CREATION. Each of these is a double record—two talks on each side. These records can be used on an Angelophone by reversing the reproducer. We are obliged not to sell the Columbia records under $1.00 per record. NO EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE After the passing away of Brother Russell, who was executive officer of the Society by virtue of being President, the Board of Directors provided for an Executive Committee to look after the executive work of the Society. ‘That Committee ceased to exist upon the election of a President; hence there Vou. XXXVITII BROOKLYN, N. Y., APRIL 1, 1917 is now no Executive Committee. To avoid delay and confusion, please address no mail to the Executive Committee. The President of the Society is the executive officer of the Society and matters of that nature are in his hands. No. 7 “CONSIDER HIM” ‘Consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.’’—Hebrews 12:3. [On Wednesday evening, October 11th, 1916, at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, after the Church Activities Committee had read the various reports of the work done during the past quarter, Brother Russell gave a short address to the New York City Congregation, which proved to be his last words to the church in the midst of which he lived and labored. Those words were taken down at the time, and are here transcribed for the benefit of the friends, The topic and text were those of the Manna for the week, and were the same ss those used on the same evening by classes of the I. B. 8. A. the world over.} There is a natural tendency amongst people to tire of a thing when the novelty wears off. Even the hearing of the truth, strange as it may seem, causes weariness to some after a time. It is the same way with the soldier. It is easy for him to enlist and march forward when the drums are beating and the bands are playing, and enthusiasm runs high; but when the damp, cold weather comes, when ice forms in the trenches and there is no martial music, he is liable to grow weary; and army life does not seem to be nearly so attractive as it appeared at the first. This is true in our spiritual warfare—in fighting the good fight of faith. There are times when all around seem joyous, when the Christian soldiera are marching, and all are stimulated and encouraged; whereas there are times when the clouds hang low and are dark, chilliness surrounds us, ardor is abated, and we are liable to get discouraged. It is partly for this reason that the Lord has directed us to “consider him,” that thereby we might be stimulated and encouraged to press on and to inspire others. Be knew just what we would need, ‘‘LEST YE BE WEARIED AND PAINT IN YOUR MINDS’ The Apostle Paul exhorts us not to forget the assembling of ourselves together, and so much the more as we see the day approaching. Why so? Because “the day” will have its peculiar trials, its difficulties, its attractions in various directions; and the story of the Cross will likely seem old—not as new as some things; and consequently we shall need to bear each other up. Because there is danger of becoming luke warm spiritually, it is generally recommended that the Lord’s people meet together; for to do so is stimulating. In proportion as we seek to stir up others in the way by putting them in remembrance, we are thereby reviving our own minds. We can, therefore, see a wisdom in all of God’s arrangements with respect to the truth. I believe that in every congregation there is danger of growing weary in well-doing. Well-doing costs something. It means sacrificing. If you are serving the Lord’s cause, you are denying yourself in some way. Unless we have some special love for the Lord and for the truth, we might say, “This is a very tedious work, I am pressed in many other directions, and there are those who are inviting me to see them.” So many things come to you, and to us all, that we might consequently be retarded and slacken our efforts, The world, the flesh and the adversary are pressing hard to draw us, not exactly from the prize, but from the narrow way that leads to the prize. They would slacken our zeal and beat our courage down; they would make us faint and cause us to say, “Oh, I am so tired; I cannot do any more!” Doubtless we all have had such experiences, If we get faint in body, we can rest ourselves; but if we get faint in mind, it is more difficult to become refreshed. WHAT SHALL WE CONSIDER ABOUT HIM? What, then, shall we do, in case we get weary and faint in our minds? The Apostle tells us: “ConsmpeR HIM!” (82-100) Whom? We all know that he is referring to our Lord Jesus, the one great “HIM” in all the whole world. What shall we consider about him? His birth? Yes, that is profitable; but it is not what the Apostle here suggests. His glory and honor? Not that exactly; but rather, how much HE ENDURED WITHOUT GETTING FAINT AND WEARY, without giving up the work which he undertook to do. He undertook to do a certain work, and so have we! In some respects we have undertaken to do the same work that Jesus did. Let us consider him, lest we get weary and faint in following on in his footsteps! Of course, the world is not exhorted in this text, but merely those who have come into the Lord’s family, and have taken up their cross to follow him—those who have consecrated themselves to him, those who have made a covenant with the Lord by sacrifice, declaring that they will give all to him and his service—that they will follow him at any cost. These are the ones who are exhorted to consider him. But what about him shall they consider? What he endured without fainting, in carrying out the Father's will. What he endured in the way of contradiction of sinners against himself. This is the very kind of difficulty which we have in our endeavor to carry out the Father’s will. If there were no devil, no sinners, and no trials, this would be a very pleasant world to go through. It is becattse we have to swim upstream, against the current, when almost everything is going in the opposite direction, that we have such a difficult work. Watch the swimmer! He must battle up-stream against the down-flowing current; a moment’s relaxation and the current carries him downward. With us there is a natural tendency in ourselves, as well as in the currents of thought and activity about us in the world, to pull us back in the opposite direction from which we are trying to go. OUR LOED’S LOYALTY AND OBEDIENCE Let us consider his example, his words; or else we may become faint. There are many reasons why we might become so. One of them is that we might consider that the opposition against us is too great. Jesus had the opposition of all those of national influence in his day. He was continually misrepresented, until finally the slanders culminated in his being called a profane person, one who had spoken blasphemies against God, who had said that he was like God, and was as great as God. This was a part of the charge against him. Although the accusation was not true, nevertheless he endured it, even though he had power to stop it. If he could cast out demons and open the eyes of the blind, then surely he could have done something to change things in his own case. Why, then, did he not do it? Because he was doing the Father's will; and it was the Father’s will that he should bear witness to the truth and demonstrate his loyalty in connection with it. Is it not the same with us? But why does the Father care about our loyalty? Because he is seeking a certain class for a certain purpose. In Jesus’ case, he was seeking one to be the Head of the church. In our ease, he is selecting [6064]
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