"The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich; and He addeth no Sorrow therewith." Prov. 10:22

We continue today our topic of last Sunday. Our hope is that not only those of you who hear my voice, but also the 7,000,000 readers to whom this sermon will go in print in the columns of more than 400 newspapers may have well in mind what we had to say on the text a week ago.

Briefly we showed that the world has not yet received the blessing of the Lord which maketh rich -that, on the contrary, ever since the disobedience of our first parents our race has labored under the Divine sentence or "curse" of death, and that our dying condition, mental, moral and physical, are upon us as convicts. We pointed out that the Lord has declared that He will yet grant His blessing to our race, releasing all from the curse and supplying the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich. We pointed out the foreshadowings of this, especially in the promise, or covenant made to Abraham, and confirmed to the nation of Israel through Isaac and Jacob - "In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

We showed the failure of the law covenant to give these blessings, and that Jesus, the Son of God, holy, harmless and undefiled, separate from sinners, and He alone, was able to keep the law and prove Himself worthy of eternal life and all the blessings lost by Adam-not heavenly but earthly blessings -the same that Adam lost.

We saw next that those earthly rights and blessings won by our Lord by the keeping of the law He, with the Father's consent and arrangement, sacrificed, laid down in death, and that His reward for so doing was a resurrection to a spirit or heavenly plane of being, far above that of angels. We saw a glorious King who had those earthly rights in his possession as an asset or thing of value to give to others.

We want now to continue this investigation and to see in the light of God's word what it is to be done with those earthly rights which Jesus gained by virtue of His obedience to the law, and which He sacrificed. How will they be applied? We might reasonably have supposed (since God's promise to Israel was that the world should be blessed through it) that as soon as our Lord Jesus had ascended up on high He would give to the nation of Israel all those earthly rights and honors which he had secured by obedience and death. We might have expected accordingly that, forthwith, the nation of Israel would have begun to realize the forgiveness of their sins and would have been thus turned to the Lord, and that, under His blessing, their work with all the nations since would have progressed. As it is written, "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

Admitting that the Lord Jesus was the spiritual seed of Abraham we would have expected that upon His glorification the earthly kingdom would have begun to be blessed and to be used for the blessing of others. But nothing of this kind occurred. Disaster came upon the Jewish nation, and blindness. Their nation was destroyed; and for nearly 19 centuries hey have been not only blind but outcast, under the disfavor of the Almighty. Did God forget His promise made to Israel or did He change His purpose, or what is the explanation of the course which He pursued?

What God has been doing since Christ died for the world's sins the Scriptures term the "mystery of God."

It has been a mystery to the Jews and a mystery to the world in general, and the Lord so intended it to be. No one can understand the matter nor appreciate it, except he be in the right condition of heart and begotten of the holy Spirit. To such the Lord says, "To you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to all outsiders these things are spoken in parables and in dark sayings."

Some who cannot perceive in the full appreciative sense what we shall show may, nevertheless, be able to appreciate the matter to a limited degree. The mystery is this: God intends to have a larger Messiah than the Jews had understood. Not only so, [NS722] but he will be on a higher plane than they had supposed, and will accomplish a far greater blessing than they had supposed. God's purpose is to have a multitudinous Messiah and to select the members thereof from many nations. As compared with the world these will be a "little flock."

As the Master said, "Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

Each member of this little flock company must develop the same characteristics which were exemplified in their Redeemer, Jesus. They must have his spirit or disposition. Like him, they must lay down their lives in the service of righteousness, truth and the brethren.

They will become joint sacrificers with him. Here the question arises, If no Jew but Jesus could keep the Divine law perfectly, and if he could keep it only because he was not a member of Adam's race directly, and if only by keeping the divine law perfectly Jesus could be accounted worthy to be a sacrifice and be received to heavenly glory, how could any of the fallen race be acceptable? We read that He was "holy, harmless and undefiled, separate from sinners."

Of Him again we read that in order to be thus holy He required a specially miraculous birth. These things being true, how could it be possible for even a "little flock" to be found who would be acceptable to God as joint sacrificers with Jesus? How could even a little flock be found who would be of the same spirit as Jesus, a copy of him in character? The Scriptural answer is that some could indeed be found possessed of the character likeness of Jesus in the sense that they would desire to do perfectly; but that none could be found able to do perfectly, because all are sharers in inherited sin. This is a part of the "mystery" which gradually unfolds to those who have the hearing ear and the understanding heart and the eye of faith.

The Lord's explanation of the matter is this: When Jesus had sacrificed His earthly rights and had been received to spirit nature, and had the earthly rights at His command to give away. "He ascended up on high, there to appear in the presence of God for us. He appeared for, on behalf of, all who believe in Him and accept forgiveness of sins and make a consecration of their all to God's service. But Jesus did not accept as disciples those who merely believed and were justified by faith. He attached another condition, namely, that they must sacrifice all their earthly rights and privileges as He did; otherwise they could not be His disciples. Unless they walked in His footsteps of self-sacrifice they could not be counted in as His disciples, His followers, members of His body, sharers of His coming glory and work. His words were, "If any man would be my disciple let him take up his cross and follow me, and where I am there shall my disciples be."

"Except a man forsake all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."

"Unless a man love less father, mother, children and all else, he cannot be my disciple."

"He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

In other words, the Lord's proposition to the Church is that all the earthly rights of Adam (lost through disobedience and redeemed by our Lord at Calvary and now at His disposal) are imparted to those who, during this gospel age, will turn from sin, accept Christ as their Redeemer, and then by consecration, sacrifice all earthly rights.

In a word, our Lord Jesus has a right to give the earthly rights, the earthly life and honor, to any one person or to any number of persons of Adam's race, as something to sacrifice. When they do mentally sacrifice earthly rights they receive the begetting of the holy Spirit to the heavenly nature. But that heavenly nature itself they will not receive until they shall have finished the sacrifice agreed upon.

Thus as Jesus, by keeping the law, had a right to earthly perfection and sacrificed it; so those keeping the law in the spirit of their minds, and accepting the merit of Christ, as justifying them to restitution right and glory, sacrifice these, use them in God's service that they may share Jesus' new nature and glory. The merit at the end of the Gospel Age will be the same merit of Jesus, and will be at his disposal, because, although passed through the Church, it will not have been kept by any member of the Church, and will, therefore, be at our Lord's disposal at the close of this age -the dawning of the Millennium Day.

What will be done with the merit of Christ's sacrifice at the end of the Gospel Age, when it shall have passed through the Church? We answer that it will be used again. It will be given to the Jews and through them to the whole world. It is the blood or merit, which will seal the New Covenant promised to Israel long ago, but not fulfilled.

It is one thing to promise a Covenant, another thing to draw up the terms of a Covenant, a third thing to sign and seal the Covenant. The New Covenant has not yet been sealed. The blood that will seal it, is now being used in the interest of the elect spiritual Israel; that the "little flock" may have something to sacrifice, and thereby be granted a share with Christ in His spirit nature and glory. This is the cup referred to by our Lord in the memorial supper when He said, "This is my blood of the New Covenant shed for many for the remission of sins. Drink ye all, of it."

The privilege of drinking with our Lord in this cup of sacrifice belongs to this age only. None will be left for the future. [NS723] But the blessing will not remain with those who drink of the cup-their restitution rights and privileges will be sacrificed and thus passed on for the benefit of mankind in general. The Apostle says that our Lord at His first advent in His death became the "surety" or guarantee of the New Covenant. But he did not seal the New Covenant nor put it into force in any sense of the word because it was a Covenant with natural Israel; and if it had been put into force it forthwith would have begun to bring blessings to Israel, not to be theirs until after spiritual Israel shall have been glorified in the First Resurrection.

The "mystery" is, then, that philosophy in the Divine program which no one could have surmised in advance. God has been quietly taking from the world a great Messiah, a great Prophet, a great King, a great Mediator between God and the world. Jesus is the Head, and the faithful members are the Body. This is the great Mediator of the New Covenant, of which St. Peter wrote, saying: "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me (mediator of the Covenant); him shall ye hear in all things, whatsoever he shall say unto you-And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." Acts 3:22, 23

The spiritual blessings can go only to those possessed of the faith of Abraham, and this class receive the blessing on a higher plane. Then the earthly blessing is applied to the natural seed of Abraham-so many as will, under the Millennial Kingdom come to due reverence of the Lord-For them will be all the blessed provisions of the New Covenant specified in Jer. 31:31.

Their sins will be forgiven, not merely from year to year, as under the law covenant, but everlastingly forgiven through the merit of the better sacrifices. Under the blessed uplifting influences of the New Covenant their stoniness of heart will give place to tenderness of heart. Come, now, let us examine St. Paul's statement of all these matters in Rom. 11:25, 43.

He assures us that blindness is happened to Israel, which is not to be perpetual, but is to pass away. He explains that the Deliverer shall come out of Zion and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Zion represents the church, or rather the Abrahamic Covenant, which bears, or mothers, the church, as the apostle explains in Gal. 4:28.

St. Paul styles Sarah, Abraham's proper wife and the mother of Isaac, the type of heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly Covenant of which we are the children. "We, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of the promise."

"And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3:29)

Thus the church, Jesus the head, and the faithful, his members, constitute the great Deliverer which (is born of) comes out of spiritual Zion and which, under the New Covenant, will turn away ungodliness from Jacob -natural Israel. Notice how the apostle expresses this, saying, "For this is my Covenant unto them (the New Covenant to natural Israel) when I shall take away their sins."

St. Paul enters into the philosophy of it, saying that natural Israel has been treated as enemies for our sake; but that they are still beloved for the Father's sake, because God never repents of his gifts or calling. As they have been a long time without God's favor, so the Gentiles were for a long time previous to this Gospel age without God's favor. He points out that if God had mercy upon the Gentiles to bring them under the favor of this Gospel age, likewise he will have favor upon natural Israel, and he adds: "They shall obtain mercy through your mercy." (Rom. 2:31)

We are not to understand that the mercy which they will receive under the New Covenant is purely the mercy of the church and not the mercy of the Father and the Son. Evidently St. Paul wishes us to remember that all things are of the Father and all things are by the Son. God's mercy exercised through Christ and Christ's mercy through the church will bless Israel under the provisions of their New (Law) Covenant. To those who have followed the argument how evident it is that the blessing of the Lord, which goes first to the church, will make her rich-"heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord, if so be that we suffer with Him; that we may be also glorified with Him."

How much more riches there are in the Divine blessings than we had ever surmised! No wonder St. Paul prayed for the church that 'The eyes of your understanding being enlightened ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." (Eph. 1:13)

And again, "that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." (Eph. 3:17, 18)

Already indeed (by faith) has the church been made rich by the Lord's blessing in proportion as the exceeding great and precious promises have been accepted, and if it will still further make us rich through the "change" of the first resurrection to glory, honor and immortality, what may we not expect of its richness and blessing toward the Jew? Surely the blessing of the Lord will make Israel rich and honorable. Israel's blessing will be national as well as personal. Indeed, as soon as the Millennial Kingdom shall have been established, the blessing of the Lord [NS724] will mean divine favor in all the natural affairs of life to all those who are truly His-"to the Jew first."

As a people they will be the first to be ready for the divine guidance after the great time of trouble with which this present age will close. Christendom in general has little knowledge of coming restitution, to all that which was lost in Eden. Christendom in general expects to go either to heaven or purgatory, or eternal torment; but many Jews know their Bible better than this; that the blessings promised are earthly ones -"Times of restitution of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3:20)

With the close of this age heavenly hopes will no longer be held forth to mankind, but, on the contrary, earthly hopes, restitution. Israel, therefore, will be the better prepared for the terms and conditions of the New Covenant. Besides, among them will appear Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, perfected in their resurrection and constituting them the earthly representatives of the church, the heavenly kingdom. Naturally they will be more ready to receive these than the remainder of mankind, because this is the promise which God made to them: "I will restore your judges as at the first, and your law givers as at the beginning." (Isa. 1:26)

Let us not forget that the blessing of the Lord which maketh rich is not to stop with Israel, but to be passed by them as a blessing to all nations, that whosoever will may attain to everlasting life through the merit of Christ's sacrifice and through the Church sealing the new covenant with Israel. Be it noted, however, that to obtain a share in the New Covenant blessings it will be necessary for the people of all nations to become Israelites, and by doing so they will become children of Abraham. And this will be a fulfillment of the divine promise, "I have constituted thee a father of many nations." (Rom. 4:17)

Remember also how the Lord referred to Samaria and Sodom as examples of all nations of the world, and declared to the Israelites, "I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by the old (law) Covenant."

They will become Israel's daughters at the restitution time, the prophet declares, under their New Covenant. "When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them."

"When Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate." (Eze. 16:53-55)

The richness of God's blessing will mean the granting to every member of Adam's race a full, fair opportunity of recovery from sin and death to righteousness and life eternal under the New Covenant sealed at the end of this gospel age with the blood of Christ, head and body, through the merit of Him who was faithful unto death and who redeemed us, applying His blood, His merit, His justification on our behalf.

As now the Lord addeth no sorrow with His blessing, so it will be during the millennium with the world. The assurance of the word of God is that by the close of the millennium there will be "no more sighing, no more crying, no more dying," but that He will make all things new. The blessing of the Lord, beginning with Jesus and continuing with the church, and then with Israel, will ultimately reach all the willing and obedient. And those who reject divine favors will lose the gift of eternal life and be lost in the second death.

HALIFAX, N. 5., Oct. 18-A convention of Bible students held in this city for several days concluded its sessions today. A number of able addresses were made on appropriate themes by speakers, who evidently were deep students of the scriptures.

Many of these came from the United States, one party from Boston numbering about one hundred. Pastor C. T. Russell, of Pittsburg, Pa., gave several addresses. One of these, delivered today, we report.

It was from the text, "Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto [NS725] his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family." (Leviticus 25:9-10)

Pastor Russell said: My topic of today stands closely related to the one of last Sunday delivered in Chicago. However, dear friends, the blessings and conveniences of the wonderful day in which we live draw together the uttermost parts of the earth most remarkably.

Hence, I am well aware, many of this large audience, though not present in Chicago, availed themselves of the wide publication of the sermon through the daily prints. Therefore, I draw your attention now to the declaration of our text that the jubilee stands closely related to the atonement for sin. Without the atonement day sacrifice for sins, without the remission of sins, there would have been no antitypical jubilee provided for mankind. Hence the subject of last Sunday and the one before us today stand associated as cause and effect, the atonement work which we discussed last Sunday being the basis for the jubilee blessings about to come to mankind -which we will discuss today.

The atonement day, with its sacrifices, came annually, but the jubilee only every fiftieth year. As our text declares, the trumpets announcing it were to be blown in the atonement day. The fact that the two types are associated teaches that the one depends upon the other. The atonement sacrifices must make reconciliation for the sins of the world before the jubilee can be fully inaugurated.

Our text declares that the time for the blowing of the jubilee trumpet was in the day of atonement. Manifestly this would be towards its close and not at its beginning, because with the opening of that day and until the high priest had well nigh accomplished the sacrifices, the blowing of trumpets announcing the beginning of the jubilee would be inappropriate. What think you, dear friends, of my suggestion that as this entire gospel age, from the day of our Lord's baptism to the present time, is the atonement day and is nearing its finish, and as the great jubilee here is to immediately follow it, the time of the blowing of the silver trumpets announcing the jubilee began with the year A. D. 1875?

As many of you are aware, we have been engaged in proclaiming this great fact to the royal priesthood ever since that date-by word, and pen and printed page. Notice that this message of earth's jubilee and "times of restitution," due to begin forthwith, was sounded first by the members of the royal priesthood with the silver trumpets of the divine word-this message by the world in general is being shouted and tooted in all parts of the civilized world and by every class of the groaning creation.

It is a message of hope, of encouragement, of liberty. We with the silver trumpets indeed announce only the message of God's word to the effect that the liberty that is to come will be the liberty of the sons of God, the liberty wherewith Christ makes free, and not the liberty of wantonness, of rioting and anarchy. Some have been blowing upon "rams' horns," declaring that the coming liberty is to be expected along the lines of socialism. Others vociferate that it is coming through other political parties, and some proclaim that the only hope for it is through anarchy.

Those of us, dear friends, who have studied the word of God on this subject see clearly that earth's jubilee is coming by way of a great time of trouble, which the scriptures specify and particularize. We perceive that God is allowing selfishness, the predominant influence of the whole world, to so pervert judgment that those who are seeking blessings and comforts for themselves, and others along different lines, will run amuck; that evidently the confusion will become worse confounded until out of all the various theories and panaceas which are now being tooted -vociferously urged as the hope and only hope of the coming golden age -will eventuate in pandemonium and anarchy. This is the picture which the scriptures draw for us of the time of trouble, a time in which "every man's hand shall be against his neighbor and there shall be no peace to him that goeth out nor to him that cometh in."

We can picture to our imagination the first jubilee accorded to the Israelites. We can imagine some docile, never thinking of the jubilee at all, groaning under their burdens hopelessly. We can imagine others tracing their time in advance and making their preparation to leave servitude and to return to their former estate. We can imagine masters disputing as to the time and others seeking to keep their servants in ignorance of their rights and others, still more noble, rejoicing with their servants in the liberties which were about to be theirs but as the important juncture would be reached the excitement would become intense and quarrels would be frequent as respects to mine and thine, and particularly between the wealthy and the poor.

So that in the first few years of the Jubilee year we might reasonably expect a sort of pandemonium in the shouting, bluster, excitement, rejoicing, recriminating, etc. Doubtless almost anarchy would prevail for a time until the new order of things would be rightly adjusted, until the Elders who would have control would rightly set things in order. So here the confusion clamors already here with us will keep on increasing and eventuate in the anarchy which the scriptures portray; but then, thank God, will be ushered in the new dispensation and the divinely appointed rulers of the time will speedily bring order out of the confusion. And even the [NS726] confusion itself will bring blessing when it shall have destroyed many who would be hindrances to the jubilee blessings. And now, dear friends, a word to you who have by faith entered into the covenant relationship with the Lord, our Redeemer. From our standpoint the coming jubilee to earth is grand to think about. The intervening clouds of trouble, the short, sharp work which the Lord will accomplish in the earth when the plowshare of human passion shall plow deeply, will prepare the ground of humanity for the sowing of the seeds of truth which shall bring forth abundantly. Our jubilee has begun in a two-fold sense:

(1) Our love for mankind enables us to rejoice exceedingly at the thought of the blessings of God so shortly to come to them.

(2) We rejoice also that the blessings soon coming to them imply a blessing to us, because this is the divine order that God's richest blessing should come through His Son, first to the church His bride, then through these elect ones to the ancient worthies and subsequently extending to Israel and to all the nations of the earth-in full harmony with the apostle's promise made to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

(3) This hope and confidence gives us a rest of heart in the present time, a rest of faith which keeps us calm, serene, in all the trials and difficulties of life. Of these two rests, the present one by faith and the one to be entered upon, the apostle speaks, saying, of the first, "We which believe do enter into rest"; of the second rest he says, "There remaineth a rest to the people of God, a great Sabbath of jubilation a thousand years long."

Jubilee is the synonym for rejoicing, and the jubilee year was certainly a joyful occasion to the masses of the Israelites though not so to the wealthy of them except they were in heart harmony with the Lord and His glorious, righteous, loving provisions. The scriptures explain that the land of Israel was reckoned as belonging to God, and that He gave it to that nation according to their tribes and families.

They might buy it or sell it, but on the recurrence of the jubilee year every fiftieth year, the land reverted to those to whom God had originally given it. In other words it could not be sold outright. It could at most be leased for whatever portion of time remained up to the next jubilee. This applied not only to the land but to the persons of the Israelites. A man might get into debt and contract to pay it by his labor, but no contract for service would hold beyond the next jubilee.

By this beneficent arrangement God provided against the danger of all the property falling into the hands of the few -provided against the possibility of any combination of capital or trusts which would enslave the masses or deprive them of their share of the earth. Beneficent as this arrangement was for the Israelitish people it meant as a type a still higher antitype. It pictured on a very small scale indeed the great millennial epoch which the apostle speaks of as 'Times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:21

Viewed from this standpoint Israel's jubilee was as nothing in comparison to the great anti-typical jubilee which will prevail during the millennial age and especially at its beginning.

We can imagine better than describe how a family of Israelites which had become poor and surrendered its patrimony in liquidation of debt (its members scattered as servants to others) would look forward longingly to the reunion in the jubilee year! From the standpoint of the anti-type we see the entire human family sold under sin and in slavery thereto, and many of them gone into death, the great prison house-Some are aware of the fact that there is to be a grand time of restitution which the apostle describes as foretold "By the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began."

Whoever knows of this glorious epoch must feel a thrill as they consider the fact that Adam's entire estate, the world in general, is to be reclaimed from the reign of sin and death and to become a paradise of God and that all of the groaning creation living, as well as all of the dear brethren and sisters of Adam's children who have gone down into the tomb, are yet to be brought back under more favorable conditions, are to have a new start, a new trial, a fresh opportunity of deciding for God, for righteousness, for eternal life or for ultimate and everlasting extinction in the second death.

Does someone suggest that it would be unrighteous on God's part to grant to the thousands of millions of heathen and to other millions of Christian lands who died in ignorance of God's real character, an opportunity of recovering during the millennial reign of Christ? Does someone suggest that to give to this poor groaning creation an opportunity of restoration to human perfection and to harmony with God would be an injustice? Wherein, we inquire?

It is suggested that this would be a second chance, and that it would be unreasonable to suppose that if God ever gave one chance it would be so complete that there would be no need of His providing another? We reply that many of us have had very confused ideas as respects the meaning of this word chance. We got into our difficulty by using our reasons, but by not using our Bibles in conjunction with our reasons. The Bible tells of one chance granted to Father Adam, one chance to [NS727] retain his perfection. The Bible tells that in that one chance or trial our father failed, and that as a result a death sentence passed upon himself which proceeded in a natural way and affected all of his posterity, mentally, morally and physically, so that, as the apostle says, "We cannot do the things that we would."

And as the prophet points out, "We were all born in sin, shapen in iniquity, and in sin did our mothers conceive us."

What chance could these children of Adam, born in imperfection, have to live perfectly, righteously, and thus to demonstrate their right to everlasting life under the divine provision? We all agree that they would have no chance -have had no chance individually. Stating the matter in another form, all of Adam's numerous family were in his loins representatively and shared with him the death sentence which resulted from his disobedience.

In other words, the first chance, granted in Eden, was lost by Father Adam, and for all of his children; unless in some manner God should provide a second chance there could no flesh be saved. Surely it was for this very purpose of providing a second chance for Father Adam and for all of his posterity that God sent His Son into the world to redeem Father Adam and his entire race and to grant them all an individual chance to return to perfection and to harmony with their Creator. In a word, the death of Christ was for the very purpose of granting a second chance to Adam and his family. Had Jesus not come as our Redeemer, had he not bought us with His precious blood, the original death sentence would have left our race as hopeless as the brute creation, as respects future life. This is the Apostle's statement of the matter. "As by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead, for as all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive; every man in his own order." (1 Cor. 15:21-25)

Which of us, then, can afford to reject this second chance which God has so graciously tendered us through His Son?

From what we have said, it is evident that God has made provision in Christ for a second chance or second trial for Adam and his entire race. Follow me while I point out our Creator, following His perfect right, has been pleased to give a second chance to some of Adam's children under special conditions during the past 1900 years, and that he proposes later or during the Millennium to give a second chance or opportunity of escape from Adamic sin and death condition to all the remainder of Adam's race redeemed by the precious blood. During this age the scriptures tell us that a special class is being called out from amongst mankind, a "little flock," who are invited to be joint-heirs with their Redeemer in His glorious kingdom of infinite power to be established amongst men during the millennium for the uplifting of the entire race, so that ultimately all who will may come back to harmony with God and recover through the Redeemer's sacrifice and kingdom all that was lost of human perfection -the divine image and a paradise home.

This special class hears of divine love and sees the divine purpose under difficulty-under trials in the world, by the adversary and their own perverted inclinations-These hinder them from seeing or hearing with full distinctness the message of divine grace. But whatever they hear and see is that much more than the masses of mankind enjoy, because, as the apostle says, "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of all them that believe not."

The masses by and by will see and hear and appreciate; as it is written, "In that day all the blind eyes shall be opened, and all the deaf ears shall be unstopped."

Some of the believers who hear little and see little -some more, some less-are responsible in proportion to their comprehension, but only by following on to know the Lord do any of them come to see and hear distinctly and rejoice in the divine promises. The poor blind world does not appreciate God's message now. To them it seems foolishness to speak of a kingdom to come and such blessing to flow from it as God's word declares. Not seeing these things they live for the present time and are unwilling to sacrifice present interests for future promises. Our Lord referred to this second class, saying, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes." (Matt. 11:25)

The babes in worldly wisdom have more advantage every way as respects faith and obedience in this gospel age; but the worldly wise and heathen, from whom God's favors are now hidden, will share the blessing by and by, when the clouds and shadows of sin and death shall have rolled away and when the sun of righteousness shall have arisen with healing in His beams and when the blessings shall be dispensed at the hands of His anointed one.

So, then, those who are to have their second chance in the future under the favorable conditions of the millennial kingdom will be those of the human family who have not had a full, thorough, complete chance, opportunity or trial during this gospel age. And those who-in this age or in the coming millennial age shall sin willfully, deliberately, intentionally, knowingly, against the divine standards and statutes will thereby terminate their second chance or trial and die the [NS728] second death -without hope of any future redemption or resurrection.

According to the Bible history of the matter the Jews never heartily entered into the observance of the jubilee year. Like other men, they were selfish. Like others they preferred to have a fixity of things rather than a change every fifty years.

Like others, the more successful of them preferred to keep their property and to increase it and were not solicitous of restoring liberty and property to their poorer brethren every fifty years. Bible history shows us that the Israelites observed nineteen jubilees after a fashion, but halfheartedly, not in a manner to God's pleasement. Thereupon God sent the entire nation into captivity and left their land desolate for a period of seventy years. In explanation of this period the Lord declared to the Israelites that those seventy years in which their land lay desolate He was giving the land her jubilee year or Sabbath years of rest, because the people had been too selfish to observe this divine statute.

We quote you the Lord's words on the subject after describing the victories of the armies of Babylon over the Jews, after telling about the desolations accomplished, "And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and the king of Babylon and his sons until the return of the kingdom of Servia to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths, for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill three score and ten years." 2 Chron. 36:20-21

It will be noticed that in the scriptures just quoted we have a key furnished us respecting the entire number of jubilee cycles, namely, seventy. Figuring this out, dear friends, we find that the antitypical jubilee was due to begin A. D. 1875. As the type was a year, the antitype, larger every way, will be the "times of restitution," earth's great jubilee, the millennial reign of Christ, a great epoch of blessing and uplifting one thousand years long. This may seem astounding to some of you dear friends, but I am sure not to all of you, for in your city on many of your bookshelves you might have my presentation of this matter in print, showing the date, 1875, by two distinctly separate calculations of the jubilee cycles, both in fullest accord, the one according to the law, and the other according to the prophets. And why should we wonder that our day, so great, so wonderful, so different from every other epoch of earth's history, should stand closely related to the divine plan?

So far from wondering if God and His plan be not connected with this wonderful day in which we live some of us have come to see that the divine purposes in connection with the coming blessings of the antitypical jubilee are at the back of all the inventions of our time, as cause to effect. We perceive that as the prophet has declared we are in 'The day of his preparation," the day which will prepare the world for Messiah's kingdom and the world's jubilee. Instead of feeling surprised that the work of the gospel age should be near its completion and the millennial age and its great work be due to be ushered in should we not rather wonder that the selection of the "little flock" the bride of Christ, the royal priesthood, the peculiar people, should have been granted so long a space in the world's history? Yet we cannot doubt the wisdom of God in His arrangement of the plan of the ages.

He allowed 4000 or more years to pass under the reign of sin and death before he sent his son to redeem us, although that redemption had been fully purposed from before the foundation of the world. Evidently the time appointed for the gathering of the elect out of every nation, people and tongue has been none too long. In due time God sent forth his son to redeem and in due time the Son of God will come again to receive unto himself his elect church his bride, his under priests. Then, following a great time of trouble and distress amongst men, will come the kingdom of God's dear Son, the reign of righteousness, the jubilation of the world.

WORCESTER, Mass., Oct. 17-Pastor Russell of Brooklyn Tabernacle, addressed two large audiences here today from the following text: "Godliness with Contentment is Great Gain" -1 Tim. 6:6.

He said: The only proper contentment is that which combines with godliness and which sees from the standpoint of God's Word the Divine power able to correct the difficulties which assail us and all mankind. The godly believer thus instructed is able to appropriate to himself the Divine promises of providential care and [NS729] thus to be content with conditions which are not satisfactory. On the other hand those who either do not know of the Divine power, or have lost their faith in Divine wisdom, chafe more and more under present conditions. And the more discontented they become, the greater is their tendency toward ungodliness -doubt of Divine love, wisdom and power.

Self-dependence is a poor substitute and, as disappointments come, the combative find anger, malice, hatred, envy and strife surging through their minds. Then they become rabid socialists and are in the way to eventually become rabid anarchists. Again we have those who term themselves Christian Socialists. These well-meaning souls perceive the situation of their brethren and say, Yes, the world should be socially transformed. Its riches should not flow, as at present, into the favored channels, but should be scattered everywhere for the general refreshment and comfort of mankind as a whole.

They philosophize on what God surely would and surely would not approve amongst men, and then declare that all Christians should at once set about to secure to the world of mankind a just division of God's bounties. Their love and zeal for right principles we should and do admire and commend. But we cannot commend their course, their hopes, their preaching, by which they seek to obtain the ends desired. Recognizing the principles of Divine Justice they seek to apply them, forgetful of the fact that they have not the Divine Wisdom necessary to a proper application. They seem to forget that justice has been the same for several thousand years past and that Divine Wisdom has not yet seen fit to establish Divine Justice amongst men.

If they think that this is a neglect on God's part which they are wise enough to rectify, the thought is evidently an erroneous one. If they believe, on the contrary, that the time for the establishment of justice was not in the past, but has now come, they should be able to find and point us to a Divine revelation to this effect, practically authorizing them to take their stand now for socialism and explaining that the due time for the prosperity of justice has now come and how they shall proceed and what shall be the outcome. But do they offer us such evidences from the Bible.

Do they offer us such proofs as these? Nay, verily. Like the other socialists they are merely discontented and, becoming discontented, seek a remedy; and, because of a religious turn of mind, seek to justify their course as Christian and biblical, without thinking it necessary to study the Bible on the subject and to conform their message and expectations to its outlines of the Divine Plan of the Ages. From the Bible standpoint the world is not properly ready for its own control under any form of government.

It is a rebellious province in the Divine Empire -one in which sin and selfishness and death constitute the ruling elements. The Bible declares that what the world needs is a monarchy-a strong, centralized government in which the masses must not be allowed to have a voice at all, because, in their fallen condition, they know not what is for their own highest good. The Bible tells us that present institutions, under the power of selfishness, driving the wealthy in one direction and the masses in the opposite direction, is about to bring a universal crash -anarchy.

This and atheistic socialism and Christian socialism, and, in a larger sense, general selfishness and discontent are urging upon the two great combatants, both of whom will fall in the struggle, never to rise again, however, according to the Scriptures, they will be succeeded by the Kingdom of God's dear Son-the Millennial Kingdom-the Mediatorial Kingdom-for which we pray, "Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." Matt. 6:10

That strong Government, that theocracy to which every knee must bow and every tongue confess to the glory of God, is the Kingdom that the world needs. Its rule of righteousness alone will bring to mankind the joy and peace and blessing which all crave, but which none of us are wise enough to know how to bring about-not even our socialistic friends. The part of faith and the part of wisdom is to look unto the Lord from whom cometh our help. Nor should we look to him to approve our methods, but rather to be informed, respecting his methods and to approve them and to co-operate to the extent of our abilities.

At a church congress recently held in Boston a day was given to the discussion of Christian Socialism. Both sides of the question were permitted to be presented. One minister, Reverend Eliot White, is reported in the "Christian Socialist" as having made the following statement: "Let us answer, 'Hasten the day when Labor, united, shall shake off its chains!' Our part as Christians is to help men out of every bondage.

We are not perturbed that Socialism, in its eagerness to rid labor of material bonds, has not yet realized the weight of bonds spiritual. That realization will come in good time, and Christianity must be ready to show the workers of the world how to be rid of all those fetters of the soul which material emancipation will but render more apparent. But for Christianity, as too often now, to profess desire to free men of spiritual bondage, while repudiating any call or need to strike fearless blows at their material prison bars, is to lay [NS730] itself open to justifiable charges of hypocrisy. This must yield to braver counsels, though the striving be even unto blood against the sin of slavery which still defiles modern industrialism. With widest meaning, then -inclusive of all that the most ardent and uncompromising Socialist lover of liberty has demanded, and embracing besides all that the Christian means when he proclaims the glory of spiritual freedom, Christianity must now take up the challenge and cry with world-wide voice like the sound of many waters and a mighty thunder -"Amen! even so, unite, ye workers; you have but your chains to lose, and you have a world to gain!" Brother White and the other dear souls who propose to get Labor out of the "slavery of modern industrialism" should be willing to concede that if now is the proper time for it, God is as much interested in that release as they or we or others could possibly be -yea, much more so.

If, then, Brother White and others have received some special commission authorizing them to preach a new Gospel or a new edition to the old Gospel they should produce the proofs of this authorization. Until we see the proofs we must doubt their existence. On the contrary the Scriptures declare that there is but the one hope set before us in the Gospel, even as there is but the one Lord, the one Faith and the one Baptism. Brother White and his coadjutors have not succeeded and will not succeed in making the world more happy by preaching to them the Gospel of discontent. Labor today is a hundred-fold better fed, better clothed and better housed than in the days of Brother White's grandfather, and it is safe to say that it is a hundred-fold more discontented. And Brother White, with doubtless the very best and noblest intentions, neglecting the Word of God, the "wisdom that cometh from above," (Jas. 3:17) is really doing injury by his gospel of socialism. Our Lord was surrounded by conditions of sickness, sorrow, poverty, etc., so that he could properly declare, "The poor ye have always with you." (Matt. 26:11)

The apostles were similarly situated. Yet have we any evidence whatever that any of these attempted to break the chains of the "slavery of Labor?" Most assuredly not.

While our Lord went about doing good and healed many of the sick, he by no means healed all of the sick nor comforted all the mourning ones-His favors were specialized, as in the case of the impotent man at Bethesda. "There were multitudes of impotent folk there." (John 5:3)

But only the one was miraculously healed by our Lord's Word. Many widows were bereft of their sons, but only the widow of Nain had her son restored to her by the all-powerful Word of our Savior. He came not into the world to heal the sick, but to die for the world as its Redeemer. He left the great work, the important work of healing all the sick-the mentally, morally and physically sick, and of awakening all the dead, until the establishment of his Millennial Kingdom. We likewise may do good unto all men as we have opportunity and especially to the "household of faith."

But we likewise must wait for God's time and manner for the general healing of the world's sorrows and troubles. When in fulfillment of the prayer our Lord taught us, God's Kingdom shall come and his will be done on earth as it is done in heaven, then all the blessing, all the helpfulness necessary to the full recovery of our race will be brought into operation. And it is not possible for any man or set of men, Christians or otherwise, either to improve upon God's great Plan of the Ages nor to hasten his Plan, "the times and seasons of which God hath put in his own power." Acts 1:7

Is it urged that the early Church at its beginning established a communistic society? We answer that this was not a worldly establishment, nor with those who recognized worldly principles. It was merely a social arrangement whereby the Church at Jerusalem sought to deal with each other as one family. It was not successful. It did not persist. It did not have apostolic commendation to other Churches. We may suppose, therefore, that the arrangement was Divinely permitted so as to show the Lord's people throughout the age the impracticability of such an arrangement at the present time. For, if that was not successfully operated under those recognized as having Divine authority, the apostles, communism never could be a benefit under present conditions-nor until the coming of God's Kingdom and its omnipotent wisdom and power to control.

Brother White and others would probably tell us that socialists are crying out that heavenly hopes are not satisfactory-that what they want is earthly riches and comforts and that they intend to have; and that what the people want is what the pulpit must supply -otherwise the influence of religion will wane in the world and its ministers will become back numbers, whom no one will care to hear or heed. We answer that this is all very true, but that the difficulty lies in the fact that the Gospel message is not properly presented to the people. The message which our Lord and the apostles presented is a consistent one, whereas the message from the majority of pulpits today is an inconsistent one. The people are told by [NS731] both Catholics and Protestants, that there is a heaven for the saintly who before dying shall become firmly established in the graces of the holy Spirit. As for the masses, they are told by Catholics that they must expect centuries of torment to be prepared for them. And by Protestants they are told that they will have an eternity of torment without hope of a release. And then both Catholics and Protestants unite in telling the poor world that such an arrangement for the future is the provision of a just and loving God, for which they should be deeply thankful, and that the trouble of this present life are partial penances for sin.

The Truth is so much more reasonable, so much more just, so much more wise and loving, that to every ear that hears it there comes a satisfaction, a harmony, which error could never produce. God's Word tells us that our race is a convict race-condemned to death because of father Adam's disobedience-because, as his children, we have inherited a share in his death sentence-not an eternal torment sentence.

The Bible tells that Satan, who misled our first parents by misrepresenting God and his Word, has since misrepresented him to mankind and that he it is who is responsible for the "doctrine of devils" (1 Tim. 4:1), respecting the tortures of the dead, who the Scriptures declare "know not anything." (Eccl. 9:5)

The Bible tells us that God, seeing that many of our race, dying because of Adam's transgression, would be glad to return to fellowship with their Creator, and to be recovered from sin and death conditions, has made a provision for them. Our Lord Jesus by his death purchased the lives and liberties of Adam and his entire race. He died, "the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us back to God." 1 Pet. 3:18

Is it inquired then why Adam and his race have not been released from the condition of sin and death and brought back to happiness, human perfection, and a Paradise home, in harmony with the promise of God's Word that these things shall result to mankind through the death of Christ? The Bible answers that God has a due time for the various features of his great Plan of the Ages in the interest of humanity.

Before the restitution blessings can come, the Redeemer must take to himself his great power and reign, binding Satan and undoing all the works of the flesh and of the devil -loosing the chains of ignorance, selfishness and superstition, which have so long bound mankind -yea, more; eventually recovering from the tomb every member of human imperfection, every member of the race will come into harmony with the new order of things, which the Kingdom of God will establish under the whole heavens. But why must we wait? Why must we pray, Thy Kingdom come? Why the delay? The Bible answers again that the Kingdom class must first be found -"the little flock" to whom it is the Father's good pleasure to give the Kingdom. (Luke 12:32)

This Kingdom class is to be composed of the saintly few who from positive character for righteousness by faithfully following in the footsteps of their Redeemer; by being taught of him in the School of Christ. These faithful few of present selection, or election, are symbolically spoken of as the members of the Body of Christ, which is the Church of glory; and again, as Members of the Body of Christ, his Joint-Heirs in his Kingdom. The Kingdom will not be established until this elect Kingdom class is completed. These must share in the sufferings of Christ and then the glory will immediately follow.

The Lord declares that the desire of all peoples shall come. The people of the world in general would desire the coming of the Lord's glorious Kingdom and would rejoice in it, if they knew about it. The Divine provision would satisfy their longings as nothing else could do. Brother White and all ministers of God should hold up before them the glorious messages of the Divine Word. This would bring them joy and peace and rest of heart, notwithstanding the incidental trials and difficulties and weaknesses of this present time of distress. Socialism stirs up the minds of men to dissatisfaction and to worry and to fear and to strife, and leads them on and on into the great time of anarchistic trouble.

The Gospel message, on the contrary, would be helpful, comforting, sustaining. True it is not all men who are to receive the Gospel message; but those who cannot receive it would be far better off without the distracting Gospel of socialism, which merely arouses them to greater dissatisfaction. The Bible tells that in mercy God has hidden his Plan from the world and intends that only the saintly believers in the Lord Jesus Christ shall understand the secrets of it. "The secret of the Lord is with them that reverence him and he will show them his Covenant." (Psa. 25:14)

"To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven," (Matt. 13:11) but to all outsiders these things are spoken in parables and dark sayings, that seeing they might see and not understand.

So then the work of the Christian ministers as Divinely appointed is to let the world alone to be dealt with in God's due time, and to comfort and sustain and instruct merely those whom they find to have the hearing ear of faith. These are to know the Truth and the Truth must make them free from error and [NS732] superstitions and bring them to the place of full consecration to God-sanctification-Such are to be informed respecting the Kingdom of which they are invited to become members, by becoming members of the Body of Christ through faith, consecration and obedience unto death. The world in due time will have the good blessing which God intends for it.

Meantime surely we are not wiser than God, that we should hope for the world to hear in respect to God's Plan in advance, nor wise enough to define and bring to pass a better Plan than the Divine one. Socialism amongst men will be the Divine arrangement following the Millennial Age -following the lifting up of the race to perfection by the Redeemer-King. Then socialism will be a grand success, because of the perfection of all mankind then living, the unworthy having all been cut off in the Second Death.