The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

- WATCE TOWERLord's return. They have been pleased to think of sittingat the Lolrl's table, and of the Master's coming forth tosene then] even according to his promise (Luke 12: 37) ;also that the Lord has given the truth that the church maypurlfy itself and keep itself unspotted from the world, andthat by this means the Lord is preparing the last membersof his bride for the marriage feast.These are true tho~gl~t~ and very necessary to keep Inmlud; but ~t must by no means he forgotten that-the Lordhas sent out his trut11 to gather his people together (Psalm147: 2), and in order that they may do a work for him.(Isai.lh 41 - 10,12) This latter fact has had to be broughtthe mind ; and when the fear has been taken away, tl~emind is ready to accept the work as the Lord's. Fearmust have no place with us, if our work is the Lord's. Letus say as Nehemiah did : "Our God shall fight for us "Whenever a work such as thls accomplished by Nehemiahis to be done, or its corresponding wwk, now iri thehands of the church, the work must be uncler d~rect~on.Such work as our lesson presents cannot be done if tltosewho offer to labor want each to do his work in his o~ruway. If amoug the forty-hvo parties labonng under Ncllemiahsome had wanted to do the~r work ~vithout particularrelat~on to each other, saying that they agreed to the needhome to soale by forcef~~l means; for some hare been like and des~mblllty of repalring the walls, but would only cothe.~CH-S 111 Jerusalem before Neliem~ah came, content to operate as inclegenderlts, tlie work woulcl certnlnly not harelet tlie Ilonor of the Lonl remain drnirnd ~f thej- could be been Aorre so well, nor so qniclily. Sollle of the Lord's dearhappy in the trntii. They have not spec~ally conce~ned them- people st the present trine ha\-e fmled to talie into accountselves about his honor, and have ftllled to see that God is the fact that the church's worlc is under tlie Lord's guidance,secliing his o\xrn t~o~ioi-, is rindlcating 11:s own character in and hnve cons~ilered the~uselres ns justifled in critfciznnggl\ing truth to 11;s pcogle-truth which is concerned \wth every move that has bee11 liiade; and some liave consenteddoctrines truly, but \\111ch also 15 cancerlled \\'~tti the facts to It~bor only according to their own ideas None of thesethat present organizations are ppl~rt of Satan's kingdom; persist in the work; something comes along to turn themul~d tl~at God i.: estnblish~ng the killgcloln of righteous~~ess away.and tilltl~ 111 tile cart11, Ir~t SUC~ see that in tlie work now Onlj cmuparati\-ely recently the Lord's harvest wTork andset hefo1.c. the rhu~rl~ there is n l*eest:ibl~sl~nlcnt of truth, witllessir~g was done chiefly by colporteurs, and by meansor a re1>111Idi11g of Jeri~sal~rn; and let each my: "Let us rise of public lectures; but now there are other means of serviceup and build "open before his serv:lnts. Work is found for all. Each classUNDER THE LORD'S GUIDANCEmny be as one of the colupanies of 1:1borers In the rebuildingSoille of tlie I'ortl's people llare beell nfrdltl of unto~r:lrd of .Terus:llem, Building I-ound about his own house. Thecircnrltst;~rlces. Tlteg fe.~(+orning in conflict n~th autl~or~ties classes cnnnot deleqate their responsibil~ty to others. Eachof tllis plrsrnt e\ 11 ~\orltl. 811~11 hare not the spirit of the nirlst \vorli with his ow11 hands even though it may be, asearly t~l~obtles, \f7i10, f:\cing the rulers of Jerusnlem, snrd: it were, ~\~lth a sworcl gtrded by 111s side. Let the enthusiasm"\lrl~ctl~c.~- it he right In tl~c s~ght of God to hearken unto of tbe bu~lderr;, and their earnestness be ours; let us takeyou nlore than unto (:otl. jndgr! ye." (Acts 4: 19,20) We tlie fire of their zeal. Tlie work is great; the time is shortliave lalonr~ sorne cnscs trhele ol,jwlions to tlie present Soon the great Feast of Tabernacles is due. Let us hastework haye been raised \\rl~ere qu~te plainly fear dominated as to the 1,ord. LTnppy is he who seizes his opportunity.MISTAKES OF PTOLEMY, THE PAGAN RISTORI-4N[A pr~vote letter from Brother illorton Edgar addressedto a slsrer in Clil~zt h.14 bee11 11:tnded to 11s \\it11 requestto publis11; and bince it deals with subject-m:~tter of pnrt~cullla~.i~lteresto the church nt this time, we tirlie pleasurein yul)l is11111g it, as folio\\ s :]man SI STIER '1 an1 renl glad that my nrttcq 1vh1c11 I setit you ha\-e provedhelpful. I found the tl~o~lgl~ts helpful myself, anrl so be-I~ered I al~oulcl ~)~IF.s tllcm on. Is lt {lot st~ange thnt theHclnItE hl'ethren slicul~l Iinv be tll~*o\\lng cloubt upon thecorrectness of tile "t~nies an11 seasotls"?Tlie IIc~nlrZ qllotes E~otl~er Russell as snylng (at the beginain~ of 1014, or 'i months before the great war brokeout) that if everything \rent on mudl as nqual, and notinbe of irorrble \\-a* In si:l~l, tl~t is, no troullle happenedin 1914 at all, tlccrb ne woultl letlulre to loilk ~nto the prophcc~esonce mole mlrl ser ~f \rc harl made :iny error inour 1cclio11111g; fur it ~nlgiit be that we lincl bee11 tookin::for "ttlc \I7rong tl1111g at the rrgAt irrice"'. Brotiler Rus-sellue\er tloubten the irnre. But the%@ IIcrulcl brethren haveprpceeded to change ~IIP tame, and nut to change the tliing\vh~ch was esl)ecled to happen. They say that all our espectntionregur(li11g 1014 "utterly fs~led''. I wonder if tliepeople in Russia, in Austria, in Germany, etc., etc., thinkthat nothi~rq happened in 1914.The Heruld brethren are anxious to throw doubt on thechronology for some reason, and they make some strangechanges in the "times" to suit their vlews. $-'or instance,they say tbnt there were ao Jubilee years at all; that eachINTERESTING LETTERS49 years \vns ~mnied~ntely folio\\-ed by another 49 years:cult1 so 01,. This rloes awny with the specinl 50th year ofJnbllee, pronon~lced IJ~Jehovah to Be both "hallo\ved" and"holy". Then thc?g cny that the land had its "snbbnths ofrest" even wlleu the people \x7ere in the Innd for about 16or 17 yenrs, f~nm the first of Cyrus till the second ofUarlus. How could the land rest when the peopie tilled itdul'lng nbout 16 or 17 gears?Nbte how they niisunde~.stood Brother RusseIl's statement,t113t 11 notli~ng trnnspircd by the end of 1914, thenwe might consider thnt me had been expecting "the wrongt7tlrrg nt tlr-e ttg7b.t trnre". That is, the ttme was right, butthe especte~l erelit nilgtlt have pi-osed wrong. Why, then,do they ~nimedlately proceed to change the t~me, seeingtlint the t~me 1s rlght? It seelns strange. Of course, aseveryone no\\? knot\ s, expected tll~rlgs did indeed hngpen in1914 os plretllcted. The great time of trouble broke outand is st111 raging. Tlie nations {Ire ellileavoring tlleir utmostto regain rlieii' lost pover, lrut hnve not succeederl.Too much of the poor old world i~es prostrate to say tlvtllfullythnt t111ngs contlnne much as they were Before 1924.To snF tlitlt gentile tunes endecl in 1914 is also to say thntthe Lord ll~n~self is no\?: reigning (according to the Scripturaldeclarat~on). Therefore, the Lord now reigns, tliegentile times h:iving ended, ns foretold in 1914 It may besome yems get before the last member of the body isglorified but the relgn of Christ has now begun, and themenibers on tI11s side of the vail are doing kingdom workwith him TIie feet members are in contact with the earth,\r.hlle the llead and the body in general are now "in the