1881 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

Finally brethren and sisters in Christ, seeing these things aretrue; ought we not to be earnest? and especially as we havereasons for believing the time very short; for if we have notChrist formed within--and under the blood of sprinkling whenthe door closes the prize now offered, [Immortality and heirshipwith Jesus] is to us forever lost.Can aught on earth compare,With the glory we shall share?Is there aught to us so dear,'Twill take the place of Jesus here?Ah no! methinks there naught can beTo ever sunder, He and me;For to Him, myself I give,Hence, I shall with Him ever live.A. D. J.====================R212 : page 6THE STRANGERS IN ZION.The idea which has become general among Christians, that it isa very easy thing to be a Christian, a life free from trouble, veryrespectable, containing all the pleasures of natural conditionswithout any of its evils, is one of the great evils of the presentsystem of evangelization. The Evangelist says come, leave offliquor, profanity, lying and all great presumptuous sins, join ourchurch, attend its meetings, give to its support regularly andbelieve, that you may go to heaven and you are one of the bestof Christians. You will find through the church the passage wayto wealth, to social standing and the most advantageousmatrimony, and if you desire a valuable aid to politicalambitions. Thus you will have the most pleasant and happy timeof any people living on earth: come, then, with us.In this way Zion is full of "strangers"-- they are in her--herchildren, but not of God's begetting. They are tares sown by thewicked one; begotten of evil desire--desires of the flesh. Thedesire that she might be great, and her outward appearance andprosperity such as would commend her to the world and causeher to be admired; that by the numbers and wealth of thesestrange children she might build grander and costlier edificeswith higher steeples; that her ministers should be noble men oftitles and large revenues--the language artists of earth; that hermusic should be the most refined and artistic.Thus she draws nigh to the Lord with her lips, and honors Himwith her mouth, while her heart is far from Him, courting theworld and its vanities and pleasures. She has ceased to know asof yore that "the love of God constraineth," and "the goodness of