C. T. RUSSELL'S FIRST REPLY.

I am reminded, dear friends, of the remark in my letter of acceptance, that, in so far as this first proposition is concerned, I accepted it as you prefer to have it, but only with the understanding that it is not two propositions, but one; for I am not prepared to deny the first part of the same. In other words, dear friends, we do not deny that, so far as the present life is concerned, there is not a trial of or a test upon those who now come to a knowledge of the truth, that they have responsibility that is a life and death question with them; and that includes you and me, if we are of those who are the Lord's people. The essence of our argument is this: That God has a plan which is wider and deeper and broader than we had once supposed.

I agree with very much that our friend has said, and with all of the Scriptures quoted, but I wish to call your attention to the fact that nearly all of those Scriptures relate to the present age and do not relate to the world at all, but relate to the church; and some one may inquire:

"Do you make a distinction between the world and the church?"

I answer, Yes. Our dear brother has been discussing the conditions that are upon those whom the Lord is calling now, those whom the Scriptures term the elect, of whom the Scriptures say that there is but a "little flock." "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom."

Our dear brother says the Kingdom came some time ago, but the Lord says that it is God's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. I hold, dear friends, that you never got the Kingdom. I am sure I never got the Kingdom. I remember very well that our Lord said to the disciples: "I will give to you to sit with me in my throne." I remember very well that the same dear Master told us to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." I assure you, dear friends, that the Kingdom has never come in Allegheny, and I do not believe that you will contend that the Kingdom of God has come in Cincinnati.

And so I believe we are safe in saying that God's Kingdom has not yet come, his will is not yet done on earth as in heaven. Now, dear friends, I would have you to notice some Scriptures which make a distinction between the church and the world, as, for instance, "God has spoken unto us by his Son;" that is one of the texts that our dear friend quotes. Very good. He has spoken unto us by his Son; but to whom has he spoken? Has he spoken to the heathen? I tell you nay. Has he spoken to you? Blessed are your ears, for they hear. Blessed are your ears, for they hear. But every one has not heard, my dear friends. The apostle Paul is our authority for saying that the god of this world has blinded their minds and stopped their ears, and so the whole world is deaf to this mystery. Only

certain ones can hear now; they are the blessed ones, they are the peculiar people that God is now selecting. He is selecting a people for a purpose.

Take another text along the same line: "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." Mark you, the sin of the world. It is one thing to deal with the church and the sin of the church; it is one thing to refer to the church, and another thing to refer to the world, and our Lord is declared to have come to take away the sin of the world, not merely the sin of the church. But you say they are both the same. I answer no. The Scriptures clearly distinguish between the sin of the world and the sin of the church. Let me give you one illustration: "He is the propitiation"-the word "propitiation" means satisfaction; He is the satisfaction for our sins, the church's sins; not for ours only, but also the sins of the whole world.

Now you see, dear friends, that according to the Scriptures there is a class, that is, the church, and they have the satisfaction given for their sins; and there is a class called the world that have also a propitiation for their sins; but the two classes are separate and distinct, and whoever has not learned this matter has not learned what the apostle Paul calls "rightly dividing the word of truth." Another Scripture along the same line: "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." It is not merely that God so loved the church; and yet, dear friends, it will be admitted on all hands that the church is a very small minority. Take the city of Cincinnati, with some three hundred and fifty thousand people; how many do you suppose are of the Church of Christ from the Scriptural standpoint of this church? How many are disciples indeed? How many are of that class that are mentioned by our Lord, when he says, "If any man will be my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow me, and where I am there will my disciples be"? And of the class of which he says, "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Few there be that find it.

Now, my dear friends, admitting the fact that there is a narrow way and that few are going to find it, and that this church class is the only class that God is now saving, and that that is the teaching of the Word all the way through, we must become dead with him if we would live with him. We must suffer with him if we would reign with him; but this is of the church class, not the world. The world is never invited to suffer with Christ. Men are called to repentance, but it is not all the world that is called to be the bride of Christ. It is those that have repented; it is those who have turned from sin, who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; these are the ones who are invited to be the little flock and to be joined here with Christ and to lay down their lives for his cause. If then we can get this matter differentiated in our minds, let us remember the words of the apostle on this subject of the mystery of Christ. He distinctly tells us

that there is a mystery class. Did you ever hear of a mystery class? The Scriptures tell us that the church is a mystery. Let me quote you what the apostle says: "The mystery hidden from ages and generations, and now made manifest." When made manifest? In the days of the apostles, from Pentecost day on, this mystery class began. In other words, "The church is a mystery the world knoweth not of, even as it knew Him not," is the Scriptural way of putting it. Why does the world know it not? Because it is this little flock that the Lord is selecting out from the worlda very peculiar people. Not many great, not many wise, not many learned, hath God chosen, but this select class whom he is now selecting from the world, a peculiar people, every one of them to be copies of his Son. How many will that leave out? Dear friends, that will leave out nearly all the people in Cincinnati and nearly all the people of Allegheny, and Pittsburg, too. Do you know many that are copies of God's dear Son, in Cincinnati? I hold that you do not. I hold that there are not many in Cincinnati who will claim to be copies of God's dear Son. Yet the Scriptures tell us that that is the kind that God has predestined; these are the ones who are to constitute the very elect, that peculiar people who are to make their calling and election sure. Election to what, you say? The Scriptures answer, election to share with Christ in the heavenly kingdom, to worship with him in his heavenly kingdom. What kingdom? The kingdom for which we pray when we say, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." When will that kingdom come? At the end of this age, dear friends. Why at the end of this age? Because this gospel age has been appointed for this very purpose of selecting this kingdom class. The Lord is now taking this class out of the world. What does he call them? In one illustration he calls them the bride, the Lamb's wife; and in another illustration he calls them jewels, and in another he calls them members in particular of the body of Christ. All of these are very select terms, you see, and they represent a very careful selection on the Lord's part-an elect class the very elect.

I need not call your attention to the many Scriptures which speak of the elect of God, the very elect, but shall point out that the church is a very peculiar people and that they are all saints.

Mark the illustration that is given to us in the Word respecting the resurrection "Blessed and holy are all they that have part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power; they shall be kings and priests unto God and shall reign on the earth." They will be kings and priests unto God and shall reign on the earth at that time; that is what it means-reigning kings and priests; they are both. The two offices will be combined.

The

Let me read you a few more of these texts about the mystery. apostle says, in Colossians 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Again he says, Ephesians 3:9, "The fellowship of the mystery, which is Christ

in you." So in Revelation, you remember, it is finally brought downRev. 10:7, we are pointed out the time when the mystery of God shall be finished. The mystery class began with Pentecost. There was no mystery class before that. The church is this mystery class. The world knoweth not what God is doing-and I am sorry to say that I did not know for a while what God was doing, and perhaps you did not know what God was doing; that he was taking out of the world a people for his name; that he was not at any time trying to take in the world, but he was trying to take out of the world a people for his name; as the apostle Peter expresses the matter, "Taking them out for a purpose;" as we have already had it called to our attention in Ephesians, the apostle states that in the ages to come-oh, there are ages to come. This is not the last age; there is work for this age, and also for the ages to come, and in the ages to come, says the apostle, "He shall show forth the exceeding riches of his grace and his lovingkindness toward us in Christ Jesus."

Who are the "us"? The church, the “little flock," the bride class. The class that shall sit with him in his throne-when he has a throne-for he is delaying the sitting on his throne until he has the bride class completed.

Now, my dear friends, if we can get before our minds that there is on God's part a great plan of salvation that is partly outlined in the statement in many Scriptures, to the effect that God so loved the world that he gave his Son for the world and not merely for the church, and that Jesus was the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world; if we get that before our minds, we see that in the present time he is taking the church, finding the little flock, and then by and by the little flock associated with him in his Kingdom will be the power of God associated with Jesus for the blessing of all the families of earth.

I might call your attention to some of the various pictures by which this is represented in the Scriptures. We are told, for instance, that the whole world is not called, but that he that hath an ear to hear let him hear. The implication is that all have not an ear to hear. The apostle Paul says, "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of all them that believe not." How many of them are there? We will all agree that the heathen are blinded and they know not God. How many of them are there to-day? Twelve hundred million of heathen that are blinded to-day, that know not God because the eyes of their understanding are shut-fast shut. Then they come here to civilized America, the most highly civilized country in the world; yet how many here know God? to how many here has God spoken? He has spoken in these last days unto us by his Son. But I ask you, how many have heard?

Suppose, now, that the audience here were all deaf and dumb people, and suppose I addressed this message to them; how many would hear? The deaf and dumb certainly would not. Who would hear? Those who had ears to hear would hear. And so the Scriptures tell us, "He that hath an ear to

hear, let him hear;" and that is the message that you and I have to-day. Wherever we go with the Gospel of Christ, whoever hath an ear to hear, let him hear, and we are glad to let him hear.

We have not any second chance at all; there is no second chance for anybody that hath an ear to hear. His responsibility begins where his hearing begins, and in proportion to his hearing. What we are claiming is that God has not passed by the twelve hundred millions who have no ear to hear, that God is not passing by the people of Cincinnati and the people of Pittsburg who have no ear to hear, but God has a glorious provision of which he tells us in the prophecy, that by and by all of the blind eyes shall be opened and all the deaf ears shall be unstopped. That will be done by the Lord in the name of the everlasting Son. That will be a good time. I am glad that God is going to open their ears by and by.

The Lord tells us that the god of this world hath blinded their eyes. Who is the god of this world? It is not Christ Jesus, but Satan. How has he blinded their eyes? By error, and superstition, and gross darkness that is about the people; darkness covers the earth. The first Scriptures tell us of that great darkness. Who caused that darkness? Satan. Who permits it? Our heavenly Father permits it; our heavenly Father permits this gross darkness that the people are in. If he did not, would they be in darkness? How could there be otherwise than what he would permit? So then, dear friends, if God is now permitting them to be in gross darkness, is now permitting Satan to be the prince of this world, and is now permitting him to blind the hearts of them that believe not, let us also rejoice when he tells us that the time is coming when Satan, the old serpent, the old devil, shall be bound for a thousand years, to deceive the nations no more till the thousand years are finished. When Satan is bound and his deceptions are ended, all the blind eyes shall be opened and all the deaf ears shall be unstopped.

So the Scriptures represent the present time as a time of darkness; darkness covers the earth, the gross darkness of the people. The heathen are in gross darkness; civilization is in darkness also, although not as gross as heathendom; but the Lord tells us that there are some of his people who are following the lamp: "Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a lantern to my footsteps." Those are the ones who have the hearing ear, who take heed to the Word. Let us be glad that our ears have heard something of the grace of God. Let us be glad that we have come from darkness into his marvelous light.

Our dear brother wanted to tell you about my side. I thank him for the endeavor, but I prefer to tell my own side, dear friends, and it will be a little different. I want to tell you that we do not have any second chance to preach to anybody, except in the general sense that I will show you; for instance, that you are enjoying now a second chance, I am enjoying a second chance now. For instance, according to the