Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-04-01


GSAsIoR SusSeLLg which we report,
from the text, "Of
those born OF women there Is not u
greater Prophet than John the Bap-
tist. but the least In the Kingdom Of
Heaven is greater than he" duke vii,
28). Large and interested audiences
attended. He leaves tonight for Co.
penhagen and Stockholm. Crowds of
Jews are reported to have heard him
during the last three days in Vienna,
Budapest, Lemberg and Krakow.
There can be no better illustration
of the sharp line of distinction between
the earthly and the heavenly classes
and their calling than Is shown by our
text, said Pastor Russell The great
Teacher freely attested to the loyalty
and courage and salntllness Of His
cousin John. as evidenced by the words
of our text. But If so great and hon.
Orable Prophet, why could not John
be member Of the Bride class? Why
could he not be numbered with the
disciples Of Jesus and be an Apostle,
or at least a footstep follower? The
answer Is that he was not called to
the heavenly plane, but to the earthly.
He was honOred of God in being made
one of the Prophets of the Jewish Age
the last of them. Although differ
ent honor from that conferred upon the
Apostles, Johns was great honor and
ha IN hnIinxra That nnfnt
Divine providence when perfected In
the resurrection, he will appreciate the
earthly blessings and privileges which
will be his, more than the spiritual and
heavenly privileges bestowed upon the
Apostles and the less prominent men,
bers of the Church.
The Lord will choose our inher-
itance for u.s." we read psalm Xvii, A.
Happy are those who repose implicit
confidence In Divine goodness and who
seek to obtain whatever may be Gods
choice for them. If we have been
called with the heavenly calling let us
not shrink back and declare ourselves
unworthy and decline to accept the IA
vors of God and to choose an inferior
position. Let us, rather, be glad to
say, Thy will be done In my heart, in
my life, in all my future. "Order Thou
my steps in Thy Word"
A Friend Of tho Bridegroom.
Jesus had a two-fold mission
az He came "that the world through
Him might be saved He might
give Himself "a ransom for all, to be
testified In due time" q Timothy Il, 81.
(2) incidentally His mission was to
proclaim the acceptable year Of the
LOrd--the time In which God Is willing
to accept the sacrifices Of such as desire
to walk In the Redeemer's footsteps,
and to constitute these the Bride and
JOint-heir of Messiah.
John the Baptist referred to the lat
ter feature OF our Lords work, saying,
He that hath the Bride Is the Bride
groom, but the friend Of the Bride.
groom heareth His voice and rejoiceth
greatly. This, my joy, therefore, is
fulfilled John iii, 29), 1t was not for
him to be member Of the Bride, but
he rejolced to be friend of the Bride
groom. AS our Lords forerunner he
announced the Bridegroom; he called
upon the nation of Israel to turn from
sin, to purify their hearts. to come
back into harmony with God and thus
to be prepared to receive the Bride
groom and to become the Bride. So
far as the nation was concerned Johns
mission was failure, as God had fore
known and foretold. But so far as
the Bride class was concerned Johns
mission was a success. for as the
Scriptures intimate, those who bellev-
ed Johns testimony accepted Jesus
and He accepted them.
Greatest In tho Kingdom.
We must remember that the Church
is the Kingdom Of God-now in a
formative or embryotic state, but in
the end, by "the resurrection" to be
spirit beings and partakers with Je-
sus, their Bridegroom, in His wonder
full glory, honor, Immortality and
Kingdom work This Kingdom class
is not reigning now, but merely form
ing. 1t is joined ION probation" after
the Methodist style If the probation
airy period of the present life be faith
fully used, the full induction into the
Kingdom, its glories, honors and Inn
mortality, will surely folow-by par
ticirNtlon in the First Resurrection.
Amongst the faithful followers of
the Muster there will be differences,
as ST. Paul explains, las one star
differeth from another star In glory"
Il Corinthians Xv, An We cannot
know, and II is not necessary for
us to guess. who shall occupy the
chief places In the Kingdom, These
shall be given to those whom the Fa-
ther prefers, as the Redeemer explain
ed to the woman who asked that her
two sons might ait, one on His right
hand and the other on His left hand
10 the Kingdom Mntthew XX, 2n,
II we were TO guess who shall be