Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-07-25


along many lines. With very few cx-
ceptlOns those who have seen ii de-
clare that II has revealed to their as
tOnished eyes the lengths. breadths,
heights and depths OF the Love of God.
whlchpasses human understanding, and
thus has brought them great blessing
The discourse Of Pastor Russell to-
day was unique In every sense OF the
word He took for his text st. Paul's
words, Whereby, when ye read. ye
may understand my knowledge in the
Mystery Of Christ" -Epheslans 3;4
The Scriptures clearly teach that
during this Gospel Age our God Is
preparing great Temple class. began
the Pastor. After this class shall have
been glOrifed. the Divine Power will
operate through this Temple God will
be in the Church-the Tempe-and all
nations will begin to draw near to
their Creator. All classes-Jews, Gen
tiles. bond and free-wil come to the
Father through this Temple; for the
glory OF GOu VIII ne III III.
The Priests In this new Temple OF
the future will be Jesus, the great
High Priest. and the Church, the I'M
der-priests. This High Priest will also
be King-"a Priest Upon His Throne"
after the Order Of Melchlzedek. The
under-prests are still I'm training for
their office. The Royal Priesthood will
consist Of those alone who shall be de-
clared worthy to sit with our Lord in
His Throne. AS 1t Is written, BLESSED
and holy Is he that hath part in the
First Resurrection; on such the Second
Death hath no power but they shall
be priests of God and of Christ. and
shall reign with him thousand years"
The Pastor then discussed the ques-
ton. How may one become n member
OF this Order of Melchizedek-these
knights Templars on the Heavenly
plane! The Church of Christ, he de-
clared. is the most wonderful Secret
Order ever known. The Mystery Of
God is not yet finished. the Revelator
tells us; this Mystery which God has
kept secret from the foundation of the
world will not be finished until the
sounding OF the Seventh Trumpet. This
Mystery, the Scriptures teach. is the
Church. These members Of the mysti-
cnl Body of Christ are in the world,
but the world knows them not, even
as II knew Him not,
The Degrees of the Order.
1t was then shown that the great
condition for membership In this Or
der is the absolute denial Of self-the
giving up to the Lord OF all that the
candidate possesses, himself included.
This condition Is the most stringent
ever known. The first degree in this
Order Is the recognition Of Jesus Christ
as our Savior aud faith In His re-
deemlng blood. Some merely take this
initiatory step, and never so on to per
fection. Those in the first degree
know practically very little about the
Order; for, as the Apostle declares,
"the natural man 1.-THE world receiv-
eth not the things of the Spirit OF God,
for they are foollshness unto him; nei
ther can he know them. because they
are spiritually dlscerned." Since the
secrets of this Order must be spiritually
discerned, whoever would know them
must progress beyond the first degree,
The second degree the Pastor ex.
planned. is conservation, which is i'm
medlately followed by pirlt-begetting.
Those who have progressed thus far
have become New Creatures in Christ.
To these, "old things have passed
away and all things have become new"
Thenceforth these should grow In
grace and In the knowledge Of our
Lord Jesus Christ; and as they do so
they are privileged TO advance 10 high
er degrees, In due time they may be-
come Knights Templars. This degree
is very honorable; those who have at
tained 1t have become leaders In the
Church Of Christ especial function
aries In any matter pertaining to the
interests OF the Temple. These know
most about the things OF the Temple
As these members OF the Order pro
gress from one degree to another, they
learn more and more about the Mys-
tery OF Christ. Those who have taken
many degrees, therefore. know much
more than do those who have taken
but few degrees. The APOSTLE urges