The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1914-07-28

in all its phases
l(ASIOR RuSStLDl and an incentive
to deep research
along many lines. With very few ex-
cept1ons those who have seen it de-
clare that 1t has revealed to their as
tonished eyes the lengths. breadths.
heights and depths of the Love of God,
which passes 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. PauPs
words. Whereby, when We read. ye
may understand my knowledge in the
Mystery Of Chris" -Ephesians ga
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 glorified. the Divine Power will
operate through this Temple God will
be in the Church-the Temple-and all
nations viii begin to draw near to
their Creator All classes-Jews, Gen
tiles. bond and free-will come to the
Father through this Temple; for the
glory OF God will be In It.
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 Melchizedek. The
under-priests are still In 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 it is written. BLESSED
and holy is he that hath part in the
First Resurrection; on such the Second
be priests of God and of Christ, and
shall reign with him thousand years."
The Pastor then discussed the ques
tion, How may one become a 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-
cal Body of Christ are in the world.
but the world knows them not, even
as it knew Him not
The Degrees of the Order.
It 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 and faith In His re
deeming blood. Some merely take this
initiatory step. and never go on to per-
lection. 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 Cod
for they are foolishness unto him; nei-
Their can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned." 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
mediately followed by spirit begetting.
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 to high
er degrees. In due time they may be-
come Knights Templars. This degree
is very honorable: those who have at
tanned it 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-
terry of Christ. Those who have taken
many degrees, therefore. know much
more than do those who have taken
but few degrees The Apostle urges
all In the spiritual Temple to grow
in grace, In knowledge, in character
likeness to our Lord, the Grand Com
mander of the Order. the High Priest
Of our Profession, the One who died
for us-who not only redeemed us and
gave us the opportunity Of becoming
members of this high fraternity, but
who also set us an example how We
ought to walk. Those who attain the
highest degree shall be His associates
and Joint heirs In His Messianic King
dom. This highest degree. however,
Is limited in number to $4,000 mem
bers, the Scriptures point out
The Standard of the Cross.
The Pastor then showed that the
members of the Free and Accepted Or
der of the Lord Jesus Christ's Com
mandery have for their standard, not
the cross on the head of the sword, but
the Cross of Christ, with which they
must be marked day by day. One of
the very highest of this Order was st
Paul, who boosted in one of his Epis-
ties that he bore in his body the marks
of the Lord Jesus. These marks were
not such as the world could appreci-
ate. but were marks such as our Saw
Tor had, and such as all have who at
tain the highest degrees bestowed by
this Order.
The Apostle elsewhere explains that
as Jesus bore the marks of having
been smitten, beaten, condemned and
crucified, witnessing to His faithful
ness to God and righteousness, so he
was himself marked. Every order has
its own marks, but only the Captain
of our salvation knows the marks
borne by the soldiers of the Cross.
Whoever receives these marks In His
service will be rewarded abundantly-
more than he could ask or even think.
These light Affections, which are but
for a moment, will work for these
faithful soldiers far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory-beyond
the veil. In the glorious Temple now In
process of construction.
This Temple, the speaker declared,
will be the greatest In existence. All
other temples, all other societies. are
but shadows, pictures, figures No
matter whence a candidate came, no