ENCOURAGING WORDS FROM FAITHFUL WORKERS.
DEAR BROTHER:—Please send me an outfit of tracts suited especially for introduction. I agree with you fully in the proposition that the printed page should accompany the public declaration of truth; but in this country we cannot sell DAWNS nor take subscriptions to the TOWER till we have evangelized gratuitously. Hence I cannot hope to sell very many; but will use them to the best advantage.
The Lord has been prospering our little effort exceedingly this winter. I baptized four new converts to Christianity recently, and expect soon to baptize a community of ten or fifteen aged persons, who were Methodists until present truth reached them. Opposition and persecution increase as signs of progress of the truth are manifested.
We have ordered our church work; that is, we have recognized an "elder" and two "evangelists," and have arranged to give attention to particular features of the work at stated Sundays, with other regulations along this line.
Your brother in Christ, C. A. McCLUNG.
DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER RUSSELL:—I am truly thankful to both the Lord and yourselves for the good that you by the grace of God have done me through MILLENNIAL DAWN and ZION'S WATCH TOWER. Experience, as well as the Word of God, teaches us that we are living in perilous times, in a time that tries men's souls. And while it is true that the light shines from God's Word much more clearly than ever before, some who have received present truth to some extent are getting it mixed with spiritism and other false "isms."
When the Bible says "try the spirits" (1 John 4:1), does it mean we should investigate spiritism?
REPLY:—When Satan and his present spurious Spiritism shall be bound and deceive the nations no more, there will no doubt be some communication established between the spirit-beings constituting the glorified Church, the Kings and Priests, and the world of mankind progressing in righteousness and restitution; just as there was communion between God and his creatures in Eden. But nothing of this kind should be expected now. The Church from first to last [R1947 : page 48] is to "walk by faith, not by sight." The body of Christ in the flesh is to have spiritual communion only with its Head, the Lord and with him only in prayer. We are specially warned, too, that Satan may even endeavor to counterfeit the Lord; and we are warned against those who claim to see him in the secret chamber (in seances), and are told that his revelation or manifestation in his day will, on the contrary, be "as the lightning"—really as the sunlight—filling the whole world with knowledge, light, truth. This scripture applies to the glorified members of the body as well as to the Head, Christ Jesus.—Matt. 13:43.
The scripture which says, "Try the spirits, whether they be of God," refers to doctrines, as is clearly indicated by the context. Furthermore, there is in the character and personal bearing of all spirit-mediums that which should impress unfavorably every child of God, who knows what to regard as the spirit (disposition) of Christ. "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his;" and such will never be used as his mediums of communication.—
In our issue of Feb. 1, '92 we published the following letter:— California.
DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:—I must write to tell you how exceedingly interested I have been in MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOL. III., which I spied out in a book store in Los Angeles. I enclose 50 cents, for which I would like you to send me, at once, VOLS. I. and II. of the series. I would also much like a sample or two of your paper—ZION'S WATCH TOWER—for if it is what I expect it to be, after DAWN VOL. III., I shall at once become a subscriber. VOL. III. is already circulating among my friends.
Yours in the waiting for Christ's Kingdom,
Our correspondent requested that until otherwise notified his correspondence be considered confidential; and therefore when shortly afterward we received a letter from Rev. Mr. Reed, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Los Angeles, stating that he had been considered the writer of this letter, and requesting that we make known the name of the writer, we replied that we were not at liberty to reveal his identity. We also stated that he was Pastor of the First Baptist Church of a neighboring city who had "spied out" the book while in Los Angeles; and we remarked that we thought the wording of the letter sufficient to show this, since a resident of L.A. would have said "this city." We did not therefore see any necessity for publishing Dr. Reed's denial, which he was abundantly able to do, and did do, through the Minister's meeting, and various of the religious press.
Notwithstanding this explanation, Dr. Reed and others have continued to make capital out of the letter, accusing us of various dishonorable and unchristian motives and acts. We therefore have pleasure in publishing herewith a later communication from the writer of the aforesaid letter, which we trust will set the matter right before all who have been misinformed on the subject.
DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:—In reply to your request regarding the letter published in the TOWER of Feb. 1, '92, and signed "Pastor First Baptist Church," while I was in California, I may say I have nothing to retract from what I then said, but regret to learn from you that any one else has suffered in any way as the supposed writer of the letter in question; and though I have since left California and the Baptist ministry, I have no hesitation in acknowledging the authorship, if it will relieve another from a false imputation.
Yours in Christian fellowship,