QUES. 29.-I have been brought up in the orthodox way, but lately have become related to "Millennial Dawn" people, heard much of their teaching, and become interested in it. What do you think of it? Is it not strange that Christians should differ so much on such important subjects as the immortality of the soul, the trinity of the Godhead, hell, etc. ?

Are you. not looking for the Millennium ? One of my people has fixed the date at 1936. Mr. Russell has the time of trouble beginning 1914.

I would be glad to hear what you have to say.

ANS.-Your inquiry covers much more ground than we have room for here. We are having our Publishers therefore send yon some writings which bear on the subject. They were threatened with a lawsuit by Mr. Russell, the author of "Millennial Dawn " a while ago, on the plea that they injured its sale; so they must disagree very strongly with its teaching. And no wonder; for the very foundations of the faith are destroyed by Russellism.

Christians do not differ, as you seem to think, on the immortality of the soul, the trinity of the Godhead, hell, etc. All true Christians believe man has an immortal soul; believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; believe that the wicked go into everlasting punishment as surely as the righteous go into everlasting life.

They believe these truths because they are revealed in the Scriptures.

By virtue of the " many antichrists" (1 John 2:18) which began in apostolic times, and have gone on increasing since, who deny these foundation truths, some of the children of God may have been, and may now be, disturbed and thrown into confusion; but this is not the rule; it is the exception. You must not confound the mere professors of Christianity with men who have been born of God, in whose hearts Christ dwells by faith. All such hold fast to these foundations, as a man in mid-ocean holds fast to the ship.

The devil is a master at craftiness. In the palmy days of Rome there was no gospel preached; it was all hell-fire, used to bring the masses into subjection to a church which could deliver none out of it. Now that the gospel is preached with clearness, there must no hell-fire be preached, lest it disquiet the consciences of men, and they flee to Christ and the shelter of His precious blood, where there is deliverance from it-where indeed, and justly now, hell is heard of no more, but love which passes telling.

What a crime against humanity these no-hell preachers are guilty of! Even apart from their rendering useless the gospel of Christ, and making sinners comfortable in their sins, who knows how many murders, suicides, and crimes of all kinds, with their attending sorrows, they are accountable for by their removing all fear of God from the minds of men ? Children of God are indeed ruled by love, for they know love, and its holy claims too; but not the ungodly.

As to your relative's view of the Millennium, or Mr. Russell's, both are vanity itself, if our Lord's words in Matt. 24 :36 are taken into account. Every setter of dates has thus far had his folly proved, and will to the end. Dates belong to the Jew, not the Christian.

As to the trinity of the Godhead, it may be as much above man's philosophy as to create a sun is above his power; but to deny it must end in the denial of Scripture, for the two stand or fall together.

"Millennial Dawn "-ism is apostasy, not Christianity. It is a pious fraud; it acknowledges Christian truths which all Christians love and delight in, but only to annul them by its crooked reasonings and absurd vagaries. For instance, in the little book you send me, "The Plan of the Ages," Christ is owned as having been dead three days and then raised again. But this acknowledged resurrection is only a myth, for it is further denied that Christ's body ever came out of the grave, and He is declared to be "no longer a human being in any sense." Imagine, if you can, a man raised from the dead being no longer a human being in any sense ! Look with me for a moment at an incident after the resurrection of Christ. It is related in Luke 24:36-43. As for very joy His disciples could not believe that He was indeed risen from the dead, "Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled ? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself:handle Me, and see ; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, As ye see me have."

And in the face of this, the hook you have sent me can say that Christ is no longer a man in any sense ! It is silly, and only an infatuated people can be thus hoodwinked. It is wicked; for only wickedness can thus mock the Scriptures, and yet, with a show of piety, pretend to believe them. But it is easy to see what causes this infatuation ; easy to explain why the crowds love it. The sum and substance of it all is, There is no everlasting punishment; if eternal bliss is missed, 'tis bat a loss that is not missed, for the being exists no more to know it. How sweet this is to a proud and ungodly world which refuses to repent! Depend upon it, dear friend, a doctrine such as this has not holiness for its background, whatever it may profess. It may be sweet as honey now, but the spirit of rebellion toward God lies behind it, and that is always a spirit of corruption.

We would not have written so much at length had we not already found some of God's beloved people caught in this unholy net, and delivered from it. Were our answer to you the means of the deliverance of but one more such, we would feel many times repaid.

QUES. SO.-Will you kindly explain Matt. 5:23, 24? What is meant by "Leave thy gift," etc. ?

As a believer in Christ, do I, to please God, search for those whom I have injured, and ask forgiveness? God has forgiven my sins, I know, but I am not sure about getting the forgiveness of man. I want to stand right with God, and a pure heart I long for.

ANS.-Your understanding of the passage is quite right. We thank God for your tenderness of conscience. Maintain it all along the way, and you will reap blessing from it Nothing is more detrimental to Christian holiness and progress than to present oneself before God for prayer or praise with a defiled conscience. If forgiveness is refused you upon confession of wrong, the burden is no more on you, but on him who does not forgive.
Other questions remain for future issues, D. V.