"Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof?" (Rev. 5:2).

The whole universe is challenged_is there anyone in heaven, on earth, or under the earth that
can deal with the evil and bring in the blessing? The result of the challenge is that no one "was
able to open the book", and no one "was found worthy to open the book".

For thousands of years men have been endeavoring to redress the evils of the world and introduce
a time of universal peace and blessing. To use the symbolic language of Rev. 5, men have been
endeavoring to open the book. They have tried by codes and laws, by courts of justice, by prisons
and reformations to repress evil:they have Sought by every form of government_monarchial
and republican, dictatorial and democratic_to bring in a time of peace and plenty. Every class
has been tested, kings and nobles, plebeians and socialists; but amongst them all no one has been
found with either ability or worthiness. Yet men still proceed by desperate efforts, by leagues,
conferences, and pacts, to redress the wrongs of the world, and to bring about a time of universal
peace and blessing; every effort only proving that they have never yet heard the voice of the
strong angel. Those who have heard that voice know full well that it loudly proclaims that all
efforts of men are foredoomed to failure, inasmuch as they are attempts to put the world right
without God and Christ. Men consider only the rights of man, they ignore the rights of God and
the requirements of His throne.