that are round about you. The people of Christendom will finally appreciate that their distress is a punishment from God, because of not having followed the plain injunctions of the Bible, having mistaught the Word of God, and having lived no better than unbelievers.

11:13. And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatlah, the son of Benaiah, died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?— While Pastor Russell's reasonable and Divinely appointed teachings are doing their good work throughout Christen. dom the idea that human wisdom, Prussian culture, etc., can save the old order of things, will be seen lifeless.

11:14. Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Verses 14 to 25 are the message of comfort and hope to those who are now out of harmony with ecclesi asticism.

11:15. Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession.-The Jews in captivity were despised by those remaining in the "holy" city, Jerusalem. They type the people of Christendom who honestly own themselves to be of the world and are despised by the "best people," the educated, religious "holy" Churchianity. "Get you far from the Lord" is the attitude of the tares toward those who do not pretend as much, but who are often much better in God's sight. The "best people" not merely own most of the earth now, but expect to own Heaven toowith the now worldly people forever consigned to a devil. imagined hell of eternal torment.

11:16. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Al though I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will be to them as a little Sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.-God especially favors the honest. hearted, humble-minded, however far they may now be from Him in outward appearance. Christ avoided the Scribes and the Pharisees, but freely associated with the publicans and sinners.

11:17. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I wl!! give you the land of Israel.-In the coming Kingdom God will gather first the outcasts from their condition of disfavor, even from the dead, and will give them possession of the earth before the proud-minded ecclesiastics are per

mitted to return from the dead. This is to have also a literal fulfillment on Fleshly Israel.-Z.'94-76.

11:18. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abomi. nations thereof from thence.-The common people, free from the perverse influence of priestcraft, in Christ's Millennial Kingdom will abolish all the clergy-fostered ideas and practices now so abominable to God.

11:19. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.-They will be single-hearted to serve God and do His will alone. (Jer. 32:39.) From having the spirit or mind of natural men they will be given the Holy Spirit, when God "pours out His Spirit upon all flesh." (A333; Z.'03-171.) From being hard-hearted they will become tender-hearted, for giving one another even as God, for Christ's sake will forgive them.-Eph. 4:32.

11:20. That they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.-They will keep God's Law of Divine love. The "best people," who now regard themselves as God's people, in the Age to come will learn that God opposes the proud and favors the humble.

11:21. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God.-Those who at heart love established ecclesiasticism are counted as having the heart, mind or will of the author of priestcraft, the Devil. "Ye generation of serpents (devils), how scarcely shall ye escape the condemnation of Gehenna (Second Death)."-Matt. 23:33.

11:22, 23. Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.-God, and Divine favor, has ceased to be in or with Christendom (D527), but is upon and with the true Kingdom (mountain) of God (A318), toward the east (Zech. 14:4), the antitypical Mount of Olives.-D653.

11:24, 25. Afterwards the Spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. Then I spake unto them of the captivity al! the things that the Lord had shewed me.-These things seen in the Scriptures are now preached and published to the captives in Mystic Babylon,

EZEKIEL 12

CHRISTENDOM'S BLIND FLIGHT

12:1, 2. The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying, Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not; for they are a rebellious house. In Chapter 12:1-16 is depicted the blind flight of Christendom into revolution and anarchy. Pastor Russell and his co-workers once dwelt in the midst of the rebellious nominal house, or church, of God, with eyes blinded and ears made deaf by their spiritual defection.-Matt. 13:13. 12:3. Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: It may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.-He found in the Bible the Truth of God, which exhorts to "come out of her, O My people" (Rev. 18:4); and in obedience, he came out of his church home into a condition of separateness, by every means of publicity (in their sight) drawing the attention to his removal, in the hope that those left behind might turn truly back to God.

12:4. Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivityIn their estimation, he did this as one taken by the Evil One.

12:5. Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.-He dug through the creeds walls and thus "came out of her."

12:6. In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoul ders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.-To them he was one not knowing whither he went, with eyes blinded; whereas his action and his publishing of the Truth was but God's way of beseeching Christendom and warning her of her own fate.

12:7. And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth

In the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight-Pastor Russell and the Truth people did this with their limited power (hand), and laboriously (upon shoulder) made their way with their goods, the precious Truths, "out of her."

12:8-9. And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?The nominal church (home) of Spiritual Israel have often inquired of Pastor Russell and of the Truth people, "What doest thou?"

12:10. Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.-The import of the answer concerns the exalted class (prince, exalted one), the lords in Christendom, the clergy, and all professing Christians that are with them.

12:11. Say, I am your sign, like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity. What has been, is a lesson for them; as the Royal Priesthood has done, so shall it be done unto them; they shall move down from their exalted place and go into captivity to the laborite and revolutionary elements. The Jews were literally to go into captivity into ancient Baby. lon, which they did.

12:12. And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby; he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.As to the Jews, their ruler Zedekiah was by night to try to escape from Jerusalem, but he should not see the way. Regarding Christendom's clergy, they shall at the close of their day, abandon Christendom in the time of revolution, to save what they can for themselves, and "get out of her." They shall find a still more worldly way out of their creed walls and shall be self-blinded to the real condition of society (the earth).

12:13. My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.-Like a snare shall revolution, in the guise of freedom for all, come upon them; and, utterly blind to the significance of world events, they shall be forced into revolution and anarchy, and there shall this lordly class come to its end. (Hos. 7:12.) The literal application upon King Zedekiah is of course understood; for he went to Babylon, but never saw it, because his exes were put out.

12:14. And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.-God will scatter in war, tumult and confusion and in error; all that adhere to the clergy class, and all their congregations (bands); and against them shall He direct weapons of war and the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit.

12:15. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries. And they shall appreciate that Jehovah is God, when this has come.

12:16. But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come: and they shall know that I am the Lord. From among them God will leave a few manly be lievers, who shall escape the sword, the famine, literal and of the Word, and from the pestilential errors; that they, as then faithful members of the Great Company, may explain to the revolutionists and anarchists the Truth about the Divinely forbidden doctrines and deeds of the clergy, and their following.

12:17, 18. Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness.-The Lord's people were to eat, drink and live with great economy.

12:19. And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein. They were to say to the people of Christendom: "God says to the clergy and people of nominal Spiritual Israel, the churches: You shall eat your food by measure, and with economy-on the foodticket plan-and drink your Truth with amazement at the famine; for Christendom is to be desolated of its people, because of the violent wars, and the revolutions and anarchy of the people."

12:20. And the cities that are Inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.-The governments (cities) shall be destroyed and the social order desolated in anarchy; and they shall feel the outworkings of Jehovah's purposes upon them.

12:21, 22. And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in