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Who May Know God’s Secrets
"None of the wicked shall understand; but the
wise shall understand."—Da 12:10.
In heathen lands as well as
throughout Christendom secret societies include large proportions of the human
family. Outsiders know something of their general motive and object, but their
particular methods, hopes, endeavors, ambitions are kept secret. To effect this
secrecy, to protect and conserve the interests of their association,
obligations to profound secrecy are fastened and clinched with oaths, some of
which are reputed to be almost blood-curdling, the endeavor being to fetter
liberty of expression on such matters not only by the obligations of honor but
also by those of fear. It is no part of my mission to attack any of these
orders nor to inveigh against their procedures. I merely refer to them here; I
merely call your attention to the fact that this is a common method amongst men
which evidently has the sanction of many, because I wish to draw to your notice
the fact that the Almighty God Himself is the
FOUNDER OF A SECRET SOCIETY
Moreover, while there are certain correspondencies between the human secret
orders and the one of Divine origin, we shall find as we should expect that the
latter is in every way superior to all others. Its aim and object are wider
than all, embracing the entire human family, promising good, blessing and
assistance to every member of the race—"in due time." (1Ti 2:6.)
Again, although its methods of operation are secret, this is not because they
are in any measure or degree sinful, disreputable, injurious or underhanded,
but merely because secrecy is to the advantage not only of the members of the
society; but also specially because present secrecy
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as respects the work now being accomplished will be beneficial ultimately to
the masses of mankind. This is in full harmony with the Divine statement.
"As the Heavens are higher than the earth so are My methods higher than
your methods and My thoughts higher than your thoughts."—Isa 55:9.
As in some secret societies there are different steps or grades—for instance,
all Masons are familiar with the secrets pertaining to the first degree yet not
all Masons are familiar with the secrets, etc., pertaining to the thirty-second
degree, so in God’s Secret Order there are first principles of the doctrines of
Christ which must be known to all who belong to the order, and are also
"deep things of God," which may be known only to those who have made
advancement by growth in grace and knowledge and love. (Heb 6:1; 1Co 2:10.) To
some unfamiliar with the facts but having a knowledge of earthly secret
societies it may seem strange to say that the secrets of the Divine Order of
the Sons of God are so abstract, so impenetrable, that they may be discussed
freely in the presence of others and not be comprehended at all.
Indeed, so far from laying restrictions upon the members of this Order not to
communicate its secrets they are authorized, yea, urged to make these known to
all who may be able to comprehend, understand them, with many assurances that
only the right class will be able to comprehend. Our text is one of these
assurances, "None of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall
understand."
Another assurance is, "The natural man receiveth [understandeth] not the
things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned"; and again, "The secret of the Lord is with
them that reverence Him, and He will show them His covenant." (1Co 2:14;
Ps 25:14.) The only restrictions in respect to the telling of the secrets of
this Order of the Melchizedek Priesthood are, "Cast not that which is holy
before dogs," "Cast not your pearls before swine,
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lest they turn again and injure you." (Mt 7:6.) These secrets would be
injurious to them; and, misunderstanding them, the swinish, the groveling,
might be incited to violence through disappointment, recognizing no value in
pearls nor appreciating anything that would not give earthly satisfaction.
THE FOUNDING OF THIS ORDER
The Scriptures assure us that our Creator purposed the founding of this Order
of the Melchizedek Priesthood before the foundation of the world. In due time
Melchizedek, a kingly priest, constituted its type in the days of Abraham—and
then, too, a preparatory or Junior Order was inaugurated, Abraham being chosen
of the Lord as its Grand Master. To him the whole secret of the Order was communicated
in few words saying, "In thee and in thy Seed shall all the families of
the earth be blessed." The meaning of this was but partially grasped by
Abraham himself and all of his posterity, the Jewish nation, who with him
became members of that Junior Order during a period of two thousand years. They
understood this to signify that at some time Messiah would come and establish a
new order of things with the result that Abraham’s posterity in particular and
the nations of mankind in general would receive through Him a great blessing.
These hopes of the Junior Order proved very encouraging and helpful to such of
them as properly entered into the spirit and designs of the Order and sought to
appropriate the blessings and privileges of Divine relationship thus accorded
them. In proportion as by faith they entered into this Order they took degrees
of knowledge and of love and had more of the Divine approval.
But as for the other nations of the world they were not admitted in any sense
of the word to this Order. It was exclusively for Abraham and the Jews; and all
others were strangers, aliens and foreigners from the Commonwealth of Israel,
without God and having no hope.
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It was at our Lord’s First Advent, or more particularly at Pentecost following
His redemptive work and ascension to the presence of the Father, there to
appear on our behalf, as our Advocate, that the present Order of the
Melchizedek Priesthood was organized—"the Church of the Living God, whose
names are written in Heaven." (Heb 12:23.) It is not an earthly
organization, but a Heavenly one, and hence properly it is not composed of
those whose names have been written on earth, but those whose names have been
written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. The earthly organization, called by various
names, represents many misunderstandings of the Divine arrangement and
unintentionally does violence to principles of the Order; and, whereas these
sectarian lines separate some of the true members of the Melchizedek Priesthood,
they also receive as members many whose names are not written in Heaven, many
who have not the credentials of the true Order, who do not understand its
secrets, because they have not been properly initiated by the Holy Spirit.
You will understand, therefore, dear friends, that in our view of the matter
the division of the Church of Christ into various bands and companies under
various banners—Wesley’s, Calvin’s, Luther’s, the popes’, etc., —represent so
many mistaken ideas, represent so much of confusion and misunderstanding and
bewilderment and contention and error. These organizations are not only not
necessary but wrong, in that they tend to distract and divide the true members
of the Divine Order who should know each other not by outward badges and names
but by their acquaintance with the Lord and with His secret, which is with all
those who fear Him.
The first principles of the doctrine of Christ should enable any of these who
are truly the Lord’s, to make themselves known and well acquainted with others
without any earthly introduction or distinguishing name. Indeed, all these do
know each other when they meet; but
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the Adversary’s effort has been to keep them apart and thus if possible to
hinder the progress and growth of the Divine Order. But he has not really
hindered it; instead, his methods have merely assisted in making the Order the
more secret and unknown to the world, including those merely nominal
Christians, not spirit-begotten.
So great has been the deception that the Lord Jesus, the grand and everlasting
Head and Master of this Order of the Melchizedek Priesthood, was crucified by
some who belonged to the Junior Order and who were in one sense earnestly
waiting for the establishment of the new Order and for an opportunity to enter
it! They were not permitted to enter because they were unworthy—except the few
of whom we read (Joh 1:11,12): "He came unto His own and His own received
Him not; but to so many as received Him, to them gave He liberty to become the
sons of God"—to join the Order of Spiritual Sons, the Melchizedek Order of
Priesthood.
"THE WORLD KNOWETH US NOT"
Similarly all down through the Gospel Age there has been an outward Church of
God and a true, the inward one. The world has seen the outward one, but not the
inward. It has applauded and reprimanded the outward, but has uniformly
disallowed the true and considered its members to be merely foolish. Thus the
Apostle Paul assures us that himself and others, zealous in the service of the
Lord and doing the work of this higher Priesthood, were counted fools all the
day long for Christ’s sake (1Co 4:10); and St. John says, "The world
knoweth us not, even as it knew Him not." (1Jo 3:1.) Similarly all who
live godly in Christ Jesus have, as the Apostle advised, suffered more or less
of persecution and ignominy because they were not recognized of the world—so
impenetrable are the secrets of this Order and its message that others cannot
know them. Nevertheless, the Order has been growing, increasing, and its fixed
or limited
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membership will soon be completed. Then no further additions will be accepted.
Let it be understood clearly that membership in this Order does not mean injury
to those who are not members of it, but contrariwise it means ultimately a
blessing to come to them all through the Melchizedek Priesthood, as it is
written of this spiritual Seed of Abraham, of which Christ is the Head and the
Church the Body, "In thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed." (Ga 3:29.) The selection of the members of the Order is
accomplished under present conditions because they must all become over-
comers, willing and able to count it all joy to be in tribulation and to suffer
loss for the sake of the Order its interests, its present workings and membership
and its future work. Whoever is not willing to suffer for the cause is counted
unworthy to be a member—in a word, every member of the Melchizedek Priesthood
must sacrifice his life in the interest of the Order, in support of its
glorious Lord and Head and His teachings and in serving in general the
interests of the Order and its members—"We ought also to lay down our
lives for the brethren." It will thus be seen that the gateway into this
Order is a very narrow one and the pathway of membership in it a very narrow
one—"Strait is the gate and narrow [difficult] the way, that leadeth nto
life," the special immortality and associated glory which God has provided
as the eternal portion of this elect Melchizedek Priesthood.—Mt 7:14; 1Jo 3:16.
BONDAGE AND LAWS OF THE ORDER
Briefly I might say that in one sense every member of the Order is in bondage,
and that in another sense every member is free. Let me explain this strange
expression.
Each is free to leave the Order, renounce it, denounce it and count the precious
blood wherewith he was sanctified a common thing and to despite the spirit of
favor which initiated him into this Order. In doing so he incurs no
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threat of eternal torture. He merely brings himself under death sentence,
similar to the one under which he was before he was reached with the grace of
God through the precious blood, excepting that it means the Second Death, from
which there is no remedy, no ransom, no recovery by resurrection or
otherwise—an eternal death similar to that experienced by the entire brute
creation.
While, therefore, each member of this Royal Priesthood is at liberty to go back
to wallowing in the mire, like the sow that was washed, yet if he choose to
remain he is also at liberty to follow this course—none shall be able to pluck
him out of his Father’s hand nor to separate him from this grace.—Joh 10:29; Ro
8:38,39.
However, as already stated, those who abide in Christ, who abide in this new Order
of the Royal Priesthood, can have its blessings and privileges fully only upon
the most exacting terms and conditions; namely, their full surrender to the Law
of the Order so far as their intentions are concerned. "Ah!" I hear
you say, "the laws of that Order must be very voluminous. Doubtless many
volumes of Divine statutes and regulations would need to be studied by the
members of this Royal Priesthood." We answer, No! The entire law of the
Order is briefly comprehended in one word—Love. It is demanded and required of
every member of the Order that love shall be the test, not only of his deeds,
but also of his words—yea, of his thoughts. Love is the fulfilling of the Law.
True, those initiated into this Order are persons of like passions with ourselves,
as the Apostle said. (Ac 14:15.) Some of them naturally are more fallen than
others, and have less of love and more of selfishness than others; but all who
join the Order are required to make resolution in their hearts as respects this
law of Love—and all the internal workings of the Order are with a view to the
perfecting of its members in love. They must learn to love the great Founder of
the Order supremely, and in turn to trust to His Love as well as to His Wisdom
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and Power, so that in obedience to His will they consecrate to spend time,
talent and influence, yea, all that they possess, in His service.
Secondly, He admonishes that to love those who love them is not the test which
He will apply; but that they will be expected to sympathetically love all
mankind, to do good to all men as they have opportunity, especially the
Household of Faith. (Ga 6:10.) It is required of them that they shall
especially love the brethren, the members of the Order, and be ready and glad
to lay down their lives for the brethren. Tests along this line are continually
necessary to weed out of the Order all who are not approximating its standard
of Love Divine, that all delinquents may be cast into the outer darkness, in
which the whole world is, and have share with the world in its tribulations
present, and especially in those which will come upon it in the closing of this
Age and the inauguration of the new one, when the Melchizedek Order of Priests
shall take possession of the empire of earth for its blessing and uplifting. It
will be seen, then, that the statement that love is the bond of perfectness
with this Royal Priesthood has a deep significance. The members of this Order
need not be constrained by oaths of allegiance one toward another, as they have
a stronger bond by far, the bond of love—and if any man have not this spirit of
Christ he is none of His.—Ro 8:9.
THE WICKED SHALL NOT UNDERSTAND
It is at times really amazing to note how the unconsecrated mind, attempting to
understand the Mystery of God, designed only for the members of this Order,
falls into such egregious blunders and makes such peculiar misstatements
respecting what we endeavor to set forth as plainly and as consistently as our
abilities will permit.
Nor need we think that the fault is ours, since we find that the words of our
Lord Himself and of His inspired Apostles were similarly misunderstood, and
that they have explained to us that God hides these things from
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others than His devoted ones. Mark our Lord Jesus’ words in His prayer, "I
thank Thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because Thou hast hidden these
things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so,
Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight."—Mt 11:25,26.
But how absurd it would be to think that our Lord would thank the Father for
hiding things from any, if we were to associate with that thought the one which
the world and the nominal Christian associate with it; namely, that all from
whom God thus hides these special things or secrets of the Lord are in
consequence appointed to an eternity of torture! What a travesty it would be
upon Divine Love and Justice and upon the character of the Father and our
Redeemer! But this is not the thought. None of the wicked understand, because
for them to understand would not only mean a greater measure of condemnation
upon them but would also mean an endeavor on their part to oppose and
circumvent the Divine arrangement.
As for the worldly-wise they may not understand; for not many great, not many
wise, not many learned are chosen of the Lord as worthy of membership in this
secret Order of Melchizedek. He explains to us elsewhere the reason for this;
namely, that He is seeking only the meek, the humble-minded, those who will be
willing to learn of Him, and to have their minds transformed and conformed to
the pattern most pleasing to the Lord. This, under present conditions, is
impossible to the worldly-wise, who feel their own superiority, etc., and seek
not the wisdom that cometh from Above and the Divine approval. In a word, then,
our Lord’s testimony shows us that the wise who will understand the things of
God and be initiated into the mysteries of the kingdom of the Melchizedek Priesthood
are not the worldly-wise or great—with few exceptions. They are chiefly the
poor of this world, rich in faith, who shall be heirs of the Kingdom
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which God has promised and for which we still pray, "Thy Kingdom
come."—Jas 2:5; Lu 11:2.
This is another reason why the world knoweth us not even as it knew Him not.
Had our Lord been one of the worldly great and bright, haughty and domineering,
wealthy and influential, yet possessed of His talents and powers, no doubt the
very ones who crucified Him would have hailed Him King. It was His humility,
His poverty, etc., that led to His rejection and His crucifixion as a false
prophet. Much the same is true of all of His followers who are members of this
Royal Priesthood Order.
And they are to be content with such a rejection by the world—content because
of their realization of acceptance with the Father and with the Grand Master;
content with the assurances granted in the Scriptures and confirmed by the Holy
Spirit in their experience. They are to wait patiently and the better to
cultivate under these conditions the fruits and graces of the Holy Spirit.
THE ORDER’S ULTIMATE PURPOSES
We are not hindered from telling the ultimate purposes of this grand Secret
Order which our Lord organized and of which, I trust, many of you are members
through faith in and consecration to the Lord. We may tell of these mysteries,
knowing that none of you will be able to appreciate or thoroughly to comprehend
all of these mysteries except such of you as have taken several degrees in the
Order, passing from grace to grace and from knowledge to knowledge. We remind
you here of the Master’s words when approached by the disciples who asked,
"Lord, why speakest Thou unto the people in parables?" Jesus answered
and said unto them, "To you it is given to know of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God,
but unto all outsiders these things are spoken in parables and in dark sayings,
that hearing they might hear and not understand." (Lu 8:10.) To our understanding
the total number of members in this Order of the Melchizedek Priesthood will be
144,001, the one being
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our Grand Master and Lord and Redeemer, the others being those of whom He says,
"All ye are brethren," and of whom the Apostle declares they are
members in particular of the Body of Christ, the Church of the Firstborns,
whose names are written in Heaven. (Heb 12:23.) Under another figure our Lord
is spoken of as a Bridegroom, and these 144,000, now espoused to Him,
covenanted to Him, are ultimately to be united to Him as His Bride, to become
the Lamb’s Wife and associates in His Throne and work of the future.—Re 21:9.
With the completion of this elect class, all shaped and polished as the Lord’s
Jewels by present trials, difficulties, etc., etc., the time will have come for
the inauguration of the work of this Royal Priesthood. The Kingdom class will
then all be in glory—Jesus their Head glorified nineteen centuries ago, the
Church His Body glorified with Him by a share in His kind of resurrection, at
His Second Coming. Then the Law shall go forth and the Word of the Lord; then
Satan shall be bound; then every evil thing shall be plucked up by the root!
What a turmoil this will mean at the beginning may be better imagined than
described. But so far as the uprooting and upturning is concerned, the Lord has
a peculiar way of accomplishing this; namely, by simply allowing present
institutions to "run amuck," to overthrow themselves, to develop
anarchy which will sweep the world as with a besom of destruction and produce a
Time of Trouble such as never was since there was a nation! It will be at the
conclusion of this period of awful anarchy toward which the world is now
heading rapidly and from which it cannot be held back by human wisdom and prudence
because selfishness has blinded the minds of the masses. The Scriptures tell us
that when that plowshare of trouble shall have passed through the world and
finally the new Order of things shall have developed, the poor world will begin
to have saner ideas in respect to life, justice and righteousness; and we read
that many nations shall
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then say, "Come let us go up to the Kingdom of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we shall walk in His
path." (Mic 4:2); and again, "The desire of all nations shall
come."
All nations will by that time be so thoroughly weary with the awful trouble
that they will be glad to welcome the Reign of Righteousness then due to be
inaugurated.
THE REFORMS OF THAT TIME WILL BE
THOROUGH-GOING.
Justice will be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and the lies
will all have been swept away, Satan shall be bound for a thousand years, his
deceptions shall cease, and instead the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God shall fill the whole earth. (Isa 28:17; Hab 2:14.) When thus the judgments
of the Lord shall be abroad in the earth (rewards for well doing and stripes or
punishment for evil doing), the inhabitants of the world shall learn
righteousness. Then the wilful, persistent evil-doer shall be cut off in the
Second Death.
Ultimately the blessing of the Lord through this Melchizedek Priesthood shall
accomplish all that its Divine Founder outlined in the first statement of the
good news to Abraham, namely, "In thy Seed shall all the families of the
earth be blessed." As a result we read that every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess to the glory of God, and that Christ shall reign until He shall
have put down every opposition and evil, the last enemy that shall be destroyed
being death. (Isa 45:23; 1Co 15:25,26.) The whole world shall thus be uplifted
from the power of sin and death, and be brought back to allegiance to the
Heavenly Father. And then, saith the Scriptures, The Christ, the Melchizedek
Priesthood, shall deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father, that He may be
all in all. (1Co 15:28.) However, the Scriptures clearly indicate elsewhere
that the great honor of God upon Christ, His beloved Son, and upon the Church,
the Bride of Christ, will be an everlasting honor; but the details of the
Father’s purposes for the Church are still
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held as an unrevealed mystery, even to those who have the secret of the Lord
and to whom He has shown the signification of His Covenant made to Abraham respecting
the blessing of all the families of the earth.
In conclusion, dear friends, I exhort that we who have become members of this
Secret Order of the Lord, including also those who under the leadings of the
Lord’s Spirit, may yet become members of it, shall appreciate more and more
fully its wonderful privileges and gladly conform more and more to its
requirements, that we may thus make our calling and election sure to the
glorious fruition of our hopes in the Kingdom of God and its gracious work under
the whole heavens! We shall best do this by studying our Manual, which our Lord
has given us, His Word, and by developing the various fruits and graces of the
Spirit, all of which are elements of the one general law of our Order, namely,
love to God and to our fellows. I remind you of St. Peter’s words, "If ye
do these things ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be administered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ."—2Pe 1:10,11; Ps 119:97-104.
"A little while;" with patience, Lord, I fain would ask, "How
long?"
For how can I, with such a hope Of glory and of Home, With such a joy awaiting
me, Not wish the hour were come?
How can I keep the longing back, And how suppress the groan?
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