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the slightest color of right on behalf of the shipowner, that he is not likely. to receive a renewal of his orders for the placing of the insurance for the next year. It may be admitted at once that the majority of adjusters who are doing both an insurance, brokerage and an adjustment business as above, are men of great ability, and generally men of integrity, but it would not be human to suppose that they would err against the ship-owner, whereas with the cargo owner, they care but little for his criticism. He has nothing to say with regard to their appointment, and he has no influence with regard to giving him the business for another year, so that it is quite possible for an adjuster to do what he thinks to be the correct thing, and yet to be, in a measure, an advocate for the shipowner.

It is largely because of this situation that a great many people who pay general average losses and sacrifices, and the very large amount of expenses incident to it, have for many years sought a way to do away with the custom. A recent writer of considerable authority has made the statement: "General Average is a time honored principle, and as has been well said, is based upon natural justice. If, as it is claimed, abuses have crept in its application, let us correct these abuses, but to abolish the principal that is based upon natural law and justice, the answer must be no." Needless to say, this authority was an average adjuster, and there are some average adjusting firms in the United States that get a larger return annually than the President of the United States, and when such inducements are held out to people, and when the evil cannot be abolished without abolishing a large part of the inducement, one does not have to think long to reach the conclusion that you must abolish both to remedy the evils.

One of the most important subjects before the United States to-day is the desired increase of our maritime affairs. How can the maritime affairs of the country be increased when they

are hampered by a great number of drawbacks like these. Our material makers and our ship builders operate under a protective tariff that is too high. Our shipowners are not allowed to buy ships abroad. Our labor unions do not permit competition in labor. Our oversea laws do not permit us to hire our seamen where we can get the best service for the least money, and again, I say in customs like General Average, too much opportunity is allowed for outrageous charges. As a matter of fact, after a General Average loss occurs, the adjuster, the shipowner, the printer, the surveyor and some others who fatten because of these disasters, usually get from twenty to twenty-five per cent of the total amount before it is finally settled. The cargo owner, the ship owner, or the underwriters usually have a lot of their money tied up, sometimes in the hands of the shipowner, but more often in the hands of an adjuster for a great number of years, thereby taking large amounts of capital out of current circulation, and curtailing the business of the merchant or the underwriter who would profit were his capital available for constant use.

There has recently been published a pamphlet with a plan to abolish General Average altogether. The plan is a very simple one, which need not necessarily be repeated here, any more than to say that the necessity of an adjustment along the lines of General Average is done away with entirely through the simple arrangement of having the ship, her freight, disbursements, cargo, advances, duties, etc., all insured under a single policy, each underwriter accepting the same percentage of each particular interest, thereby making it immaterial to him. on which particular part a loss shall have occurred, thus offering a way to facilitate commerce, to settle losses within a few weeks instead of years, relieve all parties of the necessity of tying up money, or fretting over intricate problems, based on the laws of antiquity and doing away with the adjusters altogether.

Conditions of Acceptable, Effective

Prayer

By C. T. Russell

Pastor New York, Washington and Cleveland Temples and the Brooklyn and London Tabernacles

"If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."John 15:7.

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VERY remarkable promise is this text. It is limited to certain people under certain conditions. It does not say that anybody may ask what he will. The class that may so ask are those who abide in Christ. Before any one can abide in Christ, he must come into Christ. No one can be said to abide in Him who has not come into Him as a member of His body, the Church. More and more the Lord's people are learning that a solemn transaction takes place when one becomes a member of Christ. To say, "I have companied with Christian people for several years, and I go to church every Sunday," would not constitute one's being in Christ, nor would simply saying, "I joined this or that donomination when a child," or at any later age. None of these steps would necessarily bring one into Christ.

When we look over into Europe and see present conditions there, we have an illustration of what it is to be merely a church member. We see that in centuries past people got a wrong idea into their minds-that the Church was to convert the world, so as to keep all mankind from going to eternal torment. This error was first held by the Roman Catholic Church, and was largely retained by the Protestants, who later came out from the Catholic

Church, and to whom much of her error adhered. It is very difficult to get entirely out of error all at once.

Let us consider the facts. St. Augustine, one of the Church Fathers, was the one who especially advanced the theory that whoever died without having been baptized in water would go to eternal torment. His ideas were generally accepted, and as a result infant baptism was practised. The Bishops had gotten the thought that they had the right to make doctrines and creeds for the Church. Another wrong idea that had crept into the Church was the doctrine that whoever died outside of membership in the church organization would go to endless torture; but that church members would at death go to Purgatory for a longer or shorter time for purgation

-a condition far better than that of a Hell of endless woe. As surely as any one was baptized into the Church and buried in consecrated ground, so surely would he escape Hell and be safe in Purgatory.

Wrong Conceptions are Injurious.

This being the general thought, strenuous efforts were made by all church members to get all of their families and friends into the Church; for they did not care to have their loved ones go to eternal torment. Under the influence of this great error nearly everybody was drawn into the church organization, just as we see it over in Europe to-day.

All wish to be right. Nobody desires to be wrong. But in the increasing light of our day we perceive that our forefathers had become sadly confused respecting the true teachings of the Bible. However, we do not blame them; for the Scriptures place the responsibility for the confusion upon the Devil, who introduced "doctrines of demons" during the Dark Ages.-2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Timothy 4:1; Matthew 13:37-41.

We all see what these warring nations that are supposed to be 95 per cent Christian are doing. Each side is jealous of the other. And yet both sides claim to be almost all Christian. The The Italians, however, claim to be 100 per cent Christian. Everybody in Italy is a Christian. But judging from the conduct of some of the Italians whom we see here in America, who would know that they are all Christians!

This wrong conception, this telling people that they are Christians when they are not Christians, this telling them that they are in the Church of Christ, when they are not, surely leads to hypocrisy. The churches that have promulgated these wrong theories do not like to tell the people the truth, that they are not in the Church of Christ, that no one can get into the true Church except in the way that our Lord Jesus Himself directed. Indeed, they are all confused. We remember that the Apostle Paul says, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." (Romans 8:9.) Our Lord Jesus declares, "By their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7:20.) Look at the fruits in Great Britain, in Germany, in France, in Italy, in Austria! Do we see the fruits of the Spirit of Christ there?

Christ's Spirit Versus Satan's Spirit.

What are the fruits of the Spirit of Christ? Hear St. Paul: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, selfcontrol." (Galatians 5:22, 23.) Hear also St. Peter: "Giving all diligence,

add to your faith fortitude, and to fortitude knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly-kindness, and to brotherly kindness love." (2 Peter 1:5-8.) We see very little of these fruits in Europe to-day-only in a few of God's true saints.

The Apostle Paul also tells us the characteristics of the opposite spirit. He says, "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: . . . hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, envy, murder," etc. He did not add bomb-throwing, asphyxiation by poisonous gases and other modern devices for killing and mangling our fellow-men; but all this is included with murder and other devilishness. latians 5:19-21.) No savages ever fought more viciously than do these people who are deceived into thinking that they are Christians. They are not Christians at all. If ever we have had that idea, the sooner we get it out of our heads the better.

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The Body of Christ a Company.

Our text presupposes that those addressed have come into Christ. The appropriate question is, How may we be sure that we have come into Christ? One might have much knowledge of Present Truth and yet not be a member of the Body of Christ. This Body of Christ is composed of saints, those who are really following Jesus in the narrow way. It is a company, a body, in the same sense that Congress is a body. There are many members in the Body of Congress, all of whom are under a head. So with the Church. The Body of Christ, the Church, is composed of many members, over whom God has appointed a Head.

The head of the Church is Our

Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:22, 23.) He came first; and since then His members have been gradually united to Him throughout this Age. The Body of Christ is now almost completed. The Heavenly Father has done the calling and the electing

of this class. But each individual who is called must make his own calling and election sure. The word Christ means Anointed. Long before the foundation of the world God had purposed The Christ-Jesus the Head and the Church the Body. The Apostle tells us that even our Lord Jesus took not this honor unto himself, but that He was 5:4-6.

called of God.-Hebrews

King David was called of God to an earthly kingship. He was a type of Christ. There was also an earthly priest, Aaron, anointed of God. He was a type of Christ as a sacrificing priest. God has anointed Christ to a still higher Kingship and a

still higher priesthood. In His glorified and exalted condition He is "a Priest after the Order of Melchizedek." This Melchizedek was a grand character who lived in Abraham's day. He was king and priest at the same time. Long, long ago, God appointed Jesus to be the Head of the Priesthood that was typified by Melchizedek-a priest upon His Throne.-Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7:11-17.

When Jesus presented Himself in consecration to God at Jordan, and was there begotten of the Holy Spirit, it was for Him to make His calling and election sure to the Headship of that Priesthood. He said, "I delight to do Thy will, O my God!" He gave His life to the doing of the Father's will. He finished his course grandly, faithfully. The Apostle, after telling us of our Lord's faithfulness even unto the death of the cross, says, "Wherefore, God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every

name." (Philippians

2:8-11.) Our Lord is now the great Prophet, Priest and King after the Order of Melchizedek.

Rigid Conditions of Membership. According to the Master's own statement, it is necessary that He be found faithful; otherwise He would have forfeited His life. Moreover, He was to be the Head of the Church, which is the Body of Christ. Of the Christ

Body, the Apostle says that God, who foreknew Jesus, foreknew the Church also. He who foreknew Jesus as His Anointed, foreknew that there would. be a body of a limited number of members anointed in Him. That number is given in Revelation as 144,000. This we believe to be a literal number

Each one of this class has been drawn of the Father through the Truth. God has called them in the sense that He has sent forth His message speaking peace through Jesus Christ. If we have heard this message and have responded to it, this constitutes our call. Nobody has been forced. As that message of Truth has come, some have been greatly attracted, others have been slightly attracted, and others have not been attracted at all. For 1900 years God has been passing the Magnet of Truth up and down the earth, to find that particular class which has been drawn and held by the Truth. Just as soon as that work is completed, another work will be inaugurated.

The Lord permits the storms of life to blow upon this class which now responds to God's message. If these experiences blow any individual of this class off from the magnet, he is not of the kind for whom God is looking. He is looking for those who will stick to the truth Despite any pressure that may be brought against them. He permits trials and difficulties for the developing and proving of those who have responded to the call. These testings will blow off all who do not love the Lord and His service above all things else. He purposes to separate those who are of this true character from all others. He seeks those who are loyal of heart, and only those.

God Himself is the one who has the attraction. It is not that we first loved Him, but that He first loved us. (1 John 4:19.) It is the love of God, the love of Christ, that binds us to this magnet. God's wonderful wisdom, love, mercy and power have indeed been a magnet to our souls. The more we know Him, the more we are attracted to Him. There is something

about the divine character that is so wonderful that nothing else can compare with it. We are glad to leave all things else for His sake.

New Creatures in Christ. We hear God's message, speaking peace through Christ, telling us that we may have forgiveness of sins, telling us that God is now selecting a special class of people from the world for the purpose of blessing all the families of the earth. This is the message that reaches our hearts. Then we take the Apostle's advice, and present our body a living sacrifice, our reasonable service. (Romans 12:1.) No one has come into the family of God who has not done this. No one has become a member of the Church of Christ until he has taken this step. Our Lord Jesus thus presented Himself to God. He said, "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." In one respect, however, there was a difference in His case. He was holy, perfect; therefore He needed no advocate with the Father. But the members of His body need the imputation of His merit to cover the blemishes which they have by nature. His merit is like a covering robe. So we have an advocate with the Father, and it is His advocacy which makes us acceptable to God. Thus we become united to Christ as joint sacrificers with Himself.

As we are received, God gives us the begetting of the Holy Spirit. This constitutes us New Creatures. Just as an earthly begetting starts an earthly being, so this spirit begetting starts us as spirit beings. Thenceforth, although the flesh is of the human nature

-a child of Adam-the new creature is the germ of a spirit being, begotten in the fleshly body. This new nature is to grow and develop until finally it is brought to the birth, in the First Resurrection.

God's Will Their Delight.

It is not that our flesh is different or that our brains are different from what they were before; but that with this

new mind and this new will our purposes and our aspirations are entirely different. We are to be members of the body of Christ, and are to follow the will of our Head in every particular. And so during all the days of our life thenceforth, we should be thinking, "What is the Lord's will concerning me?"

Those who become New Creatures in Christ are no longer to follow their own wills. Whether they eat or drink, or whatsoever they do, they are to do all to the glory of God. The New Creature is to be guided by the will of the Lord and not by his own inclinations. But he is not to remain a babe. A babe cannot understand at first what its parents are saying to it; but a healthy babe will grow and learn very quickly. If you watch a babe, you will observe that it looks at its parents to see whether it may or may not do a certain thing. So the child of God should always be looking to see what our Father wishes him to do. Thus we become dear children, as the Apostle says; children whom God especially loves.

Now, then, we have before our minds the class of whom our Lord speaks in our text. Those who abide in Him are those who have been begotten of the Spirit, and who are walking in the narrow way. These constitute the Church of the living God, Jesus being their Head, their Forerunner and their redeemer.

Conditions of Abiding in Christ.

"If ye abide in Me, and My words. abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you," is the Master's promise to His faithful followers. We abide in Him by continuing as we began. The Apostle says, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice." This applies to us not only when we began our Christian course, but every day until the end. We have suggested that every morning we make a fresh presentation of ourselves to the Lord, not as making a new sacrifice, but as confirming

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