The Shepherd's Rod Vol 1. Tract



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Copyright 1930, 1945 by
V.T. Houteff
All Rights Reserved

   That everyone who thirsteth for the truth may obtain it, this booklet is, as a Christian service,
mailed without charge.  Send for it.  It levies but one exaction: the soul's obligation to itself to
prove all things and hold fast to that which is good.  The only strings attached to this free proffer
are the golden strands of Eden and the crimson cord of Calvary - the ties that bind.

1997 Reprint 




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THE SHEPHERD'S ROD

Volume 1

Second Edition

by V. T. Houteff

This "scribe," instructed unto the 
Kingdom of heaven, "bringeth forth
...things new and old." Matt. 13:52.


Now sanctify the Lord God 
in your hearts, and prepare 
to stand with the Lamb on 
Mt. Zion.


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               CONTENTS

THE SHEPHERD'S ROD, WHAT IS IT?    5
THE SEALING OF THE
FIRSTFRUITS--THE 144,000 7
THE SECOND FRUITS-THE GREAT MULTITUDE   17
   Parade of parades! Behold It Pass    23
ESAU OR JACOB--WHICH?    25
   Jacob's Dream    33
   The Mothers of Jacob's Descendants   34
   Jacob's Journey Homeward   36
ISRAEL'S GOING INTO EGYPT     37
   God Fed the Ancient World with Corn as
      He Feeds the Modern World with Truth   39
   From the Sheepfolds to the Brickyards     45
   No More Straw    47
   Shiphrah and Puah     49
ISRAEL'S GOING OUT OF EGYPT   53
MARVELS OF TYPOLOGY      56
CHRONOLOGICAL COINCIDENCES 66
   The Summary      70
EZEKIEL FOUR   74
MOTHERS, NOW MAKE YOUR FINAL APPEAL     87

ILLUSTRATIONS
   The Church and Her Priesthood   61
   ProvidentiaI Coincidences  72

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THE SHEPHERD'S ROD
===========
WHAT IS IT?

   The primary purpose of The Shepherd's Rod is to unlock the long-concealed mystery
concerning the ever-challenging and much discussed subject of the 144,000 (Rev. 14:1), with the
central object in view of bringing about among God's people that "thorough reformation" foretold
by the Spirit of Prophecy (Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 251).

   These truths, Divinely revealed, are of supreme importance to the church just now because of
the trying, sifting circumstances through which God's people are soon to pass.  Being vital
concerns to salvation, they call for decided action from ministry and laity alike to separate
themselves from all worldliness and to anchor themselves on the Solid Rock by obedience to all
the truth known to the church, if they would escape the forthcoming ruin that is to take every
sinner.

   Its dominant doctrinal concern being the truth of the 144,000, and a correct understanding of it
being a life-and-death matter to all, the Rod unfolds it from several different angles, each urging
the Denomination to prepare for the glorious deliverance

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of the saints and against the inglorious destruction of the sinners as foretokened by the marking
and slaying recorded in Ezekiel 9.

   No new denomination is advocated, on the contrary, such is unmitigatedly opposed.  And
finally, irrefutable proof is brought forth that the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination has been
the instrumentality of God since 1844 to carry on His work on earth, and that the Rod adds
"power and force" "to the third message." -- Early Writings, p. 277.

   Purporting to be the antitype of the first exodus, The Shepherd's Rod takes its name from
Moses' rod, the instrument through which the Lord manifested His power in the deliverance of the
children of Israel.  The Shepherd's Rod, the only Rod that has ever spoken, is predicted and
recommended in Micah 6:9: "Hear ye the Rod and [Him] Who hath appointed It."

   (This is the first revised edition of The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 1, originally published in 1930.  To
make it a handy pocket-sized book, points since dealt with in other numbers of these series of
publications have been omitted, and its subject matter condensed.)

   In compliance with the Lord's command, we should now with open ears hear the Rod's message

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THE SEALING OF THE FIRSTFRUITS -- THE 144,000

   "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he
cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,

   "Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our
God in their foreheads.

   "And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and
forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel." Rev. 7:2-4.

   The mystery concerning the sealing of the 144,000 is probably peer to any vexed Bible subject. 
Theory has crowded theory, only the more to mystify and confuse the truth of it.  No Christian
denomination seems to have escaped the controversy which, in giving rise to many divergent
views, has only increased the rift in the Protestant lute.

   This has been exceedingly regrettable, and very much the more so among us as Seventh-day
Adventists, for long ago the messenger of the Lord admonished us to "strive with all the power
God has given us to be among the 144,000" (The Review and Herald, March 9, 1905), and then
graciously placed in our hands the necessary knowledge for the time then present as to when and
where, why and what, the sealing is.

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   "This sealing of the servants of God," the Lord revealed, "is the same that was shown to Ezekiel
in vision." -- Testimonies To Ministers, p. 445. (Read Ezekiel 9).

   And in amplification of the subject the messenger wrote: "Especially in the closing work for the
church, in the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand who are to stand without
fault before the throne of God, will they feel most deeply the wrongs of God's professed people."
-- Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 266.

   Accordingly, the marking takes place in the church because of "the abominations" practiced in
her midst.  Hence, the removal of those who foster the abominations is her closing work, not the
world's.

   With this key knowledge in hand, the church was to have gone on enlightenedly with the
progress of Truth and at the appointed time be enabled to unlock the mystery.  But failing to obey
the voice of the Lord and thus to walk in the Light and to advance from knowledge to knowledge,
she lost her way and consequently has for years wandered in the wilderness of theory, so to speak.

   And while she was in confusion on the subject, the Spirit of Truth pronounced silence on it then
to be "eloquence."  But eloquence for how long?  Forever? -- Obviously not, but only until the
Lord Himself should unroll the scroll, the sealing commence,

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and the subject become present truth.  Then silence could no longer be eloquence; in fact, not
even possible -- not if there are ever to be 144,000 sealed and made ready to stand with the Lamb
on Mount Zion (Rev. 14:1).

   A thoroughgoing knowledge of the subject must necessarily be of as great importance as is a
comprehensive knowledge of Daniel 7, Revelation 13 and 17, the Three Angels' Messages of
Revelation 14, or any other revealed Bible mystery or prophecy.  And how can one escape the
slaughter unless one knows what the sealing, marking, is, when it is, and where it is to be?

   So while on the one hand is seen the utter necessity and hence the absolute certainty of
Inspiration's fully unfolding the subject at the time of the closing work for the church, on the other
hand is seen the consequent utter impossibility of anyone's discovering the whole truth
beforehand.

   Any thinker knows that to have made known the truth of it before time, would have left it as
vain, valueless, and ineffective as would making known the truth about the image of the beast
years before or a minute after it does its deceptive work.  But at the striking of the foreordained
hour, the time Inspiration unlocks the mystery, all can behold the truth and profit by it.  Happily,
we can then intelligently

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strive to be among this guileless company, and can be sealed with them, if we sincerely and
steadfastly follow on to know the truth on time.

   "When," someone asks, "will this closing work for the church begin?" -- Obviously, it is already
in progress.  Light is pouring in upon the subject, dispelling the darkness which has long
enveloped it.  Having consequently become present truth to lighten the way in which the 144,000
are to "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth" (Rev. 14:4), it must be proclaimed as from the
housetops.

   In 1844, as all Seventh-day Adventists know, Sister White was given a vision of the 144,000
signalizing the sealing angel's starting his ascent from the east (Rev. 7:2-4).  From then on he was
ascending, and the saints were awaiting his arrival.  Finally, in 1929, through the Sabbath School
Lessons the Lord announced throughout the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination that the angel
had arrived.  Then the scroll began to unroll and the angel's presence to be felt by many of those
who were agonizing for truth and righteousness.

   "But how can we know for sure," another questions, "that this and companion publications are
the genuine fruit of the unrolling of the scroll and of the sealing angel's arrival?" -- Simply if the
claimant herein

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on trial is vindicated by all relevant Scripture and other inspired testimony. And if it is, then the
only admissible conclusion is that the Divinely appointed and long-awaited hour has struck, and
that this literature is the instrument used by Inspiration to make the event known to God's people.

   Since, as we have previously seen from the Spirit of Prophecy, the sealing and the slaughter
take place in the church during the closing work for her, they could not antedate the present time. 
And the prophecy itself shows that the sealing must begin at a time when her spiritual life is at its
lowest ebb, when she is polluted with sin -- in "exceeding great...iniquity." Ezek. 9:9.  For it is her
defiled condition that causes a Holy God to do in her midst the work of marking, sealing, the
saints, and of doing away with the sinners among them.

   How did she start to reach this condition? -- The servant of the Lord sadly answers:

   "The Lord has not closed Heaven to us, but our own course of continual backsliding has
separated us from God.  Pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in the heart
without fear of banishment or condemnation.  Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among
us. And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing, and that peace and spiritual
prosperity are in all her borders.

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   "The church has turned back from following Christ her Leader, and is steadily retreating toward
Egypt.  Yet few are alarmed or astonished at their want of spiritual power.  Doubt and even
disbelief of the testimonies of the Spirit of God, is leavening our churches everywhere." --
Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 217.

   "We have wandered away from the old landmarks.  Let us return.  If the Lord be God, serve
him: if Baal, serve him.  Which side will you be on?" -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 137.

   "As Jesus views the state of his professed followers today, he sees base ingratitude, hollow
formalism, hypocritical insincerity, Pharisaical pride and apostasy." -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 72.

   "Who can truthfully say, 'Our gold is tried in the fire; our garments are unspotted by the world'? 
I saw our Instructor pointing to the garments of so-called righteousness.  Stripping them off, He
laid bare the defilement beneath.  Then He said to me: 'Can you not see how they have
pretentiously covered up their defilement and rottenness of character? "How is the faithful city
become an harlot?"  My Father's house is made a house of merchandise, a place whence the divine
presence and glory have departed!  For this cause there is weakness, and strength is lacking.'"
--Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 250.

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   "The time has come for earnest and powerful efforts to rid the church of the slime and filth
which is tarnishing her purity." -- Testimonies To Ministers, p. 450.

   Thus with humiliating certainty we are made to see and to acknowledge that the condition of
the church "is deplorable in the sight of God." -- Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 253.

   And it is a mournfully admitted fact among all the informed and honest throughout the
Denomination, that though she has for years been steadily declining spiritually, she has never
hitherto reached her present low level where she retains scarcely any of her former distinction
from the world.

   "Spiritual death," laments the Voice of Inspiration, "has come upon the people that should be
manifesting life and zeal, purity and consecration, by the most earnest devotion to the cause of
truth.   The facts concerning the real condition of the professed people of God, speak more loudly
than their profession, and make it evident that some power has cut the cable that anchored them
to the Eternal Rock, and that they are drifting away to sea, without chart or compass." -- Christ
Our Righteousness, p. 36 (1941 edition).

   "Men and women are in the last hours of probation, and yet are careless and stupid, and
ministers have no power to arouse them; they are asleep themselves.

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Sleeping preachers preaching to a sleeping people!" -- Testimonies, Vol. 2, p. 337.

   Indeed, "the conviction is gaining ground in the world that Seventh-day Adventists are giving
the trumpet an uncertain sound, that they are following in the path of worldlings." -- Testimonies
To Ministers, p. 86.

   For all these and for other reasons, some of which we know not, a pure and Holy God is
"whetting his sword in Heaven to cut" down those who do not sigh and cry.  "Oh that every
lukewarm professor could realize the clean work that God is about to make among his professed
people!" -- Testimonies, Vol. 1, p. 190.

   "Mark this point with care: Those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the
power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by the man in linen, are those 'that sigh and that
cry for all the abominations that be done' in the church." -- Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 267.

   "The seal of God will be placed upon the foreheads of those only who sigh and cry for the
abominations done in the land." -- Testimonies Vol. 5, p. 212.

   Necessarily, "while the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, while the sins of
penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of
purification, of putting

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away of sin, among God's people upon earth." -- The Great Controversy, p. 425.

   Now that this special work is on, there is doubt no longer that "the days of purification of the
church are hastening on apace.  God will have a people pure and true.  In the mighty sifting soon
to take place, we shall be better able to measure the strength of Israel.  The signs reveal that the
time is near when the Lord will manifest that his fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge
his floor." -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 80.

   In another memorable vision of this same crucial work, Sister White "saw angels hurrying to
and fro in heaven, descending to the earth, and again ascending to heaven, preparing for the
fulfillment of some important event.

   "Then I saw another mighty angel," she continues, "commissioned to descend to the earth, to
unite his voice with the third angel, and give power and force to his message.  Great power and
glory were imparted to the angel, and as he descended, the earth was lightened with his glory....
This message seemed to be an addition to the third message...." -- Early Writings, p.

   And "only those," avers the Spirit of Truth, "who have withstood temptation in the strength of
the Mighty One will be permitted to act a part in proclaiming it

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[the Third Angel's Message] when it shall have swelled into the loud cry." -- The Review and
Herald, No. 19, 1908.

   "The great issue so near at hand will weed out those whom God has not appointed, and He will
have a pure, true, sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain." -- B-55-1886.

   Why are the sinners taken from among the righteous before the earth is lightened with the glory
of the angel? -- Because "one sinner may diffuse darkness that will exclude the light of God from
the entire congregation." -- Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 265.

   The clear sequence of facts here brought to view conclusively points out that we are now in
"the closing work for the church, in the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand";
that the sealing, marking, sifting, shaking, "special work," "important event," "closing work," and
"purification," all result alike in the destruction of the unsealed and in the purification of the
sealed.  Yes, this is the preparation for the time of trouble, the Loud Cry, the closing work for the
world.

   Obviously, then, the closing message for the world is proclaimed by the faithful only, and God's
people during the plagues are apart by themselves with no unfaithful among them.

     So the subject of the 144,000, with its interrelated subjects coming into clear,

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harmonious focus, shows that the eleventh-hour call for laborers in the Lord's vineyard is now in
progress, and that now is the time to "strive with all the power God has given us to be among the
144,000." -- The Review and Herald, Mar. 9, 1905.

   And now, this identification of the 144,000 has caused the identity of the great multitude (Rev.
7:9) to become almost as mooted a question.  So the responsibility assumed in this series to
identify the former, the firstfruits, imposes a commensurate responsibility to identify the latter --

THE SECOND FRUITS -- THE GREAT MULTITUDE.

   "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with
white robes, and palms in their hands" Rev. 7:9.

   Leading to the identification of this great multitude, Inspiration has given several clues, one of
which is a classification of the redeemed of all ages, from the martyrdom of Abel to the close of
probation.

          Group 1:  "Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous in the cause
of Satan, but who, plucked as brands from the burning, have followed their Saviour with deep
intense devotion."

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          Group 2:  "Next are those who perfected Christian characters in the midst of
falsehood and infidelity, those who honored the law of God when the Christian would declared it
void,"

     Group 3: "And the millions, of all ages, who were martyred for their faith."

          Group 4:  "And beyond is the 'great multitude, which no man could number,
of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,...before the throne, and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands,'" -- The Great Controversy, p. 665.

   Here a momentous question presses for answer: Since we are plainly shown that the "great
multitude" (group 4) are a company separate from the plucked brands (group 1), from the
overcomers of falsehood and infidelity (group 2), and from the martyrs of all time (group 3), how
can the "great multitude" possibly be composed of the saints of all ages, of all the redeemed? --
Very obviously they cannot.

   Consequently, if they are not group 1, 2, or 3, then who can they be but the living saints.  And
since they are not the 144,000, the firstfruits of the living they must, then, be second fruits.
Indeed, there

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must be second fruits, for the term "firstfruils" calls for second fruits just as much as the term
"first resurrection" (Rev. 20:6) calls for a second resurrection, and as much as the term "second
death" (Rev. 20:14) calls for a first death.

   Nevertheless, still another baffling question requires an answer: If Christ's query, "When the Son
of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth" (Luke 18:8), also His statement, "Fear not, little
flock" (Luke 12:32), mean that few a are to be saved and found living when He comes for His
own, then how can there be an innumerable multitude? -- Though at first glance the question
propounds a paradox, it is quickly resolved, and the idea that only a few living saints are to meet
Him in "the air" is effectively dissipated when account is taken of the facts that "the harvest truly
is plenteous" (Matt. 9:37), that it is "the end of the world" (Matt. 13:39), and that the very term
"harvest" itself denotes a larger gathering than at any previous "season."

   Furthermore, the query, "Shall He find faith on the earth?" is not questioning the number of
saints at this particular coming, but rather faith itself regardless of number.  And if at His
appearing in the clouds to take home the faithful, He finds no faith in the earth, then what about
His waiting church, which is to be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, be it small or great?

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   Obviously, His coming recorded in Luke 18:8 cannot be the one of 1 Thessalonians 4:17, His
coming "in the clouds."  But it could be the one of Malachi 3:2, 3, and Matthew 13:30, 47-48,
leading to Matthew 25:31-33. His coming to His temple is to separate the sinners from the saints,
at the commencement of which Inspiration asks, "Who may abide the day of His coming?"

   And now, in the prophet's own words, comes the overall evidence of the ingathering of a great
multitude of living saints during the "harvest time:"

   "And they [the 144,000 who escape the slaying or abide the day (Isa. 66:16) in the separation of
the tares from the wheat (Matt. 13:30, 41), the harvest of the firstfruits (Rev. 14:4), the "servants"
of God (Rev. 7:3)] shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations
upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules and upon swift beasts, to My holy
mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into
the house of the Lord." Isa 66:20.

   "Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and
became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, and the wind carried them away, that no
place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image

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became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." Dan. 2:35.

   "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall
flow unto it.

   "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to
the house of the God of Jacob." Isa 2:2, 3.

   Keeping these correlative forecasts steadily in view, none but the blind can fail to see that the
idea of only a few saved is true only of the number saved during any pre-harvest message-bearing
period; not, though of the number saved during the "harvest" time itself.

   The great multitude, the second fruits of living saints, moreover, are also found projected in
certain demonstration in type:

          (1)  "Moses upon the mount of transfiguration was a witness to Christ's victory
over sin and death.  He represented those who shall come forth from the grave at the resurrection
of the just." -- Desire Of Ages, p. 421.

     (2)   "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto

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     many." Matt. 27:52, 53. (See Early Writings, p. 184, and Desire of 
    Ages, p. 786.)

          (3)  "Elijah, who had been translated to heaven without seeing death,
represented those who will be living upon the earth at Christ's second coming, and who will be
'changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump....'"--The Desire of Ages, p.
421.

          (4)  "As Enoch was translated to heaven before the destruction of the world by
water, so the living righteous will be translated from the earth before its destruction by fire." --
Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 89.

   In these passages we are shown four types, calling for two companies of resurrected saints and
for two companies of translated saints.

   Since there are two types for the living, and as Enoch himself was not a descendant of Jacob, he
cannot logically represent Jacob's descendants, the 144,000.  In fact, the name Jacob, or the title
"Israelite," did not even come into existence until centuries after Enoch was translated.
Accordingly, Elijah, an Israelite himself, logically typifies the 144,000, and Enoch logically typifies
the great multitude, who are from "all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues" (Rev. 7:9),
because from his generation have descended all nations.

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   And their Master's final call, then, appear in beautiful symmetry the trophies of the gospel -- two
hosts of resurrected with their types, and two hosts of translated with their types.

   O. what an ineffably wondrous and awesome sight -- the glorious hosts of the redeemed
sweeping through the portals of glory and marching down the gold-paved street of Paradise, to
the strains of celestial anthems which mortal ear has never heard --

PARADE OF PARADES!  BEHOLD IT PASS:

   First, the millions of escorting angels who ministered to the redeemed in all ages.

   Second, Moses, the first inspired penman, general and leader peerless among men, clothed in
white and crowned with a glittering golden crown, leading the van of the resurrected, themselves
wearing white robes and golden crowns.

   Third, Abel, first among martyrs, leading the martyred host of the ages, all clad in glorious
white robes with borders of red.

   Fourth, Enoch, his head encircled with a dazzling white wreath surmounted with a lovely crown
brighter than the sun, and upon his arm a glorious palm; and following him a great multitude, all
clothed in pure white robes, with palms in their hands and golden crowns on their heads.

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     Fifth, Elijah the faithful, arrayed in a glorious white mantle from his shoulders to his feet,
leading the 144,000, a royal priesthood, all like himself, attired in glorious white mantles.

   Sixth, the Adams, the "sons of God," from the worlds of God's universe, with father Adam in
the van.

   Seventh, Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, the Majesty of all creation, the first and
the last, and with Him ten thousand times ten thousand and thousand thousands of angels.

   Throughout the infinite expanse of eternity never before has heaven beheld and never again will
it behold the like - a procession supernal!

   Brother, Sister, it is ours to choose either the habiliments of the saved or the cerements of the
lost; either to walk with the ransomed in white or lie down with the damned in black.

   If it be the latter -- God forbid that it should be -- then the dreadful price must be, not the first
death alone, but also the second death, from which there is no release.

   Yes, which will it be -- shrieking lamentations in the lake of unquenchable fire, or rapturous
songs at the fount of unquenchable joy? Now, at the last hour you will have to choose either the
company of

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ESAU OR JACOB--WHICH?

   "And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was entreated
of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.  And the children struggled together within her; and she
said, If it be so, why am I thus?  And she went to enquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her,
Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;  and
the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.  And
when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.  And the first
came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.  And after that came
his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob." Gen.
25:21-26.

   In the preternatural birth and the lives of Esau and Jacob, there is unmistakable Divine design
and typology.  The strange anomaly of this family's experience obviously dramatized in miniature
an experience through which God's church would one day pass.   Rebekah herself was made well
aware of this fact when "the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of
people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other
people, and the elder shall serve the younger." Gen. 25:23.

     What is the typology in this throbbing life drama? -- Basically that which stands forth in
Paul's interpretation of the equally

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intense drama of Hagar and Ishmael, Sarah and Isaac.  Inspiration unveils the fact that the former
pair represent the Old Testament Church and its members, the Jews; and that the latter pair
represent the New Testament Church and its members, the Christians (Gal. 4:22-31).

   Similarly, though in another phase, Rebekah also represents the church, while Esau and Jacob
represent her offspring, the laity.  And since the two struggled within the mother before they were
born (delivered), the important lesson is that while the church is travailing with her children just
before they are delivered, receive the second birth (John 3:3) and are led into the kingdom, they
are to struggle within.  So, Rebekah's carrying two sons makes known that the church is carrying
within her two classes of people -- Esaus and Jacobs.

   "There are two opposing influences," affirms Inspiration, "continually exerted on the members
of the church.  One influence is working for the purification of the church, and the other for the
corrupting of the people of God." -- Testimonies To Ministers, p. 46.

   The manner in which Esau and Jacob were born -- Jacob's following Esau ahold of his heel --
has very obvious significance: Esau's leading makes him a type of leaders possessing his character,
and Jacob's following makes him a type of followers

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possessing his character.  This analogy unerringly signifies, too, that the one represents a class
which precedes the other in church fellowship. Broadly speaking, therefore, they together
represent candidates for a successor ministry and laity respectively.

   There is also typical significance in the further fact that Esau was born hairy and Jacob smooth. 
This outstanding external unlikeness obviously imports some kind of outstanding visible
identification of the two classes typified.

   God ordained the man to lead and the woman to follow, and as such He created the man hairy
and the woman smooth.  These Divine marks of distinction reveal that Esau and the class which
he represents possess the natural equipment for leadership, while Jacob and the class he represents
do not.  Besides, being the first-born, Esau by birthright was to be the family's priest.  Through
him were to come the progenitors of the twelve tribes, the prophets the princes, and the kings of
Israel, even the King of kings Himself, the Saviour of the world.

   But the desires, ambitions, and aims of Esau and Jacob, ran counter to their inherited positions. 
Esau had no special interest in the part of the work which his birthright permitted, whereas Jacob
coveted it.  Blocked, though, by the law of inheritance

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        27

from possessing Esau's part, Jacob in his inordinate longing for the birthright managed to
purchase it at the opportune time.  Then in order to receive his father's blessings, he consented to
his mother's conniving to obtain it through deceit.

   The tragic lesson is painfully conspicuous: The Esau class who attend the duties of their office
less than its sanctity demands, indifferently let it slip from their hands into the eager reaching
grasp of the Jacob class, who do veritably appreciate and prize its obligations, but who, not being
natural-born leaders, must acquire the equipment for the holy office by passing through the
disciplinary training of some soul-trying experience as foreshadowed by Jacob's training while he
was a fugitive from home. Thus in their providential lot, cast out of the church by their elder
brethren, as was Jacob cast out of the home by his elder brother, because of their zeal in God's
service, they gain a training for the privileged work which is to be theirs.

   What an inestimable blessing the first-born, the present ministry, are losing!  Theirs is the
matchless privilege of standing on Mt. Zion with the Lamb and of fathering forth the latter day
subjects of the Kingdom, ushering the Kingdom itself, bringing the second advent of Christ, and
finally leading the redeemed host into the heavenly Canaan, into the realms of

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        28

faceless glory.  But they are about to lose out -- tragedy of tragedies!

   For some tempting mess of pottage they let slip this sovereign privilege! Sadly, they are even
now letting it slip away to the Jacob class, the faithful laity, the 144,000 future servants of God
(Rev. 7:3; 5:10, Testimonies, Vol. 5, pp. 475, 476)

   "As Esau awoke to see the folly of his rash exchange when it was too late to recover his loss, so
it will be in the day of God with those who have bartered their heirship to heaven for selfish
gratifications." -- Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 182. (Read also Testimonies, Vol. 2, pp. 38, 39.)

   "Brethren," years ago pleaded the Spirit of Truth with the first-born in warning them of their
danger of losing their birth-right, "if you continue to be as idle, as worldly, as selfish as you have
been, God will surely pass you by, and take those who are less self-caring, less ambitious for
worldly honor, and who will not hesitate to go, as did their Master, without the camp, bearing the
reproach.  The work will be given to those who will take it, those who prize it, who weave its
principles into their every-day experience.  God will choose humble men, who are seeking to
glorify his name and advance his cause rather than to honor and advance themselves.  He will
raise up men who have not so much worldly wisdom, but who are

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        29

connected with him, and who will seek strength and counsel from above." -- Testimonies, Vol. 5,
p. 461.

   "The call to this great and solemn work was presented to men of learning and position; had
these been little in their own eyes, and trusted fully in the Lord, he would have honored them with
bearing his standard in triumph to the victory....

   "God will work a work in our day that but few anticipate.  He will raise up and exalt among us
those who are taught rather by the unction of his Spirit, than by the outward training of scientific
institutions."  -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 82.

   "Here [Ezek. 9:5, 6] we see that the church -- the Lord's sanctuary -- was the first to feel the
stroke of the wrath of God.  The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light, and who
had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust. They had
taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the marked manifestation of God's
power as in former days.  Times have changed.  These words strengthen their unbelief, and they
say, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.  He is too merciful to visit his people in
judgment.  Thus peace and safety is the cry from men who will never again lift up their voice like
a trumpet to show God's people their transgressions and the house of Jacob

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        30

their sins.  These dumb dogs, that would nor bark, are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an
offended God.  Men, maidens, and little children, all perish together." -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, p.
211.

   Now as this numerous-phased typology turns round to its next aspect, Esau and Jacob are seen
in a further representation of two sinful classes: Esau, both by the color of his skin and by the
significance of his name after it was changed from Esau to Edom; Jacob, by the meaning of his
name before it was changed from Jacob to Israel.

   Singularly enough, as was the color of Esau's skin red, so was the meaning of his new name,
Edom.  And as he failed to appreciate and cherish the paternal gift, never fulfilling the meaning of
his birth name ("he that finishes"), it is seen that his new name, unlike Jacob's new name, signifies,
not advancement, but rather failure to advance, going on unrestrained in his carnal ways --
remaining in his inborn, "red," character. Hence, the class of leaders which he typifies are to lose
out, never to finish their God-appointed work, and never to be transformed from sinners to saints! 
What a loss!

   Not so, though, with the Jacob class.  Just as their type, who diligently cared for the sheep,
carefully tended to his business, and triumphantly overcame his covetous

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        31

nature, had his name changed from Jacob (supplanter) to Israel (and overcomer and thus a
Prince), so they, too, finally, triumphing over their own carnal nature, have their names changed
from Jacobites to Israelites, from supplanters to overcomers, -- from servants of self to servants
of God, from common Christians in Laodicea to exalted princes on Mt. Zion.  Thus in their own
right the antitypical Jacobites become antitypical Israelites, by acquisition of the priestly birthright
they become finishers of the gospel work and as servants of God they stand on Mt. Zion with the
Lamb.

   So it is seen that both classes, like their types, have their names changed: the Jacob class,
because they cherish, as did Jacob an imperishable birthright; the Esau class, because they despise,
as did Esau, the imperishable birthright, and cherish the perishable glory of this life.  The one has a
sharp, correct sense of life's values; the other, a dull, incorrect sense of them.

   And though Jacob lacked the natural qualifications for performing the duties of his office, the
lack was more than offset by his overwhelming zeal.  Regardless, therefore, how much or how
little natural talent and acquired training one may have for any position, he will never make a
success at it unless he invests in it everything he possesses -- throws his whole heart and soul into
it.  This is one of life's immutable

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        32

laws, and it should be remembered by all that it governs prosperity in every field of endeavor
whether for believer or unbeliever.

   Since one's loss is always another's gain, just as Esau's loss was Jacobs gain, so the dreadful,
irreparable, and priceless loss to the Esau class is to be a glorious eternal gain to the Jacob class.

   In gnawing remorse over the realization of his inestimable loss, Esau "found no place of
repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." Heb. 12:17.  His fate irrevocably types that
which is to overtake all who by their works place themselves in the Esau class.

   In the stream of this most instructive typology on the subject, we are now carried along to its
climaxing feature

JACOB'S DREAM.

   On the first night of his flight from the murderous wrath of Esau, Jacob, using a stone for a
pillow, lay down to rest:

   "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven:
and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it." Gen. 28:12.

   What does the dream mean? -- Being another facet of the same typology, it must necessarily be
a prefigurement of a note-worthy event to overtake God's people, the Jacobites.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        33

   Since the ladder, with one end on the earth and the other in heaven, symbolizes Christ
(Patriarchs And Prophets, p. 184), and since the angels walking up and down the ladder are His
messengers (The Great Controversy, p. 512), the whole signifies that Christ shall establish
through Himself a sure and constant communication between heaven and earth.

   "And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and
they shall hear the earth." Hos. 2:21

   The next step in the typology takes into consideration --

THE MOTHERS OF JACOB'S DESCENDANTS

   Along the chronological path of this numerous-phased typology, we now in thought follow
Jacob on to Padan-Aram.  There he took unto himself four wives -- Leah and Rachel, the
daughters of Laban; then Zilpah and Bilhah, their respective maids.  These four were the mothers
of the twelve sons of Jacob, who in turn were the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel.

   In this type-progression of spiritual Israel, only one of the four, Leah, was Jacob's legal wife. 
Only she, therefore, can typify the true and legal church -- the one which was organized in
Jerusalem by the twelve-tribe kingdom, and which finally evolved into the Christian Church.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        34

   Rachel must necessarily represent a sister church -- the one organized in Samaria by the
ten-tribe kingdom and dispersed with it among the Gentiles.

   Zilpah and Bilhah, being "strangers" and servants to Leah and Rachel, must necessarily
represent subsequent churches of Gentile origin.

   From these four lines descended the antitypical children of Israel.  And what is true in the
physical genealogy must he true also in the spiritual genealogy.  Hence, while the antitypical, like
the typical, twelve tribes come through both Israelite and Gentile mothers, yet they are begotten
by one and the same father -- an Israelite.

   Dispersed by God throughout the Gentile nations, both Judah (the two-tribe kingdom) and
Israel (the ten-tribe kingdom) were swallowed up by them.  Then, too, the Christian Church,
herself but an upshoot from the Jewish Church (Christ's disciples and apostles, as well as the
church's early converts, were purely Jews, remember), dropped her Old Testament title "Jewish"
as she took her New Testament title "Christian."  Then she gradually lost her Jewish foliage amid
the foliage of the ingrafted Gentile branches.

   Now as we leave this phase of the typology, we enter that of

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        35

JACOB'S JOURNEY HOMEWARD.

   After twenty years of faithful service in Padan-Aram, in the sharp, overreaching employ of
Laban, his uncle, Jacob at last turned his face and his steps homeward toward his father's house in
the land of promise.

   But trouble overtook him.  While grappling with his fears as to the outcome of his imminent
meeting with Esau "there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." Gen. 32:24

   Here lay down the man Jacob and rose up the man Israel, exemplifying the agonizing experience
through which his posterity must victoriously pass before they, too, receive a new name, pass
from sons of Jacob to sons of God, become Israelites indeed.  Having gained the victory over this
test, "the time of Jacob's trouble," they will reach home, the land of promise -- the happy end of
their long and troubled journey.

   On this trying and testing time the Spirit of Prophecy comments: "A decree went forth to slay
the saints, which caused them to cry day and night for deliverance.  This was the time of Jacob's
trouble" -- Early Writings, pp. 36, 37. (See also Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 202, 203.)

   Now, as Jacob's retirement from his servitude in Padan-Aram ends with his returning

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        36

home, the typology continues with --

ISRAEL ' S GOING INTO EGYPT

   That the Bible reveals its tremendous truths in divers ways -- in numerics, in symbols and
figures, in parables and allegories, in dreams and visions, in types and providences -- is even more
fully recognized in the anomalous experience of ancient Israel's going into Egypt.  In it every
informed Bible student discerns, not mere happenstance, but purposive design wrought by the
omnipotent hand of Providence.  Indeed, Joseph himself, the principal character in the great
drama, so avouches it: "God did send me before you," he declares, "to preserve life." Gen. 45:5.

   In acknowledgment of this, Paul at the instance of Inspiration forewarns that "all these things
happened unto them for ensamples." 1 Cor. 10:11. How supremely important, then, that we
thoroughly explore, understand, and prize these marvelous ensample which God wrought for our
welfare.

   Beginning with Jacob's experience, we see providential circumstances shaping his life all along,
even to predisposing him to love Joseph better than his other sons (Gen. 37:2-11) -- the
immediate cause of their jealousy and their making away with

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        37

the lad.  Thus, years before their removing from Canaan to Egypt, God in His providence sent
Joseph, as he himself later realized, to prepare their way.  Then by bringing the seven years of
plenty, followed by the seven years of famine in all the land, the Almighty further shaped
circumstances so as to bring the entire household of Israel down into Egypt.  And there were they
later reduced to slavery, which cost them untold hardship and the murder of a great number of
their male children.

   From the selling of Joseph into slavery, to the slaying of the first-born in Egypt -- what a
sorrowful sequence of vicissitudes!  Why was it necessary that the house of Jacob pass through
such purging experiences?  Why? -- Because "all these things," again reminds Inspiration,
"happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the world are come." 1 Cor. 10:11.

   In His inscrutable wisdom, God permitted the sons of Jacob to go the hard way, so that they
might become a type, an ensample, a saving object lesson in the day He sets "His hand again the
second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from
Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and
from the islands of the sea." Isa. 11:11.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        38

   Upon us, then devolves the responsibility of soberly, wisely, and faithfully making their defeats
our stepping stones to victory.  Wonderful indeed to know that our path has been charted
centuries in advance!

   As an integral part of these master "ensamples," the Designer of them promoted Joseph to the
throne of Egypt by enabling him to predict the seven years of plenty and the seven years of
famine, whereby

GOD FED THE ANCIENT WORLD WITH CORN AS HE FEEDS THE MODERN WORLD
WITH TRUTH.

   "And it came to pass...that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.  And, behold,
there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fat fleshed; and they fed in a meadow. 

   "And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed;
and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. 

   "And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine.  So
Pharaoh awoke.... And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and
called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his
dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh....
   
   "Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him haste fly out of the dungeon...and
Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        39

interpret it: and I have heard say of thee that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it....,
[Then Pharaoh related the dream to Joseph].

   "And Joseph said unto Pharaoh... God hath shewed Pharaoh what He is about to do.  The seven
good kine are seven years... And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them are
seven years,... 

   "Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt... And the
plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very
grievous....and Pharaoh said,... See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt... 

   And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.  And he gathered up all
the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the
food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.  And Joseph gathered
corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number." Gen.
41:1-49.

   What is the spiritual significance of this object lesson? -- Just this: since in the Scriptures the
number seven invariably signifies completeness of the category represented, the seven years of
plenty and the seven years of famine necessarily point respective to two successive and complete
periods of time.

   The first is miraculously to produce in great abundance not only for the time then present but
for the time to come, and the second is miraculously to produce very little, if anything.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        40

   And what else in the field of symbolism could the stored "corn" represent but spiritual food, the
Word of God stored in the Bible (Ps. 78:24)?  Accordingly, the ensample shows that the sixty-six
books of the Bible are God's storehouses of Truth, and that they were filled with soul-nourishing
food during the period of the prophets -- the antitypical period of plenty -- to sustain spiritual life
during that time as well as during the subsequent period, the period of the gospel, the antitypical
period of famine.

   Hence, the stored Truth which is to sustain each generation both in the Old and New Testament
dispensations is the writings of the prophets unfolded as timely revelations throughout the gospel
period.  And such is, as every Bible student knows, the actual fact.

   Clearly, the great typological lesson is that in the long reach of years which have ensued since
the Bible was written, and in which there has been no additional spiritual food, necessarily it had
to be purchased from the old store, Jehovah's great Storehouse, the Bible, and is still to be
purchased from It and now as then, only through His appointed distributors, His inspired
interpreters.

   "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," now invites the Spirit, "and he that hath
no money; come ye, buy, and

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        41

eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Isa. 55:1.

   The type unerringly shows that just as in Joseph's day no one could help himself to the corn, but
could obtain it only through Joseph's appointed servants, so even in our day the only one who
provides "meat in due season," is the Saviour through His appointed servants.  Only through them
He reveals, interprets, and distributes timely truth.

   Thus it is that though we are now in the antitypical years of famine, the period of indirect
revelation from Heaven, there is to be no lack of food, present truth.  There is enough stored in
the Bible to carry us through the years of famine if we but make our request to His appointed
distributors.  This is the most significant, most urgent, and most needed lesson taught in this
providential ensample for God's people.

   The facts that the corn is figurative of the Creator's Word, and that the storehouses are
figurative of the books of the Bible, automatically make Joseph a type of Christ, Who controls the
Scriptures and Who alone distributes the Truth to those who pay the price -- who give up both
their inherited and cultivated tendencies to wrong-doing (Christ's Object Lessons, p. 330;
Prophets And Kings, p. 97.)

   So it is that as Joseph reigned co-ruler with Pharaoh, Christ reigns Co-ruler with

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        42

God: and as Joseph, the world's physical saviour, stored the corn in the granaries of Egypt, Christ,
the world's spiritual Saviour, stored the Truth in the books of the Bible.  Hence, the honor which
Pharaoh bestowed upon Joseph foreshadowed the honor which the Master Typologist bestowed
upon Christ.

   Having prepared the way, Joseph sent for his father, his brethren, and their families:

   "And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices
unto the God of his father Isaac. 

   "And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob.  And he said,
Here am I. 

   "And He said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt... 

   "And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: the
land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell...

   "And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household with bread,
according to their families.... And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and
they had possessions therein and grew, and multiplied exceedingly." Gen. 46:1-3; 47:5, 6, 12, 27.

   The country of Goshen, which God disposed Joseph to give to Israel in their absence from their
homeland, was the best in the land of Egypt.  There amid superb surroundings and other favored

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        43

circumstances, Joseph provided for all their needs (Gen. 45:10).

   So in the antitypical years of famine, -- in the gospel dispensation, -- Christ must have, as the
figure shows, provided His church with the best land available while on her antitypical sojourn
among the Gentile nations -- "the wilderness." Rev. 12:6.  There, in the antitypical Goshen, was
she "nourished for a time, and times, and half a time," Rev. 12:14.

   Moreover, as Jacob and his posterity, the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel, went into
the country of Goshen, not at the beginning of the years of famine, but rather in the second year,
it again shows that their counterpart should not be looked for at the very commencement of the
Christian era, but later.

   Moreover, we find that Elder White, whose given name "James" means the same as Jacob,
fathered (organized) his posterity (converts and associates), the founding fathers of the
Seventh-day Adventist church the spiritual progenitors of the antitypical twelve tribes --
the144,000 -- in the antitypical land of Goshen, away from the promised land.

   And Pharaoh's maintaining Joseph at his right hand on the throne of Egypt having the similarity
of God's maintaining Christ at His right hand on the throne of

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        44

the universe, the typology identifies Pharaoh as a type of God.

   But in the course of time this benevolent and compassionate Pharaoh passed away, and there
arose in his stead a hateful and cruel Pharaoh who determined to wear out the Hebrews by
removing them --

FROM THE SHEEPFOLDS TO THE BRICKYARDS

   "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph.  And he said unto his
people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we,...  Therefore,
they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.  And they built for Pharaoh
treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.   But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied
and grew.... And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: and they made
their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the
field." Ex. 1:8-14.

   By parallel logic, this "new" Pharaoh who knew not Joseph and who sought to destroy the
Lord's people, the Israelites, typifies a master enemy, none other than Satan, a false god, the
usurper of this world, who knows not Christ and who seeks to enslave His people the Christians,
while they are sojourning in antitypical Egypt.

   Evidently the servants of the spiteful Pharaoh those through whom he carried out his evil
intents, typify the servants of

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        45

Satan, those through whom he works to destroy God's purposes for His church.

   In view of this Joseph had sought to forever close the possibility of social intercourse between
the Hebrews and the Egyptians, by instructing his brethren to emphatically tell Pharaoh that they
were shepherds, for shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians.  Nevertheless, as time went
on, the wicked Pharaoh took them from the sheepfolds and put them to work in the brick yards.

   True to type, Seventh-day Adventists have from the very beginning represented themselves as
shepherds, their slogan being: "Every Seventh-day Adventist a missionary, and every missionary a
preacher and a pastor" -- shepherds of the flock of God.

   The Spirit of Truth, however, made known years ago that restrictions on such a practice had
already begun.  "A strange thing," It revealed, "has come into our churches.  Men who are placed
in positions of responsibility that they may be wise helpers to their fellow workers, have come to
suppose that they were set as kings and rulers in the churches to say to one brother, Do this; to
another, Do That; and to another, Be sure to labor in such and such a way."--Testimonies to
Mlnisters, p. 477.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        46

     
        So. as were the Hebrews forced from the sheepfolds into the brickyards, Seventh-day
Adventists in like manner are forced from preaching the gospel to raising goals and ever more
goals.  Yes, even while exacting their labor, modern Pharaoh, too, demands that there be given
them

NO MORE STRAW.

   "And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers,
saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and
gather straw for themselves... And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and
they spake to the people, saying,... Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of
your work shall be diminished." Ex. 5:6, 7, 10; 11.

   And now, just before their deliverance from their antitypical servitude, Seventh-day Adventists
are circumstantially required to make up their budgets, goals, and various fees and other expenses,
but when in need, they receive practically no Denominational aid whatsoever.  As with their types,
everything  -- time, strength, money, and all -- is taken from them, in return for which they are
given virtually nothing.

   "In former numbers of Testimonies for the Church," says the founder of the Denomination, "I
have spoken of the importance of Seventh-day Adventists establishing an institution for the
benefit of the

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        47

sick, especially for the suffering and sick among us.  I have spoken of the ability of our people, in
point of means, to do this; and have urged that, in view of the importance of this branch of the
great work of preparation to meet the Lord with gladness of heart, our people should feel
themselves called upon, according to their ability, to put a portion of their means into such an
institution....

   "When I saw those who managed and directed, running into the dangers shown me, of which I
had warned them in public, and also in private conversation and letters, a terrible burden came
upon me.  That which had been shown me as a place where the suffering sick among us could be
helped, was one where sacrifice, hospitality, faith, and piety should be the ruling principles....

   "As nearly as I am able to judge, one-half of the afflicted among our people, who should spend
weeks or months at the Institute, are not able to pay the entire expense of the journey and a tarry
there.  Shall poverty keep these friends of our Lord from the blessings which he has so bountifully
provided?  Shall they be left to struggle on with the double burden of feebleness and poverty?...

   "To the afflicted among our people I wish to say, Be not discouraged.  God has not forsaken his
people and his cause." -- Testimonies, Vol. 1, pp. 633, 641, 643.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        48
     
   Next in the type we are led to consider the faithful midwives -- 

SHIPHRAH AND PUAH.

   "And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was
Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah: and he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the
Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a
daughter, then she shall live.  But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt
commanded them, but saved the men children alive.  

   "And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this
thing, and have saved the men children alive?  And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the
Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the
midwives come in unto them. 

   "Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very
mighty.  And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. 

   "And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river,
and every daughter ye shall save alive." EX. 1:15-22.

   Whom could the midwives typically represent? -- Let logic and reason give the answer:  The
children born to the Hebrew women in the land of Egypt, away from their homeland, can only
represent the children born to the church while she is sojourning among the Gentile nations.

   The duty of a midwife is to graciously receive immaculately wash, and neatly

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        49

clothe, also nutritionally nurse, the new-born babe.  So the ancient midwives must represent,
those whose spiritual responsibility of this day is to cleanse the student-youth from inherent sins,
clothe them with the robes of Christ's righteousness, and nourish them with spiritual food -- teach
the doctrines in the light of Present Truth.  The only such agency for the youth, of course, is the
church school.

   The midwives' refusal to kill the Hebrew children, therefore, demonstrates nothing less than the
fact that the teachers in the Denomination's schools of today are endeavoring to do the right thing
even if they have, as it were, to violate Pharaoh's wicked command.

   And this interpretation of the typology is concretely substantiated in an excerpt from The Home
and School Journal of Christian Education, a General Conference paper to which every teacher in
the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination is supposed to subscribe.

   The December, 1929, issue of this journal, full of Christmas-keeping and Christmas programs
and gifts, is a fair example of the Conference trend at the time The Shepherd's Rod began to
unfold.  As it is too lengthy to reproduce in full, we quote only the very last sentence, the closing
words under the paragraph, "What Christmas May Always Mean":

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        50

   "And, in general, a baptism of reality, simplicity, and sincerity in the observance of the world's
supreme birthday."

   For a General Conference publication to command the teachers to exalt in the eyes of the youth
the world's supreme idolatrous day as the birthday of Christ, is incredible.  But, as all can see, it is
just as actual as was Pharaoh's command to the midwives.

   His demand that the male children be cast into the river, was not in effect blocking the progress
of the rapid increase of the Hebrew nation, but was a ruthless attempt to destroy the promised
deliverer.  And the defeat of Pharaoh's evil intent in that day foreshadowed the defeat of modern
Pharaoh's subtle endeavor to do away with the prophet of today, the one who is to deliver modern
Israel when the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled.

   In confirmation that Pharaoh of today is in effect doing all that can be done to cheat God's
people of a deliverer in this day, we recite the fact that while the Denomination's Inspired record
plainly foretells the coming of a prophet (Testimonies To Ministers, p. 475), a message, additional
truth (Early Writings, p. 277), the members of the church are not only left ignorant of it but are
even warned against it, -- taught that they have need of nothing, that they have all the truth to
carry them clear through to the Kingdom!

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        51

   To expose, in the words of Inspiration, modern Pharaoh's boastful and deceitful declaration of
such a falsehood, we quote:

   "Prophecy must be fulfilled.  The Lord says: 'Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.'  Somebody is to come in the spirit and
power of Elijah, and when he appears, men may say: 'You are too earnest, you do not interpret
the Scriptures in the proper way.  Let me tell you how to each your message.'" -- Testimonies To
Ministers, pp. 475, 476.

   "The present attitude of the church is not pleasing to God.  There has come in a self-confidence
that has led them to feel no necessity for more truth and greater light.  We are living at a time
when Satan is at work on the right hand and on the left, before and behind us; and yet as a people
we are asleep.  God wills that a voice shall be heard arousing His people to action." --
Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 709. (See also Gospel Workers, p. 300.)

   That the Pharaoh of today is to meet ultimate defeat in his subtle endeavor, is clearly revealed in
the facts that not only was Moses' life spared by ancient Pharaoh's daughter, but also was he
reared at the king's own expense!  The typology reveals, therefore, the fearful defeat which the
enemies of the work of the antitypical deliverer will suffer: their unwitting endeavor to defeat God
in His purpose for

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        52

His people, is at their own expense sure to turn into a glorious victory for the Lord.

   Having now seen that Israel's going into Egypt is typological, logic rules that so also must be

ISRAEL'S GOING OUT OF EGYPT

   That the exodus of Moses' day is a miniature demonstration of the exodus of the near future, the
Spirit through Isaiah the prophet emphatically declares:

   "And in that day there shall he a root of Jesse [a nucleus of his descendants], which shall stand
for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and His rest [the land where it stands]
shall be glorious.

   "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to
recover the remnant [those who are yet among the Gentiles] of His people, which shall be left
from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from
Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

   "And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and
gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

   "The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        53

off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.  [There shall be perfect peace
among them].

   "But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of
the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon
shall obey them.

   "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea [world]; and with His mighty
wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men
go over dry shod.

   "And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria;
like as it was to Israel in the day that He came up out of the land of Egypt." Isa. 11:10-16.

   Very evidently, then, the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that so gloriously
led the Hebrew host out of Egypt foreshadowed and even greater and more glorious protective
covering, victoriously leading Israel of today not only on their way to the land of promise but all
the while they are there.

   For "it shall come to pass," reveals the prophet, "that he that is left in Zion, and he that
remaineth in Jerusalem [after the sinner is taken away], 
shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: when the Lord
shall have washed away the filth of the daughters

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        54

of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of
judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

   "And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a
cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a
defence.

   "And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of
refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain." Isa. 4:3-6.

   These prophetic passages with certainty forewarn that shortly the sinners will be taken away
from Jerusalem ("the filth of the daughters of Zion" be washed away), and thus they promise that
only the righteous from the four corners of the earth will have a part in the forthcoming antitypical
exodus.

   The Passover. too, in which perished all the first-born of man and beast that were found in
dwellings which had not the blood on the doorposts, forespoke an antitypical Passover in which
all who are left without the mark because of not sighing and crying for the abominations in their
midst will surely fall under the slaughter weapons of the angels (Ezek. 9:2).

   When will this come to pass? -- The type unquestionably reveals the time through the fact that
only the first-born were then

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        55

in danger.  Accordingly, the antitypical Passover will take place in the time of the firstfruit harvest
-- the sealing of the 144,000, the firstfruits, the first to go to antitypical Jerusalem, the first to
stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb, the first-born by the Spirit.  Obviously, all of the firstfruits
who receive the mark will live on, and all who fail to receive the mark will perish as surely as did
the first-born who at the time of the typical Passover failed to apply the blood on the door-posts.

   Besides these most striking ensamples with their valuable lessons, the Wonderful has, for our
enlightenment, most accurately worked out even greater

MARVELS OF TYPOLOGY.

   The eye focused to the light of heaven sees that Jehovah God, the Super Artist, has employed in
the Scriptures every method known to mankind by which to unfold the wondrous structure of
Redemption.  And now while leading His people to the Kingdom eternal, He employs for light on
their way even typology --  the lives of men who have gone before and the experiences through
which they have passed -- and decrees that their defeats and victories should be the saints'
stepping-stones over every pitfall.

   And to arouse the spirit of men to a realization of His wonder-working power and of their
inability to foresee the future

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        56

and thus to walk in the straight path, the Omniscient One flings the challenge:

   "Produce your cause, saith the Lord; taring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

   "Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them shew the former things,
what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things
for to come.

   "Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good,
or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together." Isa. 41:21-23.

   "Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning?  I the Lord, the
first, and with the last; I am He." Isa. 41:4.

   Explain the cause, the reason, the significance of former things, He demands.  Tell us, what do
they mean?  What are they for?  Can you predict the future by the past, be it good or be it bad? 
Exhibit Divine power if you can.

   Silence on the subject gives consent to the fact that only the Great I Am can thus forewarn the
generations, the first to the last.  And He makes it known that though the experiences through
which our predecessors were permitted to pass were for our ensamples, yet even these we of
ourselves cannot correctly interpret.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        57

   But now at the appointed time, He Himself reveals their significance to the very people for
whom they were originally and especially designed.  Thus by "the former things," the world of
yesterday, the great and only such Typologist has projected "the latter end" of them, the world of
today:

   At the outset of this typology, it is seen that "the woman," Eve who through her own seed (the
living church) is to bruise the serpent's head (Gen. 3:15), typifies the church preceding the
Hebrew dispensation; next, that Hagar typifies the church during the Hebrew dispensation, and
finally, that Sarah typifies the Christian Church.

   Following these, the typology shows that Melchisedek, the priest of the Most High God, Who
has neither beginning nor end of days, typifies Christ our High Priest and His eternal work, and
that Aaron, a high priest in the Jewish dispensation, typifies Christ our High Priest and His
temporary priestly work.

   While constructing the typology, Providence brought Hagar into the home of Abraham, and
through Sarah's unbearable waiting for a son, brought Ishmael into being.  Thus was forecast the
moral character and behavior of an antitypical nation.

   "For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a
freewoman.  But he who was of the

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        58

bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

   "Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai,
which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.  For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and
answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.  But Jerusalem which is
above is free, which is the mother of us all.

   "For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest
not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

   "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.  But as then he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

   "Nevertheless what saith the scripture?  Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the
bondwoman shall not he heir with the son of the freewoman.  So then, brethren, we are not
children of the bondwoman, but of the free." Gal. 4:22 - 31.

   Clear it is that Hagar and Ishmael's coming into the household of Abraham foreshadowed a
flesh-born (not spirit-horn) people, the descendants of Jacob (ancient Israel), coming into the
household of God,

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        59

not through spiritual birth, but through natural cause.

   It is also that Hagar's rebellion against Sarah forespoke the rebellion of the rabbis against the
Christian Church, and that Ishmael's persecution of Isaac pointed out the Jews' persecution of the
Christians.

   And last, Abraham's disinheriting Hagar and her son, sending them away once and forever, was
a preview of God's disinheriting and discharging from His household the carnal minded Jews who
failed to become converted, reconciled, born again -- failed to bury the carnal body and to arise
with a spiritual one according to the promise.

   Never, therefore, will the carnal Jew, any more than the carnal Gentile, ever with the saints
inherit the Kingdom of God -- no, no more than Ishmael inherited Abraham's wealth -- or ever
have any part in His glorious promises, except they be born again, born of the Spirit into the holy
family of God (Rom. 11:23).

   Having glanced through these three church periods with their varied priesthoods, we now come
to the second phase of the typology, and this we shall quickly and even more realistically see as
we now review the typological drama of the ages with the aid of the accompanying chart, which
graphically unveils the advancing truth and urges our compliance with It.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        60



[PICTURE]




Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        61

   By means of this chart the church of God is quickly seen in five different categories by periods. 
The first two are within the typical, and the last three within the antitypical:

   (1) The Noatic, (2) the Patriarchal, (3) the Kingdom Temporal, (4) the Evangelical, (5) the
Kingdom Eternal.

   The typological seed of the "woman" is born in the two typical periods -- the Noatic and the
Patriarchal -- and reaches spiritual maturity during the ensuing three antitypical periods; namely,
the Kingdom Temporal, the Evangelical, and the Kingdom Eternal.

   In the typical arc the natural-born children: Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob --
a good and a bad in each instance.  And in the antitypical they find their antitypes as follows:

   Allegorically, throughout church history are seen on the one hand Cainites -- those who are
worshiping God, not as He commands, but as their desire and convenience demands.  And on the
other hand are seen Abelites -- those who are worshiping God precisely according to His will and
who, moreover, for thus doing incur the displeasure of the Cainites, who in anger and jealousy
slay them.  Thus the martyrs.

   Then Mercy brought forth Seth to carry on the part which Abel was circumstantially forced to
leave Cain, the first-born, represents,

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        62

according to Bible order, a class of ministry, while Abel and Seth, the younger, necessarily
represent a class of laity.

   Thus were ministry and laity, hypocrite, martyr, and saint, typed in the very beginning of the
human race.

   Isaac, the first-born son through promise through the will of God, can only represent a class of
ministers who are placed in that holy office through the promised spiritual birthright -- "born
again," Divinely appointed.

   Ishmael, too, being Abraham's first-born son, but not through legal marriage or promise, he
circumstantially represents a class of carnal ministry who are led to that office, not through
spiritual birthright and a call from the Lord of the vineyard, but only through favorable
opportunity.

   In this manner was dramatized the character of the self-willed Jewish rabbis, the Ishmaelites in
antitype, who persecuted the apostles, the lsaacites in antitype.

   Esau and Jacob being twins and the last in this line of typology, they therefore foreshadow two
classes of people living at the same time in the church period subsequent to the one which Isaac
represents -- the last, the Laodicean Esau, being the first-born, prefigures an Esauite ministry 
who for as little as a mess of "pottage" forfeit their position to a Jacobite laity.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        63

     And in amplification of the subject, the Spirit of Prophecy long ago emphatically
forewarned the Esauites, saying:

   "In the mighty sifting soon to take place, we shall be better able to measure the strength of
Israel.  The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that his fan is in his
hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor....

   "Those who have rendered supreme homage to 'science falsely so-called,' will not be the leaders
then.  Those who have trusted to intellect, genius, or talent, will not then stand at the head of rank
and file. They did not keep pace with the light.  Those who have proved themselves unfaithful will
not then be entrusted with the flock.  In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. 
They are self-sufficient, independent of God, and he cannot use them.  The Lord has faithful
servants, who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view." -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 80.

   Now, the change of Esau's name shows that the Esauites are some day, and not far hence, no
longer to be thought of and idolized as Esauites as the ones who finish, but rather dreaded as
Edomites, as ones who perish.  And the change of Jacob's name shows that the Jacobites are then
no longer to be driven out and feared as Jacobites, as supplanters, carnal, but rather welcomed as
Israelites, holy princes, co-rulers standing

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with the Lamb on Mount Zion (Rev. 14:1), in the palace of the Great King.

   Then, when the gospel work is finished and "the seed of the woman" mature to full-grown
Christians (become the Lord's battle ax -- Jer. 51:20) -- and bruise the serpent's head, also smite
the wicked nations -- Dan. 2:44, 45), then shall be plainly seen that that which the first Adam lost
through indulgence, the second Adam through self-control recovered, -- the Kingdom Eternal
again ruling the whole earth (Dan. 2:35).

   "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse," declares Inspiration, "and a Branch
shall grow out of His roots [the Saviour of the house of Jesse]...and He shall not judge after the
sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears: But with righteousness shall He
judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:...

   "And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.  The
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and
the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.  And the cow and the
bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on
the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        65

mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
Isa. 11:1-9.

   And now, dear reader, realizing that the time for a real feast of spiritual food, "meat in due
season," is actually here, you are, of course, led to inquire: What brought it?  What made the great
change?

   The answer to this pertinent question is given in the following

CHRONOLOGICAL COINCIDENCES.

   "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty
years." Ex. 12:40.

   The reader will herein quickly see that the events during this period of sojourning and affliction
of Abraham, Isaac Jacob, and Israel, most remarkably coincide with similar events in the period
from the Reformation by Luther to the message of today, the sealing of the 144,000.

   "The period of four hundred and thirty years dates from the promise given to Abraham when he
was commanded to leave Ur of the Chaldees. The four hundred years of Gen. 15:13 dates from a
later period.  Notice that the period of four hundred years is not only a time of sojourning, but of
affliction.  This, according to the Scriptures, must be reckoned from thirty years later, about the
time when Ishmael, 'he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him [Isaac] that was born after

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        66

the Spirit.' Gal. 4:29." -- The Patriarchs and Prophets p. 760, Appendix, Note 6.

   And according to Galatians 3:15-17, the 430 years ended with the giving of the law at Mount
Sinai.

   At the outset of these coincidences, we are reminded that when Abraham decided to follow the
Lord out of Ur, idolatry prevailed throughout the Chaldean world.  Likewise, it is held by the
Protestant world that at the time Martin Luther decided to be a priest rather than a lawyer,
idolatry, against which he protested, prevailed even throughout the Christian world.  And the
doctrine which he preached being the same as Abraham's, "the just shall live by faith," it is already
seen that Abraham and the world in his time find their counterparts in Luther and the world in his
time.

   Then, too, Sarah and Isaac's protest against Hagar and Ishmael in the end of the thirty years
from the time Abraham went out of Ur, finds its counterpart in 1530 A.D.  Leading to this phase
of the typology, history records that about the year 1500 Luther discovered a Latin Bible in the
library of the University of Erfurt, and learned to his no small delight that It contained more than
the excerpts in common use.  His 30 years of studying and preaching the Bible resulted in the
Augsburg Confession, a document adopted as the Protestant creed and presented at

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        67

the Deit of Augsburg to the Emperor, Charles V, in 1530.

   Thus Abraham's decision to live for God instead of for Ur, coincides with Luther's decision to
become a priest instead of a lawyer.  And the protest of Sarah and Isaac, that Hagar and Ishmeel
were not loyal to Abraham's household and that they therefore were never again to be a part of it,
never to be his heirs, coincides with the Protestant's protest contained in the document by which
they protested that the practices of the church and of her followers in the Middle Ages were not
according to the Word.

   And from the time Sarah protested to the time Moses was born, the hope of Israel's deliverance,
there were 320 years, which, if added to 1530 A.D. give 1850, the year which gave birth to the
First Testimony for the Church, addressed to the 144,000, Israel of today.  Plain it is, therefore,
that the birth of Moses, the hope of ancient Israel, finds its counterpart in the birth of the First
Testimony, the hope of modern Israel.

   Continuing with these corresponding events, we call to mind that Moses at the age of 40
attempted to deliver Israel, but failing, he ran away. Adding these 40 years to 1850 A.D., we
arrive at 1890, the time the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination organized the National
Religious

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        68

Liberty Association, which likewise failed to fulfill I its purpose.

   Moreover, this notable date, 1890, was reached just two years after the doctrine of
"righteousness by faith" was first brought to the attention of the Denomination at the historical
1888 Minneapolis Camp Meeting, and then and there rejected by nearly all of those who were
present.  Then during the ensuing two years, it was rejected by the whole Denomination. (See
Christ Our Righteousness, pp. 41-55, 1941 edition; Testimonies To Ministers, pp. 79, 80.)  This is
one of the reasons that the church was in 1890 left to enter a forty-year antitypical wilderness
wandering, matching Moses' attempt and failure to deliver ancient Israel; also his running away
into the wilderness. (See Forty Years in the Wilderness, by Elder Taylor Bunch, pp. 15-17.)

   Forty years after his first attempt to deliver the children of Israel, Moses was finally sent back
into Egypt and was then enabled to break the Egyptian yoke.  Adding these 40 years to 1890
A.D., we are brought to 1930, the year in which The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 1, was first published,
declaring throughout the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination that "the year of My redeemed is
come," the day in which "the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant
of His people." Isa. 63:4, 11:11.  So Moses' call

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        69

to actually deliver Israel from Egyptian servitude coincides with the arrival of The Shepherd's
Rod, demanding obedience to God's law, declaring the truth of the 144,000, and announcing that
this is the time for their deliverance from Gentile rule.

   Further, from the time of Abraham's decision to follow the Lord, to the birth of Jacob, there
were 85 years.  And from the commencement of the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination, from
its founder's first trance-vision, which was regarding the 144,000, to the birth of The Shepherd's
Rod message, there were also 85 years.

   All these coincidences as to time and objective may now be quickly and more easily
comprehended in --

THE SUMMARY.

   Abraham's decision to serve the Lord in 2083 A.M. (years from creation) coincides with
Luther's turning from secular to spiritual pursuits in 1500 A.D.;  Sarah's protest against Haaar and
Ishmael in 2113 A.M. coincides with the Protestant's protest against the church in 1530 A.D.; the
birth of Moses the hope of ancient Israel, in 2433 A.M., coincides in 1850 A.D. with the birth of
the First Testimony, the hope of modern Israel -- addressed to the 144,000, the Israel of today.

   And Moses's attempt and failure to deliver Israel in 2473 A.M. coincides with the attempt and
failure of the Seventh-day Adventist

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        70

Religious Liberty Association, and their rejection of the message of Righteousness by Faith, --
causing the Denomination in 1890 A.D. also to enter into a 40-year wilderness wanderment, so to
speak.

   Finally, Moses' arrival in Egypt and his success in freeing the Hebrew host and restoring order
and religious liberty in 2513 A.M., coincides with the arrival of The Shepherd's Rod in 1930 A.D.,
and with Its endeavor to effect revival and reformation and to free Israel of today.

   (In some instances the coincidental events may, according to our present calendar, appear to be
a year ahead or a year behind, due to the fact that the first month of the Mosaic calendar falls in
the fourth month of the present calendar year.  For an example, see The Answerer, Book No. 3
pp. 49, 50, 1944 edition.)

   Hence, anyone can see that the 430 typical years and their interwoven events from the time
Abraham went out of Ur to the time Moses with the Lord's rod went out of Egypt and delivered
the law at Mount Sinai, match the 430 antitypical years from the time Luther discontinued his
study of law and began the study of the Bible, to the year in which The Shepherd's Rod
proclaimed the sealing of the 144,000, the deliverance of modern Israel.

   These dovetailing events are now graphically and even more realistically seen in the following
chart:

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        71



[PICTURE]



Shepherd's Rod Tract 1   72

   All these modern occurrences being perfectly matched with the ancient ones both in time and
objective, they definitely confirm the fact that the work of The Shepherd's Rod is Divinely
foreordained and as timely in our day as was Moses' work and his rod in his day.  One is
consequently overwhelmingly compelled to acknowledge Providential design and foreknowledge
of the reader's eternal welfare for thousands of years in advance.

   So, completely disarming the Enemy of souls, the great Designer of these typological truths
leaves the reader free to make his own choice as to whether he will continue in the darkness or
come out into the Light of the Lord, no longer to wonder what church to join, or what is truth
and what is error.

   He may now behold "how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good
tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that
saith unto Zion Thy God reigneth!" Isa. 52:7.

   Now the question as to "what made the great change," "what brought this glorious truth," is
answered -- the timely arrival of this prophesied silent messenger.

   Finally being fully aware of wherein one's safety lies and wherein one's danger lurks, you, dear
reader, are doubtless anxious to know the quality and quantity of spiritual food you have been and
are

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        73

now feasting on.  This phase of the typology is most faithfully and accurately revealed in

EZEKIEL FOUR.

   "Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city,
even Jerusalem." Ezek. 4:1.

   Ezekiel was commanded to engrave a city upon a tile and to name it Jerusalem.  The material on
which the city was to be engraved being everlasting -- not subject to decay -- it denotes that the
city envisioned is one that will stand eternally: a people that shall never die.

   "Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: shine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a
tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed,
neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.  

   "But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall
go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby....
 
   "And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their
iniquity." Isa. 33:20, 21, 24.

   "And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp
also against it, and set battering rams against it round about." Ezek. 4:2.

   To "lay siege against it, means, of course, to invade it with an army of reformatory workers and
compel it to surrender -- 

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        74

to come to the knowledge of the truth herein revealed.  Very evident it is, then, that the message
of the hour, and it alone, should be brought before the people of God.

   "And build a fort against it" -- make sure that none escape, good or bad.

   Then "cast a mount"; spare not effort, and take precaution to secure the city.

   "Set the camp also against it"; that is, make a temporary lodging place for your workers,
Headquarters from which to carry on the work, and make preparation to remain there until you
have conquered the city.  This is the devout purpose in building Mt. Carmel Center, this is its
given goal.

   Also "set battering rams [margin -- chief leaders] against" the city "round about."  The
instrument with which they batter, of course, is clear, cutting, and convincing Bible truth.  And
this is the very obvious necessity for having in every branch of the work capable men to wisely
lead.

   "Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the
city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged and thou shalt lay siege against it.  This
shall be a sign to the house of Israel." Ezek. 4:3.

   That is, when this takes place in the antitypical house of Judah, it shall stand as a sign by which
the antitypical house of Israel shall be warned.

   Then it shall come to pass that "when the children of thy people shall speak unto

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        75

thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?

   "Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the
hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the
stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in Mine hand.

   "And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in shine hand before their eyes.

   "And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from
among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into
their own land:

   "And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall
be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two
kingdoms any more at all: 

"Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things,
nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein
they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be their God.  

   "And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall I have one shepherd: they
shall also walk in My Judgments,

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and observe My statutes, and do them.

   "And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers
have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children
forever: and My servant David shall be their prince for ever. 

   "Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with
them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for
evermore. 

   "My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

   "And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in
the midst of them for evermore." Ezek. 37:18-28.

   As a general of armies sets his face against an enemy nation with intent to conquer it, so is
antitypical Ezekiel commanded to undertake this urgent "revival and reformation" among God's
people.

   "Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come,
and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

   "He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning, his blood shall be upon him.  But he
that taketh warning shall deliver his soul." Ezek. 33:4, 5.

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   "For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three
hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.  And when thou
hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of
Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. Ezek. 4:5, 6.

   In this parabolical presentation concerning the fate of the house of Israel (the ten-tribe kingdom)
and of the house of Judah (the two-tribe kingdom), during their respective captivities among the
gentiles, away from their homeland, stand dominantly to view the fact that while lying on his left
side Ezekiel depicts the house of Israel in their iniquity for a period of 390 years, and that while
lying on his right side he depicts the house of Judah in their iniquity for a period of 40 years.

   "And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another,
till thou hast ended the days of thy siege." Ezek. 4:8.

   Ezekiel's being immovably bound symbolically projects the certainty and inescapableness of the
punishment which his people are for their iniquity to bear during the predicted period of years.

   "Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and filches, and
put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that
thou shalt lie upon thy side three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.... And thou shalt
eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that

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cometh out of man, in their sight.  And the Lord laid, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat
their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them." Ezek. 4:9, 12, 13.

   This is the punishment which is to be meted to the house of Israel during the years of its
captivity among the Gentiles.  And as neither sacred nor profane history records that God's people
were ever literally subjected to food so prepared, the fact is conclusively substantiated that this
entire prophecy is symbolical.  The six grains, therefore, can represent only spiritual food just as
do grains elsewhere in the Scriptures. When do the two periods (the 390 years and the 40 years)
begin? -- Obviously not at the time Samaria, the capital city of the ten-tribe kingdom, was invaded
by Assyria, nor at the time Jerusalem, the capital city of the two-tribe kingdom, was besieged by
Babylon, for Ezekiel himself, not a Gentile king, is to lay siege against Jerusalem and take it, not
let it escape.

   Neither could the period have terminated with Judah's returning from Babylon to Jerusalem
while rebuilding the temple and the city, for Judah was in exile only about 70 years, not 430 years.

   And finally, the ten tribes, the house of Israel, have never even to this day returned to their
homeland.

   The entire symbolism must therefore be prophetic of the church in the Christian

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dispensation.  And as Ezekiel, figuratively God's servants, has not yet taken Jerusalem, the time of
his victory is yet future.

   But when exactly does the period begin? -- The only logical answer is: When the punishments
begin to be meted out.  Accordingly, we must ascertain the time when God's dispersed people
have been or are being subjected to eating food prepared as described in Ezek. 4:9-13.

   Since the grains are figurative of spiritual food, doctrines, then the one vessel into which they
are originally put can only be figurative of the Bible. And it follows inferentially that in their
natural state, before they are baked, they must represent the doctrines uninterpreted, not
understood; and conversely, when prepared into cakes and baked, they must represent the
doctrines interpreted and published, ready to be dispensed and assimilated -- preached, believed,
and practiced.

   During the 390-year period, Ezekiel was to eat the grains sparingly, "by measure," and defiled,
"baked on dung" fire.  Fire from wood or coal (natural source) being symbolical of the Holy
Spirit's power (Gospel Worker, pp. 22-23; Acts 2:3), then fire from dung (unnatural and filthy
source) must be symbolical of a power foreign to the Holy Spirit: specifically Satan's inspiring the
human agent to engage in "private" interpretations of the Scriptures -- a defiling thing.

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   The inescapableness of this conclusion is even more fully demonstrated by tabulating the
successive periods during which the house of Israel received the six doctrines, symbolized by the
six different grains, that were to sustain the people's spiritual life throughout the 390 years.

   It is widely understood that during the period from the canonizing of the New Testament
Scriptures to the call of Martin Luther, the Truth was cast to the ground (Dan. 8:12), and that it
then began to be lifted, first by the Lutherans' preaching the doctrine of Faith -- the beginning of
the Reformation; then followed by a portion at a time, successively by the Presbyterians'
preaching the doctrine of the Holy Spirit; by the Methodists' preaching the doctrine of Grace; by
the First-day Baptists' preaching the doctrine of Baptism; by the First-day Adventists' preaching
the doctrine of the 2300 days (Dan. 8:14), leading to a correct understanding of the Sanctuary
truth; and by the Seventh-day Baptists' preaching the Sabbath truth.   Finally the Seventh-day
Adventists, and they only, embraced all these doctrines, but Divinely illuminated.

   These six doctrines, along with their interrelated subjects, are the only ones which came to the
church from 1500 to 1930.  And as no honest Bible student would deny the fact that each in turn
has been defiled by man's private interpretations,

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additions and subtractions (baked on dung fire), the fact stands out even more clearly that the six
grains are symbolical of these six doctrines, and that they have in succession been preached since
the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

   Now in bringing into focus another aspect of the analogism, -- that each of the grains has the
prime characteristic of the doctrine it represents, -- the truth will be seen in still brighter rays.

   As wheat, the first of the grains in the symbolism, is first in order in man's physical diet, so
Faith, the first of the doctrines in the Reformation, is the first course, first principle, in his spiritual
diet.  Accordingly, just as without wheat it is impossible to satisfy our physical needs, likewise
"without faith it is impossible to please" the Holy One or to begin the Christian life.

   Similarly, as barley, the second grain in the symbolism, is second in order in man's physical diet,
so the Holy Spirit, second doctrine m the Reformation, is the second course, second principle, in
his spiritual diet. Upon overhearing the Midianite relate that in a dream he saw a barley cake roll
into his tent and overturn it,  Gideon immediately understood the barley cake symbolized the
work of the Spirit -- a revelation to him to go against the Midianites.

   Beans, the third variety in the symbolism, are third in order in man's physical

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        82

diet: likewise Grace, the third doctrine in the Reformation, is the third course, third principle, in
his spiritual diet.

   And as lentils, the fourth variety of food in man's physical dietary, is not so universally relished
as are beans, likewise Baptism by Immersion, the fourth doctrine in the Reformation, and hence
the fourth course, fourth principle, in the spiritual diet, is less commonly esteemed and practiced
than is Grace.

   The fifth grain, millet, is neither commonly known nor used, and is generally regarded as of little
worth, merely a wild grass, though in fact it is valuable for both hay and cereal.  So with that
which it represents: The 2300 Days, unveiling the commencement of the Judgment, the fifth
doctrine in the Reformation, the fifth course, fifth principle in the Christian's spiritual diet, is
known and believed by only a few.

     Spelt, the sixth of the grains, "a permanent variety of wheat, common in early times,"
perfectly represents the sixth doctrine in the Reformation, the sixth principle in the Christian
religion -- the Seventh-day Sabbath in connection with the sanctuary, the most ancient,
permanent, and least observed twain of Bible doctrines.

   Final step in the science of cake-making is the baking, then the serving; and final step in the
preparation of doctrines is the writing, then the preaching of them.

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     Though the grains are God's creation, showing that the respective doctrines which they
represent are in themselves Divine truth, yet Ezekiels visionally baking the symbolic cakes of them
on dung fire, shows that these doctrines have been defiled -- misinterpreted, added to and
subtracted from -- minced, as it were, and then served.

   In subjecting the house of Israel to such a subsistence during the 390 years, and the house of
Judah to a fast during the subsequent 40 years, 
God punished both of them for their iniquity.

   Judah's long fast then ending, they would of course begin to receive clean bread, unadulterated
truth, as rapidly and plentifully as their need called for, and henceforth they would eat food and
drink water forever without measure and without astonishment.  This they shall experience, but
not until after the 430 years have ended, in which time the city is to be taken and the people freed
from the yoke of all their masters -- the hypocritical, the estranged, and the ungodly.

   And finally, when Jerusalem, their homeland, the land of promise, is liberated from Gentile rule,
"the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled," then will these emancipated children of the "captive
daughter of Zion" (Isa. 52:2), "return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and
shall fear the Lord and His goodness." Hos. 3:5.  Then will they be reassured forever of an

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        84

even more abundant supply of pure, undefiled (Inspired) Truth.

   And I will "save My flock," says the Lord "and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge
between cattle and cattle.  And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even
My servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.  And I the Lord will be their
God, and My servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it." Ezek. 34:22-24.

   The fact that the people of God have since 1930 been receiving an ever-increasing supply of
pure (Divinely revealed) truth at the hands of one, is evidence in itself that not only the defiled
feasting and the 390 years have ended, but also the 40-year fast.  There is no longer need,
therefore, for anyone to subsist on dung-baked cakes, or to fast.

   Now, by subtracting the 430 years from 1930 A.D., we get 1500 A.D., the time the Spirit
moved to effect the Protestant Reformation.  And as the defiled grains (doctrines) were during the
390 years dispensed to the Protestant congregations, and as the 40-year fast (absence of
progressive Truth) occurred in the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination, two truths stand out
clearly: first, that the Protestants are in this symbolism termed the "house of Israel"; and second
that the Seventh-day Adventists are termed the "house of Judah."  Thus the

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        85

split which God brought into Solomon's kingdom necessarily symbolizes the split which exists
between Sabbath-keepers and Sunday-keepers.

   Hark to the messenger of the Lord, warning the Sabbath-keepers of the protracted fast which
they were to undergo:

   "I am authorized from God to tell you that not another ray of light through the Testimonies will
shine upon your pathway, until you make a practical use of the light already given," --
Testimonies, Vol. 2, p. 606.

   Furthermore, Jerusalem, let it be remembered, is the capital city of Judah.  Thus the present
siege against the "city" (the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination) is to be a sign to the
Sunday-keepers; that is, it is designed to awaken them to a realization of how the Lord is to be
worshiped, and where saving truth is to be found; of the commencement of "the great and
dreadful day of the Lord," and of His judgment, also to bring them to a realization that if it first
"begin at the house of God," then "what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of
God?" 1 Pet. 4: 17.

   No longer now need the faithful truth-seeker wander from church to church, groping his way
through the dense and endless forest of the world's religious literature in search of the right church
with the right doctrine.  Both now stand clearly identified, challenging him who would bear the

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        86

vessels of the Lord, to be clean, to touch not that which is baked on "dung" fire -- that which is
inspired not by the Spirit of Truth -- and to be ever acutely mindful that no newly-revealed truth
was given to the church during the forty years from 1890 to 1930, and that therefore every
claimant to a heaven-sent message during that period was a false one.

   But having the long fast now broken with fresh truth, abundant and undefiled by man's wisdom,
the hungry are now feeding at the bountiful table of the Rod (Mic. 7:14), at which you, dear
reader, now sit and are joyously bidden to stay on for the rest of the feast.

   Will you not do this?  If you will, then just make it known, and the whole bounteous,
unmatched, life-saving feast will be placed quickly before you without measure and with out
price!

   Having now actually arrived at the time of lasting "revival and reformation" -- 

MOTHERS, NOW MAKE YOUR FINAL APPEAL.

By Mrs. E. Hermanson

   "But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming, and shall begin
to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the Lord of that servant shall
come in a day when he looketh not for Him and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut

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him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites." Matt. 24:48-51.

   Inspiration teaches that his eating and drinking with the drunken does not merely mean drinking
wine.  One may get drunk by partaking of the world's spirit, and also by becoming engrossed with
the "cares of this life." Luke 21:34.

   And to do all this is to say in the heart, "My Lord delayeth His coming." "Let us eat and drink;
for tomorrow we shall die." Matt. 24:48; Isa. 22:13.

   As a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination, and the mother of three children, my
determination has been to train them to set their affections, not upon the ways of the world but
upon the Way of Truth and Righteousness.  Faithful mothers know that the task and the
responsibility is no light or easy one.  And it is in no wise lessened by the worldly influences from
within the church, working to build up a fallacious conception of what God expects of His
children.

   Activities such as listed in the following announcements, issued by the White Memorial
Seventh-day Adventist church of Los Angeles, California, are examples of such influence:

ASSOCIATION NEWS

     The Interscholastic Faculty-Alumni Swimming Meet:... The big feature of the evening was
a diving exhibition by Georgia Coleman, women's national diving champion..

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   November Supper Club: This promises to be another treat.  A trio and reader from the Girl's
Glee Club of U.S.C. will be a big feature. Bill Hunter, Director of Athletics at U.S.C. will give us
a short talk on sportsmanship.  Get your tickets early.

COMING EVENTS

Nov. 24: Supper Club.

Nov. 25: Juniors vs. Employees Baseball Game.

Nov. 28: Matched Play Golf Tournament at Montebello Park.

Dec. 2: Faculty vs. Employees Baseball Game.

Dec. 9: Faculty vs. Juniors Baseball Game, 7:00.

                 Employees 1st. team vs. Employees 2nd. team, 5:00.

Dec. 16: Seniors vs. Juniors Baseball Game.

Dec. 21-26: Holiday Cabin Party, Big Bear Lake.

Health Lecture, Y.M.C.A., Friday, 8:00 P.M.

ASSOCIATION NEWS

     Faculty-lnterscholastic Matched Play Golf Tournament: Friday morning, November 28, at
Montebello Park Golf Club....

   The faculty-senior baseball game last Tuesday resulted in a score of 3-13.  This, however, does
not rightly represent the closeness of the contest as compared to previous engagements.  A few
more games and the faculty will be holding its own provided, however, H____  S____ and W___
do not slug too many home runs.  H____ holds the record so far.... -- "Weekly Bulletin,"
November 14 and 21, 1930.

   In the light of Inspiration's plain warning, such programs have no place in our

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institutions if we are to interest our children and young people in the plain, pointed teachings of
our Saviour.  Think of it, Seventh-day Adventist ministers and teachers sponsoring such programs
as these!  Young minds do not incline naturally to the serious side of life, and with the numerous
dates and events which are ever kept before them in this manner, how can they be expected ever
to become interested in striving to enter in at the strait gate?

   Treating of the subject of amusements, the Lord's servant says, "I was told by my Guide: 'Look
ye, and behold the idolatry of My people, to whom I have been speaking, rising up early, and
presenting to them their dangers.  I looked that they should bring forth fruit.'  There were some
who were striving for the mastery, each trying to excel the other in the swift running of their
bicycles.  There was a spirit of strife and contention among them as to which should be the
greatest.  The spirit was similar to that manifested in the baseball games on the college ground. 
Said my Guide: 'These things are an offense to God.  Both near and afar off souls are perishing for
the bread of life and the water of salvation.'" -- Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 52.

   Why take young people to the Y.M.C.A.?  Could not the health lecture be given in our own
church or school auditoriums'?

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        90

   Why a tournament of the Golf Club on a Friday morning?  Are we not told in the Scriptures that
Friday is the preparation day for the Sabbath, not a day of pleasure?  As a rule, if one makes the
proper preparation, there is not much time to be lost in playing at anything.

   There may be no objection to swimming, but what effect must such an exhibition of champion
athletic skill and such talk on "sportsmanship" have on the youth?  Will it create a greater desire in
them to serve Christ? What is the chaff to the wheat?

   How can we mothers keep our children apart from the world if the school faculty takes them to
the institutions of the world where they are thrown into association with mixed elements?  Are we
abiding by the principles upon which our Seventh-day Adventist Denomination was founded?

   The Spirit of Truth now again exhorts: "For ye are the temple of the living God as God hath
said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord." 2 Cor. 6:16, 17.

   That conditions have not changed for the better even after the Rod originally protested, is
evidenced by the following more recent bulletin:

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AMATEUR HOUR

THE MOST STUPENDOUS
SHOW

o f

1 9 4 3

PAULSON HALL

Cor. Michigan, State

SAT. NITE    OCT. 9    8:00 PM

OVER $50.00 TO BE GIVEN TO
WINNERS

TWO HOURS OF --
          LAUGHTER!!!         
          TEARS!!!
               CHILLS!!!
                         SCREAMS!!! and
                         SURPRISES!!!

Clinic To Be Benefited By The Proceeds
From This Gala Occasion

Sponsored by the
WOMEN'S AUXILIARY OF C.M.E.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        92

   Think of putting the house of God to such pagan use!  Any wonder that God says:

   "Who can truthfully say, 'Our gold is tried in the fire; our garments are unspotted by the world'? 
I saw our Instructor pointing to the garments of so-called righteousness.  Stripping them off, He
laid bare the defilement beneath.  Then He said to me: Can you not see how they have
pretentiously covered up their defilement and rottenness of character? "How is the faithful city
become an harlot?"  My Father's house is made a house of merchandise, a place whence the divine
presence and glory have departed!  For this cause there is weakness, and strength is lacking.'" --
Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 250.

   For this reason, perhaps, as much as for any other, the church is in need of the message of the
True Witness, which alone can stir and empower us to arise with prayer and fasting to save
ourselves and our children from these so-called pleasures of the age, by which the Devil is seeking
to deceive and to destroy even the very elect.

   Great is the burden of my heart that every loyal Seventh-day Adventist will hear the Voice
which is now crying out in our midst to "turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart
of the children to their fathers." Mall 4:6.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        93

   And as the leaders have failed, even after this severe protest to correct the existing evils, it is
time that the faithful laity fully awaken to the seriousness of the situation and do what they can to
effect a remedy.

   The brethren need light on the subject, and the Lord has given the assurance that "even if all our
leading men should refuse light and truth, that door will still remain open.  The Lord will raise up
men who will give the people the message for this time." -- Testimonies to Ministers, p. 107.

   Parents, why not be those men?  And if you do not start now then be forewarned that a more
"convenient time" will never come, and that your opportunity will forever be gone.

A REMINDER

   *Now that you have finished reading and studying the contents of this booklet, may we remind
you, dear reader, that this and all other booklets of The Shepherd's Rod series are sent free of
charge to Seventh-day Adventists, and that if you will send us the names and addresses of as
many as you wish, the publishers will gladly and quickly serve them with the message of the hour.

   **It will interest you to know, too, that a pocket-sized edition of The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 2, is
also soon to come off the press.  Do not neglect to send for your copy; you cannot afford to be
without it.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        94

   *All of the Rod literature, offered on page 94, is included on this CD-ROM.

     **There were two other announcements concerning tracts which were to be published,
but were not: (1) The Answerer Book No. 6 which was "soon to come off the press" but never
did (5 Ans. pg. 94); and (2) "Before his death, Brother Houteff prepared material in
question-and-answer form for a tract dealing with the subject of the Sabbath....it was never
published,..." (13 Sym. Code No. 5, pg. 4); so here is another announcement of a tract -- the
pocket-sized edition of The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 2," which was "also soon to come off the
press," but it never did.  No one seems to know why.  For this obvious reason, it cannot be
included.

Shepherd's Rod Tract 1        95
