3:13. I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.Many Christian ministers have had glimpses of the Word of God, knowledge of some details of the Plan, some measure of the Holy Spirit; but to Pastor Russell, God's messenger to the last stage of the Church, was given a superabundance of gifts, to set the things of God in order (Isa. 44:7), to proclaim an harmonious understanding of all the Divine purposes for mankind and of some for the angels. (Eph. 3:10.) He heard the full harmony of "the song of Moses and the Lamb." (Rev. 15:3.) To him the wings (Rev. 12:14), the Word of God, Old Testament and New, sounded their Glad Tidings, a message whose parts "touched one another," were in complete touch, full harmony. He heard for the first time since Apostolic days the Plan of God, "the noise of the wheels [cycles, ages]." He heard the manifestations of the operation of the Holy Spirit, the "noise of a great rushing," and was filled with the Spirit in a measure beyond the portion of most Christian men. His patience with the stupid and erring was godlike and his love-lit face was an inspiration.

3:14. So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.-"God hath taken you out of the world" (John 17:16); raised "to sit with Christ in Heavenly places." (Eph. 2:6.) The Spirit took Pastor Russell away from earthly aims and raised him up to the plane of sacrificing priesthood. He turned from commercial pursuits to devote his life to the Heavenly Message. He tasted the bitter herbs of persecution, of suffering with Christ; and amid ostracism and persecution he lived the life of Christian service. He carried on his work in fervency of spirit; for the power of God was upon him, strengthening him with might in the inner man (Eph. 3:16), and with wisdom to deliver, in the face of the determined opposition of priestcraft, the trumpet message announcing the Presence of Christ-the sound of the Seventh Trumpet, the trump of God.-Rev. 10:7.

3:15. Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.-Future historians will record, as most remarkable, the mental, moral and spiritual bondage in which professing Christians were held during the Gospel Age, through the machinations of priestcraft, under the king of the age, Satan himself. Pastor Russell came with his message, in a day of supposed enlightenment, to a people

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bound hand and foot. Tel-abib in Hebrew is "Hill of Grass" (from "Tel," hill, and "Abib," sprouting, budding). Abib was another name for Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew sacred year, corresponding to April. In type or symbol a place represents a condition, or a stage in his toric development. The "hill of budding," the beginning of the sacred year, symbolizes the dawn of the Times of Restitution, the "Millennial Dawn." The Millennium (Rev. 20:3, 4, 7) began in 1874, with the Return of Christ. It was at about that time that Pastor Russell came to his fellow-Christians with the beginning of a better understanding of the Bible, "the vision of God." It was, as it were, the budding-time of the good promises of God for the blessing of all peoples. The Christian people lived on and by the stream of commercial, social and economic intercourse that feeds and supports Christendom, Babylon.

3:16. And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying. In a time. prophecy a day in the prophecy usually signifies a year in fulfillment. For seven years after Christ's Return in 1874 -until 1881-Pastor Russell, although he knew much of God's Plan, was in some degree in the same condition as other Christians in imperfect understanding of God's Word. In 1881 a former associate, Mr. Barbour, of Rochester, N. Y., who had been a faithful fellow-watcher, developed into the "Evil servant" of Matt. 24:48-51 and Zechariah 11:17, and produced a work on the Hebrew Tabernacle types in opposition to the fundamentals of true Chris tianity. Pastor Russell desired the truth on the subject. He gave himself up to prayer and study of this matter alone. For days he struggled with the problem and wrestled with God in supplication. At length the matter cleared up. He then wrote "Tabernacle Shadows of the Better Sacrifices." of which 1,500,000 copies have since aided Christians to understand the deeper things of the Word and to make complete consecration unto death. This was in 1881, at which time he also published "Food for Thinking Christians," a work embodying much afterwards expanded into the six volumes of "Studies in the Scrip tures." The same year, 1881, is prophetically marked as the time for the final withdrawal of favor from the churches, a favor which had begun to be withdrawn in 1878-the year in which the clergy were cast off as repre sentatives of the Divine Word, and when Pastor Russell began his work by the publication of 50,000 copies of "Ob ject and Manner of the Lord's Return." In 1878 the stewardship of the things of God, the teaching of Bible truths, was taken from the clergy, unfaithful to their age

long stewardship, and given to Pastor Russell. In the interim, until 1881, the new steward was setting the things in order, getting the truths of the Bible in logical and Scriptural form for presentation, until the last great item of the Hebrew Tabernacle types, was ready. Then, in 1881, he became God's watchman for all Christendom, and began his gigantic work of witness.

3:17. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning from Me.-The function of watchmanship was not given until 1881. (Jer. 6:17; Isa. 21:612.) Faithfulness in individual watching during a trial period of seven years was rewarded by the bestowal of the office of the greatest servant whom the Church of God has had since the Apostle Paul. "Whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant." (Matt. 20:27.) Pastor Russell at all times served the Church in great things and small. No request was too insignificant to get his careful attention. Rich and poor alike were faithfully served in every possible way. This work prior to 1881 was a great work for any ordinary man, but insignificant compared with what was to follow. By 1884 the watchman's work had grown to such proportions as to cause the founding of THE WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY. This is the agency through which God's appointed watchman has delivered his message to Christendom. Pastor Russell paid no attention to the words or opinions of man, however learned or pious, whether men of modern days or the "early fathers" of post-apostolic times. He listened to the word direct from the mouth of God, spoken by holy men of old as moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21.) Ezekiel was raised up shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem to warn the Hebrews of the impending calamity. Pastor Russell's warning to Christendom, coming direct from God, has been of the imminent collapse of the present "Christian" civilization in a welter of war, revolu tion and anarchy, to be succeeded by the early establish ment of the Kingdom of God. In all his warnings he claimed no originality. He said that he could never have written his books himself. It all came from God, through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.

3:18. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.-Pastor Russell saw and revived the teaching of the Word of God that death is death. "All have sinned." (Rom. 3:23.) "Death passed upon all."