"Is it your bag?" she cried, a sudden suspicion gripping her.

He looked at it carefully. Then the awful truth broke over him.

"I've stolen it," he exclaimed. Miss Ellen held her tongue. She was afraid she would say too much if she said anything.

Hastily, with trembling hands, the professor gathered the boxes into a package again and pushed them back into the bag which seemed to emanate reproaches from all its shining surface.

"What are you going to do?" she finally ventured.

"Take it to the police station and prove that Alexander is not a thief."

It was what she had expected, but the way he said it surprised her.

"John," she sternly demanded. "Do you realize that you may be disgraced? You speak as if you were actually happy." He laughed his old boyish laugh as he answered:

"I am. You see, I thought I was deceived in Alexander, and he's all right. I haven't felt so good over anything in years."

"They may not take your word that it was all a mistake," his sister predicted. "You may have to stand trial and-oh, suppose you should lose your position!"

"I think you could testify as to my habits of picking up things that don't belong to me."

"But they may prove that you're a kleptomaniac, anyway," she bewailed.

"I'll take it right down and hand it over before they come to search the house," he said, picking up the bag. "And I'd thank the other party to deliver un mine." Miss Ellen awaited the outcome in some anxiety.

In less than an hour, her brother entered her sitting-room with a beaming face.

"Better than I thought!" he exclaimed. He was excited to a degree of exaltation. "Alexander is pure gold, true as steel, and

"When the bag was opened to adorn my lady for dinner, they discovered the mistake. They called the police, and I was traced and tracked to my very door. Alexander knew that I had been across the bay and was the person wanted, but the good soul thought that rampant disgrace would wear a fiercer aspect attacking a dignified college professor than it would an obscure gardener, so he went in my place. And both women (not counting the poodledog), identified him as the man they had seen hovering around at the ferry."

The professor laughed, and Miss Ellen saw that ten years had rolled away from him since she saw him crouched before the dying fire the night before. It suddenly came to her how she would have felt if her brother had answered the bell's summons and had been the one to walk miserably away with the officers.

"Is Alexander free?" she asked. "Yes; he came home with me," he answered. "He's out in the garden."

Miss Ellen opened the side door. Alexander was planting the new dahlia bulbs over by the fence, and he was whistling as he worked.

"Are you going to congratulate him?" the professor called, gaily, as she started down the steps.

"No," she answered briefly. "I'm going to ask his pardon.”

HASTE

A Masterpiece of Deception.

Fidelity to our subject demands that we inquire how, when and where this deception was foist upon God's people and the entire civilized world. Who fabricated this story, that the nations of the civilized world are the kingdoms of Christ? The answer is, that this great deception is from Satan, our great Deceiver, of whom the Apostle said, "The God of this world hath blinded the minds of all them that believe not." It is safe, also, to assume that to some extent this great Adversary has partially blinded the minds of believers. This is the sentiment in the prophecy, "Darkness covers the earth; gross darkness the heathen." Again the Apostle says, I pray God for you (The Church) that your eyes being opened, ye may be able to comprehend with all saints the length and breadth and height and depth, and to know the love of God, which passeth all understanding (Eph. 3:18.) The intimation here, again, is that the opening of the eyes of understanding of Christians is gradual and proportionate to their saintliness and holiness of heart. That the deceptions of Satan are world-wide and include all classes is set forth in the assurance given us that when he shall be bound by Christ for the thousand years of his Millennial reign, it will be that "he shall deceive the nations no more until the thousand years are finished."

That

In seeking for the truthful answer to the query, we must not feel aggrieved if, perchance, we find that our own ancestors

were amongst those whom Satan deceived and who ignorantly became his servants and tools in the establishment of the thought that the civilized kingdoms are the Kingdoms of Christ-"Christendom.”

The Deception Gradual and Logical.

Those who claim that the present eondition of things was concocted by priests and knaves who premeditated the deception with which we have since been struggling are mistaken. Those who elaborated these views were undoubtedly as honest and sincere as ourselves. They were the victims of circumstances, and, more particularly, the victims of the great Deceiver's plot whereby he continually lay in wait to deceive the Lord's people, as St. Paul foretold. (Eph. 4:14; 2 Cor. 2:11.)

Truly the Apostle has declared that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood," but with wicked spirits in influential positions.-Eph. 6:12.

Adversary

The method by which the misled our forefathers was a cunningly deceptive one. A century after the Apostles fell asleep in death, persecution was still raging, and the looked-for Second Coming of Christ to glorify his Church, and to establish her as his Bride and joint-heir in his Kingdom, to bless the world, had not vet come. The strain of tribulation was telling upon the hopes of the Church. There were queries as to whether or not a mistake had been made in the understanding of the promises respecting our Lord's Second Coming, the end of this age and the inauguration of the New Kingdom Age. Now was the time for the Adversary to gradually and persistently work in the erroneous thought and becloud and obscure the Truth and cut off the Church from the real Scriptural hope and give to her another hope, through which the great Deceiver could more particularly lead her astray on other doctrines and practices.

The subtle suggestion was that it was not the Divine intention that Christ should come a second time in the flesh. This conclusion was quite correct; but to it was added the further suggestion that Christ intended that his faithful followers under his direction should first convert the whole world-should first accomplish all

the work of the Millennial Kingdom. The further suggestion was, that the Lord himself would not participate in this Millennial reign, except through a substitute or vicar, who would represent him in all the work of the Kingdom and fulfill all the prophetic promises of blessing the earth, uplifting mankind, etc.

At the same time, the dominion of earth was so manipulated by the Prince of this world (God not interfering) that the persecutions of the Church by the civil Government of Rome ceased; and the Roman Government gradually decayed. At the same time, formalism, going hand in hand with worldly prosperity, lifted up the Church nominal in the eyes of the world and in its own eyes. Gradually the Church seemed to be nearing the point. where she could reign over the kings of the earth. The Church's power increased as the civil power weakened, until finally the Church nominal was the mightiest organization in the world. Then posworld. Then possessed of the reins of spiritual control, she asserted her authority, and told the civil kings of the earth that her superior control was as the representative of God and his Kingdom, which it was foretold would rule the world. She called upon kings to recognize her authority and to conduct their kingdoms in accordance with her decrees. She threatened their princes and nobles and kings that, if they did otherwise than obey her commands, she would exercise her suzerain authority. She told the civil kings of earth that if her commands were not obeyed she would inform their peoples that they were no longer bound to support them, and would indicate others to be their rulers instead others who would hearken to the voice of the Church, to the voice of Christ speaking through the Church.

Meantime, slowly, gradually, artfully, under the great Deceiver's seductions and temptations, the simplicity of the apostolic order was lost, or, rather, it was merged into a larger system, believed to be necessary, and in Divine order, for the new conditions prevailing. The Elders of the various congregations of the Lord's people, the pastors and teachers, were no longer styled overseers or bishops, but this term was applied from a loftier standpoint of one commissioned to have an

apostolic oversight of many congregations. Gradually, too, a still higher order was recognized, called archbishops or higher bishops, and still another higher order styled cardinals. And to perfect the system, a Head was demanded by the Church -an elected Head, called a pope, a papa, a father. Whoever occupied the office of pope was recognized as the personal representative of Christ, so that similar honor was demanded for the popes as was recognized as due to Christ; and the pope's ex cathedra utterances were recognized as the infallible utterances of Christ. He was styled "the vicar of Christ," or Christ's substitute on the throne of earth. In the triple crown worn by the popes, emblazoned with jewels, was his title, Vicarius Filii Dei, Substitute Son of God.

When we remember that all this came about gradually, during a period of long centuries, we cannot wonder that our forefathers in all of these arrangements verily thought that they were doing God service and fulfilling his will, as foretold in the prophecies. We cannot, therefore, chide or censure them specially for accepting and handing down to us this wrong theory, that then and there God's Kingdom was set

up in the world. Rather we must sympathize with them and with ourselves and be the more on guard against the deceptive influences of our Great Adversary, Satan. So that, while getting rid of some of those errors, we may not be misled by our foes into other pitfalls and snares. Our only safety is, as the Scriptures point out, in a closer walk in the footsteps of our Redeemer, in humility, in love, in devotion to God and to each other, waiting for the true Kingdom of God's dear Son, the promised Kingdom, which shall be established at his Second Coming. That Kingdom shall bless all the families of the earth; that Kingdom shall put down all sin and disorder and bring in everlasting righteousness, and, to the willing and obedient, everlasting life.

Both Protestants and Catholics Deceived.

We are not to think of this matter as being a deception upon the Catholics merely. Indeed, in former days we, represented by our forefathers, were practically all Catholics. When the so-called

"Reformation" took place in the fifteenth century, those who then protested, represented by Luther, Zwingli, Malangthon, Calvin and others, accepted the same general teaching, namely, that God's Kingdom was established in the earth and was to conquer the world. These reformers merely disputed that the pope and his associates were the Head of the Church and representatives of Christ. Certainly Luther did, even if it were but jocularly, say of himself, "Here goes the German pope." Henry VIII, as the Head of the Church of England, surely set himself forth as the Head of that religious system or Church. Surely in similar manner, the Czar of Russia is the Pontifax Maximus of the Russian or Greek Church.

The "Reformation," therefore, was not a recognition of the deception which Satan had forced upon our forefathers, but, instead, it meant a splitting of the one so-called Kingdom of God, Papacy, into numerous Kingdoms of God, or sects, which between them recognize the various royal families of Europe. The root evil still persists to this day. It is high time. that, in the light of our day, we should see clearly that all the so-called kingdoms of Christendom are merely "kingdoms of this world," which, deceptively and under delusion, are claiming to be the kingdoms of God's dear Son. Only those who recognize these facts are properly prepared to appreciate and to rejoice in the prospect of the soon-coming of the Kingdom of Christ and its reign of Righteousness under the whole heavens, in fulfillment of the Word of the Lord" by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:19-21.

Present Conditions Foretold.

Looking back we find in Daniel's prophecy delineations which prophetically foretell in brief outline the history of the world empires, showing us what has been; what is, and what is to come; portraying the fact that all the "kingdoms of earth are kingdoms of this world," and that the great Kingdom of God's dear Son will be established upon the ruins of present institutions. The ruin of present empires is clearly indicated as due in the near future, and as coming to pass as the result

of increased knowledge and increased ambition, operating in conjunction with the selfishness of fallen human nature. that "day of wrath," its character and its place in the Divine Program we shall have more to say anon.

God's Kingdom in Israel.

True, there was a time when God had a Kingdom or dominion in the world, as we read David, King of Israel, "sat upon the throne of the Kingdom of the Lord." And "Solomon sat upon the throne of the Kingdom of the Lord, in the room of his father David." But that Kingdom is not the one for which we wait and for which we pray, "Thy Kingdom come." That was merely a figure, a picture in some respects of the coming Kingdom. David, the beloved Prophet, represented typically The Christ; and Solomon, the wise, the rich, the great, typified Messiah and his Kingdom in other respects. When the time came to abolish the typical Kingdom of Israel, the Lord indicated that his promise that Messiah should sit upon the throne of Israel would nevertheless be fulfilled, though the delay would be considerable. To the last regular king successor to David's throne the words were addressed, "O thou profane and wicked Prince whose time has come that iniquity should have an end! Remove the diadem! Take off the crown! This shall not be the same! I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, until he comes, whose right it is, and I will give it unto him."

That Davidic crown has been overturned ever since. No rightful heir of David has ever worn the crown. The nation was under other rules and subject to other empires until its final destruction in A. D. 70. For instance, the Herods of our Lord's day were not Israelites, but of the family of Esau, and even then they had only a provisional Government, the real control being vested in the Roman Emperor. The lesson then is, that when Messiah's Kingdom shall be established, it, under the terms of Israel's New (Law) Covenant, shall be established with Israe! and not with other nations. All nations will then approach the Lord by coming under the terms of his grace, and mercy embodied in that New (Law) Covenant,