Chapter X: Part IV: The Meridian Dispensation. (Note 1) (3)

_3. Joel's Great Prophecy of the Dispensation of the Last Days:_ Of the special passages before referred to, and which I said would receive separate consideration, the first is Peter's quotation from the Prophet Joel, concerning the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon "all flesh in the last days." This quotation from Joel is regarded as identifying the days in which the Apostle was speaking, as "the last days;" and the dispensation in which he was living as the Dispensation of the Last Days and of the Fullness of Times. The conditions existing when Peter was speaking, and the prophecy of Joel, however, admit of no such interpretation. The circumstances were as follows: The Holy Ghost in an extraordinary manner rested upon the Apostles and gave them the power of speaking in other languages than those they had learned. Some in the listening multitude attributed this singular manifestation to drunkenness, whereupon the Apostle Peter arose and refuted the slander, saying: "These are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy; and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."[A] "For," to finish the passage as it stands in Joel, but which is not in Peter's quotation, "for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call."[B]

[Footnote A: Acts ii:15, 21.]

[Footnote B: Joel ii:28-32.]

Because Peter, referring to the Spirit that was then resting upon the Twelve Apostles, said, "this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel," etc., the very general opinion prevails that Joel's prophecy was then fulfilled; and hence the last days were come. This is an entire misapprehension of the purpose of Peter in making the quotation; as also of the quoted passage itself. Beyond all controversy, Peter meant only: This Spirit which you now see resting upon these Apostles of Jesus of Nazareth is that same Spirit which your Prophet Joel says will, in the last days, be poured out upon all flesh. Obviously he did not mean that this occasion of the Apostles receiving the Holy Ghost was a complete fulfillment of Joel's prediction. To insist upon such an exegesis would be to charge the chief of the Apostles with palpable ignorance of the meaning of Joel's prophecy. On the occasion in question the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the Twelve Apostles, who were given the power to speak in various tongues; Joel's prophecy for its complete fulfillment requires that the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Ghost, shall be poured out upon all flesh; and undoubtedly refers to that time which shall come in the blessed millennium, when the enmity shall not only cease between man and man, but even between the beasts of the forests and of the fields; and between man and beast, as described by Isaiah in the following language:

"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 suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp; and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrices' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."[A]

[Footnote A: Isaiah xi:6-9.]

Compare these conditions so vividly described with what Joel himself says of the period when the Spirit of the Lord shall be poured out upon all flesh, and it will at once be clear that the two Prophets are dealing with the same period, and not only dealing with the same period, but that the period itself is certainly far beyond in time the days of Peter; in fact, is still in the future; for the sum has not yet been turned into blackness; nor the moon into blood; nor have the stars withdrawn their shining. It is obvious that the events upon the day of Pentecost did not fulfill the terms of this prophecy, except in those particulars already pointed out. The mention in this prophecy, however, of those special signs which Jesus refers to as immediately preceding His own second and glorious coming, clearly demonstrates that Joel was speaking of the last days indeed, and not of a circumstance that occurred in connection with a period more properly designated as the Dispensation of the Meridian of Time. Immediately following his prediction of the outpouring of God's Spirit upon all flesh, Joel represents the Lord as saying: "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come." And later: "The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel."

Compare this with the Saviour's description of conditions in the earth that will precede His own second coming:

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."[A]

[Footnote A: Matt. xxiv:29-31.]

The same wonders in heaven and earth; the same changes in sun, and moon, and stars; the same promises of the gathering of God's people as are found in the prophecy of Joel. There can be no question, then, but that the prophecy of Joel refers to the same "last days" that Jesus here alludes to--the days of the coming of the Son of Man--and not to the days of Peter and the other Apostles in the meridian of time.

The sum of the matter then is, that Peter was not living in the "last days;" that the prophecy of Joel was not in its entirety fulfilled in the outpouring of God's Spirit upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost; that at no time subsequent to the days of the Apostles has there existed such conditions in the earth as amount to a complete fulfillment of Joel's prophecy; therefore in some time future from the days of the Apostles we may look forward to a universal outpouring of God's Holy Spirit upon all flesh, resulting in a universal peace and wide-spread knowledge of God, brought about, unquestionably, by a subsequent dispensation from that in which Peter wrought--the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times, in which God promises to "gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in Him."[A]

[Footnote A: Eph. i:10.]

LESSON XXIX.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

CONFLICTING THEORIES--(Continued.)

ANALYSIS.

I. Questions Respecting the Meridian Dispensation and the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times Considered.

II. Daniel's Prophecy of the Rise of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days.

REFERENCES.

The Authorities quoted in the notes are all the references the Editor and Compiler has to offer in this Lesson.

NOTES.

_1. Daniel's Prophecy of the Rise of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days:_ The second special Scripture to which I have promised a separate consideration is the prophecy of Daniel relative to the succession of the great earth empires; and the final establishment of the Kingdom of God, which in "the last days" shall fill the whole earth and remain forever. By an error on the part of Christian writers, Daniel's prophecy concerning the Kingdom of God to be set up in "the last days" is supposed to have been fulfilled by the founding of "The spiritual kingdom of Christ" in the days of Messiah's earthly ministry; and therefore the conclusion is drawn that those days were "the last days," and the dispensation then ushered in, the final dispensation of the Gospel. It is my purpose here to refute that error.

The prophecy in question is familiar, and comes from Daniel's interpretation of the king of Babylon's dream of the great image, whose "brightness was excellent, whose form' was terrible." The head of the image was-of gold; his breast and arms were of silver; the body and thighs of brass; the legs of iron; and the feet and the toes part of iron and part of clay. The king in his dream also saw a little stone cut out of the mountain without hands, that smote the image upon the feet of mixed clay and iron, and broke it to pieces--until it became like the chaff of the summer thrashing floor, and the wind of heaven carried it away, that no place was found for it; but the little stone cut from the mountain without hands, which smote the image on the feet and ground it to dust, became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and this the prophet's interpretation, addressed to the king of Babylon:

"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven, hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall rise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands., and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."[A]

[Footnote A: Dan. ii:37-45.]

As understood by the learned, Daniel's interpretation stands thus:

"(1) The _Golden Head_--The Assyrio-Babylonish monarchy (the 6th and 5th century B. C.);

"(2) The _Silver Breast and Arms_--The Medo-Persian empire (from 538 B. C. to about 330 B. C.);

"(3) The _Brazen Belly and Thighs_--The Greco-Macedonian kingdom, especially after Alexander, those of Egypt and Syria (from about 330 B. C. to 160 B. C.);

"(4) The _Legs of Iron_, the power of Rome, bestriding the east and west, but broken into a number of states, the ten toes, which retained some of its warlike strength (the iron), mingled with elements of weakness (the soft potters' clay), which rendered the whole imperial structure unstable.

"(5) The _Stone_ cut without hands out of the _Living Rock_, dashing down the image, becoming a great mountain, and filling all the earth--_The Spiritual Kingdom of Christ_."

The last phrase--"The Spiritual Kingdom of Christ"--meaning, of course, the "Christian churches" which have existed from the time of Christ, and that now exist, and which, taken together, form Christ's spiritual kingdom.

On the foregoing exegesis, which is the one commonly accepted by orthodox Christians, I make the following several observations:

_First:_ The phrase with reference to the little Stone, "cut out of the Living Rock," is one introduced by Dr. Smith, from whose "Old Testament History"[A] the above analysis of Daniel's interpretation is taken. The language of the Bible is, "cut out of the mountain without hands." Why it is changed by the Doctor one may not conjecture, unless it is to lay the foundation of an argument not warranted by the text of Daniel's interpretation. It is enough here to note that the change in phraseology is wholly gratuitous and unwarranted.

[Footnote A: Edition of 1878, page 622.]

_Second:_ The claim that the "little Stone cut from the mountain without hands," is the "_Spiritual Kingdom of Christ_"--if by that "spiritual kingdom" is meant not a real kingdom, actually existing, visible and tangible--is an assumption of the Doctor's. It is not the language of the Bible, nor is there any evidence in Scripture for believing that "the kingdom," represented by "the stone cut out of the mountain without hands," is any less a _material_ kingdom than those which preceded it. The differences between this kingdom of God and the other kingdoms of the vision are not in the kingdom being "spiritual," but in these: (1) That the kingdom which God shall set up will never be destroyed; (2) never left to another people; (3) will break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms; (4) it shall fill the whole earth; (5) and stand forever. We are warranted in the belief, however, that it will be a tangible, bona fide government of God on earth, consisting of a king; subordinate officers; laws; subjects; and the whole earth for its territory--for its dominion. The coming forth of such a government, the founding of such a kingdom, is in harmony with all the hopes of all the saints, and the predictions of all the prophets who have touched upon the subject. It is the actual reign of Christ on earth with His Saints, in fulfillment of the hopes held out to them in every dispensation of the Gospel. It is to be the burden of the song of the redeemed out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, that Christ has made them unto their God kings and priests--"and we shall reign on the earth."[A] It is to be the chorus in heaven--"the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever."[B] And the elders in heaven shall say:

[Footnote A: Rev. v:10.]

[Footnote B: Rev. xi:15.]

"We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldst give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth."[A]

[Footnote A: Ibid. xi:17, 18.]

And still again:

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."[A]

[Footnote A: Ibid. xx:6.]

It should be observed respecting the last passage and the one preceding it, that "the reign on earth" of the kingdom of God is connected with the resurrection of the righteous saints; so that it will be in the "last days" indeed--not in the days of the Roman empire. And this reign of the saints on earth, this kingdom of God which they shall constitute, shall be a reign of righteousness, but a veritable kingdom nevertheless.

_Third:_ The orthodox exegesis under consideration omits one important matter of fact, viz., that instead of four great dominant political powers symbolized in the image which Nebuchadnezzar saw, and which Daniel interpreted, there are five, viz.: (1) The Head of Gold--Babylonish kingdom; (2) the Chest and Arms of Silver--the Medo-Persian monarchy; (3) the Brazen Belly and Thighs--the Greco-Macedonian empire; (4) the Legs of Iron--Rome; (5) the _Feet and Toes_ mixed of _iron and clay_--the modern kingdoms and states of the world.

This failure to recognize the fifth political power represented by the feet and toes of Daniel's image leads to serious errors with respect to this prophecy. It has led the theologians to assign the setting up of God's kingdom spoken of in the prophecy to the wrong period of the world's history. They say the kingdom represented by the stone cut from the mountain without hands is "the spiritual kingdom of Christ;" and that the said kingdom was set up in the days of Messiah's earthly ministry in the meridian of time. This, however, cannot be correct; for the Church which Jesus established by His personal ministry and which, it is granted, is sometimes spoken of as the Kingdom of God, was founded in the days of the Roman empire, the fourth world power of Daniel's prophecy; and at a time, too, when imperial Rome was at the very zenith of her glory and power. Whereas the terms of Daniel's prophecy require that the kingdom which God shall establish, and which was represented by the stone cut from the mountain without hands, shall be set up in the days of the fifth political world power--in the days of the kingdoms represented by the pieces of iron and clay in the feet and toes of the image. The language of the prophecy on this point is: "And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom (i. e., the political power so represented, and that succeeds the fourth power or Roman empire) shall be divided; but there shall be in it the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, * * * * they (i. e., the kingdoms represented by the pieces of iron and clay) shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of _these kings_ (not in the days of the Roman empire)--_in the days of these kings_ shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed."

_Fourth:_ One of the peculiarities of the kingdom of God of Daniel's prophecy is, that when it is established among men it will not only never be destroyed, but "_the kingdom shall not be left to other people_." By which saying we can only conclude that when the kingdom of God shall be set up by the Lord in the last days, it will not be taken from the people to whom it shall come, and be given to, or left, to another people. But how stands it with the institution which arose from the preaching of the Gospel in the days of Messiah's earthly ministry, the church, sometimes called the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of heaven? Was it not "left to other people?" Messiah Himself said of the Jews, "Therefore say I unto you, _the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof_."[A] This passage comes, too, as a conclusion to the parable of the householder who let both his house and his vineyard to unworthy husbandmen, who successively beat, stoned, and slew the servants, and even the son and heir whom the master sent to collect his portion of the fruit of the vineyard. "When the Lord of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?" asked Jesus of His hearers. "He will miserably destroy these wicked men," they replied, "and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their season." They had pronounced judgment upon themselves. The parable presented the case of the Jews to whom Jesus was speaking, exactly, and Jesus quickly made the application of the judgment--"Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given unto a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." There can be no mistaking the meaning of the parable or its application; and some years later we have Paul saying to the contradicting and blaspheming Jews of Antioch in Pisidia: "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourself unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. _For so hath the Lord commanded us_."[B] And so it came to pass that as Israel in those days rejected the Gospel of the kingdom which was first offered to them, so God also rejected them; and they have stood rejected to this day; smitten and trodden under foot of the Gentile races, a scoff, a hiss, and a byword in every land that they have inhabited; while the kingdom of God first offered to them was left to other people, to the Gentiles, who, for a season, brought forth the fruits thereof. But the fact that the kingdom then preached to the Jews was taken from them and given to another people, is proof positive that it was not the kingdom which was to fulfill the terms of Daniel's great prophecy.

[Footnote A: Matt. xxi:43.]

[Footnote B: Acts xiii:46, 47.]

_Fifth:_ Another characteristic of the kingdom of God of Daniel's prophecy is, that it will never be destroyed, but will break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms, and stand for ever. This is not true of that institution brought into existence by the preaching of Messiah and the Apostles, sometimes called the kingdom of God, but more properly the Church of Christ. Saddening as the thought may seem, the Church founded by the labors of Jesus and His Apostles was destroyed from the earth; the Gospel was perverted; its ordinances were changed; its laws were transgressed; its covenant was, on the part of man, broken; and the world was left to flounder in the darkness of a long period of apostasy from God. For the reason, then, that the institution founded by the preaching of the Apostles was destroyed in the earth, as well as for the other reasons considered, the conclusion is forced upon the mind that the Church founded by Jesus and the Apostles was not the fulfillment of Daniel's great prophecy respecting the kingdom which God promised to set up in the last days: and hence we may look for another dispensation beyond the times of the Apostles, which will culminate in subduing the kingdoms of this world and making them the kingdoms of our God and His Christ, followed by that reign of righteousness and peace of which all the prophets have spoken.

LESSON XXX.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

THE GREATNESS AND INFLUENCE OF THE MERIDIAN DISPENSATION.

(A Discourse.)

NOTES.

_1. Suggestion to the Teacher:_ See foot note in Lesson XXII, Note 1.

_2. Suggestion to the Speakers:_ Here is a great theme, and one little dwelt upon in the Church, because the ministry and members have been absorbed in the later dispensation with which they are immediately connected. It affords excellent opportunity for truth-grouping, and infinite variety in treatment. (See notes in Lesson XVI and XXII). Many features of this great dispensation are untouched by the foregoing lessons, because of an enforced brevity necessary from our plan of treatment. The speaker, as far as possible, should develop these omitted features, that more knowledge may be imparted to the classes than that given in the lessons. No speaker should be content merely to repeat the subject matter of the lessons when there is so much left untouched outside of them. The lesson affords a scope for large and deep thinking; for wide research and masterful expression. Do your very best upon the subject; it will be worthy of all the effort you bring to bear upon it.

_3. Of Completing a Plan for a Discourse:_ The student should review what is said on the importance of a plan for a discourse in Lesson XXII. On the work of finishing a plan, Mr. Pittinger remarks: "When we have accumulated our materials, stricken out all that is unfitted or superfluous, and determined the general character of our discourse, the remainder of the work of finishing the plan must be left to individual taste and judgment. No rules can be given that will meet every case. We might direct to put first those statements or arguments which are most easily comprehended, and those which are necessary for understanding other portions of the discourse, and also whatever is least likely to be disputed. Something strong and impressive should be held well in reserve. It will not be according to the principles of that highest art which is the best mirror of nature if we exhaust interest in the opening and then close tamely. Beyond these obvious considerations little help can be given to the speaker in this part of his work. He must form his own ideal and then work up to it. We do not advise any one to borrow other men's outlines for the purpose of filling them up and then speaking from them as if the work was original. [That would be execrable!] This is a most profitless kind of plagiarism. Such sketches may be useful to the very young speaker, merely as indications of the kind of excellence in plans or sketches at which he should aim. And when he hears good discourses he may look beneath the burning words and criticise the merits of the framework upon which they rest. This may render him less satisfied with his own plans, but such dissatisfaction ever affords the best hope for future success. The true mode of improving your plans is to bestow a great deal of time and thought upon them, and to make no disposition of any part for which you cannot give a satisfactory reason. This direction relates only to the beginner. In time the formation of plans will become so natural that any variation from the most effective arrangement will be felt as keenly as a discord in music is felt by a master in that art. From such carefully constructed plans, firm, coherent, and logical discourses will result." (Extempore Speech, Pittinger, pp. 170, 171.)

_Essential Elements of a Plan:_ "There are certain general characteristics that each plan should possess. It must fully indicate the nature of the proposed discourse and mark out each of its successive steps with accuracy. Any want of definiteness in the outline is a fatal defect. You must feel that you can rely absolutely on it for guidance to the end of your discourse, or be always in danger of embarassment and confusion. Each clause should express a distinct idea, and but one. This should be repeated in no other part of the discourse; otherwise we fall into wearisome repetitions, the great vice, as it is often claimed, of extempore speakers. A brief plan is better, other things being equal, than a long one. Often a single word will recall an idea as perfectly as many sentences, and it will burden the memory less. We do not expect the draft of a house to equal the house in size, but only to preserve a proportionate relation to it throughout. The plan cannot supply the thought, but, indicating what is in the mind, it shows how to bring it forth in regular succession. It is a pathway leading to a definite end, and, like all pathways, its crowning merits are directness and smoothness. Without these qualities it will perplex and hinder rather than aid. Each word in the plan should suggest an idea, and be so firmly bound to that idea that the two cannot become separated in any exigency of speech. You will find it sorely perplexing if, in the heat of discourse, some important note should lose the thought for which it previously stood and become an empty word. But with clear conceptions condensed into fitting words, this cannot easily happen. A familiar idea can be expressed very briefly, while a strange or new conception may require more expansion. But all thoughts advanced by the speaker ought to be familiar to himself as the result of long meditation and thorough mastery, no matter how strange or startling they are to his hearers. Most skeletons may be brought within the compass of a hundred words, and every part be clearly indicated to the mind that conceived it, though perhaps not to any other." (Extempore Speech, Pittinger, pp. 171-2-3.)

* * * * * *

_Clearness in Speech:_ We turn again to the consideration of the quality of clearness in speech. In Lesson XXII the fault of ambiguity was dealt with to some extent, and here consideration of the same fault is renewed.

_"Ambiguity from the Use of Too Many Pronouns:_ Ambiguity may be produced by a too free use of pronouns. A student who wishes to tell how Dr. Livesey, of Treasure Island fame, threatened the pirate, Billy Bones, writes:

"The Doctor told him he was a dirty old scamp, and that he was a doctor and a magistrate, so that if he ever caught him doing anything like that again, he would run him out of the district."

It lakes time to discover to which man the various pronouns refer. To remove the obscurity we shall have to make part of the passage a direct quotation:

Dr. Livesey told Bones that he was a dirty scamp, and warned him if he did anything like that again, he would be run out of the district. "For," said the Doctor, "I am not only a physician, but a magistrate, too."

Often when the report of a speech in the third person is ambiguous, we must resort to this device of direct quotation. Usually, however, the question is merely one of finding nouns to take the place of pronouns. By decreasing the number of pronouns, the confused sentence, "Walters and Foster didn't agree with them, but thought as we did, and so they were forced to give up their intention," becomes the clear one, "Walters and Foster didn't agree with their old-time adversaries, but agreed with us, and so the latter were forced to give up their intention." In getting rid of ambiguous pronouns it may be necessary to repeat a word. When clearness demands it, the best writers are never afraid to use a word twice. The repetition may, by serving as a sort of echo of the previous thought, even increase the coherence. So Mr. Bryce writes:

"Yet, after all, it (the influence of the Speaker of the House of Representatives) is power, power which in the hands of a capable and ambitious man becomes so far-reaching that it is no exaggeration to call him the second, if not the first political figure in the United States."--(Bryce: American Commonwealth.)

This device of repetition is used in transforming the incoherent sentence below into a coherent one.

_Incoherent:_ This policy is not the best one; it is false, and we know it, and shun it accordingly, even if it is not to our interest.

_Coherent:_ This policy is not the best policy; it is false, we know it to be false, and though shunning it is not to our interest, shun it we do. (Composition and Rhetoric for Schools. Herrick and Damon, p. 304-5.)