Permanent Marker Series: E4, Page 318

(Click the above image for best quality.)
We're on page 318 and in need of a new marker. The Executive Trustee mentioned this reference during a California convention where he asked the brethren if they knew how to read. As you can see from our edits, he should have addressed himself. In order to make it work for him, we have to move the date and activity of individuals from 1881 to 1878 and the Epiphany class time period "now are" to 1881.

As was previously shown on this blog, the grammar is clear when you look at it. With our bracketed comments, the first part says: "Before the General Call to the Divine nature and joint-heirship with Christ ceased in 1881, the persons that we call 'Youthful Worthies' did not exist as individuals of a class; but since that time [the date given, 1881] they [plural, these persons or individuals] have been [in existence], and now [when written, in the Epiphany] are coming as such [a class] into existence, and are showing evidence of existence as such [a class]."

New Class in God's Plan Developing

PT February 1919, Page 34--"Before the General Call to the Divine nature and joint-heirship with Christ ceased in 1881, the persons that we call the "Youthful Worthies" did not exist as individuals of a class; but since that time [the date given, 1881] they [plural, these persons or individuals] have been [in existence] and now [when written, in the Epiphany] are coming as such [a class] into existence, and are showing some evidence of existence as such [a class]. Yea, we expect them to become shortly very marked as a class, separate and distinct from the Little Flock and the Great Company. The reason for their coming into existence as a class, though undiscerned hitherto as such, is that, since the General Call ceased, more people have consecrated to the Lord than can be provided with crowns from among those that wait as aspirants; and therefore the surplus consecrators were not begotten of the Spirit."

The title of this blog entry is the subtitle for the above text in the original PT reference. It indicates a NEW class (not an old one) in development during the Epiphany. Also, covered in a previous blog entry, please note the proper meaning of “individuals of a class” in the dependent clause (in blue, within brackets). “As such” is not a substitute for “therefore.” Rather, “such” must refer to an antecedent noun or noun phrase in order for “as such” to make grammatical sense. As a test, ask yourself “as what?”

Individuals of a Class

E4, P. 318: “Before the General Call to the Divine nature and joint-heirship with Christ ceased in 1881, the persons that we call ‘Youthful Worthies’ did not exist as individuals of a class; but since that time they have been, and now are coming as such into existence, and are showing evidence of existence as such.”

Some brethren misread “individuals of a class” in the reference above, saying that it shows a class from 1881. But in the complex sentence, it actually shows the correct view of individuals from 1881 and a class later. “Individuals of a class” is used quite frequently in literature to talk about similar individuals (plural), not a class (singular). A good example of this is from the University of Notre Dame about dialectics: “Lastly, the universal may express what is found in one or many individuals of a class, or even perhaps in all of them, yet in such a way that it could be absent without the individuals' ceasing to be of the same nature.”

Looking at the above E4 reference, it is easy to prove that Bro. Johnson was referring to the individuals with the subject “persons” in the independent clause and the plural pronoun “they” in the dependent clause. Towards the end of the sentence, Bro. Johnson says that these individuals are now appearing as a class with the use of “as such.”

It makes sense when we play it out: “but since that time [1881] they [these individuals] have been [in existence], and now [in the Epiphany] are coming as such [a class] into existence, and are showing evidence of existence as such [a class].”