D01   1 **[089 TEXT D01**]
D01   2    |^*0With so many problems to solve, it would be a great help to
D01   3 select some one problem which might be the key to all the others, and
D01   4 begin there. ^If there is any such key-problem, then it is undoubtedly
D01   5 the problem of the unity of the Gospel. ^There are three views of the
D01   6 Fourth Gospel which have been held.
D01   7    |^Some critics, not many, argue that the Gospel is the product of
D01   8 one mind and one hand. ^For them the problems of the Fourth Gospel
D01   9 exist only in the mind of its detractors. ^The difficulties which are
D01  10 felt by modern critics are due to the book being read and examined as
D01  11 it was never meant to be. ^There is some truth in this contention, and
D01  12 one must always remember that no book of the New Testament was written
D01  13 with the special interests of a modern critic in mind. ^Many of the
D01  14 questions which the searching scrutiny of the textual critic raises
D01  15 were of no interest to the author of the Gospel. ^However, this kind
D01  16 of immaculate conception of John is difficult to maintain in the face
D01  17 of the contrasts with the other Gospels and of the striking unanimity
D01  18 of scholars who have detected dislocations in the text. ^That the
D01  19 Gospel is homogeneous is the orthodox view of the Roman Church.
D01  20 ^Loisy, who could not accept this view, was excommunicated in 1907
D01  21 after a Biblical commission had answered three questions on the Fourth
D01  22 Gospel, and the Pope made their three answers articles of faith. ^The
D01  23 first article affirmed the authorship of the apostle John. ^The second
D01  24 said that the problems which arise from the comparisons with the
D01  25 Synoptics can be reasonably solved by paying due regard to the time
D01  26 and plan and to the different public for which, or against which, the
D01  27 author wrote. ^The third article excluded any allegorical
D01  28 interpretation of the Gospel.
D01  29    |^There is a whole group of theories which attempt to explain the
D01  30 problems of the Fourth Gospel by explanations based on assumed textual
D01  31 dislocations. ^The present state of the Gospel is the result of an
D01  32 accident-prone history. ^The original was written on a roll, or codex,
D01  33 which fell into disorder or was accidentally damaged. ^An editor, who
D01  34 was not the author, made what he could of the chaos by placing the
D01  35 fragments, or sheets, or pages, in order. ^Most of those who expound a
D01  36 theory of textual dislocation take it for granted that the Gospel was
D01  37 written entirely by one author before the disturbance took place but a
D01  38 few leave it open to suppose that the original book had been revised
D01  39 even before the upheaval.
D01  40    |^The ingenuity of the theories is impressive and is the best
D01  41 argument against them. ^If the history of the Gospel has been as
D01  42 fortuitous as they suppose, rational criticism is impossible. ^The
D01  43 critic hopes to discover order, sequence and purpose. ^The textual
D01  44 dislocators recount tales of disorder, of transposition, and of the
D01  45 wayward impulse of the editor, who at one moment compels admiration
D01  46 for his spiritual insight and at the next is rolling dice.
D01  47    |^Fortunately, the introduction of chance into these schemes makes
D01  48 it possible to test them statistically. ^The result confirms the
D01  49 impression that ingenuity is their only virtue. ^One must not pass
D01  50 over the derangement theories without acknowledgment of the truth
D01  51 which they contain. ^The exponent of such a theory has seen some
D01  52 regularities in the structure of the Gospel. ^The regularities are not
D01  53 simple nor are they continuous. ^The critic then assumes that the
D01  54 underlying order was based on the sheets, or pages, on which the
D01  55 original was written, and that the disorder was due to some
D01  56 rearrangements of those sheets or pages. ^To dismiss the
D01  57 textual-derangement theories out of hand is to discard some acute
D01  58 observation because it is incomplete and has been wrongly developed.
D01  59    |^The third type of theory would account for the difficulties of
D01  60 the Fourth Gospel in terms of its having been, at one time, a shorter
D01  61 book than it now is. ^In the enlargement of this little Gospel some
D01  62 movements of the text took place.
D01  63    |^The Commentator has long been a leading exponent of such a view.
D01  64 ^In his commentary on John, he sets out in detail the case for
D01  65 enlargement. ^A theory of this kind offers considerable advantages.
D01  66 ^It can explain the early substratum undoubtedly present in the
D01  67 Gospel, and yet also account for passages which are not easily
D01  68 reconciled with early and accurate knowledge of the background of
D01  69 Jesus's life and work. ^It can offer a reason for the textual changes
D01  70 which is neither chance nor accident*- two terms which too often cover
D01  71 the absence of any reason.
D01  72    |^The one real weakness of the Commentator's case is that, in
D01  73 common with all his colleagues, he has not, until now, been able to
D01  74 exhibit exactly how this enlargement was effected nor has he been able
D01  75 to explain the textual movements by showing that such changes are part
D01  76 of a simple and coherent plan. ^To understand how this is possible it
D01  77 is necessary to examine the text of the Gospel.
D01  78 *<Chapter 3*>
D01  79 *<The Text of the Fourth Gospel*>
D01  80    |^*4T*2HE *0Fourth Gospel was almost certainly written in Greek. ^A
D01  81 modern text of the Gospel represents the work of generations of
D01  82 scholars who have compared the many manuscripts of John and worked out
D01  83 the version which is most likely to have been the original wording.
D01  84 ^It is not possible to establish any one text with absolute precision.
D01  85 ^The most convenient one for the authors has been the text of \0A.
D01  86 Souter. ^In this version of the text the Fourth Gospel is printed as
D01  87 just over 1,000 different nouns, verbs, and other parts of speech
D01  88 occurring 15,695 times in their different grammatical forms. ^There
D01  89 are other texts which could have been used, and (as shown in Table
D01  90 *=1) it is not a matter of the greatest importance which text is used.
D01  91 **[TABLE**]
D01  92    |^At first sight the difference between Souter and the other texts
D01  93 is rather large. ^But the British text includes the paragraph
D01  94 *=7.53-*=8.11, the Woman taken in Adultery, and this accounts for 178
D01  95 words out of 279, which is the difference between the 15,695 words of
D01  96 Souter's text and the 15,416 of Nestle's. ^The omission or inclusion
D01  97 of this paragraph is a matter of editorial decision rather than
D01  98 scribal emendation, and it must be included in the Gospel and studied,
D01  99 even if the result of the study were to decide that the paragraph
D01 100 should then be excluded. ^Thus the difference between Souter's text
D01 101 and Nestle's is 101 words. ^If the true content of the text of the
D01 102 Gospel is taken as the average of the two figures, then the difference
D01 103 is 101 words in 15,555, a figure on which the textual critics may be
D01 104 congratulated. ^One can assume that Souter's version of the Fourth
D01 105 Gospel represents 99 per cent of the original text. ^Of the remainder
D01 106 not much is of consequence, for the variant readings often concern
D01 107 verbal tenses, or word order, or the insertion or omission of
D01 108 qualifying clauses, not many of which affect the content or meaning of
D01 109 the text to any great extent.
D01 110    |^Souter's text is not identical with the original of John. ^The
D01 111 Gospel would have been written by hand in individual letters; block
D01 112 capitals are the nearest equivalent today. ^There would be no spaces
D01 113 between words such as we are accustomed to see and punctuation would
D01 114 be kept to a minimum. ^The comma, the full stop, the colon, and the
D01 115 interrogation mark are all modern additions to the text. ^The chapter
D01 116 and verse divisions of both Old and New Testaments date from the
D01 117 Reformation. ^The chapters were marked by Stephen Langton, an
D01 118 Archbishop of Canterbury, and the verses by the Parisian printer
D01 119 Stephanus, who produced the 1546 printed edition of the New Testament
D01 120 in Greek.
D01 121    |^The only punctuation which the originals might have had is
D01 122 *1\paragraphos *0markings. ^The end of a section of the text was
D01 123 indicated by a little bar drawn under the first two or three letters
D01 124 of the line at which the section finished. ^The bar was the commonest
D01 125 marking, but others were also used. ^Dots sometimes served in place of
D01 126 the bar, and there are cases where spacing is used as it is now used
D01 127 to mark a paragraph ending.
D01 128    |^Frequently *1\paragraphos *0markings were omitted. ^{0C. H.}
D01 129 Roberts is of the opinion that in the original of the Fourth Gospel
D01 130 some markings would be used, although which, it is impossible to say.
D01 131 ^Professor {0E. G.} Turner is inclined to take the view that the
D01 132 original of the Gospel would be unmarked.
D01 133    |^The original of the Gospel, whether written on a roll or codex,
D01 134 whether paragraphed or not, would be laid out in columns. ^This is the
D01 135 invariable practice of ancient manuscripts. ^A common size of column
D01 136 would hold about one third of a page of Souter's print. ^The writing
D01 137 instrument was a stylus, a wedge-shaped pen cut from a reed. ^The ink
D01 138 was a mixture of carbon black in water with gum Arabic as a solvent.
D01 139 ^The *"paper**" would be papyrus or parchment, and the form of the
D01 140 book a roll or codex.
D01 141    |^If, twenty years ago, one had asked a scholar what form the
D01 142 original of the Gospel would have taken, he would have answered,
D01 143 without hesitation, that the book would have been a papyrus roll. ^The
D01 144 reason why he would have been so confident is, simply, that the great
D01 145 majority of surviving classical manuscripts are on papyrus rolls. ^To
D01 146 make a book of this kind, sheets of papyrus were glued edge to edge
D01 147 until a single sheet, often twenty to twenty-five feet wide, had been
D01 148 made. ^The edge of this sheet was attached to a wooden dowel and the
D01 149 sheet wound round this central pin. ^The roll made a simple and
D01 150 serviceable book. ^It was robust*- the number which have survived the
D01 151 centuries is ample evidence of this*- and it was easily stored. ^It
D01 152 had two disadvantages. ^It was generally a single-sided form of book,
D01 153 and it was not an easy form of book in which to find a reference.
D01 154 ^This last objection might have had some weight in ecclesiastical
D01 155 circles. ^In his *1Natural History, *0*=13.*=11-*=12, the elder Pliny
D01 156 tells of the use of papyrus in roll-making. ^As Pliny was killed in
D01 157 the eruption of Vesuvius which overwhelmed Herculaneum and Pompeii in
D01 158 {0A.D.} 79, his information is contemporaneous with the New
D01 159 Testament.
D01 160    |^The other form of book was the codex. ^In this the sheets were
D01 161 bound together down one edge much as they are in modern books.
D01 162 ^Normally the sheets were bound in groups, called quires, and the
D01 163 quires were stitched together to make a book. ^A common size of
D01 164 papyrus codex page is ten inches by eight inches, the size of quarto
D01 165 paper today, and one hundred sheets make a large book. ^There are
D01 166 great variations in the codex form; some have single-sheet quires, but
D01 167 most have multi-sheet quires. ^Some codices were made up of double
D01 168 sheets folded and stitched through the fold. ^The difference between
D01 169 the codex and the roll is always clear. ^Compared to the roll the
D01 170 codex was more economical; it was generally written on both sides; and
D01 171 it was a much easier book in which to find a textual reference.
D01 172 ^Against these advantages the codex was fragile and might be bulky.
D01 173    |^It is sometimes possible to tell whether or not a particular text
D01 174 was written on a roll or a codex. ^Rolls were prepared for writing,
D01 175 but any papyrus left unused at the end could be cut off. ^If the text
D01 176 was longer than the roll, a sheet could easily be glued on. ^The verso
D01 177 of the roll was blank, and one cannot think of an author, Mark for
D01 178 example, sending out his Gospel lacking the ending, while one whole
D01 179 side of his roll was unused.
D01 180    |^The codex form was not so accommodating. ^Even in the case of the
D01 181 single-sheet quire, an extra sheet glued on might have to be gummed on
D01 182 over the binding, or the whole codex rebound.
D01 183 *# 2008
D02   1 **[090 TEXT D02**]
D02   2 *<*6*=10*>
D02   3 *<WORSHIP AND PRAISE*>
D02   4 *<*1Architecture*>
D02   5    |^*4T*2HE *0history of Congregational worship and of its habits of
D02   6 praise is a complex study for which many more pages would be required
D02   7 than we have here at our disposal. ^A simple but serviceable way of
D02   8 presenting its development is to invite the reader to consider three
D02   9 images: that of a seventeenth-century meeting-house, that of a
D02  10 nineteenth-century urban church, and that of a church built during the
D02  11 middle decades of the twentieth century. ^Consider, for example, the
D02  12 meeting-house at Old Meeting, Norwich, or Swanland, East Yorkshire, or
D02  13 Tadley, \0Hants; or any of those whose appearance is preserved only in
D02  14 faded prints in the vestries of more modern churches; then consider
D02  15 Union Church, Brighton, or Elgin Place, Glasgow, or Westminster
D02  16 Chapel, London, or Richmond Hill, Bournemouth; then thirdly, consider
D02  17 the new churches at Banstead, Surrey, Pilgrim Church at Plymouth, or
D02  18 (on a larger scale) Southernhay, Exeter, or Eltham, Kent, or
D02  19 Leatherhead, Surrey.
D02  20    |^Whatever particular churches the reader holds in his imagination,
D02  21 the conclusion he will surely draw is that Congregational worship can
D02  22 be expressed in the progression through three phases*- Family,
D02  23 Audience and Community. ^In any given place the emphasis may be on any
D02  24 one of these phases: in any given building you may well find a blend
D02  25 of two or all of them, or a kind of halted transition from one to
D02  26 another. ^But very broadly it can be said that the period from the
D02  27 beginning to 1750 is the *'family**' period: that from 1750 to 1900,
D02  28 the *'audience**' period; and that from 1900 to the present, the
D02  29 *'community**' period. ^To paraphrase these categories: Congregational
D02  30 worship comformable **[SIC**] with the *1Savoy Declaration *0and the
D02  31 principles of classic Congregationalism is family prayers: that
D02  32 comformable **[SIC**] with the Evangelical Revival and the new
D02  33 conurbations of industrial society is oratory: and that comformable
D02  34 **[SIC**] with modern socialism (I use the word somewhat liberally) is
D02  35 community.
D02  36    |^Your meeting-house has the aspect of a dwelling-house, and its
D02  37 architecture is domestic in the Georgian style: it has large square
D02  38 windows which are later diversified by that very characteristic design
D02  39 of a rectangle surmounted by a semi-circle which the later
D02  40 meeting-house made into its own kind of ecclesiastical architecture.
D02  41 ^Within, the pulpit and table are usually in the centre of the longer
D02  42 side of the rectangle, and nobody sits far from the minister. ^Within
D02  43 and without the emphasis is on utility and not on ceremony. ^The pews
D02  44 are fairly closely packed, and the best use is made of a fairly
D02  45 restricted space. ^A gallery quite often is added to make use of space
D02  46 vertically as well as horizontally. ^The technique of speech
D02  47 appropriate to such a building does not demand a high pitch of voice;
D02  48 reasonably careful enunciation and a moderate voice are all that are
D02  49 needed, and the very long discourses which were beloved of classic
D02  50 Dissenters could be delivered, and presumably listened to, in
D02  51 tolerable comfort.
D02  52    |^The contrast between this kind of building and the older of those
D02  53 buildings which are now mostly in use by Congregationalists is
D02  54 enormous. ^Very often, as the faded vestry prints testify, a meeting
D02  55 house was demolished in the nineteenth century to make way for a
D02  56 larger church. ^Now it is always assumed that this larger church was
D02  57 built in order to accommodate a larger congregation, or to minister to
D02  58 a rapidly growing district. ^That is only a part of the truth, because
D02  59 it must be noted that the larger church was never built in imitation
D02  60 of the style of the earlier one. ^In your new church you placed the
D02  61 pulpit centrally, but at the end of the church; the congregation now
D02  62 faced down the rectangle's longer dimension, and from an appreciable
D02  63 number of its members the preacher was remote. ^Were practical
D02  64 necessities the only consideration, a larger meeting-house of the same
D02  65 proportions would have met the need. ^It was never in fact constructed
D02  66 so.
D02  67    |^What mattered to the nineteenth-century Congregationalists was
D02  68 that they must needs express the spirit of success and enterprise
D02  69 which the Evangelical Revival, the Missionary movement, and the
D02  70 possibilities of reaching much larger numbers of people locally had
D02  71 kindled in them. ^Therefore their buildings were not only larger but
D02  72 more eloquent: towers or spires suggested aspiration and domination
D02  73 over surrounding buildings; gothic arches in doors and windows
D02  74 suggested their conviction that a meeting house must *'look like a
D02  75 church**'. ^And that tradition of large-scale evangelistic preaching
D02  76 which was already well established by 1850 (which was the first year
D02  77 of a peak-decade in Congregational church building) made the idea of
D02  78 meeting-house intimacy give way in the minds of the designers to that
D02  79 of weighty and rhetorical preaching, with a certain amount of
D02  80 attendant ceremony. ^Nineteenth-century Congregational churches are in
D02  81 themselves ceremonious buildings. ^The space is still used with
D02  82 puritan thrift, and large congregations can be packed into the pews.
D02  83 ^It is still assumed that the proper postures for a congregation at
D02  84 worship are either standing or sitting; room need not be left to
D02  85 accommodate the kneeling posture for prayer. ^But from outside the
D02  86 church *'looks like a church**', and from within, with its large
D02  87 pulpit or even rostrum in the centre, and its Table dwarfed by the
D02  88 enlarged building and by the enlarged pulpit, it proclaims the primacy
D02  89 of the preached Word. ^The fact that about the middle of the
D02  90 nineteenth century the fashion for large church organs in Britain was
D02  91 just beginning (the Great Exhibition of 1851 had a good deal to do
D02  92 with that) brought about the familiar and somewhat aesthetically
D02  93 distressing adornment that is now almost inseparable from buildings of
D02  94 this kind*- the pattern of organ-pipes behind the pulpit and directly
D02  95 in the focus of the congregation's visual attention. ^It has to be
D02  96 said that while this was, to the eye, most offensive, the organ
D02  97 builder usually found that in a Dissenting church his instrument had
D02  98 far better *'speaking space**', and was consequently heard to better
D02  99 advantage, than when it was tucked into a transept in some ancient
D02 100 parish church.
D02 101    |^The modern Congregational church differs as widely from that of
D02 102 1850 as does the middle-period one from the meeting house. ^The
D02 103 reasons are quite simple. ^In modern times the social activities of
D02 104 the church take a more significant share in the church's and
D02 105 minister's time than they formerly did, and must therefore be allotted
D02 106 a more significant share of the church's space. ^In your 1850 church
D02 107 you not infrequently find*- especially in the North of England*- a
D02 108 dramatic contrast between the sumptuous appointments of the building
D02 109 itself (and not infrequently, of the minister's vestry), and the
D02 110 inhuman barrack-like living conditions in the *'church rooms**'.
D02 111 ^These are sometimes actually placed underneath the church building:
D02 112 if not there, they are huddled behind or alongside in an apologetic
D02 113 heap. ^By contrast, your full-scale church *'plant**' of today makes
D02 114 the Sanctuary only the centre-piece of a systematic group of
D02 115 buildings. ^In consequence of this*- and not only because funds are
D02 116 too scarce to permit pretentious architecture*- your modern
D02 117 Congregational church is much more modest in its outward deportment
D02 118 than was that of your great-grandfather. ^But along with it are many
D02 119 buildings whose social significance is unmistakable. ^Too seldom is it
D02 120 possible to erect a complete system of buildings: but in such cases it
D02 121 is always urged on the architect that provision must be made for
D02 122 social activities, youth clubs, departmental children's worship,
D02 123 week-night meetings, and so forth: and when nothing better can be
D02 124 achieved, the new church becomes a dual-purpose building,
D02 125 accommodating the ancillary activities under the same roof, or in
D02 126 extreme cases in the same room, as the public worship.
D02 127    |^One thing, however, all modern *'sanctuaries**' have in common.
D02 128 ^There is not, as there was in the Victorian church, any attempt to
D02 129 provide seating for a large crowd of worshippers. ^Not only is the
D02 130 building fairly small: its floor-space is not used up to anything like
D02 131 the same extent. ^The restful effect of bare space, especially at the
D02 132 front of the church, has now been recognized and admitted. ^Chairs,
D02 133 symbols of congregational adaptability, have replaced in many places
D02 134 the solid and immovable pews, which are equally symbols of the local
D02 135 rootedness of classic and late-puritan Congregationalism. ^A central
D02 136 aisle often enhances the impression of spaciousness, and the new
D02 137 ceremonious regard for the Communion Table, brought by the
D02 138 contemporary sacramental revival, has usually caused the removal of
D02 139 the pulpit to the side of the church. ^The *'long**' rather than the
D02 140 *'square**' shape is still usually preferred, and there is plenty of
D02 141 evidence still of that half-sentimental aping of the Establishment
D02 142 which caused so much confusion in the architecture of the larger
D02 143 churches of the period 1900-30. ^It is too much to say that now a new
D02 144 sense of beauty has overtaken our congregations: but the positive gain
D02 145 is in a modesty and simplicity of demeanour which deny directly the
D02 146 chief vice of Victorianism, which was not so much ugliness as
D02 147 pretentiousness.
D02 148    |^There are, of course, many existing examples of churches which
D02 149 hardly fall tidily within any of these three categories. ^Carrs Lane,
D02 150 Birmingham, for example, though of massive size and accommodation,
D02 151 retains a fairly *'square**' ground plan and an austere un-spired
D02 152 exterior. ^\0St James's, Newcastle, another famous *'down-town**'
D02 153 church, combines a fairly square plan with an unusual sense of dignity
D02 154 and ceremony imparted by the use of fairly massive pillars and an
D02 155 imaginative dispersal of the pews radially from the central focus of
D02 156 the pulpit. ^The oval experiment at Wellingborough, though over-large,
D02 157 was clearly an attempt to reproduce on a large scale something of the
D02 158 openness of the meeting house. ^Bromley, Kent, of course, with its
D02 159 seven-sided plan, is the most impressive of all modern attempts to
D02 160 recapture the *'meeting house**' shape and integrate it with
D02 161 progressive church-thinking; for there the pulpit stands on a large
D02 162 platform in the middle of one of the *'long sides**'*- which is itself
D02 163 composed of three planes set at wide angles to one another, while the
D02 164 congregation is arranged to move out from the pulpit towards each of
D02 165 the other four sides, again arranged at very wide angles.
D02 166    |^Redland Park, Bristol, though opened only in 1957, has a fairly
D02 167 traditional appearance, being large, long, centre-aisled and
D02 168 side-pulpited but with no features especially eloquent of new trends.
D02 169 ^The Church of the Peace of God, Oxted (1936), built to a cross-shaped
D02 170 pattern, could hardly be less like a meeting-house, and is very
D02 171 ceremonious in its demeanour: and its *'community**' buildings, such
D02 172 as they are (pleasant but small) suggest that the energetic community
D02 173 life of a new area is hardly looked for. ^Indeed, there is usually a
D02 174 difference between the new church built in a new housing estate and
D02 175 the new church built to replace an old one on or near the old site:
D02 176 this is understandable and proper, though imagination has sometimes
D02 177 failed at crucial points either, as at Stowmarket, by interrupting the
D02 178 domestic architecture of a pleasant village street by a somewhat
D02 179 over-eloquent modern elevation, or, as in some extension-experiments,
D02 180 by the inadequate provision of ancillary halls and rooms or the
D02 181 ill-considered siting of the whole plant.
D02 182    |^But the pattern is in general clear enough: and it is but one
D02 183 aspect of a pattern of development that can be seen in the habits of
D02 184 worship of the various ages of Congregationalism.
D02 185 *<*1Worship*>
D02 186    |^*0In its classic days there was enough of the Anabaptist and
D02 187 enough of the Quaker in most Congregationalists to ensure that any
D02 188 kind of fixed liturgy would be entirely unwelcome. ^When *'family
D02 189 prayers**' was the prevailing \6*1ethos, *0worship-books of any kind
D02 190 were unnecessary, and would have been thought an intrusion. ^The
D02 191 piping-hot devotion of the Brownists needed no such things; nor did
D02 192 the crisis-outlook of the persecuted Independents. ^This is quite
D02 193 apart from the conviction that worship-books were in general a popish
D02 194 device, and that the Book of Common Prayer was the cause of all their
D02 195 sorrows.
D02 196    |^In the eighteenth century, although Dissent settled down to
D02 197 establish itself and soon became well able to look after its own
D02 198 interests, there was little inclination to revise these convictions.
D02 199 *# 2008
D03   1 **[091 TEXT D03**]
D03   2 *<*43. gain*>
D03   3    |^*0The word is used nine times in the book and belongs to the
D03   4 world of commerce, meaning surplus or credit balance. ^Life, says
D03   5 Qoheleth, pays no dividends.
D03   6 *<*44. all the toil at which he toils*>
D03   7    |^*0The word for toil is also used of sorrow and vexation. ^The
D03   8 emphasis here is not on the physical labour but on the frustrating
D03   9 nature of it when the end purpose is not known. ^This is the problem
D03  10 of communication in the modern industrial world.
D03  11 *<*43. under the sun*>
D03  12    |^*0The phrase is used some twenty-nine times in this book but not
D03  13 elsewhere in the Old Testament. ^It is parallel to *'under heaven**'
D03  14 (\0cf. \0Ex. 17.14; \0Deut. 9.14) and *'upon the earth**' (\0cf.
D03  15 \0Gen. 8.17). ^It means simply *'alive**'.
D03  16 *<*45. hastens to the place where it rises*>
D03  17    |^*0Qoheleth notes that the progress of the sun is an illusion.
D03  18 ^The end of the hastening is to be back where it started. ^The
D03  19 original for *2HASTENS *0means to gasp or pant, and is used of
D03  20 childbirth pangs (\0Isa. 42.14) and the Psalmist's longing for the
D03  21 commandments of the Law (\0Ps. 119.131). ^The figure of the sun as a
D03  22 participant in a race is familiar, and even before the Exile a passage
D03  23 in *=2 Kings 23.11 suggests a knowledge of it. ^The thought fits
D03  24 Qoheleth's position precisely. ^The finishing line is continually
D03  25 found to be but the prelude to the starting post*- the sun gets
D03  26 nowhere!
D03  27 *<*46. The wind blows... the wind returns*>
D03  28    |^*0This verse contains the same Hebrew word four times and is
D03  29 translated *2BLOWS, GOES ROUND, GOES ROUND AND ROUND, RETURNS ON ITS
D03  30 CIRCUITS. ^*0The sheer monotony of repetition is conveyed more
D03  31 strongly in the use of the same root and expresses admirably the
D03  32 futility that haunts Qoheleth.
D03  33 *<*47. the sea is not full*>
D03  34    |^*0This represents work and activity that cannot hope to be
D03  35 completed since the sea will never be too full!
D03  36 *<*48. the place where the streams flow*>
D03  37    |^*0The references is **[SIC**] to *'the underworld, which was
D03  38 thought to be the source both of the fresh-water springs and of the
D03  39 salt-water oceans**'.
D03  40 *<*49. the eye is not satisfied... nor the ear filled*>
D03  41    |^*0There is no lack of sensations for these organs to be occupied
D03  42 with but there is no significance in what they experience. ^The word
D03  43 for *2SATISFIED *0is used of hunger and appetite. ^There is food
D03  44 enough but the hunger never grows less.
D03  45 *<*410. there is nothing new under the sun*>
D03  46    |^*0The complaint is deeper than a demand for novelty. ^It is the
D03  47 lack of an advance in natural phenomena that appals. ^The verse may be
D03  48 compared with \0Pss. 8 and 104 to bring out the gulf between viewing
D03  49 the physical world as a soulless process and viewing it sacramentally.
D03  50 *<*411. there is no remembrance*>
D03  51    |^*0The full force of this verse is only to be seen when the
D03  52 significance of the act of remembering in the Hebrew mind is
D03  53 recognized. ^The act means more than the recalling of past events.
D03  54 ^The very personality of a man continues into the present through his
D03  55 being remembered. ^There is an element of present reality in
D03  56 remembering*- the past is re-presented. ^To say there is no
D03  57 remembrance would mean spiritual annihilation. ^Hence the frequency of
D03  58 the biblical injunction to look at the past and remember. ^(\0Cf.
D03  59 \0Ex. 13.3; 20.8; \0Deut. 5.15; \0Isa. 51.1-3; also *=1 \0Cor. 11.25.)
D03  60 *<*2THE SEARCH FOR THE SUPREME GOOD*>
D03  61 *<*41.*012-*42.*026*>
D03  62    |^Under the pseudonym of Solomon, Qoheleth outlines a number of
D03  63 quests or even experiments he has made in the search for an ultimate
D03  64 purpose, a supreme good in human life; but all have led him to the
D03  65 same moral impasse.
D03  66 *<*2THE QUEST FOR WISDOM*>
D03  67 *<*41.*012-18*>
D03  68 *<*412. I the preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem*>
D03  69    |^*0The author clearly intends to be taken as Solomon. ^The use of
D03  70 this literary device was really a means of expressing Qoheleth's
D03  71 conviction that neither wealth nor wisdom provided the clue to the
D03  72 final meaning of life. ^He uses here Solomon's reputation for
D03  73 precisely these two features, his renowned wisdom and his ostentatious
D03  74 flaunting of wealth. ^His attitude is not that of an admirer, but
D03  75 rather he pillories these characteristics, and indirectly Solomon
D03  76 himself.
D03  77 *<*413. I applied my mind*>
D03  78    |^*0\0Lit. *'my heart**'. ^The Hebrew word *1\le*?1b, *0frequently
D03  79 translated *'heart**', is more concerned with thought and the will
D03  80 than with the emotions in Hebrew thinking.
D03  81 *<*4search out in wisdom*>
D03  82    |^*0The original for *2SEARCH OUT *0is used as a technical term for
D03  83 consulting the priest or the prophet and is what is meant by
D03  84 *'enquiring of the Lord**'. ^The root is *1\da*?1rash *0and the term
D03  85 \Midrash*- commentary on Scripture*- comes from it. ^With *2BY WISDOM
D03  86 *0compare Job 28.12, where the quest for wisdom is considered beyond
D03  87 man's capacity. ^See the Introduction, \0pp. 274 \0f., for the need to
D03  88 distinguish between human wisdom and the Divine Wisdom. ^There are two
D03  89 levels of discussion, and the wisdom derived from the practical
D03  90 experience of daily living offers no key to the great ultimate
D03  91 mysteries of the Divine Wisdom.
D03  92 *<*414. a striving after wind*>
D03  93    |^*0This is a favourite phrase of the writer and it is used some
D03  94 seven times in this book. ^The literal meaning is *'a feeding on the
D03  95 wind**'. ^The word is used of shepherds feeding their flocks. ^The
D03  96 thought is that for all the satisfaction obtained all his quests for
D03  97 meaning are like trying to make a meal on food that is no more
D03  98 substantial than the wind! ^Some scholars derive the word from a root
D03  99 meaning *'to desire**'. ^Then the phrase would mean *'to desire the
D03 100 unsubstantial or illusory**'. ^The same note of bitterness is apparent
D03 101 in either case. ^All human activity, as far as its final significance
D03 102 is concerned, is like feeding on the wind or desiring the shadowy
D03 103 insubstantial air.
D03 104 *<*415. What is crooked*>
D03 105    |^*0The root meaning of *2CROOKED *0is *'to twist or pervert**'.
D03 106 ^This is a key for human sin. ^We find our colloquial term
D03 107 *'twister**' near the mark. ^We note the preoccupation of Wisdom in
D03 108 its profounder aspect with the problem of sin and suffering.
D03 109 *<*416. I said to myself*>
D03 110    |^*0\0Lit. *'I, personally, spoke with my heart.**'
D03 111 *<*4all who were over Jerusalem before me*>
D03 112    |^*0This completely gives away the case for Solomonic authorship*-
D03 113 there is only one candidate for this, David.
D03 114 *<*4wisdom and knowledge*>
D03 115    |^*0These two terms are frequently found in close association.
D03 116 ^*'In the Old Testament,**' says Vriezen, *'knowledge is living in a
D03 117 close relationship with something or somebody, such a relationship as
D03 118 to cause what may be called communion.**' ^That a man has knowledge of
D03 119 God would mean that he had knowledge of God's revelation of himself.
D03 120 *<*417. to know wisdom... to know madness and folly*>
D03 121    |^*0We note again the use of *2TO KNOW *0denoting experience within
D03 122 a relationship that is immediate, rather than second-hand *'knowing
D03 123 about**' from another source. ^Wisdom and folly are moral rather than
D03 124 intellectual categories and are equivalent to good and evil. ^We must
D03 125 applaud Qoheleth on the thoroughness of his research when he includes
D03 126 *2MADNESS AND FOLLY. ^*0The verse has also been translated *'to know
D03 127 that wisdom and knowledge are madness and folly**'. ^The word
D03 128 translated *2MADNESS *0means *'mad revelry and wickedness**'.
D03 129 *<*2THE QUEST FOR PLEASURE AND MATERIAL SATISFACTION*>
D03 130 *<*42.*01-11*>
D03 131 *<*41. I will make a test of pleasure*>
D03 132    |^*0\0AV, {1I will prove thee with mirth}. ^The connotation of
D03 133 pleasure is wider than that of mirth and is to be preferred. ^The
D03 134 Hebrew word is used of the ordinary pleasures of life, including
D03 135 goodness and joy and the rejoicing associated with religious
D03 136 festivals. ^The word for *'*2TEST**' *0is used of God testing Abraham
D03 137 (\0Gen. 22.1) and frequently of such trials.
D03 138 *<*4enjoy yourself*>
D03 139    |^*0\0Lit. *'look upon good**'. ^This phrase contains the
D03 140 characteristic Hebrew idiom which uses *'to see**' meaning *'to
D03 141 experience, to participate in**'. ^It is used of experiences of life
D03 142 and death, happiness and sorrow (\0cf. Job 9.25; \0Ps. 16.10; \0Isa.
D03 143 44.16; Luke 2.26; John 3.36; 8.51). ^The force of the phrase is not so
D03 144 much ~*'Enjoy all that is good**' as ~*'Share in the experience of all
D03 145 that is good**' and then give a verdict upon it. ^The verb is parallel
D03 146 to *2TEST *0and must be taken in this sense of trying and
D03 147 experimenting. ^The typical Hebrew view of life is not a denial of
D03 148 pleasure but the reverse. ^We need to remember the particular quest
D03 149 that Qoheleth had in mind. ^He is seeking for an ultimate goal to the
D03 150 merriment and happiness that life does contain in some of its separate
D03 151 experiences.
D03 152 *<*42. It is mad*>
D03 153    |^*0The Hebrew participle means *'acting like madmen**'. ^\0Cf. *=1
D03 154 \0Sam. 21.14; \0Jer. 25.16; 46.9; 50.38; 51.7.
D03 155 *<*43. To cheer my body with wine*>
D03 156    |^*0\0Lit. *'to draw my flesh with wine**'. ^The phrase is
D03 157 difficult. ^The word translated *2CHEER *0can mean *'to draw or
D03 158 drag**', which in later Hebrew has a meaning of *'to attract**' in a
D03 159 figurative sense, that is, to stimulate and so to refresh.
D03 160 *<*4my mind still guiding me with wisdom*>
D03 161    |^*0\0AV, *'acquainting my heart with wisdom**'. ^The word for
D03 162 *2GUIDING *0comes from a root that is used to describe the herding of
D03 163 sheep or the conducting of prisoners. ^Qoheleth is still keeping his
D03 164 mind on his job. ^He is not blindly setting out on debauchery or
D03 165 dissolution as an escapist activity.
D03 166 *<*4to lay hold on folly*>
D03 167    |^*0The word used is a strong one, meaning *'to seize**', and it
D03 168 indicates the urgency of Qoheleth's quest. ^Here is no armchair
D03 169 doctrinaire dilettante.
D03 170 *<*44. I made great works*>
D03 171    |^*0\0Lit. *'I made great my works**'. ^This is a reference to the
D03 172 large-scale building operations which Solomon included in the
D03 173 construction of his palaces and the palace of Pharaoh's daughter
D03 174 (\0cf. *=1 Kings 7.1 \0ff.; 9.15 \0ff.; *=2 \0Chron. 8.4-6). ^Close to
D03 175 the building projects would be the *2VINEYARDS *0(*=1 Kings 4.25; \0S.
D03 176 of \0Sol. 8.11).
D03 177 *<*45. parks*>
D03 178    |^*0The word is a Persian loan-word, *1\pairi-deaza, *0from which
D03 179 our word paradise is derived. ^Qoheleth has a second paradise at his
D03 180 disposal but he is no happier than Adam was! ^The word is used in the
D03 181 singular in \0Neh. 2.8 and \0S. of \0Sol. 4.13.
D03 182 *<*46. pools from which to water*>
D03 183    |^*0A natural transition from gardens and orchards to the vital
D03 184 question of water supply. ^The pools are probably natural springs
D03 185 enlarged to become reservoirs or cisterns in the rock. ^King Mesha of
D03 186 Moab boasts of their construction in lines 9, 23-25 of the Moabite
D03 187 Stone, which read:
D03 188 **[BEGIN INDENTATION**]
D03 189 **[BEGIN QUOTE**]
D03 190    |^And I built Baal-meon and made in it the reservoir... and I made
D03 191 both the reservoirs for water inside the town. ^And there was no
D03 192 cistern inside the town at Qrchh, so I said to all the people, ^*'Make
D03 193 yourselves each one a cistern in his house.**'
D03 194 **[END QUOTE**]
D03 195 **[END INDENTATION**]
D03 196    |^\0Cf. also \0Neh. 2.14; 3.15; \0Isa. 1.30; 58.11; \0S. of \0Sol.
D03 197 7.4; *=2 \0Sam. 4.12.
D03 198 *<*47. I bought male and female slaves*>
D03 199    |^*0The acquisition of slaves would be the necessary presupposition
D03 200 of the scale of his building operations. ^Behind these practices is
D03 201 the *1\mas *0or forced labour system which Solomon takes from Egyptian
D03 202 practices (\0cf. the use of such labour by the Egyptians in \0Ex.
D03 203 1.11-14).
D03 204 *<*48. any who had been before me in Jerusalem*>
D03 205    |^*0Again the mask slips. ^This rules out Solomonic authorship.
D03 206 ^See Introduction, \0pp. 257 \0f.
D03 207 *<*49. my wisdom remained with me*>
D03 208    |^*0\0Lit. *'stood to [or for] me**'. ^Qoheleth retains his
D03 209 objectivity. ^This reinforces \0v. 3. ^His experiencing of folly as
D03 210 well as wisdom still leaves him able to tell the difference.
D03 211 *<*410. my eyes desired*>
D03 212    |^*0\0Lit. *'asked**'. ^We may compare *=1 John 2.16 for the
D03 213 *'lust**' (desire) of the eyes, and also *=1 Kings 20.6; \0Ps. 145.15;
D03 214 \0Prov. 27.20 for the eyes as the seat of desire. ^There is no
D03 215 necessary suggestion of evil desire. ^The previous verse suggests that
D03 216 his wisdom safeguards him from this temptation.
D03 217 *<*4this was my reward*>
D03 218    |^*0This is a favourite word with Qoheleth (\0cf. 2.21; 3.22; 5.18
D03 219 \0ff.; 9.6, 9; 11.2). ^It carries the idea of reward or profit.
D03 220 ^Qoheleth is suggesting that there is a gain from human experience.
D03 221 ^He has found a good, but the next verse indicates that it is a
D03 222 relative one and the supreme good is still to be sought.
D03 223 *# 2024
D04   1 **[092 TEXT D04**]
D04   2 ^*0As it is written: ^*"The Earth \1shalt \1thou make an Altar for
D04   3 God. ^And if \1thou \1wilt make an Altar of stone, \1thou \1shalt not
D04   4 build it of hewn stone, for if \1thou lift up \1thy sword upon it,
D04   5 \1thou \1hast polluted it.**"
D04   6 *<*1The Shamir*>
D04   7    |^*0And they shall seek the Shamir, to make an Altar.
D04   8    |^According to the legend, Solomon had asked the Prince of the
D04   9 Demons, *"Ashmodeus**" to bring him the Shamir and Ashmodeus told him
D04  10 that the Shamir had not been placed under his charge, as there is no
D04  11 Shamir in Gehenna (Hell). ^An eagle brought the Shamir to Solomon from
D04  12 Eden, the Paradise, the only place where the Shamir could be found.
D04  13    |^The Talmud describes that the Shamir lives in a sanctuary, and
D04  14 only some rare birds know the existence of it.
D04  15    |^These birds are, the Cherubim and the Seraphim.
D04  16    |^We are also told that the Shamir is the stylus used by Moses, and
D04  17 this stylus is described as a very precious diamond-stone and very
D04  18 adamant.
D04  19    |^The word Shamir was used as a personal name (\0Git. 68a). ^The
D04  20 Hebrew word *"\*2SHAMIR**" *0means guarded or preserved.
D04  21    |^Therefore, the real man, who regards himself as insignificant, as
D04  22 the prayer says: ~*"What am I? ~A worm**", he is the Shamir and such a
D04  23 man fulfils the Shmah, loves the Lord God with all his heart, and with
D04  24 all his soul and with all his might and studies the word of God. ^This
D04  25 man is the worm, the creature that cuts and polishes Altar-Stones.
D04  26 ^Such a man is the Shamir that guards himself against all the
D04  27 irrelevant pleasures. ^Such a Shamir possesses the real acid to mould
D04  28 our character, to melt our heart of stone. ^This Shamir helps us
D04  29 earthly creatures to build an Altar for God to come nearer to God.
D04  30 ^The action of the Shamir writes books and their books are readable.
D04  31 ^This Shamir is indeed a rare diamond that incises the hardest rock,
D04  32 the hardest facts. ^And these creatures existed from the beginning.
D04  33 ^It is *"the stone, which the builders refused, but it is to become
D04  34 the head-stone of the corner**". ^(\0Ps. 118, 22.) ^And the stone
D04  35 shall tell! ^*"For the stone shall cry out of the wall**", like
D04  36 Baalam's ass, *"and the purlin of timber shall creak in answer**" *"if
D04  37 the roof of our security is crushing our soul**" (see \0Hab. 2,
D04  38 10-11). ^And it is through the Shamir: *"That the earth shall be
D04  39 filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord, as the waters
D04  40 cover the sea.**" ^(\0Hab. 2, 14.)
D04  41    |^The Shamir's daily life writes the Decalogue, which is written on
D04  42 two plates, the hard facts of life, and all facts are *"one**". ^We
D04  43 have all come across human Shamirs and they leave a deep impression on
D04  44 our feelings and senses. ^They make us the Altar for God to emit the
D04  45 Light which can be read in every language. ^The Shamir is the
D04  46 *"seventh**" and most important creature, that was created on the eve
D04  47 of the Sabbath, to bring the Sabbath, real peace to the whole world.
D04  48 ^Then the whole earth will be His Altar.
D04  49 *<*1The Second Lesson of the Shmah \0Deut. *011, 13-21*>
D04  50    |^*"And it shall come to pass, if \1ye shall \1hearken diligently
D04  51 unto my commandments, which I command you this day, to love the Lord
D04  52 your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your
D04  53 soul.**" ^This may seem very good, but there is something deficient.
D04  54 ^To love the Lord your God with all your might is lacking (\0Deut. 6.
D04  55 5.). ^It is this lack of vision that may make us fail. ^And without
D04  56 visionary power the people will perish. ^But Nature will at first not
D04  57 interfere. ^*"That I will give you the rain of your land in its due
D04  58 season, the first rain and the latter rain,**" but the consequence
D04  59 will be *"that \1thou \1mayest gather in \1thy corn, and \1thy wine,
D04  60 and \1thine oil.**" ^Under such conditions without putting your mind
D04  61 together we cannot solve the further summons of destiny, to solve the
D04  62 economic problems. ^Hence says Rabbi Simeon \ben Jochai (Tanis 6a)
D04  63 *"if Israel does not fulfil the wish of the Lord, failing to serve the
D04  64 Lord God with all their visionary power, the work will have to be done
D04  65 by each individual**". ^They will not work in union. ^If physical
D04  66 power, spiritual power and visionary power is not united, man will
D04  67 remain in his heart selfish and think only of one's **[SIC**] personal
D04  68 advantage to gratify selfish aims, then each man will gather-in for
D04  69 himself only, instead of all to help to gather your corn, your wine
D04  70 and your oil. ^Freedom from want cannot be fulfilled nor freedom from
D04  71 fear, fear of starvation in the midst of plenty. ^Help will not be
D04  72 easily forthcoming for the people in need. ^They will think of the
D04  73 animals first (which is of course our duty). ^Of course the individual
D04  74 will eat and be full but: ~*"Take heed to yourself, that your heart be
D04  75 not deceived, and \1ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship
D04  76 them**", the yourself is thy greatest enemy, the self-seeking self.
D04  77 ^And you serve Mammon and God. ^And you cannot serve two masters, and
D04  78 you worship self-interest, isolating yourself, under such conditions
D04  79 the goods are your gods. ^*"And then the Lord's wrath be kindled
D04  80 against you, and he shut up the heavens, that there is no rain, and
D04  81 that the land yield not her fruit and lest \1ye perish quickly from
D04  82 off the good land which the Lord \1giveth you.**" ^For without the
D04  83 vision to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
D04  84 your soul *1and with all your might *0the problem of life cannot be
D04  85 solved.
D04  86    |^*"Therefore shall \1ye lay up these my words in your heart and in
D04  87 your soul.**" ^The text adds and in your soul, searching your soul.
D04  88 ^And the sequence in the text is different than in the first part of
D04  89 the Shmah, we have first *"and to bind them for a sign upon your hand,
D04  90 that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.**" ^First to bind
D04  91 them to have the vision and then ^*"And \1ye shall teach them to your
D04  92 children.**" ^And as we have gone through the mill, we need not teach
D04  93 them to the children any more diligently and the children will grasp
D04  94 now what will befall them without visionary power.
D04  95    |^And we will nail the Divine Law on the door posts of the house
D04  96 and upon the gates.
D04  97 *<*1The Reward*>
D04  98    |^*0*"That your days may be multiplied and the days of your
D04  99 children in the land, which the Lord swear unto your father to give
D04 100 them, as days of *2HEAVEN ON EARTH**"
D04 101    |^*0That means the Kingdom of Messianic Righteousness (Talmud
D04 102 \0Sanh. 99A).
D04 103    |
D04 104    |^The Messusah, which is nailed on the doorposts contains those two
D04 105 lessons.
D04 106    |^*1The third lesson of the Shmah *0(Numbers 15, 37-41) is called
D04 107 *1*"the going-out of the land of Egypt**". ^*0It starts with the story
D04 108 of the fringes the *"\tsitsits**".
D04 109    |^This lesson used to be read only in the morning. ^And the Talmud
D04 110 tells a story, which is also in the Hagadah that Rabbi Eleasar \ben
D04 111 Assarja said, ~*"I am nearly seventy and I had not succeeded that
D04 112 people should read *'the going out of Egypt**' the passage Numbers 15,
D04 113 37-41, by night**", because the fringes (\tsitsits) are only used in
D04 114 the day; till Ben Zoma came and explained the verse (\0Deut. 16, 3)
D04 115 *"that \1thou \1mayest remember the day when \1thou \1camest forth out
D04 116 of the land of Egypt all the days of \1thy life.**" ^Ben Zoma said:
D04 117 ^*"The days of \1thy life means in the day-time; all the days of \1thy
D04 118 life means even at night-time.**" ^(Berochoth.) ^And the Rabbis
D04 119 thought it important that when we read the Shmah *"to be willing to
D04 120 hear,**" we should remember the Great Deliverance: Passover and its
D04 121 connection with the fringes (the \tsitsits).
D04 122 *<*1The \Tsitsits and the Hagadah*>
D04 123    |^*0And the \tsitsits had a message sealed inside the knots just as
D04 124 there is a message sealed in the four emblems which are used on
D04 125 Passover, to depict the *"time of our freedom**". ^And they are (1)
D04 126 Matzo; (2) Bitter Herbs; (3) Salt-water and Charauses (a kind of fruit
D04 127 mixture in likeness of the appearance of mortar); and (4) an attitude
D04 128 to lean back.
D04 129    |^(1) *1Matzos *0is deficient bread, (*2\LECHEM \ANJO *0in Hebrew),
D04 130 so are we deficient without spiritual knowledge, and to cure our
D04 131 mental incapacity we should be willing to learn. ^Education is always
D04 132 the most important task. ^Education gives: Freedom of Speech.
D04 133    |^(2) *1Bitter Herbs *0symbolises the bitterness that is hurled
D04 134 against us. ^We eat it. ^We accept it, to show we have self-control
D04 135 and that God dwells within us. ^Self-control gives us: Freedom to
D04 136 worship God.
D04 137    |^(3) *1Salt Water and Charauses: *0the salt-water at the
D04 138 Seder-Table represents the Covenant of the Torah (*2{MELACH BRITH
D04 139 ELOHECHO} *0in Hebrew, Salt is the covenant of \1thy God, \0Levit. 2,
D04 140 13.) ^Salt preserves and we should have this salt in ourselves and
D04 141 have peace with one-another. ^And the sweet Mortar (the *2\CHARAUSES
D04 142 *0in Hebrew) that binds all the *"hard-facts**" together and explains
D04 143 them, represents the Oral Tradition. ^We dip into both, at the Seder.
D04 144 ^And we want to understand more of the Torah and the Oral Tradition,
D04 145 our inheritance. ^Living the life of the Torah (*"dipping-in**") makes
D04 146 us meek: ^*"But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight
D04 147 themselves in the abundance of Peace**" (Psalm 37, 11). ^That gives us
D04 148 freedom from want.
D04 149    |^(4) *1We lean back on the Seder-night, *0that symbolises we are
D04 150 unafraid, for we are Israel, the Overcomer, the Suffering Servant,
D04 151 *"who will leaven the whole lump**", chosen from all the nations, and
D04 152 we realise that all mankind are God's Children. ^That gives us freedom
D04 153 from fear.
D04 154    |^These four emblems are the substance of the Passover and these
D04 155 four symbols are also the four ways of interpreting the Torah.
D04 156    |^(1) Matzo represents Peshat; (2) Moraur represents Remez; (3)
D04 157 Dipping-in represents Derush; (4) Leaning-back represents Saud. ^(This
D04 158 is the *2\PARDUS.) ^*0Matzo represents the literal meaning of Pesach
D04 159 which is called: The Feast of Matzos. ^The Bitter-Herbs represent the
D04 160 spiritual principle and this gives us *"a wink**" (Remez) how to live
D04 161 and accept all the bitterness that is hurled against us. ^The
D04 162 Salt-water and the sweet Mortar in which we dip-in represents the
D04 163 richness of the Law and that we should immerse into it. ^Leaning back
D04 164 carries the concealed message.
D04 165    |^And we start the Seder showing the Matzos, that they represent
D04 166 the *"Bread of Poverty**" which our fore-fathers were eating in
D04 167 Mitzrajim, to show they were willing to learn; and we invite anybody
D04 168 who wishes to partake in our discussions, saying:
D04 169    |^*"Anybody who is hungry, let him come and eat,
D04 170    |Anybody who is thirsty, let him come and drink.**"
D04 171    |^And we want all to eat and drink His Great Philosophy of the four
D04 172 ways of Israel's redemption.
D04 173    |^Hence *"four questions**", which are really interrogations to
D04 174 examine into the principles of the four redemptions are asked at the
D04 175 Seder-evening about these *"four symbols**" (the *2\MANISHTANO).
D04 176 ^*0And the person who asks these questions is seeking the opinion of
D04 177 the one who is conducting the Seder.
D04 178    |^And we answer, that the Lord our God gave us *"four freedoms**"
D04 179 without which Society cannot make progress.
D04 180    |^And we drink *"four cups**" to thank the Lord our God for the
D04 181 *"four freedoms**" which are Divine.
D04 182    |^There are four ways of redemption:
D04 183    |^(1) I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt.
D04 184    |^(2) I will rid you of their bondage.
D04 185    |^(3) I will redeem you.
D04 186    |^(4) I will take you to me for a people.
D04 187    |^(1) *1I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt*0:
D04 188 ^How was it that Israel was brought out from under the burdens of
D04 189 Egypt? ^Because, they kept the Passover and they were eating Matzos in
D04 190 Egypt and the *"Feast of Matzos**" was known even to Abraham and Lot.
D04 191 ^(\0Gen. Rashi 19, 3.)
D04 192 *# 2003
D05   1 **[093 TEXT D05**]
D05   2 ^*0Hooker, arguing that human reason and common sense were to have
D05   3 their place alongside the Bible and Church authority, poured
D05   4 sanctified oil on troubled waters. ^There were plenty of
D05   5 cross-currents in those waters and clergy who would solemnly have
D05   6 proclaimed their loyalty to that Prayer Book found as many ways of
D05   7 interpreting that loyalty as they do to-day. ^Many such men would find
D05   8 they could conscientiously remain in this comprehensive Church. ^But
D05   9 for some of them the path must end in schism.
D05  10    |^By that time, however, the Anglican Prayer Book, suppressed
D05  11 though it would be, would have become indigenous. ^And would have been
D05  12 the primer of saints*- Lancelot Andrewes, George Herbert, Jeremy
D05  13 Taylor, Margaret Godolphin, and so many others.
D05  14    |^The new century opened with James *=1 ascending the throne. ^He
D05  15 was quite prepared to be tolerant towards Rome though the Gunpowder
D05  16 Plot spoiled that. ^The Puritans had high hopes, for James had grown
D05  17 up in Presbyterian Scotland, but those hopes were dashed. ^True, a new
D05  18 Prayer Book was issued in 1604 but the Puritans derived little comfort
D05  19 from it. ^They objected to the word Absolution. ^So the phrase *'or
D05  20 the remission of sins**' was added. ^But Absolution remained. ^They
D05  21 objected to the word Confirmation. ^So the phrase *'or the laying on
D05  22 of hands upon children baptized and able to render an account of their
D05  23 faith according to the Catechism following**' were added. ^But
D05  24 Confirmation remained. ^Other changes in the Book were equally minor
D05  25 except for the new section on the Sacraments added to the Catechism.
D05  26 ^This indicated how ephemeral in the Church had been the mood which
D05  27 produced the Black Rubric, for it says that *'the Body and Blood of
D05  28 Christ, which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful
D05  29 in the Lord's Supper.**'
D05  30    |^It could hardly be more definite.
D05  31    |^It was at this time, too, that King James made himself immortal
D05  32 by becoming associated with a Bible translation*- the Authorized
D05  33 Version (which was never actually authorized!). ^In that year
D05  34 Shakespeare had just turned forty and had written *1Hamlet *0two years
D05  35 before. ^Bacon was at work and Milton was just learning to read.
D05  36    |^James was followed by Charles, in whose reign came the Scottish
D05  37 Prayer Book in 1637. ^Significantly this made a deliberate return to
D05  38 the Book of 1549 and became the foster mother of some of the most
D05  39 important Prayer Books in the Anglican Communion.
D05  40    |^Forever associated with Charles is Archbishop Laud, now so much
D05  41 nobler a figure than former historians led us to believe. ^Laud was
D05  42 enthusiastically hated by Calvinists and Puritans, and the sentiment
D05  43 was mutual. ^But Laud was no Romanizer. ^One of his first public acts
D05  44 was a hard-hitting battle with the Jesuit, Fisher. ^But anyone who was
D05  45 friendly with James and Charles, the Puritans argued, was necessarily
D05  46 a menace. ^All Laud's statements in favour of a Church both Catholic
D05  47 and Reformed, all the many evidences that Laud fully represented the
D05  48 heart of the English Reformation in his beliefs, meant nothing to
D05  49 those who had drunk deep at Calvinistic springs.
D05  50    |^Laud was called upon to do severe things. ^What else could an
D05  51 archbishop do when he found that clergy had lost interest in their
D05  52 jobs? ^Or when he found cock-fighting going on in church? ^Laud made a
D05  53 positive approach. ^He set out to increase a sense of reverence. ^The
D05  54 Prayer Book was to be respected and so was the office of a bishop.
D05  55 ^Altars should be altars and not any broken down, transportable table
D05  56 which was handy for the most improbable uses.
D05  57    |^Laud's motives were of the highest but his tact did not match
D05  58 them. ^Once convinced he was right, he was willing to go to most
D05  59 lengths to establish the fact. ^And so he became hated. ^And executed.
D05  60 ^And in the same year, 1644, the Prayer Book was declared illegal*-
D05  61 partly on the ground that it had proved *'an offence to the Reformed
D05  62 Churches abroad.**'
D05  63    |^The Puritan leaders were plotting (though they did not use
D05  64 colourful things like gunpowder in interesting places like the Houses
D05  65 of Parliament). ^Both Church and State were their target. ^The
D05  66 doctrine of the divine right of kings made the bull's eyes of these
D05  67 targets almost indistinguishable. ^*'No bishop, no king,**' said
D05  68 James. ^And ~*'No king, no bishop**' was the obvious implication.
D05  69 ^Charles went even further and asserted a king could do no wrong. ^In
D05  70 1629 he dissolved Parliament and announced he would govern by royal
D05  71 prerogative. ^There was no outlet for the expanding gases of criticism
D05  72 and the explosion grew. ^For Scotland the introduction of the Prayer
D05  73 Book had been the signal. ^In England the Puritans' day came in 1640
D05  74 and the Long Parliament began.
D05  75    |^English churches suffered yet another despoliation. ^And Evelyn
D05  76 the diarist could record ^*'Another sad day! ^The church now in caves
D05  77 and dens of the earth.**' ^To secure such an end men like Will Dowsing
D05  78 undertook to smash churches at 8\0*1s. *06\0*1d. *0a time. ^He was
D05  79 disgusted in one place where he had only 3\0*1s. *04\0*1d. *0because
D05  80 there were no more than *'ten superstitious pictures and a cross**' to
D05  81 be destroyed.
D05  82    |^Finally, in 1649, Charles was beheaded and a thrill of horror ran
D05  83 though the country. ^A dead king and a ravaged Faith. ^It was these
D05  84 very excesses which sounded the death knell of the Puritans as a
D05  85 ruling force.
D05  86    |^But we cannot leave this chapter with a picture of unrelieved
D05  87 gloom. ^These were also the days when Lancelot Andrewes was writing
D05  88 his {*1Preces Privatae} *0as well as being a great bishop. ^The
D05  89 days, too, of George Herbert, many of whose poems have become
D05  90 much-loved hymns. ^It was now that John Cosin, one day to be a bishop,
D05  91 was growing up and preparing to make a major liturgical contribution
D05  92 as soon as opportunity offered. ^Contemporary with them was Jeremy
D05  93 Taylor whose *1Holy Living *0and *1Holy Dying *0have helped so many to
D05  94 achieve those titles. ^And it was the time when Nicholas Ferrar was
D05  95 making his fascinating experiments in Christian community living at
D05  96 Little Gidding.
D05  97    |^An interesting age!
D05  98 *<*2CHAPTER NINE*>
D05  99 *<*3THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY SIXTIES*>
D05 100    |^*4N*2O *0Christian can lightly condemn an age and a system of
D05 101 belief which produced Richard Baxter and *1The Saints' Everlasting
D05 102 Rest *0or John Bunyan and *1Pilgrim's Progress. ^*0It was the same
D05 103 age, too, which gave birth to George Fox and the Society of Friends.
D05 104 ^All Christendom has surely been enriched by Fox's striving for direct
D05 105 access to God and his joy when he felt he had attained it and *'the
D05 106 whole earth had a new smell.**' ^Political history, too, must surely
D05 107 have been poorer without the particular concept of equality which the
D05 108 Quakers were to propagate.
D05 109    |^Even the brand image of the day, Cromwell, must remain memorable
D05 110 for many things other than his warts. ^Dictator though he inevitably
D05 111 became, Cromwell had no burning desire to prescribe religious
D05 112 conformity. ^True, he would have no truck with bishops or a Prayer
D05 113 Book. ^But he burned for the preaching of a pure Word, yearned for the
D05 114 reform of morals, and *'gave England a nearer approach to religious
D05 115 liberty than it had known.**' ^*'I meddle not with any man's
D05 116 conscience,**' he said. ^But there were times when his actions implied
D05 117 he assumed that Romans and Anglicans had no conscience and hence
D05 118 needed his strong treatment. ^And Irishmen, were, of course, another
D05 119 matter altogether.
D05 120    |^There was still so very far to go.
D05 121    |^English people, for example, did not think much of that degree of
D05 122 liberty which forbade them to observe Christmas Day.
D05 123 **[BEGIN INDENTATION**]
D05 124 **[BEGIN QUOTE**]
D05 125    |^England was merry England when
D05 126    |Old Christmas brought his sports again,
D05 127 **[END QUOTE**]
D05 128 **[END INDENTATION**]
D05 129 said Sir Walter Scott. ^And men soon tired of those who *'hated
D05 130 bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it
D05 131 gave pleasure to the spectators,**' as Macaulay expressed it. ^What's
D05 132 more, people wanted God's blessing on their weddings. ^But only civil
D05 133 marriages were allowed. ^The twenty years of the Commonwealth proved a
D05 134 negative, inhibiting experience. ^The Puritans were obsessed with
D05 135 their own theological gloom and snuffed any tiny candle of pleasure
D05 136 which came within their reach. ^They went straight to the Old
D05 137 Testament for a religion designed for doughty desert nomads.
D05 138    |^The Restoration of Church and King in 1660 was as much for basic
D05 139 human reasons as for ideological motives. ^It was not so much because
D05 140 Richard Cromwell had a weak character as because that for which he
D05 141 stood was, in the truest sense of the word, unnatural. ^Christianity
D05 142 is for the fullness of man, not for his suppression. ^And that was why
D05 143 the bells rang out and bonfires blazed as Charles came back.
D05 144    |^The temporary dalliance with Puritanism had shown that salvation,
D05 145 as well as joy, lay elsewhere. ^How much greater the pity, then, that
D05 146 Charles *=2 could not prove more worthy on taking up the Crown. ^How
D05 147 unfortunate that his name must remain associated in the popular mind
D05 148 with Nell Gwynn, oranges and low comedy. ^And how sad that Charles
D05 149 should have attempted the same sort of rigorous suppression as had
D05 150 disfigured English history for so long. ^Bunyan and Bedford Gaol were
D05 151 one example. ^And there were the Conventicle Act which forbade
D05 152 meetings for worship where the Prayer Book was not used, the Licensing
D05 153 Act which imposed a rigid Press censorship, the Five-Mile Act which
D05 154 made Nonconformist ministers wanderers in the wilderness, and others
D05 155 which made notorious the name of Clarendon and his code. ^Then there
D05 156 was the Test Act which insisted that all civil or military officers
D05 157 should take the oath of supremacy and allegiance and receive the Holy
D05 158 Communion according to the Church of England rite.
D05 159    |^It was such legalistic ham-fistedness which was to make the life
D05 160 of the Church of England such an artificial observance for so many in
D05 161 the following century. ^And such a situation was imposed by the State,
D05 162 not initiated by the Church.
D05 163    |^There is so much one could condemn about these sixties of three
D05 164 centuries ago. ^But there is so much also which one welcomes, not
D05 165 least the 1662 Prayer Book, born under such strange portents. ^We no
D05 166 longer look starry-eyed and refer to *'this incomparable Book.**'
D05 167 ^Time has turned its wheel and prescribed revision as now overdue.
D05 168 ^But we must revise only in the full awareness of what this Book has
D05 169 meant. ^First of all, however, we look at its immediate background.
D05 170    |^Before Christmas 1660 five editions of the 1604 Book had been
D05 171 printed. ^Fifteen years without a Prayer Book had certainly not made
D05 172 people forget it or lose interest in it. ^But most people regarded
D05 173 these reprints of the 1604 Book as a stopgap. ^A revision was clearly
D05 174 called for and the object of that revision was clearly expressed by
D05 175 nine bishops who were still alive. ^The nearer the forms *'come to the
D05 176 ancient liturgy of the Greek and Latin Churches, the less are they
D05 177 liable to the objections of the common enemy.**'
D05 178    |^On October 25, 1660, Charles issued a statement calling a
D05 179 conference of all interested parties. ^On August 15, 1661, at the
D05 180 Savoy Hospital, that conference met. ^To it came twelve bishops
D05 181 (including John Cosin of Durham, Robert Sanderson of Lincoln, and
D05 182 Gilbert Sheldon of London) and twelve Puritan divines (including
D05 183 Richard Baxter). ^The Bishop of London presided.
D05 184    |^As far as the bishops were concerned, it was obvious and natural
D05 185 that the Church's Prayer Book should be restored. ^The onus of
D05 186 argument was therefore placed on the Puritans who had plenty to say.
D05 187 ^Practically all of them wanted, for example, the surplice, the sign
D05 188 of the Cross in baptism, kneeling to receive the Holy Communion, the
D05 189 season of Lent, and the use of a ring in marriage to be abolished.
D05 190 ^They wanted prayer to be extemporary and unfettered. ^There were
D05 191 actually Puritans who took this principle to such an extreme that they
D05 192 described the Lord's Prayer as a Popish invention! ^The Puritans
D05 193 wanted Sunday to become the *'Lord's Day**' and Sabbatarian gloom to
D05 194 prevail. ^It is easy to condemn all this but we must never forget
D05 195 their very real zeal for righteousness.
D05 196    |^*'Had the objectors concentrated on one or two points of real
D05 197 doctrinal importance,**' says Bishop Moorman, *'they might have made
D05 198 some impression on their opponents, but their absorption in details of
D05 199 little moment was their undoing.
D05 200 **[MIDDLE OF QUOTE**]
D05 201 *# 2031
D06   1 **[094 TEXT D06**]
D06   2    |^*0In the first place it is not a great deal of use telling even
D06   3 children, as I have already suggested, not to be silly or to pull
D06   4 themselves together. ^Far better to help them to face whatever it is
D06   5 that is worrying them, to find the original cause and then deal with
D06   6 it; show it up either for the sham it is*- and many fears are based
D06   7 upon completely irrational pre-conceived notions*- or to show how we
D06   8 may deal with it so as to remove the power to torment us that it seems
D06   9 to possess.
D06  10    |^Even worse is to laugh. ^Tremendous damage may be done to a child
D06  11 by laughing at what are very real fears. ^As adults, we know that
D06  12 their fears are groundless, indeed to us they appear laughable, but to
D06  13 a child they are very real. ^Not that I am suggesting that children
D06  14 should be molly-coddled*- they must be made to face their fears, to
D06  15 see through them and come out on the other side as victors. ^To
D06  16 ridicule them only pushes them farther into themselves, so that they
D06  17 become unable to speak about it to anybody and the seeds of any amount
D06  18 of trouble are sown, the harvest of which may still be being reaped at
D06  19 forty or fifty. ^Far better to agree with a child that a particular
D06  20 situation is frightening, and then to face it together until the child
D06  21 can see how unnecessary its fears were.
D06  22    |^Because situations which may contain all the elements of fear can
D06  23 arise suddenly, it is a good idea to condition a child to some extent
D06  24 against it. ^To keep a child of twelve or thirteen under the
D06  25 impression that nothing nasty ever happens is not merely dishonest, it
D06  26 is unwise. ^As I shall suggest in a later chapter there are some
D06  27 situations which occur less frequently than they did once, or at least
D06  28 do not now arise until a later period of life, but this is no reason
D06  29 for leaving a child in complete ignorance to the extent of even lying
D06  30 to it when it asks questions. ^A little more honesty, even if one
D06  31 refrains from going into too many details, would help many a child to
D06  32 make a proper adjustment to life as it grows up.
D06  33    |^Let us look at Jesus. ^We do not, I think, see there a life
D06  34 without fear. ^There are several instances where he seemed unable to
D06  35 go on. ^In Gethsemane He prayed that the cup should pass from Him.
D06  36    |^Jesus shows us the way to face life. ^To see all the latent
D06  37 frightening possibilities and yet by facing them and knowing God is
D06  38 with us and that, with Him, there is nothing that can finally defeat
D06  39 us. ^More than that, that God has something important to do with our
D06  40 lives and that the nearer we get to Him, the stronger we become.
D06  41 **[BEGIN INDENTATION**]
D06  42 **[BEGIN QUOTE**]
D06  43    |^...Today
D06  44    |A wonderful thought
D06  45    |In the dawn was given...
D06  46    |And the thought
D06  47    |Was this:
D06  48    |That a secret plan
D06  49    |Is hid in my hand;
D06  50    |That my hand is big
D06  51    |Big,
D06  52    |Because of the plan
D06  53    |That God,
D06  54    |Who dwells in my hand,
D06  55    |Knows this secret plan,
D06  56    |Of the things He will do for the world
D06  57    |Using my hand.
D06  58 **[END QUOTE**]
D06  59 **[END INDENTATION**]
D06  60    |^*1Toyohiko Kagawa.
D06  61 *<*7PRAYER*>
D06  62    |^*0Loving Saviour, who experienced all human emotion, and whose
D06  63 sensitive nature knows better than we do, what it is to be really
D06  64 afraid, help us to know that when we face life boldly, many of the
D06  65 shadows are seen to be allies and not enemies and that, come what may,
D06  66 we are never alone when we are with Thee.
D06  67    |^Amen.
D06  68 *<*2CHAPTER FIVE*>
D06  69 *<TIREDNESS*>
D06  70    |^*4M*2OST *0people would probably regard tiredness as a purely
D06  71 physical thing. ^The cure for which is sleep. ^This is only partly
D06  72 true. ^Many people wake up tired of a morning and no amount of rest
D06  73 seems to make any difference. ^Sleep, to be effective, must be of that
D06  74 child-like quality which comes from innocence. ^To others, the long
D06  75 hours of the night bring only a disturbed tossing and turning which
D06  76 causes them to wake feeling worse than when they went to bed.
D06  77    |^We may begin to understand this a little better when we realize
D06  78 that tiredness itself is largely in the mind. ^Very few people, under
D06  79 normal conditions, work themselves to a standstill. ^The mind tires
D06  80 first and conveys the impression of tiredness to the body.
D06  81    |^This can be proved by noting the effect of a new stimulus on
D06  82 somebody who feels thoroughly tired. ^Suppose a mother has news late
D06  83 at night that her child is in danger. ^She will undertake a journey
D06  84 which, an hour before, she would have declared impossible. ^Even more
D06  85 simply, test your own reactions to different situations. ^There are
D06  86 some which bring on an almost immediate feeling of tiredness*- such as
D06  87 when your wife mentions the washing-up*- while others, if they refer
D06  88 to something you like doing, bring a veritable surge of energy. ^Many
D06  89 a girl who is *'too tired to help mum**' will later jump up with no
D06  90 apparent tiredness at all when her boy friend calls and go for a long
D06  91 walk. ^Nor is she necessarily being deceitful. ^She really did feel
D06  92 tired until the mind got the necessary injection of a fresh*- and an
D06  93 attractive*- interest!
D06  94    |^Tiredness has, therefore, as much to do with our mental state as
D06  95 with our physical exhaustion. ^A disturbed mind can bring the
D06  96 healthiest body to a sense of fatigue. ^They wonder why they get no
D06  97 rest at night, even if they do sleep. ^They drag themselves around and
D06  98 can become a burden to their families and their friends.
D06  99    |^Any mental confusion can cause this and the best way is probably
D06 100 to seek advice. ^As we are unable to cure our own bodies if the cause
D06 101 of our pain is too deep seated, so we are unable to cure our own
D06 102 minds, if the trouble is a complicated one involving careful and
D06 103 patient treatment. ^One of the greatest steps forward that has been
D06 104 made this century is the way in which illness of the mind is no longer
D06 105 feared or shunned, and is in fact no differently regarded than
D06 106 physical illness.
D06 107    |^There is, nevertheless, a great deal of tiredness which comes
D06 108 from no major complication but results from an inability to deal with
D06 109 life, especially under the diverse pattern which is the twentieth
D06 110 century. ^In the days when most people were born, lived and died
D06 111 within the boundaries of the village, it was not difficult for anybody
D06 112 to live a day at a time. ^Even those who held a high and responsible
D06 113 office lived in far greater simplicity than their successors. ^When
D06 114 news from the Continent took days, from America weeks, from the Far
D06 115 East, months, even a Prime Minister could go to sleep in blissful
D06 116 ignorance of what might be happening at the other end of England,
D06 117 whereas today, everybody, let alone the Prime Minister, knows of
D06 118 happenings the other side of the world, within minutes of their taking
D06 119 place.
D06 120    |^In other ways, too, life for the ordinary individual has become
D06 121 so complex that it taxes the mind. ^Two hundred years ago, men lived
D06 122 and worked in one place, their lives were of one piece. ^Now a man may
D06 123 live twenty, thirty even sixty miles from his work. ^The only
D06 124 connexion is the pipeline of the railway on which they travel day by
D06 125 day. ^In many cases, their homes know little of their place of work
D06 126 and their associates at the office or works wonder what they are
D06 127 possibly like in the surroundings of their homes. ^It is easy,
D06 128 desperately easy, to lead a *'double**' life without ever deliberately
D06 129 planning to do so or in fact being conscious of what is going on. ^It
D06 130 is easier to live life in compartments but over the years it builds
D06 131 up, and to do so inevitably builds up tensions which need to be
D06 132 handled correctly.
D06 133    |^Can we then frame some *'rules**' which may enable us to live
D06 134 life as fully as possible, without having our energy sapped by
D06 135 unnecessary weariness.
D06 136    |^(a) *1Order makes for a decrease in tiredness. ^*0We have a
D06 137 saying ^*'My head will never save my feet**'. ^Time after time we
D06 138 forget something and have to go back upstairs or down to the shops.
D06 139 ^If we ever stopped to consider how much energy*- and time*- we lose
D06 140 this way in the course of a day we would be staggered. ^Some of it is
D06 141 inevitable, and we do not want to become too pernickety.
D06 142 ^Nevertheless, we could all probably be a little more orderly for we
D06 143 so frequently just muddle through.
D06 144    |^The housewife would find life far less tiring if she made a list,
D06 145 followed a routine of work rather than getting from one thing to the
D06 146 next. ^The business man would find that he reached the end of the day
D06 147 with far less strain if he was a little more systematic. ^To drift
D06 148 aimlessly along is more wearying than anything else. ^If we would only
D06 149 sit down and write out all the necessary jobs waiting to be done and
D06 150 then work quietly through them, we would find life considerably less
D06 151 exhausting*- and in the end we would do more.
D06 152    |^There may be some who will argue that routine destroys the soul.
D06 153 ^It is so easy, they say, to get into a rut. ^Save us from the school
D06 154 curriculum and even worse the school system whereby for meals
D06 155 everybody knows beforehand exactly what, on any given day of the week,
D06 156 they are going to have. ^If*- such a critic may say*- you are calling
D06 157 us to adventure, do not strangle us before we start by putting us into
D06 158 a strait-jacket called *'order**'.
D06 159    |^I am more than conscious of this. ^How anybody can go through the
D06 160 same routine day in and day out for forty years I find difficult to
D06 161 understand. ^A lot of it is inevitable so that industry and commerce
D06 162 may be kept going*- though if ever it becomes possible to work out a
D06 163 system of *'staggered**' hours it may do an immense amount of good
D06 164 over and above relieving the pressure on over-crowded trains. ^As it
D06 165 is, with so much of our life already in a predetermined groove, I
D06 166 would hardly like to add further to the dullness which it engenders.
D06 167    |^But I am not arguing for this. ^I know how much of a drag it can
D06 168 be and I was interested some little while ago to hear of a school who
D06 169 tried a six-day timetable. ^They only worked, of course, a five-day
D06 170 week so that in the first week Monday to Friday were days one to five
D06 171 of the timetable, the following Monday was day six and Tuesday started
D06 172 day one again and so on. ^By this means they avoided each week being
D06 173 the same with a pupil knowing exactly what the subject would be on
D06 174 Friday afternoon at 3 {0p.m.}. ^It was a little complicated to work,
D06 175 of course, and there had to be a big notice in the entrance saying
D06 176 which day of the timetable it was*- but it added immensely to the
D06 177 interest and kept everybody on their toes.
D06 178    |^To have order does not mean getting into a dull routine. ^I have
D06 179 great sympathy with the young wife who does not always want to do the
D06 180 washing on a Monday. ^I would not want to either, but if she wants to
D06 181 get through the day without becoming exhausted, she will be well
D06 182 advised to sit down quietly and make a list of everything she has got
D06 183 to do, note the order in which they can most conveniently be done (or
D06 184 must be done because of other predetermined factors*- you must, for
D06 185 example, do your shopping on the morning of the early closing day).
D06 186 ^She will, in fact, be surprised at what peace of mind ensues.
D06 187    |^(b) *1Concentrate on one thing at a time. ^*0A list or a plan
D06 188 enables us to put all our energies into the particular matter on hand.
D06 189 *# 2001
D07   1 **[095 TEXT D07**]
D07   2 *<*4*=2*>
D07   3    |^*0We turn now to the consideration of an *1Aggadic *0passage; the
D07   4 final portion of tractate *1Makkoth. ^*0The opinion of \0R. Hananiah
D07   5 \0b. Gamaliel is quoted in the *1Mishnah. ^*0This teacher holds that
D07   6 one who has incurred the penalty of *1\kareth*- *0the excision of the
D07   7 soul*- obtains a remission from this punishment if he is flogged. ^In
D07   8 the opening passage of the *1Gemara *0it is stated in the name of \0R.
D07   9 Johanan that \0R. Hananiah \0b. Gamaliel's colleagues disagree with
D07  10 him and that in their view a flogging does not bring remission of the
D07  11 penalty of *1\kareth. ^*0This is discussed and then (and we take up
D07  12 our analysis at this stage) \0R. Adda is quoted as saying in the name
D07  13 of Rabh that the *1\halakhah, *0the law, is in accordance with \0R.
D07  14 Hananiah \0b. Gamaliel.
D07  15    |^Rabh Joseph (\0d. 333) objects that the term, used by Rabh,
D07  16 *1\halakhah, *0is not appropriate here for *'who has gone up to Heaven
D07  17 and returned to tell us that this is so?**' ({0i.e.} the term
D07  18 *1\halakhah *0can only be used about some practical issue where a
D07  19 decision must be reached. ^But the question whether or not a man is
D07  20 guilty of *1\kareth *0is a matter for God and there is no point in
D07  21 recording the actual ruling*- *1\halakhah*- *0for this is known only
D07  22 to God). ^To this his disciple Abaye (\0c. 280-338/39) replies that
D07  23 the term is applicable even here ({0i.e.} it is permissible for
D07  24 human teachers to state that this is how God will act). ^As proof of
D07  25 this Abaye quotes the saying of \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi (early 3rd
D07  26 \0Cent.) who said that three things were done by a human court here
D07  27 below and the Heavenly Court agreed with their decisions. ^Here, too,
D07  28 the objection can be raised: ^*'Who has gone up to Heaven and returned
D07  29 to tell us that this is so?**' ^But \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi presumably
D07  30 argues that we arrive at this information by interpreting certain
D07  31 verses, and, consequently, we, too, are justified in interpreting the
D07  32 relevant verses to yield that \0R. Hananiah \0b. Gamaliel is correct
D07  33 and that God will act, as it were, in the manner stated by him.
D07  34    |^We have here an original saying of Rabh. ^To this Rabh Joseph
D07  35 raises an objection and Abaye replies by referring his master to the
D07  36 saying of \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi. ^It is probable that all this is a
D07  37 verbatim report of the actual words used by Rabh Joseph and Abaye and
D07  38 that there has been no re-working of the material by the Redactors.
D07  39 ^The only difficulty here is that if Rabh Joseph is prepared to
D07  40 disagree with Rabh there is no reason why he should not disagree with
D07  41 \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi. ^But the meaning of Abaye's reply is probably
D07  42 that Rabh's opinion is no isolated case but a normal method of
D07  43 interpretation and for this the example of \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi is
D07  44 quoted.
D07  45    |^The *1Gemara *0now proceeds to examine the saying of \0R. Joshua
D07  46 \0b. Levi itself. ^This is introduced by the formula, *1\gupha,
D07  47 *0*'the main saying**' ({0i.e.} we have referred to this saying in
D07  48 the course of the previous discussion, here we deal with the saying
D07  49 itself). ^The three enactments of a human court in which the Heavenly
D07  50 Court concurred are given (no doubt by \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi himself)
D07  51 as: the reading of the Book of Esther on the festival of Purim; that
D07  52 people should greet each other with the divine Name; and that the
D07  53 tithe normally given to the Levites should be brought to the Temple.
D07  54 ^For each of these, proof texts are quoted. ^For the reading of the
D07  55 Book of Esther the verse is quoted: ^*'They established it and the
D07  56 Jews took it upon them**'. ^This is said to mean: ^*'They (the
D07  57 Heavenly Court) established above that which the Jews took upon them
D07  58 (the reading of the Book of Esther) down here below.**' ^The proof
D07  59 text for greeting by the divine Name is then quoted. ^This is the
D07  60 verse: ^*'And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the
D07  61 reapers, ^*"The Lord be with you**".**' ^A further proof text is then
D07  62 quoted, with the formula generally used for a second proof text, *'and
D07  63 it says**'. ^This is the verse: ^*'The Lord bless \1thee, \1thou
D07  64 mighty man of valour.**' ^The question is then asked: ^*'What need is
D07  65 there for *"and it is said**"?**' ({0i.e.} why are two verses
D07  66 needed, why does not the first one suffice?). ^To this the reply is
D07  67 given that from the verse dealing with Boaz there is no proof of
D07  68 divine approval, only that Boaz used this form of greeting. ^But in
D07  69 the second verse it is the angel who uses this form of greeting and
D07  70 hence there is evidence of divine approval. ^Finally, the proof text
D07  71 for the bringing of the tithe to the Temple is quoted. ^This is the
D07  72 verse: ^*'Bring \1ye the whole tithe unto the store house that there
D07  73 may be food in My house, and try Me herewith, \1saith the Lord of
D07  74 Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven and pour you out a
D07  75 blessing, until there shall be more than sufficiency.**' ^The *1Gemara
D07  76 *0then asks: ^*'What is the meaning of *"more than sufficiency**"
D07  77 (\0Heb. *1{beli dai}*0?**' ^Rami \bar Rabh replies: ^*'Until your
D07  78 lips are worn out in saying: ^*"Sufficient**".**'
D07  79    |^The scheme of the \sugya is as follows:
D07  80 **[BEGIN INDENTATION**]
D07  81    |^(1) The saying of \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi.
D07  82    |^(2) First proof text and explanation.
D07  83    |^(3) Second proof text.
D07  84    |^(a) Boaz
D07  85    |^(b) Angel
D07  86    |^Question: ^Why is (b) required?
D07  87    |^Answer: ^Because Boaz may not have had divine approval.
D07  88    |^(4) Third proof text.
D07  89    |^Question: ^What is the meaning of *1{beli dai}*0?
D07  90    |^Answer: ^By Rami \bar Rabh.
D07  91 **[END INDENTATION**]
D07  92    |^The first matter to which attention should be drawn is that the
D07  93 proof texts are not necessarily the work of \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi
D07  94 himself. ^In fact, the probability is that they are a later
D07  95 explanation of his saying, as we shall see. ^This would account for
D07  96 Abaye, in the previous passage, observing that *'*1we *0expound the
D07  97 verses**' not *'*1he *0expounds**'. ^And this would imply that the
D07  98 proof texts were known by Abaye. ^Our suggestion is substantiated by
D07  99 the fact that the comment on the first proof text: ~*'They established
D07 100 above that which the Jews took upon them down here below**' is quoted
D07 101 by Samuel in tractate *1Megillah *0to prove that the Book of Esther
D07 102 was composed under the inspiration of the divine spirit and Samuel
D07 103 does not quote it in the name of \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi. ^Even more
D07 104 significant is the fact that the proof texts from Boaz and the angel
D07 105 are quoted, in support of this very thesis that greeting should be
D07 106 given by the divine Name, in an anonymous *1Mishnah. ^*0In addition,
D07 107 the same reason for the second text is given by the *1Gemara *0in a
D07 108 comment to the *1Mishnah. ^*0(Actually, the *1Mishnah *0quotes two
D07 109 further proof texts and the *1Gemara *0explains why these, too, are
D07 110 necessary, but a careful examination of that passage makes it clear
D07 111 that these are not quoted here because they are not necessary to prove
D07 112 the point made by \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi.) ^Finally, we note that the
D07 113 comment of Rami \bar Rabh is quoted elsewhere.
D07 114    |^From the above it follows that here, once again, we have a good
D07 115 illustration of how a *1\sugya *0has been fashioned from material
D07 116 already in the hands of the Redactors. ^The *1\sugya *0is built around
D07 117 the saying of \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi. ^The proof text for the reading
D07 118 of the Book of Esther is quoted with the comment given by Samuel.
D07 119 ^(This is probably to be understood as a well-known comment on the
D07 120 verse; *1quoted *0by Samuel in support of his thesis and quoted by the
D07 121 *1Gemara *0in support of \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi's thesis!) ^The proof
D07 122 text of greeting by the divine Name is taken from the *1Mishnah.
D07 123 ^*0There is no reference to the *1Mishnah *0here because the *1Mishnah
D07 124 *0deals with the actual practice of greeting by the divine Name and
D07 125 the *1Gemara *0here quotes the texts to support the thesis of \0R.
D07 126 Joshua \0b. Levi. ^The question and answer with regard to the need for
D07 127 the text of the angel are quoted here in the same words in which they
D07 128 are quoted in the discussion on the *1Mishnah. ^*0This can either mean
D07 129 that both *1\sugyas *0are quoting a well-known question and answer or
D07 130 that our *1\sugya *0is quoting from the longer *1\sugya *0which deals
D07 131 with all four texts quoted in the *1Mishnah. ^*0Or it is possible that
D07 132 our *1\sugya *0contains the original question and answer and this is
D07 133 quoted in the other *1\sugya. ^*0(This can be supported by the use of
D07 134 the expression: ~*'Boaz did it of his own accord but there was no
D07 135 approval of his action in Heaven**' in both *1\sugyoth. ^*0Such an
D07 136 expression appears to have been framed in response to the particular
D07 137 point at issue here, whether the Heavenly Court concurred in the
D07 138 decision of the human court.) ^The proof text of bringing the tithe to
D07 139 the Temple is then quoted and the interpretation of the latter part of
D07 140 the verse by Rami \bar Rabh is added, not because this is at all
D07 141 relevant to the discussion but because it was a familiar
D07 142 interpretation which had become so well known that it was invariably
D07 143 quoted whenever the verse itself was quoted, almost as if it were a
D07 144 part of the verse.
D07 145    |^The *1Gemara *0continues with a saying of the Palestinian
D07 146 teacher, \0R. Eleazar (3rd \0Cent.): ^*'The Holy Spirit manifested
D07 147 itself in three places: the court of Shem, the court of Samuel of
D07 148 Ramah, and the court of Solomon.**' ^The place of this saying here is
D07 149 obvious, it follows naturally on the saying of \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi
D07 150 which deals with a similar theme. ^This is not, of course, to say that
D07 151 originally the saying of \0R. Eleazar was in any way connected with
D07 152 that of \0R. Joshua \0b. Levi, only that the two are placed into
D07 153 juxtaposition by the *1Gemara. ^*0A proof text is then quoted for each
D07 154 of the three cases mentioned by \0R. Eleazar. ^Judah said *'it is from
D07 155 me**', admitting that Tamar was with child from him. ^But how could he
D07 156 have known this, perhaps she had consorted with some other man? ^But
D07 157 the meaning of the verse is that a heavenly voice said: ~*'It is from
D07 158 Me**'*- in the words of the *1Gemara, *0the voice stated, *'these
D07 159 secret matters have proceeded from Me**'. ^This proves, according to
D07 160 the *1Gemara, *0that the Holy Spirit manifested itself in the court of
D07 161 Shem which flourished in the days of Judah. ^Of Samuel it is said that
D07 162 when he asked the people to bear witness that he had not taken
D07 163 anything of theirs the people said that they were witnesses. ^But the
D07 164 verse reads: ~*'And he said: ~*"Witness**"**' instead of *'and *1they
D07 165 *0said**'. ^The *1Gemara *0interprets this to mean that it was a
D07 166 heavenly voice which proclaimed: ^*'Witness.**' ^Finally, the famous
D07 167 case of the two harlots is quoted. ^How did Solomon know which was the
D07 168 true mother, perhaps she was acting craftily? ^But it was a heavenly
D07 169 voice which said: ^*'She is his mother.**'
D07 170    |^Raba objects that there is no proof from the texts quoted. ^For
D07 171 Judah may have known that Tamar was with child from him because he
D07 172 counted the days and months from the time he had been with her and
D07 173 found them to coincide with the time of her pregnancy and we do not
D07 174 presume that which we do not see ({0i.e.} we do not assume that
D07 175 another man may have consorted with her at the same time). ^With
D07 176 regard to Samuel the singular form may have been used because the
D07 177 whole people of Israel are referred to in the singular, as they are in
D07 178 another verse. ^As for Solomon he knew that she was the mother because
D07 179 she loved the child sufficiently to give him up rather than see him
D07 180 killed. ^But, says Raba, there is no real proof from the verses and
D07 181 \0R. Eleazar's saying is based on a tradition.
D07 182 *# 2016
D08   1 **[096 TEXT D08**]
D08   2    |^*0It follows that the application of the one passage to the
D08   3 healing miracles is likely to be as arbitrary and unprecedented as the
D08   4 application of the other to the *'messianic secret**'. ^In fact the
D08   5 application of \0Isa. 53.4 to healing miracles is not really
D08   6 appropriate. ^It only becomes possible if the verbs have the meaning
D08   7 *'take away**', which is certainly not the meaning of the Hebrew they
D08   8 translate, and contrary to the intention of the original context. ^It
D08   9 does not mean that Jesus cured diseases, but that he bore them
D08  10 himself. ^We have previously decided that the proper Christian
D08  11 understanding of this verse is the atoning efficacy of the Passion.
D08  12 ^But because it is a literal translation of the Hebrew, it is
D08  13 necessary to see a real reference to the diseases of the people who
D08  14 came to Jesus, when the verse is selected for a particular purpose in
D08  15 isolation from the whole context. ^As such, it may have been used to
D08  16 relate Christ's healing miracles to his total work of redemption. ^It
D08  17 thus widens the scope of the great Passion prophecy from the strict
D08  18 Passion apologetic to the whole of our Lord's ministry. ^The healings
D08  19 are as much a part of his messianic work as the Passion itself. ^It
D08  20 was prophesied that the Lord's Servant would bear our diseases, and
D08  21 Jesus both removed men's diseases by his miracles and himself suffered
D08  22 their pains on the cross. ^These were not the acts of a wonder-worker,
D08  23 but should have been recognized as the proper work of the Christ, even
D08  24 if he was only *1{Messias incognitus}.
D08  25    |^*0When Matthew incorporates this quotation in its present
D08  26 context, he loses sight of the connection with the cross. ^All that he
D08  27 is interested in is the fact that the work of healing can receive
D08  28 warrant from Scripture. ^The purpose is pictorial rather than
D08  29 apologetic. ^The details of the life of Jesus are already present in
D08  30 the revelation given to the prophets. ^But Matthew scarcely realizes
D08  31 that his use of the verse accords ill with its real meaning.
D08  32 *<*1Our Lord's Use of Parables*>
D08  33    |^*0The effect of the two quotations which we have so far studied
D08  34 in this section is to prove that when Jesus did acts of healing he was
D08  35 acting as the Messiah. ^This raises the question whether people can be
D08  36 held culpable for failing to recognize this. ^This aspect of the
D08  37 matter appears in a further pair of texts which are concerned with our
D08  38 Lord's use of parables. ^The analysis will show that the early Church
D08  39 not unnaturally adopted the position that failure to see the messianic
D08  40 character of his work was really caused by the people's own blindness.
D08  41 ^There was a fundamental refusal to understand and to believe.
D08  42    |^We begin by observing how Matthew precisely repeats with regard
D08  43 to the parables the procedure he had used for healings and exorcisms.
D08  44 ^He takes two virtually equivalent Marcan summaries, abbreviates them
D08  45 to make one point each, and adds what he thinks to be the appropriate
D08  46 testimony in each case. ^The matter is further complicated, however,
D08  47 by the fact that the earlier passage about parables already contains
D08  48 the quotation material ({0i.e.} \0Isa. 6.9\0f.) in the Marcan
D08  49 original; and this is a quotation which has wide ramifications
D08  50 throughout the New Testament.
D08  51    |^The first summary is Mark 4.10-12. ^It is a short paragraph on
D08  52 the reason for parables, largely based on \0Isa. 6.9\0f., which Mark
D08  53 has inserted here to *'mark time**' between the parable of the sower
D08  54 and its interpretation. ^Matthew does not add a new quotation, but on
D08  55 the other hand abbreviates the Marcan version still further, when he
D08  56 rewrites this in \0Matt. 13.10-16. ^His improvements consist in
D08  57 (*1a*0) the insertion of the proverbial saying about ~*'\1Whosoever
D08  58 \1hath, to him shall be given**', \0etc., from Mark 4.25; and (*1b*0)
D08  59 the addition of a Q saying about the blessedness of the disciples,
D08  60 which has a closely similar vocabulary to that of the Isaiah allusion.
D08  61 ^These improvements have the sole motive of enhancing the superiority
D08  62 of the disciples, who have the secret knowledge which others fail to
D08  63 perceive. ^The inserted verse properly denotes a warning against
D08  64 taking spiritual privilege for granted. ^It retains this in its Marcan
D08  65 context (Mark 4.21-5, otherwise omitted by Matthew), and even more
D08  66 clearly in its Q version at the end of the parable of the talents
D08  67 (\0Matt. 25.29 = Luke 19.26). ^But here it actually increases the
D08  68 sense of privilege, which directly contradicts our Lord's intention!
D08  69 ^The added Q saying on the blessedness of the disciples is really
D08  70 concerned with the blessedness of the *1present generation, *0when the
D08  71 kingdom of God is breaking in, by contrast with the unfulfilled hopes
D08  72 of previous generations. ^But Matthew has made it underline the good
D08  73 fortune of the disciples as a privileged \6*1e*?2lite.
D08  74    |^*0The second summary is Mark's conclusion to the chapter (Mark
D08  75 4.33\0f.). ^In \0Matt. 13.34 Matthew takes over the first of these two
D08  76 verses, which says that Jesus gave all his teaching in the form of
D08  77 parables. ^But he suppresses the other, which tells how Jesus
D08  78 afterwards interpreted them to the disciples privately. ^Instead he
D08  79 inserts from his own stock the formula-quotation of \0Ps. 78.2: ^*'I
D08  80 will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the
D08  81 foundation [of the world].**' ^These changes thus cut out any further
D08  82 mention of the privilege of the disciples, which had been specifically
D08  83 developed in the former summary, and place the emphasis solely on the
D08  84 intentional obscurity of Jesus' public teaching. ^We shall see that in
D08  85 both cases Matthew's interpretation of the material is the end of a
D08  86 process which reflects changing conditions in the Church. ^As the
D08  87 second is much the simpler one of the two, it will be best to consider
D08  88 it first.
D08  89 **[LONG FOREIGN QUOTATION**]
D08  90    |^The keyword for Matthew is {15wen parabolai*?21s}. ^*0As the
D08  91 whole of the first line is identical with the Septuagint, it probably
D08  92 represents the final stage of the adaptation of the text. ^This is to
D08  93 make it specifically applicable to the use of parables. ^For earlier
D08  94 stages we have to look at the second line, which is an independent
D08  95 rendering of the Hebrew text. ^This was not necessarily concerned with
D08  96 parables at all. ^The most notable feature of it is the translation
D08  97 \15kekrumme*?2na *0(=things kept hidden) for
D08  98 **[HEBREW QUOTATION**]
D08  99 (=riddles). ^This directly contradicts what is said in \0Ps. 78.3\0f.,
D08 100 that these things have been handed down from the fathers, and *'we
D08 101 will not hide them**' from succeeding generations. ^Thus this version
D08 102 disregards the context, presumably intentionally.
D08 103    |^Nevertheless there is evidence that this psalm was used by at any
D08 104 rate one circle in the Church with closer attention to its meaning.
D08 105 ^In John 6.31 our Lord's opponents quote \0v. 24: ^*'He gave them
D08 106 bread out of heaven to eat.**' ^The objection is that Jesus' claim to
D08 107 be the Messiah is invalidated by his failure to repeat the miracle of
D08 108 the manna. ^It is evident that the feeding of the multitude is held by
D08 109 John to be a proper repetition of this miracle. ^But the teaching
D08 110 shows that the miracle is fulfilled more truly at a much deeper level.
D08 111 ^This implies an interpretation of the whole psalm in terms of our
D08 112 Lord's redeeming work. ^The psalm is a poetical narrative of the acts
D08 113 of God in redemption. ^The elaborate opening verses, speaking darkly
D08 114 of a mystery from the foundation of the world, are intended to show
D08 115 that such acts are always true of God. ^The whole thing is thus an
D08 116 expression of faith, that he who acted in this way can do so again.
D08 117 ^In the same way, those who try to figure out eschatological
D08 118 programmes can expect the same acts to be repeated. ^This was perhaps
D08 119 too naively imagined by some. ^But if the Jews objected that Jesus had
D08 120 failed to perform the repetition of acts of redemption expected in the
D08 121 eschatological programme, the Church could reply that he had indeed
D08 122 fulfilled it, though in a mystery. ^This is an apologetic motive for
D08 123 the feeding miracles. ^And it also shows how Jesus was truly acting as
D08 124 the Messiah in the time *1before *0his Crucifixion.
D08 125    |^We have now arrived at an intelligible reason for
D08 126 \15kekrumme*?2na *0as a rendering of
D08 127 **[HEBREW QUOTATION**].
D08 128 ^These *'riddles**' are the righteous acts of God in redemption, as
D08 129 the psalm itself implies. ^The works of Jesus*- primarily his atoning
D08 130 death, but also, at this stage in the apologetic, the rest of the
D08 131 ministry*- are the final expression of these acts of redemption. ^But
D08 132 if it be objected that his works bore little relation to the way in
D08 133 which this was expected, then it invited the apologist to place the
D08 134 emphasis on the *1hiddenness *0of God's ways. ^To say that Jesus'
D08 135 works were genuinely messianic, but took the form of
D08 136 **[HEBREW QUOTATION**],
D08 137 so that they could only be perceived as such by the elect, solves the
D08 138 whole problem.
D08 139    |^Such is the application of \0Ps. 78 considered as a whole. ^The
D08 140 selection of \0v. 2 as a *1\pesher *0quotation narrows the application
D08 141 to the *1teaching *0of Jesus. ^It is the full and final revelation
D08 142 (\0cf. \0Heb. 1.2a). ^In the first line
D08 143 **[HEBREW QUOTATION**]
D08 144 has a roughly equivalent meaning to
D08 145 **[HEBREW QUOTATION**]
D08 146 in the second. ^To apply it to the *1parabolic method *0is a further
D08 147 refinement, effected with the aid of the Septuagint rendering.
D08 148 ^Finally Matthew inserts the resultant text into his parables chapter
D08 149 for its *'pictorial**' value, just as he used \0Isa. 53.4 at 8.17.
D08 150    |^These stages of development reflect the Church's changing
D08 151 outlook. ^To begin with, the Resurrection is held to be the revelation
D08 152 of the mystery of redemption, the open demonstration of God's saving
D08 153 activity to which all previous sacred history has been leading. ^This
D08 154 idea is commonly met with in the Pauline Epistles, {0e.g.} *=1
D08 155 \0Cor. 2.7, where it characteristically refers principally to the
D08 156 cross. ^Secondly the teaching of Jesus is held to be an essential part
D08 157 of the revelation, though its true significance was known only to the
D08 158 *'elect**'. ^Thus the construction put upon the teaching in the light
D08 159 of the Resurrection faith is read back as if that was its recognized
D08 160 meaning all along. ^This is exactly parallel to the attitude adopted
D08 161 to the healing miracles. ^It was a natural position to take, once the
D08 162 Teacher himself had withdrawn. ^It is similar to the position of the
D08 163 Qumran Covenanters, who preserved a tradition of biblical exegesis,
D08 164 derived from their founder, which they regarded as a secret revealed
D08 165 to the \6*1e*?2lite. ^*0The third and final stage is the claim that
D08 166 this method was a deliberate policy on the part of Jesus, to prevent
D08 167 the mystery from being revealed to any but the few who are chosen. ^It
D08 168 is probable that this idea of a policy of concealment on the part of
D08 169 our Lord corresponds with an actual impression given by his anxiety to
D08 170 prevent his own radical reinterpretation of the kingdom of God from
D08 171 being confused with popular expectations. ^The special Marcan nuance
D08 172 in connection with this is the impression that even the inner group of
D08 173 disciples were themselves equally mystified by the parabolic method
D08 174 (Mark 8.17). ^A concomitant of the final stage is the sect-type
D08 175 doctrine of the Church. ^The Church is a privileged \6*1e*?2lite,
D08 176 *0having access to knowledge denied to those outside its ranks.
D08 177 *<*1Isaiah 6.9\0f.*>
D08 178    |^*0We now turn to the earlier paragraph on parables, and look
D08 179 first at the material as it stands in Mark 4.10-13. ^It is clear that
D08 180 we have here an original saying built on \0Isa. 6.9\0f., sandwiched
D08 181 between Marcan editorial matter which considerably alters the sense of
D08 182 it. ^The nucleus consists of \0vv. 11\0f., which is a perfect
D08 183 expression of the doctrine of the \6*1e*?2lite. ^*0The mystery of the
D08 184 kingdom is given to the disciples, but to outsiders all things are
D08 185 *'in parables**'. ^The purpose is to sift the people, for (it is
D08 186 assumed) the elect perceive the mystery, but the rejected are blind to
D08 187 it. ^If {15wen parabolai*?21s} *0represents
D08 188 **[HEBREW QUOTATION**]
D08 189 (collective), as it actually does in the Septuagint of \0Ps. 78.2,
D08 190 then the original saying was probably more general in intention, and
D08 191 it is Mark who has narrowed it down to parables in the technical
D08 192 sense.
D08 193 *# 2011
D09   1 **[097 TEXT D09**]
D09   2 ^Faith cannot stand unless it has nothing to stand on. ^Every moment
D09   3 is strain and crisis. ^That may be natural to the reformer in a
D09   4 decadent atmosphere (if Danish religion was decadent), but it has the
D09   5 true Jansenist touch, as defined by Sainte-Beuve in the famous phrase,
D09   6 ^*'It forgot God the father.**' ^After all, the world created by God
D09   7 was pronounced good by Him. ^It is corrected but not superseded by the
D09   8 religion of Redemption*- the Kingdom of the Son.
D09   9    |^No doubt there are fierce and dangerous factors working under the
D09  10 surface of our souls, but we need not (indeed we cannot) be always
D09  11 living under the surface.
D09  12    |^We get a clear result of his system when he speaks of children.
D09  13 ^As their life has no strain they cannot be real Christians and
D09  14 Kierkegaard has to deal (rather shame-facedly) with the Gospel texts
D09  15 on the subject (*1Unscientific Postscript, *0\0p. 524).
D09  16 *<*1Kant and the Utilitarians*>
D09  17    |^*0Most people would agree that Immanuel Kant was a great thinker
D09  18 and also that he was hard to understand.
D09  19    |^There are many ways of being hard to understand. ^One is due to
D09  20 style. ^Not knowing German, I can hardly assess this. ^It would seem
D09  21 that he can be quite lucid when he wants, and can strike out effective
D09  22 phrases like ~*'Perceptions without conceptions are blind, and
D09  23 conceptions without perceptions are empty,**' or ~*'So act that your
D09  24 action may be a general law.**' ^On the other hand, he is one of the
D09  25 philosophers whose work has been subjected to Higher Criticism, and
D09  26 the division into earlier and later strata recalls the Q and M and L
D09  27 of New Testament sources. ^This is partly owing to the fact that he
D09  28 was thinking, while he was writing, and did not always trouble to turn
D09  29 and revise page 100 in the light of what he had said on page 200. ^But
D09  30 we must also take into account a feature of his mind that may be
D09  31 called Dualism. ^He tells us himself that his method of thinking was
D09  32 to take a point of view and work it out to its logical conclusion and
D09  33 then to do the same with the opposite point of view. ^They sometimes
D09  34 lie down side by side, like the lion and the lamb, but not to live in
D09  35 peace together.
D09  36    |^Two famous examples present themselves in the *1Critique of Pure
D09  37 Reason, *0where he is analysing the fact of knowledge. ^First of all,
D09  38 the case of the Senses and the Understanding. ^They seem to have no
D09  39 common root. ^The first is passive, the second active. ^The first
D09  40 deals with the outward and the second with the inner world. ^It is
D09  41 said that they are inseparable but it is not clear why (for example)
D09  42 my sensation of colour and my thought of Substance should combine into
D09  43 the amalgam we call *'seeing a thing**'. ^We may say (without going
D09  44 into technicalities) that Kant took his account of the Senses from
D09  45 Hume, and his account of the Understanding from Leibniz, and it can
D09  46 hardly be said that he reconciled them.
D09  47    |^It is the same with the distinction between Phenomena (things as
D09  48 they appear to us) and Things in themselves (as they really are). ^We
D09  49 are told there is a deep gulf between the two. ^Phenomena fall within
D09  50 my experience. ^Things in themselves are unknowable, but in that case
D09  51 how do I know of their existence? ^And what of the knowing Self which,
D09  52 in his view, seems to belong to both worlds? ^We must keep this
D09  53 dualism in mind when we come to consider what Kant says about the
D09  54 relation of Goodness and Happiness.
D09  55    |^Most people know Heine's brilliant jest about the contrast
D09  56 between two Critiques*- that of Pure Reason, in which he deals with
D09  57 thought, and that of the Practical Reason, in which he deals with
D09  58 action. ^In the first he had shown himself a revolutionary. ^*'The
D09  59 inhabitants of Koenigsburg set their watches by him when they saw this
D09  60 mild, inoffensive man take his regular walk.**' ^Had they known, they
D09  61 would have been more frightened of him than of Robespierre.
D09  62 ^Robespierre only killed a king. ^Kant killed a God*- the God of the
D09  63 Deists (that is, the God whose existence can be proved by reason).
D09  64 ^Then he describes Kant looking up from his triumphant dialectic and
D09  65 his eye lights upon his faithful servant, Lampe. ^He must be left with
D09  66 something to live by. ^So in the second Critique Kant reinstates God,
D09  67 Freedom and Immortality as the object, not of proof, but of belief.
D09  68    |^Put less picturesquely, this means that the *1Critique of Pure
D09  69 Reason *0hedges in knowledge so strictly that it can deal with things
D09  70 only as they appear to us in sense experience. ^But when we take up
D09  71 the second Critique which deals with Morality, we find that the moral
D09  72 Good is permanent and unchanging in which we have to believe to make
D09  73 sense of duty. ^As Kant says with a regal gesture, ^*'I abolish
D09  74 knowledge to make room for belief.**'
D09  75    |^So we have got back to the existence of God, but the God of the
D09  76 moral law. ^Moral Duty (he argues) is distinguished from other
D09  77 purposive action by its absolute obligation*- what Kant calls the
D09  78 Categorical Imperative. ^All other imperatives are conditional. ^*'If
D09  79 you want to be a musician, you must practice **[SIC**] so many hours a
D09  80 day**'. ^But Conscience does not say, ^*'If you want to be good, you
D09  81 must abstain from committing murder.**' ^It says, ^*'\1Thou \1shalt do
D09  82 no murder.**' ^The moral command is unconditional. ^It is not based on
D09  83 desire which is selfish. ^Duty is not concerned with consequence:
D09  84 Happiness is concerned with nothing else.
D09  85    |^Here we have a sharp dualism. ^The soul of man is free only when
D09  86 it accepts the moral law as good in itself and does not get entangled
D09  87 with selfish desires. ^He does not go quite so far as to say that if I
D09  88 take pleasure in a good action it makes that action bad, but he does
D09  89 say that its goodness has no connection with my feelings. ^Kant finds
D09  90 it rather difficult to answer the question: have I any motive at all
D09  91 when I obey the moral law? ^I do not desire anything for myself or for
D09  92 others. ^I am not concerned with any consequence that may follow. ^I
D09  93 may say that I *'respect**' it but I show that respect simply by
D09  94 obeying a law which, because it is always binding on all, must have
D09  95 God for its Giver.
D09  96    |^So far Kant has not got much beyond the Stoic position. ^But
D09  97 after all, he had been brought up under Christian influences, and he
D09  98 goes a step further. ^To do my duty is to will the Supreme Good. ^I
D09  99 cannot will what is impossible and therefore there must be a God who
D09 100 is able and willing to bring about the Supreme Good*- which includes
D09 101 Happiness. ^{0A. E.} Taylor has said that what distinguishes
D09 102 Religion from Morality is that the former says, ^*'What ought to be,
D09 103 exists.**' ^Kant makes a move in that direction.
D09 104    |^There is another point at which he swerves from the strict Stoic
D09 105 creed. ^He accepts a belief in Immortality not so much as a system of
D09 106 rewards and penalties as the possibility of endless moral progress.
D09 107 ^His rather curious argument runs as follows: ^*'What the Law commands
D09 108 must be possible.**' ^*'I must; therefore I can.**' ^*'This proves
D09 109 human freedom. ^But the Law commands that I shall be absolutely good.
D09 110 ^Now goodness is a process of becoming which never ends, and therefore
D09 111 needs an endless period**'*- in which *1not *0to attain its goal!
D09 112    |^But will this process go on after death as it does here on earth,
D09 113 where the just are never perfectly happy and where evils are
D09 114 constantly clouding and obstructing the Good Will, which Kant calls
D09 115 *'the brightest jewel of the Soul**'? ^I suppose he might have
D09 116 answered, Yes, survival after death and unending improvement need not
D09 117 mean perfect happiness there any more than here. ^But after seventeen
D09 118 centuries of Christian teaching about Heaven it was difficult to
D09 119 contemplate so bleak a prospect. ^So now he introduces a new moral
D09 120 intuition. ^*'That Goodness and Happiness ought to go together, and
D09 121 the existence of God proves that they shall.**'
D09 122    |^So he seems to have overcome the dualism of Happiness and Duty
D09 123 but at a cost. ^He has been violently attacked for reviving at this
D09 124 point the very desire for rewards, which he had banished so haughtily
D09 125 from his Ethics. ^Professor Webb defends him against this charge by
D09 126 saying that the desire is not selfish but a matter of justice*- that
D09 127 all good men should be rewarded (whether it includes myself or not).
D09 128 ^This may or may not be a sufficient answer, but it hardly meets the
D09 129 problem ^*'Does Kant regard Happiness as a good thing or not?**' ^The
D09 130 answer would seem to be that it is a bad thing before death and a good
D09 131 thing after. ^This is not perhaps as absurd as it sounds and might be
D09 132 worked into a theory that life here is a probation, in which we prove
D09 133 ourselves worthy or unworthy of happiness in the next.
D09 134    |^But in this life is it not lawful to seek the happiness of
D09 135 others? ^On stern Kantian grounds, no. ^Our only desire for others
D09 136 should be that they observe the moral law. ^Thus, the evil of cruelty
D09 137 consists in its effect on the disposition of the doer and not in the
D09 138 sufferings of the victim. ^It is surely the height of pedantry to deny
D09 139 that at least one of the consequences which result from breaking the
D09 140 law of human kindness is the increase of human unhappiness.
D09 141    |^The Utilitarians defended Pleasure against Kant. ^I do not
D09 142 propose to say more than a word about Jeremy Bentham. ^As a reformer
D09 143 of Law and political institutions he was effective, largely because
D09 144 they demand an appeal to the kind of external obedience which can be
D09 145 regulated by external rewards and punishments. ^But, when he tries to
D09 146 open the secrets of the human heart, he appears as the pedant, which
D09 147 for all his good nature he really was. ^He seems to have accepted the
D09 148 syllogism:
D09 149    |^I only do what I desire.
D09 150    |^I only desire what gives me the greater pleasure.
D09 151    |^Therefore, whatever I do, I do because it gives me the greater
D09 152 pleasure.
D09 153    |^It is natural to ask*- if everyone does what gives him the
D09 154 greatest pleasure and cannot do anything else, what is wrong and why
D09 155 is the moralist needed to tell us what we ought to do? ^What is the
D09 156 greatest pleasure? ^On what scale is it measured? ^Am I the best judge
D09 157 of it? ^And so on. ^But apart from all that, one is surprised at the
D09 158 poverty of his psychology. ^Bentham would have done well to consider
D09 159 the Romantic movement which he so much despised.
D09 160    |^We only do what we want! ^Struggles of martyrs, doubts of lovers,
D09 161 fight against temptation, changing moods of the voluptuary, earnest
D09 162 struggling after the true end of life*- was all this world of feeling
D09 163 completely closed to him? ^As though ~*'What do I want?**' were not
D09 164 the question of questions!
D09 165    |^That world was not wholly closed to John Stuart Mill. ^Brought up
D09 166 in the straitest sect of the Benthamites, he literally collapsed after
D09 167 a diet of *'push-pin as good as poetry**' and *'forty-three motives
D09 168 for obeying the law**'. ^He recovered into a brighter world of poetry
D09 169 and music. ^But he still called himself a Utilitarian.
D09 170    |^This was not merely loyalty to his upbringing. ^It was the result
D09 171 of his abiding dislike for any system which relied upon pure
D09 172 *1intuition.*0 ^Wherever he sensed it, there was the enemy. ^It relied
D09 173 upon an obscure feeling, which was not accountable to reason. ^For
D09 174 Mill, life must be made up of clear-cut ends, and of means leading
D09 175 straight to them. ^The kind of Good preached by Kant and Coleridge
D09 176 seemed to him vague and undefined. ^But everyone knew what Pleasure
D09 177 was. ^Here was a goal with no mystical nonsense about it.
D09 178 *# 2003
D10   1 **[098 TEXT D10**]
D10   2    |^*0There are, of course, those who regard the Church as Christ's
D10   3 body, not metaphorically, but metaphysically and ontologically, and
D10   4 see it as an extension of the Incarnation, and would not think any
D10   5 description of the Church complete in which the phrase *"body of
D10   6 Christ**" did not occur; and no doubt the sentence under consideration
D10   7 was framed thus, with biblical language used in this oddly unbiblical
D10   8 way, in order to leave it open to such persons to expound what is
D10   9 said, not of evangelism, whereby Christ calls men out of the world to
D10  10 Himself, but of the Church as supernaturalizing society, or as linking
D10  11 men to Christ through its sacraments, or else of Christ as in some
D10  12 sense continuing His work of redemption by endlessly offering Himself
D10  13 to God in organic union with His members. ^But all these are minority
D10  14 views in the Church of England, of dubious biblical credentials, and
D10  15 scarcely a century old; they can hardly be said to be rooted in
D10  16 Anglican tradition, and they are certainly not countenanced in any
D10  17 official formulary of the Church of England. ^As such, they have
D10  18 surely no right thus to deflect the wording of the Catechism from the
D10  19 biblical norm of usage.
D10  20    |^(**=2) The section (14-17) introduced by the question: ~*"What
D10  21 orders of ministries are there in the Church?**" ought to be dropped.
D10  22 ^In the first place, the question presumably refers to the Church
D10  23 universal on earth, but it is answered by a description of bishops,
D10  24 priests, and deacons, and their work in the Church of England. ^This
D10  25 is odd: is the Church of England, then, to be identified with the
D10  26 Church universal? ^And furthermore: it is **[SIC**] essential for the
D10  27 catechumen to be instructed in the precise functions of bishops,
D10  28 priests, and deacons in the Church of England set-up before he be
D10  29 admitted to the Lord's Table? ^Such instruction could only be held
D10  30 essential if this organizational structure were itself essential to
D10  31 the being of the Church, as such, so that where this threefold
D10  32 ministry could not be recognized the Church must be judged
D10  33 non-existent, and the conclusion drawn that there are no valid or
D10  34 efficacious Eucharists there. ^Knowledge about the threefold ministry
D10  35 would then be *"saving knowledge**" in the strict sense, for valid
D10  36 sacraments are generally necessary to salvation; but is this the
D10  37 historic Anglican view? ^Can it be proved by Scripture, which
D10  38 *"\1containeth all things necessary to salvation**"? ^The answer is no
D10  39 in both cases. ^It is true that a vocal minority in the Church of
D10  40 England today holds this opinion in some form, but it does not seem
D10  41 right to give space in the Revised Catechism to a matter whose
D10  42 presence there could only be justified if this minority view were
D10  43 accepted as being Scriptural and normatively Anglican.
D10  44    |^This section leaves the impression that the ministry is the
D10  45 Church for all practical purposes, and this impression is strengthened
D10  46 when, at a later stage, we read that *"the Church's ministry in
D10  47 marriage is to *1bless *0the man and the woman in their wedding, so
D10  48 that they may together receive the grace of God...**" (53). ^Certainly
D10  49 not! ^This is Roman doctrine, not the doctrine of the Church of
D10  50 England. ^The Church is the fellowship of the faithful, not just the
D10  51 minister; and the *1Church's *0ministry in marriage is to *1pray for
D10  52 and with *0the marrying couple*- a ministry of which the officiant's
D10  53 pronouncement of blessing is only one small part. ^Here, too, a change
D10  54 of wording is imperative; unless, indeed, question 53 be deleted
D10  55 altogether, which we ourselves would favour (see below).
D10  56    |^(**=3) Baptism is defined (38) as *"the sacrament in which,
D10  57 through the action of the Holy Spirit, we are christened or made
D10  58 Christ's**". ^This definition is not very satisfactory. ^In the first
D10  59 place, it has no clear meaning (which fact alone makes it unfit to
D10  60 stand in a catechism). ^In the second place, it most naturally implies
D10  61 that there is a peculiar grace received in baptism *1{ex opere
D10  62 operato}. ^*0But it is not historic Anglican teaching (think of the
D10  63 Gorham judgment), nor, we think, is it unanimous present-day Anglican
D10  64 opinion, that the grace exhibited in baptism is always received in the
D10  65 rite itself, and never before or after. ^In the answer to question 42,
D10  66 however, we are told that ~*"Confirmation is the ministry by which,
D10  67 through prayer with the laying on of hands by the bishop, the Holy
D10  68 Spirit is *1received to complete what he began in *0baptism...**";
D10  69 which form of words (based, it seems, on the audacious assertion in
D10  70 the Scottish Prayer Book that ~*"Confirmation is an apostolic and
D10  71 sacramental rite by which the Holy Spirit is given to complete our
D10  72 baptism**") seems to force us to interpret answer 38 of some sort of
D10  73 baptismal regeneration. ^Yet it is a very odd sort of regeneration,
D10  74 for it is only a partial initiation into Christ and His Church,
D10  75 needing the further grace given in Confirmation (also *1{ex opere
D10  76 operato}*0?) to perfect it. ^Such a concept has breath-taking
D10  77 implications. ^It implies that every baptized Christian throughout the
D10  78 universal Church whose ecclesiastical system does not make available
D10  79 to him episcopal confirmation misses some grace, forfeits some
D10  80 blessing, foregoes some degree of union with Christ. ^On this view, as
D10  81 Professor {0G. W. H.} Lampe has pointed out, *"Christian Baptism
D10  82 would be reduced to the level of the baptism of John, a preparatory
D10  83 cleansing in expectation of a future baptism with Holy Spirit;
D10  84 Confirmation would become, not merely a sacrament in the fullest sense
D10  85 (which the Anglican Articles deny), but the great sacrament without
D10  86 whose reception no man could call himself a Christian...**" (*1The
D10  87 Seal of the Spirit, *01951, \0p. **=13). ^Lampe calls these
D10  88 *"monstrous conclusions**". ^We agree. ^Are they historic Anglican
D10  89 teaching? ^Can they be proved by Scripture? ^Again, the answer in both
D10  90 cases is no. ^We know, certainly, that this view (the *"Mason-Dix
D10  91 line**") has been argued at various times during the past hundred
D10  92 years by a small band of very able men, that it has a certain
D10  93 following today, and that it has actually been embodied in the
D10  94 proposed new Confirmation rite. ^But most Anglicans, we think, still
D10  95 hold to the historic view expressed in the structure of the 1662
D10  96 Confirmation service*- namely, that Confirmation is simply a domestic
D10  97 institution whereby the Anglican community, acting through the bishop
D10  98 as its appointed representative, welcomes into adult fellowship, on
D10  99 the basis of a personal profession of faith, those who in baptism were
D10 100 originally received, normally as infants, with the status of sponsored
D10 101 members. ^The congregation prays that the Spirit may strengthen the
D10 102 confirmees for the new responsibilities which their increased status
D10 103 in the Church brings. ^But this is not in the least to imply that in
D10 104 the sight of God the blessings of the Spirit which their baptism
D10 105 signified*- *"union with Christ in his death and resurrection, the
D10 106 forgiveness of sins, and a new birth into God's family, the Church**"
D10 107 (40)*- are necessarily incomplete till Confirmation has taken place.
D10 108 ^Here again, then, we must protest against the intrusion into the new
D10 109 Catechism, which the whole Church, it is hoped, will use, of a
D10 110 minority opinion which most Anglican clergy in their teaching of
D10 111 Confirmation candidates would wish to ignore, or indeed repudiate.
D10 112    |^(**=4) At this point, however, we would make a more radical
D10 113 criticism. ^The passages dealing with the five *"other Ministries of
D10 114 Grace**" (*"confirmation, holy order, holy matrimony, the ministry of
D10 115 absolution, and the ministry of healing**") ought, we suggest, to be
D10 116 dropped entirely. ^For the assumption behind the phrase *"other
D10 117 Ministries of Grace**" evidently is that in each of these five cases
D10 118 (though, one would gather, in no other case) the activity of the
D10 119 officiant confers some special gift of God which would not otherwise
D10 120 be received. ^We saw earlier how clearly this comes out in the
D10 121 tell-tale wording of the statement about matrimony; and the assumption
D10 122 appears again when absolution is defined as the ministry whereby
D10 123 penitents who have made *"free confession**" of their sins in the
D10 124 minister's presence *"receive *1through him (\6sic) *0the forgiveness
D10 125 of God**". ^(This, of course, as it stands, is simply not historic
D10 126 Anglican teaching, but a well-known party line. ^To express the
D10 127 Anglican view of absolution, as witnessed to by the Prayer Book, the
D10 128 last words would have to read: *"receive through him *1assurance of
D10 129 *0the forgiveness of God**"*- rather a different thing.)
D10 130    |^But the assumption that these five types of ministerial action
D10 131 each convey a special grace *1{ex opere operato} *0is without
D10 132 warrant in Anglican theology*- not to mention the Bible! ^We might,
D10 133 perhaps, be told that no such assumption is implied, and all that
D10 134 *"ministries of grace**" means in this context is that God blesses His
D10 135 faithful people through each of these ministerial functions. ^This is
D10 136 an undoubted truth; but if nothing more than this is intended, we
D10 137 should at once have to ask why, in that case, only these five receive
D10 138 mention? ^Why is healing specified when the visitation of the sick is
D10 139 not? ^Why is absolution spoken of while the preaching of the Word is
D10 140 left out? ^Whichever way we look at it, neither the Articles, nor the
D10 141 Prayer Book, nor the Bible, can justify the selection of just these
D10 142 five activities, and no more, as the Church's *"other ministries of
D10 143 grace**". ^The selection is inherently arbitrary and untheological.
D10 144 ^This idea behind it is presumably that the catechism ought to mention
D10 145 one ministerial action in the Church of England to correspond with
D10 146 each of Rome's seven sacraments; but there is no obvious reason why it
D10 147 should. ^The habit of mind which takes its cue from Rome and aims to
D10 148 keep step with Rome wherever possible is found in the Church of
D10 149 England, but it is not authentically Anglican. ^We ask again: can it
D10 150 be held that the knowledge of these five *"ministries of grace**" is
D10 151 in any way essential to salvation? ^Can the things that are said, in
D10 152 particular, about Confirmation, and matrimony, and absolution, be
D10 153 proved from Scripture? ^Can any warrant or sanction for them be found
D10 154 in existing Anglican formularies, or in the main stream of the
D10 155 Anglican theological tradition? ^If not (and we think that the answer
D10 156 to all three questions is no), then they can have no rightful place in
D10 157 a Catechism for the Church of England.
D10 158    |^So much for the new material. ^But to complete our survey we
D10 159 should also note what has been omitted of the old material. ^Here are
D10 160 the more important deletions.
D10 161    |^(**=1) The reference to the world, the flesh, and the devil in
D10 162 the first baptismal vow has been replaced by a weak general reference
D10 163 to *"wrong**" and *"evil**" ^(We gather, however, that the devil, at
D10 164 least, is soon to be restored to his rightful place as an object of
D10 165 specific renunciation.)
D10 166    |^(**=2) The assertion of original sin (*"being by nature born in
D10 167 sin, and the children of wrath**") has been dropped entirely. ^This is
D10 168 disturbing, for the new Catechism now says nothing positive at all
D10 169 about man's lost condition by nature. ^It is true that the biblical
D10 170 doctrine of original sin (under its ecclesiastical name of
D10 171 Augustinianism) is having a raw deal in Anglican liturgical circles
D10 172 these days; but it is there in the Bible, and it ought to appear in an
D10 173 unexpurgated form in the Catechism. ^For the Catechism exists to teach
D10 174 the Gospel of God's grace, and you cannot understand grace till you
D10 175 have first understood sin.
D10 176    |^(**=3) The sanction of the second commandment has also gone, so
D10 177 that the new Catechism now contains no mention of God's penal wrath
D10 178 against sin.
D10 179    |^(**=4) The description of the Church as God's *"elect people**"*-
D10 180 the covenant community*- has gone. ^The thought of the covenant
D10 181 relationship seems to be completely absent from the wording of the
D10 182 Revised Catechism.
D10 183    |^(**=5) The conception of a sacrament as a visible word of God,
D10 184 summoning its recipients to *"Faith, whereby they \1stedfastly believe
D10 185 the promises of God made to them in that sacrament**", has vanished
D10 186 too.
D10 187    |^(**=6) So has the demand that those who come to the Lord's Supper
D10 188 should first examine themselves.
D10 189 *# 2009
D11   1 **[099 TEXT D11**]
D11   2 *<*6BIBLE STUDY*- ZECHARIAH*>
D11   3 *<*2{0F. B.} HOLE*>
D11   4 *<*0(Chapters 7: 1-11: 17)*>
D11   5    |^*6I*2N *0the first verse of chapter 7, we find another date
D11   6 given; almost two years later than that of the visions just recorded,
D11   7 and the prophecies of Haggai. ^These fresh prophecies were occasioned
D11   8 by the arrival of certain men with questions as to the observance of
D11   9 fasts, and we notice that we pass from the record of visions to a
D11  10 series of plain declarations of God's message. ^We now find repeated
D11  11 not, ~*"I lifted up \1mine eyes,**" but rather, ~*"The word of the
D11  12 Lord came.**"
D11  13    |^The question raised by these men concerned a fast in the fifth
D11  14 month, which had been observed for many years. ^From Jeremiah 52: 12,
D11  15 we learn that it was in that month the Babylonian army had burned
D11  16 Solomon's magnificent temple, and wrecked Jerusalem. ^Now once more
D11  17 the house of the Lord was being built, if not entirely finished, so
D11  18 was it suitable that they should still observe the fast? ^A very
D11  19 natural question!
D11  20    |^The answer of God through Zechariah linked with this fast another
D11  21 in the seventh month, which apparently was in memory of the murder of
D11  22 Gedaliah and others, and the flight of the remnant, left in the land,
D11  23 into Egypt, as recorded in 2 Kings 25: 25, 26. ^These tragedies were
D11  24 commemorated with fasting and tears, during the seventy years
D11  25 captivity. ^As far as we can discern, no direct answer was given to
D11  26 the question they raised: instead another question was raised with
D11  27 them. ^Did they have Jehovah before their minds in their observances
D11  28 or only themselves? ^And when the fast was over, did they return to
D11  29 their eating and drinking just enjoying themselves? ^Did they really
D11  30 fast, enquired the Lord, *"unto Me, even to Me?**"
D11  31    |^Here is deeply important instruction for ourselves. ^We may put
D11  32 it thus: ^In our observances and service a right motive is everything.
D11  33 ^We may diligently observe the Lord's Supper on the first day of the
D11  34 week, diligently preach the Gospel, or minister to the saints; but are
D11  35 we doing it with God Himself, revealed in Christ, before us, or are we
D11  36 just pursuing an agreeable ritual and maintaining our own reputations
D11  37 in it all? ^A searching question, which the writer had better ask
D11  38 himself as well as the readers ask themselves.
D11  39    |^If the people had kept the Lord before them and observed His
D11  40 words through the former prophets, things would have been far
D11  41 otherwise. ^And what was His word now through Zechariah, but just what
D11  42 it had been through them. ^Take Isaiah's first chapter as an example.
D11  43 ^He accused the people of moral corruption, whilst maintaining
D11  44 ceremonial exactitude. ^In verses 11-14, of our chapter the men who
D11  45 enquired are reminded of this, and are plainly challenged as to the
D11  46 present attitude of themselves and the people of their day, as we see
D11  47 in verses 8-10. ^The moral evils that had wrecked the nation were
D11  48 still working amongst the people that had returned to the land. ^A
D11  49 remnant may return but the inveterate tendency to develop the old
D11  50 evils remains. ^Let us never forget that.
D11  51    |^But having exposed the sinful state of the people, another word
D11  52 from the Lord came in which the purposes of His mercy were revealed,
D11  53 as we see in chapter 8. ^In this remarkable chapter there are things
D11  54 specially addressed to the remnant then back in the land*- verses
D11  55 9-17, for instance*- yet the main drift of it goes far beyond anything
D11  56 that was realized in their history, between the rebuilding as
D11  57 permitted by Cyrus, and the destruction under the Romans; so it looks
D11  58 on to the end of the age and the second coming of Christ.
D11  59    |^In that age Jerusalem will indeed have Jehovah dwelling in her
D11  60 midst and be called *"a city of truth.**" ^Once indeed He who was the
D11  61 *"truth**" as well as the *"way,**" and the *"life,**" was in her
D11  62 midst, only to be rejected and crucified, while Pilate, who sanctioned
D11  63 that act of rejection, asked satirically, ^*"What is truth?**" ^No,
D11  64 Jerusalem has never yet been worthy of that designation; but she will
D11  65 be in a coming age. ^And then human life will be greatly prolonged,
D11  66 and young life be abundant and free. ^Our modern streets with
D11  67 fast-moving motor traffic are hardly a playground for children.
D11  68    |^Verses 6-8, also look on to the time of the end. ^What had come
D11  69 to pass in the return of the remnant was indeed wonderful in their
D11  70 eyes, but what is here predicted would be more wonderful still, when
D11  71 God would gather from the west as well as the east, to dwell as His
D11  72 people, so that He would be their God *"in truth and righteousness.**"
D11  73 ^In Christ truth and righteousness have indeed been revealed and
D11  74 established, but never yet has God dwelt in Jerusalem on that basis.
D11  75 ^The day is coming when He will do so.
D11  76    |^In verses 9-16, there is a special appeal to the remnant of the
D11  77 people then in the land. ^They are reminded of the words spoken to
D11  78 them earlier, when the foundation of the temple was laid, and how the
D11  79 adversity that had marked their doings had been turned into a time of
D11  80 prosperity. ^God was now bestowing much favour and prosperity upon
D11  81 them, but they are reminded that He called for suitable behaviour on
D11  82 their part. ^Truth, honesty and righteous judgment was what was
D11  83 expected of them. ^Again the stress is on the moral qualities that are
D11  84 according to God, and not on ceremonial observances.
D11  85    |^A further word from the Lord is now given, and in verse 19 four
D11  86 fasts are mentioned. ^Besides the two mentioned in the previous
D11  87 chapter we now have the one in the fourth month, for in that month
D11  88 famine prevailed and Jerusalem was broken up, according to Jeremiah
D11  89 52: 6, and it was in the tenth month that the city was surrounded by
D11  90 Nebuchadnezzar's army, as verse 4 of that same chapter records. ^It is
D11  91 now revealed that the day would come when these four fasts would be
D11  92 turned into feasts of rejoicing. ^Therefore they were to love truth
D11  93 and peace. ^These predictions of future blessing were to have a
D11  94 present effect upon the people.
D11  95    |^And all that we know of future blessing should have a present
D11  96 effect or good upon ourselves. ^It is worthy of note that truth
D11  97 precedes peace, as cause and effect. ^Error produces strife just as
D11  98 certainly as truth produces peace. ^In the remaining verse of our
D11  99 chapter we find predictions of the happy state of things that will
D11 100 prevail when truth at last prevails in Jerusalem, and peace fills the
D11 101 scene. ^In that coming day the house of the Lord will indeed be,
D11 102 *"\1an house of prayer for all people**" (\0Isa. 56: 7). ^There will
D11 103 be many who desire to seek the Lord in prayer, and they will recognize
D11 104 where God is to be found in that day. ^All through the centuries the
D11 105 name, *"Jew,**" has had a measure of reproach attaching to it. ^It
D11 106 will not be so then, for they will recognize that at last God is with
D11 107 His ancient people. ^It is obvious that this prediction has never yet
D11 108 been fulfilled, and looks on to a future day.
D11 109    |^The word of the Lord that opens chapter 9 is spoken of as a
D11 110 *"burden,**" since it starts with solemn words of judgment on peoples
D11 111 that surrounded the land of Israel. ^Some of these judgments took
D11 112 place soon after the predictions were uttered; that upon Tyre, for
D11 113 instance, and upon the cities of the Philistines. ^Darby's New
D11 114 Translation tells us that an alternate rendering to *"bastard,**" is
D11 115 one *"of a foreign race.**" ^But even so there will apparently be a
D11 116 remainder, or a remnant, who will be for God and belong to Him.
D11 117 ^Moreover, however powerful oppressors may appear to be, God will
D11 118 encamp about His house in protecting mercy. ^And how will this be
D11 119 brought to pass?
D11 120    |^Verses 9 and 10 answer this question, for in these two verses the
D11 121 two advents of the Lord Jesus are brought before us. ^The coming of
D11 122 the King will settle everything, but we can imagine how the reader of
D11 123 Zechariah's day might pause at this ninth verse in amazement, feeling
D11 124 that in the presence of powerful outside foes, and the inward
D11 125 defection so plainly manifested amongst the Jews, some great and
D11 126 majestic and powerful Deliverer was needful, and the King is announced
D11 127 as lowly in His person and in His approach. ^True, He is to have
D11 128 salvation, but this was not the kind of King that was popularly
D11 129 expected.
D11 130    |^The spirit of God, who inspired this prophecy knew very well that
D11 131 there was a deeper question to be settled before there could be the
D11 132 intervention in power that was so ardently desired. ^First must come
D11 133 the bearing of the full penalty of human sin, and hence the Divinely
D11 134 reached settlement of that dreadful matter, and, that accomplished,
D11 135 there could be emancipation from sin's power. ^This had been set forth
D11 136 typically in Exodus 12 and 14. ^First the blood of the lambs in Egypt,
D11 137 and then deliverance by the overthrow of Egypt. ^The latter is more
D11 138 spectacular, but the former a far deeper thing.
D11 139    |^In the Gospels we see how the more spectacular filled the minds
D11 140 of the disciples. ^Even when they acted and played their part in the
D11 141 fulfilment of verse 9, they did not realize they were doing it. ^This
D11 142 we are plainly told in John 12: 16. ^Only when Jesus was glorified and
D11 143 the Holy Spirit was given did they realize the true significance of
D11 144 what they had done. ^Again, in Acts 1: 6, we see how the coming of the
D11 145 kingdom in power filled their thoughts before the Spirit was given.
D11 146 ^The coming of the King in lowly grace was but little understood or
D11 147 anticipated by the great majority.
D11 148    |^But the Messiah will come in power and have dominion over all the
D11 149 earth, as verse 10 declares. ^The way His widespread kingship is
D11 150 stated here agrees exactly with the inspired statement through David
D11 151 centuries before, written in Psalm 72: 8. ^When David forsaw **[SIC**]
D11 152 this by the Spirit, every desire of his heart was satisfied, and he
D11 153 had nothing left to pray for, as the last verse of the psalm tells us.
D11 154 ^What our prophet tells us is that the days of warfare will be over*-
D11 155 chariot and battle bow cut off, and peace imposed upon the nations.
D11 156    |^Verse 11 appears to be a word specially addressed to the sons of
D11 157 Israel, for Ephraim is addressed in verse 13, as well as Judah. ^They
D11 158 have all been like prisoners, entrapped in a waterless pit, waiting
D11 159 and hoping for deliverance. ^When Messiah comes in power deliverance
D11 160 will reach them, but only through *"the blood of \1thy covenant.**"
D11 161 ^Here we see an allusion to that new covenant of grace, predicted in
D11 162 Jeremiah 31: 31, illuminated for us by the words of the Lord Jesus at
D11 163 the institution of His Supper, when He spoke of, *"My blood of the new
D11 164 testament**" (\0Matt. 26: 28). ^On that basis only will the
D11 165 deliverance and the blessing be brought in and firmly established.
D11 166    |^When Zechariah wrote these things, Greece, mentioned in verse 13,
D11 167 was hardly a power to be reckoned with, though not long after, under
D11 168 Alexander the Great, it was destined to overthrow the Persian power.
D11 169 ^We may see therefore in the closing verses of this chapter
D11 170 predictions which had a partial fulfilment not long after the prophecy
D11 171 was given, though in their fulness they look on to the end
D11 172 of the age.
D11 173    |^The same thing may be said of the predictions that fill chapter
D11 174 10, though it opens with solemn words concerning the evils that still
D11 175 were practiced **[SIC**] among the people. ^The *"rain**" of blessing
D11 176 would descend from God, and not proceed from the *"idols,**" or
D11 177 *"\teraphim,**" little images by which men sought to probe into future
D11 178 events. ^All that came from this source was but vanity, and the
D11 179 *"shepherds**" of the people, who dealt with such things would have
D11 180 the anger of God against them, for God was going to take up the house
D11 181 of Judah and use them in the execution of judgment in some directions.
D11 182 *# 2038
D12   1 **[100 TEXT D12**]
D12   2 ^*0Had the passing away of one generation in death been normal, could
D12   3 it at the same time have been listed with *"Vanity of Vanities**"?
D12   4 ^When Adam by his disobedience let sin into the world and death by
D12   5 sin, man made in the image of God became *"subject to vanity**"
D12   6 (\0Rom. 8:20), not willingly certainly, and in hope most blessedly,
D12   7 but subject to vanity nevertheless. ^The doom pronounced in Genesis
D12   8 3:19 ~*"Dust \1thou \1art and unto dust \1shalt \1thou return**" is
D12   9 seen by Ecclesiastes as something that reduced man to the level of the
D12  10 beast of the field. ^He comments *"as the one \1dieth, so \1dieth the
D12  11 other**" (3:19). ^If the coming of death has necessitated the
D12  12 successive passing and coming of the generations of men, then the
D12  13 question arises, what would have been the state of things had Adam
D12  14 remained unfallen?
D12  15    |^Now we readily admit that from one point of view, this argument
D12  16 based upon what might have happened but which did not, is often
D12  17 futile, and we are well advised to face things as they are. ^If,
D12  18 however, we approach such a question with a chastened spirit,
D12  19 admitting all the time that what we say may nevertheless be very wide
D12  20 of the mark, some light upon the vexed state of affairs that now
D12  21 obtain may repay our modest inquiry.
D12  22    |^It is categorically stated that God made man upright, but that
D12  23 men have sought out many inventions (\0Eccles. 7:29), so that we can
D12  24 go behind the record of the fall in Eden with this fact in mind. ^The
D12  25 unfallen Adam was commanded by His Creator to *"be fruitful, and
D12  26 multiply, and replenish the earth**" (\0Gen. 1:28), yet it is very
D12  27 evident that, if time went on and the population of the earth
D12  28 continued to increase, nations and rulers would soon be facing a most
D12  29 serious problem of feeding and supporting these teeming millions.
D12  30 ^Only by the sad fact now that *"one generation**" passes, can the
D12  31 earth continue to support *"the generations**" that come. ^It appears
D12  32 therefore that had man not fallen and death not intervened, the
D12  33 succeeding generations that would have made up the number of the elect
D12  34 seed would have appeared without break, and that the earth would have
D12  35 provided abundant accommodation for them all. ^There would then have
D12  36 not been necessary the thousands of years which the ages span, and
D12  37 none of the *"tares**" would have challenged the true seed and
D12  38 occupied so much of their territory.
D12  39    |^It is safe to say, however, that no inheritance set aside for
D12  40 those predestinated by Divine grace, ever has written across it *"With
D12  41 *2VACANT *0possession.**" ^In every case a usurper has to be
D12  42 dispossessed before the true heirs can take possession; see
D12  43 Deuteronomy two for this in type. ^The multiplication of man after the
D12  44 fall, was not made up entirely by the true seed; Satan sowed his
D12  45 tares, and those tares outnumbered the true seed so disproportionately
D12  46 that by the time that Noah was grown to manhood *"all flesh**" with
D12  47 the exception of one family of eight souls (1 \0Pet. 3:20) had so
D12  48 corrupted his way upon the earth, that they were completely destroyed
D12  49 from the earth (\0Gen. 6:13), *"everything that is in the earth shall
D12  50 die**" was the verdict (\0Gen. 6:17) and ~*"Noah only remained alive,
D12  51 and they that were with him in the Ark**" (\0Gen. 7:23).
D12  52    |^Again, upon emerging on to dry land, Noah is commanded, as was
D12  53 Adam before him, ^*"Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
D12  54 earth**" (\0Gen. 9:1). ^This increase in number however was not
D12  55 limited to the true seed, for we read the Midianites and the
D12  56 Amalekites came *"as grasshoppers for multitude**" (Judges 6:5,7:12)
D12  57 whereas Israel were greatly impoverished. ^The *"multitude**" of the
D12  58 Canaanites (Judges 4:7); of the Syrians (1 Kings 20:13); of the
D12  59 Ethiopians (2 \0Chron. 14:11); of the children of Moab and of Ammon (2
D12  60 \0Chron. 20:2); of the Assyrians (2 \0Chron. 32:7); of Babylon (\0Isa
D12  61 13:4); of the nations (\0Isa. 29:7); of Egypt, of Elam, of Meshech and
D12  62 Tubal and of Gog; and finally the multitudes in the valley of decision
D12  63 (Joel 3:14), indicate something of the menace to the true seed in the
D12  64 earth that the multiplying of these nations must have been. ^The
D12  65 picture before the mind is a field of wheat, smothered by the growth
D12  66 of charlock and poppy. ^The passages which speak of Israel being a
D12  67 multitude are well known, two passages, namely Genesis 28:3 and 48:4
D12  68 need to be corrected in the {0A.V.} for the word there translated
D12  69 *"multitude**" is the Hebrew word \*1gahal *0meaning *"a called out
D12  70 assembly**", or as Stephen says *"the church in the wilderness**"
D12  71 (Acts 7:38), and has no connexion with the question of number.
D12  72    |^While the promise was made to Abraham that his seed should be
D12  73 like the stars, the dust and the sand that cannot be numbered, we know
D12  74 that the Lord had said of them ~*"\1Ye were the fewest of all
D12  75 people**" (\0Deut 7:7) although from being *"three score and ten
D12  76 persons**" they had become by the time Moses wrote *"as the stars of
D12  77 heaven for multitude**" (\0Deut. 10:22). ^At the time of the end of
D12  78 the Millennium the evil seed are so numerous that they are likened in
D12  79 number to *"the sand of the sea**", and went up on *"the breadth of
D12  80 the earth**" (\0Rev. 20:8,9). ^At last, however, the nations of the
D12  81 earth will become so decimated by war, famine and self destruction
D12  82 that Zechariah speaks of *"every one *2THAT IS LEFT *0of all the
D12  83 nations which come against Jerusalem**" (Zech 14:16)! ^It is thus that
D12  84 Israel, as the vehicle of the true seed on earth, come into their own,
D12  85 for then ~*"Israel shall blossom, and bud, and fill the face of the
D12  86 world with fruit**" (\0Isa. 27:6); it is then that they *"enlarge the
D12  87 place of their tent**" and their seed *"shall inherit the Gentiles**"
D12  88 (\0Isa. 54:3) even as their fathers in small yet typical measure
D12  89 *"inherited**" the land held by the Amorite (\0Deut. 2:31).
D12  90    |^Coming back from this survey to the time of Adam, and supposing,
D12  91 for the sake of argument, that Adam did not fall, that neither sin nor
D12  92 death were factors in the purpose, and that consequently redemption by
D12  93 the shedding of blood would be unknown and unnecessary, let us think
D12  94 further along this line. ^Hebrews 2:14 makes it clear that the Saviour
D12  95 took part in flesh and blood in order that He might be the
D12  96 Kinsman-Redeemer of all the seed, but John 1:14 reveals that He was
D12  97 made flesh so that of His fulness we all might receive, and that as
D12  98 the Word made flesh revealed to man the Father (John 1:18). ^Is it
D12  99 something that is impossible of belief that, had there been no sin,
D12 100 even then God would still have been manifest in the flesh? ^Was the
D12 101 Virgin Birth that took place about 4,000 years after the creation of
D12 102 man, but the postponement of a most glorious and miraculous event,
D12 103 that had it not been for sin, would have taken place in the garden of
D12 104 Eden before any other children were born? ^Was it *1this *0that lies
D12 105 behind the mystery of the Temptation and the Fall, with its close
D12 106 connexion with the two seeds, the immediate reference to childbirth,
D12 107 and the birth of Cain who turned out to be *"of the wicked one**"? ^We
D12 108 ask these questions, we may entertain our theories, but questions and
D12 109 theories they must remain.
D12 110    |^Had the coming in of death not made the successive generations
D12 111 follow the death of those that preceded them, the full tale of those
D12 112 chosen either before or since the overthrow of the world would have
D12 113 been early reached, and the translation from Adam to Christ effected
D12 114 and the different spheres of predestinated glory entered. ^As it is,
D12 115 the evil seed jostle the true heirs for room and many times overrun
D12 116 them and keep them down both in number and in possessions. ^The very
D12 117 character of this age turns the true heirs into pilgrims and strangers
D12 118 yet it still stands written ~*"The meek shall inherit the earth**" and
D12 119 that not only in the Sermon on the Mount, but in Psalm thirty-seven
D12 120 where the believer is told to fret not because of evil doers ... for
D12 121 yet a little while and the wicked shall not be (\0Ps. 37:9,10). ^As a
D12 122 consequence of what actually occurred in Genesis three, Christ, the
D12 123 true Seed, is revealed as the Kinsman-Redeemer, and resurrection now
D12 124 becomes the gate to glory. ^Doubtless all has been overruled by Divine
D12 125 love. ^The rugged pathway that we have been called upon to walk, the
D12 126 attacks and the snares of the evil one, all contribute to that
D12 127 essential experience which arising out of patience, ultimately leads
D12 128 to a hope that \1maketh not ashamed (\0Rom. 5:4,5).
D12 129    |^The scripture speaks more than once of a *"Book of Life**", Paul
D12 130 speaks of it saying, ~*"My fellow labourers, whose names are in the
D12 131 book of life**" (\0Phil. 4:3), showing that those called during his
D12 132 prison ministry have their names therein. ^In Revelation 3:5 the
D12 133 Divine promise strengthens the overcomer in his fight by assuring him
D12 134 that ~*"I will not blot out his name out of the book of life**" and
D12 135 the reader may find his mind turning to Revelation 22:19 where we read
D12 136 in the {0A.V.} ~*"God shall take away his part out of the book of
D12 137 life**" whereas the {0R.V.} reads *"from the tree of life**" with
D12 138 the critical texts. ^Those *"whose names are not written in the book
D12 139 of life**" will worship the Beast (\0Rev. 13:8), even as Revelation
D12 140 17:8 reveals. ^At the Great White Throne the Book of Life is brought
D12 141 forward, and to keep close to the wording of the inspired original we
D12 142 read ^*"And *1if any one *0was not found written in the book of life,
D12 143 *1he *0was cast into the lake of fire**" (\0Rev. 10:15). ^The
D12 144 prominence given to the Book of Life in the Revelation may be because
D12 145 the emergence of the true seed is imminent. ^It refers particularly to
D12 146 the overcomer. ^See *1Millennial Studies *0in \0Vol. *=39. ^The true
D12 147 seed whose names are in that book will never apostatize; the false
D12 148 seed whose names were never in that book will follow their own course.
D12 149 ^Some of the true seed will miss the glory of the Millennial kingdom
D12 150 and other spheres of blessing, and will not emerge until the Great
D12 151 White Throne is set up, but even there, it is revealed that some will
D12 152 be found written, and pass on into life that is life indeed.
D12 153    |^A prayerful reading of Psalm 139 would be extremely helpful at
D12 154 this point, of which the following is a quotation:
D12 155 **[BEGIN INDENTATION**]
D12 156    |^*"My substance was not \1hid from \1thee, when I was made in
D12 157 secret, and curiously \1wrought in the lower parts of the earth.
D12 158    |^*"\1Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being \1unperfect; and
D12 159 in \1thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were
D12 160 fashioned when as yet there was none of them**" (\0Ps. 139:15,16).
D12 161 **[END INDENTATION**]
D12 162    |^The conflict between the two seeds arose out of the disobedience
D12 163 of Man in relation to the knowledge of good and evil (\0Gen. 3). ^When
D12 164 writing to the believers at Rome, the Apostle Paul said concerning
D12 165 some that ~*"By good words and fair speeches they deceived the heart
D12 166 of the simple**" (\0Rom. 16:18). ^He then went on to speak of their
D12 167 *"obedience**" saying that he would have them wise unto that which is
D12 168 *1good *0and simple concerning *1evil. ^*0Now this word *"simple**"
D12 169 \15akeraios *0occurs in the proverb *"Wise as serpents, and *1harmless
D12 170 *0as doves**" (\0Matt. 10:16), where it is evident that the simplicity
D12 171 inculcated by the Apostle is in marked contrast to the subtlety of the
D12 172 serpent. ^These words occur just before the concluding section which
D12 173 deals with the revelation of the mystery which had been kept in
D12 174 silence (\0Rom. 16:25-27). ^This mystery we have shown elsewhere
D12 175 refers to the relationship that exists between Adam, his fall and his
D12 176 seed. ^It is therefore no surprise to us to find in Romans 16:20
D12 177 immediately following these words that remind us of the Fall, a most
D12 178 definite reference to Genesis three.
D12 179 *# 2020
D13   1 **[101 TEXT D13**]
D13   2 *<*6CHRIST CHURCH*>
D13   3 *<COVENTRY*>
D13   4 *<*1a further article by the Vicar, The \0Rev. Robin \0H. Blandford*>
D13   5    |^*6R*2OUGHLY FOUR YEARS AGO *0I had the privilege of writing for
D13   6 *1Church and People *0the story of how our church, which had been
D13   7 destroyed in the war, was rebuilt on a new site here in Coventry,
D13   8 where it was more needed.
D13   9    |^I have been asked to say something about the subsequent life and
D13  10 work of the church since then. ^This is a temptation to any Vicar, but
D13  11 the devil sees to it that we are kept humble, even when full of joy
D13  12 because of the work of God in our midst.
D13  13    |^I outlined in my previous article our Lay Workers Scheme. ^The
D13  14 parish was divided up into groups of fifty houses. ^Every Lay Worker
D13  15 had the oversight of and responsibility for one such group of fifty
D13  16 houses.
D13  17    |^There are two thousand houses in our parish, so that meant forty
D13  18 Lay Workers were needed. ^These were forthcoming from the congregation
D13  19 that had survived the destruction of the church and had worshipped for
D13  20 fourteen years in a small mission church lent us by the Cathedral.
D13  21 ^They were all keen Christian men and women but they consented to take
D13  22 a fourteen-week course after which they were commissioned by the
D13  23 Bishop.
D13  24    |^We covered the new parish, calling on every house, distributing a
D13  25 free magazine and asking particulars of every household for a card
D13  26 index system. ^Later another visit at every house yielded a crop of
D13  27 orders for the magazine resulting in an overall monthly figure now of
D13  28 one thousand two hundred and fifty copies in a parish of two thousand
D13  29 houses (I have a wonderful magazine Editor!).
D13  30    |^These Lay Workers are like the veins in a human body, they bring
D13  31 life to every part of the parish where they gain access and their
D13  32 regular monthly visit keeps them and the Vicar in touch with all sorts
D13  33 of cases, and with every need as it crops up.
D13  34    |^What of the work of the Church? ^I think it is only fair to
D13  35 ourselves to say here that, as our parish was formed by areas taken
D13  36 out of two other parishes, most of those people who were likely to
D13  37 attend a place of worship were already doing so, and unless some
D13  38 reason existed for their changing we had only the sub-soil to work on.
D13  39 ^There was also a live Baptist Church within the parish.
D13  40    |^Beginning with the Sunday congregations we worshipped for two
D13  41 years in the new Church Hall while the new Church was being built.
D13  42 ^The hall, seating about 100 (when set out as a church with choir
D13  43 stalls), was generally nearly full, but I rather dreaded the day when
D13  44 that number had to sit in the church, the body of which holds three
D13  45 hundred and thirty. ^That day came after two years and now, after
D13  46 worshipping in it for a further two years, we have a morning
D13  47 congregation of about one hundred and fifty including the *"children's
D13  48 church**" which leaves during the service, and an evening congregation
D13  49 of about two hundred. ^This evening congregation contains a high
D13  50 percentage of young people and is a very cheering sight. ^There is
D13  51 hymn-singing for young people after the service to which forty or
D13  52 fifty stay. ^This is carefully planned with some special item every
D13  53 Sunday and organized by two young Day School teachers in turn.
D13  54    |^Sunday School and Bible Classes number about three hundred.
D13  55 ^Every available space in the hall and all ten classrooms are filled
D13  56 and now two primary classes have to use the church as well. ^A Girls'
D13  57 Bible Class numbers about fifty and divides into four groups. ^The
D13  58 Boys' Bible Class is not much less and divides into two groups.
D13  59 *<*4Mid-Week Activities*>
D13  60    |^*0Weekday organizations form an important part of the work of
D13  61 every church and we try to meet the needs of every age group and stage
D13  62 of Christian development. ^For women we have a devotional meeting on
D13  63 Wednesday afternoons and a women's guild on alternate Thursday
D13  64 evenings, and the Young Wives' Fellowship on alternate Sunday
D13  65 afternoons.
D13  66    |^Men are not numerous yet in our recently formed {0*2C.E.M.S.}
D13  67 *0branch but we do have an entirely Christian programme and at the
D13  68 moment are studying the *=39 Articles. ^A mixed Bible Study and
D13  69 Discussion Group meets every Tuesday in the vicarage and other men
D13  70 attend this. ^Our uniformed organization for children is Campaigners,
D13  71 which proves very effective and efficient, numbers in all clans
D13  72 exceeding a hundred. ^It is greatly to the credit of the Chiefs that
D13  73 the elder boys and girls go on into the Craftsmen Clans in good
D13  74 numbers. ^Many keen Christians have emerged from this organization.
D13  75 ^Teenagers of both sexes are also provided for by a Young People's
D13  76 Fellowship with an attendance of about forty in term time and fifty or
D13  77 more in the vacations. ^From the very first we have based this on the
D13  78 principle *"Christ first and no apologies**". ^The result has been
D13  79 many conversions and a deep Christian work. **[SIC**] ^The admirably
D13  80 run local Youth for Christ has been a great blessing in this too.
D13  81    |^For recreation they have games (badminton, table tennis,
D13  82 skittles, \0etc.) on all available Saturdays. ^These are for members
D13  83 only except that visitors may be invited for three occasions. ^If
D13  84 after that they do not join the Young People's Fellowship I should
D13  85 have to tell them that it is a condition of coming. ^In two years I
D13  86 may have had to do so once.
D13  87    |^A not overlarge but very much alive Prayer Meeting is held every
D13  88 Friday.
D13  89    |^In the four years we have been here we have had the great joy of
D13  90 seeing two of our young men reach the Ministry, both of them
D13  91 outstanding men. ^A further two are in training now and three more
D13  92 have applied for interviews with {0*2C.A.C.T.M.} *0or already
D13  93 attended. ^At least one other is reaching that point.
D13  94    |^At a recent service in a nearby church we had the further joy of
D13  95 having three of our congregation admitted into the order of Lay
D13  96 Readers at the same service. ^These, too, are men of exceptional
D13  97 calibre. ^This brings our available Lay Readers up to five.
D13  98    |^Not all these young men have been the product of our own church
D13  99 but some have come from outside at various stages in their Christian
D13 100 growth and have made this their spiritual home. ^We thank God for this
D13 101 great gift.
D13 102    |^It is also something for which we can praise God that a
D13 103 congregation of strongly evangelical tradition, plus one from the area
D13 104 where we now are, have merged together well with scarcely a note of
D13 105 discord.
D13 106    |^We are indeed privileged to have such wonderful buildings. ^A
D13 107 modern church, the surprise and admiration of all who see it, a
D13 108 beautiful hall (hardly the word to describe many church halls!) with
D13 109 ten classrooms alongside, adjustable to four by moving screens, a
D13 110 caretaker's house and vicarage, all in one short road. ^We can
D13 111 thankfully say they are the best in the Diocese, if not very much
D13 112 further afield, and a great help in the administration of the work
D13 113 that they house. ^Dowdy buildings do not glorify God nor attract
D13 114 people to come.
D13 115    |^Is all this expensive to run and keep up? ^Yes, it is. ^We
D13 116 compute that we have got to have a monthly income of *+170. ^We are
D13 117 like a man on a bicycle; we have to keep moving or we cannot keep
D13 118 going: a challenge and incentive to maintain a spiritual church life.
D13 119 *<*4From the Warden of Mabledon*>
D13 120    |^*1Glancing over the past year, one is impressed by the wide range
D13 121 of Christian interests represented by those coming to stay for longer
D13 122 or shorter periods. ^There have been houseparties for the training and
D13 123 building-up of young Christians in the service of Christ: missionary
D13 124 societies have brought their home staffs or council members for
D13 125 fellowship in prayer and for the discussion of mutual problems and
D13 126 opportunities: parishes have allowed themselves to be bereft of clergy
D13 127 and some of the Sunday congregation in order that a quiet parish
D13 128 weekend might be spent away from the usual routine. ^One such group
D13 129 recently brought whole families*- father, mother, and children.
D13 130 *<*6TWO MISSION FIELDS*>
D13 131 **[EDITORIAL**]
D13 132    |^*6*"A *2HOUSE-GOING PARSON *0makes a church-going people**"*- so
D13 133 I learned at college, and I believed it was a {0*2C.P-A.S.}
D13 134 *0slogan. ^I was convinced it was true, and travelling home from
D13 135 Central Africa eight years ago to work in a Liverpool parish I
D13 136 resolved that house visiting would have priority. ^I was also
D13 137 convinced people were hungry for the Word of God*- ^*"Preach the
D13 138 Gospel and you will fill the church**". ^By the Grace of God and His
D13 139 good Hand upon me, for seven and a half years I have acted on these
D13 140 convictions only to find that neither seems to apply in this part of
D13 141 the mission field. ^Nevertheless visiting and the Scripture message
D13 142 will always be my priorities, but let ordinands and young clergy be
D13 143 saved from false optimism! ^Whilst not regretting acting on a false
D13 144 assumption, I wonder why there is such a small response in this part
D13 145 of Liverpool to the same Gospel which brought Africans flocking to our
D13 146 Mission churches and preaching places, not only to hear but to
D13 147 receive? ^Some say it is because Africa was pre-Christian, whereas
D13 148 Liverpool is post-Christian. ^*"All have sinned and come short of the
D13 149 glory of God**"*- it was generally unnecessary to persuade Africans of
D13 150 this truth, they were only too conscious of their need. ^In twenty-two
D13 151 years I never heard one claim to be as good as, or better than, his
D13 152 neighbours. ^I hesitate to say my parishioners are not *1conscious
D13 153 *0of sin, but generally they are satisfied to be better than their
D13 154 neighbours (or to think they are!) ^They are *1not *0conscious of a
D13 155 need for the Saviour, and never flock to church. ^I would readily
D13 156 agree that our African brethren had not such counter-attractions as
D13 157 the week-end caravan, the car, amusements, {0T.V.}, and Sunday work
D13 158 at double pay, but to them the village dances, beer orgies, and
D13 159 cultivation (by which they lived) were just as important.
D13 160    |^Some contrasts might enable us to draw a conclusion.
D13 161 *<*4Revealing Contrasts*>
D13 162    |^*0Our African village teachers were primarily evangelists and
D13 163 through their ministry *"Enquirers**" into the Christian faith were
D13 164 enrolled and instructed. ^Those determined to go forward for Baptism
D13 165 were admitted to the *"Catechumenate**". ^A minimum of two years was
D13 166 considered necessary for regular instruction and testing before
D13 167 candidates were accepted into a Baptism Class. ^The pastor had to be
D13 168 satisfied (as far as he was able) that each was a born-again
D13 169 Christian. ^Whether the Baptism took place in the river, or in the
D13 170 Church, it truly symbolized the sinner being buried with Christ, and
D13 171 raised with Him to newness of life. ^Every Baptized person knew indeed
D13 172 that the washing of water was the outward sign of the cleansing from
D13 173 sin within. ^It is sad to recollect that probably less than ten per
D13 174 cent of the original Enquirers were Baptized*- but the general leakage
D13 175 from the Church was *1before *0Baptism. ^When I came to \0St. Bede's
D13 176 it was a shock to find the normal request for Baptism was ^*"Mum says
D13 177 will you do the baby next Sunday**". ^My insistence on personal
D13 178 interviews with the parents and their presence at the Baptism
D13 179 frequently meant they just went elsewhere to have their babies
D13 180 *"done**". ^I was equally shocked to find the congregation objecting
D13 181 to Baptisms during Morning Prayer. ^It has been a long hard struggle
D13 182 to make this the norm, and for parents and godparents to realize it is
D13 183 such an important event, and that very particular preparation is
D13 184 needed. ^Now, the whole congregation will say together in sincerity
D13 185 ~*"We receive this child into the congregation of Christ's
D13 186 flock...**", and usually parents are appreciative of our methods.
D13 187 ^They are visited at least twice before the Baptism and monthly for as
D13 188 long as possible. ^Even so it does not bring them to Church*- we still
D13 189 have a long way to go to reach our African Church standard.
D13 190 *# 2002
D14   1 **[102 TEXT D14**]
D14   2 *<*2A DEFENCE OF THE TRUE FAITH*>
D14   3 *<BY BROTHER ROBERTS*>
D14   4    |^\0*4M*2R. *0Barnett reproduces the argument of personal identity
D14   5 amid atomic change. ^This is sufficiently answered on page 34 of
D14   6 *1Twelve Lectures. ^*0A remark or two, however, is called for here.
D14   7 ^He bases the argument on a fallacy to begin with. ^He says that
D14   8 during the change of a man's substance from waste and nutrition,
D14   9 *1*"his personality undergoes no corresponding change.**" ^*0This is
D14  10 not true. ^A man of forty feels himself a very different person from
D14  11 what he was at ten. ^An entire change in the nature of his
D14  12 consciousness takes place in the interval. ^It is a matter of
D14  13 universal experience, that as years roll by, the ideas change, the
D14  14 tastes change, the character changes, the voice changes, the personal
D14  15 physique changes*- everything changes; and the nature of these changes
D14  16 depends upon circumstances. ^Why? ^Because the new material introduced
D14  17 into the system in the process of nutrition, is directed into new
D14  18 shapes and forms, according to the activities by which its absorption
D14  19 is guided and determined. ^If a man goes to sea, his muscles and vital
D14  20 organs, and the bony framework are in continual occupation, and the
D14  21 nutritive elements are consequently more largely made use of, in
D14  22 building up the mechanical parts of his being, than if he stayed at
D14  23 home. ^Send him to college, and you will see a different result.
D14  24 ^Activity of brain is brought into play, to the neglect of the bodily
D14  25 functions; and the consequence is, the brain monopolises the nutritive
D14  26 supply, and is developed to the detriment of the merely physical
D14  27 powers, the result of which is, that the man is more feeble as a whole
D14  28 than his sea-faring brother, and has his mind very differently
D14  29 constituted from what it would have been had he been brought up at the
D14  30 plough. ^\0Mr. Barnett's assumption, therefore, that the personality
D14  31 undergoes no change with the progress of material substitution, is
D14  32 wrong. ^It undergoes many changes, but of course he feels himself the
D14  33 same individual, because the impressions originally constituting his
D14  34 individuality are perpetuated, though modified. ^But let a *"stroke**"
D14  35 affect the brain throughout, and obliterate original impressions (of
D14  36 which there have been cases), the person's individuality vanishes. ^He
D14  37 forgets who he was, and what he knew, and begins the formation of a
D14  38 new individuality by means of new impressions, should his power to
D14  39 receive new impressions not have been destroyed by the calamity. ^A
D14  40 case of this sort is within the writer's experience, where there was a
D14  41 complete lapse of memory, necessitating the re-formation of
D14  42 acquaintance with friends, places, habits and everything. ^After a
D14  43 while, the second education as quickly disappeared as the first, and
D14  44 the old memories returned. ^On \0Mr. Barnett's theory, this was
D14  45 inexplicable. ^On the theory that the brain *"thinks by virtue of its
D14  46 organization,**" it is susceptible of explanation.
D14  47    |^\0Mr. Barnett denies the transmissibility of qualities. ^He feels
D14  48 himself compelled to do this, to save his argument on continuous
D14  49 identity; but in yielding to theoretical exigency, he convicts himself
D14  50 of either ignorance or recklessness. ^The very argument he relies upon
D14  51 disproves his denial. ^He says the body *"changes throughout several
D14  52 times in a man's life, and at seventy *1does not contain a single
D14  53 particle of the matter which composed it at seven.*0**" ^Now, in view
D14  54 of this, how does \0Mr. Barnett deal with the fact that a person of
D14  55 dark complexion, *1eating the same food as a person of light
D14  56 complexion, *0will be dark complexioned till death? ^Take the colour
D14  57 of the eye and the colour of the hair; how does he account for the
D14  58 permanence of these organic qualities, except that the original
D14  59 quality is taken up by the succeeding atoms of nutrition? ^\0Mr.
D14  60 Barnett's answer is *"they assume similar qualities of their own.**"
D14  61 ^Do they pick up nothing from their predecessors? ^If they do not, how
D14  62 is it that the same flour and mutton eaten at the same table will turn
D14  63 to four different conditions as regards colour and organic quality, in
D14  64 four different persons? ^Is it not the existing organism that
D14  65 determines the use and quality of the new material introduced? and how
D14  66 could this be, except on the principle of transmission of quality?
D14  67 ^\0Mr. Barnett's answer to this, finally surrenders the whole case
D14  68 against himself. ^He says *"they enter into the same relation to the
D14  69 laws of life as those which the old have quitted.**" ^Precisely, and
D14  70 this applied to the brain, explains continuous identity amid atomic
D14  71 change. ^Whatever impressions or qualities result from the original
D14  72 organization of the brain, are inherited by the new material, taken up
D14  73 by them, transmitted to successors and so on {6*1ad infinitum}.
D14  74 ^*0But destroy the brain altogether, and you destroy the process as
D14  75 much as you destroy the sight of the eye and the hearing of the ear.
D14  76    |^\0Mr. Barnett can *"detect nothing but unintelligible nonsense**"
D14  77 in the proposition that *"mind is the product of the living brain, and
D14  78 personal identity the sum of its impressions.**" ^His objection to it
D14  79 is that if mind be the product of the brain, it would be subject like
D14  80 the brain to the law of atomic change. ^And so it is, as \0Mr. Barnett
D14  81 will discover, if he reflects but a moment. ^Is it not a fact, that
D14  82 unless we renew our knowledge, the lapse of time will weaken and in
D14  83 the end destroy it? ^Is there no such thing as *"getting out of
D14  84 use,**" and forgetting what one has learnt? ^The very power of
D14  85 education lies in the fact that \0Mr. Barnett denies, \0viz., that the
D14  86 mind is *"subject to the law of atomic change,**" and depends for the
D14  87 form of its development upon the forces brought to bear in its
D14  88 guidance.
D14  89    |^\0Mr. Barnett struggles in vain against the proposition that if
D14  90 the mind be immaterial, its functions ought to be unaffected by the
D14  91 condition of the body. ^He suggests that it is associated with the
D14  92 material elements of his being on the common basis of life, which
D14  93 unites and affinitises all parts. ^Animal and vegetable substances are
D14  94 amalgamated on this basis, and why not a third, argues \0Mr. Barnett*-
D14  95 the immaterial and immortal? ^The answer is, nothing is impossible;
D14  96 but if this is the principle on which the mind is developed in the
D14  97 body, obviously the inversion of the principle must be fatal to it.
D14  98 ^If life gives, death must take away. ^When *"the principle of life**"
D14  99 is withdrawn, the *"animal and vegetable**" elements of man's being
D14 100 are destroyed, and any third element depending upon *"the principle of
D14 101 life**" for its basis, must perish also. ^\0Mr. Barnett's argument
D14 102 recoils upon himself. ^To evade the recoil, he dogmatises on *"the
D14 103 principle of life.**" ^He says life is not the *1result *0of
D14 104 organisation, but a principle that operates through organisation.
D14 105 ^Upon this, we have to ask if the life of a dog is not in the same
D14 106 category? ^\0Mr. Barnett cannot exclude it. ^A dog is as much God's
D14 107 handiwork as a man. ^It depends upon the same laws of respiration and
D14 108 deglutition as those which govern human existence. ^The Bible says men
D14 109 and beasts are identical in the mode of life and death (\0Eccles **=3.
D14 110 19-20). ^What then would \0Mr. Barnett do with his definition as
D14 111 applied to a dog? ^*"Life is not the result of organization:
D14 112 organization is the medium through which life is manifested.**" ^Has
D14 113 the dog an immortal principle of life that was antecedent to its
D14 114 organization, and which only manifests itself through its doggish
D14 115 body? ^If so, whose principle of life was it before the dog came? ^Was
D14 116 it the dog's? ^If \0Mr. Barnett will admit that the primitive
D14 117 life-power in all cases is God's, we might agree with him; but in
D14 118 admitting this, he must abandon the idea that human lives are separate
D14 119 entities or *"souls,**" which may be disembodied and live as conscious
D14 120 beings still. ^All human life, and all beast and all insect life, are
D14 121 but inspirations from the eternal universal fountain of life, of which
D14 122 the God revealed to Israel is the focal centre and controller. ^But
D14 123 \0Mr. Barnett's Platonism, deeply tinctured with the spirit of Greek
D14 124 mythology, teaching the existence of so many separate independent
D14 125 immortal intelligences, prevents him from seeing this. ^He insists
D14 126 upon three separable compounds as constituting the unity of a human
D14 127 being. ^If he would define them, the argument might be made more
D14 128 serviceable. ^*"Body, soul and spirit**" are his words, quoting from
D14 129 Paul. ^We submit to \0Mr. Barnett that these words describe aspects of
D14 130 human existence *1only while a man is alive. ^*0This is shown by the
D14 131 fact that they were addressed to and spoken of living men, and that
D14 132 the three aspects expressed are only presented in life. ^Is there a
D14 133 *"body**" when man is dissolved in the grave? ^Is there a *"soul**" to
D14 134 that body when all soul is evaporated? ^Is there a spirit to it when
D14 135 it no longer exists to be animated by a spirit? ^It would be curious
D14 136 to know what \0Mr. Barnett understands by *"soul**" as distinct from
D14 137 *"spirit**" and {6*1vice versa}. ^*0From a common-sense point of
D14 138 view the matter is plain. ^A man in life presents three aspects
D14 139 cognisant to the understanding. ^There is (1) the body, which is the
D14 140 basis of (2) the life, which develops (3) the spirit, or mind. ^A dead
D14 141 man is a body simply; an idiot is a body with soul or life; a living
D14 142 man with full possession of mental faculties presents the combination
D14 143 of *"body, soul, and spirit.**" ^When death comes, it destroys this
D14 144 combination. ^The body returns to the dust, the life returns to God,
D14 145 and the spirit disappears. ^The resurrection will put all three
D14 146 together again on the glorious basis of incorruptibility.
D14 147 *<*2\0MR. BARNETT'S REVIEW OF SCRIPTURE ARGUMENTS ON MORTALITY.*>
D14 148    |^*4\0M*2R. *0Barnett next attempts to follow the scriptural
D14 149 argument. ^He begins by observing that *"it is a waste of words to
D14 150 argue against the received doctrine of man's immortality, as if that
D14 151 doctrine implied that man is not mortal.**" ^He illustrates his
D14 152 meaning by saying that the dead are dead in some respects and alive in
D14 153 others. ^If \0Mr. Barnett would define his terms, it would be easier
D14 154 to follow him. ^What does he mean by *"death?**" ^Has it no inverse
D14 155 reference to *"life?**" ^Do we not derive our idea of death from
D14 156 acquaintance with life. ^Life is a positive phenomenon, and (in
D14 157 relation to us) has a beginning; and the word *"death**" has become
D14 158 current to express the cessation of that phenomenon, with which,
D14 159 unfortunately, we are familiar. ^It is true the word is used with
D14 160 reference to a variety of things, but this only arises from the fact
D14 161 that there is a variety of life. ^Vegetable life gives rise to its use
D14 162 when a plant dies. ^Metaphorical life, as the prosperity of an
D14 163 institution, occasions its use, when prosperity departs and the
D14 164 institution dies. ^To whatever thing it applies, it expresses the
D14 165 opposite of the life pertaining to it, or that may be conceived as
D14 166 pertaining to it. ^On this obvious and universal principle, the death
D14 167 of a human being must have inverse reference to the life of a human
D14 168 being. ^It cannot be said that a human being is dead, unless his life
D14 169 as a human being has ceased. ^It is vain, therefore, for \0Mr. Barnett
D14 170 to get away from the inconsistency of a man being dead and alive at
D14 171 the same time. ^If a human being continues to live after death, he is
D14 172 not dead. ^It would not suit the theory to say that the body is dead,
D14 173 because according to the theory the body is never alive, but only
D14 174 inhabited by the real invisible man, on whose withdrawal the body
D14 175 crumbles.
D14 176    |^\0Mr. Barnett contends for the *"elasticity**" of the terms
D14 177 *"life**" and *"death.**" ^Unfortunately, he does not define what he
D14 178 means. ^The only elasticity about them is that already indicated,
D14 179 \0viz., their applications to different kinds of life and death. ^On
D14 180 this principle, the Scriptures quoted by \0Mr. Barnett are perfectly
D14 181 intelligible without involving that violation of first principles on
D14 182 the subject which he wishes to found upon them.
D14 183 *# 2026
D15   1 **[103 TEXT D15**]
D15   2 **[BEGIN GOTHIC**]
D15   3 *<*4Grace, Mercy and Peace*>
D15   4 **[END GOTHIC**]
D15   5 *<*"*0Grace, mercy and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our
D15   6 Lord.**" *=1 Timothy 1.2.*>
D15   7    |^*2GREETINGS *0expressed in *"words which the Holy Ghost
D15   8 \1teacheth**" come to the reverent reader today with the same warmth
D15   9 and unction as when Timothy held in his hands the precious parchment
D15  10 upon which the message was first written. ^Under the gracious tuition
D15  11 of the Eternal Spirit, the writer framed his prayerful desire for the
D15  12 reader's spiritual good. ^Wisdom far greater than that of the most
D15  13 devoted Apostle ordained that the encouragement first enjoyed by
D15  14 Timothy should subsequently be shared by the people of God of every
D15  15 race and in every age.
D15  16    |^Grace is the fountain from which every blessing springs. ^It is
D15  17 the free, unmerited favour of God bestowed upon the guilty sinner. ^It
D15  18 is manifested in the perfect provision made for the expiation of the
D15  19 sinner's guilt by the atoning blood of the Redeemer, the *2LORD'S
D15  20 *0Anointed.
D15  21    |^Mercy is extended to relieve the guilty of the miserable
D15  22 consequences of their guilt before God. ^*"According to His mercy He
D15  23 saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
D15  24 Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our
D15  25 Saviour.**" ^By nature afar off, alienated and separated from God,
D15  26 spiritually destitute and dead in trespasses and sins, the redeemed
D15  27 soul is *"a debtor to mercy alone**", born of the Spirit, called from
D15  28 nature's darkness into God's marvellous light, translated into the
D15  29 Kingdom of His dear Son, and in everything enriched by Him.
D15  30    |^Peace with God could be secured for the guilty only by *"God, who
D15  31 \1hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ**". ^No man ever made
D15  32 his own peace with God. ^The divinely appointed Mediator Himself
D15  33 declares that, ~*"No man \1cometh unto the Father but by *2ME.**"
D15  34 ^*0He is the Prince of Peace. ^He speaks peace to His people. ^*"He is
D15  35 our Peace.**"
D15  36    |^Grace is the source, Mercy is the stream, and Peace is the
D15  37 experience of the blessing of the Lord, which maketh rich. ^While we
D15  38 borrow the Apostolic greeting, we also express the earnest desire and
D15  39 prayer of members and friends of the Trinitarian Bible Society that
D15  40 the Scriptures distributed during the year may be the means of
D15  41 revealing to those who read them*- *"Grace, mercy and peace, from God
D15  42 our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.**"
D15  43 **[BEGIN GOTHIC**]
D15  44 *<*4The Authorised Version Still Supreme*>
D15  45 **[END GOTHIC**]
D15  46    |^*2THE *0cover of this Quarterly Record is designed as a small
D15  47 tribute to the Authorised Version, which has now reached its 350th
D15  48 anniversary and remains peerless among the English translations of the
D15  49 Bible. ^The design draws attention to several important aspects of
D15  50 this enduring and excellent work, including Hampton Court Palace, its
D15  51 birthplace, and \0Dr. Reynolds, the Puritan minister, who first
D15  52 suggested that a new translation should be undertaken.
D15  53    |^With God's gracious blessing, the translator in his study, the
D15  54 printer with his press and the preacher in the pulpit have all helped
D15  55 to make the Word of God available to English speaking people
D15  56 throughout the world. ^Incomparable in its faithfulness, majestic in
D15  57 its language, and inexhaustible in its spiritual fruitfulness, this
D15  58 time honoured version continues to reveal to millions the matchless
D15  59 grace of Him Whose Name is the *2WORD OF GOD, *0and Who is crowned
D15  60 with glory and honour.
D15  61 *<*2COMMEMORATION EDITIONS*>
D15  62    |^*0The Society is publishing two commemoration editions of the
D15  63 Authorised Version and these should be available in January. ^An
D15  64 appropriate device representing the open book surmounted by a crown
D15  65 and the dates 1611-1961 will be blocked in gold on the front cover.
D15  66 ^The editions will be supplied in excellently designed paper jackets,
D15  67 including the following brief tribute:*-
D15  68    |^*"In presenting this Commemoration Edition the Society pays
D15  69 tribute to the excellence of this Version which is an inestimable part
D15  70 of our Protestant heritage, has been the means of spiritual enrichment
D15  71 to millions of readers for 350 years and remains peerless among the
D15  72 English translations of the Bible.**"
D15  73    |^The commemoration editions will be in Royal Brevier type (6
D15  74 3/4*?8 x 4 3/4*?8) at 8\0s. 6\0d. and Royal Ruby type (5 1/2*?8 x 3
D15  75 3/4*?8) at 6\0s. each. ^Copies may be ordered by post and particulars
D15  76 of reduced prices for Sunday School and congregational orders will be
D15  77 sent on request.
D15  78 **[BEGIN GOTHIC**]
D15  79 *<*4Make the Paper Speak*>
D15  80 **[END GOTHIC**]
D15  81    |^*2THIS *0caption, which appears on the letter-head of one of our
D15  82 correspondents in South India, simply and clearly defines the chief
D15  83 object of the {0T.B.S.} in sending out the Scriptures. ^The
D15  84 following paragraphs from recent letters of application and thanks
D15  85 will indicate that *"the paper speaks**" in places where the ministry
D15  86 of the spoken word is not always possible.
D15  87 *<*2IN HOSPITAL IN SOUTH INDIA*>
D15  88    |^*0*"I am indeed very grateful to you for the lovely copies of the
D15  89 Holy Bible, New Testaments and Gospels posted to me in October, 1960.
D15  90    |^*"I wanted to go to some far off places as Jamshedpur, Calcutta
D15  91 and Rewa and preach the gospel in September, but on the way I had a
D15  92 sudden illness and had to get admitted to the Government Hospital in
D15  93 Cuttack. ^Though my stay was long and painful, the treatment was
D15  94 successful. ^Three Christian surgeons were working in the ward where I
D15  95 stayed, and a big medical college is attached to this hospital. ^Many
D15  96 Hindu surgeons and medical students and some of the officers who were
D15  97 in the hospital as patients each received a copy of the Holy Bible or
D15  98 New Testament.
D15  99    |^*"An engineer who received a copy of the Holy Bible, said with a
D15 100 happy smile, ^*'Just this morning I requested a Christian friend of
D15 101 mine to give me a copy of the Holy Bible to read. ^He did not have a
D15 102 copy. ^God gave it through you.**' ^Another medical student came and
D15 103 said, ^*'Sir, I want a copy of the New Testament.**' ^I asked,
D15 104 ^*'Brother, how do you know I have the copies?**' ^He said he had seen
D15 105 his friends reading in the medical hostel and he was also *'tempted**'
D15 106 to get a copy from me and read it. ^I gave him a Holy Bible. ^He used
D15 107 to come every day and talk to me for a few minutes.
D15 108    |^*"A Hindu patient awaiting an operation received a small booklet
D15 109 and his remark was, *'this will keep me**'. ^I could not give every
D15 110 medical student a copy of the Holy Bible for there are many students.
D15 111 ^I had to contact them, explain a little and then present the
D15 112 Scriptures. ^My bane was a boon and I learnt to carry my cross
D15 113 cheerfully.
D15 114    |^*"May the Master of the Vineyard bless the seed sown for His
D15 115 glory, and may souls be saved and added to the fold. ^May the Lord
D15 116 bless you abundantly as you supply the seeds to farmers in India
D15 117 working in His Vineyard and supply all your need for his glory.
D15 118    |^*"Please pray for me, as I am anxious to work in unreached areas.
D15 119 ^My health is weak and resources poor but the Lord used me in 8
D15 120 provinces of India and about 200 towns and villages during the past 16
D15 121 years, in my life of faith. ^I can do all things through Him who
D15 122 strengthens me.
D15 123    |^*"The Lord bless thee and keep thee.**"
D15 124 *<*2THE CORINTH OF INDIA*>
D15 125    |^*0*"We thank you for helping us with Bibles and portions. ^All
D15 126 the packets reached us in good condition. ^Really this supply was a
D15 127 very great help in our work here in India. ^From November 1st to 16th
D15 128 we distributed literature in an important Hindu city where many
D15 129 thousands of people gather for pilgrimage. ^The name of that city is
D15 130 Madura and it is known as the Corinth of India. ^Every street in that
D15 131 city is filled with idols. ^The Lord blessed us richly. ^We could
D15 132 distribute several thousands of Scripture Leaflets and Gospels and
D15 133 quite a few Bibles. ^We are praying that there may be fruit unto
D15 134 eternal life. ^Also last month the Lord enabled us to go into some of
D15 135 the villages where the gospel has not been preached so far. ^Many
D15 136 attended and heard the Word of God, and received the Scriptures.
D15 137 ^Prayer is requested for all these efforts so that in due time souls
D15 138 may be brought to the Lord Jesus Christ.
D15 139    |^*"Often we remembered the work of the Trinitarian Bible Society
D15 140 in prayer, and certainly we shall continue to do so.
D15 141    |^*"Your earnest prayers are solicited for the humble work we do
D15 142 for the Lord in India.**"
D15 143 *<*2PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY*>
D15 144    |^*0*"The idea of distributing the Scriptures to a considerable
D15 145 extent occurred to me early in January. ^We started the distribution
D15 146 and we found that there were people who were interested, and in a
D15 147 short time we had a band of thirty young men. ^After their work in the
D15 148 various factories and Government Offices at Bangalore they help me
D15 149 with the distribution work. ^Our numbers have since doubled.
D15 150    |^*"Christ has wrought a finished, full and perfect salvation for
D15 151 me by his death and resurrection, but most of the people are ignorant
D15 152 of it. ^One of the best ways to get the Gospel message into the minds
D15 153 and hearts of sinners is through religious literature. ^This is a work
D15 154 **[SIC**] every Christian can do. ^Its importance cannot be
D15 155 over-estimated. ^One need not be an evangelist or a minister or a
D15 156 missionary in order to be able to engage in this work. ^One can do it
D15 157 right where he is. ^Only a small percentage of Christians can be
D15 158 full-time pastors, evangelists or teachers, but every believer can be
D15 159 a faithful distributor of the Gospel.
D15 160    |^*"India's door may soon be closed to foreign missionaries. ^The
D15 161 desperate need is to sow millions of Gospel Tracts on India's soil,
D15 162 *1now, *0so that they will in months and years ahead bear a spiritual
D15 163 harvest. ^Our hearts must burn for the need of an abundant supply of
D15 164 the Scriptures. ^God's seal is on the world-wide distribution of His
D15 165 printed Word. ^Hundreds and thousands have found God through the
D15 166 silent ministry of the printed Gospel.
D15 167    |^*"Everywhere people are hungry for the Living and True Bread.
D15 168    |^*"The printed page can go anywhere. ^It knows no fear. ^It never
D15 169 tires, and never dies. ^It can travel at little expense. ^It can run
D15 170 up and down like an angel of God, blessing all, giving to all, asking
D15 171 no gift in return. ^It can talk to one as to the multitude; and to the
D15 172 multitude as well as one. ^It requires no public room to tell its
D15 173 story in, but can speak in the kitchen or the shop, the parlour or the
D15 174 study, in the railway carriage or in the bus, on the broad highway or
D15 175 on the footpath through the fields. ^It is not hindered by scoffs,
D15 176 jeers, or taunts. ^Though it will not always answer questions, it will
D15 177 tell its story twice, or thrice or four times over, if one wishes. ^It
D15 178 is in short the teacher of all classes and the benefactor of all
D15 179 lands.
D15 180    |^*"I chanced to come across a few of your Scripture Portions. ^May
D15 181 I kindly request you to send me quite a number and to keep my name in
D15 182 your mailing list and send me packets whenever you can?
D15 183    |^*"We also request you to remember us and our work in your
D15 184 prayers.**"
D15 185 **[BEGIN GOTHIC**]
D15 186 *<*4News from Nepal*>
D15 187 **[END GOTHIC**]
D15 188    |^*2A RECENT *0report gives the encouraging news that all copies of
D15 189 the first and second editions of the Nepali Gospel have been sold and
D15 190 that the third edition recently printed by the {0T.B.S.} is being
D15 191 rapidly distributed. ^More than 7,750 copies had been sold up to
D15 192 September and most of these had been taken into Nepal. ^The \0Rev.
D15 193 {0R. T.} Cunningham warmly acknowledges the help given by the
D15 194 Society and trusts that many of the Lord's people will join in prayer
D15 195 for God's blessing upon these copies of His Word, that they may be
D15 196 fruitfully used to His Glory.
D15 197    |^Regular consignments of these Gospels have been sent from London
D15 198 and have safely reached their destination.
D15 199    |^The following article in our series entitled *"The Force of
D15 200 Truth**" is based on a letter from \0Mrs. {0R. T.} Cunningham,
D15 201 printed in the October issue of the magazine of the Independent Board
D15 202 for Presbyterian Missions.
D15 203 *# 2020
D16   1 **[104 TEXT D16**]
D16   2 ^*0*'Well, tell me, what *1is *0the Pope's business?**'
D16   3 *<*4Religion and politics*>
D16   4    |^*0It's no good talking as though religion and politics were two
D16   5 separate things, like sport and music. ^If the captain of the Arsenal
D16   6 starts telling Sir Malcolm Sargent how to conduct an orchestra he'll
D16   7 be told to mind his own business. ^Sir Malcolm Sargent will be told
D16   8 the same thing if he tries to tell the captain of the Arsenal how to
D16   9 score goals. ^Sport has nothing to do with music. ^So everyone knows
D16  10 where he is.
D16  11    |^What about religion and politics? ^They are not in two watertight
D16  12 compartments. ^Think of the number of laws that have just as much to
D16  13 do with a man's soul as with his body. ^If the Government tells you to
D16  14 send your children to a school where they'll be taught there's no
D16  15 God*- is that religion or politics? ^If the Government tells you to
D16  16 kill off your mother because she is suffering from an incurable
D16  17 disease*- is that religion or politics? ^If the State decides that it
D16  18 is legal for your wife to run off with another man and leave your
D16  19 children without a mother*- is that religion or politics?
D16  20    |^Do you see the point? ^There are so many things which are the
D16  21 business of the Church and of the State. ^If they don't agree on what
D16  22 is right there is bound to be conflict.
D16  23 *<*4Keep religion out*>
D16  24    |^*0There are some things the Government does where religion simply
D16  25 need not enter in. ^The Church has no views on drains, gas-works or
D16  26 brick-laying. ^On the other hand the State has no views on vestments,
D16  27 hymns and prayers. ^So you won't find the Church fighting the State
D16  28 over the right size of drain pipes and you won't find the State
D16  29 fighting the Church over the right tune for hymns.
D16  30    |^That's fine. ^But there are more important things in life than
D16  31 drain pipes and hymns. ^It's all very well to say that if the Church
D16  32 sticks to religion there's no reason why it should ever fall out with
D16  33 a political party. ^The point is, what is religion? ^Another point is,
D16  34 what are politics?
D16  35    |^Politics means the way to rule a country. ^But a country is made
D16  36 up of people. ^And people are both body and soul. ^It seems pretty
D16  37 obvious that it is the job of a Government to look after the needs of
D16  38 the people. ^It should see that there's work for the unemployed, food
D16  39 for the hungry, houses for families, education for the children,
D16  40 hospitals for the sick.
D16  41    |^It seems to be obvious. ^But really it isn't obvious at all. ^The
D16  42 Government, after all, is really the servant of the people.
D16  43 *<*4The heart of the matter*>
D16  44    |^*0That brings us to the heart of the matter. ^There is something
D16  45 very simple which nearly everyone in modern times has forgotten. ^This
D16  46 is it. ^The most important thing in the world is the family. ^We are
D16  47 always talking about the Church and State. ^But there wouldn't be any
D16  48 need either for Church or for State if there were no families. ^So
D16  49 priests and politicians before they start to talk about their rights
D16  50 must remember that the most important rights in the world are the
D16  51 rights of families.
D16  52    |^So what seems obvious isn't so obvious after all. ^It's not for
D16  53 the Government to decide how it's going to house people and educate
D16  54 children. ^It's for families to decide what kind of houses they want
D16  55 and what kind of education is best for their children. ^This is what
D16  56 the modern State usually forgets. ^The Catholic Church always
D16  57 remembers. ^Hence all the quarrels between the Church and State.
D16  58    |^Here's a true story of a man we'll call John Williamson, because
D16  59 that's not his name.
D16  60    |^John was a Civil Servant of the old school. ^He had worked hard
D16  61 and passed examinations. ^He was anxious to get on. ^Now Civil
D16  62 Servants, as the name suggests, are supposed to be servants of the
D16  63 public. ^They are supposed to do what they are told. ^It doesn't
D16  64 matter to them which party is in power. ^They have to get on with the
D16  65 job without playing politics. ^John had a wife and four children. ^He
D16  66 knew if he wanted to rise to be head of his department the less he had
D16  67 to say the better would be his chances. ^So he never wrote to the
D16  68 papers. ^He never went to political meetings. ^He kept himself to
D16  69 himself.
D16  70    |^His friends used to try to persuade him to join their parties.
D16  71 ^But John always had his answer.
D16  72    |^*'It's all very well for you fellows,**' he used to say, *'you
D16  73 can have any politics you like. ^You won't lose your jobs for speaking
D16  74 out of turn. ^It's different with me. ^When I say the wrong thing, if
D16  75 I don't lose my job at least they'll pass me by when I'm looking for
D16  76 promotion. ^My motto is*- ^Civil Servants should be seen and not
D16  77 heard.**'
D16  78 *<*4Leave politics alone*>
D16  79    |^*0So John's rule of life was to leave politics alone. ^But
D16  80 politics simply wouldn't leave John alone. ^Every couple of weeks
D16  81 there would be some new law passed to make life more difficult. ^More
D16  82 and more permits required. ^More and more forms to be filled in. ^But
D16  83 he didn't let this get him down. ^He naturally felt a bit annoyed when
D16  84 he couldn't build a chicken-house in his back garden without having to
D16  85 write a dozen letters. ^*0But he wasn't going to break his heart over
D16  86 a few chickens.
D16  87    |^But, of course, when he had a few friends round for a drink he
D16  88 used to have his grouse. ^After all, he was thoroughly English. ^In
D16  89 his view politicians were making life far too difficult. ^In fact, he
D16  90 went so far as to say that if he weren't a Civil Servant he'd go into
D16  91 politics and tell them a thing or two.
D16  92    |^But one day he changed his mind. ^He had put up with it when they
D16  93 were telling him what to do about house repairs, petrol and chickens.
D16  94 ^But now they started messing about with his children.
D16  95    |^*'This**', said John, *'is the end. ^I don't mind them telling me
D16  96 how to feed my chickens. ^But they are not going to tell me how to
D16  97 bring up my children.**'
D16  98    |^When you come right down to it, John began to think, politicians
D16  99 are trying to take the place of parents. ^He didn't mind when they
D16 100 interfered with parents who wouldn't do their job. ^Every Christmas he
D16 101 sent a subscription to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
D16 102 to Children. ^Some men and women didn't deserve to have children.
D16 103 ^What was getting him down in a big way was being told what to do
D16 104 about his own children. ^And who was telling him anyway? ^Civil
D16 105 Servants like himself. ^As often as not they were not even married.
D16 106 *<*4Education*>
D16 107    |^*0What brought things to a head? ^It happened this way. ^Although
D16 108 John wasn't a Catholic, his wife and children were. ^Marie, his eldest
D16 109 girl, won a scholarship. ^So, of course, he put her name down for the
D16 110 Convent of the Sacred Heart. ^It's true that the convent was in the
D16 111 next town, three miles away. ^But Marie was a big, strong girl.
D16 112 ^Half-an-hour's journey wouldn't do her any harm.
D16 113    |^But what happened? ^He had a letter from the Local Education
D16 114 Authority telling him that Marie could not go to the Convent School.
D16 115 ^She would have to go to the Municipal High School. ^He wrote back,
D16 116 thinking there had been some mistake. ^He pointed out that although he
D16 117 wasn't a Catholic he'd promised to bring the children up Catholics.
D16 118 ^So, of course, his girl must go to the convent. ^Back came the reply
D16 119 by return of post. ^High School or nothing. ^If he didn't send her on
D16 120 the first day of term they would prosecute.
D16 121    |^That's why John started meddling in politics. ^Here's a simple
D16 122 question for anyone to answer: ^Who was doing the meddling? ^Was John
D16 123 meddling in Government affairs or was the Government meddling in his
D16 124 family affairs? ^If you can answer that question*- and it's not a very
D16 125 hard one*- you will be able to answer the question*- ^Why does the
D16 126 Church meddle in politics?
D16 127    |^The important word is meddle. ^Let's finish the story about John
D16 128 and then you'll see why.
D16 129 *<*4The priest meddles*>
D16 130    |^*0John could get no satisfaction from the Local Education
D16 131 Authority so he went to see the Catholic priest.
D16 132    |^*'You know I'm not a Catholic, Father,**' he said, *'but an
D16 133 Englishman's word is his bond. ^I gave my promise that my children
D16 134 would be brought up Catholics. ^I've done all I can. ^If I kick up too
D16 135 much fuss, it's not going to do me any good at the office. ^What are
D16 136 you going to do about it?**'
D16 137    |^You can guess what the priest did about it. ^He did plenty. ^He
D16 138 argued with the Education Officer at the Town Hall and lost. ^Then he
D16 139 organized a big protest meeting and invited the Town Councillors. ^The
D16 140 whole case was argued fairly and above board. ^Even the Councillors
D16 141 who had no particular use for the Catholic religion were impressed.
D16 142 ^The way they looked at it after they had heard all the speeches was
D16 143 that you can't kick people around like that. ^If this kid had won a
D16 144 scholarship, the parents had a right to say where she should have her
D16 145 education.
D16 146    |^So Marie is at the Sacred Heart Convent. ^She's there because the
D16 147 priest meddled in politics.
D16 148 *<*4What is the Church up to?*>
D16 149    |^*0Now if you can see the sense of that, you can see the sense of
D16 150 a lot of things the Catholic Church is doing in the world to-day.
D16 151 ^It's not a question of one child going to a Catholic school. ^It's a
D16 152 question of millions of working men being able to worship God in their
D16 153 own way. ^It's a question of Governments in many parts of the world
D16 154 kicking around their citizens, forcing them to join parties they don't
D16 155 agree with, making them do what they are told*- or else. . . .
D16 156    |^At this moment, throughout the world, there are hundreds of
D16 157 thousands of people ruined because politicians have told them what
D16 158 they have got to think and say and do.
D16 159    |^Most people who complain when the Church makes political
D16 160 pronouncements imagine that religion is something to be kept within
D16 161 the four walls of a church. ^But religion doesn't only tell a man how
D16 162 to pray. ^It does something more vital than that. ^It tells a man how
D16 163 to live. ^Jesus Christ was the Founder of the Church. ^They called Him
D16 164 a political priest. ^They put Him to death because they said He was
D16 165 meddling in politics.
D16 166    |^They took Him before the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate. ^*'We
D16 167 have found this man perverting our nation**', they said, *'and
D16 168 forbidding to give tribute to Caesar**'.
D16 169    |^Christ, of course, did no such thing. ^What had He told them?
D16 170    |^*'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the
D16 171 things that are God's.**'
D16 172    |^That's what He had said. ^What He fell out with His enemies about
D16 173 was which are the things of God and which are the things of Caesar.
D16 174 ^Of course, every time a priest fights the State he will be told not
D16 175 to talk politics. ^That's what he expects. ^If that's what happened to
D16 176 Christ Himself, the priest is not surprised it should also happen to
D16 177 him.
D16 178 *<*4The law of God*>
D16 179    |^*0One of the duties of religion is to teach men to keep the law
D16 180 of God. ^The law of God has a great deal to say about things which
D16 181 have nothing to do with worship. ^{1Thou shalt not steal. ^Thou shalt
D16 182 not kill. ^Thou shalt not commit adultery.} ^There are three examples
D16 183 of religious matters which have nothing to do with praying. ^If it is
D16 184 the job of the Church to see that the law of God is kept then it must
D16 185 be the duty of the Church to protest when this law is broken.
D16 186 *# 2004
D17   1 **[105 TEXT D17**]
D17   2 *<*5Changing Opinions in South Africa*>
D17   3    |^*6IT *4can hardly be questioned that the most significant recent
D17   4 development in the Church of the Province of South Africa has been its
D17   5 participation in the Conference and Consultation arranged by the World
D17   6 Council of Churches in Johannesburg between December 7 and December
D17   7 14. ^This Conference has been deliberately called a *"consultation**"
D17   8 because it was that as much as a conference in the generally accepted
D17   9 use of that term.
D17  10    |^*0There is no need to report at this stage what must be the
D17  11 common knowledge of Church people the world over*- that vast
D17  12 differences of interpretation of the racial ramifications of the
D17  13 Gospel divide the Dutch Reformed Churches from practically all the
D17  14 other recognised Churches, and certainly the Anglicans.
D17  15    |^Earlier in 1960 the Archbishop of Cape Town openly challenged the
D17  16 Dutch Reformed Church regarding the possibility of Anglicans and the
D17  17 Dutch Reformed Church remaining co-members of the World Council of
D17  18 Churches, so strongly did His Grace feel about their interpretation of
D17  19 *"apartheid.**"
D17  20    |^However, negotiations proceeded, and early in the past year 1960
D17  21 \0Dr. Bilheimer, Associate Secretary General of the World Council of
D17  22 Churches flew from Geneva to prepare the way for a Conference to be
D17  23 held towards the end of 1960 in South Africa.
D17  24    |^The preparations having been made, the Conference nearly met its
D17  25 death with the deportation of Bishop Reeves. ^In fact, speaking at a
D17  26 great United Service in Durban during his official visitation to the
D17  27 Diocese of Natal on the very day on which news of the deportation was
D17  28 announced, the Archbishop stated that it would be impossible for the
D17  29 Conference to be held within the Union of South Africa unless Bishop
D17  30 Reeves were able to be present.
D17  31    |^No permission to return was granted by the Government to Bishop
D17  32 Reeves but by a gracious making of concessions it still became
D17  33 possible for the Conference to meet upon South African soil: had this
D17  34 not been possible, it is questionable whether the main objective of
D17  35 the Conference could have been reached*- namely the burning question
D17  36 of relations between the World Council of Churches member Churches
D17  37 within South Africa.
D17  38    |^Twentieth-century miracles still happen: the Conference duly met
D17  39 in Johannesburg: 80 members of the eight member churches in South
D17  40 Africa plus about 10 officials of the World Council of Churches met in
D17  41 solemn and intensive conclave for a whole week, sessions lasting daily
D17  42 from early morning until late at night. ^The Church of the Province
D17  43 delegation included His Grace the Archbishop of Cape Town, The Bishop
D17  44 of Natal, The Archdeacon of Cape Town, Professor Brookes, \0Dr. Alan
D17  45 Paton, Professor {0Z. K.} Matthews, Miss Mary Wilson.
D17  46 *<*4Sharp Differences*>
D17  47    |^*0Sharp differences of opinion are said to have marked the three
D17  48 branches of the Dutch Reformed Church which consists of two large
D17  49 bodies, The {Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerke} of the Cape and of the
D17  50 Transvaal, both more moderately *"liberal**" than the third and very
D17  51 much smaller branch representing the intransigent viewpoint of Prime
D17  52 Minister Verwoerd and other Ministers of State, the {Nederduitsch
D17  53 Hervormde Kerke} of Africa.
D17  54    |^An eighty per \0cent. agreement was necessary before any
D17  55 resolution of the Conference could be passed. ^The following are some
D17  56 of the outstanding Consultation decisions*-
D17  57    |^1. The right to own land and to participate in the Government of
D17  58 the country is *"part of the dignity of adult man.**"
D17  59    |^2. There are no Scriptural grounds for the prohibition of mixed
D17  60 marriages.
D17  61    |^3. There can be no objection in principle to the direct
D17  62 representation of Coloureds in Parliament.
D17  63    |^4. The migrant labour system has *"disintegrating effects**" on
D17  64 African life.
D17  65    |^5. The wages of the vast majority of non-whites are far too low.
D17  66    |^6. The *"same measures of justice**" claimed for other racial
D17  67 groups should apply to Asians.
D17  68    |^7. There is *"not sufficient consultation and communication**"
D17  69 between the various racial groups.
D17  70    |^The real inner significance of each of these decisions can
D17  71 probably only be fully appreciated by those who are closely acquainted
D17  72 with the inner life of South Africa.
D17  73    |^Further points were that *"all unjust discrimination**" was
D17  74 rejected: there was a call for the *"revision of job reservation and
D17  75 for greater security of tenure for non-whites in housing.**"
D17  76 ^Non-whites should be allowed freedom of worship in urban areas. ^All
D17  77 racial groups have an equal right to contribute to and share in the
D17  78 life of the country.
D17  79    |^The following *"Joint Statement**" was issued by the two large
D17  80 branches of the Dutch Reformed Church, namely the {Gereformeerde
D17  81 Kerke} of the Cape and of the Transvaal*-
D17  82    |^*"A policy of differentiation can be defended from the Christian
D17  83 viewpoint that it provides the only realistic solution to the problems
D17  84 of race relations and is, therefore, in the best interests of the
D17  85 various population groups. ^We do not consider the resolutions adopted
D17  86 by the Consultation as in principle incompatible with the above
D17  87 statement.**"
D17  88    |^The small, extremist branch of the Dutch Reformed Church, the
D17  89 {Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerke} of Africa issued this separate
D17  90 statement*-
D17  91    |^*"We wish to state quite clearly that it is our conviction that
D17  92 separate development is the only just solution of our racial problem.
D17  93 ^We, therefore, reject integration in any form, as a solution of the
D17  94 problem. ^The agreement that has been reached contains such
D17  95 far-reaching declarations that we cannot subscribe to it. ^We cannot,
D17  96 therefore, identify ourselves with it. ^We, further, wish to place on
D17  97 record our gratefulness to the Government for all the positive steps
D17  98 it has taken to solve the problems and to promote the welfare of the
D17  99 different groups.**"
D17 100 *<*4Movement of Thought*>
D17 101    |^*0For those readers outside South Africa who are sensitive to the
D17 102 widely variant approaches to her complicated problems, it will be
D17 103 appreciated that the statement issued by the two large branches of the
D17 104 Dutch Reformed Church marks a considerable move ahead of the
D17 105 intransigent position of the extremist branch. ^While there is a great
D17 106 distance still to be travelled before complete agreement as to the
D17 107 policy of race relationships as viewed by Christians can be reached,
D17 108 those who know the deep traditions holding the minds of men in South
D17 109 Africa will realise that movement of thought is taking place at
D17 110 encouraging speed, though, of course, this is by no means fast enough.
D17 111    |^The following general statement issued by the Conference throws
D17 112 light on the situation:*-
D17 113    |^*"The present situation in South Africa is a result of a long
D17 114 historical development and all groups bear responsibility for it. ^The
D17 115 South African scene is *"radically affected by the decline of the
D17 116 power of the West, and by the desire for self-determination among the
D17 117 people of the African Continent.**"
D17 118    |^*"The spiritual unity among all men who are in Christ must find
D17 119 visible expression in acts of common worship and witness and in
D17 120 fellowship and consultation on matters of common concern.**"
D17 121    |^The revival of heathen tribal customs is the result of a deep
D17 122 sense of frustration and a loss of faith in Western civilisation.
D17 123    |^*"It is widely recognised that the wages received by the vast
D17 124 majority of non-white people oblige them to exist well below the
D17 125 generally accepted minimum. ^Concerted action is required. ^Job
D17 126 reservation must give way to more equitable systems, and there must be
D17 127 the opportunity to live in conformity with human dignity.**"
D17 128 *<*4Much Achieved*>
D17 129    |^*0This recent Conference then, has achieved much, although it
D17 130 leaves much still to be solved.
D17 131    |^Rome was not built in a day: nor can strongholds of tradition
D17 132 reinforced with stubborn religious conviction, often biassed and
D17 133 prejudiced, be broken down in a moment. ^Only those who know from
D17 134 inside experience can fully appreciate how much, how very much, the
D17 135 fact that the Conference has been held, the fact that the delegates
D17 136 came together for a week, the fact that untold pitfalls have been
D17 137 avoided and difficulties ironed out, already means in South Africa.
D17 138    |^Those who participated in the discussions say that they were
D17 139 deeply conscious that *"much prayer was made of the whole Church**"
D17 140 for this Conference which, history may well prove, marked a new phase
D17 141 of respect and co-operation between those who name the Name of Christ
D17 142 in this land.
D17 143    |^Tragic reading though it makes, it was almost a miracle that the
D17 144 Conference took place, and one for which all Christians must be
D17 145 grateful.
D17 146    |^It is only fair to add that the resolutions adopted by the
D17 147 Conference do not become operative within the {Nederduitsch
D17 148 Gereformeerde Kerke} of the Cape and of the Transvaal until their
D17 149 respective Synods accept, amend or reject them. ^But it can be
D17 150 reasonably hoped that responsible leaders of those two powerful
D17 151 branches of the Dutch Reformed Church will bring increasing pressure
D17 152 to bear on the Government for apartheid to be given a strong moral
D17 153 basis.
D17 154 *<*4*"Delayed Action**"*>
D17 155    |^*0Every Churchman who wishes to be informed as to the up to the
D17 156 moment spirit of things within the Dutch Reformed Church in South
D17 157 Africa should make himself a possessor of a copy of the book *1Delayed
D17 158 Action, *0which is *1An Ecumenical Witness From The Afrikaans Speaking
D17 159 Church *0to which the contributors are eleven leading clergy of the
D17 160 Dutch Reformed Church, Professor {0B. B.} Keel, Professor \0Dr.
D17 161 {0A. S.} Geyser, Professor \0Dr. Ben Marais, Professor \0Dr. \0A.
D17 162 \van Selms, Professor Hugo \du Plessis, \0Ds. \0M. Redelinghuys, \0Dr.
D17 163 {0G. C.} Oosthuizen, \0Dr. {0J. A.} \van Wyk, \0Ds. \0C.
D17 164 Stutterheim, \0Ds. \0C. Hattingh, \0Dr. {0G. J.} Swan. ^I have named
D17 165 each of these eleven Dutch Reformed Church leaders deliberately to
D17 166 make it quite clear that every one of them is fully a member of the
D17 167 Afrikaans section of the white population of South Africa. ^Here are
D17 168 the chapter titles, which are also significant:
D17 169    |*"The Bell has already Tolled**"; *"The First Gospel and the Unity
D17 170 of the Church as Witness to Christ**"; *"The Church in the
D17 171 Contemporary World**"; *"The Communion of the Saints and the Colour
D17 172 Problem**"; *"The New Era and Christian calling regarding the Bantu in
D17 173 South Africa**"; *"Developing an Indigenous Church in South Africa**";
D17 174 *"Communication and Human Values**"; *"The Church and Racial
D17 175 Ideology**"; *"Christianity and Nationalism**" **[SIC**] *"The
D17 176 Prophetic Calling of the Church towards the State.**"
D17 177    |^The significance of this composite work is that it expresses
D17 178 forcibly the fact that at long last, after *"Delayed Action**" in
D17 179 fact, the former strongholds of spiritual and practical *"apartheid**"
D17 180 are being permeated with a new realisation that the Walls of Jericho
D17 181 do weaken under the continued blast of the trumpets of truth.
D17 182    |^*2{0E. H.} WADE
D17 183 *<*4*"The Argument is about Power**"*>
D17 184 *<*1Valerie Pitt writes on Christian choice in politics*>
D17 185    |^*4A*2NEURIN BEVAN *0said, ~*"The argument is about Power,**" and
D17 186 any serious*- and honest*- politician will agree. ^The matter of
D17 187 politics is the control and management of power, and power is not an
D17 188 abstraction. ^It is wealth and weapons, the brute force of sheer
D17 189 numbers, and the weight of law. ^It is above all the command of human
D17 190 loyalties.
D17 191    |^There are many theories about the balance of these forces in the
D17 192 perfect society, and many reasons for believing that X's party, class
D17 193 or nation may be trusted with them where Y's cannot. ^But the day to
D17 194 day business of politics, at {0U.N.O.} or the parish council
D17 195 meeting, is the struggle with or for the power released by events, or
D17 196 by the convictions and abilities of human beings.
D17 197    |^In old and settled societies like our own the realities of the
D17 198 struggle are obscured because it is not normally expressed in
D17 199 violence. ^Our deepest instinct is to reject the brute force of the
D17 200 Congo riots, or those of \0St. Pancras as a-political... since for us
D17 201 politics is *1{politikos, civilis,} *0that which belongs to the
D17 202 citizen as a citizen, and is, therefore, constitutional, and
D17 203 responsible. ^And indeed the marriage of power and responsibility is
D17 204 the first, the one essential achievement of any civilisation.
D17 205 *<*4Machiavelli*>
D17 206    |^*0But Machiavelli, a much less respectable author than Aristotle,
D17 207 taught us that politics is also *1policy, *0the use of power for a
D17 208 purpose, the manipulation of men and events in the service of a cause,
D17 209 a ruler, or a nation. ^The absence of violence does not mean that the
D17 210 power game is played out, only that it is more skilfully, and more
D17 211 quietly conducted.
D17 212 *# 2002
        **[END**]