HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1936-12-24, Page 6fI-IE SPREAD OF
Ca. a'STIAN1TY IN SOUTHERN
EUROPE
Hebrews 2:1.4; 11:32-12:2.
P1t1NTEL TEXT—Hebrews 2;1-4;
11:32-12:2.
GO►,DEN TEXT — The kingdom of
the world is become the kingdom
of ,ter 1 ord, and of his Christ; and
he shall reign for ever and ever
--ilevelation 11:15.
T11E LESSON IN ITS SETTING
TIME• The Epistle to the He.
brews, as far as we can judge, was
written about 66 or 6? A.D., before
the dost. u. tion of Jerusalem.
PLAaiE. We do not know from
what place the Epistle to the He-
brews was written. Heorews 13:24
may t.e Interpreted either as indi-
cating the place from which the let.
ter was Nritten. or the place to
which it was written. namely. Italy
"Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things that
were heard " The "therefore" re
fers back to a1I that has been said in
the pree•eding chapter concerning the
Lord )esue (nrisi Because of all his
infinite glories and his- marvelous
person exalted above all other per-
sonalities of the universe, the very
Son of God whom the angels wor-
shipped. men ought therefore to
give to every utterance concerning
him tt.eir most careful attention.
"Lest r.ap:y we drift away from
them ' The verb here presents a
most significant figure. It warns
the Hebrews against being carried
past the landing -place by the strong
current of life Et is a warning suit-
able f -.r all times. for there are cur-
rents of thought. feeling, and ac-
tion which. if not resisted carry
down to the sea of spiritual death.
"For if the word spoken through
angels proved stedfast, and every
transgression and disobedience re-
ceived a iust recompense' of reward.
The Scriptupes frequently spoke of
the law a: being given by God to
Dien through angel; (Gal 3:19;
Acts 7:53. T)eut, 32:2; Psalm 68:17).
"How shall we escape. if we ne-
glect so great a salvation?" Our sal-
vation is great because its author
is God. it originate; in God's love;
it is made possible only by the sacri-
fice of the eternal i amt of God: it
it does what nothing else in the
world can do - it absolutely and
permatrently ehanges men. it eman-
cipate? men from the enslavement of
sin; it bestows peace, and joy. and
power it is eternal: it perfectly,
constantly satisfies: it is unique —
it has no true rival in the world
"Whien having at the first been
spotter through the Lord, was con-
firmed unto us by them that heard."
That great preacher Dr T DeWitt
Talmage -oneludes his sermon on
this text with a powerful paragraph,
from whit we can give only the
following. "Now are you ready for
the apostle's question? Flow shall we
escape' No escape at all; Everything
will piead against the man who
makes it. The tree of Calvary will
say - escape, he must not! The
throne. of iudgment will say — es-
cape, dee crust not! Jesus will say, '1
called to him for many years. but
he turned his back on these wounds;
and by all those despised tears and
by that rejected blood escape, he
must nat.
"God also bearing witness with
them" The pronoun here refers to
those who companioned with the
Lord Jesus when he was on earth,
and who bore witness to his life and
death and resurrection to the follow-
ing generation. "Both by signs and
wonders. .nd by manifold powers,
and by gifts of the Holy Spirit. ac-
cording to his own will." God bore
witness to the truth which they pro
claimed by miracles, and by the gifts
he bestowed through the Holy Spirit.
"And what shah t more say?"
The writer's mind is crowded with
other heroes of the faith, of whom
he would like to speak. but he has
already written more extensively
than he had intended, and now he
must simply pile up names and in-
cidents without going into details.
"For the time will fail me if 1 tell
of Gideon" (Judges 6-8) "Barak"
(Judger 4 5) "Samson" (,fudges 1.3-
16), ".Jephthah" (Judges 11, 1.2);
"of David and Samuel and the pro-
phets." "Who through faith subdued
kingdoms." The allusion is specially
to the conquest of Canaan by Josh-
ua and to the victories of David (2,
Sam. 5:17-25; 21:15, etc.) "Wrought
righteousness." These men served a
righteous God, and their lives and
their legislation were in righteous-
ness, a glaring contrast with the in-
iquitous conduct of the Canaanites
whom they subdued. "Obtained
promises. This refers to all those
precious promises God made to the
patriarchs, to Moses and Joshua, to
the judges, and to the faithful kings
15f Israel and Judah. "Stopped the
mouths of Tions." As Samson (Judges
14:6);) David (I Sam. 17:34) ; and
Daniel (ban, 6:16),
"Quenched the power of fire." As
the three Hebrews who were thrown
into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3).
D---3
The fires wbicb we shuuld quench
are those which Satan would kindle
by his fiery darts (Lph. 6:16), "Es -
taped the edge of the sword." As
David (1 San. 18:11; 19:12-12);
Elijah (1 King's 19); Elisha (2 Kings
6:14), and many others. "Frani
weaknesses were made strong." The
reference here may be to Samson
(Judges 15:19; 16:28-30), or to Da-
vid (I Sam. 17:42), or to Hezekiah
(2 Kings 2t :5). "Waxed mighty in
war, turned to flight armies of
aliens " These classes may refer
specifically to the 62aceabees, though
they also euit Joshua, the judges,
David, etc.
"Women received their dead by
a resurrection." As the widow of
Zarephath (I Icings 17:17), and the
Shunanimite woman (2 Kings 4:17).
"And others were tortured, not ac-
cepting their deliverance; that they
might obtain a better resurrection."
The word here translated "tortured"
means "were broken on the wheel,"
and the particular events in the
mind of the writer may have been
the tortures of Eleazar, the scribe,
and of the seven brothers, narrated
in the Second Book of Maccabees (6
18-30. 7)
"And others han trial of mockings
and scourgings, yea, moreover of
bonds and imprisonment." See, for
examples of • imprisonments, the in-
stances of Joseph (Gen. 39:20); of
Micaiab (I Kings 22:26, 27), of Je-
remiae (Jer. 37:15) of Hanani (2
Chron. 16:10).
"They were stoned." As Zechariah
(2 Chron. 24:20-22). (Cf. Matt, 23:
35.) For the stoning of the early
apostles, see the cases of Stephen
(Acts 7;58, 59) and Paul (Acts 14:5,
19; 2 Cor. 11:25). "They were sawn
asunder." According to tradition,
this was the awful manner of death
suffered by Leaiah. (Cf. 2 Sam. 12.
31; i (ihron. 2013), "They were
tempted.' 'The character of the
temptation is not mentioned. Doubt-
less some inducement to escape suf-
fering by giving up their faith is
referred to. "They were slain with
the sword." (See 1 Kings 19;10;
Jer. 26:23.) Thus did James suffer
martydom for his faith in the Lord
Jesus (Acts 12:2). "They went about
in sheepskins, in goatskins; being
destitute. afflicted, ill-treated." See
the case of Elijah (1 Kings 19:13
and 2 Kings 1:8). Hairy garments
seemed subsequently to have been
a common dress among prophets,
and it was sometimes adopted for
purposes of deception (Zech. 13:4.
"Oh whom the world was not
worthy." The world drove them out
thinking teem unworthy to live in it,
while in truth it was unworthy to
have them living in it."—A. B. Da-
vidson. "Wandering in deserts and
mountains and caves, and the holes
of the earth." Of Israelites in gen-
eral (Judges 6:2); and of the pro-
phets of the Lord (I Kings 18:4,. 13)
and of Elijah (I Kings 19:9).
"And these all, having had wit-
ness b'rne to them through their
faith." 'Phis entire chapter is but a
commentary on the power of faith
in God in the lives of men and wom-
en. "Received not the promise. God
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along provided some better thing
oneerning us, that apart from us
hey should not be made perfect'.hese heroes of the faith had been
wen promises, but the promises had
of been completely' fulfilled, espe-
laity the greatest uromise of all
oncerning that of a Messiah, God's
anointer' Priest and King. For all the
atriarchs, prophets and mighty
en of old before the coming of the
ord .!esus, there was only a sym-
bolie sacrifice for sin an incom-
tete access to God, a partial infill -
ng, on occasion, of the Holy Spirit,
n incomplete revelation of God. For
s, we know God through Jesus
hrist, whom to know is life eternal.
"Therefore let us also." We be -
ng in this company because we are
ervants of the same God, because
ur faces are turned toward the
ame hope. because we are bound to -
ether in one great truth, centred in
esus Christ. "Seeing we are com-
assed about with so great a cloud
f witnesses." We have been led
hrough the corridors of the divine
masoleum, and bidden to read the
ames and epitaphs of those of
horn God was not ashamed, We
ave felt our faith grow stronger
s we read and pondered the inspir-
ng record, and, now, by a single
ouch, these saintly souls are depict-
ed as having passed from the arena
into the crowdedtiers from which
to observe the course which we are
treading today. "Lay aside every
weight," There are one thousand
things that no man dare call wrong,
for they show none of the charac-
teristier of sin; on the contrary,
they may be precious gifts which,
in other circumstan,es, might be
rich in blessing; but if they hinder
you when you struggle for the best,
and burden you so that you run un-
worthily, then are they weights and
must be laid aside. "And the sin
which slot! so easily beset us." The
six words, "which doth se easily be»
set us, aro, in the Greek, one single
word, and probably refers to cloth•
ing enfolding one as one is about to
Tho wands Die In Japan
Flood
Approximately 2,000 residents of Akita, Japan, died
spring rains and wiped out two:thirds of the town.
when a dam built to control deposits from
Right, is view of part of the devastation.
a copper
mine collapsed during heavy
Safe on U. S. "Soil"
teeleestretesettaat
Endangered by aerial bombardments and artillery shelling, refugees are pictured boarding the U. S. S.
Hafield at Valencia, Spain, to be transported to safety under protection of United States flag.
" y,,gu:&7'!".J•eNty ,;:rs .... r!kr y'^ ..sru.1d,a..,
Sir✓ rTklR4',Cf:..a-
Far
aeries
Conducted by PROFESSOR HENRY G. BELL
With the Co -Operation of the Various Departments of the
Ontario Agricultural College
4?.' I:xl pig..:: tn{44
tions favourable for the growth: of
clover, and the addition of Phos-
phoric acid and nitrogen greatly in-
vigorates the growth of grass :'
2. QUESTION—(a) "The milk
yield of my herd seems to have fallen
off quite considerably during the
past two years and some of the cattle
have lost their healthy appeatance
and seem quite gaunt and weak. Is
there any possibility that the soil is
becoming run down and producing
low grade feed? I have never used
commercial fertilizer but always have
quite a bit of manure each year to
put back in the land."
(b) 1 have a clay loam field which
has been in pasture for 25 years and
is now very thin I do not wish to
plow it ap and am wondering if re-
seeding will be satisfactory alone
with some commercial fertilizer. If
so, what pr0cedule should 1 follow?"
S.A.W,, Kent County.
ANSWER — (u) Undoubtedly the
soil of your pasture is becoming de-
ficient in Phosphoric acid and pos-
sibly Potash. It may be also lacking
in Lime. The lack of Phosphoric acid
and lime is becoming apparent in not
a few pastures in certain parts of
the provinc: with the result that
pasture animals are more and more
given to chewing bones, stones 'and
wood in an effort to obtain these
elements which constitute a consid-
erable part of their bone. Craving is
bound to increase anti) attention is
paid to putting beck the minerals
that are lacking in the paeture, You
Isay that you apply considerable
manure each year which is an excel-
lent praetice, but one must keep in
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