Part 1

A BLUMHARDT

READER

Thy Kingdom Come

EDITED BY VERNARD ELLER

T H Y k I N g D o M c o M E

A B L U M H A R D T R E A D E R

E d i T E d b y V E r n a r d E l l E r

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C o n T E n T s

Preface 8 Introduction 12

PA RT o N E

The Kingdom of God Is for Earth 26 The Living God 31 From Creation through Deterioration to Restoration 34 Jesus Christ 36 Redemption 45 There Is Redemption 45 The Redemption of the Body 45 Political Redemption 48 Social Redemption 51 Redemption from Death 59 Redemption from Evil 61 Redemption from Law 63 Redemption from Suffering 64 Continuing Redemption 66 The Holy Sprirt and His Gifts 67 The Living Christ 70 The Coming of Christ 74 The Spirit World 80 Fanaticism and Irrationality 84 Mankind 85 God and Man-—Humanity's Becoming Human 85 Of the Greatness, Freedom, and Glory of Man 87

No Nonentities 90 No One Bad or Godless 91 Love and Community 93 Godly Humanness 99 The New Revelation 102 The Bible 104 The Fall of Christendom 109 From the Spirit to the Letter 109 The Denial 109 From the Kingdom of God to "Religion" 110 The Church 116 Protestantism and Catholicism 119 The New Awakening and the Blumhardts' 121 Concept of Hope 121 How Does the Kingdom of God Come? 126 Gift and Task; Waiting and Working 126 The Little Flock 129 The People of God and the Service of God 133 The Zion of God 135 The Invisible Battlefield 137 Bad Boll, a Zion of God 138 The Human Vision 140 Work, Disappointment, and Fulfillment 143 Danger of Degeneracy 145 Being Quiet or Quietism? 145 Freedom or Formula? 147 Hearts or Heads? 149

Outlook and Task 152 Conclusion 155

PA RT T w o

The Name Jesus 158 All Things New 168 In the Return of Jesus Christ 173 Wait for the Lord 178 Standing Before the Son of Man 185 God So Loved the World 195 Who Forgives All Your Iniquity 205 True Repentance 209 The Poor 215 God's Sheep 220 Zion, the Mountain of Peace 226 The Righteousness of God 230 Wonders 236 Nevertheless I Will Hold to Thee 241 The Power of God 250 The Right God 255

Everyone must concede that the kingdom of God comes not through logical concepts but through surprises.

c H R I s T o P H f R I E D R I c H B L U M H A R D T

p r E fa C E

The subject of my doctoral study was Søren Kierkeg aard, the nineteenth-century Danish thinker. In the course of that research I came across Emil Brunner's testimony to the effect that the best predecessors of Neo-Orthodoxy were "two great figures of Pietism—Chr. Blumhardt, in Boll, and Kierkegaard." The strange pairing stuck in my mind: the name I had never heard along with the one heard all over the place. Were these two to be considered equals?

It was, then, in 1966 I discovered some of Blumhardt's work, namely, the 1963 Plough Publishing House transla tion of Lejeune's Christoph Blumhardt and His Message. Since that time it has been my magnificent obsession (well, one of my magnificent obsessions) to get more of the work of the Blumhardts—father and son—known in larger circles of Christian theologians and laity.

The Plough Publishing House is the publishing arm of that longstanding Christian community commonly known as the Bruderhof. My interest in the Blumhardts immedi ately got me into contact with these dedicated and friendly people, resulting in two different visits to their headquarters and archives at Woodcrest, Rifton, New York.

Out of longstanding interest and through connections with descendants of the Blumhardts, the Bruderhof has been largely responsible for keeping the Blumhardt tradition alive in this country. These people regularly use readings from

the Blumhardts in their worship and meditation. They are responsible for virtually all of the translation and publica tion of Blumhardt material in English and hold the largest collection of Blumhardt materials outside Germany.

Gottlieben Blumhardt, daughter of Christoph Blumhardt, devoted the last years of her life to collecting the works of her father and grandfather. It was this effort that made pos sible the German publication of a great deal of Blumhardt material during the past decade.

It is too little to say that the Bruderhof has been help ful in connection with this book. Without the Bruderhof archives, Johann Christoph Arnold (the Plough publisher), and the anonymous members who did the first draft transla tion of much of the material herein, this book simply would not have been possible. I want to take the opportunity to express my profound gratitude to the community and to all the individual members who have lent themselves to our magnificent obsession.

The search for a publisher to take on the book and com petent translators to get the Blumhardts' German into Eng lish has been a long-drawn and many-directioned one. The publishers, of course, have now come down to one and the translators to four or five of us; but along the way, a whole host of well-wishers and moral supporters did their bit to keep the obsession alive. For a while it almost amounted to the establishment of an underground Blunthardt society; my file of correspondence is several inches thick.

One sort of support came from several different book edi tors—none of whom were able to sell their houses on the

book idea but who did give personal encouragement to the project. There could be enough Blumhardt books to have given one to each, I am sorry that did not happen; but I am grateful for their having made the big try.

Some of the people now to be named are since deceased, and others have moved from the institution with which they are here associated. Many of the contacts were made through the Bruderhof rather than directly with me. But one way or another, to one degree or another, there have been expres sions of support from the following.

From Germany, Karl Barth (via a letter written by his secretary, Eberhard Busch); Eduard Heimann (a long-time colleague Paul Tillich); Gottlieben Blumhardt (daughter of Christoph Blumhardt); Margrit Hönig (granddaughter of Christoph Blumhardt); and Christine Ragaz (daughter of the Swiss theologian, Leonhard Ragaz).

From this side of the ocean, Markus Barth (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary); James Smart (Union Theological Seminary); James Luther Adams (Harvard Divinity School), who also offered to speak for his deceased friend, Paul Tillich; Franklin Littell (Temple University); Harvey Cox (Harvard Divinity School); Martin Marty (University of Chicago Di vinity School); and H. Martin Rumscheidt (Atlantic School of Theology).

Recommendations of this caliber convinced me that the project represented an essential contribution and thus kept

me at it through the years. I am grateful to all these people.

Because of my own obvious inadequacy in the German language, I have had to have the help of those who could perform at least the first step toward an acceptable transla tion. These people will be named at the point in the book where they made their contributions: but here I want to take public notice of the time, effort, and skill they have given and express heartfelt gratitude for it.

Finally, I want to recognize and thank (without naming) all the relatives, colleagues, friends, and some new acquain tances who have constituted a general support group for the project and for me in the project. Among these certainly are to be included Eerdmans Publishing Company and all the people there.

Vernard Eller La Verne, CA January 1980

i n T r o d U C T i o n

in this introduction there are two things I want to do and one I do not want to do. The not doing of the one will be the most difficult.

But, in the first place, no matter how sore the tempta tion, I am going to try not to do anything in the way of introducing the Blumhardts' thought—whether describing it, characterizing it, explaining it, or commenting upon it. Once I start that, there would be no end. I prefer to devote the space to letting them introduce their thought for them selves—which is what this whole book is about.

Besides, these two are fully capable of introducing their own thought. Perhaps every word of theirs recorded here originated as oral discourse delivered informally before a lay audience. The Blumhardts may be the theologians who least need a third party to analyze and "explain" them. if their own words fail to inform, enlighten, or move the reader, there are no words of mine that could reverse the situation.

Besides attempting not to introduce the Blumhardts' thought, I intend to present a whole collection of facts pur posed to show the sort of influence the Blumhardts have had upon modern Christian thought. The hope is that this will arouse within the reader the question, "Why have I not heard of them before?" thus exciting him to do something about It, namely, read the remainder of the book. Finally, then, I will offer brief biographical sketches of the two men.

The two Blumhardts, Johann Christoph (1805-80) and Christoph Friedrich (1842-1919), were father and son. Their careers—much more pastoral than theological in character—focused upon the son's succeeding his father as leader of what might be called a Christian retreat center that the father had established at Bad Boll in southwestern Ger many. The thought of the two men shows enough continu ity and agreement that it cm be treated as one "theology."

We already have noted that Emil Brunner identified Christoph Blumhardt and Kierkegaard as the two greatest predecessors of the Neo-Orthodox movement. Karl Barth also said enough to indicate that he would agree with the opinion. And, Independently, both Leonhard Ragaz and Theodor Haecker had made the same pairing and showed interest in it. Brunner's father had as much as been convert ed by the younger Blumhardt, which certainly made Emil's own relationship to Blumhardt much more than a sheerly intellectual one.

Eduard Thurneysen, Barth's long-time pastor-partner, visited Bad Boll and studied under Blumhardt as early as 1904. And it was he who subsequently introduced Barth to Bad Boil and to Blumhardt. In 1926, Thurneysen published a small book Introducing Blumhardtian thought; and he quoted the Blumhardts at some length in his books on pas toral care. Over a period of thirty years, Barth wrote three different essays on the Blumhardts and gave them major notice both in Church Dogmatics and in other of his works.

Barth's chosen touchstone for his own theology, "Jesus Is Vic tor," is a motto from Father Blumhardt. In Gerhard Sauter's doctoral study of the Blumhardts (the normative scholarly analysis of their thought), there is a major section entitled, "Considerations Regarding the Relationship of Christoph Blumhardt to Karl Barth."

James Luther Adams has testified to Paul Tillich's inter est in what Adams calls "the religious-socialist element In Blumhardt"—although I think it would be fair to say that this social concern is about the only element of commonal ity between Blumhardt's theology and Tillich's.

When I was a seminary student, the book that set the di rection of my understanding of Scripture for time to come was Oscar Cullmann's Christ In Time. More than a decade later, upon discovering the Blumhardts, I was convinced I bad found a forerunner of the Heilgeschichte (Salvation-his tory) idea. When I met Cullmann, I put it to him whether he was familiar with the work the Blumhardts and had been influenced by it. His face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes," he said.

I had not discovered that, in his published works, Dietrich Bonhoeffer ever mentioned the Blumhardts; but I had suspicions nevertheless. When the opportunity presented itself, I asked Eberhard Bethge, Bonhoeffer's confidant and biographer. He assured me that Bonhoeffer had been well familiar with Blumhardtian thought and strongly influenced by it. This is confirmed in Gerhard Sauter's study. Although

it does not include a separate section on Bonhoeffer, that book, at a number of points In passing and in one passage of several pages, does rather conclusively demonstrate how sev eral of Bonhoeffer's most important concepts tie back into the Blumhardts.

Even so, the fact that Gerhard Sauter is a recognized theo logian in his own right and the fact that he has done this ma jor study of the Blumhardts—these things have the effect of bringing the Blumhardtian influence directly into the pres ent generation of German theologians with their "theology of hope," "political theology," and "liberation theology."

Karl Barth had called Blumhardt's a "theology of hope" long before Jürgen Moltmann was even born (in 1967, Moltmann published a book of that title to launch at least something of a movement). Moltmann is aware of the con nection. As editor of the sourcebook, The Beginnings of Di alectic Theology, he chose one of Barth's Blumhardt essays for inclusion. And in personal conversation he was quick to confess his debt to the Blumhardts. There is no knowing how many more of the so-called "younger" German theolo gians would be ready to confess the same.

Finally, my own "best" theologians include not only Ki erkegaard and the Blumhardts but also the contemporary French maverick, Jacques Ellul. Ellul has mentioned and quoted the Blumhardts a few times in his works. There are many of his ideas that could be attributed to Blumhardtian Influences—although, most often, these probably came via

Barth. Yet I did do an article showing the profound likeness es and convergences between Kierkegaard, the Blumhardts, and Ellul (with Malcolm Muggeridge thrown in as fourth). Ellul himself accepted my interpretation wholeheartedly, demurring only that I had placed him "too high."

So the Blumhardtian heritage has been and even now is very much with us—mainly through the offices of the conti nental theologians with whom we have been involved. After this introduction already had been written, quite by acci dent I learned that the Blumhardts are better known among the Christians of Japan than among us, that there Is more Blumhardt material in print in Japanese than in English. And that makes the question all the more poignant, "Why have we not heard of these Blumhardts before?"

Particularly is this so when we learn that, in Germany, Thurneysen's 1926 volume is circulating in a new edition; the 1887 biography of the elder Blumhardt has gone through at least twenty printings and is still available; the collected works of both Blumhardts are still in the bookstores. But on the other hand, in English, apart from a few books (such as those by Thurneysen and Barth, and a few on the history of Neo-Orthodoxy) which refer to and quote from the Blum hardts, virtually all of the Blumhardt material comes from the Plough Publishing House (the Bruderhof).

Heading that list is R. Lejeune's Christoph Blumhardt

and His Message. Almost the first half of that book is giv en to Lejeune's introduction, the remainder of the volume presenting nineteen selected talks and sermons from the younger Blumhardt. Also important is Action in Waiting, a slight volume incorporating Barth's first essay on Blumhardt (1916) and one of Christoph Blumhardt's crucial sermons, "Joy in the Lord." Then there is a pocket-sized book, Eve ning Prayers for Every Day of the Year, compiled after his death from spontaneous prayers the younger Blumhardt used at Bad Boll. There is next a slim, 31-page paperback, Now Is Eternity, something of a random sampler of very brief "say ings" from both of the Blumhardts. And finally, there has just appeared a beautiful little 58-page paperback, Thoughts About Children, compiling material from both Blumhardts on the topic.

"So why haven't we heard about the Blumhardts before?" Partly because so little material is available In English; and because what is available has come from small, private press es. "But why have other publishers failed to pick up on the Blumhardts?" My best guess in that regard is that, because the Blumhardt impact naturally came with the younger Blumhardt's maturity, death, and the generation of thinkers who continued the tradition from that point. and because that point itself coincided with the First World War, the war itself prevented the Blumhardt reputation from jumping ei ther the English Channel or the Atlantic Ocean at the time it normally would have. Then, later was too late: why pub lish the works of the Blumhardts when no one knows who

the Blumhardts are? -Who would buy?

Now we will attempt to rectify that ignorance. The elder Blumhardt, Johann Christoph (1805-80), was educated for the Reformed ministry and, after a brief term as executive for a missionary society, became pastor in Möttlingen, an obscure village of Württemberg, southern Germany. His ca reer was uneventful until, in 1842, he had to deal with one of his parishioners, a young woman, Gottlieben Dittus, who suffered some sort of severe nervous disorder and whose household was visited with strange psychic phenomena. Blumhardt concluded that the case was of a kind with those reported in the New Testament as demon possession.

After two months of pastoral care and reverent hesita tion, discovering that he had no wisdom or power that could help, he and the girl prayed together: "Lord Jesus, help us. We have watched long enough what the devil does; now we want to see what the Lord Jesus can do." This prayer-battle continued for almost two years without change—the situa tion deteriorating, if anything.

Finally came the moment of crisis. At a point when Blum hardt's prayer and the girl's trouble were at a pitch, Gottli eben's sister (who had recently come under demonic attack herself) in a strange voice suddenly uttered the cry, "Jesus Is Victor!" —and it was all over. Gottlieben later becme a servant in the Blumhardt household and lived there the rest of her life; but she was never troubled again. Blumhardt understood the voice to be that of the demons who had just

been conquered and expelled.

There is much in this story at which modern readers in evitably will look askance (as in the story to follow as well); but it must be said that both of the Blumhardts were solid, unflappable characters with nothing of the fanatic about them. In fact, rather than doing anything to encourage sen sationalism or a personality cult centering in themselves, they regularly took deliberate steps to dampen such tenden cies. Even so, very strange and wonderful things did take place.

Jesus' victory in the demented girl immediately triggered an in-breaking of kingdom power that transformed the en tire village of Möttlingen and attracted people from miles around. The congregation experienced revival to a degree quite beyond even the dreams—let alone the actual accom plishments—of modern programs of church growth and renewal. There were many healings, conversions of some of the church's most determined opponents, and radical transformations of life and character. Marriages were saved, enemies were reconciled, there was an outpouring of evan gelistic zeal and missionary fervor—all under the conviction that, because Jesus is victor, the kingdom of God has be come a real possibility for life here and now.

As might be expected, this sort of goings-on at Möttlin gen aroused the criticism of many of the church authori ties. Blumhardt's vision of Christianity was larger than the church institution could manage. Thus, after a few more

years at Möttlingen, the pressures toward churchly confor mity became so constrictive that Blumhardt gave up his pas torate and, for all intents and purposes, formal connection with the Reformed Church. He moved a short distance away to Bad Boll, where he purchased a vacant resort hotel and made it into something of a retreat center, a place to which people could have recourse for periods of rest, meditation, study, and pastoral counsel—and a place where Bllumhardt was free to operate according to God's leading.

He continued this ministry until his death in 1880, the testimony of his life perhaps best being summed up in a hymn with which he had been inspired at Möttlingen and which remained popular in Blumhardt circles:

Jesus is victorious Lord

Who conquers all his foes; Jesus 'tis unto whose feet

The whole wide world soon goes; Jesus 'tis who comes in might,

Leads us from darkness into light. Son Christoph (Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt 1842 1919) was born at Möttlingen in 1842, at the very time his father was becoming involved in the struggle with Gottli ebin's demons. As his father had done before him, he took university training pointing toward a Reformed pastorate. However, he became disillusioned with the church and the ology and so decided simply to return home to Bad Boll and act as a helper there. Upon his father's death, then, he took over as housefather and continued the work until his own

death in 1919.

In time, the younger Blumhardt became quite renowned as a mass evangelist and faith healer. But after a very suc cessful "crusade" in Berlin in 1888, he drastically cut back both activities, saying, I do not want to suggest that it is of little importance for God to heal the sick; actually, it now is happening more and more often—although very much in quiet. However, things should not be promoted as though God's kingdom consists in the healing of sick people. To be cleansed is more important than to be healed. It is more im portant to have a heart for God's cause, not to be chained to the world but be able to move for the kingdom of God.

Blumhardt's interest gradually took what could be called "a turn to the world," namely, a focus upon the great socio economic issues of the day. Under the impetus of this con cern Blumhardt chose, in a public and conspicuous way, to cast his lot with Democratic Socialism, the much maligned workers' movement that then was fighting tooth and nail for the right of the working class. Although it brought upon his head the wrath of both the civil and ecclesiastical estab lishments, he addressed protest rallies, ran for office on the party slate, and was elected to a six-year term in the Würt temberg legislature. He was asked to resign his ministerial status in the church.

Blumhardt began as a very active and energetic legisla tor, but as time passed he greatly curtailed this activity and bluntly declined to stand for a second term of office. Clearly, the pattern was of a piece with his earlier retreat from mass

evangelism and faith healing.

Blumhardt's disillusionment with Democratic Social ism—i.e., with the party politics, not with the movement's purposes and ideals—and the even greater disillusionment which came toward the close of his life with the dark years of World War I—these brought him to a final position ex pressed in the dialectical motto: Wait and Hasten. His un derstanding was that the call of the Christian is still for him to give himself completely to the cause of the kingdom. To do everything in his power to help the world toward that goal. Yet, at the same time, a Christian must remain calm and patient, unperturbed even if his efforts show no signs of success, willing to wait for the Lord to bring the kingdom at his own pace and in his own way. And, according to Blum hardt, far from being inactivity, this sort of waiting is itself a very strong and creative action in the very hastening of the kingdom.

Blumhardt suffered a stroke in 1917 and died a peaceful death on August 2, 1919.

pa rT o n E

leonhard ragaz (1868-1945) was a highly respected Swiss professor and theologian, one of the early contribu tors to dialectical theology, and a leader of the religious-so cialism movement in Switzerland.

In 1922, he published a book of 321 pages, Der Kampf um das Reich Gottes in Blumhardt, Vater und Sohn—und Weiter! The first 43 pages are an introduction to the Blumhardts and their thought (none of which we will use). The remain der is a presentation of their "message," the outline and headings of which become directly the outline and head ings of our Part One, here following. Under each of these headings, Ragaz opened with his own description of and comment upon the Blumhardts' position (none of which we will use). Then he collected quotations and excerpts of the Blumhardts' own words on the topic. Although retaining all of Ragaz's headings, we have selected, to translate and present here, roughly half of the Blumhardt material Ragaz used.

Using Ragaz as compiler and editor, as it were, has given us inestimable advantages. (a) Ragaz presents a compre hensive and ordered (although not "systematic," which, regarding the Blumhardts, would be a wrong headed impos sibility) view of their thought which any amount of random reading in their talks and sermons could never provide. ( b) Ragaz had access to the totality of the Blumhardt cor

pus in a way unsurpassed by anyone and unequalled by any contemporary, non-German scholars. (c) Ragaz knew the Blumhardts and their thought well enough and himself had sufficient theological expertise to make this an authoritative and dependable presentation of their "theology." (d) Ragaz was wise enough not to try to force their thought into the customary categories and outlines of theology but to let the outline grow out of the Blumhardtian materials themselves. And finally, (e) Ragaz was a skilled enough editor that his selections do not read like a collection of "selections" but almost as though the Blumhardts had set out to write a pre sentation of their thought as a whole. In short, the Blum hardts nowhere expressed themselves as fully and as clearly as they do here with the help of Ragaz.

The translation of the Blumhardt material here presented (via Ragaz) is mine. However, I could not have managed it alone. A rough, first draft translation for part of the mate rial was provided by members of the Bruderhof who had been at work before I ever entered the picture. A second part was done recently by Professor William Willoughby, my colleague at the University of la Verne. And a third part was done some years ago by Lonna Whipple, then a La Verne College German major who had done her junioryear-abroad at Marburg University. To these people I tender my gratitude for their help. However, at the same time it must be said that, with their drafts beside me, I nevertheless

worked directly from the Blumhardt's German (as given by Ragaz, of course). Thus, although they were most helpful, the translation is mine, and I must take full responsibility for it.

Ragaz made no effort to identify sources for any of the Blumhardt quotations he used; so we can be of no help re garding the items of Part One. — V.E.

All passages are by Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt unless marked otherwise.

T H E K i n G d o M o f G o d i s f o r E a rT H

There must be a new reality which is of the truth. It is not to be a new doctrine or law, not a new arrangement. The new truth to which we must listen is that which came in the person of the Son of Man himself, namely, that God is now creating a new reality on earth, a reality to come first among men but finally over all creation, so that the earth and the heavens are renewed. God is creating something new. A new history is starting. A new world is coming to earth.

Evil shall be defeated for all generations, and the good shall come into its rightful rule. That was the goal of the people of Israel, and for hundreds of years it was steadily pursued. The cause originally was an earthly one, not, as we Christians think, a heavenly one. It was the heavenly com ing to reality upon earth; and to that extent it was earthly. It was earthly because it was a concern that the situation on earth become good and righteous, that God's name be hallowed on earth, that his kingdom come on earth and his will be done right here on earth. The earth is to manifest eternal life. We want to shine so brightly that heaven itself will become jealous of us.

Where in all the scriptures does God comfort man with

a hereafter? The earth shall be filled with the glory of God. According to the Bible, that is the meaning of all the prom ises. Jesus, come in the flesh, what is his will? Of course, nothing other than the honor of his Father on earth. In his own person, through his advent, he put a seed into the earth. He would be the light of men; and those who were his he called "the light of the world" and "the salt of the earth." His purpose is the raising up of the earth and the genera tions of man out of the curse of sin and death toward the revelation of eternal life and glory.

Why else did he heal the sick and wake the dead? Why did he exalt the poor and hungry? Surely not in order to tell them that they would be blessed, after death, but because the kingdom of God was near. Of course, God has a way out for those who, unfortunately, must suffer death; he gives them a refuge in the beyond. But shall this necessary com fort now be made the main thing? Shall the kingdom of God be denied for earth and perpetuated only in the kingdom of death, simply because God wants also to dry the tears of the dead? It is to discard the whole meaning of the Bible if one argues, "We have nothing to expect on earth; it must be abandoned as the home of man."

Truly, within the human structures of sin, we have no lasting home; we must seek what is coming. But what is it, then, that is coming? The revealing of an earth cleansed of sin and death. This is the homeland we seek. There is no other to be sought, because we do not have, and there can not come to be, anything other than what God intended for

us in the creation. no proper servant remains with his master solely for the wages involved. If he realizes that he is of no use, he would rather leave and be poor. And no proper maid will stay just because of the pay. She wants to be of service. If there is nothing more to do, she is unhappy; even if she is paid, she no longer exists as a maid does. And man, in the midst of creation, has the feeling that he is here for a purpose—not just for himself but for something else, something greater, something which has been lost.

Nevertheless, today people sit in the churches thinking mostly about themselves. Everyone sighs over himself, looks for something in himself and for himself—and doesn't him self know what it is. One would like to call out to them all: "People, forget yourselves! Think of God's cause. Start to do something for it. Don't be sorry for yourself; or at least be sorry that you have nothing to do but worry about your own petty concerns."

Our greatest lack is that we are of no use to the Lord; no wonder, then, that we go to ruin in spite of all our culture. Any person degenerates, even in a physical sense, if he is not acting as part of a body that has a higher purpose. But those who, in love and enthusiasm, work for something greater than themselves prosper, even regarding their physical well being. And the race declines in its very life-values, both physical and spiritual, if, as people, there is nothing we are producing for the life of the earth, for creation, for God.

To believe in God is easy; but to believe that the world will become different—to do that one must be faithful unto death.

you know, the angels can't do much with "the blessed," because they seek only their own comfort in eter nity and are no longer good for anything. One seats them in a comfortable chair and says, "There you are now; stay put." But when the kingdom of God is being fulfilled and many are pressing to enter, then there is really work and life among the angels. For the kingdom of God stands in a di rect relationship to the earth; it lives with the earth.

nothing will be revealed in the hereafter that is not already grounded here. God's goal is the here and now. It is here that the inheritance is to be received; and it comes as a work of creation, not of philosophy or theology.

Christians should take an objective view of the times. Instead, they want to experience everything subjectively within themselves and enjoy inner beatitude. Yet, these feel ings have no permanency, and so they become disappointed. But when a person has his eye on a better future for man kind, then he gains a festival of the heart. A great confidence gives us strength for difficult times.

according to our customary false way of thinking, the kingdom of God must give way to our happiness. With many people the words of the Savior already have been al tered to read: "Seek first your own blessedness, and all those things shall be added unto you." This is something very de ceptive, although I know that for me to say so will rub many people the wrong way. They love themselves; and if only they know that they are safe, they don't much care about the rest of the world—or at most, only so much as to say to others, "See to it that you also get yourself saved, and then I will be happy!" With this little error, my friends, our fellowship with the Father is destroyed. We are like children always coming to our parents demanding candy, pop, and ice cream instead of being concerned about the wishes of our parents, honoring them with fidelity and hard work, in which case our food would come as a matter of course.

The goal of all God's effort is that finally he will be a God whom we will be able to see on earth, a God who will make the earth his footstool, where Jesus will be Lord over all men and where they, in him, once more will be integrated into God's creation.

T H E l i V i n G G o d

What do i care about a God of the sort whose being must be demonstrated? The dear Lord came from heaven and spoke; had he not done so, even the philosophers could not have found him. Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Schelling—why, they would all still be heathen if he had not spoken his word on Mt. Sinai. I almost burst sometimes when our modern cul ture sets classical learning over the Bible. Why, everybody would still be ignorant were it not for the Bible and its God who there speaks upon earth.

God lets us meet him in Christ; and in the days of the apostles when there was talk of faith, of being true until death, everyone who belonged to the body of Christ knew what course his faithfulness would take. Something came over these people, something to which none of them had given thought and which none of them would have been able to explain. Suddenly they found themselves part of a history that proceeded of itself and in which such wonderful powers were discovered that the inevitable impression was: "These powers are stronger than the whole world."

In this situation people had a perfectly clear picture of what God is. There was no need to look up to heaven; the occurrences took place on earth; they were bound up with naming the name of Jesus.

In that regard, we ought not to be ashamed frankly and openly to call our Christ "God," because, with only mental pictures of God, nothing gets started. Our Christ has be come Yahweh; he stands upon earth and calls to us, "I am." And we need not make a big ceremony of it but simply fall before him, knowing in him the living God, the Father in heaven. Then, once we've met him, we feel ourselves on solid ground which does not quake but from which the mountains of God's sovereignty burst forth to overwhelm us, as, in the final cataclysm, they shall overwhelm the whole world.

it may be that there is one error that poisons most of our thinking about God's kingdom. Prevailing very widely, this is the understanding that, in order for God's kingdom to come, it is sufficient that we finally and firmly establish and systematize the doctrine. This error works as a poison in that, from this perspective, certain doctrines and conven tions soon become almost more important than God him self.

It has become clear to me that no single, dogmatic, fixed, and systematized doctrine will decide the issue of the king dom: this only the living God himself will do.

as long as you believe sheerly as routine, things are not right. One cannot come drowsing into the kingdom of God. The cause must proceed with clarity and zest; the way must ever be made afresh by God. And therein is true grace

demonstrated—that God hurries forth as the God who acts.

I tell you I cannot hold out for a single day unless from somewhere, either in myself or from afar, I have a report or am able to see that "Praise be, God is hurrying forward!"... Thus we all should become enlightened in spirit so that we become clear about world events, so that we do not fall into religious confusion and other foolishness, so that we know what time it is, so that we have an inner sense about how to comport ourselves. "Shall I hurry? Shall I wait? Shall I do this? Shall I leave that?" In short, we need light.

f r o M C r E aT i o n T H r o U G H d E T E r i o r aT i o n T o

r E s T o r aT i o n

We are encompassed by a creation; and one piece of it is this ground under our feet. We go forth upon it; we live from it; we have a certain power over it; we are employed with it and yet it nowhere comes completely right.

If one observes the morals, customs, viewpoints, and lives of all the world's peoples, he is amazed that, alongside the glorious appearance of nature's truth, mankind goes as if de ranged. As the Chinese who bind a girl's feet are not satisfied until she is so crippled she can't walk, so do all the nations and peoples, be they Christian or heathen, right in the midst of the organism of truth which is creation, manage to make habitual falsifiers of themselves.

you must bear in mind, my friends, that we humans, even the best of us, are poor comrades to the great whole of creation. Something in us is twisted. Now, all of us were created in the image of God, an important part or—to put it pictorially—an important wheel in the great gearworks of creation. But on this wheel the cogs are all crooked and chipped; and the axle is bent. The human part doesn't work right; and the whole creation suffers in consequence. This is sin. Things don't run right with us men. There is much that

is awry with every person in the world.

is this creation to which our bodily life belongs simply to be east aside? Or does there lie within it the embryo of eternity? There are many who see God's creation as of little value and its very loveliness as a sorry thing one would like to leave as soon as possible—preferably with a good kick! I am sad about that.

God did not create mere spirits for this corporeal world but bodies—which he has called his "image." Only through shattering travail can such a body come to be. And every person sees and experiences for himself that death is a judgment that makes him anxious even when he wants to be strong and convince himself that he can die tranquilly and be a spirit.

Men often attribute everything that happens in the world to God; but this is to do him an injustice. There are also works of man and of the devil. These do harm, whereas the works of God always do good—indeed, it is by this they are known. We are the ones responsible for so much that goes awry in the world. So lay off of my God, and don't say, "He's doing it!"

J E s U s C H r i s T

Jesus, who is the glory of God on earth, wants to help us become the same thing. In this man, God again shines forth. It is for a purpose, then, that he is here; he acts as God in the creation, among men. This is his work; conse quently, he has eternal life and does not perish even though nailed upon the cross. Nothing, no possible situation, even the most disadvantageous you could conceive, can overcome this man, because he is here to accomplish something.

From him shines forth the Father of creation. And the creation feels that once more it has been given hope, as it were, because this man understands what needs to be done so that the things of God might again be brought into order and the ruined, wasted earth again be restored to him. I tell you, such is the Savior's first order of business. The Savior is, first of all, "for" God and only then "for" you. Bit by bit, man has turned things around and made the case appear as though the Savior had come only for us. Thus people use Je sus to flatter themselves; but this eventually can bring things to a pretty pass. I tell you, therefore, the Savior doesn't care about us—he doesn't even care about people as a whole if they will not help him.

Without further ado he can put us all aside. Already he has begun to cut the threads; and—who knows how things will go? It may happen that even the Christians will be left entirely on their own and have nothing more of a Savior.

He is the glory of God upon earth and the glory of man in heaven. Just as God was blotted out on earth, so also was man blotted out in heaven. Now Jesus comes as the one he is; and God lives upon the earth. Then Jesus is again with the Father in heaven; and humanity lives there in him. Now before God there gleams something of the humanity that was dead—it is the glory of mankind in heaven before God through Jesus.

This is the man Jesus Christ; he is fixed in the creation where his true nature is grounded. As the creation is a work of God, so Jesus the Son is a work of God in the whole of creation. He is far above all angels and all powers of God that drive the world. The highest messengers of God, the life elements and life powers, serve him. He is in the cre ation, and it must go as he goes. One must understand this tremendous magnitude of Jesus Christ in order to believe that he still is able to help us men.

Jesus said, "i am the light of the world." That is true; nevertheless, it remains night as long as men are unaware of the fact and as long as Jesus is not known universally. We are in the night. That people have believed it to be day simply because Jesus was born, died, and rose again is the greatest error of Christendom. With that error we have been in the darkest night for nineteen hundred years, thinking that ev erything was complete and good.

But we must undertake great exertions if we are to be apostles of Jesus Christ. Our dead world must first be given light. Then it will be day. All people, all consciousness in heaven, on earth, and under the earth must know that Jesus bears all things and that he, as the glory of the sovereign God, as Son, rules the things of this world. Then it will be day; and then redemption will rush over all heights and into all depths.

one person we know through whom things moved as they should; he is called Jesus Christ. And thus it is that light has again been given to creation. Then why do you wonder at the fact that Jesus has bread for four or five thou sand people? It amazes us; but he is simply a true man again, and that is why the powers of the world are subservient to him. Or why are you surprised that when he touches a sick person healing takes place? He is a true man. Things go as they should through him, under the oversight of God. He is the image of God, the Son of God. This makes him a blessing and constitutes a power that also makes others blessed if only they come within his reach. Even people who in themselves are perverted and godless, if only they press to him, are touched by something of his true spirit so that something comes true in them as well.

as long as it depends upon the perceptions merely of the eyes of reason, that understanding which is repre

sented by research into the advent of Christ shall stand op posed to Christ's life in the will of God. So many people write "lives of Jesus" and seek to establish grounds for "the historical appearance of Christ"; and then they despair over the fact that we have such scant records in this regard. Nei ther the Gospel accounts nor the works of other authors of the time serve to satisfy the lust for the confirmation of this human history of Jesus.

The apostles and prophets don't even bother to give us the year of Christ's birth. Neither are they concerned to prove to the world the historicity of his singular life, the facts about his birth and the resurrection following his death on the cross. For the truth does not lie in the rationally veri fiable history but in a life—a life which, out of an unpreten tious and derided history, breaks forth as the life of God, while history according to the flesh is left behind as a useless shell.

The man whom you seek is not here (Mark. 16:6), but the God-man remains and brings to people life and light. In this and that there may be contradictions in the reports godly people have handed down from those who knew Christ in the beginning, in what must be taken as outward history. It is little wonder if, where all sorts of people worked together in great enthusiasm, imperfect things got mixed in with the perfect; it is ever so with us humans. Also, after the Lord Jesus had given it into the care of the people, his history would have been passed along and elaborated. Yet, against

this the Apostle Paul says, "I no longer know Jesus after the flesh" (2 Cor. 5:16). He does not intend to say that Jesus had not lived historically but that the outward history has fallen away and the life of God remains.

When the Spirit of God moves in a person who is seeking proof of God, that spirit makes his appearance in the life of men actually upon earth and does not allow himself to be shunted into secondary matters. For the spirit knows that the very crux of all truth lies in the kingdom of God—there rather than in the history of man according to the flesh, which shall disappear. A true history of man's life is in process of fulfillment, bound up with God, even though presently developing under the husks of an unfulfilled relationship. The Spirit knows that this life history is not that of tradition or historical research but of God himself entering the scene. Thus, after the history of mankind has been lost, the life of mankind still will be known, because, from beginning to end, it has been represented in the life of God himself.

Humanity indeed has its history. We can learn it—and we also can learn much from it. But this is not the history that truly brings joy to our hearts. The joy of human his tory is not so great that we would not gladly give it up. But there is also a history made up of experiences which are not confined to man himself but which are informed by some thing of the divine. That which is human must be touched by the divine.

When we read of the singular experiences of men of God

from Abraham to Jesus and the apostles—let us admit it openly—they make us angry. What wouldn't people give if they could take Jesus without having to take in the bargain other events that are, humanly speaking, unexplainable? And to top it all off, in the resurrection Christ is raised to heaven. How unsettling this report is to all those who would like to make this dear man the founder of their religion—if only he had not said things or had things said about him that must make cultured people unculturedly ashamed.

How can those who still have faith in science imagine that a man dies and is buried and then later comes back and now lives beyond death? It is as if death were something one could just strip off, something one could come through without losing his physical existence but—quite the con trary—with the physical body transfigured. Yet all the expe riences of the people of God point in this direction; and it is in these experiences, and not in the doctrines that follow from them, that the seeds of God's kingdom are found. The doctrines do not lead to experiences, but experience leads to doctrine; and for better or for worse, it is back to experience we must go if we would see the kingdom of God.

When Jesus came into our company, it was day... The whole history of humanity pivots, one might say, upon the works of Jesus. All that has come to pass since—the good and the evil, the bright and the dark—everything turns upon

these works of Jesus which are directed toward the future of humanity.

It is something like the first beginning, about which, re specting our earth, it is so beautifully and significantly said: "'Let there be light'; and there was light." From that mo ment on, there was nothing that could stop it. The earth had light, and from that light came everything else—all life, all aspects of life, all the perfecting of life. Everything, down to the deepest depths of the earth, even the coal mines, comes into being through the light. But what a develop ment it all went through! There was much stirring of dust and mire, much destruction, much horror, much abomina tion—a fearful development—until finally there came out of the earth that which we enjoy today.

In like manner, a kind of light is given in Jesus. It is di rected particularly toward man and, to begin with, toward only relatively few men. But whether shining upon many or few, the power of the Spirit's light calls people out to strive for a high purpose and not be satisfied with baseness. This light has appeared and even now shines forth. This light of the Spirit which has been implanted in humanity produces the greatest development, has the greatest power of revolu tion and advance for mankind, right up to the present day. A great deal of dust has been raised, the hideousness of man has been uncovered, because sin and brutality and vulgarity had to have their day. The history of Christendom following

the coming of the light is a horror to behold and study. But what of that?...

It is so obvious in human history: there comes a time when something is born; and then things stand still and nobody follows up. There have been developments, and beginnings have been made, which we have failed to recognize. No one can comprehend the mere three years of Jesus' ministry as being the occasion of the greatest revolution ever to occur in human society. The rise of empires and nations' wars, battles, and victories—these are no "events," no "creations." In comparison to the high calling that is mankind's, all the empires of earth fade to nothing—as do all differences of race and language, all enmity, all hostility and arrogance be tween man and man. In the light of the creation that has come to us in Jesus Christ, all these things dissolve; nothing of them remains to be found. But that which does remain, which truly is of value for us—that has the permanence of eternity.

it must yet come to pass that we will not simply hold fast to an ancient confession of faith but out of a new ex perience be able to call to one another: "He is risen indeed! He lives among us! He takes the reins in hand and leads his people, leads them all the way to his death, that, in the death of the flesh, his resurrection and his life might be exalted in mankind to the eternal praise and glory of God."

For this cause is Jesus Christ risen from the dead: so that

in him it can be seen that God will bring forth even our lives out of death and will take everything into his own hands once more. Therefore, we should die with Christ so that we also can be awakened and so that whatever should live will then be able to live fully and beautifully and gloriously.

The lord Jesus stands humanly very near to us; I do not know my best friend as well as I know the Savior, I can't get inside my best friend; it is possible that there is within him that which is not quite trustworthy. But as far away as the Savior is from us, we still are so well acquainted with him through the scriptures that he is, as it were, transparent to us. With the writings of a Cicero it is not so; though a person read Cicero as he will, he does not thereby see into his heart. Likewise with a Plato, a Socrates, a Virgil, all the noblest spirits—however beautifully they have written, they still do not become our friends. But the Savior comes in such a way that each person can be his friend. One has only to make his acquaintance; then everything comes of itself.

r E d E M p T i o n

T H E R E I s R E D E M P T I o N

When, as often happens, a person recites some sad case to me, some fate of life before which I shudder, I cannot simply say, "Accept your fate!" No, I say, "Be patient; the matter will be resolved—very surely it will be resolved."

don't comfort yourself with that sort of Christianity which today practices the art of decking out every distress and wrapping everything in phrases to the effect that what ever happens is good. Don't accept such comfort; but seek with me people who stand before God arid say, "Dear Father in heaven, we are not worthy to be called your children—but oh, that you once could use us as your hired servants!"

T H E R E D E M P T I o N o f T H E B o D Y

The spirit must embody itself. It must enter into our earthly life; it must happen that deity be born in flesh so that it can overcome this earthly world. God is active Spirit only when he gets something of our material underfoot; be fore that, he is mere idea. The Spirit would govern life.

it is a divine-natural law that body and soul hang to

gether; and whoever would work on one part must take the other into consideration as well. Whoever would divide body and soul may be said to commit murder.

it seems to be the first concern of the human spirit that the body quickly become well; whereas, in silence the soul should thank God that, in its illness, the body had more rest than in its health—indeed, that it again feels more life and power than it did in healthy days. But many people become almost angry over such a consolation; they are so unaccustomed to being still and considering their lives that they forcibly push themselves back into the turbulence of activity. Yet precisely in this way do they stand in the way of their own health at the very moment God would put them under spiritual restraint, because he does not want them given over to destruction.

Harm to the body is the judgment upon man's drivenness of spirit. Wretchedness and darkening of the soul are judg ments upon the vagabond life of the spirit. Therefore, it is important that every sick person who knows Christ should not make it his first impatient wish to become well...[Rather,] he should first hold back his spirit and tame its wildness so that, through the person's own will, Christ can truly receive him and immediately bind him to God and his truth. That is to say, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous ness, and then body and soul will become healthy.

Being healthy is, to God, the same as being righteous. A healthy body, no matter how normal it may be, is not healthy

in God's sight if it is dragging around in unrighteousness. In this way, stings of death press in by the thousands; and before they have outward effect, a body that appears healthy to us can be sick from head to foot, sick unto death. Righ teousness is our health; and the first point of righteousness is that we allow our-selves to be bound by God so that our spirit no longer desires its own freedom.

as long as our spiritual piety does not present itself as true for the body, as right for the body, as freeing the body for God—as long as this piety is not free of human customs, insofar as these are perverted and out of harmony with di vine laws—so long we remain only pious cripples. We must learn to be genuine creations of God through winch life can stream out in all directions, as is the intention for all cre ation.

Therefore, we do not pray, "Do miracles," but rather, "Let things go the way of truth." God should do miracles— but only when they are an aspect of the spiritual rectification of mankind. There must be a ground for them, a ground in the kingdom of God renewing and enlightening us from the divine side. It is from this base that miracles should take place; and then—yea, then—we shall shout aloud for joy, when, from within, things get set right. But at that point, outward miracles can disappear...I do not wish to see a sin

gle miracle in anyone that is not the consequence of that person's inner rectification.

P o L I T I c A L R E D E M P T I o N

only revelation brings progress; and that is what makes it so important that finally revelation come into the body politic. That would be a real step forward for the world, because until now it has not happened. God has not yet truly entered into the history of the nations. There are only more and more human histories—as, for example, the Boer War. Only after such an incident can the Spirit of God give more light to individuals, Boers as well as Englishmen, so that they can see further. Yet, through revelation, enlight enment also must come into politics.

in several respects these are threatening times; and it is necessary that we keep faith and, in particular, that we not accept the belief that war or anything of the sort would improve our situation. Although it is heard among us, this word is only a form of despair which itself contrib utes greatly to the chances of war. God will look into such talk. There is absolutely no justification for war; and we can dare to trust his almighty arm even when that seems a very risky thing to do. We can believe that he will bring peace and, under any circumstances, send signs and wonders from heaven to help us. We need no swords or cannon. We should live and let live. So have mercy upon us, O Lord our God,

that finally, thou wilt create the kingdom of peace which thou hast promised.

anyone with eyes in his head can see that in Europe nothing could be more sensible than efforts for peace. Who ever would speak word against peace today is making a mis take. True, there is still a certain political atmosphere winch has been cooked up, as it were. For centuries now a kind of lust for war has been working itself into the flesh and blood of Europeans and other peoples. This war-lust reigns with in some sectors of the population; but stable people know nothing of it. Nevertheless, they let themselves too easily be come enthused about it, because in the back of their minds still sleeps the idea, "There must be wars."

To this very day, in the political world there are certain questions for which we can find no solution except the sword. But it is scandalous to think that there should be no other solution than knocking one another around to see who is the more fortunate (one hardly can say "more power ful," because there are thousands of instances in which the more powerful have gone under)...

Whoever can think of it, should think once of how shriv eled we are in a political sense. This great, round earth with its peoples, what an unconfined playground it could be for a genuine humanity, and how small we have made it in divid ing up ourselves as tigers and lambs, fox and geese—with, naturally, the fox gobbling down the geese. On this earth,

things go according to particular rules of animal life, and the life of the Spirit is not to be found.

Of course, thought cannot go too far in this direction before we come upon a word that is very much forbidden today. Yet there is something to be said for it. I will state it right out: "Anarchy!" Regarding the inhabitants of earth, a certain freedom, a veritable rulelessness, would almost be better than this nailed-up-tight business that as much as turns individual peoples into herds of animals closed to ev ery great thought...

Man is here to make progress; and if he wants peace he must also help bring it about—on has own ground, in has own way, seeking to bring it onto the scene. Mere talking and wishing that it would come of itself is of no value. Thus, everyone who wants peace must undertake peace, must be a man of peace.

And this in particular is what God would have us do now, out of respect for has eternal truth and righteousness. This is our calling; and who knows whether we are not the strongest ones in the present situation? I would not belittle those who strive for peace out of other considerations—out of sympathy, humanitarianism, and the like—but I do not believe that such efforts carry much power. However, there is a particular, invincible power in our efforts: as God wills, as the eternal truth wills, so our will is for peace; our will is that the peoples become changed and this terrible European history come to an end...

If anyone remains stuck in the history we have had un til now and thinks to find a solution there, he is a terribly small person...Yet it is already something worthwhile if in these matters even a few people open their eyes to what is righteous, eternal, and true and thus make a firm resolution, "There must be a change!" To that degree, they are able to rise above the history of their time. And this will not have been done in vain; on the contrary, It will lead toward what we call the kingdom of God.

s o c I A L R E D E M P T I o N

is social democracy that which rightly should be de manded? Or is it rather—because it so energetically pursues "the state of the future" —that which, as so many assume, should by all means be opposed by every citizen and church man?

A person must indeed be blind if he cannot see that, dur ing the entire century since the French Revolution, there have arisen movements of ever increasing consequence di rected toward a new ordering of society. Where is there a country that has not been agitated by socialistic ideas? It is one impulse, one forward-striving spirit, which seeks this new social order. No one can avoid this movement. Church and state must grant people freedom in this regard. We have lived in a century of revolution and rapid change and are liv ing in the midst of radical movements—and this is in accord with the will of God!

Notice how much our ways of looking at things have changed already! Who wonders today at the fact that every citizen demands political rights and receives them in ever greater degree? Who now is surprised when equal justice is demanded for all, both high and low? Is there anyone who wants to reintroduce slavery and indentured service? Or who would do away with representative government? These are genuinely new ways of looking at things.

In previous centuries, people who demanded the rights of freedom were simply brought to justice and exterminated. And now, when Socialism sets up the goal that every person have an equal right to bread, that matters of ownership be so arranged that neither money nor property but the life of man become the highest value, why should that be seen as a reprehensible, revolutionary demand? It is clear to me that it lies within the Spirit of Jesus Christ, that the course of these events leads toward his goal, and that there is bound to be revolution until that goal is reached. Resistance will be of no avail, because it is God's will that all men in every respect should be regarded equal and that they, rather than being plagued by the earth, should be blessed creatures of God.

That this struggle of the oppressed classes has not always gone pleasantly and that many imperfect things have been thought and done does not discountenance me. The basis of the movement, the energetic will, and the spiritual creativity of the goal are enough for me, so that I can feel myself an ally—and that, indeed, in the Spirit of Jesus Christ who had

led me all along...

But, you say, the Social Democrats want bloody revolu tion, illegal overthrow of the existing order, and general chaos. Now I say simply, that is not true. Many people have a horror of every revolution, because the French Revolution and the revolutionary movements which followed it were of a bloody nature. Yet the Reformation of the sixteenth century was even bloodier; why then do we not hate the Reformation? Because it, at least to some extent, brought religious freedom? Why then do we hate the revolutions of the eighteenth century? Is it because they helped people to ward political freedom? The latter seem to me indispensable to the former. The bloodshed of the Reformation pains me just as much as the bloodshed of the Revolution; but I must take both in the bargain and in both see progress toward the freedom of humanity. Why don't we have a general horror of the bloodletting of times both past and present instead of a national prejudice that wants to ignore blood? Indeed, the whole world history is one long, revolutionary stream of blood...

But people say, "Christ kept his distance from all such revolutionary ideas, having in view only the spiritual uplift of mankind." Yet, when he looked upon the temple of the Jews, when he came in touch with the false gods of nation alism and culture which stand opposed to the kingdom of God, he gave warning about the greatest sort of overthrow. "Not one stone shall remain standing upon another" is what

he said about the proud national shrine of the Jews; and he saw destruction fast coming upon the capitalistic social sys tem of that time.

He considered that the immediate result of his advent would be the greatest of revolutions; and he warned his dis ciples that things would be very violent. Of course, he went on to say that this was not the true end. At the very end, things shall proceed without violence. The Son of Man, the Man of Men, will come as a bolt of lightning lighting up the whole world. That suggests that God's thought and will shall drive universally and with power into human hearts, creating the people that God would have. And at that point we will be ready for a new heaven and a new earth.

However, if we were to bring together all the words of Je sus and the apostles dealing with the final purpose of human history, we would soon discover that, in spirit, Jesus con cerns himself with the political and social situation, that his kingdom could not come or even be conceived apart from the overthrow of the established order. And he thought of this overthrow in essentially violent terms.

Nevertheless, this does not imply that, as followers of Je sus, we are to do deeds of violence. We are not to be bloody revolutionaries but to be filled with peace and power as we endure through the entire process, having our eyes fixed on the final goal of peace. Yet this end state cannot come with out the most shattering of overthrows. Like the whip which Jesus wielded in the temple at Jerusalem, there is still a whip

to be wielded upon the whole unrighteous nature of human ity—"a day that shall burn like an oven," as the prophet Malachi said. And even if the judgment begins in the house hold of God, I will rejoice.

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