Vv. 3 and 4, "Thousand years"—a prophetic number. That these are calendar years should be proven. The Prophecy must not be construed so as to contradict other statements of the Scriptures. See Ch. VIII., 2. V. 4. "The souls shall reign." Only souls are spoken of here, the souls of them that were beheaded. These will reign with Christ. Christ actually reigns now over His enemies until judgment day, Ps. 110. Where, the phophecy does not say. Chiliasts add, on earth. No doubt in heaven, since St. John speaks about souls. How shall they reign? Nothing is said about a visible reign. V. 5. "The first resurrection." A spiritual resurrection, a bringing to spiritual life. Compare John 5:25, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God." St. John is quite conversant with the sermons of Christ on this spiritual resurrection. "This is the first resurrection." The word "the" is emphasized. Matth. 27:52 is no parallel here; the descriptions do not coincide. "The rest of the dead lived not again." They remained in spiritual death. Compare vv. 12-14, which speak of the resurrection of the bodies of all the dead. v. 6, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection." On such the second death hath no power. He will live, though he die, John 5: 25-26. They shall be priests of God and of Christ, compare Rev. 1:6. As to the converting of Israel, Rom. 11:26, compare vv. 24 and 25. Rom. 11:26, "All Israel shall be saved.” v. 24-25. "If thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to na ure into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." Read of the fulfillment, Rom. 11:17-18, "Thou being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them." Is there any possibility of a union? The Lord only knows. We sincerely deplore the fact that the Lutheran Churches cannot now show a united front and according ly cannot practice church-fellowship nor open communion, nor even unite in prayer with dissenters. But in denying this to others the Synodical Conference is prompted by none other than Scriptural reasons. We judge that which is apparent, not the heart of man. We do not say others are no Christians, nor do we identify the Iowa and Ohio Synods as sects among other sects. Still we cannot regard the leaders among those Churches as weak brethren of the faith. They have been told the Scriptural doctrine, especially of conversion and predestination, and these they have fought to this very day, and have called the champions of Scriptural teaching sectarians, wolves, and apostles of Satan. And the doctrines mentioned are by no means unessential points of doctrine. If the teaching of the Ohio and Iowa Synods would rule supreme, that would be a calamity for the Lutheran Church, and it would be treachery against the divine truth on our part to say nothing against these their heresies. We must avoid all ambiguous words as well as all ambiguous actions, in wishing to remain loyal to the divine truth. And the truth of the Gospel is the most precious boon, not church-fellowship. Compare Ch. IV. 1 and 2. We are told to avoid false teachers, Rom. 16: 17, how then could we join in prayer with them? They are denying Christ, Matth. 10:33, and are not continuing in His Word, John 8:31, why should we bid them God's speed, and thus be partakers of their evil deeds? (II. John 11.) Besides, since these Synods disagree, they cannot but have different thoughts, different desires, different ideals; to unite in prayer under these circumstances would be downright hypocrisy. Compare Formula of Concord, Art. X., 10, "We," etc. It is our fervent prayer to be united also with the Ohio and Iowa Synods. But to enter into a union upon a broad basis, that is, when doctrinal differences are ignored, we dare not, we cannot, we will not do that. Then let us continue to fight for the issues, the glory of the Lord in our salvation, the undiminished comfort for those that labor and are heavy laden, the justification by faith alone. Let us not be carried about with divers and strange doctrines. "For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace." Hebr. 13:9. "We believe, teach, and confess that the whole church and individual Christians are charged whenever the avowal of the truth is required, (since the enemies of the word of God are intent upon suppressing the teaching of the Gospel) to profess the doctrine according to the Word of God publicly, not only with words, but also by their actions. And we wish to be understood at the same time even in non-essentials nothing must be conceded nor permitted to adversaries, if they by force or by cunning would tear down the true divine worship or establish idolatry." And as the cause and glory, Lord, Are Thine, not ours, do Thou afford CORRECTIONS. Page 4, line 7, "...and bid him..." should read "... and bade him." Page 17, line 26, "... then baptize..." should read "... than baptize... Page 33, line 31, "(Theology Quarterly...) should read (Theological Quarterly...)." 66 Page 24, line 6, "... their Savious," should read "... their Saviour." Few other typographical and punctuation errors can be easily corrected by the reader. |