Page:Southern Presbyterian Journal, Volume 13.djvu/810

 cause He did and because of all He did, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Accordingly, the Bible ends as it began with man in fellowship with God, his Father.

Here in the pictorial language of Divine revelation we see a new heaven and a new earth and the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. Here the tabernacle of God is with men and He shall dwell with them. He shall be their God wiping away all tears and sorrow and pain. In the City Foursquare there is no temple for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. Here the glory of God and the light of the Lamb obviate any need for sun or moon. Here the servants of God serve Him and see His face, and His children through Christ reign forever with their loving heavenly Father.—W. C. R.


 * 1) death ## Which Is the Christian Way of Disposing the Body After Death?

The following article appears in the Presbyterian Outlook for January 31, 1955. In this case, with due respect for our Louisville brother, we agree, in the large, with the Roman Catholic statement. In his FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL, page 139, Hans Lietzmann properly points out that the early "Christians unanimously repudiated cremation"; and, in accord with the Jewish custom, buried their dead in the catacombs. Similarly, Philip Schaff, HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 11:482-383 shows that under a vivid impression of the communion of the saints, the sacredness of the bodv (cf I Cor. 3:16; 6:19; II Cor. 6:16), and the future resurrection of the body in glory, the Greek and Roman custom of cremation was repugnant to Christian feeling. Tertullian and Cyprian expressed harsh condemnation of it. "In its stead the Church adopted the primitive Jewish usage of burial." In the New Testament the eyes of faith focus neither on the moment of death nor on any intermediate state, but on the COMING of Christ in His glory and the Resurrection Victory then bestowed.—W.C.R.

"LOUISVILLE MINISTER OPPOSED FOR STATEMENT ON CREMATION LOUISVILLE, Ky. (RNS)—The contention of a Louisville Presbyterian minister that cremation is "the most Christian way of disposing of the body after death" has drawn the fire of The Record, weekly newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville.

William A. Benfield, Jr., pastor of Highland Presbyterian Church, said in a sermon that because of the tendency "to associate the essential person with that person's body," the body after death is given an emphasis that is often more pagan than Christian.

"The New Testament teaches that the person leaves the body at death," he said. "The person is with God and is given a spirtual body." In an editorial, The Record commented that "while the reverend gentleman made no mention of the Catholic Church, everyone knows that the Catholic Church is opposed to cremation except in cases of real necessity."

"His reasoning is wide of the mark," the editorial said. "According to traditional Christianity, as opposed to paganism, it is not the 'person' that is 'with God' after death, but the soul. The soul is only one of the essential parts of the human person. The body itself awaits resurrection: reunion with the soul, through which is effected the re-establishment of the complete human person. "While modern Catholic teaching is well aware of the scientific difficulties in this belief," the editorial continued, "it insists that the resurrection of all men is bound to resemble the resurrection of Christ, 'the first-fruits of all those who have fallen asleep.'

"Now Christ's body was, in a true sense, the sa?ne after the resurrection, even though it then had spiritual qualities. 'Look at my hands and my feet,' he said, 'to be assured that it is myself; touch me, and look; a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see that I have.' "Apart from this, the very fact that Christ himself was buried—with explicit approval on his part as to the customs to be observed—should be argument enough that burial is by no means unchristian."—The Presbyterian Outlook.

Freedom and liberty are grand words, but if we are to talk intelligibly, our words must be unambiguously defined. In several preceding articles unscriptural meanings of the word freedom and the phrase free from the law have been pointed out. Chapter XX of the Confession enumerates the factors which comprise and define Christian liberty.

"The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin . . . the curse of the moral law . . . bondage to Satan . . . All which were common also to believers under the law . . ." (sec. 1).

In addition to these elements of liberty, which particularly concerns us in our individual lives, Christian liberty includes the liberty of conscience in the face of tyrannical ecclesiastical PAGE 4