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From the River to the Western Sea

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Coco had wondered whether a lengthy introduction would be wise, as Coco has been reliably informed on several occasions that a lengthy introduction, as well as being long-winded, normally puts potential readers off so that they do not become actual readers but merely passers-by, but having learned a lesson of late of one who did precisely that in order to avoid provoking the wrath of the censor, which in his case would have been the Roman governor of his gaol, Coco thought perhaps that he too should seek to avoid his wrath, but by placing this introductory paragraph to the introduction he has probably rather more drawn his attention to the possibility that what is about to be said may be more than a little controversial, though if you, dear reader, carefully read you will note that that there is not a single note of controversy about it at all.  The argument is clear; it is precise; it is too the point; it is not rambling; it does not stray; it is compelling, to the point and it leads to an inescapable and unavoidable conclusion which many may wish to avoid.

With that in mind then Coco wishes to report that whilst we were victualling one evening a friend made reference to the pining for the fjords, which was offered by the pet shop owner as the substantive reason for the rather undesirable state of the parrot which had been brought back in to the shop. Coco failed to hear the reference to the Monty Python sketch, but instead heard and was reminded of an ancient Chinese poem which expresses the pining of the beloved in this way:

不知乘月几人归，落月摇情满江树。
How few by moonlight find their tryst
but pine alone by stranded trees.

Zhang Ruoxu (660-720 AD) wrote this delightful work quite some years ago. There is a copy here on this blog, but it is certain that there are many other copies of it available on line. You can hear in the poem the longing of the beloved for the return of her husband. We hear the same expression of longing at the end of the Song of Songs, where Solomon put these words into the mouth of the Beloved after her husband has departed:

Make haste, my beloved,
And be like a gazelle
Or a young stag
On the mountains of spices.
Song of Songs 8

There is delight even in listening to this Chinese ode read in a tongue which you do not understand for you can hear the rhythms and cadences of it so clearly and artfully worked in the construction of the lines. Even when we take into account that mistakes may well be made in a modern reading, for the expression of languages changes over the years. If, as it has been suggested, that the French spoken in Quebec is much more likely to sound like the French that was spoken by the French kings than the French that spoken in Paris today, then the language and tones of the English language as spoken in New England may well be much more appropriate for the expression of Shakespeare than any of our contemporary British dialects. We only need to remember that Summer is ycumen in is not a song for the ending of spring but rather for the height of summer to know that we cannot take for granted that we would correctly understand all that was said and written, nor indeed know how to vocalise and stress our own language as it was spoken even five hundred years ago correctly – we must remember that the past is a foreign country – but even allowing for such difficulties this poem as read by Google in modern Mandarin, and not the Mandarin of thirteen hundred years ago, contains much to show the beauty of the work and the skill of the writer. How much more it would if we could but hear his own contemporaries intone it.

But it was not of the references to the pining that came to mind, but rather more to where the gentleman had gone. These words come immediately before the beloved expresses her pining:

斜月沉沉藏海雾，碣石潇湘无限路。
The moon sinks down into the mist
which parts the rivers from the seas.

Have you ever thought about what it is that separates the river from the sea? Where does the river cease to be the river and become the sea? We know that moving downstream we must travel from the river to the sea but we cannot say where that transition takes place, we only know that has taken place after it has occurred. We may want to say that the translation happens when the water becomes salty, but that does not explain all rivers. Many may indeed become salty, by reason of tidal influx long before they reach the sea. Some are so powerful in their flow that the sea itself is fresh water where they leave the land. The poet alone can answer the question for us. There is a mist, not just any kind of mist but a special one into which the moon sinks down. It is this that suggests to the poet where to find the the boundary between the river and the sea. And so we may say in passing from the river to the sea we must enter this mist.

From the river to the sea has taken a new meaning today, but we see that the poet Zhang Ruoxu used the expression a thousand years ago. Indeed when we enquire further we find that the expression is older than that. It was first used two thousand years before, earlier even than when our beloved Shulammite yearned: Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices. We find it in Moses where he is speaking to the Hebrews in the wilderness:

Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory.
Deuteronomy 11:24

This is, you may note, not simply a reference to the Jordan, but beyond the Jordan to the River, that is to say, the Euphrates. It was not until Solomon that that became a reality, as we read in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel:

So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. 1 Kings 4
So [Solomon] reigned over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. 2 Chronicles 9

That the land of the Philistines is specifically mentioned here is significant and entirely congruent with the special place that they had. The Philistines were not to be one of the nations to be removed by Joshua from the land. That special place continues to be seen, though obscurely, in the Chronicles from time to time.

Whether or not the present occupants of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath are descendants of the people who lived there three thousand years ago is not part of this discussion. They may be, they may be not. There have been many movements of population in the nations from the River to the Western Sea, some voluntary but many involuntary in the intervening period; we would have great difficulty to unravel the knot of past generations. It is however clear that there are a people who occupy this place.

So we see that from the river to the sea is an ancient phrase, not a modern one. We have seen that including our first record of it being used that it has been used in three different ways, and Coco is sure that there are many other ways in which in it has been and may be used other than these. Where it has reference however to a location what we need to note is not the actual location of the land but what it represents. For the Hebrews it represented the fulfilment of a promise made to Abraham, expressed as a land flowing with milk and honey:

Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. Deuteronomy 11:8-12

Moses here contrasts the land with the land of Egypt out of which they had come. What he is expressing is the same longing which has been in the hearts of men since the day on which Adam fell. It is a longing for a better place. We find Lamech saying: This one [Noah] will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed Genesis 5:29. It was not however to be as Lamech thought or hoped for Noah saw the greatest cataclysm that this world has ever yet seen since the fall.

Adam toiled as he sowed the seed in the field, just as the Hebrews did in Egypt. Work, which had been given for our good, had become a hardship. We became slaves to it finding in it toil rather than pleasure – though let Coco not be accused of saying that there is no element at all of pleasure in work. There is still a remnant of it for those who are able to find it. The people in Egypt longed to be released from the toil of their slavery to Pharaoh. Do we not today also? The expression of this longing is found in Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home. It is not just the slaves’ expression of longing to be free, but rather a reference to the Lord’s chariot coming to take Elijah out of this world to a better place. It is an expression of the desire of all men, the longing to be home, the hiraeth of the Welsh.

So we are brought back to the pining not to the pining of the dead parrot but rather to that of our Chinese lady for the return of her mariner husband, and to that of the Shulammite for her king to come as a gazelle over the mountains of spices. The Chinese lady saw the river as a barrier for her mariner. The Shulammite saw the mountains in an entirely different way. They are delightful mountains, they are mountains of spices. What a contrast, but the contrast derives from the difference in their relationship with their Lord and who he is. For the Shulammite he is the supreme commander. He is in charge of all things. Nothing could ever really separate her from his love for all things are his. We hear this expressed at the end of the John’s revelation. So we come back to John as well, who provided Coco with the excuse for the long introduction. The king speaks:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.

And just as Moses had done, John adds a reference to obedience: Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. And provides a warning (Moses did also, but Coco did not include above, if you read the words in the book you will quickly find it): But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
Revelation 22

Three thousand years ago the Shulammite cried out, as a representative of the people of God, expressing the pining of our hearts for the return of the king:

Make haste, my beloved,
And be like a gazelle
Or a young stag
On the mountains of spices.

A thousand years later the Lord replied: “Surely I am coming quickly.” (v20)

Truly, he is coming to take us, not to the land from the River to the Western Sea, but to the land that is actually flowing with what the milk and honey of Moses represent, to his eternal kingdom. In that day the pining shall be over. We shall work with him in work that is no more toil, and we rest with him.

Amen! Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Never too late

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It was a warm afternoon when Elmer and Wilma drove up the mountain from Brenzone through Prada. As they drove behind another tourist, whom they recognised as a tourist from the British number plates, for some reason his thoughts turned to his elder brothers, Barney and Homer. He missed them both, though they were quite different both in the characters and their careers.

He had lost Barney some thirty years earlier to malaria which he had contracted whilst working with indigenous tribes in the Amazon basin. He and Wilma had nursed Barney in his last months at their home and then in Elmer’s clinic in their home town, Milan, in Georgia. It was the name Milan had initially brought them across to Lombardy, but it was the coffee and gelato, which never failed to please that brought them back year after year.

Homer had taken a different path. Early in life he studied in seminary and taken up a pastoral role in a church simply known as Bethel not far from the family home. Upon the retirement of the senior pastor, he took up that position and remained in it for the next forty-five years. Upon his retirement the congregation asked him to remain with them, which he did supporting the new pastor in whatever way he could for a further ten years. Elmer spoke warmly of his elder brother at the funeral celebration only a few months earlier. He had few words to say however as he strongly believed that both Barney and Homer had wasted their lives and though he had often said it to them, he did not wish any hint of that to be heard by the outside world.

Intellectually he regarded them as his superiors, and not simply because they were his elder brothers. He had often tested them out and had never found them wanting in their thinking and reasoning when they were in possession of the correct data, which most often they were. They were also, and especially Homer, ready and able to show him where his own thinking and reasoning was deficient. Homer often corrected him to strengthen his arguments even when his arguments were counter to Homer’s own beliefs. Elmer had greatly valued their help for it had greatly benefitted him in his academic medical work. Homer was never slow to praise where it was due, and so was always quick to read his papers. In addition to giving appropriate praise, he would point out where his argument was weak, or the evidence he had provided did not support quite as well as he had hoped what he wanted to say. Elmer puzzled at times over this as Homer had had absolutely no medical training whatsoever, but when he examined matters again, Homer was never off the mark.

Elmer was ten years younger than the two of them. As a teenager he had watched them grow into men and make their choices. They had all grown up in Milan at the local SB congregation. His two brothers had been baptised when they were twelve, but it was some years later that the faith they professed began to take shape in their lives and influences their choices. Their behaviour changed in their late teens as they became serious, committed believers. At twelve Elmer had refused to be baptised. Despite his brother’s efforts to persuade him, he wanted to play ball and the training matches were Sunday morning. The Sunday morning training was frowned upon by most of the community, but there were enough families who participated to make it happen. It also resulted in better team play and consequently more wins for Elmer’s team.

Leaving college Elmer went to medical school in the north states where he obtained distinctions in all of his exams. He had planned to be simply a local doctor, but his time of study changed his thinking. He went on to become qualified as a surgeon and then took an academic position. In his thirties he became a professor at which point he decided that as to be a local doctor had been his target, that is what he would become. Such was his reputation however that his colleagues, both local and international, persuaded him that he should not do that. He therefore compromised.

It was that compromise that led him and Wilma to set up the clinic in Milan. It would be a new type of clinic, offering both local medical services as well as conducting specialist research and surgery. It was ambitious, but his academic community supported him in it, as did his local community when they eventually understood what he was trying to do. It was in this clinic that Barney had spent his last few weeks.

Barney’s presence in the clinic had had a big impact upon the staff. He was quite different to Elmer. He knew how sick he was. He knew that he was dying, yet he had a quiet confidence in the God who raises from the dead. Though Milan was a religious community most of its inhabitants would not be looking forward to death preferring to find a way, any way, to put it off. Barney was expressing what few could say: Komm! du süße Todesstunde! which some of the Lutherans recognised but not many others. Some of the staff tried to talk with Elmer about this, but Elmer dismissed in the most polite way possible, but privately saying to himself: Nonsense, Barney.

Elmer had often rebuffed his brothers who had questioned him about his world view. He could not argue against them successfully, he knew that, and as related above Homer when pointing out the weaknesses of his argument would show him how to strengthen it. Even when he did follow Homer’s advice, Homer still managed to unpick the argument! Elmer dismissed their thoughts of eternity as religious phantasy. He would do what he did in his way for the good of those around him.

Then it happened. A vehicle coming down the road, misjudged the road as much as the British driver did in the car ahead of them. There was a passenger in the car who had taken much of the force of the impact. Elmer stopped.

The British driver got out, and Elmer shouted: I am a doctor. You need help?

Clearly they did. Elmer moved over to the vehicles as quickly as he could where he realised that they must get the passenger out without any delay. The other vehicle had to be moved back. The passenger, a young lad of barely sixteen years was dazed and bled greatly. Elmer tried to staunch the flow. Wílma ran back to bring tourniquets from their car in the hope they might be of use, but too little could be done.

After a short while the young boy opened his eyes. His father’s countenance brightened, but Elmer knew otherwise.  The boy spoke only briefly: Don’t worry about me; I’m with Jesus. It was the last moment of his breath. In the thrall of death the young fight, but cannot overcome. The old acquiesce.

Elmer reflected: If the British car had not been there, I would have been in that same seat as the young boy. If the car in front had not been British, the boy would have not have been in that seat. He had come from Milan to Milan to hear what his two brothers had told him for sixty years from a boy who was only a little older than he had been when he had stopped listening to his brothers and had dismissed their teaching, from the same boy who had now died in his place. He remembered what John had written to Gaius: Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. It burned through him. In his life he had focussed simply on prosperity and being in health, he had not seen before that John premised Gaius’s external well-being upon that of his soul. Elmer knew he had neglected, even rejected, the well-being of, his soul.

It was not Barney and Homer who had wasted their lives as Elmer now saw so very clearly. He returned to Bethel to be baptised, and to follow Jesus just as Barney and Elmer had done.

Based upon a true story….whose origin Coco has forgotten

Darwin’s Finches

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It was the proposal of the American Ornithological Society to rename some of the native birds of their homeland for reasons apparently dismissed by their counterpart body the National Audubon Society as reported by the BBC (US ornithological society says dozens of birds will be renamed) that prompted Coco to write. Once again it is evidence of a failure on the part of modern society to face its history – the journey it has taken to get where we are today – and it ready preparedness to efface its history in order to give the appearance of not participating in the sins of its fathers.

Why should the thick-billed longspur not be known as rhynchophanes mccownii (the Thick Billed Longspur of McCown rather like the Kyle of Lochalsh except it looks like a sparrow to this non-ornithologist)? Why should the names of Wilson’s warbler and snipe be changed? Or is it that what is really being said here is that we should suppress the names of all who are called Wilson or McCown in order to completely eradicate any memory of anything untoward that those of those names, and many others, did in our history? Perhaps Coco’s suggestion is merely an innocuous conspiracy theory.

McCown's Longspur

The Lord spoke of those who seek to efface history in these terms: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets*.

If Darwin had known what we know today he would not have been so quick to label his finches as multiple differentiated species evolved from a common ancestor, but rather a single species of birds as diverse in their morphological appearance as humanity. His comment that ‘two species may be often seen climbing about the flowers of the great cactus-trees; but all the other species of this group of finches, mingled together in flocks, feed on the dry and sterile ground of the lower districts’ should have alerted him to ignore the conclusions of Gould, which would only mislead him further. He did not benefit from contemporary genetic work nor the field work of the Grants so we should not treat him too harshly; he was as much a man of his day as McCown, Aubudon and Wilson. Perhaps though if Coco were to wish to efface our history, and the impact of the Darwinism in the provocation of at least some of the atrocities of the twentieth century Coco may wish to remove the epitaph of Darwin’s Finches, but let it stand as a witness to the folly of contemptorary(sic.) thought on our origins.

The witness of those who built the tombs did indeed fall upon themselves for it was not many days later that they were instrumental in bringing to pass what had long been foretold, the death of the Innocent One for we who are guilty. God accepted his sacrifice for us and raised Jesus from the dead. We cannot erase our past, but must face up to it, acknowledge it to him, and he will blot it out, efface it in the blood of Jesus.

Matthew 23:29-31, 32-36
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Luke 11:47-51
Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.

Antisemitic?

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After Paul had left Titus in Crete to complete a very necessary task in the churches Titus found that there was no little discouragement and some opposition to the work. Paul therefore wrote a letter to him in which he included clear instructions and warnings. When we read the letter it is obvious that Paul intended it not just for Titus but also for the churches with whom Titus was working. He wanted them to know that the work Titus had been given to do had been given with apostolic authority and therefore from the Lord himself. Whether you accept that latter point or not is neither here nor there, as we shall see in another instance shortly, it was enough that Titus had apostolic authority for his work. Paul had some difficult things to say to Titus, and in order to avoid any charge of xenophobia (at least so I infer), he enlists one of the Cretans’ own poets to make a point that would have been obvious to anyone, and was probably the root cause of the difficulties and discouragements that Titus faced when he first began. Coco shall not quote it here, you, dear reader, may easily look it up. In itself it and what it says are not relevant to what Coco is going to say here, but the importance of the manner of its use should not be overlooked.

There is much division in this world, and particularly in recent weeks, one of those divisions has been brought, in a tangible and most brutal way, to the surface. The astonishment, and perhaps irony, is that whilst part of it is called anti-semitism, the division is between two semitic peoples, the peoples who now inhabit the land of Philistia and the inheritors of Canaan. A similar division between the descendants of Ham and of Shem resulted in the well-known encounter of the then future king, David with the giant of Gath, Goliath. It was also the reason that an older and proven warrior David was not permitted to march with the armies of the Philistines against the armies of Saul, the king of Israel.

Some five hundred years later the prophet Jeremiah was raised up in Israel and pronounced some words which in part at least bear witness to the cause of something of what we see in the world today and which suggests perhaps reasons for the persistence of this attitude for the past two and a half thousand years:

I shall scatter you to the nations….and you shall become a byword to be spoken against.

Now had Coco have said these words, even though clearly Coco would not be able to put them into effect, then you could rightly accuse him of antisemitism, in the narrow sense of being anti-Jew, for they were spoken primarily against the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, though there were people of the other ten tribes mixed in among them, and the charge may stick if you could also prove intent to stir up hatred, except that the words do not indicate any attempt to stir up hatred at all if you read them carefully. If hatred is found in the people towards those who were exiled among them, the cause is not the scattering, nor the utterance of the words but rather it derives from the hearts of those to which the people were scattered, not from the mouth of the utterer of the words.  

But Coco did not say these things, they were spoken the one of Israel’s own prophets, hence my reference above to Titus’s work among the Cretans, and Jeremiah was merely reporting what the Jehovah had said to him. You will find them in the 25th chapter of Jeremiah. Again, whether you accept the latter point is neither here nor there, it was a Jewish prophet who spoke those words against his own people.

There will be some who would say that this simply proves how bad the OT religion was, but no, if you understand it incorrectly then yes, but read this carefully. The Lord is simply setting out what the inevitable consequences will be. This is hinted in the Jonah’s account of his attempt to escape his assignment to Nineveh. During the storm the sailors berated Jonah for not calling upon his god to save them. When the Jews were scattered to the nations, of course the nations would understand that they had been scattered because they had been unfaithful to their god. That would be the inevitable consequence for in any animistic religion if you did not appease your gods then bad things will happen to you, and the only reason for not appeasing them is that you are yourself a bad person. There is a truth hidden in this partial mis-understanding but we shall not explore that here. The nations, in their own minds and understanding of the way the world worked, apart from any possibility of the presence of xenophobia, would come to the conclusion that these people, who had betrayed their own god, are to be a byword to be spoken against. And that attitude would be entirely in line with their own moral code.

We need to read on in Jeremiah to understand more fully what is happening. The nations, whilst thinking they were right, were actually wrong. The attitudes that would grow up among them would be bad attitudes. The religion of the OT says exactly that: the stranger within your gates shall be as one of you. Moses made that very clear in every way. The stranger would be permitted even to take part in the Passover feast. The religion of the God of Israel is to benefit the whole world not just one nation.

As we read on we find that though the attitude adopted by the nations is entirely predictably, the Lord is not pleased with it. At the end of the 26th chapter of Jeremiah we read:

He shall judge

The prophet Habakkuk is troubled in much the same way by the wicked actions of wicked men, who are destroying the innocent in the most violent of ways they could imagine. Again however the Lord shows him that the actions of these men, though necessary, shall not go unpunished. They shall give an account of what they do. Notice the word necessary. It was necessary that the people be scattered in Jeremiah’s day. It was necessary that the Chaldeans build an empire in Habakkuk’s day. Later it was necessary that Greece and Rome build their empires but once the purpose of each had been accomplished in the providence of God, they gave way the next.

We have in our day seen actions undertaken by men against men which, from whatever perspective you look, are wicked. We can also, from all perspectives see necessary reasons, which may be contradictory reasons, for the actions taken, just as the pagan nations of Jeremiah’s day would reach their conclusions concerning the scattered people. We may be, and we must in some respects be, incorrect in our conclusions for we do not see everything that takes, and has taken, place, nor do we see into the hearts of the men who initiated or performed the actions.

We know this however, that those who take part in this wickedness shall be brought to account. Both Jeremiah and Habakkuk, having had to announce a righteous judgement on the nation of Israel, were then shown that the executors of that judgement would themselves be held to account for the wicked things that they did as they executed that judgement.

It is beyond our understanding how this will be done, but it shall, in the words, which we sing to the Londonderry Air (perhaps Coco should say Derry Air) written by William Young Fullerton (1857-1932)):

I cannot tell how he will win the nations,
How he will claim his earthly heritage,
How satisfy the needs and aspirations
Of east and west, of sinner and of sage.

But we know this, Peter saw an even greater wicked act than ever Jeremiah or Habakkuk saw and reported it in these terms, echoing words that Joseph had spoken to his brothers some twenty five hundred years earlier:

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it … Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ … Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.

This Jesus whom you with wicked hands handed over to the Gentiles, God has raised from the dead, and now commands you to repent. God intended their wicked act for good. It was necessary that this wicked act take place, just as we mentioned earlier of others though the reasons for the necessity are partially obscured from our view, but if he can turn the most wicked of acts for good, what will he not do for the good of his people?

The Prepared Piano

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Had we not known what was coming the backstage sounds may have indicated that the music that was to follow would be of, shall we say, an interesting nature. If you have ever listened to the Lord Denning of the now defunct Third programme in its modern guise, Tom Service, you will understand that we can all be composers, it is simply a matter of rearranging the notes, as we were to hear in the first two pieces for prepared pianoforte, into a new order to produce a new work.

The orchestra handled the spiky passages quite well in the opinion of this auditor though his opinion is little really to go by, and even managed to pull off some eighth tone shifts without batting an eyelid. The pianist made valiant efforts – when the orchestra seemed to be taking it too easily she came in with great gusto, increasing the velocity only for the orchestra to calm things down again no sooner had she left, so to speak, the stage. This behaviour was quite consistent and seemed not at all out of place despite it perhaps being felt to be not appropriate for a fully written out score as we had for these two pieces. The skill of the orchestra, in the hands of the conductor, not to forget that of the pianist, was amply demonstrated by these rapid and frequent changes.

The serenade for strings (Elgar), which followed, was in quite a different mood to the prepared piano pieces. The strings were much more comfortable here. There were no inadvertent eighth tones; the smooth lyricism and close romantic harmonies contrasted almost beyond measure with some of the classical jumps and leaps that Mozart had required of them.

The preparation of the pianoforte by the way had been beautifully done. It was a rich black in colour with at least a thirty centimetre polish, tuned to perfection in equal temperament. The only puzzle I had was as the concerti were in C minor and Eb major, why had they not prepared the piano with Mozart’s tuning?

As for Tom Session’s contention, the two concerti do indeed demonstrate that it is simply a matter of rearranging the notes, but it requires a Mozart to successfully achieve it, the rest of us are much more like the man on the Pirschheide tramline who though he knows the train time tables forwards, backwards and crabwise, cannot plan a journey for you from Zwiesel to Aachen. Mozart on the other hand can take Twinkle, twinkle, and with it show you the Milky Way.

The Fall of Florence

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Saturday had an interesting evening, Beethoven, Ireland and Honegger. Daniele Gatti played Beethoven’s 4th concerto in a pleasant way that drew you in to the conflict that he portrayed. After a generous interval and Ireland’s Concertino pastorale for strings we were treated to what I had thought, and those of you who know anything about Honegger also would also think, would be quite a challenging piece, Liturgique, symphony nr.3.

Somewhat astonishingly however It proved however to be as lyrical as Ireland’s pastorale.

Directed Energy Weapons

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There is talk recently of what is claimed to be new, and that these new things are only available in two locations one of which is Nevada (you only need listen to the few of seconds). How much truth is in the claim is not to be decided by the reference Coco makes to it, nor is Coco’s reference to it to be taken as supportive, or otherwise, of the claim that has been made.

It seems to have been forgotten that all weapons are directed energy weapons. We only need to consider a simple stone. David took five stones from a brook when he walked out as Israel’s champion to match the Goliath of the Philistines. He also took with him that which would make the stone deadly and effective, a piece of cloth.

David, though a young man, knew, though perhaps he did not think of it in these terms, that the throw of a stone at a target would cause damage to the target (and possibly also to the stone), but it would not often cause enough damage to stun or kill the target due to an insufficiency of energy in the stone. When the stone was brought to an abrupt halt in collision with the target the kinetic energy in the stone had to be dissipated in some way, preferably in the hunting game by being absorbed by the body of the prey. The impact of the stone and the resultant absorption of energy may break bones and damage the flesh. The greater the energy to be absorbed the greater the damage would be. Hence the piece of cloth was to be used.

The transformation of the cloth into a sling would propel the stone at a much greater speed towards the target than would be possible simply by using the human arm. A simple doubling of the speed of the stone would increase the energy carried, and therefore directed towards the target, fourfold. As is well understood the energy carried increases as the square of the speed, so a threefold increase in the speed of the stone yields a nine-fold increase in the energy carried. David could easily have outstripped an Australian bowler with his sling, but that sort of speed was probably unnecessary to topple the giant.

It was his adept use of a simple but effective directed energy weapon that brought the giant down.

Every other weapon is of the same class, though they use different techniques and engineering methods to direct the energy payload towards the target, it is the dissipation of that energy payload at the target that achieves the (un)desirable object.

We however do not use directed energy weapons, but rather the Word:

10 Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. 2 But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. 2 Corinthians

Supererogation

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It was when an evangelical said to Coco, the grace we gave for lunch counts for the coffee and cake that was taken later that Coco understood that despite the words of the partially unreformed confession; found in, inter alia, the Thirty-nine Articles, not the Steps, which are of an altogether different sort, of later fame, which states:

  1. Of Works of Supererogation
    Voluntary Works besides, over and above, God’s Commandments, which they call Works of Supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety: for by them men do declare, that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake, than of bounden duty is required: whereas Christ saith plainly When ye have done all that are commanded to you, say, We are unprofitable servants.
Thomas Cranmer 1553 paragraph 13 in the 42 Articles*

there are those who do think in supererogatory terms in the reformed world.

This lead him on to understand that the whole of his justification in fact rests upon supererogatory works.

In simple terms works of supererogation are those good works, if good works can be done, which are above and beyond those works which are required to gain entrance into eternal felicity, whereas a shortfall in those works will lead to the inevitable eternal morosity, woe, disaster and destruction. This excess of good works, not being required by the performer thereof, may then be appropriated for the use of one who has a deficiency of good works providing the claimant meets certain conditions. More often than not the ability and right to dispense the benefit of such supererogatory works lay in the hands of a clergy who were largely ignorant, whether wilfully or by reason of a lack of teaching, of the teaching of the Word of God on the matter of good works and the manner in which justification, and therefore entrance into eternal felicity, is obtained, and lying as it was in the hands of men, the dispensation was open to abuse by reason of the error, formerly described by the words, as respect of persons, meaning that the favours were given to those who provided the best return or consideration to the benefactor.

As Moses says:

[The Lord said to me]: ” 5 ‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people; for all the earth is mine. 6 And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” Exodus 19

And again: ” 3 ‘If you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments, and perform them, 4 then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land. 7 You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.

9 For I will look on you favourably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new. 11 I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.’ Leviticus 26

As may be understood by an examination of these texts, the benefits that would accrue to those who kept the commandments of God were inestimable. It is the keeping of the commandments that we are, in terms used by the article above, bound to give to God. That is our duty. Moses summed it up in this was:

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29

Paul summed this up in this way: For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” Romans 10:5

Five or so hundred years later a verdict was given on whether they had been able to keep his commandments, though as we read on in Moses it quickly become clear how far short they are falling:

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. Psalm 14

It is said frequently said in theological studies, that God only needs to say something once for us to know that it is true, but so important was it that we would understood that this is divine verdict, and in case we did not understand the first time, David provides a slightly different version of the same thing:

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good. 2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. Psalm 53

There is no one who even reaches this low standard of simply keeping the commandments that he has given – that is the rendering to God what we are bound to do – let alone anyone to be able to perform works in excess of that, save one, who in the fullness of time came into this world, and in coming said:

5 [Therefore, when he came into the world, he said:] “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come – in the volume of the book it is written of me – to do your will, O God.’ ” Hebrews 10 quoting David in Psalm 40

This one had no need of any of his good works, for he was in himself righteous, and so in doing the will of God all of his works are in a sense above and beyond what were required for him to be accounted righteous and therefore supererogatory. It is his works that give us our righteousness:

17 For if by the one man’s offence death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offence judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Romans 5

The benefit of the one man’s obedience is inestimable, and as may be seen, even from this short passage, where Paul speaks of ‘reigning in life’, to be as great if not greater than the benefits of which Moses spoke. Paul spoke elsewhere in these terms of the benefit which accrues to the justified:

16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5

He also here explains further how this came about. He speaks of it in terms of an exchange. This is the great exchange. Our sin was not imputed to us, but to Christ who in paying the price for sin, enabled God the just to justify the sinner by imputing the righteousness of Christ to him. He takes our sin and he gives us his righteousness.

To the opponents of this doctrine of justification by faith alone without works this sounds as if God is being unrighteous, It appears as if he were letting the sinner off, but Paul answers this objection in the following way, without in anyway diminishing the seriousness of sin and the need for justice to be done:

21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3

It is the death of Christ that satisfies the righteous requirement of the law, and propitiates God towards us. As we read above: God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

And later, in accordance to the verdict long ago announced by David and implicit already in Moses, that it is impossible for men to establish their own righteousness due to their inability to keep his commandments he tells us that those who do attempt to do so fall into greater peril:

3 For [Israel] being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Romans 10

It is a great peril to fall short of God’s requirements and to fail to give him what is due, but it is an even greater peril to then refuse to submit to the righteousness that God has provided to make up the shortfall in our own putative righteousness.

Now Coco is fully aware that this is not what the proponents of supererogation mean by their doctrine, but if they can take and twist the meaning of the doctrine of justification by faith alone to their own ends, then Coco is not above taking a word that they use to instil it with new meaning entirely aligned with Augustinian, Reformed, Pauline, New and Old Testament Biblical doctrine, as Moses said of Abraham who coming before Moses had no opportunity to keep the law of Moses, therefore it cannot be that law that justifies, but who was, as Moses testifies, justified:

6 And [Abraham] believed in JHWH(the LORD), and he accounted it to him for righteousness. Genesis 15

We only need to look at Abraham’s life to know that he, as we do, fell short of God’s standard, nevertheless the one who is just justified Abraham on the same basis that he justifies us, by the work of the Redeemer who had been promised long ago to Adam and who would come twenty-five hundred years after Abraham to gain the righteousness that the LORD had imputed to Abraham and to all of his people.

Believe, therefore, on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Acts 16

* ¶ Woorkes of Superero∣gation.

[13] VOluntarie woorkes besides, ouer, and a∣boue Goddes commaundementes, whiche thei cal woorkes of Supererogation, can∣not be taught without arrogancie, and iniquitie. For by theim menne dooe declare, that thei dooe not onely rendre to GOD, asmoche as thei are bounde to dooe, but that thei dooe more for his sake, then of bounden duetie is required: Where∣as Christe saieth plainelie: when you haue dooen al that are commaunded you, saie, we be vnprofi∣table seruauntes.

Church of England. [[London]: Richardus Craftonus [sic] typographus Regius excudebat. Londini, mense Iunij. An. do. M .D.LIII [1553]]. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, 2011, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A00041.0001.001/1:2.13?rgn=div2;view=fulltext, accessed 23 September 2023.

AI – what can go wrong?

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Having heard and read about AI chat machines and recommended their use by others, when the BBC mentioned one (Elusive Ernie) in particular Coco thought Coco should look.

Coco was dismayed to find that it was not open to the public but only to registered users. Coco supposes Coco should not be surprised nor concerned by that if it were not that it suggests that the controllers may have more interest in what Coco as a user might be thinking than the answer that the machine provides. So, Coco thought Coco should look at the terms and conditions before proceeding. It was a most revealing and uplifting experience. Unlike other channels where your behaviour as a user may violate their policies, and lead to an exclusion from that market place, it would be impossible to find yourself in such a position with this application, you could never be in breach of their terms and conditions. The general principles read, in (not-British) English:

“Users can use individual services of Baidu’s various channels and products. When users use Baidu’s individual services, the user’s usage behavior (sic!) is deemed to be in accordance with the terms of service of the individual service and the various announcements issued by Baidu in the individual service. agree.”

(用户可以使用百度各个频道、产品的单项服务，当用户使用百度各单项服务时，用户的使用行为视为其对该单项服务的服务条款以及百度在该单项服务中发出的各类公告的同意。)

How refreshing, it matters not what your actual behaviour is, it will always be deemed to conform to the terms of service of the platform. Of course Coco shall be willing to agree to such a condition. It is a pity that ‘agree’ lacked a capital A and an exclamation mark, but hey-ho, it is not British English.  

It seemed however rather an odd thing to include in your general principles. Now in many a state which lacks the checks and balances that are designed to ensure that each department of that state is accountable to another – rather as in the paper, stone, scissors game – we hear the words that are quite similar to this: The authorities will always act in accordance with the law by not violating any individual’s rights and within the constraints placed upon them by the legal system.

It sounds very good. That is exactly what we expect, until we look more closely and find that the words mean only exactly what the speaker wanted them to mean, knowing that the auditor would understand them in a different way. We are in the Looking Glass world again of Alice and Lewis Carroll.

There are others who distort the meaning of words too in a much more important context. The most important question we have, perhaps you should ask your favourite AI tool the question to see whether it understands the distinction, is How can a man be right with God?  Coco heard recently a presentation which included a section about this matter in relation to temple worship recently. The speaker said we visit temples in order to make offerings which are acceptable to the deity and to bring us closer to him. How right he is, yet he missed the obvious conclusion that if there is a need for us to make such an offering, then we are coming from the position of being unacceptable to the deity (he would not have denied this). If we are unacceptable in ourselves to the deity, then the offerings which we bring, being tainted by us, will also be unacceptable. We find ourselves then between a rock and a hard place. In order to offer an acceptable sacrifice we must first be justified, but to be justified we must offer an acceptable sacrifice.

It is probably that what the speaker was averring to was that by joining in this process we could incrementally approach the deity; each of our efforts combined with a sacrifice would move us closer to justification or improve our justification. But even if this is the case it is not a hare and tortoise race, where motion takes place, it is more akin to approaching the speed of light for the closer you get to it, the more slowly you accelerate with the result that you never arrive – this is asymptotic behaviour, but don’t worry if you don’t understand the meaning of the word, that one does not matter. Some seem to speak of justification as if it contained shades of grey, where you can move from being unjustified to justified imperceptibly changing on the way (an imperceptible change is not an actual change is it? If a change has taken place it must be in some way be possible to perceive it – but that is a different discussion), whereas the reality is either/or, true/false. There is no middle ground. You are either justified or not justified. Even the third Scottish verdict of not proven does not contradict that.

What is required then? To do what no man could do, God has himself done in that he provided the acceptable sacrifice, and in his own person died on a Roman cross that we might not perish but live. It is his death accounted for us, that provides justification for us. A once and for all act, which justifies the sinner before God.

As Coco suggested, ask your favourite AI the question. If the reply is not we are justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.¹ And if it do not reply in that manner, it does not matter how well it answers questions about world leaders so-called, whether Alexander the Great, Julius Cæsar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon B, H Wilson or any of our contemporary leaders, or what else happened on the day that George III was born, let it be anathema to you.

¹ Galatians 2:16

Venn diagrammed

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Venn diagrammes often convey important information in quite straightforward, easy to understand ways. Take this one from TR for example, it illustrates clearly some of the issues and benefits of a mixed work-life pattern that involves working from home and in the office. They call it hybrid working:

Hybrid working

As may easily be understood from the diagramme, when you are in the office you should spend your time planning your social activities, and when you are at home you should eat well. In both places you should set practical goals and manage your time in order to achieve these goals, whilst presumably at the same time, though it is not said, doing enough to satisfy your reviewer that some work has been done.

That was the view in August 2021. A quite different view was given just a year earlier in September 2020 by the Salo organisation in this diagramme:

Worklife balance

There is clearly no overlap between work and giving to the community. All those so-called community and charitable activities of an organisation are therefore ruled out and can only, on the basis of this understanding, be understood as self-congratulatory tools of the organisation.

In a similar vein we have a contrast between home and family and well-being. There is no overlap, with the suggestion that if you wish to have a home and family you must accept the consequences of poor health.

Both of these different expressions of the overlap between the home and the office, which some call the work-life balance, but here seems more like the worklife balance, arose as a result of the consequences of the coronavirus infection which had consequences across the globe. Coco rather thinks that the designers of the diagrammes somehow fell short of their target and missed the point. The prize surely however for one of the best Venn diagrammes however must go to the designer of this one:

Misplaced values

which was published seven years earlier in August 2014, and quickly reported both (sic!) by The Baron, The Poke, BMO to Coco (on the 22nd), and several other organisations.

It shows quite clearly that, as every reporter knows, the facts must not get in the way of a good story.

It also perhaps helps one to understand why in 2018 (13 July) there were ten reasons, [the video appears to fail on the webpage, but may be found here on Youtube]

Ten reasons

but by August 2023 there were only five reasons to join the business, none of which actually relate to the business itself.

Five reasons

The images used above may be copyright, so please be careful with them. They have all been used in the public space, so Coco considers that their reproduction here is fair use, and is in any event for educational purposes only to help the reader understand how things can go wrong with Venn diagrammes. Of course in saying this Coco assumes that the designers of the diagrammes did not intend to convey the message that they do in fact convey. In the manner of a Hitchcock movie, Coco may be mistaken.

Could any more be said?

Only a reporter truly knows.

Whilst not many disabilities disqualify, dysanagnosic dyslexia must surely of the proof-reader a disqualifier be.