Baptism Verses
March 31, 2008
These are the verses referred to during the sermon on baptism yesterday.
Death is Dead!
March 27, 2008
On Sunday we sang the great hymn, “Crown Him with Many Crowns” by Matthew Bridges. Here is one of the verses:
Crown Him the Lord of life,
Who triumphed over the grave,
And rose victorious in the strife
For those He came to save.
His glories now we sing,
Who died, and rose on high,
Who died eternal life to bring,
And lives that death may die.
Jesus died and now lives “that death may die.” This week I’ve meditated on that biblical theme, looking at passages throughout the history of redemption that discuss the coming of death into the world, God’s plan to overcome death, Jesus’ victory over death, and the final destruction of death. Here is a selection of key passages on that theme. Read them - and rejoice that death will die.
Genesis 2:16-17 16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (The first mention of death in the Bible).
Genesis 3:4-6 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Genesis 3:21 The LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Implying a death took place, possibly the first sacrifice).
Genesis 5:5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
Genesis 22:10-13 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. (The death of a substitute instead of Isaac; this imagery continues to develop in the sacrificial system described in Exodus and Leviticus.)
Isaiah 53:10-12 It was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (The death of the suffering Servant in the place of the transgressors.)
Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces. (A key verse for the New Testament authors; see below.)
John 11:25-26 “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (Jesus prophesies the death of death.)
John 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Luke 24:5-7 “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
Hebrews 2:14-15 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
2 Timothy 1:10 Our Savior Christ Jesus . . . abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Romans 5:20-21 Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:3-5 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Romans 6:9-11 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:24-26 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
1 Corinthians 15:53-54 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (Quoting Isaiah 25:8 above)
Revelation 20:14 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Again, an allusion to Isaiah 25:8)
May we indeed crown Him the Lord of life, and rejoice that He has destroyed the last enemy, death itself.
Rejoicing with you in our eternally risen and conquering Savior,
Coty
Is Jesus’ Death Just?
March 21, 2008
Jesus is condemned to death. Jesus is condemned to death! Is this just?
Surely on a human level, this is a travesty of justice. Jesus’ trial is a sham, violating virtually every rule regarding fair trials under both Jewish and Roman law. There was no due process exercised in this trial; Jesus was innocent of any wrongdoing.
But consider Jesus’ condemnation from God’s point of view. Was Jesus’ death justified?
Listen to these words of Scripture:
· The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)
· He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. (1 Peter 2:24)
· He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people. (Hebrews 9: 26-28)
These Scriptures tell us that from God’s point of view, Jesus’ death was justified. Indeed, Jesus’ death was necessary if anyone is to be saved - for without His death, God would have to punish you and me for our sins.
The Bible teaches us that God - our perfectly holy and righteous God - cannot tolerate sin. From His very nature, He cannot tolerate sin. Furthermore, God is just, meaning that he will right every wrong, he will apply just punishment to every wrongdoer. We like this when those who wrong us receive punishment. The problem is that each of us has wronged others, so each of us deserves punishment. That is, I deserve punishment.
So if I am to have any hope, Jesus had to die because of my sin.
Sin! Our society doesn’t like this word. We don’t mind talking about our foibles, or our weaknesses, or our failures - but sin! No, we don’t like to admit that we are sinners.
What is sin?
One definition: Sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of the law of God.
God is the one who defines sin. God, our Creator, has the absolute authority to dictate to us the terms and conditions of our being able to enter His presence – indeed, He has the absolute authority and right to determine whether we live or die. Sin is the refusal to recognize and submit to that authority in any area of our lives.
And what is the law of God? Remember how Jesus summarized it?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. . . . Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37, 39)
Do you live up to those? Do you put God first, always? Do you love Him will all of your very being? Do you always love others sacrificially, considering their welfare as important as your own?
No. I don’t, you don’t. Indeed, in our very nature we are rebellious, we do not want to submit ourselves to higher authority - and so we pretend there is no God, or redefine Him as an indulgent grandfather, waiting for us, longing for us to come to Him.
But God is King of the universe. He is the moral authority. He is the Judge. And His verdict is that every one of us is a sinner, every one of us deserves eternal punishment. Paul in Romans 3 makes this absolutely clear: Without Christ’s death, all of us are under the just condemnation of God. Listen to these words:
For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:9-12)
There is no wiggle room here. There are no exceptions. Paul tells us that every single person is a sinner; every man, woman, and child deserves an eternity of punishment, separated from our holy and perfect God.
So are we without hope? Keep reading! Paul goes on to explain the basis of our hope in verses 20 to 26. Please read those verses as they appear in your Bible; let me offer you the following loose paraphrase:
No one can stand before God and say, “I am righteous,” on the basis of the way they live, on the basis of their living up to any standard. (And God didn’t provide us with His law for that purpose – Instead, he provided us with His law so that we might understand who He is and how far short of His perfection we fall.) Every one of us sins, every one of us fails to acknowledge who God is and to respond accordingly, every one of us violates the law of God. Thus we deserve God’s condemnation. Indeed, God would not be just, He would not be righteous, He would not be the perfect moral authority if he failed to condemn our sin. But God, instead of condemning us as we deserve, has offered us a way for sinners to receive the verdict “Righteous!” instead of the verdict “Condemned!” This way – foretold and pictured and hinted at in the Old Testament - does not depend on our living up to a set of rules or our doing some great deed. Here is the way: Believe in Jesus Christ. Quit trying to prove to God that you are worthy of His favor. Turn away from yourself and look to Him. The only way – the only way – any sinful human can receive the verdict “Righteous!” is as God’s gracious gift, through the payment made for our sin by the Messiah Jesus on the cross. God Himself sent His beloved Son for this twofold purpose: To display His perfect justice, in that every sin receives just punishment, and to display His mercy and love in declaring righteous all condemned sinners who believe in Jesus. This is our God: Supremely just and supremely loving.
Do you understand? Can you see why Peter says we have “joy inexpressible?” We are sinners! We deserve God’s condemnation! And we can do nothing on our own to change that. But God sent His son Jesus to suffer and die on the cross for us, so that He might right every wrong and still invite us to become the perfect bride who will rejoice with Him for all eternity.
That is why today is Good Friday. Not Black Friday. Not Sad Friday. Not a day to mourn a dying man (though his death should lead us to contemplate the enormity of our sin). Not a day to feel sorry for Jesus being mocked and spat upon (though we must acknowledge that we participate in such mocking whenever we disobey Him). But a day, as John Newton said, for “pleasing grief and mournful joy.” Yes, mourning at the price our beloved Savior paid. But joy because this one sacrifice saves us completely, because in this great act of love Christ Jesus laid down his life for you, for me; joy because this horribly painful act that we celebrate today - yes, celebrate — allows each and every person to join God’s beloved family for all eternity — if you will only believe.
So where are you, friends? Trying to comfort yourself by pretending that there is no Judge? Trying to live up to a good standard?
The shed blood of Jesus Christ is your only hope. But what a hope! Open your heart to this amazing love! Receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior — and eternal life begins for you on this Good Friday.
Spitzer, McEwan and Atonement
March 13, 2008
When we sin, how do we put matters right? This question keeps coming to the forefront even in politics and popular culture.
The former governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, faced that question this week after his personal sins became public knowledge. On Monday, the New York Times quoted Spitzer as saying that he had spent the last several days with his family, “atoning for his personal failings.”
Consider also Atonement, Ian McEwan’s 2001 quintessential postmodern novel (which, in its film version, was nominated for this year’s Academy Award for best picture). The story opens with the main character, Briony, as a 13-year-old. With her mind wrapped up in the fantasies of her fictional stories, she destroys a young man’s life by falsely accusing him of a crime. The novel closes with Briony at 77, Alzheimer’s on the horizon, writing alternative realities as she still tries – unsuccessfully – to atone for that sin. She writes,
How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her. There is nothing outside her. In her imagination she has set the limits and the terms. No atonement for God, or novelists, even if they are atheists. It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. The attempt was all.
For Briony – and, apparently, McEwan – atonement is necessary but impossible. Those sinned against are dead. Yet the sin is there. The guilt exists. The heavy burden presses down, and won’t go away.
In Spitzer’s case, his victims live. But how can atonement take place? What could he possibly do over several days, or even over his entire life, that would pay the price of those sins?
What about in your own life? What sins have you committed that, no matter what you do, you can never pay for? What burdens do you carry that, on your own, you will never put down? Can you find atonement – even for serious sins that cannot be repaid?
The answer is yes. But the first step towards that answer is to recognize the seriousness of sin. That is, to acknowledge that sin is more serious than taking a few dollars, or a few thousand dollars, or a few tens of thousands of dollars - for theft can always be repaid. Briony sees this correctly: Left to our own devices, atonement is an impossible task (Micah 7:9).
The second step is seeing and acknowledging what Briony never does: that there is a God, a Judge, the Moral Authority of the universe, and that every sin is ultimately and fundamentally against Him (Psalm 51:4). And what could we ever pay Him, ever give to Him, to compensate Him for our sin?
The third step is seeing that God Himself has provided the means of atonement. God prefigures this truth time and again in the Old Testament: Through the ram substituting for Isaac (Genesis 22), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, Leviticus 16), and the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53), and in many other passages, God paints the picture of a substitute on whom sin will be laid, who through death will pay the penalty for sin on our behalf. In God’s perfect timing, Jesus Himself comes to this world, lives the perfect life, and offers Himself on the cross “according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23) for the sins of all who would believe in Him. And by raising Him from the dead, God showed that the penalty paid was sufficient (Romans 4:24).
The fourth and final step is not only believing in the facts of Jesus’ life and death, but responding in faith. How great of a Savior is this Jesus! How marvelous the joy of knowing Him! How wise is He! What better Master and Lord could there be! What greater treasure could we ever receive?
To those who receive Him as Savior, Lord, and Treasure, to those who believe in Him, He graciously gives the “right to become children of God” (John 1:12) – children of the One in whom there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5), “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17) – accepted by God, loved by Him, the burden removed, reconciliation received, atonement complete.
As Eliot Spitzer and Ian McEwan show, time and again we see our desperate need for atonement. But know that you will never atone for sin on your own. God is the primary aggrieved party in every sin, and only He can provide the payment of the penalty. And He has chosen to provide His perfect Son as your atonement and as your delight – if you believe. As we, in these next ten days, remember and celebrate the last week of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection , may we all turn to Him in humble faith. May we receive the atonement of the sacrificial Lamb of God, who bears the sin of the world.
Praying that we all might trust in Christ alone for atonement.
The Reason for God
March 7, 2008
The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Have you ever heard statements like these?
- “How could there be just one true faith? It’s arrogant to say your religion is superior. . . . Surely all religions are equally good and valid for . . . their particular followers.”
- “I won’t believe in a God who allows suffering.”
- “The Christians I know don’t seem to have the freedom to think for themselves. I believe each individual must determine truth for him- or herself.”
- “There are so many people who are not religious at all who are more kind and even more moral than many of the Christians I know.”
- “I have . . . a problem with the doctrine of hell. The only god that is believable to me is a God of love.”
- “My scientific training makes it difficult if not impossible to accept the teachings of Christianity.”
- “Much of the Bible’s teaching is historically inaccurate.” “My biggest problem with the Bible is that it is culturally obsolete. Much of the Bible’s teaching (for example, about women) is socially regressive.”
How do you respond? Are there good answers to such questions? And once you’ve tried to answer such questions, how do you move the conversation away from these peripheral issues and to the Gospel itself?
Tim Keller has been a pastor in Manhattan for almost twenty years. As he reaches out to unbelievers and hosts Q and A periods after sermons, he hears such statements and questions again and again. In a new book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, Keller answers these questions, and then presents Christ as compellingly beautiful and the Gospel as rationally coherent.
The Reason for God is a valuable tool for Christians and an excellent gift for non-Christians. It is also becoming a cultural phenomenon: Only a few weeks after publication, it ranks number 11 on the New York Times Best Seller List for hardcover non-fiction, and as of today is among the top 25 best sellers among all books at Amazon. While, inevitably, I have qualms here and there about the way Keller addresses some issues, the overall approach is biblical and the arguments are solid. Don’t miss the endnotes, which frequently provide helpful elaborations on points in the text, and always point to valuable additional readings.
The first half of The Reason for God addresses the statements and questions above, presenting answers that aim to bring to light the speakers’ implicit assumptions. He then proceeds to show in each case that the assumptions behind the Christian worldview are at least as reasonable as those behind the speakers’ statement.
For example, to those who question whether only one religion could be true, Keller points out that often the underlying assumption behind such statements is “that this material world is all there is and when we die we just rot, and therefore the important thing is to choose to do what makes you happy.” But this is an assumption, not the conclusion of an argument. Indeed, this worldview is an “implicit religion,” since it contains “a master narrative, an account about the meaning of life along with a recommendation for how to live” (p. 15).
But Keller then argues that the very doctrine that Christians claim to be true should make them humble, not arrogant. Those who truly understand that Christ “died for his enemies, praying for their forgiveness” (p. 20) will reach out to those different from themselves and serve others with humility. Indeed, this is what we see in the early church – and among many Christians today.
Keller similarly addresses each of the six other issues raised in the quotes above. Perhaps the most powerful passage in these chapters is found on pages 104-106, where, while responding to attacks on the accuracy of Scripture, he deals with the theory that early Christian leaders composed or massaged gospel accounts to promote their own positions. He shows that topics of deep concern to the early church – such as whether or not Gentile converts should be circumcised – are never mentioned in the Gospels. But even more, why should early church leaders present the Apostles as “petty and jealous, almost impossibly slow-witted, and in the end . . . cowards”? Why relate that the first witnesses to the resurrection were women – in a society were such “testimony was not admissible evidence in court”? But most of all, if they could make up any story they chose, why should they present their Messiah as crucified when listeners would be repelled by the idea, thinking that such a person must be a criminal?
After these initial seven chapters, Keller has an especially effective, nine-page “intermission,” making the transition between arguing that “there are no sufficient reasons for disbelieving Christianity” to arguing that there are “sufficient reasons for believing it” (p. 115). He argues that the word “sufficient” does not require “a logical empirical argument . . . that is airtight and therefore convinces almost everyone” (p. 118). Indeed, while some skeptics such as Richard Dawkins claim that in the absence of such an argument they should not believe in any god, Keller argues that even most other atheistic philosophers reject this approach to discerning what is true.
What, then, is a rationally defensible way to ascertain truth? Keller’s approach is to produce “some arguments that many or even most rational people will find convincing, even though there is no [single] argument that will be persuasive to everyone regardless of viewpoint” (p. 120). Agreeing with Oxford philosopher Richard Swinburne, Keller asserts and then attempts to show that “belief in God offers a better empirical fit, it explains and accounts for what we see better than the alternative account” (p. 121). And actually, this approach, rather than an airtight, logical argument, is what we should expect from the biblical storyline. “If there is a god, he wouldn’t be another object in the universe that could be put in a lab and analyzed with empirical methods. He would relate to us the way a playwright relates to the characters in his play. We (characters) might be able to know quite a lot about the playwright, but only to the degree the author chooses to put information about himself in the play.” So “we have a sense that the world is not the way it ought to be. We have a sense that we are very flawed and yet very great. We have a longing for love and beauty that nothing in this world can fulfill. We have a deep need to know meaning and purpose. Which worldview best accounts for these things?” (p. 122). The Christian claim is that God “wrote himself into the play” in the person of Jesus Christ. Does this make sense of the world?
The remainder of the book answers this question. Keller first presents clues for God, such as the regularity of nature and the deep impact of beauty on us. But he goes on to argue from the universal human sense of moral obligation that “belief in God is an unavoidable, ‘basic’ belief that we cannot prove but can’t not know” (p. 142). Evolutionary explanations for the development of moral obligation in the end lead to relativism – there are no moral absolutes. But he argues, “If a premise (‘There is no God’) leads to a conclusion you know isn’t true (‘Napalming babies is culturally relative’) then why not change the premise?” (p. 156).
From here Keller moves to a particularly helpful discussion of sin, clarifying the distinction between our culture’s common definition of sin and the biblical definition. Sin is “not just the doing of bad things, but the making of good things into ultimate things. It is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose, and happiness than your relationship to God.” By establishing our sense of self in this way, we destroy ourselves and our society. The solution to sin is “not simply to change our behavior, but to reorient and center the entire heart and life on God” (p. 171). Many people think Christians, having admitted their sinfulness, are pursued by guilt. But Keller argues that Christians and non-Christians alike “are all being pursued by guilt because we must have an identity and there must be some standard to live up to by which we get that identity. Whatever you base your life on – you have to live up to that. Jesus is the one Lord you can live for who died for you” (p. 172).
But this coming to Christ can only be by faith, not by our efforts. In the next chapter, Keller distinguishes between Christianity and the general religious principle: “I obey – therefore I am accepted by God.” Indeed, Christianity is not a religion in this sense, for it teaches that we do nothing to earn merit before God. “In Christ I . . . know I was accepted by grace not only despite my flaws, but because I was willing to admit them. The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued . . . that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to both deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less” (p. 181). And such unconditional acceptance leads to “the threat of grace:” “There’s nothing he cannot ask of me” (p. 183).
After explaining the nature of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and the importance of and evidence for the resurrection, Keller’s concluding chapter describes “The Dance of God.” He has argued that “Christianity makes the most sense out of our individual life stories and out of what we see in the world’s history” (p. 213). He here moves from truth to affection, from propositions to joy. The Trinity itself is the perfect picture of joyful love, and God created the universe to extend His happiness and joy and delight, thus magnifying His glory. “We were designed, then, not just for belief in God in some general way, nor for a vague kind of inspiration or spirituality. We were made to center our lives upon him, to make the purpose and passion of our lives knowing, serving, delighting, and resembling him. This growth in happiness will go on eternally, increasing unimaginably” (p. 219)
The epilogue begins with a quote from Flannery O’Connor: “To know oneself is, above all, to know what one lacks. It is to measure oneself against the Truth, and not the other way around” (p. 227). That is, God is central, not we ourselves, and we must approach Him as the end, not as a useful means to an end. “We usually begin the journey toward God thinking, ‘What do I have to do to get this or that from him?’ but eventually we have to begin thinking, ‘What do I have to do to get him?’” (p. 228). And the answer is twofold: First, repent. But repentance, while including sorrow over individual sins, is much more. You must recognize your main sin: “Your self-salvation project . . . [as we] try to prove ourselves by our moral goodness or through achievement or family or career” (p. 233). We must realize that our “very efforts to be good or happy or authentic have been part of the problem” (p. 237) The second requirement is belief – a trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We must not trust in the purity or extent of our faith, for that just makes faith another work. But saving faith is a turning from ourselves to Christ, however imperfectly, and trusting in Who He is. Furthermore, once we repent and believe, we must also become part of a Christian community, a church.
Keller closes with an extended quotation from and discussion of Flannery O’Connor’s profound yet simple short story “Revelation,” concerning the salvation of a self-righteous, self-absorbed churchgoer. For that is one of the main messages of this book. Left to our own devices, every one of us is self-righteous and self-centered, satisfied with the merit we’ve earned from whatever judge we recognize (and that judge may well be ourselves), or struggling as we strive to achieve that merit, or despondent over our failure to achieve merit. By God’s Spirit, the Gospel breaks through the resistance of the religious and the irreligious, of Mormons and Moslems, of Yankee fans and Red Sox fans, of self-satisfied church members and self-abusing drug addicts, shining God’s light on us, displaying our ugliness – and welcoming us to His intimate family, His glorious Kingdom, in which He will rejoice over us with loud singing for all eternity. May God be pleased to use this volume to bring many into this Great Dance.
Coty
Footnote: Overall the book is well-edited, but there are a number of errors in the last 20 pages. Here are the major corrections; without them, some sentences are incoherent:
- p. 222: In the third line, add a comma and “self” after the word “lowest”.
- p. 228: In the sixth line, add “of” after “kind”.
- p. 232: In the first line of the last paragraph, add “that” before “may”.
