Miscellanea. 861 2. :Bamit iit" £; abet nod) nidjt getan. ~ H e I m e f j t girt e£; nun anlegen bie lillaffen be£; .l3idjHl unb eijroadidj roanbeln als am :itage. @ldjon auf @tben foIl unfet: \Bef±teben fein, 10 3U roanbeln, roie roir einft am :itage Des boUenbeten SjeiIs roanDeln ioet:Den in feIiget: Unfdjulb unb @ e ~ redjtigfeit. :Ba£; roitb uns in bet lillcH bet: \Sinfternis nie geIingen. ~ o e t : tiigfidj JoUen roit: (Iijtiftum, bai3 Bidjt bet jill eIt , anilieijen. inidjt nut: im @Iauoen feines metbienftes uns ±tolten, fonbern aud) feinem \Beifviel nadjfolgen, 1 Z5oij. 2, 6; 3, 3. oman 1djiIbete je nadj \Bebiitfnii3 bet @emeinbe (Iqtiftum aIi3 \BeifvieI aller :itugenben.) :Bas roitb Sfampf fojten, roie ja audj ber 2fvof±cf bon jillaffen bei3 Bidjti3 rebet. 2fbet: eoen bicfe lillaffcn bei3 Bidjti3, bie roit antun, e r ~ mogIidjen uni3 ben @lieg. mon (Ifjrifto fliett @etedjtigfeit unb @ltiide in Sjet3. 9Jlut unb @linn. Unb gerube ber 2hti3ofid auf ben naqenben ::5iingften ;,tag crmutigt uni3 Bum (sifer in ber ,\)ciligung. Unfet Sjeil ift niiqet, bcn11 aIi3 roir Built @Iauocn !amen. :Bai3 Sjauvtfjinbcrnii3 ift ijinroeggenommen, bet Unglauoe. 9cun tnatten roit nut aUf bie m o u ~ enbung unfeti3 Sjeir;3, bai3 uni3 (Iijtiftlti3 errootben qat, 1 Sfor. 1, 7; :itH. 2, 13. inodjmaIige fjcrilIidje (Stmafjnung im Sjin6fid auf bic 9iiiije bei3 Z5iingften :itag ei3 , m. 12 ilU llefolgen. :it. R Miscellanea. The Spring and Pool of Bethesda. It has been known for a number of years that some of the springs In and near the city of Jerusalem are intermittent. Concerning the spring which fed the pool of Bethesda this discovery was made by German archeologists several decades ago. In Dr. G. J. Duncan's latest book The Ac(yumcy of the Old Testament the following account is given: "In the bottom of the Kidron Valley ... is the spring known as the Virgin's Fountain. In Old Testament times it was known as Gihon, and in Christ's time it was known as the Pool of Bethesda. ... It is an intermittent spring, and it is understood to be feel hom a natnral cistern in the rock some considerable height above it. Into this cistern the collected rain finds its way. By the by, the water, compressed into a space too small for it, forces an exit for itself by a sort of siphon in the softest part of the rock. "When the water in the cistern rises high enough to run over the bend of the siphon exit, the whole cistern empties itself into the natural cavity of the Virgin's Fountain, filling it to a depth of ten to twelve feet above its normal level, which is not more than three feet deep." (P. 115 f.) The New Standard Bible Dictionary offers a cut showing a cross-section of the hill with the cistern and the siphon. -Arc we to assume that this explanation militates against the Biblical account of the miraculous healings? Not at all. A few orthodox commentators have pointed out that similar healing powers are connected with intermittent springs in noted watering-places, 862 Miscellanea. so that cures are effected more often at the time of "bubbling." The remarks of Dr. Stoeckhardt are interesting in this connection: "Naoh der Sahri/t sind solche wohltaetigen Wirkungen natuerlicher Dingo durch Engel ~ ' e r m i t t e Z t . Die Engel wirken in den Naturkrae/ten. Das Weltregiment Gattes gesohieht durch die Engel, die Gattes Boten, Gattes Diener, sind. Es ist gam; schri/tgemaess, dass man glaubt, in den. vieZen HeilqueUen sind auoh jetzt nach Engel taetig." Cpo also Dr. Robinson's description of the spring and pool and Abbott's Commentary on John. P.E.K. 1Sietjiifjtigc Seminarlutf c. Wus einer liingeren mefpredjung Mefes 5tljemas im , , ~ i r d j e n l i r a t t " bet 21:. R ~ . liringen wir folgenbe 113aragrapljen: "SDie merfamm1ung unferer SHrdje in g:onb bu 2ac fome unfers @:racljtens bie @5tubieraeit aUf unfern liciben tljeo1ogifcljen @5eminm:en aUf bier ~ a l j t e berIangern unb bie ~ n . orbnung heffen, bae jeber @5tubcnt in ber !Regel nadj Wlifolbierung be!3 tri±±en @5tubienjaljres ein ~ a l j r lang aIs mirar oi>er 113aftoraggeljiIfe tatig ift. lillir madjen bicfCTI morfdjlag folDolj1 im &)inoIicl aUf bie @'5tubentcn 0:16 auf llie ®emeinben. "Wile g:acljfdjulen finb in ben fetten ~ a l j r e n ober ~ a l j r a e l j n t e n ftad ausgeliaut IDori>en. lillenn angeljcnbe ID'lebiainer ober ~ u t i f t e n Ijeute bier meljt @'5emefter f±ubieren miillen afs friiljer, fo Iieg± bas nidjt cHua baran, bae bie moU§fd)ulen, bie high schools unb bie @:oIIege§, fa bie! fcfJledjtere !Refurtate eraielcn aI§ friilJer, fonbern baran, ban ba§ gefa11t±e m H b u n g s ~ nibeau lid) ftad geljooen Ijat. Bufiinftige \!Saf±oren mUffen in iljrem g:ad} wenfo griinbIidj au§geliilbet IDerben IDie bie ~ r n g e l j o r i g e n anbeter merufe. , , ~ i e jcj3ige breijaljrige @5eminarf±ubienaeit gleidji i3U leljr etner & ) e ~ . iagb burdj bie 5tljeologie unb iljre ®rcn3gebie±e. &)icr tuirb bie ® t u n b e n ~ Jal)I liefd)nit±en, unb ba wirD ein gan3c§ g:adj au§ bem \l31an geftddjen, IDei! es an Beit feW. @50 bieIe IDid)tige (ober mandjmal audj nur IDidjtig fdjcinenbe) g:adjet miiffen unliebingt im @5±ubienplan cine @5ieile finben, b a ~ flit bie eigentridjen ®runbfadjer ber ~ l j e o l o g i e nur nodj IDenig Beit ii6rig' lileibt. SDa§ @:nbe biefer @:ntlDicHung iff bann bie unau§fteljIidjfte Olier. flacljHdjfeit, bie man gar nicljt fenen ueoliadjten fann. lillo Ijat ein 5tljeo. logieftubent bie Beit, bie bodj fo unumgangIiclj notig ift, um fid) IDidfidj in bie 5tl)eologie au beriiefen, eine eigene perfonHclje @'5±eilung au bern gelDal. tigen 2eljtitoff einsuneljmen, ber iljm tagIidj unb ftiinbIidj angeooten tuirb ~ @i:l IDirb immer nur IDenige ®tubenten gelien, bie liei bem jetigen Qle±rieli ficlj cine red)te lDCetljobe be§ ®tubium§ unb ber Wrlieii erlDeroen. mei ben meiften tuiri> e§ infoIge bet uoergronen &)aft unb bet uniioerfeljliaren ID'lenge an @'5±off ilu nicljt bier meljr als gebiicljtnismiin iger .Wneignung lommen. ,,@:s gilit aber audj g:adjet, bie aur ~ u f n a l j m e In ben @'5tuMenplan unferer @5eminare lieredjtigt fini>. SDie @:tljif IDirb ilum meifpieI fafi ulierail redjt ftiefmiit±erIidj lieljanbeU. 2116 Unterliau flir bie @:±ljif fome ein g r u n b ~ lidjer ~ u r f u s in @'5oiliologie gegelien tuetben. Wlan oraudjt nur bas lillort ~ r a f t i f d j e 5tljeologie Qusaufpredjen, 1lnb fofort melben fid} brei ober bier, IDolj! gar ein ljafoe§ SDutenb g:ad)er, bie en±IDeber iioetlJaupt nidjt oeriid. ficlj±igt ober bod) nidj± aUfeitig unb gtunbIiclj genug lieljanbeIt IDorben finb. lillo alier infolge be§ SDrange§ ber @:ntlDicHung neue /Siidjer eingefiiljrt IDor. ben lini), ift es meiften§ auf ~ o f ± e n bet ®runbf(:idjct, oefonber§ -unb ba6 Miscellanea. 863 gerabe ift jammerfdjabe -auf ~ o f t e n ber e1,;cgeiifdjen ~ e o l o g i e , gefdjeqen. ~ i e einaige angemeffene 20fung ber !'Yrage ift bie merIiingerung her @ 5 t u ~ bienaeit auf minbeften§ bier ~ a J j r e , lDomiiglidj mit eincm mifariru!!:jaijr nadj bem britten @5tuhienjaqre." International Birth-Control Propaganda. (From an article in America.) "Falling birth-rates and international birth-control propaganda! No wonder that the public mind is confused. "From the report of the Registrar General we learn that Great Britain's birth-rate reached a new low mark of 15.3 per 1,000 in the first quarter of this year. There were 152,220 births in that period, which was 7,451 below the total for the first quarter of 1931. Experts claim that the population of England and Wales will soon become stationary at about 40,000,000 (some say 48,000,000). "At the first annual meeting of the Population Association of America, held in New York, April 22, Dr. O. E. Baker, senior agricultural economist for the United States Department of Agriculture, declared that in the absence of a notable increase in immigration and the reversal of the downward trend of the birth-rate, which is very unlikely, as long as unemployment persists, it appeared likely that the United States might have a stationary population at the end of about twenty-five years, which would be followed by a decline. "J. J. Spcngler, in the .July !Scribner's, quotes similar authoritative statements with regard to Western and Northern Europe (England and Wales, Germany, France, Scandinavia, and Finland), where seven per cent. fewer children arc born each year than are needed in the long run to offset deaths. 'Professor Gini's studies reveal similar deficits in Austria, Belgium, Esthonia, Ireland, Latvia, Scotland, Switzerland, and Hungary.' Predominantly agricultural countries are the only ones which maintain themselves. "In the mean while the League of Nations Health Committee last October adopted a report (No. 1060) endorsing contraception and noting that it may be necessary to extend contraceptive information. In April of this year the English Medical Guild of St. Luke, St. Cosmas, and St. Damian protested vigorously against this report, holding that preventive medicine 'Or therapeutics had no right to invade a domain which is not really medical nor 'to suggest solutions contrary to natural morality and offensive to the precepts of the Christian religion.' "In this countTy the rlirectors of the Federated Catholic Physicians' Guild, at their first annual meeting in New York City on .Tune n, took a similar stand, declaring that 'the objective of medicine is the promotion and conservation of human life, not its prevention or control.' "The International Council of Women, representing fOTty million women, at their officers' and conveners' meeting in Geneva on May 12 of this year, Tuled birth control out of order for the study of an organization which would never touch l'eligious controversial matters .... "Contraceptive practises, however, from their very nature do contribute to the decline of population. How, then, can they be justified by anyone who is concerned over this decline? 864 Miscellanea. "One argument used to solve this conundrum has perhaps not received sufficient attention. Dr. Ezra Bowen, head of the Department of Economics at Lafayette College, in his Hypothesis of Population G1'owth, proposes as the 'central thesis' of Malthus: 'Life everywhere and always tends to exceed the warrant for it, with consequent universal suffering and destruction.' "Labor, poverty, diseases, bad nursing, war, plague, and famine lllay check to a limited degTee this dynamic urge for reproduction. But if these are done away with by civilization, mankind is exposed mercilessly to the automatic reproduction process. His only refuge, then, says Dr. Bowen, is in 'voluntary checks,' a deliberate restriction of the population. By such voluntary restriction man 'may control the rate of human increase as easily as one can regulate the flow of water from a tap.' Depopulation therefore, he thinks, in civilized and peaceful countries, simply indicates that the voluntary check is being unscientifically used; the question is simply of more or less contraception, as 'prudence' dictates. Were we to give up contraception, we should relinquish our only ultimate, sure defense against the inexorable automatic urge of the human race to multiply. So runs the argument. "'What would you say, Brother Noah,' asks De Lawd in The Green Pa,stu1'CS, 'ef it wuz to rain fo'ty days an' fo'ty nights?' "'I would say,' replies Noah, 'dat it WliZ a complete rain.' "The argument just given is a complete error, or rather the combination of two or three complete errors. "First and foremost, there is no snch essential, unreasoning dynamic nrge in the human race to propagate. The hnman race cannot propagate itself, as do the animals, over a period of generations merely by instinctive sexual urge. Promiscuous intercourse defeats itself. There are not only biological consequences, but social and economic complications, which readily canse the extinction in a fairly short time of any group which gives itself up merely to an instinctive urge. The animals have certain instincts which regulate their sexual life and thereby ensure indefinitely the propagation of their species. Man has none such. The purely animal instincts of mankind, left to themselves, tend to extinction, not to perpetuation. "The human race depends for its propagation upon certain social institutions, voluntary associations of human beings, and chosen social customs. These institutions are held together not by mere animal instinct, but by rational choice. Primary among these institutions is the family; secondary (in this connection) are the civic and religious institutions which keep the family intact. "No matter how degenerate the family may be, it still is a matter of voluntary association, not a mere automatic process, like the mating of animals. Even those primitive mountaineers visited by Mary Breckenridge, even the swarming millions of China, India, or Great Russia, would not multiply as they do over any long course of generations were not Bome family and other social institntions superadded to the natural sex urge so as to maintain a rational motive for increase."