Ben Sommer

This treatise, written so long ago by the late Brother BenSommer,iswithoutadoubtthe definitive statement on Scrip-turalconversionasunderstood and taught by the ApostolicChristian Church from the very beginning of its history. Printed in convenient tract size, this work is probably the most widely circulated writing published by the ApostolicChristian Publishing Com- pany,andisavailableinquan-tity.

The Awakening

hen the divine lightbegins to dawn in ahuman soul and the soul be-comes aware of its unclean-ness and unworthiness, whatis more natural than that oneshould resolve to men his ways, to discontinue doingthe things which the quick-ened conscience shows himtobewrong,andtodobetter!Thus begins the first skir-mishofabattlewhichistogothrough many stages before victory is won and the soulattains to its liberation fromthe power of darkness andevil.Often as long as one is a willing servant ofsin heisaptto harbor the illusion that,should he choosetodo so,hecould any time, at will, throwoff his vices and live a virtu-ous life. It is only after thesoul has challenged thepower of sin by making a re-solve to cease from sinning,that the soul discovers howgreat is the power of sin overit.Wise are they who at thisstatelearnquicklytoseekJe-sus Christ, the Savior, whohas broken the yoke of Satanandwhoisabletomakethose who believe and obey Himtruly free. But often this wis-domisnotsoquicklylearned.The human heart is proudand is loath to confess itself,thus unable to free itself. Sothe struggle goes on. Some-timesthesoulhasvictoryand

The Newsletter of theApostolic Christian Publishing Company

xhortations

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

— II Timothy 4:2

Volume 1 Number 3 Summer, 1996

Continued on page 4

In This Issue

“Ye Must Be Born Again” — Page 1

The Life of Samuel Heinrich Fröhlich —Page 2

An Unjust Judge — Page 8

Music: Its Nature and Its Effects — Page 9

Wherewithal Shall a Young Man CleanseHis Way? — Page 11

From Among the Lowly — Page 15

Here Am I — Page 16

“Ye Must Be Born Again”

— A Treatise on Conversion and the Way to Life in Christ Jesus —

“Thus begins the first skirmish of a battle which is to go throughmanystages before victory is won...”

Summer, 1996 Exhortations • 1

Bravely strive when God doth call thee,When He turns to thee in grace;Cast off aught that would enthrall thee And would hinder in the race.Strive thou, till thy zeal is burning, And thy first love grows so warmThat thou all this world art spurning, Half-love will not bide the storm.

Many of the articles in this edition of

Exhortations

focus onthe call to every sinner to forsake the sinfulness of this vain world, and be reconciled with God through Jesus Christ HisSon. The Scriptures clearly identify this experience as founda-tional:itistheonlyandirreplaceablebasisforalifeoffaithandservicetoGod;itistheneedfulfirststepinalifelongracewhichmust be run with patience and care.Each and every footfall of the race must be resolute andpurposeful, directed aright toward obtaining the prize. Any-thing less than complete dedication will not sustain us for theduration of the race. Other allegiances, other pursuits, arehindrancesthatmisguideand slowusalongthecoursewemust

run

. Time also is fleet. It passes all too quickly and is gone. Weneed to redeem it wisely if we want to claim the incorruptibleinheritance, the glorious crown which the Lord has promisedto those who love Him.Surelyhowweruntheraceisimportant,butifweneverenter,if we never begin the race, the possibility of ever winning iseternally lost.

Like clouds in the sky and like ships on the sea,Our lives are uncertain, and ever will be!Who knows just how long anyone will be here?O grasp your salvation with trembling and fear!Work out your salvation withtrembling and fear!

Exhortations

isthenewsletteroftheApostolicChristianPub- lishingCompany,Syracuse,NewYork.Itspurposeistodeclare andpromotetheoriginaldoctrinalstandpointsandpracticesof theApostolicChristianChurchthroughthepublicationofrele- vantarticles,bothhistoricalandcontemporary. Correspondenceregardingthisnewsletterandotherpublica- tionsidentifiedhereinmaybeaddressedto:ApostolicChristian PublishingCompany,P.O.Box416,Syracuse,NewYork13215- 0416.Emailmaybesentto:exhort@acpub.org.

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The Newsletter of theApostolic Christian Publishing Company

xhortations

TheLifeofSamuelHeinrichFröhlich

Part3

New Beginning

n invitation to Wilhelmsdorf in Württemberg (Ger-many) seemed a sign from heaven for Fröhlich, andhe preached there for a congregation that had sepa-rated from the state church. However, this church was notreceptive to hisdoctrine,foritclungtoinfantbaptism,andhadleft the state church only because of the liturgical baptismalformula.In this new beginning, Fröhlich served several families at various places as private tutor. In addition, he associated withtheOld Baptists(Mennonites)andpreached intheircircles(in1831) and kept in contact with his former congregation atLeutwil.

Continental Society in London

hrough a preacher in Frankfurt-am-Main, Fröhlichlearned to know the Continental Society of London whichsupportedministersandteachers.Oneofthese,Pastor Bost, who had been expelled from the state church, wasactive in Geneva. Through his mediation, Fröhlich offeredhimself in 1831 for a diaspora-preaching place in theRhineland.InFebruary,1832,FröhlichwasbaptizedatthehandsofBostin Geneva, andthereupon, atprivatemeetings,proclaimedthetrue Gospel here and there. He pointed men to Christ forrepentance,faith,andbaptismaccordingtothewordsofChristas the first Christians had done.On January 9, 1836, Fröhlich wrote: “It never entered mymindthatIshouldfoundasecthereonearth;rather,itwasandis my purpose to gather children to God. If I could not placemy confidence in the Lord my God, that He had called me toHisGospel,Iwouldindeed repentforhavingbegunsomethinguponwhichtheLordcouldnotplaceHisblessing,orwithwhichHe could not be pleased. However, I now place myself whollyinto His hands that He might lead me according to His goodpleasure.”

EvangelizationFirst Missionary Journey in Aargau

röhlich began his missionary work in Leutwil, his for-mer congregation.Hardlyhad thenewsspreadthathe was there than 200 to 300 persons gathered everyeveningthathemightpreachtheWordofChristtothem.Somealso came to spy on him; the majority, however, came fromdesire. Within a week many hearers, whom he had instructed

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2 • Exhortations Summer, 1996

TheLifeofSamuelHeinrichFröhlich

Part3

before and in whom God had prepared the way, requestedbaptism. Fröhlich examined them carefully to be convinced of their faith and of their knowledge, and admonished them tocount the cost of following Christ. Then he baptized them,according to the instruction of the Lord; and on Palm Sundayhe could, forthefirsttime,celebrate the Lord’sSupperwith38members.Meanwhile the foe was not idle. When many were gatheredtogether, a gendarme appeared and ordered that all who hadsheltered Fröhlich must appear before the district magistrate.Fröhlich did not permit himself to be intimidated and contin-ued to preach the good tidings. A summons followed, and he was told to leave the village at once and to return to his nativeBrugg. In vain did he refer to the highest Aargau court. Hetraveled to Aargau to the magistrate and was dismissed with a warning.Later on, a gendarme dragged Fröhlich out ofa meetingandbrought him to the magistrate at Lenzburg. In answer to thequestion, “Who commanded you to preach?” his reply was,calmly: “Christ.” The angry official raised his hand to strikehim, but withdrew it under a stream of profanity. Finally, hetore Fröhlich’s clothesand emptied his pocketsin ordertofindhis books; then he ordered the gendarme to put him in prison.When Fröhlich appealed to the fact that the magistrate at Aargau had not arrested him, he was finally allowed to go free,and began his wearisome journey to Brugg.

Second Missionary Journey in theCanton Bern

ince it seemed impossible to be active further in Aar-gau, Fröhlich once more turned to Pastor Bost atGeneva: “I have been declared scot-free. In Aargau I was arrested and banned. Where shall I go?” In the missionfield he felt himself a beginner and a novice. He would haveliked to go with Paul to learn of him “how with simplicity andshrewdness the Gospel might best be spread.”The new constitution had granted religious freedom andfreedomofconscience.WhenFröhlichreferredtoitbeforetheofficials, he was told that he could believe what he chose, butthat he could not convey it to others.In July, 1832, Fröhlich journeyed to Bern to meet with Bost.But Bost had departed because those who would prevent theinterview had informed him that Fröhlich was behind bars in Aargau.That thewearisomeand costly journeymightnothavebeen undertaken in vain, Fröhlich resolved to go on a mission-ary journey from Bern.

Continued from Page 3

Third Missionary Journey in Emmental

n August 11, 1832, Fröhlich made contact by letter with Christian Gerber, Langnau in Emmental, elderoftheBaptistchurchthere,whomhehadneverseen,but of whom he had been told. Agreement of their views onbaptism attracted him thither.Ten days later he himself traveled to Langnau and visitedChristian Gerber, who then was nearly seventy years old. At ameeting of all the deacons, Fröhlich laid before them, by wayof introduction, a copy of the letter to the English ContinentalSociety in which he, on May 14

of that year, had answered six questions. [These are published in

Individual Letters and Medi-tations

, S. H. Fröhlich.] The gathering seemed to agree withthese explanations.Fröhlich held daily meetings in the area, and was generallyaccompanied by the elder of the church. The attendance grewlarger and larger. On Sunday, September 2

, the number of hearers at Langnau was between four and five hundred. Ac-cording to the custom of the time he preached for three hours.The word was not without fruit, but the foe sensed the danger.On the following morning the state church pastor raised his voice in warning during a meeting of the citizens. Despite thefact that a deacon who was present defended the accusedfearlessly, Fröhlich was haled before the magistrate, who de-cided after a brief hearing that Fröhlich was to leave theterritory within 24 hours.BackatBrugg,Fröhlichcouldnot,inspiteoftheprohibition,keep fromvisiting thepersecutedchurches inAargau.InLeut- wil where there were 45 baptized souls, a penalty had beenplaced upon any who would permit meetings in their homes.“We have a great cloud of witnesses before us, who, for thesake of freedom in Christ, were ready to sacrifice goods andblood, whose imitators we should be in patience and faith,” he wrote on September 24, 1832.

Fourth Missionary Journey to Zurichand East Switzerland

n October, 1832, Fröhlich began his activity in Zurich, where two of his sisters lived. They were, as yet, unde-cided to go his way, but they were no longer offended byhim.Hefoundnohearing,however,amonghisformeracquain-tances.Great was the joy of seeing one another again when he, inCanton Thurgau, visited the congregation Wagenhausen atSteinamRhein,wherehehadservedasvicarfouryearsbefore. Although the teaching of the baptism of believers met withopposition, he parted from them in the good hope that they would finally find the way.InSt.Gall alsohemetwithoppositiononthequestion,whilehe found many receptive hearts in Herisau. On November 21,1832, he reached Wattwil, where a year before a commonlaborer, Adolf, of Zurich, who was active in the Word of God,had worked after his expulsion by the authorities and had left

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