136                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                             for miles ahead, and in the desert the atmosphere is  SO
                                                             clear that often one can see the road as far as twenty
                  Editorials                                 miles stretching before him. Under such conditions
                                                             it is no more of a hazard to drive at the rate of sixty
                                                             five or seventy miles per hour than it is to drive forty
                  Our Lecture Tour                           five or fifty miles per hour in our eastern States.
                                                             Although it was rather late in the season to expect
                            HI.                              flowers in the desert, due to the plentiful rains they
       As we wrote in our last article, we left Manhattan    had had all through those parts, the desert was literally
                                                             covered with millions of them, yellow, orange, pink
on Thursday, April 24.                                       and red, so much so that even the mountain slopes in
       The distance from Manhattan to Bellflower by auto     the distance were colored. The Joshua-tree showed
is about 1200 miles. And as we left about seven thirty swelling buds at the end of its wierdly crooked branch-
in the morning, and planned to be in Bellflower by           es, the Yucca was blooming and "the wilderness
Friday evening, we had no time to spare.                     blossomed as the rose". Yes, even the desert has its
       Once more our way led through the beautiful           own beauty !
Galatin Canyon to West Yellowstone, thence westward             Early in the afternoon we reached Barstow,  and
for a short stretch over the Continental Divide, and         from thence we travelled on through the San Bernar-
after that our main direction was south, so that it          dino mountain-pass into the city of that name. Plenty
became warmer as we made progress. At West Yellow-           of rain had fallen in California, and by a veritable
stone, ,which we reached a little after nine in the morn- downpour the state of sunshine welcomed us all that
ing, we still saw plenty of snow and it was freezing.        afternoon. Had we been earlier we probably would
But at Idaho Falls, where we arrived at noon, it was         have stopped at the always hospitable home of the
warm enough to sit on the grass at the riverside to          Rev. G. Vos in Redlands, for it is but a few miles out
eat our lunch, or part of it, for our good hostess had       of the way from San Bernardino to Bellflower. Row-
provided plentifully for us. From there we continued ever, the day had far advanced and we were eager t?
through Idaho, following the general direction of a          meet our children. So, on we went. And the sun had
wide valley and speeding ahead under the edge of a gone down before we  finally reached the parsonage of
storm that was hanging in the mountain range to our the pastor of Bellflower's Protestant Reformed Church.
left while the sun was shining overhead. We followed             It goes without saying that we enjoyed our stay in
the road that led us through the pretty, rather thrilling    California.
Ogden Canyon, where the road is dynamited out of the             This was not due to the fact that we went sight-
mountain-side and meanders along rather steep preci-         seeing, although there is, of course, plenty occasion
pices down into Ogden. From the last named city it           for that in those parts. But for this we did not have
is not far to Salt Lake City, famed for its Mormon           much time, and, besides, the tail-end of the rainy
tabernacle, and temple. As, however, we had been season was rather long and very wet this season. One
through the Mormon buildings before, we did not tarry        day we travelled to San Diego but it poured all day,
now, but travelled on to Provo, where we stopped for so that one couId hardly leave the car. And one warm,
the night.                                                   sunny day we took our dinner to the beach, the Rev.
       The next morning we arose at the first  ghmmer  of Vos also being with us, and we made use of the oppor-
dawn. Of the twelve hundred miles between Man-               tunity to take a swim in the Pacific. For the rest we
hattan and Bellflower we still had seven hundred to go, were kept rather busy by travelling between Bellflower
and we decided to finish the trip that day, the Lord         and Redlands, preaching four times and delivering five
willing. For US  who live in the East, with its many         lectures.
cities and towns, its curving roads and heavy traffic,           But we enjoyed our stay in California most of all
it seems an almost impossible task to drive seven hun-       because of the fellowship we may have with the people
dred miles in one day. However, when one travels there. Of course, it is a keen pleasure for us when we
through Utah, Arizona, Nevada and thus into Cali-            may spend a week at the home of our children, the
fornia, his conception of distance decidedly changes.        Rev. and Mrs. L. Doezema, whom because of the great
The road is good, paved the whole distance. There is         distance we can see only occasionally. But pleasant it
very little traffic, so that it is a pleasure when one       is also to meet our old California friends, as well as to
may toot his horn occasionally at a passing car. From spend a day in the parsonage of Redlands. The Red-
Provo to Las Vegas, which, I believe, is a distance          lands people had prepared a sort of informal reception
of over four hundred miles, one does not pass through        for us after one of the lectures, in the basement of
any large  cities. Except for an occasional mountain         their church, the ladies serving refreshments,  SO  that
range that must be crossed, the road is usually straight     we had the opportunity to shake hands with all of


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   ,                                       437

them.     Redlands, you know, who first sent the long decided that  1  schould deliver the Christian School
distance call to us to come over and help them, and lecture in their own church. The consistory of the
where I might labor for three weeks back in 1932               Christian Reformed Church, however, arranged for
when they were organized, always pulls my  heart-              a congregational meeting for the purpose of calling a
strings, especially when once again I may meet them pastor on the same evening they knew I was to deliver
and preach the Word to them.                                   that Christian School speech. And, although they had
   And the more we get into contact with our people plenty of time to change their date, and were asked
in Bellflower, the more we love them. And several to do so, they refused. And in Bellflower we had the
enjoyable evenings of fellowship we spent with them, same experience once more. There, too, we spoke on a
when after lectures or services they would congregate different subject in our own church.
at the home of their pastor. Bellflower is small but              It reveals what spirit of cooperation with respect
active. A very beautiful parsonage they built for their to the Christian School is found with the Christian Re-
pastor, and they are talking about building a church. formed brethren.
That they built a home for their minister first, is due           On the whole it made the impression on me that
to the fact that they have the opportunity to rent and they are afraid to hear the truth and that they would
meet in an Adventist Church that is rather well suited rather not be disturbed in their slumbers of  self-
to their needs. Nevertheless, they  lo.ng to have and complacency.
should have their own church-edifice, where they can              For the rest, we gladly leave it to themselves to
also have their weekday meetings. And if they should explain their action and attitude in this case.                        ::
appeal to our churches for a little financial lift for this
purpose, as I believe they plan to do, I hope that our            Well, the time came that we must return home.
churches,  and  especial'ly  my own congregation may              `On Monday, May 5, we delivered our last lecture
liberally remember them. They are small and pay a in Bellflower, and the following Sunday we had to be
heavy budget.      To help them with a few hundred home.
dollars means little for us; but it will be a great help          We, therefore, left early Tuesday morning and
to them. Of course, this is true with respect to other         "stepped on it". The Rev. Petter and his wife had
smaller churches that may knock at our door just as            very kindly invited us to stay overnight with them
well. But  i am speaking now of Bellflower.                    once more if we could at all arrange to be in Oskaloosa
   ,I believe that the Lord is blessing our California         a night. ,And so we managed to make the trip to Oska-
churches and that they are being established in the .Ioosa in three days, and arrived in Grand Rapids the
truth.                                                         following evening, Friday, May 9.
   The lectures were well attended, both in  Redlands             The Lord had blessed us greatly and prospered us
and in Bellflower.       The last Sunday evening we on our way.
preached  in the latter place the auditorium was packed           A joy it was for us to visit all our churches;
to the doors, which means that there were many  out-              And we pray  tha.t the work was not in vain.
siders, for  Redlands  had their own services, of course.         `God's blessing be upon our churches !
During the week the people of Redlands  and of Bell-                                                         H. H.
flower both  woul,d  travel back and forth to attend the
lectures (the distance between the two places is about
sixty five miles), but that was not the case .on that
S u n d a y   e v e n i n g .
   And now I must come back to the remark I made                     De Sleutelmacht Der Prediking
in connection with my lectures in Manhattan.                                                                          .'
   In three places I visited on my lecture tour I had             We schreven aan het slot van ons laatste artikel
been asked by the school boards of the local Christian         over de Sleutelmacht  der Kerk, dat deze alleen  daar-
Schools to deliver a lecture on Christian Instruction door werkelijk m&t is en zijn kan, dat Christus Zelf
under their auspices, which invitation I readily accept-       door Zijne Kerk op aarde de sleutelmacht uitvoert.
ed. This was in Sioux Center, Manhattan and Bell-              Hij alleen heeft de macht om het Koninkrijk der heme-.
lower. `The idea was, of course, to deliver these lec-         len te sluiten of te  ontsluiten,  om de zonden te  ver-
tures in the local  Christi.an  Reformed Churches. How- geven of te houden. En als ook de Kerk op aarde
ever, when I came to Sioux Center I was told that the          die macht van Hem ontvangt, dan wil dit niet zeg-'
consistories of the Christian Reformed Churches there gen, dat  Wij daarmede de sleutelmacht uit de  handen
had refused the school board the use of their church- heeft gegeven, maar dat Hij Zelf door Zijne Kerk op
buildings. The result was that there I lectured in our aarde die macht `toepast en uitvoert. Dit nu is ook
own church on some other subject. In Manhattan I               vooral van beteekenis tot  recht verstand van de predi-
found the same situation. Only there our  peop!e               king des Woord, niet alleen van den inhoud der predi-


440                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                           And by the term confession the idea is set forth that
               The Triple Knowledge                        a group of believers or churches openly profess their
                                                           faith in unison with one another and with their Lord
EXPOSITION OF THE  HE;DELBERG CATECHISM Jesus Christ. There are many different kinds and
                                                           forms of creeds. Some are very brief and compre-
                            I.                             hensive setting forth the mere essentials of the catholic
        THE  HEIDELBERG  CATECHISM As A SYMBOL.            Christian faith, as the "Apostles' Creed" and the
                                                           Nicene Creed. Others are more elaborate and specific
       Our Heidelberg Catechism is part of our Reformed and offer a more or less detailed exposition of the
heritage. It belongs to the Reformed Symbols or Con- truth as professed by a ckrtain church, as the West-
fessions. The other parts, that with the  Heidelberger~    minster Confession.      To the latter belong also  th3
constitute the Three Forms Of  TJnity, are the  Nether-    Netherland Confession and the Heidelberg  Cal;ecYz:-l.
land or Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dord-         Still other confesssions  limit themselves to the  ex;l:si-
recht. Our age is not characterized by a clear  know-      sition and defense of certain I;ar.ticular points of the
I&dge of and love of distiect doctrine. Creeds do not doctrine. To these belong the Canons. of Dordrecht,
meet with much favor in the church of today. Some setting forth the faith of the Reformed Churches con-
churches still have creeds but without being acquainted    cerning the  :`Five Points of Calvinism".
with their contents  ; others have so abbreviated their       True creeds or symbols are not the result of ab-
confessions that they contain no distinctive doctrine stract theological contemplation. They are rather to
at all;. many have adopted the deceiving slogan-: "no      be conceived as spiritual children of the faith of the
creed but Christ". Our churches still value their church. The believers individually, and also the Church
Reformed heritage as contained in the Forms of Unity.      of Christ collectively, are set in the midst of the world
An attempt is made to aquaint  our people with their to be witnesses of the .truth  of God. The Church rnly
contents. Often our young people are instructed in the     nut be silen,t, especially not as it stands in antithetical
doctrine as expressed by the Netherland Confession         relation to the  worl,d  of darkness. Its calling is to bear
and the Canons. And it is still the established custom testimony in opposition to the lie. It partly meets this
in our churches to preach once a Sunday from the           obligation through its confessions or symbols. Bust it
Heidelberg Catechism in such a way that no Lord's also lives by faith in Christ. And faith has in it the
Day is omitted. B&fore we enter upon the exposition        urge to speak. The believing Church Ioves the truth as
of our Heidelberg Catechism, as we shall try to do in      it is in Christ Jesus and as it is contained in the Holy
the following chapters, it may not be superfluous to       Scriptures. It loves to contemplate that truth, strives
say a few words about creeds or symbols in general,        more and more fully to understand it and to appro-
and about our Heidelberg Catechism as a symbol in          priate it by faith, and has the desire to witness of that
particular.                                                truth before all the world. Thus creeds are born from
       A symbol may be defined as a declaration by a       the faith of the Church in  conkact  with the  <Holy
church or group of churches of what such a church Scriptures. Schaff says : "Faith, like all strong con-
or group of churches believes to be the truth of the       viction, has a desire to utter itself before others-`Out
Word of God or the true doctrine concerning salvation.     of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh' ;
Symbols are also called confessions or creeds. By the `I believe, therefore I confess'  (Credo ,ergo confiteor)  ".
name symbol is expressed that the church or group          Although, therefore, theology certainly  mtiy  and does
of churches that framed a particular statement of aid the Churdh in formulating its creeds, they are
doctrine consider this their ensign. Just as a nation never the product of abstract theological thinking but
has its flag which serves as a symbol of its nationality the spontaneous expression of the faith of the church.
in distinction from other nations, so a church has its     They are born, not made. A live church will certainly
authoritative declaration of doctrine as a symbol or have its creed, just as a living believer must needs bear
ensign, representing the catholic faith of the church      testimony of the truth.
over against the world, or the particular faith of a           And thus we already touched upon the question of
certain church in distinction from other churches. The `the value of symbols or creeds. They are valuable
word  creed  is derived from the Latin word  czrp,dere     because they serve  as a  m,eans whereby the whole
meaning "to believe". By this term, therefore, is ex-      church may express her faith over against all the
pressed that a church or group of churches regards its     world, or by which a group of churches may declare
statement of the truth as an object of faith. A symbol     what they believe to be the truth of the Word of God
is not a mere compendium of doctrine or system of          in distinction from other churches. As has  beerh.stated,
dogmatics, but it is the setting forth of those truths,    it is the calling of the Church in the mi,dst of the world
which a whole church or denomination of churches           to let her light shine and bear witness of the truth,
embraces as the object of its belief. It is living truth. to maintain that truth in opposition to every form


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       441

of the lie. She does this through her confessions as          creed and bound by it. But it does mean that a creed
her medium. In the second place, they serve as a bond         can never be the final court of appeal. Confessions
of union and a basis upon which a certain group of and traditions must always be based on the Scriptures.
churches may unite. Just as a flag is not merely an           And with the Scriptures they must constantly be com-
ensign representing the distinctive nationality of a          pared and in their light their truth must be judged.
certain Feople in the midst of other nations, but also        The contents of tie Scriptures can never be subject
serves as a symbol around which a particular nation to the criticism of the believer or of the Church, but
rallies ; so a particular group of churches rallies around. the doctrinal declarations of the confessions must
a certain confession as the symbol of its unity. In           really constantly be subj,ect to such criticism. Scrip-
the third place, confessions or creeds are means to pre- ture cannot be altered or developed, confessions may
serve  the truth as it is delivered to us from the past in    and should. The Bible is infallible, the creed of the
the line of generations. It is true that the whole truth Church is not. Hence, the confessidns  must constant-
is contained in the Holy Scriptures. But the Scrip- ly be gauged by the Scriptures. A church that fails
tures are the revelation of G,od in Christ as it was          to do this lapses' into confessionalism and dead intel-
given in the process of a history of many centuries and       lectualism.
cuIminated in Christ.      They offer no ready made               This does not mean that the individual believer has
system of doctrine. It is the need, and also the calling the right or power to altar the confession of the church
of the Church to elicit from these Scriptures the truth of which he is a member, nor does he have the right to
in doctrinal form. This is difficult labor, which often propagate views that are in conflict  with the creed of
finds an incentive in  ihe opposition of false teachers. his church. One that takes his confession seriously will
However, this work need not and may nut be started not even easily reach the conclusion that the doctrine
anew by the Church of every age. God establishes His as set forth in the symbols of his church is erroneous.
covenant and Church in the line of continued genera-          He will remember that the symbols are the product
tions, in order that one generation may enter intu the        of long and earnest labor and struggle on the part of
fruit of the labor of another. Thus the truth is pre- `the Church, and that she was guided, too, by the
served from age to age under the guidance of the              Holy Spirit. But if after serious consideration ahd
Holy Spirit. And creeds serve as means to transmit prayerful study a believer cannot escape the convic-
the truth and preserve it from one generation to the          tion that with respect to a certain doctrine the creed
next. In close conpection  with the immediateIy  pre- of his church is in conflict with the Bible, he will re-
ceding, finally, must be mentioned that symbols or con- veal his objections to the church, and try to persuade
fessions are excellent means of instructing the youth her to rectify the error. He will do this in the proper
of the Church. If a creed is to remain the expression         way, which in the Reformed Churches is the way of
of the faith of a church or group of churches, it stands      consistory, classis and synod. If he fails to convince
to reason  that the individual members of such a church the  churc.h, and if the doctrinal point of difference
or churches must  lbe acquainted with its contents. The is sufficiently serious and fundamental, the way is al-
Church must instruct its members, particularly its            ways open to him to join himself to purer manifesta-
children and youth, in its doctrine. For this purpose tion of the body of Christ one earth. However this
its creeds may be found to be  excelIent aids, if not may be, the confession can never have other authority
textbooks.    For many reasons, therefore, it is ex- than such as it derives from the Scripture, and appeal
pedient that the Church preserve and maintain her             from the creed to the Bible must always remain pos-
symbols.                                                      sible.
   Confessions have no authority other than deri-                 If this is born in mind one will find  littls dif-
vative, khat is, their authority can never replace or         ficulty in answering the various objections that have
be pl!t on a par with that of the Holy Scriptures. The been  ,and still are often raised against creeds as such.
Word of God is and must remain the sole authority Some of the main objections are the following: 1  .The
in the life of the indivi,dual  believer and of the Church    church needs no creed ; the Bible is sufficient for the
of Jesus Christ. This does not mean, of course, that          faith and instruction of the believers. 2. Creeds im-
they have no auth,ority  whatsoever. For, they are a          pede the development of the truth and stand in the
reflection of the truth of the Word of God in the             way of unprejudiced exegesis of  HoIy Writ. 3. Con-
believing consciousness of the Church, and authori-           fessions force and bind the conscience of the believer,
tatively expressed by the Church, unto which our              subjecting him to doctrines of men rather than to the
Lord Jesus Christ has given the power of the keys             Word of God only. 4. They are the cause of much
and the promise of the guidance of the Holy Spirit            false religious zeal, engender strifes and conten-
intci a11 the truth. And those that submit themselves         tions, breathe the spirit of sectarianism and cause
to the government of the Church that is based upon a ho;Feless  division in the Church of Christ. 5. The re-
certiain creed, are certainly under the authority of that sult is often doctrinal indifferentism  and skepticism.


442                           :     ;THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   .

This explains why the age of Confessionalism in the              To the last named belong the Three Forms of Unity
church of the seventeenth century was followed by             of the Reformed Churches, comprising the Heidelberg
that of Rationalism and apostacy  in the eighteenth.          Catechism, the Netherland or Belgic Confession, and
Our general reply to these objections may be that im-         the Canons of Dordrecht. A comparison of these three
proper emphasis on the importance of symbols may              parts of our Reformed -heritage  will show that each
be the occasion of'the abuses mentioned, but all these        is quite distinct from the other. The Netherland Con-
objections fall away as long as the Church remembers fession contains thirty seven articles, setting forth in
that the confessions can never take the place of, nor be      the main the chief doctrines of the Reformed Churches
placed on a par with Holy Writ, and that their con-           and following the objective dogmatic order.          The
tents must always be gauged by the teaching of the            Heidelberg Catechism is much more practical in char-
Bible. T,he truth of the sufficiency of Holy Scripture acter, and follows the subjective-experiental order of
cannot be used as'an argument to defend the denial or the doctrines of sin, redemption, gratitude. And the
ignoring of the labor of the Church in the past as it         Canons of Dordrecht, having their occasion in the
is expressed in the confessions. If symbols, moreover, Arminian controversy of the last part of the sixteenth
are kept in their proper place, that is, in subjection        and the beginning of  the seventeenth century, are
to Scripture, they will surely not impede the develop- destined to defend the doctrine of divine predestina-
ment of the truth or obstruct free exegesis, for then tion, together with the  reIated  doctrines of particular
the principle ,wilI be maintained that in no case .may        atonement, total depravity, irresistible grace and per-
the doctrine of the Church dominate the interpretation severance of the saints.
of the Bible. Again, as long as the Church maintains             As to the Heidelberg Catechism, its name  is derived
the truth that the authority of creeds is only deriva-        from the fact that it is casX into the. form of questions
tive, individual believers will always find the way open and answers, originally designed for the instruction
to appeal to Scripture if they have objections against of the youth, and from the fact that it was composed
the confessions and their conscience is not bound.            in the city of Heidelberg, situated in the Palatine, of
Nor can it be said that the symbols of the Church are which at that time Frederick III was elector. It WM
the cause of division and contention ; on the contrary,       originally the `Lutheran Reformation that about the
it is heresy and false doctrine that must be blamed for. year 1546 gained foothold in the Palatine. In the year
these evils. And the movement to establish church-            1556, however, Frederick III succeeded Otto Beinrich,
union by obliterating distinctive creeds can only im- and was elector until  15%. And under his reign a
poverish the Church doctrinahy  and induce doctrinal complete reformation was accomplished. As he him-
indifferentism, thus making the Church a prey to the          self had become thoroughly Reformed in his onvic-
false philosophy of the  worId.                               tions, he desired to introduce the Calvinistic faith into
   The many symbols that have been framed and his dominions, where hitherto the Augsburg Confes-
adopted  ,by the different churches in the course of their    sion had been the sole norm of faith. Be, therefore,
history may be divided into four classes (see Schaaf  :       commissioned Zacharias  Ursinus, who at  .that  tima
Creeds  of Christendom, I, 9-11). The first class con-        occupied a theoIogica1  chair at Heidelberg, and Caspar
tains the  Oocomenieal  symbols of the early church,          Olevianus,  who had formerly been incumbent of the
chiefly relating to the doctrines of the Holy Trinity chair then occupied by Ursinus but was then minister
and of the natures and Person of Christ. The second of the church of Heidelberg, to compose a book of in-
division embraces the symbols of the Greek Church;            struction developing the Reformed line of doctrine.
differing from the Western Church on the wellknown Both men had enjoyed the personal acquaintance cf
question of  "filioque" or the double, procession of the Calvin and the reformers of Switzerland, and were
Rely Spirit, and on the doctrine of the papacy. In the        well fitted for the task. Schaaf writes: "The peculiar
third category belong the symbols of the Roman gifts of both, the didactic clearness and precision of
Church from the Council of Trent, which was con-              the one, and the pathetic warmth and unction of the
voked to counteract the movement of the Reformation other, were blended in beautiful harmony, and pro-
and closed in 1563, to the Council of the Vatican, which duced a joint work which is far superior to the separate
finaIly established the doctrine of the infallibility of productions of either." Cred.s of Chri&d.om, I, 535.
the Pope, in 1870. And, finally, there is the fourth The Catechism was completed and  accepted by  the
class in which are comprised all the different creeds         Synod of HeidelbergLin  1563. Frederick III had added
of the  Evangehcal  Protestant Churches, mostly dating a short preface, in which he informed the clergy and
from the period of the Reformation. The two main              schoolteachers of his `domain that the book was com-
divisions of these are those that are of Lutheran and posed at his injunction in order that it might be used
those that are of the Calvinistic persuasion, chiefly         for the instruction of the youth in churches and
differing with respect to the doctrines of God's decrees schools. From the outset, therefore, the Heidelbe--g
and of the nature and efficacy of the Sacraments.             served the double purpose of catechetical  textbook and


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     443

symbo1  of the Church. It soon found its way into the          stops to consider the fruit of  beIieving   al1 this and
Netherlands, where it was highIy  esteemed, adopted speaks of justification by faith only. It further dis-
by  severa particuIar  synods, and finally ratified and        cusses the means of grace, the Word and the Sacra-
officialIy  incIuded  ins the Forms of Unity of the Re- ments, and closes this second part with a few questions
formed Churches by the Synod of Dordrecht in 161%
                                                     *         and answers concerning the keys of the kingdom of
19.                                                       I    heaven. The third part is introduced by a few quesl
       As we a11 know, the Heidelberg Catechism is divided tions concerning the true conversion of man, which is
into three parts, the first treating the doctrine of sin followed by a discussion of the law of God as a guide
and misery, the second of the doctrine of redemption for the Christian's  waIk and a treatment of each com-
and deliverance from sin, following the general line mandment separately. This discussion is concluded
of the so-called  Apostles' Creed, while the third part,       with the well-known question: "Car&  thou keep all
under the genera1 heading of gratitude treats of the           these things. perfectly" and the beautiful repIy that
subjects of the law and prayer. This. division reveaIs         even the very holiest in this Iife has only a small  be-
the practical, spiritual character and viewpoint of the ginning of the new obedience, but so that he has sin-
Heidelberger:  it considers the contents .of Christian         cere desire to Iive according to  aII the  co~andments
doctrine from the  experientai  standpoint of the be- of God. It closes with a discussion of the subject of
l i e v i n g   C h r i s t i a n .
                          For the same, reason this  IittIe    prayer in general' and of the contents of the Lord's
textbook of instruction in the truth is direct and per;- Prayer in particular.
sonal in form throughout. *It addresses the conscious             Thus the Heidelberg Catechism is  a'veritable  trea-
believer. It is further divided into  f&y two Lord's           sure of `that triple knowledge of which it speaks .in
Days, a division that was not found in the original            its second question and answer, and which. is indis?
editions, but was soon introduced with a view to its           pensable for the possession  -of the true comfort in
being used as a basis for instruction on the Sabbath.          life and death. It is the most widely known and-gener-  _
In the first edition there appeared or&y one hundred aily used of all Reformed symbols. It is rich in, con-
and twenty eight questions and answers. The eightieth tent,  beautifully simple in form,. highly spiritual in
question which refers to the popish mass as an accursed        tone and character. And although, perhaps, were it
idolatry was inserted in the second and third editions,        composed in our own time, some of its chapters,
according to Schaff "by the express command of the             notably those on the sacraments, would be con.siderabIy
elector, perhaps by his own hand, as a Protestant              abridged, while others would be enlarged, both from
counterblast  to the' Romish anathemas of the counci1  of ,the viewpoint of its being a symbol of the Reformed
Trent,  which cIosed  its sessions Dec. 4,X63." (Creeds        Churches and of its being  intended.as  a catechism the
of Christendo&, I, p. 536). Hence, the Catechism now Heidelberg Catechism is one of the most  beautifuI
contains one hundred and twenty nine questions and             and masterful compositions of  all times.      And our
answers, in which is set forth in brief the whoIe con-         Reformed fathers gave evidence of their sound  ,practi-
tent of the Christian faith from a Reformed viewpoint.         cal judgment when they ordained that one of the ser-
Introducing its instruction with a question concerning mons on each Sabbath should be based on one of ,the
the only comfort in life and death and by stating that Lord's Days of this -precious  little book.
knowledge of sin and misery, of deliverance and of                                                           H.  PI."'
gratitude are the  indispensabIe  elements of this  all-
embracing comfort, it speaks of the Iaw as the source                                     -
of the knowledge of sin and misery, of the greatness
of this sin and misery, of man's original state, his
wilful disobedience and total depravik, of the wrath                     NORTHWEST IOWA FIELD-DAY
of God and the punishment of sin, and of the impos-
sibility of man's ever saving himself or being saved           The annual Field-Day of our Churches wiI1 be held
by another creature. This in the first part. The second July 4th in  Vander Werff's grove, 1  mile east and 1
part follows in the main the exposition of the "-4pos-         mile south of Hull.
ties' Creed" and treats of the character of saving faith,          *.                  PROGRAM
of the Trinity, creation and providence, the names and
natures, the offices and states of the Mediator, His           Bali game at IO:00 - Miscellaneous program at  1 :00
death and descension into  heI.&  His resurrection as-                                SPEAKERS.
cension and exaltation at the right hand of God, and           Rev. Bernard Kok and Rev. Andrew Cammenga
His return to judge the quick and the dead. It con-
tinues to treat of the  HoIy Spirit and His work, of the                              Games at 3 :00                 .~.
holy catholic church and the communion of saints, of A well supplied canteen will be on the grounds, AI1
the final resurrection and eternal life. Lord's Day 23         proceeds for the Standard Bearer. Everybody welcome.


446                                      1  T H E   ST.ANDARD  B E A R E R

   Wandelende onder de nare schaduw van "den groe-             for this contention is the fact that throughout the
nen inlandschen boom" moogt ge U voeden met  ge- psalm David confesses his sins and iniquities. And
trouwigheid. Dat te  doen  spelt zaligheid `in `t  bin-        when such is the case, a spiritual man is not going to
nenste hart.                                                   digress by bringing such superficial things into the
       Ook zijt -ge ninuner  alleen in die wandeling hier      picture as an ailing body. No, David is bothered by
beneden.   Neen, want :                                        his `sins. Of them he will sing a dirge. And he will
   "Let tech,  en zie op vromen en oprechten;                  bring them to God, pleading for His mercy.
        Want, wat men denk' van d'uitkomst'hunner paan            Nice people, refined intellects, the noble and the
        God kroont met vree het einde Zijner knechten          elite shun such evaluation of self. You will under-
        Maar durft men stout des Heeren wet versmaan,          stand that when  I denominate such people as nice,
        Dan zal Gods wraak den berg van hoogmoed  slech-       refined, noble, etc., I have my tongue in my cheek.
             ten,                                              Such denomination is only their appraisal of self and
        En `t boos geslacht, ten grond toe, doen  vergaan".    has no foundation of truth. If God's people stink be-
   It moet vaak  denken   aan een  tweetal  teksten in cause of their wounds, where shall the ungodly and
di t verband.        Eerst luisteren we naaar'  P&us ; hij     sinners appear? Never forget,. that when God smells
spreekt  van Judas: "en voorovergevallen zijnde  is            of  them  He says: they are altogether become  filthy
midden opgobarsten,  en all-e zijn ingewanden zijn uit-        (the Dutch translates : Stinking !) .
gestort."                                                         Human nature is so abundantly ,corrupt  that when
       En dan naar  Paulus: "doch  wij zien Jezus, met they finally appear before the throne of God,, He will
eere en heerlijkheid gekroond!"           -                    judge that they are worthy to be cast into everlasting
   Wacht dan, ja, wacht  ! Verlaat U. op den Heer !            torments of hell. And : the punishment fits the crime,
                                                   G. V.       for God is righteous.
                                                                  Therefore we will not be influenced by all the
                                                               niceties of the worldly people .when  we consider this
                                                               psalm.    We are not going to soft-peddle the issue,
                                                               just because we are by nature as blind as bats when
                 The Humble Penitent                           it comes to appraising things and people and, yes,
                                                               even God Himself.
                           (Psalm 38)                             There are three moments in this psalm.
   After reading'Psalm  38 and noting that David calls            First there is the description of a penitent man
this psalm : "to bring to remembrance", we are inclined        who bewails his sin ; second, there is the reaction of
to say: the sooner forgotten the better.                       those that stand round about; third, there is the cry
                                                               for mercy to God. Happy the man, who shall bring it
       It seems to me that nice peope would rather not         to remembrance !
have too much of this song. Its language is shocking              David was aware of God's anger and wrath, even
to the so-called refined intellect. The choice of words of His hot dispieasure. God's hot displeasure ! Strong
is rather indelicate. Imagine : my wounds stink ! Who words these. The word translated: displeasure, means
wants to use ~this kind of language to ,describe  self?        poison. As such it is translated in Psalm 58:4.  You
Much more: who would want to sing it? Have you                 find. the original word used twice in that verse., So
noted, dear reader, that you will never  iind a number great is the discomfort which David feels that he likens
in the host of-hymn-books which comes anywhere near it to the burning sensation of a poisoned body, which
the theme. of this psalm? And yet, the Holy Spirit is swells as it irritates and festers. We have read of the
its composer; the man after God's own heart is the             spasms and convulsions of such unhappy people that
poet; and the God of you and my salvation wants you            are really poisoned.
to sing of it in the .church  of Christ!                          The awareness of God's anger is further described
       To bring to remembrance ! Indeed! You are called in figurative language. It is likened to an arrow which
upon to emulate David and find yourselves. in this             is driven in the fl.esh  so that the barbs stick fast and
psalm.                                                         all attempts to pull it our only aggravates the pain
       I am  pursuaded  to believe that David did not refer    and misery. Moreover, it is likened to a hand pressing
to bodily ills in this psalm. when using terms like the        sore upon one, so that one feels crushed, spent, dis-
following : no soundness in my flesh ; my wounds stink ;       integrated.    All harmony,. rest and tranquility are
loathsome disease ; my sore; etc. I am rather sure that absent: there is only the awareness of God's hot dis-
David uses these terms to emphasize his spiritual con- pleasure.  :
dition, namely, his sin `and spiritual corruption. At             Ah, here is the cause': because of my sin!
any rate, bodily troubles are always parables of the              [And then follows a description of that sin, and
sore that is spiritual What to me is sufficient proof what a description !


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     447

       In the next verse two figures are employed: the           Ah, what pity ! That should not be. They are but
one, a roaring tempest at sea ; the second, a burden          few words, but, I ask you: who does not see the
that crushes and crumples. My sins are so great that spectacle? No, they are not going to talk about it ;
they seem to be like billows of a mighty ocean ; they they are not like the sons of BeliaI.  They keep their
have gone over my head; I seem to be engulfed by              distance though. You cannot expect us to be intimate
them; all I see is sin, sin, sin!                             with such an one. After all, there is a limit to all
       And according to the other figure: they are so         things.      Imagine: David had the nerve to do this
great a burden that they crush me, there is no whole- abominable thing! Yes, my dear, and I have it first
someness left for me. I am crushed and spent. As a hand: a close relative of Joab told me the whole
burden they have become too great for me. I cannot story !
go*                                                              Ah, what pity! The poor people did not realize
       Such as far as the quantity is concerned.              that the same festering sores were in their own heart.
       And as to their quality, they are Ioathsome to the     Aloof from sinners? Afar off from the poor people of
extreme,                                                      God that fell into sin?
       They are as stinking wounds; I a.m in contortions,        No, a thousand times no, devil ! Come with me to
out of shape. (Such is the literal translation of verse the poor publican. He dared not to raise as much as
6a) I am likened unto a body that is ravished by a            his eyes to heaven, smote his breast and cried out:
Ioathsome disease, gnawing, suppurating, festering at 0 God, be merciful to me, the sinner!
my very vitals.                                                  Beloved, let us go to David and tell him to make
       Because of all this, I groan, I pant, my strength      room for us so that we may kneel next to him and
faileth me and the light of mine eyes is extinguished !       mingle our sighs with  `his cries. Ah yes, a song to
       All expressive of utmost misery and anguish.           bring to remembrance !
       There is a question that came to me when I read           And if you insist in standing afar off, be sure and
these lines, a question that became a  torturing, insist-     do so because you say: I am worse than they all; I
ing desire to know. I thought: why is it that so few would call ,myself  the sinner!
of Adam's sons and daughters ever ta! k about them-              And the other kind? It is  hardIy necessary that
selves in this shocking way?  The, great majority of          we would linger long with them. The poor deluded
men and women turn away from such appraisal of self people imagine that they are pure without transgres-
in disgust. Man is pretty good after all, they say.           sion ; they know not that they are poor, naked, miser-
Oh, well, we  al1 make mistakes, but then, who is             able and blind.
perfect.  But such language as David here uses hurts             Look at the reality:.  while'  they stand afar off
them, nauseates them, inflames them to resistance.            and jibe at sinful David, God smells them to be stink-
       *Here  is the answer, beloved: people that speak       ing in their abominations. ;Go to now, ye world, that
as David does about self carry with them the light of         stands and looks at the sinful church ! Here is God's
God's own countenance.         They are one with God ; answer: they hate the church because she fohows what
they have the life of God in heart and mind and they good is. (Verse 20).
Iook through God's eyes at self. Then their  c!othes             David? What is his answer? He found none.
shall abhor them. Job 9:31.                                   He answered not, neither the aloofness of the church,
       Judging from the reaction of David's fellow men, it    nor the jibes of the wicked. He was as a man that
stems that David had come to this appraisal of his was dumb. He opened not'his  mouth.
deepest self because of a grievous sin that had become           WonderfuI  wisdom. For there were no possible
r.~ablic.  `The sin that was manifest to all had become       reproofs.     As far as we are concerned, we cannot
the occasion to view deeper into the unholy fountain:         even answer the reproof of a sinful man in our sinning.
l-is old man of sin.                                          IMoreover,  it is usually worse than friend and. foe can
       And what reaction ! It is two-fold. Two kinds of see or evaluate.
people surround him: the one kind are called: lovers,            What then?
friends, kinsmen; the second kind: they that seek after          David went to God and told Him of all his sin.
n-y life, they that seek my hurt, mine enemies, they          How childlike is his confession ; how  simpIe  is his
that hate me wrongfully, they that render evil for inward speech : sweet simplicity.
good,  my adversaries.                                           He says wthin himself: I will declare mine iniquity ;
       The first kind of people are the children of God       I will be sorry for my sin. A child would speak thus.
that surround David. They are his friends, his lovers.        Yes, indeed, unless you become like one of these little
.j'nd we know that David said: I am a companion of            ones. . . . It seems to me we heard those silvery
those that fear Thee !                                        strains in the plains of Galilee.
       How did these children of  Clld act? They stand           And David suited action to his word.
aIoof  from my sore and they stand afar off.'                    Listen : forsake me not, 0 Lord : 0 my God, be not


448                                    THE  STANPARD   B E A R E R
far from me ! Make haste to help me, 0 Lord, my               dom of God and of His Christ were to be gotten by
salvation  1                                                  and in the way of repentance. Whereupon the Apostle
       Hush, my soul ! Be very still now. In heaven points to the promise that was unto them and their
above the angels have heard and seen.            They set children and to all that are afar off, as many as the
themselves to sing they are very happy. Again they Lord our God shall call;
might see the wonderful work of God's salvation.                 Bigniflcant,  that the Apostle does not define the
       More than over ninety and nine that need no re-        promise. The question can be raised, What does he
lentance.  . . .                                              mean when he speaks  ,of the promise in such a broad
       0 God, be merciful to me !                             sense? Was that promise a wellknown fact, so that
                                                 G. V.        every one immediately understood what he meant?
                                                              To you men and brethren is the promise, because ye
                     -          -                             are the Church of God? So may we ask. *However,
                                                              to my mind the Apostle does not refer or does not
                                                              single out one promise at the expense of others. In
                The Promise Fulfilled                         saying that the promise is unto you, he refers to the
                                                              one central promise of Scripture.
                                           Acts 2:39.            Many were the promises given to the fathers of
       Pentecost is the great day of harvest.    :.           the Old Dispensation, on many occasions. Moses,
                                                              David and others received such `promises. God, in
       The fruit of the suffering and death of the Saviour    many ways promised to be the faithful guide and
becomes apparent. 0, sure, the Resurrection and the           protector of His \ people.    The word itself is most
Ascension are the result of that same suffering and           beautiful. The word means glad tidings, concerning
death, for it proved beyond any doubt, that the work the contents of the promise. These promises of Go:1
of Christ was accepted by God. God  cahed His suffer- were. the objects of the faith of the beiiever. They
ing Servant out of the grave, that He might appear            were closely connected with the messages of the pro-
as the Lord of glory, who received a name which is            phets. bCentrally2,,there  was only one promise, Christ
above every name.         The new line begins with the the  Messiah;,6 And when Peter speaks of the promise
resurrection, becomes more glorious in His ascension he refers to$hrist, according to the context. Hence,
and. must find Him exaIted  in the sitting at the right       if he speaks of the promise,  Pekr  refers to Christ
hand, in the highest heavens, unti1 He shall return to        and  all His benefits. We must not forget there are no
judge the quick and the dead.                                 promises besides this one promise, Christ and His
       However, on the day of Pentecost, the church re- work of redemption. And on the day of Pentecost, the
ceives of the fruit of the  lab&s of her Redeemer.            day of' completion, all these benefits of Christ were
True it is, objectively the church possesses all things poured out  on.the Church.
with the `Lord in the resurrection and the ascension             Hence, this. word is  a!so beautiful, because in
and also in the sitting at the right hand. But on             this word `promise' is embodied the riches of Christ.
the day of Pentecost the objective fruit is poured This is possiblei because Christ is centrally the "Prom-
out in the Church.        Christ received the Spirit and      ise" of God. Secondly, we could read also, unto you is
on the day of Pentecost that' same Spirit is poured           the Gospel. A glad tiding, if the gospel centrally pre-
out on His body. He fills her with the benefits of her sents Christ, Him crucified, raised and glorified. Thru
Head and the results are clearly shown. Do they Christ God reveals and executes His eternal plan of
not speak in different languages concerning the great salvation. Therefore, when the gospel is preached,
works of God?                                                 the Gospel must at all times speak of God's pIan of
       The power of Pentecost becomes manifest in the         redemption, of Christ and His suffering, of the benefits
testimony of the Church. First of all, in that the            of the Cross for God's people. And we may well take
enemies are openly rebluked.. "Let the house of-Israel        riote,   t&at the Apostle speaks these things to the
know' assuredly, that God  bath` made that same Jesus,        Church and more particularly, that these benefits are
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ". God,           to be had by the Church in the way of repentance.
thus spoke Peter, raised this same Jesus and what is          The Promised One has fulfilled the promise(s). All
heard and seen by you, is God's work, rather, is God's you hear and see is the result of Christ's labors and is
work for Christ's sake and the result of.His  labors.         the  revelatmn of the full counsel of God.
       Hence, on the same day this testimony of the              Pentecost is in a special sense the day to reveal
church. revealed the thoughts of many in Israel. Some the fulfillment of  tER Promise. The Spirit operates
said these men are drunk, others said, Men and breth- mightily. He takes it as the Spirit of Christ out of
ren, what must we do? And Peter immediately ans-              ,Christ and brings. the fruit of Christ's labor to the
 wered them,- that the way to the blessings of the king-      Church.    And -in a special. sense these benefits are
                                                                   .


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            .A49

experienced by the Apostles and the one hundred and not be difficult to again have someone annihilate the
twenty. Every one of .them  is filled with the Spirit.         idea of sovereign grace. It may be said, all are called;
Every une of them gives testimony concerning the               hence, to all comes the promise as an offer of salva-
wonderful works of God. Every one is not ashamed               tion. This kind.of  preaching is well known in our day.
of the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. Because,            In fact, it is just aboct  the only preaching we hear,
every one of them is pariaker of the Promise of God            when listening to speeches of those who make it their
and knows and believes that they have their part with          ,business to win souls. That is also the preaching in
the exalted Saviour.                                           the churches, who claim to be reformed. The external
    And now the apostle turns to his audience in a call of the preacher is, in this way, the internal call of
familiar and well known way. Men and brethren, to              God. Better, we should not `bother much about the
you and to your children is the promise and to `as             internal crll. I't was earned for all by the perfect
many as are afar off, even as many as the Lord our             sacrifice of Christ, hence, it should be offered to all.
God shall call.         Who does he speak  to? Men and         But this is contrary to the preaching of Peter on the
women of Israel and their children? Who are they?              day of Peti&cost.
The answer is, he speaks to the Church. IHe reveals               The day of Pentecost is first of all, the day of the
to us, the way of the Covenant. God hath established           Church and the day for the Church. Peter speaks not
that covenant with the people of Israel. Besides, we           at random when he brings this glorious  gos$$, but
must take note of the fact, that he spea-ks to people,         he speaks to thb men and brethren of IsraeI. Seco:l.lly,
D who do' not know what to do. They were pricked in he speaks to men who are sorry for their sins and not
their hearts. They were a people conscious of their            knowicg  what to do ask for light. And light they
sins. I take it, not merely of the fact that perhaps           received as is clear from the answer of the apostle.
some of them hath been witnesses of the crucifixion,              Furthermore, the day of P.entecost,  as day of har-
or perhaps belonging to the multitude that hath cried,         vest, is not a day wherein God has changed His method
crucify, crucify ! !                                           of bestowing grace upon the sinner. He it is, who is
    To you is the promise whenever you humble your- and always will remain the author of salvation.                       l
selves before God and before His Christ. We  find,                Therefore, although it may not seem to take a
standing before  Pleter  and the whole church, the rem-        prominent place in the text, the idea of God's work
nant according to election. And this remnant is made and saving grace stand clearly on the- foreground. In
 ready by the Spirit to confess their sins and to be           as many as the Lord shall call, to them is the promise.
sent to Christ for the forgiveness of the same.                To call never means to preach the gospel to, that they
    And to your children. Is it necessary to point out may accept or reject the same. To call, as to the word
that this promise does not  simpIy refer to the natural        in the original, means to calI out. To call out that the
seed?  In the history of the Church this has been              one's who are called, may be a separate people, dedic
preached, even in the so-called Reformed Churches.             cated unto the Lord. And this effectual calling will
Hence, the necessity of. repentance is superfluous.            always reveal God's power. He called these men and
    Notice, how Peter also here, points his audience to        brethren to whom Peter  spb'ke. And the call was
the Word of God; In speaking to these men of Israel answered. For, when, God caIls, we most assuredly
he speaks to a  peopIe well acquainted with the Promise.       will come. True, the others also heard it preached,
 IIence,  well acquainted with the Word of God. This           therefore, they mocked. They were confounded, but
they must know, that the Scripture always speaks               when they were over their first scare, they ridiculed
of conversion when it speaks of the promise. Or, we            the work of God, of Christ and the work of the Spirit.
 may say, the Scripture always speaks of the know-             That, we could say, was the negative result upon the
 ledge of sin and our  sor:aow over sin as one of the          preaching of the apostle.
 elements  of sanctification.    Yes, also the historical         The positive result was, that when the call of God
 c:zment  appears in that Peter addresses the house            was sent, they were pricked in their hearts. It brought
 cf `Israel, for unto Israel were given the covenants          about a confession of sin.. of their weakness, of their
 a:ld the law. Nevertheless,  i,n what follows, the apostle true knawledge of self. Therefore, they inquired con-
 pqints  to the sovereignty of God. In as many as it           cerning the way of salvation. It was to them the
 I.ieases the Lord to call, this Promise is given. If          central question of their lives. What must we do?
 we take the whole text, we will read, as it pleased           But it was at the same time, an admission of `the
 you to call in Israel, so it also is His good pleasure to     knowledge of guilt, of misery, of utter despair.
 call others, namely, out of the Gentiles. But the call-          Through it the Lord added them to the congrega-
 ing of God after all, is the means to receive this            tion of the saints that were brought to light in that
 p r o m i s e .                                               beautiful day of Pentecost. For they also received the
    This proclamation is the basis for the salvation           Spirit, according to the promise of +d as preached
 of  the Old and the New Testament Church.         It would    by the apostle Peter.                        w.  v.


450                                   *THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                            by the Red Sea to Kadesh for the second time. Accord-
                   The Forty Years                          ing to this view, the host departed from Sinai, pitched
                                                            successively at Kibroth-hattaavah and Hazeroth, and
       At Numbers 14:34 the statement occurs, "And ye thereupon arrived at Rithmah, that is, Kadesh for the
shall know my hostility (erroneously translated, "And first time. Removing from this station, it turned
ye shall know my breach of promise"). The pronoun south again. Camping successively at all the stations
l/e has reference to the apostate Israelites, who in the mentioned after Rithmah (Kadesh) and before Ezion-
carnal rage had wanted to know why the Lord had gaber, it finally pitched at this last named place-the
brought them to the border of Canaan that they, their extreme southern point of this part of the journey.
wives and their children, should be a prey. The notice, Removing from Ezion-gabcr, the the host, according
"And ye'shall know my hostility", must be taken to to the view under consideration, again turned north,
mean that the Lord would be continually against the on the same way that it had come and pitched at Rith-
apostates, would pursue them with His curse, until the      mah (Kadesh) now for the second time.
carcasses of them all be wasted in the wilderness.              The Israelites are thus held to have encamped at
But the Lord for the sake of His believing people did Kadesh twice during the period of their wanderings
not abandon the nation. The view that He did so is and as many times to have taken their journey from
in conflict with the facts communicated in the chap-        this station. To the first turning from Kadesh the
ters  15-20 or' the book of Numbers-chapters that refer      notice at-Deuteronomy 2 : 1 is referred, "And'ye turned
to the interval of forty years. The  legisiation  of from Kadesh and took your journey in the wilderness'
Jehovah continued and the people were fed with manna by the way of the Red Sea and compassed Seir many
from heaven. Some interpreters see in the further days." To this same turning, it is said, the notice at
legislation in reference to the sacrifices a  croping out Numbers 14:25 must be made to apply, `LTomorrow
of an intimation that sacrifices were suspended during turn ye (from Kadesh) and get you into the wilderness
the perod of the wilderness. However, Aaron's mak- by the Red Sea." To the second turning from Kadesh,
ing atonement for the people, who, after the punish- the notice at Numbers  20:25 and the one at Numbers
ment of Korah and his company, accused him and 33:37 are referred, "And the children of Israel jour-
Moses of having killed the people of the Lord, plainly neyed from Kadesh and came to  .Mount  Hor. And
indicates that the sacrifices were not `suspended. The they removed from Kadesh and pitched in Mount Hor
nation lived before the face of God only because its         on the edge of the land of Edom." Between the two
sins were in unbroken continuity being covered by the encampments at Kadesh the period of the forty years
blood of these sacrifices.                                   or less is said to have lain. Such is the  ,view. The
       Now with respect to the order of the local residence objection to it is that, by taking Rithmah to be another
or movements of the Israelites for the next forty years name for Kadesh, it imputes to the Catalugue of
-or less, the sacred narrative at Numbers 15 : 1 reaches chapter 33 an arbitrariness in the use of names that
a point where there is a blank. Just what the order would make it worthless for that purpose for which
of these movements was cannot be determined to any it was evidently recorded in the book of Numbers.
degree of certainty.                                         Thus the only  acceptabIe  view is that Rithmah was
       In chapter 33 (of the book of Numbers) there are the name of a place other than Kadesh ; that therefore
enumerated twenty  stations between Sinai and Kadesh there was only one encampment at Kadesh; and that
and twenty two including Sinai and Kadesh. The thus the l,ist of stations in chapter 33 is a catalogue,
enumeration is formed by the names of the following that gives the stations consecutively ; that refers to
stations : Sinai, Kibroth-hattaavah, Hazeroth, Rithmah, localities by one and the same name, being the name
R!immonparez,  Libnah,,   Rissah,  Kehelathah,   M o u n t elsewhere used in this book for the same place, and
Shepher,'  Haradah, Makheloth, Tahath, Tarah, Mith-          that gives the order of stations as accurately where
cab, Hashmonah, Moseroth, Bene-jaakan, Horhagid- we cannot verify them as it does in cases where we can.
gad, Jotbathah, Ebronah, Ezion-gaber, the  wil,derness       So then, the order of the movements of the host was
of Zin, which is Kadesh.                                     not thus: Sinai, Kadesh, Ezion-Gaber, Kadesh, Hor,
       Of the eighteen stations between Sinai and Kadesh Mount Seir, Canaan ; but the order was thus : Sinai,
only two are recognized beyond debate, namely, Ezion- Ezion-Gaber, Kadesh, Hor, Mount Seir, Canaan.
 Gaber, which was at the head of the Elanitic Gulf,              As the journey could have easily been made in
and Mount Nor. -411 the others have been only con- less than a year, it is natural to ask just where, at
jecturally identified. Now one view has it that Rith- which station, the forty, years were spent. The notice
mah, the name of the station third after Sinai, was at Deuteronomy I:46 : "So ye abode in Kadesh many
just another name for Kadesh and that therefore the days," suggests the answer. This notice may be re-
stations mentioned after Rithmah occurred in wander- ceived as describing the whole period of forty years
 ings that brought the host back again from Mount Seir or less as a period spent at Kadesh.. This long sojourn


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                3bi

at Kadesh was spent in a nomadic life  (VWYX?  33  Gl        be incorrect. The nation was  not- led up and down
chapter  14, your children shall be shepherds). `It in-      awful desolations but was allowed to disperse to vari-
volved, of course, a dispersion and moving about over ous points of fertility in the wilderness to pasture its
a large  2rea, which may have included the most or all ,herds.  And there were several such points as several
the desert of Paran and extended southward to the            of the n2mes  of the stations indicate.  Rithmah is a
Elanitic Gulf (Red Sea). The journey from Sinai to name derived from  retem,   meaning a broombrush,
Kadesh had made the Israelites familiar with much so that it may be presumed that the encampment at
of this region. During the forty years they continued the  piace  designated by this name was determined by
to move hither and thither in it, in search of pasture the existence of vegetation. Then there is the name
for their flocks. But the tabernacle and headquarters Rz'mmon-pares,             "the pomegranate branch" Mount
of the nation may have continued to abide after the Stip.`~er, `the mount of beauty," IXssxzh, "dew", M:`th-
events of chapter 14, at Kadesh. Here those dispersed cab, "sweetness", Hashmonah,  "fatness, fruitfulness"
to pasture the herds would gather from various points;       Bene-jaukan,   "the wells of the children of  Jaakan",
first when the invasion of Canaan was to have begun Jotbathah,  "goodness".                 The district in which the
from Kadesh (chapter 13 :26), again the new genera- wanderings took place must have been capable of
tion of forty years.                                         supporting flocks and herds. For Deuteronomy  2:7
   Of the departure of the new generation from shows that Israel had greatly increased in substance
Kadesh chapter 20  :14sqq.  gives the account. Moses         and wealth during the thirty seven years.
sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom                 It is held by some that the Lord, to mitigate their
with the petition that he permit the Israelites to pass      punishment, gave to their wanderings at least an
through his country. The  ,king  w2s unwilling. He apparent object, which determined their direction and
refused  `Yo give Israel passage through his border, extent. "When they found that they could not scale
wherefore Israel turned away from him." Then fol- the mountain passes of the Amorites, their southward
lows the notice, "And the chiIdren of Israel, even the       journey might well have for its object to find some
whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came passage through Edom to the East by the route they
unto Mount Her." To this passage we must take as at last followed; and it may have been with this hope
parallel the one at  33:37,  "And they removed from that they compassed Mount Seir for many days. Then,
Kadesh 2nd pitched in Mount Hor, on the edge of the          a..s at the end, they may have met with some refusal
land of Edom", and the passage at Deuteronomy 2:1,           from thte Edomites ; and to have waited about their
"Then we turned and took our journey into the wilder-        head-quarters at Kadesh, trying sometimes one ps-
ness by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord spake            sage and sometimes another, but shut out on both
unto me: and we compassed Mount Seir many days." sides. . .  ."
The beginning of this movement was also the be-                 This is sheer conjecture. Were it true, then the
ginning of the execution of the command at Numbers nation during the period of the wanderings, lived in
14% and given some thirty seven years previous,              perpetual rebellion.'
"Tomorrow turn ye and. get you into the wilderness                                                            G. M. 0.
by the way of the Red Sea. This is a command to
abandon the invasion of Canaan on the south, and
turn in that direction that was afterwards successful.
It was executed some thirty seven years later. Tomor-
YC.JW  presents no obstacle to this view. For the Hebrew                              GEDACHTENIS
.flachar, that is so rendered, has not the limited  mean-        Den 5den Mei,  1941, behaagde het den Heere om na een
i-:g that  tomorrow  has in English. It may also be korte ongesteld totzich te nemen onze vriend en broeder,
tzansiated  in time to come.                                                                                    .
   The notice                                                                     IMR.  .I*.COB  BUITEN
                  tG  the  eiTect  that "Moses sent  mes-
Urgers  from Kadesh to  the king of  Edom",   proves         in den ouderdom van ruim  77 jaar.
(.Xrclusively that during the thirty seven years the             Onze gcdurige omgang met hem en vooral dat wij nog
fybernacle and headquarters of the nation continued          enkeie woorden koort voor zijn heengaan met hem konde
to abide at Kadesh.                                          spreken, merkte wij zoo  duidelijk de  vervulling  van de belofte
   Some interpreters, when they picture to themselves        Gods zooals wij lezen in Zacharia  P4:7,   melk  een achoone
the Israelites of the thirty seven years, have the idea toekomst, voor hen die  weten  en gelooven dat ten tijde des
of a vast multitude "being led up 2nd down the awful s'bvonds het licht voor hen zal opgaan.
desolations" of 2 wilderness, amid terrific suffering to         Trooste  de Heere Die alleen trooste kan de Weduwe en
men, women, children and cattle, "with no assignable Binderen.
Purpose, except to spend out the allotted years". In                                       Namens de "Vriende  lX$ng".
the light of the above observation, this idea appears to Grand Rapids, Michigan.


452                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

               Be  Carefu! For Nothing                               worry, in what way? The apostle has the answer,
                                                                     "Let your requests be bade known unto God, in every-
                                                                     thing, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.
                "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by           The believers have requests, desires in respect to
              prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your     all things-all those things or matters, that especially
              requests be made known unto God. And the peace         concern them, such as the matter of their daily bread,
              of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep    of their children, of the school and church ,of the King-
              your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."                dom causes in general. And in respect to all these
                                                PhiI.  423,  7.      things they have definite desires, requests. And when
   "Be careful for nothing." This statement from the there is no conscious faith, these requests have a way
bapostel's  pen is equivalent in meaning to the one just of multiplying until their number is almost legion.
previously made, "Rejoice in the Lord alway",  the only              Let all these desires be made known unto the Lord,
difference being that the one is negative and the other              admonishes the apostle. Pour out your heart to Him.
positive.                                                            Tell them in  His ears. For He carreth for you, is
       "Be careful in nothing," or, as we of this day say, attentive to your voice and knows how to give good
"Do not worry." We understand the apostle, to be gifts to His children.
sure. Wh& he means is not that we be sinfully care-                     Make known these requests of yours by prayer,
less, irresponsible, indifferent with respect to "all                that is, by seeking God with a true heart and acknow-
things", or matters that concern us and in which we ledging Him as the overflowing fountain of all good,
should be vitally interested, but that on account of and thus as the creative fountain of your heavenly
these things we be not filled with a  kin,d of concern existence in Christ Jesus ;-by supplication, that is,
that springs from unbelief, a lack of trust in the Lord,             by turning to Him, the living God-the God and
a failure to spiritually apprehend that God's peopIe                 Father of your Christ-as deeply conscious of your
are the objects of His endearment and that in `His                   real need, which is grace ;-with thanksgiving, that is,
love He causes all things to work together for their                 with hearts and mouths declaring His adorable praises.
good. In a word, what the apostle in the name of the                    *And what will be the result of this hallowed action
Lord forbids is worry.                                               on the part of God's believing people? First, that
   Eow inclined even God's people are to worry. And many of these requests will stand out in their minds
worry they do when they stand not in their faith,                    as springing from  lack of trust and will therefore
consider not that the mercy and goodness of God fol- not be voiced. Second, that a great peace--the peace
lows them all the days of their lives unti1 they dwell               of God-will flood their souls. Such is the assurance
in the house of the Lord forever and that therefore  all             of the apostle.
things are for them in that God-the God and Father                      Mark you, he does not say that the Lord will re-
of Christ-is for them.                                               spond by granting all the requests. Also with respect
       Worry always concerns God's works. The farmer to the voiced desires of His people, God does all His
has  ploughed  and sowed. But if he will also harvest, good pleasure.  &d's believing people understand this
God must send rain and sunshine and give the increase. also and therefore their final petition is that His will
Mindf11  of  this, the man worries, as his anxious look-             will be done, except when the thing requested has been
ing at the  doi..dless  skies in periods of drought be-              divineiy promised.     And there are such promised
token.       The minister of the gospel brings His mes- things. God has promised to give His people grace-
sage from  Sal-bath  to Sabbath, but he cannot work                  in a word, the heavenly. And of this good they now
faith, make men to believe, cause the word to take                   possess the firstfruits. And they without ceasing pray
root  ii1 the hearts of His hearers and to bear fruit                for the full harvest, which the Lord will give them in
in their lives. This, too, is God's work. Knowing FIis good time at the appearing of Christ.
this, the human preacher, when his labors in the flock                  Letting their requests be made known unto God,
seeming':y  bear no fruit, worries. Will that son or the believers have peace-the peace of God that sur-
daughter, now indifferent, eventually turn to the Lord? passes all understanding.
The parents know not and they worry. The family                         The peace of God. God is a God of peace. Their
man, with a number of dependents, has a good job.                    is perfect harmony between the three persons in His
Will he be able to hoId it? He is not certain and he                 blessed being. For He is good, and being good, He b
worries. Also God's people, when they stand not in                   peace and is at peace with Himself and all things.
their faith, worry about many things. They have need                    And as the God of peace He prepared peace for His
of the admonition, "Rejoice in the Lord. Be careful                  people, who by nature hate Hint, Who is good, and are
for nothing". Do not worry.                                          at odds with Him, with Bis thinking and willing and
       But, some may say, this is easier said than done.             ail His blessed doing, But He loved them, though they
How will a man, a Christian man, free himself of his                 loved Him not, loved them, did He, before the  founda-


                                           T H E S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

tion of the world in Christ Jesus, in whom He also
chose them to everlasting life. And in His love He                                        E z e k i e l   '
prepared for them peace through Christ. He gave
His only begotten as a propitiation for all their sins               The prophecy' of judgment. The divine mission of
thus reconciled them to Himself in the cross. And                 Ezekiel. The vision of the glory of Jehovah.
the peace He prepared for them, He also  plazes  in                  In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the
their actual possession, through His quickening them              fifth day of the month,. as the prophet was  by the
by Christ's Spirit and through His assuring them in. captives by  the river Chebar,' the heavens were opened,
ther hearts that He justifies them through His cloth-             and he saw visions of  ,Cod. In the fifth day of the
ing them with the righteousness of  His Son and                   month, which was the fifth year of the king Jehoia-
cleanses them from all their sins in His blood, that              chim's  captivity, the word of the Lord came unto
they thus are His beloved children, heirs of Cod and              the prophet Ezekiel, the priest, the son of Buzi, in the
co-heirs with Christ. And this assurance is in them               land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar.
the fountain of a great calm, tranquility, peace,-the                Vision of the -four cherubims.
peace of God that passes all understanding.                          Vision of the wheels.
   And this peace keeps their minds and hearts in                    The glory of God.
Christ. `They are in Christ always, everlastingly, both              Above the firmament there was over the  pexds
legally and mystically, as He is the head of the body,            of the beasts a throne as the appearance of a sapphire
His church. But believers are not always consniousIy              stone,. and upon the throne was the appearance. of a
in. Him, in Him as to their mind and heart, thinking man above upon it, having the appearance of fire, and
and willing and desiring. When they stand not in                  it had brightness upon it as the appearance of the rain-.
their faith, they are as to their mind and heart outside bow. This was the appearance  ofp the likeness of the
of Christ, in the world, having their affections set on           glory of the Lord.
the things on earth, and trusting not in the Lord but                The divine commission of the prophet.
in the arm of flesh.          Then they again worry, are             Ezekiel's commission.
carefu1  for all things. But coming to themselves, they              The Lord addresses him as the son of man. and
by His mercy, let their requests in all things be made            commands him to stand on his feet ,and to hear what
known unto Him. Peace then floods their soul- the                 the Lord will speak unto him. Then the spirit entered
peace that keeps their minds and hearts in Christ.                him and set him upon his feet, and the prophet heard
Then they  consciousIy  desire Christ and the  fulness            what was spoken TV him. The prophet is told that he
that dwelleth  bodily in Him, have their affection set            is sent unto a rebellious nation who together with their
upon things.  svkove,  minds and desires the things that fathers have transgressed against the Lord until this
are of the Spirit of God, seeking the heavenly and love           day. They are impudent children. To them the Lord
Christ's appearing.                             G. M. 0.          sends the prophet. Whether they will hear or no,
                                                            . . they will know that there has been a prophet among
                .                                            P    them.
                                                                     The prophet's instruction.
                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                  The prophet is not to be afraid of them, neither of
    On June 23, 1941, our dear parents,                           their words, though briars and thorns be with them.
                        iMARTIN  CASEMIER                         And he dwells among scorpions. The prophet shall
                               a n d                              speak  the word of the Lord, whether they hear or not.
                ELLA  CASEMIER-Haveman                            He is not to be rebellious like that rebelliotis  house.
celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary.                        The prophet now sees a hand extended to him  h&ding
    We, their  gratefui children, extend to them our heartiest    a roll of a book, written within and without lamenta-
co.lgratulations,  and thank God for His mercies and blessings    tions and mourning and woe. This roll the prophet
dxring these past years. We pray that the Lord may continue       is bidden to eat. He did so and it was in his mouth
TV bless them and spare them for each other and for us for        as honey for sweetness.
ninny years to come.                                                 Cod encourages the prophet. ..
                                Mr. and Mrs. Richard Taylor          The.house  of Israel will not hearken unto the  pro-
                                Albert John                       pie& for they are impudent and hard-hearted. For
                                John Albert                       this reason the Lord has made the prophet's face
                                Kenneth  J.                       strong against their faces. As an  adamant  harder
                                UariIyn E.                        than flint has the Lord made his forehead. The pro-
                                LaVerne   M.                      phet again admonished to receive all the words of the
                                  and 2 grandchildren.            Lord into his heart, and to get him unto them of the
    Holland, Michigan. .                                          captivity ,and to ape&k  whether they wili hear or no.


454                                       ITHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  ;-"

       The first execution of the divine commission.             Sign 3. The sign as such.  '
  , The installation and instructions.                           The prophet is bidden to take him a shar;, knife,
       The prophet picked up by the spirit and hears         a barber's razor, to shave his head and his beard, and
behind him a voice saying, "Blessed be the glory of to divide his hair cuttings into three equal parts. For
the Lord from this place." He also hears the voice of this he is to use the scales. A third part he shall burn
the `wings of the creatures touching one another and         in the city with fire, when the days of his seige are ful-
the voice of the wheels. The `prophet lifted up by the filled.
spirit and he went in bitterness, in the heat of his             A third part he shall smite with a knife. And a
spirit, but  the. hand of the Lord was strong upon him.      third part he shall scatter to the wind. And the Lord
The prophet came to them of the captivity at Tclahib, will draw out the sword after them.
that dwelt by the river Chebar. He remai'ned  among             A few hairs he shall bind in his s'kirts. Then he is
them seven days astonished.                                  to take of the cut hair again and cast them into the
       God shows the prophet the rule of prophecy.           midst of the fire, for thereof shall a fire come forth
       At the end of seven days the word of'the Lord came into all the house of Israel.
unto him. The Lord made him a watchman  over the                 Interpretation of the third sign.
house of Israel. Therefore he shall warn the wicked              The sign has a bearing on Jerusalem. The holy
with "Thou shalt sureIy die." ShouId he fail to warn         city He shall set in the midst of the nations and the
the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the         countries that are round about her, for  $he hath
blood of the wicked when. dying in his iniquity shall be changed the statutes of the Lord more than the sJr-
requred at his hand. Only by warning the wicked can rounding countries. For this reason the Lord is against
the prophet save his soul.                                   her, and will execute judgment in the midst of her
       The prophet is bidden to go forth into the plain,     in the sight of the nations and will do unto her what
that the Lord would talk with him. The Lord declares He has never done before for her abominations: The
that he will make him dumb so that he cannot reprove,        fathers shall eat the sons and the sons the fathers in
for they are a rebellious people. But when the Lord          the midst of her. The Lord  wiII diminish the city
speaks unto him and open hismouth, he, the prophet because she defiled His sanctuary.
shall speak. "Thus saith the Lord." Those that hear,             A third part will die of the pestilence and with
let them hear, those that forbear, let them forbear,         famine ; a third part shall fall by the sword, and a
for th?y `are a r.ebellious people.                          third part the Lord shall scatter TV the winds, and wilI
       The three signs and their interpretations.            draw out a sword after them. The Lord will make
       Sign 1. The prophet is bidden to portray upon a them a waste and a reproach, an instruction, an aston-
tile the- city of Jerusalem, and to set his face against     ishment  .among  the nations. The Lord will send upon
it, as lying on his side for 390 days in token of bearing Ihe  s:attered  third a famine to destroy them, and
the iniquity of Israel. Thereupon he shall turn him e/i1 beasts, and pestilence and blood and sword.
about and lie on his right side for 40 days. In this             Tne subsequent execution of divine commissions. .
position the prophet, with uncovered arm, shall pro-            J The visions.
phesy against  the city. . The Lord  wiIl lay hands              Of the abominations in the temple.
upon the prophet so that he cannot turn him about                In the sixth year in the sixth month, in the fifth
till he has ended the days of his seige.                     day of the month, the prophet sat in his house and the
       Sign 2. "The Lord bids the prophet to prepare him- eiders  of Judah sat before him. The prophet saw a
self a porridge of various kinds of food enough to last      likeness as the appearance of brightness, as the coIour
him until the typical seige is ended. The Lord speei- of amber, and He the Lord took him by a lock of his
fies the amount  Ce shall eat each day. His water            hair, and the spirit  lifted him between the earth and
he  shnl1 drink by measure. His porridge he shall the heaven, and brought him in the vision of God to
drink by measure. His porridge he shall bake and eat Jerusalem ; to the door of the inner gate, where was
as barley cakes with human dung. Even thus shall the seat of the image of Jealousy that provoketh to
the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among jealpusy. And the glory of Israel was there.
the gentiles.           ._                                       The prophet is bidden to look northward and be-
       The prophet shrinks from eating, human dung and       hold the image of jealousy in the entry of the north
complains to the Lord about it. The Lord allo;vs him gate. The prophet bidden to take sharp notice of
to substitute. cow dung for human dung.                      what wicked Jews do, the great abominations the
       The interpretation of sign two.                       house of Israel committeth there, for which reason the
       The prophet's eating food by measure is prophetic Lord turned away from His sanctuary.
of the eating food by measure of the inhabitants of              The Lord shows the prophet even greater abonina-
Jerusalem  during the seige. There will be great scar- Cons. The Lord brings the prophet into the door of
city of bread,                                                the court and bids him to dig in the wall and ente:,
                                                                                                      ,i'


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   F: `,                                 455

The prophet does so and sees a  ghastIy  sight: creeping his hands with coals of fire and scatter them over the
things, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the city.
house of Israel portrayed upon the wall. He saw                 The house of God again filled with the  gIory of the
further seventy men of the ancients of the house of Lord. The sound of the cherubims wings filled the
Israel: each with a censor in his hand; and a thick          temple as the voice of the Almighty God. The man in
cloud of incense went up.       And with them  stood         linen again bidden to fill his hands with fire. The
Janiah the son of Shaphan. The Lord again bids eherubims put fire in his hand, and he again goes out.
the prophet to take  particular notice of what took place       A description of the motions of the cherubims and
and adds that the wicked Jews think the Lord does not the wheels in the temple. Their appearance described.
see them in their hidden chambers.                           The prophet saw them as under God, by the river
   For the third time the Lord bids him to turn and          Chebar.
he shall see even greater abominations. This time               Of the leaders of the people.
the Lord brought him to the door which was to the               The prophet  liftkd up and brought to the east gate         .
north. The prophet  sees a woman weeping for Tam-            of the temple, where he saw twenty five men, and with
muz.                                                         them stood Jaazaniah the son of  Azur, Petaliah the son
   Again the Lord bids him to turn and see greater of.Benaiah,  princes of the people. The Lord tells the
abominations.      The prophet is brought to the door        prophet that these are the wicked men that `devise
of the temple between the porch and the altar, where         mischief and give wicked counse1  in this city, whd say,
were twenty five men with their backs toward the             it, the destruction, is not near, let us build houses, this
temple of the Lord, facing the east and worshipping          city is the flesh.
the sun.                                                        The prophet ordered to prophesy against them.
   Again the Lord bids the prophet to take careful The Lord knows the things that come unto the wicked
notice of what happened and adds that it is a iight          mind of the house of Israel. They have multiplied
thing to the house of Judah, namely, t.hese  absmina-        their s!ain in the city. These slain will be the flesh,
tions. They have provoked the Lord to anger, where- aad the.city is the chaldron. The Lord will bring them
fore He shall also deal in fury with them and not            forth out of the midst of it, and will deliver them in
spare.                                                       the hands of strangers. They shall fal1 by the sword
   Of the judgment of the guilty.                            and the Lord will judge them: and they shall know
   The prophet is bidden to cause them who have              that He is the Lord. For they have done after the
charge over the city to assemble every man with his manner of the surrounding heathen.
destroying weapon in-his  hand. Six men came from               The death of PetaIiah the son of Benaiah, occasions
the higher gate, one among them clothed with linen the complaint on the part of the prophet whether the
and  suppIied  with a writers  inkhorn.    And they  all     Lord will make a ful1 end of te remnant of Israel. The
went in and stood by the brazen altar, and the glory Lord repTies that He will be a little sanctuary to the.
of the Lord was  gone  up from the Cherub. And he            people.    He  wil1 assemble the remnant out of the
called to' the man cIothed  in linen that he should go countries where they have been scattered. And they
through Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads shall take away all the  aborr+%tions  thereof.  The
of the men that cry and sigh because of the abomina-         Lord  will give them the land of Canaan, take away
tions. He does so. The others are bid to go through          their stony heart and give them a heart of flesh, that
the city and smite whatever their eyes see: men,             they may walk in His statutes. They shall be His
women and children, but to spare any man upon whom people and He will be their God. But as to the wicked,
t;;e mark is. They are further commanded to defile the Lord will recompense their way upon their own
the house with the carcasses of the slain. The com-          heads.
r;land is carried out.                                          The Cherubims and the wheels again in motion and
   While the slaying was in progress the proph& fell         the glory of the Lord was over them ,and went up
Li,on his face and cried and asked the Lord whether from the midst o f the city; and stood upon the moun-
ho would destroy all the residue of Israel. The Lord         tains on the east of the city.
answers  that the iniquity of  the House of Israel is           The prophet brought by the Spirit in a vision into.
p,,eat  and that the land is full of blood and the city      Chaldea to them of the captivity and  spake  unto them
fill of perverseness, an'd that He therefore would not a!1 the things the Lord had shown him.
spare.                                                          The signs.
   Of the coals of fire upon the city.                          The sign of the departure of the king.
   The prophet beheld the firmament above the head              The prophet, whereas he dwells in the midst of a
of the cherubims as the appearance of the likeness of        rebellious people, is ordered to prepare him instru-
a throne. And the Lord bids the man clothed in linen ments for removing from one  pIace to another in
to go between the wheels, under the Cherub, and fill their sight, in the evening as they that go forth into


456                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

captivity. He is to dig, further, through the wall in                 ALL OUR MINISTERS  ATTENTION!
their sight. He shall bear upon his shoulders in the
twilight. He shall cover his face that he see not the       The Editorial Staff of The Standard Bearer will meet
ground for he has been set for a sign unto the house        not'in the month of August but on the 3rd of  SeG-
of Israel. The prophet did as he was commanded.             tember next.
   Tfhe next morning the Lord  errplains the sign to                                                     G. M. Ophoff.
the prophet. The burden concerned the prince of
Jerusalem, and a'll the house of Israel. The prophet is                                    -
their sign. As he has done (in a figure) they will do
                                                                                                                     ,I
in reality. The people and the prince that is among                                 IN* MEMORIAM,
them shall go into captivity. The Lord's net will be
spread upon him and he shall be taken in a snare.               Den, 12den Juni, 1941, behaagde het den Heere tot zich te
The Lord will bring him to Babylon, and he shall die        nemen, onze geliefde moeder, groetmoeder en overgroetmoeder,
there. <And all that are about him the Lord will scatter                  MRS TILLIE JONKER, geb. Blom
to every wind. But the Lord will leave a few men of         in den ouderdom van 85 jaren.
them from the sword and the pestilence to declare all           Zij beleed en betoonde ook met haar wandel, dat zij bier
their abominations among the heathen whither t,hey          een vreemdeling en een pelgrim was. De verzekering dat zij
come.                                        G. M. 0.       is ingegaan in het Vaderhuis is ons een rijke troost.
                                                                                                   De Kipderen
                     -                                                                             Kleinkinderen
                                                                                                   en Achterkleinkinderen.
                     CLASSIS EAST                               Grand Rapids, Michigan.
will meet Wednesday, July 2, at 9:OO  A. M., at the
Fuller Ave. Church.                                                                          e-
                                      D. Jonker, S. C.
                                                                                    IN MEMORIAM
                          -                                                                                                            .'
                                                                De Vrouwen Vereeniging der Protestantsche Gereformeerde
         SIXTEENTH ANNUAL FIELD-DAY                         Rerk te Hull, Iowa, spreekt met dezen  haar  hartelijke sympathie
                                                            uit  aan Mr. en Mrs. E. Dykstra in het verlies  van-hun   Vader,
                                                                                                                    .!$&;,
                 An All Day Outing for                                   DS. H. A. Dykstra (assen Nederland) .-`~l:;' "
                                                                Moge de Heere hen, en de verdere  familie   troosten  `met
WHO?-All Protestant Reformed people who love to             Zijnen  Gee&,  en moge dankbaarheid  hunne  harten   vervullen
             propagate the Reformed Truth.                  dat hij is ingegaan in de vreugde zijns Heeren wiens  die& hem
                                                                                                                           `\
                                                            een lust en blijdschap was.                                          ).
WHEN ?-July 4th, from morning till nite.                                                           Namens de Vereeniging,.
WHERE?-Gun Lake, go south to Bradley then turn                                                     Ds.  A. Cammenga, Pres.
              east and follow red arrows.                                                          Mrs. G. Blankespoor, Seer.
WHY?-To spend a day in  Christi,an  fellowship with
             our own people.

                          FEATURES                                                  IN MEMORIAM
Speeclbes-by outstanding leaders in Reformed truth.             The Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church
            Also music, singing, and games for children.    of Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby wishes to express its sym-
Swimming, Boating-on a safe beach, in a clean lake.         pathy to our brother elder, Rev. D. Jonker, in the loss of his
                                                            mother
Pony riding, etc.                                                                 MRS. C. JONKER
       - Young People's Weiner Roast at 8:OO  -                 May the God of all grace comfort the brother and his
                                                            family by the assurance that she has gone to her heavenly
Let's show that we have' not lost our first love, by        home.
whole-heartedly supporting the cause for which the                                 The Consistory of the First Protestant
Standard Bearer stands.                                                            Reformed Church of Grand Rapids.  Micli.
                                                                                                      H. Hoeksema, Pres.
  (Coffee and buns can be bought on the grounds)                                                      G. Stonehouse, Clerk.


                                 & R e f o r m e d .   Semi-Month:ly  Magazir+
             mmLisHED  BY THE REFORMED  FREE  mn3id  SHING   AS~~CIATION,   GRANDRAPID~,.MIcH.
A?                                                                  E D I T O R I A L   S T A F F
                        relative to con-        Editoxs-Rev.  H. Hoeksema, Rev.  G. M. Ophoff,                    cmnmunieatIons   relative  k,  rrub-
                     ha  arddressed   t    o               Rev. Wm.  Verhil,  Rev. G. Vos.                        scrIption  s h o u l d   be  addnswd   t o
                                                Associate Editors-Rev. A. Cammenga, Rev. P. De                         H R .   a.  SoEhAFS~
         1139 Franklin  SL.  9. E.                                                                                      1101  Hazen   Street.   9.   1.
                                                Boer, Rev.  M. Gritters, Rev. 33. Kok, Rev. C. Hanko,
           Gtrnd   Rapid.%   b&h.               Rev. G. Lubbers, Rev. R. Veldman,  Rev. EL Veld-                          Grand   Rapids.  Belch.
                                                man, Rev. A. Petter, Rev. J. Vander  Breggen.
Entcrp3  u  Second  class mail  matter at Grand  Rardds.  Micfr.

Vol. XVII, No. 20.                                                  AUGUST 1, 1941                                   SUBSCRIFICM   PRICi  $!&50

                                                                                   had now become more glorious by Ibecoming  a part!
                  M e d. i t a.                                                       Wonderful wisdom of Gad!
                                                t. i o n                              And now:  "ye also".
                                                                                      "In whom", that is, in Christ, "ye a.Iso'are"i This
                        Sealed En C&i&                                             is a better translation than "in whom ye also trusted?`.
                                                                                   The last word does not occur in the~original;
                 `n  whom,   ye,  ako trusted;  after                                 Ye, gentile Christians !
                                                                    thhzt   .ye
             heard the word, of. truth, the gosl>el  of your                          Ye, heard the word of truth, :the gospel ,of your
             salvation: in whom  also after that ye be-                            salvation, and through the hearing of that gospel by
             lieved, ge were sealed with- that Holy Spirit                         faith, ye were ingrafted into Him !
             of promise, which  is. the earnest of cyur in                            And believing, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit
             heritance,   <antii the redemption of the  pur-                       of promise !
             c+ed  possess&n,   xnto the praise of  hia                               By the Spirit that is an earnest of. the cornpI&
                                                                                   inheritance !
             fJt&ry.                            Eph.  I.-IS, 14.                      Sealed ye, are, therefore, until the redemption of
    Ye also. . . .                                                                 the purchased possession is accomplished !
    This in distinction from  %e. . . . who first trusted                             Sealed in Christ !
in. Christ".
    The glorious mystery of the will of God, according                                In Him ye are !
to the good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,                                    Marvellous and blessed truth!
and. which He made. known unto us, is that in the dis-                                Not mere individuals are.  we, that stand and fall
pensation  of the` fulness of times  Ke might gather our own masters, that live and die ky ourselves ; neither
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in                            are we merely in the first man Adam, by whom sin
*heaven, and which are on the earth !                                              entered into the worId,  and death through sin, and
    This is the whole of God's inheritance, His precious                           death passed unto all men because all have sinned. . . .
possession.                                                                           No, in Him we are !
    In  this..beautiful  and glorious  Iwhole, the Church                              For, He, the Christ of God, anointed from before
in Christ occupies the chief place.                      She is God's              the foundation of the world, sent in the fulness of time,
heritage pier excel&8cp,!                                                          made of a `woman, made under the law, Who died on
    And again, of- this glorious Church, they that had                             the accursed tree and was raised unto everlasting
first trusted in Christ, the Church of the old dispen-                             glory ,by the  marvellous  power of Him who quickeneth
sation, had now also. become a part. They also had                                 the dead and  calleth the things that are not as if they
become a heritage, a portion by lot. E'or years it had                             were,-Who was delivered for our transgressions and
seemed as  if7 `they were the whole of the precious                                raised for our justification,-He is the eternal Head
possession of Jehovah ; now, however, in the fulness                               of His Church. He is such ,in the&al, .forensic  sense
of times, it had been revealed that the whole of the                               of the word, so that. the Church is a corporation, a
old dispensation was destined to become more glorious                              legal body before  #God's law  ,with  Him, so that He
by merging into a larger whole: the gentiles also had                              represents them according. to God's own election ; and
become fellow-citizens with the saints and of the                                  He is such in the spiritual, organic sense of the word,
household of God! And so they  that were the whole so that He is their resurrection and their life; their


658                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

all in the Holy Spirit of promise !                          Holy Spirit were subsequent to faith, so that faith is
       In Him we are !                                       the work of man apart from that Spirit. On the con-
       Before God we are eternally in Him. For we are trary, faith is  evvrought in our" hearts by that same
chosen in Him. And in Him God beholds us as justi- Spirit of promise. For "by grace are ye saved, through
fied and glorified. Hence, He beholds no iniquity in faith, and that not of yourselves,-it  is&he gift of God".
Jacob. For, whom he has foreknown, them He also              Nor even, as if one could strictly introduce the order
did predestinate to be conformed according to the            of time into the work of salvation, so that one is first
image of His Son, and whom He did predestinate them reborn, then called, afterwards made a believer and
He also called, and whom He called them He also justified, and finally sealed unto salvation. For, strictly
justified, and whom He justified them He also glorified. speaking, he that is  Lborn. of God has received the Spirit
And through faith We are ingrafted into Him, so that that will abide with him forever, and is sealed forever
we become one plant with Him, appropriate unto our- unto perfect and final redemption in the day of Christ.
selves  aI,1 that is in Him, live out of Him and bear           Yet, so had been their experience, and in that order
fruit unto the glory of His grace through the Spirit they had become conscious partakers of their salvation
which He hath `given unto us. In Him we are new through the word of truth.
creatures, created unto good works, which God before            They had heard the gospel of their  saivation.
ordained that we should walk in them.  ,Old things              And hearing they had. believed.
have passed away, all things are become new!                    And believing they had (been  sealed by `the Holy
       In Him ye also are!                                   Spirit of promise unto the perfect salvation.
       Into a living, conscious relationship with Christ,       A  sea1 is a distinguishing mark: it marks  t&t
their Lord, they had been brought. Consciously they which is sealed as genuine, in `distinction from the
lived out of Christ. For their contact and fellowship counterfeit. A seal also marks the object as the pe-
with Him had ,been  accomplished through their hearing culiar possession of him that sealed it. And, thirdly,
of the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation.         it safeguards the character of the thing against being
Formerly they were in darkness, dead through tres- spoiled or destroyed.
passes and sins. They lived in the lie, and living in           Thus the believers.
the lie they were dead. But the word of truth had               They are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise.
been preached to them, the truth of God ; the light had      Intentionally, with a view to the fact that it is He that
pierced the darkness. The word of truth had spoken seaIs the believers, He is called the Spirit of promise.
to them in their  be, the word of righteousness had          It designates Him as the Spirit of Christ, that was
addressed them in their sin, the  `word of life had          promised even before the fulness of time ; but it also
reached out to them in their death ; the word of liberty     denotes Him as the One by Whom the promise is
had `sounded forth unto them in their bondage, the           realized and fulfilled.  The  promise! For, although
word of reconciliation had ,been preached to them in         all through the ages of the old dispensation; beginning
their enmity against God, the word of redemption,            in Paradise, and reaching out unto the end of time,
even the forgiveness of sins, had come to them in their the promise is repeated in many different forms and
state of condemnation. . . .                                 announced from many different aspects; and although
       And they `had heard !                                 its riches of salvation and glory are innumerable; yet,
       Heard, indeed, with their natural ear, grasped with it always is one and the same promise, and always it
their natural understanding; but heard, too, with a holds forth the hope of complete redemption and
spiritual ear, and understood with spiritual discern- eternal Iife in the everlasting Kingdom of Christ that
ment; heard, indeed, as a word that  came to them is to come. And of that promise, with all its glorious
, through man, for how shall they hear without a             riches of blessing, He is the Spirit. Iie was promised
 preacher; but heard, not as a word of man,-how could to Christ before the :w-orld  was; and `He was given to
man's word ever be a  ' gospel of our salvation?-but         Christ as His peculiar Spirit at His exaltation. And
as the Word of God through Jesus Christ, their Lord.         "being exalted by the right hand of God, and having
       And thus this word of truth had become the gospel     received the promise of the Holy Ghost", He poured
 of  their  salvation'!  CHearing  they had believed, and    out that Spirit into His Church, and a11  Bis own
 believing <they had been saved.                             receive that Spirit. He is the Spirit, too, that  rea1izes
       Implanted they had, been into Christ.                 the promise. For, He it is that applies  a11 the blessings
       In whom ye also ! . . . .                             of salvation and grace unto the lbeiievers,  that regener-
                                                             ates them and makes them partakers of the resurrec-
 ~     Sealed in Him 1                                       tion-life of Christ, that gives them eyes to see and
       For, having believed, they were sealed by the Holy ears to hear, that calls them and gives them faith, that
 Spirit of promise !                                         justifies them and gives them eternal righteousness,
       Not, indeed,  as  if the gift and operation of the    that sanctifies b&m  gsd preserves and keeps  them,


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            459

that glorifies them and gives them eternal life. . . .       His love to Him, that no way <was too deep, no price
   Sealed the believers are by that Spirit!                  was too precious to obtain it. His only begotten Son
   By Him they are definitely set aside from the world,      He gave, gave up even unto the shameful death of the .
marked as children of the living God, in knowledge of cross, that He might purchase for Himself this  posses+
the truth, faith of the gospel, righteousness and  holi-     sion. The deep way of sin and death and grace and
uess, the love of God and of oneanother, in distinction resurrection He chose to adorn this possession with the
from the children of darkness. By Him they are eternal beauty He  <had designed for it.
distinctively marked as God's own peculiar possession,          That possession is redeemed,-yet not completely.
whom He purchased and redeemed out of the world,                Still it is not complete.
that they might be to the praise of the glory of His            Still it is partly in the world, in'sin, in death.
grace in `the beloved. By Him they are safeguarded              Still it waits for that final day, when all the elect
against all attempts to deprive them of their righteous- shall have been born, reborn, called, saved, justified,
ness, to spoil them of their eternal hope, to cause them glorified ; the day, when the last enemy shall be de-
to perish with the ,world.  For their enemies are strong,    stroyed,  w'hen  the Redeemer shall come in all His glory,
and in themselves they are weak. But by the Spirit           to perfect their deliverance, .to glorify them in body
they are sealed. He it is  Zhat sustains and keeps the and sgul, to fit them into that eternal scheme of things
bond that unites them with Christ, their Lord. By Him in which everything shall be united in Christ, and
they are imperishable in the hand of Christ, so that         heaven and earth shall unite in showing forth the
no one can pluck them out !                                  glory of Him that sitteth upon the throne!
   Sealed in Christ!                                            For that is the end, the purpose of' this peculiar
   Sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise!                     possession.    It must  .be, it shall be to the praise of
    Distinct as %od's  peculiar heritage, His own pos-       His glory!
session, safe and secure in the midst of a world of             And to occupy their own place in this eternal
darkness that hates them and is bent upon their de-          scheme of things, this blessed Kingdom of the Father,
stfuction  ! Hence, they are also assured !                  in Christ, consciously, willingly, with all their heart
 .., ,Sealing  and assurance are not the same, but they      uniting in this eternal song of the praise of His glory,
gre,inseparably  connected. The one is the cause, the without sin or the possibility of sin, without death
othe.n.the  effect. For, by faith we become conscious of or the shadow of death, without suffering and sorrow,
and lay hold upon the sealing aperation of the Spirit in holiness and righteousness and truth, walking in the
of ,promise; and thus we are assured !                       light of eternal life, filled with the joy of God's ever-
    Sealing us, the Spirit (witnesses with our Spirit that lasting favor, seeing Him face to face, always, every-
we are children of God; and believing we receive His         where, knowing as they are known in eternal per-
testimony.                                                   fection-that is the inheritance of the believers !
    Sealing us, the Spirit assures us that He will never         Unto that inheritance they are sealed !
leave us, always preserve us in Christ; and believing           Sealed in Christ!
we trust and persevere, fighting the good fight, even            Sealed by the Spirit of promise!
unto the end.     "
            `)                                                  (And, therefore, of that inheritance that Spirit of
    Sealed by the Spirit,  `we are assured of our sal-       promise is the earnest, the God-given earnest, which
vation !                                                     even now they possess !
    Now and forever!                                             The idea of an earnest is that of guarantee, a token
                                                             that is given in pledge of the fulfillment of a promise
    And thus we are saved in hope!                           or an obligation. Kt is akin to the idea of firstfruits.
    For the Spirit of promise, the sealing Spirit, is the Among Israel the fistfruits were a pledge of the fuIl
earnest of our inheritance! The earnest that is ours         and complete harvest.
until the redemption of God's own purchased, peculiar            Thus the Spirit of promise, which is given us, is
possession is complete.                                      our guarantee from God Himself that the whole glori-
    That peculiar possession is His Church,-  are we, ous inheritance  [will surely be given in our possession
together with all the saints elect! That Church He           in the day of-complete redemption ! He is this, because
 conceived in  all its beauty and glory in Christ in alread~y  He makes us' pessessors  of that inheritance in
eternity. Always He has it before Him, for its stands principle, when He raises us with Christ and applies
engraven  in both the  paIms of His hands. Eternally to us all the blessings of salvation! He is such, be-
 He loves that peculiar possession, and eternally it is cause He will never. forsake the work of His hands,
precious in His sight. For, it is the revelation of His but seals us even unto that perfect redemption !
own glory in Christ kis Son. It is perfect in beauty             ,Glorious  inheritance and blessed assurance !
of holiness. He realizes this possession in time. He             Sealed and guaranteed !
obtains it for Himself. So precious is that Church of            Saved by hope!                              H, H,


     460                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                             of the United States with regard to the matters of
                                                             the increasing evil of the closed shop and of Sunday
a                                                            labor for national defense.
                                                                A copy of the letter, the composition of- which is
       Cur last Synod decided to address the President to the credit of the Rev. Vos, here follows:

                                              Letter To Our President
                                                                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan
                                                                                      May 23, 1941.
      T,he President of the United States,
     Washington, D. C.

      Sir :-
            The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches, in session May 21-23, come to you with the, follow-
     ing address and petition:

            First, we would respectfully acquaint you with the twofold occasion for this address. They are
     what is commonly called the dosed shop and Sabbath labor in the defense mdustries..

            It is a matter of public record that during the years of your tenure in office, you. have sup-
     ported the continuation and the increase of what is commonly called the closed. shop. It is also. a mat-
     ter of record that such support from the exalted and influential Head of our Republic has borne abundant
     fruit, because Unionism, with its resultant closed shop, is greatly on the increase. Especially in the great
     industrial centers of our nation, but also in cities of but moderate size, the pressure of the Union be-
     comes increasingly insistent, so that the time seems to be not far distant when the entire class of men,
     called Labor, shall be marshalled  into the organization, called the Union.

            It has also come to our knowledge through the public press that you, Sir, are dissatisfied with
     the progress of the defense work and that you have demanded the discontinuation of the five- or the six-
     day week and their substitution for a seven-day week, every day of which to contain three g-hour shifts.

            Secondly, we would acquaint you with the sad fact that such action from the Head of our Govern-
     ment excludes  many  of us from earning our livelihood in certain definite avenues of employment, particular
     phases of  craftmanship,  wherein we are skilled and wherein we have labored since our inception into
     the army of workers. Moreover, we see the calamity approaching where this situation  will apply not
     only to Some phases of labor and particular  areas of industry but w,here it will apply to nil of our mem-
     bership, wherever employed and whatever their craft may be.         We have reference to the tendency of
     you, Sir, as Head of our Government, to condone and support Unionism and. Sabbath labor to such an
     extent that soon al:1 of labor will be organized and we shall be able to find- honest employment no more.

            Thirdly, we would state the reasons why -Unionism excludes earning a livelihood and why we re-
     fuse to labor on the Lord's Day. It is because we are heartily convinced that both Unionism and un-
     necessary Sabbath labor are great  evPs in the sight of God.

            We refuse to  beome members of the Union because we condemn the principles of utter materialism`
     of the Union  ; because the Union demands in the required oath or pledge 1oyaIty  to itself even though
     this loyalty to the Union would bring us into conflict with the interests of the Church of Jesus Christ
     our Lord  ; and because the Union seeks to gain its ends by force, strikes and boycotts, all of which
     militates against the Word of God which we hold dear and which is the first and last criterion for our
     conduct on earth.                          .

            Concerning Sabbath labor we would say that it is our conviction and avowed purpose.not  to engage
     in same.  me Lord God has from earliest times promulgated His  Divine Law and this Law  tells us in


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          461

 the 4th commandment that we shall keep His Sabbaths holy. Mr. President, we, `as members of the
 Protestant Reformed Churches, have the earnest desire to so conduct ourselves on the Sabbath, in medita-
 tion, prayer and Divine worship, that we may have a foretaste of the heavenly Sabbath. We feel and
 are convinced that such is the injunction of the Almighty Who is our Sovereign and therefore we re-
 fuse unnecessary Sabbath labor.

        FourthIy,  we would point out to you in all humility and profound respect that under the Constitu-
 tion of the United States we may claim and do claim the rights of liberty to worship our God accord-
 ing to what we believe is agreeable to His precepts and you, Sir, as the Head of the Government of these
 United States, are duty bound to protect us and so rule under this instrument that we may enjoy,
 among other good things, these two privileges, namely, the worship of our God according to our religious
 convictions and an opportunity to earn a livelihood which does not destroy, ndlify or preclude such worship.

        Therefore, Sir, we would humbly petition you, first, to cease condoning and supporting the closed
 shop, and, second, to cease advocating and demanding the unnecessary Sabbath labor in the defense in-
 dustries.

        And, closing, we would plead with you to consider this address and petition in the light of your
 high calling as expressed in the Word of God, found in Romans 13 :3 and 4a: "For rulers are not a terror
 to  .good works,  .but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and
 thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good."

        Doing this you shall merit our profound gratitude and insure unto yourself our most hearty thanks.

                                             We have the honor to remain, Sir, your most obedient servants,

                                                             The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches ;

                                                                       (W-S.) H. Hoeksema, President;
                                                                       (W.S.) Gerrit Vos, Secretary  ;
                                                                       (W.S.) Geo. C. Lubbers, Asst. Secretary.

Stated  Clerk of Synod:
 Rev. .D. Jonker, 924 Worden  St., S. E.,
 Grand -Rapids, Michigan.



                                                             I understand that an answer was received by our
                                                          stated clerk to the effect that the President had taken
                                                          cognizance of this letter and had referred the matter
                                                          of sending a reply to his secretary.
                                                                                                          H. H.


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         463

Gods Kerk heeft  trachten uit te roeien, Gods volk heeft
vervolgd, verjaagd,  doen lijden, gedood !                      Standard Bearer Outlines For 1941-1942
   De communistische, atheistische Russen, die zich
ten  doe1 stelden de Christelijke godsdienst en het                WAS the reader will remember, undersigned accepted
Christe1ij.k  geloof van,, den aardboden te  doen   ver-        a sort of dictatorship, that was imposed upon  him
dwijnen !                                                       nilly willy, on condition that he should propose a
   Het verraderlijke  Rusland, dat nog kort  geleden            schedule of the  ,work  for the next volume of the
zich zoo lafhartig  als wreed op bet kleine maar dap-           Standard Bearer to the meeting of the Staff that is
pere Finland wierp !                                            to be held September 3, the Lord willing.
   En wat zullen wij, die de wereld voor het Christe-              Please, take notice of the change of' date. The
lijk geloof en voor de democratic  veilig willen maken ;        meeting was originally set for August 27. At the
en wat zal  En&and,.  die ook door hooge  idealen is            request of Rev. Vos, however,' this was changed to the
bezield, nu zeggen en doen?        ,                            date mentioned.
   Wij zullen. . . .                                               I decided that it would ,be expedient to prepare
   `t Is  we1 een moeilijk geval, maar er is ook zoo            those outlines in time for the August issue of our
iets als een utiliteits-politiek, wij zullen Rusland  helpen    paper, and to publish them. That will give all the
om de wereld te redden  voor het Christelijk geloof en writers a chance to study them and prepare their
voor de democratische levenvormen !                             criticism before we meet in September.
",-En ik dacht weer aan het woord. van den ziener :                Here, then, they follow:
Zoudt gij den yoddelooze helpen?  . . . .
 Jaw&,  maar laat ons dan ook ophouden met te October 1.
spreken over het Woord des Heeren.            Laat  Micha            Meditatie, Holland, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.
maar terugkeeren naar zijn kerkerhol, en  last' de                   Editorial, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.
hofpredikanten het laatste woord hebben.                            Doctrinal Article, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.
   En laat ons  goed verstaan, dat het in laatster                   Melchisedec and Abraham, 8 pages, English, Rev.
instantie onmogelijk is om den goddelooze te helpen,                `G. M. 0.
omdat het onmogelijk is  te  helpen  degenen, op wie                The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. Vos.
God vergramd is;                                                    Moeilijke  Schriftuurplaatsen  1, Holland, 6 pages,
   Success zou men daarom in alliantie met de god-                  Rev. W. V.
deloozen nog we1 tijdelijk kunnen hebben.                            The Right . of Our Mission, English, 5 pages,
   Maar het einde van dien lweg  is tech het verderf                 Rev. B. K.
                                                 H. H.              Is Christian Drama Possible? English, 5 pages,
                                                                     Rev. A. P.
                                                                    The Christian and Sunday Labor, English, 5 pages
                  PRINTING ERRORS                                   Rev. C. H.
 `In my article under "The Triple Knowledge", pre-                  Current Events, English, 5 *pages,  Rev. L. D.
vious issue of the Standard Bearer, the reader, please,
correct the following errors :                                  October 15.
   Page 441, right hand column, second line from top:
`never", should be: ever; seventeenth line from top:                Meditation, English, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.
"altar", should be:  alter;   thirty sixth line from top             Editorial, Holland, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.
between "to" and "purer" insert a.                                  D,ogmatic  Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.
   Page 442, *left hand column, twenty second line                   Melchisedec and Christ, English, 3 pages, Rev.
from (bottom : "Schaaf" should be Schaff; right hand                 G .M. 0.
column, sixteenth line from  top "destined" should `be :             The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. Vt
desipned ; twenty fourth line from top "Palatine"                    Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 2, Holland,  6 pages,
should  be  Pala~inate;   twenty seventh line from top              Rev. W. V.
"Palatine" should be Pakztirtate;  forty third line from            The Divorce Evil, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. V.
top "Schaaf" should be Schaff; second line from bot-                 Education Among Israel, English, 5 pages Rev.
tom "Heidelberg" should be Heidelberger.                            G. L.
   Page 443, right hand column, fourteenth line from                 How And What To Read, English, 5 pages,
top,  !between  "has" and "sincere" insert (;c. H. *H.              Rev. M. S.
                             .                                      Book Review, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.
                         NOTXE
   Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches November 1.
meets in Pella, Iowa on September 10, 1941, at 9:OO:                Meditatie, Holland,`7 pages, Rev. H. H.


464                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

        Editorial, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. II.                   lish, Rev. G. M. 0.
        Doctrinal Article, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.                     The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.
        The Significance of the Nazarite, English, 8 pages,        Moeilijke SchriftuurpIaatsen  6, HoIland,  6 pages,
        Rev. G. M. 0.                                              Rev. W. V.
        The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.                   An orderly Home, English, 5 pages, Rev. J. D. J.
        Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 3, Holland, 6 pages,          Christian Banquets, English, 5 pages, Rev. J.  3.
        Rev. W. V.                                                 The Reformation and the Renaissance 2, English,
        John Russ and the Reformation, EngIish,  5 pages,          5 pages, Rev. G. M. 0.
        Rev. G. M. 0.                                              The Church and Social Questions, English, 5
        The Basic Significance of Home Instruction, Eng-           pages, Rev. L. V.
        lish, 5 pages, Rev. R. V.
        Het Doe1  Onzer Zending, .Holland,  5 pages, Rev.      January 1.
        B. Ii.                                                     Meditatie, Holland, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.
        News from our Churches, English, 5 pages, Mr.              Editorial, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.
        S. D. V.                                                   Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.
                                                                   The Person of Jeremiah, the Prophet, English,
November 15.                                                       8 pages, Rev. G. M. 0.
        Meditation, English, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.                   The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.
        Editorial, Holland, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.                    Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen  7, Holland, 6 pages,
        Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.             Rev. W. V.  '
        The Significance of Samuel for 0. T. Prophecy,             How to Use the Radio, English, 5 pages, .>Rev.
        English, 8 pages, Rev. G. M. 0.                           " MM. G.
        The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages,-Rev. G. V.                   Labor Unions and the Class  StruggIe,  English,
        Moeilijke. Schriftuurplaatsen 4, Holland, 6 pages,         5 pages, Rev. G.-L.
        Rev. W. V.                                                 The Value of Catechetical Instruction, English,
        The Proper Place of the Sundayschool, English,             5 pages, Rev. (7. H.
        5 pages, Rev. P. D. B.                                     Current Events, English, 5 pages, Rev. L. D.
        The Christian and Social Evils, English,  5'pages,
        Rev. M. G.                                             January 15.
        The Evil of the Modern Movie, English, 5. pages,
        Rev. 6. V.d. B.                                            Meditation, English, 7 pages, Rev.  -H. H.
                                                                   Editorial,`HoIland,  5 pages, Rev. H. H.
        Current Events, English, 5 pages, Rev. L. D.               Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.
December  1.                                                       The Person of Daniel, the Prophet, English, 8
                                                                   pages, Rev. G. M. 0.
        Meditatie, Holland, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.                    The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.
        Editoriali  English, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.                   Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 8, Holland, 6 pages,
        Dogmatic ArticIe,  English, S pages, Rev. H. H.            Rev. W. V.
        Elijah and Elisha, A Comparison,  EngIish,   8              Melanchton and the Lutheran Reformation  1,
       pages, Rev.  G.  MM. 0.                                      English, 5 pages, Rev. G. M. 0.
        The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.                    Collective Bargaining, English, 5 pages, Rev.
        Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 5, Holland, 6 pages,           P. D. B.
        Rev. W. V.                                                  Attention, English,  5 pages, Rev. H. V.
        Christian Discipline in Education, English, 5               De Keuze van een Arbeidsveld, Holland, 5 pages,
        pages, Rev. A. C.                                           Rev. B. K.
        The Reformation and the Renaissance 1, English,
        5 pages. Rev. G. M. 0.                                 February  1.
        Making Friends, English, 5 pages, Rev. P. V.
        Book Review, 5'pages,  Rev. H. H.                           Meditatie, Holland, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.
                                                                    Editorial, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.
December 15.                                                        Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.
                                                                    The Author of Ecclesiastes, English, 8 pages,
        Meditation, English, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.                    Rev. G. M. 0.
        Editorial, Holland, 5 pages, Rev, I-I. I-I.                 The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.
        Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.              Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 9, Holland, 6 pages,
        The Person of the Prophet Isaiah, 8 pages, Eng-             Rev. W. V.


    ,"  -.-  -  ._~                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   `-1                                465

    Memory, Its Significance and Training, 5 pages,                                Making Confession of Faith, English, 5 pages,
    English, Rev. A. P.                                                            Rev. A. C.
    Melanchton  and the Lutheran Reformation 2, Eng-                               Current Events, English, 5 pages, Rev. L. D.
    lish, 5 pages, Rev. G. M. 0.
    The Ctivernment and Social Questions, English,                            April 1.
    5 pages, Rev. R. V.                                                            Meditatie, Holland, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.
    Book Review;Rev. H. H.                                                         Editorial, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.
                                                                                   Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.
February 15.                                                                       The Place of Esther in the Canon, English, 8
    Meditation, English, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.                                       pages, Rev. G. M. 0.
    Editorial, Holland, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.                                        The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.
    Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H.  H.                                Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 13, Holland, 6 pages,
    The Day of the Lord in the 0. T., English, 8 pages)                            Rev. W. 0.
    Rev. G. M. 0.                                                                  The Influence of Modern Literature, English, 5
    The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.                                       pages, Rev. M. G.
    Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 10, Holland, 6 pages,                             .PUblic  Opinion, English, 5 pages, Rev. A. P.
 -~  ~-Rev. W. V.                                                                  The Reformation in Luther's Soul, English, 5
    The Decay of the Family, English, 5 pages, Rev.                                pages, Rev. G. M. 0.
    J. V.d. B.                                                                     Book Review, Rev. H. H.
    `The Value of Young People's Societies, English,
    5 pages, Rev. J. B. .                                                     April 15.
    Obedience as a Christian Virtue, English, 5 pages,                             Meditation, English, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.
    Rev. L. V.                                                                     Editorial, Holland, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.
    News From our Churches, English, 5 pages, Mr.                                  Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.
    S. D. V.                                                                       The Prophecy of Immanuel in `Isa. VII, English,
                                                                                   8 pages, Rev. G. M. 0.
March 1.                                                                           The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.
    `Meditatie,  Holland, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.                                      Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 14, Holland, 6 pages,
     Editorial, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.                                       Rev. W. V.
     Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.                                The Significance of the Ninety Nine Theses, Eng-
    The Canonical Significance of the Song of Songs,                               lish, 8 pages, Rev. ,G. L.
     English, 8 pages, Rev. G. M. 0.                                               Education in the High School `Age, English, 6
     The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.                                      pages, Rev. C. H.
     Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 11, Holland, 6 pages,                            Seeking Contact, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. B. K.
    Rev. IV. V.
     Luther and Calvin, a Comparison, 8 pages, Eng-                           May 1.
     lish, Rev. G. M. 0.                                                           Meditatie, Holland, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.
     Christian Socialism, English, 7 pages, Rev. M. S.                             Editorial, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.
   .' News from our Churches, English, 5 pages, Rev.                               Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.
     P. v.                                                                         The State of Prophetic Ecstacy, English, 8 pages,
                                                                                    Rev. G. M. 0.
March 15.                                                                          The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.
     Meditation, English, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.                                      Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 15, Holland, 6 pages,
     Editorial, Holland, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.                                       Rev. W. V.
     Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.                                Intermarriages, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. V;
                                                                                   The Value of Expository Preaching, English, 5
     The Seventy weeks  in Daniel, English, 8 pages,
     R        e        v    .           G.,M.   0    .                             pages, Rev. J. B.
    The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev.  ,G. V.                                      Communism, E,nglish,  5 pages, Rev. L. V.
     Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 12, Holland, 6 pages,                             News From our Churches, Holland, 5 pages, Mr.
     Rev. W. V.                                                                     S. D. V.
                                 '
     De Beteekenis van Huisbezoek,  ,Holland, 5 pages,                         M a y   1 5 .
    Rev. J. D. J.
     Proper Cooperation Between Parents and Tea-                                    Meditation, English, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.
     chers, English, 5 pages, Rev. P. D. B,                                         Editorial, Holland, 5 pages, Rev.  H, H,


                                                                                                                  _ "_
466                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      ".,
       Dogmatic Article, English, 8 pages, Rev..H. H.            Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 1.9, Holland, 6 pages,
       `The Dream as a Medium of Revelation, English,            Rev. W. V.
       8 page?, Rev. G. M. 0.                                    The Christian School and the Church, English,
       The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.                  5 pages, Rev. G. L.
       Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 16, Holland, 6 pages,        Submission to Church Government, English, 5
       Rev. W. V.                                                pages Rev. J. D. J.
       Erasmus and the Reformation, 7 pages, English,  -         Government Relief and the Deaconate, English,
       Rev. R. V.          ~                                     5 pages, Rev. L. V.
       Is Catechism Preaching Ministry of the Word?               Current Events, English, 5 pages, Rev. L. D.
       English, 7 pages, Rev. M. S.
       News From our Churches, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. August 1.
       P. v.                                                     Meditation, English, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.
June 1.                                                          Editorial, Holland, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.
                                                                 Doctrinal Article, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.
       Meditatie, Holland, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.                   The Number Seven in the 0. T., English, 8 pages,
       Editorial, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.                   Rev. G. M. 0.
       Doctrinal Article, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.                    The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.
       The Vision as a Medium of Revelation, English,            Moeiljke Schriftuurplaatsen 20, Holland, 6 pages,
       8 pages, Rev. G. M. 0.                                    Rev. W. V.
       The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.                  The Promise "To Abide by this Doctrine", Eng-
       Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 17, Holland, 6 pages,        lish, 5 pages, Rev. A. C.
       Rev. W. V.                                                 Calvin and the Burning of Servet, English, 6
       De Beteekenis Van  "Matt.  l8", Holland, 5 pages,         pages, Rev. G. M. 0.
       Rev. J. V. d. B.                                          Organising a New Church, English, 5 pages, Rev.
       Luther at Worms, English, 6 pages, Rev. ,G. M. 0.         B. K.
       The Aim of Christian Instruction, English, 5              Book Review, English,  4 pages, Rev. H. H.
       pages, Rev. P. D. B.
       Book Review, English, 4 pages, Rev.-H. H.             September  1.
June 15.                                                         Meditatie, Holland, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.
                                                                 Editorial, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.
       Meditation, English, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.                  Doctrinal Article, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.
       Editorial, Holland, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.                   The Symbolism of Colors in the 0. T., English,
       Doctrinal Article, 8 pages, Rev. H.  ,H.                  8 pages, Rev. G. M. 0.
       The Angel of Jehovah in the 0. T., English, 8             The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.
       pages, Rev. G. M.  0.                                     Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 21, Holland, 6 pages,
       The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.                  Rev. W. V.
       Moeihjke Schriftuurplaatsen 18, Holland, 6 pages,         Nazism and Marxian  Socialism, English, 6 pages,
       Rev. W. V.                                                Rev. H. V.
       Training the Child Before School Age, English,             The Evil of the Dance, English, 5 pages, Rev.
        5 pages, Rev, A. P.                                       P. v.
       Separate Christian Labor Organizations, English,           Family Worship, English, 5 pages, Rev. M. G.
        5 pages, Rev. C. H.                                       Current Events, English, 4 pages, Rev. L. D.
       The Daily Paper in the Home, English, 5 pages,
       Rev. M. S.                                        * September 15.
        Nieuws Uit  Onze Kerken, Holland, 5 pages, Mr.            Meditation, English, 7 pages,  Rev.,.H.   H.
        S. D. V.                                                  Editorial, Holland, 5 pages, Rev. H. H. ~
J u l y   1.                                                      Doctrinal Article, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.
                                                                  The Living Creatures of Ezekiel 1 and 10, Eng-
       Meditatie, Holland, 7 pages, Rev. H. H.                    lish, 8 pages, Rev. G. M. 0.
        Editorial, English, 5 pages, Rev. H. H.                   The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.
       Doctrinal Article, 8 pages, Rev. H. H.                     Moeilijke Schriftuurplaatsen 22, Holland, 6 pages,
       Hosea's  Marriage, English, 8 pages, Rev. G. M. 0.         Rev. W. V.
       The Psalms, Holland, 6 pages, Rev. G. V.                   Choosing a Vocation, English, 5 pages, Rev. R. V.


                                               T H E   STaNDARD  B E A R E R  j4:,.  :!  /                                   467
 ,...  .                                                                                   -.
            The Council of Trent, English, 6 pages, Rev.
            G. M. 0.                                                   An Open Letter To The ,krotesting
            The Value of Series Preaching, English, 5 pages,                     Christian Ref. Church
            Rev. J. B.
            Nieuws Uit Onze Kerken, Holland, 4 pages, Mr. To the Editor of the Standard Bearer
            S. D. V.                                               Dear Editor :                                             I  I
                                                                      Please give us space in your paper to place. these
       *  _  .i  .(                                                few lines of protest, for it is for the efforts on our
                             R E M A R K S
 .           `.,  :I.                                              part for the reunion of the congregation of which we
 The  ibrethren  will notice that we have done our are members, with the Protestant Reformed Church
best to divide the work as equally as possible, and to             Denomination, that  Iwe are placed under censure and
meet the desires that were expressed at our  J,une as members of this independent congregation, and by
meeting as nearly as could be expected.                            the action of the- consistory of said congregation, `we
      We assigned  all Holland to the Revs. Vos and have no other way of voicing our protest and neither
Verhil, not because these brethren are not able to                 do we have any appeal to any Classis or Synod. ~          `c.
write in the English language, but (because to write                  Thanking you in advance, we remain,              `.
Holland is not everybody's work, and in this way the                                              B. Hoppenbrouwer.  ~
work could be apportioned most readily. Another                                                   P. Alphenaar.
year, perhaps, others can take the lion's share of the
Dutch and these brethren can write in the English
language.
      As to the number of pages indicated, the brethren                                                    July 9, 1941
will understand that this means typewritten pages,
double spaced, and with a left side margin of about                Open Letter to the Consistory of the
three fourths of an inch. Each number of the Standard Protesting Christian Reformed Church of
Bearer requires sixty such typewritten pages of copy.              Kalamazoo, Michigan.                      ,:  "
      Of course, lwe must allow a little "rubber" in this
scheme tom make  room for questions, an open forum,                Dear Brethren :
and co&&b&ions. No contributions will be accepted                     Whereas you have completely closed the way to us,
of more  thantwo typewritten pages.                                members in full communion, to raise our voice-in pro-
      I can-foresee the danger that some of the brethren           test against your arbitrary way of exercising socalled
will ask questions of undersigned concerning the sub-              "discipline" and even have denied us  the  right to ask
jects that are assigned to them. They will, ,however,              questions, when you against all good manners slammed
understand readily that it would Ibe quite impossible              shut the door of the consistory room in our face when
for me to answer them.                                             we presented our protest, and also questions by Mrs.
      The success of the present scheme  .will depend              Hoppenbrouwer in regard to these matters, at your
entirely on the acceptance by each of us of the task               consistory meeting of June 24th, so have you forced
assigned to him and on faithful and thorough work.                 us to openly admonish you in regards to your dis-
                                                     H. H.         honorable way of doing and we advise you to retrace
                                                                   your steps and undo the injustice you have done to us.
                                                                   If this will not be forth-coming, `we shall be obliged
                                                                   to publish all your doings in regards to this affair,
                                                                   because `we have  no appeal to a Classis  or ,Synod and
                             I N   MEXORIAM                        our appeal ,will be to the sense of justice of the con-
                                                                   gregation.
       The Board of the Baldwin Christian School of Grand             Furthermore the congregation should be informed
Rapids, Michigan, wishes to express its sincere sympathy to        of the facts, because this thing in question, is the affair
one of its members, Mr. Arthur Dekker, in the  loss   *?if  his    of the congregation,  n-1. the reunion with the Protestant
mother,                                                            Reformed Church Denomination. Because  it  is for
                          lMRS  BESSIE DEKKER                      the fact that we have been working and are working
       May the Lord of ail grace comfort and sustain him and       to that end, that we are placed under censure, without
also the other relatives in this hour of sadness.                  even receiving a warning. Certainly, no one would
                                        3. Holwerda, Pres.         maintain that a member in June, all at once, without
                                        S. Van Han, Sec'y.         any admonition can be placed under censure, because
            "__-  _--_


468                                  :  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

in January he declined to have house-visitation, until fatsoenlijk ging  behandelen, Dat strookt  tech  zeker
the consistory treats the matter of the reunion with            niet met Gereformeerd Kerkrecht en goede orde? Want
the above mentioned Denomination in an honorable                indien huisbezoek bij ons van zoo'n  g-root  belang is,
and decent way. That certainly is not according to hoe komt het dan dat men het gezin van P. Alphenaar,
Reformed Church Law and good order. For if house-               dit jaar, zonder eenige redenen, doodgewoon heeft  over-
visitation is so very important, how is it that the             geslagen? Maar nog vreemder, hoe komt het dan dat
family of P. Alphenaar for no apparent reason has               het gezin van Ds. H. Danhof in het geheel geen  huis-
had no such visitation this year. And stranger still,           bezoek gehad heeft,  sedert wij een vrije gemeente
how is it that the family of Rev. H. Danhof has had             gemaakt zijn, meer dan 15 jaar  geleden?
no house-visitation at all, since we have been made an             Wij zijn er voorts ,van overtuigd dat zuik een zoo-
independent congregation, more than 15 years ago. ,             genaamde "tuchtoefening" niet bindend  is voor onzen
       We are convinced that such  socalled "discipline" is     God in den  .Hemel,  maar we1 tot een oordeel wordt
not binding before our God in heaven, but will become           voor degenen die ze, om zichzelf in een booze zaak te
a curse to them, who, under a cloak of piety, apply             handhaven, willekeurig toepassen onder den schijn
the same, in order to maintain themself  in a wicked            van vroomheid. En tenslotte wijzen wij U ouderlingen
affair. And we finally warn the elders that they have           er op, dat gij eenmaal  cvoor   onzen   AIwetenden  God
to answer for this to our God, Who knows all, and               rekenschap  zult hebben  af te  Ieggen voor deze zaak
again, elders, undo the injustice, so that .the congre- en daarom, ouderlingen, herstel het onrecht, opdat
gation may not suffer.                                          gij der gemeente geen schade aandoet.
                             Sincerely,                                                       B. Hoppenbrouwer.
                                                                                              P. Alphenaar.
                                  B. Hoppenbrouwer.
                                  P. Alphenaar.


                                                                    Christus Verzocht Om Den Tempel
       De Nederlandsche vertaling van bovenstaande *
                         Open Brief.                                                                  Matth.  4 :5-7.
       Aangezien gij ons,  leden  in  voile gemeenschaap,          In de verzoeking van den Satan van den Christus,
volkomen den pas hebt afgesneden en om vragen te is het opmerkelijk, dat de Booze in klimmende mate
steIlen  en om onze stem in protest te  doen  hooren,           grijpt naar de hoogste  dingen.
tegen  uw willekeurige manier van  doen en  zooge-              - Daar was allereerst, de aarde, woe&, Iedig, beeld
naamde "tuchtoefening" toont gij, zelfs tegen alle goede der  verlatenheid,  en op die aarde een Christus, die
manier in, daar ge op uwe kerkeraadsvergadering van hongerde. Indien ge den Zoon van God zijt, spreek
24 Juni,  ens de deur in het aangezicht toesmeet,  toen         dan het machtwoord en maak *van deze aarde,  woest
wij onze protesten aanboden met de vragen om  in- en ledig, een lusthof van Saron. Laat in deze woestijn
hchtingen  van Mrs. B. Hoppenbrouwer,  dwingt gij               rozen bloeien, laat alles wat herrinnert aan vloek, dood
ons,`om  openlijk U  terecht  te ,wijzen  in betrekking tot en straf  verdwijnen, Iaat door uwe kracht, welke ge
uwe schaamtelooze manier van doen  en raden U aan               bezit, alles het uwe zijn en ge zult als de Messias van
om op uwe schreden terug te keeren en het ons aange-            het menschdom gehuldigd  en g&erd  worden.
dane onrecht te herstellen.                                        Indien ge de Zoon van God zijt.
       Indien dit achterwege mocht  blijven,.  zijn wij  ge-       Was Satan daar dan nog niet van overtuigd? Was
noodzaakt al uwe handelingen in dezen publiek te ma-            het onkunde, die hem deze vraag deed  richten tot den
ken, want daar wij ons op geen Classis  of Synode  kun-         Christus? Sommige verklaarders hebben gemeend,
nen beroepen, zullen wij ons beroepen op het  rechtvaar-        dit bevestigend te moeten  beantwoorden. De voorstel-
digheidsgevoel der gemeente, in n.1. de zaak der her-           ling werd gegeven, dat Satan in geen  enkel opzicht
eeniging met de Protestantsche Gereformeerde  Kerk-             zeker was met lwien hij te doen  had en daarom met
gemeenschap. Want het is omdat wij daarvoor hebben de vraag omtrent het Zoonschap Gods tot Jews zich
gewerkt en nog werken, dat wij, zonder ooit vermaand gericht heeft.              Naar  onze overtuiging is deze  ver-
te  zijn, willekeurig onder censuur  zijn geplaatst. Want klaring  we1 wat al te onnoozel. Bedenken we slechts
men zal tech nooit kunnen handhaven dat een lid in dat het optreden van Jezus met wonderteekenen was
Juni, zoo maar ineens, zonder  eenige waarschuwing vergezeld  geweest.
of vermaning onder censuur wordt geplaatst, omdat                  Wonderteeken`en,  want had niet de laatste  profeet
h.ij in Januari huisbezoek weigerde, tenzij dat de kerke-       der Oude Bedeeling, Johannes de Dooper, het voor
raad eerst die zaak van de hereeniging eens eerlijk en aller oor verkondigd, dat de Christus het Lam Gods


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          475
gen, dat men zich neervleit  op de Rots der eeuwen, dat           Gods Woord: ge weet het ook  266 wel. Onze kleederen
 men afziet van  absoluut   alIes en  sheen   opziet   naar       zullen  van ons gruwen.
het Oog van God. Gelijk de dienstknecht opziet naar                  Doch Jezus is onze gerechtigheid.
het oog zijns heeren.                                                Toen doorboorde God Jezus de ooren. De Heilige
     Doet ge dat, dan  spre&t David, neen  Christus, U            Geest verklaart dit in Hebreen  als beteekenende: maar
zalig.                                                            Gij hebt Mij het lichaam toebereid.
     WelgeIukzalig  is de man (en ook de vrouw) die den              Het toebereide Iichaam, om den wil Gods te doen.
 Heere tot  zijn  vertrouwen  stelt. Dat volk  aiet niet             En die wil is: Ge moet Mij  willen, ook als  Ik  U
om naar den  hoovaardige en dien die leugen spreekt.             wegbrand in vreeselijk lijden.
     Het past  precies.     De hoovaardige is de mensch              En het antwoord van den lieflijksten David is ge-
die  zichzelf  *weI kan  helpen.  De hoovaardige is een           weest : Hier ben  Ik; Heere! Doe met Mij naar de
ongelukkig mensch die vergiftigd is van het venijn               menigvuldige gedachten van Uw vree-verbond.
des duivels: Gij  zult als God wezen!  Een hoovaardig                En het begin is gelijk het einde: Een  Lam staande
men&h  ziet God met. En zulk een mensch is dezeifde a l s   g e s l a c h t .
als die leugen spreekt. Dat volgt vanzelf. * A!s men                 Als Engelen Gods daarover  zingen in Bethlehem's
zichzelf wil handhaven en dat ook prediken rondom,               nacht, zal ik dan niet uitbreken in den jubel des ge-
dan moet men we1 liegen.  . Alle trotsche menschen zijn Iuks ?
daarom ook  Ieugenaars.   Achter   alle  ketterij  zit een           0 ja, ze begonnen vroolijk te zijn.           ,
hoogmoedig  hart.                                                    Vroolijk in God.
     En  voorts   blikt  Jezus   tot achter Zijn kruis en                                                   ' G. V.  '
achter Zijn  hellesmart.  En daar ziet Hij het wonder
van Gods genade en de gedachten des vredes. En die
zijn  ~66 vele,  dat  Hij ze niet in orde kan verhalen.
Net' zal een eeuwigheid nemen  om het Gode te vertel-
len, hoe  wonderlijk  en hoe lieflijk Zijne gedachten                                Moses ' Fall
geweest zijn.
    Wordt maar even nauw in de ingewanden en ,zie                    The events recorded  .in the 20th chapter of the
Uzdf !                                                           book of Numbers occurred at Kadesh and near it.
    Stel het U voor:                                             First among them is the death of Miriam. She has
                         Gij   in den  hemel  der zaligheden?
Gij voor het                                                     survived the hardships of the desert and reached a
                 IiefXjk   Aangezicht om het Hem eeuwiglijk
te vertellen, dat Hij de Volzalige is? Gij met een stem great age. Her usefulness and vigor past, she is glad,
die lieflijker is dan der Engelen  Gods om te jubelen            no doubt, Iwhen the call comes. How is a life like this
van een Iiefde die ons Gode kocht  met het bloed van             of Mariam to be reckoned? We have seen her as a
Jezus ?                                                          young girl, eager and concerned, watching the cradle
    Nauw in de ingewanden,  want gij Zijt er maar &n !           of Moses and aiding in his deliverance. She is spoken
    Gedenkt  de schare  die, niemand tellen  kan.                of as sharing  in  the mission of Moses and Aaron.
    En meer nag: gedenkt aan het Deugdenbeeld Gods.              When she led the song of triumph on the shores of
De  krisiallijnen  en  jufweelen   > die  zullen  schitteren.    the Red Sea, she is called a prophetess ; and the ground
Hier weidt immers onze ziel met een verwonderend                 upon which she and Aaron rebelled against Moses
oog !                                                            implies their possession of the prophetic gift. What
    "En  daartoe   veel   vee!"                                  proves her high consideration is the delay of the march
                                                                 until she was freed from her leprosy.
    NU   ken  ik die  waarheid   ZOO  diep als gewis, dat
Jezus  alleen mijn gerechtigheid  is!                               Miriam was a truly good woman as to the heart
    Dat zit z-66; God had geen lust aan slachtoffer  en of her disposition. Her devotion, endurance and inter-
aan spijsoffer; brandotier  en zondoffer heeft Hij  niet         est in her brother's work-these were her virtues.
ge&ischt  !                                                      Her happiness had been to sustain the faith' of her
    0 geliefden ! Ik zeg dit jubelende !                         people in God and in their leader. But as to her own
    De Heere heeft geen lust aan ons geknoei, aan ons            fai+h, the maintenance of it was intermixed with sin-
hypocritisch en Farizeeuwsch  geknoei. "The good that ful egotism, the expression of which was her rebuking
sinners do !" Vreeselijke  ironie.                               Moses on the ground that she was his equal.
    Waar is de humanist, de philanthropist? Waar is                 The second among the incidents that occurred at
de man die maar niet buigen wil voor de mensch  ver-             Kadesh was the murmurings  of the people occasioned
nederende en God verhoogende waarheid, dat God                   by a lack of *water. The narrative reads, "And there
geen lust heeft  aan ons geknoei? Op den keper  be-              was no water for the congregation  :and they gathered
schouwd: wat doet gq**  ? Bezie  nu eens Uw werk in              themselves together against Moses and against Aaron."
het  licht der rode  alleen?  Ga maar niet  @ens naar            When this murmuring occurred, whether it took place
                                                                                              .


476                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

at the beginning or at the close of the period of their     the climax of their wickedness is their lamenting the
residence at Kadesh-a period of thirty-eight years fact that they long ago had not perished with their
duration-cannot be determined. It took piace  at the brethren. Yet in condemning their unbelief, we must
close, if the statement of the murmurers: "Would that bear in mind that nothing is more terrible to endure,
we had died when our brethren died before the Lord" nothing better fitted to make even the best of God's
refers to the execution of the sentence imposed upon        believing people severely critical of God, than to see
the old generation on account of its rebellion occasioned their children in the extremity of want, which they
by the derogatory report of the ten spies. If the state- are powerless to relieve.        It is the grace of God
ment does refer to the to the execution of this sentence, triumphing in a man when he says, as the prophet of
it follows that the people of Israel found springs, of old said, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom,
water at Kadesh  jvhen  they arrived at this  place-        neit,her  shall fruit be in the vines ; the Iabour of the
springs that later dried up, so that the Lord had to        olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meet; the
perform a miracle that His people might continue to         flock shall be cut  OR from the fold, and there shall be
have water. If we have to do here with a murmuring no herd in the stalls: yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I
of the later date, it is now the new generation that        will joy in the God of my salvation."
sins. The people not only complain but also accuse            The murmurings of the congregation enrages Moses,
as did their fathers before them. They have the same so much so, that, as carried away by his feelings, he
fault to find with .Moses and the Lord-a fault Iwhich       believes not the Lord to sanctify Him in the eyes of
they couch in an identical language. They arty, "And        the children of Israel. + violent ,is his .anger  and to
why.have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord such a degree does it poison his soul, that, if the rod
into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should         with which he smites the rock and the words of his
d,`e there? And wherefore have ye made us to come           lips could kill, he would have destroyed them all as
up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place?       in a moment. As he stands there, facing the congrega-
It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of      tion,  wh,o  had followed him to the rock, he cannot get
pomegranates; neither is there .any water to drink."        himself to releiving their want, In smiting the rock,
We must not minimize this  trial The sunshine is he smites, in response to the dictates of his carnal
flaming, it may be imagined. The air of the heights ra,ge, not the rock but the thirsting multitude.
is parched and a stifling heat  fills the valleys. The         In explaining Moses' behaviour, we must not ima-
cattle are `gasping and  t,he children cry for water and    gine that he is aware of the extremity of the people,
there is none. Apparently they are all doomed to that he knows that there is no water. Spread over
die of thirst. The day for them at this juncture is         many square miles of a not altogether barren region,
evil; and in that day they stand not but falter. `It is the tribes, it may be supposed, have been able through
a hard speech to which they give utterances,-a speech the years of their long residence at Kadesh as their
that was meant for God's ears as well as for the ears headquarters, to provide themselves with water at
of Moses. Mindful of their present plight, they con- least a part of the time. ,Gathered  more closely now,
clude that the Lord was now about to kill them through because the time for them to press on to the promised
thirst and that  ,with this purpose in mind He had land of their abode is at hand, they are in want. `And
brought them into the wiIderness.  They know better the Lord, instead of immediately relieving their want,
in their hearts-know that the distination is Canaan,        suffers them to thirst' in order to humble them that
and that there the tabernacle of  God will be with them, also they, this new generation, might know that man
even as it is with them now. So he had said. What           "lives not by bread (and water) only, but by every
are they then to make of God, should he now, as they        word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord
say, be wanting to make an end of the nation. Their doth man live." But instead of humbling themselves'
complaint springs from malice. Their present suffer- under God's mighty hand, instead of appealing to
ings so vex them that they will to be ignorant of this .Moses -with all respect to intercede for them before
that if in humbleness of spirit they persistently make      God humbly and in all reverence, they break in upon
known their request to God, their need will be filled. him with terrible reproaches. By promising to bring
In giving expression to their chagrin, they go far.         them to a good land, he had induced them to come
By implication they deny that the Lord had had any-         up out of Egypt "with the sinister purpose to lead
thing at  all to do with their leaving Egypt. It was        them in "to an evil place", that in this place they
Moses who had made them to come up out of Pharaoh's and their cattle might die. Heretofore he had been
ovens.    Apparently they want to spare the Lord.           patient with such reproaches and had even met them
The blame rests squarely upon Moses. Then, too, they with pity and soothing words ; but now, hearing,
refuse to consider that the reason they find themselves     he is seized with a fit of anger so violent that he
in the wilderness is that in their impious obstinacy        feels that he could suffer them all to perish in their
that had preferred the wilderness above Canaan. But         extremity. "Hear, ye rebels," he screams, "must we


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E - A R E R                                          477

 fetch you water out of the rock?" `It is indeed a              compassion and grace. To His ill-deserving- and con-
 tragedy; and the elements of it are the old age and            demnable people, the Lord would grant, of free grace
 weary spirit of Moses, the many cares and anxieties            and without reproach the miraculous water. Moses
 that burden his mind, and above all the unwillingness          first reproaches the people as rebels. Thereupon he
 of. the people to appreciate him, to be mindful of the         smites the rock, instead of simply speaking to. it,
 love that he bares them and to remember his long               with a temper that really wanted to strike the people.
 and arduous service of them. Their ingratitude and             In this behaviour there is reflected a carnal wrath, an
 amazing impudence is more than he in the long run              Iunholy zeal, that obscures to the people the glory of
 can edure. For after all he is but mere man. Though            God, His mercy and compassion. He thus failed to
 the meekest of men, he is not meek enough. His                 sanctify, glorify the Lord before, the people. For +his
 patience can be and is finally exhausted. Thus, in his he and Aaron were forbidden entrance into the earthy
 capacity of mediator of the .Oid Testament, he is but          Canaan.
 a mere shadow of  Him--Christ  Jesus-who, when                                                             G. M. 0.
 "He was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered,
 he threatened not; but committed himself to Him
 that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our
 sins in his own body upon the tree, that we being
 dead to sin, should live unto righteousness."                                          Ezekiel
    This, then, is Moses' fault. He is reviled and in
 turn he reviles again; and suffering, he  t.hreatens.             The sign of the bread and water.    .
 Moses' wrath springs largely from the flesh. Thus                 The prophet is bidden to eat his bread with quak-
 as to its essence it. is not love of God but love `of self.    ing, and to drink his water with trembling, and in the
 What vexes Moses is that the people do  %rn evil.              name of the Lord say to the people that so they, Go,
 Hence at this moment he is hard, indisposed to forgive,        shall eat and drink, The cities shall be laid waste and
 without mercy.      And he deems God too ready to              the Iand shall be desolate, and they  shah know that
 pardon. The people, so he reasons on his way to the            He is the Lord.
 rock, do not deserve to be helped. In his present mood            The near execution of the punishment.
 he is unwilling that the thirsting multitude shall drink.         The repeated preliminary announcement.
 Yet the command of God is clear, "Take the rod,                   The Lord will make. the proverb, "The days are
 and. gather thou  t,he assembly together, thou and             prolonged and every vision faileth," to cease. They
Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before            shall say instead, "The days are at hand, and the effect
 their eyes: and it shall give forth its water, and thou        of every vision. For there shall be no more v&n vision
 shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so            nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.,
 thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts              The Lord shall speak and His word shall come to
 drink." So the Lord has spoken. Moses is perplexed.            pass.
 The people have again committed a great sin. Should               The discourses against  t,he false prophets and pro-
 not the Lord's anger be kindled now and His fire be            phetesses.
 burning among them? Should He at least not suffer                  The word of the Lord again came unto the prophet.
 them to thirst until they had acknowfedged  their guilt?       ,He is to prophesy against the prophets that speak  out
 Moses will himself act God. Before he brings forth             of their own hearts. They have seen nothing. They
 to them. water, he will at least make them feel that           have made others to hope, that they would confirm the
 they have offended.       How he -rails at them ! He           word. They have seen a vain vision, and spoken a
 reproaches them as rebels and expresses contempt for lying divination in that they say that the Lord saith
 the mutinous nation that really was not worth being            it, while the Lord hath not spoken. Therefore shall
 helped.    1s this acting the part of a shepherd ? Is          the Lord3 hand be upon these prophets. Their names
 this restoring in the spirit of meekness men overtaken         shal1 not be written in the writings of the house of
 by a fault? Moses' conduct need. not surprise. He              Israel.
 is unspiritual, because- he did not lay aside his  carna1          They seduced God's people by saying, "Peace" when
 indignation at the people by the sight of the glory of         there was no peace. And they ,build u$ a wall while
 the Lord. Yet he imagines that he represents God,              others doubt it, with untempered mortar. The wall
 while the fact is that he dishonours God.                      shall be rent with a stormy wind. An overflowing
     Just what is Moses' sin then? The Lord's reproof           shower and great hailstones shall beat against- the
 suggests his offense. Moses did not believe God in a wall, and it shall fall. And the foundations thereof
  way to prove to the people of Israel that God is the          shall be discovered.
  HoIy One. The bestowal of water should have revealed              The prophet is next bidden to set his face against
 the glory of Jehovah in His unlimited power, mercy,            the false prophetesses. Their sin is that they make


       478                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

        pillows to ail elbows and kerchiefs upon the head of            The word of the Lord again came unto the pro-
        every stature to hunt souls. They polute the Lord phet. The vine tree is no more than any tree or than
       among His people for a handful of barley, to slay the         a branch  ,which  is a mong the trees of the forest.
        souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive       Wood is not `&ken  thereof to do any work. with, or a
       that should not live, by their lyings.                        pin to hany any vessel thereon. Behold it is cast
              Therefore the Lord is against their pillows and        into the fire for fuel, burnt, and thus meet for any
        will let the souls go that they hunt to make them fly. work. When it was whole, it was meet for no work,
        Their kerchiefs will the Lord tear, and deliver His how much less when burned..
        people out of their hand. For with their lies they have         As the vine tree in the forest, given by the Lord to
       made the souls of the righteous sad and strengthened the fire, so shall He set His face against the inhabitants
        the hands of the wicked.                                     of Jerusalem. They shall go out from one fire, and
              The testimony against the  idoIatrous seekers after another fire shall devour them, and they shall know
       oraclf%.     O `-                                             that he is the Lord, when He s&s His face against
              The elders of Israel  come unto the prophet, and them.          And  $-Ie will make the land desolate because
       the word of  .the Lord  cqmes also unto him. These they hive committed a trespass, saith the Lord.
        men have set their idols in their heart, and put a              The story of the Lewd Adulteress.
       stumbling block of iniquity before' their face. The .            The story as such. The word of the Lord again
        Lord answers them according to the multitude of came unto the prophet. He shall let Jerusalem know
       their idols, that He may take the house of Israel in her abominations. Jerusalem is of the land Canaan.
        their own heart.                                             Her father was an Amorite and hei mother an Hittite.
              The prophet is to admonish the house of Israel to When she was born, her navel was not cut, nor was
       thin from their idols, and from all their abominations. she washed and salted and swaddled at all. No on&
       Against these who set up idols in their hearts and then had compassion on her, but she was cast out in the
       come unto `*he Lord, the Lord will set his face, make         open field to the lothing of every person.
        him a .sign and a proverb, and cut him off from the             Then the Lord ,passed  by her and saw her plight,
       mid& of His people. A prophet deceived in what he and said unto her : live ! And the Lord caused her to
        speaks, let him, this prophet, know that the Lord            multiply as the bud of the field. And she increased
       has deceived him, and that he will be destroyed from and waxed great and came to excellent ornaments; her
       midst of His .peopie.  A prophet who deceives in what he breasts were fashioned and her hair grew.
       these prophets shall bear the punishment of their                Now the time when the Lord had compassion on
       iniquity and their punishment shall be as these pro- her, was Iove time. So the Lord spread His skirts  over
       phets, that the house of Israel may no  m&e   go astray       her and covered her, nakedness, and sware  unto her
       from the Lord, neither be polluted any more with the&         and entered  into a covenant with her and she became
       transgressions ; but that tliey may be His people,' and       His. Then He washed her with water, took away her
       He their God.                                                 blood, and anointed her with oil, and clothed her with
           The word of the.Lord  again came unto the prophet.        broidered work, shod her with badger's skin, girded
       The Lord  wi!l stretch out His hand upon the land her about with silk, decked her with ornaments, put
       sinning against Him by trespassing grievously. If a bracelet upon her hands, a chain on her neck, jeweIs
       he should, break the staff of bread and send famine           on her forehead, earrings in her  ears,  and a beautiful
       upon it; if He should cause noisome beasts to pass crown upon her head. Thus was she decked . And she
        through the land, that they spoil it, so that it be          ate fine flour, and honey, and oil. And she. was ex-
".     desolate, if He should bring the sword upon the land; ceeding beautiful, and prospered into a kingdom. And
       if He  shouId  send pestilence in the land, to cut off her  renoun went forth among the heathen for her
       from it man and beast, though Noah, DanieI  and Job beauty.
       were in it, they would but save their own souls and              Jerusalem, the  beautifu1,  turns away from her
      none other. How much more when He sends His four' Benefactor.
       judgments upon Jerusalem, a city destitute `of just              She trusted in her own beauty and played the
       men.                                                          harlot and poured out her  fornications on everyone
              Yet therein shall be left a remnant that &a11 be &hat passed by. She took ofi? her beautiful garments
       brought forth, both sons and daughters, they shall            and decked her high places  ,and played the harlot
       come forth to the prophet and he shall sek their way          thereupon. She took her jewels the Lord had given
       and their doings and be comforted concerning the              her and made herself images of men, and committed
       evil that the Lord bringeth upon Jerusalem.            And    whoredom with them. With her embroidered gar-
       the prophet  shail know that the Lord has  not  done          ments she covered them and set the Lord's oil and
       without a cause  al1 that He has done.                        incense be,fore  them, and His meat, and His fine flour,
           The parable of the vine for the burning, st,              and  q$  pnd honey,  These  she  get before them, as a
              .


                                                                                                .

                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       479

sweet  savour.  She took her sons and daughters she        mentioned by her (Jerusalem)  in: the day of her
bore unto the Lord and sacrificed them unto the idols,     pride.
and caused them to pass through the fire. So Jeru-            Nevertheless the Lord will remember His cove-
salem forgot the days of her youth when the Lord had       nant with her in the days of her y0ut.h and will estab-
compassion upon her.                                       lish her an everlasting covenant. .Then will she re-
   After all these abominations she committed forni-       member and be ashamed of her ways, and the Lord
cation with the Egyptians, and with the Assyrians,         will establish His covenant with her and she shall
because she was unsatiable. Thus as a wife that know the Lord, remember, be confounded and never
committeth  adultery, she took strangers instead of her again open her mouth because of her shame.
husband..                                                     The riddle about the royal house of David.
   Ordinarily men give gifts to harlots; but Jerusalem        Again (the word of the Lord came to the prophet.
gave gifts unto her lovers and thus hired them that        This time he is to put forth a riddle and speak a par-
they might come in unto her. Thus in her is the con- able unto the house of Israel. A great Eagle came
trary from other women. This was necessary because unto Lebanon and took the highest branch of the.
none would follow her to commit whoredoms. Thus            cedar, which he carried unto a land of traffic and set
she gave a reward and no reward was given her. In in a city of merchants. He took also of the seed of
this she was contrary.                                     the land and planted it in a fruit-field by great waters
   For this destruction shall come upon her. The           and set it up as a willow-tree. `It grew and became a
Lord will gather all her lovers round about her and        spreading vine and brought forth branches and shot
will uncover her nakedness unto them. The Lord will forth twigs. There is another eagIe, and the vine bxrt
judge her as a woman that breaketh wedlock, and will her roots and her branches toward him, that he might
give her blood in fury and jealousy. And He will give water it by the furrow of her plantations. It was
her into their hands, and t,hey  shall throw down her      planted that it might bear good fruits.                z
eminent places and jewels, and leave her naked.                But the 1 vine shall prosper not. He shall pull it
                                                   They
shall stone her with stones and thrust her through         up by its roots, and cut off its fruits, and it shall
with their swords, burn her houses with fire. And          wither, in all its leaves so that only a few will be
the Lord will make His fury to the rest, and His           required to pull it up. It shall utterly wither when
jealousy shall depart from her, and He will be no more the east wind touches it:
angry. And the Lord will cause her to cease from              The interpretation of the riddle..
playing the harlot. Because she remembered not the            The word of the Lord came unto the prophet and
days of her youth.        He will recompense her way       bid him to say to the rebellious house of `Israel `that
upon  thine-  head;  an'd she shall not commit this lewd- the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem and has
ness above all her abominations.                           taken her king and princes, and the kings seed, and
                                                           the mighty of the land and hath made a covenant with
   Every one shall use against her this proverb, them by an oath that the kingdom he might abase, but
"As is the mother so is the daughter." Her mother          that keeping the covenant  .it might stand. But he,
was a Hittite and her father an Amorite. Her elder the king of- Israel, rebelled against him (the king of
sister is  Samari'a,  and her doughter sister, Sodom Babylon) and sent ambassadors to Egypt that he
and her daughters. She, as her mother and sister might give him an army-horses and people. Shall he
lothed her husband. She hath even corrupted her way        (the king of Judah), breaking the covenant, prosper
more than they (Sodom etc.). Sodom hath not done and be delivered? Not at all. As surely as the Lord
as she and her daughters have done. This was the liveth, he `(the king of Israel} shall die in the pIace
iniquity of Sodom: pride, fulness of bread, abundance where the king (king of Babylon) dwelleth  (the land
of idleness, a failure to strengthen the hand of the       of Babylon). Pharaoh, with his mighty company shall
poor. Sodom and her daughters committed abomina- not  ,make for him war (deliver him). The Lord will
tion before the Lord and He saw good to take them ,spread a net upon him and bring him to Babylon, and
away. Neither hath Samaria  committed half her sins, will plead with him there for his trespass. And all his
thus hath she justified her sisters in all her abomina- fugitives and his bands shall fall by the sword, and
tions. They are more righteous than she.                   they that remain shall be scattered to the winds.
   When- the Lord shall bring the captivity of Sodom           The Lord will also take of the high cedar and wili
and  Samaria and their daughters, He shall also bring      set it, and will crop off from the top of his young
the captivity of her (Jerusalem) daughters in the          twigs a tender one, and wiI1 plant it upon a high and
midst of them, that she may bear her shame and be          eminent mountain. And it shall bring forth boughs
confounded and bear her shame, and be a comfort unto and bear fruit and be a goodly cedar, and under it.shalI
them. And Sodom and Samaria,  and their daughters dwell the fowl of every wing, and live in its shadow.
shall return to their estate, for their names were not And all the trees of the field shall know that He is the


  480                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  Lord and has brought down the high trees and exalted         plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground and dried
  the low trees and made the dry tree to flourish.             up by the east wind, and her rods were consumed with
         The laws of Divine punitive righteousness.            fire. She is now planted in the wilderness. And a fire
         The-word of the Lord again came unto the prophet.     is gone out from her branches and devours her fruit,
  The Jews were using a proverb. They said that the            so that she hath no rod to be a sceptre  ,unto her rule.
  fathers have eaten sour grapes and that, the teeth of           The survey of the leading of the people from old.
  the children have been set on edge. They shall not              In the seventheenth year, in the fifth month, the
  have occasion to use this proverb any' more. All the         tenth day of the month, the elders of Israel came to
  souls are the Lord's;  the souls of the fathers and the      inquire of the Lord and sat before the prophet. Then
  souls of the sons. And only- that soul that sinneth came the word of the Lord unto him.
  shal,l die.    If a man- be just and do that which is           The Lord will not be inquired of the house of
  lawful and right, he shall surely live. If the righteous Israel. The prophet is bidden to know their abomina-
  man hath .a wicked son, the son only shall surely die.       tions. The Lord chose Israel and made Himself known
  If the father be a wicked man, and have a son who is         unto them in the land of Egypt. The Lord brought
  just, the wicked father only shall die and the son them forth out of Egypt into a land flowing  with
  shall live.                                                  milk and honey. Then He commanded them to cast
         So. the wicked one, whoever he may be, the father away their abominations and to refrain from defiling
 ,of a wicked unrepentent son, or the son of a wicked, themselves with the  idoIs of Egypt. This  .israel re-
unrepentent father,-if the wicked one shall repent,            fused to do. For His name's sake the Lord did not
  &shall surely live. All his transgressions shall not be polute them and destroy them in Egypt  cbefore  the
  remembered- unto him. For the Lord hath no pleasure heathen. For he had made himself known unto the
  that the wicked should die, and not that he should Egyptians in bringing them forth out of Egypt. This
  repent.                                                      he did, and brought them in the wilderness. There He
     When the righteous turn away from his righteous- gave them His statutes and His sabbaths as a sign
  ness and committeth  iniquity,andremains  unrepentent,       between them and Him. But they despised the Lord,
  he shall die in his iniquity, and his rghteousness shall     His statutes and His sabbaths in the wilderness. Then
  not be remembered. Yet for all this, the house of            the Lord lifted up His hand unto them in the wilder-
  Israel says that the way of the Lord is' not equal.          ness that He would not bring them into Canaan. Yet
  Let them consider that when a man dies he dies for           His eyes spared them: And He said to their children
  his iniquity. And when the wicked one repents, he            that they should not walk in the statutes of their
  lives;                                                       fathers but in His statutes. But as their fathers, the
         Let the house of Israel truthfully answer `whether    children rebelled against the  .Lord. Then the  LoFd
  or no the Lord's ways are equal ! If their answer be said that He would destroy them. Nevertheless He
  truthful, it will be that the Lord's way is equal..          spared them again for His name's sake. But they con-
         Therefore, the Lord will judge everyone of them tinued in their wicked ways. Wherefore the Lord
  according to his ways.       Let them therefore repent       lifted up His hand unto them to scatter them among
  fram  .their iniquities. For the Lord taketh no pleasure the heathen. He also gave them statutes that were
  in the death of him that dieth.                              not good, and polluted them in their own gifts, because
         The lamentation over the kings of Israel.             they caused their children to pass through the fire.
         The prophet is bidden to take up a lamentation for       The pro,phet is bidden to say to them further that
  the princes of Israel. Their mother is a lioness, who        when the Lord brought them into Canaan, they offered
  laid down amonog lions and nourished her whelps              sacrifices on every hill and there poured out their
  among young lions. And one of her whelps, she had            drink offerings. Therefore the Lord will not be  en-
  brought up became a young lion and learned to catch          quired of them. They need not think that they will be
  prey; The nations, hearing of it, brought him -with          permitted to carry out their intentions of being as the
  chains to,Egypt. Then the mother took another one            heathen, and as the families of the countries to serve
  of- her whelps, and made him a youn,g lion. And he           wood and stone. As He liveth, the Lord will rule
  learned to. catch prey and to devour men. Then the           over them with a mighty hand and with fury poure"d
  nations spread around him on every side, caught him out.
 ' in a net and took him to the king of Babylon that his                                                   G. M. 0.
  voice should be heard no more upon the mountains of
  Israel.
         Their mother is like a fruitful vine in her blood,
  planted by the rivers and she had strong rods for                                    NOTICE
  the sceptres of them that rule.         And her stature         As is customary, The Standard Bearer will not
  was exalted among the thick branches . But she was           be published on the 15th of August.


