     246                                  T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

            How ShaM They Hear Without                              that American soldier for that particular moment  2nd
                                                                    makes a preacher  out of him, and speaks His Wor !
                         A Preacher?                                through him. And yet, even in tha: case, Christ will
                                                                    csrely bring that Japanese soldijer as soon as po.?siblc
                                                                    in contact Gvrith  the Church and with the preaching.
            Another question was sent in by  I-I.  ,4. V. P. of I\s far as being called by the means of finding the
     Holland,  Mich. The question is swkether,  if anyone is %ible in special circumstances, we have, it seems to
     to be saved, the Word of God must always Ic,e prelzh-          me, a fitting illustration in Acts 8:26 f?. The Ethio-
     ed to him by an ordained minister or missionary. The           pian eunuch had found a Bible and was reading it.
     question is elucidated by different  exam.ples,.  If an But Christ sent him a preacher in the person of Phi5 -,
     American soldier tells a  Japanlese  soldier about Christ and thus he was called and baptized. We musk re-
     on the battlefield, or if a Japanese soldier, who is not member; 1, The Bible would not even exist today iE
     acquainted with the way of salvation, finds a Bible. the Church had not fulfilled its  cal!ing to  prea:h.
     and reads it, can he nut be saved through this  melns? 2. If a man finds a Bible, and it is Christ's will to call
     Briefly : "Does Scripture teach that God can and will him, it. is my conviction that the Lord will bring that
     save only those to whom His Word is preached?"                 person to the Church, and thus let him hear  the'preazh-
            In reply I may  s'taie  the following:                  ing.
            1. First of all, that for a complete answer I would        The rule, therefore, `remains, and no one can  vio!nte
     refer Mr. V. P. to my book .enltitled: "God's Eternal it with impunity: Christ causes His Word to be  heard
     Good Pleasure," pp. 237  ff., especially to the part :&rough the preacher that is sent.
     `that explains the words: "and how shall they  hess                                                          H. H.
     without  a preacher ?" If these ,wordg mean anything
     in the context, they mean: no one can hear Christ
     without a preacher.      And since, according to the same
     context, no one  can believe without hearing Christ, it                                               -
     follolws that no one is saved wilthout a preacher. Now,
     a preacher is one that is sent, for "how  sh.sll they                                                       ----_   -
     preach except they be sent?" The apostles were sent
     dirently by the Word of Christ.. The Church is ,sent to
     preach  indirectly through the Word of Christ to the              The Triple KnowledgC-
     apostles. And in order that it may be quite sure `that it
     is the Church, and not the indivtiunl  that preaches, ithe
     latter is called through the Church; and therefore; a           An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
     preacher in our day is an ordained minister, called and
     <sent  by Christ  lthrough  the Church. The question is not                          Catechism
     .so mu& and, in fact, not at all, whether anyone mus't
     be called %y a preacher, but whether .it is paramount                                  P A R T   T W O
     that he is called by Christ, and  whethEr  it pleases
     Christ to call anyone without His Church in the world.                           OF MAN'S REDEMPTION
     And this, I think, in the light of Scripture,  must be an-                              Chapter II
     swered negatively at least in so $ar : that no one can de-                           LORD'S DAY VI.
     libeyately  ignore the Church and its  presching,  aq&                                     II. .
     insist that  Ch-rist  can just as well  save without a
     preacher.  The custody of  t,he truth, and the task of                       The Mediator Of God And Man
     preaching, is not entrusted to any individcll, but to                  Who then is that Mediator, who is in one person
     the Church only, jest as ,the Spirit of Christ does not        both very God, and a real righteous. man? For this.
     dwell in any individual apart from the Church but in yirestion  we, perhaps, had been looking for some time.
     the Church.  Iridi&dua!ism   in this  respect   I,eads  td We  pyobably  grew impatient with the C&echism  as
     corruption of the truth and to the  exiinguishing  of the- it  ,discusse,d the hopelessness of our condition, the im-
     light of talc Word of God:.                                    possibility of salvation on our part, and the question
            2. Whether in  d&y special  circimistances  Christ of a possible  Med,i.ator,  the necessity of His being
     cannot and will not use special means is certainly not tree and (eternal God and real righteous man in one
     for us to say. If it is the will of Christ to let His          person. And  all the while  *we were  l,eft groping in
     Word be heard by a Japanese throrgh an American the darkness of our sin and misery. Yet, we saw how
     soldier in case rt.here is no other way, I certainly would essential it is for the maintenance of the  ,tr'ue doctrine
     be the last on,e to deny that this is possible. Only, in       concerning our salvation that these  matiters   lx em-
     that case  1 would put it this way: Christ simply  serlds      phasized, and not lightly passed over. For, on the one
I


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       247
                                                                                            _.
hand, it must be clearly and fully understood, before we answer it here gives in future chapters. But here it
can even begin to speak of a Saviour and salvation,            confronts the faith of the Christian with the full
that with us the matter is strictly without hope.. In          Christ, in order that from the depths of our misery we
no sense can we accomplish our own salvation, or any may at once rise to the. heights of complete salvation
part of it. And, on the other hand, we must see sharp- by appropriating Him, and confessing in spiritual joy:
ly and clearly that no other Mediator than  th,e Christ        `3ur Lord Jesus Christ !"
of the Scriptures `can possibly help us, so that to falsify       To expound this answer in all its implications this
this Christ, to adulterate the truth concerning Him as         is not the place. It would mean to explain all the de-
revealed to us in the holy gospel, is to shut out all pos- tails of the doctrine concerning our  sal&ion. And
Kbility  of salvation.    The questions the Heidelberg this is to be done in succeeding chapters. Here we
Catechism thus far discussed may appear ,abstract  and must be satisfied with the main features of this Christ
%:ademic, they are, nevertheless, intensely pr.actical,        as they are drawn before the eyes of our faith by tllz
questions of life and death. Howlever, now it has been         Catechism in a few bold strokes. The answer here
clearly demonstrated and firmly established that -`we given is literally taken from I Cor. 1:30 : "But of him
need just such a Mediator, who is both God and man,            are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
and that, too, a righteous man, the Catechism all of a wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and re-
sudden unveils before our longing eyes the complete demption." The general meaning of this text is plain:
figure of a real and only Mediator of God and man,             Christ is our all, our complete redemption. T,here is
in all the fulness of His glory and blessings of salya-        a question, however, as `to the relation between the
tion ! For in answer to th,e question : "Who then is various concepts occurring in the  Itext;  wisdom, right-
that Mediator?" it declares: "Our Lord Jesus Christ:           eousness, sanctification, redemption. The question is
`who of God is made unto us wisdom, end righteous- `especially whether wisdom is to be regarded *as the
ness, and sanctification, and redemption'."                    main concept, so that the other three: righteousness,
   In this procedure of the Catechism, according to            sancti&attin,  redemption,  are explanations of this
which it  novj places us at once before the Christ in all      one term. The Revised Version suggests this mean-
His fulness and significance, before it explains Him           ing in a marginal note t,hat would translate the text
in the details of His blessedness, there is an underlying thus : "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, w,ho was
truth to  w,hich  we may well call attention. It is this, made unto us wisdom from God, both righteousness
that faith receives and embraces Christ Himself, be-           and sanctification and redemption."     And there is
fore it can possibly appropriate any of the bless- something in favor of this interpretation. For, first
ings of  salv,ation, yea, even before it fully under- aof all, in the context the apostle had emphasized this
stands  the significance of His Person and work.               notion of wisdom, in fact, it may be said to be the
Christ Himself is the fulness of our salvation. It 7main theme of the chapter from verse eighteen to the
is Himself we receive.      Himself He imparts to us end. The wisdom of the world is contrasted with the
through  f,aith  by His  Spi'rit.    We do not receive wisdom of God in the "foolishness" of preaching. "God
Him piecemeal, bit by bit; we do not receive the bless- hath made foolish the wisdom of the world. For see-
ings of salvation one by one until gradually we have           ing that in the wisdom of God the world through (its)
appropriated the .whole  Christ and all His benefits : we      wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure
receive Him ! Into Him we are ingrafted by a true through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
faith. Members of His body we do become, both legal- believe."vss. 20, 21. Moreover, this wisdom of God is
ly and organically by that same faith. And when thus power, power to save, which seems to favor the idea
we have become His possession, one plant with Him, ,that in vs. 30 also wisdom is looked upon as a power of
we possess Him in all His fulness. We say "Our Lord righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,  " Seeing
Jesus Christ  !" And  that is our salvation. We may that the Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wis
grow in the knowledge of Him through the Holy Scrip- dom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a
tures. And growing in knowledge we may attain to stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness; but
a fuller understanding of the confession .expressed  in unto them that are called, both  J,ews  and Greeks, Christ
the words: our `Lord Jesus Christ. But although we the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the
may, and actually do, thus grow in grace and in the            foolishness of God is wiser than men, anid the weak-
enjoyment of the liberty vve have in Christ, from the ness aof God is stronger than men." vss. 22-25. And
very first moment of our being grafted into Him, our the order `in the original of verse 30 seems to favor
faith lays hold on Him, on the whole of Him. To say somewhat the translation as suggesteti  by the marginal
"our Lord Jesus Christ," is, indeed, to be  saved! To note of the Revised Version. However, these argu-
say that ;Tesus is Lord, our Lord, is to possess Him,          sments are not conclusive. In faot, if the apostle had
all at once, in all the fulness of His grace ! For that ,meant to give the last three terms as explanations of
reason the method followed by the Catechism is quite the term  sophia,   wisdom, he could, and in all  prob-
correct.    It will explain all the implications of the -ability would have expressed himself more clearly and


248                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
               -         -                                                                                         -       -
precisely. Hoowever, in the original `the terms right- of the Majesty in heaven, far above all principalities
Bou.9nc.YS  and suncitification  are certain??  more closely znd powers, and every name that is named bol:h in
connected with each other than with either  wisdom  or             this world and in the world to coma,--that Christ is
wedemption.  And, therefore, we would favor the  Itrans-           unto us wisdom from God, righteousness and  sanotifi-
lation: "But of him are ye in Christ Jesls,  f;vho of God          r-ation, and redemption. 0, indeed, He  meril'ed  this
4s made unto us wisdom,  calso both righteousness and all for us by His work of perfect obedience ; H,e reveal-
sanctification, and redemption.`"                                  cd it all to us both personally and through the prophoic
       One more remark we must make, about  ,the relative          and apostles; H,e gives !sll this to us, making us psr-
;posistion and value of the various terms in the t :::t.           takers of  ilt all through the Spirit that was given un.o
It cannot but draw our  :attention  that  .the word  y-e-          Him and that was poured out into the Church. ELI';
clomption   stands at the end of ,the series.. However, in         even this does not fully explain what is expressed in
*:`le work of salvation redemption  ,is not last, but first.       the text: He was made, He became un:o us wisdom,
u!`,hrist is first our redemption, and, because He is our righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.  l-10
redemption He is our wisdom, righteousness, and sanc-              is our all ! To lay hold on Him by faith is to appro-
tification.         For redempttion is the purchasing free of priate wisdom, righteousness and sanctific&ion,  and
-one that is in bondage, the' effecting of one's release by        redemp~tion.  To see ourselves by faith in Him, is to
paying the price, the ransom. Now, it is clear from, see ourselves filled with wisdom, perfectly liberated
all Scripture that this is firsti  and. basic for all the from the bondage of sin, righteous and holy.' To know
other blessings of grace.' Redemption presupposes                  `Him is to know lthe wisdom of God ; to trust in Him is
that we are guilty, and that weare legally in the bond-            to be righteous, and holy, an,d free., To possess Him
age of sin and death; We have no right to be delivered is to possess salvation, righteousness, and eternal life
from th.at bondage.           We are legally, shut up in the       and glory !
prison of the lie, of unrighteousness and corruption.                 And the terms employed here ,do, indeed, express :i
If, then, we are to be liberated, the price, the ransom fulness of salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ is truly
must be paid for us. Before we even can have the                   the Mediator we need, and beyond Him we need none
righlt  to become partakers of wisdom, righteousness, other. For we are guilty, and to blot out our guilt by
and sanctification, we must be redeemed. This price                complete satisfaction of the justice of God is abso-
of our redemption was paid for us by Christ on  t'he lutely required in order to be restored  Ito the favor of
accursed tree, where #He bore the punishment OF our God. And this  woe could never do in ourselves. We
sin in most perfect obedience to the Father. And be-               need, therefore, one that is our redemption.  Andlthis
cause of this, on thle basis of this, He is also become            is our Lord Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our
our wisdom, our righteousness, and our sanctification. transgressions, and raised for our justification. To
That the word redemption has sthe last place in the believe in Him is to be liberated from the dominion of
series of terms, therefore, is not  b,ecause  it is actually sin according to God's own justice. But redemption
last, but because it ,has the emphasis. Christ is be- is not enough.  We are act.  :?I!-:  !;I  `1  ix  .*`:\.
come our wisdom, and  righlteousness,  and  sanctifiza-            dead through trespasses, and we must be delivered.
`tion,  because He is our redemption..                             We are. blind, and our mind is in darkness. We are
       A more beautiful passage of Scripture the Heide!-           slaves. of the lie, in  bo,ndage to the  fooIishness  of
berg Catechism could not very well ha,;e selected for spiritual ignorance. We grope in darkness, we hate
its present purpose than the text from first Corinkh-              the good, wie hold the truth under in unrighteousness.
ilsns. For, as we  ,have stated, it is the purpose of our And moreover, we exist in a world in which the wrath
instructor to place before us all at once  lthe fulness of of God is revealed from heaven, *and from the testi-
the Christ in all the riches of His salvation, And for mony of that wrath there is no escape. There is no
this the text from Corinthians is eminently fit. For way out. No philosophy of man can help  us. "The
notice that the teat does not skate merely shat Jesus              world by its wisdom knew not God." But Christ is
rL,i:l for us, or still  rloe,s for us, nor even what He our wisdom ! Not only did He reveal  lthe Father unto
,gives unto us, but what He is to us. He  i,s made us, and did He make known the full counsel of salva-
or become unto us wisdom,  righlteousness  and sanc- tion, but He Himself, in His Person and work, is the
tification, and redemption.           He is la.11 this for us..    wisdom of God; and by His Spirit and grace through
The  Christ of the Scriptures, the Son of God come faith He is our wisdom. He is the light in our dark-
into the flesh, born of  a virgin, Who sojourned  a-               ness, the solution of all mysteries,  cthe way out of sin
mon.g us and revealed the Father unto us, Who and death into  tthe light of life ! He is our righteous-
suf%red  under Pontius Pilate, was crucified on  Gol-              ness 2nd sanctification. In the judgment of God we
gotha, buried in the sepulchre of Joseph of  Arima-                stand condemned in  ourselsves,  both because of our
cthea, was raised on the third day, ascended into the              original and our actual sins. But Christ is our right-
highest heavens from the Mount of Olives, and wa.z                 eousness, and, therefore, our eternal life. For in Him
exalted by the mighty power of God on the right hand there is a righteousness that far transcends the  righrt-


                                      THE  S T A N D A R D   BEARE'R                                                     249

cousness  of the first Adam before the Pall. He Him- of death might justify, and purify,  ,and glorify that
self, the Christ of the Scriptures, is  (that righteousness Church; in order that ,the fulness of God's glory, dwell-
that is worthiness of glory and immortality. And in            ing in Him, might be revealed in manifold reflections
ourselsyes  we are dead in sin, polluted  and  ,defiled,       of grace and beauty through the millions  upon millions
hating Gal and hating one another, seeking lthe things of the members of His body. And' thus He was, from
0.i' the flesh rather than the things that are above. But before the foundation of the world, made wisdom, and
Christ is our  sanctificaltion,  our complete purification,    righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, and
nrd  o:lr consecration to the living God. No, indeed,          that, too, unto us ,that that are chosen in Him. And
if  t.he instructor of our  Gate:hism  purposed to bring a!1 this was realized'in time. From God He became or
before us all at once the  im.age  or revelation of the was made the  f&-&s of, salvation, righteousness,  anid
~6~11 Christ in all His glory and Dower  of salvation, it      eternal life. He  l&%ame all  tihis from the manger of
could no do better than quote this significant passage Bethlehem co the crhss of' Golgotha, and thwugh  the
from First  Coriatlhians.                                      dealth  of the cross  into the highest glory of :his position
   We must note, too, that in this answer of the at the right hand of the IMost High. And all this was
Heidelberg Catechism it is emphasized that this Medi- the work of  `Gdd."  ?;ke  incarnation  of the Word, the
ator is  all of God. In fact, this is one of the main          work of Jesus' ministry, the death of the Son of God,
thoughts in the text as it is found in Corinthians. 0,         the resurrection `iof Jesus Christ from the dead, His
indeed,  it is our salvation that is accomplished through ascension  i&to heaven and His exaltation far above  all
this "Lord Jesus Christ." But even that salvation is           principaliti&s   &Id.` powers&all this belongs to His
not the chief purpose of this Mediator and His revela-         becomkg   or  bei?,lr made  untp us wisdom, and right-
tion. On the contrary, the wisdom of  the world must eousness &nd sanctifiiation,  and redemption. Not un-
be made foolish, and the power of the world must be til He travelled the way from the incarnation through
put to nought. Bt must be revealed that the foolish-           death to glory is "Our Lord Jesus Christ" perfected,
ne:s of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of             aompletkd, fully made; as the revelation of the God
God is stronger Ithan men. And, therefore, "God chose of our salvation. And  n&`&ntil  this gloridus Lord has
the foolish things of the world, that he might put to          received the Spirit of promise, and poured out that
shs.me  them that are wise ; and God <chose the weak           Spirit into the Church, is He become salvation unto U.S.
,:hings of the world, that he might put to shame t.he          And all this is of God, of the triune God. Of The Fath-
things that are strong; and the base things of the             er, through the  Sbg, in  lthe Holy Spirit, are all the
world, and  the things that are despised, did God              works of God,  b&h in creation and in redemptidn.
choose, yea, and the things Ithat are not, that he might Atid of the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit, i. e.
bring to nought  ihe things that are." vss. 2'7-28. For of the one God and Fathler of our Lord Jesus Christ,
nc flesh may ever glory before God, but he that glorieth       are the incarnation, and the ministry, the death and
must glory in the Lord. Hence, this Mediator is  madt?         resurrection, the ascension and the exaltation, -and the
unto us all that He is from God. ,He is Medtitor,  in-         outpouring of the Spirit, of "our Lord Jesus C,hrist."
cl:,-ed,  but not one whom we interposed between God           An'd so it is all of God, even also ,that we are in Him.
rued ourselves, or whom we sappomted  or requested or          For "of  .him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made
`". `en desired and sought that He might act in our            unto  us wisdom  from  God, and righteousness and  sane-
behalf with the Most High.. He  mediates  in our be- tification,  and redemption." H: that glorieth, let him
half, but not as a t&d party  Ithat places himself be-         glory in the Lord!
tween  tivo  *-ontending  parties in order to reconcile                                                         H. H.
them. He is from God! There is nothing in Him ths:
is to be attributed to us. God's Mediator is He, made
of God ,and wholly commissioned by God in order :to
accomplish the things  of God, even in behalf of us.
   For notice that Be became, or uxs mnde unto us                              The Gainsayers                               :
wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification, and re-
demption, and that this is all from God. He became                      (The literary Contest of Christianity
till this unto us by a wonder of the Triune God, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, and according  :to His  eternal                          in the first thT?p centuries)
good pleasure.    For it was determined from before               As I  wrotie  in my  previous  article, already in the
the foundation of the world  ,that the Son  should be times of t.he aposYes  many Jews and pagans beclme
the revelation of all the fulness of God, the first born Christians but in name only and smuggled their false
of every creature,  and the first begotten of the dead.        religious notions and practices into the church, where
,/E,nd  to Him was given the Church, for we are chosen cbhey matured and eventually became known  as  Ebion-
in Him (Eph. I :;$) f bhet He might redeem that Church         ism and Gnosticism.       Ebionism is Judaizing  Chris-
unto Himself and to God, and through the deep way Gbianity;  Gnosticism is paganizing Christianity.  `Fhe

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

Ebionites were thus the successors of the non-chris- seat .of Christ . . . every one of us shall give aV:count
tian Judaists: and the Gnostics were the successors of of himself to God." (Rom. 14:10-1.2).
the non-Christian Neo-Platonists. The Ebioniltes  and          Though  <these conservative Judaizing Christians
the Gnostics were the heretics  in the Christian Church.    must not be branded heretics, certain it is that their
They formed the Christian class of the opponents of wrong attachment to the  Mosaic  institutions indicated
the religion of  ,Christ and their thought-structures a bias in a dangerous direction-in the direction of
formed the  ,heresies  of the first  :three centuries.      that radicalism or heresy combated in the epistle lto
       As to the Ebionites, they formed a Christian sect the Galatians..  False tea&e&  had entered the field of
in the church but whi.ch was seperated from it about labor of the apostle, who, though tchey  at first were
the end of the second century. In all likelihood, the not openly mihtating against Christianity, yet strove
name was derived from the Hebrew word meaning to lead it into legalistic channels of thought. The pri-
poor and at the first was applied not to the doctrine mary tenet of their creed was that every convert to
of, the Ebionites but to lthe poverty of their circum- ,Christianity,  Jew  ,and Gentile alike, was obliged to
stances. Perhaps the name was applied to them with observe the whole ceremonial law and in particular
the former signification by  their enemies and that submit to circumcision. As the ritual law had waxed
they imployed a name already existing than that they old and vanished away, such teaching was, at the
coined it to suit (their purpose.- That the term origin- bottom, a denial of Christ and His vicarious atonement.
ally applied to the circumstances of the Ebionites is It was Ebionism  proper  in its early stages of develop-
a supposition supported by arguments that may be ment. These radical teachers perhaps did not think
stated thus:-t,hat the. early Christians, both Jewish to  wilttingly  ,deny Christ. Yet it  ;is telling that, in
and heathen, were called  the  poor ; that as eventually distinction from the conservative Judaizing Christians,
the Judaizing Christians came to be the only Jewish they were hateful of Paul. They even went so far as
Christians who did not lose their identity by merging to attempt to undermine  this personal  infmence and a-
with the Christian church, and who, on this account, postolic authority by claiming that, as he had received
required to be distinguished from the heathen Chris-        his doctrine from the Twelve, he was to be ranked
Itians, they retained the name. It may well be that at with the ordinary teachers in the church. The apostle
first all Judaizing Christians went under that name. therefore found it necessary, first of all, to defend
These Christians must be distinguished from the Juda-       his apostolic authority by proving that he was called
ists. The latter, as we have seen, were no Christians of God and had received his gospel by a direct revela-
at all. They opposed and derided all that was called tion.  Gall,%. In the second place he was obligated
Christ. They were enemies of the gospel and wanted to *attack and expose th,e false teachings of these Juda-
to be known as such. But the Judaizing  Christicms          ists and defend the doctrine of justification by faith.
were what their name signified.  .They were Christians         Of the Ebionites proper, Origin distinguishes two
and, at least in the beginning of the apostolic age, classes-the extreme and the common. The former,
combined with the Gentile Christianity to form the according to Origin, differed from the non-Christian
Christian church.      The epistles, especially those of unbelieving Jews in this only that they accepted the
Paul, reveal  Ithat the Judaizing Christians divide into moral teachings of Christ.
$WO  classes:  the conservative and the radical.               The  e&ence  of the (doctrine of the common Ebion-,
       The conservative Jewish Christians accepted Paul ites may be set forth in five propositions:
and his teachings on free grace but believed the Mo-           1) Jesus is a mere man, the offspring of Joseph
saic ritual law still binding yet without denouncing and Mary by natural generation. Yet His human na-
the Gentile Christians for not keeping the law. They ture is the incorporation of the spirit of an angel or
were not properly heretics but weak and stunted Chris- of an archangel, or even of Adam.
tians. It was the presence of these weak brethren in           2) Circumcision and the economy of Moses is  bin?_
the church that drew forth from the apostle counsel ing for all men unto sabation. This is equivalent to
such as this: "One man esteemeth one day above an- saying that man established his own  ri,ghteousness
other: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every before God through the works of the law.
man be fully persuaded in his mind,."  (Ram.   14:5)           3) Of all the books of the New  Testa.ment  the Gos-
This refers to the Jewish fast and feast days still pel of St. Matthew alone is genuine.
observed by the weak in faith. Counsel of this char-
acter bespeaks tolerance on the part of the apostle            4) Paul is an apostate heathen and a heretic; all
with respect to these weak Christians. He wanted his epistles are to be rejected.
to be patient with them. What Ithey lacked is insight          5) God is one.
into the truth. ,Hence,  they had to be taught  and not        It is evident that the doctrine  and. practices of the
denounced. The more advanced members in the church false eachers,  withstood by Paul, were not uprooted.
had to refrain from judging them and setting them at They abided; and the name Ebionism, it is 1:lear,  is
nought; for "we shall all stand before the judgment         the designation of this very doctrine in the final  stag-


                                       TsHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            251
-         .            -    -
es of its development. How true the Dutch adage:                lightning frighten the impious; fire, earth, wind, and
"Beginselen  werken door."                                      water obey the pious; serpents, lions, leopards, tigers,
   At the close of the  secon'd century the Ebionites           and bears are tamed by a word of the apostles and
inhabited chiefly the coasts of the dead sea, but they turn upon their persecutors ; the dying martyrs are
dwelt also in Rome an Cyprus. They disappeared as               surrounded by coronets, roses, lilies, incense, while
a distinct sect from the stage of history in the begin-         the abyss opens to swallow their enemies."
ning of the 8th century circa 420 : but their ,doctrines,          In providing their speculations with a basis, the
in every changing form, survive them  .through  the (Gnostics drew upon the Bible and upon the copious
centuries and are with us today.                                unauthentic documents, which appeared  in. the second
   Essentially,  Ithe Ebionites in their attitude toward century under the names of eminent teachers in the
the true  C,hrist  of the Scriptures differed nothing from church. Gnosticism is plainly indicative of an attempt
the non-Christian Judaists. It is therefore wholly on the part of satan to divert men's minds from the
correct to say that the Ebionites were the successors           truth in Christ Jesus and to beguile even the faithful.
of the Judiasts.                                                   The primary principles of thought of this system
   Another error, most subtle and dangerous,  ,was              can be set  fort,h  in few words. Also in this system
Gnosticism. The name is derived from the Greek word God even in and for Himself is a *wholly unintelligible,
gnosis  meaning knowledge. But it is the knowledge or super-rational being, an infinite blank, before whom
wisdom of man. In the New Testament this word is all thought is po$werless,  a primevil  being, an infinite
frequently used by St. Paul and in the epistle of St. background, without attributes of any kind, without
Peter to express the saving knowledge of God in Christ. life and without thought, above existance  and above
   Gnosticism derives its ideas both from Heathenism goodness. This is a perversion of the Scriptural doc-
and Christianity. It is therefore more comprehensive trine that God dwells in a light accessible only to Him
than Neo-Platonism with which it is akin. It is an and that His self-revelation to man is but the earthy
infusion of paganism into Christianity. As such it is reflection of the glories of His infinite being.
representative of a striving on the part of the old                Yet, strangely enough, though God is unintelligible
pagan world to make out of its diverse religious and            even to Himself and above existence, He is yet an
speculative culture a universal gospel, method of sal- active force, perpetually producing something else not
vation, that  could serve as a substitute for the Gospel by the power of His creative word but through an out-
of the Holy Scriptures and would appeal to all men flow from His very being. (pantheism).
including God's people.          It. is therefore not openly       That which springs from this transcendent source
hostile to Christianity, as is Neo-Platonism, but hails -God-is not this earth and its fulness but a series
it as the highest stage of development of religion and of spiritual powers or energies to which are given
takes i,t up and gives it a place in its system but so          names-mind, reason,  #wisdom, power, truth, life, good-
corrupts it as to destroy its identity.                         ness, etc.=-and which therefore correspond in a for-
   -4t the same time the gnostics stroae to solve the           mal sense to the attributes of the true God of the
deep riddles of the universe, viz., the origin of life  an:d    Scriptures. It is only through these powers that the
the origin of evil,-how life sprung from God, the               infinite being of the gnostics passes into life and ac-
infinite source,-how a world so imperfect as this tivity, and becomes known. This is plainly a carica-
could proceed from a supremely perfect God,-to solve ture of the Scriptural doctrine of revelation. To this
these riddles not by reason but by fancy, spiritual spiritual world is given the name of  fulness  (pleroma)
intuition. Hence the Gnostics do not reason in a logical and lthe divine powers composing it, in their ever-ex-
way in their  lit,erature  but construct for their readers panding procession from the being of God, are called
wonderful word-pictures. They clothe their ideas not aeons. Christ is the most perfect  aeon
in simple language but in  t,he garb of type and symbol            To understand this system further-it cannot be
as do the prophets of God of  <the Old Testament Scrip- really understood, as it is too vague, confused and
tures. Those who have mastered their literature say irrantional-account must be taken of  th; Gnostic con-
that it reads much like the Revelations of John.                ception of matter (in contrast rto spirit) as an inher-
"Demoniacal possessions and resurrections from the              ently and essentially evil substance. It therefore cannot
dead, miracles of healing and punishments and ac- proceed from the good God but is untreated  and thus a
cumulated without end ; the constant repetition of kin,d  of second deity; in eternal opposition to God and
similar events gives the long stories a certain mono-           the ideal world, and the principle of evil in our material
tony,  .which is occasionally interrupted by hymns and world. The latter is the handiwork of a fallen aeon,
prayers of genuine poetic value. A rich apparatus of called the Demiurge,  &he Jehovah of Judaism, who
;risions, angelic appearances, heavenly voices, speaking wrongly imagines himself to be the supreme and only
animals, defeated and humbled demons is unfolded, a god. His throne is not in the ideal light-world but in
superterrestrial splendour of light gleams up,  mys-            the heavens of the planets, and he rules over this vis-
lterious signs from heaven, earthquakes, thun'der  and          ible world, tthe raging kingdom of the devil, and re-


252                                   T$HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

sist the purposes of God.                                    some of these systems this pantheistic notion stands
       Matter, the evil principle in this world, being in    out in bold relief; in others it is veiled. (2) The  sep-
i4seIf dead, is animated by an aeon of the light-world       eration of  ithe Demiurge-the  cresltor  of our visible
(veiled pantheism).                                          world-from the supreme  Go,d. (3) Dualism: the no-
       Christ, the most perfect aeon, assumes not a real tion according to which matter is inherently evil and
but a ghost-like body. His appearance in the flesh is riots independent of and in eternal opposition to (the
therefore deceptive. <He saves through communicat- supreme God,  Re being powerless to overcome it.  (4)
ing to a small circle of elect the gnosis (knowledge).       Docetism; the reduction of the human nature of the
       Common to all Gnostics was the notion that th,e       Redeemer  ito a mere Ghost-like appearance. `Finally,
divinely created body, in distinction from the spirit of in all  these systems man is his own redeemer. He
man, is inherently evil and that its sensuality must be achieves his own salvation through liberating his spir-
overcome by abusive treatment. But all did not em-           it from the chains of matter (the body) and from the
ploy  rthe same measures,. Some thought to reach this        bondage of this visible world and its rulers, the plane-
objective through the practicing of extreme rigor and tary spirits, as aided by the gnosia (knowledge) im-
self-denial such as abstaining from  certain kinds of parted to him by the Redeemer. This "knowledge,"
food and all nuptual intercourse ; others through bid- a mystical enlightenment which only the spiritual can
ding defiance to all moral laws and.abandoning them- receive, brings man into communion with the heaven
selves to the most shameless licentiousness. Here the of spiritual  realilties.   <Christ is the revealer of the
diabolical principle of action was that voluptuousness unknown, supreme God.              By His  illuminstion  all
must be conquered by unrestrained indulgence in it.          "spiritual" men are brought back to the realm of the
    There were soon many sects of the Gnostics, the good God. Gnosticism had no need of the  ,vicarious
description of which need not be given here. They atonement of Christ and it therefore made no room
were all branches of a common sect. But irt was not for it in its system. Mankind divides into three dlass-
till the first quarter of the 2nd century that Gnostism es : the spiritual, who could receive "knowledge  ;"  t?.e
came to full and systemattic development; and then it        psychical capable of faith ; and  &he material who
ranges from two main centers-Antioch in Syria, and could receive no message.
Alexandria. The founder of the Syrian Gnostic school            `Gnosticism gradually  :OSZ importance after the
was Meander, the pupil of Simon Magnus  of Acts 8.           middle of the 3rd century (A.D. circa 250) ; but was
Prominent in this Gnosis is  `the never. ending struggle     revived at the close of that  century  by a high-born
between the Supreme God, on the one hand, and the Persian, Mani, who gave to his new system his name
Demiurge and his angels or aeons, on the other hand.         -hence Manichaeism,. This  ism, together  with  Neo-
   Then there  %nas the great school of Gnosticism re- Platonism, was the final result reached,  after a his-
presented by the famous  Marcion   who;c field of in- tory of more ithan a thousand years, by the pagan re-
fluence was Asia Minor.  Marcion was the son of a ligious development of the  civihzect  nations from Per-
Christian Bishop, who is said to have excommunicated sia to Italy. In the point of view of the headway that
him. To him the Jehovah of the Old Testament Scrip-          it made and the great number of adherents that it
tures is the Demiurge in conflict with  -the Supreme         gained, (not certainly in the point of view of its in-
God and with Christ whom he sent to redeem  ,the trinsic worth; it had no worth), Manichaeism ranked
world from the power of  .this Demiurge.                     with Christianity, which had to wage with it a long
   The Gnostics did not organize themselves into con- conflict.        Unlike the Gnostics of former days, the
gregations in seperation from {the Christian church.         Manichaeans organized congregations. Manichaeism,
They formed no sect but a multitude of philosophic therefore, was more than a school; it was a church
schools. Many of  them..zomained  in the church and and as such a formidable rival of organized  Chris-
regarded themselves as the spiritually superiors in it. itianity.      It had a strictly hierarchical organization
Some even held ecclesiastical office.                        headed by twelve apostles, among whom  Mani and his
       Though ail' Gnostic systems are heathen in their successors, like St. Peter and the popes of Rome, was
character, Gnosticism assumes three forms, known, the supreme judicial power,. There were thus in ex-
the o,ne from the other. by the heathen, the Jewish,         istenece at this  tipe two great church  f5~rma.tions:
and the Christian. elements preponderating.respective-       the Christian and the Manichaean.
ly in its syncretism.  In the ethical point of view, we         In every point .of view Manichaeism was Satan's
perceive two main  brarxhes:  the ascetic and the liber- crowning achievement. Its gnosis was almost complete.
tine.                                                        It retained all the mythologies of the old pagan semitic
       The following chara:tteristics are common to near- religions of nature and transformed them into "doc-
ly all  ,Gnostics systems. `(1) Pantheism; the concep- trines," but  .abolished  all their immoral  `cubtus,  and
tion of the.identity of God and the world-the one be- substituted instead a spiritual worship and a strict
ing the supreme eternal  subs;ltance of which the other morality.  It offered, further,  redem@ion,  revelation;
is.the perpetual outlow, manifestation, and form. In         and.,life   ,everlasting.  It shows to what length  satan


                                     TsHE  S T A N D A R D  BEARI?R                                                 253.
will go to provide men with a substitute of the Gospel geboden, en Zijn Geest zelf zal ze zamenbrengen.
of Christ: wh.at he is willing that they should have in          Heist  in Death Valley en ge zult onwillekeurig den-
the way of religion and morals if only they  ask not ken  aan  Jesaja's  beschrijving van het land  `waarop
for the true Christ and the God of the Scriptures de Heere vergramd  is tot in eeuwigheid. Er ligt in #de
and continue worshipping  a.t his shrine.                     woestijn der aarde iets vreeselijks, hetwelk men ge-
    Manichaeism is sthe ancient Babylonian religion, voelt bij het doortrekken van de wildernissen der
the original source of all the gnosis of Western Asia, aarde.
wond~erfully  refined. It is satan's temple, recnstruct-         De wereldsche menschen hebben dat ook gevoel,d.
ed along  tehe lines of God's house-the Christian             Men rilt bij het lezen van de wegwijzers in Death
church-the purpose being to beguile, if possible, Valey.  Zelf die  naarn  "Death  V,alley" is teekenend.
even the elect of God into worshipping thera.                 Heeft men het soms overgenomen uit den Bijbel?
    M,anichaeism  was everywhere  persecuL&.           The Psalm 23  spreekt  van het  dtal der schaduwe des doods!
Eioman emperors enacted strict laws against its nd- Er is een plaats in Death Valley die men de keuken der
heren,ts.  But the  Isystem  still continued to exist. It he1  noemt.
accompanied the Christian church until the 13th cen-             God sprak luide in de woestijnen der aarde. `Als
tury.                                                         men later weggeworpen  wordti  in de buitenste  duister-
                                              GM.@.           nissen waar het onuitblusschelijk  `vuur brandt,  zal
                                                              men vaak denken  aan Death Valley.
                                                                 En een psalm ?
                           -                                  " Een psalm is lof des  Heerea  Let slechts op de
                                                              wooxdenkeus  van dit lied. Ge vindt er het prijzen
                                                              van God door de lippen ; het loven van God in `t leven ;
         Een Psalm In De Woestijn                             het opheffen der :handen  in den naam van God ; de
                                                              roemende mond en vroolijk zingende  lippen; men  ver-
                       (Psalm 63)                             blij,dlt  zich in den psalm in God en men zweert bij
                                                              Hem ! Dat is de psalm,
    Het opschrift van dezen psalm doet vreemd aan.               Voeg die twee ideeen  nu te zamen en ge hebt een
Er staat: "Een psalm David& als hij was `in de woes-          probleem. Een psalm in de woestijn.
tijn van Juda". We zijn geneigd om te zeggen dat een             David was Koning van Israel  toen  hij dezen psalm
wildernis tech de ltaatste  plaats zou zijn waar we een dichtte. Leest vers 12. En er is maar e&n gelegenheid
lied dichten!                                                 die dan past op dit gezang in de woestijn van J&a.
   De woestijn is beeld van de hel.                           Het was  rtoen hij  vluchtte voor het aangezicht van
   En de psalm wordt uiteindelijk het lied des hemels.        Absalom.
   Jesaja vertelt ons, dat de woestijn een stuk van  #de         Maar ik heb aan Jezus gedacht bij het bestudeeren
aarde is, `hetwelk de vloek des Heeren draagt. De van dit lied.
beken van zulk een stuk aarde worden tot pek en het              Leest eens Lucas 5 : 16 ; Markus  1:35 en Hebr. S :`7..
stof wordt tot zwavel, ja, de aarde zal dan tot bran'dend     Daar lezen we: "Maar Hij vertrok in de woestijnen en
pek worden,  het zal des nachts en des daags niet uit- bad !aldaar"  ; "En des morgens vroeg, als he2 nog diep
gebluscht worden;tot  in eeuwigheid zal zijn rook op-         in den  nacht was, opgestaan zijnde, ging Hij uit en
gaan, van geslacht tot geslacht  zal het woest zijn, ging henen in eene woe&e  plaats, en bad aldaarl"               En
tot in eeuwigheid der eeuwigheden zal niemand d.aar           in Hebr. 5  :7 wijst de Apostel  erop, dat `Jezus in  :de
doorgaan ; maar de roerdomp en de nachjtuil zullen  het dagen Zijns vleesches sterk geroepen en geweend heeft
erfelijk be&ten, en de schuifuit en de raaf zal daarin tot God.
wonen  ; want God zal een richtsnoer  der woestheid              David ging naar de woestijn van Juda omdat Ab-
daarover trekken, en een richtblood der Iedigheid. In salom hem op de hielen  zat, doch Jezus koos met voor-
die gevloekte plaats zullen de  wilde dieren der woestij-     bedachte rade de woeste plaatsen  om de psalmen te
nen de Wilde dieren der eilanden ontmoeten, en de dui- bidden, om te klagen en te schreien en te  snikken tot
vel zal zijn metgezellen toeroepen; ook zal het nachtge-      God. Ge kunt gerust er op aan, dat Jezus ook vaak
dierte  zich  aldaar  neerzetten, en het  zal  eene  rust-    psalm 63 gebeden heeft. Deze psalm is sterk  Mes-
plaats voor zich vinden ; daar zal de Wilde meerle neste- siaansch  gekleurd.
len en leggen en hare jongen uitbikken en onder hare             Elohim, Eli ! 266 begint bet . lied.
schaduw vergaderen ; ook  zulkn  de gieren met elkander          Vooral dat Eli heeft een bekenden klank. Zoo
verzameld worden.      Ge behoeft er ook niet  aan te schreeuwde'  Hij tot God in de  vervullingen  van  alle
twijfelen of het zal zoo zijn. Want Jesaja voegt er woestijnen der aarde. Toen  Jezus dat Eli tweemalen
aan tale: Zoekt in h.et boek des ,Heeren en lee&; niet uitschreeuwde, aan hat einde van die bange drie uren,
den van deze  ,dingen  zal er feilen, het  &n  noch het toen heel% ,Hij de verlating Gods ervaren, waarvan  de
ander zal men missen; want Mijn mond zelf heeft  bet          woestijn beeld is.


                                      TcHE  S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                  257

zij komen  d,an ook met ons standpunt, dat van de                at once been contradicted. At the race track He ap-
Schrift. Duidelijk is bet dan ook wel, dat hun woorden           peared and said, "The race is not to the swift" and
en gedachten gedurig dwars tegen de gangbare meenin-             on the battlefield He contradicted the theory of log-
gen van  onzen  dag indruischen.                                 istics when He said, "The battle is not  *to the strong."
        Om nu niet in te gaan op de bijzonderheden van At the beautiful altar where men sent up sacrifices in
boyengenoemde  verkeerde voorstellingen is het  ona              flowing robes of incensed smoke ,He said, "Incense is
volk dadelijk duidelijk, dat zulks niet kan.             Maar    an abomination to me." That plaque hanging on the
wanneer  wij dan spreken van andere dingen,  d,at er             wall which said sthat sacrifices were pleasing to the
hier geen vrede kan zijn, van de wederkomst van                  Lord had been contradicted, and men chafed under
Christus, enz.-och ja, dan worden die Protestantsche             the impact of it. In the beauty parlor He commented,
Gereformeerden genoemd die nauwgezetten, die  "fij-              "If a woman have long hair it is a glory to her," and
nen", en wat niet meer,. We worden  hier dus ook ge-             added, "not in plaiting of the hair but in a meek and
brandmerkt. Maar dat geeft ten slotte  tech ook niets.           quiet spirit resides womanly beauty." While in the
Zoo God  voor ons is, wie zal tegen  ens zijn? Daar hygiene class He openly avowed, saying,  "TO eat
komt het tech op aan, niet waar?                                 with unwashed hands defileth not a man." That de-
   `In het Westen is het tot dus ver geducht winter              fied the very rudiments of hygiene and the greater
geweest. Zulks heeft onze  openbare  Godsdienst ook              part mocked with this. Several among them how-
gedurig belemmerd, d.i. vooral voor hen, die oud zijn            ever expressed need for  a new book on hygiene.
en die nog al ver van de kerk wonen.        Wij zien dan            The crisis of contradiction.
 ook uit naar de lente.                        tJ. B.              Now I understand what they meant, when certain
                                                                 lewd fellows cried out concerning Paul and his com-
                                                                 pany "these men have turned the world upside down"
                                                                 and when the men of Athens said, "thou bringest
                                                                 certain STRANGE  -things to our ears."
          The Crisis Of Contradiction                               Everywhere therefore where the Word of the Lord
                                                                 comes you find a crisis developing. And this crisis
                                                                 ,developes  because the Word of God contradicts the
        He appeared in the civics class, and He said: "My        word of men, of any men of all men. Jt contradicts
Kingdom is not of this world." Some mocked  with                 the word of man at every point. T,his is not accident-
this, others skeptioally shrugged their shoulders at al. This is so because the very essence of the Word of
that term "kingdom" for we have a democracy. If                  God is that "No prophecy of the Scriptur,e  is by any
,that kingdom moreover is not of this world we shall private interpretation." Notice the emphatic negative
have to rethink our position on civics, it might mean            in this word from Peter. The Word of God as we
a new civics book' and a new philosophy of sociology have it did not come up out of the thoughts of a man.
and ethics. That is all so revolutionary it seems. And It is not derived, it is original. No man; as man, ever
who will write such a new book and where will we get             conceived of the things which are incorporated in the
teachers Ito teach it, if such a new book should be writ-        Word of God. It neser came up in his heart, it never
ten. In geography class He appeared and said, "The               entered his mind. It originated in the mind of God.
things which are seen were not made of the things                With the entrance of sin into the world a crisis de-
which do appear." That contrad+ted  our geography veloped already very early in Paradise when Adam
book. It is so revolutionary. That means we must                 said to himself that eating from  t,he forbidden tree
have a new geography book also  with a new approach would bring him preeminence, but God said th,at dy-
and a new appraisal of the science of the earth. Ge- ing he would die. Shortly'thereafter you witness that
ologists mocked with this. In history class He stood same thing in Cain, he said <that he was an individu-
and  .said, "There is no new thing under the sun." alist  an,d not responsible for being his brother's keep-
The more part of the class contradicted this contradic- er.  Everyhere along the broad front of Old Testa-
tion, several of them inquired about what this new ment history one sees this same crisis, throughout the
conception of history might be. At the dinner table              history of the Judges and Kings and  especiaIly  in
He appeared lonlg enough to say, "I am the bread of Israel's national history later we hear that God sent
life" and "man shall not live by bread alone." The               prophets "rising up  earIy and protesting." The su-
family had lived by the vitamin chart.  That had preme crisis developes when the Word Incarnate ap-
plainly been  contradioted  now. It meant that they pears upon earth. At His birth mother Mary is al-
shall have to retrhink the matter of eating and drink- ready assured that He will be a sign "spoke against."
ing.      At the peace table where able staff officers           He will be contradicted for He speaks the Word of
were engaged in winning the post-war peace He stood              God and He IS the Word of God. And it conflicts
at their side and commented, "What is crooked cannot everywhere with the word w.hich has its origin in the
be made straight," Their entire peace program had mintds and hearts of mere man. Paul speaks of Christ


     258                                    T H E   STANbARb  B E A R E R
.
     as enduring "such contradiction of sinners." As He            cnder it and many will conform to the world and
     was contradicted, He Himself also contradicted  11,~          "speak as the beast speaketh", but until Jesus returns
     spoke against the Jews, the Scribes and  ,the Pharisees.      His followers will bear the testimony of the Lamb and
     `-Ie contradicted Judas Iscariot and Peter; Pilate :tn.'      go forth conquering and to conquer, but, contradicting
     :Icrod  ,. . . . even His own friends . . . . even His and to be contradicted.
     own mother was contradioted.                                     In view of all this we would make a few observa-
            The world was in,deed  turned upside do;vn.  Wher-     tions. First of ,aIl, if in the matters of labor and busi-
     ever the Word of God came  ibt found itself  contradictezl    ness, ethics and morals geography, civics, history,
     t.hereby, whether in the civics class or in geography or hygiene etc.  `God's Word contradicts the current word
     history or  wkerever it  migl4 be. Science and  Fhilo-        of men, it speaks for itself  that we must have  a world
     sophy and psychology, all of them were contradicte?.          and life view which is of no private interpretation,
     The world was turned  upsi,de  down.  It  revolt&.   I:       but which is based upon the Word of the Lord. Not
     in turn reeled and plunged upon Him. Rather tlxn only is our preaching and teaching and'all vain if God
     to endure such contradiction any longer, in half-crazed contradiots  it, but, wherever He contraldiets  it and WC
     anger ,it crucified Him. If perchance the cr6s.s would go on in it He condemns us. Our political and national
     put an end to His diction and thus terminate further          outlook in these days of war may neither be of private
     contradiction. But soon enough His apostles appeared, interp&ation. From one end of the world even unto
     carrying that same Word of God and "they were not the other men champion a kingdom of this world, a
     abIe to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spake"       country on earth but God contradicts them and He
     (Stephen, Acts 6). In stark madness they gnashed says that His kingdom is not of *this world and our
     their teeth and they stopped their ears. The Jews re- "better country" is in heaven. Nei;ther may our child-
     lied upon salvation by empty forms, Rome depended ren be exposed to the private interpretation of schools
     on her forensics; Greece on her philosophy, but Paul without the Bible, but history and geography and hy-
     stood among them; to the Jews he said that through            giene etc. shall have to be built upon the Word of the
     the law ,was  the knowledge of sin, to Rome he said that      Great Contradictor.. And so also in our own private
     with all their jurisprudence they had crucified the and personal lives, His words of rebuke and admonition
     Righteous One 2?r-! 11~3 turned rthe truth of God into and warning must not be left unheeded,  but when we
     a lie ; w,hile  ,addressing  the Greeks he said that their are contradicted of God we should submit. Only in
     wisdom was foolishness.                                       t.hat way can we come to peace with God through .the
        The crisis of contradiction.                               Spirit of the Lord.
        For men speak according to  .the follishness of their         In the second place we see it our calling to contra-
     own darkened minds. They speak that which best fits dict all that which is contrary to the Word of God in
     their own lusts, at best they speak according to the          all branches and departments of this life. This makes
     imagination of  itheir  own deceived hearts. But God for ever sharpening  antiihesis.  To this Paul refers
     speaks as the original. He speaks of the things as He when he. says that we shall have no fellowship with the
     nas created them, as He in His eternal plan knows unfruitful works of darkness, but that besides that we
     them as they really are. And `these two clash in end- must "reprove" them, lest by not contradicting them
     less conflict.- No wonder then  !that when  the world we are guilty of connivance. No fear then that the
     sees the Two Prophets of Revelation, murdered on the Christian will sit in the ,seat of the scorners or stand
     streets of Sodom, she jumps to the conclusion that she in the way of sinners, his words, his actions but also
     has triumphed in the crisis of contradiction  and there- `his walk of life shall contradict the philosophy of sin:
     fore they "make merry and send gifts one to another." ners. This must be done in all humanity. I$ will be
            Wherever true faith appears, .there  contradiction done in weakness and infirmity. But only that way
     ceases and it becomes confession. There we cease to           can we bear the testimony of the Lamb.
     contradiot  aed we begin to confess. And there He no             Finally, this will develope into the final great crisis.
     longer contradicts us but He blesses us. If God con- As in the days of  Enoch  ungodly sinners with ungodly
     tradicts us, if  ,His Word clashes with ours we must let words in ungodly speeches railed at the faithful, so
     loose of our own word lest .His contradiction  become         shall it be in the latter days. As the philosophy of
     condemnation. Is  it not  $a condemnation when He tells       sinners becomes  more  and more unified under one head
     us that the wisdom of this world is folly? Love not in the False Prophet, and as the Truth under Christ
     the world, comes His word of contrad'iction,  followed shall  deveIope  into  a power which none can resist, the
     at once by the word of condemnation, "If any man love Great Crisis will come.
     the world  tie love of the Father is nut in him"..` Tnas-        Then Christ Jesus shall return.
     .far as God's people today confess the truth insofar             He shall say, "Be still and know that I am God".
     they "speak with" God. But, inasfar as they do that              Sinners and deceivers shall end in confusion but
     they too will  conrtradict  and be contradicted. Many ,they who have borne the testimony of the Lamb shall
     will weary of this continual crisis, many will rlespair       triumph.                                    * M. G.


                                 T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                269





      A Bit Of Historv And A New                            school in our church basement where Mr. P. R. Z-lid-
                                                            ema for years gave of his talents entrusted to him: and
               School B&lding                               when he left'us,  Mr. A. C. Boerkoel took up the,work
                                                            and is now for the second term instructing our child-
   Looking back over some eight years of .history  as       ren in the fear of the Lord.
a Reformed Christian School Society, we exclaim with           For a few years the need was  fells for a better
the saints of old : "The Lord hath <done grea.t things for meeting place, This need was filled in the course of
us; whereof we are glad !"                                  this summer when a neat and practical two-room
   For eight years our children were the recipients         snhool house was built.
of what ,we are convinced to be distinctive Reformed           T,he greater part of the labor was donated by our
Christian Instruction. The wonderful truth which we people, which considerably helped in keeping down the
as parents have somewhat learned to know and love,          cost.  of the building. We also asked for and received
namely, that God is God  and all that it implies, is        help from our sister congregations for which we are
also taught our children in tbe day school. God first       very grateful.
and last and all the time. It certainly is a wonder of         Just before the opening of the school we had `a
God's grace that in a world thatt is steeped in sin and     dedicatory program in our church. The speakers for
wickedness, there is a people found Ithat know the ,joy-    the evening  were the Revs. G. Vos and L. Doezema
ful sound and who have the convicticn of soul to stand      and Mr. A. C- Boerkoel. The President of the School
up for God and His Christ and show this also in re-         Board, Mr. J. R. VanderWal,  gave the opening speech.
gard to the instruction of their children.                     After the program refreshments were served at
   To be sure it is not their own doing that they take      which time the schoo! building was open for inspection.
this stand in regard to the instruction of  lthe  Cove-        The  school  opened with an enrollment of 40 pupils
nan youth and do not like thousands of professing           who certainly provide plenty of work for any  o:le
Christians who send their children to a school which        teacher.
is decidedly hostile Ito God and His kingdom.                  We cannot resist mentioning  the,  facet that we  no:v
   `The knowledge of that tends to make them humble have one hundred percent attendance for which we are
and ascribe all honor an,d glory to God, the Giver of       thankful to our Covenant God. He it was and is that
every good and perfect gift.                                moved the hearts nto His fear. Whether some of our
   In the eyes of the world it  must seem utter foolish- people will be able to keep bringing their children is
ness to maintain a private Christian School and spend       very doubtful with a view to the present war eondi-
hard-earned money for its upkeep while we are com- tion. We sincerely hope that a way may be found to
pelled to help maintain the public s-8hool  system thru     avoid the sending of some of the Covenant youth to
taxation and could. send our children there free of         a public school.
charge and where all the modern buildings and equip-           As to the future of our school, we know it to be in
ment is used. But that is to be expected from a world       God's hand and therefore we do not fear. May we
that walks in darkness and it is also part of the Chris-    all be found faithful in the carrying out of our Cod-
tian's burden which he must bear in this world. But         given task !
standing in the light of God's Word he will exclaim,                            For the Board of the First Reformed
and that joyfully, "Thy yoke is easy and Thy burden                             Christian School Society :
is light !"                                                                               M. Gaastra, Secretary.
   As some of our readers ~311 recall, wc stnrtcd our                                               Redlands,  Calif.


260                                    FHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                               tion. More attention can yet be given to this subject
         The Dramatic Element and                              of the part of dramatization in the field of art and
                      The Novel                                as it ought not to be appreciated by the Christian.
                                                               This will bring us to the deeper question of all, the
                                                               subject of our interest in art and culture of the world,
   No doubt this subject reminds the reader of the             to  Ithe different forms of art such as painting and
subjeot  of the drama and dramatization or of the music, literature and other forms of art-aesthetics.
novel. And although there is close relation, the sub-             Limiting ourselves, however,  to some observations
ject "the dramatic element and the novel", does not about the dramatic element and the novel, let us brief-
concern itself with the individual subjects of the drama ly consider these two separately before giving some
or dramatization, nor with a complete treatment of remarks.
the novel. Our subject is limited to the dramatic ele-            When we first think of the dramatic element we
ment and especially as it is prominent in the novel.           think of that which is only connected with the stage.
       In the interest of wholesome, edifying art and Such is not the correct conception of the dramatic
entertainment for Christian people these subjects, the element. The word "drama" comes from the Greeks
novel and the drama, have often come *to our atten- who were the originators of the modern drama. The
tion.     The. drama has come to the attention of the          word as such means  "to do" or "to act". It refers,
church much longer ago than the novel because it first of all, to that portrayal of life and action which
appeared SO much earlier as a "form of art", Since was intended to be produced on the stage.! Then it
the days of early Greece drama has received much               refers to that enacted on the stage, in the  khheatre
attention from civilized peoples of all nations.        Es- itself. A drama or play, written or enacted, is intend-
pecially since the invention of the moving camera has ed to be a portrayal of life's action. Therefore we
the public been provided with pictures of dramas, often hear the word drama applied to more than just
movies. We all realize how that through *the modern the composition or performance.
"movie"  *he old interest in drama has been popularized           We often speak of the drama of life. We mean
to such a great extent that it is one of the major forms       then the action of life and not the drama as literature.
of recreation for almost everyone of our modern -And we refer, when speaking of the drama of life,
world. So of late years the church has been confronted not to every part of life, but only to the action of life
with the "problem" of movie attendance. Yet it is and life when taken as one whole. When we think of
essentially the same as the drama, and that has been life as a whole, life with a beginning and an end, as
before the mind of the church even in the days of the          a unity we consider it one's drama. There are, how-
Reformation. Calvin, Fare1  and Beza expressed their ever, also many parts to life which are dramas by
disapproval of plays. Early Reformed leaders in the themselves. There are series of events, connected and
Netherlands also were against the "tooneel", the stage. having interest and vividness which supply the mater-
Arnold Croese, Ds.  J. Taffin, Ds. Feugeray and  Ds.' ial for the writers of  dramattic literature. That action
A. Cornelius are examples of those who opposed the of life which is a unity, and is vivid and interesting,
stage in their time and some of these even urged Wil- is what I would call the dramatic element.
liam of Orange to forbid the "tooneel"..       (See, series       Many of us do not notice the dramatic element in
of articles in the  Reforrnatie,  "Een Belangrijk Opstel", much of life's  a&ion. There is the action of life which
S. Greydanus,  19e Jaargang). The Puritans of Eng- we would consider monotonous, uninteresting, without
land and later of America, as well as the Quakers,             connection and purpose. Yet a keen observer, an artist
frowned on plays. It is well known how that the life           r&ices much more and is able to describe it to us
of the "Maypole celebration" was not tolerated by the and cause us Ito see it then also. As it is with beauty
Puritans. `Because <they  frowned on plays we do not so it is with the dramatic element. Many things we
find New England the country of the first playwriters do not at first consider beautiful until someone brings
of our country it is explained  ,to us.                        out their beauty for us. There are some things that
       The novel is of a much later date; it being a new       we do consider beautiful but lack the power to express
form of prose writing that came into being with the their beauty. Then too we enjoy an artist's descrip-
first novel in 1740.      Although novels were not con- Ition of its beauty. And because of the ability to ob-
demned by church leaders, yet there were several serve and express the artist is also able to create For us
warnings expressed ,as to the kind and the amount of dramatic elements which are true to life. Originally
novel reading that was wholesome for Christian youth the dramatic el'ement took place as God arranged it,
especially.                                                    for He is the Master Artist, and ruler over all things.
       We do not intend at this time to enter into a treat-    Situations arise because of man's sinful will and action
ment of the drama n,or of the novel as such. Worth- but all as it is ruled and governed by God, Who deter-
while material for discussion in our circles has been mines the drama of life and every dram,atic  element.
given by our leaders upon the subject of  dramatiza-           We are called upon  to. observe and appreciate the  ob-


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          261

servation of others who show us the ,hand of God in can be appreciated by the Christian. It is, if portray-
life. It is God Who also gives to some men more ed correctly, life in which we are placed to glorify God.
than others that gift  ,to see and  #to express and to We are not called upon to escape the world, but to live
reproduce. The ability of the artist comes from God, in this world. We can learn about the world from .
the giver of all good and perfect gifts.                       novel reading.
   The novel makes much of sthe dramatic element.                 Especially to be recommended are novels which are
Because of the dramatic element in the novel they produced by Christian artists. F'or therein do we not
are often reproduced on the stage. So even the novel only have life portrayed but we have life interpreted
takes the place of the drama which was that prose and criticized from the  Itruth of the Word of God.
written for the theatre.                                       The sad fact is  .that in our country we have very
   To briefly show how that the dramatic element is few Christian novels. Many good Christian novels
important in the novel allow  me. to give the essential have been produced in the Netherlands.
elements and characteristics of the novel. Both the               This does not mean, however, that we cannot ap
novel and the romance are fiction. Characteristic of preziate &he art of the world. It can also give us a
fiction is that  rt is that form of prose narrative in true dramatic element in its novels. Overagainst the
which  th,e characters, scenes, and incidents are partly portrayal of life by the worldly artists we must exer-
or entirely imaginary.  R,omance  was produced in that cise caution.             First, we must caution against the
period of literature when there was *the'movement  of portrayal of that part of life which should not come
romanticism. -4s a reaction against romanticism there to our atention and especially of youthful minds-the
arose the spirit of realism. Novels are more in keep- sordid and lustful, which is too unseemly  ,to mention.
ing with the ordinary ttrain of events in society, and so We must also caution against the philosophy of the
were produced more by the realists. T.hese two move- worldly author for it `comes in a very subtle form.
ments, romanticism and realism, became modified in Do not mistake a wrong pious notion which says flee
the progress of literary history. There arose a new from all this literature. It is God's will that we should
romanticism and a new realism. The latter is the know of it and be equipped with the armor of salva-
sordid type of realism that is the modern taste in tion  ,to fight against it. For it is God who gives us
literature and so too in novels. We can say that ,there        the world to overcome. Do not, therefore, bow down
must be at least three essential elements in a novel.          and worship such art blindly and drink it in and
It must have a setting, a plot, and one or more char- enjoy it the way the world does.. Read it and be strong
acters. The setting is the background, the time and            in  condemnati,on.    The amount of reading of novels
place of the narrative. The plot is the skeleton or will thus naturally be adjusted as we select and judge
framework or main  ,thread  which gives shape and from our deep rooted Christian principles. "For to
proportion to the novel. This can be caRed the dram- be  carnahy  minded is death  ; but to be spiritually
atic element of the novel, that part which gives the           minded is life and peace."
action, with its problems and solutions. And of course                                                     Id. D.
to picture life the novel must picture characters true
to life and worth, knowing.
   We can speak of different kinds of novels. There
are, for example, the historical novel, local color novels,
the kind of novels in which the central theme is love
or adventure, naval fiction, and the psychological novel.            Election And Foreordination
This list shows us how  var,ied and interesting the
dramatic element can be in the novel. It takes in all             For all who love the truth of God as revealed in
the drama of life.                                             Scripture, and who confess the sovereign grace of Al-
   When we criticize any art form and so too the mighty God, the importance of this subject must be
dramatic element as it is portrayed in the novel, we self-evident. No apology for an article of this nature
come before the diAiculty  ,that there is not a definite need be given.
theory of aesthetics among Reformed people. That                  However, for the sake of clarX:ation of our sub-
is, &here is not a recognized view of the principles of ject we will s:,bmit a few remarks of an introductory
beauty and taste. The best Reformed people have nature.
avoided the iconoclasm of the radical Reformed group              Our chief interest in this essay is to make an in-
which condemns everything of art. Yet they do not quiry into the relationship of the two concepts in the
go along with the folly of  those  so  ,:alled  Reformed subject under consideration. Were we to define the
people who worship the goddess of art.                         terms "election" and "foreordination" what would we
   Keeping this in mind let us make ,a few remarks consider to be  SLeir  proper "differentiation"? It is
about the .dramatic  element and the novel. The dram- to this question that we attempt to give an answer in
atic element as it is portrayed in the novel certainly the sequence of his essay..

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

   Keeping the aforementioned purpose in mind we same distinction is also found in I Cor. 1:27ff. Just
will first make a study of the Scripture passages which aa Jesus calls His people "my sheep" so He also speaks
speak of these concepts and in the light of this inquiry of them as the elect in their battle of faith in the arena
draw some conclusions and finally in this way attempt of prayer. Thus in the parable of the `Unjust Judge
to give a "defmition' `of the respective terms.              and the Widow, `He speaks of the elect who cry  ,to
Some Representative Texts.                                   God day and .night for justice against their enemies,
   The. ,concept  "election" is far more clearly worked the oppressors. Again this distinction.
out and revealed in the New Testament than in ,the              Another aspect of election which is emphasized
Old Testament. The Mystery of salvation has been throughout in Scripture is, that it is an act, a work of
revealed in the dispensation of the Spirit in a greater God in His eternal Council, This is clearly taught in
degree of clarity than in the age of t.he types and the      Ephesians  1:4 where eleotion is  sai.d to have been
shadows. The least in the kingdom of heaven is great- "before the foundation of the world", i.e. before God
er ,thanJohn  the Baptist, the greatest of the Old Tesia-    in His eternal council decided to lay the foundation of
ment prophets born from women. "For the Word of the earth. Also here it is stated  thalt God elected
God has become flesh and we have seen His glory"             definite individuals,. He elected  us!
the Gospel of John affirms. And the Spirit promised             And election is also emphatically said to be a
by the prophets was poured out on Pentecost to lead sovereign act of God. The ground of this is no: what
the church "into all truth". Fact is that without the        ma.n has done.     It is solely in the wili  ,and good
interpretation of the Spirit as contained in the New Fleasure  of God. A case in point is that of Esau and
Testament Scriptures, the Old Testament remains a Jacob the twin-sons of Isaac and *Rebecca.  Rebecca,
closed book to a large extent. And thus it is also           we are told had conceived by Isaac upon the prayer of
with the doctrine of election. We therefore wil,l turn <the latter, and before their birth the children struggle
to the New Testament and thus at once we will also within her womb. Upon inquiring of the Lord she is
have the  Old Testament teaching.                            told that two manner of people shall be born from her,
   Lest we become tedious we will speak but just yea, are now already struggling within her for the
a word about the terms employed in the New Testa-            mastery. And that in this struggle the elder shall
ment for "election",. There is first of all the verb: to serve the younger. Gen.  25:21.  The apostle tells us
choose (eklego) . We find this in Mark 13 :20; I Cor.        in Rom. 9  :ll that this act of God's sovereign election
1:27; James  2:5; Ephesians  1~4. Secondly there is          was wholly independent of  the respective works of
the noun: ,the elect. This is the noun designating the these children. They had not yet done good or evil,
class elected to life eternal. This term appears in such since they were  not yet  bos-n.       That is the teaching
passages as Rohn. 8 :33 ; Col. 3 : 12 ; Titus 1 :l and Luke of the apostle is evident from [the question: "Is there
t8:`7. In these passages is spoken of the elect of  God unrighteousness with God"? Rom. 9:14 and the ulti-
designating the Divine authorship of election. For mate answer given to this question in vs. 18: "Where-
those interested in further study we refer to such fore He is merciful to whom He  will and whom He
passages as Matt. 24 :22-24;  Mark 13 :20, 22; I Peter wills He hardens."
1. :l-2 3. Finally there is the abstract noun election.         And finally let Et be noticed that election takes
This looks at the act of God. The passages where this place in Christ, who is called the Elect of God: Luke
term is found are acts 9 :15 and Rom. 9 : 11. In both 23:35.  He is Elected to be the Head, and the elect
these passages, reference is had to election as an act are said to be His body in Him.
of God and not as the result. In Rom. 11:7 evidently            Let us now turn to  Ithe concept  foreordinntian.
election are the elect however.                              The underlying notion in this term in both the Clas-
   Whereas we are convinced that a study of the sical and in the New Testament Greek seems to be that
etymology and derivation of the word offers us !ittle of boundaries, limitations. ("orizoo" and "Pro-orizoo"
or nothing, we will proceed to study the passages in         are from  "ores" meaning : a boundary line),. There
which this concept is spoken of. We will confine our- is also a resultant meaning of Ithis fundamental notion
selves to some of the more representative ones.              when applied to different objects and relationships.
   In our study of this question we found the funda- I.hus the term was employed in logic. It defined the
mental notion of the concept election is that of God's 1,mits  of a term. Geographically it defines the  bound-
sovereignly free  choice.    Election always deals with      ;~r, iine between two areas. It is also used of the
definite  &ndiuiduals--individuals  who are chosen in coL:rse  of a ship making its track through  the waves.
distinction from others who are rejected, or  not-elected , L h,s its use is in classical Greek. The meaning of the
as the infra-la.psarian  would put it. Thus in James 2 :5    Holy Spirit in using this term in His book is unique
the ",poor  of the world" are said to have been elec',ed     E.LS to the resultant notion.
by God to be rich in faith in distinction from those            It here means that aot of God in His council where-
who are the "rich in the world",. A distinction is by  He determines the course of world-history from
emphasized, a separation between two groups. The Alpha to Omega-from beginning to end. The empha-


                                       ,THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            26.7

sis here falls on the Events, on history ! Or if you ordination of God. The final word in history  is the
 will, the "Moment" of history is here singled out!              "glory of the children of God, the redemption of their
    In Hebrews  4:? the author speaks of the appoint- bodies". The final moment is the glory of being con-
 ment of "another day" of which David had spoken formed to the image of the glorified Son in the flesh.
 prophetically in Psalm  95:7,  8. This "other day" is It is this Omega of history that God's foreordination
 the event of Jesus' labors on the cross and the Rest has determined to be the end, the purpose of all ,things.
 that results from it. This  otherday  is the real day This is the course of history. There is a straight line
 of rest, the realization of the  Itypical  day of rest, This    in the events of time from Alpha to Omega which
 was appointed, set of? as event in History. And the makes forever impossible  the "vicious circle" of a
 beacon light of the prophetic Word showed the way Vanity of vanities! And this thanks to God's  fore-
 of God's foreordination.      Likewise in Acts  17:26  it ordinutiion!
 refers to " the time afore-appointed and the bounds                Foreordination also gives the means for the Chris-
 of their habitation" where the apostle speaking in tian participation in  the future blessedness. The cen-
 Athens to the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers, con- tral means is Christ and His redemptive work on the
 trasts the former and the present relationship of the cross, His resurrection. Thus it is stated in Eph. 1:5.
 Gentile world to the Citizenship of Israel.  Fore-              And soteriologically (applied salvation) foreordination
 ordination deals with the historical destiny and lot of also gives the means; thus guaranteeing the certainty
 nations.                                                        of salvation. Between the foreknowledge of God and
    Again in Acts 2:23 the term refers  Ito an event the final glory lie the foreordinated means. In Rom.
 in history. In this beautiful passage Peter speaks of 8:29, 36 this is clearly stated.. Foreordination to the
 what the "hands of lawless men have done" to Jesus glory of ,sons in Christ implies : Calling (the effectual)
 of Nazareth, a man approved of God in the midst of and justification. In Ephesians 1 :ll foreordination
 Israel by powers, wonders and signs. This wicked                also postulates the means of' obtaining the final re-
 event was not a chance happening. It was according demfption  and the sealing of the Spirit. We read: "In
 to the determinate council of God. According to God's Whom (Christ) we have been called, having been fore-
 foreordination the course of history, all the forces and orddned  according to lthe purpose of all things work-
 powers that be must be active in  this deed. Here the ing One according to the council of His will." Without
 pattern of history as spoken of in Revelation 12 is             foreordination there would be no  calling. Now  the
 clearly seen. And the apostles being warned and threat- historical moment of the cabling is a certain and ef,-
 ened not lto preach in the name of Jesus, lift up their         fectual  reality.                                      t
 voices to God in prayer and apply Psalm 2 to the event              That foreordination is sovereign, all-wise, good,
 of the Cross. Now also in Psalm 2 the Decree is the no believer of the Scriptures will doubt.
 determining factor in history. It and it alone, deter- The Proper  Diferentiation  of  the Concepts.
 mines the course of history and the destiny of peoples.             To the careful observer this may already have be-
 Acts 4 :28.                                                     come clear from the observations that we have thus
     In Romans 8 :18-30 the apostle speaks of all the            far made. dust a word about this may not be super-
 events of this "present time". He looks at all these            fluous.
 events in the light of the now prevailing suffering                -We,believe  that these concepts have in common:
 and groaning of every creature and all creation. And                1. Both are sovereign acts of God and deal with the
 what is the conclusion? Vanity of vanities,`all things history of the world and determine the destiny of men
 are vanity; there is no wise purpose in all things?             and angels.
 Nay, the amazing suffering of all th+ngs,  this universal           2. Both are therefore to be placed under the genus-
 "groaning" works together for a "good", a good which concept: The Outgoing Works of God.
 could not be attained in any other way ! It is in the              3. Both deal with the work of God in His eternal
 deepest sense the love of God in all things, in this council before the foundation of the world; and are
 universal suffering, for those who love God, being therefore best called different aspects of the one un-
 called according to His eternal purpose. Nothing can divided work of God.
 separate God's people from God's love in Christ Jesus              The differentiation is as follows:
 because there is nothing in which the love of God does             1. Election  deals with &&ividu&,  making the sep-
 not vibrate toward them. This Iove reaches Ithem  not oration,  and implies reprobation. This cannot be said
 in spite of, but in sickness and health, prosperity and of foreordination. It has no such antenym. But fore-
 adversity, present and future things, height and depth, ordination deals with  everots,  with the continuity of
 nakedness, peril and sword.         And therefore God's history. It determines the historical end, the elos, pur-
 called children are more than 4cxmquel;ers in this uni- pose of electing grace, to wit, the glory of tfLe sainfd.
 versal "groaning".                                              Election is personal and determines who the indi-
    And what lies back of this "working together of all          viduals are that shall share in this foreordained glory..
 things for (the good of those. who love God"? The fore-            2. Hence the concept "election" is not as broad as


264                                 T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

the concept "foreordination". Foreordination includes door zulk gedoe, het beste is, maak eerst uw eigen
all things, sin and grace, good and evil, present and tuin is goed schoon van ontkruid, als ge het zelve `met
future, rational and irrational creatures, lthe earthly kan vinden, dan willen we het onkruid we1 aanwijzen
and the heavenly creation. It gives display to the dan moet ge d,an bal verwachten. We kunnen ons niet
unsearchable riches of God's wisdo,m,  i.e. &hat virtue met een Clup  ate vrede stellen, maar  we1 onder de  Gs11
of God whereby He has determined the best means to der Schriften, zoo spreekt  Lindeboom, `k wil zeggen,
the highest end. Election determined who shall  parti-      heeft Ds. Hoeksema de Schrift  niet helder verklaart
cifate in this highest end-the glor:r  of the saints!       naar de Wmaarheid,  maar de Waarheid moet er onder,
       3. Foreordination seems to be the more funda-        doch daar  zai  `God voor zorgen. Strijd niet tegen
mental of the two concepts, even as it is the broader. Go.d, want Ds. Hoeksema heeft de Waarheid met zich
God elected us in Christ, having foreordained us ito        als eene Banier.
the adoption of sons through Christ Jesus. The par-             Bij voorbaat mijn vriendelijke dang.
ticular end unto which  m,en were foreordained implied                                                 Frank Oord,
election.                                                                                        Lynden, Washington.
    Zhfinitioxn  Election is Ithat act of the triune God
whereby He sovereignly chose men and angels unto the                                                  .-
foreordained glory of the new heavens and the new
earth in Christ Jesus. Foreordination is that act of
the triune God whereby He sovereignly determined the                            Contribution  0
end of all things in history, and the means that should
work together unto that end, and thus assuring the          Dear Mr. Editor:
salvation of the elect, and revealing athe greatness of
His glorious virtues.                                           I was very sorry to read the article "Gedachten
                                              G. L.         Over De  C. L. A." by A. H. This article had refer-
                                                            ence  *to  a group of Christian men and women who
                                                            have banded together to give help, advice and support,
                          -                                 not alone to its own members but also to those outside
                                                            of its organization, who have conscientious objections
                     Ingezonden                             to joining with the worldly unions.
                                                                The C. L. A. in its struggle does not seem to be
                                                            understood, not even among the leaders in our own
Geachte Redakteur :                                         churches. I think it is the duty of our laboring men
    Vergun me een enkele  regel  te  melden in The to investigate by attending its meetings.
Standard Bearer, aangaande  bet geschrijf of gedoe              In reading the article by A. H. must we infer that
van Ds. Halsema in De Wachter van Oct. 20, 1942,            D. L. A. means Devil Labor Association, when at their
dat we met verontwaardiging hebben gelezen.                 gatherings God's children implore His help and guid-
    We zouden Ds. Halsema  we1 eens willen vragen, ance ?
of hij de oorsprong van dat gedoe we1 eens doordacht            It is my prayer that God may bless the C. L. A.
heeft.       Lees eens met aandacht het gedeelte van and that many Christians may join her ranks.
Kuiper, bladz.  108, eerste deel, van de Gemeene Gratis,                                      Respectfully,
We hebben hetzelve gelezen in ?t begin van de strijd,                                           Bernard Elhart,
volgens mijn gedachten heeft Kuiper niet gedacht  aan                                           1124 Rathbone Ave.,
de Raad des Vredes. Nu hebben we  dat artikel van                                             Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Ds. Schilder nog eens nagezien "Een Dee1 voor twee
menxhen,  en de Gemeene Gratie, en dat is voor ons
een heldere verklaring. Dat artikel is te vinden in
de jaargang 1936 van de Reformatie. Zie het eens                                      IN MEMORIAM
na en bestudeer dat punt eens over, daar gaat het om.           De Mannenvereeniging der  ProtesCantsche  Gereformecrde
U moet eens wat voorzichtiger zijn en beschuldigt of        Herk te Edgerton, Minnesota, betreurt het verlies van een
plaatst  GW broeder zoo maar niet in een verkeerd harer  leden,
daglicht. Zoo ook Ds. Zwier die ging  aan het  jagen
op verboden Terrein en liep zoolang dat hij schoot  de                                 MR. BEN VOS
haas op verboden terrein, maar daar was geen sign.          die  plotseling  uit ons  midden werd weggenomen.  Zijn  level1
Maar  als hij de  haas in zijn buik heeft,  mocht  ze was  Christus  en daarom het sterven ook gewin.
dan eens bitter  worden,  heb ge in dit uw werk de                                    Namens de Vereeniging,
bitterheid der zonde  we1 geproeft. We kunnen niet                                           Wm. Verhil-Pres.
verstaan hoe die herders de schapen kunnen hoeden                                            A.  Blyenberg-Zecrt.  :           ,
                                                                                 -                                 4_     _


VOLUME XIX                                               MARCH `15, 1943                                           NUMBER 12
""_.                                                            .-    people, nations, and languages should  serve (him: his
          M E D I T A T I O N                                         dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not
                                                                      pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be
                                                                      destroyed." Dan. `7 : 13, 14.
                                                                         Art thou a king then? . . . .        .
                                                                         0, but indeed, I am a king. Thou sayest  it!
            The King And The Beast                                       King of the Jews, yes ; and King of all  ; King of
                                                                      kings and Lord of lords, anointed unto this supreme
                And the  w&ok  *m-&&de  of them arose,                office to represent the invisible God in the visible
              and lad him unto Pilate. And  thhey began to            world. And : "My kingdom is not of this world : if my
              accuse  him, saying,  We found  this fellow  per-       kingdom were of this world, then would my servants
              r:e&ing  the  nation>  and forbidding to give           fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but
              tribute to  Gwsar,  saying  th,at he  himdf  is         now is my kingdom not from hence." But a King I
              Christ,  a+  king.  An,d Pilate asked him,  say         am, for "to this end was I born,  ,an#d for this cause
              in.g,  Art thou the  .Inng   ,of  the  Jews? And  he    came I into the world that I should bear witness  u&o
              mswered him and said, Thou  sayest it.                  the truth". . . .
                                              Luke  23.-l-5.             The only rightful King;that  ever was, ,and Whose
        The King before  ltQe  Beat!                                  dominion for t,hat very reason shall surely be estab-
        For, indeed, Jesus is the King!                               lished forever.
        King He is, not in His own name, nor by the power                And he  t.hat here examines Him, and that inquires
of the sword, `nor by the will of the peopl,e,  but by the            into His kingship, is the legal representative of the
grace of God, ,and by the will of ,the Lord of hosts.                 Beast?
        Concerning Him it was that God had declared the                         `- *- .L0 is Roman governor, and as such he
.decree from days of yore: "Thou art my Son; this day represents Caesar. And throughout the trial it is but
have I begotten thee. Ask of men and I shall give thee too evident that Caesar stands in the background. The
the heathen for thine incheritance, and the uttermost question of Christ or Caesar loonxs  large in this legal
p&s of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break procedure, is the crucial question. . . .
them with a rod of iron ; thou shalt dash them in pieces                 And, to be  sure;in his capacity of Roman governor
like a potter's vessel." Ps. 2  :7, 8. Long ago `the people and. judge Pilate represents the sword-power, instituted
had honored Him in their songs: "He  shall have by God, vested by God's own dispensation with divine
dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto (authority even over life and death, fol the punishment
the ends of the eart,h. T,hey that dwell in the wilder- of evildoers, and for the praise of them that Ido tieI1.
ness shall bow down before him ; and his ,enemies  shall And Christ, t,he King by the grace of God ,does not dis-
lick the dust. The kings  of Tarshish and of the isles pute this divine prerogative and calling of the Roman
shall bring presents : the kings of Sheba and Seba shall governor,.                Emphatically he acknowledges this. He
offer gifts. Yea,  gall kings shall fall down before him:             even instructs Pilate in regard to  t,his truth. For when
all nations shall serve him." Ps. 72  :8-11. The prophet the Roman governor is provoked because this Christ
of the captivity saw Him in the night cvisions as One never answers any irrelevant questions, and asks Him
like the Son of man, and He "came with t.he clouds of whether He does not realize  thxt he has power to cruci-
heaven, and  came to the Ancient of days, and they fy or to release Him, He answers : "Yes, indeed, !: know
brought him near before him. And  there  was given that thou hast power over me, given thee from above !"
him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all                         Yet, the fact remains that the Roman governor is


266                                    TlHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

a representative of the Beast!                                   And  thh power must needs be anti-Christian.
       For in the light of divine revelation the Roman           For God has anointed His own King over Sion, to
empire was but a part of a whole, *a temporal manifest- become heir of all things, and to establish His own
ation of  $he Beast, a historic moment of the  anti-          kingdom as the obedient Servant of the Most High.
Christian world-power, that was from the beginning,              And always  thee antichristian  tsw0r.d is turned
that received his power from the dragon, and that will against this Christ and His people in the world.
reach his culmination in the latter days. This is                All through the old dispensation ithe dragon con-
evident  from the sdream-image  that troubled the mind fronts the woman that is with child: befor,e the flood,
of mighty  Nebuohadnezzar.  For, although the image lat the time of  the building of Babel's tower, in the
is composed of different parts  an'd metals, of gold house of bondage, in the desert, in the land of Canaan.
and silver !and brass and iron, and a mixture of iron It rises against David  ,and his house to destroy it from
and clay, yet the image is one, representing the one          the earth.
beast that is principally always  It:he same. And al-            It reveals itself successively in Babylon, Persia,
though the stone that is cut out of the mountain with- Greece, the Syrian Antiochus, Rome . . . .
out hands smites the  imge upon his feet, it is, never-          And now, finally, tie Anointed stands before the
theless, the entire image that  is thus demolished. This representative of mighty Caesar.
is  also evident from a comparison of Dan. 7 with Rev.           He alone,  wihhout  an army; helpless, without a
13. For, although in the former passage the  world-           sword . . . .
power appears in the form of different beasts, rising            The King and the Beast!
one after aano$her  out of the storm-tossed sea, in the
latter they appear as merged into one ,monster  with             ,The King  over   agtinst  the Beast!
seven heads and ten horns. And the Roman empire is               The Beast with a kingdom of and for this world,
but a part of the dream-image of the haughty Baby- maintained by this world.
lonian despot; ilt iLs but one of the beasts that are one        But the King w&h a kingdom that is not of this
beast: a historic manifestation of the antichristian world, a kingdom that does not at all depend for its
political power that always sets itself against  #the Lord mintenance  upon the power of this world.
and His Anointed !                                               For this reason the King's accusers invent a wick-
       T,he King and the Beast!                               ed lie in order to secure His condemnation, not only
       0,  in.deed,  moved by the Spirit of revelation, the by *the Roman governor as the representative of the
ChZurch did quite correctly interpret this trial when antichristian  wo,rld-power,  but also by Pilate as rep-
"they lifted up  their voice to God with one accord, and      resentative of the sword-power that is ordained of
said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven and God.
earth, and the sea, and all that in Ithem  is : Who by the       0, to be sure, the entire :triaI of our Lord before
mouth of thy servant David  ha& said, Why  .did the           Pilate concentrates around the  quest.ion  concerning
heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The the kingship. That is the crucial point. The accusa-
kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers  were'gath-       tion brought against Him is that He perverts the na-
ered together against  tie Lord and against his Christ.       ltion by His claim to the throne, that He forbids the
For of a truth atgain& thy holy child Jesus, whom thou peopl,e  to pay tribute to Caesar, that He claims that He
hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Himself is Christ, a King, that He makes Himself
Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered to- King. And it is emphasized that His kingship opposes
gether.  u . .                                                that of Caesar, so that one cannot take His part and
       The Beast judging the King !                           remain Caesar's friend. John 19  :X2. And the gov-
       God's Anointed in the clutches of the world-power! ernor is deeply concerned  ,about  this question. Al-
       Christ and Antichrist !                                though being unable to understand a kingship of the
       For this wor$l-power  has its origin in the man of kind that is represented by a Man like Jesus of Nazz-
sin, fallen man, that rebelled against his rightful r&h, he nevertheless inquires : "Art thou a king then?"
Sovereign and entered into  s covenant  wit$  the devil.      He leads Him out and presents Him to the Jews in Ithe
A king  Go,d had made man, butt king under Him, words : "Behold, your king !" And the Jewish mob
anointed to rule in His Name, and to function as His becomes incensed and shouts back: "We have no king
representative in the earthly creation. But the servant-      hut Caesar !" Indeed, as Jesus !z~~FI*~,F before the Ro-
king under God became `a friend and slave of the devil. man governor, the very serious. question as to  ;the
And  lever since,  $e is evilly impelled to maintain him- kingship is tie all important point to be considered!
self in the world as its sovereign, and strives to  estab-       Yet, His accusers place the antith,esis  between Jesus
`ish one  mi,ghty  world-empire in alliance with the          and Caesar in L faIse  light,
Prince of this world. And for the realization of this            They put the kingdom of Christ and that of the
purpose he employs the sword, the State, instituted Roman emperor on  ri.he same plane, and present them
             ?:* the punishment of evil-doers. . . .          ns operating in the same sphere. They make of the


                       -        - _ .-__ .-. ___,__    T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             $337
;-:-L-z  -..............  ;- :. """_Li -  _ ,.                       _-....... -..^-.- __                _II                   -         -
An&ted  cjno of God ati pt-etender  to Caesar's throne, tuted sword-power, but as an instrument; of the Beast,
$ rival ~~6th him for the sword-power, one who, like                        the Roman governor expresses his verdict.
Caesar  r&s over  ~a kingdom of  brute  force, a kingdom                        Repeatedly he declares that ,he finds no guilt in
of this  worl~d. God's King is presented as a  revolu-                      Jesus. The `issue is clear. As bearer of the sword ,he
,ti(ln&ry,  who would establish another world-power on has no other "power from above" than to protect She
the same level as that of the Beast, and who, for this                      Lord against His evil  dccusers.  Either, He must let
very reason, must needs forbid to give :t.ribute  to the                    Him go as representative of the power that is ordain-
Roman emperor,.                                                             ed of God, or he mu& pIace himself ,and his sword in
     A wicked lie !                                                         the service of the beast, and crucify Him !
     A &iiberaiize  falsehood !
     A devilish attempt to cover up the real antithesis                         And "he delivered Jesus to their will  !"
between the King and the Beast, and to prevent that                             The B&st has spoken. The King suffers-d&at.
in the judgment of the Beast rendered against the                           Delivered He is to  $.he wantonass of the soldiers,  that
King, the world of  [the Beast  itself be judged and con- know no king but Caesar, that despise any other king-
demned for ever f                                                           ship than that which is able Ito handle the sword and
   Or did they not know that Jesus' kingdom                                 to maintain itself by brute force. And they express
                                                              W&S not of
this  world?   (Had  the;re  &ver been the slightest sug-                   their contempt by a purple robe, a crown of thorns,
gestion in the entire public ministry of the Lord that mock obeisance.                             And presently He  is  led  rto  bhe
could lend support to the notion that He purposed to                        accursed tree of Colgotha,  to be utterly defeated and
rise against the sword-power of the Roman empire? put to nought!
Could they produce even$he smallest piece of evidence                           Not a word passes His lips in self defense. He
for this accu&.ion? Was not the very opposite true?                         might have pleaded His cause. He might have pro-
When  :tlhey tempted Him with the question concerning tested that His case >s?as  clear before all the world,
tribute, had He not told them to render unto Caesar that no accusation had been brought against Him that
the things that are Caesar's? And had they not been could be sustained, that His innocence was  cIearly
witnesses in the garden of His absolute refusal to take proved.                            Even  :to Caesar He might have appealed.
up the sword even in His own defense? Ah, they But never a word He spake to escape His utter de-
*might have produced evidence of the Lord's revolu- feat.  Only twice He opened His mouth, both  times,
tionary activity, false though even that would have                         not to defend Himself or His cause, but to remove
been, had not the Lord Himself destroyed the evidence a possible misunderstanding: once to explain the na-
by healing the ear of Malchus!                                              ture of His kingdom, and the secon'd time to remind
     A devilish invention, deliberately made, w.zs this Pifate that his power was from above. For the rest,
indictment  b&hat He was a rebel against Caesar!                            He was silent in His (defeat. . . . . .
     Or did they not remember that they had been will-                          Yet, this defeat was His victory?
ing to make Him exactly such a king, on more than                               For, first of all. His condemnation was. in reality,
one occasion, and that He h$ad always refused?                              the judgment of the Beast. But a few  davs ago He
    Or was it not precisely because He did not want to had announced : "Now is tlhe judgment of this world;
overthrow the earthly throne of the Roman emperor, now shall the prince of  Ithis  world be cast out." It
that they were always offended in Him?                                      was now, indeed, the  Ihour in which He "spoiled prin-
     He forbids the people to pay tribute!                                  cipalities and powers," and "made a  shew of them
    He makes Himself a King in Caesar's stead! . . . .                      openly, triumphing over them in it.`" How cou.Id the
    But on that supposition the Roman governor may pea&,  after this hour of judgment, ever make another
not pass judgment on Him. The condemnation of the pretense of justice and righteousness an:d justify his
Anointed One by the world-power may not be based claim to handle the sword? How can the world ever
on a misunderstanding. How, then, could the world make another claim tlhat it is fighting it.0 establish a
be condemned? . . . .                                                       kingdom of truth aad righteousness,  after having con-
    Art thou a king $hen? . . . .                                           demned Him Who came lto witness of the truth? . . .
    Yes, indeed ! Thou sayest it I                                             Defeat, yes, but unto victory !
    But be at rest! My kingdom is not of this world !                          For in the hour of judgment, the King must hasten
J. have neither army nor sword! 1 came to witness of to the place of execution, that there He may  suqer
the truth. . . .                                                            the wrath of God for the sin of His own, and thus
    `For the righteousness of God stand I! Let the establish His kingdom in righteousness! . . . .
issue be perfectly clear, then express your verdict!                           And the Beast must be instrumental to lead the
    The  ,\Terdict  of the Beast!                                           King to His victory, and to  accomplhh  his own de-
                                                                            struction !
    Victory ;through  defeat !                                                 The victory of the cross!
    For, not as representative of the  divineIy  in&i-                                                                       H.  H.


     268                                                                                                      TlH,E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                     "."                                                              .-                                                                                                      _-._-           .."-- .-.--. I_

                                       The Standard Bearer
               Semi-Monthly, except Monthly in  July and August                                                                                                                                    EDITORIALS
                                                                     Published by
                           The Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                                    1101  Hazen  Street, S.  E.                                                                                                                      Common Grace
                                             EDITOR  - Rev.  ,H. Hoeksema
       Contributing editor+-Revs. J. Blankespoor, A. Cammenga,                                                                                                                                                 7.
       P. De Boer, J. D. de  Jon&  H. De Wolf, L. Doezema,
       M.  Gritters,  C. Hanko,  B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,                                                                                                                    Attention must be called to Van Til's idea and
       A. Petter, M.  Schipper,  J.  Vanden  Breggen, H. Veldman,                                                                                                                 application of the "limiting concept," which is closely
       R. Veldman, W. Verhil, L. Vermeer, P. Vis, G. Vos,                                                                                                                         related to his notion and use of the "paradox." Let
       and Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                                                                                                       us quote him:
       Communications relative to contenta  should be addressed
       to REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                                           "If we hold to a theology of the apparently para-
       Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                                          .doxioal  we must also  hold by consequence to the
       Communications relative to subscription should be  ad-                                                                                                                     Christian notion of a  limn'ting   conce& The  non-
       dressed to MR. R.  SCHAAFSMA,  1101  Hazen St., S. E.,                                                                                                                     Christian notion of the  Iimitinlg concept has. been de-
       Grand Rapids,  Mich.  All Announcements and Obituaries                                                                                                                     veloped on ;tie basis of the non-Christian conception
       must be sent to the above address and will not be placed                                                                                                                   of  ,mystery.    By contrast we \may think of the Chris-
       unless the regular fee of $1.00 accompanies the notice.                                                                                                                    tian notion of the limiting concept as based upon tihe
                                                   Subscription $2.50 per year                                                                                                    Christian notion of mystery. The non-Christian  nc-
                                                                                                                                                                                  tion of the limiting concept is the product of would-be
                                                                                                                                                                                  autonomous man who seeks to legislate all reality,
                                                                                                                                                                                  but bows before the irrational as that which he has
                                                                                                                                                                                  not yet rationalized. The Ghristian notion of the lim-
                                                                                                                                                                                  iting concept is the prod,uct  of the creature who sets
                                                                       CONTENTS                                                                                                   forth `in systematic form something of the revelation
                                                                                                                                                                 Page             of the Creator.
     MEDITATION  -
       THE KING AND THE BEAST ,.........a..,................................ 265                                                                                                      "The  Christitan  Church  ,has consciously or uncon-
                                                                                                                                                                                  sciously employed the notion of the limilting  concept
                   Rev. H. Hoekuemr.                                                                                                                                              in the formulation of its creeds,. In these creeds the
     EDIWXZIALS   -                                                                                                                                                               church does not pretend to have developed the fulness
,      &MMON mu,cE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..,.....................................,..........  268 of the revelation of  ,God. The church knows itself
                   Rev. H. Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                              to be dealing with the inexhaustible God. The creeds
            EXPOSITION OF THE HEIDELBERG  CATECHISM......Z'IO                                                                                                                     must  Itherefore  be regarded as "approximations" to the
                   Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                               fulness of the truth as it is in God. This idea of the
                                                                                                                                                                                  creeds as approximations to the fulness of the truth as
            THE GAINSAYERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273                  it is in God must be set over against the modern notion
                   Rev.  G. M. Ophoff.                                                                                                                                            of the creeds as approximation to abstract truth. The
            PROHIBITION AND TEMPERANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2'77                                                                     The modern notion of approximation is based on the
                   Rev.  J. De Jong.                                                                                                                                              modenr notion of  Ihe limiting concept. The modenr
                                                                                                                                                                                  notion of systematic logical interpretation as approxi-
       THE CHRISTIAN AND STRIKES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  * . . . .278                                                              mation is therefore  *based on ultimate sceptidsm with
                   Rev.  C.  Hauko.                                                                                                                                               respect to 3he existence of any such thing as universal-
            CHRISTIANIZIN~G  EDUCATION IN THE PUBLIC                                                                                                                              ly valid truth. It is really no more than a hope and that
                            SCHOOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . ..*.......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281    :a false hope, as we must believe, that there is in hu-
                   Rev. H. Veldman.                                                                                                                                               man interpretation an approximation to the truth.
                                                                                                                                                                                  The Ghristian idea on the other hand rests upon the
            CURRENT EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.............283                                   presupposition of the existence of God as the  self-
                   Rev. J. A.  Heys.                                                                                                                                              contained being that Scripture presents to us. The
            F.REEDGM  FROM FEAR AND WANT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...*....284                                                                                Christian idea is therefore the recognition that the
                   Rev. P. De Boer.                                                                                                                                               creature can only touch the hem of the garment of
                                                                                                                                                                                  Him waho dwells in a light that no man can approach
            JElHOVAH'S  WITNESSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . 286                                 unto."
                   Rev. P. Vis.                                                                                                                                                       Much of this may be Greek to our average reader,
                                                                                                                                                                                  and, therefore, I will make an attempt to reproduce


                                    T3I.E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             269

these  st&ements  in  <more popular language without in the fact that theology is *m approximation to the
distorting Van Til's  ,meaning.                              fulness of the truth as it 3 in God. The finite does not
   Very briefly expressed, Van Til means that when- approach or approximate the Infinite at all.
ever we say something about the truth as it is in God           With a  vi,ew to  &he proper use of the "limiting con-
we know and confess, thadt  w,e have only said some- cept" it seems to me, we must add two more factors.
thing about it, but we have not expressed the fulness        The one is that the revelation of  `God as we now have
of the truth. We  &tit it, we put  t fence  Iaround  it,     it in the Scriptures is a light in darkness, the truth
we approach it. Whenever we use  *a limitmg  concept, over ,against  the lie. The light always shines in dark-
we really do ,nothing  else than narrow the scope of the     ness and the darkness  ,does not comprehend it. And,
fenced off ~tru&h. And so, seeing that we are dealing secondly, we should remember that the revelation of
with the inexhaustible God, we never come to an end.         God in Christ Jesus concerns things that "eye bath not
We can never say that we have expressed the truth.           seen, and ear hath not heard,  *and that never entered
All our conceptions and  pdeclarations are ultimately into the heart of man." These things are heavenly.
only  approximaltions  to the truth as it is in  God.        They belong to the wonder of grace, which the natural
And a limiting concept is such an attempt at approxi- mind cannot discover or understand.
mation.                                                         Bearing this in mind, it seems to me, we can speak
   To this we can, of course, have no objection, pro- of a threefold use of the "limiting concept." The first
vided that the scope and purpose of the limiting con-        is caused by the fact thalt <all our conceptions are finite,
cept itself be clearly defined. We cannot afford to let while  `God in infinite. Whenever, therefore, on the
the notion of the limiting concept run loose. That           basis of revelation, we form conceptions of God, we
would be rather dangerous, even for the Christian hasten to add that all these conceptions are but limit-
notion of the limiting concept. It will hardly be safe ing concepts, lest we worship *an idol instead of the
to allow anyone, Schilder, Van Til, myself, for in- living God. Thus we confess that, while  Go.d certainly
stance, to determine what in a given case must be con- is knowable, and our concepts of God as etihey are based
sidered a  li\miting concept. That ,would  make all our on revelation are certainly the truth, yet God is beyond
knowIedge  of the  ,truth relative and uncertain. The the scope of our finite concepts:  Be is  <the Infinite.
statement that creeds must be regarded as approxi- The first  ar$icle of the  Confessio   B&g&z deals with
mations to the fulness of the truth as i<t is in God is      such limiting concepts: "We  all believe with the heart,
capable of a correct and sound interpretation, but as        and confess with &he mouth, tbat there is one simple
it  Istands there without further definition it cannot and spiritual Being, which we call God; and &that  He
pass unchallenged.    For that certainly would raise is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable,  in-
the question whether or not these "approximations"           fin&, almighty, perfectly wise, just, good, and the
to the truth are themselves truths, or whether they overflowing fountain of  all good." Notice  that such
will,  perbps, have to be revised  `as we approach more terms as "eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, infinite"
closely to the fulness of the (truth.                        are strictly limiting concepts. They are not meant to
   It seems to me that the need of working  with             be mere negative terms,. Tha?y do not merely deny
limiting concepts must have a definite cause. And the something about God. That God is infinite does not
fundamental cause lies in the fact  that God is infinite, merely mean that He is not finite, but positively signi-
and we are finite, and that 6he Latter  can never com- fies that He is the Not-Finite. Th& He is said to be
prehend, nor even approach unto the former. Van Til the Invisible does not simply deny His visibleness, but
is quite right when at the close of the paragraph            positively declares that He is the Not-Visible. And
quoted above he writes: "The Christian idea is &here- thus it is with all the others terms. They are, there-
fore the recognition that the creature can only touch fore, limiting concepts in the proper sense of the wor.d.
the hem of the garment of Him who dwells in ;the light          The second proper use of the limiting concept  fmds
that no man can approach unto." But this must be its cause in the calling of  *the believer and of the
maintained in the strict sense of  #the word. God  oan-      Church to confess the  (truth concerning the mystery of
not be approached unto at all. This `means, first of all,    God and salvation over against the lie. Perhaps this
that KJ~ cannot approach  Him, and that, if we are to        element is already present in the above confession
have know'ledge  of Him at all, He must approach us.         concerning God. <On the one side lies the mystery
And this approaoh of God to us is His revelation. But whioh we cannot comprehend, even {though we conceive
this also implies  thait this revelation is the limit of our of it on the basis of the Word of God; on the other side
approach to God. In other words, it is possible  ,t.o        is the :darkness, the lie over against which the truth
speak of an *approximation to the fulness of the truth       concerning the mystery must be maintained and de%
as it  is revealed to us by God, but it is not possible to nitely fenced off. For this purpose, too, the Church
continue our approximation beyond the limit of revela- uses the limiting concept. An example of #this we find
tion. Strictly speaking, therefore, the Christian idea in the ideclarations  of the council of Chalcedon concern-
of the limiting concept cannot he  snitd to have its basis ing the mystery of the Incarnation, particularly as to


270                                    TaHE  STA.NDARD   B E A R E R
                                      .-" . .  - -  -- - -                --..-......   ""--  .._
the relation of the two natures in Christ, stating that:
"We, then, following the holy  FaltheIs,  all with one
consent, teach men and  con'fess one and the same Son,                  The Triple Knowledge
our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead
and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man,
of a reasonable soul and body;  coessential  with the
Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial                  An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
with us according to  bhe manhood. .  #. . one and  !:he
same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be ackow-                                                  Catechism
ledged in two natures,  &nco&sedly  (asunchutoos)  Y
tinchangeably   (atreptoos) , indivisibly  (adiairetoos) ,                                             PART TWO
inseparab~iy   (acharistoos)   ; the distinction of natures                                  OF MAN'S REDEMPTION
being by no means taken away by the union, but rather
the proper,ty  of each nature being preserved, and con-                                              LORD'S DAY VT.
curring in one Person and one Subsistence (eis hen                                                     Chaplter III
prosoopon kai mian upoatasin), not parted or divided                                                 The Holy Gospel.
into two person, but one and the same Son, and only
begotten, God, ;t;he Word, the Lord ,Jesus Christ," etc.                "Whence knowest thou this?" Whence knowest
Here the Church deals with limiting concepts ,&most                  thou  khat our Lord  Jesus  Christ  is "that  Medistor,
throughout, occasioned on the one hand by  #the revela-              who is in one pemon  both very God, and a real right-
tion of  ihe mystery of the Incarnation, and on the                  eous man?" And whence knowest thou  t.hat this
other hand by lthe atkack  upon this mysery by the lie.              Mediator is "of God made unto us wisdom, and right-
This is especially evident from the well known formula-              eousness, and  Isanctification,  and  redemp.tion?"              TO
tion of the relation of the two natures in Christ: "in-              this question the Catechism gives one of the finest
confusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably."                 answers in the whole book of in&-uction:  "From the
       The third proper use of  -the limiting concept in holy gospel, which- God Himself first  resea!& in Pnra-
theology is caused by the difference between the earthy dise  ; and afterwards published by the patriarchs  Ind
and ;the heavenly, and the necessity of expressing in prophets, and represented by the sacrifi:es and other
earthly terms .It;he reality of heavenly things.              How    ceremonies of the law; and  Iastly has fulfilled it by
crowded with limiting concepts, for instance, is the His only begotiten Son." This is a remarkable answer,
last part of that glorious fifteenth chapt-er  of the first indeed" We might, perhaps, have expected that OLV
epistle to the Corinthians! "I& ?s sown a natural bo'dy,             ilsstructor would have answered "I know this from the
it is raised a spiritual body. There is  ~0. natural body, Holy Scriptures, w.hich  are the infallible Word of God,
and  tihere is a spiritual body. And so it is written,               and my only rule for faith and life." But ithe Cate-
The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last                  chism, evidently, had in mind the saints of all ages,
Adam was made  ~a quickening spirit.  r  ,. . Now  this              and remembered, that all the saints,  both  of the  old and
`1 say, brethren, that flesh and  blood cannot inherit new dispensation, from the very beginning of  hiultory,
&he kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit                  were saved  ihrough that same Mediator, and must
incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall have possessed the same  promise  of salvation, the
not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment,             same source of knowledge concerning this  Mediator
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for .the of God and man, although &ey certainly did not possess
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in-                the Holy Scriptures, from which we of the new rlis-
corruptible, and we shall be changed," etc. And the                  pensation derive the knowledge of the Christ. And,
same is true, as might be expected! of the last two                  therefore, it calls our attention ato the holy gospel, and
chapters of #tithe book of Revelation.                               empfhasizes that  ,m long as  t>here were heirs of the
       Perhaps, Van Til  #differs  wi.th me, but to me it            promise in the world this holy gospel was delivered
seems khat there is need of defining  the proper use of              unto them. And  ilt also reminds us that this "holy
l&t&ng  concepts,  lest we  become  arbitrary, and  leave            gospel" is not merely  someth'lng   .that was  preached
the impression that all ,&he  truth as confessed by the              from the beginning of the world, but that it was also
 Church is relative and uncertain.                1-I. H.            fulfilled in God's only begotten Son.
                                                                        Very often we read of the "gospel" in Holy Writ.
                                                                     It is called "the gospel of God" to  emph_tsize  its ex-
                                                                     clusively divine origin and authorship. Rom.  1:1;
                      ,CLASSIS  EAST                                 II Cor.  11:7; I  Thess.  253, 9; I Pet.  4:17.  Th,e gospel
of the Protetitant  Reformed Churches will meet D. V.                is not ours but  God's.                `In no sense is it of  hi:mnn
Wednesd,ay,  April 7, at 9 o'clock A. M. at Fuller Ave.              origin. God conceived of .the gospel, He realized it,
                                        D. Jonker, S.C.              and He proclaims it. With a view to its contents  thits


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             271

gospel  of  God is called the "gospel concerning His Son ithat when God makes an announcement of this promise
Jesus Christ our Lord," or simply "the gospel of His to Abraham, the gospel is preached to him. T,he gospel
Son." Rom. 1:3, 9 ; Mk. 1 :l. The contents of this gos- is, therefore, identified with the promise. It is the
pel is, therefore, the revelation of the Son of God in announcement of the promise. The same truth is  .ex-
the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the "gospel pressed in Acts 13:32,  33: "And we declare unto you
of Christ," the Anointed of God, or "the gospel of glad tidings  (eurcnlngelidxometha,  we preach the gospel),
Jesus Christ," the Anointed Saviour,  who shall save how that the promise whioh was made unto  .the fathers,
His people from their sins." Rom. 15 :19 ; I Cor. 9 :12 ;            God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children,
II Cor. 2 :12 ; 9 : 13 ; 10 :14 ; Gal,. 1:17.    It is defined as in that He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also
`<the glorious gospel of the blessed God," and as "the               written in the second psalm, "Thou art my Son, this
gospel of the Kingdom"; or as "the gospel of the grace day have I begotten thee." It is evident  theat the
of God," and "the gospel of your salvation," "the promise here mentioned as being "made unto the
gospel ,of peace." I Tim. 1 :ll ; Matt. 4 :23 ; 9 :34 ; 24 : 14 ;    fathers", is the same as the one mentioned in Gal. 3 :8.
Acts 20 :24; Eph. 1:13; 6 :15. All these .terms  describe The promise : "In thee  &al,1  all nations be blessed," is
"the holy gospel" as something divine, something that fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus Ch,rist  from the
concerns the Son of God and our salvation, something idead. And also in the text from Acts the promise and
that is nut of this world, neither concerned with, this the gospel are simply identified. When the apostles
world, but  wilth things which "eye hath not seen, and preached the gospel, they announced glad tidings con-
ear  bath not heard, neither have entered into the                   cerning the fulfillment of the promise. If, therefore,
heart of man." It is concerning this "holy gospel" we  woulld  understand what is meant by the gospel, we
that the  Caltechism instructs us in its nineteenth ans- must inquire into the nature of the promise of God.
wer.                                                                    Very frequently the Bible speaks of the promise
   It is evident from this answer of the Heidelberger of God. Sometimes the plural,  p7Tomises,  is used to
that it conceives of a very intimate and close relation- Idenote the manifold riches of the grace of God, in
ship between the gospel and the promise. For when it other passages the singular is  empl,oyed   &o remind us
:speaks  of "the holy gospel" as being fulfilled in God's that the promise of the gospel is essentially one. In
only begotten Son, it is thinking of the gospel as the Web. 11:13 we read : "These  all died in faith, not hav-
promise of God. And this is quite in accord with the ing received the promises, but having seen them afar
teachings of Scripture. In the Bible the words epun-                 off, and were persuaded of  bhem, and embraced them,
.&a (promise), and  eunngel,iorz  (gospel) are  Yyno- and confessed that they were strangers ,and pilgrims
nyms. In the usage of the Church the two are often on the earth." And at the close of that  marvellous
combined in the phrase: "the promise of the gospel."                 chapter it is said wilth a view to all the saints ,of the
Thus our Heidelberger uses the term in  its answer  Ito              old dispensation : "And these all, having obtained a
the question : "What are sacraments?" The answer good report, through faith, received not the promise:
reads : "The sacraments are holy  vilsible  signs and God having provided some better <thing for us, that
seals, appointed of God for this ,end, that by &he use they without us shoultd  not be <made  perfect." These
thereof, He may more fully declare and seal to us the passages  teach pIainly that all through the  old dispen-
prom&se df the gospel." And also in its answer to the sation there was the Promise, which was always the                          '
question concerning  4he preaching of the Word as one same. As the Catechism teaches us, the gospel cer-
of the keys of the kingdom, it employs the same term:                tainly was preached to the saints from the very be-
"Thus: when according to `the command of Christ, it ginning.                    And the essence of that gospel  was  U&e
is declared and publicly testified to all and eyery  be- Promise. This promise was not yet fulfilled: they did
liever that, whenever they receive the promise of the not receive the promise. But through the grace of
gospel by a true faith, all their sins  .are really for-             God they embraced the promise by faith, and they saw
given them of God, for the sake of Christ's merits," it afar off. Because of that promise they lived in
*etc. Qu. 84. To denote the real nature of the gospel, hope, and confessed that they were strangers on the
however, it were better to turn khis phrase about, and earth., So glorious was that promise even then, that
to speak of  the gospel of the promise. The idea of the for the sake of it the saints of the old  idispensation
gospel is that it is good news concerning the promise. were willing to forsake all rather than lose their hold
One [that has some news to bring, in the name of God, on  the promise. They "subdued kingdoms, wrought
concerning the promise, preaches the gospel.               This righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths
idea is clearly expressed in Gal. 3  :8: "And the Scrip- of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the
ture, foreseeing that God would iustify the heathen edge of the sword, out  o,f weakness were made strong,
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abra- waxed valient  in fight, turned to flight the armies of
ham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." Tehis the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life
Iast clause : "In thee sh,all all nations be blessed," is, again  ; :a.nd others were tortured, not accepting de-
of course, simply the promise. And the te.xt declares
                                                            .'       liverance, that .they might obtain a better resurrection.


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 7                                    TcHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

And  others  had trials of cruel  mockings and  scourg-       "gospel of the promise" is, therefore, not  ;to be  &anger1
ings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment : They into 8 vague, general, "well meaning offer of grace t,o
were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempt- all." For between "the gospel of the promise" and a
ed, were slain with the sword: they  wandered about           "well meaning offer" there is as much difference as
in sheepskins and goatskins  ; being destitute, afflicted,    between day and night. The two have  notthing in com-
tormented : (Of whom the world was  ,not worthy) :            mon. He that preaches ,a well meaning offer cannot
+hey wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in preach the glad tidings of the promise. A well mean-
dens, and in caves of the earth." How glorious was ing offer depends for its realization, in part at le&,
the promise of the gospel, if even the distant view of it on the will of him to whom the offer is made  ; a prom-
coulrd fill them with such zeal of faith, and endurance ise is  as  sure as  th,e truth and integrity of him by
of hope!                                                      whom the promise is made. Preach  a "well meaning
      Of this  prom&e  also the epistle of Paul to the        offer" and all centainty  is gone, for the realization of
Galatians speaks. For to Abraham and his seed were this well meaning offer of grace and salvation is con-
the promises made. 3 :16. And although the promise tingent on  the will of man, of a man  that is dead
was temporarily placed under the law, yet the law             through trespasses and sins, and that will always
could not possibly  make the promise of none effect. In despise the offer of grace." And if this is the case,
fact, the promise remained the essential thing, even salvation is a completely lost cause. But the promise
under the law. Gal. 3 :1'7. For never \vas the inherit-       r,ests in God alone, in the truth and faithfulness of the
ance of the law; always it was given to Abaahalm  un-         eternal, unchangeable God. The promise of the gospel
conditionally by promise. And seeing that the true            signifies that the eternal God, Who can  nev'er deny
seed of the promise is Christ, we also are Abraham's          Himself, bound Himself to give to the heirs of the
seed if we are of Christ, and heirs according to the          promise, that is, to the  eleot, eternal life and all
promise.  329. As to the contents of this promise, things. For also in this do the promi!se of the gospel
Scripture speaks of it as "the promise of the Holy and a well meaning offer of salvation differ : the latter
Ghost," the exalted Christ received and poured out            is general and undefined,  it can be made to all men
into the Church. And this promise of the Holy Ghost,          without distinction ; the former is particular and clear-
which is  the realization of the gospel that was preach- ly defined: it concerns only those whom God in His
ed to Abraham, band by which all the nations of the eternal good  pleasure ordained unto salvation.
earth k&ould  be blessed, we also receive. Gal. 3 : 14.           And how could it b,e different? Is not God GOD?
It is a promise "of the life that  now is, and of that        Is He not the only One, and ther,e  is none beside Him?
which is to come." I Tim. 4  :S. "And this is the prom-       And is He not the all-sufficient God in Himself, and
ise that He ha& promised us, even etern-,!  life." I John the absolutely sovereign Potentate? Where,  ,then,
225. It is the promise of His coming, II Pet. 3  :4;          would be the party to whom God would promise any-
the promise to enter into His rest, Heb. 4 :l ; the prom-     thing or offer something, unless He Himself in His
ise to be heir of :the world, "for the promise, .that he sovereign good pleasure ordained and formed that
should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham,          Gcpa&y"?    Indeed, if there is a promise of the gospel,
or to his seed, through the law, but through the right-       it must follow that this promise is entirely His, con-
eousness of faith." Rom. 4  :13. For this reason, Scrip- ceived by Him, given by Him, realized by Him, be-
ture  speaks  of "the Holy Spirit of promise" : Eph. &owed by Him, and that also the heirs of the promise
1:13 ; and of "the children of the promise" tkxt is of are sovereignly determined by Him alone. Then God
those children that, in distinction from mere children has sovereignly foreknown and foreordained  Ithe heirs
according  Fto the flesh, are born in virtue of and           of the promise in His everlasting counsel. "For whom
through the power of the promise, Rom. 9 :8 ; and of          He hath foreknown, them He also  diid predestinate
the heirs of the Promise, unto whom the Lord seals            to be conformed  acconding  to the image of  Hi!s Son;
the riches of the promise and the inheritance with an         and whom He did predestinate, them He also called,
oath, Heb.  6:17; 11:9. Hence, when the apostle Peter an.d whom He called them He aLso justified, and whom
on the day of Pentecost, standing on the threshold of         He justified them He also glorified."  R,om.  8:29,  30.
the new dispensation, preaches the gospel,  he declares  :    Th.e promise  of the gospel is sure, but it  &s sure to the
"For unto  YOU  is the promise, and unto your children,       heirs of the promise alone.         One may, therefore,
and ko all that are afar off, as many as the Lord our preach the gospel promiscuously to all men without
&ii shall call." Acts 2  :39. The gospel, therefore, is ,distinction, but a gospel without distinction he may
the glad news concerning the promise that was given preach to no one in the name of God. If ,he does, he
to Abraham snd his seed, the heirs of the promise,            makes God a liar, Christ powerless to save, the gospel
 chosen before the  fo,undation  of  tfhe world, as they of none effect, and the assurance of the believer
 walk in the midst of darkness of this sin-cursed world.      groundless. But, according to Holy Scripture, God's
      And  this promise is sure. It can  never fail. The      promise is sure, and the heirs of the promise are de-
 Word .of God can never be made of none effect. The termined. by His sovereign foreondination. For, lirst


                                    THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 273

of all, the Chief Heir of ithe promise is  Chri& Himself. is not of this worlid. It never did, and it never could
For "to Abraham and his seed are the promises made," arise in the heart of man. Philosophy could never in-
but, mark you well, "He  smith not, And to seeds, as of vent this news. The princes of this world could never
many ; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." conceive of it. It is the gospel of God concerning
Gal.  3:16.  And  ne one dare deny  that Christ is of things that are wholly new. It is, therefore, God Him-
God, sovereignly ordained by Him to be the heir of the self that announces the promise, and that proclaims
promise. But if the Chief Heir of the promise is the gospel of His Son. Or, as the Heidelberg Cate-
ordained of God, so are they that are His. And only chism reminds us: "From the holy gospel, which God
thus could God swear by Himself thait He would surely Himself revealed." To the heirs of the promise the
fulfill the promise to Abraham and his seed. "For gospel comes by rcwelatian  even (though it is proclaim-
when God made promise to Abraham, because he could ed by men. No mere word of man is sufficient for this.
swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, The heirs of the promise must hear the Word of  Ctid.
Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will Hence, the Catechism certainly touched upon the heart
multiply thee. And so,  :after  he had patiently endured, of  hhe matter, when, in  :answer  to the question:
he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the "whence knowest thou this,?" it called attention to "the
greater: and an oath for confirmation %.s"to  them the holy gospel, which God Himself first revealed in Para-
end of all strife. Wherein God, willing to shew more dke; and afterwards published by the pabtriarchs  .and
abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the  im- prophets, and represented by the sacrifices, and other
mu&bility   ,of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath:        ceremonies of the law; and lastly [has fulfilled it by
That by two immutable things, wherein it was impos- His only begotten Son." Always it is of God. Always
sible for God to lie, we might have a strong consola- Ithere were pilgrims of the night that were heirs of
tion, who <have fled for refuge to-lay  hold on the hope the promise in this world, from its very beginning.
set before us." Beb. 6  :1&18;  To  It.he  heirs of the And always they longed for the euarqelion,  for some
promise the promise is sure, because it is based on glad nem concerning the promise. And again, always
a,nd rooted in the immutable counsel of the eternal it was none other than God Himself that satisfied their t
God !                                                        earnest  loriging  by publishing to them the gospel  con-
   NOW,  .t-he  announcement of this promise is the gos- coming His Son, our Lord Jesus Chrjlst !
pel. It is euan,qelicm,  good tidings, good news, because                                                   1%.  H.
it is the sure promise of light in the midst of dark-
ness, of righteousness in the mitdst of sin, of eternal
life to them that lie in the  mid&  of death. For, by                                 -
nature the heirs of the promise lie with all the world
under the curse, in the darkness of sin and death. In                       The Gainsayers  -
and with that world they are of the tist Adam, born
in sin, children of wrath, even as also "the others."                 (The literary  Comest  of Christianity
,4nd the promise, and that, too, exactly because it is                     in the first three centuries)
the promise of God, causes the glad light of hope to
dawn in their hearts the Ihope of redemption and de-            Having noticed how the enemies of Zion strove to
liverance out of the night of misery through the which silence the truth through their slanders and heresies,
they walk.    Good news the announcement of this having exposed  the?se heresies  ,as to their primary
promise of the gospel is to them, especially because principles, let us now, in the second place, have regard
that promise speaks of things which "eye hath not to  t*he significance of this vile doing of unbeliei for
seen, and ear hath not heard, and that never entered the church  and the truth.
into the  ,heart of man." The promise  <does not merely        If we are to succeed in the attempt to grasp this
bring to them the prospect of redemption from their significance, we certainly must take our stand on the
sin, and the deliverance from  &.ir present death, and foundation of the  ltruth and the fact that also this
of a return to former state of integrity, but it holds       rioting of unbelief  .was God's work, that in  sland-
before them the glorious hope of eternal life, fthe life dering the gospel and those who identified themselves
of immortality and incorruption, the hope of the in-         with it - %t$he followers of Christ - and in framing
heritance incorruptible and  undefilted,  and that  fade%    their false gospels, the enemies  ,of the kingdom of
not away. And the glory and blessedness. of that state righteousness and truth, functioned as God's agents
that is assured them by the unchangeable promise of but on this accounit  none the less responsible. Here,
God, is as highly exalted above the original state in the too, when it is a que&ion of the sovereign reason of
first Paradise, as the Lord of heaven is exalted above this form of hostility, we must look to God as One
the man that is of the  ea,rth earthy. The news of the who hardeneth  whom He will (Ram. 9  :18) and "who
gospel, therefore, is unspeakably good news.        It is work&h all things after the counsel  of  `his will" (Eph.
euungelion  indeed. And it is news, For the  gospd           1. ;11). TO express this truth and fact in the language

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

borrowed from the Scriptures, God gave up the heath- go& of these heresies; it went to pondering its own
en to the sin of slandering the truth, th.rou.gh  the lusts great articles of faith with a zeal f,ully  aroused and
of their own heart, the pride and willing ignorance opposed them, as fortified by the  Script.ures,  to the
of their heart (Rom. 124). He raised up the heathen vain imaginings of the adversary. In this conflict, of
`(Ex.  9:16)  ; moved them (Ex. 9  :16), through  <the some 680 years duration, it had the victory in Christ.
agency of  Satan (1 Chr. 21  :l) ; and turned their During the progress of this conflict  i,C, was steadily
hearts (Ps.  105225)  to oppose the Gospel.  It is on led into the truth by Christ's Spirit and also empow-
this  acount,   tkaJt the rioting of unbelief, with which ered to exhibit the truth, clearly, logically, *and witlh
we here havIe to (do, had greatest significance. Over preckion,  in its symbols - the great creeds of Chris-
it  wa suspended the sovereign counsel of God; and it tendom. So was unbelief again made to work for good
came forth out of the store of His providence. `He to God's believing people. So Idid God again achieve
willed this opposition and also worked it. And the His purpose  through  the opposition of darkness.
reasons are revealed. Let us consider the following.            But this  conflict  was not without its peculiar dan-
       From the very outset the church apprehenmded  the ger. The church was exposefd  to the temptation of its
great facts and truths that form the content of the sinful flesh to look at the Bible solely as a storehouse
Christian faith, confessed God as the creator of heaven of theological weapons and thus to forget  *that it is
and earth ; the creation of man in the image of God ;        also the medium of  fellowlnhip between a covenant
his fall by his own guilt and the instigation of Satan; God and His people. The Roman hierarchy of more
Ithe Messia&hip  of Jesus, His divine Sonship,  incarna- recent centuries succumbed to this temptation ; and
tion, true hnmanity and essential divinity ; His vicari- the result was that faith lost its  sense  of trust in
ous atonement; His resurrection, exaltation at the Christ and assumed the character of intellectual assent
right hand of God and secon'd coming; the personal- t.o the trsditiom of men. All contact with the Scrip-
ity of the  Htoly Spirit  anld thus the  on.e true God - tures Was lost.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Christian church               Let us now have regard to this conflict as such.
was at no time without  t:his  atholic orthodoxy. It It is important to consider that it was carried on
possessed these truths from the beginning, not only with 1) the  non-Chrilskian  gentile world; 2) the  non-
objectively in the Scriptures but subjectively in its        Christian Jews; 3) the heretics in         the  Church.
own consciousness and spiritual experience. But its As compared with the Christian literature occasion-
insight into these articles of faith was, at the begin- ed by the contest with the Jews and with ,the heretics,
ning, vague and <defective. The people of God felt the literature produced in the contest with the  perae-
the force of these truths in their own hearts, but were cuting heathen was unique in this one respect that it
at first unable to exhibit them in  cl,ear form before purposed to sh,ow that of all religions the religion of
the mind.       The truth had to be developed and its Christ alone was of worth and that therefore, instead
logical apprehension unfolded. And to this task the of being outlawed and  its devotees harassed, it assur-
church   aIs.  add,ressed itself by inward constraint of edly should receive from the Roman rulers the legal
its faith and love crying for knowledge  ,and the  re-       right to exist. That ,this purpose might be achieved,
imoval of apparent logical difficulties in the revela- the fathers did two things; ,they defended with their
tion of the mysteries of God. It understood, did the pen the Christian religion and with it the Ch,ristians
church, that so long as Gold's people must live by the again& the slander and ma&treatment of the heathen  ;
;holy Scriptures, do not see face to face, and know not they exposed in their treatises ,the heathen religion
as they are known, Christ is seen and received and ex- for what it was  - an utterly and worthless thing.
perienced in the Word alone, and that therefore when Tqhe literature that resulted  fromthis  conflict with the
knowledge is obscure and imperfect, Christ,  antd in heathen went down in history as bearing the name
Hirs face the Father, is not being seen as He is, and ilpology.   Polemic ils a better name, as it comes from
that, in consequence, thereof, the joy of believers is a word meaning to wage war, both offensive and de-
not full. To stimulate this  (holy urge of the primi- fensive. The fathers did so. But they did not, cer-
tive church  to increase its knowledge of the truth and tainly, express to the heathen their regrets for the
to arrive at a clear  understan,ding  of God's gospel, religion of Christ as if it were some improper or in-
the Lord  raked  up heretics and turned their hearts to juriom thing. In a word,  .they did not apologize for
assail the gospel and to oppose ,to it their subjective the `Christian religion.
and baseless speculations. And the faith of the church          This "Apologetic" literature bega.n  to make its ap-
bestirred itself as it always does when confronted by pearance  c&a A.D. 117, thus shortly after the death
unbelief, and the warfare with the lie was on.       The of the last apostle  (c&a 100) and grew in volume till
church  swas strange to that kind of tolerance  - so the close of the third century, 300 A.D. Most of these
prevalent in recent times  - that is most intolerant of works have been lost. The two which we possess in
the truth but can bear, in t,he name of peace, with most     full are those ofthe martyr Justin (died 166) and of
any lie of satan. It attacked, did the church, the ,false    Origin in the first half of the 3rd century, 200-250.


                                     T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          275

Other outstanding writers of this type of Christian ated as Trivia, she is horrible with three hea,ds and
literature were Tertullian  (died ~&XX 220), Minucius with many hands. What is your Jupiter  hi,mself?
Felix (died 230) and the later Arnobius and Lactan-        Now he is represented in a statue as beardless, now he
tius, all of whose sphere of labor was North Africa.       is set up as bearded; and when he is called H,amman
In some of these works the writers appeal directly to he has horns; and when  Capitolinus., then he wields
the Roman Caesars or to the governors of the prov- his thunderbolts  ; and when Latiaris, he is sprinkled
inces ; in others tt~ the general heath*en  public.        with gore. . .  ." Why should I speak of the detected
   In their atta&s  upon the pseudo-r&gions  and the adultery of Mars and Venus, and of the violence of
false gods of the heathen, these fathers did anything Jupiter Ganymede,-a  deed consecrated, as you say,
but mince words. A few excerpt.s  chosen at random in heaven? And all these things have been put for-
from this literature will bear out this stateme&  and ward with this view, that a certain authority might
also Idemonstrate  what the fathers' purpose with' these be gained for the vices of men. By these fictions, and
treatises.                                                 such as these, and by lies of a more attractive,kind,  ,the
   In his "A Plea For The Christians", directed to the minds of boys are corrupted ; and with the same fables
Emperors Marcus Aurelius Anonius and  Lucian  Com-         clinging to them, they grow up even to the strength
modus, the Athenian Christian Athenagoras sets out of mature age ; and, poor wretches, they grow old in
in th,is vein: "In your empire, greatest of sovereigns.    the same beliefs, although the truth is plain if they
different  natiuns  have different customs and laws; twill only seek arfter it."
and no one is hindered by law or fear of punishment           "Which  of the poets," asks Tertullian,  "does  not
from following his ancestral usages, however ridicu- mock your gods? One sets Appolo to, keep sheep; an-
lous qthese  may be. . . . The Egyptians reckon among other hires out Neptune to build a wall; Pindar de-
tjheir gods even cats, and crocodiles:, and serpents, and clares Aesculapius was deservedly scathed for his
dogs.    And to all these both you and the laws give avarice in exercising the art of medicine to a bad pur-
permission so to act, deeming on the one hand, that        pose ; wh&ile the writers of tragedy and comedy alike,
to believe in no god at all is impious and wicked, and take for their subjects the crimes or the miseries of
on the other that it is necessary for each man to wor- the deities."
ship the god he prefers, in order that, through fear          Titian in his address to the Greeks cautions against
of the deity, men ,may be kept from wrong-doing. But being led away by the solemn assemblies of the philo-
why-why is a mere name (in this instance t,he name sophers "who are no philosophers, who dogmatize one
Jtwus Christ)  odious to you? Names are not deserv- against th,e other, though each one vents but the crude
ing of hatred. It is the unjust act that call for penalty fancies of the moment. They have moreover many
and punishment. And,  azcordinlgly,  with admiration collisions among themselves ; each one hates the other ;
of your mildness and gentleness, and your peaceful and they indulge in conflict.ing  opinions, and their arro-
benevolent disposition toward every man, individuals gance makes them eager for the highest places.
live in the possession of equal rights; and the citie;,       "The philosophers?, Titian continues, "have in-
according to their rank, share in equal honor; and vented great and woniderful  things. They have un-
the whole empire under your intelligent sway, enjoys covered one of their shoulders; they let  *their hair
profound peace., But for us, who are called Christians grow long; they cultivate their beards; their nails are
you have not in like manner cared; but, although we        like the claws of wild beasts. 0 Man (the cynic) com-
commit no wrong-nay, as will appear in  tlhe sequel .peting with :the (dog. You know not God and so have
of this discourse, are of all men most righteously and turned to the imitation of an irrational animal. You
piously  Idisposed  toward the deity and toward your cry out in public with the assumption of authority;
government-you allow us to be harrassed, plundered, and if you receive nothing, you indulge in abuse, and
and persecuted, the multitude making war upon us for philosophy is with you the art of getting money. You
our name alone (the name Christian).                       receive from your predecessors (Greek philosophers
    "What are the very forms and appearances of the of former days) doctrines which clash with one an-
gods ?" asks Minucius Felix, "do they not argue the other, you the inharmonius are fighting against the
contemptible and disgraceful character of your gods? harmonies (the gospel)  ".
Vulcum is a lame god, and crippled;  Apolo, smooth-            Also Justin finds the philosophers in conflict among
faced after so many years ; Aesculapius well-beared ; themselves. With Thales the essence of all things ?S
Neptune with sea-green eyes  ; Minerva with eyes bluish water; with Anaximander,  air; with Heraclitus, fire ;
grey ; Juno with ox eyes  ; Mercury with winged feet ; with Pythagoris, number.
Pan  .with hoofed feet;  Sat,urn  with feet in fetters;        In this vein did the fathers  ,deride,  in  t,heir disc
Janus indeed wears two faces, as if he might walk courses to the heathen, the things, the civilization and
with looks turned back; Diana sometimes is a huntress., culture, of Athens and of Rome, of t.hat Greaco-Roman
with her robe gisded up high ; and as the Ephesian world in which they lived and labored, confessed and
she has many and fruitful breasts; and when exagger-       witnessed  - confessed the Name, however odius to


276                                  TsHE  STANBAkU  B E A R E R

the heathen. True, th.ey  used little diplomacy  - dimd          Another argument of paganism against Chris-
these fathers. In this they were like the prophets of tianity was its novelty and late appearance. This the
Scripture. But they had courage  - the courage of fathers justified by the need of the human race to be
faith. And they were prepared to lose their life in trained unto Christ. But they also argued that Chris-
order to gain a crown. It requires little daring to           tianity existed long before Christ, that it went back
denounce the idols of the worbd  out of <earshot of the :to the very gates of paradise, that it existed from the
world. But to shout such words of condemnation in             eternity in the counsel of God.
tlhe ears of the world, is a different matter. That is           The unbelieving Jews, too, had their objections.
what these fathers (did. These discourses were ad- To their charge tiat Christianity cuts loose from the
dressed to the heathen  - to kings and magistrates in religion of Dhe Old Testament, the fathers opposed
Babylon  - and circulated among them.                         those portions of the Scriptures which teach the tem-
       Perusing the apologetic writings of these fathers, porality of the Mosaic ceremonies  and rites and their
we learn  *that the heathen raised several  objections        true function, which was to foreshadow the things of
against the Christians. What was constantly laid at           Christ's kingdom, so that when the fulness of time
their charge was that they observed a holy rite in which `was come all these ceremonies waxed old and vanishd.
they killed a little child and then ate it; and that             In reply to the objection that the divinity of Christ
thereupon they practiced incest, the dogs overturning is destructive of the oneness of God, they maintained
the lights so as to get them the shamelessness of dark- that the Old Testament Scripitures  themselves make a
ness for their impious lust. "This," says Tertullian,         distinction in the being of God, such as the book of
"is what is constantly laid at our charge, and yet,"          Exodus, where the angel of the  L,ord is plainly Je-
he continues, "you take no pains to elicit the truth of hovah and yet distinct from Him ; and the Messianic
what we have  be.en  so long accused.        Either bring psaIms, which ascribe divine honor to Christ.
then the matter to the light of day if you believe it,           Against the charge that the so-called Christ of the
or give it no credit as having never inquired into it.        Christians was dihonorable and inglorious, so much
On the ground of your double dealing, we are entitled so that He was crucified, it was replied that t,here was
to lay it down to you here that there is no reality in        to be two events of His--one, to quote Justin, "in
the thing which you dare not search out."                     which He was pierced by you (the Jews) ; a second,
       T,he Christians were accused of sacrilege and trea- when the Lord, the Father of all, brought Him again
son because they refused to worship the gods of Rome.         from the earth, setting Him at His own right hand,
This was the sum total of their ofIen.ding.  The -fath-       until He makes His enemies His footstool."         !
ers replied also to this charge. "Punishment," says
Turtullian, "were due to Christians, if it were made             Justin advances as proof of the fallacy of Judaism
plain that those to  w'hom they  refuse:1 all worship the fulfillment of the prophecies and the types of
were indeed divine. But you say, they are gods. We            Christ. The destruction of Jerusalem, in accordance
protest and appeal from yourselves to your knowledge ; with the prediction of Christ, plainly bespeaks, ac-
let that condemn us, if it can deny that all these gods cording to Justin, its condemnation by  God. He finds,
of yours were but men. Being men, they are able to too, that all the main features of the gospel history
protect neither empire nor anyone else. This being were foretold : The birth of Christ from the virgin ;
true, the Christians pay them no divine homage. But the visit of the magi ; the flight into Egypt; the bap-
they offer prayer for the safety of our princes to the tism by John and the $descent  of the Holy Spirit like
eternal, the true,  anfd the living God."                     a dove upon Christ; Christ's death by the cross; His
       They were called to account as harm-doers on the resurrection, ascension and reign in glory.
ground of their being useless in the affairs of life.            In these "apologies" the fathers are also positive.
"I will confess," says Tertullian, "that  t,here  are some They endeavor to set forth the religion of Christ in its
who  in, a sense may complain of Christians that they true light. But despite these "Apologies" persecutions
are a sterile race : as, for instance, pimps? and panders,    continued, so that the only effect this literature had
and bath-suppliers; assassins, and poisoners, and sor- upon the unbelieving, reprobated heathen, is to harden
cerers; soothsayers, too,  ,diviners,  and astrologers. But them. But with this witness of the truth in circulsa-
it is a noble fruit of Christians that they have no tion among them, they were without excuse. On the
fruit for such as these."                                     other hand, God's believing people, so many as ha.d
       ,The heathen inveighed also against the truths         ears to hear, were strengthened by it and brought to
and facts of  Ch'ristianity.     Especially obnoxious to a clearer and deeper knowledge of the Gospel of God.
them was the doctrine of the resurrection of the body.        For these writings are laden with truth and bespeak
The fathers replied by reference to the power of God;         deep and ardent love of Christ on the part of their
and argued its reasonableness from the divine ima.ge          authors. We have still to deal with the literary con-
in man an'd from the righteousness and goodness of test of the fathers with t!ie heretics  in the church.
God.                                                                                                     G. M. 0.


                                      T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     277

     Prohibition And Temperance                              I found a very interestin,g  article under the head-
                                                          ing "Never Prohibition Again," in the Atlantic Month-
                                                          ly of  Jan. 1943, by Robert M. La Follette Jr. Says
   Anyone who might think that the subject Prohibi- Mr.. La Follette: "Prohibition is attempting :o stage
tion  an.d Temperance is not up to date, is wholly mis- a comeback. Under the guise of wartime ne:essitieL;,
taken. The writer of this article also thought that the t:he dry forces have launched the same kind of cam-
above subject  wm really out of date. However a  1i:tle paign that brought about  ithe  aadop"iion of the Eigh-
investigation was sufficient to make him change his teenth Amendment after the last war.  -  One  spokes-
mind. It is true of course that the prohibition era is man of the prohibition cause was quoted in the press
a matter of Ithe past. However, that does not mean only a few months ago as promising: `When prohibi-
that all citizens of our country  are satisfied with the tion comes in as a wartime measure, that will give us
present situation.. Fact is that there are still millions a chance to rally our forces  and nail it down perman-
of prohibitionists who woulld like nothing better than ently.' The strategy of the prohibition movement, as
to once more force the prohibition yoke upon the he frankly stated it, is first, to try and dry up all mili-
shoulders of all American citizens. This point we hope tary camps and establishments ; second, to dry up all
to prove in the sequence of our article.                  war industrial areas ; and third, to dry up the en-
   First we wish to state what is understood by pro- tire country. How prohibition  came about in 1917
hibition and what is  usually meant by temperance. and what he thinks about it, Mr. La Follette describes
By prohibition we understand of course that the law,      as follows : "The people allowed <the fanatics of the
either local or federal law, prohibits the sale and use of temperance movement to lead them away from the
liquor. During the prohibition era it was a trans- principle of temperance. As a result the country `vvm
gression of  the law to sell, make or drink liquor, The plunged into an era  of  ,moral  hypocrisy, political cor-
only exceptions that were made dealt with wine for *?%@ion and institutional degeneration stemming from
communion and liquor for medicinal purpose. "The an "experiment" in  natio'nal repression  w,hich proved
word temperance has long been used to characterize to be thoroughly  unworkab,le."          (I underscored J.D.) .
the movement for the temperate use of intoxicants The writer of the above mentioned article certainly
and for the activities of societies of abstainers and would oppose  ,the return of prohibition, says he: "For
those favoring a restriction of the use and sale of       bhirteen  years this country grappled with the pro-
alcoholic beverages."                                     hibition law, and finally threw it overboard with a
   Before I give my opinion on the above subject  T.      great feeling of relief in 1933. Throughout that un-
will first prove that prohibition is becoming once more fortunate period the unenforcibility of the prohibition
a live issue,  and secondly that the temperance move- law threatened the effectivenss  of all law,."
ment is not what it claims to be if one would merely          From the above quotations two things are very
judge by  t.he sound of t,he word.                        plain: 1. There `is at present a strong movement in
   In "The American Mercury," of March 1943, Mr. operation in our country which aims at the return
Jack Van Norden  writes an article under the heading: of prohibition. 2. This  movement   is strongly opposed
"Prohibition is Returning." In this particular article by others  whose chief  objsection against prohibition
the author claims that the cry for prohibition has ih- seems to be that it is not workable. - Fundamentally
creased particularly in connection withthe  rumors that of course rthe one is just as utilitarian as the other.
our soldiers are drinking excessively. Due to these We claim that prohibition.  a-s  such  is wrong, the prin-
rumors "The Office of War Information was obliged ciple of  pr&ibition is wrong.. The prohibition law
to institute a thorough investigation because of the forbids something which in itself is no sin. And be-
unsubstantiated rumors of excessive drinking in the       cause the fundamental principle is wrong our country
Army,." Its findings were made public, so Mr. Van aalso found out that it did not work. Prohibition was
Norden  tells  us,  in  A Survey  of  Drinking. Habits in indeed the cause of moral  hypocricy, political corrup-
and uyouti ilT9?7$J Camps. One OI the conclusions of tion, and institutional degeneration, as Mr. La Fol-
this survey was: "There is not  exceislsive drinking lette puts it.
among troops, and drinking does not constitute a              Burt what about temperance? Just as there is `a
serious problem." In other words prohibition for our prohibition movement so there is also a Temperance
soldiers is not necessary. Van  Norden  himself is no movement. Particularly the women have shown great
enthusiast for prohibition either. But he claims that interest in temperance, `as can easily be explained.
besides the many temperance organizations also a Looking up some references I found that a woman's
great number of Churches are actively seeking pro- crusade for temperance started  about  1870 and crys-
hibition. Says Mr. Van Norden:  "The Board of Tem- tallized here in America in the Woman's Christian
perance of the Methodist Church wzs the leading Pro- Temperance Union, founded by Frances E. Willard in
testant organization behind the last fight for prohi-     1883. This organization is still very active o;;er  the
bibition. It is still that today."                        entire United States. For many years it has been phe


278                                   T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

most influential movement for temperance and pro-                 Do we believein the unrestricted liquor traffic?
hibition. Trying to find out what really are the pur-          No, not at all, we certainly believe in having 1aw.s that
poses and aims of the W. C. T. U., I consulit& a book          restrict  *and regulate  rthe liquor traffic and punish the
entitled : "Women's  Torah-Bearers."  In this book 1 misuse of liquor.. The government must have laws re-
found a number of principles which express the aim specting the liquor traffic, but then the laws that do
of the entire organization. I will quote a little of the not condemn the use but the misuse of ljlqpor. Pro-
material that has a direct bearing on" our  subje-t.           hibition makes sin that which is no s in. And that is
Quote: "What  is the  C, W. T. U? It is  ctn organiza- our principal objection against prohibition. The dan-
tion of Christian women banded together for the pro- ger is also that the government may arbitrarily pro-
tection of the home, &e abolition of the liquor tra&,          hibit the use of many other things which in themsel'ves
and the triumph of Christ's Golden Rule in cusbom and          are not sinful at all.
in law." -  T:he reason for joining the organization              But what about Temperance? It seems to me the
and signing the total abstinence pledge are given in           Christian naturally favors temperance. Not aa temper-
the Declaration of Principles written by Frances E. ance which is prohibition in disguise, but a (temperance
Willard: "We believe in the coming of His Kingdom which has as its purpose to discourage the misuse of
w,hose  service  is perfect freedom, because His laws, liquor. Nobody can deny that the liquor traffic caus-
written in our members as well as in nature and in es much trouble and sorrow, even in some Christian
grace, are perfect, converting the soul."  -  T,he  pled,ge    homes. Should we not favor discouraging the abuse
of total abstinence reads : "I hereby solemnly promise, and misuse of God's gifts? Indeed, by all means,
God helping me, to abstain from all  distihed ferment- because the misuse and abuse of something, no matter
ed and  malt  liquors*  including wine, beer  anId cider,      what it is, is always wrong, sinful. Hence, we believe
and to employ all proper means to discourage the use           in true Christian temperance, even in a denial of our-
of and traffic in the same. To confirm and enforce             selves for the brother's sake who may be weak. But
the rationale of this pledge, we declare our purpose such `a temperance has nothing to do with the human-
to educate the young; to form a better public senti-           istic attempt to improve the world by force. If the
ment; to reform, sofar  as possible, by religious, ethical, temperance movement had no other aim but encour-
and scientific means, the drinking classes; to seek the aging temperance among the men in the armed forces
tra.nsfor,ming  power of Divine grace for ourselves and among the men and women in civilian life we
and all for whom we work, that they and we may wil-            could find no quarrel with it.       Now  I would say:
fully transgress no law of pure and wholesome living;          "Watch out, lest you become a humanist, a podt-mil-
and finally we pledge ourselves to labor and to pray lennialist, a person who can not distinguish between
that all these principles founded upon the gospel of arbitrary compulsion and true Christian liberty.." Con-
Chrish may be worked out into custom of so:iety  and           clusion?    No prohibition, but christian  Itemperance.
the laws of the land."                                         And by all means christian temperunce,  not its human-
   From the above it is plain that the temperanae              istic substitute.
movement aims at much more than mere temperance.                                                               J. D.
T,he term temperance is deceiving. In as far as  I
could ascertain Temperance as a movement aims at                                         -
total abstinence and prohibition wherever this is  pm7
sible. Of course if your  teachihg and speaking and
education brings not enough temperance it is handy
to call on the law and enforce prohibition. The tem-                  The Christian And Strikes
perance movement has always been the right hand
of the prohibition movement. But the  nune is cer-                A strike has been defined  as "the act of a body of
tainly misleading. From the above quotatiom. it is             workmen employed by the same master, in stopping
very plain that also the temperance movement can noll          work together at a prearranged time, and refusing to
expect our support and that we, Reformed believers, continue until higher wages, or shorter time, or some
can not join such organizations even though some of other concession is granted them by the employer."
them call themselves "Christian." 6t seems to me it            (Black's Law Dictionary).
were better that the word `christian' were changed                This; defi&ion, which agrees in ess,ence  with var-
into `humanistic.' Moreover the principles and the ious other definitions on the subject, can serve our
pledge of the W. C. T. U. sound rather poat-millennial-        purpose to establish what is to be understood by the
istic to me. Still an other reason why we could not strike as it is commonly known among UB in .the sphere
join the movement as represented by the W. C. T. U. of labor and industry.
And, as I mentioned already, the difference between               It is necessary to make a distinction at the outset
ithe prohibition movement and the temperance  `move- between a strike and simply quitting work. While a
ment seems to be merely a difference of degree.                strike is a refusal to work until certain demands are


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             270
lll_--_.- - - .               ~__-_---                                             .-_                      -
met by the employer, the strikers have no intention of main, sand each of us is obligated to respect that  God-
giving up their jobs or of losing their positions to          given right. Not to do so is conspiracy and rebellion.
others. To carry their .point  they must of necessity In any other sphere of life, an uprising like a strike
prevent anyone else from filling their places, else the would be consider&d  nothing short of conspiracy, an
strike would simply amount to an exchange of em- act of open rebellion against the authorities, a simple
ployees.    Besides that, the workmen band Itoge'.her,        :u& of extortion. And the concessions gained by such
either through personal choice or under the domina- means would be considered ill-gotten gains.                       Any
tion of some labor organization, to cease working other contract, so obtained, would be considered il-
simultaneously at a prearranged time, usually at the legal by any court of justice. But the law has learned
busiest and most inopportune time for the employer. to wink at the evil of strikes, which :does  not yet mean
The strike is either so arranged that the employer is that they are justified by the Word, snd in the sight
overawed and intimidated by the mere force of num- of God.
bers, or otherwise it is so well timed that his business          Someone may object  .that there are also other rights
is hampered and possibly so seriously crippled that  lhe and duties to ,be considered. The Christian laboring
is forced  ao comply with  th,eir demands or face his man has an obligation to support his family, give his
own economic ruin. T,he purpose of the strike is none children a  Ch,ristian education, contribute  ,to the
other than to extort by compulsion some concession Church and other institutions of charity,. He even has
from the employer that can be obtained in no other ra duty to militate against the injustices that he meets
way. (See Cogley. "Law of Strikes and Labor Or- in the world round about him, which he cannot shake
ganization.")                                                 off by  wking: Am I my brother's keeper? He owes it
   If we are ready to agree .that the Isboring man ha: +o his employer to demand of him to correct any evi-
certain rights which the employer is duty-bound to dence of injustice that may arise in the plant or fac-
respect. Before he ever accepts a certain position, he tory. He must not become .a partner in evil by silent-
has a right to demand  gust wages and proper working ly ignoring it.
conditions. ,4ny contract that he is asked to sign must
be a free, voluntary and unbiased agreement between              These things may be ever so true,  butt they  ado not
him  and his employer, which both are bound to re- eyeuse   ,him for trespassing uuon  the rights of another.
spect. If any unfavorable or unjust conditions arise,         Nor can he fight evil with evil. ?3e may fight with all
the way of mediation and arbitration is open to him, the power he can muster, as long as he stavs  within
as well  asi  ,the way of appeal for government interven- his own domain and resists  *the evil with the good.
tion if the case demands it. At the same time,  !very The first requisite of a just cause is that  iIt maintains
man is at  libenty to quit his job  an.d seek employment justice.
elsewhere, if necessity demands as long as this does             The main objection that must be raised a*ainst  a
not conflict  wi.th his contract.                             Christian  part.icipating  in strikes, is,  that  a strike is
   On the other hand, the employer also has certain conspiracy in open  ,rebellion  against the Cod-given
rights which must be duly respected by  (the workman. authority of the employer, which is a sin again&  the
   He has the right of personal property. His  fat- fifth `commandment.
tory or shop, with the machinery in it, is his persona!          There a-cc aIso other objections ,that mav be rais-
property, whlich  he can use as he Idesires,  without anv-    ed. We can raise  th`e objection that a strike. taken
one preventing him.       It is  lthe inalienable right of only by itseif, is already an act of violence. Even if
every man to freely use and enjoy his own pronerty,           no weapons are in evidence, or no other violent acts
as; long as he `stays  within his rights, and no one can are committed, $he mere fact that the workmen amum-
interfere with him.. Imagine a guest in your home ing authority in the plant, preventing the emplover
who would prevent  YOU  from sitting in your own the  fr,ee use of his property, hindering him from
chairs, sleeping on your own beds and eating from rlmning  his business as he sees fit. and threatening
your OWII table, or even would stand outside of your to. cripple or ruin his business, is already an act of
house in order to prev:ent'  you from using and enjoy- violence. A toy-gun hold-up is still a  hol,d-up.  If the
Pa your home as you see fit.                                  Christian laborer  is looking for justice. he must not
   The employer  aIs0  hm the right to manage and =ek it with the sword. He who takes up the sword
-ontrol  his own business without any outside interfer- sfiall perish by it.
ence.    He has  t.he right, not his employees. to  sav          Which does not mean that a Christian must take
whether he wants his machinerv to rim and produc-             --I attitude of passive resistance. simply bearing the
t;on to continue. He even has the right to choose hiq brunt  of social <injustice without doing anything about
workmen, determine their number and their  nos%ion,           it. J have never been an advo:ate  of non-resistance.
as well as the wages he intends to pav them, withotlt nor ever maintained "that the Christian must be sat-
being subjected to any form of compulsion by his ser- isfied  with whatever position he is placed in, because
vants. After all, a man is sovereign in  his own  do-         it is the will of Cod",  as B. V. charges in the Jan. 1st


       2gc)                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

      issue of the  Stanldard Bearer. The way of arbitration consider lthe whole strike clause a dead issue, because
       is always open to every  worlunan.        If he  love3  jus- it is very unlikely that they will ever use it anyway.
       tice he will fi,ght a long and persistent battle against      But why maintain such an objectionable, and at the
       the evil he meets, and will do it without faltering. Be- same time dangerous, clause  in their rules of action?
       sides that, there is also  athe way of appeal for govern-     Why not remove it, .and maintain a simple, positive
       ment intervention. The government also has an ob-             stand against every act of violence in the sphere of
       ligation to protect the rights of its ci'tixens. And there labor and industry? `Can anyone tell us why this
       is still the third possibility of quitti'ng his job, if he    clause remains standing where it is, if they have no
       can do so without breaking his contract. If arbitra-          intention of making use of it? Must this clause prob-
       tion and appeal for government intervention both fail, ably also serve as a toy-gun?
       the workman can still give up his job and seek em-               The matter is not so unimportant as some would
       ployment elsewhere. But if nothing at all avails him,         have us think. In the last .analysis, a Christian will
      he still cannot resort to violence.                            strike or he  wil,l  not  strike,  but in either case he must
          Nor can we entirely ignore the objection .that the         know what he is doing. A Christian labor organiza-
       strike is unavoidably accompanied by other acts of            tion will either Idefend the strike and allow, or force
      violence. Strikers soon learn that ,their  efforts were its members to participate in it, or it will condemn it
       futile unless they could prevent others from filling the and agitate against it with all its might. And such
       places they had voluntarily surrendered. The result a Christian labor organization will either stand or
       is picketing, boycotting and sit-down strikes. Even fall on its  Ch,ristian  principles. If it is to exist, apart
.     peaceful picketing, although frequently condoned, is from and opposed to every form of worldly union, it
      but another means of  iatimid'ating  the employer or must maintain its distinctive, Christian character
      preventing him from making free use. of his personal *throughout. That is its only right of existence. Let
      rights. Boycotting seeks to ostracize him from the             it be consistent in every detail.
      business world and from Eociety,  and thus' cut off his                                                                  c .   IL.
      means of existence or ruin his business, unless he com-
      plies with the Idemands.  that are laid upon him. Any
       Chrisltian taking part in such action may gain his end
      and profit materially from his efforts, but spiritually
      he can but elrpect leanness of soul, lacking the peace of
      mind that accompanies God's approval on our  actians.
          But the main objection is, that a strike is  con:pir-                      WEDDING  ANNIYERSARY
      acy against those whom God has placed in authority
      over us. The Christian owes obedience to God first                On February 26, our dear parents,.
      of all, and subjection to those in authority for God's
      sake. Any violent opposition to the "powers that be"                                  JOHN BROEK
      is rebellion against God, motivated by sin, instead of                                        and
      arising from the principle of love to God. Our love                      ELSIE ELIZABETH BROEK-Wassink
      to God demands love to the neighbor, even when he is hope to commemorate their 30th Wedding Anniversary.
      our enemy according to the flesh.                                 We, their grateful children, extend our hearty congratula-
               With these things in mind, it remains a problem tions to them, and thank our Heavenly Father for His grace
      to me why the Christian Labor Association shoud have and loving kindness in sparing them for each other and us
      a  .strike  clause in  .their  constitution, condoning strikes these many years. We pray that He will grant them many
      as- a last resort. They want to maintain their Chris- more years together, surrounded with His blessings.
      tian principles, object to violence, and yet prefer to
      speak of a "peaceful strike, entirely within the law"                                     their grateful children,
      A thing may be "within the law", and yet not be in                                                   Mr. and Mrs. David Broek
      `harmony with God's Law. Or is it no act of violence                                                 Mr. and Mrs. Arend  Broek
      for a  grou;p of  experienoed  workmen to bring their                                                Margaret
      employer in serious difficulty by simultaneously laying                                              Mr. and Mrs. James Franken
     down fheir tools at a prearranged time? Is a strike,                                                  Mathilda
      from the very nature of the case, not an imposition                                                  Bertha
      upon athe personal rights of the employer? ,Can it be                                                William
      justified that certain concessions are extorted from                                                 Cornie
      the employer by placing him in a precarious situation                                                John Jr.
      from which there is no escape? Or are they ready to                                                  Elsie Elizabeth
      excuse this evil because it  com$es as a last resort?                                                Christine Evelyn
          What is still more strange, is the fact that they              Sioux Center, Iowa.                   and 4 grandchildren.


                                               S T A N D A R D   BEARIsR                                               281

    Christianizing Education In The                             our union. Several states have a law which governs
                                                                the matter. I presume that these laws have been writ-
                    Public Schools                              ten into the statutebooks through the will of the people.
                                                                6 states of our country have a law requiring Bible read-
                                                                ing in public schools:. 6 other states have a law which
     It may be considered a  &range,  yet wholly natural permits Bible reading. On the other hand we know
 phenomenon that the  Idesire to Christianize education of 6 states which specifically prohibit the reading from
 i,n the public schools is generally found among those the Holy Scriptures. 25 states permit Bible reading
  who are lax in tlleir supqort of Christian instrn:tion.       under general terms of the law or by reason of its
  Parents, who are remiss in the fulfillment of their silence. And in still other ,states an adverse opinion
 covenant pled,ge, "to instruct and help instruct this has been given as to the question whether the Bible
 child in the doctrine of this Christian church"; are should  b,e read in the public school, either by the
 usually enthusiastic when confronted with the ques- attorney general, the state board of education, or the
 tion whether thee Bible should be introduced into the state supreme court. In Michilgan  we have no Idefinite
 schools of our land. On the other hand, the true and law, although we do have a court decision favorable
 ardent supporters of our Christian schools are apt to to reading Bible stories.
  look askance at this movement and view it with mis-              It is also of interest to note that t.here is a move-
  givings  aad antipathy.       This phenomenon can be ment on foot to h,ave weekday classes in religious edu-
  easily explained.     The Christian education of  our cation for the children who attend public schols. It is
 children necessarily involves us in certain difficulties probable that the Bible is given a place in the schools
 and sacrifices. How convenient it is  to Christianize of our land even in those states where this is legally
  our neighborhood public schools ! Beside:,  what ob- forbidden. A certain school-board  superintendent toll
 jection can there be against this endeavor? Can there the undersigned that they aim to ple,ase the people,
  be a limit to the scope of Christianity? In contrast and It.hat if the people of a certain locality were in-
  wi+h this view, however, the supporters of Christian clined one way or another, thae instruction in the public
  education, who really understand the purpose and schools would be given accordingly. This will explain
  necessity of the Christian school, realize fully that         wbhy some rural public schools are not far behind many
  their school-system is wholly dependent upon the dis- of our Christian schools. The weekly church school,
  tinctiveness of their institutions. Why have Christian mentioned above, is (defined and described as  "a school
  schools at all if it be our calling to Christianize the of religious education, distinguished from all  other
  public school? Well may the advocates of "Common weekday church groups by its close relationship with
  Grace" vtherefore  fear that their theory is undermin- :the public sc!hool,  with which it coopera&,  but with
  ing the very  found.ations  upon which our Christian which it has no organic relationship." This weekday
  educational  institutions1  have been founded.                church school is: an essential part of the church's edu-
                                                                cational program, carried on under the direction of a
                     Its Current  Practice.                     local church or of several churches. Its sessions are
      In our United States the education of our children held in church buildings, or in buildings owned  or
  (yea, all education) is a privilege and an obligation rented by the weekday church school counci1, or, where
  exercised by  :the people.  T(his cannot be said of all possible and advisable, in public school rooms. These
  the countri,es  in the world today. In Nazi Germany, sessions are held during public school ho'urs, or during
  e.g., the state exercises absolute 3control.  Nazism be-      the last period of the day, or after s,chool.  (Those ar-
lieves in the Absolute State. The State, which, in the rangements are known as "released time", "dismissed
 final analysis is the Fuehrer, the German leader, Hitler, time", and "free time", respectively). The weekday'
  has sole authority over every form of life and  all insti-    church school receives children on released time only
  tutiom within  &he German Reich. Also education is upon written request of parents. Attendance is elect-
  under the absolute authority of the Nazi State. Such ive as far as initial choice of parents  is concerned, but
  is  not  the case, however, in our country.       Here we it is usually compulsory for all children whose parents
  have local school-boards, (district school-boards, state have signed request cards for dismissal from school
  school-boards. Each school-board hm its own super-            for religious  <education. The prim.ary  ob,jective  of the
  i  ltendent.    These school-boards regulate and super- program as stated by the Vermont Council of Churches
  ice the educational program in our various  education-        is to supplement the public school: "To round out a
            Lens. They are  eleoted  by the people and more satisfactory edu'cational  experhence  of the pupil
  therefore answerable t.o the people. In this way the          by guiding him in a discovery and experience of the
  people assume a definite obligation as far as the edu- spiritual and Christian elements of life."
  cation of their children is concerned.                            The Christianizing of education in our public school
      It may be of interest to note the legal status of the children is therefore a matter worthy of our considera,
  Bible in the public  schools  in the various states of tion. The report of the  "1.940   Whit,e   Honsc  Confer-


282                                     T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

ence  on Children in a Democracy" inclu,des the follow-         ness cannot comprehend the light,. The lie cannot re-
ing statement: "Despite the various efforts made by ceive the truth. And on the other hand,  and this is
church groups to educate children in religion, ,the re-         far worse, we may not "cast pearls before swine".
ligious needs of many children are imperfectly met at For, what will be the inevitable result if we  try to
the present time. It has been estimated that approxi- Christianize public instruction by placing the Bible in
mately one-half of *the children and you& in the United the public school.&? Will the Word of God not be sub-
States receive no religious instruction outside the jected to an  unmerci$ul  maltreatment and ridicule?
home."       On the one hand  wse have those who  p!ead         Or, will the Word of God not be viewed and regandecl
for the  use of the Bible in the public schools. And on as merely another "good, moral book", useful  on!y
the other hand  athere is a movement on foot for week- insofar that it can teach the children of the world to
day classes in religious education.          These  weekda:?    lead "good, decent" lives? Is it not true that the true
classes, although not in ,themselves  a part of th,e public     significance of the Bible will be entirdy lost sight of?
schooIs,  are &nevertheless closely related to them, inas- May we as Christian parents, as God's covenant people
much as they cooperate  wi&h them.                              assume this responsibility? I think not.
                      Its  Impossibility.                          Thirdly, is it not clear that the Christianizing of
                                                                public instruction and the sen,din*g of yur children to
       Firstly, any Christianizing of our public schools' public schools  in particular places us in an utterly help-
instruction must necessarily result in a  gener.al, super- less and defenceless  position? If we permit our child-
ficial Christianity,  which is no Christianity at all. This     ren to be counted among &e children of the world can
appears from the laws of those states which require             we expect them to receive an education according to
Bible reading in  th,e public schools. In New Jersey,           the Wand of God, Is there any posiible  way whereby
Pennsylvania, and Tennessee reading must be "without we can enforce our desire and impose upon the world
comment", and in Massachusetts "without w,ritt,en  or our Christian principles? Have we any riight to com-
oral comment". In Georgia, Massachusetts and  Ten- plain if our children slhould  be compelled to imbibe  un-
neSsee any pupil may be excused from the Bible-read- soriptural  teachings? Is there any school society or
ing exercises upon written request of his parents or school-board where we can voice our complaints?
gu.ardian. Besides, ,does this not lie in the v,ery nature Have we not lost all control as far as the training of
of .the case? To Christianize instruction in the public our children is concerned? And, have we any right to
schools one must surely consider the various kinds of complain about unsatisfactory conditions in our Chris-
children represented there. None must be offended.              tian schools if we have  clothed  our children in the
The Protestant, the Catholic, and the Jew must all feel         uniform of the children of the world ?
at home. Instruction must be non-sectarian. It is for
this peason  that Bible reading is advocated "without                                   Its Danger.
any comment". Besides, usually those parts of Scrip-               Thus far we have treated very briefly the negative
ture are read which are considered acceptable by all aspect  of the attempt to Christianize public instruction.
the groups represented. The sermon on ,the mount is I am sure that we must all agree that this  ,task is im-
considered to be such a passage. B&cause of this, how- possible, that we have no calling to Christianize the
ever, such a Bible reading is a gross misinterpretation         world, and that we may not expose Holy Writ to a
of Holy Writ. Fact remain's, does it not, that to rea3          being trampled upon.
certain passages of  *the Bible and leave the impression           This, however, is not a11 that must be said in this
that they are equally acceptable by and beneficial to all       brief essay. Any attempt to Christianize public in-
is surely a misinterpretation of those  pamages  of Holy struction will necessarily cause us to lose sight of our
Writ, and is  nothing less than Modernism.                      high calling as covenant people  and parents. Besides,
   Secondly, ,true Christianizing of education in the it will  involvle us i,n the loss of al,1 Christian instruc-
public schols is a spiritual impossibility. This lies in tion. If our efforts, as far as the instruction of our
the very nature of the case. Education does not pro- children is concerned, are directed towards christian-
ceed from the government, is not imposed upon the               izing  public instruction, we will be engaged in a hope-
people by the magistrates, but is a privilege  and duty less task. And the inevitable result will be that our
exercised by the parents. Public  sch,ools are surely >ch:hildren  will be deprived of that instruction which we,
the schools of the world. This fact receives added sig- as covenant parents, have pledged to give them. And,
nificance if God's covenant people  a$re faithful to their on the other hand, we will be wholly remiss in our own
baptismal pledge and provide Christian education for high calling,. The Lolrd's commandment, also in this
their ohildren. Understood in this light the christian- matter, tolerates no misunderstanding. Neither need
izing <of public instruction is, must be considered im- we imisunderstand  it. Very plainly Israel is command-
possible. It is  absurd,  a contradiction in terms. On ed to instruct their own children. The training of our
the one hand, the reading of the Bible is spiritually children is a task which God has placed upon our
imlpossible  by those who  are from below. The  dark-           shoulders. We  need  not, may not concern  ourselv,es


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         283
.- .-___.........                                                                       .._.......  111-.-P  ""..".."-~  -
with the  ,task to Christianize the public schools. We  ed from the Japanese. Distrust of Russia looms up
must provide our own schools. We must Christianize &again as is evidensed by a paragraph declaring that
our own instru,ction.           This task is sufficiently difficult    the United States and England have given up all  extra-
nowadays to demand all our attention.                                  territorial rights in  Ch,ina. In small print so as not
                                                        H. v.          to cause too. much shock and yet plainly enough to
                                                                       prepare us for what lies ahead we are warned of the
                                                                       price of an European invasion which is promised us
                                                                       for the year 1943. Russia appears in many a headline
                                                                       and we see that the Russian "steam-roller" has pushed
                          Current Events                               the Germans back dangerously. At last reports they
                                                                       are within reach of the Dnepr river. Perhaps before
                                                                       this recview  is published, they will have crossed this
       Since the last appearance of "Current Events"                   river and have covered some  <two hundred to three
upon the pages of our Standard Bearer, the pages of hundred miles since the beginning of their offensive.
history have turned so swiftly that even in this age Stalingrad is regained, Khorkov is again in Russian
of speed one  is amazed. A new year  began since the hands, Rostov is wrested from the Germans once more
last installment of "Current Events" went to press. ad the  Caucauses  are freed from German domination.
Yet, how much we have left behind us since that day, It truly is astounding, especially as one looks back
when, as God's people, we  worshipped  in His house of and views the .German Army when it was it its peak
prayer and were reminded from His Word that H,e is and forced back its enemies almost at will. More
our refuge and our strength, a very present helper in                  recently we read of that strange figure of Indian
trouble.                                                               Politic, Mohandas K. Ghandi,. Now `73 years old he
       The year began with certain of our military leaders h,as begun another fast. At last reports his condition
emphatically  declarin,g  that the present war would be is very  grave.                 These are only a few of the many
over before we celebrated another New Year's Day,                      things that have transpired in less than two months
and when asked whether this meant Japan as well as of time. It leaves one breathless. Consider just one
Germany the answer was, "Yes, also the war with of these events, the Roosevelt-Churchill meeting at
Japan".              Others hastened to warn against such opti- Casablanca.          Ten years ago such a meeting would
mism.  NOW  f;Wo  months later the opinion of both have been well  nigh  impossible.   Then  it  would   have
the man in the street and the military leaders is that required weeks if not months to execute such a  meet-
victory will not come yet in 1943. Recent events in  ing. Slow travel by sea would have made it impos-
Tunisia wh,ich  are far f,rom favorable for the United sible, but the modern plane solved the problem.
Nations seems to bear out this  .zontention. Of course,                   The smallness of this world again is evidenced in
it is the trust in the arm of flesh which makes man the visit of Mme. Chiang  Kai-Shek,  the first  lday of
declare with confidence, "we will have the victory thia China to our land to plead China's cause. tI appears,
year". eH does not know, he cannot know whether too, that her pleas will be heeded, not for China's sake
this shall be the case.  It seems  ironica1,  to say the but for our own.                   Fear of Russia will be the one
least, to mainttin  that we fight for religious freedom reason, and the desire to crush Japan for our own
anld then forget God in our waging of the battle.                      good, will be the other. Quotations from Raymond
       When one stops to enumerate the many things Clapper's colmun makes this very plain. He writes:
which have filled those pages of history, when in ,his "Any frank appraisal on the united nations must re-
thoughts he turns back those pages and  szans the port some anxiety regarding Russia and uncertainty
headlines of the numerous  paragraph,s   which  go to as to  w,hat her aloofness means". He has here in mind
make up tis book of history, he truly is amazed at the the fact that Premier Stalin would not appear at
speed at which events do transpire. As we turn the Casablanca nor at Khrtoum in Central Africa wh'ich
pages, we notice President Roosevelt and Prime  Minis-                 is much closer to Russia and a location chosen for
ter Winston  Churchil.1  met together at Casablanca.                   Stalin's benefit, should he choose to meet with  Presi-
We are told that Hitler did not appear in person to dent Roosevent and Prime Minister Winston Chu.rchill.
speak at the Celebration of the birthday of his r&e                    He continues in another paragraph: "We are not so
to power. Here we see a  ~co1um.n  telling us that  ahoes              likely to come into a conflict of interest with Russia
have been added to the list of rationed items.                         in European matters as we are in Asia". In th,e next
        The man-power problem bobs up here and there paragraph he states: "Secretary of the Navy Knox
between other items. With saddened hearts we read                      is urging that we insure ourselves bases across the
that many thousands of our  eigh,teen  and nineteen Pacific to make sea or air attack against us from the
year old youths are no-w in military training. In big west impossible in the future." Still later we read,
letters we read that Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands "The fact that the airplane brings Siberia and  Ameri-
and Southern New Guinea have been completely wrest-                    onn territory together makes collective security or the


                                       TeHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                  _"-............. "..-    --___I                         , -_....--.--....^.-.....-^.-...__-..
alternative  prOi%ctiOn   essential to us. Russia is de- he certainly desires the peace and prosperity it would
 veloping Siberia  industrialIy.  At the end of the war,             mean for him. But in this day  and age of radio,
 with Japan defeated, Russia will be the strongest mag,azines,  press and the like, man's mind will soon be
Asiatic  military power in the Pacific". Then he gives               molded and prepared to establish just sueh a kingdom.
the interpretation of our  imerest  in China. "That", But remember his number is six hundred and three-
he writes, "is in the background of our growing inter- score and six, the number of man. The Rest he will
est in China". And so it appears as though China's not reach. It can be found not in the Antichrist but
plea will be heeded.,                                                in The Christ who, in contrast to this antichrist czlls,
    What also is of interest to the child of God in                  "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden
current events is the trend of thought concerning and I will give you rest."
peace aims and the post-war world,  whi,:h are ex-                                                                                 J. A. H.
pressed in speech and writing. Surely the second
beast of Revelation thirteen is busy today molding
man's opinion and preparing for the reign of the                                                   --
Antichrist.    A world-wide empire, as portrayed in
the first beast which John saw coming out of the
sea, seems much nearer its realization today than ever
before. More and more the world speaks of this today.                    Freedom %rom Fear And Want
In the February Reader's Digest appears an article
by Ely  Culbertson  entitled, "A System to Win This                      The United Nations are today engaged in an all
War-and the Peace to Come". In this  articIe he out stru'gle  of life and death with the Axis Powers to
proposes a world Federation consisting of eleven                     destroy German Nazism from the earth. All of us
Regi,onal  Federations, each Regional Federation being sincerely hope that *er.e  Iong the bIoody warfare may
an economic unit. Over this world Federation there                   be brought to an end and th,e dominion of National
would be a Federation president. Over this Federa-                   Socialism in its present farm banished as well as
tion he would also pl,ace a World Police For-e to pre-               vanquished.
serve the peace of this  worId  Federation. What is                     But will peace mean freedom from fear and want
striking in his article is his expressed fear of the                 for all men in all lands ? That is one of the peace aims
coming of Gog and Magog against  thh World-Wide                      pointly  agreed upon by the two heads of the govern-
Empire should it once be established according to his ments of the United States and Great Britain., The
plan. Of course, he makes no mention of Gog and                      sixth? point of the joint declaration of Churchill and
Magog. His plan is devised entirely apart from the                   Roosevelt of 1941 reads, "Sixth, after the final de-
Scriptures, yet he  allude to this fact and proposes struction of Nazi tyranny, they hope to see  establish,ed
his plan to ovecco.me  this uprising of God and Magog.               a peace which will afford to all nations the means of
Let me quote what he writes: "The United States is                   dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and
now at the peak of its influence and power. Yet even which will afford assurance that all men in all lands
when our present enemies have been defeated, greater may live  outtheir  lives in freedom from fear and
dangers may arise in the future. Our strength will                   want." This sixth point of the eight point program
steadily decrease in relation to more populous nations               expresses the real aim of the war-it is to destroy
as yet untouched  by the machine age. In a generation Nazi tyranny on the one hand, and on the other to
or two, vast segments of the human race-China,                       create a better world in which all men in all lands may
India, the Mosl.em world-may also be industrialized. have assurance of living out their lives in freedom
Then nothing will stand between them and world                       from fear' and want.
dominion but the knowledge and possession of ma-
chines. Who can say how and in what direction they                                      Surely An Ordeal.
will drive the machines? This war is our last chance
to save ourselves by  ,helping  to found a world order                  Freedom from fear and want for all men in all
that makes sense. With all our hearts and minds lands certainly is a high and attiactive  ideal. Apart
we must *plan it now, and lay its cornerstones on the                now from the fact whether there is much possibility
unshakable granite of our will. For the first time                   of anywhere nearly approximating the ideal, the ideal
in history our nation can do what no other nation has certainly is attractive and appealing. `Nothing is sai.d
done before-declare lasting peace on the rest of the as to the manner in which this  Iglorious  reign of peace
world."                                                              is to be brought about, it is true, yet the ideal present-
   T,his speaking and writing concerning such a  king-               ed is indeed attractive.
fdom surely is a forerunner of the kingdom itself, and                  If it means anything it means  that  the United
we may add, no doubt, an immediate forerunner.. Nations `hope. to bring out of the  post-,war  chaos a
Man's mind is not yet ready for such a plan although                 really better world, a world where  force will be  re-


                                     T'H.E   S T ' A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        285

placed by arbitration, wherein the nations will live             What about all the heterogeneous peoples in some
"and let live," wherein all will have equal access to the of the occupied countries? What about Alsace-Lor-
raw materials of the world,  wh$erein  there will be food     raine,  who shall have it?
enough for all and freedom from the fears of new                 Secondly, after this war is over we may be sure
wars and ,economic  collapse. It means that one nation that Europe for one will be in a state of chaos. When
will not be exploited by the other, one people not            the strong Nazi government is broken, there will be
trampled upon by the other, one group not have less           no strong governments in  th,e occupied countries to
privilege than the other. If it means anything it take over. That will mean  interecine  war. Hunger
holds before men the goal of freedom from the dread and starvation stalk Europe already, and by the time
of conflict, freedom of religion, freedom to  j,oin  a the war is ended will be much worse. Who will be
labor organization or not to do so; freedom to labor able to feed the starving hordes and put them on their
and earn one's daily bread, whether or not you belong feet? An ideal will not feed stomachs, and there will
,to certain labor organizations or not.  tif it  (does not    be little ,desirre  on the part of the peoples of the United
"`pan the later, there still will be  few and discrimina- Nations to lower their own standards of living (which
tion. It means all that and much mre. Briefly, it already will be low) to be able to feed all of collapsed
holds forth the olive branch of peace and concord.            Europe.  CIIunger and starvation will stalk the land.
    And it does that in respect to all nations. That The problems of reconstruction will thereby be mag-
means to the Axis Nations as  w,ell as all others. The nified to the nth degree. Rentup hatreds will, be let
peace then  sh,all not discriminate against these Na-         loose.    Post-war Europe  will be pandemonium; we
:tions at all, in any way. They will be treated as            will have a task on our hands to control things in our
equals and not as vanquished criminals.         It means own land..
economic equality for India, for China, for the South             The undersigned  #has little hope even from a mere-
American couneries.     It means equality for the Jew ly natural viewpoint of establishing in the world after
and all  t.he oppressed minorities everywhere. All men the war a world-wide utopia. Ther,e  will still be con-
in all lands have the assurance of living out their flicting ideologies, economic pressures, national self-
lives without freedom from fear and want.                     ishness, and the complexes of fear, hate and revenge.
    Certainly that is in the light of the past a high And it is a serious question whether the conquerors will
ideal. It means a really New Deal for the world in            have the wil1 to establish a fair, just and equitable
general. It means the old methods of racial discrim-          peace.
ination, of extra-territorial rights, of exploitation, of         I ido not mean to say that some of the gross evils
subj,agation,  will be things of the past. It means you disturbing the international life of the past fifty years
and I as Christians will hat-e the privilege of serving may not possibly be controlled.  Undoub,tedIy.  But
God according to the dictates of our conscience in the other forces will even thereby be set at work to under-
land or country, that we will be able to earn our bread mine anew international honor and peace.
honestly without affiliating with any weirdly  and un-            To  ,my mind we  n,eed no idealism but a realism
godly labor organization without fear of losing our SUN&  as Herbert Hoover suggested if there is to be a
livelihood.                                                   measure of peace.
    A high ideal to be sure.                                                       Above All This
                How Will it Be Attained.                          Above all this, we need to remember as Christians
    We should not allow ourselves to be misled by this that no war changes men's hearts.  <Only the gospel
glorious ideal. It is only an ideal, and there is little      of Christ can do so. And we have no illusions that
opportunity that anything much of it will be attained. mankind as a whole will adopt Christianity. There-
    For, first of all, the ptrogram  is entirely too ideal- fore we do not expect the golden age of peace except
istic. It does not reckon with history, with reality, in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Freedom from fear
as it is. It is Wilsonian, and I'm afraid as doomed to and  ,want will only come in the day of Christ. Not by
fail.ure as that  id.ealism  was. Did not  C.hurchill  al- human effort, but as the gift of God. Only then will
ready state that he had not become prime minister to peace as a mighty river cover the earth as the waters
divide the British Empire? He meant, of course, cover the bottom of the sea.
that Britain's dominion over India would not be sac-              That does not mean that Christians may assume
rificed to give `India her  ri.ght to self-rule. Besides, the attitude that all is ill with the world and nothing
about the peace table also Russia, the Great Bear will can be done. Consequence of  th#at attitude is  ana-
be seated. And political spokesmen of Russia seem baptistic  separation.  IIt is as  *fatal as if  one  would
already to have definitely let it be known that Russia let criminals continue to run loose, unhampered, be-
does not expect to restore Poland to its former posi- cause the heart could not be changed `anyway. Crim-
tion,                                                         inals must be put behind bars for ,the protection of


 256                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                        . .._.                           .-...   "2  .._  I
 law abiding citizens. Of course. But it does mean block. Then again they will  have  A  smaii  Vi:troia+
that we do not imagine thereby we have once for all and will ask you if you tvoubd  like to have them pi.&2
 rild ourselves of criminality, or that- we can improve a record for you, which record is usuaily a sermon by
the  <criminals  by incarcerating them. Of course not. the  late Judge Rutherford,
So too it is among the nations of  <the earth. Criminal          The sect which this movement represents has  had
nations must be punished, and their tyrannies  s.up- several different names. Once they were known as
pressed.    But we do not ,eetertain any idealistic no- Russellites. More recently they went under the name
tions that thereby  criime  can be permanently stopped, of the International `Bible Students Association. But
or that we are able to so order society that the popu-        at present they are generally spoken of as Jehdv&%
lace  *can henceforth live  ,without fear of ever being witnesses. And they insist that Jehovah's witnesses
attacked again.      Nations will fight in the future. have existed for 5000 years and claim that even the
Certain evils may  b.e suppressed but others will arise. Bible makes mention of them. One of the passages
    And, finally, even if the reign of anti-Christ they refer to in order to prove this is Is. &:lO, which
were established at this  .time,  there  would indeed be a    reads in part: "Ye  are my witnesses, saith the Lord."
measure of peace and pros:erity, but not for the people          However, more conservative accounts record (that
of God. That  same time will know no room  ,for them.         the society was founded by Pastor Charles  T.  Russell
It will be a time of tribulation, In the name of human of Pittsburgh about 1876, ,when he and "a few dhris-
welfare Lhe faithful will be persecuted. It will be a tian persons  <met together in a little town in Pennsyl-
fearful time for them, and a ,time of want - not able vania to consider the Scriptures relative to the coming
to buy or sell unless one has the mark of the beast.          of Christ Jesus and His Kingdom." Russell began to
    We hope th,e peace that comes after the war will preach in 1878. His  ititle of "Pastor" was won, not by
take away some of the underlying irritations existing the laying on of haecls but by leg work. His zeal, so
in the world prior to this war. We hope the peace will his follow'ers boasted, took him farther than the journ-
not at once create a host of new irritants, as the Ver-       eyings of St. Paul and Bishop Ashbury combined. It
sailles peace did. We hope, but we doubt it very mu:h.        is said that his writings were "more extensive than
We see little hope for an era of freedom from  `fear and the combined works of St. Paul, St. John, Arius, Waldo,
want; at least in our generation the opposite effe2t.s        Wycliffe and Martin Luther  - the six messengers  to
of the stress of waging this w.ar will tend to feed :the      the Church who  preceeded  him." Up to  <the time of
fires of fear and want, rather than quench them.              his death, his six lmajor  books ha3 had a total distri-
    But we do have peace and freedom in our hearts.           bution of nearIy  15,000,OOO  copies. And his  follow.ers
Through Jesus Christ the Lord. And we look for the declared, "t.he place next to St. Paul in the gallery of
Saviour to come from heaven to establish in its fin21 fame as expounder of the Gospel of the Great Master
glory peace forever. Then freedom from want and will be occupied by Charles Taze Russell." The body
fear  shall  be  realized, but then  aIone. Come, Lord        of his beliefs came to be known as  Russellism,   and
 Jesus,  ,come  quickly.
                                            P. D. B.          has been accepted as the truth by the organization and
                                                              been the basis of its teaching ever since, Upon his
                                                              death in 1916,  RusselI   :was succeeded by Judge Ruth-
                                                              erford, the son of a farmer, who for a time practiced
                                                              law in Boonsville,  Missouri. Rutherford, who a-cord-
                                                              ing to his opponents adopted his title of "Judge"  aEter
                                                              serving as a temporary judge for four days in a ,eoun-
             Jehovah's Witnesses                              tv circuit court, had complete charge of the organiza-
                                                              tion until he Idied recentl,y in his $75,000 Spanish home
    We have been hearing a yreat deal the last years          in San Diego, California.
of the sect known as Jehovah's witnesses. In many                rhr?  ,size  and s:ore of this organization must not
parts of the country they have been jailed, or attack-        be underestimated. It would r.equire a collosal asylum
ed by mobs and stoned out of town. They have been to house all its members. The records show that two
denounced as fifth columnists,  facists, saboteurs, and- years ago the organization already had 45,000 active
t h e   l i k e .                                             members, and 200,000 followers in the United Stat-
    Undoubtedly, most us, at one time or another, h%ve es alone. And it was estimalted  that there were about
.:. met them. For it is quite a common experience to 1,000,000,  more throughout the world. Among  pthese
have them to come to your door, and to. find them hand- `were thousands of natives in South Africa. In Brook-
ing you a tract `or a book with the slogan, "Millions lyn, N. Y., the witnesses own a seven-story  apartmem
now living will never die." Sometimes they will park house and an eigh*t-story printing plant, together worth
a sound-truck outside your house, with a sermon issu- more than $l,OOO,OOO,  wher,e they fturn out tons of lit-
ing therefrom that can be heard all up and down the erature every year. /In this printing plant besides tb,e.


                                   TqHE  S T A N D A R D   BEAR.ER                                                287

linotypes they have huge rotary presses and a book- many of the sect's members are now serving prison
binding plant which can turn out 20,000 bound books terms. For often they fail to go through the trouble
and 150,000 booklets daily. They have an assembly of finding out what ,their  rights are under the law,
plant that turns out portable phonographs and  sound- and what procedure they shouId  follow to secure them.
car equipment. And ,their  busy shipping room sends Consequently, before they know it they find themselves
out publications in eighty  dif?ierent  languages. Some lawbreakers, subject to punishment. Moreover  be-
of their books have passed the  2,500,OOO  mark. Then, caus#e of their strong denunciation of other faiths they
too, the society owns radio station WBBR in Brooklyn, are very unpopular, especially in communities where
where its  orchesitra and singers entertain between re- religious loyalties are strong, and therefore in doubt-
corded lectures by Judge Rutherford. Once they had ful cases they do not get the breaks given to the more
a nation-wide hookup of 53 stations at a r.eputed  cost respectable pacifist sects.
of $50,000 per week, but their fierce attacks on relig-        For all these reasons they are an obnoxious sect,
ion brought so many complaints that the stations cut which is the obj& of contempt and violence, and must
them off.                                                   endure much suffering and hardship. However they
   However, though ,they ar.e a mighty organization, bear these with joy and gladness. In them they think
Jehovah's witnesses nevertheless are unpopular, and to :to see the sure proof of the genuineness  of their faith
many they are  [even obnoxious,      There are various and the certain evidence  t.hat they are walking in the
reasons for this. Firstly, they all condemn religion. footsteps of the Fathers. Yet, when we idelve a 1ittl.e
With religion they mean the organized religions of deeper into the object of  th.eir  faith, one can only fear
the Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, whom they call the worst. Then there is every reason to believe that
religionists. And it is their belief that, "Religionists    all their suffering is vain and foolish. But first of all,
have an ambitious desire to rule the world in the place they deny the Trinity. No mention is made of the Holy
and stead of God and Christ. Religion is therefore a Spirit. And Christ, though He is the first begotten
snare and racket, and the Lord's Kingdom will do of the Father, is not God but merely one who is high-
away with religion and all fraudulent schemes." Or-         er than the angels and is now only a spiritual in-
ganized religion according to them, "is the highest fluence. He was a created spirit and in His incarnation
development of and the most seductive form of Satan's was only a perfect man. After His crucifixion He
visible organization." It is spiritual Babylon. Hence ceased to be human and  becam,e  again a spirit. He
they denounce all religion and shout, "Religion is a ,ditd not rise from the tomb; the disposition of His body
ra:ket."     They attack especially the Roman Catholic is not known, though it probably was dissolved into
church. This church they believe will one day give gasses or was supernaturally slipped away and is be-
rise ,to Antichrist. It is therefore not surprising that    ing preserved as a corpse until God chooses <to produce
they are most severely persecuted in Catholic com-          it. . Hence they have no Gospel.
munities.                                                      Then, too, they have an unscriptural view of the
                                                            return of Christ and of  th.e life that is. to follow. Ac-
   Moreover, they are also offensive because of their cording to them Christ already returned in the year
refusal to salute the flag, an act which they brand as 1914. Up to that time the world was Satan's and he
being  iidolatry. They believe  !that the flag is only a    ruled it. Everything made by man, from that date
symbol, and that to salute a symbol is the same as back to Noah, was not God's but Satan's handiwork.
worshipping an image. They therefore refuse to sal- But 1914 ushered in a new era. Invisibly in that year
ute any flag whether it be American, Communist,             Christ returned to earth. Satan, for the first time
Nazi or Fascist. And they are so strongly opposed to since the flood, was challenged. To date, to be sure,
it that they instruct itheir  children to make the same he has not been dislodged, but Christ is doing His best
refusal in school. Because of this Jehovah's wiltness-      and Satan's ousting is at hand. They came to this
es are exile in `Russia and in concentration camps in peculiar view through the prediction of Chas. Russell
Germany, and in our own country, where the Supreme that in that year Christ would surely return. But
Court has ruled that the public schools have a right since the year ended without a visible return of Christ,
to demand the salute to the flag, they are hated and Rutherford concluded that Russell must have meant
despised and often accused of being pro-Nazi.               an invisible  r.eturn.  In 1920 Rutherford also turned
   Furthermore, they are absolute pacifists, and re- prophet and predicted that Abraham, Isaac and other
fuse to bear arms even in self-defense. They believe prophets would return in 1925. Since then no dates
that all government today is of the Prince of dark- were set, but Rutherford said merely that audgment
ness and that therefore all wars  between  these world- Day is coming very soon and that King David, Isaac,
ly governments are evil on both sides. `Hence the           Samuel and the other prophets may ,be expected to
only citizenship they acknowledge is in a heavenly come any day to assist the Lord in establishing His
country, and they refuse to participate in an ungodly Kingdom. With this in view he had the $75,000 Span-
war of an earthly country.      Because of this  stan,d     ish home built in  Calif. Thoughtfully he had the


                              "" -... II_-.I- .._ . . ..&I)                                        T*HE"-   S T A N D A R D   BEARE,R
                                                                                                                   _-.......-.-.....-....."                             -..-_-^                       -..- ..- -.
 grounds landscaped wit.h date and palm trees so `[hat                                                                                                                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
 these princes will feel right at home.
           And they maintain that when Christ finally comes
 all will be  d,estroyed  in the terrible battle of Arma-                                                                                                On February 20,  our beloved  parents,
 geddon except Jehovah's  ,witnesses.   Howe;er,  after                                                                                                                               JOHN WENSINK
 the battle has ceased  all will be brought back to life                                                                                                                                       and
 and the wicked will then have "a second chance  ,to                                                                                                                            MRS. J.  WENSINK-Schinkcl
 choose righteousness." Those who rejest it will then
 be destroyed by ,the "second death" with ~tvhich they celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary.
 mean total annihilation. But those who expect it will                                                                                                   As children we are grateful to our covenant God for having
 then live forever, although their glory will be inferior spared them for each other and for us. As the Lord  b!essed
to that of Jehovah's witnesses. Heaven will  *then be them with His sustaining grace in the years past, both in joy
 on earth and its joys will consist in this that we will and sorrow, our prayer is that  He'may  continue to do so in
 have heavenly automobiles, airplanes and all the  ot.her                                                                                             years to come.
 necessities and luxuries of the temporal world.                                                                                                                                            Their grateful children,
          And in order to ,be able to apparently somewhat
maintain all this they have their own revised version                                                                                                                                            Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wensink
of the Bible supplied them by Judge Rutherford.                                                                                                                                                  Mr. and Mrs. Albert Schmidt
 Their Bible is called the diaglot, which means two                                                                                                                                              Mr. and Mrs. Allen Lubbcn
languages. On the one side is the Greek and on the                                                                                                                                               Mr. an'd Mrs. Gerad Mesman
other the translation of Rutherford.                                                                             All passages                                                                    Henrietta
contrary to their belief are brazenly omitted.                                                                                                                                               _ Gerrit
          Surely they are  a  sign of the times. Watch  t.hen                                                                                         Edgerton, Minnesota.
                                                                                                                                                                         . .
and #be sober.
                                                                                                                             P. v.


                                                                         -                                                                                                        GOD THE FATHER                          t
                                                                                                                                                         ,,/?*i' `j                                            -..
                HAVE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING                                                                                                                            In God the Father I believe,
                                                                                                                                                                                Who heaven and earth did frame,
                                 BOOKS AND BROCHURES                                                                                                                   By His almighty Word; His prais,e
                                                                                                                                                                                And glory to  procolaim.
Een Kracht Gods Tot Zaligheid  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Door `U Alleen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..=...........................                                      .50
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                                                                                                                                                                                God's only Son, our Lord,
Door Strijd tot Overwinning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50                                                                    Begotten from eternity,
De Hereeninging Der Chr. & Prot. Ref. Kerk . . . . . . . .                                                                                     20                               The everlasting Word.
Th.e Reunion of the Chr. cst Prot. Ref. Church . . . . . . . . 35
God's Goodness always Particular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35                                                                                I in the Holy Ghost believe,
The Triple &each ..,...................................................                                                                        35          ;$?                  A Person, true, and One
Index to Standard Bearer (Vol. r-10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25                                                                                        tin  essense,  power, eternity,
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                                                                                 Complete Set  for-$250                                                                                                                 iv.. .  "
        We suggest that you buy a set for yourself and senl                                                                                                            An holy catholic Church I own,
a set to some friend or relative who may be interest-                                                                                                                           The heirs of heaven designed;
ed in the truth as confessed by those of the Prot.  Ref.                                                                                                               By union all to Christ .their  head,
Church.                                                                                                                                                                         And one another joined.
        Mail your order to Mr. A. Wychers, 1023 Dunham
St., Grand Rapids, Mich. Or contact Mr. Ch. Tiesma,                                                                                                                    Redemption through the blood of Christ
Janitor of  th.e First Prot. Ref. Church, corner of                                                                                                                             I heartily embrace;
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                                                    BOARD OF THE  R, F. P. A.                                                                                                   The gift, of sover.eign  grace:


