  VOLUME XVIII.                                                FE,B.RUARY  15. 1942                                       NUMEER   1 0

                                                                                 .And  hath put all things, in the -entire universe, in
             MEDITATION                                                      heaven and on earth, now and in the future world,
                                                                             under His  f,eet  !
                                                                                 Mighty  Heald  over all!
                                                                                 Yes, but where now is  th,e connection?  Holw is
                 &orious  Head Over All                                      this amazing exaltation ,of  the Lord Christ related to
                  . . .                                                      the knowledge of the hope of our calling? What  ,does
                           .and  gave him to be the head `ovsy  c-~?l        this exceeding great glory and authority and,might  of
                things to the church. Whkh is his  body, th.e                Christ have to do with the "exceeding greatness of His
                fulness  of him that filleth  all in all.               -    power" that  worketh into the Chur.ch?
                                                  Eph. I.-Z,%%,  23.             Here is the answer: He gave Him' as the Head of
      ,Glorious  knowledge !  '                                              the Church !
      Christ, the head over all things, is given as a head                      And that Church is the fulness of this mighty Head !
 to the Church!                                                                  And now He fills all in all!
      For, let us not overlook the fact, that this passage                       Blessed knowledge !
 constitutes  t,he close.and  climax of the apostle's prayer
 for  the Church of Ephesus,  anld for the church of all                         Mighty Head of the Church !
 ages, which was begun in the words of the fifteenth                             He, Who is the Head over all, is given as a Head to            ,
 .*verse.                                                                    the Church !
     And how fitting, and,, indeed, indispensable a close                       Such, no doubt,-is the significance of the text. The
 i t   i s !                                rj                               meaning is not merely that God has appointed Christ           .
      The earnest prayer of the apostle was,  thiat  the  `God               as  t.he Head over all things in the  ,Chu.rch,  although
 and Father of our Lord Jesus  Chr,ist,  the Father of .this is undoubtedly implied ; but that He, Who is
 glory, might give-unto them the Spirit ,of  wisdom and                      exalted at the right hand  :of  `God, and Who is Head over
 revelation in the knowledge of Him  ; that by this Spirit all tihings  in the entire universe,. is now also given to
 the eyes of their hearts might  ,be enlightened, so that the Church as her Head !                                  `_
 they would be able to discern  ,spiritual  things  ; and                        This  shoul'd  b,e  evident from the context.
 that so they might be able to  kno!w,  and actually know,                     " There the  subj,ect  was exactly "Christ the Head
 what is the hope unto w#hi,ch they we,re called, that is,                   over all things  !" To this supreme position in the whole
 what are the riches of  (God's  inheritance among the                       universe He was exalted by the power of .aGod. He had
 saints. And in order to conceive at all of the a,bundant                    received authority and power lover every name that is
. riches  ,of  this hope, they must know the  exceedmg  named. All things were in  subj,ection  under His feet.
 greatness of -the  #divine  power that even nlow.  already And Him (thus emphatically in the .original)  God had
 works -within and into the Church, and which can be                         given to the Church as her Heed ! Indeed, by this the
 measured only by the working of His mighty power,                           Church may know what is the hope of her calling, and
 which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from  \.whst-  is th,e~ riches  <of  God'8  inheritance  `among  &he
 the dead, and by which He set Him at His right hand. saints; that  thi,s   ,exceedingly  glorious Christ is  g&en
 in heavenly places; so that Christ is now exalted far -to her as the Head, and that of this mighty Lord she
 abo-ve  all- principality, and power, and might,  -  and                    is the body 1
dominion, and above every name that is named; not                                Blessed hope !
 {only  in this world, but also in that which is to come. , ,,                   And- blessed be  the-,God  and Father of our Lord %<


218                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   - B E A R E R
                                                                      :
Jesus  Chr+t, who  h&h blessed  us  with all spiritual this separation of what God  bath  forever joined to-
blessings in heavenly places in  ,Christ   !                          gether !
       For, indeed, as the Head is,  so. is the body !          -:     .~ Or how could it possibly be that the "Head over all"
       Head and body  arte one,  ,orgaqically  one.       ..          sXoulld  not be ruler over His  ovqn  house? Or did you
       And Christ and -the 8Qurc.h  constitute a very real            ever hear even.of an earthly monarch that had power
spiritual ,organism,  an organic unity, the principle and             and .exercised  authority everywhere except in his own
source  `of  wjhose  iife resides in  6he  Head.       And this       kingdom?  -Or what kind of a ruler would he be, who
organic unity  ~of  Christ and the Church always appears while he s.wayed  a mighty sceptre over a glurious  em-
in the foreground, whenever-Scripture speaks of  Cyhrist              pire,  .co&d   not  maintain his authority in his own  house-
:as the Head `of the  Chur.ch,  and of the latter as the h&d?  I And  js not  Xhrist  the "Head over all things"
body of ,Christ.      It signifies that there is  unity  .of life; in  i%e  whole universe? And  w,o"ul.d  He then not  ru,l,e
of a life t.hat  has its source in the Head, and from the His own body;His  owi-household,                    the Church? . .  ,.  .
head flows into and operates in the entire body, and in                     .How  absurd  !
all the members.  .In  Christ is  the life of the whole                     But who else would rule over the body if not the
body. Never is that life  iti anyone of the  m&mbers                  Heaid?
apart from the Head ; nor is bhis  li$e  in the whole body                  No,-in'deed,  Christ cannot be dethroned in His own _
inclependent  -from  the -Head. Without the Head the                  house! Even as He is Head over  :a11 in the  whole
bbdy would be deakd, anid none of the members would                   universe, so He is  the mighty Head over al,1 things in
have life at all. But in organic union  with the Head,                the Church; the difference being, that while He. exer-
through  the Spirit which was given  unto  Him  and,                  cises  His power, in the universe by His mighty strength,
which He hat,h  poured forth, into the body, the body                 `He rules over all things in the Church as <her  organic
partakes. of the life  ,of  the. Head.  .Constantly,  from Head, and, therefore, through His grace and by His
moment to moment, there is a life-current from  tihe Spirit and World!
Head into thg bo.dy  anld into all the members, quicken-                    Y,es,  indceed,  He also rules `over the destiny of His
ing. them, and causing them to liive  even as He lives.               IChurch,  and with a firm hand governs her  :way$hrough
And this life is the  gl!orious  resurrection-life. It is             the history of the world, protects her against all the
from above. It is the life of Him +hat  is exalted Head wiles of the devil, and against all the powers of oppo-
over all.  BHim, the  Hmead  over all, God has  given,as  a <sition  that would destroy her; and leads her on to the
Head of the Church,  which  is  the body. . . .                       glory which He prepared for her in the eternal king-
       As the Head so "is the b'ody  !                                dom of His Father  And.  He is able to do so, for He
       As is the 1if.e of the Head, l-&y,  glorious, immortal,        is  Lopd  over all in the universe, and  H,e  is  powerfld
incorruptible, victorious, eternal,-so is the  lif,e  of the to subject. them  all into His service, so that they must
body !                                                                all  work together for good to His. Church!
       And, although now it tiay not yet. appea.r  what we                  But He is also the Ring of His  ,Church  !
shall be, by our union  with.  this  gl[orious   H.ead  over                He  speaks, and  sl,le obeys!
all,  w.e may surely know what is  thle h*ope  of our call-                 His  W,ord  is her  d,elight,  because by His  grace  He
ing, and what is the  rich,es  of God's inheritance among ma,k&  her sincerely willing to serve him as her  Lord !
the saints, for when He  .shall  be made manifest; we                       Thus He rules over tihe individual believers.
shall be manifested with Him in glory !                                     And thus tie is Head over all  tliings  in the Church
       Mighty Head  .oy&r  all !                                      as a  wholIe.  And there cannot be, nor. ever may  be
       Yes, indeeld,  &is Head of the Church in the organic           tolerated, any power within the Church  that   iS not
sense is  alSo  its Head in the juridical sense of the                from Him, and that is not_strictly subjlect  to His Wor.d!
word, so that  H,e is its King, ruling over her.                            Thw God gaJve Him to the Church!
   Or how could this meaning possibly be excluded                          He gave Him to her, this  Firstbor,n  of  every  crea-
from this marvellous passage? Indeed,  th:ere   are  those ture, as her Head from  before  -i&e  foundation of the
who foolishly deny' this. Christ is not the King of i?he              world.
Church, say they, but  ,only its Head in the organic                  -- `And as the Head of  l&e  Church He  prepiared  Him
sense.     He gives li5e  `to the Church an,d  is united with         in the  fulness   `of time, through His death and resurrec-
her in-  the mystic communion `of love. Bat He  is not tion and mighty  exal+ation.  . . .
her King. ,Only in relation to the nation of Israel-He                      And-to  the  C,hurch  He  gave  her, when He, the Head
stands  as King. And though for a time He cannot over  all, returned to His own in the Spirit!
function in this capacity, seeing that His own rejected                     Blessed gift of  G&d-!
`Him as their King, the time will come that He will
assume  His.  power and royal throne over  the"  Jews.                      Glorious  ,Ch&h   !
Then He shall be.  King  of Israel, but  H.ead   lof   the                  Which is His bo'dy, the body of Christ !
Xhurch  forever  !.-   B&  how  foblish and impossible is .`                The  fulness  of Him, that is, of Christ, Who filleth


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                                         -_        *
                                                T H E   S T A N - - D A R D   B E A R E R                                         219

all in all !                                                         heart  and  mind and will and soul and  str,ength.  Do
    The Church the fulness of Christ! But what may                   not object that this is not true now, for that the be-               -
this mean? Is the fulness here "that which is filled"                lievers have but  a small beginning of the new`obed,i-
with Christ?  -,Or must we rather  say-  that its signifi-           ence,   that,  ther,efo?e,  this   -will  only be true in eternal
cance is expressed by  the words:  "that  which fills"               glory, when this mortal shall have put on immortality.
Christ ?                            -                                For, it is, indeed, true, that the final perfection of this
    Botih  interpretations seem possible, and both have "all in all" will not  be revealed .until  the tabernacle of
b e e n   o f f e r e d .   `,                                       God will. be with men forever in the new heavens and
    And, indeed, it appears rather difficult to  chc6se              earth. But it is equally true, that Christ fills all  khings
between !he  two, fork  the simple reason that in the.  last in all even now. He does not dwell in part of us, but
analysis they denote the same- truth.                                in the whole of us. For He takes up His abode in the
    In the  last  part of  the  text we are told, that the           heart ! And from -the heart are the issues of life. He
Church is  th,e fulness of Him  that  filleth  all  +n  a&l! fills qur heart,  and from the heart He fills our mind
And considering these words one is inclined to explain               and will and all our desires. ,He  that is in Christ Jesus
the words "His fulness' as signifying "that which is                 is a new creature, exactly and only because Christ fills
filled" by ,Christ.                                                  all in all! Old. things have passed away;  beh.old,  all
    Hardly, it would seem, can there be  room for doubt,             things are become new!
that the last  clause  of the text has  rGfer,ence  to Christ's          He fills all in `all  ,with  His Spirit and grace !
filling all things in the whole Church. It is  t?ue,  `that              All in  -all  I?Ie  fills  with  Me;   w&h  the new resur-
also these wor.ds  have been explained & applying to                 rection-life ; witih light and spiritual knowledge of the
Christ's relation to the whole  unijverse.  It is argued things of the kingdom ,of  Go:d, with understanding and
that the context  s?,eaks  of  `che'Lord  as being Head over         spiritual wisdom to  ,discern  what is the hope of our
,a11  things in the whole world ; hence, the last part of            calling,-with faith and hope and love. . . .
the twenty-third verse must also ,have  reference to His                 He fills us with all the spiritual  bl:essings  in heaven-
universal significance. However, to this it must surely ly places !
be  obj.ected  that the text- itself deals with Christs re-              And, mark you well, `He fZ.s  us, or as the original
lation to His Church, that this Church, which is  l&s                may be translated : He is the one  fiZl&ng  all in all !
body, is even called His fulness,  and  that, therefore,               This operation of filling all in all is  .not  the work
the last `clause must also be <explained  as referring to            of one moment, but a constant activity of the Head in
this same  relatimonship  between  (Christ   aed  His Church., the body. Just as the .sun  constanty  fills all  l&e earth
He fill,s  all in all in $he  Church.                                with light, so Christ is continuously filling all in all
    Besides, even though all thjngs are now in subjec-               with His Spirit and grace !
tion  unto.,Him  and He has power and authority over                     And He `does so in His own behalf, that is, in order
`them all, it can hardly be said that already He fills .a11          that the fulness of His glory may shine forth  in the
in all in the present  w,orld. 10,  it is true, He fil;ls  all in    Church which is His body. Even this truth is plainly
all as  %hhe  eternal Son of  Go:d,  but  t,he text  spea.ks  of     expressed in%he  original. For His own  sake  He fills
the exalted Christ: And it is also true, that in the new             all in all  in- the Church!
creation He will fiB  ail in all, so that all things will be             And thus the  other.me#aning  of "His fulness" be-
united in Him,  an,d everywhere in all the new heavens               comes possible and even  plaustble:  "that  which fills
and the new earth we  &all  see.the   IChrist  of God. But Christ  !" The Chtirch  is that which fills Christ, with-
this  gl,orious  reality is still awaiting its fulfilment.           out which Christ is not complete J No, you will under-
    And, finally, does not Scripture in Col. 3  :lO, 11              stand this now  .very clearly, `not as if the Church  could
plainly teach us that in the community of  beli,evers                pbssibly  be anything in herself and apart from Christ
that put  on,.the  new man, wihich  is rknewed  in know-             her Head ; still less, as if the Church could  ever claim
ledge after the image of Him that  created  him, there               to have  aldded  anything to  Christ%  glory. Let the
is neither Greek nor  Jew?   &ircumcision  nor uncircum-             very shadow  of this blasphemous thought be far from
cision,  Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Chwkt  is            us. All that the Church is and  has, ,6r ever will be and
all, and in all?!                                                    will have of life and gldry,  will be' from Christ alone..
    And thus it is,; indeed: Christ fills all in all in the              Yet, Christ anId,  the Church belong together!
Church !                                                                 And the Church is ordained  if God to be the  instrti-
    He fills the whole Church, and every one in the                  tient through which the maniftold  riches  c$ God's per-
Church, and all things in everyone! He fills the whole               fections in Christ must shine forth!
body, from the greatest to tche  smallest, from the most                 In that sense the  Chur.ch  fills Christ, because He
important to the most insignificant  mkmber.  And He fills  her! .                                    .
fills each member according to his capacity. And He                      0, marvellous  .grace  of -the  ever blessed God !
fills everything in each  member, the whole man, with                    Blessed be He forever!                           `H.   H.   _

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

                                       The  Standaxd  Bearer
         A Reformed Semi-Monthly Magazine,  issued  the ist  and
         15th of  each  month, omitting the 15th July and August                                                                                                                       EDITORIALS
                                                                     Published by
                           The Reformed Free  P-ublishing  Association
                                                    1101 Hazen Street,  S. E.                                                                                                                     De Acht Punten
                                             EDITOR - Rev.  ,H. Hoeksema
        _ Contributing editors-Revs.  J.  Blankespoor, A. Cammenga,                                                                                                             `I*k  noemde onlangs de "acht punten"; en iemand
         P. De Boer, J. D. de Jong, H. De Wolf, L. Doezema,                                                                                                                  vroeg, wat daaronder  verstaan moest worden.
         M.  Gritters,  C. Hanko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers,  G. M. Ophoff,                                                                                                            `Wel, daardoor wor,dt  bedoeld de verklaring, die op
         A.  Petter,  M. Schipper, J.  Vanden   Breggen,  H.  Veldman,
         R.  Veldman,  W.  Verhil,  L. Vermeer, P. Vis, G. Vos,                                                                                                              14  Aug.  1941 werd afgelegd  d'oor Premier  Winston
         and Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                                                                                                Churchill en President  R.oosevelt  ten opzichte van de
         Communications relative to contents  should be addressed                                                                                                            doeleinden,  ,die ze  ,door   .den  tegenwoordigen  werel,d-
         to REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                                oorlog bedoelden te bereiken. Ik geef ze hier, .zoo  goed
         R a p i d s ,   M i c h i g a n .                                                                                                                                   mogelijk, vertaald `weer :
         Communications relative to subscription should be  ad-                                                                                                                 1. Hunne respectieve landen hebben  .niet  op het
         dressed to MR. R. SCHAAFSMA,                                                                1101 Hazen St., S. E.,                                                  oog uitbreiding van grondgebied of eenige andere  zelf-
         Grand Rapids, Mich.  `Al1  Announcements and Obituaries
         must be sent`to the above address  and wil1  not. be placed                                                                                                         verhooging. (aggrandizement) .
         unless the regular fee of $1.00 accompanies the notice.                                                                                                                2.. Z,e zoeken geen veranderingen in de bestaande
                                                   Subscription $2.50 per year                                                                                               grondgebieden, die niet in overeenstemming zijn met
               Entered  a s   second   class   m a i l   a t   Graad   R a p i d s ,   Michigan                                                                              de vrij uitgedrukte begeerte van  ,de betrokken vol-
                                                                                                                                                                             ken.
                                                                                                                                                                               3. Ze .respecteeren  het recht der volkeren om eigen
                                                                                                                                                                             regeeringsvorm  te kiezen  ; en ze zoeken herstelling van
                                                                                                                                                                             dat recht bij .die volkeren, die van eigen  regeering  wer-
                                                                                                                                                                             den beroofd.
                                                                                                                                                                    .'          4.  M'et behoorlijke inachtneming van bestaande
                                                                      CONTENTS
                                 \                                                                                                                                           verplichting, stellën  ze zich ten doel, om iooveel moge-
                                                                                                                                                                   Page      lijk aan alle staten, groot of klein, overwinnaar of
_  MEDITATION  Y                                                                                                                                                             overwonnen, `open te stellen den werel,dhandel  en `de
         ;GL&IOU,S HEAD O V E R A L L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215grondstoffen der wereld noodig voor hun economische
               .Rev.  H. Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                           welvaart.
                                                                                                                                                                                     5. Ze  begeeren  tot stand te brengen de grootst
  EDITORIALS  -
  -.                                                                                                                                                                         mogelijke samenwerking tusschen de  versohilleade  na-
         DE ACHT PUNTEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         21x      tiën op economisch gebied, en dat met het  ,doel  om
         VREDE- DE GRONDTOON -. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                          * . . . . . . . . . .     2 1 9    voor allen te verkrijgen verbeterde  staedaarden  voor
                Rev. H. Hoeksema.
                                                    c                                                                                                                        den Arbeid, economische vooruitgang, en  maatschap-
   `IlHE  TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE  -                                                                                                                                                peli j ke zekerheid. .
         EXPO~SITION  OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM ..:...220                                                                                                                     6.  N,adat  de, tyrannie van het Nazisme vernietigd
                 Rev. H. Hoeksema: .                                                                                                                                         is, hopen ze eenen  vrede tot stand te brengen, waar-
                                                                                                                                                                             onder alle volken in veiligheid zullen  .kunnen  verkeeren
        THE   AUTHCR  OF  THE  BOOK OF ECXLESIASTES . . . . . . 223                                                                                                          binnen hunne eigen grenzen, ben waaronder alle men-
                 Rev.  G. M. Ophoff.  -                                                                                                                                      xh:en  in vrijheid en zonder gebrek hun eigen leven
                                                                                                                                                                             zullen kunnen uitleven.
         OBEDIENCE AS A CHRISTIAN VIRTUE . . . . . . . . . .  i . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227                                                                                   `7: Zulk een vrede zal allen menschen de vrijheid
 ~ Rev. L. Vermeer                                                                                                                                                           laten  #om  de zeeën-,en  oceanen zonder belet  te~kunnen
         THE VALUE OF  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  SOeCIETIES  . . . . . . .  :..230                                                                                                    bevaren.
                 Rev. JI  Blankespoor                                                                                                                                                8. Ze  gel,ooven,   .dat om realistische  zoowel  als om
                                                                                                                                                                             geestelijke - redenen --alle  natiën er toe zullen moeten
         NIEU-WS~VAN                                BELLFLOWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232komen om  ;af  te zien van alle uitoefening van gewe1.d
        M r .   J .   Bekendam                                                  _                                                                                            (use of force) . Waar de  hamlhaving  van een toekomsti-
                                                                                                                                                                             gen vrede niet mogelijk is,  zoola.ng  door sommige
         NEWS-FROM                               OUR CHURC,HES- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 natiën land- zee- en luchtwapenen bij den voortduur
                 Mr. S. De Vries                                                                                                                                             -worden aangewend; en deze  nati&  met aggressie drei-
                                                                                                                                                                             gen buiten' eigen grenzén,  ,daar  gelooven ze, dat, totdat


                                          THE&ANDARD                            B    E       A    R      E    R                        221

 er  breedere  en meer permanente maatregeling tot                     vlam zet; nu, bovendien, de moderne beschaving  ,de
 verzekering van den vrede  getr,offen  zijn, zulke na-               ,oorlogsmoordtuigen  honderd maal verwoestender heeft
 tiën dienen ontwapend te  wormden.  En ze  zullren  ook               gemaakt dan vroeger het geval was; nu moet de oor-
helpen en aanmoedigen het gebruik van alle mogelijke                  l o g   ,de   werelId   u i t .
 middelen, waardoor de last van bewapening voor  vrede-                       Er moet vrede komen.  Wer,eldvrede.
 lieven.de volken verlicht kan worden.                                        Men wil een toestand scheppen, waarin de oorlog
    Dat is dus een heel program.                                       onmogelijk gemaakt is.
    Het luidt zeer onbaatzuchtig, vooral voor Albion.                         En  zoo  komt  .het,  ;dat men ook thans, nu we eigen-
    #Het is niet beperkt tot eenige natie, maar sluit heel lijk nog pas aan het begin staan  vandezen  oorlog, den
 de wereld in, en dat niet alleen uit -politiek, maar ook             grondtoon kan beluisteren in schier alles, wat er over
 uit economisch en maatschappelijk oogpunt.                           `den  oorlog wordt gesproken of geschreven, van het
    IHet streeft naar een wereld van vrede, welvaart                  verlangen naar en de poging tot  w,er,eldvrede.
,en  geluk voor  al1.e  volken  met  alleen, maar voor alle                   De wonde; de  -doodelijke  wonde, die het beest van
 menschen.                                                            het antichristelijke  w'erel,drijk  bij de  spraakverwar-
    Daartoe is het noodig, dat  hetNazisme  eerst wordt               rin'g  van Babel ontving, moet  zoo  spoedig mogelijk
 vernietigd, en dat de natiën van de  "Axis"  worden ont-             worden  geheel,d.
 wapend en dus  :onslch,adelijk worden gemaakt,                               Of het gelukken zal?
    En  h,et  belooft aan alle volkeren het recht om eigen                    Wat het einde zal zijn van dezen oorlog, zal wel
regeeringsvorm  te kiezen. En dat houdt nogal wat in,                 niemand kunnen zeggen. De Heilige Schrift laat wel
vooral als deze belofte  ,ook vervuld zal worden in het               het licht  ,der openbaring over  (de  tegenwoordige  ge:
Britsche wereldrijk.                                                  `schiedenis schijnen, maar niet  zoo,  dat ze ons de his-
    Ik  vr,ees,  dat, indien  ,de   tegenw,oordige   wereldoorl:og    torie van tevoren beschrijft. Wie dan  ook.  tracht om
niet ten einde kan worden gebracht, eer deze  doel-                   te voorspellen,  wPat  het  seinde  zal zijn  van-de   ,huidige
eind'en  zijn bereikt, we op een langen en bangen oor-                wereldbrand, moet zich daarvoor zeker niet op de
log ons moeten voortbereiden.                                          Schrift beroepen. W,el  wordt  *dit telkens weer gedaan,
    Maar : De Heere regeert!                                          maar altijd loopt dit op mislukking uit.
                                                      H. H.            Wel leert ons de Heilige Schrift, dat we zullen
                                                                      hooren  van oorlogen. en geruchten van  ,oorlogen, en
                                                                      nog is het  e+ncle  niet!
                                                                              Zoolang als het dus oorlog is, mogen we ons ver-
                                                                      `zekerd houden, dat het einde er nog niet is.              .
                                                                              De Schrift leert ons ook,  ,dat  we tegen het einde
                                                                      een wereldrijk moeten verwachten, dat alle natiën en
               Vrede Dé Grondtoon                                     volken zal insluiten. Het  antichriste1ij.k  wereldrijk.
                                                                              Voor  ,een  korten  tij!d`zal  het  ,dus   #de wereld  onge-
    Het is uit alles, ook uit  boven,stand  program  `duitde-         twijfeld gelukken, om tot eenheid te komen, en om den
mjk,  ,dat  de wereld temidden van den  o,orlog  eigenlijk             oorlog te bannen. Het zal een  w'ereldrijk  zijn van
 den vrede,  ,dben wereldvrede zoekt.           '                     politieke vrede  ,en  maatschappelijke welvaart.
    M'en ziet het schadelijke, het verwoestende van den                       De grondtoon van vrede, die zich ook in dezen  oor-
 oorlog wel in. Dat de oorlog, hoe'kleiner de wereld                  l,og telkens  weer-  uit, en die steeds sterker wordt, komt
wordt, en hoe dichter  ,de  natiën bij elkander komen te              ,op  uit  iden  drang naar  .dat  rijk, naar dien wereldvrede.
wonen, steeds  vreeselijker  wordt, steeds meer ver-                       Maar als die vrede komt, wordt het bang  .voor  .de
woesting aanricht, en ten  slotte  heel het  schoone  .ge-            kerk des  H'eeren in de wereld.
bouw der beschaving  dr.eigt ineen te doen storten,
wordt al meer erkend. Reeds lang werd het. gezien,                        .Want  voor haar zal  ,er  `dan  geen plaats zijn.
dat oorlog is "een wanklank der beschaving"; dat hij                       Zoolang er ooriog is, kan dat antichristelijke rijk
<de welvaart  belemmert   ,en  de  ontwi,kkeling  der volkeren        geen werkelijkheid worden.
tegengaat,  ,het  kapitaal verslindt, de  staatsschu18d  doet              Maar als er straks vrede komt, hetzij aan het einde
to'enemen,   ,de  armoede bevordert,  ,en  d'e maatschappij           van dezen oorlog of later, vrede zonder Christus, vrede
met den ondergang bedreigt.  WoomSmboek  voor Weten-                  in een  wer,eld,   di.e   zic,h  tegenover den  Gezalf'de  des
schap en Kunst,  VII,   200.                                          Heeren  zet, dan wordt het voor  Gods volk in de  werel,d
    Maar vooral in- den laatsten  tij,d, nu door stoom en             eng.           -  _
.electriciteit,  `door luchtschip en  radi,o,  d.e  wereld` aan-          ,D,e  oorlog, maar nog veel meer die grondtoon des
merkelijk kleiner- geworden is, en  `de verst van  elkan-             vredes, roept  .ons toe : Doet aan  ,de  -volle wapenrusting
:der   verwijd@de.volkeren      buren `geworden zijn, en nu           Gods !
,,daarom   schier   `elke oorlog  -heel  de wereld in vuur en                                                                 H. H.


      222                                           T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R

                                                                     alienateId  from  `God,  saw the beauty of His revelation
             The Triple Knowledge no more, and-knew herself to be an obj'ect  of God's
                                                                     holy wrath. Her life was changed into death. How-
                                                                     ever, and just  because  of this corruption of her nature,
                                                                     she immediately  went. in search of her husband  .in
                                                                     #order  to make him her accomplice in sin and her com-
      - An Exposition Of The Heidelberg                              pani,on  in misery. What method she employed to
                              Catechism                              tempt Adam the Bible does not tell us. Very briefly
                                                                     it states: "and gave also unto her husband with iher;
                                      IV.                            and he  #did-  eat." She had learned the 1i.e  in th,e school
                                                                     of the`  serpent, and, no ,doubt,  she practised  -what she
                             L O R D ' S   D A Y   I I I             had learned upon  her  husband. But the point is `that
                                                                     the truth of what the apostle writes  .in Rtom. 1:32  be-
                                   3 .                               came immediately manifest in Eve: "Who knowing
                       The Fall Of Man. (Cont.)                      the judgment of God, that  they  which  commit such
                                                                     things are worthy of  death,  not only  td,o the same,
             The last stage in the temptation and the fall of the    but  heave_plea.sure  in them that  <do  them".  No longer
      ,woman  naturally and  inevitzbly  Pollowed  upon the          coUId  -she have pleasure in a sinless husband. In fact,
      ,w;oman's  acceptance of  `ohe   wor,d  of the serpent by      by -nature she  would henceforth hate him, and unless
      which he  had  plainly and boldly  contradi.cted  the  Word    he  beca.me  her accomplice in- sin, she would be ready to
      of God. The lie had been introduced. And it had been           persecute. and kill  him.  Such is sin. Hence, it was
      accepted and embraced. It is in the light, or rather,          inevitable that she could have no ,moment%  rest, even
      in the darkness of that lie, that.is, with eyes that had       though she now very clearly knew ,by  experience the
      been darkened by the lik, that the woman now looked            jedgment   <of   ,Go:d,  .u.n.til   &he had also  per&aided  Adam
      at the tree and passed her own judgment upon it. She           $0 become her companion in disobedience and in
      saw nothing anymore of the  Wor,d  of  God.-   IOn  the        adeath.
      contrary, she saw "that the tree was good for food, and            Such was the first  siri, the one act through which
      `@hat   it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be de-      `sin entered into the world,  an,d  death  .through  sin.
      sired  t,o  make one wise". ,Gen.   3:6.  In other words,      The question is often asked, how it was possible that
      already she was filled .with  lust, the lust of. the flesh     sin coul,d  originate in the.heart  and mind of a creature
      and the !ust  of the eyes and the .pride  of life. W&e  may that had been created good and after God's  i.mage,  in
      well  suppose,that  part of  &at  the woman saw  was,          true knowledge of God;. righteousness and holiness.
      apart from the Word of God, true. Why should it not In the ultimate sense this question must probably re-
      be? There is no reason  to believe that the tree was           main unanswered, like all questions that  concern  the
      not good for food, nor %hat  it  .was  not a pleasant tree     begilining  of things and that are not specifically -ex-
      to behold, that is, appealing to the natural eye, devoid       plained in the  W,ord  of God; We  mu&  remember, of
      of  `the  spiritual light of the knowledge of  ,God.  The      course, that sin is no substance. It has no being in it-
      only troubl,e  was, that she set aside the Word of God, self. It is  thb perversion of -good powers  wherewikh
      and divorced the tree from it.  !Sh,e  opposed her own         aGod endowed the creature, in  this  particular case, man.
     judgment to the commandment and. W,ord  of God, an,d            W.e  must also bear in mind that  ,God  ha.d  created man
      considered the tree  in the light of her rebellious heart.     good, but lapsible.  There  was no evil in him. But he
      And upon that judgment  sh,e acted. And she took of had not attained to the highest possible state of free-
      the fruit of the tree and at,e.                                sdom and goodness, in which he could not sin. Perhaps,
             Did  sh.e not, from  ,that  very moment experience      we may even say in the light of Scripture,- that this
      the wrath of IGod  and His' curse upon her? It  woulcd         state ,of  highest freedom is possible only in Christ, and
      .seem  that she must have felt the misery into which           that  t?o, because H,e  is the P.erso.ti-of  the Son of God
      her act had  plung,ed  her rather keenly and `deeply. No       in  ,human  nature. If  ,we bear these varipus  factors in
_     man  .would  ever pass  thro&h   a.similar experience as mind, we may approach a solution of the problem, how
      that through  .which   she must  have  passed at  ljhat        sin could possibly enter int'o the heart and mind of a
      moment.       Ever  sin& all men are born in sin and under     man that was made morally good.  ,God  had endowed
      the  wrath of  ,God  by nature. But Eve had kriown what        him with the good and Rich gift of imagination.- But
      it meant to walk in the light of God, to live in His           by this power of his mind `he was also able to cone&e
      fellowship, to behold His glory, to taste His goodness.        of the lie, to create  for himself another world than
      And now her light had changed into complete  daY;k-            that of the Word ,qf God ,and to call that world of his
     .n'ess,  her   kntiwledge  of God had been corrupted into       imagination reality and  t&uth.  And if by an act of
      spiritual ignorance and love of the  li,e ; she had been       his will he embraced that world of his imagination,


                                         T H E   S-T&NtiARD   B E A R E R                                                    2 2 3

  and acted accordingly, he chose. the lie instead of the          misery are in their w@ : And the way  :of peace have
  truth of the  Wvord  of  God. And that is sin. But  .even they not known: There is no fear of God before their
  so, while this may explain the first operation of sin in         eyes". Ram:  3  :9-l&        Thr,oughout  the Bible speaks
  man's  ?neart  and mind, it  `does not give a final  anId        the same langiage.  And it is-also evident from  Scrip-
  satisfactory  answer  to the question, how this operation tur'e that this corruption of the human nature entered
  could originate in a  sinless  nature. Certain it is that into. the world through the sin of  thle one man.  A'dam   :
  also that first sin, though the responsibility of it is "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,
  entirely man's, and though it was wanton and- wilful             and ,death  by sin ; and so death. passed upon all men,
  disobedience, was according to the inscrutable plan for that @l-have sinned". But once .more:  how must
  and purposes of the Most High, and took place under              it be explained, that one sinful deed &ul,d  corrupt the
  the controlling guidance of His providence.                      whole nature ?
      But there is another  questi&,   on.e  that must and J           It is this truth that is denied by the pelagian.  Ac-
  can be answered in the light of Scripture. The Cate- cording to him, sin is always and  .only in the act, never
  chism does not merely speak  of the fall, of our firs%           in the human nature. A man is righteous only accord-
  parents in paradise, but mentions it as the source and           ing `as he does righteousness ; and he is unrighteous
  cause of the corruption of the human  n.ature.           The     only in the measure that he commits sin. But no sin-
  question is : "whence proceeds this depravity of human           ful deed can affect the nature so that it becomes cor-
  nature  ?"    And the answer is: "From the  fall and rupt. It is true, of course, that the sinful deed weakens
  disobedience of our first parents, Adam and  E,ve,   .in         the will. When  one sinful  ,deed  is committed, it be-
  P.aradise  ; hence, our natur,e  is become so corrupt that comes  mor,e  CIifficult  to do the  tight thing the  ne$
  we are all conceived and born in sin.!' The human time. It is also true that certain sins, when repeatedly
  nature is corrupt. It is the  very  opposite from what commiitted,  become habits, so that  .it appears  a%  if tihe
  -the law  dema<nds  that  it. should be. The law demands human nature is completely enslaved to them, and kept
  l.ove;  our nature is such that  it hates. And this cor-         in bondage. But in the deepest sense of `the word l&e
  ruption  `or  (depravity of the human nature the Cate-           will of man always remains free to choose either for
  chism traces to the-fall and disobedience of Adam and the good or for `the evil. Th.e  human  nature remains
  Eve as its source. And this raises the question, first inherently good. -The sinful  deed cannot possibly car--
  of  a&  concerning the relation  betw,een   that  first act rupt it. And thus the Pelagian denies, that by the sin
  of  ,disobedience  and the corruption of the nature of our -of  the first Adam he corrupted his  .nature  so that  he
  tist  pare&. How can  one  act of sin corrupt the.               b e c a m e   morally-,depraved.
  nature; darken the mind, pervert the will, so that                   However,  we  tiust  n.ot   lose  sight' of the fact, that
  henoe%orth  no  good  can proceed from it any more?              sin incurs  guiltj  that guilt is  liabili.ty  to death, and that
  This is, evidently, the teaching;oS  +he  Catechism here.        the death sentence was very really executed upon man
  `The nature was good.       Man was created after the when he committed that first sin. By his disobedience
  image of  God..-.  The sinful  .deed  of  ,disobedierice  and    Ada.m  became, guilty before  ~,God.         He became, de-
  rebellion against God  disd, in the case of Adam and             linquent in paying to God what lie owed. His  tailing
  E:ve,  not proceed from a corrupt nature. On the con- was to love the Lord his God with all his  hear&  and
  trary, the deed was first. The corruption of the nature mind -and soul and  stren&th,  every moment of his
.  follqwed.  The deed may be traced to its inmost root.           existence an,d with all he had. Such .was  his constant
  in the dteepest  recesses `of the lieart,L+he fact remains       obligation.- As long as he met  tliis obligation he was
  that the sinful deed was first. Bow this  was   possibl'e        jn the state of righteousness . Never could he do more
  remains a mystery, as we have already  st,ated.   Burt           than  was his obligation. And less he might not do.
  the next question is: how could that first deed cause            If he failed even  for ,one  moment in this perfect love
  the nature to become  depravea?      Why could not Adam ,of  God he lapsed into the st`ate  of guilt, that is,.in  the
  repent  ,of  that first and only ,deed  that had ever been       state in--which he was worthy of  punish.ment.  Debt
  committed,  an,d  henceforth  walk  iI&   bbedience   aad        with  `God  must be paid. It cannot be ignored, `for-
  righteousatiss  ? That the human nature is corrupt, is gotten, or simply cancelled.  &n  mu&  be  atonled.  But
  evident from all Scripture. For  "tKere  is  none  right-        Ada.m  had nothing wherewith to pay that debt. Hence,
  eous, no `not one: There is none that  understandeth,            he  f,ell  hopelessly  int,o  the state of guilt  .as far as he
  there is none that seeketh  .after  God. They  ar,e all          was concerned. And the punishment  bf  sin is death.
  gone out of the way, they are together become un-                God had very specifically threatened:  "Kh6   #day thou
  profitable: there is none that  doe& goed,  no, not one.         ,etitest  thereof thou shalt surely -die." And that death
  Their throat is an-open sepulchre; with their tongues sentence God ,executed  upon him immediately. Adam
`.  -they  have used deceit ; the poison of asps is under their .died  on `that very day, yea,  i&e very  mom&t  he sinned.
  lips:  Whose -mouth' is full -of cursing and bitterness :        That, according to the eternal' counsel  ,of  God, Christ
  `Their feet- are swift to shed blood:  Des$ruction  and          stood behind him, so that as it were he fell on Christ

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

  and was saved ; and that, therefore, he  :did  not utterly stood  as; a threat, for one does not die inevitably of
  perish, is also true. But we may leave this  outsid:e  of high tr.eason.            But when I say: `Do not take of that
  th.e scope of  consid,er.ation  for the present. As far ~Paris  Green, for if you do you shall  ,die,'  there is no
  as  A,dam   was.  concerned, apart from Christ, it can           que&ion   ,of   .punis,hment  : all that is expressed is that
  only be said that he  .died,  because God inflicted the          this poison is fatal in its effect, and that one who
  punishment of death on him. And this  puni&ment                  takes the poison must  .die.      In the last instance, I may,
  *of  death certainly included physical  ,death:  he was          if one should, contrary to my warning, take the poison
  separated from the tree  ,of.   liffe   ; and corruption and     n,evertheless,  make an attempt to counteract the deadly
  mortality took hold of his physical frame from that aff.ect  of the poison by the application of an antidote
  very moment. But it also implied the spiritual death,            to make the patient vomit. Then I certainly spoke
  so that: "revolting from God by the instigation of the           fully in, accordance with truth: `when you take the
 devil, and abusing the freedom of his own will, he  for,e-        poiison,  you shall `die',  and I ,d,o  not at ,a11  come into  con-
  feited these excellent gifts ; and on the contrary  en-          flict with myself when afterwards I make an attempt
  taiIed  on himself ,blindness  of mind, horrible darkness,       to save the reckless  ,one  that took the pois0.n.          If this
  vanity an,d  perverseness of judgment, became wicked,            is clear, then it mast also be admitt'ed  that the .words  :
  rebellious and <obdurate in heart and' will, and  impur.e        `If you eat of the tree of knowledge: you will surely
  in- his affections." Canons III, IV, 2. And thus it is           di,e',  are explained in their full implication, when I
  explained that the- deed `of that first sin resulted in understand them as implying nothing else than the
  the-.corruption   ,of  the human nature in our first parents. ideclaration,  the warni,ng  : `Know this, that when you
  This corruption was not a natural result of  h,is  dis-          permit  yoarself  to be tempted to eat of that tree, you
  obedience, but  th.e inflicti,on  of God's own sentence of       wil.1 see that death will be the result'. And if this is
  death upon him.                                                  the significance, then there is nothing contradictory in
         Thus the disobedience ,of  our first  parents was, in- `the  fa.ct that  .death  was not on that same day fully
  deed; .a fall, by which man lapsed, from the state of            inflicted on Adam, because the same God that Bad
  righteousness into that of guilt and  conldemnation,             warned them, hastened immediately  .after  their trans-
  from light into darkness, from holiness into corrup- gression in order to ~check  the results of.  the evil."
  tion, from life into death. If we understand this and,               ?Ihere  are many reasons why this'entire  presenta-
  at the same time, see the reason and cause of this in            tion must be rejected. In the first  piace,   it is  cot in
  the execution  ,of  the death sentence upon man,  w,e will harmony with Scripture to explain the words: "the
  also cl,early  see the absurdity of the theory that there -day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," as a
  was an operation of restraining  gra%e  in Paradise, warning eoacerning a -natural  an.d  inevitable result,
  whereby the process of moral and spiritual eorruption the actual realization of which might then be pre-
  was checked, so that man did not  beecome  so `depraved          vented by  ,God.  Everywhere Scripture  presen.ts  death
 ,as  he would have been without this restraining in-              as a punishment inflicted by God Himself, and that too,
  fluence.  T%his  is the view of common grace as pre-             in His `just wrath. Death is the  revelati,on  of God's
  sented by Dr. A. Kuyper Sr. According to his con-                ,displeasure  against sin, the  ,execution   ,of  His  just
  ception, death was the natur,al  and inevitable~result  of sentence, the deliberate inflicti,on  of punishment, not a
  Adam's eating of the forbidden fruit, just as physical natural result of the sinful deed. If the corrupt5on  of
  death is the natural result of  taki.ng   poison.  Adam .,-the  `human natur,e  must be explained as the natural
  kill.ed himself.  IOf course, even so this law of cause result of one sinful deed,  -the  Pelagian  is, no doubt,
  and effect operated according to the ordinance of God,           correct when he maintains that this is spiritually and
  and in s&far  deaths  was  .also  punishment. But the fact       ethically impossible.        But the  i.nevitableness  of. this
  remains  th-at  for Adam death in all its implications  dand,    corruption becomes quite clear if we consider it as the
 th.erefore,  including moral and spiritual corruption,            punishment  <of   bdeath  inflicted upon our first parents
was inseparably and naturally connected with that for their  ,disobedience.                        In the second place, sin is no
  ,one  deed of disobedience. The  wor,d  ,of  God: "the           paris green or any other kind of poison that kills a
  day thou eatest thereof thou shalt  sur.ely   `die",  must man physically and spiritually if, he takes it. The sin
  be understood, not as  .a threat which God  H.imself             of Adam and Eve was a wilful  deed ,of  disobedience,
  would fulfill, but as a prediction ,of  what  w'ould  hap-       transgression of the commandm,ent  of God. The figure
- pen, and, therefore, as a-fair warning. Writes Dr.               which Dr. Kuyper employs here, as is the case with
  Kuyper,  De Gem'eeltie  Gratie  I, 209 Yf. ; (I translate) :     many illustrations in his works,  .is misleading. In
         "Death in connection .with  man's eating of the tree the third place, it must be very evident that there is
  of knowledge, can be understood in a twofold way:                no golden mean.  betw,een  life and  d*eath.  A man is
  ,either  as a  punish.ment  that was threatened, or as a either alive or ,dead  ; he cannot be in some in-between
  result that would follow therefrom. If. death is fixed condition. To apply Dr. Kuyper's own illustration:
   as the punishment of high treason, this must be  under-          if a man takes  paris  green he dies; but if an antidote


                                                                                  .

                                          THE..STAND.A~R~D   BEARER                                                                    225

IS  .administered,  and this means  is effective, and has. the
desired result, so that the patient  vomits  out the poison            The Author  of the,  Book of Ecclesiastics
he took, he  .does   nlot  die, but lives and will  recover
completely.  H,e certainly  i.s not `half dead and half                    Both the. titie and the contents of this book firmiy
alive. The evil r.esults  are npt  "tempered" or checked,,             sustai,n  the view that its  au&or was none `other  than -
but wholly counteracted and prevented. .Now,  if God king Solomon. The author says of his wcords  +hat  they
warned Adam and Eve when He said: "the day ye eat. are of the Preacher, the son  `of David, king of Jeru- .
theredf,  ye shall  surely~  die,"  so--that  the  Isinful   ,deed     ,salem. T,he  internal evid,ence  ,of  -the Solomonic author-
was comparable  `to-  taking poison  ; and if  ther.eupon              ship is so strong as to be conclusive.              Speaking of
God administered an antidote of grace, and this means `himself `the author sayi  : "I the  ,.preacher,  was king
was effective, our first parents did not .die at all ; they            over Jerusalem. I, gave my  :hiart   td seek and to
certainly lived. The evil of their deed was not checked,               search  ,o~rt  wisdom concerning. all things that are
but entirely prevented. In no sense of the word could                  `done  under heaven. .- . . . I sought in mine heart to
they be h&f  `dead  and half alive. Hence, they lived.                 give my  self  unto   wine  yet acquainting  Fine heart
And  thi.s  means, too, that in  paradis:e  the human                  with wisdom.; and  50 lay bold  on  f,olay,  till I might
natur.e  was nlot corrupted at all . . It would have been,             see what was that  .good  for  %he soils  bf   me&  which
if God had not  interven,ed  by His con-u-non grace. As                `they should do under bhe  heave`n  $1 .+he  ,days  of their
the matter stands,  however, Dr. Kuyper's explanation                  life. I made me great works,; I  bpilmded me houses;
of  wlhat  actually happened in paradise,  .really  directs            I planted me vineyards,;  -f  _ made me  gandens  and
us to the same view as that of the  Pelagians,~  except                orchards, and I planted  trees   .in them of all kinds  OP
tihat  we arrive there in a round-about way. `But this                 fruits. I made me ~004,s of water, io water therewit,h
is in flat contradiction with the plain testimony of the               the wood that bringetb f'ortih  trees. I got me servants
Bible,  w:hich  teaches us that the  natur&of  man became              an,d maidens, and had servants  bor.n  in my house ;
corrupt  thr;ough  the fall and  dJsobedience  of  our  first and I  dso had great possessions  if great  and  small
parents in paradise.          The view, therefore, must be             cattle above all  that  were in Jerusalem  bef,ore  me. I  -
reje&ed.-  Instead we  must  maintain that in the words :              gathered me  labo   ,&lver  and  gold,  and  the  peculiar
"the day thou eatest  bhereof,  thou  sh&l?i   sur,ely  die," treasure-,of.  kings, and of the provinces. I gat  me  men
God threatened puni~shment,  the  $mish,ment  of de+&                  singers and women singers, and the  ,delights   *of  the
which He Himself w&ld  inflict upon the guilty trans-                  ,soes of men, as musical instruments and that of all
,gressor   ; and that #his sentence wa.s actually carried              sorts. So I was great- and increased  moxe   than   all
out by the righteous. Judge of heaven and earth. Only                  t&at  were before me in  Jeru,salem:  also my  wi,sdom
thus can it be explained,-in oppositi,on  t,o the Pielagian            remained with me"  (.ch:apters  1, 2). According to the
view, how  the  one deed of  -disobedi,ence  could entail              Book  lof   rthe Kings,  *th.ese   were   the.   BengagLments.   ,od
upon man the corruption of his -whole  nature.                         Sol.omon,  Then, too, the  medit,ations  that form our book
                                                                       are  s'uch as the history of this monarch would  lea,d
                                                      H.  H.           us  to ascribe to him in his  did  age, after he  :hald
                                                                       experienced the vanity of life in its best  earbhly   -
                               -                                       estate.
                                                                           What also  strongly  pl,eads  for the  SoIomonic  author-
                         ~ - A T T E N T I O N                         ship  `of  ,our  book is the  chi.ldishness  of the objections
    There will be a public  1ectur.e  at  th,e Fuller Ave. (raised   agail&  it. It is said, to illustrate, that the  -
Prot. Ref. Church on Feb. 26 at  7:45  P. M. The Rev.                  manner in which the author sBeaks  `of himself, as the
P. De Boer of Holland Michigan will address us on the son of David  an.d king  ,of  Jerusalem and attributes
topic:  `%`a%   We As  Ch+stiam  Perfor?  Sunday  Labor:               to  him#self  works, undertakings, and qualities,. whose
In Our Defense  Industries   Dewing  The Present  Nla-                 originator and bearer this-tory teaches to be Solomon
tional   Emergem~?"          Come and bring your friends!              al,one,  indicates rather a literary fiction than We                    ~
Proceeds for the Standard  B,earer.  This lecture is                   direct  So;lomonic  authorship. Then the allusions to
being sponsored by our League of Men's Societies.                      his prosperity,  ass  not  (less the boasting  ,expr:essions
                                                                      ' regarding his  ,own  wisdom-are said to be scarcely in
                                 Geo. Ten  Elshof-Sec'y.               harmony with the authorship <of  Sol,omon,  the son an'd
                                                                       successor of David. And altogether unkingly, it is
                                                                       held, sound the complaints concerning unjust judges,
                                                                       violent tyrants, officers given to imposition, and slaves
    Some people put on  8. form  `of  godlin&ss  to gain  $            ,and   fo,ols  elevated  ito high  ,offices  and honors.      It is
Peputati'on.     But  it is only the power  ,of  godliness .sa$d  that  th,ese  are all  Ilamentations  and complaints
w h i c h   a s s u r e s   oharacter.                                 natural enough in a suffering and oppressed subject,


                                    ..-     -          ./
       226                                        c          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

       but not in a monarch called and authorized -t,o  abolish                       a'side   `of the plain and conclusive testimony of any
       the evils.                                                                     b15ok  `of  -bhe  Old Testament Canon  ,yespectinE   i%s
              iCertain  it  iti that these arguments  ,against  the authorship; ,on the ground `of arguments derived  `fr,om
  &uthenticity   ,of  the book as ascribed  t,o  S,olomon   `are                      style, is  [seen  to be truly  preposrt&us  ilp the  lig'ht
 devoid of  ,a11   Eorce.   W:hen  the  whol,e  case is  vi&ed                        of the consideration that little is  k,nown  and can be
       in a `different  l,ight,   a&l  the  reserenoes  from  wlhich                  known of the history  #of   a language, so ancient and
       these  .arguments  are ,derived  form the strong,est  proof                    on this' account so  f.a?  removed from es as the  Hlebrew.
       in favor  aof  the  Solomonic  auth'orship.                    Then, the           Wchat   manmer   `of man  was  the  aukhor   ,of  our book?
       fiailure   ,of   every   ,attetipt  to  fix any period for the                 What may have been his world-  and  life-view? The
       auihorship  of the  b80,0k,  if we  (depart  from the date                     rationalist  .interpreters  imagine that the book contains
       of  Solom,on,  is  anotiher  proof that  n'o  ,other  time and co.pious   evi'dence  ,of  the author'8 being a  soeptic  phi,lo-
       author is genuine.  Hloti  great is  thils  difficulty, is `sopher  of the  sch'ool  of the  Epicurians,  thus  ,one  who
  sieen  by rleverting  to the #different  views  pres:ented,  all                    affirmed  ,o'r  denied  nokhing  respecting reality, who
                                                                                                               .
       ,of  which  ark held with  eqeal-   confXence  and yet, in doubted  atnd  ,disbeheved  all  the  principles  <of  religion,
every way, are  ,opposed  to  each   `oth,er.                        Finally, so and whose motto  therefore was: "This life  ijs all.
       mu&h   ,alike,  as to works and  qualiti'es,   ,are  the author                The thing  fo;  a man  $0  ,do  thferef,ore  `is to make the
       ,of   $his  book and  8Sol,omon  son of David,  bhat  they                     most of this  Zife   by  drinki.ng   Ideeply   ,of  its  p18easup&."
       who deny its  Solo+onic  authorship   .are  driven to, con-                        A correct  und'erstanding  of the book,  br'ings  to
       clude that  th'e   ,author  is  ,one  who artfully  tra,nsposed                li!ght   that  the author  w&s a firm believer in  (God
       h&self into the-place  ,of   Sol'omon,   an.d that thus the                    and  belonged to His believing children,  ,and  that, in
       book is  1i;terary   fictiron.  But if  $he  author is not                     pnolduci!ng   h'is  book,  Ihe  very  conSciously.was   ad'dress-
  king  Sol'omon,  son of David, the  bo'ok  is more  tha.n                           ing himself to  +he  task  od  ,alssailing   anId- exposing as
       ficti,on;  it is a literary  frslud:  -For the  ,au+hor   pltinly              false all  such   paian  concepti~ons  of what  constitu&s
       wants himself known as  Solom,on.                        Not  `once   ,does    -for man the  oni&  good. "ReInember   ,thy  creator  in bhe
       lie  by  asid.e  his mask-if a mask he  wears+0  shew                          dlays   <of  thy  poutih,   whilce   +he  evil  d.ays  come not, nor
       his true $ountenance.                                                          +he  years  Idraw  nigh,  when  thou shalt say, I have
 -,        T.he   numer,ous   Aramailsms  in the book  .are   re-                     no  pl,easure  in  IDhem"  (12  :2). Let us hear the con-
       `@anded  as forming  the surest signs  ,df its  p.ost-exilic                   clusion of the  .matter:  fear  `God  ,and  keep  ,His  com-
  -&gin.  But  *he  surety also of these signs is dis-                                mandments : for this is the whole of  man"   '  (12.~13).
       pelled by the light of the  foll,owing   .consi,deration.                      Tlhat  such  iS the  author's   conclusi80n   lof-the   niatter  on
       The Aramaic  slanguagee   w,ene  the  Semetic   ,dialec+s                      which he  ,discourses,   shotis how utterly untennable  the
  .:originally  current in  Mesb,potamia  and  th,e regions                           view that  h,e   was  an inf  ildel.
  `extending southwest from thee  Euphrates  +o Palestine.                                iH'ow(ever,  thle  book sd80es  contain passages  %hat  seem
       IThus   tihe  southwest  Aram,etins  were  firom   .ancient                    to justify $he  canelusion  that  the  wisdom  ,of  lif'e which
       times the immediate  nleighbours  of the Jews. This it sets forth is  worldly-skeptiml as to its character.
       being   trne,  the  H.ebr.eti  language was from  ,earliest                    Says  $he  preacher: "F,or  what  hatih  man  ,of.  all his
       times `exposed  to the  infusi,on   Iof  Aramaic elements.                     l,ab,our,   and-   ,of   $he   vexatimon   o f   ,his   h e a r t ,   where&i
       Fact is  thlat  `eventually the Jews  ,gave   LIP  their  lan-                 he hath  laboured  under the sun? For all his days
       guige and-  adopted  the Aramaic  `a,s  their  tongue.  It                     are  ;sorFolws,   a&l his travail grief; yea, his heart
       has been pr,oven  conclusively that the substitution ,of                       hath not rest- in the night.  Thi.s   .is vanity. There
 *  A>amaic   5or Hebrew as the vernacular of Palestine                               is nothing better for a man,  khan  that  he  should   seat
       took  pllace-  very gradually. Assuredly,  ,it must have                       and  .drink,   ,and   thait  he  sahoultd make his soul  .enjoy
       bee'n  a  l,ong   px.ocess,.  extending backwards  `even  to                   go,od  in his  labour.  . .  ." And  #again:  "For to  him
       the  timie  of  .Sol'omon.  If to  +his  be added the fact                     th:at   its  j,oined   t,o  al:1  the  living there is  $ope  :  %or   a
       of the royal position of  S,olomon,  and the  sact of                          living dog is better  than  a  ,dead  ,lion.           For the living
       his receiving a-familiar  acqpaintance  with foreign                           know that  tihey  shall die: but the  (dead  know not
       wands  through h?s intercourse wi$h  the strangers who                         anything, neither have they  any  more a  rewar,d   ;
       came to hear his tisdom,  and if these facts be coupled for the memory of them is forgotten. And their
       with the circumstance  `of the peculiar  ,nature   ,of! the                    love,  san,d  their hatred,  anid   their envy is now perish-
       subject requiring a diffenent  phracseology  and dlemand-                      `ed ; `neither have they  .anyrnore  portion for ever in
       ing abstract terms with variety of forrri  not  elsewher'e                     Ianything  that  ia done  u!nder  the sun.  #Go  thy way,
       required,  wte have, it  woul,d   Beem,  Ithe real solution                    eat  tihy  bread with joy, and  drink-thy  wine with a
       of the peculiar ,style  lof  the book. In fine, the position                   `rney.m!;   #@a~&,;;   $or   Gold   now  accepteth thy  workq.
       that  $he   .au&or   `of  Ecclesi;a&es  is  Sol,omon-must  not                 Let thy garments be always white ;  an,d let thy bead
       be forsaken. With all  respect   f,or the liquistic learn- Ja,ck  no ointment. Live  jcoyfully  with the  wif,e  whom
       ing and  acu;teness  of Biblical scholars,  $hia  brushing                     $hou.   llovest  all  $he   !days  of  tihy  vanity, which  ,he  hai&

                 -_


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I-
                                                  T H E   S!iAtiDARD   BEARER                                                                 227

         given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vamity ;                 science,  Sall  his advancement in learning, the mighty
         for this is thy porti'on  in life, and in thy labour  which tiivilization  that he  devel,opes  a thing utterly vain,
         thou  hast  under the sun" (9 :4-g).                  -                meaningless from the point  ,of   vifew   <of  what there  .is
             Here  the Preacher in his cogitations seems to be, in.   &hem  for  man.  in the way of spiritual profit and
         progressing in a channel  ,of  thought  id,entical  to that advancement.
        ,of  the pagan  ArZstippus,  when he sai'd  that pleasure-                  Also  im  -objective  view this earthly shows  &self
      .' the pleasure of the body-is man's sole good. And futile.                         "One generation passeth  `away,  and another
        yet, truly, the Preacher was a man  ,of   `God,  who set generation oometh ; but the  ,earth  .abideth  forever.
        forth  IGod's  wisdom, while  the wisdom  jof   Aristippus              The  8un   dso  ariseth,  and the sun  goeth  down and
         is from below. This is plain from his main  propo-                     hasteh  to Ihis place where  he arose. The wind goeth
        sitions, which are  tw,o  in numb,&.        The first  o,f these toward the south; it  vvhirlleth  about constantly, and
        ,he   express'es  in this language :  "Vamty   `of vanities  ;          the wind  returneth  again  acco,rding   ito his circuits.
        all is vanity"  (1:2).  This  expreskion  is a paraphrase               All the rivers run into the sea; yet $he  `sea  is not full ;
        iof  the  -superlative  idea  `textr,emi:st  vanity".        That it unto  tihZe  place  fr.om   when.ce  the rivers come, hither
        again returns at the close-chapter 12  :7+shows  that they return again" (12 :4-7). The human race-such
         it contains the  fundamenta.1  thought  `of the whole %s the thought  convleyed-with  every change  lof   i.ts
      .bmook-a  thought that the -Preacher  m,eans  to prove                    generatiosns,  the  .-sun,)  wind,  ,and  `water, make no
        and also does  actuYally  prove by slearching,  examining               advamce,  present no real progress, arrive in their'
        anid  !even   subjvectively  testing  dl the things that are            circuit of vanity at no fixed goal or lasting place of
        drone  under the sun-things, doings, that constitute                    rest. The  lab'our  of which  ala things are full-so  full
        life as fallen man in his spiritual  estrangem,ent  frorm that man  cannot  utter it-is  gamless.
        ,God  lives it  ion this  ear&h,  where stalks the  ,eurse  of              Even wisdom,-natural, practical  wisdo;m--the
        aGod. The whole  baook is  ,seen  to  ,be a record  ,of   `the          possession and pursuit thereof, is  v&n.   T,he  preacher
        vari'ous  examinations  ma,de  and of the conclusions                   knows whereof he spea.ks.           For he has come  t,o gre>at
        arrived at. And  whate.ver  the particular thing, doing, estate amd gotten more  wisdlo,m  than all  that  have
        phenomenon,  it may be that is  ,examined  or tried, it been before him in  Jerus'alem;.  yea,  his heart had
        is found to be vanity.                                                  great `experience  `0-f  wisdom and  kno,wledge.   .Aed  he
            What may be the idea denoted by the frequent gave his heart to know madness and  fol~ly.  But he.
       _ word  vnn.ity   ?    Is it  tvans,sitoriness,  swift passing           perceived that this also-the pursuit  09 wisdom  with-
        azvazJ? Is this the teaching conta&d  in the .exclama-                  ,out  the fear  `of God-is vexation of spirit in that in
        tion "all is vanity" that this earthy  ,ia in a  :&ate   *of  much wisdom is much grief  (1.~15-18)   .
        co,ntinual  flux, that, as the Greek  PhiIoso:phler   Hera-                 He then proved his heart with mirth.. But he
        cleitus   affirme,d,  change,  m.ovement,  is the Lord  ,of  soon  fo,und  himself saying  `of  laugh&r,  It is. made;
        the  l%iverse   ,even  so  cotmpletely  as -even to `exclude the and   *of  mirth, `What doeth  ,it. tContin.uing  his  searches,.
        ,possibility   )of   a n   un&anging   substratuin?          aThis  is h,e sought in his heart to give himself unto~ wine, and
        mot the id$ea idenoted  but this rather that thi:s  `earthly,           to  Ilay hold on  f,olly,  till he might see what was good
        all  hum.an   ,endeavor,  in a word,  :life-this  life-as for the sons of men. He made him a great works,
        fallen man in his state  ,of  spiritual  .death  lives it-is got him servants  and.   mlaidens.,   ga%hered  him  al:so
        essenti8al~ly  purposeless,  profitl.ess,  unprogressive, and silver and gold until he was great and increased more
        thus utterly futile. In a word, it is  svain.               Mark the than any that were before him. Then he looked upon
        wordis  : "What  profit  bath a man  ,of   .a11  his  labour            all the works #hat  his (hands  had wrought; ,and  "behold
        whioh  he  tak'eth  under the sun"  (1:3) ?  No,ne  what- all was vanity  anld vexation of spirit,  <and  there was
        ever. The  prea~cher  knows.  For he gave his heart to no profit under  the sun" (2 :2-11).
        seek  a&d  to  &earch  `out  by  -wisdom   ooncerning  all                  Having concluded his experiments,, the preacher
        things that  are idone  under heaven. And he has seen loloks out upion  life and *observes  many evils  and BO  the
        all the works that are  `done  under  6h.e sun.                 And,    `evidence that life is indeed Vain continues to accumu-
        behold,  al-l-all  men's works,  enadeavorsdare  profit- late before his  .eyes.                       He records  these   jevi.ls  in his
        less. Vanity they are and vexati,on  ,of  spirit. Because  -book  aed  intersperses hie recordings  with positive
        "that  ,which  is crooked  canmot'be  made straight: and moral precepts and goNod  counsel. Having fuBy  estab-
        "that which is wanting cannot be  .numbened"   (1:15).                  3Pshed   $he  truth of  thle   pr,oposition  that he set  lout
        Man by all his  ,eBorts  neither can nor will rectify to prove, he :again  exclaims : "Vanity of vanities, saith
        what is unjust in this w,orl,d.     Thus he oann'ot  perform %e preacher  ; all  <is  vanity"  (12  53).
      ~ the most important thing. All his  ,exerticms  to make                      BLIP thii is not  hils  final conclusion. If it  w,eye  the
        straight the crooked is a moving i,n  .a circuit 102  vanity.           preacher as a teacher would rate no higher than the
        And it  iis precisely this inability  ,on the  p:art  of man            :glSo'omiest   (of   pessimi.sts  among worldly  philIosophers,
        that   r.enders  all his labors, all his  achievements  in              and then it  ,would   be  correct to  ,say  that  in all  ihis

                                                                                                         .'


                                                                                                              .:
 228                                      TH-E   S T ' A N D A R D   .BtiARER

reasoriing  he, as they, was  encltosed  by  the  circuit  (of  the Live  joyfully  with,the  wif.e   &horn  thou  :lov~est"  (9  :7).
 earthly. Then  iin his  counselling  "There is nothing               It -is hardly  meoeaaary  `to remark that the thought
bett,er  f,or a man, than #hat  he should ,eat and drink,,,           cont,ained  in these passages is not: "Seeing  that   to-
Ihe   `progresses  along a line  lof  thought  th$t  is  the,?-       morrmow  we  die, let us wholly ,abandon  ourselves to tile
loughly  pagan. Then what he  $eUs   us  is  Tieri,ly   this,:        enjoyment of  #he  sensuous pleasures of  %his   lifk."
%at, seeing that man  ,dies  on  -the  morrow and that                This cannot be thhk  thought, unless  all this  counsel be
death  end.s   .all,  the best that a man can do  f#o+  him-          taken  Ias   irotny,   ,as   Some   dco.  But this counsel  is very
self while it  ils yet day, is to make a. god ,of  `his  belly.       plainly serious advice. -Certainly, natural existence  I
The preacher, were his final wolrd  "All is vanity" were              and its pleasures such as eating and ,drinking  are not
but another lapostle  `of ,despair.     For that  #his   earMy        ?as   such  sin. A hungry man need mot  a?cuse  himself
is  v&n  means that in it  ,oper,ates  a  principl,e   lad   Bin,     because his  Sdod  tastes good to him. But it is sin
that it is the sphere of the transgression  `of  the law              to eat and to !&ink  wibhout  mocieration.          It is seeking
of  ,God,   thus  of sin  *and guilt and (death. But there the   ,earthy,and  working  f,or perishable bread, having
is a way-the way-of  trutih  and light-that, when                     &he  %@ections  set upon it, that is sin. Let  a  man  eat
taken, leads `out  of thi,s  vain circuit of depraved human           hifs bread with  j'oy,  but let  hi.m   &ank  [God  for this
existemce  up and onward to God-the- God `of ,our  sal-               joy. Let him end with his bread in God, eat it to His
vation. For this, says  %e preacher, is the `conclusion               glory a,nd  out of the principle ,of faith. This is calling
of  ithe  mat&; "Fear  Gold, and keep his command- and duty. Let the young man be mindful of this ,ever,
ments  ; for this is  th,e  whole'  of  man.     For  ,God  shall     consid'ering   .&hat  God  w'ill  bring him as to  (all his
bring  .every   wo&   into   jud,gment,   wi,th  .every  secret       pleasuresinto judgment. Thae  fundamental thought  ,of
-thing, whether: it be good  or whether it be  &il". The              this book is, as  !las  been  .shown,  not that  bhis   ,earthy
whole  ,of  man i,s to fear ,God,  that is, to love him with          life with  its  ,lawful  enjoyments must be shunned but
all  tour  beau%  and mind #and  will and str&@h.         It is to that it must be consecrated unto God,  and   lived,   +o
obey  H%s  voice and  .to believe in  Hi's   Chri,st,  who is H i s   g l o r y .
the way  beca.use   *He  is the  .`truth  and the life. Thus             Als  td We  Prelchers  view, of death, he spoke ac-
th.e   m'an  who  $eays   IGold  has-  ,paesed  in principle. in      cording to she light that the church then 1ha.d.            Jeru-
that new  an,d  livimg  .tiay  that Christ  Idedicated  from salem was then ,on'  tearth as. also the  temple of *God, so
the circuit of vanity into, the light  `of God's blessed              that  to, the ,devout  in Isra'el,  the  highest good. was to
presence. `Tlo the  ,earthy  existence of such a man                  live long in the land of Canaan with their `God.
there is meaning and purpose  indeed   aed  &ad  true                     On the subject of  jdelath,  the preacher `discourses
progress. For lhe  has Sound the wgy  ,of  life ,and  thus as follows : "(For) that which befalleth the  isons
wlalks  with  *God.  And he is  G.o,d's co-worker in the <of  men bef,alleth  the beasts; even ,one   thing  befalleth
,spher,e  of His covenant on' the terr.ain   `of hhi,s  earthy        them: as the  ,one  dieth, so  Idietih the &her; yea, they
wher,e  Christ even through all the futile  labours  `of ahall  have all  ,one  breath; so that a man   shath no pre-
the  wicke.d   ex,&utes  God's  ,degrees,  and realizes His           `eminence  a.botTe a beast: for all is vanity"  .(_3   :18,
covenant and this  al'ong  the  antitheti,cal  line of  elec:         1 9 ) .
tion   .and   reprobati.on.    And Christ comes  %aan;d  He               In the mouth  `of  ari  infidel  hhis  language  can
comes quickly to  reward  His  serv`ants   .accorlding  60            mean but  &X thing, namely, that through  de&h
their  works-His  works imputed to  &em-:  Thus mati   ent,evls  a state  ,of   non-exisitence  and thus  ,ceas,es
bheir  labours  are not  &in. For they labour  as driven to be.                  But  Dhe   aSsurance  of the preacher  ,is  +hat
by  IGod's   love  and to His glory.                                  for all his works  Go.d  will bring man  into  judgment
    Thus We main teaching  ,of  the preacher  .i,s   +hat.            (11:6).  He thus believes in a life after  ,death.  What
earthy human existence sanctified by the dear of God he says  ,of  the ,esta&e Iof man in  ooimpaTison  with that
is vain, th& ihus  ,only as unsanctified and consecrated              of  bhe  beast  ,d,oes not  milibate  against this  (article  of
to God &dqes  and can it have meani,ng  and  purpose.                 faihh  of' his. In the above-cited passage, he simply
    What now may be the thought contained `in such                    wishes to call attention to the vanity of man's earthly
pa&ages  as "There` is nothing better f,or a man than                 existence and  therefore looks away f,o? a moment from
that  he stiould  .ea%  and :drink  and th+t  he .&ould  make that, life  whilch  exists  .Sor  him  after  <death.            He here
his soul enjoy good in  hi's   labour". `These -passages takes men as they are, s&s  they appear, fallen, sensual, ,
have given rise  $0  n'mch  conimenk,   ,especially  the one          animal.  -~
sound  at  11.:9-IO'and   that   r,eads,.   "R,ejoice,   80  young       Further, of the dead he says  : "But the `dead  k'now
man, ,in ,$hy'youth  ;-and  lset  thy heart cheer thee  in the        not anything; neither have they anymore reward  ; for
days  lof  thy-  youth.  . . . Therefore  remove   sorroVli           the  memory' of them is forgotten. Also  kheir  love,
from  $hy  hea&  land  put away tev%l  from  +hy  flesh. . . ?        and their  bhatre,d,  and their  envy+   *is  now   perished  ;
And also  .+he passage, <`Go  thy way, eat thy. bread- neither  have  the'y  anymore a port%on  soyever-  in any-
With joy, and drink thy  wi,ne  witih a merry- heart. : , -. ,Y thing  th.&  is dtine  tinder: the sunI'   (9  :5, 6).


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R '   '                                     2 2 9

     There is, rightly considered, nothing in this lan-
 guage  :that  is  lat variance with the more advanced                     Obedience  As A Christian Virtue
 vi'ews  on the state of the  de:ad  contained in  the  New
 T.estamlent  Scriptures. Death certainly is a severing                  When we speak of .obedienc,e  as a Christian virtue,
                                                                      we do not thereby imply that obedience can be any-
#of  all the earthy ties that  Ibind   m,an to  thils earthy
 existence, `and  a cessation of the aggregate of all  such           thing  ,el,se than a christian virtue. Obedience is a
 actions that enter into the oonstituancy of  this  life. virtue and obedience is therefore only Christian. One
                                                                      w,ho  is not a Christian cannot possess virtue, nor can
 In death man's state  ,of  being is non-earthy.' It cannot
 be  ,otherw,ise  then that in  thi,s   :&ate  his  #earthy  love,    such a one therefore obey. Principally obedience is
 and hatred, and  ,envy   .are  no more.          F,or in Hades,      the fruit-of the sanctifying spirit of  grace  accor@nlg
 man-  snd this applies to unbelievers as well as to                  to I Peter  1:2,  and deals with our attitude toward
 $he  believers-is no longer in  th:e  flesh. His earthy              the authority of the Most High  IGod.  So that we
 passions and desires have indeed perished. No longer may safely say that olbedience  can only be viewed as a
 is his portion in the things that are  ,done  under the              Christian virtue and can be no otherwise. This we
 sun.                                                                 will attempt to make plain.
     In Hades the reprobated ,one  does not hunger a#nd                   First  of all it is well to answer the question:
 thirst after  [earthy  food and drink, lust after  cothler           W-hat is obedience? In answering we hasten to take
 men's wives; covet the  mafterial  possessions of the                away the false notion as  through  obedience were the
 living and envy them ,on account <of their riches. Sin               same as mere servitude. To obey does not mean that
 in these, forms can riot  ,o,nly   .in men who  ,are  in this ,one.tdumbly   ,and  blindly submits to a master. For  in-
 b'ody.  Yet the  ,reprobate  is still .a  t,otally   ,depraved       ,stance  if a slave inwardly rebels against his master,
 ,sinner.     But sin in h,im  is not active in the same way yet  aumbly  and blindly d,oes  his masters bidding, he is
 that it  w.as  beftore  his  ,deeeaee.    In a sense he sins not not obedient. He merely submits for f,ear  of the whip,
 Lat  all anymore, neither in Hades nor in the place of               or for fear of `other  consequences. He is not therefore
 eternal  :desolation.  In hell he is .a subdued sinner,              possessed of Christian virtue. ,Or to  t.ake  note of an
 crouclhing  at Christ's feet and :acknowledging   that  He           example we have in Scripture and in the sphere of the
 is Lord. Flor  in hell the. wi'cked  will have been  ,made covenant. The rich Young  ruler who desired greatly to'
 Christ's footstool. And in Hades as  w'ell   8s in the               know what he must do to enter the kingdom of heaven,
 place  ,of  eternal torment, the spirits of the `departed- had  appar,ently  obeyed from his' early youth all the
. such is the teaching ,of  the New Testament Scriptures              commandments  ,of  the decalogue.        He had done this
 - are  c.onscions.        Anld  nothing that the  pr.eacher          very carefully and seriously.         Y,et  in  ,order  to  ,be
 says  .on the subject of death neither  ,directly  nor, :obedient  and possess christian virtue, he yet lacked
 by implication assert the contrary.                                  the vital element  (of  sobedience;namely,     the love of God -
                                                   G. M.  0..         and the neighbor  td lose all and follow Christ.          The
                                                                      .law  demands love  to. God and- the neighbor. Lacking
                                                                      `in this love, deprives anyone of obedience as a  chris-
                                                                      tian virtue. T,herefore  we say first of all that obedience
                    LET THERE BE LIGHT                                is not merely  servitede but is a Christian virtue. .
                                                                      Obedience is that act  `of man whereby he willingly
         When the' Eternal  f&ned  creation's plan                    submits to the proper authority because God has so
              .In  power and might,--                                 `decreed and  will,ed.  Not merely slavish servitude but
         His Spirit moved upon the deep,  anId  said,                 willing  subj,ection   ,of  the whole man whereby I love,
             "Let there be light  !"                                  honor and revere those in authority over rne:~  This  .is
         `0 gracious gift, the earliest boon Iof heaven!.             also taught in the Heidelberg  CaDechism,.  Qu. and
               The stars  S~O bright,                                 Ans; 104.
         The far-flung ray  fr,om every lighthouse given,                 This virtue  n'ow  is possessed by the Christian
             Soft moonbeams, white,                                   alone anld never is the unregenerated, man virtuously
         The blazing sun, the tiny fireflies' gleam                   obedient, principally in respect to no  .authority.  The            _
               In summer night,                                       man of sin can in no wise  be-  truly obedient, either
         The candle flame  thfat  guides a  w'ander'er  home,         to his church authorities, or to the government, or to
               All are God's light.                                   his employers  :or to the husband or parents. This is so
         D,ear Father, in Thy mercy lead  us  eon                     for the very simple reason that man is made to be
             In paths  ,of  right,                                    friendaservant  of ,God in all that must be done. Surely
         And grant-that we may learn to walk by faith,                `God mandated Adam  to culture the  #earth  and dress
               And  cot  by sight;                                    the garden and to multiply his seed, etc. But only
         In life's  (dark  hours,  granlt  us to hear Thy word,       as a friend-servant. And to be  fri,end-servant  is one
               "Let there be light!"                                  Svjrtne  not two virtues, separately conceived of, as


  230                                          T H E   STANDARD   BEARER

  though he might be a friend,  &of  God without. being                   relati,onships'come      into being. The relationship of hus-
  His servant or as though he might be a servant of God band and wife, of parents and children, of magistrates
  without being His friend.                No, but to be  friend-         and citizens, employers and employees, becomes oper-
  servant is one virtue  wher,ewith  Adam was clothed.                    ative.    Tlie  God of all  .authority   de!.egates  to some
  In fact the combination of the two, made of Adam an authority, to be .emercised'over  others of Adam's child-
  image-bearer of God,  created  in the likeness of God. ren.  (God's  demand to this given authority is to exer-
  The God of all virtue made Adam in his image and like- cise this authority and God's  demand  to those placed
  ness. This virtue caused Adam to  n_ot merely obey                      in subjection, is to  exe&se   obedience.      This demand
  the mandate of  ,God,  but to so do the will of  God   ip               to exercise authority and  .obedience  is not caused
 heaven, that in every act,. his love to God would be                     by the fact that sin entered  t;he world. But this de-
  mad&  manif,est.      Adam  cou.ld  obey only when he would mand of God to exercise authority .and obedience was
  perform all of  ,God's  good pleasure WITH ALL  HI8                     there, before sin ever entered the `world, and- so this
MIND AND SOUL AND STRENGTH. To do God's                                   demand would remain unchanged,  ,even  if sin had
  will must be his supreme. delight.. All his  enjpytient                 never entered the world. Surely  .it is entirely con-
  had to  .come'fr,&m   fulfiiling the  cdmmand  of God as ceivable that in a world .of  righteousness there never-
  phe  friend of God.  Not blindly, not grudgingly, not                   theless would be some who would have authority over
  murmur.ing,  nor even neutrally. Adam must from the others and that some would be called to subjtect  them-
  principle  ,of  friendship d oGod's  will. In fact, as soon             selves to those in authority.  jHow,ever  this may be,
  as Adam would cease this love to God,  th.ou'gh  he would `the fact remains that sin did n,ot  change God's  sover-
  dress the garden and culture the earth  aid  multi$y                    meignty,  and gives to some authority and to others the
  upon the face of the  earl& he would become a rebel                     command to obey. B&man's rebellious nature.  pro-
  and wou1.d  lose the virtue of true obedience. He would -hibits him to exercise this in accordance with God's
  be perfectly miserable.             -                                   law. Those in authority do not ob'ey and those in
         This is exactly what happened when Adam fell su,bjection-do  not dbey.  ,O-  surely they may exercise
  into  sin.  He plunged himself into the most absolute                   authority out of utilitarian principles, for the sake
  misery, by what our fathers  termed  "wilful  dis- of their own profit or benefit, but not  5or God's sake.
  obedience".       This disobedience refers of, course to So also the subject  may~submit  out  `of fear or for his
  man's relation `to  Go& Man became disobediknt to- .or   ,her  own sake, but not out of the principle of love
  ward  ,God  and His precepts, in that he refused to be                  $0 God and for His sake. NOT BECAUSE THEY
  friend-servant of  Jehovah  and  theref,ore  refused to B0.W  BEFORE THE AUTHORITY OF GOD WHO
  subj,e$  himself willingly to  G,od's  authoritative word. ALONE  11s  SOVEREIGN.
  Y,ea,  not  only  does he refuse this, but all his mind,
                            .-.  ,                                            The result is corruption in all human affairs and
  soul and strength is  dir.ected  at, or used tq th,e end of,            relations. In the home the wife is not subject to her
  disobeying and rebelling against the word of God.                       husband, nor do the children honor their father and
  ,He hates the very words that proceed out of the mouth                  their mother. In the nation the citizen-subject is not
  .of  God. He  yefuses  in any way to bow before the ,obedient  to the  magi&rate,   exokpt  for selfish reasons
  suthority of the Most High. Whereas  .oGo,d  alone  &s                  of his own, and the authorities exercise their  God-
  ,God  and thepe.is  no God beqide  Him, so that His word                given authority only to set  up an anti-Christian  power
  aZone  is authoritative and final, from-which there can th.at  ultimately will develope.  into the anti-Christ  of the
  be  no appeal and about which  ther,e  can be no com-                   last days. In the industrial field, bhe  laborer ,opposes
  promise  <or question or change, man has  become  dis-                  both the f,ellow  laborer and also his employer and the
  obedient toward God.                          -                         employer in turn hates  his-  employee, except in so far
         But  this  change of  r,elation  toward the .Sovereign           that  he  can make himself rich by the sweat of their
  God also brings about a change of relation toward his labors.                      There is no true obedience, for man is not
 neighbor.. Even as man refuses to love his God, so                       ,obedient  to  [God.    He hates the very -virtue of obedi-
  also he refuses to love his  nei'ghbour..   IGod he hates ,ence.
  and   hies  neighbor he hates. &Ian's  attitude toward God                  Into that world  <of  disobedience God reveals His
  d'etermines  his attitude  tov$ard  his neighbor. The                   g&e,-and  His virtues, f,or G,od  is the God of all virtue.
  essence  *of  the whole law  and  the prophets is  to  10~5 All virtue is centered in  Gods  alone, for  ,God  alone is
  God with all our heart, mind, soul and stren&h and                      good and the overflowing fount of all good. Also the
  the neighbor as ourselves. Thus  alsp  man, who re- true virtue of authority and obedience is centered in
  fuses to possess the virtue of  ,obedi&nce  to God, also                Him, and this virtue  he reveals in the Son of His love,
  p,ossesseB  not the power or virtue ,of  obeying those set              Jesus Christ  *our  Lord. In due time  God  sent forth
_ ,in authority over him by ,God.           For.  G.od  gives  author-    His-son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, though himself
 .ity to some, as this  w,orld  developes into various  re-               without sin, and condemned sin in the flesh. Also
  ..lationships.      As the human race developes,  various               he condemned the sin of the gcoss  disobedience mani-


                                             T H E '   S T A N D A R D   BEARB'R                                                 2 3 1

   fested in man since the fall of Adam.  ,God  anointed                 ren, ruled by this same spirit of grace, then fight
   Christ to be the  .obedient  Servant in all things that               against their rebellious nature and honor their parents,
   were  ,to be done in the  h,ouse  of God. Christ ctimpletely          loving  and-   -pbeyin&  them  sincer.$y.  They will then
   obeyed. Never was He-disobedient. Not toward His                      not seek to be honored, as it is in the world.          In the
   parents, not toward the authorities and magistrates,                  world today it has become almost a slogan: Honor the
   not toward His God and Father  iti heaven. He obeyed children. They are put on the throne and the parents
   ,even  with  tahe  curse of the law. resting upon Him ask of the children: What wilt thou have LIS do.                              This
   because  ,of  the disobedience  <of  His  brethrien.    He obey-      is not child trairiing,  as the philosophers of the world
   ed even unto death, yea, the d~eath of .the crqss.          A n d     choose to call.& but it is sinful rebellion against God's
   this obedience was His virtue. His virtue consisted                   c.ommand  that children must honor their mother and
   entirely  in obeying the will of His Father.-  H,e exer-              father for this is the first command with promise. The
   cised the virtue  ,of   .obedience  but aiso of authority             child honoring  .father  and mother shall be richly
   when he cleansed the house of His Father  `of those                   blessed ana  enter into the kingdom of God.
   w.hlo would make of that house a den of robbers.            Hi,s          This spirit of grace also manifests itself in all                 ._
   word `was not as the word of the scribes and  phari$ees,              ,other  spheres of life. Then the Christian citizen will
   but as One in authority. But when he. was wrongly                     not rebel against his government but be in subjection
   accused  aed  non5  found fault in Him, and when the                  to the magistrates. It is  a Christian  virtue  with him
   authorities nevertheless condemned Him to death, he to obey  ththose  placed in  autliority over him. Surely the
   resisted not. He  yTe7riled  not, but gave Himself com-               Christian is the best citizen of any country, for he wjll
   pletely, in  ,subjection  to the will of the Father in                show  f,idelity  to the magistrates. He  will expose all  _
   heaven.  H,e did this all for God's sake.                             evil and extol all virtue. Such a Christian wil point  .out
        When  Christ had completed all, He arose and went the only way of blessedness, %nd  tell the government
   to H.is Father and for .Hi,s  obedience He received the that righteousness  exalteth  a nation. The Christian
   reward ,of  glory&  Receiving &he Spirit without measure is anti-revolutionary, and will not ally himself  with
 - He poured it.out upon. His Church in the midist  of the               any  seditiious,  rebellious or anarchist movements.
w o r l d .     And this Spirit  ,of  grace gives virtue, not
   outward, but spiritual, eternal virtue ullto  His people.                In the  indu&rial  field,  ?che  christiati  laborer will  -
   It recreates in them a new heart  an'd  mind, yea, rnik--             also-  be `.obedient  to his masters, not as men pleasers
   ing  ,of  them-a new man, made after the image of but as desiring to please the God Whom he confesses
   Christ.       This   SpiTit  humbles them so. that they see           and Whose light he  l&s shine about  hiti. The  chris-
   and recognize and confess that Jesus is Lord. 1. Cor. `Cian  virtue of  `obedience  prohibits  zhim  from  j,oining
   12:3;       This  Spirit causes them to lose themselv,es  and         any uniop  with others w.ho  seek only the things of.this
   f,ollow  Jesus. Matt. 10  :39.  Yea, this Spirit of  gr+ce            world and who hate the law of the Lord  their God.
   alone gives unto them the virtue of obedience. Bee                    If the employer [demands  ,of  .him  to brkak  the law of
   I Peter  1:2.                                                         `Gqd  he refuses and if necessary leaves his  j,ob,  even
        This  christian  virtue of obedience must theri  mani-           if he is working on defense work. He will obey God
   fest itself in all spheres  ,of  life. First of all in the -rath.er  than men-. But  if he- is in harmony with the
   Chtir&h  of Jesus Christ.' Christ  establishes the- office law of God, he will submit an&  obey his  master. And,
   of Elders for the purpose of ruling His Church by His                 $hus  we  conchide   ghat   trile  obedience  is a  christi,an
   `Spirit and  Wor,d.  And the membkrs, when making virtue, born  iof  grace, and promising a great reward in
   confessi'on  of faith, answer yes, when asked whether                 life eternal, when all things have been made n&w  and
   they *ill submit to church-government and discipline God's authority is the  rule   a;nd joy of the redeemed
   if they become delinquent. They exprkss their desire                  forever.
   and willingness to be obedient to the authority of God                                                                L.      v.
   in Christ  an,d  ,exerci'sed  through the ,office  of elders by
   the Word.  Secondly,  also in the home this virtue of
   christi+< obedience becomes manifest. The man then
   assumes the authority as. the  h.ead  of the house and the                                       __                    . .
   wife is subject to her husband in all lawful things. B y
   God's grace she then possesses the virtue of Christian
                                                                .                               N O T I C E   :
   ,obediepce,  and  .dsoes   n>ot  seek emancipation  from this  s-S
  ,divine  command to obey and be subject. 0 surely,                       Classis  West, ,of  t&e  Pr,otestant  Reformed Churches,
  -this so-called emancipation is extolled in the  %vorlcl.              will meet Wedntesday,  March 4, `at 9 :00 `.a. m., Iat  Z+.$,
 as a virtue of  especially  the democracies, but instead Iowa.  Th'ose  desiring lodging please contact Rev. A..
   of t.his  being an emancipation and a virtue; it is sinful            Cammenga  as soon as possible,
   rebellion against the command of God. Also the child-                                                      M. Gritters, S. C.


 2 3 2                                           T H E   S T ' A N D A R D   B*EARER

  The Value Of Young People's Societies Society, and then evaluate the society according to
                                                                      that criterion. By the word ideal I mean as near the
      The above-mentioned title  immedi,ately  suggests ideal as we can expect to find it on this earth. -
 that this article is mainly for our covenant youth.                  An  Ideal Young People's Society.
 Most  Iof  tiem   .are  members  iof  a society, and  -!if  not,
 certainly should  be.  And I  ,don't  think that it is un-               I am now visiting that visualized  Isdeal Young
 known to. most ,of  us that in `our  smalker  congregati,ons         People's Society. And what a society it is. I am amazed.
 these  societi,es  consist of :both young men and young              How orderly everything is. It is naturally opened with
 women,.  w.hereas  we often find one  ,of  each in larger            prayer. And how they sing, all of them. T.here is no
 congregations.        But whether combined or separate, whispering there or any  distraction.                  Then follows the
 this  articl,e  is naturally intended for both.                      discussi,on-of  the Word .of  God. To be sure this is the
     Before treating  ;t;he  subject as  ~such  the. writer `main  pati of their society. They..realize  that the study
 wants to remark that he certainly does not think that                of the Word of  God  is indispensable  f.or their.  so-
 he with this article has  compl~etely   exhau,sted  the kiety.  No, the president (usually  the-minis&   .in  ,our
 subjlect.    Far from it.        I am merely giving a few            churches), doesn't ,do all the talking. Ther,e is a lively
 personal  .opinions,  and ideas according to the best of disc&ion, all taking part.  T.his  period  ,of  discussion
<my ability, with the hope that this article may be of does not lag an.d  drag on. It seems to be but a. few
 some value  t,o  our  Y,oung   Peopl,e's  Societies.        Unto     minutes. There are no uninterested members, whis-
that end I also intend to be very concrete.                           pering members. There are no members  ber.e   that~  are
     When  sp&aking  of Young People's  Societtes,  then,             indiffertent,  and that have their thoughts far `away.
it is understood that they are societies of our co,ue%c&              Following the recess the well-recorded minutes of the
young people.         T.hey  are covenant children  ,of  God,         previ'ous   --meeting   ,ar~e  read. From the minutes `it is
who bear the sign of baptism on their foreheads, and                  evident that at the previous meeting they had a lively
w,ho  are in the world but not  `of the world. Ghil,dren              debate in respect to amusements for Christian young
"of  IGod  who have a peculiar place, peculiar -calling people. The program follows. No;  there are  n! com-
and a peculiar task to perform in this world. They                    pulsory numbers.        What more, everyone scheduled
 also are the future church.             But  ,more.  `They  ar,e     fq? .the  pr,ogram  is ready, there are no slackers. Var-
                                                                                     . . .
 ooven_ant   young  people. I?G is at this time that. our 5ous  nunibers  ape  rendered including an `essay. (And
young peqple  .experience  the same  thing as the ,eagle's            .let me  ,add   iq passing that so it should. be in every
fl.e'dgling  when driven <out  of the nest-. Now they are society.              The idea of a society is that the young people
beginning to stand on ttheir own feet, they are be-                   themselves should produce something. The Word of
ginning to meet their  ,oGn  problems (father and -IGod  must be discussed, and not merely explained
mother can't  d'o that  anymor,e  as before, i.e. in the              by'  $he  president. There must be  ,other   productio&
same mann.er  and ,degree)  , they have -different places in the nature of essays, etc.)                 The program for the
to fill,  come  in oontact with the world. Now is  th&                fol180wing  week is read. A few songs are sung, and
time when not merely their natural but also their                     one  *of  the members closes with prayer.
spiritual habits are formed, characters are molded,                     How impressed I  yas.  Truly an, ideal -Young
and they muet make their personal stand in respect to People's Society. It rightly can be called an ,organized
the world. They are in  .the most critical stage of group.  of covenant  young people united in the cqmmon
their life.                                                           interest and purpose  ,6f the fear of  .the~  Lord.     How
     And now we are speaking of societies of such                     does your society compare with this one?
young  peopl,e.   Th,ey  have  socileties.  The question natur-                          .
ally arises, what is a society. My dictionary tells me                vn1ue.
that it is an organized body Iof young people united by                   I'm  sur,e  *hat  no one will deny that such a society
a common interest  an'd   p,urpose.  Applied to a  Y,oung             is of great value for those  memlbers.       Tlhe  benefit of
Peopl,e's  Society it  `w,ould  read: an  *organ&d   bddy  of         discussing the Word is that they learn to know Scrip-
covenant  younfg  people united by the cdmmon  interest ture, their infallible guide of  1if.e. And how much
and purpose of th,e sear  of the Lord. . Such a soci,ety              this is lacking with many of our covenant  you6h  today.
now  w,e find  in.  most churches.                                    But these also learn to interpret  Scripture by  them-
     Now it is but  natural  that there is a treniendous selvies, give their own meaning, etc. And the  resulit
differ.ence  between these various  soci;eties.   ;Some  are          of this all is that they grow in faith and in  the  grace
muoh  more active than ,others,  and some only b&r  the               and  knowledge  `of our Lord Jesus Christ.  ,Often  we
%name   `of  Ia  Isociety.    `I%ere$ore  the  valu;e.  is  Always    see it that these kind #of  members have the strongest
,according  to the-standard of the society. The better f,aith,   <and  are most true  t,o   ;their   calling.   Secontdly,
the  so&&~  is, the greater the value  ,will  be. Therefore~          such a society serves  ai  a means to prepare those cove-
I first w&t to give my idea of an ideal Young Peopl,e?s               nant youth for their future  place  in the church. By
                                            *


                                          T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   233

means of .producing  essays, setc:,, by means of discus-             that high level.? The first requisite, and a very  im-
sion, by means of making public appearances, they                    porttitit~  one, is that we have the  proper  attitude  over
are prepared  ,to take their future place.           Also here against our society. Negatively `expressed we  some-
again we soften see it that  `such ydung  men later art&             tin&  hear. from our parents that  ,our  young  people
the  l,eaders  in the church, taking charge  ,of   r,eaditig.        have to have something on Sunday evening (where
services; etc. And by means of praying, they later,, held on Sunday  evening). They cag;t  go all over, and
,when  in their own home can also lead the family `in                we don't -want them to go to all kinds of churches.
this.    (N,ot  f,orgetting,   of- course,  that  the first  iand    Truly a poor `attitude, if no more is said. Again I
proper place for our covenant youth to learn to pray                 hear another member ask-his friend where they shall
is, the home). It is such a society that properly helps              go this evening. What an attitude!  What  is your
to mold our characters, to show us the right `way so                 attitude ?
that we  then  can take the place of our parents whether                 Neither will our society ever ittain  that high level
it be in the church, or the home or school.                          if its  members  or even a num,ber  ,of  them are affected
    In the third  place  such a society is an excellent with that dreadful malady of indifference.                           The I
means to develop  <our   tale@& Talents we all  havIe                do:n't   car,e  spirit. They are the lukewarm ones. They
received, be  it  #one   ,or ten. And those  mest be  ,de-           may attend society, and they may not; may be re,gubr
vel,oped,  not buried. And in such a society they are                in their attendance, and just  `as likely not. They  al-
dteveloped,  but the passive member buries them. It `ways have a ready ex_cuse  *or  their irregularity. It's
is not seldom  th'at  a consistory, having nominated men either to hot or too cold, they either have been too busy
for the consistory, receives that common  an?wer:  "I -to  prepare their. part, or have  been  on a vacation.
can't,  I'&   not.  capable".    Ape  they  really incapable?        And if  n,ot   neady  to  r,ender  their number  bn their.
Dent   thl$y  have any  tal,ents  ? Of course, but they              program they don't hesitate to "skip" a meeting. In-
aren'%  developed and `cultivated  aB  they should be.               different  in respect to the welfare of the society, the
But such an ideal  Ytoung,  Pleople's  Society ce&ainly is discussion, the Beacon  ,Lights,  etc.  _ Miserable mem-
an efficient means to develop the tal.ents  of our cove-             bers  they  are.
nant youth. In the  f.ourth   plack  in such' a society there            Positively speaking we must have ii entirely dif-
is the communion of the saints among our  youith.                    ferent-  attitud'e.    And eveIn  though ther,e  are &so.many
There is a bond, a fellowship of those of thte one house             different things to be considered here, I merely want
of faith. But  alsq  a conscious communion of the saints.            $0 lay stress on those which I think are lacking  the-
By means of their discussion, questions  a.sked;  prob-              most.      First of all then that the  Y,oung  People's
lems  ,discussed,  speaking about the spiritual things Society which we attend is  oa~r  society, not the society
they regard one another as brothers a:nd sisters in our              ,of  the president, or of the other members.           We so
Lord. And realizing that they all have the same strug- often consider it as a Catechism class or a meeting
gles,  battl'es  to fight, etc., this unity is strengthened. t.0   ,receive   instructi,on.         I'm sure that if our young
In close connection  width $his  we can say in the fifth             people would realize that more their society would be
place that such a society is of great value in respect               much closer to the ideal. -For then we realize that zue
to becoming acquainted with  tine  another. They learn are the ones  Ohat must make a go pf it, not the pr,esi-
to know one antother,  find friends,,and,it  is not an in-           cdenl;  firs6 of all. Then we  won't blame the president
frequ,ent  means  wher.eby  they find their lifes partner. first  ,of  all  .when  the discussion is  "dry".          But then  we
In the sixth place that society gives a wo'nderful  testi-           .will  reprimand  ,ourselves  first of all for improper
mony of itself before th.e church and the world.  - Fin-             preparaitibn.  With the proper attitude we  r,ealize  that-
ally such a society is a school for our young people.                we  must prepare ourselves. Study the to-be-di.scussed
There they can l.earti  to know their place and calling              portion of G,ods  Word at home. I'm sure that it hap-
sin  the midst of the world; get an answer to their pens time and again that  niany  members come to the
probl.ems,  the different attitudes they should take in              meeting not knowing anything about  the lesson, yea,
the midst of this world. ..Now  there are perhaps, rriany            don't even  kn,ow  what the lesson is about. Terrible,
:more   be;nefits  to receive from such a society, but with          but  also  tragic for our society. Then no discussion
the  ab,ove  mentioned it certainly has  becorn+  plain that will ensue- either, but we'll let the  ,o'cher  one do it.
such a society pays #enormous  spiritual dividends. I'm We must prepare ourselves. And an excellent  oppor-
sure that if there was anything in  natural  life' that tunity  f,or this is  aff'orded  us with the Beacon Lights.
would  pay such .dividerids,  we wcouldn't  5or  ,one  minute        An~d  being  pqepared  we will discuss. Let us then
hesitate in partaking.                                               oooperate  in every way, atterid regular and be punc-
                                                                     tual. In  ,other  words  do  ,everything  possible to make
How x&&Led.                                                          our society a success.
  -`But the question is, How  ca?  we  attain  that? What                R,emember,  we reap what we sow. Also- here.
`is necessary for our society, or your society to' reach             You get out of your society what you put into it.

                                                         -


234        I                            *       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                 _*_
Never   any  more.  Aad  hé  wh,o  sows bountifully reaps                       ñieuwe  kerk, en gevoelen ons  al aardig tehuis. Eeni,ge
bountifully,  and  those  are  usuälly  the  ,ones   who  later kleine  dingen nog, zo6als  b.v., vloerkleed, loopers in de
in  1if.e are the  ones that  can  tak& their  .plaoe  in  the                  gang en-misschien  `een  orgel moeten nog komen,  zoodra
church,  but  also  the ones that  fee1  the need  of a -Men's                  de--kas het  toe!a.at.  -Anders is alles compleet.
Society  tand   a  -Ladies'  Society, and are  the bone  and                        Ja zeker, we hadden wel altijd gelegenheid om te
marrow of               them:      _                        J. l%.              .vergaderen  in de Zevende Dag Adventisten Kerk, maar
                                                                                ,dat was toch niet het ideaal, het is zoo  veel mooier, en
                                                                                bovenal  veel  beter' voor  ons:gemeenteleven.        Het bindt
                                                                                meer vopr ons en  onze.&inderen  in de toekomst een
                  Nieüws -Van Bellflower                              .         eigen kerkgebouw te hebben.

    Eindelijk, daar  is het groote nieuws van  Bellflowq,
n.l.,  dat ons eigen kerkgebouw-gereed  is. ,E.n  nu werd
ons door de kerkeraad opgedragen, om door middel
van de "Standard  Bearer" aan al ,onze  gemeenten hier-
can  kennis  te geven; en  om meteen hen  harterijk  te
bedanken, voor de hulp ons daarbij verleend, n.l.,  bij
het bouwen, aan welk verzoek we gaarne voldoen.
    Al voor ettelij'ke  jaren heeft Bellflower bouwplan-
nen gehad, maar om verschillende redenen, werd het
altijjd  weer uitgesteld, totdat we op `t laatst zelf bang
werden, dat van uitstel afstel zou komen.                     Maar nu.
heeft  de Heere  ons. dan  een eigen kerkgebouw ge-
schonken met ongeveer 100 zitplaatsen, waarin we met
Zijn volk van Z,ondag  tot Zondag kunnen vergaderen.
        ..~__   ..-   -_..-.   -.  _-_  ~-__.--_   -.-:--  .._-__-         -
                                                                :                   We zeggen het nogmaals  ; De Heere heeft Bellflower
                                                                                rijkelijk gezegend, verleden jaar een pastorie, en nu
                                                                                een nieuw kerk.
                                                                                    20 Januari j.l., hadden we onze inwijdingsdienst,
                                                                                waar de  br,oeders  en zusters van Redlands ook rijkelijk
                                                                                vertegenwoordigd  war,en.   Onzeleeraar had tot tekst
                                                                                Openbaring 3 :`7-13 : "`De kleine gemeente te  P,hila-
                                                                                delphia".    Terwijl  Ds: Vos van .Redl.an&  tot ons sprak
                                                                                in de Hollandsche taal o rei 11' Kronieken 6, met het
                                                                                onderwerp, `"De  Tempel   Gods".        ;
                                                                                    T.&schen  de  &ee predikatiën gaf onze  zangvereeni-
                                                                                ging een paar nummer,s  ten beste. Het was werkelijk
                                                                                een zeer gewaardeerde avond voor al ons volk hier in I
   Gezamenlijk, en dan met de hulp van al onze ge-                              Bellflotier, en we zijn verzekerd dat, iedereen huis-
meenten, hebben we de kerk gebouw,d  ; een ieder heest                          waarts ging, met een  .dankbaar  hart, voor de groote
naar vermogen bijgedragen  ; en alhoewel we hier geen ,dingen,  die God aan ons gedaan heeft, en gevoelde, dat
`fmancieel  rapport van willen maken, willen we toch                            het Zijne groote genade is, om tot het kleine groepje
even zeggen, dat de hulp van onze zusterkerken door                             te behooren,  die  Hij. geroepen héeft om te getuigen,
gehouden coll,ecten  ongeveer $500.00 bedroeg. En dat ,ook  door middel van dit-  nieuwe kerkgebouw, tegen de
met de inschrijvingen van onze eigen leden de kerk                              dwaling van 1924 in de -Christelijke Gereformeerde
(nu   80%  contant  beta-ld  is. Is  ,dat nu geen reden tot                     Kerk.
dank +an onzen Verbonds-GÓd, die Zijn werk hier in                                  We willen eindigen met ,de uitnoodiging aan ieder-
B,ellflower  niet laat varen, maar voor ons zorgt, meer een, die in California komt, om m@ ,ons  te vergaderen.
dan wij hét waardig zijn? Dank aan Hem in de eerste                             De kerk en pastorie staan op de hoek van  Monterey
plaats,  maar ook aan allen, die ,ons `financieel gehoiI,en                     en  tGrand  Ave. in Bellflower, en het gaat ons net als
hebben.         En ook willen we vooral niet vergeten  de' -iedereen, die een  nienw  huis gebouwd heeft, nu  will6.n
Doezema-  Furniture   ~CO.,  die ons een prachtig nieuw' we ook graag bezoek hebben.
,pulpit  ameublement  schonk,  waar we heel dankbaar                                Met  .dank  voor plaatsing, namens' de gemeente en
voor  zijn.                                                                     kerkeraad van Bellflower,  California.
   We hebben nu drie Zondagen dienst gehad in onze                                                                  John   Bekendam,   -


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                             235

                                                                     ,ordain  unto  etereal  life from  the=`foundations  of the
               News l?rom  Our Churches                              world are swallowed up. His   lovie  :does  not exist any-
                                                                     more. : Election ,and  Reprobation is wiped out. Christ
      As I am well aware of the fact that I have to write            the  Saviour  h,as no place in this scheme. To be sure,
 about "`News from our Churches." and not about news                 an  nngodly   d'octrine,  but' don't forget that general
 for our churches; nevertheless, as I have said from                 offer of salvation-point 1.        It is not any better.
 the beginning, then  you  get old news every time. A n d `God  will never save one sinner through that proclama-
 this is not beneficial for  `our  readers, and not  f'or the        tion, for in  <t  there is no salvation.
 good of o&  "Standard Bearer".' Let us therefore con-                  Did  you  read that little article of S. Van Der Lee.
tinue as we have started. The `majority of the readers in the Banner `of D,ecembmer  12? It is about the Labor
 seem to like it, and the "Editor-in-chief" did not find             Unions. He writes :  .This  joining  ourself to a Union
  fault, so  fari                                                    is more than a sin.- It is living in sin. It is a con-
      `As Protestant Reformed Churches we have a great tinuing in sin; which can only be repented of when
  calling, and a noble  York to perform  i,n our own midst,          it is forsaken. Thus  ,we  must break our relations with
 but also in th,e-  midst of this  wor1.d.     In season and out this idol bef,ore  we can be restored to God's favor.            _
  of season we must be able td say; thus saith the Lord.
  The world must be able to see in us that  we  are a                    Our leaders are to  blame   f,or allowing  thi,s  evil to
  peculiar people  ; and  as-  ye are in this world we  ,do          creep into our Church. Little by little our Church is
  not seek the things of this  wlorld,  but in our walk and          losing its  di&inctiveness.   T!he  line of demarcation
  life we seek the things of the kingdom of God, and                 is becoming dim. Spiritual life is going down.  Luke:
  we do not fear.  what-  men will say  2nd  do unto us.             warmness is present. No  ,one.  who  bel,ongs  to one
                                                                     of the various Unions should be allowed to partake of
       The other day a friend of mine asked me: What                 Communion.       The  leacd&s  who say yes to this are
  d.o  you think of the  Venden   Br,others?'  They  ha,ve   .a      allowing these people to eat and drink damnation to
  large audience that come and listen to-  Ithem,  in the themselves. Keep the table  pur,e.  Admonish these
  Civic Auditorium. Now, I' do not think much of these people to forsake their evil way.
  leaders of the blind, and those who find a  ,deligbt
  in preaching of that kind are on the wrong path.              -       T,he  brother laments that our leaders are to blanie,
                                                                     and it is a lamentable fact indeed. They should be
       But let me `explain. The brother-preachers have watchmen upon  Zion's.`walls  and tell the people of God :
 `their question-hour. ,One`  of their questions drew my             "Ye cannot serve two maSters!"
 &tenti,on.     It was as follows : "Is God. willing to save
  everybody" ? I thocght  by myself: Ah; if only the pro-              Let us praise the Lord that our Protestant Re-
 .test.%t  Reformed Radio Hour speaker had  the  privilege           formed Churches took a.firm  stand in this Union mat-
  to answer that question, the,n  the answer wou1.d  have ter  A's  Churches we believe and confess that a mem-
 `. been different. Venden's  answer w&s  : "Most assured- ber of our Churches cannot be a member of the labor
  ly  ! ,God  has a delight in it", viz., ho save all me'n.    The U n i o n .
 preacher goes on to say: to make my  statmemerit  clear,                You  peihaps  will say, That is tough.  W,e   nest
  let me use an illustration: A certain father had-a son,            live. Yes, d&r reader, we must live, but don't forget,
  and it was in his mind that that son should become a               in this way a Christian cannot live,. for the wages of -
  dloct,or.    H,e sent him  t& school, and. the necessary           sin is death.
  preparations were  madme  . However,. the time came                   You may ask, "But what is really wrong with the
  that the son had to choose for himself what  tihould  be, : Uniop  ?" There is `much' wrong- with it  ; and even from
  hi.s  career `in life. He came to then conclusion that a -a material standpoint you don't gain much. However,
 Jawyer  and not a doctor was his choice. You see; Mr.. tie are not interested  in this. We have a rich  Fgtheer.   I
 Venden  tiold his listeners : So it-is with God. ,He  wants         in  healen,  anid we are assured that He will take care j
  all men to be saved, but they are not all willing.                 of us.                    ,
       Now look at the figure. That  Jearthly  father is God             As our Churches see it,..the  Union is an organiza-
  the Everlasting One, the Creator of heaven &nd  earth,             tion of men  and  women void of grace. It is  anti-
  the Alpha and the Omega, the Sustainer of all things,              .christian,  and therefore such organizations consequent-
  the I Am. That son in the figure is puny little man ;              ly do not figure  with-IGod  and His Christ.  It  is also
  insignificant little speck of dust, less than a drop in the an.  ,oath-bound  Union, and it places itself above any
  bucket. He says  to  #God,  I dont want to be saved ! other organization, soci,al,  political, or religious, secret
 land don't make a mistake, drear reader: you and I, we              or otherwise. Yes, dear reader, also the Church is
  always say that by nature. But this is the point:                  involved in this. The  Union-is  pl&d  above this In-
  now, that Almighty God, He  ca,n  do nothing, for ,man             stitution. It  iS to be. condemned in its strikes, lockouts,
  decides. What becomes of  ,God?  He is dethroned!                  and boycotts, and  cl'osed  shops.. I refer you to the
  His sovereignty is gone. His people whom He did !`Testimotiy".  which  was  signed by the Consistory of


 2 3 6                                   T H E   STANDARD   B~~ARER

 the First Protestant Reformed Church. It is worth                 and if we didn't know any better we would be inclined
 while to read it again,                                           to say their efforts put forth are blessed. However,
        Y,ou  may-ask-: But can it be proven from Scripture        -we must not forget : also these  ,Organizations  are of
 that it is wrong?  Of course it can be proven.             W e    the world, and they have not Christ as their  King-
 read in II Corinithians 6 14-18: "Be ye nlot  unequally           Ruler, but are man-made.
 yoked together with unbelievers: for what  felslowship                Now it is my conviction that the worldly Organiza-
 hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what tions of today ar.e  in principle not any better than the
 communion hath light with darkness  ?"                            .Labor  Unions. The people of God can not go hand in
        And what concord  h'ath  Christ with Belial ? or what      hand with the people of this world  ; and what' is true of
 part hath he that believeth with an infidel'? And what-           the Labor Unions; is also. true- of the Organizations,
.agreemenct  hath the temple of God with idols? for ye namely,  Godis  not in all  theirthoughts. However that
 are the  t,emple  of the living God; as God hath said,            may be, our Churches have spoken and the voice was
 I will dwell in them, anld walk in them; and I will be            raised unanimously, a Christian can not belong to the
 their  (God  and they  sh,all  be my people.  Wheref,ore  come    Labor Union. and at the same time belong to the Pro-
,out  from  am'ong  them, and be ye separate,  aaith  the          testant  l%efpormed   .Churches.   .Let   us  all stick to that
 Lolrd,  and touch not the u'nclean  thing ; and I ,will  re-      thorou.gbJy   Ref,ormed  principle. Let us watch each
 ceive you : And will be a Tather  unt'o  you, and ye shall        other-in  l(ove,   .and  not find  -fault.    T&s is not to the
 be my sons  an'd  daughters, sai&h  the Lord Almighty.`, glory of God, and it will hurt  th,e cause for which we .
        `From the Wlord of God, it is very clear that we can       may labor as Churches-in the midst of this world.
not serve two mastsers.  We can not sit at the table of            The Church must preach the pure Word, and divide it
the  ,Lord,  have a- pious face, and-  ,on Monday serve            aright  ; and she must` never compromise.
' Belial in order to receive `of him a piece of bread, for            As Protestant Reformed Churches let us never take
then we will heap the wrath of  ,God  upon us.                     the stand of the ,Christian  Ref,ormed  Churches . They
        There are some that make-the sweeping statement, say you can bebong  to the Union, but you must protest
that the Church should also tackle members of the against  any.  wrong act -or d.ecision  and' refuse to take
Associations -and discipline them. They reason, that part in it. But I ask you: is it possible to put your
they are left alone. Now, to be sure, the Church-tackles hand in a bee hive and not be stung? or in the fire and
no one,  flor all things are done in  l,ove,  and she seeks the    not be burned ? It is the -height of folly for a church
wellbeing of her  member.s.  After all. discipline is a            to  all,ow  their members to become one with the  wor.kers
mental  ,or moral training, subjecti'on  to control, chas-         of iniquity and then protest against their sinful acts
tisement; it is to bring back those who go astray'; and            and deeds. This is a sinful  compromise-ind,eed.          It is
:,no  ,one  can deny it.  -Now looking at-it in that light,        impossible for a Christian to seek fellowship with
then the laboring man is  remember,ed  in love, and                Belial and then confess Christ. They can not dwell
those others do not share in this; and that will never under one roof. That was the sinful mistake of the
dlo.      But is it true that the Associations and the Labor       Philistines.  W.e  read in I Sam. 5 that they took the ark.
Unions both are disciplinary?  .Is  there no  di%erence            of God and brought it in the house of  Da,gon  their god.
whatsoever?        Both have this in `common : they work           But the next morning Dagon was fallen- upon his face
for social betterfment;  and this in itself is no sin.     The     to the ground before the ark  ,of  the  Lor,d,  with his
Associations also set their prices, and work out their head and hands cut ;off,  and only the stump was left.
plans.       Frequently the prices  ar:e  to'o high and the        ,God  cannot `be mocked!
.wages  too low,_and  they forget that God in His Word                I think it becomes clear more then ever, that a
warned us that we shall not steal. And if we may                   Christian can not belong to Unions like the C. I, 0.
belieive  the daily papers, then also in their ranks is            and the A. F. L. He has no business  to be one with
much corruption, especially in their banqueting and                the workers of iniquity. To be sure, we must let
feasting. But  I can we mention them in one  baeath                our light shine in the midst  ,of  this world and never
with the Labor Uni,ons  ? You do not find such corrup-             become wishy-washy Christians. Life.is too,serious. ~-
tion in their Constitutions and By-La.ws as in those of               Nowadays there are many. Creeds, but if our Creed
the Labor Unions. T.hey  do not  plaoe  themselves above is not worth hardship, persecution, yea, death; then it
the Church. Strikes and sit-down strikes do not occur;             is worth nothing. And this is also true: if we toil and
neither shedding of blood, and  ther&efore  some of us             1,abor  only for a piece `of bread, then life is not worth
are inclined to think that they are not so bad after all.          living either.
But is this true? We must not lose sight of the fact:              , I know it, there is  nothing.new  in this article. It
their Constitutions are  nlot  based -upon the  Wor.d  of          is only a friendly reminder. Let us forsake the world
God, and therefore wrong. If our activities in life can and flee unto the `High Tower, Christ, for in it is a
not stand the test of Scripture they are no good, and              safe retreat. This- was made very plain by the Rev.
sin before God. To be sure, those men have suCcess,                Hoel&ema  in his New Y'ear'a  radio lecture, - S, D. V.

                                                                                                                       i


