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~-....                                                         II_-
       en  alle werkers der ongeredtigheid bloeien,           respects than merely in the order of time. It possesses
       opdat  zij tot in eeuwigheid verdelgd  worden,         many characteristics, elements and aspects which offer
       Ps.  92:6-8.  Aan den rijken man antwoorde             not only a present and potential beautification of our
       Abraham: kind, gedenk  dat gij uw goed ont-            virulent social activity, but at the same time a chal-
       vangen  hebt in uw leven, en Lazarus desge-            lenge to our capacity to admire, our eagerness to ap-
       Iijks het kwade; en nu woxdt  hij vertroost,  en       preciate and our ability to assimilate the united effort
       gij lijdt smarten, Luc. 16:25.  Laat mij eindi-        to develop all the taients so graciously bestowed by the
       gen met het  woord van Elihu: Zie, God is              Lord of His church.
       groat,  en wij begrijpen  het niet, Job 36 :26.           For our Choral Society suddenly  confront us with
   We  hopen van ganscher  harte,  dat men  deze  din-        the element of art.  No,w   ,our  first reaction to this
gen in Nederland  zeer  ernstig  zal overwegen.               element should be, and I trust it is one of wondermen%
   Ieder  weet,   dat wij om de beschouwing, die Dr. and favorable appreciation, not of criticism. For the
Greydanus bier al vragend voor de aandacht van het simple reason that the talent for art is not a common
lezend  publiek  brengt,  door de Ghristelijke  Gerefor- one, but is, because of its very nature and purpose,
meerde  Kerken  zijn uitgeworpen.                             selective and refined. It is a concentrated refine-
   Moge  bet  .ouk die Kerken tot nadenken brengen ment of man's impression and response  b the relation
en  tot berouw over het  onrecht  ons in  1924  aange-        and harmony as expressed in beauty of God's creation
daan !                                                        in every sphere of life, chief among which is God's
                                                  H. H.       redeemed cosmos. And because we cannot all expect
                                                              equally to possess these talents, and do not, our first
                                                              response ought to be confined to marvelling and ad-
                                                              miration.
                                                                 For that is all the majority of us can do and are
                                                              called upon to do. But certainly we are called upon
           News From South Holland                            to  dot this. For while art is nothing else than the
                                                              expression of principle and things in their relation to
                                      South Holland, Ill.     one another in the sphere of beauty, so one can not
                                              Jan. 7, 1938    help but fear for the ingenuity of one's conviction and
   Dear Friends  :-                                           love if one's reaction to the appearance `of art is one
                                                              of repulsion and fear. I dread to elaborate upon my
   On the evening of December 29, 1937 our Choral apprehension of such a condition.
Society rendered a Christmas program in  the audi-               Yet again, the Choral  Society  represents an element
torium of our Protestant Reformed building. I am peculiar to a society dedicated to the exposition of
confident I express the common sentiment of all those music. I refer to the one commonly called tempera-
fortunate to be present when I say we feasted at this ment. Again our attitude ought not to be a suspicious
vocal presentation of Christmas music. The great one, but one of delicate forbearance. Surely an organi-
number of visitors must have been encouraging to this zation relying upon harmony and talent as their chief
young organization. And we hope, and modestly ex- assets and indispensible  means to develop the art of
pect that the artful effort put forth on this occasion singing cannot be condemned for loathing the inter-
has stimulated the desire of everyone for a frequent ference of uninitiated, unskilled, or  bhmdering hands.
repetition.                                                   This natural resentment is commonly called a flare of
   We thank the Lord for and congratulate the society artistic temperament. A more favorable judgment of
in possessing a director as Mr. J. Jurjaanz. His Ghris- this violent opposition on the part of those engaged
tian character, patient perseverance, and ardent efforts in the realm of art to destructive infringement would
cannot but create the assurance in general, not only describe it as nothing else but a testimony to their
of efficient musical results but also of a vigilant watch- keen appreciation of their delicate aim. Zealous appre-
fulness over the material contents.                           hension on their part should meet with our approval
   I cannot forbear to congratulate our South Holland lest we turn virulent effort into chagrined indisposition
Protestant Reformed congregation with  &he healthy and stagnant submissiveness. It is a wonderful child
and vigorous growth of this new child within the and therefore will increasingly escape our circumscrip-
family of its busy social life. And we sincerely hope tion if handled properly, and become the more  marvel-
and pray that this society may be permitted to succeed Ious, to our mutual benefit and edification.
in its purpose, i.e. to exalt and to edify and to add            Another element entitled to our delicate and  toler-
beauty  to the social life of the congregation, to  re- ant appraisal is the purpose of the society. No one
leive strain and o&r oasis' of sweet repose and relaxa- can honestly deny the fact as self-evident that for a
tion in our often strenuous endeavours.                       society of this kind to succeed in the art of singing
   And the child? . . . . a new child `it is in more it must necessarily excel. Failing in this, it will fall


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            205
                         --"...^.-_                                                                         _--.-
of its ocyn weight and its distinctive place will auto-             The Blessedness Of Forgiveness
matically (disappear. And while there exists a close
relationship between material selected and the capacity                                                  Ps. 32:1, 2.
to express, a so,ber  surveillance of this material is in-       We wrote on this text a short time ago and `ihat
dispensible.  We surely must not become guilty of from the point of view of the forgiveness of sin. It
restricting increasing efficiency by conniving hyper- does not surprise us when we are asked, is it not true
sensitiveness. And in addition to all this, I might say, that  saZvaCon  after ail was experienced thru that for-
the same applies to its personnel.                            giveness? The answer is most assuredly so. But we
   And as a ruling factor I am obliged  <to state that a hasten to add, that principally this makes no difference.
society of this kind should be subject to our devoted         For as we wrote, their blessedness is the fulfillment
and delicate watchfulness. For no one can deny the of the one desire  to. be like Him, who  cahed them for-
fact that because of its very nature the realm of art ever out from the darkness of sin to the light, in order
is the one most abused. Appealing to, and approaching that they may live unto Him forever.
us from our emotional and sentimental side it not                This Psalm is  o,ne of the seven penitential psalms
infrequently strikes a breach in the very guard of our of David. There are all kinds of conjectures as to
being, that is our will, and our mind. It is sad, but its origin. And we will admit that it is almost next
equally true that by its very appeal by means of its to impossible to determine it, considering the many
external attractiveness it is very apt to create an at- attempts that were made. The connection is (as some
mosphere of superficiality, which may cause us to de- have it) that Psalm 32 and 51 were made with'a view
generate and dissipate our very essense and distinctive- to the same occasion. Y,et we differ and do not believe,
ness,  so that we finally disappear into the maelstrom that while both refer to the same historical event, they
of modern ethical dissolution. For I am persuaded are alike in every respect. Each of these Psalms de-
there exists no greater and more common means of scribe a different spiritual condition of the heart of
temptation in the hands of Satan and the world than him who wrote them. I know there is not an essential
the sphere of art and beauty, by the which virtue is difference, but subjectively there is a difference, as
turned into vice, law into liscentiousness  and by the a matter of experience. The  51st psalm presents some-
which the very pillars of orderly existence are cor- thing complete from the point of view of David's  self-
roded.                                                        examination, his confession and his fight against sin.
   Therefore, this new child is entitled to our incee-        In Psalm 32 we have also something complete but dif-
sant devoted watchfulness :                                   ferent and higher, the child of God at peace with his
   For it is first of all our child.                          God, tasting the sweetness of His lovingkindness. The
   It is an a9-tifuL  child.                                  full assurance of his salvation as a matter of fact.
   It is a &~pe+ra~enta.I  child.                                The best explanation is, that in Psalm 51 we find
   It is a beautiful child.                                   the sinner wrestling in the midst of the storm. The
                                                              accusing finger of the prophet Nathan and his stern
   To fear it apprehensively means but our own in- words had melted away the frost that had bound
dictment, and our cowering at its challenge. To dis- his soul. Seemingly it were happy days for the poet
miss it dispassionately will only reflect our own lack in his sinful life with Bethseba, up to the time the
of artistic appreciation, a condition which may very Lord sent His prophet to David. But that one word,
likely arouse disquieting suspicions less comforting to `Thou art that man' brought to his mind the horrible
our  placant  peace and contentment.                          character of sin and of that he speaks.
    To dislike it. . . . 0, but that is not possible.             In Psalm 32, perhaps referring to the same sin,
    The only thing for us to do is  toi prayfully  ac-        we hear the same man speaking of the confession made
wept it.                                                      as well as of the receiving of forgiveness. The one
    O! I can imagine what is going to happen, because and the same thing principally, but the one when he
it has already happened. We are going to coddle it, was accused and his sins revealed in their true nature,
to squeeze it, and as it grows and  devel,ops,  we are the other the experience of the sinner returning to the
going to raise a disapproving finger  at its turbulent Father, knowing that the sins are forgiven, having *
grimaces, we are going to prop it up against the pil- new peace with God.
lows and stand away appraising it from all its inde-              No wonder, that both of these  Psalms of David are
scribable angles, and wondering whether it is in reality of such immense value to God's people. We read that
our child. . . . `but then we are going to implore the the great Augustine read this Psalm often with a
throne of grace for wisdom and patience, to caress heart filled with grief, not restraining his tears to flow
and raise this fascinating child to a healthy and duti- freely, for it reminded him of the sins of his youth.
ful maturity. . . . for it is our child.                      On his sickbed, from which he never arose again, he
                                        Thank y,ou,           requested this psalm to be written on the opposite wall,
                                     Mr. A. Hoeksema.         so that he could read it. It proved how also this man


  206                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
  .._               -......                             -...--  "-- _l__-_-."                 __.-.
  of God was conscious of his sin and the forgiveness guilty he must be punished, unless God provides the
  he had received.                                             scurce  to pay to the full and to fill man with the life
         Thus it is with the child of God. In his struggle of salvation. And that source is God. God in infinite
  with his sin he cannot rest  untii he knows that his love gives the only begotten as the. payment for our sin
  sins are forgiven and the reassuring words become and guilt, placing upon him our burden. Through Him
  his: Thy sins are forgiven.  Ccnfession  and forgive- God speaks the word so that we become well, His sal-
  ness are related in such a way, that the one always vation will be c,urs, our needs are taken care of and
_ follows the other.           God must be my God and my He fills us with the salvation not of man but of Him-
  Father. That is salvation.                                   self. They ocnfess  `Blessed be the God and Father of
         Of that salvation the  po,et  speaks. Salvation is first our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all
  of all to be filled. It presupposes a certain emptiness. spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: Ac-
  On account of sin the moral-ethical creature does not oording as  he, hath chosen us in Him before the foun-
  and cannot feel satisfied, he does not feel well. Some- dation of the world, that we shouId be holy and without
  thing is missing and although it may not seem that blame before Him in love'. The needs of the heart
  way, people seem to enjoy t.hemselves and are happy, and head and hand are taken care of, for it means that
  even that happiness turns otit to be bitterness. It does the child of God is  fil1:e.d with God's goodness, love and
  not last. It does not last. because man is not self-suf- grace, with His favor and that he experiences His
  ficient, he cannot find the true salvation outside of communion.
  God and His communion. If all shall be well, he must            The question presents itself, how  dces David know
  be filled with the life that is from  abov.e,.  not from that his sins are forgiven? Notice- first of all the
  below. w'is mind, his will, his heart never have their character of the dispensation. In distinction from the
  origin' and purpose in self, so that ma'n is well-blessed, New Dispensation the cross of our Lord was not yet
  filled with the principle of the perfect .life, sufficient an historicnl  fact. Or did the poet not understand his
  for this life. Also in our own day we hear about sal- own confession? According to Scripture it often hap-
  vation of man. `Heil Hitler, Mussolini, etc." are not pened that the prophet speaking of the salvation to
  simply a mere wish, but the expression of faith and come was somewhat perplexed as to ilts realization.
  hope in worldly salvation. It means that from such `Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and
  men there is a fulness, completeness, satisfaction and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that
  perfection to be expected. `Vol-zaligheid,  Wel-geluk-       should come unto you: Searching what, or what man-
  zaligheid' but of men.                                       ner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them
         Thus we hear it at the beginning of a new year. did signify, when it testified  befo,rehand  the  suffe.rings
  A happy or a blessed new year. `Veel heil en zegen of Christ, and the glory that should follow'.                 The
  in het nieuwe jaar'. I know it is often meant to be a modern man  wiI1 make of this, that after all the faith
  wish, nevertheless it proves that man's salvation is of the believer in the Ol,d Testament had no content.
  looked for from man. And in spite of it all man re- It was a blind faith and `after reading some of the
  veals his emptiness and weakness as well as his dis- reformed theologians, they also seem to be inclined
  satisfaction, for he has no peace in and through it all. to favor this view. That, of course, is not true and
         0, that little heart of man will never be filled and neither is it implied in the above quoted text. No,
  he shall never be satisfied with the world itself, its but there was knowledge of sin, there was also con-
  riches, its treasures, with its honour and glory. The        fession of sin and the saints implored the Lord for
  world and the things thereof do not satisfy and are His grace. All of which testifies that there was also
  not peace affording. His heart remains empty, because a  reve!ation,  the same revelation in the Old as well
  only One can fill and make him well aed bless him. as in the New Dispensation. True it is, the cross
  God alone makes us well, good and fills us with the          was to come, but this does not mean that the  dispen-
  abiding  salvati,on.                                         &&ion  differed essentially. It would also mean then
         Therefore; the poet turns  to, God and his salvation. that salvation was a question for the future and net
  He realized, that he is a creature and a sinner. To for the present.                  "              -
* be a mere creature tells him that another creature              If the question is asked, but was Christ not born
  cannot make him happy or give him peace. For an-             until the fulness of time, the' answer is yes and at
  other creature has the same needs and is also a sinner. `no other time. Yet, this does not mean that He was
  The knowledge of sin convinces him that the righteous not present in the Oid Dispensation. First of all He
  judgment of Gods is upon him. He knows sin cannot spoke  thro,ugh  His Spirit concerning Himself. And
  be forgotten. Sin is guilt and guilt deman,ds  full satis- He was present. Typically in Temple, Priest, Altar and
  faction for sin. Hence, the question of salvation is         in all the rituals of  the, Church. `For He was their
  one of. grace, grace of God. He cannot pay for him- very essence. He it was, Who through all the types
  self, neither can he produce one who will take his place. and symbols promised and announced His coming. In
  All man's blessedness depends upon its source, while         other words, the Christ was present in the typical  dis-


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          207
 I _l___ll_.___  - _......    -    -              -._-...,_-... -.^ "- .-..---- ..------ _.^_ .-.__.. ___-   - - - -
pens&ion  through revelation. And thus the eye of
faith of the believer looked forward in hope to the                               The Queen Of Sheba
day of the incarnation and the crucifiction. This pro-
mise was God's own promise to His people and there- A' Woman  in .Homr.
fore the salvation was also for the poet and his fellow               The queen of the south is but one of many proofs
believers. The shadow was seen of Christ and it was that the  woman has taken a prominent part in the
the assurance that He was coming. Hence, whereas history of God's covenant in the world. Her place
they saw His shadow, that shadow was the sign of in Scripture is not equal in significance to that of the
that coming and through the shadow they saw Him                   man.      The latter is and remains the head of  the
and believed in Him. On no other basis could God former.                       Scripture knows of no emancipation and
forgive the sins of His people as He did to David for equality of the  w.oman  in the modern sense of the
Na.than is sent and tells David, `The Lord hath made term. Nevertheless, her place in the history of God's
to pass from thee the iniquity of thy sin'.                      people is one of importance and honor.
    .The next questEon  is : Who gave that promise? And               There are instances in daily life where these things
the  answ,er is, God. Here however God's name ap- are evidently forgotten. Particularly among some of
pears not simply as God, hut the Covenant One. And our older, Dutch ancestors there are families, wherein
,that Name expresses the relation wherein He stands the pendulum appears to swing to the extreme, directly
toward His  people. That Name is Jehovah.  ,Out of ap&osite to that of modern emancipation and absolute
Him is the redemption, through Him is salvation and equality of man and woman. In these the man is
unto Him alone is the praise. For, as He is in con- simply dictator and the woman is Iittle more than his
nection with His Divine B,eing, His life and Counsel, slave. The higher, intellectual, spiritual things of life
/the Unchangeable One,  so also is His relation unchange- are fcr the men only. The woman should confine her
able toward His people. He is their Father, loving activities to her children and dishes, while the men-
them in the Son of His eternal love. He cannot change folk concentrate on the  more weighty issues of life.
and will not change for His own sake. He loved His                                                                        I
                                                                 am reminded cf a particular instance, where this head-
people eternally in that Son that they  shculd walk ship of the husband was carried to such an extreme,
with and dedicate their lives to Him.                            that the woman did not have the courage to take the
     The only  poss5ble way however, was the way of floor without first obtaining  permissicn  to speak from
t.he forgiveness of their sins. Of this the Psalmist her "lord". This was, you must understand, in the
sings in this verse. `Blessed is he whose transgression midst of a discussion on spiritual matters. Such dic-
is forgiven, whose sin is covered'.         We do not find tatorship is no more in harmony with Holy Writ than
a  ccntradiction  here, as we pointed out in a former the modern equality theory. Though always maintain-
article. For although it is true that the Lord never ing the heladship  of the man over the woman, Scripture
forgets, yet He forgives. Because He paid the price nevertheless emphasizes the importance of the woman
throngh  the Son of His eternal love. And the result in the development cf God's covenant in the world.
of it is that God beholds His people in that blood. in
Him who is the head of His body. And the power                        Numerous  proofs might be adduced to verify the
that saved, is also the power that renews His people.             above. in an evil  se31188  0f the word the influence of
They live in newness of life for it is God who worketh the woman has been great, Think df the part played
in them to do and to will according to His good plea- by Eve in the fall of man. Think of a Jezebe! and an
sure. They are His children and that knowledge makes A.t.haliah,  who have dominated kingdoms; of a  Sap-
them shcut  for joy for they have all things in Christ phirah  and a Herodias, who instigated the cruel murder
Jesus their Lord. And in the day of His coming they of John the Baptist. Also in the positive development
shall receive the fulness of salvation and praise for of the covenant,  howev,er,  the "weaker sex" has played
all He has done for them.                         W:;V.           !?er rcle. The Old Testament is adorned by such names
                                                                  as Eve, the mother of the holy seed, Sarah and Hagar,
                                                                  Rebecca,h  and Leah, Miriam and Deborah, Naomi and
                                                                  Ruth. The New Testament reminds us of an Elizabeth
                              PROGRAM                             and an Anna ; a Mary, the mother of Jesus, and a M&-y
     Came  and enjoy an evening of sacred music with us ! Magdaline ; a Martha and a Mary of  Bethany  ; a Dorcas
The Choral Society of Zhe First Protestant Reformed and a Lydia and a Priscilla and many others.
Church will present a repeat concert of bhe cantata,                  To this array of woman, whose place in Scripture
"The Holy City" under the auspices of Squad No.  3 and sacred history is one cf honor and dignity, we must
of the Mutual Helpers Club of the `Baxter Christian certainly add the name of Sheba's queen. She was
School en February 3, at  7:45.  Proceeds for Baxter a beautiful character among the women of the  Old
Chr. School. The Chorus is directed by Prof. S. Swets. Tes,tament.  She was queen of the south. Herein, how-
      F,verybody  Welcome.                                        ever, does not lie her significance. She was an elect


208                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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of God, who came from the remotest corner of the when in Matthew  12:42.  He warns the scribes and
world "to  *hear the wisdom of Solomon".                    Pharis,ees, "The queen of the south shall rise up in
Revelamt   Paasuges.                                        the judgment with  $his. generation, and shall condemn
                                                            it; for she came from  the uttermost parts of the earth
    The Scripture passages dealing with the queen of to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and, behold, a greater
Sheba are few in number.                                    than Solomon is thee".
    Her only appearance on the stage of sacred  histo,ry
is recorded in II Chronicles  9:1-g. In order that we At  Jenualem.
may have the details of this historical visit of Sheba's       "And when the queen of Sheba heard. . . . , she
sovereign with the king  of Israel clearly in mind per- vame. . . . to  Jvrusalem".         She  hd  heard  "of the
mit me to quote the entire passage. "And when the fame of  Svlomon".               The God of Israel had endowed
queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came Solomon  with wisdom and wealth unparalleled in the
to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, history of the world. The glory of these had been
with a very great company, and camels that bare rumored to all parts of the earth, pen&rating even to
spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones ; tihe dark regions of Sheba. This report had induced
and when she was come .to Svlcmvn,  she communed Sheba's queen to undertake the tetivus  and perilous
with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon journey to Jerusalem. She would investigate these
told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid rumors personally and `at the same time obtain ,answers
from Solomon which he told her not. 3. And when to questions that were now burning in her soul. Sheba
the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, is not to  & identified with modem  Ethio8pia. Neither
and the <house he had built, 4. and the meat of  tis table, should credence be accorded the myth, that the royal
and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance hvuse of the Ethiopians descended  from an adulterous
of his ministers, and their apparel: and his ascent union between Solomon and the queen of the mnth.
by which he went up into the  hous-e of the Lord; there According to established authorities Sheba was 3 king-
wlas no more spirit in her. 5. And she said to the dvm somewhere to the south of Arabia.
king,  M. was a true report which I heard in mine own          The queen came to the city of God  w,ith a two-fold
land of thine *acts,  and of thy wisdom: 6. Howbeit, I purpose. She desired, no doubt, to see the incredible
believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes wealth of which she h.ad heard. This element, hvw-
have seen it, and, behol,d,  the one Ihalf of the greatness ever must not receive the  emph,asb.  Scripture indi-
of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou  exceed& cates beyond all doubt, that the primary purpose of
the fame that I heard. 7. Happy are thy men, and her coming was to hear the wisdom of Solomon. This
happy are these thy servants, which stand continually is very plain from Jesus' allusion to the queen  of Sheba,
before thee, and hear thy wisdom: 8. Blessed be th.e "she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to
I-crd  thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on hear the wisdom of Solomon". Th& is apparent, too,
His throne, to be king for the Lord thy God: because frcm the historical  narrative of her visit. "She came
thy God loved Israel, tu establish them for ever, there- to prove Solomon with hard questions". "The one
fore made He thee king over them, to do judgm$ent and       half of the greatness of 8hy wisdom  was not ,told  me".
.irstice.    9.  ,4nd she gave the king an hundred and The wealth of  Solomion  receives  bti a minimum of
twenty  ta.lents  of gold, and of spices great abundance, emphasis in the entire passage. Note the peculiar ex-
and precious stones:  n&her was there any such spice pression, "she  came to prove Solomon with hard  ques-
as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon". An identi- tivns". The Holland translation has it, "om  Salomo
cal account is contained in I Kings 10.                     met  naadselen  te verzoeken". The literal translation
    It can sear&y be doubted that David alludes to of tihe original might be made to read, "to smell Solo-
this. history when he writes in Psalm 72 :lO, "The kings mvn with riddles". She mrne not to Jerusalem merely
of Tar-shish and of the isles sha!l bring presents: the to oonfuse  Solomon with all kinds of sane and &sane
king of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts". In verse questions.  She did not aim to give an exhibitivn  of
15 he writes, "And he shall live, and to him shall be &her own intellectual prowess. Suah an interpretation
given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made of her purpose would be much tvo  superficial  and super-
for hlim continually; and daily shall he be praised".       cilious in the light of all the data in the case. "Riddles"
    Isaiah  unquestionably points to the typical signifi- may also refer to obscure and  diflicult problems. These
cance and `ultimate fulfilment of this event when he problems, vital to her w,ho was burdened with them,
prop.hesies,  "The mul/titude of camels shall cover thee, would, indeed prove, test the wisdom  ,of Israel's king.
the dromedaries of Mildian  and Ephah, all they from           The Scriptural narrative records, furthermore,  tie
Sheba shall come : they shall bring gold and incense ; visit itself at the court of king Solomon. The inter-
and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord". view takes place. How lengthy a visit she made of it
Chapter 60  :6.                                             we do not know,  but it is certain that  it was long
    Finally, Jesus Himself speaks of the queen of Xheba enough  ti satisfy all her  desires!         She reached her


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                   209
              _-
purpose.      The queen of Sheba "communed with him          The exponents of this merciless view present t.he
of all that was in her heart". And "Solomon told her following arguments for their contenticn:  1. Nowhere
all her questions". Nothing was concealed from him, does the Word of God state definrti,ly that the queen of
so that her most  difficult problems were solved for her. the south was a converted woman. 2. If the queen of
Moreover, she saw all that great wealth of which s!he     bheba  had been regenerated and converted she  would
had heard.                                                certainly have worshipped  in the temple. Instead, she
   The queen was amazed. She herself was not with- merely admired its beauty and splendour. 3. In her
out wisdom and great riches. Yet, such wisdom and         tioxolpgy,  II Chron.  9:8, she says, "Blessed be the
wealth as Solomon possessed wits far beyond anything Lord   thy  God". She dares not include herself. 4.
she had ever expected to see. "There was no spirit in &opie from all corners of the world  oame to Jeru-
[her". Her delight and amazement were expressed in salem to hear the wisdim  of Solomon. All these were
her words first of all. The rumor had not been ex- certainly not believers in quest of true, spirtituai  wis-
aggerated. "She said to the king, It was a true report    d,cm.
which I heard in mine own land of thine acts and of          Taking most emphatic exception to this.  preaenta-
thy wisdom: Howbeit I believed not their words, until tion of the queen of Sheba I would reply to these asgu-
I came, and mine eyes had seen it, and, behold, the ments: 1. Scripture implies very plainly that the sub-
one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told ject of our essay was indeed a child of God. Too much
me: for thou exceed& the fame that I heard".  II must be ignored in denying this. 2. It is far from
Ghron.   9:5, 6. As a rule the rumor is greater `than a proved fact, that the queen of Sheba did not worship
the reality. In this case the latter exceeded the most in the temple at the time of her visit.' All that was
glamorous reports. How supremely happy is the peo- said and done in connection with this event is not re-
ple that `has such a king! "Happy are thy men, and corded. It is easily imagined that the queen did pay
happy are these thy servants, which stand continually homage to Israel's God at the time "she saw his ascent
before thee, and hear thy wisdom".  Idem: 7. She by which he went up into the lhouse of the Lord". Re-
ends with that wonderful doxology of verse 8, "Blessed member, I make no argument of this. I merely deny
be the Lord Thy God, which de1ighOet.h  in thee, to set others the right of contending that she did not worship
thee on His throne, to be king for the Lord thy God; Jehovah in his temple on no other ground than that
because thy Gcd loved Israel, to establish them for nothing of this is mentioned in the Scripture narrative,
ever, therefore made he thee king  ever  tihem  to do and then using this point as an argument aganst her
judgment and justice". Her amazement and apprecia- being a child of God. God's  Wlord simply does not
tion were expressed, too, in the gifts she presented to answer this  qu&ion. 3. It is but natural that she
king Solomon. She gave the king one hundred an,d should say to Solomon, "Blessed be the Lo,rd thy God".
twenty  tal,ents  of gold, the  approimate  equivolent  oaf Jehovah was the God of Israel, not of  %&a. She
ane million dollars, of spices great abundance and herself was the  head of a heathen nation, speaking +Q
precious stones.                                          the king of God's elect nation. Even as a believer in
The zxkit appl;tcised.                                    principle she believed in Solomon's God. Moreover,
   The queen of Sheba is frequently explained as an would it be anything but natural that a woman in her
unregenerated, reprobate sinner. She had no genuine, circumstances and  state of conversion and grace, a
abiding interest in the worship of Jehovah. She came woman at the beginning of the way of salvation as
solely to admire Solomon's great wealth and to hear it were, could not as yet appropriate to herself the full
his exceptional wisdom. She was simply an aesthetic certainty that Solomon's God was also her God? Must
type of woman. The more noble things of this present we then conclude that she employed this terminology
life appealed to her.     She loved the beautiful and with the specific purpose of deliberately excluding her-
adored science and wisdom. She was not ignorant and self from the possession of that God as her God? 4.  It
indifferent to education. She sought more than beauti- is true, that people came from all parts of the world to
ful apparel and. shallow entertainment.  S,he was in hear the wisdom off Solomon, but Scripture does not
quest of knowledge.  The queen of Shea was a wealthy `testify of all what it does of the queen of thse south.
dame with love for art md culture, who made a special         We maintain, that this royal visitor from far-away
journey to see and hear things very exceptional. She Sheba was a sincere child of God. In fa,ct, many of us
did precisely what many rich dames do to-day, who          (or  sho,uld  we say : all cf us?) may well  hover our
travel from America to Europe, or vice versa, for the faces in shame at the very thought of the, queen of
very same reason that induced the queen of Sheba to Sheba. In proof of this contention I submit: 1. Ac-
make her journey to Jerusalem. Lolftier  purpose she cording to the Book of Kings, chapter ten, she came
did not have. She was a natural woman in search of because she had heard "of the fame of Sclomon  COOL-
natural wisdom. She remained dead and indifferent cem&g the .iVame OS the Lord". The report  concerned
toward higher, spiritual values..                         that Name and when she came she came to verify  tlhe


210                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-          ____l-lll_"
report concerning that Name.  2. The doxology of II
Chron. 9 :3 is definitely the expression of a child of                            Not Noble
Gtd. Behind all this wisdom and wealth she saw God :
the love of God; the eternal love of God for His people        Having upbraided that "youth" for coming forward
Israel. She receives a wonderful glance into  t,he mys- in his communication with a heretical doctrine (the
teries. of God. And she praises t,hat God. 3. Her typi- heresy that there is an element of true goodness in the
cal significance in Scripture permits of no other inter- civic righteousness of the unregenerate) identical to
pretation. Gad's Word alludes time and again to this the teaching that the reverend himself some years pre-
historical event and ascribes typical import to the same: vious had so vigorously defended in that booklet of his
The wicked <are not types of the Church of God as was on The Three Points of Commorz Grace, the reverend
the queen of the south. 4. The Lord Himself men-            m "The Banner" for Jan. 6, states "in a simple and
tions the queen of Sheba in one breath with the men brief way what is meant by this doctrine of common
of Nineveh, who repented upon the preaching of Jonah. grace". According to his own statement, he did so
E%.%th.  12:41,  42. Neither do the words of the Lord "for the sake of those readers who know little about
oondon,e  any interpretation other than that this re- what Reformed people understand by common grace".
pentance of Nineveh was genuine in the remnant ac- But I feel sure that there may be still another reason.
cording to God's election. 5. She shall rise up in judg- That "youth" accused the reverend of having denied
ment against this generation and condemn it. This in his  denouncment  of the "Scout Movement" common
can be said only of the righteous versus the wick,ed.       grace. As was made plain by me in a previous article,
Scripture does not teach us that the wicked will con- the accusation is true. And it. was also made plain
demn the wicked.                                            that in his reply to this youth, the reverend again de-
     The queen of Sheba,  to. summarize the entire stand- nied common graze, disowned the very heresy that he,
point, had heard of the Name of the Lord as it had          the reverend, had defended in that booklet of his and
been  revealed in the wisdom and splendour of Solomon. on account of which he  new so cruelly upbraided that
That report the Lord had sanctified to her heart. She youth. The question is whether the reverend's deniel
journeyed to the City of God to prove that wisdcm,  the of common grace, his denial of the teaching to the
wisdom "concerning the Name of *he Lord", and to re- effect that there is an element of true goodness in the
ceive an answter  to questions that now burned in her civic righteousness of the unregenerate, was deliberate
soul. The Spirit of God 1e.d her into that truth which and  weJ.l  considered? Otherwise said, may it be main-
Solomon expounded and she received answers to all tained that the reverend realized that when he penned
her problems when at last she poured out her heart the statement to the effect that the virtues of the un-
before the king. They did not  dscuss anything and regenerate are superficial and not rooted in the fear
everything. They talked of spiritual realities and dis- of the Lord, he very actually denounced these virtues
cussed the things pertaining  to God's counsel and reve- as ethically worthless. And my answer: This may
lation, to His love for His people and His blessed cove and even  must  be maintained; maintained it must
nant. Only in this way can her doxology be  under- be that the reverend knowingly and deliberately dis-
stz od. She  rejoioed  in the  things  she had learned. owned the very doctrine of his churches, the very doc-
Finally there was no more spirit in her. And she trine that he himself cleaves to in his heart and had
lzreaks  forth in a song of praise and adoration to God. also defended in written and spoken .discourses. Main-
How happy the people that may have such a king!            tained it must be, further, that when the reverend
How blessed that God!                                      asserted that the virtues of the unregenerate are super-
     We would add: Htow marvelous the grace that leads ficial and not rooted in the fear of the Lord, he $c-
through such wonderful ways !                              liberately,  against his very own better knowledge, fals:-
                                           R. Veldman      fied this doctrine of his churches. If these statements
     NOTE : In the issue following we discuss :            of mine are not true then the reverend must have been
.A beautiful                                               in a coma, in a stake  o,f profound sleep, when he wrote
                 type.
Damning testimony.                                         `those articles in which he denounced the "Boy Scout"
                                                           movement, and that article in which he replied to that
                   `R. V.                                  youth,  - in a state of profound sleep he must have
                                                           been, so that his mind was totally unaware*  of what
                                                           his hand was penning. But this, of course, cannot be.
                             FATHER !                      If not, the reverend's denial of common grace was de-
                                                           liberate, intentional, motivated, and well considered.
          Father! replendish with Thy grace                    This must be. It is simply inconceivable that the
                 This longing heart of mine  ;             reverend, while engaged in penning the aforesaid arti-
          Make it Thy quiet dwelling-place,                cles, was unaware `of the doctrine (heresy) to the de-
                 Thy sacred inmost shrine!                 fence of which he arose in that booklet of his ; unaware


                                     T H E S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              211

that the qualifying statement to the effect that "the to a ridiculous doing, and understanding this, might
virtues of the unregenerate are superficial and are not hold his peace.
rotted  in the fear of the Lord" completely overthrows          Well, the reverend did appear in print with a praise
the teaching contained in the proposition to the effect of common grace. Whether this praise  - a  praise
that there is an element of true goodness to be found appearing in "The Banner" for Jan. 6 under the lap-
in this virtue; unaware that synod's formulation of tron "America's Need of Kuyper's emphasis (on) Com-
its third point, as  we*11  as the retort of that youth, mon Grace" -- will have the desired effect, awaits to
is devoid of that "qualifying statement", that there- be seen.
fore the framers of this third point of doctrine as  well       I purpose in this article to examine  the reverznd's
as this youth came forward with a falsehood so ter- new praise of comnron grace. Statements occur also
rible that they, too, may be on the verge of breaking in this writing of his that astonish.
with all religion ; unaware that even while occupied            But let me first ask the reverend why, in his articles
with framing his reply to that youth, he was e,mbrac-        on "The Boy Scout Movement", and in his reply to
ing in his heart the very heresy (heresy according to that youth, he denied the theory of common grace. The
the reverend's own reasoning) for which he so cruelly reverend, should he deign to reply, would, it is certain,
upbraids this youth in his reply.                            insist that the charge I here lodge against him is basely
   Herewith I have disclosed the re,al reason of the false. Yet, the charge is not false. It is true. I have
                                                             proven this. Let the reverend consider  a;?  1  ,`)c.  t  .F*
reverend's stating in the number of "The Banner" this proof, if he can, and in addition also consider the
following the one in which he unbraided that youth ,doing of his consisting in his refraining from reviv-
"what is meant by this doctrine". That the reverend ing in the aforesad articles that  doctre,  that false-
in that reply as well as in his articles on the "Boy Scout hoed,  he so ardently defended in his booklet. The
movement" had denied the theory of common grace reverend was certainly telling  t,he truth, when he told
insofar as this theory turns on the civic righteousness      his readers in that booklet of his that  %is is what
of the unregenerate, this youth and, the reverend fear- must be understood by the doctrine of common grace,
ed, many others  with this youth, clearly perceived. - this, namely, that the righteousness of the un-
This youth told the reverend what he had perceived. regenerate is righteousness  i&e&, the  fruitage of the
Said this youth to the reverend, "you have denied operation of the Spirit of God in the ungodly. But of
common grace". In proving his contention, this youth this doctrine-the doctrine of common grace proper-
reproduced the very heresy of his churches and the there is not a trace to be found in those most recent
very falsehood that H. J. Kuiper had championed in articles of the reverend. But the statement does occur
his booklet. So, to permanently silence this youth and that the civic righteousness of the unregenerate is out-
to totally discourage anyone who might be minded ward and superficial and is not rooted in the fear of
as this youth, the reverend  saEd to him openly, "If the Lord. Now if the meaning of such a statement is
your conception were mine (and mark you, this con- not that the righteousness of the unregenrate is with-
ception is Kuiper's and, Kuiper knew this), I would out true moral worth, words have no meaning. So let
affiliate with a modernist church, if I still felt the the reverend not say that the charge to the effect that
need of a church". But the reverend continued  to feel he denied common grace is false.
ill at ease. The violent stroke - a stroke that was              Let me ask now just why the reverend deliberat.ely
struck to permanently stun and thus to permanently and knowingly denied that doctrine of his and of his
silence  - might no-t have the contemplated effect. churches in those articles on the "Boy Scout" move-
That youth might not have been stunned at all, or, if ment and in this reply of his to  t,hat youth. There is,
stunned, might soon regain consciousness, and, collect- of course, a reason for this doing. Consider that the
ing his wits, might again begin to shout, "Reverend,         reverend's articles on the "Boy Scout" movement were
you have denied common grace". In view of this, written and published  <by him with a view to  dissuad-
what was the reverend to do? The reverend knew ing'the boys in his churches from affiliating  with this
what he would do.       He would pronounce in "The movement. As has already been pointed out in a pre-
Banner" a eulogy upon the doctrine (heresy) of com- VIOUS article, the reverend considers the movement
mon grace, (the reverend's statement of what "is dangerous. He  t&s. his readers that its oath (the
meant by this doctrine" is precisely this ; namely, a "Scout" oath) has "a pernicious religious implication
praise of common grace, better said, a praise of folly)      - the implication that it is possible for a boy scout
that this youth, should it be he was none the worse to do what  (he promises  - obey God, to do good to his
as a result of the blow that had been dealt him, or, fellow-men, and to walk in the path of moral rectitude".
if he was much the worse, should again recover, might Then the .reverend  puts the question, "Do we believe
read, and reading, might understand that the charge this?" and his answer, "The orthodox Christian denies
he had lodged against the reverend is false and that, it with all vehemence. He believes that man is by na-
should he repeat the charge, he would commit himself ture totally depraved, incapable of any real gcod and


212                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                            ---__- . _"_--" ".                -_- .._...  -          ^ .-.............-..-
prone to a.1 manner of wickedness." Then follows this                Hew would such a teaching have sounded to the
Ltatement  from the reverend's  p&n, "How violently youthful  re,aders  of "The Banner". To such among
inconsistent it would be to teach the boy in the tate-            thse readers whose desire is to be friends with the
chism class, the Christian school, and the Sunday  schcol         world, the teaching would  ,have sounded so good that
that he cannot do good and be good, no matter how they woulrd have said, "Just so." And the reply would
hard he tries ; that his only hope is to pray ,to God $o          indicate a strengthening in their conviction' that, after
forgive him his sin and make him good that he may all, friendship of the world cannot nctuully  be enm ty
begin to do good' - and then to teach him the very of God; that the teaching of the `%cout Law" and the
opposite by encouraging him to take an oath or a pro- `%cout Oath" is after all true; and ,that thus the `%sotit
mise .which tells him by implication that it is in him movement" is indeed a movement t.hat the Christian
to do his utmost to obey God, to love his fellow-men,             bEy can join. Realizing this, and wanting to warn
and to keep himself morally straight." So far the the youth against  afEliating  w-th the world, the rever-
reverend.        t                                                end at once realized that if his warning was to be
    Now it would, of course, be inconsistent to teach heeded, he would have to refrain from telling his youth-
the  bo,y two  su,ch contrary sentiments but no  mere ful readers what "is n&&y  meant by that d,octrine".
vio:ently inconsistent than it would be to teach the boy And so he did. It shows, does it not, that the ex-
that man is by nature totally depraved, and incapable ponents of  ccmmon  grace realize only too  well that
of any  ,rc?aZ  good (mark you,  reel good.  Real is the their theory (of common grace) is indeed a licence foi
word that the reverend uses, G.M.O.) and then to locking arms with the world.
teach him the very opposite by telling him that every-               But now further. Shortly after the reverend was
thing the natural man does is  not sin and nothing but accused by a certain youth of having denied common
sin; by encouraging him to believe that there is an grace. As was shown, the accusation is true. What
element of true goo&zess  in this man's righteousness now is the reverend's reply to this youth? It is in
and that in doing right, he, this natural man, devoid substance this, "Young man, you are sorely mistaken.
of the life of regeneration, can even surpass th.e true I did not deny common grace. What ails you, is that
children of God". Tie teach the boy two such contrary you have a ,wrong conception of common grace, the
sentiments, would be most violently inconsistent. The conception, namely, that everything the unregenerate
reverend, of course, was fully aware of this. And this does is not sin and nothing but sin in the sight of
accounts for it that he refrained from *truthfully stat- God, the conception that there is an element of trzLe
ing in his articles on the "Scout movement" what is goodness in  ,the civic righteousness of the  ungcdly,
actually meant by this doctrine of  commcn  grace. He the conception that in doing right the unregenerate
realized that he  w,ould  destroy the good influence that can even surpass the true believers. But, young man,
he hoped his articles might exert upon his youthful I would have you understand that this conception is
readers, should he tell what "is actually meant by this not mine, is not the conception of your churches and of
doctrine".                                                        ycur spiritual leaders. Young man, if such were my
    Then there is also the "Scout Law" which says, to conception, I would  affiliate with a modernist church,
quote the reverend, that "the scout is trustworthy, If I still felt the need of a church."
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous,- kind, obedient, clean,
reverent and so on". But the gospel teaches, the rever-              And yet, as I have  shcwn, it is the very conception
end goes on to say, "that the scout, as well as the boy to the defence  of which the reverend devoted an entire
who is not a scout, is untrustwcrthy,  disloyal, se&h, sermon. I here accuse the reverend of practising  amaz-
unfriendiy, impolite, cruel, disobedient, unclean, and ing  de&t. And let us now see if the reverend can
irreverent".     The reverend concludes, "In short, the free himself of this charge. He cannot. Let us see
implicit teaching of the Boy Scouts of America con- if his colleagues (Prcf. Berkhof and Prof. Volbeda
flicts with the implicit teaching of the Word of God or any of the others) can free the reverend of this
that all men are born in sin and depraved in heart".              charge. They cannot. The conception of this youth
       How now would it  Gave sounded in the ears of the is the very conception of the reverend, the very con-
young folk, had the reverend gone on to say, "My ception that Prof. Berkhof defends in his  brcchure.
youthful friends, though this be all true, yet, we must It is the conception of all the leaders in the Christian
never lose sight of the fact that it will not do to. say Reformed church.               And if these leaders now keep
that everything the unregenerate  dces is sin and noth- silence respecting this practice ,of deceit on the part of
ing but sin in the sight of God (p. 35 of the booklet,            the reverend, his sin becomes theirs.
G.M.O.). Consider, my young friends, that the Boy                    But now further. Said the reverend to this youth,
Scout, devoid of saving grace and thus dead spiritually, "Young man, let me tell you what I and your spiritual
has noble desires, impulses and aspiration, that in leaders in the church understand by common grace.
doing right he can even surpass the true believers This namely, that the many good things that the un-
 (p. 34, 35 of the booklet) ."                                    regenerate do are good in an outward sense, that thus


                                      `I-HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       213
- -                             ~ _..._ _..        ----__                                                    --..___
their virtues are superficial and not rooted in the fear nature from being sufficient to bring him to a saving
of the Lord".                                                knowledge of God and to true conversion that he is
       I once mere accuse the reverend of again telling a incapable of using it  aright even in things natural and
e&berate falsehood. He knew when he penned this that civil. Nay, further, this light, such as it is, man in
the doctrine he came forward with is not that of varous ways renders wholly polluted, and hinders in
ccmman grace but that of the total depravity of man. unrightec,usness,  by doing which he becomes inexcus-
f-iad the reverend be,en  of a mind to do right.zousness,    able before God". So far the reverend.
he would have sai,d to. this ycuth, "Young man, your            Now I ask in all candor, is this stating, truthfully
conception is mine and that of your churches. This           stating, what "is meant by this doctrine (of common
conception is that, as you say, there operates in the        g-race) ?" And the answer: It is not. I once more
natu.ral man dead in sin a principle of grace, that, as a accuse the reverend af again deliberately falsifyng.
result, sin in this man is restrained and this man Barring now the expression "checks the manifestations
enabled to perform works that are truly gocd in the          and  grcwth  of sin in his evil heart", what we have
sight  o,f God and thus also in our sight. These works here is simply the teaching of our Confession respect-
are truly goad, young man, and thus not good merely          ing the ethical state of fallen man. In a word, what
in an  ixdwa~~d   sense." This is the teaching of  the we have here is good reformed truth, and thus not
reverend, found in his booklet.                              "what is meant by this doctrine" of common grace.
       Let us now turn to the reverend's praise of com-      Why did not th.e reverend reproduce the teaching foun,d
men grace in "The  Banne,r"  for Jan. 6. This writ- in his  bcaklet?  Had he been of a mind to be truth-
ing of the reverend is a praise of  cammon grace as ful, he would have written, "what is  ,m,eant by  this
to all its phases. But as the matter in dispute in the dcctrine is that even in God's sight there may be an
artic'es  cn the "Boy Scout" movement and in that element of good in the works of the unregenerate And
reply to that young man is the moral worth of the this ,element  of good' is n& the product of the sinner's
virtues of the unregenerate, I will quote only those awn heart. It is the fruit of Gad's  CclzlIllon  grace,
sections of this most recent article of the reverend working in the sinner's heart and conscience (p. 37 of
that con,cerns  this matter.                                 the booklet).    Everything the unregenerate does is
       The first paragraph cf this article is an announce- not sin and nothing but sin in the sight of God (p. 35
ment that reads, "For the sake of those readers who          of the booklet) ". Why did the reverend omit these
knew  little about what Reformed people understand statements,? Why did he refrain  frcm reproducing
by common  gcu.ce,  we shall state in a simple an,d brief in his  mcst recent exposition of common grace the
way  what is meant by this doctrine". The reverend           teaching found in his  ,booklet? The main reason must
then wrote, "Common Grace does not conflict with  ths        be that he pounced that youth for coming forward
total depravity of natural man. . . . Scripture is re- with this very teaching.
markably clear in its doctrine of total depravity and           In the reverend's delineation of  ccmmon   .yrace
original sin. Man was conceived in sin and brought quoted above, the statement occurs, "The words (in
forth in iniquity. . . . Man is perverted in all his ways the Confession) that follow the quotation (chapter
and  Folluted  in the core of his being".      So far the    III and IV, article 4) show how far the Reformed
reverend.                                                    churchest which believe in common grace, are  froim
       Having thus correctly stated what is meant by the denying total depravity". This statement from the
doctrine of the, total depravity of man, the reverend        reverend's pen is again deceiving. The reverend, of
goes on to  sttite "for the sake of  these readers who course, includes himself in the Reformed churches.
know little about what Reformed people understand Thus the implication of this statement of his is very
by common  pace,  what is meant by  this  doctrine."         actually this, "The words in the Confession  - the
15Jhat the reverend here states again awakens surprise; words, But so far is this light of nature from being
.j& ttend tc the following from his pen, "Nevertheless       sufficie'nt to bring him to a saving knowledge of God,
the grace of God checks the manifestation of sin in his etc. - these words. to whch  I sl?bscribe wholeheartedly
evil heart, and, more than that, has preserved in him show how far I, H. J.  Kuiper,  who believe in com-
the g'immerings  of natural light. . . . some knowledge mon grace, am from  ,denying  total depravity". Now
cf God, of natural things, and of the difference between     if the reverend had never wrtten anything that con-
gcod and evil. . . . scme regard for virtue and far flicts with  `&these words of our Gonfession" this state-
good outward behaviour (mark you, o&ward  behaviour ment cf his would be true. Bllt think now of the
P M.0.) . This quotation is from our cre,ed (I a% stP        teaching found in the reverend's booklet? The  ;sad
cnuoting  the reverend, G.M.O.), namely, the Canons of fact is that the teaching of this booklet is in violent
Dart.  Th.e words that follow the quotation (Chapter con&t  with those "words of our  Confession".  It
III and IV, and article 4) show how far the Reformed r?eons that the above testimony of the reverend ccn-
churches. which  belileve  in common grace, are from cerning himself is thoroughly false.
denying total depravity. `But so far is this light of           Again.    In the reverend's exposition of  commo,n


214                                                 THE,  STAN,D-4ED,        B E A R E R
- -               .lll__  ..__. - -....._ __"...          _ -.           -.-.L.                      _____-I__ --_I_..I_
grace quoted above occurs also this statement,  32orn-            conflict is there between the doctrine that man is
mon grace does not ocnflict with the total depravity of totally depraved and sins only and the doctrine that
the natural man. . . ." Is this statement true? It is his righteousness is outward and superficial and is
most untrue. True it is that the reverend's pre.s&&               nut rooted in the fear of the Lord? Can the reverend
tzon  of common grace in the above-quoted excerpt is say? He cannot. For there is no conflict here.
not in conflict with the total depravity of man. But                 The reverend well knows that what the exponents
this presentation of common grace is thoroughly false. of common grace claim to know by experience about
As was said, what the reverend in this excerpt lays the unregenerate is that they perform works  of k&e,
,&fore  his readers is not common grace at all but genuine  gccodness.  It is with  Ehis  hmwwledge  of  the
good  reformed truth, taken directly from our Confes- unregenerate that the doctrine of  tatal depravity does
sion. What the reverend came forward with in the not square. And therefore there is need of this theory
bocklet of his, that is common grace.                             of common grace. And the exponents of common grace
       Having stated, "what is  mesnt  by this doctrine", imagine that this history of theirs allows them to main-
the reverend (in this most recent article of his on tain on the one hand that the unregenerate perform
common grace) names the benefits of common grace. works of Erue, geniz&e  goodness {the teaching of the
The first benefit named by the reverend is the follow- revmend's  booklet) and on the other hand that the
ing, "It. accounts for the superficial goodness of un- unregenerate are nev&-theless  totally depraved. And
saved men, gives God credit for all their good deeds this again proves  conclusiv4y  that the actual teaching
(with emphasis on the word deeds, as distinguished cf common grace is that there operates in the unre-
from motives), and prevents many a Christian from generate B principle of grace, so that as a result the
rejecting or questioning the doctrine of total depravity unregenerate perform works of genuine goodness (not
on the ground that it d'oes not square with what we superficial goodness  ,as the reverend tells  this readers
know by experience about the unbelieving."                        in his recent articles) in the sight of God.
       This excerpt, too, contains a statement that sur-             If now the question be put to  the, exponents of
prises. This statement, "It gives God credit for  all co,mmon  grace, how a totally depraved man can per-
their good deeds (with emphasis on the word deeds, form works of true goodness one receives this reply,
as d'stinguished from motives). . . ."                            "This good is not out of the depraved one but out of
       This parenthesis is the reverend's, not mine. What the spirit". But now it is inconceivable that such
the reverend here by imphcation  tells his readers is men as H. 6. Kuiper and Prof. Berkho,f  and Prof. Vol-
t-at the dee& of the unregenerate are good, -- their beda do not realize &at as often as they come with
deeds in distinction from their motives. Thus  the this answer they equivocate and purposely avoid the
motives behind these gcod deeds are not good but evil.            issue.
Such is  in(deed the teaching here.                                  Just a word in conclusion. The articles of the Rev.
       But this teaching is again in conflict with the teach- H. J. Kuiper on the "Boy Scout" movement, and es-
ing found in the reverend's booklet. There one may pecially that reply of his to the young man, and this
read on page 35, "Our second conclusion is that the most recent article of his on common grace (appearing
unconverted is able. not only to perform deeds (the in "The Banner" for Jan.  6)) reek with deceit, equivo-
italics are of Kuiper) which conform to God's law,                cation and duplicity. Let the reverend and  shis col-
but that he also has certain desires and im&ses which leagues consider (and what I am now about to say is
are gcod and from which his good deeds spring: such something that anybody knows) that what has always.
as sympathy, love, respect, sense of justice, etc. . . . characterized the heretic is exactly deceit and duplicity.
The outward good of the unregenerate is also an in- The heretic is never honest in his argumentation.
ward good."                                                          One more  remark. These articles of Kuiper, just
       Let us attend finally to the last part of the excerpt because of the amazing deceit with which they are
last quoted, "It (common grace) prevents many a laden, ought to make Kuiper and his colleagues afraid,
Christian from rejecting or questioning t,he doctrine; of -afraid of  w,h,at might befall them and their churches.
total depravity on the ground that it does not square                For approximately thirteen years nuw, these breth-
with what we know  ,by experience about the unbe- ren have been turning a deaf ear to the truth, and
lieving".                                                         have sought to maintain themselves in their false po-
       What now dot the exponents of common grace claim sition through deceit and equivocation. Do they sup-
to know by experience about the unbelieving? And pose that they could do and can continue to! do this
the answer: according to the reverend's most recent with impunity? That  leaders  in the Christian Re-
exposition of common grace, this: that the virtue of formed Churches will appear in print with articles
the unregenerate is ~m~perficial and is not  rooted  in the such as those that I have examined in these writings
fear of the Lord. Now will the reverend explain why of mine, already speaks volumes. I say once more:
the doctrine of tota depravity does not square with H. J. Kuiger and his colleagues ought to be afraid.
such a knowledge about  the unbelieving? What actual                                                              (2.  M:  0.


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARBR                                       215
I__L_-_--". _-l"..^..-".._-.ll_-I-_i   ..- ----    -...                 -......-_.-.-"---..^..- _-..-...
           The Second Commandment                           of God are the creatural agents through which  He
                                                            reveals Himself. These agents may not be wo,rshipped.
          Thou Shalt Not Make Unto Thyself Any                 If by image of God is meant the conception that
                       Graven Image.                        the Triune God has of Himself or the self-revelation
                                                            of God in Scripture, then too, it is wrong to say that
   As was shown, what this second command forbids the object of the believer's worship is the image of
is that man shall make to himself an image of any God. What is and may be worshipped is not God's
creature, to bow down himself to this image and to          self-revelation, but God Himself.
serve it; for the man doing so, is saying to that              We saw in conclusion that the second command-
creature before whose image he is prostrated, "Thou ment concerns God's self-revelation, and that thus the
art god and my god". So it became plain, that the essential teaching of this command is, "Thou shalt not
worshipper of the image deifies the creature before despise My revelation of Self to place in its room thine
whose image he bows, so that this creature cccupies         own corrupt notion of what thy depraved self would
Jehovah's place in his thoughts. Thus it became clear have Me be," or possitively expressed, "Set Me, thy
that image-worship is representative of God, and is God,, before thee as I have revealed Myself and not
thus to be explained not from man's yearning after, as depraved man conceives of me. Thus what this
but from his hatred of God.                                 command requires is that man, God's people, honor
    It was shown that this view has the full support God's revelation of Self and thus refrain from saying
of Holy Writ. Psalm 106: 19-21 was quoted, "They of themselves who God is. Doing the latter, man
made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten brings into being the other god, the idol.
image. Thus they changed their glory (God's glory)             Let me  no,w  bring to completion our  explan,ation
into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. They of the second command.
fcrgot God, their Saviour, which #had done great things        The question first to be raised is whether the  wor-
in Egypt." It was pointed out that what `this passage shipper of the graven image, encountered upon the
clearly teaches is that the making of the calf in Horeb pages of Holy Writ, actually leaned on and trusted
was a changing of the glory of God into a likeness of in that lifeless image of wood and stone, in the ex-
an ox and therefore a forgetting (a rejecting, a hating)    pectation that this lifeless image was the god that
of Jehovah, the Saviour, which had done great things would stand by him in time of need or stress. Accord-
in Egypt.                                                   ing to Scripture, this question must be answered in
    It was affirmed that in `the light of this and the affirmative. The worshipper of the image trusted
other scriptures (which I do not here quote) it must in that lifeless thing. Such is the plain testimony of
indeed be maintained that the idol of the second com- Holy Writ. Attend to the following passages from the
mand is  anot.her god,  - a god to be identified with 44th chapter of Isaiah. "They that make a graven
the other god (gods) of the first command ; that thus       image are all of them vanity; and their  d&ctab?e
the Jews of the desert, when they cried for the golden things shall not profit; and they are their own wit-
calf, cried not for Jehovah (Kuyper) but for ancther        ness; they see not, nor know; that they may be a-
deity.                                                      shamed". Isaiah  44:9. An identical ridicule of the
    It was made plain in this connection that to ex- graven image is found in Psalm 115, "Their idols are
plain  idol,atry  (the worshipping of images) from man's silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have
thirst after God, is to again embrace, be it unwittingly, mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they. but they
the very theory of which we have purged ourselves, see not. They have ears but they hear not  ; noses
the theory of common grace. For, so it was pointed have they, but they smell not. They have hands,
out, if man continued to yearn after God after the but they handle not; feet have they, but they
fall, he did not fall and is not by nature spiritually walk nat; neither speak they through their throat".
dead.                                                       Psalm 115 :4-8.
    It was  mai&ained  further in opposition to what           Now what meaning would it have had to say of
Kuyper teaches in his E. Voto, that the second com- the  idols the graven image, that "they have ears, but
mandment does not promise by implication that Je- they hear not", etc. if these lifeless things had not
hovah would give to His peop1.e an image of Himself actually been the object  o,f worship and trust? No
that they could worship as God. For that image of meaning at all. These images then were indee.d th.2
God to which Kuyper had reference was Christ as objects of trust. "They that make them," says the
to His human nature. Now this nature is a creature psalmist, "are like unto them: so is every one that
and may therefore not be worshipped.                        trusteth in them". Psalm  115:8.  "And the residue
    Fact -is then that what the redeemed worship and thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he
may worship is not the image-bearers of the Triune fal'eth  down unto it, and worshippeth it, and pray&h
Jehovah (every image-bearer of Jehovah is a creature)       unto it. and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god,"
but the Triune *Jehovah Himself, The image-bearers Isaiah 44 : 17.


    How is it  to be explained that a rational being, god". He doing so, has  ,changed  the, glory -of the  in-
such a man is, will say to a piece of wood or stone, oorruptible  God into an image made like unto the crea-
"Deliver me, for thou  ant my god". The only explana- ture. Now this is precisely what the one kneeling before
tion of this is the one given by Paul, "Because that, the image of a saint does. He does exactly what the
when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, second command forbids. He makes unto himself an
neither were thankful; but became vain in their ima- image of the creature  - in this case the saint  L and
ginsticns, and their foolish heart was darkened: pro- kneels before, bows down himself to that image and
fessing themselves to be wise, they became fools. . .  ." the creature it represents, and thus very actually, thru
Psalm .,l- :21, 22.                                            this doing,  sa*ys to that creature and its image, "Thou
    Now- the expression of this vanity and foolishness art my god; in hhee I put my trust";
is  the amazingly foolish, irrational doing, consisting in           ,The prayers that the people of .Roman  Catholic per;
man `putting his trust ultmately in that vaw lifeless suasion .send up to the saints, plainly show that the
image of the creature he deifies, and it is God who trust placed in  the saints is a kind  of. trust that may
gives man up to this foolishness. "For the wrath of be placed in Go,d only. Attend to the  followingprayer
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness for perseverance by St. Alphonsus to the virgin Mary:
and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. . . ."     Rom.  1:18.    The scientific                "Most Holy Immaculate Virgin and my
name for such lifeless objects of worship is "fetish". . .             Mother Mary 1.. To thee, wlho art the  Mo.ther
    Let us not say that the reason those men of old                    of  my.Lord,  the Queen of the world, the Ad-
and the savages of our day put their trust in a life-           *      vacate,  the How and  the.Refuge  o,f Sinners,"     `II
less image, in a stone or a piece of wood is their lack                I, have recourse to-day. I who am the most
of culture. What, pray, may be the essential difference                miserable of all, I render thee my most hum-
between trust in a lifeless image and the cultured                     ble homages, 0 great Queen, and I thank thee
man's fear of the number 13, or of a black cat, or the                 for all the graces thou hast conferred on me
feeling of assurance that comes over him when he gres                  until now; particul'arly for having delivered
about-with a rabbit's foot or a chestnut concealed upon                me from hell, which I have often deserved.' I
his perso,n? In a word, whah is th.e essential difference              love thee, 0  most amiable Lady'; and for the
between trust in or the `fear of a lifeless image, and                 love which I bear  Ithee, I promise to serve
the amazing superstitions `of learned and cultured peo-                thee always and to do all in my power to
ple of cur civilized lands? No difference, whatso-                    `make okhers love thee also. I place in thee
ever.                                                                  all my  hopes- I  conode  my salvation  to. thy
    Having forsaken God, man's gods become the crea-                   care.. Accept  me'jfor  thy servant and receive
tures, both the  ratio,nal and irrational ; the animate and            me `under thy mantle, 0 Mother i of Mercy.'
the inanimate, aed his religion consists in appeasing                  And since. thou art so powerful with God,
and. winning the favor of his god, the gods  that~ he                  deliver me from all temptations, or rather
fears.                                                                 obtain for me the strength to triumph over
    A word finally about image worship in the Roman                    them till death. Of thee I ask a perfect love
Catholic Church. What is to be our appraisal of the                    for Jesus Christ. Through tihee I hope to die
doing of a man kneeling before the image of a saint,                   a good death. 0 my mother, by the love
of Peter, of John ,or Mary, or ev.en of Christ.                       `which thou  bearest to God, I beseech thee to
    Dr. Ku,yper  was of the conviction that this knee!ing              help me at all. times, but especially at the
before the images of saints is not, rightly considered,                last'*moment  of my life. Leave me not, I
a transgression of the second commandment. Wrote                       beseech thee, until thou seest  me"`safe  in
Kuyper, "Rechtstreeks keert het Tweede gebod zich                      heaven, blessing thee and singing thy me&s
tegen het pogen om God den Heere  onder cenige ge-                     from all  eterniity.  Amen. So I hope. So
lijkenis voor te stellen, gelijk  Aaron dit in de woestijn             may it be. (300 days' +ndulge7Lce,  da@.)-
deed ; en van beelden der heiligen is in dit gebod als                                                      3..  '
zcodanig  geen sprake".                                              What have we here? A plain deification of Mary
   :Kuyper  was again mistaken here.  Tlhis can be the mother of Jesus, thus abominable i,dolatry,  and
easily shown. Shown it can be  t.hat this  kn&ling a changing of the glory of God into an image made like
before the image of the saints is also a$bominable  idola- unto Mary. Notice. the phrases (,in that prayer), "I
try, and thusactual transgression of the second com- place in thee all my hopes:-  -I `confide my salvation to
m a n d m e n t .                                       _-  :. thy care. Accept me for thy servant, and receive me
   Consider once more what the second commandment under'thy mantle, 0 Mother of-mercy. . . . Leave me
literally, forbids.    This: that the Israelite make to not, Ibeseech thee, until thou seest me safe in heaven,
himself an image of any creature, to bow down himself:: Iblessing thee and singing'+thy'  mercies for all eter-.
to that image and to say to that image, "Thou art kny nity".                                                   G. M. 0,


                           A   R e f o r m e d   S e m i - M o n t h l y   M a g a z i n e :
               PUBLISHED BY  THE   REFORMEri  FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
                                                                 EDITORIAL STAFF
                                                Editors-Rev. H. Hoeksema, Rev. G. M. Ophoff,
                                                             Rev. Wm.  Verb&  Rev. G. Vos
                                            Associate Editors- Rev. A. Cammenga, Rev P.  De
                                                Boer, Rev. M.  Gritters, Rev. C. Hanko, Rev.  B.
                                                  Kok, Rev.  G. Lubbers, Rev. R. Veldman
                                                                Rev. H. Veldman.

Vol. XIV, No. 10. Enkred   aa  second class mail                 FEBRUARY  X5,1938                        Subscription Price, $2.00
                       matter at Grand  Rar~ids.   Mich.
--..--.-...                 .-..____

                                                                          thereunto from before the foundation of the world !
               M E D I T A T I O N                                        Christ, the one that died and was raised again from
I
                                                      _--                 the dead, W~Q also is the advocate of all whom the
                                                                          Father gave Him and maketh interecession  for them,
                  Who Shall Separate?                                     is sitting on the right hand of Cod and is become the
                                                                          sole Judge in all the universe. Where, then, is the
                     Who shall separate us from the love of condemner? . . . .
                   Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress 01"                 Yet, one question remaineth.
                   persecution,  or famine, or nakedness, or                  Evident it is that Christ loves us, that Cod loves us
                   peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy in Christ, that there is no condemnation for us.
                   sake we are killed all the clay long,;  we                 But will someone, perhaps, be able to separate us
                   are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.              from the power of that love?
                   Nay in all these things we are more thun                   Suppose that an infuriat.ed  mob tclok me before the
                   conquerors through him that loved us. judge in a wo.rldly court, loudly accusing me of murder
                   For I am persuaded, tha,t neither de&h,                of .which  I am innocent, and insisting upon my con-
                   nor life, war angels, nor  ~principalities,            demnation; suppose that the accusations against me
                   ,nor  powers, nor things present, nor were found to be without ground so that the accusers
                   th&gs to come,  nor  height nor depth, dropped off; suppose that the judge passed a verdict
                   nor any other creature, shall he able to of not guilty and that I am set at liberty; but suppose
                   separate %cs from  We love of God, .which that the furious and howling mob of my hostile ac-
                   ,is in Christ Jesus our Lord.                          cusers are congregated before the door of the cou&
                                                  Born. 8:3549.           room, still demanding my death and eager to lay hands
       The final question and its answer!                                 on me, themselves to become my executioners ; then the
                                                                          question arises immediately: will that mob be able
       Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? . . . to separate me from the power of the judge that ac-
I am persuaded that no created thing shall be able to quitted me?
separate us from the love of Cod which is in Christ                            Cod loves me and justifies me, the accusers are
Jesus our Lord!                                                            silenced !
       If this also is true, then, indeed, no one and nothing                  Christ loves me and is the sole  aedge,  with all
can be against us!                                                        power in heaven and on earth ; there is no one to con-
       Our would-be accusers are silenced. Eagerly they demn me!
appear in the courtroom of the Judge of heaven and                             But I must still be in the hostile world!
earth, Who surely will do right;  gla.dly they  woul,d
bring their indictments against the elect to prove their                       My enemies a,re waiting!
damnable state  ; but shamefacedly they sneaked away,                          And the final question must be faced: Shall anyone
for they found that it is Cod that  justifieth!  Who, be able to separate me from the love that justified me?
then, shall lay anything to the charge of Cod's elect?                         But the q,uest.ion  is a challenge!
       Gladly they would sit on the judgment-seat  them-                       And the answer more than a denial !
iselves in order to bring a verdict of condemnation a-                         For, not only shall no created thing be able to
gainst the people of Cod. But they found that the separate us from the love of Cod in Christ Jesus our
judgment-scat was occupied by Him that was anointed
       .-                                                                  Lord, but we are more than victors?


218                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
____I__ _...,... "-"..-  --.-. ^ .._ "~-..".-    - . ..__ -                   -_                   .-......"          _I___.-
      Even the enemy must work together for our sal- able to sustain a long siege, as long as it is not sepa-
vation !                                                           rated from the source of its food supply so the Chris-
      I am persuaded! . . . .                                      tian is safe as long as he is not cut off from the !ove
                                                                   of Gcd in Christ Jesus his Lord.
                                                                       Or, even as the vanguard of an army is in danger
                                                                   of  annihiliation  if, pressing forward too recklessly into
                                                                   hostile territory, it becomes separated from the main
      Separation is impossible !                                   army, so God's people would be overwhelmed by hostile
      From what?                                                   powers, powers of death and destruction, if ever they
       From the love of Christ! From the love of God would be found in circumstances where the power of
in Christ Jesus our Lord !                                         Christ's love could not reach them.
      And these two are one. The love of Christ is the                 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
love of God. For, the love of God was manifested in                 a Who shall cut us off from the main and on!y source
the love of Christ, Who died for us on the  acculrsed of our salvation?
tree. And emphatically the love of Christ and the love                 But the question is a challenge.
c4 God to us are meant, not our love to God in Christ.                 And the answer is: no one!
      Who shall separate us?                                           I am persuaded ! . . . .
      The question, then, is not: who shall be able to
extinguish the flame of the love of God in Christ in our
hearts; even though in the final sense this is also im-
possible, because our love of God is but a flame kindled
by His love of us. Neither does the question refer to                  Audaciuus  challenge !
the possibility of the fire of the love of Cihrist  being              For, many, indeed, are the powers of darkness that
quenched, although it is true, that the love  04 God would appear to be able to effaect this separation?
in Christ Jesus our Lord is eternal and immutable.                     And quite conscicusly, too, the challenge is flung
Still less is it the meaning of the question: who shall in the face of these hostile and mighty powers!
deprive us of the blessed feeling, consciousness, as-                  Who? . . . .
surance that God loves us in CXrist;  this, indeed, is                 The apostle is thinking of these powers as a person.
possible at times, though He never forsakes us and al- For, though in the enume.ration  of the evil forces he
ways leads us back into the sweet fellowship of His mentions chiefly conditions, states, circumstances, yet
friendship and favor.                                              he puts the challenging question in that personal form:
      But the question is: who shall separate us from the Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And
dower of that love?                                                with good reason. Are not the principalities and powers,
     Who is able to intervene, so to force himself between with satan as their prince and chief, the agents that
that love of God in Christ and us that its power can no. cause all  the.se states, conditions, circumstances to come
longer reach us, that we are cut ofE from its saving upon the Church for the very purpose of separating
help ?                                                              her forever from the love of God in Christ Jesus and
       The subject of this entire chapter, this triumphant to destroy her? , . . .
song of faith, is the absolute security of believers in                The apostle is thinking of the sufferings for Christ's
Christ with a view to their eternal salvation ,and incor- sake, as is evident from the quotation from Psalm 44:
ruptible glory. And this salvation is acccmplished  to the For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are
end by th,e love of God in Christ Jesus. On its saving accounted as sheep for the slaughter; as is evident, too,
power all depends. Without it believers are lost. By that from the terms: persecution, sword! And it is the
love they are justified and no one is able to bring any hostile world-power that inflicts this suffering, that
charge against  th,e elect of Gud. Because of that love breathes this destruction against the people of Go,d.
they are secure in the hour of judgment and no one can It causes tribulation and distress, making the place
appear as their condemner. Forensically their salvation of the  pevple of God in the world narrow, socially,
is established. But will that same love of God be able economically, politi.cally,  so that they can neither buy
to save us to the end? Are there, then, in the world no nor sell, unless they bear the mark of the beast, so that
powers that can separate us from its saving strength? they have no room to breathe. That power would have
       Just as a shipwrecked sailor, who! found a place God's people go in hunger and nakedness, in physical
of temporary safety on the rock in the midst of the want of every kind. It would leave the church no place
tempestuous  seaa, might ask, whether the raging billows of safety, make her position perilous wherever she may
will not separate him from the rock of his salvation, turn, persecuting her with the mighty sword.
so the question is whether anything is able to separate                Do  not remark that this picture is overdrawn !
US  from the power of the love of God.                                 A real picture it is of the position of the Church
       Or, just :ils a beleaguered city feels itself secure and in 
                                                                    ..- the world 1


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     219
                  ------lll__.__l_lll^l.                " .__... -^^ ^^-" ..___._ _l_l_                                -._-        ."_
     To impress us with the reality of this perilous po-                  A worldly victor may glory in his triumph after he
 sition we are referred to the song of the church in the has fought the battle; we have the victory while the
 old dispensation, when, after the captivity, it became battle is still raging. We triumph while we fight; we
 the victim  of the world's furious hatred, so that with- glory in the victory even when apparently we are over-
 out exaggeration, inspired, indeed, by the Spirit of whelmed. The enemy cannot even touch us. The out-
 Christ, it could exclaim: For thy sake we are killed all come is never uncertain!  i
 the  liveloag  day  ; the world regards us as sheep                      More than victors are we?
 for the slaughter; never a moment are we safe against                    An earthly battle may be won but not without more
 its fury. Such was the position of the Church then ; or less severe losses on the part of the victor. We lose
 such is her position in the world principally always, nothing in the battle !
 for even as they hated Christ that loves them, so they                   Yea, even the enemy must help us, in spite of him-
 will hate them that are beloved of Him. Such will be s&.f to attain to the final victory and glory !
 the position of t.he Church at the time of the end, when                 More than conquerors !
 Antichrist will pour the last vials of  this furious hatred
 upon the people of Christ. And do we not hear the
 rumblings  of that final thunder even now? . . . .
     The end of all things is near!
     Be ye, therefore, sober and watch unto prayer!                      Blessed assurance!
     And be not unequally yoked together with the un-                     For I am persuaded!
 believer !                                                              Thus the apostle glorifies, victorious on the heights
     But even so, be of good cheer! For, who shall of faith ; and thus this part of the Word of our God
 separate us, who shall even then, in the midst of tribe- would have us glory in the midst of the sufferings of
 la&n  and distress, when hunger and nakedness must this present time
 be suffered for Christ's sake, when peril and sword                     Nothing can separate us !
 would kill us all the livelong day, cut us off from the                 But how is this ,glorying,  this blessed ass.urance pos-
 source of our sa!vation,  the saving power of the Iuve sible? How can we be sure that nothing can separate
 of God in Christ Jesus?                                            us from the love of God?
     Nothing!                                                            Emphatically because it .is the love of God on which
     No created thing, in heaven, e,a.rth  or hell !               everything, on which all depends, not on our love,
     No trouble or distress you may meet in life, no. neither on the cooperation of His love and ours, but
 darkness of the shadow of death ; no hun,ger  or naked- on His love alone ! Not, indeed, as if it matters not
 ness, no pain or sorrow,  not tribulation or anguish, not whether or not ,we love G.od ; but on our love nothing
 even deat,h itself shall be able to separate us from that depends, not even that  love itself! We love Him only
 wondrous love! No angels, nu evil spirits ,not even all because He.  loved us first. And His love is eternal,
 the host of them with the devil as their chief; no  prin, sovereign, unchangeable. Nothing can quench that love.
 cipalities  a.nd powers, no mighty Caesars or wicked In that love He made all things. In  l&at love He
 kings, no Nebuch:adnezzars  or Antiochuses or Nero's, governs all things, even the powers of darkness even
 no  Hitlers  or Mussolini's or Stalins, with all their tribulation and distress and nakedness and hunger and
 sword-power, are able to prevent that  power  of Christ's peril and sword, even death itself. And that love is
i love from reaching us with its saving arm. Nothing omnipotent. It never fails! . . . .
 there is in time or space, nothing there is in the pr5                  Who, then can separate us from that love of God !
 sent, nothing can ever arise in the future; nothing                     And that love was manifested,!           .
 there is in the heights of heaven and no power there is                 For it is the love of God .in Christ Jesus our Lord !
 in the depth uf hell, that is strong enough to cut us                    Christ loved us ! He loved us in a very definite act
 off from the love of God in, Christ Jesus our Lord. . . .          of love. He loved us on the accursed tree. On that
    Was anything forgotten in this enumeration? . . . . tree He took our sins upon Himself to bear them away
     Well, then, let this set your hearts finally at rest: forever. On that cross He fought the battle alone, in
 nor any other creature !                                           our behalf, and, was victorious. . . . .
     No created thing!                                                          For, He arose!
     Not they, not the enemies, not the angels or prin-                  He overcame the world. He is victor over sin and
 cipalities or powers, not tribulation or distress or hun- d               e      a        t    h    !
 ger or nakedness icllr peril or sword, not any creature                Look, then, on that love! It is the love of God in
 in the  prese'nt   or in the future in the heights or in Christ Jesus our Lord !.
 the depths can have the victory! We triumph!                            Look on that cross -and triumph !
    Not they but we conquer!                                             More than conquerors through Him that loved us !
    Already we are conquerors  ?                                         Who shall separate us?
    Nay, more than  conquerors are we1                                                                                  H. H.


224                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                              -.
een gruwel, maar  de oprechten van weg zijn Zijn wel-             Sermons on the Apostle's Creed.
gevallen". Spr. 6 :20. "De Heere is ver van de godde-                                             By H. J. Kuiper.
loozen,  maar het gebed  der rechtvaardigen  zal Hij ver-                                  Zondervan  Publ. House,
hooren".    Spr. 15 :29. "Al wie hoog van hart is, is                                      Grand Rapids, Mich.
den  Deere  een  gruwel, hand  aan hand  zal hij niet
onschuldig zijn". Spr.  16:5.  "Doch de goddeloozen               As the title indicates, this book is a collection ol
zijn als  een  veortgedrevene  zee; want die  kan niet sermons on the Apostles' Creed. It contains twenty
rusten  en hare  wateren  werpen slijk en modder op. two sermons based on the Heidelberg Catechism,  Lord'2
De goddeloozen, zegt mijn God, hebben  geen vrede" Days 8-24. They are composed, not by the Rev. H. J
Jes. 57:20,  21. "Want de toorn Gods wordt van den Kuiper, who merely edits them, but by as many differ.
hemel   geopenbaard  over  alle  goddeloosheid  en  onge- ent ministers of the Christian Reformed Church and
rechtigheid der menschen, als die de waarheid in oage- the Reformed Church of America as there are  ser-
rechtigheid ten  onder   honden".  Rom.  1:18. "Zoo  ont- muns.
fermt  Hij  Zich dan diens Hij wil, en Hij verhardt dien          Naturally, the sermons differ in quality, both as
Hij  wil". Rom. 9:18. "God  wederstaat  de  hoovaar- to form and content. Some of them are interesting,
digen,  maar den nederigen geeft Hij genade". I  Petr. others are dry as dust; in some of them the material
5:5.                                                           is neatly and logically arranged, others very confused,
   Om al deze redenen zijn,we overtuigd,  dat niemand As an example of the latter I refer to the sermon or
het  recht  heeft om op grond  dler  ` Heilige  Schrift te "The elect Church of Christ Jesus" by Dr. R.  Dan-
spreken  van een algemeene genade, goedertierenheid,           hof.
goedheido,  lankmoedigheid,  weldadigheid.                        On the whole the book is very readable.
   Als nu Dr.  Hepp niet slechts bedoelt om van de                The sermon on Creation is decidedly not a sermon!
hoogte  te spreken,  maa.r de  waarheid  der Heilige but a philosophical treatise.
S&rift ook met zijne broederen  te bespreken, last hem            I do not agree with statements like the ,following  :
dan ons Schriftbewijs weerleggen en met zijn eigen "the most Christlike work in which a Christian
Schriftbewijs komen.                                           can be engaged is. that of saving the unsaved". Or:
                                                               "How unscriptural, therefore, it is to say that it is
    Wij zullen er gaarne notitie van nemen.                    the only task of the church to save souls and not ta
    Maar de beweringen van Dr. Hepp zonder S&rift- save the world". Or: "We sometimes trouble our-
bwijs maken op ons een.armzaligen  indruk.                     .selves about predestinati~oa,  and the free will of man.
                                                    H.  H.     We are anxious about the  whosoever  and whether we
                                                               have a share in it. Jesus spoke these words. as an
                                                               invitation and a challenge (I am the resurrection and
                                                               the life, etc. John  11:25, 26, H.H.). He gave the
                                                               offer of salvation and life through fait,h to the crowd
                    As To Books                                who curiously watched Him. (But there was no crolwd
                                                               who watched Him! H.H.). His offer  is still good and
    What is Christian Faith?                                   demands worthy consideration of all people". etc. etc.
                                                                  T.he price is $2.00.                       H. H.
                         By William  childs  Robinson,
                             Zondervan  Publ. House,
                             Grand Rapids, Mich.
   This  bouk of 117 pages is a clear, biblical, scholarly                   IMPORTANT NOTICE ! ! !
exposition of the certainty and blessed,ness  of the Chris-
tian faith as a gift of God to His people, in contrast            A movement has been started by the English Men's
                                                               Society of the First  Protest.ant  Reformed Church of
to the vagariles  and uncertainties of modern philosophy Grand Rapids, Mich., to print a series of sermons by
and theolloigy.                                                the pastor, Rev. H. Hoeksema, on the Book of Remans,
    The author gives a reformed conception of faith chapters 9,  10 and 11. In order to proceed with this
in thre  chapters, in which he discusses : 1. The cer- work the committee will need a sufllcient number of
tainty of Christian faith ; 2. Faith as a work of God ;        continued subscribers who will purchase these books
3. Abraham the father of believers.                            as they come off the press. All those who wish to
    The style is clear; the genera1 tone is that of a subscribe to the complete series or who wish to receive
witnessing believer.                                           individual copies will please send their name and ad-
    We can recommend this book to our readers.                 dress to: F. Pipe, 946 Sigsbee St., S. E., Grand Rapids,
    Price $1.00.                                               Mich. These pamphlets will be sold for  10~ each.
                                                    H .H.                                            The Committee.


r
                                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              23 1
              ____^"_-.-  .._..."  "."..^."..--^  -.-- -_-                   - -                                                  --_lllll-...._ll_-
     `Vragenboekjes', dat er in de naaste toekomst wellicht gebruikelijke Classicale rondvraag werd gedaan vol-
     e&n het  licht zal zien. We hebben dan cok eigenlijk gens Art. 41 der D. K. 0. Waar advies werd gevraagd
     nog maar twee boekjes uit eigen kring van de hand werd zulks verstrekt en door alle afgevaardigden  wer-
     van Ds. Hoeksema (en een derde  dat eigenlijk alleen                           den de vragen op bevredigende wijze beantwoord.
     bestemd is voor hen, die belijdenis des geloofs wen-                                      We  waren  aan het lezen der kladnotulen  toege-
     schen af te Ieggen). Er is  we1 groote behoefte  aan komen, die echter  in  handen  warden  gesteld van het
     en we verwaehten, dat we mettertijd een geheel `set' Moderamen en onzen  Stated Clerk. Hierna werd be-
     ontvangen passend  bij al de `klassen.                                         sloten te verdagen en ging, na het  zingen van  een
        Onze penningmeester deellde  verder mede, dat er psalmvers, Ds. Hoeksema  ems voor in dankzegging
     voor dit jaar geen behoefte was in verband met de kas en gebed.                                                                    w. v.
     E.B.P. Er zijn genoegzame gelden aanwezig voor c&t                             ~. ,,;.
                                                                                    *Gc ;o.._
     jaar en de kerkeraden zien daardoor de Classicale aan-                                                     -          -
     slag-en met 63.n dollar per gezin verminderd.
        De Secretaris  der Zendingscommissie bracht ver-
     sla,g uit, allereerst aangaande  bet werk door  onzen                                              The Queen Of Sheba
     Zendelingl~eeraar  Ds. B. Kok verricht. Het was voor                                                       (Continued)
     hem alles behalve gemakkelijk toen  hij voor het eerst
     er op nit lxog, om een gehoor te zoeken, dat naar de                           A  beautiful type.
     waarheid, door onze kerken voorgestaan, Wilde luis-                                       Solomon was a type. It was in that capacity that
     teren. Op een drietal plaatsen was hij werkzaam en he was host to the queen of Sheba at the time of her
     van twee der drie was het slechts een pover resultaat,                         memorable visit. This point must be kept in view as
     dat we t,e hooren kregen. Echter,  vond hij een gehoor ane of paramount importance to a correct understand-
     in de p!aats waar hij op dit oogenblik werkzaam is. ing of our subject.
     Zijn blijdschap  werd oolk de onze en we  hopen  dat zijn                                 Solomon was type of the King of Israel, Who was
     verderen  arbeid mo,ge  uitloopen op het organiseeren to come ; of the Prince of peace par excellence, Who
     eener gemeente.  Classis  besloot in  verband  met die in His own precious blood would realize the peace that
     toekomstige mogelijkheid, dat de Zendingscommissie passeth all understanding; of the Lord of Heaven, Who
     daartoe volmacht heeft.                          Oak bracht dezelfde  com-     would come forth from this very house of David.
     missie rapport uit aangaande aanvragen voor onder-                                        This typical significance of Solomon is abundantly
     steuning voor de hulpbehoevende gemeenten. Het ad- testified in all the Scriptures. It is plainly suggested
     vies der commissie werd bijna  geheel  aangenomen  na-                         in a passage such as II Samuel 7 : 12ff, where the Lord
     dat hier en daar een kleine verandering was aange-                             assures His servant David, "And when thy  days be
     bracht. In  verband  met een. der gemeenten besloot fulf%ed,  and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I w'll
     Classis, dat waar het  bedrag der ondersteuning  ge- set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed  out cf
     baseerd is, op ,het traktement van $1000.00 per jaar,                          thy bowels, and I will estabhsh His kingdom. He shall
     de Kerkeraad dier gemeente den penningmeester in build an house for My name, and I will  stablish the
     kennis zal stellen. of dit traktement ook betaald wordt. throne of his kingdom for ever". Historically this
     We  zijn het met dit besluit van harte eens.  Alleen                           refers to Solomon,  c,f course. He, not his father David,
     maar, het moest niet alleen dienen voor QBn geval waar should build the Lord's temple.                                     Nevertheless, such
     men niet  aan deze voorwaarde voldoet, maar voor alle expressions as "I will stablish the throne of his king-
     soortgelijke  gevallen. Want we zijn er van overtuigd, dom for ev& can be understood fully only when we
     d'at er meerdere (meer dan de helft der predikanten exnlain "thy seed" as referring to all the regal  seed
     v&r gemeenten ondersteuning ontvangen) zijn, wier of David as it was to culminate in the Messiah, Israel's
     salarissen  beneden  de $1000.00 zijn. Stellen  we in ver-                     eternal King. This typical significance of Solomon is
     band met de ondersteuning voorwaarden laat het  allen even more plain from the beautiful, decidedly Messianic
     en niet een enkele gelden.                                                     72nd psalm. Historically this psalm, too, alludes to
        Nog werden erikele  Curatoren, door hun kerkeraden Solomon,  the son of David by Bethsheba. Whatever
     voorgesteld,  benoem,d, alsmede nieuwe Eeden gekozen is contained in this p&m refers first of all to him.
     voor  de verschillende  commissies  en werden eveneens But one can read such passages as, "He shal! judge the
     onzen  peningmeester en Classicale Scriba  herkozen.                           poor of the people, he shall save the children of the
     De  laatste werd  tevens   opged,ragen  de vrouwen die needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor", "they
     ons zco goed hadden  verzorgd te bedanken. Vanwege shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure,
     het late uur waren  de vrouwen huiswaarts gekeerd throughout all generation", "in his days shall the right-
     en zullen zij dus het bedankje  wat later dan gewoonlijk eous flourish : and abundance of peace as long as the
     ontvangen. De volgende vergadering zal D. V. weder-                            moon endureth", "he shall have dominion also from
     om  gehouden   worden  in het Fuller  -4ve. kerkgebouw sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the
     op den eersten Woensdag in  Juni van dit jaar. De earth", "yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all

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

nations shall serve him", and "His name shall endure would come and kings to the brightness of  his. rising.
for ever : his name shall continue as long as the sun ; This particular thought Isaiah expresses in the words,
and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call "The  multitede  of camels shall cover thee, the drome-
him blessed", without realizing that these words say daries of Midian  and E&ah ; all they from Sheba shall
entirely too much unless they refer to another and come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they
higher  Solomoa  than the son of David and Bethsheba. shall shew forth the praises of the Lord". Ch. 60:6.
Psalm 72 is indeed Messianic and can be appreciated Can it be reasonably doubted that these words allude
only in that light. That Solomon was a type  is plain, to the visit we are discussing at this time? This pas-
finally, from the doxology uttered by the queen of sage teaches, too, that this history is ultimately ful-
Sheba when at last "there was no more spirit in her". filled in the coming of all the heathen to  Israels
In  II Chron. 9 53 she says; "Blessed be the Lord thy "light".
God: because thy G-cd loved Israel, to establish them          The queen of the south came from a heathen land
for ever, therefore made He thee king over them, to farthest removed from the center of God's covenant
do judgment and justice". Certainly, the queen of the a.nd revelation. This point is pertinent. Sheba lies
south  speaks this to and about  Sol,omon. But again, as far as possible from the scene of God's revelation
the words "because, thy God loved Israel, to establish to His people. As such she comes to speak with Israel's
them for ever, therefore made He thee king over them" king, to hear the wisdom of God in him, to glorify
exaggerate if they refer solely to the earthly Solomon. God's name and pronounce God's people blessed. Type
Such  langua'ge alludes to the entire seed of David, she is of the nations referred to in Isaiah 253, "And
culminating in Christ, and Sheba's queen, instructed many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go
by Solomon in these truths, knew this.                      up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the
   Sclomon was Israel's king, anointed by Israel's God God of Jacob ; and he wiI1 teach us of his ways, and
to rule and instruct Israel's children. To  fulfil this we will  waik in his paths; for out of Zion  shall  .go
purpose God had endowed him with wisdom unpara-             forth the law, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem".
lelled  in the history of mankind except in his antitype. The firstfruits of these heathen, who actually came to
This wisdom was God's wisdom, given him in order Israel's light, we perceive in the wise men from the
that he might bring God's Word to God's people. Who- east.  Th5ey, too, came from a distant land. The star
ever heard him heard God. As such he was *type of had brought them the rumor of the advent of the
.Him Who was to come. The Messiah should be  thy premised King. They went, believed, and brought rich
King of Israel,  the  Prince of Peace,  the  wisdom of gifts to Zion's Redeemer. The fulness of this type is
God unto eternal life,  the  way and truth  an,d life. seen in the ingathering of all the *heathen abdut tihe
Sclomon's  place was the place of that Messiah, his banner of the Lord Jesus Christ.
kingship of that Messiah, his wisdom was the wisdom                 "Heathen lands and hostile peoples
of that Messiah. Solomon, however, possessed this                     "Soon shall come the Lord to know :
a'1 typically. Christ was the  fulflment.                           "Nations born again in Zion
   The queen of Sheba was a type. In that capacity                    "Shall the Lord's salvation shuw ;
she was Solomon's guest.                                            "God Almighty
       Type she was of the heathen, who would rally in                "Shall on Zion strength bestow."
the fulness of time about the banner of Solomon's anti-
type, the Lord of lord's and King of kings.                         "When the Lord sbal1 count the nations,
   This, too, is abundantly testified in the Scriptures.              "Sons and daughters He shall see ;
I refer you to Psalm  72:10,  "The kings of  Tarshish               "Born to endless life in Zion
and the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba                "And their joyful song shall be ;
and Seba shaI1 offer gifts". And in verse 1.5 we read.              "Blessed Zion,
"And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the                  "AI1 our fountains are in thee."
gcId of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him con-        Thus this entire history is typical.
tinually; and daily shall he be praised". The psalm            In the queen of Sheba heathendom actually comes
refers through Solomon to the Messiah. Sheba brings to seek wisdom and salvation at the court of Israel's
,her gifts historically to SoIomon, but in doing so she king, indeed, Israel's God. Type, prophecy of that
brings these  gifts in a higher sense of the word to the innumerable host out of all nations, tribes and tongues,
coming Christ. She praises the Messiah's type and that would come throughout the New dispensation to
thus typically praises the Messiah Himself. As such find their salvation in the Lord of Iords and King of
sh,e typifies that greater, spiritual Sheba, that should in kings. Tw, therefore, of you and me.
God's time pay homage to Israel's King. A similar
thought is expressed in Isaiah 60. The prophet here Daimning  tedimony.
sneaks of fie Light that wouId rise upon Israel with           It might be expected that this marvelous fruit of
the coming of the Messiah. To  th.at light the Gentiles divine  grace, this type and firstfruit from heathen:


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       233

dom, this queen of Sheba  wilt1 be a potent factor in take His life; captured Him and beat Him; spat upon
ine condemnation of the wicked children of the cove- Him and buffeted Him ; scourged Him and finally  nailed
nant.                                                       Him `to the cruel tree; They were at a loss to knc'w
   That she shall be is evident from the ominous pro- how they could best satisfy their relentless hatred
phecy of the Lord Himself, "the queen of the south against the very Saviour of the world.
shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and            And what is the truth with respect to `%is gene-
jhall condemn  <it: for she came from the uttermost ration" today?  Holw brilliantly the light of  God's
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon;           revaation shmes  today ! The canon is now complete.
and behold, a greater than Solomon is here". Matthew `r'he full Word of the Lord is now in our possession,
12 :42.                                                     including the revelation of Calvary and Resurrection
    The reference in the above quotation is to the  evii    morn. And godless Israel rejects Him now, mocks
generation of Jesus' day, that godless, reprobate  sheil    Him, crucifies Him anew. in spite of all it seeks and
with which the Lord had to contend during all His serves the world, because it serves the darkness rather
                                                            than the light.
time on earth. "This generation", however, aso im-
plies the wicked element in the church of all ages,            Therefore the queen of the south shall rise in the
including the godless in our own churches.                  judgment against this generation and condemn it. She
                                                            should indeed serve as a warning and an example for
    Why shall the queen of the south rise up in the every one of us. Oftentimes our hearts are so  in-
judgment with this generation and condemn it?               U&rent to the things of the Kingdom of God. W e
    Which were the facts with respect to the queen blush in shame as often as we think of this. queen of
of Sheba? "She came from the uttermost parts of the south. May Sheba's queen be our incentive to more
the earth", from a land of darkness and ignorance wholeheartedly and devotedly seek the things of ,the
:.:IL~  idolatry, from a land far removed from the center glory of God. The godless however, she shall con
of God's covenant, where the light of the revelation c&m. Have they possibly an excuse to do as they do?
SJ! God had never shined. She came "to hear the wis- Is it possible that they lack  suEcient  light? Have
dom of Solomon", a mere Solomon. Surely, this  Solob they not known? Do they not know `today? How
man was endowed with true wisdom and he procaimed           every mouth will be stopped and every excuse will be
the same truth in principle that in the  fulness of stiffled forever when in that last judgment Sheba's
time would be preached by the greater Soloimon. Never- queen will arise. Her very presence there will be a
theless, the wisdom she came to hear was as inferior damning testimony against the wicked. You were
<to that of the Messiah Himself as Solomon, the type,       born in the very light of the revelation of God ! You
was inferior to the Lord of heaven. That wiedom  she saw and heard Him who was greater by far than
believed, in it she rejoiced and by ,it she found salva- Solomon! I came from earth's remotest corner and
tion and peace for her soul.                                had no one to go to greater than the earthly Solomon !
    What is the history of godless IsraeI  through the ;10 she shall deprive ithe lost children of the covenant
ages ?                                                      of every possible excuse. She shall judge and  con--
    W,ha.t  was the attitude of the wicked Jews in the demn them. Especially she! Also those who are con-
days of Jesus ? Day after day they saw and heard verted out of heathendom today will rise up in the
the greater Solomon. They were eye-witnesses to all Judgment against this generation. Also the wise men
His wonderful works. Refore their very eyes the blind from the east will condemn the wicked among Israel
were given sight, the deaf were made to hear, para-         today. Rut, no one came farther than the  queen  of
lytics were made to walk, devils were cast out and          the south and no one will condemn this generation as
dead were raised; all by the mere word of His mouth. will she.
They heard His preaching, a preaching exceeding by              Her way must be our way. Greater than Solomon
far anything the world, had ever heard, for He spoke is #here. To Him we must go with all our needs and
as one having authority. The Light shone about them all the problems of our soul.            Then her experience
as it had never shined  befo,re.    The Truth Himself at the court of Solomon will be ours at the feet of
revealed the Father to them. They had the covenant          t$ur Redeemer, only in far greater measure.         That
and the promises, the prophets and the Scriptures, King of kings will be our salvation. The blessed
and more than this all,  the Son Himself. In spite people of *hat King. will be our people. The God of
of this ail, what did they do? They rejected Him as that king will be our God, Who loved us with an ever-
ctterly  WCI. t &se to them. When He healed the sick lasting love. Her amazement and joy will be ours
they laughed Him to scorn. When He cast out devils in heavenly perfection. The half  ,had not been told
they accused Him of doing so by means of the prince her.           The ten thousandth part has not been told
of the devils. When He raised the dead they sought          us of what God has laid away for them, who fear
the more to kill Him. They hated him ; reviled Him; Him.
persecuted Him; devised the mast diabolic schemes to                                             R. Veldman.


                                   ` T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           235
-~-_.- _..." ".                               ________ ..- _                           - ~  .                     ---___
De eene belijdenis  leer& onbekwaam  to,t eenig  goed           God's names is a doing that consists in a study of
maar geneigd tat alle kwaad, en de andere belijdenis these names by themselves as isolated from the body
van dezelfde kerk leert, "Ho,ewel  onbekwaam  tot eenig of divine revelation. God's names, it is to be con-
zaligmakend  goed,  zulk burgerlijk  goed   kunnen  doen."      sidered, were all taken from human language and were
In de eene belijdenis wordt de algeheele verdorven- thus originally the significations of concepts and ideas
heid des menschen geleerd, en in de andere belijdenis that stand for things human and earthy. However,
van dezelfde kerk wordt ze g&o&end.          Is  bet  nu  te whereas the things earthy were brought into being
verwonderen  wanneer  een kerk er zulk een tweeslach-           by the Almighty as symbols of the things heavenly,
tige belijdenis op na hondt,  Idat  m.en daartegen  positie these names, as borne by the Lord God, truly speak
k&t?  Alles wat niet uit het geloood is, is zonde. Hce          to us of God. To iqllustrate, the name father as to its
kan clan een onwedergeborene die volgens S&rift en earthy sense and meaning is the signification of a hu-
Belijdenis dood is in zonden en misdaden eenig goed             man parent, of his function (begetting) as parent and
doen?                                                           of the relation he sustains to his offspring,  - the re-
   Jaren geleden  hoorden w*e eens een preek van een lation of father. But now this function and relat.ion
der  vooraanstaande  leeraars. Hij  begon zijn  voor- is at once  the earthy symbol of what forms the per-
afspraak ongemer a&dus : "Er  loopen  twee  lijnen in           sonal property of the First Person in the  blessed
deze wereld, de lijn van zonde en de lijn van genade.           trinity. This Person is father as God. He is thus the
Op de lijn van zonde  wandelen de verworpenen, en eternal and heavenly reality of what in man is but
op de lijn der genade de uitverkorenen. Op welke lijn shadow and symbol. He therefore can and does call
loopt  gij? Er  is geen derde  weg  waarop  men met Rimself  Father in the *hearing of His peo,ple, and in
de wereld arm in arm kan samen  gaan."                          doing so tells us who He is.
   Gezond  Berkelijk leven, dat is waar we behoefte                However, just how God the Father is father, what
aan hebben, en dat 3even  vraagt allereerst naar  zuiver- it means that He begets, can be known not from the
hoid in de belijdenis. Geen hinken op twee gedachten, na.me Father as such but from what God has  r,evealed
Maar  alleen  Gods.  Woord  ontdaan  van  all@  mensche-        of Himself apart from this name. It means  trhat if
lijke vonden zij levensregel in  al2e omstandigheden.           God's names are to speak to us cf God, we must allow
Zij die een klein beetje  bebben   meegeleefd   met het Go& to give  mani; to them. This meaning, as it
kerkelijk leven van `24  sullen  moeten  toestemmen dat concerns unseen and heavenly objects of thought, -
de  drie  punten  als bij overrompeling zijn  aangeno-          objects that eye  bath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
men.                                                            have entered into the heart of man - God only can
   En  om dat oude  stroo weer over te dorschen  zou supply. Man cannot by Himself pass in his thinking
nutteloos  zijn ; gedane  zaken nemen  geen keer.               from the symbol to the reality God, from the earthy
   Doch   zoolang ze niet  herroep'en   worden  blijft het to the. heavenly. The things heavenly and eternal must
een belijdenis der Chr. Geref. Kerk, en tegen die  half-        be revealed to him; and upon these things his heart          .
slachtige belijdenis gaat de strijd en terecht.                 must be lifted up by  ,his Redeemer-God.
                                  CT. R. Van&r  Wal.               Let us shed some more light on these observations.
                                    Redlands, Calif.            Take also the name silt. This name by itself signifies
                                                                merely one begot,ten,  so that as a .name borne by the
                                                                second Person in the blessed Trinity, it by itself signi-
            The Third Commandment                               fies not how and in what sense this divine personage
        Thou Shalt Not Take The N@me Of The Lord                is  the  begottm  ome. He is the begotten  cne as  God',
                   Thy God In Vu,&. . . .                       the only "begotten Son of God, begotten from eternity,
                                                                not made nor created nor born, and co-essential and
  `The Lord God has given Himself names. Being co-eternal with the Father, the express image of His
what they are - names, t.hat is, words with mean-               Person, and the brightness of His glory, equal. with
ing - they set forth for the benefit of the redeemed Him in all things. But all this is not known from the
what may be known of God. Thus the names of God name sorlu as such, but from what the triune God has
are to Him instruments of self-revelation, so that to revealed of Himself in the scriptures.
know the meaning of these names is to have knowledge               Once more. God is gracious. Grace is one of His
of God. It means that the expression "names of God" names. As borne by God, this name is the significa-
is  equivalent  in meaning to the expression "revelation tion of His lovliness, beauty, excellence and perfection
of God".                                                        (the primary sense of the word grace  is agreeableness,
   However, though the statement to the effect that- co%?&y, hence  lovl&ue~,   ezcellmce), but in what
God reveals Himself through the instrumentality of sense God is lovely can be known not from the word
His names is altogether true, yet it is a statement that grace as such, but from the revelation that God gave
bears careful scrutiny. It must not be supposed that of Himself, apart from this name. God's lovliness is
what leads `to a full and complete understanding of spiritual, moral. It is the effulgence of His holiness.


 236                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-..".".^   .......-..--"   -"-                                  .- ..-_ ^ ,......_      -..._... - .___"       __...........-._
Gmcious,  as a name of God signifies further a gracious, Himself with His name, which must mean that this
lovely, kind disposition and  inclinatioa  in God that name (names) is not merely a word, concept, idea or
expresses itself in action that consists first in His truth cr doctrine concerning God, but that in the final
being gracious to `Himself and secondly in His saving instance the name  is God.
His people from all their sins and in His conform-                 The truth'of this statement appears from the fol-
ing them according to the image (image of spiritual            lowing scriptures. "The Lord hear thee in the day
beauty) of His Son.                                           of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee".
      What conception would we have of God's  mnni-           Ps. 20 :l. "Fur our heart shall rejoice in Him, because
pofence, if in addition to calling Himself omnipotent we have trusted in His holy name". Ps. .52  :9. "Thus
God, He had not revealed His power through actioa             I will bless thee while I live; I will lift up my hands
consisting in His "creating  of nothing, the heaven, in thy name". Ps. 63 :4. "And they  th.at love His name
the earth and all creatures, in His upholding and gov- shall dwell therein". Ps.  69:36b.
erning them by His eternal providence and infinite                 Now what defends, what the believer trusts in,
power", in His redeeming His people from all their             waits on, and  dwel!s in, is not, to be sure, a mere
sins, and in His executing His counsels not in spite of imperso,nal  word, idea, concept, doctrine, impersonal
but thrcugh the opposition of Satan and the wicked? truth or revelation. He in whom the believer trusts
God's power and might therefore can be defined by             is in  the final instance God Himself, the triune Je-
us not as such but only in terms of what `He is capable hovah. In Him the believer trusts  th,roegh  Christ,
of doing, in terms of His past, present, and future Who is in the supreme sense the  WrordO,  Truth, Revela-
accomplishments.                                              tion, Name of God. If `the name of God were not in
      What could we say of the wisdom of God if God in the final instance God Himself, such scriptures as those
addition to calling Himself the Alwise One in the hear- quoted above would not be found in Holy Writ.'
ing of His people,. had not revealed His wisdom through            It is clear then, what is to be understood by the
all His works ? We could say little. Accordingly, that na,me (names) of `God. a) In the first instance, the
the people of Israel in exile might know what it means words or names that God gave Himself; b) what these
that its God is strcr+  in power, and might perceive words or names signify, to wit: what may be known
something of the infinite depth of His understanding of God from the scriptures; c) in the final instance God
and seeing, might take courage, the Lord pointed it, Himself.
this people, to His very doings when He said, "To                  Let us now turn to the third commandment As
whom wilt thou ,liken me, or shall I be equal? saith translated it reads, "Thou shalt not take the name
the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and behold of the Lord thy God in vain." The name to which the
Who hath created these things, that bringeth out their Lord here has reference is assuredly not solely the
host by number: He cal!eth them all by names by the two names  Jehmmh   and God but all the names by
greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power, which God, is known, t.hus all that may be known of
no,t one  faileth.                                            God.
      "Why  sayest  thou, 0 Jacob, and speakest, 0 Israel,         In the original, this command reads somewhat dif-
My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is ferent, "Thou shalt not lift up the name of the Lord
passed over by  Go,d? hast  tlmu not heard, that the thy God unto vu&t@?. The Hlebrew  word translated
everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends by vanity has also these meanings, to wit : 1. falsehood ;
of the earth fainteth not,  n,either  is weary? that there 2. wickedness. Some therefore translate, "Thou shalt
is no searching of His understanding."                        not liftup the name of the Lord thy God unto false-
      "He ,giveth  power to the faint; and to them that       hood," and still others, "unto wickedness". If this
have no might He increaseth  strength". Isa. 40 :25-29. command be interpreted, in the light of all the scrip-.
      In fine, the statement to the eRect that God reveals tures that concern the name of God, there will b@ no
Himself through His names, is altogether true. But uncertainty respecting its meaning. The scriptures
the truth of this statement will be apparent only in say of the enemies of God that they take His name in
the  Ilight of the fact that  the names by which God vain (Ps. 139 20)) which means that this name they
calls Himself, though they be names that in the human, abuse. Of this there can be no doubt. Now this name
earthy language from which they were taken, signify may be abused in various ways. This name is being
things earthy, are nevertheless names of God, that abused whea it is being cursed by the ungodly, or re-
further what constitutes their sense and meaning is viled, or blasphemed, or scorned, or evil spoken of, or
not solely what they by themselves signify but what mocked or derided, or depised and denied.
may be knolwn  of God from all the scriptures. Only                To so1 abuse God's n!ame is a terrible sin, - a sin
with this fact  befor,e  our mind, do we see that the inconsistant  with grace. For, this name is Gold's name,
names  o,f God' truly befit Him.                              the revelation of His being, virtues, the glass through
      But now further.            The connection between God which we see, be it darkly, His glory.         TthZs name
and His name is so very close, that God even identifies        is God. This name is Christ. Hence, to curse,  blas-


                                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAREP                                                                                                                     rt>7
--__                  " .,..."-.""..................""................_........- .". ..--............-" ..^......            --_- ^.._. -.-I:.......-....-.........._ _ -.-....---._-.- .._-........- ..- .-__ .." ._" .._. `?c,
pheme, revile, this name is to curse, blaspheme revile, the reprobated wicked .be cursed and destroyed. Ac-
what may be known of Gcd, is to revile God Himself, cording to the instruction of the Catechism, to pray,
the  G.cd  and  Pather of our Lord Jesus Christ, is to re-                                                           "Thy Kingdom come" is to pray, "Rule us so by thy
vile God as Christ revealed Him, is thus to crucify                                                                  Word and Spirit, that w.e may submit olurselves more
Christ and to put Him and the God He revealed to and more to thee; preserve and, increase thy church;
open shame.                                                                                                          destroy the works of the devil, and  all violence which
   The scriptures mention still other forms of abuse                                                                 would exalt  itself  cqpirmt  thee;  and also, all  wick,ed
of this name (mentioned also by the Catechism), to                                                                   counsels devised against thy holy word; till the full
wit, cursing, purgery and rash swearing. Let me say                                                                  perfection of thy kingdom takes place, wherein thou
a word about each of these.                                                                                          shalt be all in all".
   The curse, as uttered by man, is an imprecation                                                                      But what to do now with this word of Christ, "Ye
(prayer) of evil upon. The one who curses prays God have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy
to  cause evil to. The curse is not  7itecessutily  sinful neighbor, and hate thy enemy. But I say unto you,
as is theft and murder. It it were, the prophets of                                                                  Love your enemies, bless `them that curse you, do good
scripture could not have cursed, or rather, petitioned to them that hate you, and pray for them which de+
God to curse. And this they'did~.  The psalmist David                                                                spitefully use you, and persecute you". Matt. 5 :44.
did so when he prayed:                                                                                               There is and can be, of course, no conflict here at all.
          "Let their table (the table of the reprobate                                                               What is  t.o be understood is that the prophets and
        wicked) *become a snare unto them: and that                                                                  apostles of scripture were the agents of revelation,  in-
        which should have been to their welfare, let                                                                 fal!ibly  inspired, through whom God gave to, His church
        it become a trap.                                                                                            His word. And the particular word th,at forms their
          "Let their eyes be darkened, that `they see                                                                impreoatioas,  is that God will save His people also
        nut; and make their loins continually to                                                                     through the destruction of His reprobated adversaries,
        shake.                                                                                                       who are at once the  ad,versaries  of His people, that
          "Pour out thine indignation upon them,                                                                     only if this opposition be vanquished can His kingdom
        and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.                                                                appear with' Christ in glory. Knowing this, and lov-
          "Let their habitation be desolate ; and let                                                                ing God's counsels and longing for the  comin.g  and ap-
        none dwell in their tents.                                                                                   pearance of the kingdom, the believer prays the prayer
          "For they persecute him whom thou hast                                                                     of "all the saints", he prays for the  .judgments  of God.
        smitten ; and they talk to the grief of those                                                                This prayer forms a part of his creed. It is the faith
        whom thou hast wounded." Ps. 69 :22-26.                                                                      that he confesses in the hearing of all men.
  And once more:                                                                                                        But this prayer when prayed. must spring from
                                                                                                                     pure love of God. As often as the believer prays this
          "Let them be confounded and put to sh.ame                                                                  prayer, his sou! must be bowed under the weight of the
        that seek my soul: let them be turned back                                                                   heaviness of which Paul spoke when he said, "I say the
        and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.                                                                truth in Christ. .
          "Let them be as chaff before the wind: and                                                                                                . .that I have great heaviness ,and
                                                                                                                     continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that
        let the angel of the  Lord, chase them." Ps.                                                                 myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren,
        85 :4-6.                                                                                                     my kinsmen, according to the flesh". Rom. 9 :1-Z. This
   Turning to the New Testament scriptures, we find prayer then may not be the expression of a malicious,
Christ cursing the reprobated opposition that finally let us say, satanic desire for the destruction of the
nailed His blessed body to the cross. (Mat. 23).                                                                     wicked one solely because that wicked one does violence
   The question is often asked whether believers in to his, the believer's, person. So far must the believer
general may make these imprecations, prayers, their be from praying this prayer, as prompted by such
own, take them upon their lips and send them up to the                                                               malice, that he must be able to do what Christ here
Throne. * According to scripture they may, and must. bids, - be able to bless those who persecute him, that
In the  Revelaticn  of John  all  the saints appear as is, bless them as  his  enemies. And blessing here con-
petitioning God to reveal through  judsgment  His wrath sists in bringing that wicked one the word and in pray-
over the anti-Christian power that is pitted againss                                                                 ing  con&!~t~oru~&  .for his conversion. But can the be-
the Lord and His church. The smoke of the incense liever pray for the conversion of the reprobate? .As-
with the prayers of the saints (all the .saints,  verse 3 suredIy not. But the one who persecutes m'y be ctn
of chapter  8)) ascend up before God out of the angel's elect. We think now of Paul. In the discourse of
hand. And the angel'takes the  tenser  and fills it with Christ, all they that persecute are not, as in the im-
the fire of the alter and casts it upon the earth. And precations of the psalmist, reprobates. It is solely for
there are voices, `and thunderings and  lightnings,  and the elect that may be found among these violent men.
an earthquake. And finally,  `as often as the  b&ever that the believer in the last instance prays for, when
prays the Lord's prayer, he very actually prays that he prays for those who despitefully use him,


     238                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
     _........... I        -    -"."..-^               _-~-                                                        -.._ -- ._... ^_
              There is then what must be called the holy curse. so they do. If the name is. in the first instants  all that
     It is the curse of God and the imprecations, of those may be known of God thro,ugh  the scriptures, it follows
     m whose heart He sheds abroad His love, of those, that this commandV,  too, is being transgressed by the
     therefore, who are minded as is He, and love what He, believer as often as he refuses to allow himself to be
     the God and Father of Christ loves, and who therefore bound by the word.
     hang to His counsels and make solely these coansels               But this third command must be contemplated as
     also the content of their prayer and thus send up to to its positive requirements. What this command re-
     the Thro,ne prayers that must and will be answered.            quires of him is that he love, honor and revere this
             But, as has already been said, t-here is also thi name, hallow and praise this name, trust in and call
     unholy curse, imprecation, the curse that therefore is upon this name. Whereas this name is God, it follows
     cursed, is that it is a curse,  imprecationi  that con- that in the d,egree  that faith is weak and imperfect and
     sists in the wicked one asking God to1 place Him&f the flame of love is low, in the degree that the people
     at His (the wicked one's) disposal and do what  .he,           of God fail to give themselves to serve God, with zeal
     the wicked one ,desires,  namely, remove from the earth and to praise and glorify Him, His name, in the da
     solely for his. very own sake the object of his carnal gree that they fail to confess His name before men and
     wrath. Now to so curse, is to heap abuse upon, is to to witness for the truth, in that same degree is this
     blaspheme God's name, is to mock God. For the one command still being transgressed by them.
     who so curses, actually proceeds in his  imprecatioa              Rightly considered, all sinning, is a sinning against
     from the view that God exists for man not merely, this command, a reviling of God's blessed name. What
     but for the wicked man and that He stands ready the apostle James says is so very true, namely, that to
     at any time  to place Himself at the service of this transgress any one of the commands of God, is to
     man to co-operate with him in the execution of .his            transgress them all. And this  otf necessity. All sins
     wicked counsels by ,destroying  for him and sclely for at bottom are the same And all the co,mmands  have
     h's pleasure the objects of his malicious wrath.               one spiritual root in common.
                                                                       Let the believer consid,er  further that all malice
              From this it does not  fofoEow that the curse, as all carnal hatred, all envy, is indeed a potential carnal
     uttered by wicked men is always the expression of a curse, and thus an abusing of God's name. And this
     conscious desire that God ciause evil to. There are envy and  hat,red, does it not also still  riot in the
     men who curse from sheer force of habit, who  .go bosom of the believers ?
     about with the curse on the very tip of their tongue.                                                    G. M. 0.
     When they open their mouth it is to curse. Such men
     literally punctuate their oral utterances with the curse                           -
     and name of God. From sheer force  o,f habit, they
     curse any and every thing and body, including them-
     selves and even objects of endearment. Also to so                                   The Oath
     curse is to desecrate God's name, is to make sport of             Let us now have regard to the oath.' The catechism
     God and of His glories.                                        defines the oath thus: a calling upon God; as the only
              Though all the thoughts of the wicked are that One who1 knows the heart, that He will bear witness
     there is no God, they neverthe!.ess  pray to Him, whose to the truth, and punish me if I swear falsely.
     existence they deny, as often as they curse. It shows             One who actually takes an oath, directs his thoughts
     that  t,he wicked, too, as the devils, "believe that there to God, brings God to his remembrance, causes. him-
     is one God". And it is this faith - a faith that in o.ur self to be aware of God, of His presence and of the
     Gonfessicn goes by the name of a "few remains" and fact that God knows, that  ,being Holy God, He
     "glimmerings of natural light", a light "whereby he marks transgression and awards a man according to
     retains some knowledge of God"  - that asserts itself his works, (I speak now not of the ungodly, but of
     as often as the wicked curse. It shows how little fallen the people of God). If one being called upon to report
     man is  capa.ble of actually freeing his soul from belief in the hearing of the civil magistrate, what he saw
     in God and knowledge of God and thus of truly ridding and heard, the oath consists firstly in such a one de-
     himself a9 God. Why would he be calling upon a B,eing claring before the face of God that he'will speak the
     of whom he was convinced that He did not exist. But truth; secondly in his imploring God to impobwer  him
     his imprecation as all the prayers of the wicked are to be truthful in his testimony; and tial~lly in his da-
     an abomination.                                                claring that God is just, if He smite him, should he,
              Is this third command also still being transgressed the one taking the oath,  give a lying testimony. If
     by the  true believers? According to their very  o.wn the witness lives, after having given his testimony,
     confession it is. What they confess is that they daily there is no evidence from on High that the testimony
'    increase their debt through their sinning against &Z was false. The testimo'ny  therefore must be accepted
     the commands of God by word, deed and thought. And as true. Here we see what constitutes the oath,


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         239
-.--_-  .._.-..     __                                                                                       . ..-.---
       The oath always concerns a promise. Abraham for to swear is a verb derived from the numeral seven.
ma& his servant swear by the Lord, the God, of heaven Now seven is a sacred number. It stands for the triune
and  th&e God of earth, that he would not take a wife to covenant Jehc*vah,  and the redeemed cosmos as this
Isaac of the daughters of the Canaanites, but that he         culminates in the elect, united in the covenant love of
would  gu to Abraham's country and kindred, and take          God.
a wife toi his son. Here, too, the oath consisted in this        Outside the sphere of the covenant the oath is out
servant solemnly declaring. before the face of God that of place. It means that the oath is for the true people
he would surely do as Abraham requested,.                     of God only. The oath was in place in the theocracy of
       The oath is not as such sinful. To the contrary,       the Old  T,estament  Dispensation.
the taking of an oath can be done out of faith and to            The oath then is sacred. It may be taken only with
the glory of God. Then it is a good work, wel'l-pleasing      respect to things sacred-the things of God, of the
to the Lord. How could a doing on the part of a be- covenant, the Kingdom, and only with a view to pro-
liever consisting in his directing his thoughts to God,
in his causing himself to be aware that God                   moting the spiritual end of the kingdom. It may thus
                                                  sees and    not be taken in respect to things secular and profane.
hears, to implore God for the strength and the courage
that is needed,  to do as he vowed, and in declaring that        Secondly: The taking of an oath must be a truly
promises made  canno,t be broken with impunity, as            good work. If it is to be this, it must be a work
God is not mocked, - how can such a doing as such be done out of true faith, according to the law and  so!ely
sinful? It cannot be. Once more then, taking an oath to His glory. Thus, in the mouth of the godless the
can be a good work. The proof of the truth of this            oath is of necessity blasphemy. A godless majestracy
statement is such a scripture as the following, "Thou profanes the name of God as often as it demands of a
shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him and shalt subject that he take an oath; and the subject, taking
swear by his name". Deut. 6  :13.                             the cath, blasphems,  if he be godless.
       In agreement herewith the saints of scripture a-'         But what now about this utterance of Christ, "But
vailed  themselves of the c&h. Of Moses it is recorded, I say unto yo:u, Swear not at all ; neither by he,aven;
"And Moses swear on that day, saying, surely, the land for it is God's throne; nor by the earth ; for it is His
(of Canaan) shall be  thine  inheritance". Josh.  14:l. footstool ; neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of
And dikewise  Paul, "I say the truth, I lie not, my co.nb the great king. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head,
science also bearing witness in the Holy Ghost, that because thou  canst not make one hair white or black.
I have great heaviness and sorrow of heart for my But let your communication be, Yea, yea ; Nay, nay;
kinsmen". Rom. 9  :l. And again, "For God is my wit- for whatsoever is more than  t.hese   cometh of evil".
ness whom I serve, that without ceasing I make men- M&t. 5 :34-47.
tion of you in my prayers." Rom. 1:9.                            Firstly, the utterance of Christ, "Again ye have
       The religious vow of the Old Dispensation (the heard that it has been said by them of old time. . . .
vow was also a solemn pro.mise made directly to: the But I sayuntoyon. . .  ," concerns  net the law of Moses
Lord only) was essentially  `an oath. The vow was but the commentary of the ancient Jewish doctors on
pleasing to the. Lord.        Only, he vowed had to do this law Christ opposed' not the law but upheld it.
according to all that proceedeth out  o.f his  momh".         Said He not, "Think not that I am come to destroy the
Num.  30:2. The Lord repeatedly appears in scrip- law, cr the prophets ; I am  noit come to destroy but to
ture as swearing by Himself that His people "might fulftl."
have a strong consolation, who have fled. for refuge             Secondly, it cannot be that what this  p:assage
to alay hold upon the hope set before us". Heb. 6 :18.        teaches is that t.he believer may never  avaib himself
        But the o,ath  can be abused. He who perjures him- of  the oath in that swearing  a~  such  is sinful. This
self or swears falsely, commits a great sin. Such a cannot be, as Christ Himself sware. We find His dis-
one profanes and abuses the name of God. This can courses interspersed with the solemn saying, "Verily,
,easily be understood. What sin can be greater than verily, I say unto you. . . ." This "verily, verily", too,
the sin consisting in one falsifying his testimony after is more then Yea, and Nay, (verse 37).
having appealed to God to bear witness to the truth              The clue to the correct understanding cf this teach-
of what was to be affirmed. He guilty of this, mocks
GO&                                                           ing  elf Christ, is the sentence, "But let your communica-
                                                              tion be,  ITea, yea ; Nay, nay. . .  ." The meaning of
        To arrive at a correct understanding respecting this exhortation is clear It is to be paraphrased thus,
the character and legitimate use of the oath, the follow- "Let your yea and nay be in agreement with truth,
ing must be taken into  considertion.         Firstly, that fact. that is, say not yea when the truth or fact demand
the oath is in place only in the sphere of the covenant,      of thee that thou sayest nay and say not nay when
the kingdom of God, the church. The Hebrew word to speak the truth thou shouldst say yea."
for to swear indicates this. The Hebrew equivalent               The exhortation is plainly a rebu,ke  directed against


240                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-...._            -._. ~-.- .-.....                                                                                 ._....... "..- ._-.........-
the sin of lying, and thus against the oath as uttered ture are the following: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee..
by persons who constantly lie and whose statements Assuredly., As the Lord liveth. God is my witness."
therefore, whose  `nuy and yea, are ever being  chal-               The Jews of Christ's day would swear by heaven,
!.enged  by their fellow men.          Such  p&sons in their by the earth, by Jerusalem, by their own head. The
futile attempts to persuade men that they speak the explanation of this is that though they had need of
truth, though they lie, confirm their nay and yen by an the oath, they recoiled from taking upon their lips the
oath. It is against this abuse of the  c&h, against the name of God. By this invention of theirs they thought
taking  of an oath that is necessitated by the sin of ly- they could swear without involving themse1ve.s  in the
ing, that this particular discourse of the Saviour is di- sin of abusing God's name. Their doing is proof of
rected. But let such a one swear. Men, his neighbors, their awareness of the sinfulness of their oath. Christ
will still say of him that he lies. His swearing is of `no gave them to understand that though the name of God
advantage to him. Besides, being one who. lives in sin, occuaed  not in their utterance, they nevertheless were
(he habitually lies) the oath is not for h.im. His swear- swearing by His name-and through this doing of
ing (and to swear is to pray) is an abomination.                 theirs, abusing that name.
          In fine, Let the people of God be zealous in laying       Tn that measure that a man has lost the confidence
aside  al.1 malice,  and  all guile, and  hypocricies,  and of his fellow men, in that measure will he be availing
envies, and all evil speaking,  l& them put on the new himself to, his own hurt of more than the simple yea
man with his wo&+-the  man, which is renewed in and niay. It does not speak well for a Christian man
knowledge, after the image of Him that created him; that he is often heard adsding to the simple affirmative
let them through so doing more and more become that "more than these". For, "whatsoever is more
known to one another as haters of the lie and as lovers than these corn&h  out of evil".
of the truth and of God, and their yea and nay will                 Yet there is the lawful oath. And this oath is for
suffice and they will have need of nothing more.                 believers in this present life. For the benefit of Ilis
          It must not be imagined however,  that Christ con- people God swears by Himself, that His people may
cludes with a mere negative result.  Let us consider have a strong consolation. And His people may also in
cnce more that the oath consists in a solemn affirma- matters sacred, matters worthy and weighty', swear by
tion, uttered in perfect cons&usness  and under a sense His name to His glory and thus not to promote their
of  presence  of God, before Him and in Him. If this own selfish interests. But once more, when lying and
be true, is not the believer's simple yea and nay  equa?         deceit con&it&e  the necessity of the oath, the oath,
                                                                 if taken, is cursed. It was with a view to such swear-
to an aa'th if, as standing in his faith, he walks with ing that Christ said, "Swear not at all".
God, and  .consciously  dwells in His presence? And                 But now if the oath is for this life o,nly, thus for
the answer: It must be. And for this very reason he the people of God not yet made perfect, it follows that
has no n,eed 09 anything more than the simple aflirma- when `that which is perfect has come, the oath, as we
tive. Known to his  bret,hren  as a truth-loving man now know it, will have disappeared.
who fears God, more is riot required  04 him. He                                                                    G. M. 0.
therefore has no ne& of that action consisting in his
bridging himself under the sense of Gad's presence,
for he is not from under this sense. The redeemed in
heaven take no oath,.
          So then, what is the positive result with which                               tN MEMORIAM
Christ concludes? _ It can be simply expressed thus,
"Abide in Me. Walk with My God and Thy God. Abide                    On the 29th of January, 1938, it pleased our heavenly
in His presence, that thy simple yea and ~zcny  may be Father to call unto His eternal home our beloved father
thy, oath.                                                       and grandfather,
          The man who is quick to resort  to the oath, is far                        GOSSE DE VRIES
from God. The certain evidence of this is his habitual at the age of 78 years. We are assured that he now has
swearing. He has no regard for truth ; for God is not izntered  into the rest for which he so earnestly hoped. His
in all his thoughts. But God can still be of use to him. life was Christ and his death is therefore gain. This is our
He can bear witness to the truth of his lies. So he comfort in our bereavement.
swea.rs,  as often as convenience dictates and blasphemes                                             Reinder De Vries
God.                                                                                            Rev. and Mrs. Andrew De Vries
          Let us attend now to the form of the oath. One                                        Rev. and Mrs. Jacob De Vries
who swears need not in the literal sense take upon his                                          Mr. and Mrs.  Frank De Vries
lips the name of God. According to  Chri,st  the  Gath                                          Mr. and ~Mrs. Thys De Vries
is "anything more than these", namely, more than the                                            and 7  grandchildren.
simple yea and my. Some of `t&e fvrms found ip scrip-                Grand Rapids, Michigan.


