                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                           347
-       -            -.... ---_.^.^^ ..-. I        -____-^ . . - -.-..-.                -.-.                                ._.-..." .._....... "." .--._
      The Entrance Into The Kingdom                                         without anything else can be the basis to be Ideclared
                                                                            righteous and to receive the right to enter into this
                      Of Heaven                                             Kmgdom. It lacks the one fundamental requisite,
                                                                            righteousness.
                                                   Matth. 5 5%.                Righteousness always is a judicial and not simply
     We find these words in a peculiar place, Peculiar,                     a spiritual-ethical idea. Righteousness is the result
because seemingly there is no  connectiun  either in the                    of a verdict  grven  or spoken  concernrng   some one.
preceding words, nor in the words following The                             :fience,  it deals with a certain relation between two
Lord said in his discourse that he came not to loosen                       parties. III  every-day life  the  basic idea  or righteous-
the Law, but to  fulfil the words spoken by Moses and                       ness is to `be co,nformed  to the law. TO be declared as
the P,rophets. H,e means to say, if you are opposed to such by the highest authority. Any man living within
them you cannot possibly find comfort with me, for I                        the boundaries expressed in the civil law will not be
am the fulfilment of all that was spo,ken  by the pro-                      caned a transgressor.      Therefore, whether we are
phets of old.                                                               righteous or not. is decided by two things. First, by
     Therefore, if anyone shall break one of the least                      the fact that we live in harmony with the iaw and
commandments, that person shall be called the least secondly, that when tried the judge  jdeciares us right-
in the Kingdom of heaven. And: "Whosoever shall                             eous.
do and teach them, the same shall be called great in                           Scripture often speaks of  righteo,usness  as a de-
the Kingdom of heaven".                                                     claration. God is the sole judge and His justice de-
     However, the purpose of these words are obvious.                       mands that He must and  w2l (declare  US righteous or
Would not the Scribes and Pharisees find an occasion                        unrighteous. In the one case He meets out punish-
to boast in the keeping of the Law in every detail?                         ment, in the other man receives His favor. With Him
They considered themselves the defenders of the Law there is alw-ays  perfect judgment and whenever He
and the Prophets. And had they not made a name f.o,r judges it  iz,  acco.rding  to His perfect law.  6&t's  law
themselves amongst the people for their strict ad- zs the ,expression  of His perfect and souvereign will.
herence to every precept, and had they not with min-                        Hence, the only creterion  of what we must be and of
ute precision taught others?                   Their adherence was what we must do. And His law never fails. The cen-
never questioned for had they not improved that Law                         tral idea of the Law is to love Him above ail, and to
and the Prophets by adding more precepts to them?                           act in all things in accordance with His will. In other
     Imagine the state .af affairs. Highly honored theo-                    words, ta be like Him, to seek him even % He seeks
l,ogians,  men of knowledge concerning the most sacred                      Himself as the highest good; to adore, to1 Iove, to giori-
things dear to all Jewry of their day being held up                         fy and to And all our joy in Him.
before the multitude as men who shall in no case enter                         Righteousness is here also the only basis to enter
into the Kingdom of heaven.                                                 into the Kingdom of heaven. Kingdom of heaven is
     Rut this is not so strange if we keep in mind that                     the sphere where the King rules. Not a rule forced
our Lo.rd knew the motive and purpose of these de-                          upon the  subj,ects,  but a ruling through love. There-
fenders of the Law. Consider the situation in the light fore, the sphere where God's Word  1s law, the rule for
of the historical background. The Church was under the whole of life in thinking and willing and in all the
foreign rule and hers was no longer the independency activiti,es  and actions and that without exception For
of a former era. The remnants of past glory were                            in His Kingdom His wiil is knawn and desired as the
their religious liberties. All that was left was the                        highest  good. That is different than simply to comply
Law. The only fort they tried to hold for the purpose                       with the Law in the outward sense.
to maintain  some outward glory in their  .own little                          Religion is not first of all a questron  ,of what we do
circle. Was not their aim to bolster the national  con-                     rbot, but of what we do. In fact, religion is not even
,%iousness  and glory by trying to make proselytes? And                     first of all a question of what we do, but of what we
we know ho,w the Lord condemned their actions. Yes, we.  From the heart are the issues of life and our
they had and seemingly kept the Law, but they eared                         actions are determined by the heart. A man may
very little for its essence. They were perfectly satis- seemingly perform all kinds of so-called  good deeds,
fied with s6me external exercise and they never .had                        also in the Church, yet when th~ey  are not done from
taken the trouble to ask themselves what is the one                         the heart they are worthless in the eyes of the Lord.
great and all colmprehensive  demand of the Word of Very strange indeed, that against better judgment the
God? The Pharisees praying in the temple is a cl*ear                        church in the light of Scripture, makes the distinction
example of what they considered to be the pure and                          not between good and evil, but b,etween  go,od and so-
undefiled religion b,efore Go,d and the Father. And called good.
this legalism was the basis for their entering into the                        Characteristic of all Phareseism was and is, that
Kingdom of heaven.                                                          outward legalism takes the place of the genuine Scrip-
     No one must deceive himself that legal observance                      tural idea of what is good and of what is done right


348                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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in the sight of God. Scripture itself does not make              righteousness. Thus it is in the parable of the Phari-
that distinction and the true believer never prides him- see and tie Publican. The Pharisee praying by (to)
self with so-called' outward good which he performed himself, said concerning himself, that God should be
nefore he came to light. Remember the wor& of the                glad to have such a ime specimen amongst the &ildren
Savior when He struck out with  His verbal chastise-             of men. He denies his sin, He is not corrupt and
ment against the leaders of His day, who just about              cannot very well be called a transgressor. HIS busi-
choked in their good works, calling them whited  sepul-          ness in the temple was to show  the Lord the great
chres? Or the words of the reformer of Geneva, who abundance of his superfluous good works. He was in-
called them glittering sins? The difference after all            debted to God, but to the contrary, by bringing his
is not one of form, but of essence. Not of what we               good works in remembrance before the Lord, he made
see, but of what God's appraisal is ,in all we do.               those works the  ba&s for his righteousness. He re-
        The citizen  iof the Kingdom of heaven differs with      vealed in hiis actions who he inwardl*y  was. Instead of
the Pharisees in the outward form and he aluhays dif-            being God-centered he is self-centered and whereas he
rers when it comes to the essenoe of his religion. `.l'he        was perfectly satisfied with himself, it was utterly in-
two cannot sit in the same pew. He, the citizen levee            conceivable that God would not be satisfied with Him.
the law, not because he seeks his own advantage, nei-            But did not his formal works demand the respect of
ther because `he sees the higher wisdom of that law,             all? Did their works not look alike with the  w,orks  of
but, whereas that law is the Word ,of his King and               faith? in no respect did their works resemble in the
the King  is the object of his love, therefore he de-            slightest degree the good works of faith. F,aith  does
sires to be like Him both as to the object and purpose not look upon good works as the basis for the right-
of his life, living the life that belongs to the sphere of eousness necessary to enter the Kingdom of heaven,
the Kingdom, the life of the love of God, for that love          but to the contrary, the good kv0rk.s are the fruit of
is the inseperable tie that binds them together-the              the righteousness that is by grace alone. Good works
bond of perfection Thus the life of the Kingdom                  do not make the Lord the debtor, but we are bound to
differs from legalism even as heaven differs from hell,          render  our humble thanks to our Father, that we may
light from darkness, Christ from  Belial.                        perform the good works which he prepared for us
        As to its origin this righteousness cannot be  f,ound    before the foundation of the  workl,  that we may walk
anwhere but in God. He is the source of  aI1 right- in then~
eousness. For he is always conformed with that which                And your righteousness must exceed that of the
is good, that is in `harmony with Himself.                       Scribes and the Pharisees.
        God  L Good. And He is the overflowing fountain             They had none.
of all good. Hence, He is also the creterion of all good.           Triumphantly the Pharisee may stand and pray
His Divine Being is nothing less than ethical-spiritual          and give alms, but they are of no avail.
perfection. His being in action is therefore the ope-               True it is, at first sight the  w(ords  "Except your
ration  of His righteousness, also called His justice.           righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
This means, that He reveals His goodness. He wills the           Scribes and Pharisees"  Seem  to  iedicate  that they also
good. Always. Therefore>  He wills and seeks Himself             possessed some righteousness. But it is plain that
as the highest good and the creature  only  for His own          cannot possibly be the meaning. The difference here
sake.                                                            is not ,one of degree or measure, but of quality. The
        What is expressed in His law is the revelation of        meaning is,  what seems to be or looks like righteous-
the love wherewith He loves and seeks Himself in all             ness is not righteousness at all, for even the smallest
things. Righteous art Thou, o Lord!, is the theme                measure is a sign that one did enter into the King-
of the Old and New Testament. And our Lord Jesus dom of heaven. Furthermore, we must not forget the
Christ actually  fulfilled the demand of that righteous-         immediate context. The Savior said: `I came to fulfill
ness. For righteousness can only be established through the Law', and they, the Scribes and Pharisees, always
one who at all times lives in perfect harmony with disobedient and also deceiving thmselves, did not want
God's law. One, who at all times loves God  as the               Him, for they fulfilled the Law themselves and no one
highest good, doing Ris will and all His good pleasure.          was needed to do this  for them, least of  ,all the
Hence, Jesus Christ is the King of righteousness.                Nazarene.
        In connection with sin, in respect to man, God re-          Our righteousness must be the righteousness of Je-
mains the same righteous God. He never changes  and sus Christ as the basis and the only means whereby we
His Law cannot change, for He is the Unchangeable                enter the heavenly Kingdom. And it must be also our
God. And man cannot have  oommunion  with God un- i&ily confession that wfithout Him we cannot. even see
less he is made like Him.  Phariseism  is that man the Kingdom, nor attain to righteousness.
seeks ~himself  and creates his own righteousness. He               Therefore, righteousness, but through Jesus Christ
decides who and what shall be the  creterion  and doing alone will suffice us. We, by  natur,e,  cannot enter
so he makes God his debtor, for he has a man-made                neither are willing to enter that Kingdom. And every


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                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          349
     movement outside of Christ's righteousness will end in
     dismal failure and  ,outer darkness.                                             Blessed Trust
         He alone sought the highest good, loving God and
     the Father, being conformed to His law                          The present day vocabulary teaches us clearly that
         What we need is His righteousness. First of all          man certainly is in need of help. The word relief' is
     the life of ri'ghteousness,  an inward change. We need on the lips of  dl men.  Pe-rwions   and  soctil  seczLrity
     a life that is like His and that is from Him alone           remind us constantly that man is a helpless creature.
     through the resurrection from the dead. Then we              He does not notice it so much when the sun of his life
     will not come with the offer of our works to God, but        is still climbing to the zenith of `his sky, but when his
     will condemn ,our works as not being worthy of any           powers  are  on the wane, when his  ,hair turns grey
     consideration. We cannot apease God, for Christ alone and his strength deminishes, then he is ready to, listen
     is our peace, preaching peace through the Spirit and         to the magic words of relief and pensionIs.
     thus  wle have access unto the Father.                          And his trust is placed in the princes of this world.
         Yes, only through regeneration do we receive life           We see the shades of Townsend and Roosevelt.
     that enables us to be like unto Him, Who called US              However, it is wisdom to not put  your trust in
     from darkness to light. By faith, through the same           these princes of the world- Let not the dreams they
     Spirit who wrought the new life in us. And both              weave before your longing eyes charm you to that
     as the fruit of the work of Jesus Christ we listen to        extent that you place your trust in them. Because
     the Word, the law of God and love it and keep its            their breath goeth forth, they return Do the earth and
     precepts.                                                    in that very day their thoughts perish.' And you are
         He who enters into the Kingdom confesses no work left destitute in the cold. There is no help in men.
     of mine can stand befor,e the bar of the righteous Judge        Over against this idle trust stands the cry of the
     but the work of Jesus Christ is  su@icient.  Just the        Holy Ghost: Happy is the man that hath the God
     opposite of Phariseism. They always come with their of Jacob for his help, whose holpe is in the Lord his
     work to God because God did not come with His work           God.
     to them.                                                        Let the object of your trust be the God of Jacob.
        And thus confessing they say: I am poor in Spirit,           Then and then alone you are safe for time and for
     I mourn, for the life of the Kingdom is not fully re-        eternity.
     alized in me, `But I also hunger and thirst after right-        Because the God of Jacob is the Almighty God.
     eousness.                                                       When the Bible repeatedly testifies regarding the
        Yes, they are inside the Kingdom of heaven and            God of Jacob, the meaning is first of all that this God
     shall remain there for ever.                                 stands overagainst the various gods in Canaan. There
        It must be  ,a lame religion indeed when righteous-       were many gods in  these days. Every tribe in Canaan,
     ness depends on what man does. A dissatisfying re-           sometimes every individual family, ruled by its pa-
     ligion, for who shall ever be able to produce that, which triarch had its own god. And in time of war or
     Christ alone can give.                                       drought, in all manner of calamities these poor people
        But the righteousness of Christ that enables us  to       would turn to their gods and cry out their need of
     enter the Kingdom of heaven gives peace and assur-           them : 0 help us, for the water. has come over our
     ance, comfort and perfect salvation.                         souls. It is pitiful to read some of the petitions that
                                                   w. v.          came down to us through the ages, testifying of their
                                                                  need@ of help and the efforts put forth to get it from
                                                                  the heathen gods
                                                                     Yet all was vain. These heathen gods were  n:o
                  FIDELITY IN PREACHING                           gods, idle and helpless. Things with them went on
        T-here is an especial people whom God has purposed        just the same and these things were governed and
     to save by his sheer grace: they must be saved. And          ruled by Him Who dwells in the heavens
     there is a people who never can be saved, for God               The God of Jacob, however, was and is different.
     will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. Preach When Jacob went to that God with strong crying and
     this word in season and out of season. Stand up for tears, he was helped out of all his calamities. Never
     our Master's sovereignty, immutability, justice, love,       did this patriarch knock in vain on the doors oQ cheaven.
     mercy an,d holiness. Show upon all occasions the plan God heard him in that he was helped.
     cf God's saIvation  ; let not `tdogs"  or the "concision"       Moreover, the God of Jacob became also the name
     for a moment suppose that t.hey  are in the covenant         of God among the descendants of Jacob. All the god-
     of Grace. In short, do this, and you will prove your- fearing Israelites went to the God, of Jacob for strength
     self to be a "workman who need&h  not be ashamed,            and help in time o'f trouble. And they also, like their
     rightly dividing the word of truth".                         father, were helped out of all their distresses. Take
                                REV. WM. PARKS, B.A.              for instance the godfearing Hezekiah. When he was


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in  Llre need of help at the time the wicked were  lying           God did come to His own Jacob in a picture. It
without the gates of Jerusalem, cursing the Name ex- was the fist heaven and earth. Through omnipotent
pressly and wantonly, and when they sent wicked let- creation he weaved an image of the fulfilment  of the
ters to this pious king of the people of God, cursing           promises, which is the reason that  C&n. 1 and Rev. 22
and mocking the God of Jacob, he went to God, and              seem so much alike.
spread forth these letters before the Countenance. And             When this first creation went down in the gloom
his cry was heard:  No~w,   thexfore,  0 Lord our God, of death and the curse, the Lord came closer through
save US from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the             the altar and the blood of sacrificial animals. He
earth may know that Thou art the Lord, even Thou                taught His Jacob that this world which had fallen
only.  D,o  you not notice that the God of Jacob was           so low must be elevated, must be raised to: new heights
his help? Neither did he trust in vain. For this Crod          of glory.      He came  closer to Jacob, for He taught
of Jacob sent His angel and destroyed a ,hundred  and           Adam and Abel to build an altar, that is, they must
fourscore and five thousand of the wicked in one night.         take some earth or stones and make a heap or two.
And so the name of the God of Jaocb was to the nation          It is the exalted and elevated world.
of God's people the name of Him Who helped in time                 Later the  Lord came closer. Listen to  Stephan,
of need.                                                       just before his stoning: . . , .David,  who f.ound favor
       Why, even in our day you will notice that when          before God, and desired to End a tabernacle for the
Goad's people are in trouble they will cry  to: Jacob's        God of Jacob. But Solomon built Him a  ho:use. The
God. The Holy Ghost leads us to do this. You may               Lord came ever closer. In splendour of gold of Ophir
hear it in some little Dutch church o#f a Sabbath morn- and the needlework of artists, God dwelled in the H.cIy
ing: 0 Jakob's God,  geef mij gehoor!  Jaccb had a of Holies and taught Jacob that He loved Him. And
troublesome life. It seemed as though ail things were           He shew His love in manifold tokens and signs and
against him. His father, his brother, his uncle, the           types anld washings and sacrifices. God came closer to
elements. His sons also, for they robbed him of his             Jacob for his `help  Zor He accepted the token of blood
children. All these things are against me ! Now we             once every year when the High Priest entered His
know that this was not se. We know that all things abode. And the angels were very desirous to under-
worked together for gcod unto Jacob. But Jacob did stand this miracle of grace. They bent forward over
not know this. And therefore he spent his life in cry-         the sprinkled blood on the mercy seat.
ing to God for help against his distresses. And God                And the Lord came closer when Jesus was born.
heard. From step to step the God of Jacob fought                   F,or Jesus is Jacob fulfilled.  Ga,d promised that
fo'r him and delivered him.                                     He would come to Jacob and be `his God. Well, this is
       Ah, yes, the God of Jacob is God, t,he Almighty,         fulfilled in Jesus. According to the flesh, Jesus is
Who is willing and able to help His peapIe who are in           Jacob and God tdwelled  in Jesus in unity of the Person.
.distress and trouble.                                          Immanuei: God with us.
       And the God of Jacob is all this because He is the          And with this Jesus the wonder of grace is mani-
Lord God.                                                       fested to angels also :  no&w  they may see it! Glory to
       That has a wonderful significance.                       God in the highest and on earth peace ! Now we see
       The  Lord God.                                           it! This babe will take away all the sin of Jacob.
        He is the Covenant God. Lord means: I am that              And with this Jesus the fallen world is elevated Ear
I am. That is, I am the unchangeable One. I am the              He climbs the steep si:des of the mountain  od Cud's
eternal One, the;Immutable  One. There is no shado,w           holiness. Climbing in his resurr.ection  and ascension,
of turning with Me. Therefore He is also the ever               He cries out: The glorious gates of righteousness,
faithful One. In His everlasting Counsel He saw Jacob,         throw open unto Me !
that is, Israel, ,that is, the Church of Jesus Christ,             And the Lord God came still closer to Jacob when
that is, the sum total of the elect of God, and seeing          the Holy Ghost was poured out on Pentecost.  No,w
them He counselled peace and security for them in the           God dwells in the hearts and minds  c9 all the Jacobs,
Scn of  His  lcve. And because He is the Lord, that is,         both small and ,great. And now we all are temples of
the Unchangeable One,  H,e keepeth truth for ever, He          the Holy Ghost.
is the ever faithful Covenant God.                                 But the flesh is corrupt and the body is inclined to
        This Lord, made promises. And what promises ! the dust. And in the night we hear the groaning of
I am your God and the God of your seed. I am com- Jacob with strong crying and tears: 0 wretched man
ing to yo,u, my darling children! I am going tot come           that I am: who shall deliver me out of the body of this
to you and I will come ever closer to you, until  YOU           death !
shall be so everlastingly close to Me that it may be               And God, the God of Jaco,b  hears him, for He is the
said that I am all and in all.                                  Lord God. He shall remember His covenant which
        And  n,othin,g  `can change this promise  frcm its      He made from everlasting. The time is at hand that
fulfilment.                                                     also the bodies of the Jacobs  &al1 be made  to, conform


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 RN
 __"--^   "___.___ --"..-._             -_- ""_-- ..--._.. "-_                  "-.-.._             -._-"
to the most &rious body of Jesus. The lives of the                           The Fifth Commandment
souls od Jacobs were first fruits, but the harvest of
the bodies is coming. He shall raise our mortal bodies                   Honor Thy  Fa.th,er  c~nd  Thy Mother. . . .
through the Spirit that dwells in us. At the day of                   This command,  too, has more in tit than appears
Jesus !                                                           on  the surface. What it requires of one is that he
    And the God of Jacob shall come stil1. closer. For            honor not merely  fathfer  and mother, but all in au-
a new commonwealth is coming. We expect according                 thority over him. This must be. For if all  auth'or  -
to His  promis,es  a new heaven and a new earth. And              ty, that of the magistrate, as well as that of parents,
that new comm,onwealth  shall be such that heaven and             is of God, it follows that the requirement of this
earth shall be united and in the midst of them shall              command extends to the former, and that thus
descend the tabernacle of God out o$f heaven. Then                the authority of the former can no more be defied with
God shall dwell with His people and shall be' a Father            impunity than that of the latter. Rightly considered,
unto them and they shall be His sons and daughters.               therefore, the matter that this command concerns is
And all the tears of Jacob shall be washed away.                  in the final instance the honor i%at must be shown to
    Now, my brother, when you have ail this, I think              all in authority `over one, thus the honor that must
that you will agree with me that you `have a strong               be shown to the parents by the child, to the husband
Helper in the God .o,f Jacob. And there is really no              by the wife, to the teacher by the pupil, to the magis-
need to place your trust in the son of man.                       trate, to the rulers in Christ's church by the members.
    What have these sons of man ever done for you?                Let us examine in the light of scripture each of these
We are killed all the day long by them. We are ac-                obligations, beginnmg with that under *which  this con-
counted as sheep for the sl,aughter  by them.                     mand places the son, and with him the daughter, in
   Recall the history of Jacob. What did Jacob get                his relation to his parents.
for help out of Esau and  Laban? None at all. But                     The command is, then, that the son honor his father
on the contrary : these two relatives brought him much and mother.                 What is it to honor? I  Petler 2  :1'7,
sorrow and tears. And if it had net been for the help             is a11 admonition to the effect that not only the king
of the  G,od of Jacob he  wouId  have been swallowed up           but that nil men be honored by Fhe believers. Of the
alive. No thanks to Esau and Laban for the revival Lcrd it is said that He honors them that honor Him.
and survival of Jacob. These evil men were as wild                I Sam.  2230.     Honor, then, is due not only to the
beasts around the turtledove of God. Ah, Jacob, thou              kin.g but to those not in authority above us as well.
ha& all our sympathy !                                            If the children must honor their parents, the parents
   But I hasten to add that Jacob was happy. For                  in turn are in duty bound to honor their children.
happy is the man who has the God of Jacob for his                 The wcman must honor and must be `honored by her
help. Whose trust is in the Lord his God.                         husband. The subject must honor and be honored by
   Indeed! All things work together for his good.                 his sovereign. And the  khildren  of  Go:d honor and
Even tears and suffering must serve to bring the are honored by their God. Now the honor shown  to
promises to  fulfilment.  That is wonderfully shown               the parents by the children. is, cannot be, the same as
in the Christ of God.          That dark night cannot be          the honor shown to the chi!dren  by the parents nor
spared in the scheme of things. The strong crying                 the same as the honor shown by the wcman to her
and tears of Jesus in everlasting agony are the foun- husband or as the honor shown by both the woman
dation .of all fulfilment  of the pro,mises. Witho.ut  them and the man to the Lord.
we would cry in hell.                                                 What, then, does it mean, to honor parents,  .:.)r to
   But blessed is that man! Blessed now for he                    state the question in terms more general, what is is to
wrestles with God and will not let Him go without                 bznor those in authority? Now the primary sense
the blessing of Jehovah God. ..4nd the blessing is re-            of the Hebrew and the Greek words translated. by
maining. All things testify of the  lo,ve that cannot             honor is to estimate the worth of a thing, to perceive
be measured.                                                      and  aeknowl,edge  this worth. Thus these words easily
      And blessed anon in the land that is fairer than            acquired the meaning to ,revere,  to ven,erf&e,  to hold
day. There we shall be so blessed, beloved reader,                precious. Our English word hodor is from the Latin
that we shall never sin any more. If there was  no                verb hw-zcwo,  which in turn is derived from the Latin
more  reveaIed  than just that: it would be sufficient to noun hone&u,  the signification of which is Eha.t which
elicit my  ,highest  singing and praises of God. Not sin udor?Es,  a,,n  ornamen&.  So the meaning of the Eng-
any more. Can you imagine anything sweeter?                       lish verb to homer is `first. to u.dcwn.  with ~XI o,r-nament
   Oh, even through the dimming tears, I see glory and then  to  &eem,  rcwcw, to  hold  high..   to  glorify.
that cannot be uttered in the vale! Not sin  anvmoro;             A truly honorable man is one adorned by the Lord God
nevermore to roam. Ah, blessedness unspeakable !                  with the graces of Christ. And that God bon,ors His
   Let all of Jacob say: Amen, `Hallelujah!                       people, means that He everlastingly beholds them in
                                                       G. V.      Christ, acknowledges them to be what  t.hey  are in


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---l-~_-.------l--~-                             -             -
Him, namely, a peop!e, chosen, redeemed and lovely;                 by a right of which he or a majority of men can be
it means that He adorns them with salvation and seats the origin. For legally all men are equal. The authority
them both legally an actually with their Christ in His              of the parents then springs not from their persons;
throne. And that His people honor Him means that                    nor does it inhere in parenthood. To maintain the
by His grace they will to see Him as He is, to acknow-              latter is again to deny that  it is of God and bestowed
ledge Him to be God and none else, to fear, love, obey              by Him. That the right to rule the child is given to
and praise Him, the adorable God.                                   par&% can be understood. It is through the agency
       But what is it to honor parents, those in au- of the parents that the child was brought into being.
thority above one? This is known from the  circum-                  Thus of all men, no one loves the child as do the
stanoe  that those in authority must be obeyed.  Such parents. No one is therefore so qualified to rule and
is the will of God as we know it from His Word.                     to care for the child as are the parents.
An Psraelitish son who would not  obey  his father and                 How true it is that the parents (and thus all au-
his mother, had to be put to death. "If a man," so it               thorities) must be obeyed solely on account of their
is stated in Deut. 21:18-21,  "have a stubborn and re-              God-given right to rule, may be known from Paul's
bellious son, which will not obey the  ,voice of his                instruction on this subject oontained in chapter 13
father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they of the epistle to the Romans. In this instruction the
have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: then                magisterial and thus the parental authority appears  as
shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and                the object of fear and obedience in separation of the
bring him out unto the  el,ders of the city, and unto               person of the rulers. Wrote the apostle, `Wilt thou
the gate of his place  ; and they shall say unto the elders         then not be afraid of the power? . . . .For he (in the
of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he original she) is the minister of God to thee for good.
will not obey our voice; he is a glutton,, and a drunkard.          But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for He
And all the men of the city shall stone him with stones,            (she) beareth noI the sword in vain : for he (she) is
that he die ; so shalt thou put evil away from among the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon
you; and all  Israel shall hear and fear". The duty him that doeth evil". The pronoun she in the state-
of  tihe chilcdren  as laid down by Paul is that they "obey         ment "And  she is the minister of God to thee for good"
your parents in the Lord ; for this is right". Eph.                 refers not to the person of the rulers (the Greek word
6:l.  C'ol. 3  :20. Likewise shall servants obey in all             fur rulers is masculine) but solely to the power (the
things their masters (Col. 3:22) ; the subjects their               right to rule) affixed  to their office and exercised by
magistrates (Ti. 3  :l) ; and the believers their pastors,          their person. It is this power that the brethren are
such as have the rule over them (Heb.  13 :17). Now                 admonished to fear. What appears from this? That
in both the Old and the New Testament scriptures,                   rulers are to be feared not with reference to their
the word translated by  o-beg  means to  hear.  This is             persons but with reference to the power, grounded in
also the sense of the English  wlord   obey  (from the              the seat of authority they occupy. So then, though
Latin obedire, meaning, to  hear).  Thus to  obey is                the apostle not only enjoins to obedience toward the
t'o  hear,  to  hearkm  Co, the word, instruction,, admoni-         ideal institution (the institution as such is an abstrac-
tion of the authority, here the parental. Th,e chi?dren             tion and therefore cannot by itself be obeyed)  b,ut also
who  dto this, honor their parents.         Thus to honor           toward its appearance in the  pers,on  of the magistrate
father and mother is to own them as parents and to                  and thus toward this person, he nevertheless es&b-
acknowledge their parental authority through being lishes the requirement of this obedience by reference
in subjection to their rule-a rule that they exercise               to the ideal institution and the design of authority.
by virtue of a God-given right. And it is this right                Whether the person of the ruler apart from his office
that constitutes the parental authority.                            is to be esteemed, depends upon t.he character of the
       To understand the requirement of the fifth com-              man. If he be a Christian man, he must be honored.
mand, it is to be considered that it  conce,rns  not                The admomtion  of the apostle Peter is that all men
a man and a woman as such, but a man and a                          be honored. But, as already has been intimated, this
woman as parents. It is the man and the woman                       honor is not to be identified with that shown to the
(joined in wedlock) as .parents,  that must be honored              ruler for what he by himseif apart from his office
and  ,oheyed  and this not merely on account of their be- is. But this is a matter that t.he fifth command dloes
ing parents but solely by reason of the fact that, b,eing           not at all concern. It concerns only the honor that
parents they rule by a right that is of God. Such is the            must be shown to those in (legal) authority above us.
teaching of scripture. "Let every soul be subject unto                So then,, when the apostle penned the above-cited
the higher powers (that is, authorities)  ." And the                passage, he had before his mind  nfot the person of the
reason+ "For there  ais no power (authority) but of                 ruler as such, the character of this person, the moral
Gtid: the powers that be are ordained by God". Rom.                 depravity or excellencies,  as the case might be, of this
13.                                                                 or that civil magistrate or officer, but solely the power
       All authority is of God. No man rules over another together with its appearance, its concrete existence,
                                                                                         . "


                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              358
                                                                                                         -
in the persons vested with it. This accounts for it that      treatment that is severe, unjust and capricious, the
he could enj,oin  his brethren to be subject to the higher    ch~dren  are provoked and disheartened and as a re-
powers even with a man like Nero (a monster of in-            suit will lack affection and contideme,  pleasure and
iquity) seated on the imperial throne. And this also          power for good. However, though the parental au-
accounts for it that in the same connection he could          thority must be exercised in l,ove,  this love is not the
write, "For rulers are not a terror to good works but         ground of obedience. This  gmund is solely the will
to evil", and, "do that which is good and thou shalt          of God  as expressed in the command, "Let every soul
have praise of the same: for he (she) is a minister of        be subject unto the higher powers," and the command, '
God to thee for good". When this was written, the             `*Obey thy father and thy mother. . .  ." Obedience
cruelties and crimes of a Tiberius, Galicula and Clau-        to parents (and to all authorities) in order to have
dius were .in yet fresh remembrance and thee Christians       true moral worth, must spring from true love of God,
were being  mercilessiy  persecuted by the monster Nero.      must at bottom have Him for its object, and must end
That the apostle could nevertheless write as he did           solely in Him. Even the contention that parents must
was on account of this that what he had before his            be obeyed simply because they have the rule over their
mind is not the person of rulers as such, the character       chil,dren must be frowned upon, as it is a contention
of those seated in places of authority, the abuse of          that leads to the deification of authority as such. Con-
magisterial power by ungodly men, but solely this             sider that the wicked have no objection to authority.
power and its real design. The institutions of God are        A state or commonwealth in which authority is gener-
good ; but whereas the wicked corrupt everything they         ally being flouted cannot long endure. The wicked,
touch, defile every place and relation of life in which       too, understand this. In their sober moments they,
t,hey stand, and polute  every institution of God that        too, therefore lament the fact that there is so little re-
takes on substance in their person, the emperical  ap-        gard for authority among men. In the countries of
pearance of God's things in the wicked are w,itho,ut          Germany and Italy, where authority has taken on flesh
exception  <evil.    Hence, (reprobated) magistrates in       and bload,  so to say, in the person of the modern dic-
the  w(orld  rule not by the grace but by  t.he right  uf     tator, not the God of heaven and of earth, but authori-
God. And it is He Who in His providence seats them            ty is being hailed as the saviour of a nation. What is
in the places of authority, that through the ages came        being worshipped, of course, is the hero, the deliverer,
into  bemg in the organism of the human race, as this with whom authority is bemy identified. So, what the
.43 rganism grew. And as the occupants of these places,       wicked really object to is the teaching to -the effect that
they have the power, which they without exception `there is no authority but of God. Authority, so it is .
 abuse and by  so doing convert it into a curse for           believed, springs from the will of man, from the joint
themselves. And as this doing, too, has the determi-          will of the  majlority. And it is by  this,majority  that
nate will of God as its sovereign necessity, it cannot        the powers that be are ordained and seated on the
be that wicked magistrates rule by the grace of God.          imperial throne.
But however profligate the ruler may be, he must be              Let us now have somewhat closer regard to the con-
honored for the sake of his office.                           nection between love and obedience. The late Dr. A.
    In the light of the above observation, it is clear        Kuyper in his  expositi,on  of the fifth command (E.
when the requirement of the fifth command is being            Vote V. IV, p. 55 ff) broaches the view that in obedi-
met. The requirement is not being met when the child-         ence in distinction from love forms the spiritual tie
ren love the parents but do not obey them. However            by which the organism of the family(  and of the hu-
great that love may be, if under its impulse there be no      man race, nations and peoples) is joined together and
acknowledgment of and submission to parental  ,authori-       compacted. Wrote he (I translate), "In total  agrele-
ty, the fifth command is being transgressed. Children         ment with our nature, God binds the family together
of cuurse must love their parents ; but this love can         by t.wo means. The one is physical and the other is
never takes the place of submission to parental au-           spiritual. Consider that we were endowed with a hu-
thority. It is the power that must be recognized; for         man nature, consisting  af body and soul. For the
there is no power but of God, so that even when child-        family the physical bond lies in the birth of the child-
ren do obey, the command is still being transgressed,         ren of the parents The spiritual bond was laid by th'e
if they obey not out of consideration for the power but       Lord through His commanding the children to obey
solely out of regard for the parents themselves, their        the.ir parents. These bonds extend also to nations and
character, their kindness and goodness. This latter peoples; for also in the life of natio-ns we meet with this
is sheer idolatry, a pagan worshipping of ancestors.          twofold bond. A nation is related in its blood through
But from this it in no wise follows that the parents          its origin; and it must be subject to authority. It is
must not be truly kind to their children and temper therefore of the utmost significance that we have clear-
their rule with love. Unlovable parents, whose rule           ly before our mind the meaning and the underlying
over their children is characterized by hardness and          connection of these two foundations upon which the
cruelty, are stumbling-blocks to their children. Thru community life of the human family reposes".


354                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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       In the sequence of his reasoning, the writer de-        eign Redeemer. What .is more, (true) obedience is no
plores the fact that men in general regard love as all bond at all but simply the state of being obedient, com-
and att,ach so littl'e significance to obedience. In scrip- pliance with that which is required by authority. The
ture the emphasis lies on obedience, not on love. (There scripture knows of but one spiritual bond between
is no truth in this statement, if it be made to apply          Christ and His people, namely the bond of love (true
to the love that scripture defines as the bond of perfec-      faith as to its essence love), which is the bond of per-
tion. G. M. 0.) The reason that God exalted Christ             fection. As to the carnal obedience of the wicked, what
and gave Him a name above every name is that He                is it but the expression of a fear that is at bottom
became  ,obedient  unto `death, even to the death of the       hatred,-hatred of God and of every authority ordain-
cross. In the garden He prayed, "Father, nut my will,          ed by Him. Thus it can no more be a constructive
but thy will be done." The first requirement in the            force in the lives of unprincipled men than can their
preaching of the apostles was that sinners obey the            carnal love.
gospel. It is well, the writer goes on to say, that be-           What the author, quoted above, said of obedience,
lievers place the emphasis where the scripture places          Paul says of true love. "Love seeketh not her own. . .
it.                                                            rejoiceth in the truth. . . believeth all things, hopeth
       Why do men exalt love and have little regard for all things. . ." In a word,  LOVE  is obedient.
obedience? Because, says the author, men are of the               As to carnal obedience, it is as ineffective as an
conviction that there can be  1ov.e  without God.     (The adhesive power in this world, as natural, carnal love.
wicked imagine that ther,e can be obedience without            If the restraints of the law were removed f,or one day,
God as well. G.M.O.). It is not d'ifficult  to see, the        chaos would result and no man could with safety ven-
author goes on to say, why obedience and not love is           ture forth on our streets and highways even in the
the great constructive force in the life of a nation,          light of day.
Love as a power is fostered by th,e external form. The                                                   G. M. 0.
young mother I,oves the child that she clasps to her
b')csom,  not on account of what may lie hidden in the
secret recesses of its inmost being, but on account of
its outward appeal.        It is different with obedience.
Here we have to do with a purely spiritual force, that
allows it&f to be led by motives from the invisible                             BEKENDMAKING.
world.      (This applies not to the carnal obedience of
the wicked but sol,ely  to the obedience of Christ and            Classis-vergadering staat, D. V. te wor,den gehou-
His people. G.M.O.) .                                          den Woensdag, Juni 1, 1938, om negen uur in den
                                                               voormiddag in de Eerste Prot. Geref. Kerk te Grand
       Another reason why obedience as a binding power Rapids, Mich.
in the lives of men excels love is that love is arbitrary.                              M. Vander Vennen, S. C.
Obedience, on the other hand, bridles arbitrariness.
In l,oving, men deem themselves free. They love whom
they will. Love is therefore egotistical. It binds a
man to those who have appeal for him and separates
him from the rest of his fellows. But obedience listens                         ANNOUNCEMENT.
to the command, follows the mandate that is given.
It therefore restrains man's ego. Now why is the                   The Curatorium of our Theological School will
binding power of obedience so much greater than that meet D. V., in the First Protestant Reformed Church
of  lov'e?  The reason is that one must first acknow-          building Tuesday afternoon of May 31, 1938, at  2:00,
ledge God as His sovereign before one can truly love           in the afternoon and again in the evening. Three main
Him.                                                           items of business are on the agenda:
       Such is the reasoning  ,cf the author. What to think        a) Examination of Student J. Hoksbergen.
of it? It  simply  does not make sense. (I say this                b) Regular business of receiving reports
with due regard for the author's greatness). The au-               c) Receiving of applicants for the coming School
thor actually succeeded in making it appear as if  obe-               year.
,dience  as to its worth, far excels love. And the reason
of this success is that the comparison is between the             P.S. Applicants desiring entrance into our Theo-
true obedience .of God's people, (There is also such a logical School are required to have in their possession
thing as the carnal obedience of the w,icked) and the          a testimony of membership in one of our Churches
natural and carnal love of men devoid of grace. True and a recommendation of their consistory. Applicants
obedience is not super,ior  to tru,e love (the love that       are expected in the evening.
Christ merited). It is the expression of love; it is                                           The Curatorium,
love hearing God and appropriating Him as the  sover-                                          L. Vermeer,  Se&y.


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    355
                                                                     .-----
                                                    "-                                                        --...  ~ -._......" ,..-
       For Hereunto Were Ye Called                                   his subjects,-obey him in all things in which he may
                                                                     be obeyed, or whether it is the solemn duty of the sub-
                                                                     jects to reject, disown and `depose such a ruler, compel
                                             I Pet., 2 23.           him to abdicate by force of arms,  because he fears not
   The statement was made that the powers that be                    God and departs from the ideal. The view contained
must be honored, irrespective of the character of those              In the above excerpt is that the latter course is the
seated by God in the places of authority. This raises the            one to be followed. But this Calvinistic view was not
question whether revolution is ever justifiable. Views               Calvin%. The view which he held on this subject may
differ. Some take  decid,ed  ground against any right                be known from the tinal chapter of his Institutie  - B
of insurrection, while there are others who maintain                 chapter that bears the title  c%& Govcrxment. The
that the citizens of a state have this right and must                rLllowing quotation is from the Holland version. of the
exercise it when rulers depart from the ideal. "When- aioresaid work. The translation is by the undersigned.
ever the system of government," says Nieetar,  "be it                Wrote Calvin :
monar&y or democracy, or .any other form, in each                       "Some magistrates (vorsten) are irresponsible per-
case the ruler (or rulers) was to act as G,od's repre-               sons, careless in the performance of the duties belong-
sentative, and to administer the affairs of the govern-              ing to their  office. Taking no thought for the  well-
ment in accordance with God's law. The fundamental                   bein(g <of their subjects, they wholly give themselves
principle supplied at the same time the very highest                 up to a life of luxury. Others  for personal gain place
incentive for the preservation of law and order among                on sale ,their  rights, privileges, verdicts and appoint-
tne citizens. Subjects were for God's sake to render                 ments. Still others rob the poor of their mon.ey,  which
obedience to the higher powers, whichever these might they thereupon squander in immoderate disbursements.
be. . . .                                                            Some assault maidens and virtuous women, murder the
                                                                     innccent and thus perform the work of highwaymen.
    "On the other hand this very principl'e  of the sover-           Because of this, some men will not be convinced that
eignty of God operated as a mighty defence of the                    also these must be recognized as  rul,ers and obeyed. . .
liberties of the citizens against tyrannical rulers.                 A very bad and disreputable person with whom rests
Whenewr  sovereigns  ignored  the  (will of God, trampled            a public power that is the seat ,of divine highness - a
upon  the rights of the  govern&  and became  tyrarwical,            highness with which the Lord in His W0r.d  vests the
it became the  pmkilega  u%d the duty of the subjects,               servants of righteousness and justice  - must receive
in  wiew  of  Che higher responsibility  of  t/w supreme             from his subjects the same honor and esteem, as far as
sovereigta, God, to  refuse  ob.&ience  ccnd  eva, if neces-         public obeisance is concerned, that the best monarch
sary, to depose the tyrant, through the lesser  authori-             would receive from them. . . .       This disposition of
ies appointed by the people  for the defence of the                  reverence and godliness must be shown to all magis-
rights of  the governed."  *                                         trates, irrespective of what they may be. In honoring
   The italics are of the undersigned. It is the view                and <obeying  the froward, we ought to go to the ex-
contained in the sentence printed in italics that is de-             treme length,. The reason  I so often repeat this is
serving of attention. It is Calvinistic, no doubt, in                that we may learn not to institute an inquiry re-
the sense that a great many, who call themselves dis-                specting the persons themselves, but appease ourselves
ciples of John Calvin, are addicted to it. But let us                with the consideration that t.hey  by the will of God
ask then, firstly, whether the view was actually Cal-                have been placed in a  positBon  that bears the im-
vin's. Before we turn to the works of th,is r'eformer,               press of a divine majesty that cannot be dishonour-
we should make certain that we have before our mind ed.
the real issue. The question is not whether the be-                     "But, you will say, rulers have  reciprocaily  also
liever as citizen must refuse obedience respecting all               duties to perform toward their subjects. I have al-
such commands that require of him that he do the                     ready admitted this. But if you conclude from this
thing that God forbids in His Word or refrain to do                  that we need be subject to the righteous rulers only,
the thing that God bids. God must be  #obeyed   mo,re                you argue as one without sense. Consider that also
than man, the tempcral  ruler. On this all are agreed.               husbands in respect to their wives, and parents in re-
   When the magistrates demanded of the apostles,                    spect to their children are bound to certain duties.
laboring in Jerusalem, that  th.ey  desist from preaching            But if .it occurs that parents and husbands become
the gospel, they refused to. comply to this specific re-             guilty of wrong conduct in the performance of their
quest. Yet did they continue to be subject to these                  duties, to wit, that parents, who are forbidden to  pro-
same magistrates in all lawful things. So the real                   vok.e  their children to anger, so ill-treat their children
question is whether subjects must obey also the god-                 that by their provocations t.hey  render themselves to
less and profligate ruler, the tyrant, who ill-treats                the latter insufferable beyond measure; and that the
                                                                     husbands shamefully treat their wives, whom they,
 *The Fundamental Principles of  C&lvinism,  H. H. Meeter,  p 92.    according to the command of God, are in ,duty  bound


356                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                        -
to love and to spare as the weaker vessels, - shall the          kings. The prophet chides them for hav,ing  accepted
children for this reason refuse to be subject to their           their  commancis  (Hos.  5111).
parents and the  w,ives to their husbands? No, indeed,              Calvins attitude towsard  civil governm*ent  is thor-
tar they are made subject also #to the evil and irrespon-        oughly scripturai. That the people of God must yield
sible. Thus, in as much as this must be practiced by             to the authorities, also in their degenerate state, a
all, namely, that it is no concern of ours how another           ready obedience in all legitimate affairs is the plain
in the performance of his duties behaves toward us,              teaching of Holy Writ. The first epistle of Peter  con-
but that we ought to  csonsioer what our duty is, so             tcains this admonition, "Servants, be subject to your
must this be particularly observed by those who are              masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentile,
placed under the jurisdiction of others. Thus, if we             but also to the froward. For this is  thankwlorthy,  if
are being oppressed by a tyrannical, or immoderately             a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffer-
robbed by an avaricious and intemporate, neglected by            ing wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be
an irresponsible, or plagued and tormented by a god-             buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently?
less and  blaphemous  ruler, let us first consider our           but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it
sms, which without a doubt are being disciplined by              patiently, this is exceptable with God, For even here-
the Lord through such stripes. From this will be born unto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for
humbleness of spirilt for the bridling of our impatience.        us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his
That also this tho.ught  be cherished by us, that it is          steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in him:
not our task to cure such. faults, but that we have              who when he was reviled, reviled not again: when he
nothing else to do than to invoke the help of the Lord suffered, he threatened not: but  committ,ed  himself
in whose hands the hearts of kings (Proverbs 21 :l)              to him that judgeth righteously. I Pet. 2:18-23.
and the changes of governments are. We is that God                  "For even hereunto were ye called" namely, to
who standeth in the congregation of the mighty, who suffer for well-doing, for the truth that ye witness,
judgeth among the gods (Ps. 52) ; before whose face              for the Name of Christ that ye confess, for the works
all kings and judges of the earth, who refused to kiss of true goodness in which ye by His grace may walk,
His Christ,  wiil fall and be consumed (Ps.  2:12)  - for the bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of
kings, who prescribed unjust laws for the purpose of             mind, meekness and longsuffering, that ye put on as
oppressing the poor in their rights, violated th,e go,od         the elect. of God. The believer must be seen as adorned
cause of the people of mean ability, possessed the wi- with these virtues. But if seen as so adorned, he will
dows for plunder and bled the orphans".                          suffer, as the world that lieth in darkness hates and
       So far Calvin.                                            persecutes Christ ,as He stands before it in His people.
       It can be seen at a glance that this entire r,easoning    So it follows that the statement, "your calling is to
turns on  ,the one  propositSon:  The ruled are in duty suffer for doing well," is equivalent in meaning to the
bound to submit themselves also to the tyrannical  ,and          statement, "your calling is to walk as children of the
godless ruler. In this they are to go to the extreme             light in this world." This being the believer's calling,
length. They may  n'ot by a power emblemized by the he finds himself under the necessity of submitting also
sword depose such a ruler. When life under the tyrant to the froward master. For to rise up in rebellion
becomes  u,tterly unbearable, al that the oppressed may          against this master, to humble him, to bring him to
do is to invoke the aid of God and petition Him for              the desired terms, to render him harmless, through the
deliverance. Instead of rebelling, they, the oppressed, employment of violence, or through threats of violence,
shall turn to themselves,  ,engage in earnest  heart-            .(and this is rebellion, insure&ion),  is to meet violence
searchings, and consider that they are being  chastized          with violence, is thus to do as the world cdoes. And
for the!ir sins, humble themselves before the face of            what would then be moving the believer is not the
Crod.                                                            love of God but the desire to be freed from suffering
       Yet Calvin was not unmindful of the fact that this        and, positively, to improve his condition of life, thus a
obedience has ,its limits, that when the command of desire to save his soul. And to satisfy this desire to
the king would, if done, involve subjects in a denial of         save his life, to gain this world, he, in his carnal
the will of God, not the king but God must be served.            wrath draws the sword against the froward master,
Wrote Calvin : "In accordance with this rule, Daniel             and thus puts on as an elect of God not bowels of
testifies  (6:22) that he  did  (the king no injustice, mercy, but of anger, wrath, malice, lying, .deceit,  evil
though he had refused to execute his godless com- concuspiscence  and the like. It is a fact that without
mand ; for the king by raising his horns against God             a single exception every political revolution in history
had robbed himself of his authority. The Israelites              sprang to a greater or less degree from this carnal
are condemned for listening to the wicked command of             crave for the earthly treasures.
the king. When Jeroboam had made golden calves,                    Therefore, this course--the course of carnal  wrath-
they, to please him, forsook the tempbe of God. Like-            is not the one to be pursued by God's people. They
wise did their descendants yield to the whims of their shall not threaten the froward master in their effort


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              3.57
                              -.                 .I_                    .____ -__-...  --...---  _____-
to bring him to terms. They shall not destroy him if he       which the sacrifices could avail. The sins that this
refuses to meet their terms. For hereunto were they           class did mot include were several. Let us attend to
called, namely to do well and to suffer for it; because       these first.
Christ also suffered for them, leaving them an ex-                The class did not include the presumptuous sins,
ample, that they should follow His steps, who, when           that is, the sins committed in deliberate defiance of the
He was reviled, reviled not again. He thus saved His          authority of God and with the wilful determination
soul, and gained for Himself and His people a kingdom,        to contest with Him the supremacy. This may be
-the kingdom of light.                                        known from Num.  X5:27-31,  "And the priest shall
    Men may succeed in making themselves believe              make an atonement for the soul that  sinneth through
that when they rebel against their master, they do so         erring (that is, through wandering away  from the
with an eye singled to the gl!ory of the supreme sover-       command of Jehovah) ; . . . .but the soul that doeth
eign God. Fact is, however, that that eye of theirs           ought  presumptuously(  with a high hand). . . , that
is singled to their own material advantage. Men can-          soul shall be cut off from among His people, because
not be doing a thing to God's glory, if what they do          he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken
is something that He forbids.                                 His command, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his in-
    But, some may ask, are rulers above the law, that' iquity shall be upon him."
they can rob and steal and  mu&r with impunity?
N,o indeed. A profligate ruler must be restrained in              From Num. 35 :ll-16; we learn that murder (the
his lawlessness and punished, but by the proper au-           wilful,  intention.al  shedding of blood) was another sin
thorities.    God's people shall not avenge themselves.       excluded from  th.e class of sins for which the sacrifice
What they sheall do is to condemn by their light also         could avail. The passage reads, "And ye shall ap-
the wickedn,ess  of those, seated in places of author-        point you cities to be cities of refuge for you ; that
ity, and, for the rest, commit themselves to God              th,e slayer may, flee thither, which  killeth a person
who judgeth righteously. So did Christ. And doing unawares. . . .these cities s'hall be a refuge. . . . ,that
as Christ did, they, the people of Gods,  overcome evil       every one that killeth any person unawares may flee
with good in the elect,  who are drawn by the good out        hither. But if he smite hfm with an instrument of
of darkness into the light of God's kingdom.                  iron, EO that he die, he is a murderer; the murderer
                                           G. M. 0.           shall surely be put to death. . . . And if he thrust
                                                              him of hatred, or hurl at him by lying in wait. that he
                                                              die; or in enmity smite him with his hand, that he
                                                              die ; he that smote him shall surely be put to death  ;
                                                              for be is a murderer". Thus the manslayer, he killing
                                                              unawares and not hating in times past, was permitted
                                                              to Iive ; but not so the intentional killer. Thus murder
                 Sacrifice By Blood                           was a capital crime, punishable by death. It was a
    In the previous article on this subject, a beginning      sin that could not be atoned. There were several such
was made of the treatment of the several kinds .uf sac-       sins for which no sacrifice was accepted, namely, the
rifice. It was found that their number was five: the          following :
sin, trespass-, burnt-, peace-, and meat-offering. It             1. Wo~~hipping  of other gods, Ex. 22:20.  "He that
w,as pointed out that all these kinds of sacrifice were       sacrifices unto any other god, save unto the Lord only,
needed to bring out the whole truth in connection with        he shall utterly be  .destroved".  Deut.  17:2-7,  "Then
the work of Christ and that they were needful to the          thou shalt bring forth that man or that woman (Who
believer as the medium for the adequate expressiun            served  other gods) unto thy gates . . . and shalt stone
of the faith that was in him.                                 them with stones, till they die."
    It was also pointed out that the order of these sacri-        2.  Solicita.tion   t o   ~r&.~io~~  nmosSac~.  A  nronhet
fices in the Mosaic system was not arbitrary. In this         urging apcstacy  to be put to death as a criminal. Deut.
system the sin- and trespass-offering had to be given         13:1-5: also a near relative or friend, De& 13:6-11.
first and the burnt- and peace-offering, as  suppliment-      A town guilty  of apostacv &all  be destroyed and its
ed by the meat-offering, last place; and this for the         inhabitants slain, Deut, 13 :12-l&
reason, so it was pointed out, that the things necessary
for God's people to know, that they may live and die              3.  Divination  or  Soret?r?r.  The  sorreress  shall be
happily, are first, how great their sins and miseries         nut to death. Ex.  22:X No form of heathen  suT)er-
are and how they may be delivered from their sins             stition shall be tolerated in Israel; all alike shall be
and then Zastly, how they shall express their gratitude       ,nut to death. Deut. 18,:9-14. Death shall be t3 all who
to God for such deliverance.                                  practice heat.hen  rites, Lev. 19 :31; 20 :6.
    &et us now  have  regard  49  t&e class  of  sins  f3r        4,  $ncri.fke of  ~hikkm   $0  hen@en  gods.  Any one


358                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R -  -.-.  I__.-  --.._
guilty of this sin shall be put to death, Lev. 18:21a;          fectual resistance, both she and her seducer shall be
2() :2 , 3. Xf the people of Israel fail to do their duty put to death by stoning, Deut. 22:22-24; Lev. 18 :2O;
and put to death such an impious criminal, Jehovah              20 : 10 ; Num. 5 : 12-31.
Himself will execute judgment upon the culprit and
upon his family and upon all in the community who                 12. Rape. If a man find a young woman, betrothed
unite or sympathize with him in the abominable rite,            to another, alone in an uninhabited place and ravishes
Lev. 20 :+I, 5.                                                 her, the girl shall be innocent, for she had no way
                                                                of resisting, but the man shall be put to death, Deut.
       5.  Blasphemy. The sacred name of Jehovah shall          22 :25-27.
not be treated irreverently. Whosoever speaks scorn-
fully or impiously of Jehovah shall be put to death,              13.  Onlawful marriages. If a man marry his step-
whether he be a native or resilient or aliren, it is the        mother or daughter-in-law both the guilty parties shall
duty of the community to execute judgment by public             be put to death, Lev. 20 :ll, 12,14,17. If a man marry
stoning, Lev. 18 :2'lb; 24 :15, 16.                             both a mother and a' daughter, they h.ave committed
                                                                a shameful crime. All three shall be burnt to death.
       6. F&X P+ophesy. Whenever a prophet refuses to           If a man marries his half sister, they shall be destroy-
bleed and proclaim the  message'which  he receives from ed, Lev. 20:19-21.
Jehovah, he shall be punished by God for his unfaithful-
ness. If, as influenced by base motives, he perverts              14. &&my.  For one man to have intercourse ,with
his sacred office and proclaims in Jehovah's name or            another, as between the sexes, is an abomination to
in the name of heathen gods a message of his own                Jehovah.      Both shall be put to death, Lev.  18:22;
fabrication, he shall pay for his crime with his life,          20 :13.
Deut. 18 : 18-22.                                                 15.  Bestiality.  Whosoever shall have sexual inter-
       7.  Dewwation  of the Sabbath.  The man who de-          course with a be+sFshall  be put to d,eatb, Ex. 22:19;
files the holy day by doing any work therein is guilty Lev.  X-3:23;  20:15.
of a crime which shall be punishable by death, Ex.
3.Fj.2  3                                                         16.  Lack of decency. If a man has  sexua1  inter-
       *,  *                                                    course with a woman during her recurring period of
       8. Persistent  rlisobediem~e   to parents.  The son      sickness, both shall be destroyed because they have
who curse either of his parents shall be put to death           sinned against the laws of nature and of decency,  Lev.
by the ruling authorities, Ex.  21:1'7. Tf a son persist-       1x:19; 20:18.
ently and defiantly disobeys his parents' commands                17.  Prostitufiion.  A married  w'cman found guilty
and does not respond even though they punish'him,               of having prostituted her&f before her marriage, shall
then they shall bring him before the elders at the gate         be stoned to death, Deut. 22:13-21.  Th.e daughter of
of their village and shall publicly state t,hat he is de-       a priest, who becomes a public prostitute, ,disgraces  her
fiant, disobedient, profligate and intemgorate. After           father and his sacred office. For her impious crime
the case has been present,ed, all the men of the town           she shall be burned with fire, Lev. 21:9.
shall join in stoning him to death, that by a signal
rmblic  example the communit,y  may be deliver.ed from            18.  Defiance of the public  trz'btinctls.    A man who in
the dangerous crime of filial disobedience, Deut  21:18-        cpen defiance to law fa.ils to act in accordance with the
21.                                                             rtiling of the court shall be punished by death, Deut.
                                                                17:12,  13. These were the capital crimes excluded
       9.  Fatal personal injury  &AC to criminal  ,neglect.    from the class of sins that could be covered by the
If an ox fatally gore a man or a woman it  sharl be             blood of the sacrifice.
staned to death as a dangerous ofYender.  and if it al-             To. this may be added the list of crimes that do not
ready had acquired the habit of attacking persons and           call for capital punishment at the hands of the auth.c;ri-
the fact had been reported to the owner, he, too,  sheall       ties but respecting which it is declared that Jehovah
be stoned, Ex. 21:28-32.                                        Himself will destroy the offender, if not immediately,
  10. Kidnn~&zg.  A man who steals a fellow Israel-             then eventually.
ite, treating  him as a slave or selling him into slavery,          1.  Idolatry. If, when the people of Israel  ar~e set-
shall. if  his guilt be established, be put to death, Ex.       tled in the land of Canaan, they and their descendants
21:16  ; Deut. 24 :7.                                           at any time turn to the worship of idols and thereby
  11.  &Mte?~. If a man be discovered committing arouse Jehovah's righteous wrath, let them be assured
adultery with a married woman, both shall be put to             that they will cease to exist as a nation. And in the
death, Likewise, if a x+oman  be a maiden betrothed             public ritual of imprecation the priest shall declare:
to another man and the act was committed within the             "A crrse ul:on theIrnan  who causes an image of wood
city where it was possible for her to have offered ef-          or metal to be made by an idol-maker and t,hen  sets


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        359
 t- _..._^ -..~_---                                .._.__. -_------  ..-----.--
 up sacredly as an object of worship this abominable            gressor, in this case the  assambly, knew not that
 thing".  ) Deut. 27 : 15 ; 4 :25-25.                           he sinned. This is the thought contained in the ex-
                                                                pression" hid from  the eyes", namely no consciousness
    2. irreverence  to-r the sanctuary.  The Israelite          of guilt, bleing  unaware of having ,sffended. Two such
 who shall approach to the sacred place where aehovah           cases are mentioned at the beginning of chap. 5 (of
 especially reveals Himself, shall incur His displeasure the book of Leviticus). "Or if a soul touch any unclean
 and be punished by Him with death, Num. 4 :1'7-20;             thing, whether it be a carcass of an unclean beast, or
 18 :22 ; 3 :38. Any priest, who, when he is ceremonially a carcass of an, unclean cattle, or the carcass of un-
 uncleam,  touches the things which have been conse-            clean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him ;
 crated to Jehovah, shall become the object of Jehovah's        he shall also be unclean and guilty. . .  ." The of-
 destructive wrath, Iev. 22:3; 7:20,  21. Likewise any          fender knew not that it was the carcass of an unclean
 priest, who, when he is ceremonially unclean, eats of          creature that he had touched. Hence there was no
 the portions  sf the sacrificial offerings due him, shall      consciousness of guilt. Yet the transgression of the
 be punished with death by  JehovahL                            law was an existing fact. Brought to the offender's
    3.  T,reacherous   assault. "A curse upon every man         knowledge, he was in duty bound to remove the exist-
 who treacherously and undetected attachs his neigh-            ing guilt by oonfession and sacrifice. But the question
 bour, Deut.  2'7:24.                                           may be put wh&her the transgressor had offended,
                                                                because his knowledge of unclean animals was so limit-
    4. Taking  disadva~n&age   of  the helpless.  Let no        ed as to make it impossible for him to perceive that
 Israelite take advantage of the dependence and de-             it was the carcass of one of these creatures that he
 fencelessness of the foreigners who  have become mem-          touched or whether his having offended was due to
 bers of the community, to do them an act of injustice          carelessness on his part. If the latter, than the sin
 or cruelty, but let him always remember that his an-           with which we here have to do was committed not
 cestors were once foreigners, resident in the land of          through stark ignorance but through  carel.essness,   in-
 Egypt. Neither shall he wrong in any way those other           advertance, culpable eversight. mistake. But it may
 helpkss wards of Jehovah and of the community: the             be that in some or even several instances, the sin was
 widows an'd the orphans.          If he does, Jehovah will     committed through, pure ignorance. Moses did not go
 rise as their protector and will take vengeance upon           into detail here.
 him and will bring disaster upon the Israelites of their          The second case, described in the following verse
 foes so that their wives shall become widows and their         (verse 3 of chapter 5 of the book of Leviticus)  is that
` children orphans, Ex. 22 :21-24;  23 :9.                      of tou,ching  the uncleanness of a man, "Or if he (the
                                                                soul of the previous verse) touch the uncleanness of
         5. Misuse  of  authority.  A curse upon every man
 who leads astray those who need guide and patron, or a man. whatsoever uncleanness it be that a man sha!l
 who uses his influ~ence or authority to do injustice to        be defiled withal, and it be hid from him: when he
 resident aliens, orphans and widows, Deut. 27  :18, 19.        knoweth of it, then he shall be Euiltv.  . . ." The ex-
                                                                pression "when h,e knoweth of it" is t3 be taken in con-
         6.  Acceptiwg  bribes.  A curse upon the judge or      nection with the "it be hid,den from him" of verse 2.
 witness who for the sake of a bribe condemns or leads          This offence,  too, would be committed through error,
 to the condemnation of an innocent person, Deut.               that is, careless oversight. the failure to take sufficient
 27 :25.                                                        heed. This is, no doubt. the sense and meaning ,of the
         7.  Renioving  the  bounda;ry  stone.  A curse upon    original Hebrew word (bish!gagagh)  translated by in-
 every man who steals land fr.om his neighbour by mov- mrance.
 ing the boundary stone, Deut. 28 :17.                              The fourth and last case mentioned in this chanter,
                                                                is that of forgotten oaths, not embracing the trans-
         Let. us now have regard to those sins respecting       gression of the 3rd oommandmznt.  "Or if a soul swear.
 which it is especially declared that they could be             pronouncing with his lips to do evil or to do good,
 atoned. In this list the first to be mentioned are such        whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an
 as were done through ignorance. "And if %he whole              o&b.  and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it.
 congregation sin through ignorance and the thing be            then he shall be guilty in one of thes.e."    This case is
 hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done          one of forgetfulness  resnecting  the vow that. was made.
 somewhat against any of the  oommandments  of the              The expression to do  WG must not he made to signify
 Lord concerning things which ought not to be done,             a doing that, if performed, would involve the  ,doer
 and are guilty; when the sin which they have sinned            in ?.ove  .rievous sin: for as an oath made to confirm
 against it is known, then the congregation shall offer         n. resolve to Wmmit some crime. was a f%enlxr s;inPll
 a young bullock for  th:e sin. . .  ." Lev.  4:13.   This      oath. Thus the expression "to do evil or to do ROOK"
 passage then has reference to a kind of sin $cf which          must mean "to do anything  at all". Yet it mav have
 TFere w&s no consciousness of guilt because the trans-
    .                              .                            been a vow that was rash--an oath 
                                                                                                   .  throu.gh
                                                                                                        _     ,,  which the


360                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
_-..."l_____-_--  -......                                    ^...- .._ -_-               1-_"          .-.-_                -
one who swore had committed himself to what could            any of all these that a man doetb, sinning therein. . . .
not at all or under the circumstance be undertaken,          and he shall bring a trespass-oRering  unto the Lord."
thus an oath that might or could not be performed and
that therefore had been wilfully forgotten. What                      "If a man lie to his neighbour in that which was de-
pleads for this explanation is that what is required is      livered him. . . ." This has reference to a deposit,
not that the oath be kept but that the offender oznfess      a thing entrusted to be kept. The sin in this case
that he sinned in that thing and bring a trespass of&r-      would consist either in the offender denying that he
ing. Here again Moses does not go into detail. It is         had received it at all or in his  .denying  that it was
enough  for us to know that the sin in this  case!           received in trust, or in his refusing to restore it.
was one committed unintentionally, and that it was               "Or in fellowship" or pledge. This differs from
therefore a sin for which a sin-offering would be ac- the former in being not simply a trust but a pawn.
cepted.                                                         The offence  might also consist in appropri,ating  th.e
   Thus it was plain that one class of sins that could       thing by violence or by deceit; or even in denying that
be atoned was comprised of such ofgences  that were          what was lost had been found and in confirming the
committed unwittingly, through inadverbance.         But     denial by an oath. This false swearing refers to all
this was not Ithe only class of sins for which the animal    the wrongs mentioned before, and to the guilt of the
sacrifice availed. Another class was th.at comprised         false oath, added to the wrong done.
of sins of weekness, committed under the influence of            This exh,austs the list of sins of which it is especial-
of passion or under temptation and thus not character-       ly declared that they could be covered by the animal
ized by that settled and deliberate malice that marked       sacrifice.      This raises the  qu&ion whether to this
the persumptuous sins. They were sins,  m a word,            list others may and should be added. The question
that a man could commit an'd still be in the heart of        must be answered in the affirmative. , The sins ex-
his dispositions a believer. An example of this class        amined are to be regarded as specimens of a larger
is given in the first verse of this chapter (5 of the        class. There is positive evidence of this in the scrip-
book of Leviticus), "And if a soul sin and hear the tures belonging to the Pentateuch. It is what also
voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he has          can be expected. For if moral weakness, embodying
seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall    itself in the sinful  acts examined, could be atoned,
bear his iniquity." The expression "he shall bear his        there could be no reason why this same weakness could
iniquity" must not be explained to mean that the sin         not be covered as expressing itself in other directions.
oould  not be forgiven and atoned. It could. The no-         But this is a matter that will be dealt with in a follow-
tice at verse 5 "And it shall be, when he shall be guilty    ing article. That not all sins could be at,oned,  has, of
in one of these things, that he shall confess. . .  ."       course, great significance  fcr believers of this  mew dis-
must be made to apply also to this offence  as well as       pensation. Just what this significance may be, will be
to  all the others made mention of in th,e verses pre-       shown in the next forthcoming article on this sub-
ceeding  verse 5. The case here specified (in verse 1)       ject.
is that of a witness put upon oath who withholds testi-                                                         G. M. 0.    :
mony as to what he  hlas seen and therefore knows.
The offender refrains from telling the whole truth.
His sin is therefore not that he through his deliberate
lying corrupts his testimony. Thus the case is not
th,at of giving positive false witness. The latter is
treated in Deut. 19  :X6-19. This of-fence could have            If an unregenerate man can do any good thing be-
one of several reasons, such as fear, or selfishness or      fore his conversion, then all his doings are not sin,
inordinate regard for t.he one whom the testimony con-       but he may do something that is pleasing to God. But
cerned. The expression *`hear the voice of ,swearing"        the unregenerate can do nothing to please God, "for
must be understood. In the forms of Jewish trial             without faith it is impossible to please Him"  (Deb.
the witness did not himself utter the oath but was           l-6), and again all his works are sinful,  "for  what-
adjured by the magistrate. It is the latter's voice that     scever is not of faith is sin"  (R,om. X11-23). They
the witness heard.                                           may appear glorious in outward show, but bring them
   In the cIass of sins now under consideration must         to the touch-stone of God's Word and they will prove
also be concluded those mentioned in Lev. 6:1-5.             to be nothing but splendid sins as Augustine calls
Several sins are mentioned here, "If a soul commit a         them.                               T. VICARS B.D.  -1625-
trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbour
in that  wh,ich was delivered him to keep, `or in fellow-        That doctrine that gives the most glory to God
ship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath de-      und,oubtedly  is the true doctrine, that which takes
ceived his neighbour ; `or have found that which was         away all boasting from man is the right opinion.
lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely ; in                                         T. VICARS B.D. -1625-


                          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 REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





Vol. XIV, No. l.6 Entered  aa  semnd  clans  mail          MAY 15, 1938                         Subscription Price, $2.00
                       matter at Grand  Rapids.   Mich



II-i shpped,  even once, even with regard to its smallest
                                                                   detail, it anathemized ! Cursed is everyone, that  con-
                                                                   tinueth not in all that is written in me! How, then,
                                                                   could mere man, sinful man, who even enters into the
 The Righteousness Of God Manifested                               world as a violator of the law, under the curse because
                                                                   of sin, and who can only increase his guilt daily, meet
                                                                   the demands of the law and be justified? . . . .
                      But now the righteousness  of  God               The law always left him with a guilty conscience,
                  without the law is manifested, being             with the consciousness that God must needs condemn
                  witnessed  by the  lau? and the prophets;        hilll?
                  even the righteousness  of  God which                Through the law is the knowledge of sin.
                  is by faith  of Jesus  Christ, unto all  a&          But now! . . . .
                  upon  ,a11 them that believe:  for  there  is
                  no difference.                                       The works of the law are not God's ordained way
                                               Rom.  3.21,  22.    unto righteousness, and never were!
                                                                       Even the very law and the prophets testified of a
    But now!  - . . .                                              diRerent  righteousness, a righteousness without the
                                                                   law, valid even then, when the law has served its pur-
    By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justi-         pose and disappears, to the children of the promise
fied in His sight!                                                 when they were under the law.
    That was impossible even in the old dispensation,                  Then it was not  yet manifested.
even under the law. It is impossible now. It will for-                 But now it is!
ever prove to be impossible !                                          The righteousness of God!
    There was, indeed, a time that the child, still a                   By faith of Jesus!
minor and not having attained to the freedom of the
age of majority, was placed under the tutorship and
government of the law. And by "law" is meant that
entire code of precepts that was given to the people
of Israel at Mt. Sinai  ,through  Moses, the mediator of               Amazing wonder of grace!
the old covenant. It was headed, indeed, by the moral                  Righteousness of  G&,/without  the law!
law of the ten commandments, as the foundation of the                  Righteousness before God as a free gift, without
entire law; but it included also the law of the shadows works ?
to regulate Israel's worship  .and religious life, and the             Does it not sound paradoxical, that righteousness
precepts fo,r their civil life as a nation in the earthly should be given us of God?
land of the promise. And always its deepest principle                  For, righteousness is a legal status, the status of
was expressed in the maxim: Love the Lord thy God! one that measures up to a certain standard according
    The "works of the law" were prescribed therein.                to the verdict of a competent judge. And in this case
    But justification through these works of the law the standard is the law of God, the expression of God's
was not attainable. No flesh could possibly be justi-              will concerning us. Just as a wall is perfectly per-
fied in the sight of God through these works.                      pendicular when it is in accord with the plumbline, so
    To be sure, the law held out the promise of right-             a man is righteous when he, in his inmost nature and
eousness and life. But it was only for him that con- in all his works, is in harmony with the standard of
tinued perfectly in all that was written in it ! Whoever the will of God over him. A righteous man is he, who


  362                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                              -..-           --..
  is what he ought to be, in his deepest soul and being,            of wrath and damnation, are adjudged worthy of  eter-
  in his thinking and willing and all his desires, as well          nal life and glory !
  as in all his outward life and walk, according to the                Such are the implications of this righteousness  !.
  sentence of the Most High Himself, Who judges right-                 And it is freely bestowed!
  eously.                                                              Without the law!
         How, then, can this righteousness, this legal status,         Without works !
  be given to anyone?                                                  Of God!
         How can it be bestowed as a gift?
         For evidently, such is the meaning of the phrase
  *`righteousness of God" in our text.
         It does not refer to the divine virtue of righteous-          But now it is manifested !
  ness. That the righteousness of God is manifested                    The righteousness of God without the law!
  does not mean that God has revealed Himself as right-                It was not manifested before. In the old dispen-
  eous. To be sure, righteousness is a virtue of God.               sation,  when the children of the promise were placed
  God is absolu%ely  good  in Himsetlf.         For, He is a light under the law, it was still hidden.
  and there is no darkness in' Him at all. Pure goodness               But now it is made plain, clearly shown befure the
  is He, the implication of all infinite perfection. He  eyes   of  all.
  is, therefore, His own standard. In all His willing                  Not, indeed, as if there were no knowledge at all
  and knowing and acting He is always in harmony with               of this righteousness of God by faith in the days of
  the perfection of  this own glorious Being. This is  the  old dispensation. The difference between the two
  God's righteousness. But to this the -text does not               dispensations certainly cannot be, that in the old the
  refer. This is plain from the whole context, which                saints were justified and saved on the basis of works,
  centers around the question: how can a man be  justi- while in the new ,they are justified without works by
  fied before God? How can we be declared righteous                 faith. How, in that case, would the saints under the
  when the Most High Himself judges us and pronounces               law have been saved at all, It holds for the old dis-
  the verdict? This is evident, too, from the text itself.          pensation  as well as for the new, that no flesh shall be
  It is a righteousness that is manifested entirely apart justified in the sight of God by the works of the law.
  from the law, that has nothing to  do with the question              Then, however, this righteousness was witnessed
  whether or not you have kept the law; that is by faith            by the law and the prophets as something that was not
  of Christ Jesus; that is unto them and upon them that             yet, that was still to be  ,realized,  that was not yet
  believe.                                                         manifest.
         It is, therefore, a righteousness that concerns us!           The law and the prophets, that is, the entire Old
   It  ,is our righteousness!                                      Testament Scriptures bore testimony to this righteous-
         But it is not of us! It is of God !                       ness that was to come. It brought the shadow of it to
         It is an answer, God's answer, to the question:            the mind of the believing saints. It foreshadowed it
  how can we ever be righteous in the sight of God,                 in all the ceremonies of the law, in circumcision and
. how can we be justified when He judges us?                 And the Passover, in tabernacle and temple, in altar and
  the answer is: never by a righteousness of our own !              sacrifice, in sabbaths and holydays. For, Christ was
  Never by the works of the law. For, we can only sin the end of the law, the end which the law had in view,
  and increase our guilt daily. But a righteousness was to Whom it pointed, to Whose righteousness it would
  manifested of God, of which He is the Author and  He direct  the faith of the  worshipping  Israelite under the
  aIone ; which He conceived, which He realized in our law. Never was the law intended to impress the people
  behalf, which He also bestows on us, who are in our-              of God of the old dispensation with the hopeless de-
  selves sinners and worthy of damnation; a righteous-             mand that they must be justified by its works. Itself
  ness that is not of us, but of God from beginning to `witnessed of another  righteo.usness,  without works,
  end, and which we receive of mere grace, as a gift of             in Him that was to come. And so did the prophets.
  God to us !                                                       All delivered the good tidings, the gospel of peace,
         And what a gift it is!                                     that Zion was to be redeemed through justice and
         For it includes not only the forgiveness of sin, so       that God would save His people.
  that  ,God's judgment over us is that we are so perfect-             But this righteousness was not yet manifested.
  ly righteous that it is as if we had never had or com-               Beyond the shadows faith could only anxiously look
  mitted any sin whatever; but it Lalso  is the divine de-          in hope.
  claration that we are worthy of being called His  child-             But now! . . . .
  rcn and heirs!                                                       It is come ! That which was hid in God, that of
         And the inheritance is eterna.1 life !                     which the saints of old only saw the  fi%gures ,?nd
         We3 who are condemned on every side,  our own              shadows, the promise which they saw afar off, has
  conscience even bearing us witness that we are worthy now been manifested.


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             363
   - ---.-- -.-.. ___"._l_^_                              -_l_"l--..
       For the righteousness of God, that marvellous gift God's righteousness to the last. He conceiveth of it
   of His grace, was realized in the death and resurrection in His eternal counsel ; He realized it in the death of
   of Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is the revelation of the Jesus Christ our Lord, and in His resurrection from
   God of our salvation. He it is, Who was ordained of           the dead ; He declares it unto us in the gospel ; and He
  God from before the foundation of the world to realize it is that bestows this marvellous gift of grace on
   the righteousness of God. He is the anointed Head             whomsaever  He wills, giving us the power, whereby
   of His church, of all the saints that are chosen in Him,      we may receive it, the faith of Jesus Christ!
   given Him as His own, that He might bear their in-               It is the bond of union with the Lord!
   iquities and, in the hour of judgment over Zion, carry           For faith is to our soul what the roots are to the
 them to the place of execution, and die in their stead          young tree that is planted in the ground. It is that
   and in their behalf, bearing the wrath of God for spiritual power, that gift of God's grace, whereby our
   them. Redeeming them from all the guilt of sin and entire soul clings to Christ as the ground of our right-
   meriting by His perfect obedience eternal life and glory eousness, as the One in Whom is all our salvation. It
   for His own. God was in `Christ reconciling the world is the power to know Him in all the fulness of His
   unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto grace, to rely on Him tith all our heart, in time and
   them. . . .                                                   in eternity, as the sole basis of our righteousness; to
      The righteousness of God was realized !                    draw out of Him and appropriate unto ourselves all
       And it was manifested!                                    the spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
       For, God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and in
" " that resurrection l3e rendered the verdict, that He is          The faith of Jesus Christ!
  righteous ! Righteous as the Head of all His people,              And therefore, this righteousness of God is unto
   Who had taken their place in judgment, assumed the them and *over all them that believe. It is unto them,
   burden of their sins, and obeyed in the hour of wrath. intended for them, even entering into them, into their
       He was delivered for our transgressions.                  deepest heart and mind, causing them to know that
       He was raised for our justification!                      this righteousness is over them, that God's verdict is
       In the glorious and blessed resurrection of our Lord upon them, redeeming them from all their sin, declar-
   the righteousness of God is clearly come to light.            ing them worthy of eternal life, causing them to re-
       And it is declared by God Himself in the gospel           joice in the peace with God forever! `And by the testi-
 concerning His Son!                                             mony of this righteousness of God in their inmost
       Even as the shadows of this righteousness of God heart, they joyfully confess: we, therefore, being  justi-
   were witnessed by the law and the prophets, so the            fled out of faith, have peace with God through our
   fully realized and manifested righteousness in Christ Lord Jesus Christ.
   Jesus our Lord is revealed in and proclaimed by the              Unto all and over all !
   gospel.                                                          There is no difference. This righteousness of. God
       But now. . . .                                            by the faith of Jesus Christ does not have regard for
      No flesh can possibly be justified by the works of your social standing, makes no distinction between rich
  : the law!                                                     and poor; does not ask the question whether you are
       Through the law there can only be the knowledge           Jew or Greek, whether you know the law or not,
   of sin!                                                       whether you are circumcised or uncircumcised. It has
       But there is a righteousness without the law!             no regard for your works or lack of works. It is with-
      A righteousness of God, freely given!                      out distinction unto all and over all that believe.
       Blessed gift !                                               All that believe !
                                                                    They all ; no one else !
                                                                    For all have sinned, under the law or without the
                                                                 Iaw  ; and all that believe are righteous before God
       By faith of Jesus Christ!                                 forever.
       Not to all, not over all is this righteousness of God.       Not, indeed, because your faith of Jesus Christ is
       For, not as in Adam all men die, are !a11 men saved       only another good work by which you are accounted
   in Christ.                                                    righteous before God. Faith does not work unto right-
      Nor can this righteousness be apprehended in.any eousness, it only receives it. Neither because faith is
   other way, by any other power, than by the faith of the power whereby you may perform the good works
   Jesus Christ our Lord.                                        that can make you righteous before God. The believer
      The faith of Jesus is the faith of which Jesus, the        is righteous before all works !
   revelation of the God of our salvation, is the object,           But faith connects you forever with Christ your
   the ground, the content, the all ! It is not of ourselves,    righteousness !
   not of him that willeth, neither of him that runneth,            The righteousness of God !          "
   but of God that sheweth mercy. For, it is the right-             Glory to Him!
   ,eousness  of  G;& that is manifested, and it remains                                                          H. H,


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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                                                     ---__--                      ._I__.._
                         Ascension                                     In this last statement we have the fulhlment  of the
                                                                dearest wish of God's people.
    A wise man said oilce: iie that wanders about as                   Ah, if we may only go to heaven !
a stranger at Golgotha is the enemy of the resurrected                 And do not say that this wish is not correct. Do
Lord. And we might add: and knows of no ascen-                  not say that we may not long to go to heaven. For
sion.                                                           I mean with this statement that we wish to go to God.
    If we come to think of it, it really is                     That is heaven.
                                                strange that                          To be near unto God.
the whole world has so soon forgotten about the babe                   You see, heaven is so very far away. The heavenly
Christ, Whom they heralded in song and play and                 state of things is so entirely different from the state
music at His birth. The entire Christian (?) world of the things of the earth. The earthy state can not
crowds about His manger and at Christmas time all               even see  heav.en.            We cannot see the Kingdom of
ghtters  and shines of the homage (?) to the King of            heaven. And we do not see it because we are earthy.
kings.                                                          There is a line of demarcation between the heavenly
    But they soon forget Him.                                   and the earthy that cannot be brooked by any of us.
                                                                Even apart from sin, we cannot ascend to the heaven-
    They are offended at His suffering and death.
Have you ever noticed that they camouflage His suffer-          ly.
ing at the very beginning of His life? That stable and                 But that is not the most important reason of all.
that manger and these swaddling-clothes are supposed            AdaAm and Eve in the state of original righteousness
to be a sign of our poverty which He bears, but the             could not ascend to the heavenly either. But they
world in the church of Christ has beautified that sign were happy nevertheless. They did not have a prin-
of misery. The way we see the Scene in pictures, that           cipIe of the heavenly life in their hearts by which and
barn was a very nice place. And they beautify it                through which they wouId  long for the heavenly state.
because they are offended at His vicatiozcs  suffering.         They were of the earth earthy and the earthy scope
They do not wish to be reminded of their sorry state.           of things  was  sufficient to make them happy. And
The suffering and death of Jesus are a thorn in the             they sang for joy, being filled with the beauty of God
side of the modern church and the world. The blood-             as it shone upon them and into them from the things
theology reminds us that we are worthy of damna-                that are below. He was made a little lower than the
tion.                                                           angels. But it did not bother him. He  .was entirely
                                                                content.
    Therefore I would like to ask you to compare the
throngs that crowd around the Babe of Bethlehem                        The most important reason why we cannot go to
with the throngs around the Cross.                              heaven is sin.
                                      And shudder!                     Sin keeps us from heaven. If we  wouId all of a
   The world is a stranger at Calvary.                          sudden appear in heaven as we are now, we would con-
    And they are strangers there because they do not stitute an awful anti-climax. "Friend, wherefore art
understand that Cross. They are blind to the fact that thou here?" would be the wondering question of angeIs
that Cross is a manifestation of the most wonderful             of God. And we would be cast out-in outer darkness
thing the world ever witnessed and that the Cross               where we belonged.
is the most wonderful thing eternity shall ever witness.
It is the Lamb standing as if slain. It is the blood                   No, heaven is a doubly closed place for man as he
of God shed for the sin of His people. That the world is by nature. In the first place, he is earthy and does
does not understand. Neither does the lukewarm not belong in heavenly spheres and in the second place,
church understand it.                                           he is sinful and would be an abomination  t,o all heaven-
                                                                ly creatures.
   Hence it is no great  marvel that the world stays
away from the opened sepulcher. Yes, the world has                     But the question persists: "Who shall ascend the
been there for a  spel. There is the wicked, foolish hill of the Lord?"
and impossible watch. Imagine, they are watching                       That question persists because of the grace of
lest the Son of God escape them. They are watching              God.
lest Jesus rise. But they are there for a spel only.                   By the grace of God we have received a first prin-
Soon the angel comes from heaven and at the sight o f ciple of the Iife that is heavenly. We have received
so much beauty and glory they became as dead men it in the moment that we became regenerated. Re-
and fled awa.y. .And they fled away in order to receive aoneration is that act of God wherebv He noms into
their wicked instructions. They fled away in order to the elect sinner the life of Jesus Christ through the
be educated in the lie of the devil: say that the dis- Snirit of grace. And through that same  Spirit.  God
ciples stole Him.                                               connects these elect sinners with Jesus Himself. They
   But it is not true.                                          are His members and He is the Head of that organism
   Jesus rose !                                                 that is called the church.
   And went to heaven,                                                 Now when you have that principle you want to go


376                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
           -......._  - _......._                                         --___I-   - -......
to heaven. You want to go to heaven even when you                      Yes, His hands were very clean. But we pierced
are afraid of heaven. And you want to go to heaven them at the accursed tree of Calvary.
even if you are afraid of death which is the door to                   Jesus also has a pure heart. His heart was so
Ii eaven. You cannot help but want to go to heaven.             Divinely pure that He went out of His way to manifest
When you are regenerated you ask yourself and others            it. And the Samaritan woman sings in heaven; the
and God also the selfsame  question repeatedly: Who             poor widow received her only son from the jaws of
shall ascend the hill of the Lord ?                             death and the murderer on the cross enters the heaven-
       And you ask that question because you want to go         ly Paradise. His heart is so pure that He is willing
to God. The life that you received in the hour of               to stand on the bottomless bottom of hell for the sake
regeneration is the life of God's covenant and that life        of the love of God. When God pours out upon Him
is lived in heaven. Even if you could remain on the             the billows of His everlasting wrath, His pure heart
earth for thousands of years and if you could have all          says: Amen ! I love Thee, My Father and my God !
the things of the world in money and possessions and                   But we have pierced that heart with our wicked-
life and health in abundance  - even then you would ness. Can you imagine the look, that was expressive
continue  t,o ask: Who, oh, who shall ascend the hill of of a broken heart, the look which Jesus gave Peter
the Lord ? I am so weary of the earth and of my sin             when he stood there cursing and swearing among the
that no man could utter it. "Neem de wereld, gcef mij           soldiers? The look that mirrrored the pur.e heart of
Jezus !" And Jesus is in heaven and therefore I want            loving Jesus? Ah, fellow-sinner, let us go out into the
to go to heaven.                                                night with Peter and weep bitterly.           For we have
       The answer that  w.e receive to our question is found    pierced the pure heart of Jesus.       ,
in Psalm 24: "He that hath clean hands, and a pure                     Jesus lifted up His soul indeed, but not unto vanity.
heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,             He lifted up His  sou1 that continually labored to save
nor sworn deceitfully."                                         and to redeem unto the Father in heaven. He took
       And that answer is absolute.                             His soul and lifted it high to the heavens where stood
   Therefore the gates are shut in heaven and the               the eternal altar and lay that labor-weary soul upon
doors in these gates are locked with an eternal lock,           it to burn and to suffer for you and for me. And th.e
shutting sinners out of heaven.                                 heavenly fragrance was wafted to the Father: a sweet-
                                                                smelling savor.
   Man by nature can therefore never ascend  th.e hill
of the Lord nor stand in His holy place. Entrance                      But we have wearied that Soul. We have wearied
into the heavenly Kingdom is only for that generation           Him so often that He groaned: My soul is weary unto
that seek the face of God. And none of us does this             death ! His weary soul even went out to us for human
as we are by nature. We seek indeed but we do not               sympathy and we hear Him: "Is it nothing to you,
seek God. We seek the devil and make a very prudent all ye that pass by ? behold, and see if there be any
and careful covenant with hell. Doing this we have              sorrow like unto My sorrow, which is done unto Me.
dirty hands ; and a corrupt heart; we lift up our soul          wherewith the Lord hath afflicted Me in the day of
continually to vanity and persist in swearing deceit- His fierce anger?" Well, we did look. It was during
fully. That shuts us ,out of heaven and from the com-           that untold agony at the Cross. Yes, we did look to
munion with God and Divine beings.                              inquire if there was a sorrow that could be like unto
                                                                His sorrow and we found none to equal His sorrow.
   But there is one Man among men who ascended the              Since then we call Him the Man of sorrows. But we.
hill of the Lord. ,4nd that man is J.esus.                      listen: "And they that passed by reviled Him, wagging
   Oh, but He is beautiful!                                     their heads. . . ."
       Even the man who among all men is the most miser-               Jesus never swore deceitfully. His very Name is
able in that he was possessed of Beelzebub himself Truth. He is the enemy of the lie and the devil. It
cried of Him : I have betrayed the Innocent Blood !             was His meat and drink to always speak  truthful-
       As the apple tree is among the trees of the wood,        IY.
so is Jesus among the sons. His mouth is most sweet:                   But we, our corrupt human nature, listened to his
vea, He is altogether Iovely. This is my Beloved. and truthful Words and concluded: He hath a devil. No,
this is my Friend, 0 daughters of Jerusalem!          (2:3;     He is BeeIzebub  Himself. Oh, horror!
5:16).                                                                 But God judges and no man.
   And Luke says of Him : "And Jesus increased in                      When Jesus, therefore, concluded the work of truth
wisdom and stature. and in favor (grace) with God               and love and lay dead in the grave, God raised Him.
and men." (2:52).                                               And when the same Jesus rose from the dead and
   His hands were surely clean. He blessed with them started to ascend the hill of the, Lord, the first and
and broke the bread for the hungry. Sometimes He only man that ever tried it; and when the angels saw
would  manfacture  clay with them and salve the blind it and wondering began to sing and ask:  Who  as-
eyes of the miserable and they saw.                             cendeth there the hill of the Lord? Then there issued


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       377
c.                                                                                                __II__-  .._ __-.-
a voice from the throne of God: Lift up your heads,         a large order the speaker could not very well enter into
0 ye gates ! and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors;     an kinds of details but had to confine himself to out-
and the King of glory shall come in !                       lmmg a few main thoughts.
   And Jesus continued to climb the stairway to God's          Rev. De Boer first spoke to us on `The Present
heaven. And He did arrive before the gates which            day state of affairs' in general. I will try to give our
were lifted up. And He did enter. With eternal              readers a synopsis of  this first main thought. iuatur-
praises. Since then He began to sing and to warble of       ally, I am not in a position to quote the speaker verua-
the love of God from age to age the same. Some              tim. But here follows the outline:
strains of this song have come to us, His brethren.            "The whole world is characterized by unrest. There
And the song of Moses and the Lamb transforms us.           always has been unrest in the world but particularly
It transforms us from the sinner. to the saint. For today. There is turmoil politically, socially,  economc-
He did all this work in your stead. And He shall sing ally. The cause of much of our present day unrest
until the last pilgrim is safe and home with the Father.    from a historical point of view must be traced first
The song of Jesus is heard in that people are re-           of all to the last world war. We  co.uld expect this,
generated and converted and sanctified and glorified.       war always brings unrest and unsettled conditions.
   Are you ascending the hill of the Lord, my brother?      But there is also another cause of our present day
   I spake of the song of triumphant Jesus. Ah, yes,        unrest and this second cause is the rapid pace of de-
and it seems  I hear again as in my tender youth:           velopment in the last hundred years. We live in a
"Daar ruischt langs de wolken. . . ."                       period where in we hardly can live up with our own
                                              G. V.         pace. Distance, for instance, means very little in our
                                                            day, we live in the age of airplanes, radios, television,
                                                            etc., the world is getting very small. All this has
                                                            brought problems. Much of our present day unrest
                                                            is therefore due to the fact that we live in a period
                                                            of change and readjustment. These things are simply
      Report Of The Meeting Of The                          facts whether we like them or not. An other char-
                                                            acteristic of our present day state of affairs in general
 League Of Prot. Ref. Men's Societies                       is the increase of  apostacy.  With man becoming
                                                            greater and more important, with humanism striding
   Thursday evening, April 21, our League held its          ahead,  the shackles of religion are cast off and God
last meeting of  th.e season. This meeting was held         is denied. - Principally there is nothing new in all
in one of the rooms of our Fuller Ave., Church. The         these things. We should also keep in mind that God
undersigned was privileged to be present at this meet-      pushes history on, God makes history. And it is also
ing and we noticed a considerable number of those           equally true that we always have had unrest, change,
present were familiar faces which we had seen at our        apcetacy,  etc. The element that is n&c in our day is
previous meetings. We believe these meetings serve          the fact that it all is on such a world-wide scale, and
a very good purpose; they are educational, inspiring        the striving for unity, political and economical assumes
and thought-provoking as was expressed by some pre- such great proportions as mankind has ever witnessed
sent, and the very atmosphere, the manner and nature        before. New is also the idea of combining politics and
of discussions etc., suggests immediately that there is     economics in such a way that the two are blended
`a tie that binds.' We count it indeed a privilege to       together and centralized, we live in the age of centrali-
be able to attend these League meetings. And this,          zation. We never had such intense striving after unity
of course, also implies that we are convinced those         as in our day. The welfare of the whole Society is
brethren who do not attend these meetings, although sought in our day and not merely the enrichment of a
they have the opportunity, deprive themselves of some- few."
thing worth-while.                                             In the second place the speaker asked the question:
   The meeting was called to order by our president,        "What is prophecy and what has  proph.ecy  to say."
brother A. C. Boerkoel. After singing a couple num- The answer was, briefly:
bers of the Psalter, brother Koster led the meeting in         "Prophecy teaches us Christ is coming. He is not
prayer.                                                     slack in His coming and we live in the last hour, be-
   We soon came to our main point on the program            tween 11 and 12 o'clock. The next main event will be
for the evening and that was an address by Rev. P.          the return of Christ upon the clouds of heaven. If
De Boer of South Holland. The speaker had consented the apostle John could say in his day already `It is
to speak on the topic:                                      the last hour', then we certaisnly  can say it in our day
   "The present Day International State of Affairs in and age. - What does Christ tell us about His coming,
the Light of Prophecy".                                     about the last hour? It may be stated Christ has
   Indeed, d large order, as ithe speaker expressed it given us signs of the times. Signs of the times which
in his introductory remarks, And because it was such point to Christ's coming aYe among others : wars, catas-


3'78                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-       -                            - -
trophies (famines, earthquakes, floods etc.), the gospel      Marthas', but the committee for refreshments certain-
must be preached to all nations, the great apostacy ly acquitted itself of its task in a splendid way. Re-
must come, and there also must take place the ultimate        cess time also afforded the opportunity for meeting
realization of the kingdom of Antichrist.        Now, all     many of the brethren and exchange a few words or
these signs have been there in a certain sense ever           have a friendly chat; and the brethren certainly avail-
since the beginning of the world. Scripture, however,         ed themselves of the opportunity.
teaches us that th.e signs will increase and become               After recess we first sang Psalm 68:1,  2.
more intense as the time of the end draws near. -- We             We had a half hour for discussion, which proved, as
can say the gospel has been preached to all nations,          usual, but all too short. Several questions were asked
although there may be a difference of opinion as to the and answered either by the speaker or by one of the
question in how far the nations must be influenced            brethren. It was my  original intention to briefly enu-
by the gospel before the final end can come, for it is        merate the questions asked and the answers given but
true in a general sense all the nations have been             whereas I have given already a rather elaborate report
touched  by the gospel but many  mtiions are n,ot per-        I will refrain from doing so.
meated.   by  ihe gospel knowledge. We also have had
apostacy in every age, but never like in our age. And             Let me state in conclusion, from what  I heard the
this also should be remembered, the  final antichristian      meeting was much enjoyed by those present. A male
state will not be without religion, but the world will be     quartette  from Holland consisting of the brethren Case-
religious in a Phariseistic sense, hence, there will be no    mier, Boerkoel, Cammenga and  Schippers sang three
place for Christ. That's why modernism is to be fear-         songs ; a welcome variety in the program.
ed much more than outright atheism; modernism                     Our League is now five years old as the president
clothes itself in the garb of piety. - It may also be         told us and we hope that the child may  dev.elop,  have
saf,ely stated that at no time has the end been nearer a healthy growth and in years to come may grow up
than today, in our day we can easily conceive of the          to full maturity. It is certainly an organization well
realization of the kingdom of Antichrist as picture in        worth our support and it can be a power for good in
Scripture.    As to the question `When will the Anti-         our Church. And we also hope that our League may
christ come in his final appearance, `the speaker would       give more and more leadership, guidance to our local
not wager a guess. But this is certain, if things de-         Societies.
velop at a pace as of late years the antichristian king-         Finally, we wish to assure the readers of our
dom can soon be realized. But, of course, the question        Standard Bearer once more than an enjoyable evening
is `will the present pace continue  1' the speaker is in-     was spent of fellowship and inspiration.
clined to think that we have slowed down of late. This           Having come to the close of our meeting we sang
is certain, we must not have a sickly conception of           of Psalter No. 247. Rev. M. Gritters closed the meet-
Christ's return as if the Lord can come any day.              ing with thanks to God.
Everything must develop and all things must have                May God be with us till we meet again, D. V.
reached their climax. And the days of Antichrist will                                                           J .   D .
bring a state of affairs pleasing to the natural man
but it will be, horrible days for God's people as Scrip-
ture plainly teaches".
     I have been all too lengthy in reporting this speech
which, I am confident you will be able to read in its
entirety in  "Our Church News", some time in the                                 ANOUNCEMENT
near future. Let me hasten to the end. The last point
of the speaker came down to this: `What to say now               The Annual meeting of the Reformed Free Publish-
about the international state of affairs in the light         ing Association (Western division) will be held in the
of Scripture." The speaker was and could be brief
on this point. He made clear that our present day             Hull Prot. Ref. Church basement, Friday evening, May.
international state of affairs point more clearly than        20, at 8 o'clock. Rev. M. Gritters will deliver a speech
ever before to the `ro,pid;  approach .of the end. Terrible and the  reports of Secretary and Treasurer will be
days are ahead of us, but God's people should not be          delivered as well as other important business. We
dismayed, the Lord is coming. And even though the             would like to see this meeting well attended, by all
Church of Christ will be pushed more and more out
of the world, God's people be persecuted, even though         members, as well as readers of the Standard Bearer
the true Church will become gradually smaller, Christ's       and those interested. Both ladies and men are in-
Church will have the victory. The Lord is coming to           vited to this public business meeting.
judge the world and redeem His people.
     After this address we had recess during which time                             *          L. Vermeer, Pres.
cake and coffee was served. There were no `dienende                                            N. Buyert, Sec'y.


                                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       379
--..--" -._. ^-^."  ..--........ "...-.-           _-                                                                         ..-.---.-.---
                                                                                To suffer for well-doing is to be put to grief on ac-
                        The Fifth Commandment                                   count of doing well. And the expression `if ye do well',
                                                                                must be made to  apply to the aggregate of good works
            Honor Thy  Father   nnd Thy  Mothw. . . .                           in which the believer by the grace of God may walk.
                                                                                SO what the apostle had before his mind is servants
       In the foregoing articles on the Fifth  Command-                         of God afflicted by their earthy masters on account of
 nent the following views were presented and con-                               their loyalty to the truth and to Christ. Servants they
tended for. The fifth command concerns not merely                               are who disobey as often as the conviction forms in
the parental but every power or authority ordained                              their soul that to obey would be to renounce God, deny
by G,od. To obey .is I to hew, t&o* hearken itcl the word,                      Christ and  apostatize  from the truth. And for this
mstruction,  admonition of the authority. Parents are                           the master, being a hard man, punishes them. The
being honored through their being  obeyed. Thus to master, the ruler, and the world that he represents,
honor father and mother is to own them as parents and                           hates these servants on account of their confessi,on,
to acknowledge their parental authority through being attitude, view of life and of the world. He regards
in subjection to their rule-a rule that they exercise                           these servants as a menace, as a threat to the well-
by virtue of a God-given Iright. It is this right that being of the state and society. He therefore demands
constitutes the parental authority.                           And it is this    of them that they change their attitude and return
authority that the fifth command concerns.                             Hence    to the gods of this world. But the servants refuse and
parents (and ail those in authority over one) are to                            are therefore punished. So it goes with them. So it
be obeyed by reason of the fact that, being parents,                            went with the early Christians of the first three cen-
they rule by a right that is of God. All power (author- turies of this Christian era. These  Chtistians refused
ity) is of God. No man rules over an&her by a right                             to pay divine  hono!rs  +.o  Hhe  .emperor  and his  im*age,
of which he or a majority of men is the author. Thus                            to take part in any idolatrous ceremonies at public
the authority of the parents does not spring from festivities, showed aversion to the imperial military
the person of the parents nor does it inhere in parent-                         service and disregard for politics and all civic and
hood. To maintain the latter is to deny that there                              temporal affairs as compared with the spiritual and
is no power but of God.                                                         eternal interests, of man. Because they believed in
        Scripture requires that servants shall be subject                       one God, they were derided as atheists and enemies of
to the froward masters as well as to the good and the gods and accused of all sorts of abominations.
gentle. This was emphasized in opposition to the view The public calamities of that age, such as floods,
 (held by some Calvinists) that whenever rulers ignore drought, famine, pestilence, were regarded as punish-
the will of God, trample .upon the rights of the govern-                        ments justly inflicted by the angry gods for the dis-
ed and become tyranical,  it becomes the duty of the                            regard of their worship by the Christians.           So did
subjects to refuse obedience and even, if necessary, to                         these servants do w.ell and suffer for it at the hands
depose the tyrant. This latter view, it was shown,                              of rulers and common people alike. And, instead of
was not Calvin's. This reformer taught that the ruled inaugurating a revolution, they, in obedience to God,
are in duty bound to submit themselves also to the                              endured this grief, that is, took it with true Christian
tyrannical and godless ruler in all things lawful. He                           patience and gained a crown-the crown of life. "And
thus took decided ground against any right of insur-                            hereunto are ye called." Let us understand this call-
 rection. Holy' Writ, it was shown, does likewise. Let                          ing well. It is described to us in that passage from
 me now add to what has already been presented on Peter's first epistle,-a passage that is to be para-
this subject a few remarks. When a believer is sub-                             phrased thus, "Servants be subject also to the  fro-
ject  to a tyrannical master, be he (this. master) parent                       ward masters, namely, to such who are wont to inflict
or magistrate or  employ.er  or husband, he suffers upon you punishments on account of your doing well.
wrongfully. The tyranny of such a master consists Be subject also to such. Do not threaten, but submit
precisely in his affording those over whom he rules                             yourself even to this unjust treatment.          Bear also
 unjust treatment. Hence, to put up with such a mas-                            this affliction  with true Christian patience. Do so, as
 ter is to allow one's self to be wrongfully dealt with.                        God so requires. For this is thankworthy, if a man,
         But the question still remains what the character who suffers unjustly, patiently endure for conscience
 of that  suff&ng, signified by the phrase  suflting                            toward God. For what glory is it, if, sinning and being
 ,wr!omngfully, may be. The context makes it clear that                         beaten for it, ye take it patiently? `But, if, doing well
 it is a suffering that results from doing well. The                            and suffering for it, ye patiently bear, this is accept-
 statement occurs, "If ye do well and suffer for it".                           able with God. For hereunto were ye called. Because
 Now the believer whose hire is being kept back by                              Christ also suf?ened for us, for our berMit,  for our sins,
 fraud by the rich man whose fields he reaps, suffers and left us an example that ye should follow after in
 wrongfully. Yet he is not on this account suffering                            His steps. F,clr He, toor, suffered but not for His faults.
 for well-doing.                            What he suffers every unbelieving For He did no sin; neither was guile found in `Him.
 laborer, that belongs to this class, may be suffering. He suffered, therefore, not because as we, He did well


 380                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEAR.ER
 -..-_....                .-___--._                                           -                  -.                 -.-._."-
 m a measure, but as one faultless, as one without sin.        enough and that the evidence that he is a Christian
 `I hus Be suuered  solely on account of th.e pe&cr,  &te      man is complete. But when a man is seen doing well
 that He lived. Yet did He take it patiently.  And             and suffering for it, the praise of some may know no
 what a glorious example of patience He ieft us ! When         bounds and they will go to afhrming  that the height
 lie was reviled, He reviled not again ; when He suffered,     of moral achievement had been attained in that man.
 rle threatened not but committed Himself to Him that          But the fact is that if there be  no'  patient   endulring
 ~udgeth  righteously.                                        on our part, our well-doing is without moral worth
        Whereunto,  then,  are believers called? Unto the      in the sight of God. But the truth of the matter is
 duty and privilege of patiently sunering for their doing     that the man who is not patiently enduring is not en-
 well. This being their duty, it follows that they find       during at ail, as not to take it patiently is to retaliate,
 themselves under the necessity of being subject also Jto strike back, to rendler  evil for evil. And if a man is
 to the cruel, hard, unjust and capricious master. And        not enduring, he is not doing well, confessing and wit-
 this is equivalent to saying that rebellion is never         nessing'  #showing  forth Christ's praises. The three--
 justified, and is always to be condemned.                    doing well, enduring reproach for the name of Christ,
     Why should God call His people to the duty of enduring patiently-go hand in hand. A man must
 patiently sudering  for well-doing? The reason is not        not therefore say, "I can do well without suffering for
 hard to discover. When believers are so suffering,           it," or  ?I can do well and suffer for it, without suffer-
 it is then that they show forth so much of Christ and        ing patiently." If a man does well, he cannot escape
 of the praises of God whose chilldren {they  are.            suffering.  And'if he truly suffer, it must be taking
                                                      For
 it is then that they are seen loving their enemies,          it patiently. So, if a man endure not patiently, he
 blessing those who curse, doing good to those that           endures not; and if he endure not, he does not well.
 hate, and praying for those that despitefully use and        One is compelled to choose, then, not between doing
 persecute them. It is then, when they so suffer, that        well on the one hand and doing well and suffering
 they are seen as a people of God with a faith that is        patiently for it on the other, but between doing well
 indestructible and as a people that cannot be separated      and patiently enduring on the one hand and doing evil
 from the love of Christ. It is when they so suffer,          on the other. Hence there is but one calling with which
 suffer patiently for well-doing, that they walk with         we are being (irresistibly) called, namely, to do well
                                                              and to patiently suffer for it.
 God and reckon that the suffermgs of this present time                                           He who is not respond-
are not worthy to be compared withthe  glory that shall ing to this call is no Christian. The Christian has but
                                                              one lot in this world `namely, to endure for the name
be revealed in them. When they so suffer, they are            of Christ. And if this be not the lot of a man, he is
the meek of the earth, the merciful, the peacemakers.
And they are blessed; for they inherit the earth, ob-         no child of God. "For  herunto were ye called. . .  ."
                                                              How true this appears to be!
tain mercy, and shall be called the children of God.
But consider the believer, who, because he stands not             That the ~apostle  meant by well-doing, suffering for
in his faith, does not endure patiently for well-doing.       Christ's name, is evident from the sequence of his
Instead of committing himself to Him Who judgeth              epistle.    The fourth chapter contains this passage,
righteously, he holds to self. When therefore he is           "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial
cursed, he curses again ; when he is reviled, he, too,        which is to try you, as though some strange thing
reviles; land when he suffers, he threatens. In a word, happened to you : but rejoice, in asmuch as ye are par-
he carries on as do the chil.dren of darkness, when ill-      takers of Christ's sufferings ; . . . . If ye be reproach-
treated.      And his light is under a  bushe1. And, to       ed for the name of Christ, happy are ye; . . . . but
direct the attention of the world away from himself,          let none suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an
he, sooner than he thinks, ceases to do well, refrains        evil-doer, or a.s a busybody in  other men's matters.
from confessing the name of Christ before men. But            Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be
eventually his faith must again assert itself or other-       ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf."
wise he belongs to that class of men of whom Christ              The statements, "But let none suffer as a mur-
spake when He said ,"But he that receiveth the seed           derer. . . . Yet if any man suff.er  as a Christian (for
in stony places, the same is he that heareth the word,        the name of Christ), let him not be ashamed," plainly
and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he no root in        refer back to verse 20 of chapter 2, "For what glory
himself but dureth for a while: for when tribulation          is it when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye take it
or persecution  arise& because of the word, by and            patiently, but if ye do well and suffer 50s it this is
by he is offended." It is not strange therefore that          acceptable with God."
"hereunto ye are called".                                        Suffering for well-doing is the most trying kind
    Some may be quick to say of a man who does well,          of suffering there is. To do well is to do righteousness
who witnesses and confesses, that he is a Christian           in the sight of God. It is to bring one's self forward
man. And the emphasis with which this is said, plain-         as being of His party. He doing so is a truly good
ly indicates that it is thought that the man is doing         man, truly lovable, of all men the most harmless, loyal


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D '   B E A R E R                                                                381
1..-                   .._I__           -.----~                                    -_-.             "-" -__.___..___ ".".._" -I^ ^... I -............._
to God and man. Y.et men, the world, insist that he             throned himself at least in regard to the one matter
is wrong, culpable, unrighteous, an enemy of God and            of the godless command.
of mankind, a threat to the well-being of state and                Calvin's conception, no doubt, is the right one; only
society, an impediment to progress, a dangerous up-             it ought to be stated somewhat differently. That a
start and what  net. And so insisting they beat him with ruler who through the abuse of his authority raises
their fists or, what is much worse, lash him with               his horns against God nevertheless continues in office
their tongues.       And what occasions this treatment          (Calvin certainly meant not to deny this) can be shown
is the man's  righheoasness,  his being a child of the          from scripture. The froward master who afflicts a
light, and what inspires it is hatred of the truth and          believing subject for his well doing, has his horns
of God. But, says the apostle, let them that suffer ac- raised up against God. The evidence that also before
cording to the will of God, commit the keeping of their God he nevertheless retains his authority is that the
souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.         ill-treated subject remains  und.er the necessity of abid-
        Of suff.ering  patiently for well-doing, Christ only    ing under his dominion and is even in duty bound to
is capable. And it is Christ Who by His Spirit so               submit to his  ab.use.
suffers in and through His people.                                 We would therefore prefer to state the matter thus :
        If the believer may not employ violence against         a ruler who abuses his authority through the inculca-
the one in authority over him, not even if this one  ill-       tion of a ,g&Ness command, loses not his right to rule
treats him for his doing well, he surely must refrain           but his right to be obeyed in this one matter. And
from the use of violence when such a right of his               as to the subject who disobeys, what he rebels against
is being trampled on as the right to a living wage.             is not the authority as such but its abtise.  But from
The labor strike, as it is an izrtrument  of violence, must     this it does not follow that the subject is allowed to
be condemned by every one for whum  also this first             rebel against every and all abuse of authority. It
epistle of Peter is the infallible word of God.                 is to be considered that the ruler misuses his authority
        The statement was made that revolution against          (right to rule) when he publishes the command and
those in authority over one is always to be condemned.          requires that it be obeyed as well as when he punishes
This stand, I am convinced, is thoro.ughly  scriptural.         the believing subject for his disobedience. Yet it is
It is the stand taken by the apostle Peter in the pas-          only against this abuse of authority first mentioned
sage that was examined. But scripture also  affirms             that the subject may revolt. To the abuse of authority
that God must be obeyed more than man, that a god- last mentioned, the subject is in duty bound to submit.
less command issued by the authority may not be                 This being true, it will not do to say with Meeter,
heeded.       But wh.ereas all disobedience is revolution.      "Whenever sovereigns ignore the will of God, trample
is there not conflict here ? Apparently there is but upon the rights of the governed and become tyrannical,
not actually. But in what direction is harmony to it becomes the privilege and the duty of the subjects,
be sought? Calvin had this to say, "In accordance               in view of the higher responsibility of the supreme
with this rule, Daniel testifies that he did the king no        sovereign God, to refuse obedience and even, if neces-
injustice, though he had refused to execute his godless         sary, to depose the tyrant, through the lesser authori-
command ; for the king by raising his horns against ties. . .  ."
God had robbed himself of his authority." This last                As it stands, the statement cannot be accepted.
clause is commentary. The testimony to which Calvin             In the essential sense, the sovereign, who is not a
r&&s reads, "My God h&h sent H,Ls  anNgel and hath              true believer, does nothing else but ignore the will of
shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me:             God. Must he therefore be refused obedience and de-
for as much as befo,re  him innocency  was in me: and           posed? If so, the great majority of office holders in
also before thee 0 king, have I done no hurt." Dan.             the state would have to be renounced by Christian
622. The meaning of this last clause is, "even as I             neop1.e. and we wtould be driven to the view that Chris-
was likewise found innocent of thee." This was  ap-             tions  may subj.& themselves only to one who bel,ieves.
narent to Daniel from the king's anxious inquiry con-           But  now  further. Is it true that whenever sovereigns
cerning his welfare.                                            trample upon the rights of the governed, it becomes
        *4ccording to Calvin, then, the king through his        the duty of the subject to refuse obedience?  W'hat
signing the godless degree' robbed himself of his al-           is to be understood here by  the tights  of the governed?
th.c,rity,  actually deposed himself, so that in disobey-           A law-abiding citizen who fears God and honors
ing, Daniel was pitted not against Darius as ruler, but         the keg and therefore has a right to an undisturbed
against this monarch as man. Calvin's conception al-            life is being molested by his sovereign but not in the
lows one to reason as follows: to rebel against those           matter of his religion. The king of England trampled
in  acthol=ity  is without exception sin.      Yet must a upon what the American Colonists regarded as their
godless command be disobeyed. In doing so the be-               rights, namely, the right  iLo levy their own taxes.
liever is not in rebellion against authority, as the ruler      -4re these some of the rights that, as trampled upon,
~!XOLQ$L  his illegitimate exercise of authority, de-           call for disobedience and rev&&ion? If the subjects

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

must remain under the dominion of a ruler, no matter judgment upon the merits of a particular war that the
what the rights may be that are being trampled upon, magistracy contemplates declaring or has declared.
how then can it ever become the duty of the subjects         Bult only thie verdict of the magistrate is authorita-
to &eposc a ruler and overturn his gove,rnment  by force tive, determinative and binding. And in submitting
of arms. It makes no essential difference whether the to this verdict and also in acting upon it, the citizen,
ruler be removed by the subjects as such or by the ,ev!en  though  his private conviction may be that the
subjects through their r,epresentatives.  In both cases war  is wrong, will not be surrendering  hi<s  conscience
the removal is the work of the subjects. We have in          to the state, if Khat conscience be one truly  enlighbned
this country every four years a presidential election.       by God's Word. Fair the plain teaching  od God's Word is
If the man in office and the party in power gave no          exactly that it is the prerogative of the state to  d,ecide
satisfaction, they are retired. But this is no revalu-       authoritatively whether a certain war is justifiable
tion.                                                        <and  that to this decision the citizens are to subject
       The question remains, just what abuse of authority    themselves. And if the war be wrong, the magistrate
on the part of the ruler justifies disobedience on the       and not the citizens are  beihg held responsible.
pati ,of %he subjects,  requir+es of them that they  faae       Now unless the magistracy and the citizens of
their monarch and say to him that they cannot heed the state are avowed pirates, the magistracy will, of
his command as God must be obeyed more than man. course, always declare the war that it contemplates to
The question has been correctly answered thus: when- wage, thoroughly justifiable. It will not say to its
ever the ruler fails to keep his estate and sets .up his subjects, whom it has armed, "the military expedition
throne in the church to meddle with its internal affairs that we now `set out upon is, we keenly realize, con-
and to determine its polity. The church has no king demned of Heaven. And it is this, as we now g: forth
but Christ. Is this answer complete? Is it as wide           to murder, steal and plunder. So declaring, the magis-
in  iits scope as it should be? It would seem so. It         tracy condemns its own undertaking and openly affirms
is the best and safest answer.  There is also Cal- that, in the words of Calvin, it raises its horns against
vin's answer, "Whenever the monarch raises his horns God. The subjects therefore would have to refuse
against God," that is, whenever he, leaving his estate,      obedience.
usurps God's place through his inculcating upon his                                                       G. M. 0.
subjects commands opposed to the revealed will of God
as expressed in scripture and in particular in the law
of the ten commandments. We have examples of re-
quired disobedience in Holy Writ. It was demanded of
Daniel that he turn his back on God, of his three
friends that they worship the image. They could not
do otherwise but disobey. Eventually believers will                        War And The Church
be asked to worship the image of the beast. They will
disobey and pay for their disobedience with their life.         It is not the prerogative of the Church, it was just
If the ruler or government should order the citizens         said, to authoritatively decide whether a war  is justi-
across the border of another country to murder and           fiable. But from this it does not follow that the church
plunder its people, obedience should have to be with-        has nothing to say on the subject of war in general.
held. The law that says, "Thou  shaIt have no other          If the word be faithfully preached, this subject cannot
gods before me," also forbids murder and theft. The          very well be avoided. Yet the Scriptures do not pur-
view that the command of the king must be disobeyed          posely and especially treat the subj.& of war. It re-
when it goes contrary to the first table of the  Iaw         cords the wars waged by the people of God of the Old
but not when it negates the laws written on the second Testament dispensation, it over and over predicts war,
table,-this view, certainly, is untenable. But this it uncovers the purposes and motives of the wars that
statement is not meant as a thrust at the view-a view the people of Israel waged and of the wars that the
thoroughly sound-that "the  pr.erogative  to declare nations of the earth wage among themselves, but no-
war belongs to the state, that the church has no busi- where does it pass on the merits or demerits of war
ness to militate against this right, that the church is in general. In vain would one search the scriptures
not competent, because of the nature of the case, to         for a direct answer to the question whether war as
pass upon the merits  or demexits  of such a declaration     such is sin. But from the circumstance that the people
of war, and that the whole matter lies outside the of Israel in response to the command of Jehovah waged
domain of the church." The view that when the (yues-         war, it mu&. bc conclud:ed that war ILC S?K% is no more
tion must be answered whether a certain war is justi- sin than eating and drinking, building and farming.
fiable, the dictate of the individual conscience and not The following reasoning therefore  ( found in The Calvin
that of the state (government) is authoritative. de- Forum for June 1937) is thoroughly fallacious, (`The
cisive.  final.-this view is  wrong.  Its exponents are      state has moral responsibilities. Among these moral
preachers of revolution. The citizens, too, will pass responsibilities  are t;he  preselvation  of life, law, order,


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       883
-^lll__~   "-"-^           --,_ ..-_-          -"--" ..." ..-.... "IX__I"_-I__._lll"...__-..-    ._I  _-.. -"- ..--.-..  - ..-- ^^ -... --
peace and justice. Only if a war promotes these can              then is the duty ~if: :tbe church in respect to war? To de-
the Christiansupport the state in war. . . . it is quite cry and condemn the carnal war, its godless motives,
obvious that war preserves none of these, but rather             purposes and objective. The duty of the church to
destroys them all. Once a state gets into a war it uses          preach against godless warfare is as urgent as its duty
every method to win, whether foul or fair.                       to preach against any form of carnality such as glut-
    "The state has a  mora1  responsibility to protect the tony and (drunkenness. But this does not mean that
nation's possessions. The greatest tragedy of war is             in time of war, the church may continue to openly
the destruction of morality. Religious restraints break condemn a particular war, of which it is convinced
down and immorality increases <on `every  hand.                  that it is unjustifiable, if the war has been sanctioned
    ". . .                                                       and is being waged by the state. This, too, is revolu-
              .since the state cannot fulfill her responsi- tion. The war, then, that must be preach'ed against
bilities through war, Christianity wiIl find itself in a         is not this or that particular war, but godless warfare
dangerous position if it does not unitedly refuse to
sanction and take part in it."                                   in general and in the abstract. Ilt is not ther calling of
                                                                 the church to discuss  4n  the pulpit a particular war with
   It is plain that the premise from which the author a view either to approving or oondemning. The sole
of these lines proceeds is that war CLS such is sin. It task of the church is to preach the word.
is at war ns such that the author strikes. It is war                  Let us now once more return to the matter of
thart destroys peace, just&  and  msrality. It is war-           revolution and ask whether revolution in the sense of
war as such-by which religious restraints are broken a permanent renouncement of the ruler (and I think
down. This is the contention. However, whereas war               now of the revolt in the Netherlands against king
as such is not sin, war as such can no more be destruc- Philip of Spain) is never to be justified. When, wrote
tive of morality than farming and building. However              Dr. A. Kuyper, magistrates so demoralize that if in
strange and startling this may sound tot some, it is             their madness they were not restrained, an entire na-
true. Was the morality of David, king of Israel, de-             tion would be exposed to economic and moral destruc-
stroyed by.the  many wars that he waged? Did David               tion, then a  ccnditicn  may bo born in which a William
as a warrior end up an apostate? To ask these ques- of Orange must oppose Spain's king in order to save
tions is at once to answer them. In the article from             a commonwealth from complete ruin. But this con-
which- I just quoted we find this statement, "David              cerns, so the writer continued, wholly exceptional cases
confessed to Solomon that the Lord had not permitted             for which no fast ruIe can be laid down and in which
him to build God's house for the reason that he had              every one feels himself constrained to act, must ask
`shed blood abundantly' and had `made great wars'.               himself whether he feels himself called of God and in
But to Solomon, a man of peace,  w~as this great  privi-         his venture dare rely upon God's help. Such was the
Iege given." Was the author in penning these lines,              predicament of William of Orange, and his attempt
perhaps suggesting that David's wars spiritually and             was crowned by the outcome. God Almighty turned
morally disqualified him for the task? If so, he came against PhiIip of Spain and our fathers might rejofce
with a wrong suggestion. It is not war ns such that              in God's favor; just because no spirit of resistance or
destroys morality and breaks down religious restraints,          revolution but solely the desire to remain faithful to
but the sinful motive that drives a  Waring  nation, the         God and His word had led them.
sinful purpose with which a war is waged and the sin-                                                         So far Kuyper.
ful spirit in which it is waged. Eating and drinking,                This is careful and sober speech. Undoubtedly this
if not done to the  glory of God, destroys morality and          revolt in the Nethelands is one of the amazingly
breaks down religious restraint as well as a carnal war.         few revolutions in history that must be justified. King
The man who eats not to the honor and glory of God               Philips had permanently resolved by himself to
eventually degenerates int,o a glutton and a wine-bib-           destroy the true church from the face of the earth.
ber. So the church indeed has something to say on the            The abuse of power by this monarch was so complete,
subject of war. Its duty is not to authoritatively pass          persistent, and altogether ruinous to Christ's church,
on the merits or the demerits of a particular war that that the king had permanently robbed himself of his
the state declares. This is revolution. And it may no            authority and therefore also might be permanently re-
more <refuse  to sanction war (6s such than it may re- nounced. This was the conviction of God's people.
fuse to sanction eating and drinking QS ,mch. Neither,               The teachings of Scripture were found to be that
may it urge  the citizens of the state never  tot  t&o believers must be subject also to the froward masters.
part in any war. This is unbiblical and thus unwar- This raises the question whether those who hold office
ranted pacifism. Such would be its duty only if war in the state should not be godfearing men as well as
~.s such were (sinful. And there is one more thing the those who hold office in the church. And the answer:
church may not do. When the state calls to arms, the from the point of view of God's moral will they, of
church may not  urge men to refrain from  t-iking course, should. The command of God, "Serve me in
hart in the particular war that has been declared and the  seat of  author-ity  in which I, the God of all the
aamtioned  by the state. This, too,  is revclution.  What        earth placed thee," comes also to magistrates (how

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

could it be otherwise. All men are in duty bound to           believer, rightly considered, could not rid himself of
serve God). Observe how the Lord addresses the kings          the godless ruler if he would. It means, that the lot
and judges of the earth in Psalm 2 : "Be wise now,            of the believers in this world is to suffer for well-diong
therefore,  0 ye kings ; be instructed, ye judges of the      and to take it patiently. So God has determined.
earth, placed thee," comes also to magistrates (how           `Hereunto were ye called". The way to glory leads
trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye             through  suff.ering. And through suffering this way
perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but            WL~.S~ lead. There mast be for the believer this crucible
a little."'                                                   of affliction ; for the dross must be burnt out of him.
   Yet do the kings not fear Him. They rage and set           And this crucible God prepares for him through the
themselves, take counsel together,, against the Lord godless world and its princes. This world and its
and His annointed, saying, Let us break their bands           princes must be here. The world for a time must have
asunder and cast away their cords from us. But why            the power. Conditions on this earth must be as they
should it be thus? The final answer is, Because God now are for the elects' sake. Just because the way
so determined. No more than, He wills to save all men,        does lead through suffering, is there. salvation for
no more does He will to cause all kings, let us say,          Christ and His people. Therefore the command, "Ser-
the majority of kings, to experience His redeeming            vants be subject to your masters, not only to the good
grace.         I say, the majority, as also in this class of and gentle, but also to the froward," had to be given.
humans He has His elect.                                      Hence, so far from the truth it is that believers, as
       But, to repeat the question with which I set out       a result of submitting to this master, suffer injury
in this paragraph, how can it be His will, that the           to their souls, that it is exactly in'the way of this sub-
people of God be subject also to the froward masters,         mission that they are saved.
if at once it be His will that a recalcitrant officebearer       We see now the falacious  premise from which Dr.
in the church be deposed, and even be shut out of the         Meeter reasoned when he penned, "Whenever sover-
kingdom of heaven if he repent no,t. Let us venture           eigns ignore the will of God, trample upon the rights
an answer. The church in distinction from the state           of the governed, it becomes the duty and privilege
is an institution of salvation, the manifestation of the      of the subjects to refuse obedience and even to depose
body of Christ. It must therefore be kept pure. And           the tyrant." This premise is that church and state
as to the officebears in the church, the ministers of the polity are identical. The doctor here reasoned as one
word, the elders and deacons, if these deteriorate, the       may reason only when he has before his mind the
church as institution cannot function. When the minis-        church.
ters of the church demoralize, forsake God's word,                                                        G. M. 0.
the believers are no longer being fed. And whereas
they must be fed, they received from God the right
to renounce a false teacher and ruler in the church.
AS  to  th.e magistrates, there task consists in maintain-                      BEKENDMAKING.
ing and promoting order in the secular sphere, in                Classis-vergadering  staat, D. V. te worden  gehou-
punishing evil-doers and in protecting the good. And          den Woensdag, Juni 1, 1938,  om negen uur in den
although this task, too, if it is to be rightly performed,    voormiddag  in de Eerste Prot. Geref. Kerk te Grand
calls for a Godfearing man in office, the people of God       Rapids, Mich.
have not the right to renounce a magistrate who abuses                                   M. Vander ?ennen,  S. C.
his authority beyond refusing him obedience in the
matter of the godless command.            And the question
why not? has now, at least partially, been answered.
The task of the civil magistrates is not to minister  to
the spiritual needs of his subjects, but rather to pro-            CREDIT MANAGER IS DISILLUSIONED
tect their material interests. Hence the believer can                          ON MAN'S HONESTY
remain under the dominion of a godless magistrate
without suffering injury to his soul.                            Pittsburgh, March 30  - C. Guy Ferguson, manager
       But there is more to say on this. It is to be con-     of a credit bureau that keeps tabs on 1,365,OOO  persons
sidered that the godless and unprincipled men in this is a little disillusioned about his fellow man's honesty.
world are by far always in the majority. How many                "Sometimes you read that only one per cent of
worldlings would cooperate with the true people of God        the people in this world are dishonest," he said.
in expelling from office, for principles' sake, a godless        `That is a lot of hooey. Most people would steal
ruler. ,And the answer: none. All that the world cries        anything that wasn't tied down if they weren't made
for is the bread that perishes. The ruler who answers artificially honest by policemen and the laws of so-
this cry is the hero, the wanted man. Hence, the              ciety."  - Common Grace ?


