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                                                                  ty  e&s. j Many other things implied by the expression
     Our Christian Calling In Civic Affairs                       "c)ivic Affairs" as such are eliminated from our dis-
                                                                  cussicn. i#t! is clertain evils we ape thinking of, either
       Into this form my subject has at last evolved. When actually existant  or threatening.
the "Church News" announced the subject the first                    And  ev.e.n with  resp~t to  theze our subject is re-
time it read: "Should we use  ,our Christian Influence stricted. We are not discussing all kinds c,f social and
in Civic Affairs?" This was too vague. Certainly,                 economic problems. Precisely which evils we h,ave in
we must always use our Christian  influenoe,  in a31 mind can best be illustrated by me&s of s,ome concrete
affairs, also in civic  afFaiFs.       Formulated thus, the example.
subject does not demand an answer to the que&io.n:                   Not long ago a cti,mmuni?dy dance was contemplated
In how far, in which way, to what extent should we                in the little town of Hull, Iowa, where  one of our
`use our influenoe in civic affairs? Therefore  the sub- Prot. Ref. churches is lccated. Whether the dance was
ject was altered to cover  tha.t  phase also and then the actually held I cannot say, neither is this question of
wording became : "In How Far Should We Use Our material importance. Now modern dancing lis inherent-
Christian Influence in Civic Affairs?" This was the ly corrupt. 14 is shameful, sensual, sexual, carnal to
more sp&fic idea of the board of our League, which the extreme. All that shuffling and shimmying and
`fatherled the topic n,ow under discussion, For reasons           swaying of the bodies of men and women in most  inti-
of conciseness and positiveness I prefer the wording: matte contact with one another can be rooted in nothing
"Our Christian Calling in Civic Affairs". Notice, our but shame!ess  sexuality and can lead to nought but for-
question  deals with civic affairs,  and, our calling,.our        bidden acts. Modern dancing is admittedly adulterous
specifically  Christiart  call&~ with  rlespect  to these.        in character; a modern, refined, subtle form of hea-
Hence, the question tonight is not: what rnny we do               then&m. When the church condemn,s without reserva-
for our own satisfaction sake?, but: wheat  must we do tion the modern danoe it is certainly taking the only
for God's sake?                                                   pos&ble  &and. Such a dance was contemplate&  ia
       Even  so  1 could wish two  things.  First, that the       Hull, apparently a generally churchy, even Reformed,
subject were still mere definite. Only when one begins community ; a community, too, where the combined
to work out a certain subject does one commence to efforts of all the  churchtes  might have prevented. it
realize what a mul,titu,de of implications may be in- altogether. Question: what should God's people have
volved in such a subject. Our subject as  <it  ,stands            done in this situation? What should our people have
is .as broad as life itself. I could wish too, that I could done? Whati, if any, was their Christian calling?
furnish a  mccre definite answ.er.  At  `any rate, I most             In  Sioux  Center I and my  consistory were con-
certainly do not present my answer as a final solution
                                    .  ".                         fronted with three simiIar cases. At one time there
to ,t'h.e problem. I am grateful, that the issue, though was a skating rink in town that remained open until
interesting enough, though touching matters that are the wee hours of every Sunday morning. Many d the
of fund,amental  import in themselves, is ns such not a young people of Sioux Center patronized this amuse-
vital one. After it  ie  reduoed   to. what is  actiually  in-    ment place, failed to come homle until early Sunday
tended, I have left a matter that leaves ms quite un-             morning, and as a result began to neglect the morning
ccacerned.                                                        services. In this, by the way, our congregation was
       What  does  t,he term "Civic Affairs", as we use           not  abetted.  This is, of course, a violation of the
it tonight, imply?                                                fourth commandment. At another time an oil station
       As such i$ ,is a v&y .broad term. "Civ? means: `s%endant  began to  do business  o'n the Lord's Day. In
that which relates to our duties as citizens in general;          Sioux Center all places of business. are closed on Sun-
that which pertains to our specific community in par-             day.' This man, however, began to, keep his pl'ace  of
ticular.      "Affairs"  is defined by Webster as "that           business  "Ipen Sundays and thereby  un,deniably  violated
which is done, or is to be done ; business". "Civic               GocVs command with respect to the Sabbath. The
Affairs" as such implies all the business of the com-             third case was that of a proposed theatre in Sioux
munity, all that is to be done as citizen. It  include3           Center. Until then, and I might add,  u&i1 now there
all things that lie in the sphere of civics, whether good         has been no theatre or picture show in the town of
or bad.                                                           Sioux Center.  The council, however, received the re-
       Tonight, however, we use the term in a mane `re- quest of a party who desired licence to start  oue,   w,eIl
stricted  sense.                                                  ,convinced,  and correctly so, that even though the town
       First, we are thinking of our own  comrnu?zity;            had never been contaminated with a movie house, a
the village wherein we a.re living, the specific part of sotrtune  awaited one who could succeed in getting
the city wherein we have our  hoMe,  cnr at the best              licence  from t,he city council to promote a theatre. The
the city wherein we reside. We are speaking  tonight              fact  wag  and is,  th&  ,t!he Reformed  pe;op1e  of Sioux
of our calling with respect toa t.hings round about us.           Center travelled,  iri hordes to other towns  to obtain that
       Secondly, we m thinking particularly of communi-           whick   could not be  had in Sioux  C&.er,   Tl+s   s,hqw?


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at once how essential it was to keep the movie out of eternity to be a peculiar people unto God ; regenerated
Sioux Center! Or wasn't it essential? Question : what unto a lively hcpe and thus granted the new life of the
zhouid God's people in Sioux Center have done? What risen' Lord; converted 1b.y the grace of God -and thus
was our  callirg? Our specifically Christian, reformed called out sf darkness into God's Iight- to show forth
calling?                                                       the praises. of our cLYenant God. Separated we are,
   In Grand Rapids, but a very short time ago, the             from eternity and spiritually, from the world unto
matter of closing all grocery stores  *and meat markets        God's covenant. Christians we are,  howlever, in the
on Sunday was put to a general vote. Question: what midst of the world, also of  thae evils  rcund about
was our Christian calling, notice, our po,sitively  Chris-     LIS.  G-ad   do&  not at once take His own out of the
tian calling, in  this issue.                                  world unto Himself. He leaves us in  the world to fight
   These examples may serve better than a Hood of the battle cf light in <the midst of the d,arkness  of this
words  tot illustrate which civic evils we are discussing present  woald.
tonight. To these  I might  ,add a few other possibilities:       Question: In respect to such evils as mentioned and
There is the (evil of swearing and cursing in the com- illustrated above, what is the specifically Christian call-
munity. A proposed theatre in  <the immediate vicinity ing of these Christians. What was Hull's calling with
of our home or church might come to a vote at some             respect to that dance; Sioux Center's ca.llin,g  with re-
time or other. Think of all the lewd, obscene literature spect  to the questions that confronted them; our call-
sold in your ne~ghbo~rhood  drug stores and other places, zing in the ,case of Sunday c!osing?
Certainly, in all these cases  there are grievous sins
commitbed against God Almighty. Question: what is                 There is an essential diserence  with respect to this
our Christian calling over against  dl these evils?            question between the magistrate and the ordinary
    One more limitation of the subject. We are think- Christian citizen. The magistrate has a specific calling
ing now Y;lf such and similar evils that have actually lin h&s own domain. He bears the sword, the sword of
become civic  ~&~Yirs. We are not  Iat this time  diecuss-     earthy power and authority. With that sword he must
ing the qeestion:  in how far must we personally co'm-         enforce the law. In his own domain he has also ;the
menoe action against these; evils ? although I do .not calling of enforcing the law of God, not only the second
understand how we can escape this element if there table but also the first. Standing in God's place, with
is any calling at all. Must we wait for others to bring God's sword in the hand, the magistrate may, not
these  matbers.ba  our doors? Must we not go out and tolerate the adulterous modern dance in the sphere
meet the ,issues  ourselves? If we have the calling of over which he is set to rule. He may not suffer the
keeping the community outwardly clean from outstand- Sabbath to be desecrated in a thousand ways. Pubhc
ing evils, we must go out to battle ouselves. Never- swearing is a thing that may not be permitted by thcee
theless, we limit uurseves  tomght  to evils that actually in authority, nor may they allow obscene literature
confront us Ias civic affairs. This is possible, e.g., in to be sold on every corner to the destruction of those
two ways. It may be that Christian churches or groups lover whom they h:ave the rule. The magistrate must
come to us and ask our cooperation  ,in rooting out            maintain law and  crder  in his own domain and in
certain community evils. It may also be that the polls harmony, with his calling as magistrate. Nor may he
present the  oppcrtunity  to aid in purging the com- transfer that responsibility to another, wheth'er  that
munity of certain existing abominations or in keeping other be a mere individual or the entire citizenry. Re-
others from getting  a foothold. Thus the dance issue ferendums  ale in order, but not referendums on mat-
was put before our people in Hull. Their cooperation           ters that are inherently sinful. Such things may not
was requested to. keep the dance from taking place             be put to the vo.te,  but should be acted upon diirectly by
at all. Thus the ,theatre  <issue was brought to our door the magistracy in harmony with its God imposed re-
in Sioux Center. A mass meeting was called to pre- sponsibility and calling. However, we are not speak-
pare the people  fcr the vote. Later an actu,al  vote was ing primarily of those in places of  autho'rity,  but of
taken. Thus the matter of the oil  statiron  attendant         the ordinary Christian citizen, of the church, of ycu
who desired to do  $business on Sunday was placed be- and me.
fore us. The ministers of the churches formulated a               That  cvle have a calling in  dl things is -certain
protest and petition to the  ccuncil.  I was asked to          enough. In the  mcst general sense of the word  our
sign  the document. Here in Grand Rapids the matter calling Iis to reveal ourselves as children of the light.
of Sund.ay closing was made ,an issue for all the citizens     We have  Gbeen  ca.l!ed to be God's peculiar people in
of our city to deeidle. In all these cases the question the  mi(dst of the world. That calling brings with it
was put to us .to decide. We had to act for or against;        the task of manifesting  oumelves   aat every  ccc&an
or actually not act at call. Whatever. we did we had           and opportunity as such. We must live the life of our
to  do deliberately.  %A definite answer had to be given. Lord Jesus Christ and at all times be governed by
    Overagainst these and similar issues we  stood  and        the law of the Spirit of life. We must be God's friends
stand as  Christians.  As  Christians,,.elected  from all      in all stations and sphere of .life,  in. ho,me and office


112                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     .-
and factory, as parents and children, as husbands and against the manifestations of sin, and this battle is a
wives, as teachers vs. their pupils, as emp!oyers  and strictly spiritual  on*e.
employee&  as. memblers  of the church and as citizens.             To wage this spiritual battle one must fight with
We must reveal the glc~ry  of God, confess HIis Name             spiritual weapons. Merely outward means cannot avail
and practice His will and law in the midst of the world.         against sin itself. External constraint may prevent
To maintain and guard and defend and propagate the               a dance from being held ; the ballot m'ay succeed in
truth, in theo,ry and life, is certainly the inexhorable keeping a theatre out of a  certsuin community; but
calling of the child of God in the world.                        neither outward force nor the ba!lot can root *out sin
   More specif?ally our calling as Christians is a spirit-       and promote  righteou,sness.  We must fight with the
ual one.                                                         spiritual weapon of the Word of Gtd. Only that Word
   The battle which we must fight ils a spiritual battle.        cuts through to the source of evil. It is the two-edged
The struggle to which the Christian is called uf God             sword that actually  penetrates to the heart, whether
is not an outward, earthy one. It is not to banish it be unto condemnation of those that love the dark-
dancing  by outward force, neither to prevent oil sta-           ness  rathe,r  than the light, or unto the salvation  c>f
tions and grooery stores from  dcling business on Sun-           those whom God by His Spirit and Word wil1 draw out
day, nor to keep theatresl from appearing in our com- of  darkeess  into His marvelous light. The  m)eans of
munities, or even to sweep all obscene literature from the Word does not effect the symptoms merely, but it
magazine stands and drug store  ccunters. The battle touches the (evil itself. That Word, therefore, is the
of the Christian is a battle against sin and for right-          weapon with which God's church and people shculd
feousness.      AIS such our battle is agalinst the sin that     fig& in the midst of the world.
manifests itself in dancing, the  sin of desecrating  the           In this way, and in this way only, we will gain
Sabbath, the sin of running  `and attending theatres, the        the victory, the spiritual victory, which is after all
sin ,of sel!ing and d.esiring  fo,r enjoyment lewd liter- the only  victs-ry.  An outward battle with outward
ature.        That  does! not mean that our  ba,ttle is  net     weapons can at the best .gain  for us an otiward vic-
against all these manifestations (theatres, open gas tory. And such s victory is fur the Christian who is
stations, etc.) of sin, but it does mean that we seek not too superficial no victory at all. The mere  prec
to  dzestroy  these by se.eking  to root ,ovt the &ns that       vention  of a dance, the mere closing of oil stations o'r
cause the manifestation. Certainly, the mere outward stones on the day of the Lord does. not yet indicate a
restraining of the manifestation does not yet give the           victory, nor &en a partial one. Mere suppression of
victory over sin. This latter is the Christian's desire the sinner may rather (increase than decreaste  sin. No
and  purpcee,  .and this battle ds not an earthy, outward child of God can regard such outward attainments  as
one, but very  defmitely  a spiritual one. Our calling a real triumph. Faith is the victory, and only in the
is not to teliminate  the symptoms of the disease only;          way of a spiritual barttle with spiritual weapons can
we must fight against the disease itself. If the latter wqe expect spiritual victory. Neither  d:o I  consid,er  it
is conquered  ,the symptoms will  allso  dtisappear.  If my God-given calling to strive for any other kind of
o,nly the outward symptoms are forcibly suppressed               victory than this triumph of the Word of  G&. If
w.e have  nothinig  but a sham  viectory.  In reality we the transgressor will hear, he is saved, not merely from
have gained nothing at all. Would you be surprised a certain o&ward form of sin, but from the latter it-
if a physician  Iexpressed  himself as being rather in-          self. If he refuses to hear, he stands doubly convicted
different toward removing certain symptoms without and condemned. But we have fought our battle.
,getting  at the  ,disease  itself? Would  paa  critioize   a       What then iis my Christian calling, also in the case
,doctsr for saying: it is not my business to be concerned        of these civic evils before which I am placed?
!by mere symptoms; my task is to conquer the cause                  First of all, to be sure, I must abstain from parti-
of the evil,? For example, we are not concerned &out             cipation in these sins myself. Already herein there
a dance, w'e are concerned about sinful adancing  and the        is a mighty witness against the workers o,f iniquity.
lust for it. Conquer the latter, and the former will             Neither are the children of the world slow in hearing
take care of itself. Suppress the former and you have this preaching, silent though it be. We must keep
not  toached  the latter. We are  n*ot concerned about           ourselves from these godless dances, from theatre and
an open gas station on Sunday, but rather about  d.ese-          movie,  fr,om the  desecrat.ion  of the Sabbath, from pro-
cration of the Lord's Day.  Rmoot lout the latter, and           fane speach and lewd literature. I must do this my-
the gas station will automatically close. And do not             self. In the way of  Chnistian  discipline  I must also
deceive yourself into thinking that outward suppres- guard others from these  same contaminations. of the
sion of Sunday labor in any way promotes Sabbath o.b-            world. Thus we must watch over  lane another and thus
servance. I do fear that questions such as we have condemn  the world  md its workers of darkness.
tonight tco often arise with those that do think that               Secondly, we must certainly preach and speak a-
outward restraint  oan work genuine righteousness more gainst all these evils of the world, the more as we
or Iless. Our battle is ,against sin, and (only in this way are given opportunity to let our light shine and


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testify against the workers of iniquity. We must do               protest to the council against the man keeping his oil
so as church and dn our own circles. Our own stand                station open on Sunday, and began their protest with
must be a d&mite one. An'd the world will hear about a statement 09 the! principle that God gave the Sab-
it, - and be condemned, or, by the gra,ce of God be               bath "as a ,boon  to mankind in general" I refused to
drawn by our testimony to the light. Also, our testi-             sign.  T,hey forced me to refuse. Nevertheless, we.
mony should be directed against the world itself. Re-             may protest, not with the idea that thereby we are pro-
Igard!:ess what outward action we may chocse to take, moting worthwhile civic righteousness, but to point
if any at all, the world must understand that we con- our  authorities  to their God-given obligation.
demn her every wicked way, her dancing and  theatres                 Beyond the above I have no deep sense of any other
and .desecration  of the hard's day and swearing and specific Christian calling in civic affairs. That it should
lewd'ness  too. She must understand perfectly that                be a mjatter  of Christian obligation to check Sabbath
we stand diametrically opposed to her and our testi- labor, dances and thefatres  in any ,&her way than the
mony  t@ her must be that the Word of God condemns way ,of God's Wcrd I will have to be sho,wn.
her to dleepest  hell in the way wherein she is. going.              That does not mean that I will not vote on civic
The workers of iniquity must know, that if we do not affalirs.  I  volted  laigainst  the theatre in Sioux Center.
choose to oppose her by outward means and attempt to This was not, however, because I was so deeply con-
check the external  rnanifestatiton  of her  corrup%ns,           vinoed that I might not do  lctherwise.      I wanted to
this is not due to any sympathy on our part or sinful             stop the mouths of those who were constantly looking
indifference with respect to the ways of others, but              for  something  against our churches. I did not care
merely to the fact  that  wle see no positive value in            for  the ccmmotion  and business such a' theatre would
striving to remove symptoms while the dreadful cancer             bring to our town. Knowing that a theatre in town
(itself continues to ravage am? #destroy. With the Word would scarcely make more theatre-goers than Sioux
,of our God in our hand we must wage Ia battle against            Center already had, I nevertheless preferred to see
the foroes  of evil, also in *concrete  oases, that Ietves  no    them get their pleasure elsewhere. These motives,
`doubt as to our position.       The world may not think ,however,  are not specifically Christian.
that I favor them in any way or tolerate their works                 I do not consider it the calling of the church of
of darkness. You will find too that in this way you               God to keep the community outwardly clean. I  really
will cut far deeper than most of those who  are so con-           do not cane about this in the I'east as far as  Christian-
cerned about promoting that so-called  oivic righteous- `ity and spiritual llife are concerned. There is no virtue
ness. In too many instances these same enthousiasts               in whitewashing cthe sepulchrea  as long as within all
for civic righteousness, pious though they seem to be is still rot and decay.
     when they lock askance at those who will not caop-              To my mind therre is nlo victory to be ,had in this
parate in all their ways and methods, will not stand `way. Certa!inly,  this is no Christian victory over the
with you when you expose and condemn  jthe sin itself godless thlemselves.  All we do is make impossible in
to its very root.                                                 our own community what the children of darkness
        Thir,dly,  we may protest to and against the authori- d.esire and will obtain in other places. Neither is there
     ties who bear the sword of God in order to maintain          a triumph  here fcr the Christian himself. Not even
     the law of God in their own domain. Even this calling, frcm the. point of view of removing temptations from
     however, weighs  less heavily upon me  in the measure the children of God's church. Making certain things
     the authorities show more plfainly  that they deliberate- impossible  horn without rather deprives of triumph.
     ly and malici:ously  evade their duty and know full well There is no viotory in removing  the tree of knowledge
     which is the way of righteousness.. Things may reach of good and lzvil. Neither was that the victory Adam
.the stage, may they not, where the responsibillity  of the       should have (&ned. The victory lies always in stand-
     magist.rates  may be considered fixed. At any rate, they ling beforte  the tree and saying: "No, I will not eat of
     are called upon to exercise the sword! That obligation you. I must serve God." In  ord,er  that we may in
     they may not shift to the citizenry in general by mak- the way lcf God's grace come to that victory God has
     ing every case, however plain, a matter of referendum. willed the antithesis and placed us in the midst of the
     We certainly have the right to protest against them.         world; that we might be in the  w,ar!d,  yet not of it.
     This m&y be done individually. This may be done as               I see fully as much danger for the church and peo-
     cc,ngregation.  This may be done as a group of churches      ple of God  jvhere   lthe world  does not reveal herself
     in a given community, if such cooperation can be effect- openly as  where  she does. Some  people  are so  `mar-
     ed without sacrifice of principles that are dear to us.      tally afraid of the world's manifestations. Now I hate
     My experience has been that our Reformed and Chr.            the world  from the new principle of  Life in Christ
     Reformed brethren too often protest and act and speak        Jesus. I hate the world  th,e  mo.re  in  thle measure  1
     in  (such a way that cooperation from our side can only      see more of 1:er. That,  to?, does not  p!ead  against the
*mean the sacrifice of our specific Prot. Ref. Principles.        antithesis.    Therefore, where the world is  1 just as
     When the ministers of Sioux Center came to me with a soon  see her. .L4 wolf is bad enough, but a wolf in


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sabeep's clothing is a great deal more dangerous. Then of keeping a holiday and preventing others from
I'm tempted to. drop my guard  ,and start petting him,            spoiling it. Now notice, it is positively wicked
whereas  lit  \vo:uld  be more to my welfare to run. One to desecrate the day of the Lord. My heart re-
`of the first requirements in a war must certainly be joices at  seein,g  men serve the Lord. But, if men
(that I see the foe clearly and become thorou.ghly ac-            wtill not keep the Sabbath for God's sake, will not
quainted with  ,his position. As long as the foe is there, serve God in His sanctuary on His day, I care not in
doing his work of destruction, it can and will not harm           what form of sin he chooses ,to indulge. If it is a
us to see brim in his full and outward manifestation.             matter of either working ca Sunday or going to the
Then God's child will watch and remain  slert. This               beach, he may as  well work ,as far as I am concerned.
is also true with respect cto the bringing up of child-           If men refuse to heed the Word uf God, care not to
ren. I lived  six and one half years in a community walk the w.ay to eternal joy, insist that they want to
where no pool was played, no dances wlere tclrated,               go to hell, it makes little  Id~ifference  after all  ,what
no theatre could find  ,a place. There was nothing more           rc,ad he takes to hell. The latter is not my concern. I
wficked  than a skating rink and a few cafes. In such a must point him to th,e way of life, and that is done,
community people are horrified by the very thought of not by the ballot or by outward force, but by the pure
raising children in a city like Chicago. That is like Word of God.
consigning them  dire&y to hell. I was born and rtised                I do not feel  it my calling to keep theatres ant of
in Chicago, in the mild&  of salo::ns and theatres and            a given community. Certainly, they are desperately
other forms of worldly evils. My stand today? I                   wicked. Our people do not belong there. We must
would from the viewpoint of maintaining the faith also            warn ,against them and if need be `discipline those that
for my  ch&lren just as  socn live in  Chicagu as any-            frequent them. But, if people will not stay out for
where. It is DO' more impossible to walk in the way God's sake,  Jet them go. Gcd wants righteousness!
of the Lord ithere  than ,anywhere  else. Neither have            Whatever is not that is out of sin. All these things
parents who really Bring up their childma  in the few             must also serve to purify the church and reveal the
of the Lord any more to fear there tihan in more iso- chaff in the kingdom of God.
lated ccmmunities. There you see the enemy as he is.                  With these observations I close. Our battle is a
There you learn to abhor him from infancy on. There spiritual battle; our weapons spiritual  weapo,ns;  thus
you are warned from the beginning because of the our victory will be a spiritual victory. Not in outward
very manifestation of the world. There you are taught             isolation, nor in external oonstraint,  but F&h is Chc
 with many tangible proofs who and what the world victory.
 really is. -4nd these very things have their decided                       "On every hand the foe we find
advantages. One who has been born and raised in a                           "Drawn up in dread ,array;
large community can in later life travel to any part                        "Let tents of ease be left behind
of the globe and never  f?.nd  rthings that he has not                      "And onw,ard to the fray ;
seen before and been warned against from earliest                           "Salvation's helmet on each head,
childhood. I have learned to pity those who have never                      "With truth all girt about,
really seen the world until they were  mature,-and                          "The earth shall tremble `neath our tread
then were let loose.                                                        "And echo with our shout.
         So easily we fall into that Anabaptistic tendency:            "Faith is the victory! Faith is the victory!
viatory and security  lie more or less in outward isola-               Oh, glorious victory, That overcomes the world."
tion. This is not true. If  anythiug,   all Anabaptism                                                                      R. V.
pro,motes a false sense of security and deprives of the Spoken at the mleeting of the Men's League, Thursday,
great victory of faith,.                                          October 20. Topic assigned by the Board.
         I do not consider it my definite calling to fight for
mere external  Saibbath   ob,servance.       I could not get
enthousiastic  about forcing a skating rink to close at
midnight Saturday instead of early Sunday morning.                                          IN MEMORIAM
Neither was my enthousiasm enhanced by the fact that
God's people spoke as though that skating rink were                   Het behaagde den  Heere uit ons  midden  weg  tc  nemen
actually #destroying  the kingd'om  of Go& Let the church onze geliafde  Vader en Groot-Vader,
preach the pure Word of  Gold and condemn the world                                          HENRY KORT
as it should, let her exercise church discipline over             in den ouderdom van 74 jaren.
those who refuse to walk in God's way, and I'm sure                   Hij  mocht  een van de  bevoornechten   wezen,  en hij had
there will be less cause for fear. I am not vitally  inter- clezae  schat,  in een aarden vat, opdat  de  glorie des Heeren zou
ested in closing of oil stations and stores on Sunday.            wezen.
The more because the issue here in Grand Rapids was                                     Namens  de  kinderen   err  klein-kinderm.
not a truly reli,gious  one at all. It was rather a matter            Oak Lawn, Ill.


              League Impressions                               alone or united, but we must be sure, also then, that
                                                               our battle is a spiritual (battle. For instance: if we
                                                               are asked to sign a petition to have our business places
   On the evening of Oct. 20, a Loague  Meeting of all closed on Sunday, let us beware that tit is the aim to
the Mens SC&ties  of our Prot. Ref. Churchfis  ob Grand consecrate the Sabbath, and not have a day of sleeking
Rapids and vicinity w,as held in the parlors of th,e First     the pleasures of this world.
Pmt.  Ref. Church. This meeting was opened  by  the               Let no one think, that this is Anabaptistic: for it
Presid.ent,  Mr. A. C. Bcerkoel, by reading  1 Peter  1.       is no.t. This is serving the Lord in Spirit and in truth.
from Scrip,ture,  after which prayer was offered, and             Those w.ho rave for the betterment of this world,
the  audience  sang from the Psalter.                          are usually they who do not care for principles.
   The President then extended a word of welcome to               Let us however, net try to take all the pleasures.
the gathering, and  intrcduced the speaker for the from the ungodly people of this world. They must also
evening, Rev. R. Vddman.                                       live their #own life, and it must become evident that they
   The Reverend announced that he would not speak are ungodly indeed.
on the subject `as printed in "Our Church News" :                 This is  trute also: take away from the drunkard his
"Should We Use Our Christian Influenoe  in Civic Af-           intoxicating drink, and nine times out of ten .he be-
fairs?" which he said was self evident, for the Chris-         co:mes covetous, which ris the root ,of all evil, ,according
tian is duty bound to let his light shine in the midst Do Scripture, 1 Tim. 6:lO.
of this world, in the which he is placed by his God.               Lat us as Christians never look ,at fhings as they
   His topic was: "In How Far Should We Use Our appear on the surface, but test all things in the li,ght
Christian Influence in Civic Affairs  ?"                       of Scripture, and in the light of our Prot. Ref. prin-
   Civic affairs, according to  "Webste~rs  Dictionary"        ciples. if we do this, our vision is clear and we know
means that which ris to be done relating ,tv civil life; in    the way also in civic aff~a.irs.
other words: those activities we daily cbserve,  viz., the         After recess we continued our meeting by a lively
dan.ce, theatre, beer gardens, open places of business, discussiq  as some of t.he members differed in opinion
etc. What now is the calling of ,a Christian in those from the &speaker. They thought Bt was absolutely
affairs; must we protest? If they go around in the neoessary to create clean surroundings, where they
community with a petition to do away with these evils,         were not present, and if necessary, protest as indi-
is a Christian duty bcvnd to sign in favor of it?              viduals or in groups, even if the principles involved
   The Reverend made plain: that first of all our call- were unreformed.
ing is a spiritual calling. It is not our calling to make          It entered my mind: Several years ago, when our
this world fit to  live in. That is  thae calling of our       Christian Scholols  were in danger of being closed, many
"M.agistrates".    He must see to it that there are no         women of Reformed persuasion cast their ballot, al-
theatres, beer gardens, dance halls, and many other though they did not believe in women suffrage, and
places of corruption. These who are in authority must knew very  well that it was not in agreement with
rule in accordance with Scripture.                             Scripture. They made the lame excuse: ye want to
    You may ask the question: Must we not do our  ut- keep our schools,  fo,rgetting  that  Gcd will take care of
mcst to reform the place in which we live, and especial-       His own, and we never can give Him  aa lift.
ly  `so, when we ade blest by our Covenant God with                The patriarch Jacob made the same sinful  mtistake,
covenant children.  - Is there no danger that our child- but God in His mercy blessed him in the house of Laban
ren will go astray in Sodom? Here we answer: No                and on his return to his own country  he made the faith-
danger. Parents are duty bound to instruct their child- ful confession : with my staff I passed over this Jordran;
ren in their early youth, the first principles of a godly and now I am become two bands. And: God spoke unto
life, and, as they grotw  older !they will not depart from him, and  ,told him, thy name shall be called Israel.
that truth. We may live in Sodom, if our Protestant                Let us never forget: "Het dole1 heildgt dte middelen
Reformed Church is there, but we must never move to            noo*it", and also in civic affairs the Christian must act
Sodom for Sodom's sake.                                        in accordance with God's precepts.
    We may try to ~ously reform the warld, but she                 T.his  meeting which was well attended, was worthy
gces to utter destruction, and it makes no difference          of our being present, and we are looking forward for
upon what road she loses her life. This does not mean [more of them. The Rev. Ve!dman  must not forget to
however  that the  peo.ple  of Gcd have no calling in this send his speech to the Editor in Chief, SIO that the S. B.
respect. We must let our light shine. We must con-             readers ca.n read it in full. The gathering was clcsed
demn the world in word1  and deed, and must never love with prayer by the Vioe-President  of thle League, .Rev.
her, for then the love of the F,ather is not in us. Nei- J. De Jong of Husonville.
ther must we (delight tin the dlestruction  of the ungodly.                                              S. De Vries
    We may also. protest against ungodly civic affairs,                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan.


116                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
____I~  ..-            - .--. --.-..       .__--I__-
                 The Peace-Offering                            is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet
                                                               savour unto the Lord"  (Lev. 3 :5). This, it will be re-
                                                               called, was also the action with the choice parts of the
       The name found in the  c'riginal  for this species      sin- and the trespass-offering. And the truth set forth
of sacrifice is  she&mim,   singular  s/&em.   Acco,rding      by th,is action was, of course, the same in each case.
to some  cc~mmentators,,  shcrlem  is derived from the Kal As this truth has already been apprehended and ex-
shalem, the sense and meaning cof which is : to be who&        plained, we need have  no further regard to the parts
entire; to be safe? sound, secure actually a& in one's of the ritual of the  peace-of%ring  presented above.
own mind; ta be at peace, to be in a cont%~ous state              If the peace-offering, on account of its being an
of pme, to have peace towu& some one.                          atoning sacrifice, had much in common with the sin-
       The second explanation of she&m refers it to the        and  trespassaffering,  it had more in common with
Pie1 tihiillem,  to pay, to perform, to render a thing, to the burnt-offering. Both were appointed fur the same
recomp%*e,  to reward;  hence, to thank.                       kind of sins. There were,  ,it  wil1 be recalled, three
       The remark is in. order here that whereas the  Pie1     kinds of sins t&t could be atoned by the animal sacri-
.&Jlem  means to  make  wih.ole and thus.to   bring  &o  a &X.K To the first kind  <belonged all sins committed
state of pexace,  it is not at ah necessary to refer shelem    unwittingly, or ascribabl'e  to carelessness or in:adver-
bo the Kal sh&% in ord,er  that this name may have             tence.  The second kind were sins of weakness and
the meaning of  peace..  This being true,  :the name such as were done in the heat of passion. Par as many
shelem shou1.d  be expbined as being derived from the          sins of these two kinds as could be compensated, the
Pie1 and betaken  as a signification of bcth peace and trespass-offering w4as appointed. The rest were to be
thankfulness. In the sphere of grace, certainly, peace         expiated by the sin-offering. There was still a third
and  thankfulness go  hand in hand.                            kind of sins, the one to which belonged the many moral
       But let us for the present disregard the  n.am,e  and inflmities  and miseries that even the most  devout
concentrate on the sacrifices  it signified. This having Christians feel in  themselves,-such  infunities  (to a-
been done, we will know how the name shelem is to be gain quote from a former article) as imperfect and
explained.                                                     weak faith, the failure on the part of the believer to
       Within  the one species that in the English version yield `himself to serve  God with that zeal as he is
of the Holy Scriptures bears the name  of peace-offering bound, the evil lusts of the flesh with which every be-
there are three variations, to wit,  &he sacrifice of liever has daily to strive. For sins of this character
thanksgiving (H,ebrew,  todhah) , of the vow (nedher), both the burnt- and the peace-offering availed and
ad ,of the free-will (aedhabhah) . That we have to do these offerings only. Thus, as the burnt- so the peace-
here with one class of three distinct offerings is plain offering It was  *appointed  for spiritual believers, who
from Lev. 7 :ll-20. This passage sets out with the by the mercies of God had so succeeded in crucifying
notice, "And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace- \the works of the flesh and mortifying their members
offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord. . .  ."         which are upon the earth, that their walk of life was
The plural ofle~+~gs of the Germ peuce  ofletings  has         plainly that of a child of the light; thus believers who,
reference to the three sacrifices mentioned in the  subt       as constrained by love, were walking, to quote from
sequent five verses of tMs passage ; and those men-            a former articl~e,  "in the way of the covenant and thus
tiond are the three cited above.                               walking with God, and who therefore, at that particu-
       Each of these three peace-offerings was a  sscrifice    lar juncture that they brought their burnt-offering, did
by blood. This all three had in common with the sin-,          not find themselves under the necessity, on account of
trespass-, and burnt-offering. They were atoning sacri- some particular sin or sins, that they either wittingly
fices. And therefore the action with athe blood of these or unwittingly had committed, of bringing the  sin-
offerings was essentially identical to the actioa  with and trespass-offering." Also here, the truth of this
the blood of  all the others. Having by the imposition statement  *is borne out by the circumstance, that the
lof hands laid his guilt upon the head of his innocent         written  necord  of the legislation that concerned the
substitute, the offerer killed it  sat the door of the         ritual of the peace-offering does not set out with some
tabernacle of the congregation. Thereupon its blood such statement as, "Speak unto the children of Israel,
was sprinkled by the offici.ating  priest upon the ccltar      saying, If a soul sin through ignorance against any
round about and so presented to Jehovah as a cover- of the commandments of the Lord  concerning the
ing for the worshipper in respect to his sins (Lev. things which o.ught  not to be done, and shall do against
3 :I, 2). The ch&e parts of the carcass "the fat tiat          any of them. . .  ." It was thus, no more than the
covered the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the          burnt-offering, a sacrifice that had to be brought on
inwards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is              account of the worshipper's having made himself con-
on them, which is by the flanks, snd ,the caul above spicuous through his sinning against any of the com-
the liver with the kidneys" were burnt on the altar            mandments. But the observation made in respect to
upon the burnt sacrifice, "which is upon the wood that the burnt-offering applies with equal force to the sacri-


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  117
--         llll--"l-l_lll_l^-            -                                    -- ..--. ll--._ -.-..--..--               I___
free under  consi,deration.   Whreas the holiest of men toward  G;od. He is one whose heart and mind are                                     .
have  ,but a small beginning of true obedience, whereas being kept in Christ by peace---the peace of God that
also such men despite all their striving to attain to              surpasses all understanding.
the ideal of a perfect life in Christ, continufe in this               However, though  the offering under consideration
life to lie in the midst of death, do evil-the evil that had much in common with all the other offerings and
they would not-and thus daily increase their guilt,                especially with the burnt-offerings and thus formed
also the peace-offering had to be one by blood. Thus               together with the  others  one complete system of sacri-
also in the description of the ristual Iof this offering,          fices setting forth the manifolld  mercies of God, it in
we come upo,n the not&, "And he shall put his hand one respect differed from each of the others. And it
upon the head <of his offering  and kill *it. . . .and. . , .      is precisely this difference that formed its mark of dis-
the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round tinction and that accounts for  tits appointment and for
about."                                                            the name that was given it.                     How did this offeririg
      The burnt- and peace-offerings were alike in one diRer from each of the others? The answer is to be
more respect. B&h had to be supplemented with meat taken from Scripture, "And the Lord spake unto Moses,
(better said, cereal) and with drink-offerings.                    saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, He
      On account of what these two species of offerings            that sffereth the sacrifice of his peaceofferings  unto
had in common, it may be expected that in the Old                  the Lord, shall bring his oblation unto the Lord of the
Testament Scriptures ;they always be mentioned to- sacrifice of his peace-offerings. His own hands shall
gether. And so they are. Joshua built an altar unto                bring the offering of the Lord made by fire, ,t.he fat
the Lord in mount  Ebel." And they offered thereon with the breast; it shall he bring, that  the breast may
burnt-offerings unto the Lord and sacrificed peace- be waved for a  wavmffering  before the Lord. And
offerings" (Jos. 8 :31). In the reply of  *the two tribes the priest shall burn bhce fat upon the altar: but the
and half to the ten tribes (Jos.  22)) the statement oc-           breast shall be Aaron's and his sons'. And the right
curs, "That we have built us an altar to turn from shoulder shall ye give unto the  print for a  heave-
following the Lord, or ,if to offer ,thereoa  burnt-offer- offering  cf the sacrifices of your peace-offering. He
ings or  meat-off,erings,  or if to offer peace-offerings          amlong  th,e sons of Aaron, that offereth the blood of
thereon, let the Lo?d Himself require it." The children the peace-offerings, and the fat, shall have the right
of Israel, having been twice defeated by the  Benja-               shoulder for his part. For the wave breast and the
mites, came to the house of God, and offered burnt-                heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel
offerings and  p,eace-offerings  before the Lord. After from off the sacrmces  of thseir peace-offerings, and have
the destruction of the  Bmenjamites,  they in great heavi- given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons,
ness of spirit went to the house of God tnd,  building
there an altar, offered burnt-offerings and peace-offer- to  a statute forever, from among the children of Is-
                                                                   rael" (Lev. 7 :28-34).
 ings (Jud.  21:14).             Samuel told Saul that he would
 came down to him at  Gilgal to  offper burnt-offerings                 This passage, it will be  clbserved, has chiefly to
 and to sacrifice  sacrifices of peace-offerings (I Sam.           do with the breast and the right shoulder of the animal
 10 :8). When the Ark of the Lord had been broughk                 rs~acrifice.      The breast, so the passage  teaches,  was
 in, and set ,in his place, David offered burnt-ofierings          moved in a horizontal direction for the waving, and
 and peace-offerings (II Sam. 6  :17). David built by the  shculder in a vertical  on'e for the heaving. The
 the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebuzite an altar ceremony was performed by the priest assisted perhaps
 unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-              (Scripture does not say) by the offerer. When the
 offerings (II Sam. 24  :20). Having awakened from                 parts were thus presented, they were given to the
 his `dream, Solomon came to Jerusalem, and stood be-              priesthood for food.                      But what was done with all
 fore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up          the rest o.f the flesh? Scripture gives no direct answer.
 burnt-offerings, and peace-offerings. . . . (I Kings              It is plain, however, from such passages as D*eut.  12:6,
 3 :15). `On the occasion of the dedication of the temple,         7, that the rest was given to the offerer, to be partaken
 Solomon offered burnt-offerinfgs;  and meat-offerings,             c;f by himself and those he was  bid,den  to call  ato share
 and the fat of peace-offerings (I Kings 8  :64).                   with him, namely his own friends, the Levite, the
      The reason that these two sacrifices were always widow and the fatherless, "But unto the place which
 offered together can be none other than that the one               the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes
 without the other was not complete. Wholly yielding to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall
 one's self unto  Crod,  as one who is alive from the  deald,       ye seek, and thither shalt thou cotme: and thither ye
 and yielding one's members as instruments of right- shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices,
 ezusness  unto God (this was the action of Christ and              and your tithes, and helave offerings of your hand, and
 Hits people symbolized by the burnt-offering), not only your vows, and your free-will ,offerings,  and the first-
 goes <hand in hand with but even includes thanksgivmg              fruits of yoar herds and of your flocks; and there ye
 and praise, And 0119  who 8~ yiel~ds  his self has peace shall eat before the Lord your God. , , ." The name


                                                                                                                                               I
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118                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D ,   B E A R E R
_l__l .._,---  l_ll---- .-.... -."1-. ll_l^l_.--.ll-._~ ______--_ ._l____l____  II_ ..-__..  "I_ .-_- - ..._" -.......  - - -........  I__-
heave-offering in the above Scripture signifies also the               He Himself prc$&l'@d.         Rightly considered, the  truth
peaceioff  ering.                                                      set forth by  the  peac&olfer& is that the people of
       This then was peculiar to the peace-offering: with Israel, as residents of Canaan, were always seated  tit
the exception of its choice parts (the fat and the cam),               Jehov.a.h's  altar, and that whatevm material gift He
which were burnt upon the altar, the entire dead body                  bestowed was found upon this table and thus was and
was given to the priesthood and the offerers for food.                 had to be received as a gift of mercy, as a gift that
       To understand the significanoe  of this, regard must            He prepared for  His people through the death  o,f His
first be had to the w'ave- and heave-offering. Scripture very c,wn sacrifice. For with that ri;ght shoulder snlcl
sheds! no direct light on the meaning of this rite. This               with that breast is to be associated firstly, the rest of
rite, however, speaks for itself and can therefore be                  the carcass; secondly, all the first-born of the flocks;
understood. The prevalent view that it was intended                    all  &he  fir&fruits,   al,1 the tithes of all the products
to be a sort of presentation of the parts  to  Go4 as                  of their fi&ls  ,and vineyards ; and lastly, all th,at these
the supreme Ruler in all the regions of this lower                     f?rstfruits  and tithes represented, namely, the entire
 world and in the higher regions above, is inadequate,                 yield of th4e soil and all their flocks  and herds. That
however true it may be. It is to be considered that                    such qis the right conception is evideent  frcfm  the follow-
what was partaken of by the priesthood and the offer- 5ng. The first-born of the herd and flocks had to be
ers was the flesh tof an animal that through its :3uffer-              ipresented   to Jehovah and, after having been properly
ing and dying in that very flesh had expiated sin.                     sacrificed, shared with the dependent members of the
Now when the sacrifice was a burnt-offering the whole community. Deut. 14  :2:3-27. These first-born,  a3 sacri-
carcass and thus not mwely  its choice parts (the fat                  ficed,  were  thus  peace-o&erings.  Further. All the
and the  caul) was placed upon the altar  (,after  the                 first fruits and all the tithes brought by the people  of
slaying of the victim) and thus presented to Jehovah                   Israel  to the sanctuary, were placed by the officiating
for  acceptanoe.  And by Jehovah it was accepted so priest before Jehovah's altar. And it was in the very
that sins were no longer being imputed. When, how- presence of  ithis altar that these gifts were partaken
ever, the sacrifice was a wace-cffering,  only the choice of. What else does this signify than that these  offerin%gs
parts of the victim were placed upon the altar and the                 together with what they represented had to be regard-
rest was partaken of by the priesthood and the offerers ed as gifts that the people of Israel received from Je-
and this for a reason to be explained presently. But                   hovah's table.
whereas in this flesh atonement had been made, it,                          An&  wlmit  came from this altar -the flesh of the
too, as well  as! the choice parts had first to be presented peace-offering-was ceremonially clean. It  wa5' the
to Jehjovah  for acceptance in token &hat the victim's                 flesh of an animal without spot or blemish. And while
dying in this flesh had' actually been accepted as a still in a fresh state it also had to be eaten. Hence,
symbolical payment for sin. But this flesh cou1.d not <as much of it as remained after the second day, be-
be presented through its being  pIaced upon the altar  ;               came an abomination and therefore had to be burned.
for what was1 laid upon the altar was burnt. It was                    "The soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity."
therefore present&  through the priest's heaving, that is This flesh had also to be destroyed with fire, if it had
raising, not the whol<e of it but only one of its repro-               been brought in contact with any unclean thing. What
eentative parts (gthe right shoulder) heavenward and                   is more, only such who were ceremonially clean might
in all  probabiliity  also in a direction toward  J.eho-               eat of it. "Th.e soul  th,at eateth of the sacrifice of
vah's throne that stood in the holiest place cf the                    peace-offerings, that pertain unto the Lord, having his
worldly sanctuary; and through this same priest's                      uncleanness upcn him, even that SQUI shall be cut off
waving,  ,that is, moving to  an,d fro, the other part.                from  *hiu;l people. Moreover the soul that shall touch
Now as the altar was the meeting-place between de-                     any unclean thing, ,as the uncleanness of a man, or
hovah and the worshipper, the clause "that the breast                  any unclean beast, or any abominable unclean thing,
may be waved for a wave offering before the Lord"                      and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of the  peace-offer-
implies that this waving was done before the altar.                    inigs, which pertaineth unto the Lord, even that sod
So, what the rite under  consideraticn  plainly signified shall be cut off from his people" (Lev.  7:18-21).
iis that Israel's food was the gift of its Redeemer-God                How  well these prohibitions were designed to impress
that came from His altar, that thus what His people -upon the ancient worshipper  and upon us all, that the
nourished their mortal frames with was the flesh of a gifts that God prepares for His people  throu,gh  the
victim that through its death had expiated (symbolical- atoning sacrifices are holy and may be partaken of only
ly} their sins  not only but had  also rendered  itself I by such  who are holy on account of their being cleansed
available as food to those whose sins had been expiated.               from  all their sins by the blood of this same sacrifice,
If this flesh and the altar be regarded as one-and so                  and that such do indeed constitute "a chosen genera-
they  BlhouId be regarded-then it will be  und$erstood                 tion, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar  peo-
that the altar was Jehovah's table, prepared by Him                    ~!e; that ye should show forth the praises of him
for His people through the death of a sacrifice which who hath called you out of darkness into his marv@ous


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                  h                       119
_Y-----                                                                                           __---
light" (I Pet. 2 :9, 10). How loudly these prohibitions them, "nor he goats out of thy folds: for every beast
proclaim that God is resolved by Himself that His             of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand
chosen people only shall partake of the gifts of His          hills. . . . Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy
altar, Christ  J+esus.                                        vows unto the Most High. Call upon me in the day of
    With all t.heir bodily needs fulfilled at Jehovah's       trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me"
table (altar),  th.e ancient worshippers were bidden          (Ps.  SO). The sacrifices were no pay turned out to
to rejoice, "Thou shalt not eat within thy gates the          the Lord for benefits received but merely the instru-
tithes of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, olr the ments for the expression  of grati,tude  and praise. So.
firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy       the vain man  regarded  his offering, namely, as  so,
vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings], or, much pay. The Lord therefore abhorred his sacrifice.
heave oRerings of thy hand : but thou mayest eat them         The spiritually enl'ightened  in Israel understood this.
before the Lord thy C&l in the place where the Lord           "What," asks the psalmist, "shall I render unto the
thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy              Lord for all His benefits toward me?" (The Lord, so
daughter, and' thy manservant, and thy maidservant,           it appears from  thle preceding verses had delivered his
and the Levite  that is within thy gates: and thou shalt      soul from death). "I will take up the cup of salvation,
rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that thou puttest      and call upon the name of the Lord. . . . I will offer
thine   ,hand  unto" (Deut. 12  :17, 18). "Thou shalt  re-    to thee the sacrifice of thanksgivinlg,  and will call upon
rejoice before the Lo,rd thy God, thou and thy son; And       the name  oC the Lord" (Ps. 116). But true praise,
thou  sha.lt remember that  :thou wast a  bondman  in         as `its content indicates, is also, to be sure, His gift.
Egypt: . . .  ."  (Deut.  16:ll).                             For true praise is first of all bthe believer's confession
    "And thou shalt remember that thou wast a  bond-          that he by nature is worthy of an eternal doom and  ii
man. . .  ." that is, `Thou shalt remember that thou dead in sin and  thus1 by himself `hopelessly lost. Now
art a people redeemed from bondage through the blood          as often as the believer so confesses before God, he at
of my ,sacrifice  and, as a people with sins taken away,      the same time confeasss  the righteousness and the holi-
art and shalt be everlastingly feasting at My table           ness of God, the sovereignty of His mercy and the
that I prepared for thee in My house through, the death infinite power of His redeeming and saving love. Such
of this same sacrifice.  R*ej,oice  therefore ! Now this a confession therefore carries with, it a confession of
rejoioing  might not be (though it was this on the part the glories of God ; and the confession of these glories
of the carnal seed) a carnal, worldly, merrymaking,           is at once glory and praise to Him. Thus, true praise
the issue of hearts that were glad for the sole reason is the absolute denial that praise can be anything
that the soil had again abundantly yielded. There is else but Hisgift. And to this praise, the Israelite gave
nothing specifically Christian about such rejoicing. The expression also through the  m&urn of his peace-offer-
thou!ght  of being secure in a material sense is gratify-     ings.
ing to the flesh, so that, when gar~ners  are again full,        It ought to be plain now why the offering under
the world, t';o, is glad. It is this on account of its        consideration bore the name of peace-offering. This
being prostrated before the shrine of Mammon. In sacrifice was the on%e offering by blood whose flesh was
its rejoicing it ends In the things on earth.                 food for the worshipper. With his sins atoned by the
    What Jehovah required of His people is that they shed  bllood of this sacrifice, he, the worshipper, sat at
rejoice because  theI material things with which He           God"s table, as God's friend, with the peace of God
had laden His table or altar si,gnalized  His mercy over      in his heart and with God's praises in his  mcluth (I
them, and because they formed (then, in the dispen-           speak now of the believing worshippers) , partaking of
sation ot the law but not in this day) the certain evi-       nourisbmnt  that God through the death of his innocent
dence that He loved them and the pledge that He, as           substitute had prepared for him.
their Redeemer-&d, would clothe them with true sal-               The true peaoe-offering is Christ. T.he carcass of
vation for Christ's sake and that thus they would             the peace-offering in its lying on the altar in a state of
awaken to behold His face in righteousness and be             consumption as to its choice parts and in its being
satisfied by His likeness. They who could so rejoice          partaken of by the worshippers in God's house, was
loved God for His own Self. They rejoiced therefore shadcw, the body of which again is the ascended and
also when the fig tree di'd not blossom, when there           glorified' Christ upon Gcd's  altar in the holy pl.ace of
was no fruit in the vines and when the fields yielded         the heavenly sanctuary. Having become obed,ient unto
no meat and the flocks were cut off from the fold: for death, and by His obedience saved His people from
their rejoicing was not in things but in the Lord and         their sins, Hle presented Hims,elf  to God in the Holy
in the God  of their salvation. And rejoicing, they           place. And the Father, smelling a sweet savor, poured
would praise Him and bless His name. And their of His Spirit upon Him,  so that all fulness now dwells
prailse was their thanksgiving and: thus not that goat in Him. Thus He is the true bread, God's table eternal
or bullock that they placed on God's altar. "I will take in the heavens at which the redeemed ane now and
no  ,bullock  &  iof thy house," said the  Lo,rd to ever seated, eating His flesh and drinkinlg  His blood


120
-.-L..."                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE~...tER
                       ."-" -...__ L__ ._-"..                                           ~
                                                                                        _.  _
                                                                                           ." . .,.,    .                    "  _,..
and  so, enjoying  ZUY the Father's children the best things       fui.  Also these offerings had to be brought.  The
in His house. And eating, they are satisfied. And                  people of Israel might not choose  not to hr"inl7  Z%Y%
satis%d,  they praise the Lord. And their heart shall              This is plain. fNe  read, "And thou  shalt  .keep  the
live forever.                                                      feasts of the weeks unto the Lord thy God with suf
   As has already  Iken   ,explained,   the peace-offer- ficiency  of  a  free-will  orering of  thine hand,  which
ings appear under three divisions-the sacrifice thou  sh&lt $$vl?, &.%rding  as the Lord thy God h&h
of thanksgiving or praise, of vow and of free-will,                blmd  th&e,  I  I  1 Three times in a year shall all thy
JLet us have regard to the  sacr&e of  thanks&vim+                 m&es  &pp&r  `before the Lord  *thy  C&l in the place
That'one of the variations in the species of sacriflc&             which he shall choose; . , . .and they shall not appear
under  con&&ration   is called a thanksgiving sacrifice,           b&ore  t.he Lord empty: every man shall give as! he is
shows that the  i&as of thanksgiving and praise came               a!ble,  ,according  to the blessing of the Lord thy God
most distinctly out through this species. Some even which he hath  ,given thee"  (Deut.   16:10,  16, 17).
regard thati-off&ngs  and thus not peace-offerings the             From these Scriptures it `app&rs  that one reason why
proper appelation for this species. But,  as already has vthe offerings here mentioned bore the name of free&
been observed, thanksgiving, praise, and pedce are will, is that t.he portioln of the increase that met the
triplet graces that are' always found together in the              requirement, "Every man shall give: as he is able"
heart of believers. Thus, as a name for this species,              was allowed to be computed by the worshipper. But
pence is as appropriate as thr&sgiving.                            with this portion  he hnd to. appear befune  the Lord. The
   The first of this species (the sacrifice of thanks-             element of freedom that marked  ,the free-will peace-
giving), seems to have been  som,ewhat  superior to the            ofFering  seems to have been  that the worshipper was
second and third, in that its! flesh required to be eaten          free to  choose   for the altar either  L perfect animal  or
on the first day, or eIse burnt with fire; while the flesh         one  tbt  had  anything  superfluow  or  iacicing in his
of the vow- and freewill-offering might be eaten either            parts. There  were still other remns why these offor-
on the first or on the second.                                     ings were called  free&ll. But the contention  &at
   What occasion called especially for the thanksgiv- they .were SO called because the people of Israel might
ing peace-of%ering  and not for the  freeiwill  (which was         choose never to bring them, is at variance with the
also a  peace-oi-?&ing),  cannot be determined from testimony of the above-cited texts. But in  b&-q&g
Scripture.       This has occasioned the conjecture that           these  oRerings,  the people of  Israel were  not under
the thank-offering  TV= the proper instrument for the              the constraint of a special precept  8s they were when
expression  ef gratitude of the worshipper's gratitude they offered their tithes,  firstlings of the flock and
when he had received some spontaneous token of the                 their firstfruits. This in all likelihood is the explana-
Lord's  golodness  o,r had been made to experience some tion of their being called free-will offerings.
special act of His mercy, and that thus the free-will                     These offerings  h;asl to be brought as well as the
offering  was! appointed for the expression of gratitude           people of God of this day must pray, must support
when the acts .of mercy experience,d  were but ordinary. the ministry of the  guspel  by their material  gi@+s,
This view, also held by Fairbairn, must be taken for               must attend divine worship. But just how often they
what  ,it'is,,   & conjecture.  It cannot be proven from           must pray and- how many of the services  they are to
Scripture. And the reason is that as often as them `,attend  on itihe S&bath God. in His! Word does not say.
appears  i,n the Old Testament Scriptures a worshipper             So it was with free-will offerings in distinction from
bringing to the Lord a sacrifice on account of  so.me              all the others. These offerings  hlad to be brought. But
special act of mercy experienced, the name employed                just how often was left to the choice oif the worshipper.
is simply  peace-oflering.   This being true, right con-           Therefore ctihey bore the name ,of free-will-offerin.
duct in this case consists in ,simply ccnfessing  ignor-                  And here without a doubt we have hit upon the
ance and not resorting to conjecture. It  ic;! unquestion- true distinction between the thanksgiving peace-offer-
ably true that  the Old Testament  worshipper  knew ings and thle free-will peace-offerings!. The former
which oi the two sacrifices. he was to bring on any oc-            had to be brought, so the law required, at stated times,
casion. Burt we do not know ,as' Scripture is silent on on Israel's feasts, (think of the firstlings of the flock
the matter.                                                       -._              -
                                                                . jand  the  ,herd. These as  sacrifi~ced were  peace-offer-
   As to the free-will peaceoffering, it was marked ' ings), the latter  where brought  s  often as the  wor-
as being  s0mewha.t inferior to the thank- and  vow-              shipper was prompted to bring them. And the  peace-
offering  also by the circumstance that an. animal with           of%ring  brought in times of national stress or when
`:anything superfluous o,r lacking in his parts" might            God had brought deliverance to His people, or to an in-
be offered.                                                       dividual in trouble? were in all  lrikelihood  the free-will
   Why was this sacrifice called a free-will 08%ing?              peace-offerings. This view, it will  be noticed, is the
Becausle,  so it is commonly held, the  worshipper might          direct opposite  qf the one broached by Fairbairn.
or might-not bring it, as he chose. But this is doubt-                                                          c,. M. 0.


                             A   R e f o r m e d   SemLMonthly  M a g a z i n e
       PUBLISHED   BY  THE  REFORMED   FREE  PUBLISHING   ASSOCIATION,   GRAND  RAPIDS.  MiCH.

                                                           Editors-Rev.   H.  Eoeksema,   Rev.  G.  M.  Ophoft




                   -_-.-                    .-.-
-.-^.l-.------."."."-                               --                              ___-           -_---
Vol. XV, No. 6         Entered  aa  mcond clam  mail
                      m a t t e r   a t   G r a n d   Rauids.   Mich     DECEMBER 15, 1938                         Subscription Price, $2.00

                                                                                    and, evidently, his  ears  had been  closed,-+  sign sought
         M E D I T A T I O N                                                    1 by him in unbelief, so thati `he hadi not been able to
                                                                                    speak of the  marvelloua  works of God, of the Word  orf
                                                                                    God through  the.angel,  that was being fulfilled before
         Fulfillment Of The Promise                                                 his eyes.
                      And his fatlhe,r Zach&.as was filled                              Now the Word was realized. He who was to go
                  roith   thcr Holy Ghost, and prophesied,                          before the face  of the Lord to prepare the way before
               suying, Blessed be th,e Lord God of Is-                              Him was born. Already he <had received the sign of
                  mel; for hj@ .hath vi.&?d  and redeemed                           the old covenant. Already  the question of his name
                  his people.' And bath raised up an horn                           had be.en settl,ed. An occasion of dispute this had1 been.
                  of  z&&ion for  'LLS  in  the house of                            Neighbors and relatives had considered it a matter of
                  his se+rvant David; As .he spake by the                           course that he should be name&after his father. In
                  mouth of hk holy prophets, which have                             fact, they called  $ini  Zacharias.  What was more
                  been  sinae  Cha world  b,egan;  That  ,we                        natural ? Was he not the only  child oif his aged parents?
                  shauld  ba'saved from our exemiq  and                             Besides, `what  coulld  be  #a more suitable name with a
                  from  the  hmnd   of  aW that hate us; to                         view  ;to the wonder of  Gad1 embodied in this child? Did
                  perform the mercy  prom&d  to our not the name Zacharias signify that Jehovah remem-
                  fathers, and  t? remember his holy  cove- bers and was not this child a tangible and marvellous
                  nanA; the! oath  swhich he  s+>ore to  ozcr                       pro09  of this truth? What wonder, then,  t.hat they
                  fath.er A bra.ham;  that he would grunt! called him by the name of his father? And why shoald-
                  unto us, that we being de!tivered out of it be considered impertinent that, over the protest of
                  the  -hand  of  our enemies  ,might  serve                        Elizabeth and against `her strange assertion that the
                  h<m without fear, In holiness and right- chi!.d should be called John, they appealed to the author-
                  eousvwss  before him, a.@ the days                                ity of ,his father? . . . .
                                                                         of our
                  life.     Ati thou., child,  shult be  caller                          But now all this is settled.
                  the  rrrophet  of  the highest;  for  thou                            When they had made signs  toI the aged, deaf-mute
              shalt go before thLe. face of  the Lord to                            Zacharias, and at ,his request had supplied him with
               prepa.re  his ways; to give knowledge                                the necessary utensils, he  had written a statement that
                                                                              of
               salvation unto his people by the remis- left  ,no room for dispute.
               sion of sins. Through the tender mercy                                   His name  is John!
                  of our God, ztrhereby the dayswing  from                              He  :had been so named from heaven! '
                                                                                        The Word of God was fulfilled to the endr
                  on high hath vi&cd us. To give light
                  to i!hem thart, sit in okrhxess  and in the                           And w.hen the tongue rof the thankful father, that
               shadow                                                               had been silent so long, was loosed, he broke forth in
                                of ,death, to guide our feet into
                  the may of peace.                                                 praise to Jehovah before a marvelling audiance.
                                                            huke 1:67-79.
   FilEed with the Holy Ghost!                                                          And he is filled with the Holy Ghost.
   The spoken w.ord of God must needs accompany                                         The Spirit of prophecy!
the realization of the Promise, that His people may                                     A sure and glorious promise !
know the work of the God of their salvat.iun.                                           A promise that has now entered upon its fuUilI-
   And signs and wonders bear testimony to the truth. menit !
   F.cr Zacharias' tongue was loosed.                                                   That, in brief, is. the theme elf this beautiful, in-
   His mouth had  beein silent-- the past  nin,e months, spired song of the aged father ,of John the Baptist.


12%                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   ` B E A R E R
i                                                                                                                     ~"
       Upon that promise `he new looks back, and in the              Their sins would be blotted out forever. And thru
light of that promise he considers the present and the the blotting out of their sins they would be redeemed.
future. Long had  Cad's people  w,aited  for the realiza-        On its spiritual basis a new kingdom would be founded,
tion of that promise. For, the promise  had been since a new order of things would be ushered in and estab-
the world began. Had not the Most High Himself de- lished, the spiritual order of the kingdom of heaven.
livered, that blessed promise of sal,vation  to our first        In that kingdom thq would be truly free !
parents, as  soon as the original light of righteousness            Delivered from all that hated them!
had been extinguished and the miserable night of sin                 Enriched with all the spiritual blessings of the
and death had spread its darkness over a world of woe? .kingdom  of God!
And had! not, `ever  since, the children of the promise              Beyond the reach and power of all the powers of
looked and longed for the fulfillment? 0, He would darkness !
come, the Seed of ithe woman, that would forever crush               Blessed promise !
the serpent's head! And all through the ages of the
old dispensation the promise had been repeated. God                  Glorious fulfillment!
had covenanted! with the fathers, Noah and Shem,                     For already, Zacharias, filled with the Spirit of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had given them His will                prophecy and considering the wonder-child of his old
and testament, sealed even by an oath which He swore             age, may sing, that God hath visited and' redeemed
by Himself,  that He  would  perform His mercy. Long His people.
.had been the years of waiting. Dark had been the                    It was the fulnoss of time.     I
night. Deepened even had the darkness as the cen-                    Faintly, yet surely, the glimmering light  od dawn
turies rolled by. Yet, God had-spoken, had repeated #announced the near rising of the Sun of rilghteooasness.
His promise, all through the ages, through the mouth                 A  .horn  of salvation  .had God raised up for His
of His holy prophets, until the last of them, now four           people in the  house of David. Of that horn the in-
dark and hard centuries ago, had prophesied of the spired poets of Israel had sung of yore : "For thou art
Sun of righteousness with-healing in its wings that the glory of their strength; and in thy favor our horn
would surely rise to them that fear the name of Je- shall be exalted. For the Lord is our defence  ; and the
hovah! . . . .                          ,                        Holy One of Israel is  our king". Ps. 89 : 17, 18. "T$here
       How sure the promise was !                                will I make the horn of David to bud ; I have ordained
       Sworn to them that looked for its fulfillment by a lamp for mine annointed. His enemies will I clothe
God's own oath !                                                 tith  slhame; but upon himself shall his crown flourish."
       And holw rich Iin content was this Word of God!           As the horn is the sitrength  of the ox, so is the horn of
       A word1  of salvation it was!                             David the symbol  ob his royal strength and power.
       Delivered they would be from all their enemies,           And the horn of David was not in his house ,as such.
that always made it impossible for them to serve the             Plainly it was d&-nonstrated  that in itself the house
Lord without fear! Enemies they were, not merely of David was without power to deliver and to  desitroy
because of the distinction between Israel  ,and the Hea- the enemies. But the King of Israel, the horn of David,
then round about, but because of the difference between is Christ. And already does the inspired father of
them that fear the name ,of Jehovah and them that John sing of the raising up of that .horn  through the
fear  Him not. They were within the borders of the               w,onder of &d's grace.
covenant-land  as' well ,as without. They were the car-              He is the Dayspring from on high !
nal children born in the covenant-line of generations,               We sit in darkness. The sun went down upon us
as well as the idol  worshippers  :od the Gentiles. Al-          in the first paradise. And ever since it was dark. The
ways they violated God's holy covenant. They defiled night of sin and suffering enveloped us ; the s.hadow of
the temple, they trampled under foot God's holy things, death swooped down upon us. And in that darkness
they destroyed the City of Gsd, they carried them away we sit. For where should we go? And who will guide
into strange lands, where they could not and would not our way through that darkness? Or where is the way
sing the songs of Zion. God would  deltiver  them from lout? The wise men of the world attempted, age upon
the power of these enemies of * God and His people, not age, to point out the way of deliverance, but in vain.
by an external deliverance from their o:ppression,  but          There is a guilt we cannot blot out. There is a power
by that spiritual liberation that would set them free, sf  corruption  from which we cannot deliver ourselves.
so that they might serve God without fear!                       There are the shackles of death we cannot break.
       Salvation by the remission of sins !                      Night it is, hopeless night. And in the darkness and
       That was the heart of the deliverance God had             in the shadow of death we sit, waiting, longing, hoping
promised, now begun toI be fulfilled in him, that was            in the promise. . . .
to go before the face of the Lord to prepare the way                 And, wonder of wonders, the dayspring comes from
before Him and to `give unto His people knowledge  ob an high !
this salvation.                                                      For He is from above, God of God, reaching down


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            123
                                                                                                   -.-.-_                  -
into our darkness, striking a pathway of light through ness before Him, all the days of our life,-such is the
our night, guiding our feet in the way of peace,  shcw-          purpose of it ail !
ing us the way out, out of the night into the glory of               Out of Him, and through Him and unto Him are
eternal  day, lout o,f sin into righteousness, out cf the        all things! To Him be  the glory forever, Amen!
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of t;nc             His mercy, His tender mercy, His eternal, free
children of God, out of death into life!                         and sovereign mercy, is the eternal source of all this
    The Dayspring from  on High !                                light in darkness, of all this life from death, of all t.his
    From  h.eaven  `He  deeends  into the nether parts blessedness in our misery! For, He loved His people
of the earth, into the likeness of sinful flesh, into the        from before the foundation of the  world, And He
diepths  of our shame and suffering and death, into the ordained them, in His free and sovereign determination
very darkness  of hell at the accursed tree; thence to           of grace, to be conformed unto the image of His Son,
rise into the brightness of His  glory, in  hhe resur- that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren
rection, in His return to  the Father, through the And He knew them, eternally, in their misery, as they
heaven:s,  at the right hand of God. . . .                       sit in the darkness of the night of sin, in the sha,dow
    To return! .  L  .                                           of death,. And He is, eternally, merciful unto them,
                   l 
    To shine by His Spirit in the hearts of those that           filled with  ,the immutable will and desire and purpose to
sit in darkness, in the shadow of death.                         deliver them from all their enemies,, to save them from
    And to guide forever their feet into  th!e way of the power of sin and, death, to clothe them with gar-
peaoe  !                                                         ments of righteousness that can aever  be soiled, to
    Blessed fulfillment!                                         fill them with the glory of an eternal life  `&at can
    For the beginning ,of this realization of the Promise never be  toauhed  by death and corruption. And He
!3acharias  beholds in the child  ;tbat  has just been ordained the Dayspring from on high,  His  omy begot-
named. He was the orxasion of this prophecy.                     ten son, ,to stand at ithe head of these o,bjects  of His
    The hera!d  of the dawn !                                    mercy, to  enter"  into their night, to strike through  th:e
    And thou, child! . . . .                                     darkness the pathway of light, to  <guide their feet into
    A prophet Iof  t.he Most High he  wouEd. be called.          trhe way of  peace?. . . .
Greater indeed, he would be than all the prophets that              And He it is that made His covenant with them.
were before him. For, though his position would still                And He it is that gave them the promise through
be on the threshold of the kingdom of heaven, yet he the mouth of <all His holy prophets.
would point with his finger to the Lamb of God that                  And He it is that was faithful, even as He swore
taketh away the sin of the world. And while all the by Himself, to fulfill the promise.
prophets of the  ,ol:d  dilspensation  could  olnlzy  see the        Wonders of grace ?
Promise afar off, his would be the mission to announce               Mercy, pure mercy, tender mercy, abund*ant  mercy,
,that the Kingdlom  of heaven ,had.  corn...  near, very near, eternal: mercy !
indeed ! Before His face he would go to prepare His                 And why? . . . .
ways !                                                               Why, 0, why should He be filled with tender  mercy
    Repentance `he would preach !                                to us, who are by nature enemies of God: loving the
    Far from the temple and the altar, in the barren             darkness rather than the  light?  Why should  Hk
wilderness, he would raise his pulpit and gather about mercy  (touch  me and you, while thousands upon thou-
him his audience,  to give unto them the new know-               sands perish in His wrath? Why? . . . .
ledge, that salvation consists in the remission of sins !            For His own Name's sake!
Much they would have. to learn ! The temple and its                  Another answer there is not!
service, the altar and, its sacrifxe,  the priest and ,hi,s          0, serve Him, then, without fear, ye that are so
ministrations, the earthly glory of David's `house and delivered and  redeelmed  by His tender mercy! Seek
its kingdom, their national' pride, the earthly Jeru- not again the corruption from which you have been
salem and mount Zion and all they represented-all                red~eemed  !  Msake not again common cause with the
these would have to disappear to malt place for the enemy from which you have been delivered. Retreat
reality  to1 which the shadows pointed. . . .                    not into the darkness now the Sun  of righteou~sness
    Sjalvation  by the remission of sins!                        shines upon you, now the Dayspring from on high has
    BEessed realization of the promise!                          visited you. Serve Him without fear of the enemy.
                                                                 For, though ,he raves and threatens, he is overcome,
                                                                 you have been delivered, and he cannot prevail against
    0, bl,essed  be the God of Israel!                           you! Fight the ,good  fight even unto the end!
    Who bath visited and, redeemed His people !                      In holiness and righteousness before His face !
    For, that His name may be blessed, that He may                   All the days of your life!
be glorified, that His praises may be extolled, that He              Unto Him are all things ! GIory be to Him forever !
may be served without fear in holiness and  righteous-           Blessed, yea, blessed be God!                    JX H.


1.36                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                  _
kwam er een  voorstel:  om het nag 2 of 3  maand uit
te stellen. `t Werd echter  goed gezien door de gemeente                             The  \&ary Jesus
als  teen  .geheel  dat dit  alleen  was  een  verl,engen  van
ti jd'.                                                                Jesus had  begun His  mitistrjt.
        De Ds. sprak ook een kort wocnd: hij wees o~p en-              We cannot be very certain .as to the exact *happen-
kele  dingen,  niet van waarheid  ontbloot.  Hij  begon            ings before the events took place that &X given in
ate zeggen: dat hij zich aelven  niet op het oog had, want         Mark  1, but so mu& is sure, He ha.d  fill&d His days
hij heeft Fuller Ave. lief en zou gaarne zijn  laatste             with many iabors,
levensjaren  besteden  aan lhaar uitsluitend. God heeft                 And all these labors left Jesus very tired indeed~.
het echter zoo beschikt dat hij is geplaatst in een kerk-          They were grievous Mm-s. All  Ibf them: His baptism,
verband  dat noodwendig zijn  diensten van  noode                  temptation,  rdrstcies,   preaching reminded Him of the
heeft. De Ds.  heel% een  groote voorraad "notes" die              terrib!,e journey to hell.
in de toekomst mueten  wcc,rden  uitgewerkt, en vmr onze               It is as the prophet Isaiah said so many yea,rs  be-
kerken in ,het bijzonder, en ook andere kerkan in het tune : "As many were astonied at Thee ; His visage
algemeen van groote waarde zijn. Wanneer  we nu een was SD marred more than any man, and His form more
tweede Ds. hebben kan dit in ,de toekomst met Gods                 than the sons of men. . . -" (52:ld).
hulp vergelijkt  worden.  De  geachte   aan dit alles is               Imagine if you please: He went to  Jord.an in order
,voor  eigen leeraar  voor zeker pijnlijk. Er zijn  tech           to be baptized of  Jcahn. Now John may not have  seen
banden gelegd die lieflijb en  hecht zijn. Hij  mocht              the entire import ct his own bapitizing,  yet so much
tech een geslacht  onder  zijn bediening op zien groeien. he understood that he recoiled from baptizing Jesus.
Hij  mocht  kinderen  doopen,  de jeugd onrlerwijzen,  en John understood, that his work of baptizing typified the
menige band werd  $gelegd  door hem in het huwelijk.               washing away  of ,sin. And shall he then b,aptize J.esus?
Hij spee1d.e  met `t jolnge  volkje, en vermaande ze vader-        God forbid. But God did not fo:rbid. On the contrary,
lijk. Hij trooette uit  Ctids Woord in ziekte en ellende.          God urges John to baptize Jesus. And Jesus descended
En bij de stervensponde hoorde men :hem  gaarne. Hij in the watery grave. And Jesus understood better
was blijde met de blijdm en  weende  met de weenenden.             than anyone present, John includ.ed,  what terrible pro-
Dit is nu spoedig afgedaan, want een $tweede  leeraar              phecy was enacted. Jesus realized that thus He would
meent voor Fuller Ave. dat het werk van de eerste                  go under, whilie.the waves and billows od eternal death
leeraar zal moeten  worden  verlicht, alhoewel zijn werk           would be joined above His defenseless head. He re-
niet vermindert.                                                   alized that the righteousness of God demanded1 that He
        `t Is echter  uok  niet zoo  gemakkelijk   voor de  ge-    ,d.ie the death  elf the guilty.
meente om een leeraar of tc staan, die de liefde van                   His visage was marred more than any man. And
haar hart heeft. En tech is deze weg de beste, en zoo small woader. He was the Prince `of Life but goes
we mogen  geloo'ven  de van God gewilde weg.  Het                  under in the flcod of death as typified by His baptism.
is natuurlijk onzer  aller wenseh dat hij nog vele ja,ren              Hard upon the soul-terrifying baptism the Holy
voor  oas in  err  uit mag gaan om Gods  Woord onder               Spirit of God takes charge of the willing lamb and
ons te verko'ndigen,  naar de wensch  van zijn eigen hart.         leads Him  to the desert in order to be tempted of the
Dat hij het  recht mag blijven  snijden,  en blij onder            devil. No, it is not a mere fallen angel among the mil-
uns may blijven verkondigen  totdat zijn Zender hem lions of the miserable spirits that  <throng around, their
:aflost, en het hem mag aanzeggen  : `t is nu  `genoeg ;           prince; no, it is Satan himself that meets Him in the
gaat in, in d,e vreugde uws Heerien.                               desert.
        De leeraars zullen  blinken als de zon, en die er velen        Imagine, if you please, J.esus who is very familiar
hebben gerechtvaardigd  aLs  bet uitspansel  des  hemels.          ,with the Divine orchestra of love and friendship that
                                                 S. D. V.          is played in heavenly perfection and harmony, must
                                                                   listen to the discordant notes of the devil's lying ton-
                                                                   gue. Imagine the suffering  o,f Jesus' soul when He
                           -                                       hears the devil quote Scripture with the avowed pur-
                                                                   pose to use the Word of G&l for evil.
                                                                       Later He must work in Galilee.
                  PROF. DR. K. SCHILDER                                And all that work from morning to Iate at night,
                                                                   it all spells the same thing, namely, hell for you, Jesus !
is to lecture in the Fuller Ave., Prot. Ref. Church on He meets His people in the chains of the devil. And He
January 25 at 8:OO  P.M., on the subject: "De  Pluri-              knolws  that He is called to break down the works of
forniiteit der Kerk". Thi,s lecture will be in the Hol- the devil. So He must approach these fiends from
land language.                                                     hell and command them to leave His sheep alone. Upon
                                                                   `His  tear fall the answers of the devils that are cast out
                        LEAGUE OF MEN'S SOCIETIES.                 by Him, Some of  these  qcswqy  are  hqrrible:   Some-


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     137
                               -_-------           --.-..-".".                    -
times they speak the truth. There is something so                 His soul was tired. All day long these sick folk, these
abominable in this that we search in vain for words               people possessed with devils, :these  hungry canes, had
to express it. If you please, hell testifies in *the  syns-       preached. to them of His Cross. And He wasl weary,
,gogue  to the truth of Almighty God! This man is the oh, SOI wleary of that awful Cross which cast its shadow
Christ of God ! Testimony given by devils in church.              before upon His path. He must leave His bed and go,
No wond,er that Jesus wcald not suffer the devils to              to God.
testify. He rebuked them.                                             For we read that He  werrt   $0 a  solitary  place in
    Sometimes He saw a visible manifestation of the               order to pray. At an&her place  w.e read that this
ichurch in misery. He saw the blind and the dumb;                 solitary place was the wilderness, the desert. Fitting
the lame and the halt; the dying and the dead. And                place. Oh Gold, here I am ! Loo$k  at Me, oh Father!
they all were a reminder of the state of God's children.          And fook at the place where I seek thy face. It is the
They were in the prison of sin and guilt and death.               desert, the  hc,wling wilderness. T,t is a type and symbol
    Thereupon  He would labor while it was His Day.               of the sorry state of my suffering soul and body ! Oh
`Until late at night Jesus would. call His sheep to Him My Father, help Me tin My agony !
`and coming, He would extend His hands in blessing,                   Oh, beloved, if you would have a commentary on
`so that the blind received their sight, the lame would           this .early visit of Jesus to the wildereess,  then read
.beap for joy and the dead would rise again. The hun-             Hebrews 5 :7: "Who1 in the days of His flesh, when He
.gry He would multiply the few loaves of bread, while had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
in! .the very breaking cd the bread IIe saw the awful             crying and tears  u&o Him that was able to save
Cross where His blessed bod*y would be bruised and                Him. . .  ."
broken. He would stand at the sepulchre  and gralan,                  Christ went to the desert tot pray to C&d in order
$or in the stench of putrefaction He would see the hor-           to receive strength for His further work.
ncr of eternal ,death  which He needs must suffer.                    And He was heard.
    He would labor in Cana  of Ga,lilee,  in Capernaum               &nd He has  trcd that pathway for you and for
by the sea; He would labor in the house of Simon's                me and for all the elect of God.  Overco,ming  death
wife's mother or hard by the door of the house, when and hell He has earned eternal life for all those given
at nightfall ,they  brought all the sick with divers di-          Him by the Father.,
seases to Jesus. He  would listen to all their stories of             Now  all these things are revealed for a purpose.
untolId suffering  and, His heart would be filled with               Are you weary in your striving against sin? Are
compassion while His hands were ever extended over you heavy laden and sp.ent?
the sickbeds to heal and to comfort, to feed and to                   Then  fo!low  Jesus and seek the face of God in the
guard.                                                            solitude, the quietness of  your prayer-cell.
    And late  at night when all were cured and all the                Jacob overcame  Goti with prayer and supplications
multitude would go their way, Simon's  wife"s mother and strong  cryings.
would minister unto Jesus and with a-loving heart for                 So also we: Oh God, be merciful, be merciful  to.
her heavenly Benefactor she would point out to Jesus                                                                   (I. v.
where H.e could find a bed for His weary body. Pre-
,sently it grolws still in the house. All are asleep.
    But what noise  it that which comes from the room
where Jesus  ia supposed to sleep? It seems as though
some  one is getting up. And this while it was  yet                                      IN  MEMORIAM
"a great while before day"  (M,ark  1:35).
    Y,es, beloved, it is Jesus. Very quietly He dressed               It pleased our heavenly Father to take unto Himself our
Himself and softly He  steals  thrsugh the house to the I~eloved  husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather,
front door.  Re goes out in the very early morning                                       HOLWYN RATS
hour.
    But why?                                                      at the age of 87 years, November 5. 1938.
    And the answer is easy if you know the Word of                    Having  the blessed assurance that  w.w loss  is his gain, we
God.                                                              are comforted in our bereavement.
    The answer is: He ca,nnot stay in bed for He is so                                                 Mrs. Holwyn Bats
very tired.                                                                                 Mr. and Mrs. John Ryskamp-Bats
    I know that this sounds like a riddle, like a paradox.                                  Mr. and Mrs. James Vanderlaan-Bats
And yet it is true.                                                                         Mr.  and Mrs. Herman Bats
    .Jesus was so iilled with all the wolrk  which He had                                   Mr.  :mcl Mrs. Henry Eats
done in the previous day, and he und%erstood$  so well                                           13 grandchildren
the import and meaning of that work, that He cculd                                               1.3 great-grandchildren.
not stay in bed; nor could He find rest for His body.                 Grand Rapids, Michigan


138                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
s                    ~..^-                                       -                                             .-
     Wilt Thou Disannui My Judgements?                          err? That these friends are addicted to a wrong view
                                                                 is certain. And. to this view they give expression in
                          JOE 40 :7a                             a language that as to the form of the words  is-
                                                                 thoroughly scriptural. One i'llustration  to show that
       T*he language of Eliphaz is not one of gentle reproof     this is possible.    When the pre-millenarian repeats
but of suspicion and vf harsh crimination. This has              God's promise to Abraham `Unto thee and to thy seed
been shown-shown that the conviction  :of Eliphaz,  Bil-         I will give this land (Canaan) fo,r an eternal inherit-
{dad and Zopha,r  is, that A:*b has fallen and has been          ance" he gives expression to the wrong view that
`walking in the customary gross sins cd the wicked.              eventuaIly   ,&he Jews will  oo,me into the everlasting
To this conviction Eliphaz gives expression, first in a possession of the earthly Canaan. -4nd he does this
kind of veiled  (chaptera  3 and  4)) and later in lan-          in a language  t,hat according to the form of the words
guage characterized by brutal frianknass-a language is thc,roughly correct.
that leaves no doubt as to what his  so,lution  is of Job's           What now is Eliphaz's error? This cannot be
pain.      The reason of this pain is Job's great sins.         known solely from  his delineations on the condition of
`There rests upon him *the ,guilt of special, gross sins.       life of the wicked, on &his side of the grave. For, as
Hlence,  Job's folly is not of a kind common to all be-          has been sho.wn,  these delineations, as to the form of
,Iievers.  In his last disoourse, he reproaches  Jcsb parti-    the words, are correct. The language employed is
cularly and in ~detail with sins of a grievous character,       identical to that used by the true prophets of Scripture.
5-with sins of arrogance, of cruelty, and of injustice Yet, as uttered by Eliphaz, it sets forth Ia wrong vi2w.
toward his neighbor. He thereupon affirms that the              The circumstance that Eliphaz accuses  Job of having
iause of  J&s sufferings lie only in these sins. He             been side-tracked upon the paths of wickedness, shows
earnestly warns Job against pursuing any futher his that in his thought-structure the  "wick'ed are writhing
unholy thoughts and speeches. He concludes with ex- and twisting in pain all their days, and cut down
horting Job to repent and to return to God and to enter out of time in the midst of their  diays." That is to
into the possession of the blessings promised by God to say, Eliphaz's contention is that without exception
the penitem.                                                    aL1  the wicked are overtaken in this present time with
       How, it was asked, does Eliphaz dare  tv ascribe to      outward physical calamity such as sudden  loss  ojf
Job these atrocious sins? He has not detected him in possessions, of health and life, or possitively expressed,
any such acts. He can bring no witnesses in proof of abject poverty, terrible bodily disease, nameless  physi-
his charges.       To+ understand Eliphaz's attack upon *cal wc~ and untimely death, and that this calamity
Job, one must know to what  view he was addicted - forms the mark of distinction by which the wicked are
he and his two friends  - and upon which he, as upon known.
a foundation, proceeded in his argumentation. To                      So, as one firmly rooted in this conception, Eliphaz
knc.w this view, one must acquaint himself with his             beholds Job, his amazing distress and he says first in
description of the experiences of the wicked. This              his heart and  ev.entually  in Job's audience, "Job reaps
has  be.en  done. According to Eliphaz, the wicked, the reward of each and every wicked man. Job is thus
though they may triumph for a season, soon find them-           standing in the way of sinners. Job is wickedl."
selves in the midst of  scrrolw  and are speedily cut off. I          Eliphaz's view, to be fully understood, must be ccn-
The  ri,ghteous,  on the other hand, prosper in this life. ternplated  in the light of the following c,onsiderations.
       But we found that the language uttered by Eliphaz        Firstly that God in His just judgment does indeed
and his two friends is not necessarily wrong. The col- punish the wicked also temporally. This is the element
lection of Psalms, it was shown, contain a language             of truth contained in Eliphaz's  conceptilo,n,   name,ly,
substantially identical to the language to which these *that God is angry width the wicked every day, is aole,Ly
three friends; give utterances in their descriptions  cf against them for evil, so that all things work  toget,her
the state and exp"Jnience  of the just and the wicked.          for their harm. The wicked are not blessed. They
Also according .to the Psalms and even according to find themselves on slippery places. God's curse is in
Job, the wicked are overtaken by many trclubl'es  in this their house. His terror fills their soul, so that they
life and come to a sorrowful end. But with the                  have no true  peace. What He gives them  i,n the form
righteous, it is exceedingly well. They eat the labors          of temporal good, He bestows in His wrath.
of their hands, are satisfied with length of days and                 Such is the temporal punishment of the wicked.
comce  to the grave in full age. (Ps. 91). So, if we have But this punishment  belon,gs  to the things unseen, the
regard solely .to the form of the words, then all do say same as khe; blessedness of God's people. It is only by
the same thing: Job, his three friends  a,nd the `faith that it can be understood that the believers, sub-
Psalmist.                                                       rject as they are to all the sufferings of this present
       But,  sol we finally asked, if the above-quoted          time, have all things working together for good to
language is, according to the form of the words, `them, and that thus the mercy and goodness elf God
thoroughly scriptural, wherein then do *these friends f followeth them all the days of their life. And so, too,


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        139
it is only by faith that it can be understood that God troth a wife ,and another man shall lie with her. He
`punishes also temporally the (reprobated) wicked for shall build a house but another shall dwell therein.
their sins. Judging according to 8things  seen - the         (Deut. 28). These are .only .some of the curses that
frequent  o,utward prosperity and well-being of the          were to overtake lthe peop1.e of Israel, if as a nation
wicked  - the wicked, instead of being recompensed for it should forsake the Lord to serve the devil.
their sins, walk in the light of  God% countenance and          But if Israel will hearken unto the voice of the
enjomy His favor.                                            Lord, blessing shall come upon him and  <overtake  him.
  The truth that God is solely against the wicked, that Blessed shall he be in the city and in the field. Blessed
His wrath is continually being revealed from heaven in shall be the fruit of his body and the fruit of the
them and over their ungodliness is set forth in Scrip- ground, of his cattle, the increase of his kine and the
ture by word and in the Oid Testament Dispensation flocks o,f his sh-eep. Blessed shall be his basket and his
.al.so by special sign or symbol. The destructicn  of the store. The  Lord! shall cause his enemies that rise up
ante-diluvial humanity by the flood was  su*ch a  speck1     against him to be smitten before his face. The Lord
s&-n. Likewise the overturning of the cities of the          shall command the blessing upon him in his store-
pl,ain where Lot dwelt, as also  t,he outward  calamity-     houses and in all that he  s,ets  his hand unto. The
famine and sword and disease  - by which the  Israel-        Lord shall establish him an holy people unto Himself,
itish people  would be overtaken whenever it departed as He has sworn unto him, if he shall keep the com-
fr,om  the Lord to  nerve the false gods of the neighbor- mandmentslof  the Lord his God, and walk in His ways.
ing heathen nations. The substance of Moses' ad-             (Deut. 28).
dresses, which he  deliv.ered  in the  awdilence of the         As to the punishment wit,h which the law threaten-
people of Israel encamped in the plain of Moab, is to        ed, it was measured out over and over through the
the following effect. But it shall come to pass, if ages of Israel's national existence. For the people
lIsrael will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord, his of Israel rose up and went a whoring after  the gods "
God, to obfserve to do all His commandments which of the strangers of the land! and. broke Jehovah's cove-
He the Lord  commandl3i him  Lhis day; that all the          nant. And the curse went forth, and overtook  the
following curses shall come upon  .him, and  over-           nation until it was destroyed. Israel was `made to serve
take him: Cursed shall he be in the city and in the his enemies in hunger and in thirst, in nakedness and
field. Cursed shall be his basket and his store. Curse 1 in want of nil things. A4nd the Lord made their plagues
shall be the fruit of <his body, and the fruit of his land, wonderful and the plagues of their seedy,  even great
the increase of his kin.e,  and the flocks o'f his sheep. plagues, and! of long continuance, and sore sickness.
Cursed shall he be when he comes in and when he goes He brought them all the diseases of the Egyptians,
out. The Lo,rd  shall send upon him cursing, vexation also `every sickness and  every  plague, which was not
and rebuke in all that he sets his hand unto for'to dv,      written in the book of the law.
uritil he be destroyed, and until he perish quickly ; be-       It is to  b.e observed that the predicted and realized
cause of the wickedness of his doings, whereby he has punishment consisted. in outward, physical and thus
forsaken the Lord. The Lord shall make the pestilence *observable  calamity such as wax,  pestil.ence,  sword,
to cleave unto him, until He has consumed him from famine, physical  ,disease,  divers plagues, violent death
off the land. The Lord shall smite ,him with consump- and deportation. It is to be considered, however, that
tion and with fever, and with an  inflamation,  and this punishment was but symbol and type of the wrat.h
with  an'extreme burning, and with the sword, and of God as it perpetually, in unbroken continuity, now
wit,h  blasting, and with mildew, and they shall pursue and ever,  ,on this and the other side of the grave,
him until he perish. And the heaven that is over him ,operates  in the reprobated ungodly. The real punish-
shall be brass, and the earth that is under him shall ;ment  of sin consists not in being exiled from the land
be iron. And the Lord shall make the rain of his land ;of an earthly Canaan, not in physical  hun,ger and thirst
powder and. dust; *from heaven it shall c,ome down and &ease, not in sword and pestilence, but in t,he
upon him until he be destroyed. The Lord shall cause spiritual and everlasting death of the soul, in  dis-
him to be smitten before his enemies. And his carcass `quieted  c,o,nscience,  in the terror of God filling the
shall be meat unto the fowls of the air, and unto the s:oul, in intolerable spiritual, cravings unsatisfied, in
beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.        nameless r.emorse  and dispair. This is the true punish-
The Lord will smite him with the botch of Egypt, and ment of sin, which the rqrobated  ungodly are made to
with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the            undergo on this earth in principle and in hell to the
itch, whereof he cannot be healed. The Lord shall            full. Of this punishment the outward and physical
smite him with madness, and blindness, and astonish- distress by which the Israelitish people were visited
ment of heart: and he shall grope at aconday as the when *they  fors.olok God was but the symbol andI type.
.blind grupeth  in the darkness, and he shall not prosper       Now the true prophets of God must have had some
in his ways ; and he shall be only oppressed and spcciled    understanding of this. They must have realized that
evermore, and no man shall save him. He shall be- though the language they were made to  emploby  when

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

the Spirit in them predicted and described. the punish- hel:d* by many that the case in question is not clear.
ment and doom of the wicked was descriptive o.f cut-           But it is clear. In his first reply, Eliphaz by implica-
ward and physical calamity, it was nevertheless the            tion  ea.& Job's pain chastisement. Says *he to Job:
real and eternal doom of the ungodly that they in a
language that is typical, were in the final instance fore-                 "I wouId  seek u&o God, and unto; God would
telling and depicting. Now of this, Job's critics  had,            I commit my cause ; Behold, happy is the man
no understandinlg at all. The real penal retribution of            whom God correcteth: therefore  d.e,spise  not thou
c:in was regarded by them as consisting in this out-               the chast,ening  of the Almighty: For he maketh
ward calamity. This being their conception they could              sore, and! bind&h  up : He w,cundeth,  and His hands
not avoid arriving at a point in their thinking at which           make wh&. He shall d.eliver  thee in six troubles :
they concluded that this outward calamity must be                  yea : in seven there shall no evil touch  the.e."chap  5
made to overtake each and every ungcdly ind,ividual
and be made to overtake him on this side of the grave             Many a commentator, having failed to gain an ade-
so that t,he wicked in this life receive *their  full due.     quate undlerstanding  of Eliphaz's fundamental position,
Physical hunger, thirst and starvation, loss of earthy have voiced the opinion that the speaker here gives
possessions, war as we now know it,  cann.ct be the utterance tic) a language of true lovliness (which indteed
portion of the damned in hell, as they have no posses- it is, if viewed by itself) and that at  l,ea~&  at this junc-
sions to lose and no body of flesh and blood in which ture of the debate he affords Job the kindliest treat-
to suffer our pain. If therefore r.eal punishmen*  con- ment. Were this true we would have reason  to be struck
sists in sufferings %of this present time, it shall have to    with amazement at Job's respotise  to this hortatory
be affirmed that the reprobated wicked receive in  <this       language of Eliphaz. This response, meant chiefly for
life their full measure of punishment and that there- Eliphaz's  ,ears, reads, "My brethren have been false as
fore  dea*th must spell their  annihiliati.on.  This is not a tcrrent, and as the stream of brooks that have passed~
saying that Job's critics believed not in the  immor-          by, which are blackish by reason of the ice, and where-
ta!ity  of the soul. Though they erred in their thinking,      in the snow is hid: . . . For now ye are nothing; . . .
they feared God and therefore must have recoiled How forcible are right words! But now what does
frcm this implication of their conception.                     `your arguing reprove? Yea, ye overwhelm the  fateher-
       Sol though the language to which Eliphaz and1 his       less and dig a pit for your friend,." Chapter 6 :14-X).
two friends give utterance in their contending  wit.h             How it this bitter reply of Job to Eliphaz's ad-
`Job is as to the form of the words thoroughly scrip-          monition that Job seek unto God and deem himself
tural, as employed by Eliphaz it sets worth a view happy on account of his being chastised by the  Al-
horribly  wr.ong.   W,hen  Eliphaz says  to Job, "The mi,ghty  to be explainedI?            Coul,d,  anyone ,have come to
wicked man is writhing  and  ttiisting  with pain all Job with a more comforting and soothing  w'ord? So
his d.ays," *he was giving expression to the view, "Every it will seem to one who fails to grasp the implication
wicked man without  excepti.cn"receiv,es  in this life his :of the  roott  idea  iclf Eliphaz's reasoning, the idea or
full measure of real punishment-a punishment that conception that the reprobasted  wicked receive in this
consists in just the kind of calamity that has befallen present time their full measure of real  puhishment.  In
thee, o Job, and the kind of pain thon art suff,ering."        his first discourse, Eliphaz sets forth this conception
Now to  t,his view none of the true prophets of Gcd            in the following language,
were addicted. How could they *have been, if the view
is thoroughly wrong. It is a view not true to life.                   "Remember I pray thee, whoever perished,  b+
The outtiard  calamity of which Mo.ses in his final dis-           ing innocent? or where were the righteous cut
courses prophesied overtook in after years not scat-               off?
tered. ungodly individuals but whole tribes in Israel                  Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity,
and finally the entire na*tion  includin*g  the elect rem-         and sow wickedness reap the same.
nant. It was  Dhe apostate nation and not the apostate
individual that was threatened. When the people of                     By the blast of God they perish, and by  th,e
Israel kept covenant fidelity, which it did when GHd-              breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
fearing kings occupied the throne, also the carnal seed                The roaring of the lion, and the voice o.f the
prospered materially and died a natural death.                      fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lion are
       The question must now be raised whether Eliphaz             broken." Chap. 4  :7-l&
regards Job's suffering as penal retribution oc chastise-
ment. All suffering is penal retribution when under-              Who now are these lions  of iniquity, consumed by
gone by the reprobated ungodly for whose sins Christ the breath of God's nostrils? Who else but the repro-
died not. Suffering is chastisem~ent  if undergone by bated ungodly. If it be considered that this language
a child of God. How  new does Eliphaz regard Job's was occasioned by the spectacle of Job's pain and by
pain, as penal retribution or  as chastisement. `It is the knowled,ge  of the sudden loss of his possessions and


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        141
--.-."-  ...._.....I_               -           .-                                                  - -   _^.
                                                                                                           - -_. ^^ .---
children, if it be  boirne  in mind,, further, that the phaz's speech is as wind. As the agent of Satan he
speaker is addressing Job as one to whom his utter-             does actually dig foi Job a pit.
ances apply, then it will readily be seen that what                The question must now be put what Satan's purpose
the speaker either wittingly or unwittingly, it makes is in coming to Job with this theory? What is Satan
`little difference as far as the effect of this language hoping to achieve. In explaining this, we must set
upon Job is concerned, says to Job is, "0 Job, thy out with the fact of Job's integrity. According to
plight is an undoubted indication that thou art a lion          God's own testimony, Job is a. man of singular piety.
,of iniquity and that thus thou art perishing by the The heart of 3ob is not a heart with an evil but with a
blast of the Almighty. So art thou now reaping thy igood  conscience. That is to say, Job himself (and how
full measure of punishment,.`" In a word, here at the could it be otherwise) is aware of his essential right-
very outset, Eliphaz, in all likelihood without realizing eousness. For waIking in the way of G.-id's precepts,
what he  dees, classifies Lob with the reprobated lions         he walks with God and thus as Abel, who has preceded
of iniquity. Thus the two propositions upon which him, obtains witness by his sacrifices that he is right-
all the discourses of Eliphaz and  of Bildad and eous, God testifying also wit,h his gifts. How keenly
Zophar turn are: (1) All the reprobated wicked are              aware Job  is of his essential integrity, of his being
consumed by the breath of God ;  {2) Such is  J,ob's            one of God's sons, is ovident from ,his replies to his
plight. He is being consumed, cu.t off suddenly in the critics.. Statements occur such as these: "But He
midst of his days. Behold the man ! Mark his p.ain !            (God)  know&h  the w,ay that I take : when he hath
See  ,how he is about to perish. Truly he reaps the             tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot  bath
reward of the wicked.                                           held his steps,  ,his way have I kept, and not declined.
   Now these two propositions taken together, contain Neither have I gone back from the commandments of
a conclusion, namely, the one stated above, "Job is his lips; I have `esteemed the  w,ords  of his mouth
a reproba.ted  lion of iniquity. This is the terrible im- more than my necessary food.". Ghap. 23 :lO-12. This
plication of all the ,disoourses  of Job's three comforters.    is no idle, pharisaic  bclasting  on the part of Job.
It forms the dagger with which Satan through the                He means not that he is altogether without sin, -that
agency of  thae three friends over and over pierces the moral infirmities  Co.mmon  to all believers are not
Job's soul. It will not do to say that these friends            his. But he means that, despite his moral imperfec-
are not aware of the terrible implications of their tions, he has been walking as a child of the  hght and
utterances. That they know is proven by the circum- is thus innocent of the atrocious crimes with which His
stance that Eliphaz in his last reply openly reproaches fri,ends reproach him.
Job with atrocious crimes. Yet, despite the fact that              But Satan says that Job does not serve for nought,
these friends become the instruments of the most that thus  J$oQ has his affections set not upon God but
poignant suffering, the severest temptations, that Job upon the cattle that God gave him. To silence the
must  ,endure,  they are true-hearted, devout, religious accuser God gives him power first over all that Job
men. That they wound Job as they do, is to be as-               has and  last!y over Job's person. After Job is stripped
cribed to their theory. Truly loving, Eliphaz, as has           from all his wealth, after all his children have been
just been po,inted  out, refers in his first discourse to       hurled into eternity by a mighty wind, Satan smi*tes
Job's sufferings as chastisement, though his theory Jcb with a terrible disease. Job is striken with boils
drives him to conclude that Job's pain is penal retribu- from the so!e uf his foot to the crown of ,his head. He
tion, that thus Job is being cut off on account of his. takes him a  potsherd  to scrape himself therewith. And
iniquity and so suffers the common lot of the wicked.           he  si,ts among the ashes. But Satan has not done with
Though his persona1  convicti,on  may be and undoubted- J,cb. He has merely laid another foundation for a new
ly is that Job is a truly religious man, yet, as often as attack. This foundation having been laid, Job now
he opens his mouth to speak, it is to voice ,his theory         being in great pain, the friends come, and eventually
in one form or another and thus to tell Job that he Job hears them say that the wi'cked man, and he only,
is a thoroughly godless personage.         Hence, his ex- is twisting and writhing in pain all his days. Satan
horting Job to seek God andc his reminder that the pins  all his hopes of succeding  in showing up Job as a
man whom God correct&h is happy and that God man who lacks genuine piety on the ability of these
maketh sore and bind&h up and will deliver him in friends to convince Job that they give him the true
six troubles, has no meaning. For, according to Eli-            solution of his sufferings. For, as convinced of this,
phaz's theory, Job is not a child of God that has fallen Job will be driven to conclude, so Satan reasons, not
into some gross sin but a reprobated lion of iniquity. th.at he is devoid of essential righteousness (Satan well
It can be understood that Job, having listened to  Eli- understands that Job must be too  keenly aware of his
phaz's first rebuke,  and1 having apprehended its impli- relative virtue to be driven to this conclusion) but that
cation, is desperate and in his desperate mood refers devite  his  upri&tness,   ,despite  his having kept
to the speech of his friend as wind, and accuses him            God's way, God accounts him a lion of wickedness, and
of digging a pit for him. The accusation is true. Eli-          is therefore against him, so t.hat as a result He, Joab,


112
-.                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA@XX.  ,, --                                      P
                                                                                                     p....-.....II___
in common with all wicked men, $s now perishing by -always been univers&y  accepted 2' No one, in a pro-
the blast of the Almighty. Satan feels assured that,          per frame of inind, .would  gainsay our word?
once this thought has taken root in Job's soul, Job will
finally conclude that it is utterly futile for a man to           NOW  what would the  fathers  tell Job, should he be
serve God, "to hold his foot to  Go,d's steps," to lean wi'ling to be instructed? -What should he know from of
upon God, to trust in Him, to enjoy God's favor through, .::~ld~?  What is that wisdom by wh,ich  Eliphaz claims to
a walk that takes a man on the way of God's com- have come by divine revelation? Precisely what these
mandments. And Satan feels assured that Job, so con- friends  h&ve been telling  Jo,b, to wit, "that the wicked
cluding, will in his nameless dispair and great anger are writhing and twisting in pain nli their days" and
(Satan believes Job to be devoid of true piety) will ithat the hypacrite  %hdi perish forever like his own
turn upon God and curse `Him to His face.                     `dung"`, is this now a, dcctrine of which Eliphaz might
                                                              say that  he came by it by divine revelation? Is it ac-
       It can be expected, therefore that Satan  thro,ugh  the tually a  do&r-in&!  taught by the fathers?  Is it being
agency of Job's friends, will insist that his solution of ascribed to by every  m&n of true understanding, as
Job's sufferings is the true and only one and that in         Zophar contends? As has already been shown, the
his d~esperate attempt to convince Job, 1~. will repeat it friends in rebuking Job, avail themselves of A thor-
                                                              oughly Scriptural language, thus a lan,guage  tha,t can
over and over. And so he does. Eliphaz even brings            be usbed toa set forth truth-the truth that the face cf
himself forwa.rd *as God's prophet, who speaks God's. God is solely against the wicked, that He is angry wi'th
wisdom, and a wisdom to which he came by divine them every day and that therefore the wicked (repro-
revelation. He relates  ,his experienoe in this language, bated} a,re being punished. now and ev.er.  This is the
"Now a thing was secretly come to. me, and mine ear doctrine taught by the fathers and ascribed to by every
received a little thereof. In thoughts from a vision of man of understanding who  ,then  lived. But of this
the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, . . . . Then doctrine  J,ob',s friends have  no correct understanding.
a spirit passed before my face ; . . . .there was silence,    They pervert it,  impose upon it their own philosophy.
and I heard a voice saying. . . ." The verses that fol-       It is thus with a misconceived truth that they assail
low, set forth what Eliphaz heard. NQW there is no            Job.
reason to doubt Elipbaz's word. The man is no, pre-
tender. He is a  devcut  soul. He  .is to be counted as           Mark then- the vile cunning of Sajta'n. In assailing
belonging to God's people. All that he hears the voice Job, he avails :himself  of Job's very friends and thus
say  .to him is by itself absolutely true. "Shall mortal of men wb~ must also have been renowned on account
man," so he hears the voice saying, "be more just than of their godliness. Godly men they indeed were, de-
God,?  Shah a man be more pure  than his Maker?"              spite their misconceptions and despitse  the fact that,
To this every true prophet of God answers, "Assuredly,        unbeknown to themselves, they  w.ere  being employed
no!" The voice continued, "Behold, he puts no trust           by Satan. Were they not Job's friends? Did not God
in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: .finally request of Jcib that h;e ma.ke atonement for them
how much less them that dwell in houses sf clay. _ . ."       in respect to their sins? Thus in his frantic attempt
Nvw  there are words of true wisdom, The <truth  dwells to provoke Job to renounce God, Satan avails himself
in this man Eliphaz (and also in Bildad and Zophar) .         of the godly, yea, of the very truth itself as, miscon-
But t'h.ey are men with grave misconoe,pticns.  There-        ceived-and misapplied. And what 4tremenidous:  pressure
fore Satan can use them to tempt  J.ob. Bild.ad  in dis-      these friends bring tot bear upon Job-the pressure of
tinction. from Eliphaz bases his authority upon tra-          the a.uthority  of divine revelation, of tradition and of
diticn. Says he to Job, "For inquire, I pray thee, from the concensus of opinion. Certainly, under the weight
the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of          of all this authority, so Satan reasons!, Job's resistance
the fathers: for we are but of yesterday and know to his friends' philosophy must needs crumble and the
nothing, because our ,d,ays upon earth are but a shadow :     convict&i form in his soul that their doctrine is true;
shall not they teach thee and teIl thee, and utter words anld that thus the wicked do indeed receive in this life
out of their heart?" Chapter 8%1.0.         If  J,ob will not ,t.h,eir  full measure of punishment and perish by the
belleve  him, Bildad, and his two colleagues, (Eliphaz bast of the Almighty as doles now Job. Now should
and Zophar) let him then hearken unto the voice of this conviction become his, and Satan hopes that it will,
the fathers.                                                  Job's terrible  ,dilema will actually be that, if he main-
                                                              tain his own integritv.  he will be comnelled to doubt
       Zophar, in distinction from both Eliphaz and Bil- God ; but if he affirms: God to be righteous in His deal-
dad, founds his authority upon concensus of opinion.          ing with him, he will be driven tot oonclude that he is
Says he to Job, "Know&  thou this not of old, since           wicked and thus now reaps the reward of the  wicke&
man was piaeed upon the earth?" Chapter 20:4,  5. Either, Satan. is convin,ced,  will be fatal to what he
"Know& thou this not o*f old?" That is,  `Doe@ thou holds  t:r be Job's sham religion. Satan then., as was just
not realize that what we tell thee is a doctrine that has said, is pinning all his hopes  on the ability of the three


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             143
                __-..__I_--                                         -      -                        - ..-_.- "-----  .._
friends to convince  Jclb of the correctness of their throu,gh  the fall has lost God's limage,  is thus devoid of
philosophy.                                                        true knowledge and holiness, his depraved nature still
    To Job's reactions, to his  ,descent into the pit of de-       shows traces of `his original  divine kiasmanship,-such.
pair, and to the triumph of his faith, we shall have re- *traces as man's rationality and morality, conscience,
gard in a  follo,wing  article.                                    man's awareness of God, his shewing  "the work of the
                                                G. M. 0.           law written in tis heart", man's  idcl worship, his serv-
                                                                   ing other gods. Hence, it is still evident that God made
                                                                   man 4in His image. Therefore he who  $assails man, as
                                                                   moved by carnal .hatred  and thus by self-interest, as-
                                                                   sails the very appearing of God and !thus God Him-
                                                                   self, even though it be that only traces of  .&is appear-
                                                                   ing, likeness, remained.
        What Divine Duty Has The Civil                                   Murder,  therefclre,  is a sin so  atrocious  that "he
    Magistrate Toward The First Table                              who sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be
                                                                   .shed," in Israel by the next of kin to the murdered,
                       Of The Law?                                 whose right and duty it was both to pursue th,e mur-
                                                                   derer and to .&lay him. But the appointment extends
    Su reads the question that wa,s given the under-               beyond  the blood-vengeance, and becomes the root of
signed by the League of Men's Societies--a question the magisterial  ,right of punishing the transgressor of
that was answered on the last meeting of the League.               the sixth command. But we ask: Of  t'he sixth  corn-.
And the request was  &to publish the answer in  th.is              mand only? Nay, but least of all the commands writ-
magazine. The publication of this article is  ,a: com-             ten on the  seconld  table of the law (with the exception
pliance with this request.                                         af the tenth). But why should this appointment not
    It would seem that the view prevailing among many              be taken as the root also of the magisteria1  right of
people of Reformed perrsuasizn  of this day is that the            punishing the transgressor of the laws written on the
magistrate has a duty toward the first table of the                first table as well? Thera are indeed  relasons for say-
law.      A Christian Reformed Synod some years ago ing  .that it should. Consider once more that the  rea-
 (Acts, Synod, 1910) declared that  % d&s positively               scn for the command against murder is that the mur-
 hold, that within its own  lsecular ,sphere,  the magi+           derer assails God. Now to have before God's face
. tracy has a divine duty totward  the first table of the          other deities, to make ormself a graven image, to dese-
Law ,as well as toward the. second." Just what this                crate Goad's sabbath, and to Idisobey  parents, is also,
 duty consists in, this synod did not explain. But as              certainly to, ,assail Ged. Ana we her.e nct+driven  ko the
 appears from its Acts,, this synod did declare, rather conclusion that the magistrate is under the necessity
 by implication, that it was opposed to the magistrate's of punishing the transgressor of all the laws written
 prosecuting a man on account of his having a false  r-z-          on the first table of the law as we'1 as it is his bounden
 l&ion. How the magistrate can have a divine duty                  duty  to prosecute the transgressor of the laws written
 toward the  iirst table, without being under the neces- on the seaond  table.
 sity of prosecuting persons who have aa false r&ion                     In support of the proposition that it is the calling
 is hard to see. The first comma,ndment  reads, "Thea              of the magistrate to punish the transgresssor  also of the
 shalt have no other gods before me.' ' Now the man laws written  on the first table,  WE? next appeal to the
 with a false religion is one who has before God's face circumstance that the magistrates: ,in the Israel of the
 other deities. He is thus a transgressor of the first             Old Testament had DC1 d,ol so. In Israel,  <the blasphemer,
 commandment. If it be not the duty cC the magistrate              the  idolarter,   a,nd the one desecrating the sabbath had
 to mnishr the transgressor of the laws written on the to be put to death. In fact, the presumptuous trans-
 first table, it is hard to see how the magistrate can have        gression of any of the  ,&en commandments  of Jehovah
 a divine duty also towar.d these commands. But per- called for the death of the  transgresscr. From this it
 haps the brethren would make an exception of the first cannot be inferred that  alsal tlo,day  the civil magistrate
 two commands. However this may'be,  the concensus                 is duty bound b.efore  God to put to dea+h  the trans-
 of opinion among t,hem is that the magistrate ,has a gressor of any one cf the ten ccmmands. At least I,
 duty a'lso toward the first table.                                as yet, am not ready to make this inference. But I do
        Now this, we are convinced,  (is a Scriptural position.    maintain that,  i.f Israel's magistrates had  *to vindicate
 Ccnsider,  firstly, the word of the Lord that came to the  I,aws  written on the first table, the magistrates in
 Noah after be had left the ark, "Whoso  shed&h  man's our modern states `e under the necessity <of doing SC.
 blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image Now we are well aware tha,t .trhleise  states are no tbeo-
 of God made he man." We are interested in the reason cracies  and that the magistrates of to'day are uot to
 here given for the command against the murder. "For               be  cl,assified  with Israel's! theocratic kings. A theo-
 in the image of  God made He man." Though man cracy is a kingdom of God. Its citizens constitute a


144                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
            .__I_._.-                    .-
holy people of God-the God and Father of our Lord                count of this, he who, offends in one, is guilty of all, it
Jesus Christ. In a theocracy the king is Jehovah's               follows that he who is being punished for offending
vicegerent, and the sole lawgiver is  Chrilst's. God. The in one, is, in .the essential  sense, being punished for
true theocracy  is the church  o,f the living God. The           offending in all ten.    Thus, rightly  considered,  the
modern states are kingdoms of ,the wY;crlldl,  destined to magistrate who punishes the transgresmr  of all the
disappear. Yet, according to Scripture, the state is a laws .of both tables. H,e does so whether he wills or
divine institution. And the magistrate,  as  we'1  as. not.. Thus, rightly considered, the magistrate cannot
IIrsrael's theocratic king of  ,old, rules  by divine appoint- even cholcse  to punish the transgressor of the laws 0.f
ment.        His  sw,ord-power  is of  Qctd.  There is  th,is    the first table. He does this, irrespective  ~3 what he
agreement. Why should then not  als,o the  lat,ter   bz is resolve&  to do, if he be maintaining Gh.e laws of the
;under the necessity of inflicting  punislnnent  on  th,e second table.
transgressor  of the laws of both tables? It is  h,ard              In the light of this: last observation, it appears that
to see why  *he should  not,. It seems to me that the            it is even useless to ask wh.ether the magistrate has a
view to the effect that the duty of the civil magistrate duty toward the laws of the first table.
is only toward the  second  table  osf the law, springs                                                      Fundamental-
from the atheistic conception that the  sword-power  is ly, the question is whether it is the duty of the magis-
to be exercised scllely  in t,he interest of man zmd thus        trate to punish  those  who assail the expression of God's
not primarily in the interest ojf God ; that the criminal holy will in His law. If the answer given be an affirma-
is to be punished not because he flies into ;ths face            tive cne, the question of *how  many o:f these ten com-
:of God, but solely because `he does injury to scciety,          mands are to be maintained by the magistrate falls
thus because he tramples not God's right, but the rights away.
of his fellow man. What therefore, acocrding  to this               But aside from this, the view that the  du.ty of the
conoeption,  is calling for the punishment of crime is magistrate is toward the  ssond table of the  l'aw  cn!y,
not the justice iof God but sol,ely the harm done to1 man. .involves  those addict.&  b 4it in not a little difficulty, as
And what necessitates  this punishment is not the di- it can not be said for  aertain  blow many of the ten
vine command but the concensus of human opinion commands belong on the first table and how many on
as embo.diedt  in the law ;ca the statute-book of the state.     the second. Scripture gives no explicit  d.eliverance
And the impulse under which this punishment is then an this subject. There must be a design in this silence,
measured  tout is not the love of God but carnal passion -the  si,lence  to teach that the law is  dncapabhz  of a
and desire for revenge. And so, as' the second table reharp and formal devisiroa.  For, as has already been
of the law is held to concern man only, it is only with pointed out, there is in the law a pervading unity of
the laws  w&ten  on this table that the magistrate has principle that branches cut th.e whole sphere of obli-
to do.       Further, parents  hav.e a duty toward  b&h          gations into two great lines of duty,-to Ilove the Lord
tables of the law. They have the power, right duty,              with all  t,he heart and one's neighbor as one's self.
to ,inflict punishment on the child, if need be, for i*ts        And these two lines merge and overlap each other.
transgressing the commands also of the first table.              But if it b,e held that the duty ~;f the magi&rate  be
Can it be then that the  magistrat,e  neted  not be con-         tzward t,hs second table only, a Isharp division will have
oerned abou#t the first table?                                   to be made,  otr rather selected from the ones already
       Finally, though there  .are two tables of  th,z  la,w,    existing. There are those who made the division of
.the ten commandments are fundamentally one, as' th.ey           the ten io ccasist  in two fives or eactly tw halves.
all hang ,cn two commands, "love G:!d above all and thy According to others, !&he division falls into four and
neighbor as thy se!f." But as the love of the neighbor "six and according to still  ,&hers into three and seven.
is, rightly considered; love of God, the ten commands Who can say which of these divisions is: the correct
are truly one at bottom. Hence,  "For whosioever  shall          one? It may be that not one of. t,be three is correct.
keep  t,he who12 law, and yet offend in one, he is guilty What .then are the exponents ~of the view under con-
of all."       And why is this? Because "he that said,           sideration to do about it? It is hard to say.            Per-
Do not commit adultery, said also,  Do.  nlot kill. Now if       haps it is only the first two of the ten commands that
thou commit nst adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art             they would deem impossible of being maintained by
becom,e a transgressor of the law." James 2  :lO,  11."          the magistrate. Recently, there was a movement on
The reason that James gives fo:r .the oaeness of the             f& in the city of Grand Rapids to petition t,he city
ten commands is that they all spring from the will  of           magistrate  to, compel all the proprietors of food-shops
the one holy and  righteous  God. The one as well  as            toi close  th&r places of business on the Sabbath.  It
the other therefore is the expression of His hQ1y will,          shows that there  (is no  obje&ion  to the magistrate en-
so that, no matter which of the ten ccmma.nds  be trans-         forcing the fourth commandment.
gressed, the ofKender  always assails the holiness and
righteou,sness  of C&l, or, as .this was just expressed,                             (To be continued}
he always f-lies into God's face. If therefore, on  ac-                                                      G. M.  0.


