                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        53

beweren, dat Hitler zeer sterk het type vertovnt  van it is merely a "Testimony to the Churches". But this
den Antichrist in vele  vpzichten.                          does not alter the fact that the document is a synodicsl
   En ook too& het bvven aangehaalde, dat de S&rift declaration and t,hat in it we find certain views on war
vervult wordt, die ons  leer%,  dat God den goddeloozen and related subjects, and certain interpretations of
een kracht der  dealing zendt, opdat zij de leugen Scripture and of ,the Confessions ; and these have nvw
zouden gelvvven !                                           officially been adopted and stamped as the views of
   Het wordt  ,hoe langer zoo duidelijker in de wereld,     the Churches. And that .is the reasun  why the inv,ita-
dat Gods Wovrd  vervuld  wordt.                             tion of the editor of The Calvin Forum to "comment
    En het gaat in onze dagen snel, zeer snel!              and criticism" surprised us somewhat.        Are,  anno
    Zie, Ik kvm haastelijk!                                 1939, the official declarations of the Synod of the
    Vinde in vnze ernstige tijden dit wovrd des Hei-        Christian Reformed Churches not only open to c&i-
lands  slechts  wee&lank  in onze  harten  in de bede:      cism but deliberately subjected to it? Anno 1924 this
Kom, Heere  Jezus !                                         was different.
                                               H. H.           But, of course, to The Standard Bearer this is of no
                                                            concern anyway. It is in a position to offer its cvm-
                                                            ment and criticism, even on an official declaration of
                                                            t,he Christian Reformed Synod, with  or without an
                                                            inviitation.    And it prefers to do  this in its own
                                                            cvbnnns. However, although naturally we write in the
   As To The Christian's Participation                      interests of our own rwderts  primarily; we gladly offer
                                                            our comments  ,tv the magazine that asked for them.
                       In War                                   The "Testimony" begins  ,by motivating its own ap-
                                                            pearance. It was occasioned by the fact  that there is
    What is the proper attitude of the Christian with today, "especially  i.n  our own country a  Nvidespread
respect  to the wars of the wvrld, to war as such ; may     pacifistic  and also mihtaristic  propaganda"; and also
the Christian ever actively participate in war; may by the phenomenon that "many of our church ,mem-
he ever refuse tv serve in war Iwhen his cvuntry  calls hors are honestly perplexed as to their duty in the
him ?                                                       matter of participating in future wars".
    On these quest,ions Iwe wrvte a few articles in our         It continues by describing and  critivrising  both
Standard Bearer *about four years ago.                      "mili.tarism"  and "pacifism" in the light of Scripture
    The  practical  interest and  si,gnificance  of them    (particularly Romans 13) and the Confession (Article
appears much mvre real today, nvw another war broke 36 vf the Confessio Belgica),  which hart is concluded
out in Europe, and we do not know as yet how the            by a summary briefly stating the teaching of Scrip-
conflagra.tion  may spread.                                 ture and of the Confession on the subjects of civil
   And now we learn from The Calvin Forum that government, war, and the Christian's duty in respect
the Synod of the Christian Reformed Churches adopted to these.
a resolution in the form of a "Testimony" to the                And it concludes by attempting an answer tv the
churches and to Christians in general, and which is question whether or not obedience to the government
presumably an answer ,to the tibove  questions concern- in  .the matter of war is unconditional; and, if not,
,ing the proper Christian  a,ttitude  toward war. And on what condition the Christian may refuse the govern-
the entire "Testimony" is published in the October ment's summons to  `arms.
number of the above named paper.                                Now, without implying that  The Standard  Bearer
   The editor, Dr. C. Bvuma, informs us that he is agrees with all the other conclusions of Synod, it `is
the original ,author of the resolution or "Testimony";      especially to this last part that  ait has serious  vb-
that it was adopted by a synodical  cvmmittee cvnsist-      jections.  This, let me add, is really hhe main part of
ing of the members of the Calvin Seminary Faculty; the "Testimony". For, no dvubt, its chief purpose was
and that it was, finally, unanimvusly  adopted by the       not so  much to instruct the people on such subjects  as
Synod of  *the Christian Reformed Churches.                 "the authority of the magistrates" and "our duty to
   Dr. Bouma invites "comment and criticism". He            obey", but rather tv enlighten their Christian con-
states  itihat "the pages of The Calvin Forum  will be science with regard to .their  calling to participate in
vpen to anyone  who Phas a contribution to make to the      war. A.nd it is exactly on this main issue that, accord-
discussion of this subject, whether he agrees or dis- .ing to my conviction, the Synod has utterly failed.
agrees with the testimony."                                    It offered no real solution of the question: how can
   This rather surprised us in view of the fact that        the Christian determine whether or not he may partici-
the "Testimony" was officially adopted by the Synod         pate in `a. given war on the summons of his govern-
of the Christian Reformed Churches, and bears the ment.
official  stamp of an ecclesiastical declaration. True,        And, what is worse, it led the members of the

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

Christian Reformed Churches on the wrong track, the               In the paragraph from the "Testimony" quoted
track of subjectivism, individualism, revolution.              above, this particular "conscientious objector" is not
      I will, of course, motivate these statements.            condemned because of this erroneous principle, nor, in
      In the next to the last paragraph the Synod re-          fact on the basis of any fundamental principle at all,
pudiated the claims of the "conscientivus objectvr"  as        but merely because he would refuse to fight on the
follows :                                                      ground of  uncertainty.
      "Not only must the Church reject the claim of               And as we shhdl show presently, the same "Testi-
the pacifistic cvnscientious  objector, but there is also mony" adopts the principle of the "conscientious ob-
another kind of conscientious objector whose claims jector" positively in the next paragraph (quoted be-
annot stand the test of Scripture and the Creed. low) *
There are those  w+hv would refuse to take part in any            The whole question of a Christian's calling to obey
war when, and 8s lang as, they are not persuaded of the government in participating in a given war is left
the justness ,of the given war. With the frequent com- to the individual  conscience  of every citizen (individu-
plexity of the causes of modern wars and the difficulty alism, subjectivism, Nominalsm, Pelagianism) , and is
of the average citizen to be adequately informed on made a purely relative matter (certainty or uncer-
this complexity vf causes at ,the time the war breaks tainty) .
out, it is clear that this may be the predicament in              This principle is fundamentally wrong. Certainly,
which many a Christian  w,ill find himself. But in no  *man with a Reformed conception of government
such a situation he is not j,ustified  in refusing $0 ,per-    can adopt it.
form military service. He  w,ho would maintain this               And seeing that from fallacious premises no sound
position overlooks the  faot that in such a situation the conclusions can logically follow, there must be some-
prior duty of each citizen b obey the government must thing wrong with the mode of reasoning that upon
have the right of way. This type of conscientious ob- such premises reac,hes  the conclusion that the uncerta,in
jector does not face the moral alternative: to fight or type of "conscientious objector" stands condemned.
to do nothing; but: to fight or to disobey his govern-            And there  is something wrong. Let me cast the
ment. His uncertainty as to the justice of the given synodical  mode of reasoning in the form of a syllogism :
war can be no justifiable ground for Irefusing  obedience         I. Every citizen  individually  is morally responsible
to his government".                                            before God for his participation in a given war in
      T,his is all very good, as far as it goes with respect obedience to  the summons of his government.
to <the practicul outcome or conclusion of this mode of           II. A  cert,ain citizen is  uncertaiiz whether a certain
reasoning : this particular type of conscientious ob- war is just or unjust.
jector stands condemned. On the matter of this con-               III. This certain citizen must fight.
clusion itself The Standurd Bearer has no axe to grind            Ilt  ,is clear that this conclusion does not follow.
with the editor of  The  Ca&vin   Forum,  the  Calvin          The logical conclusion is: This certain citizen must
Seminary  Facul,ty,  and the Synod of the Christian Re- wait!
formed Churches. But we do not agree with the pre-                The Synod declared "that in such a situation the
mises upon which this conclusion is based and with the prior duty of each citizen to obey the government must
principle mvolved  in the mode of reasoning by which .have  ,the right of way,`.
the conclusion is reached. And this  ,also implies, of           But  to what is  our duty to obey the government
course,  ,that we consider the mode of reasoning fal- in  case of  war  prior?  To our own individual moral
lacious and that the conclusion does not follow swith          responsilbillity  before God? This appears to be the  im-
logical necessity from the premises.                           ,plied answer Synod had in mind. But this is impos-
      What is really  the deepest principle of this, and       sible. There cannot be and there is no duty prior to
of any "conscientious objector" to participation in a my personal responsibility and moral duty before God.
given war? It is this: every  citizen  is individually In fact, when it is a question of personal, moral ac-
responsible for any act he performs in obedience to countability one cannot speak of priority and posterior-
the authority of the government, though that authority ity. But let us not overlook the fact that the "con-
be exercised -strictly in its own proper domain (such scientious objector" proceeds from the principle th,at
as a declaration  of war) ; hence, before he obeys he he is  indi'vidually, morally responsible for any partici-
is under obligation to determine whethe+r  a given act pation in a given war, and that, therefore, the question
of the government is morally justified or not; and upon        whether in respect to  ,a summons to war it is his duty
the result of this individual determination it must  de- to obey #the government, depends on the other question
pmd whether any  eitixen  is duty bound to obey the            whether the given war is just or unjust.           On this
government or to  refuse  obedience.                           basis, wh$ich the Synod adopted also, our duty to the
      The Calvin Forum, the Calvin Seminary Faculty government in case of war ,is not prior but posterior
and the Synod of the Christian Reformed  C.hurches to our moral judgment of that given war. In other
have adopted this principle.                                   words, on that  `basis the citizen that is  uncertain aas to


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         55
the justness of a given war would answer the Synod which he is fighting is an unjust one, this procedure
of the Christian Reformed Churches as follows : "You cannot be justified before the tribunal of God and His
do not put the matter correctly. The question is not Word. The only course open to such a person is to
one of the priority of my duty to obey the government,       resort to passive resistance and to refuse to bear arms
but rather: ,whether  in the given case of the given war     in that ,given war".
,it is my duty before CZd to obey the government. And           All this is based upon identically the same principle
of this I must be certain before I will fight".              as the one that motivated the other type of "con-
   Now, if you adopt the principle from  w,tich the scientious objector". Both judge of the justness of
"conscientious objector" proceeds, you  will1  have to the given war. Both act upon this  individud  judg-
grant that in this last stand he is right. In any moral ment, not from the principle of obedience to the govern-
question it .is Icertainly  `wrong to reason thus : I am not ment. Both say to the government: I will obey only
certain whether it is right; therefore, I will do it. If if I can see that your oause is not unjust, or at least
war is a matter of individual responsibility I must be if I cannot see that it is unjust. Both implicitly deny
certain of *the justness of a given war before I fight.      that the government only has the authori'ty  and power
He that doubts if he eats is damned because he does          to *wield ,the sword. And both proceed from the sup-
not eat out of faith. Much more so if one fights if he position that the individual citizen is responsible for
doubts. In the next paragraph the Synod declared:            the way the government wields the sword. The only.
"War is killing people and for anyone to engage in           difference is that the one is  uncertain,  and, therefore,
such killing of fellowmen when he is convinced in his        according to the Synod, he must fight; the other is
heart that  ,the cause for which he is fighting is an un-    certain, and, therefore, he must not fight!
just one, this procedure cannot be justified before the
tribunal of God and His Word". But if this be true,             I't is the principle of individualism, subjedivism,
if "war be killing people" (and I add  : innocent  people revolution, which the Synod has adopted.
as far as the iwar is concerned, whether they fight on          The Synod speaks of "intelligent and adequate'
the just or the unjust side of the war, and whether grounds to be convmced  that the given war to which  he
they be soldiers or civilians), and if every individual is summoned is an unjust war". Intelligent and ade-
citizen is personally  respons.ible  for this killing of quate, we ask, according to what standard? The prin-
people, then I can apply this same statement of Synod        ciples of the Word of God, the Synod would say. Yes,
to the citizen that is ,uncertain  as to the justness of     but these principles must be applied to a given war!
the war, and rewrite it as. follows: "War is killing         Who, then, is to be the judge to determine whether
people, and for anyone to engage in such killing of these grounds are  "intehigent and adequate"? Cer-
fellowmen as long as he is uncertain w,hether the cause tainly not the Church, for she is not the final judge
for which he is fighting is a just one, this procedure       in the matter. Who then? The government? To be
cannot be justified before the tribunal of `God and His sure, if the "Testimony" of the Christian Reformed
Word". I cannot kill people unless I am certain that it Churches is also intended as a basis upon which the
is the will of God. And if I am individually respon- government must act and excuse certain "conscientious
sible for my killing people in war, I must be certuin        objectors", it is she that must judge of these grounds
that the war is just; and on that basis no appeal to and determine whether-they are "intelligent and ade-
the authority of and my duty to the government can           quate". But this is out of the question, for the govern-
take the place of that individual certainty.                 ment declared the given `war, and if she would decide
   But now let me demonstrate that the Synod of the that the grounds of these "conscientious objectors"
Christian Reformed Churches not only failed to con- were  intelligent and adequate to convince anyone that
demn  the principle of the conscientious objector but the war is unjust, she would have to retract its war-
also  actmily udopted  it. We quote from the "Testi-         declaration. Besides, if the government should decide
mony" :                                                      that the grounds were not intelligent and adequate,
   "The only conscientious objector to military service such a decision would not change the mind of the con-
w$hose  claim ,the Church cannot repudiate is he who, scientious objector himself. He would still be certain
recognizing his duty to obey his government and to de- that the given war is unjust. In the last analysis,
fend his country in response to its call to arms, has .therefore,  it must be the "conscientious objector'" him-
intelligent and adequate grounds to be convinced that self that determines the intelligence and adequacy of
the gilven  war to which he is summoned is an unjust his own grounds for considering the given war unjust.
war. When he is absolutely certain in the  ligh#t of the        This leaves it to the decision of the individual citi-
principles of the Word of God that his country is fight-     zen whether or not in its  own proper domain  the
ing for a wrong cause, he cannot morally justify his magstrate shall wield the sword.
participation in the given war. War is killing peoprle          On this basis it  swill be quite impossible for the
and far anyone to engage in such killing of fellowmen government to wage war. For, many will be the con-
when *he is convinced in his heart that the cause for scientious objectors that have intelligent and adequate

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

reasons in the light of Scripture to refuse to participate the executioner may be  ,absolutely  convinced in  :his
in a *given  war. Some, indeed, shave intellligent  and ade- own mind that the condemned man is innocent; but
quate objections against any war, and they also appeal he does not act or refuse to act on the ground of his
to Scripture for their  stan,d. If you grant the right of own individual conviction, but merely in obedience
citizens to determine whether a given war is just, why to the proper and responsible authorities.
deny them the right to take the stand that all war is              And the .same relation holds when the citizen is
sinful and that, therefore, no Christian can participate called to arms.
in any war? Others, perhaps, will consider a war of                God will have every soul in subjection unto the
self-defense the sole war that is justifiable.      Still powers that be. We may not resist. The magistrates
others may take the stand that it #is our solemn duty           bear &he ,sword in the name of God. That sword sym-
to fight on the side of democracy and against totalitar- bolizes the authority to punish evildoers within' her
ianism and communism. Besides, twhat is really a just own borders, but it certainly also implies the power
war? How often is justice wholly with the one side of to declare and to wage war. And to no other that
conflicting nations and injustice  w$ith the other? And sword is ever given. The government only has the
suppose that one reaches the certain conclusion that            right to determine whether it shall be war or peace.
there is, at least, also unjustness on the side of his          And she only is responsible for ,the way in which she
government, must he obey the summons to fight? It makes use of that God-given authority. The inclividual
is evident that if we adopt the advice the Synod of the         citizens cannot possibly be responsible or co-respon-
Christian Reformed Churches offered  i*ts members,              sible with the  ffovernment  for her handling of the
the government will be completely handicapped and               sword. And, therefore, the duty of the citizen is to
powerless to wage war.                                          obey for conscience' sake. One may have his doubts
      And, therefore, my conclusion is that the "Testi-         as to  .the justness of a given war; one may be  con-
mony" does not offer ,a solution of the problem con-            vmced  that a given war is unjust on the part of the
cerning the Christian's participation in war,  sand that government that summons him; one may, to be sure,
the Christian Reformed Synod gave the members of even lodge his protest twi;Dh the grounds upon which he.
their churches some bad advice.                                 considers the  `war unjust with his government; but
                                                   I.
                                      I     +      *A-._
                   ..                                    .`,    obey  rhe must, as long  ,as it concerns the authority
                                                                of the Magistrates exercised in the domain of the
                                                                civil state or commonwealth.
      On the basis of the Word of God and our Reformed             If, however, the same government to  wihich we are
Confession there is only one position possible with re- in subjeotion as long as she uses her sword-power in
gard to the Christisn's calling when the government her own domain, should attempt to wield that sword in
summuns  him to military service.                               a sphere outside of the civil commonwealth, a domain
      As long as the government wields the sword, given over which she was never set in authority by God, we
her by God, within her own domain, i.e. the civil must refuse to acknowledge that authority.
state, whether within .its own borders and with respect            In such cases i#t is not the question whether *we shall
to its own citizens or over against other governments be obedient to the  gove'mment  or to God, but whether
and states, she alone has authority and the citizens            we shall obey C*od or man!
must obey unconditionally ; however, as soon as the                Thus the apostles answer the council when the
civil government would attempt to exercise her author-          latter forbid them to preach in the name of Jesus.
i.ty in the domain of the Church, and would turn her            To preach the gospel belongs to the Christ-given call-
God-given sword against Christ and His cause, she ing and authority of the Ghurch. The authority of the
would move in a sphere in which she has no authority,           government does not extend into this domain. Hence,
*is no longer government but mere man, and the prin- when the Jewish council usurped  .this power over
ciple  Iwould  have to be applied,  ,&hat we must obey against the apostles, the latter through Peter Ireminded
God  ratiher than men.                                          them that they transgressed the boundaries of their
      This implies that the individual Christian is not authority by saying, that they must obey God rather
morally responsible for the justness or unjustness of than men.
the war that  <is declared by the government, nor is he            We do not deny that the Church as well as the
responsible for any act which he performs in strict individual Christian `nave a moral calling with regard
obedience to tie government as such when he is  ic4led          to any war.
to the colors and summoned to military service.                    But we do deny that the individual soldier is re-
      The hangman is not responsible when, in obedience sponsible for the justness of a given ,war.
to the proper magistrates he executes the sentence                 An,d we insist that the Christian citizen must al-
upon the man .that is legally condemned to death. The ways obey the summons of his government to arms.
sentence may be a mistake, or `it may be grossly unjust ;                                                      H. H.


62                                      T H E   STAN.DARD   B E A R E R
- II-
mannenvergaderin:gen  vergaderen  voor een gezelligen
avond.  M:ijn  voikje heeft  ve& van Ds. Kok gehoord                        Still Do Good Works?
doch hem  nooit gezien of  zeIf  gehoord. Men ziet er
naar uit om  onzen   Zendehng eens te ontmoeten.                  Selfishness is so deeply rooted in man's heart that
      En nu dat verbreken van het heilig ja-woord.             at the moment it becomes plain that there is no  merit
                                                               of ours in doing good works we stand aghast and say:
      Ja, dat is een rare geschiedenis.                        why must we still do good works? The Heidelberger
      Een, twee der ouderlingen van de lokale Christe-         proposes this question, not because he himself is not
lijke Gereformeerde Kerk vroegen sommigen van de               plain  eon the issue, but he ,is engaged in  showinfg  us
mannen  d*ie hunne  attesten  kwamen opvragen: Hebt ,that we are by nature a very selfish lot.
ge er  we1  eens over nagedacht, ernstig over  nage-              If our good works could merit us something, if they
da&t,   dat  ye nu het heilig ja-woord breekt? (Vrij           could gain us something, then we would gladly do
weergegeven).                                                  them, yes we would be eager to do them. But, now,
      Nu  Uinkt  dat  we1 wat koddig en men zou bijna          if there is no merit in them then ,why must we still
gIimlachen  bij zoo veel onnoozelheid. Tech  zou ik zeg-       do good works ? The very touch of His grace has
gen, dat we  zulks  niet mogen  doen.  De zaak is te exhausted us. We had gotten so far that we did good
ernstig daar voor.                                             works, so far in fact, that we became rather zeal-
      Ik noem  het vreeselijk.                                 ous in  `doing good works. Now however it becomes
      Denk eens aan: deze twaalf mannen komen juist            evident that there is no `gain or merit to be sought
om hunne attesten, omdat zij hun heilig  jaawoord  wil-        in the doing of them and at once we are exhausted,
len gestand  doen. Zij hebben het ja uitgesproken voor         we cry out: why must we still do good works? By
God en menschen, dat zij de leer die in de artikelen           nature we can conseive  of no other reason for doing
des Christelijken  geloofs begrepen zijn, gegrond `op          them than for personal gain and merit, if that pos-
den Woorde Gods, altijd zullen  gestand doen.  Ze be-          sibility is shut out we have come to our  *wits end.
loofden die leer te belijden en ook te verdedigen. Ze          The fault is that we have fallen short of the glory of
beloofden  met het  heihg ja-woord dat zij  alle  ket-         God. T.he error is that the one motive for doing good
terijen  daartegen  strijdende zouden  verwerpen.  En works was so far beyond the reach of our minds
omdat de Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken in 1924 that we did not even give it a thought. We did not
juist die leer verkracht hebben, kwamen ze nu om even conceive of the possibility of doing good works
hunne attesten, zoodat zij weer van nieuws  aan mod- out of any other consideration than selfishness and
ten beginnen.        En nu vraagt zulk een  ouderling   :      gain. Therefore we are somew,hat  shocked ,when  the
verbreekt  met Uw heilig ja-woord?                             grace of God exhausts us and clearly lets us feel how
      Deaar komt nog bij, dat juist die twee onderlingen selfish we are by nature.
hunne  kinderen  zelf niet Iaten onderwijzen op de                Consi,der  with me the following:
lokale Christelijke School! Wie brak het ja-woord?                First, when sin entered the Iworld  we followed in
                                                               the footsteps of our deceiver, the Satan. Satan sought
      Neen, broeders, gij verbraakt het heilig ja-woord himself, and intended himself nnd in his  seIfish pride
niet. Dat deed de kerkeraad van de Manhattan Chris- he aimed at the overthrow of God's annointed. By
telijke  Gereformeerde Kerk en met hen het geheele nature we are equally selfish.
kerkverband waartoe zij behooren. Gij  hebt  X!eine                                            Not God, bu,t ourselves.
                                                               Not God's glory but own advantage. That the worldly
kracht,   doch gij hebt het Woord Gods bewaard ook man ever seeks himself is abundantly evident from
daar in Manhattan. En dan zal `t gaan.                         Scripture  <and social life. Even in their so-called
      Het is onze bede, dat de Heere U voorts sterke om        benevolence enterprises the slogan is : serve others aod
volgens dat  heibg ja-woord verder te gaan op den weg you serve yourself. Not only the worldly man, how-
naar het hart Gods. Uw ja-woord moet gedragen door ever, also the renewed man remains by nature selfish.
Zijn  almachtig  Woord, dat ja en amen is in  Christus         And this selfishness is most pronounced when it comes
den Geliefde.                                                  to doing good works. God has prepared us these works
      Ten slotte zou ik U nog willen melden,  tot volledig-    beforehand with the express purpose that we should
heid  der oorkonde, dat die twaalf  huisgezinnen   te-         walk in them and glorify Him in them, but the prin-
zamen 56 kinderen  hebben: de gemeente telt dus 80             ciple of selfishness seizes upon these good works as so
zielen. En alle hkinderen van schoolleeftijd gaan naar many opportunities to advance ourselves.
de Christelijke  school, behalve  van &n huisgezin, dat           Secondly, how evident it is that the so-called good
10 mijl van de school verwijderd is.                           works of the natural man `are but manifestations of
      Vaarwel,  gemeeme  van Manhattan! `De Heere selfishness. Lf there must be some other motive for
zegene U ri j keli jks !                                       dting good works than the motive of selfishness the
                                                               natural man withdraws himself. As long ,as there is
                                                 G. V.         something to gain by obeying the Law, as long as there


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                             63
                -"..,_
is something to earn, some personal benefit to be                     Christ has merited all, there is nothing to gain,
accrued, :he is wii1in.g to do it; but if it appears that     nothing to merit.
good works may not and cannot be done out of a                        Then  still do good works?
motive for self-glorificaticm,  they drop off one by one,             Yes, just then. When we  <realize that all things
and the God-centered believer is left alone. But even         are of Him and are through Him, then shall our works
in his heart  ,he feels  `a question arising: why must we     aim to have all things be unto Him. Our good works
still do good works?                                          then `come as a contemplation of this problem: What
    Thirdly it is evident how extremely difficult it is       shall I render to tJh%e Lord for All His benefits unto me?
for the regenerate to really do good works. We believe Because Christ has merited'all things and because He is
according to Titus that the unbeliever is "unto every         the God of my salvation gratitude  repLees  selfishness.
good work reprobate" i.e., he is unfit, nut useable  for      Instead of doing them with `an eye to self we begin
good *works. He can indeed do many things that seem to do them with an eye to God and His glory. Then
good and that approach the obedience of God's Law             do good ,woEks  out of the principle of gratitude. Out
(and men will praise thee when thou doest good to thy-        of gratitude proceeds obedience. God commands that
self, Ps. 49:18) but it is impossible for him to es-ape       we s&l'1 pray, render mercy to the poor, give for the
selfishness.    He does  ,aU things, whether accord-          Kingdom, fast, etc. etc., al;d we would walk in these
ing to or contrary to God's Law, with an eye to his           good works because they are the God-given means
own gain. *4nd just that makes his works true works           w*hereby  we shall express our gratitude.
of dankness and covetousness. Impossible as it is for                 Not self but God, not own advantage but God's
the unbelieving to do good works, so extremely difficult      glory.
it is for the believer to do them. It is difficult for him            That unto  H,irn be all things. The more we con-
to crucify himself, difficult to put self aside. He is a template His goodness and the immensity of the salva-
creature that delights in earning power and wants to tion which He has freely given us, tile more we shakl
entertain  `a feeling that if he does  wqhat God com- be a people zealous of good works.
mands he ,is amassing merit with Gvd. Or, in other                                                             M. G.
wwrds, he still proceeds toward self.
   How easily we serve God with bhe thought in our
hearts that we wi!ll be rewarded for doing. The con-                                    -
sideration of reward is scriptural but reward  as  a
matter ,of merit ,is not scriptural.      How easily it is
for us to make long prayers out of the principle of self-                         Showing Us Good
gain. How easily we go to divine services with the             . .
thought of personal ,benefit  uppermost in our minds.                                                        Ps. 9:6.
How readily we  give of our material things to  the
Kingdom  twith  the consideration in the back of our                  Who will show us any good?
minds that somehow, sometime we will get a ,;ecom-                    Craving of every man and woman.
pence for our sacrifices. How naturally we give gifts                 Seeking after  the riches of the world, its pleasure
with our minds on a gift in return. How easily we and treasures.
approach the Law ,as' a step-ladder to heaven of enjoy-               Seeking after a life of ease, of comf& and peace.
ment. We serve God because we want to go to heaven,                   Picture of our own world today.
are afraid of evil because we fear the results. We                    There is a desire to live and not to die, to prolong
easily send  our children to catechism and the Christian life and to that end every conceiv&e means is em-
s&r>01 as a guaranrtee that they may enter heaven, etc.       ployed. And this prolonging of life means the seeking
   Sometimes, indeed, our considerations may even             ?f the things which must disappear. Contrary to his
reach an ,apparently  higher level. We do good works          better knowledge, man tries to  extiricate himself from
to acquire ease of  conscience,  a sense of well-being        w'hat he calls the weaknesses of, the human race and
because  `we seemed to have done our duty. Or perhays         even from the impending sentence of death. The cry
we rest in the contemplation that we have done this or        of the mortal, knowing life is short and soon spent, is,
that man a favor and we reflect on it with serene satis-      let us enjoy it while iit lasts.
faction.                                                              Of course, this is true you will say of the children
   But still we have ended in ourselves. We have not of the world. They do not and will  not and cannot seek
got beyond our very selves. It still is man seeking *`he things that are (above. Their Ihope is fixed upon
himself.                                                      the things visible and their bope fades away "as time
                                                              passes on. When  bhe cold hand of death takes hold of
   And just tihere we fail.                                   them all their expectations come to an end.
   1s there nothing more to consider than ourselves?                  Thus we Iwitness  it today in our own world. The
   God condemns such .works.                                  armies on the march, ,nations  taken from tihhe  face of

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

the earth, destruction on every hand and more to come, people, conspiring against David. And the sacrifice
man still speaks of the guod that will be brought about w:hich he was to perform at Hebron was the means to
by means  ,of the greatest catastrophe. Hence, the cry declare himself  .the king  aof Israel. It was a  well-
to see, that is to Ihave, good days. The day of world-        &urned revolution,  intended30  dethrone David. Thou-
peace and world-joy.                                          sands followed after Absalom and sallied themselves
      This is fhe true picture of man witthout  the grace &with the traitor. Even the great sand mighty men took
of Jesus Christ,                                              sides against the king. We find on bhat side David's
      Row often is it the picture of those who profess        couns&our,  the wise Ahithophel and many others.
to be children of God !                                          The only thing to do for David was to flee from
      What is it difficult to distinguish between the         Jerusalem before ,the face of his son, And thus fleeing
Church  land the world. Seemingly the church pros- along came Shemei to curse David. Peculiar in this
pers. She is busy  wiltlh all kinds of movements, but         history is the fact that David discovers the hand of
in spite of all her aotions,  is it not true that her pur-    the Lord. He sees clearly the chastisemen  of the Lord
pose is to better  <this world? To make of this old sin-      in both, Absalom and Shemei. Was' it because David
ridden, blood-stained world the new paradise? A great came face to  faze with his own sins? Could he expect
name, recognition, praise of this world  ,is deemed neces- anything else from his son?  H*ad !his own house not
sary for us and our children?                                 been made into one of ill fame? (Bathsheba). Did
      Yes, yes we sing `Faith of our~F&hers',  ,and at the    not the blood ,of Uriah  speak in no uncertain language?
same  time deny their principles. Do not care to con- Is it not always that wlay, ,although  God's people are
tinue the battle they have and we must fight. 0, the never cast away, they are  &astized.  Many a child
hypocrisy of irt all ! ! All such slogans as we must chal- of God feels, until  *the .day of ,his death, the pain of
lenge the enemy with our principles or the challenge former sins. David  <did.
comes  to our faith are utterances of  ,high strung              "The hand of the Lord is upon me,,' "the Lord
nerves and worked up feelings. The result is always bath said curse David". How true on the other hand,
the same,  `no power nor spiritual strength. In reality that the grace of God shows itself in  suoh cases. David
the church shows not in the least to be willing to            knew and confessed.     David was made humble and
fight the battle.     Yes, her battle which is not the acknowledged his sins. Hence, David `was able to cast
Lords.                                                        himself upon the Lord tin these trying circumstances.
      Why??                                                      What a contrast when we listen to %he men ,who
      Because  ,the motivating principle is that of the       were with Ihim. They were a faithful band, it is true.
.world. To be like her. To enjoy her wealth. It is            Men of the caliber of Joab had shown their metal in
because the main principle of the world is that this former days. They were valient men  tin war. They
present world wil! be sufficient to quench her thirst,        had fought  with David, but had they,.  Qke David,
to satisfy the sou1. To .live the life of the earth and       fought the battles of Jehoz.~h? Many of ,&em had not,
to possess the things thereof. In other words to find 6h.ink of Joab. Thus we understand their complaint,
peace and salmtion  in the things visible.                    "Who will show us (any) good,`? No matter whether
      Thus it was with  Davrid's  men complaining to him some of them might have been children of God, the
about their suffering, their humiliation and  &eir seem- complamt  shows us at its best a  1.0~ spiritual life.
ingly lost cause.                                             Better, some of them, to say the least had no spiritual
      j This Fourth Psalm is one  ,of D,avid. And it shows life whatsoever and others showed little of it at this
us his trying circumstances. He was pursued and sur- moment.
rounded by migfly enemies. Says he, `0, ye sons' of              Their question means: David, although thou art
men, Ihow l,ong will ye turn my glory into shame' vs. 2. :the king,  nevetiheless,  thou art a vagabond now.
David refers here not to men in general, but, accord- Thou art an exiled ruIer. The majority is on the other
ing to the original, to `Sirs'. Men of Ihonor  and power, side with the rebel and our end will be destruction.
the mighty in the I,and, who seek to ,hurt and to destroy     Is there a  possiMe  `way to escape and to erase the
ainn. If we compare this Psalm  *with others (42, 62 shame now upon us? In reality they said : Who will
;and others), it gives us reasons to believe that the         bring back to us the days of former glory, who will
h&storical background is the uprising of Israel during restore thee, o kiing, to *the throne? Who can help us
We  revolts of Absalom. The  ,history  is well  $known.       and bring back the former peace, the day of honor?
Absalom had killed Amnon  -and afterward fled to one Who, after all, will help us ,and prove that Absalom
of the Syrian cities. After an ,absence of three years is in the wrong .and the right is on our side?
David's able and at  the same  `time wicked general, Joab,       An exact picture of our own heart and mind. No,
interceded in behalf of this rebellious son and per-          not as long as all comes our way and as long as it is
suaded  David to let him return.     But this young man to our hking this question  ,wil.!l not be raised. When
belonged to that wicked seed who have not the fear of all seems rosy and we !can so nicely help ourselves.
the Lord in their hearts. He stole  the heart of the          When it does not take spiritual courage to depend upon


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             65
--~                                                   - - -
God alone, but when all is seemingly against us, when stances were changed all was well. The old question
we begin to pity ourselves, grumble because the Lord's of the earthly peace ,and salvabion,  of ithe earthly exist-
wjay is not to our li,king, is .after  all not our way.            ence, of the earthly abundance, its riches and all that
    0, how David coul'd thave used diplomacy! Could he makes "life worth  livin,g". Surely, tie theory of God's
net  Ihave said, Yes, my faithful, we have known better general favor  fits in  u;rith  their natural desire (and
days, but,  altchough  the borizon is dark, you better             for that matter with that of every man). 0, our per-
keep courage, maybe the storm swill pass over and in               plexities, are they not the result of  worldlyminded-
the end all will be well. Or, he could weep with them ness ?
on  ibheir shoulders and lament the trying circum-                    Not so  wi& David. He placed his conception of
stances. As is often the case witi:?: some who remain good ,over  against theirs. In that one word `Lord' is
passive (not pious) when they see' the terrible condi-             expressed all he needed. Good? Any good? But God
bion of the church snd sigh and lament about i,t and               is good. Good  `as to His being and (virtues, His cove-
make it a practice to do nothing else. Such  people                nant and covenant people. As long as God is his
know the ailments but not the cure and when  i&e                   stay, nothing can be sgainst  ti, not even Absalom.
medicine to cure .is applied will even then find fault                Lift thou up the light of  thy countenance upon us.
wibh  i;t.                                                         David understands his one and only need. That need
    Shall David answer their question with meaning- is the guidance of tie Lord as the covenant God.
less words? Nothing of the kind. In fact he does not                  The Lord's countenance.
even answer them. He will not even be influenced                      In our  cou.ntenance  we have  $a reflection of  `who
by them. Instead,  !he  u.tters  a prayer. Lord ! ! ! is the       we are.. When we meet a person we do not look at his
first word he utters. Jehovah, He who is unchange- .hand, but at his face. We try to  form a conception of
able and  (the ever faithful covenant God. He is the shim of what he ,is by looking at his face. We look at
object of David's hope. It was the Lord who ordained ,his eyes and  ikis features. When, for instance, we
(him to  `be king over Israel.  Davi,d knew  this was a think of one who departed from our midst, .we  !look
token of God's lovingkindness to him to rule God's                 at his picture and especially  ,at his face, in order
people.       Hence, khis uprising was not merely a fight that it may bring to us, to our mind, who and what
between him and  ,his son, between men and men, but they were to us when they ,dwel#t in our midst. How
,the battle between the righteous and the wicked. In true it is, that on  laccount  of sin  i,t is  Iimpossible  to
this case between lhim and the wicked Absalom.                     have tihe perfect expression of the perfect inner man
    CaUing  upon tie Lord as he does, David refers to              radiating from our countenance.       And how equally
the existing relation between himself and the Lord. true, that even after receiving grace, our countenance
God's covenant relation  `with His people is confessed. as well ,as the Jmpression on others, do not manifest
    In the second place, that relation cannot be broken,           the innerman  in detail so that we have to be satisfied
not even wlhen bhousands pledged to destroy David and with a vague reflection. Nevertheless, also  ihere it is
his men. Eternal.ly  sure is David of the faithfulness             true that cl'ose observance will give us somewhat an
of  Jehova!h~ No evil can  come upon  ,him,  yea,  rabher          idea wiho land what a certain person is.
all things must serve for his  well-bei,ng.         Besides,          God's face, however, and that in the highest and
David was a type ,of Ch.rist and this uprising was re-             mlost perfect sense of the Word, expresses who God is.
bellion against God and Christ.                                    His being and countenance are absolutely the same.
    Who will show us any good? The enemy can only                  T,he Lord makes Himself  <known   ,in the Old and in
serve that purpose. If God is God, and he  is God,                 the New Testament as bhe Angel of the Lord. To ucli
what can mere man do ? If it pleases !him to send the              He reveals Himself in and  &rough His  Son Christ
enemy against us it  wil!l not make the Lord a neutral             Jesus. The Son is the image of the Father.  All of
wrcty.        My enemies, David's enemies, are  af,ter all the perfect life of the covenant is in Him. And of that
G=od's  enemies. And shall He not with uplifted head               life His people are partakers. And the revelation of
look forward to ,&he day when He shall cast all  Nis an,d that face is never general, but always particular. That
my enemies  Iinto  evedasting  condemnation?               Does    revelation of the covenant is given in the covenant
He not prepare them for that ,day? T$hlat is His pur-              circle to the believers  sand  dheir believing seed. Be-
pose  witi  the wicked for His glory and the  manifes.ta-          ware of that one word general. And thus David prays,
tion of His unlimited love and boundless grace for lift up in thy mercy, my Father the light of thy face.
and over His people. In the hour of trouble David                     Tlhis implies first of a,ll a confession. I know not
knows the place of refuge.                                         Iwhat is best for me, o my Eather, but I do know, that
    David's men asked : "Who twill show us aany good"? when tihe light of thy countenance shines, all will be
They meant,  weho is able to bring back the days of                well. For if thy face disappears, all will be dark, but
former glory. To the place of  (honor.  To the time                with thee nothing can be against me, for thou done
of peace. Their conception of GOOD consisted of an                 art God and my Father..
outward change of  cilrcumstances.          If  *the circum-          To us, God's face is revealed on the bloody tree.


r 66
                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          I
   And the expression of  ,&hat face tells us, God is right-
   eous and iholy. God is holy (and will not have anything                             The Tabernacle
   to do  with wickedness and the wicked. Sin cannot
   prosper in His sight land the sinner will be utterly con-           The people of Israel were encamped at Mount
   sumed. T,hat is the undeniable teaching of Scripture.            Sinai. Moses was with God on the summit of this
   Try *to explain it in any ,&her way, but Scripture will          mount.  Tiizen, after the ratification of  tshe covenant,
   not support your false imagiriation.          What a  pitiful    the Lord spake  unto Moses, that he charge the children
   sight when ,tihe Chunch tries to find a way next to the          of Israel that "they bring me an offering ; of every
   righteousness and  <holiness  of God. As if man by               man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall
   nature is not  j,udged  by the standard of the Word.             take my offering. . . .     And let them make me a
   Sure, it seems to be more in line with David's man               sanctuary ; that I may dwell `among them. According
   to complain that the prosperity of the wicked is a sign          to all that I shew thee, after the  pat,tern  of the taber-
   of God's goodness. How foolish to measure the heaven- nacle. . .  ." (Ex.  25:1, 9).
   ly tc:?!ings with .the ou.tward and natural things of life.         Let us first ascertain from tihe specification (con-
   Absalom seemingly prospered. The best David ever                 tained in chap. 26) what manner of structure this
   had also turned away from him, the wise and the men              dwelling was.      Its component parts were three in
   of power made common cause with the wicked. By                   number: the tent proper, its coverings, and its sup-
                                                                    ports.
   way of deduction David was the .leader  of a minority               First to be considered is that sheet of hnen, con-
   and Absalom  of the majority.                                    cer,ning  which Moses received instructions that read
        Let the light of  `thy countenance shine upon us
   wi.ll be sufficient. Of course, David did not consider           (vss. 1 to 6) :
   tine circumstances first. In fact, the trials are not               Moreover thou shalt make. the tabernacle witlh ten
   mentioned, for the simple reason one  Icannot measure curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, *and purple, and
   the heavenly spiritual with rthe earthly.                        and scarlet:  ,tith  cherubims  of cunning work shalt
        Let the light of, thy countenance shine upon us tells (thou make them.
   us, that all the righteousness, lh,oliness  and goodness            The length of one curtain shall be eight ,and twenty
   of God is in Christ Jesus al,one. Nothing can be found cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and
   in man, nor in the things of the earth, outside of Jesus every one of the curtains shall have one measure.
   Christ. Without Him there is not any good. And                      The five curtains shall be coupled together one to
   unless our  ,hope and trust is in the Saviour alone, there       another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one
   will be no good in time or eternity.                             to another.
        God in Christ,  .&he only good.                                 And thou shalt make loops (eyes) of blue upon
        Therefore no man can show us any good.                      the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge (end)
        For the same reason no man has any good.                    in  <the coupling (seam)  ; and  ilikewise shalt thou make
        Hence, all the good now, in time to come, is in             in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the
   God through Christ alone.                                        coupling (seam) of the second.
        W~Q will show us `any good ?                                    Fifty loops (eyes} shalt thou make in the one
        God alone ! !                                               curtain, and fifty loops (eys) shalt thou make in tihe
                                                     w. v.          edge  af the curtain that is in the coupling (seam)
                                                                    of the second ; that the loops {eyes) may take hold
                          -              -                          one of the other.
                                                                       And thou slhalt make fifty ,taohes  (hooks) of gold,
                               NOTICE                               and couple the curtains together  ,with the  taches
        Please look at ,&he subscniption  #date on your Stan-       (hooks) : `and it  sha!ll be one tabernacle.
   dard Bearer: if you are in arrears please send your
   subscription money [money order) to the treasurer:                  From tie  ,above  data, we learn the followmg. This
                                Mr. R. Schaafsma                    sheet was comprised of two sections, both of wihich
                                                                    were in turn made up af five distinct pieces of linen
                                     -                              (curtain& in the .text)  each measuring 28 cubits (42
                                                                    feet) in length and 4 cubits  (6 feet) in breadth.
        If you wish to subscribe to "De Reformatie" please          There were ;t;hen ten such distinct pieces of linen in
   send your subscription to:                                       all; and together they formed the one sheet, measur-
                                Mr. R. Schaafsma                    ing  40 cubits  (60 feet) in  Iengtih and  25 cubits (42
                                524 Henry Ave., S. E.               feet) in breadth. The two equal sections of this sheet,
                                Grand Rapids, Michigan.             each of which was supplied with 50 loops or eyes of
                                                                    blue yarn, were joined together by clasps of gold,
        Subscription price: $4.25 per year,                         ,thrust ,at each end through tie loops, so that, as a re-


                                        T E E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             67

sulk, the loops %ook hoI'd one of another". The word each side  weal  was 30 cubits (45 feet) long and 10
coupling in verses four and five, simply denotes that cubits (15 feet)  Ihigh. The back or west  w,all  `was
side .of eaclh of `the two sections of <tie one sheet upon         formed of six sudh boards and was ithus 9 cubits (13$$
,whidh  the eyes or loops of yarn were wrought. Fbrom              feet)  long and ten cubits (15 feet) high. The lower
the expression, occuring in the first and sixth verses             ends of the bo,ards  were supplied with tenons or hands,
respectively, "Thou shalt make the tabernacle with two to a board  land joined together, which rested upon
ten curtains. . .  ." and, "and it (the two  se&ions  of snd took hold of their bases ,of silver. As the sum
bhe one sheet `as joined together) shall be one taber-             and total of the six boards of ti back wall measured
nacle,"-from   tihese expressions  it is plain that this 9 `cubits in length, and as this wall `was 10 cubits long,
sheet is to be regarded as the tabernacle proper it must follow that the two corner boards constituted
and  that thus it formed, as attached to the boards                only  #a cubit between them.      Some obscurity rests
((how  we  kno,w  not),  .the inner roof and  t,he inner           upon the arrangement of the corner boards of which
sides, and for &his reason was .also made of the finest            there were eight. A!ll the boards were overlaid with
materiel and Imriegated  #with ,diverse  colors and cheru-         gold. The instructions for <the making of the bars by
bit figures  linwrougtht.  Thus  tie right conception is           which the boards were held together read:
that this sheet hung down, not on the outside, as some
have imagined, but  ion the inside of the boards.                     And thou shalt make bars of  slhittim  wood;  five
   The instructions for the support of this sheet (the             for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle.
~tabernzzle  proper) is set  fotih in  `tithe following  lan-         And five bars for the boards of the o,ther  side of
uage (the parenthesis include the literal translation the tabernacle, and five bars  .for the boards of the
of the original text), contained in Exodus 26 :X-25.               side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward.
                                                                      And ,tlhe mid,dle bar in &he midst of the boards shall
   And ;Chou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of               reach from end to end.
shittim wood standing up.
    Ten cubits sh4l be the length  fof a `board, and a                These bars, made of shittim #wood and also overlaid
cubit and a  half &all be the breadth of one board.                with gold, passed through rings of gold. From the
    Two tenons (hands) shall be- in one board, set in above description i,t .appears that the middle bar ex-
onder  (joined together) one against another;                      tended from end to end of -its wall ; and as there were
                                                        tJii~~s
shalt  &hou make for all the boards of the  ,&abernacle.           five bars for each wall, and yet only three rows of bars,
    And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, the upper and lower ones must lhave been divided in
twenty boards on the south  side southward.                        the center.
    And thou shalt make forty sockets (bases or foun-                 The third component part of the tabernacle was its
dations) of silver under the twenty boards ; two sockets covering, concerning  which Moses received the f&low-
(bases) under one board for his two tenons (hands),                ing instructions.
and two sockets (bases) under another board for his                   And thou shalt make curtains of goats'  hsair, to
.two  .tenons (hands).                                             be a covering upon  &he tabernacle: eleven curtains
    And for the second side ,of tthe tabernacle on the             shalt tihou  make.
north side there  shall be twenty boards.                             The  length  of one curtain shall be thirty cubits,
    And their forty sockets  (,bases) of silver; two               and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the
sockets (bases) under one board, :and two sockets                  eleven curtains shall be all of one measure.
(bases) under another b0ar.d.                                         And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves,
    And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the
shalt make six boards.                                             sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle.
    And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of                 And thou shalt make fifty  Iloops on the edge of the
the tabernacle in the two sides.                                   same curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty
    And  they shall be coupled (joined) together be-               loops on the edge of the curtain whidh coupleth  the
neath, and they shall be coupled (joined) together second.
above the head of it unto one ring: thus sh,all it be for             And thou shalt make fifty  taches  (clasps) of brass,
t,hem  both ; they shall be fore t.he two corners.                 and put  <the taches (clasps) into the loops (eyes of
    And %4Jhey shall be eight boards, and their sockets            yarn), and couple the tent together, .that it may be
(bases) of silver, sixteen sockets (bases) ; two sockets one.
(bases) under one board, and two sockets (bases)
under another board.                                                  Such are  tlhe specifications for the outer covering,
                                                                   which in the sacred text is oalled tent in distinction
    According to this description, each of the two side from the inner covering of linen, which, as was said,
walle of  the tabernacle was formed of  20 boards of is represented  ;\s forming the tabernacle  OF dwelling.
shittim wood. As each board measured 10 cubits (15 It appears  tlhat also the tent (outer covering)  was
feet)  ,in length, and,  l,l/~ cubit  (2$$, feet) in breadth,      formed by two sections or divisions, that the one of


 68                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                -.
 these was made of 6 of the  11 pieces of goats' hair dwelling  proper. In fact, this covering, as has already
 and the other of the remaining 5. As each distinct            been shown, is thus represented' in <the sacred text.
 piece measured 30 cubits (45feet)  in length, and four What is more, the  cherubic  forms, wrought in the
 cubits (6 feet) in breadth,  th*is   `%ent" covering was      inner covering were not for purposes of ornamenta-
 44 cubits (66 feet) long and 30 cubits (45 feet) broad.       tion, that is, not exclusively so. These figures had
 Thus there was an excess of 2 cubits in length and            symb,oli,oal  signifidnce and therefore must have been
 2 cubits in bread,th  over (the fine tabernacle covering.     designed to be exhibited  inside  the house of God.
 This follows from the circumstance that the sixth             Finally there is contained in the book.of the Kings a
 curtain of the larger  of the two divisions was doubled definite statement to the effect that these figures were
 in the forefront of the tabernacle and that the inner         wroulght on  c&he inner walls and" ceiling of the holy
 covering measured 25 cubits in breadth. Finally, the ,p!aces of Solomon's temple. This, certainly, is con-
 two divisions of the  tent  covering were joined to- clusive.
 gether by 50  &asps (this time of brass) thrust through          As to *the ibjection under 2, it proceeds on the as-
 loops of yarn of which `there were one hundred, fifty         sumption tihat ;the trams' ,and badgers' skins were cap-
 on each <division.                                            able of absorbing, and this rapidly even, moisture.
       Besides the "tent" covering there was ,a covering And further that these skins were excessively heavy
 of rams' skins died ired, and above this still another,       so  that even when the weather was dry, the roof,
 the  outer one of ,badgers" skins.                            which was formed by  ,them, sagged in tie middle,
       What now  `was the manner in  w#h*ich these various     with the result that, when it rained,  ,t.he  water  would
 outer covering were arranged? Tlhis has been called           collect in  &he  mi.ddle  of the roof `and remain there
 a  Ivexed question. Yet, as we shall have occasion to         to penetrate the skins. Now it must be admitted that
 see, the question ,will not vex if only the sacred text       IMs objection seems to  have some  Iweight.  How the
 be closely  adhered  to. In dealing with  &is  maetier        apparent difficulty  was overcome is not stated. But
 there are two views to be considered. The issue con- that it was overcome is certain. The skins, of course,
 cerns the arrangement of the "tent" coverings of goats'       were waterproof. To maintain the contrary is only
 hair. The one view-the common and tradi'tional  one           to needlessly aggravate ithe difficulty in the interest
 -has *it that also `the outer roof of the tabernacle was of a theory.
 flat and #hat thus the "tent" covering was spread                As will be shown presently, the objection under 3
 horizontally over *tie tops of ,&he boards and thus hung reposes upon a wrong exegesis of the scriptures re-
 down at least ten cubits on every side except the             ferred to.
 front. According to the other view, broached by some            The view that the tabernacle was tent-like in shape,
 writers  ,of recent times, the roof of the tabernacle was with a sIoping  roof. Let us see what has been advanced
 tent-like in shape, with ridge-pole, and a sloping roof,      in its favor.
 ,raising  4he total  *heigh$t  to 15 cubits instead of 10,       At vs. 12 (chap. 26) *the covering of goats' hair IS
 the height of the wooden. frame-work. T,he principal Icalled  a tent (ohel)  . But a tent need not necessarily
 objections, which those ,who (hold to this view, raise        be a structure with a sloping roof. The meaning of
,agalnst   &he common view are the following: (1)  A+ the Hebrew word for tent is  durelling. The scheme
 cording to  tthL common view only one-third of the            proposed by the view under consi,deration  is said to
 inner, ornamental curtain, to- wit, the ceiling, would have also these obvious advantages ,&hat it conforms
 have been visible. (2) The "tent" covering spread to  tlhe principal measurements, removes the difficulty
 flat over tie boards would <have been no protection of sagging on the (fiat) roof, and permits the golden
 against the rain. The skins of cloth and hair curtains boards , bars and rings to be seen. But the structure
 would, when wet, only  ,have depressed the  cen,ter  and proposed by  #the traditional view conforms to  tihe prin-
 torn ;tl:?e linen coverin.g  under them. (3) The common cipal measurements as well.                And what advantage
 view  contradPicts  the description in XXVI, 9, 12, 13,       would accrue  f*rom  the exposure of the golden boards
 according to which only two cubiits of the goats' hair        is hard to say. The tabernacle was of benefit to the
 covering hung over at the west end, and only one cubit worshippers of the Old Testament dispensation on
 at each side, ,whereas ,according  to the common theory account of tihe truths set forth by the things wshich  it
 10 cubits ,hung down on every side.                           contained and on account of the transactions associated
       What to think of &hese ,objectiuns  ? That under 1      with these ,things.
 is obviated by bhe perfectly safe ,assumption  th& the           The view that proposes a structure with a sloping
 inner covering of  fine linen hung down inside,. not          roof is weighed down by insurmountable difficulties.
 outside,  ,of the boards. This assumption is so safe Such :a structure would have required a ridge-pole and
 that it may be regarded as a fad. To begin w,ith, it supponting  pillars.  B.ut the text is  siIent about such
 is inconceivable that a covering of such tine material requisites.             These parts  care  tlherefore  simply taken
 and exquisi*te  <workmanship  should not be hanging on for granted. Further it  w.as shown above  bh&  tihe
 +he inside of  the wooden frame-work to form  the             inner covering was  40 cubits in length,  ,while  the


                                      TRE  STANDARb   B E A R E K                                                          69
7              - - -                                                                                                       -
wooden frame-work was 30 cubits. How now is this              proven. But it cannot be. The fact of the matter is
excess of IO cubits dealt with? It is simply assumed ,&hat the above scriptures, if explained in hhe light of
that this inner veil, whidh is slso held to have been so      tsheir surroundings,  teeuh  the very opposite,-thus
arran,ged  as *to form a sbping roof, extended 5 cubits       teach that t%e roof was  flat. Let us show this. Con-
beyond the boasds in front and in the rear. The as- sider once more that athe inner covering of fine linen,
sumption, ihowever,  is a forbidden one for the follow-       measuring, as it did, 28 cubits in width, was 2 cubits
ing reason.    According  *to chap. 26  :33, the veil of      narrower than the outer covering of goats' `hair, whose
the Holy of Holies was hung under rthe ,&asps &hat con-       wid'tih  was 30 cubits. There was thus in this ou*ter
nected the two #sections of the inner covering. Now as        covering an  access of two cubits  &in  widith (length, if
the Holy of Holies  formed a cube of 10 cubits (there         regard be had to  bhe  separake  pieces or curtains)  ).
can be no doubt of this, as in  `the corresponding apart-     The question was what Moses was  ito. do with this ex-
ments of Solomon's temple,  fthe Holy of  Holies was          cess.     And  ,&he instruction of the Lord was  to the
;half t.he size of the ,&her part of the sanctuary), the      effect that it shouId be stretahed or spread out on the
veil was 10 cubits from the western end and 20 cubits         sides of the tabernacles, a cubit on each side. llhis
f+rom the  f,ront. But the theory under consideration swas done with tlhe result that the outer covering ex-
would bring the veil and thus  Ialso the clasps (the veil     tended on  both sides one cubit beyond eaah side-edge
was under the clasps) fifteen cubits from each end.           of the inner covering of fine linen and thus, reach-
7R.G difEculty is fatal to ;the scheme under considera-       ing on  botlh sides to the ground or  nearIy so, com-
tion.                                                         pletely covered it. And as to the back of the taber-
    The traditional view, accordmg  to which the roof nacle, ,this too, was as completely covered by the goats'
was flat, is the only acceptable one. As was said: the ,hair as were the sides. This is plain. In consequence
chief objection raised against  <this  view is that it        of the doubling of the sixth pieces, the outer covering
contradiots  the description in XXVI, 12, 13. However,        was 41 cubits long. As the inner covering measured
if this scripture be interpreted in the light of its sur-     40 cubits  i.n length, tIhere  wias in the outer covering an
roundings, it wil!l ,appear  that the description in it is excess of one cubit in length, spread  out on the back
not  that of a covering so arranged as to form  ,a sloping    of  !the tabernacle. Thus the set of goats'  hair cur-
roof but of  Ia curtain thrown horizontally over the tains, as  ,&-own  over the wooden frame-work, reached
wooden frame-work, and  :&hat therefore the contention to the bottom of the golden goards on all, three sides.
to the effect that the traditional view contradicts this T&s  *is  .what  could be expected. The view that the
description is wrong. Let us show this. `Ilhe descrip-        skins and the goats' >hair and even, according to some,
tion asliteraltly translated reads, "As for the stretching the linen curtains, were elevated above the boards so
out of the superabundance in the curtains of the tent .as to leave them unprotected, is not grounded in reason.
(that is, in the ,sum and total of curtains or distinct       What real protection would suoh a nude wall of boards
pieces by which  ,the outer coverings  ,of goats' hair thave been to the costly furniture within? As to the
was formed), /half of the curtain in superabundance traditional view, it is grounded both in reason and in
shall stretch  out upon the back of the tabernacb  or         Scripture.  Thtis  (view   aIone agrees  perfectl,y   witch  the
dwelling. And the  cubit from this and the cubit from specified measurements of all the parts of rbhe taber-
t:hat in the superabundance in the length of ;tihe (11)       nacle.
curtains  (d,istinct  pieces) of the tent (i.e. of  tl'l:e        The whole of the tabernacle formed an oblong of
covering of goats' :hair) , shall be stretched out on the     30 cubits (45 feet)- ,in length, 10 cubits (15 feet) in
sides of  <the  .~bernacle   (-bhe inner covering of fine     bread,th, and 10 cubits (15 feet) in hei.ght. The length
linen) from this and from that to cover it (him) ."           is known from the 20 boards of a cubit and a half in
    The two pronouns this and thdt ,in tihe expression        breadtih ; and tihe breadth by `adding to the 9 cubits
"from this  and from  that"  signify the  t.wo  sections      covered by the six boards, at tie back, ihalf a cubit as
of ,the outer covenings  of goats' hair. Thus the mean- ;the inner thickness of each of the corner boards. To
ing is this: And the superabundant or excess cubit divide the dwelling into <two rooms, a curtain was made
from this section and tlhe excess cubit from that sec-        of the same material,  an&d woven in the same manner
tion. . . . shall be stretched out on the sides of the        as  the inner coverings of the walls.  Tlhis  was hung
tabernacle. The  fact is  ,&hen  that each of the outer       upon four pillars of gilded  laccacia-wood  and  their
coverings of goats' hair was Iin access o.ne cubit, that polden hooks, standing upon four silver sockets, under
is, each section was one cubit  twider. We ask: W%ider        ,the loops which joined together the  two sections of
t!l?an what? Those caddided  to the new view answer, ,the inner  cverlng of  Linen. The tabernacle was  thus
"Wider than that part of the sloping roof inclosed be-        divided into two compartments, the one occupying
tween the top of the boards and the ridge of the roof.        10 cubits and tihe other 20 cubiks  of Ike entire length.
This  .newer,  .however,  reposes upon the  ,assumption       For  `the entrance of the `tabernacle there  was also
that the #coverings were so arranged as to form `a sbp-       made a curtain or covering of `tie same mate&l as
ing roof. But were they? This is what must first be the inner curtain, but of work in mixed  colurs,  not


70                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
sh            ----.-.---I__                      ..--._                                                              II-
woven with  figures upon it.  This  contain was hung the conviction of the  ohurch,  is the vehicle.  Tihe
on  tive gilded pillars of shittim-wood with golden Church therefore in expressing definitely and precisely
,hooks,  and for these  they were to  east so~ckets of brass. what it believed to be the truth, #XLS found it necessary
The furniture of the Holy E?lace included the al;tar of Ito avail itself of terms and phrases not literally con-
incense, the golden candlestick and the table of  shew-        tained in Holy Writ.
breald. In the Holiest Place was stationed the ark of the         If the creeds of Christendom is meant to be nothing
covenant, with its covering over  w:hich  hovered the          else that a written deolaration of wchat is held to be the
cloud4e symbol of God's presence.                              truth of God's Word, if the aotion of wlhich  tie Chris-
      As to the significance  of the tabernacle, this  IS tian creed is  representtiive  .is one consisting in God's
known from  the  mater&&  that entered into its con            believing people searching the Scriptures for the truth
&r&ion, from the time of tihe giving of tie instruc-           contained therein, and  ,thinking  their way into the
tion for its erection, from the names that it bore, and truth in order to qualify themselves to set it forth in
from the  symbolical-typioal  meaning of  i,ts furniture       language so clear aand definite  tihat the lie of the false
and from the rites and ceremonies with  whileh  the teaoher  may be exposed, :how can there be any objec-
tabernacle and .its fmniture were associated.                  tion to the oreed? Must not the Scriptures be  searohed
                                               G. M. 0.        and the truth be thought in,to that it may be expressed
                                                               in proper  lsnguage?  Whlat a strange cry-this cry:
         ; .I                                                  no creed. How can God's believing people turn away
      *.-'                                                     fr,om the creed, if <the  doctrine of which it is the expres-
                 No Creed, But Christ (?)                      sion, Js, according to the+- firm conviction, the truth
                                                               of God's Word? With trhe creed declaring that Christ
      No Creed but Christ, ,is <tie caption of a communi- is ,true and eternti.  God, of one essense with the Father
cation appearing in De Wnchter (of the Christian Re- and the Holy Ghost, what believer could turn away
formed  C:hurches of North America) for October  3.            from  tie creed  ? To  repndi.a.te the creed would be
In his communication ,the correspondent rises to the to deny :what  is held to be &he truth.
defence  of *the above slogan. Now the saying No Creed             Someone Iwill say, "I Ihave the Bible. It is in the
but Christ cannot possibly be defended. The concep-            Christ of the Bible in whom I believe. The Unitarian,
(tion  from which it springs is thoroughly wrong. It too, says, I believe in the God and Christ of the Bible.
may not be amiss bto briefly show this, especially not in      Yet, The, nevertheless maintains &hat the doctrine of
view of  the circumstance that  <the saying seems to the trinity of the Godhead well suited the dark ages
be a favored one with so many Ghristian people.                whioh it {helped to produce. He labels this doctrine
      The Christian creeds `are definite  and formal de- `Trinitarian nonsense, taught by gray-haired professors
clarations on the part of the dhurch  of what she be-          in theological seminaries. Aoeording to his doctrine,
lieves to be the truth contained in God's Word. The            C&d is a solitary person cand being, from eternity un-
creed represents an  aotivity  that consists in  appre-        revealed and unknown, and Ohrist  a mere man. On
`nending, through the study of the Scriptures, the truth       what grounds could a Christian brotherhood eject from
contained  &herein,  in entering the truth with the mind       its midst  `a person with  sudh a conception of God?
in order that it may be understood, and in properly            On the ground that he *denied the God ,and Christ of
expressing what the  truth is believed  ,to be. It is this the Bible? Indeed. But in order  to show this, and
activity that has produced the great creeds of Christen- to sustain the charge, such a  brotherhood  would have
dom. Now in declaring what she believed to be the ito avail itself of the terms and phrases of the Nidne
trutih, the church sometimes found herself .under  the         creed, according to which God #is a being one in essense,
necessity of employing terms and phrases that are not yet  distin\guished  in three persons.
found in Holy Writ. One illustration. The Christian               The advice contained in the cry No C'reed  but Ctii~t
creed declares th,at "God is `only one, the one single         is plainly this: "Turn from your creed to Scripture.
Essence, in which are three persons, really, truly and         Here search for your Christ. Here you see Him as
eternally distinct, according to their incommunicable          He is; for the Bible  ,is God's  iInfallible word. Not so
properties; . . .  ." This phraseology is not literally the creed." Let us examine this advice. To  search
found in Scripture. If the  dhnch  in composing her            the Bible for  Christ is to search  tlhre  Bible for the
creeds would do nothing more than cite Scripture, truth concerning Christ. This search or study having
that is, reproduce Scripture as to  the form of its been completed, the searher would then necessarily
words, she could not so express wihat she holds to be          have to declare wihat he believed to be the truth oi
the  ,truth as to expose  the lie of the false  teaclhers.     God's word concerning Christ. This declaration would
Consider that such ,teachers also. profess to believe the be his private creed.  SQ we see  *what he who turns
Seriptu*res.      Rence,  what  ,is assailed and denied is not from the fallible creed of the church  to the infallible
the Scriptures `as to the form of their Ilanguage, but the     Bible, ends up in  ,doing.     He ends up, and this of
trhoughk  or truth of which  l&his language, `according to necessity, i,n placing in tihe room of the creed, which


                                        T#E  S T A N D A R D              B E A R E R                                     71

she rejected, his own private creed. And what has               only  w(hen  those who err are made to see  the light
been gained? Nothing at ,all. For that private creed            and come to tlhe bight. In other words, God's people
is falliKe,  as truly f,allible as the creed of the church are one only  b the extent that  tihey all consciously
thtat was rejected. It must be This, as it, too, as well        abide in Christ. The  dlivisions  i.ti  .tie church are not
as the creed  that IVas set aside, was made by a fallible representative of `an ideal &a&2. Christ's will is that
man. And if this individual were truly a believer, iF'          His people be one. And it is  rthe solemn duty of every
in turning away from ithe creed of the church he wit.5          believer to work for unity not  ithrougih, his renouncing
not moved  by a hatred of the truth, shis private creed         ,what he :holds to be tlhe truth bu.t tihrough  His making
as to its content would be identical to tihe content or'        sure whether  what ihe holds to be *truth  is trubh, and
the creed  w.hi& Ihe imagined  !he had forsaken.                secondly through his assailing f&e beliefs and doc-
    Any and every de&ration on the part of  ,the be-            trines in order thlat those ensnared by .the lie may be
liever that sets forth the  fruitage of his study of            won fur the truth. The truth is a source of comfort to
God's Word  4s necessarily a creed. It is this ,as it sets      God's people only  #to  ,&hat extent that it is unmixed with
forth *what he believes to be the truth of God's Word.          error.
Tl!zus every sermon is, rightly considered a creed. .               The great creeds of Christendom are the church's
Therefore they who object  to the creed, should in order        priceless possession. As long as  %hese creeds are held
to be consistent,  ,demand of their pastor  that, when in       in !honor, tihe church is safe. Satan realizes this only
lhis pulpit, he do no%ing more than read to them God's too well. To him, therefore, the creeds of the church
Word. Y&ey  should *not require of him that she explain are dreaded composi$ions.  He knows t&t Iwould *he gain
the word to tihem. For  such an explanation would be men for his lies,  ihe must first detach `them from. the
his creed. It is evident that  the cry "No  creed but creeds of  tthe church. So he derides  &he creed. He
Christ" is absurd. The  (term creed  st'ands  for truth.        pits the creeds against Scripture  *and Christ and tells
thus for the content of saving faith. If, therefore             men  tihait  either  sh4all have  &o be relinguished. And
there need be no creed, faith need have no content.             under tie pretence  of leading men back ,tu ,tie Scrip-
If there need be no creed, tiere need be no knowledge           ture and ti Christ, he leads them into lhis lies and to
of Christ and of God for salvatiion, and the Scriptures         perdition.
can be dispensed  witi.      Even the pastor, when in              The creeds of  C?hris,tendom  may be called store-
the pulpit, would do nothing but read to his hearers            houses of truth mined \&rough the. ages from the word
from the Bible, he wou.ld ,also ahen be coming to them of (2od by  the Christian  ahurch. They are  tihe deposi-
with his creed, if  ,he understood and believed what he taries of -the fruits of centuries of labor done by the
was reading.      So, to say No Creed is  ito say No            Christian C,hurch.  It is Obese  creeds that are making
Scriptures. Thus in  ,the final instance, it is  to say         $it possible for  ,t.he  church  at  .the present time to be
No Christ.                                                      prea&ing on the great truths  contiained  in Scripture
    Creeds, it is said, make division in  it;he church.         as she `does. Supposing that the mini,ster of the Gospel
T\his \is not true of +he great creeds of Christendom.          enters upon his ministerial career, a total stranger
For in these creeds is expressed what all God's be-             to the teachings of &he creeds of the church ; bhat, so
lieving people,  <without  exception, hold to be  %he  truth    far as ?~e was concerned, these creeds did a63 exist.
of God's Word. !Che apostles creed dedaaes  bhat Gol:           Then he would be no further into the truth than was
is tihe Father,  $he Almighty, ,Dhe Mlaker  of <heaven and      the I&ur& a,t Dhe time, of the death of <tithe last apostle.
earth; tha.t Jesus Christ is His only begotten Son. . . ."      But througl:u  &he centutries  the Spirit has been leading
They who deny this, are  called antichrists in Scrip- the church  fatiher and  fa&her   i<nto  `trhe  truth. And
ture. The aforesaid creeds make  ,divis'ion  not between        what the chprch  ,apprehended,  E&X  *was a,lso empowered
God's believing people but between the  church  and             to express in adequate language, 6o bring into being
the world, believers and unbelievers.                           her creeds. An.d these creeds, being what they are,
    But now ik is rtrue tiat Clod's  people lhave their doc- imediately lead into the truth as far as the chur& was
trinal differences.    Therr, are various persuasions           led %mough  the ages.
among.  .&hem,  such as Reformed and Lutheran and                  The creeds, however, may not be placed in the room
Baptist, not to mention okhers. Should be!ieving peo-           of Holy Writ. We once read upon a certain church
ple forget their differences and unite on the basis of          bulletin lthe following, "DQ we  appre:<ate   wP& our
6he great creeds-creeds in  which  is expressed what            fathers have dotie in gilving  us Ianswers to `those im-
all believers  k&l  to be  t;he truth? Then the church portant questions (the questions contained in our Hei-
universal would be presenti,ng  to the world a united           delberg  Catech,ism)  in such a simple and condensed
f3ont.    Then. God's people, it is said, wou1.d be one.        statement that it is easily understood,  and we do not
But would they? True oneness is not to be achieved ,have to look up all the Scripture references ,and formu-
through believing peop1.e ignoring doctrinal differences.       late our own answers." ' The statement, "We do not
Doctrinal differences  sarise as result of some one think- `have to look up all iOhe soriptural  references" leaves a
ing and believing wrongly. Hence, real unity is achieved strange impression. 3&e meaning seems to be that,
                                                                                                 j.


72                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR&R
_--
since we have t.he Catechism, we can do without Scrip- E&t gaan kerken bij aen ander predikant, met opzetite-
ture, that  $hus `the Catechism  thas been given us as a lijken en lsngdurigen voorbijgaan van den ei,gen die-
substitute for  &he Bible. Fact is  that the scriptural           near des Woords, is in den regel aMhans  ook een zondc
references must indeed be looked up  ,nut only but van  nalatigheid.  Is er de voorliefde  Toor een  mooie
studied with care. Every one must make sure t&at                  stem, een  redenaars   "~talent",   dogmatische   praecisee-
what is expressed in the creed is what must be believed ring en uitbeelding,  gemoedeljke "ligging" in het spel,
to be the ,truth  of God's Word.             G.  p/I.  0.         dan zijn of de bezwaren tegen den eigen  predikant
                                                                  liehtvaardig  (ihoe meet thet ,in gemeenten,  die in &jden
                                                                  omtrek geen man naar den  smaak van  malcontente
                                                                  hoorders  kunnen brekken?)  of ze xijn ernstig  van aard.
                                                                  Reeds in clat laatste  gevlal k,an men aan de wegloopers
                      "Loopers"                                   verwijten, dat ze hun bezwaren niet langs kerkelijken
                                                                  weg in  behandeling  geven.        Hetzelfde geld in nog
      The following excerpt is taken from the report of sterkere mate,  indien  tegen een bepaald  predikant
the Acts of the general Synod (now in session) of the serieuze bezwaren bestaan  voor wat zijn preekmethode
`(Gereformeerde""  Churches  of `the Netherlands :               betreft.    Indien deze  methode   niet  deugt,  moet men
      "De ,Generale  Synode kennis genomen hebbende van           niet zijn recht tot critiek en tot reformatie  prijsgeven
de  vraag  van den Kerkeraad der Gereformeerde  Kerk              voor zijn `gemak  of ten ,gerieve  van een dominee,  dien
van. . . . inzake toepassing des kerkelijke  censuur   op         men  "a.4.s  persoon we1 lijden  mlag", dock dan diem de
gemeenteleden, die o&clanks alle vermaning zich nage-             bezwaarde   zoolang  mogelijk  te  trachten,  verbetering
noeg  aan  alle samenkomsten der gemeente  onttrekken             te krijgen. Wat voor `hem niet deugt, dat is voor de
en regelmatig in ,de gereformeeltde  Kerk te. . . . gaan gemeente in haar  geheel   niet  goed.  . . . De "looper"
kerken, bewerende  daar  meer zegen onder  de prediking zal met  argumenten   moeten  komen, en ze indienen
te genieten, is van oordeel, ,dat het hier geld een zonde waar het behoort,  en de kerkeraad zal geen gemakke-
van eigenwilrligen  godsdienst van op .den duur ernsti-           lijke  wapen  in  handen krijgen om  "lasti,ge" stemmen
gen  aard,  keurt   goed  het  Advies  van de Particuliere tot awijgen te brengen."
Synode  .van. . . . om  na lankmoedig en veelvuldig                   We are fu,lly  agreed with the views and sen.timents
vermaan  tenslotte bij  :hardnekkige  weigering de cen- here expressed. Tlhe position that, let  `us  tcall  tJhem
suur toe te passen zonder  evenwel tot de uiterste reme-          "runners"  (Iloopers)  are walking in sin, is the only
die over te gaan,  en besluit van `deze uitspraak mede-           one that may be taken. And if they are walking in
deeling te  doen  aan een kerkeraad van. . .  ."                  sin, it cannot possibly be true that, as they say, they
  The Reporter (Prof K.  Sehilder)  states  that the are,adua.lly  being fed by the preaching of the Word
above question occasioned a broad discussion. Various             by  .tlhe other pastor. I& cannot possibly be true that
questions arose.                                                  they receive a blessing under his preaching. He who
      The reporter states ltis ow,n  view, w$i& reads in maintains the contrary has no understanding of what
part as follows:                                                  lit means to be fed by the preaching of the Word. It
      "Voorop  plaats  Bk  clat het hier  gaat over een means that the life which is in Christ abounds more
kwaad.  . . . Het "loopen", in het algemeen genomen,              and more i,n us, that mo're  ,and more we forsake our
lijkt me nog steeds  ongeoorloofd.    Hoeveel ook daarin          sin and turn to the living God. It means that we grow
verklaarbaar  is, men vergeet  maar al te vaak, dait de           in grace ,and in knowledge and that the *assurance  l&at
dienst des awoords niet een parbiculiere aangelegenheid Iwe are children of God wiOh  sins forgiven continues
`van den dominee (als "spreker")  is, doch dat *hij alle to take on strength. How then can it be true of us
leden. der kerk aangaat en aller medewerking eischt.              that we `are being fed, actuahy  fed, by ,the preaching
Het  ambt  der geloovigen  heeft  hier evenzeer op  te            of the Word, if we walk Iin sin. This walking in sin
treden  als  bet bijzoadere  ambt van den dienaar des on our part forms the very evidence t&tit we are not
woords.  Wie zal zeggen, lhoeveel  moeilijkheden  en bij          being fed, but that &he "Word" is unto ,us a savor of
den prediker  en bij de ;wel  aanwezige hoorders  rijzen, death unto death.  He who persistently walks in sin
als er in het kerkgebouw leege  plaatsen  zijn.              De and yet succeeds in convincing himself that he receives
predifker zal heel  `wat  moeten   "wegslikken",  om op a blessing under  tie preaching of &hat other pastor
gang te komen. En de hoorders  moeten  eveneens door is deceiving h,imself. Such `a one's stock of knowledge
heel wat sombere geclachten  zich heenwerken, zullen ze           will  increase,  if the sermons he listens to be rich in
met  blij!dschap bidden en  zingen; de weg van den content;  but he will not., ,he cannot grow in grace and
Heilige  Geest tot bet <hart ,dergenen,  die aanwezig zijn,       in  knowled,ge.    The sole evidence  ,of  su;uc;h  growth  is
,wordt vrijwel  "gebIokkeerd",   !voorzoover   dat van that *we,  crucifying by the mercies of God, the works
menschen zijde mogelijk is (men zal me kier nwel niet of the flesh, consciously walk with God in the way of
misverstaan)  .                                                   His covenant.
      Daarmee   xhangt   een tweede overweging  samen.


                          A   R e f o r m e d   S e m i - M o n t h l y   M a g a z i n e
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Vol. XVI, No. 4. Entered  as  Second Class mail         N 0 V E M B E R 15,  19%               Subscription Price $2.00
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                                                                 unmerciful ; who not only delights in ,his own iniquity,
         M E D I T A T I O N                                     but also has pleasure in them  t&at wallow in the mire
                                                                 of  sia. . . .
                                                                     Filled with evil!
               Filled With Goodness                                  And now: full of goodness, filled `with  all know-
                                                                 ledge !
                    And  I  myself also am persuaded of              Tremendous contrast ! Amazing change!
                 you, my brethren, that ye also are full             And lhow was it effected ? What may be the cause
                 of  goodness,  filled'  with a.11 knowledge, of this tradical  turning <about?
                 able to admonish one another.                       There is but one answer: Grace !
                                               Rom. 15:l.k           The  grace  of  &he Lord Jesus  Ghrist  took hold of
                                                                 that darkened mind and enhghtened  it, entered into
    Full of goodness !                                           that evil `heart and cleansed 3, emptied it of all bad-
    Amazing fruit of God's m&vellous grace !                     ness and filled it with goodness.
    For  such  it is, indeed ! Fruit of  the wonderful               Wonderful  grxe !
grace of Him, Who quickeneth the dead and calleth
the things that are not `as if they were, is this goodness
of which the Ch~unch  of 6he Lord Jesus is said to :be full.
    And in order to see a little of 6he wonder of it, just
"recall whence this same Ghurclh,  that is full of good-             Full of goodness !
ness  sand filled  w4it:h all knowledge, sprung, from what           Filled with aN knowledge !
mire of iniquity it was lifted, from  wlhat power of                 Goodness is not to be understood (here  in  the limited
corruption  it was  dellivered,  from  *what dominion of sense of beneficence and  charitabIeness,  of being good,
death it was liberated, out of wlhat  darkness of the             kind to one another. This is certainly included, is one
lie and perversion it was called.                                 of the fruits `an'd manifestations of goodness, even as
    `Ilhe apostle has now reaohed  the end of &is glori-          maliciousness is an inevitable  expressiun  of. badness.
,ous epistle. And now he may write that he is deeply Yet, there is no reason to limit the word in this way.
convinced that the  C!hur& is full of goodness and Rather must we understand it ,in its broad meaning
filled with all knowledge, so that they are able to ad-           and all its implications, in its ethical  sense as referring
monish one another. But return for a moment to                    to moral perfection and virtue.
the  beginnmg  of  this same letter, in order to  br,ing             Goodness, not in opposition to unkindness, but as
back to your mind the picture that was drawn there the opposite of badness.
of &he natural man as he is in lthe power of sin and                 Jt Qs rooted in love.
mlder  tmhe dominion of corruption, of  twhom it was                 For love is the bond of perfectness. Love, not as
said that he is filled with all unrighteousness, fornica- itie love of <those  6hat love us, neither in #he natural
tion, *wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness ; and &at sense  `as the bond of  bIood  relations, but in the proper
he is full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; land  *deep  sense of the love of God. For God is love,
that he is a whisperer, backbiter, hater of God, de- and all Iove is of God. He is its Fountain, its eternal
spi.teful, proud, a boaster, an inventor of evil things, spring. And in Him as the highest, as ahe onIy Good,
&sobedien't to parents,  ,wtiout understanding, a  cove-          love is eterna!lly love of God. For He loves Himself as
nantbreaker, without natural aff e&ion, implacable, the ,infiniitely  perfect One, and all things for His own


7iz                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 - - -                 -.                                                                                               -
name's sake. Love is  always  of God, from God, to              of the  Iheart, of the  :wilI ; knowledge of  tjhe mind.
God. F,rom Him ilt proceeds also into our Ihearts, and Knowledge  must be motivated by,  ,rooted  in goodness;
to Him  i*t returns. And as love of God  iit embraces all goodness must be enligihrtened, guided by knowledge.
the brethren, the children that are born of Him and             Mere  knotied,ge without  goodness is double wicked-
raveal  `His  ,image.       And whether as love of God to ness ; goodness without knowledge is blind.
Him, or as love of God to one another, always it is                 I am persuaded that you are full of goodness. . . .
.the bond of perfectness. It Joves  God. And, therefore,            Filled with all knowledge !
it loves  Ithe light. For God is  <light.   In darkness it          Blessed testimony !
loannot  dwell. Even as we walk in  tlhe light, in the
light of God, do we love one another!
       This love is the principle of  ,a11 goodness.
       Without it there is no goodness. From it aItI good-
ness springs. Upon this <love `as its root it flourishes.           Full. . . .  filled!
Even  ras from the root of hatred of God and enmity                A strong statement, indeed !
against him springs all wickedness, so  lm beautifully             Must we, perhaps, read these words as a form of
blossoms forth and bears fruit in all manner of good- hyperbole, an exaggeration,  Ithat is not literally true?
ness. Love trejoices  in the trutih, never in the lie ; it         Does the apostle, perhaps luse .these  strong terms
delights in righteousness and abhors all unrighteous-           in order to flatter the Christians at Rome? Or, ,if in
ness; it brings forth  fruit unto  hdliness,  the fear of tlheir  literal significance .they were applicable to the
the Lord, wisdom and understanding, humility and                Church at Rome, was that congregation, perhaps, an
meekness, patience and longsuffering, faithfulness and exception, so that the words cannot he generally alp-
truth, peace and mercy, kindness, purity, obedience,            plied to the Church of Christ in the world?
and &whatever c&her goodnesses there may be.                       Filled and full?'
       And  i*t reveals itself antithetically in this world.       Does not the real appearance of the  Church  of
       For, the goodness of love, of the love of God, mani-     Christ in this present worId  gainsay this testimony ?
fests itself as a delight in God, a (holy zeal to glorify       And would not every Christian, who Ihas knowledge
Him, to keep His precepts and thus to be pleasing in of himself in the light of the tru*th, the&ate to apply
His sight: and, therefore, as sorrow over sin and               the strong words of  the apostle to himself?
Ihatred  of all unrighteousness. It seeks  &he good of             Indeed, also wi6h regard to +he corruption of the
Zion, it loves llhe brother, it esteems the other better natural man the apostle had employed  tihese same
than oneself.       It speaks the truth in love, is kind,       terms. .He is  filled with  ah unrighteousness, forni-
merciful, forbearing, forgiving. . . .                          cation,  wPickedness,  covetousness, maliciousness ; he is
       Full of goodness!                                        full of envy, murder,  ,debate,  deceit, malignity. And
       And filled  wi,th  all knowledge!                        this we readily understand. In us, that is, in our
       `Knowledge that is knowledge indeed, is here meant.      flesh there  dwelleth  no good thing. The heart is des-
Not a knowledge  that is from below, ,is concerned with perately wicked, and all  tihe imaginations of our heart
the things of this `worlqd,  bust knows not God and the         are at all times only and continually evil. No one who
spiritual blessings and virtues of His kingdom ; not (has come to a spiritual knowledge of his own  he&
the knowledge of natural light which is darkness spirit-        by nature hesitates at all to accept this testimony of
u&y,  .is limited by time an,d (death, and blind to the the Word of God. But can these same terms, in the
things eternal; but spiritual  Bnowledge  and the dis- same unconditional sense,  aIs0 be applied to the good-
cernment of faith, whereby spiritual  t,hings  are spirit- ness of tie Ghunch ?
ua,IIy discerned,-such is the knowledge with which                 Js she, indeed, full of goodness ?
the Church is filled. It is the knowledge of the will of           Can  it be said `in truth that she is filled tih all
God and of His blessed covenant.                                knowledge ?
       All knowledge !                                             It wodd seem impossible. For it is not the natural
       Knowledge  w%h regard to God and His Christ, the man, but the child of God, redeemed by the blood of
mystery  th& was hid, but that is now revealed; in Ghrist,  and delivered from the dominion of sin by the
Whom are all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom.             grace of His good Spirit, that complains #in tlhe seventh
Knowledge of the will of God segarding  our personal            ohapter  of this same epistle, that when he would do
life, of body and soul and mind and will ; regarding our good evil is present with him, *that Ihe does not do the
life in every relationship, in the midst of the Chur& good which  he would, but does do the evil which he
.and in this present worrld.                                    would not, that he knows, indeed, of a deli&t in the
       Goodness and all knowledge !                             law of God according  tb the inward man, but also
       Intimately they are related. Inseparably they are beholds  ~another law tin his members that wars against
connected. For, in a sense knowledge is also goodness. the law of his mind and brings Ihim into captivity to
Yet, they may be distinguished. Goodness is a matter the 18~ of sin in his members. . . .


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           75

   how, then, can it be said of that same Christian,               Jesus  Gh.rist Himself,  Wlho by His Spirit  dwells in
of the  CBurch that is composed of just such imperfect lhim !
sa&s,   <that  Ihe and that it is  full of goodness, filled           He is not two creatures, a good ,aed a bad. He is
with all knowledge?                                                not  rhalf good  an.d half bad. He is not a man  with
   Y-et, is must needs be so!                                      [two hearts, the old and the new. In lhis deepest heart
   Strange though it may appear, it could not be  dif-             he is filled with goodness. And from the `heart, <whence
ferent.    A man is either full of evil and filled with are the  *issues of life, this goodness becomes manifest
ignorance, or  `he is full of goodness  an.d filled with in his whole life.
all knowledge. Sin could not dorrupt man  partly  ;                   His mind and will, his *thoughts and desires and
grace could not half  d&tier  him. The corruption of aspirations, his seeing and hearing and speaking, his
sin could not leave the sinner half full of goodness;              wihole life is full of ;the goodness of hhe Lord.
tl;Ie  sanctify,ing  power of grace could not leave him               True; there are the ol,d ruts of sin in his flesh.
half full of badness. The tree is either good or bad.                 The motions of sin are still in his members!
Tlhe  foun'tain brings forth either sweet water or bitter.            But even over  ~against   &hese he assumes a new
M,an  is either good or bad.  Aml always  ahe is  fillled attitude.              For,  ,he is sorry for them with a sorrow
and full! . . . .                                                  after God. He hates them. He flees from  ahem.  He
    If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new crea-               abhors them. He prays against, them. . . .
ture !                                                                Full of goodness and filled with knowledge he
    Old things have passed away!'                                  fights against all the power of darkness, within and
                                                                   without.
    A11 things Ihave become new !                                     Glorious grace !
    And  the reason is evident. Sin and grace are both
matters of the iheart  of man. Sin is not a matter of
habit or training or environment. It is not a gradually                                    -
deforming  #or corrupting influence, that eats into his
being, to which a man gradually yields, that slowly                   Blessed Church of  Ghsrist!
but surely foxes him into subjection, that gradually                  Blessed  is that Church of  which  it may be  wlit-
fills lhim  ,with  iniquity until he  i,s full  ,of evil. It is    nessed that she is full of goodness and filled with aleI
death ! It takes ihold of the root of the tree and car-            knowledge.
<xupts  it. It searches out the springs of life and cor-              And the members of  ,which are  Ums able to  ad-
runts them. It settles in the heart of man and fills it monish one another!
w.ith all badness. And if the heart is corrupt, whence                For, the one is dependent upon the other. The one
are tihhe issues of life, the whole man is full of evil !          is the fruit of the other. To be able to ,admonish  one
    But the same is true of grace !                                anotlher we must, indeed, be full of goodness and  filled
    Grace is not an attempt at reformation ! Ah, how               with all knowledge!
vain would be the ,&tempt  to fill a man, whose heart                 For, to admonish is "to put in mind". Suclh is the
is corrupt, with all goodness and knowledge by a  pro-             meaning of the  .word  that is used here in the original.
cess of  Reformation.  As well might you attempt to                To admonish is not  6he same as a sentimental, empty
change an ever bubbling fountain of bitter water into              prayer, .addressed  to the sinner, besee<?hing  him witih
a refreshing spring by  pouning  in a cup of sweet sighs and tears to leave the way of wickedness. Ad-
water ! As well might you try to change the skin of                monition must.hm contents. It must "put in mind".
tihe Ethiopian by grafting a patch of wlhite skin upon And that wh,icih must be put in mind is the truth ! It
his body!                                                          is instruction. And thus it  shuws and recommends
    But grace does not reform. It quickens.                        tlhe way of righteousness, anId warns agai,nst  the temp-
    The Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ enters into a tations of the flesh, sthe world, the devil.
sinner's deepest heart,  *the very center of  this  wthole            And ihow s;haII we admonish one anorther,  whether
nature from a  spiritual-ethica  viewpoint,  sand the              officially, in preauhing  and teaching, or as members
fountain of his whole life, takes  (hold of it irresistibly,       of Ghrist's Ghurdh  mutu.ally, unless we be filled with
and turns it radically around. Grace ,is wsurrection  ! all  k.nowledge  and  fulIl of goodness ? Both he that
It is rebirt!h! It is the change from death to life, from admonishes and he that receives the admonition must
darkness to light, from enmity against God to the love             be filled  w&h the knowledge and We love of  6he  trutih
of God, from iniquity to righteousness, from corrup-               as .it is in Christ Jesus our Lord !
tion to holiness, from the image of the devil into the                Know, then, Church of Christ, that you are  fuI1
image of God !                                                     of goodness, filled with knowledge !
    And he that is so changed is a new creature !                     And  stnive after  (the manifestation of that fulnebs!
    He is filled  w,ikh  all knowledge !                              For, blessed are ye in so doing !
    He is full of goodness, of the goodness of the Lord                                                            H. H,


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-                                                                                                                                  85
dan  oak,  edat mijn  vol,k de  nederlatig lijdt,  ;terwijl
ik  om zijn overwinning bad; al is het ook, dat mijn                                The Gist Of The Matter
lan,d oak in den oorlog ward lgewikkeld,  terwijl  ik bad,
dat bet er buiten mocht  blijven ; en al is het oak, dait                   We  can probably do many  ,of our younger readers
deze oorlog  jaren duurt, terwijl ik maar aldoor  aan-                  a sar*vice  if we publish a brief. resume of tihe article by
drong bij God op een spoedigen vrede ;  doch amen  be-                  Dr. Schilder  ~tih& appeared in De Reformatie recently
*teekent,  dart ik in mijn hart gevoel,  dat God mij veel               and in whioh the writer clearIy reveab  his attitude to-
zekerder zal sehenken, precies  wat ik ,in den naam van wards the Protestant Reformed Churches.
den Heere Jezus van Hem bad, dan ik (in mijn hart ge-                       Many a reader cannot  uead  &he Holland language.
voel, dat ik zulks van Hem begeer.                                          Yet, he is deeply interested in these matters. Very
          Maar dan zullen we in al ,die dingen,  die het tijde-         frequently I have  hard the suggestion, even received
Iijke en vleeschelijke  betreffen, en van deweike  we niet              requests  to discuss these ma&ters in 4he English Ian-
weten,   wat Gods wil zij, in ootmoed en van harte                      w49.                                              5  v;  .,w&&
moeten  bidden : "Uw wi1 geschiede"  !                                      He,  .no doubt, heard of  ahis article  in~que&ion,
          En dan zal ,Gods zaak in ons gebed up den  voor-              for it was the subject of many a conversation. And he
grand   moeten treden.                                                  would like to know what it is all about.
          Laat ,ons ,niet vergeten, dat Gods vulk den Heere                 In  idhiS article we wiB, therefore, try to state tie
verwaeht  in den weg *der gericihten. Wordt den godde-                  gist of  `ahe matter.
looze  genade bewezen, hij leert `geen gerechtigheid.             En        At the Synod of  rthe Reformed Churches in the
we  weten,   dat we  zullen  hooren  wan oorlogen en  ge-               Ne&henlands,  that recently  adjourned,  , the Plrotestant
ruchten van oorlogen, eer  bet  ein,de  kan komen. En Reformed Churches  `were  twice  mentioned and made
ook de oorlog  is Godes. Hij zendt hem. Het  rude $bhe subject of the synod&l discussion, a discussion
paard Ihoudt zijn koers *over de aarde naar den wille which both times was octioned by Dr. Milder. (Let
Gods en. onder het bestuur van  onzen Koning, Pie me state there in parentheses that rtrhe Synod, whidh
aIIe maoht heeft  ontvangen  in den hemel  en op aarde.                 met a& Sneek, Friesland, did not finish its program.
          0, dan is er nog zeer veel, dart we met zekerheid,  de Some of the most important matters cas,  for insltance,
zekenheid van het amen kunnen  bidden. Want we bid- the question of 4he alleged  ~doctrina.1  differences, were
den dan om de eere van Gods naam, om de komst van not touched upon, and the Synod expe& to resume its
Zijn koninkrijk,  om het  &voeren  van Zijn  welbe-                     meetings in  .the first part of next year). The  first
hagen, om genade om onderworpen  en eenswillend te time ,our crhurohes <were  broulght  into the discuaaion  was
zijn, om kra,cht en  lij*dzaamheid,  om getrouwtheid  ten when It;he question .a+s to the desirabihty  of convoking
einde *toe.                                                             an  ecuimenical synod of Reformed Churches was being
          En uns gebed gaat tdan ook uit tot God voor Zijne             considered. An ecumenical synod is a general synod,
Kerk over het rond der aarde, en met name oak voor constituted of  ad&g&es  from, Reformed Churches all
die  breeders  en  zusters,  die vanwege den oorlog, af over t?he w,orld. This question was  brou@ before the
vanwege den  ;haat der goddelooze  wereld moeten  lij-                  Synod `of Sneek by the fraternal  delemtes  from the
den.                                                                    Christian  Ref,ormed Churches of  our  counrtuy,   to do
          Last ons ook vooral  dit la&.&e  niet vergeten.               ~whioh  they  wetie   connnissioned  by their synod. The
          En we zouden `we1 willen, dat we met ons blad alle            delegates were Dr. H. Be& and Rev. I Van  Dellen.
Gods kinderen  in de wereld, met iname hen, die in en                   It `was natural that ;the question should be broacihed
`van de wereld moeten  lij,den,  konden bereiken, om hen what ohurches should be invited to senltl delegates ito
te  rirerzekeren,   .dat  ens gebed dagelijks voor hen  uit- such an ecumenical synod. And it was then that Dr.
gaat  ctot den troon der genade.                                        Sohilder suggested  that the  P&&ant  Retformed
          Zijt  met   versaagd!                                         lurches should also be invited. This seems to <have
          Want : onze Koning is van Israels God gegeven !               caused a warm  ,discussiom  for a while. The Rev.  Van
          En Hij heeft de wereld overwonnen  !                          De!Ilen   r&her  strenuoudy  opposed  the suggestion of
          Pax vobiscum !                                                Dr.  Schilder,  stated  that  ifn  his view the Protestant
                                                         H. H.          Reformed Churches are schism&ic  churches and ex-
                                                                        pressed tihe opinion that the plsce~ of %heir own dele-
     /                                                                  gates would, no doubt, be left vacant, if the Protestant
                                                                        Reformed Ghurehes  would send delegates b the ecu-
                                   NOTICE                               menical synod. For the rest we do not know what
                                                                        was said in this discussion.
     Please look at *the sabseniption  (date on your Stan-                 The second ltime our clhurches became lthe subject
dard Bearer: if  *you are in  anrears  please send your of discussion at the Synod of Sneek was in connection
subscription money (money order) to hhe treasurer : fwitih the question of correspondence with Reformed
                                    Mr. R.  Sehaafsma                   Churches in  obther lands. Again it  `was Dr.  Schilder


86                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   .                                            I
 who  suggested  that the  synodical   committee  of the
 Nebherbnd  Churches, bhat is appointed to manage this                           Morning Meditation
 correspondence  yv;i+ih churches  i,n foreign  countries,
seek to establish such correspondence also with the                  The fifth psalm is a morning meditation.
 Protestant Reformed Churches  of America. ALgain he                 Many years later we find a quotation taken from
met with opposition, as m&&t be expected, this time ,this psalm and quoted  ,in the New Testament. (Rom.
espeziatiy from Dr.  Ch.  Aalders,   weho stated that he, 3:13).
too, had recently visited the United States and coudcd               I  cannot  help but think: how few people will to-day
inform `the Netherland  Synod that our ohurches could meditate like  the saint in this psalm.
very  weI, be compared to the  "Geelkerken-groep"  in                To-day tlhere is a very different itenor  i,n the medita-
the Netherlands; tiey are wery small and, besides, a tions of tthose who "look up" and "direct their prayer
"one man affz3,i.r". Later we learned  that Dr.  Aaldem         in the morning".
also made some deprecatory remarks about the  undez=
signed personally, although he never sought any con-                 There are not a few divines who explain ( ?) this
tact with our Churohes,  nor with me, sand refused to           psalm as a sinful outburst of selfishness on the part of
lecture for us when he was invited.                             David. Some do not try to  explai'n  it at all. Some
      It is about these  matters &at Dr. SohiBder writes i,n    think it a cruel, old testament view of God. The "vloek
the  anticle  in  De Reformatie  to  w*hieh we referred         psalmen"  are not very popular in our day: Even the
above.                                                          purest  Iehurties on earth are strangely silent  abou*t
      In  the article he defends the position that our them.
Iehurches should certainly be invited to send delegates             Many years ago we have heard a president of a
.to an ecumenical synod, aif such a synod should ever certain  synod say that we have a peculiar view of
be convoked. (The Synod of Sneek did not determine God and that therefore we teach as we do. Our view
tihe ma&z, but put in into <the hands of a committee of God was not Ihis view. And I am persuaded that
Ihat is &o lmpont  in 1942, D.V.). He takes this stand one reason for this  ,diversity  of  .tiews is our apprecia-
in oppositi.on  to the Rev. Van D&en  and also to Dr. tion of the "vloek psalmen". We would also incorpor-
V. Hepp,  +w!ho revealed himself  in "Credo" (a paper ate tihem in our system of thought.
of which .he is editor) 1% being opposed to the idea of             And  awhy should we not?
inviting the Protestant Reformed Churches. And he                   Paul  ,did. He quotes them. He needs them in order
adduces various arguments which `we do not ,have to             to preach the blessed gospel of God's Son. He needs
quote here #now.                                                them in order to paint "so great a death  !" From
      Secondly, he defends his stand that our Protestant which we are saved.
Reformed Churches should have the iright to become                  Besides, even these  cpsalms  that speak of God's
corresponding "sister-churches" in relatimon  to the Re- great  )indignation  overagainst the wicked are part and
formed  CJhunohes of the Netherlands, if they should            parcel' of  tihe Self-revelation of God, most blessed for-
desire this. He shows tihat ,there  are no good grounds ever! They tell us not only God's inclination or dispo-
upon which this right ecnuld be Idenied to our Churches,        sition  ovoragainst  the reprobate but also His carriage,
especially i'n view of the faot  &hat other groups enjoy His bearing, His deportment and His a.ttitude over-
t&s  ,fellowship of correspondence that are less pure against these same-unhappy men. (See Psalm 18 :26).
in doctrine  *and  disc&line  than  *the Protestant Re-         Certainly these psalms are the product of the Holy
formed Churches.                                                Spirit. Certainly also of psalm 5 it may be said that
      Dr. Schilder  advises our Churches to reveal a spirit holy men, driven by the Holy Spirik have spoken and
of  :reconcPiation  and lconciliatory  ,attitude toward the subsequently .written  the Word of God.
Ghristian  Reformed Churches  (here ; abnd also to seek             However, if you shou,ld  ask me: but are not these
correspondence  w&h  c&e Reformed  C&urches  i.n the psalms ~terrible? I Iwould make answer in the affirma-
Netherlands. This, he states, would be an appeal to tive. I could make answer through the same David.
&hei,r  conscience, woulld  compel them to investigate the Favoring the Holland translation I would say with
,matter .and to form a properly moi%ated  dedeion.              him in Psalm 119 :20 : "The ,hair of my flesh trembleth
      He writes  tlhat, perhaps, `we *would  not immediately for fear of Thee; and I am afraid of Thy judgments!"
meet with success, but th& there would surely be a                  But we may not react even as  (the seed of the
blessing  iln it.                                               serpent. When <they read, *hear or see  ,the indignation
      And rhe assures our ohm&es of his continued sup-          and holy wrath of God  they hate  C&d. Listen to
pmt.                                                            Isaiah's appraisal of these people: "The sinners in
      Of course, many other things might be stated i*n          Zion are afraid ; fearfulness  bath surprised the  hype-
connection with this article of Dr.  Sehilder.                  crites.  Who among us shall dwell with the devouring
      Burt we cannot go iInto detail.                           fire? who among us shall  <dwell  with everlasting burn-
      And tih+s is the g&t of the matter.         H. H.         i,ngs ?" ' Isa. 33: 14.


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           87
--.--.---                          -.-^-^.-...  --._-._  -...
                         i
    I,t is no cause for wonder that natural man reacts same person can be  aharmonized  in God's own being.
as he does. And there are two reasons.                              But this is terrible even to think.
    The first reason is God's appraisal of the wicked.               And we would add that these  men who talk such
    The fifth psalm is very short; only 12 verses. More- nonsense cannot believe that themselves. We cannot
over, there are on.ly  5 of these 12 verses that deal with       beliove  a nonsensical thing or thought. It militates
the reprobate. But what a  tt&-rible  appraisal of the           against everything that God has revealed of Himself
wicked ! Listen to this : They are : the foolish ; workers in man.
of iniquity; ibhose that  sp&ak  leasing (,deceit)  ; the man        No, the real reason why men talk suoh nunsense  is
of blood (in the Hebrew the plural is used : intensity) ;        &at they would like to  ,have it so. They cannot swal-
rebels against God ; transgressors ; unfaithful mouths ; low the bitter *pill of God's appraisal of natural man.
wickedness for inward parts; throats  *hat are open              It  cuts them to the quick. They realize  &hat if the
sepylchres ; flattering, oily tongues ; falling counsels ; truth be so, ,that then they `themselves are ,also com-
and multiple rtransgressors  !                                   prised in  <this terrible judgment. For also  tlhe child
    Such appraisal of God of the wicked makes ;hirn              of God  ,ha.s "members" upon the earth which are called :
hate God  the more.                                              "fornic&ion, uncleanness, inordinate  affetiion,  evil
    The second reason why the wicked react unfavor- concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry."
ably against God ,is God's attitude and disposition over-        Gol. 3 :5. Iin short : if we are to accept the judgment
against  them..                                                  of God on the natural state of man, we will shave to
    Also this we find Jn the fifth psalm.                        ihumble ourselves too much. That is the reason why
   Attend Ito: God bath  .no pleasure in their wicked-           we  ,hme such  nonsensicd  appraisal  ,of man in our
:ness ; evil does dwell  w.ith  Hi,m  ; the foolish do not       day.
stand in His sight ; He hates  bhe workers of iniquity ;            Instead, beloved rea&r,  let us accept &he terrible
destroys the liars; and abhors  ;the bloody and deceitful judgment of God upon our vile nature and seek our
man !                                                            salvation outside of ourselves in Jesus Christ. And
   And man, natural man, reacts.                                 even that seeking without our nature is a gift of grace.
   But why should the church of Jesus C,hrist  react Let  ,us realize that.
unfavorably?                                                        Does  this grace find and  .does  this grace change us
   Or why should the church be so concerned about                into a new creature, then everytrhing  becomes different.
.the wicked tha,t  they  whitewash him at every oppor- Listen also in this same psalm to a description of t,hat
tunity, even to the corrupting of Scripture? Every ,new man that is created in Christ Jesus  u&o all good
text  that seems to be in favor of tihe common grace             works : Those t,hat pray in the Imorning  ; those that look
idea (and ,they are few indeed) is looked at through             up (watch) ; t&mse  that direct their prayer, (set it in
the loupe ; but the countless texts that clearly speak order before God's face)  ;  `those that come in God's
of God's wrath and fiery indignation is simply ignored Ihouse; those that worship in fear towards God's holy
or wrested into its vexy opposite.                               temple ;  ,they are longing far righteousness ; for a
   Let us see this.                                              strai&t  way (by  wlhioh   ;they mean God's way) ; the
   You all know that the very heart of  tfhe cummon              righteous ; they that put their trust in God;  that love
grace  tiheory is that God loves  ,the wicked, be it for His name ; that cry .and call God their King and their
this time only.     They may call  ,it favor, goodness,          God!
favorable attitude or disposition, grace that is com-               What a tremendous contrast between the wicked
mon, longsuffering and  whlat not; but the fact remains and  tlhe righteous.
that  .&hey  teach that God  1o1~s the wicked somehow.              And in order that la11 ground for pride and arro-
    Burt I read in Psalm 5 that God hates t,he workers           gance be taken away from us, let me point to a small
of  ?hniquity!                                                   but very significant earmark of ,the righteous. Verse
    I read that God  abhors the bloody and deceitful 7 tells us that all  ;the endeaivor  u,nto goodness happens
man!                                                             ira. the multietude  of `God's mercy and in His fear! It
    I  task in all seriousness : cannot these -men read ?        shows us that our entire  wailk is in the sphere of
I am reminded of the ironical question of Jesus: Have God's own virtue, tie virtue that is communicated to
ye never read?                                                   us. It is the urge of the Holy Spirit Who is given unto
    And when ;we confront these men with such clear us in the moment of regeneration and never leaves us
references as quoted before, ,&hey  make answer and              again.    It takes away all ground for boasting and
say: God's ways are higher  than our ways and His exalts God in His glorious work of redemption.
thoughts `than our thoughts. Then they say: Yes, we                  Does a man walk this way of righteousness, then
agree: God (hates the wicked, but He also Iowes them he may be assured  ,of a wondrous protection. For we
and  that is a mystery. Som&ow  `there is a logic with           read in the same psalm that fhe will be defended by
God  that is  se high and  metaphysid  that  we  cannot          Crod ; that he will be blessed of God and that God's
even grasp  ,it. God's  l,ove and God's hatred for the favor shall encompass him as with a shield.

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

       Let us t,hen not try and be wiser than God or let             De stichting van onze gemeente en de inwijding
us not charge God foolishly. He knows better than                 (lals .ik ,dat ,woord even gebruiken  mag) van ons orgel
we.                                                               ,hadden in sommige  opzichten   peel   overeenkomst.  De
       It is the Holy Spirit of God, Who even searches the oorzaak,  dat we een snderen  leider zoohten  was in vele
deep tlhlings of God, that ,has searched the *heart ,of man.      opziohrten   dezelfde:   beiden   b&ntwoorddm   n i e t   aan
And if that Spirit tells us that the very inward part Ihet doel.
of natural  man is Nery w$ickedness,  let us then not turn           De  verheerlijking  Gods moet in de  predi!king  de
around and say : Well, that may be so but we also find grondtoon zijn, zoo ,ook  in de muziek. E,n dan is bet
in man very much that is commendable, good, virtuous ontegenzeggelijk  wear,  dart een pisno met haas harde
and righteousness. If need be, for the sake of dis- klanken vooral bij de  Hollandsche   psalmen   sleoht
course among men, we wil! speak of civil righteousness past.  G&.&kig   *w,erd  dit door  oud en  jonlg  ingezien,
of the godless, but we would plead with you to under- zoodat  emdelijk   eenparig   besloten  werd tot de-  aan-
stand that  wlhen  we say this we do not mean that this s&af%ng  van  een  orgel. Hot lang  vorwachte   i.nstru-
socalled  righteousness is goodness before God. And ment kwam dan eindelijlk  gereed en wend terston,d de
also that this oivil righteousness, so-called, is abomina- eerste  Zondag  (door een  der toekomstige organisten
tion before the Almighty. For God does never see the met aanvankelijlk  succes  bespeeld.
deed ,apart from the (deep heart. He connects heart,                 Doch  ade oficieele  ingebruikneming had plaats up den
word and deed and judges  &hat everything  breathes               volgenden   Vilijdagavond.    Voor  een stampvolle kerk
cruelty, deceit, abomination and Iwickedness.          When liet  bet  orgel zijn zachte welluidende  tonen hooren en
God shall cause natural man to stand in the light of ewe mochten  met hart en mond zingen van de w&laden
His Eye in the day of days, then He will show to the tes Heeren.  Door de keide sprekers,  Dss. Vos en Petter
satisfaction of every man, be he saint  o,r sinner; to the werd er dan ook terecht  op gewezen,  dat *de muziek een
devil and this angels and to the hght-spirits  about the gave Gods ,is, ,die dan oak anders niet mag worden  ge-
throne-4ha.t  this natural man in +he so many thousand bruikt d'an ter eere van den Gever. We hebben dien
years of his idle existence on earth has produced noth- avond weer genoten ; en, terugziende op het  verleden,
ing, but horrible iniquity, so that when ithey shall be           meet lof en dank  onze  harten  vervullen, want de
.drinren  to outer darkness the punishment shall fit the geringste weldaden +hebben we verbeurd; we hebben
crime.                                                            nergens  reeht noch aanspraak  op.
       Tchis yet: if you see this now in prospect through             Zien we dan ook  ,terug op de  zegeningen  die de
the `light of Spirit and Word, you will chant in unison Heere ens gaf, ,dan "cmorden  we er soms bijna *neda ver-
wlitiu David : Thou  shal#t destroy them ! Or, with legen.  Zeven   jaren  gel&en   werden we  bedreigd  met
Asaph : Thou shalt ,despise their image !                         afsnijding ; we moesten  Sn een  gdhuutnde lkerk onder-
       But cry thou aloud thou inhabitants of Zion ! For dak zoeken: en hoe is bet nu? Een flinke eigen kerk,
greatt i,s *the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee !         een  mcoie  pa&xie,   een eigen school en nu weer  een
       "En zoo ,komt God tot Zija. eer !"                         mooi   orgel. Doch de g-root& weldcaad is, dart we van
                                                  G. v.           Sabbat  tot Sabbat  de zuivere, klanken  van Gods Woord
                                                                  mogen hooren, Manken  die de snaren van ens hart doen
                                                                  trillen en ons een voorsmaak g&en van ,het zalig hemel-
                                                                  leven,  waar we dan  volmaakt   zullen   jubelen  ter eere
                        Ingezonden                                Gods.
                                                                                                J. R. Vander Wal.
          GEDACHTEN,  BIJ  HET  IN-GEBRUIK-NEMEN                                                Redlands, California.
                       VAN  ONS  ORGEL
       "Als ge  ia  nood  gezeten  ; nergens  uitkomst  ziet-
wilt dan nooit vergeten:  Gold verkat U met!"
       Dit  waren de eerste, onvergetelijke  woorden,  die
we van Ds.  Hoeksema   modbben  hooren, op dien be-                                  The Tabernacle
wusten  Zondagmorgen  in  eonze gehuurde kerk. Ze                     Having in our previous article ascertained  ;the
vielen met de preek,  die op dat veelzeggend lied volg-           pattern and structure of t13e taberna&, let us now lay
de, ,:tls  een milden regen  op een dorstige en droge  ,aarde.    hold on its meaning and design by  considerin,g  the
Die eerste preek liet een  blijvenden  indruk  achter.            time of its erection, the  aames  that it bore? its anoint-
En daarop  volgden onvergetelijke dagen, die de jeug-             ing and .furni+ture.
dige gemeente van Redlands  ,nimmer zal vergeten.                     The insixuction  for `the making and ere-,tion  of the
       Onwillekeurig  kwamen  die gebeurtenissen mij dezer tabernacle were given to Moses by divine revelatioa
dagen sweer  voor den gee&, )boen we als gemeente weer            immediately after God's  .establishing His  covenlant
i&s groortxh  mochten  beloven,  namelijlk, de in gebruik-        with Israel as a nation at Sinai. The details of this
neming van ens nieuwe  pijporgel.                                 act may be briefly stated. The Lord had called unto


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          89d
Moses  out of  *tibe mountain saying that he tell the        be4ween  God and His people, of a sacred precinct
people of Israel that if they would obey His nnoice  and     where th& people Gould  stand before I&is face and in
keep His covenant, they  shou,ld  be a peculiar treasure *that face behold His perfections and, as so beholding,
unto Him above all people, a kingdom of priests, and         cry out His praises. Now 4his *need,  as will be made
,am holy nation. Moses laid before  {the faces of the        plain, was actually met by the tabernacle. And the
elders of  ,&he people, these words of the Lord. The Ireason  was ;tlhat <this structure was the instrument of
elders communicated them to hhe `people, ~w4m said,          the revelation of God's glories. Thus without it there
upon hearing, "All that Bhe Lord Ihath spoken we will        could be no fellowship  with God on the part of the
do," meaning, `we will to be a people holy unto the Lord     ancient worshipper. And it is no different `now. Only,
our Redeemer.'     Moses returned  (&his seply of the        whereas  Christ  &has  been exhibited  ,in  ,&he flesh, our
people to the  Lolrd. The nation, ihaving  <thus declared ~tabennacle is  .now Christ,  4he incarnate Word. Our
tits intention, was now told to stand at  l&e&ion at the fellowship with ,God is now ,tirough Him. Thus when
foot of the sacred Mount, while l&he Lor.d,  from out of     Fairbairn  sties ithe immediate obj&,  and design of
the smoke and  fi.re by which  lthe summit of the mount the tabernacle to have been  "the bringing of  God near
:was enveloped, proclaimed to it His  Lawdthe IBW           *to *the Israelites in His true character, and keeping up
of the Ten Commandments, "And God spake all these            intercourse between Him and 4hem," we can agree.
words, saying, I am  &he Lord  .thy God,  Iwhich  have       But 4he statement he makes a little further on, sets
brought  t;hee  out of the land of Egypt, out of <tie house forth  aa view that  stu5kes  us as being of a questionable
of bondage," and a nu!mber of other commands that,           charaoter  : "To some extent this end (the bringing of
taken as a whole, form no addition to but rather an ex-      God near 4.o 4he Israelites) might h&e been reached
posirtion  of the  #ten commands. When  ,the Lord had wi4hou4  the intervention of  such an  ,apparatus  (the
done speaking, Moses  mrne and  tild &he people  Jl the tabernaole)  ; for  i*n itself it (communion  w,ith God)
words and judgments of the Lord. And  ;bhe people           is a spiritual !4hi'ng. and properly consists in tie exer-
again Iresponded  with one voice <and said that all the      cise of suitable ~4houghts  and ~affedions  towatnd God,
swords   wlhich   ,the Lord  $had spoken they would do.     &Ling  forth  in return  ~grtious  manifesta4ion   ti His
Thus for the second time they declared ,tiemsebves  to      lme and blessing." Now  4his is  snot  expressi,ng   tlhe
be wiKng that Jehovah ,by whom they had been de- m&ter  correctly. The .writer  places communion with
livered, be ,their God and that they be His people, to      God in  juxwposition  with the tabernacle. His rea-
walk  wiSth H&n in  #he way of His commands and so soning is that just because communion  wiuh God
to keep His covenant. Moses wrote  all the words of         is an  a&ion  that consists in the exercise of  suit&
.the Lord in a book,  ~which  `was given  ,the name of able thoughts  towardGod,  communion with  God would
"The book of  bhe covenant". The following morning have been possible, to some e,xtent,  at [least,  without
Ihe rose up early and builded an altar under the hill t,he tabernacle, so !4hat the principal reason that it was
and erected twelve pillars, each for one tribe. He next brought  intto being was  4hat, in  the language of the
sent twelve young men of ;trhe ohildren of Israel who       writer, "under a dispensation so imperfect as to the
offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings      rneasm-e  of light it imparted, the Israelites would
of oxen  u&o  $the Lord. Having sprinkled the altar          certainly without such outward ,and visible help as was
with  *half of the blood, Moses  itook  hhe book of  &he afforded by `a worldly sanotuary,  have either sunk into
covenant and read from it in 4he hearing of the people.      practical ignorance and forgetfulness of God, or be-
Again they said  rth& all  ?&he  Land  !had commanded       t&en  themselves   to some wrong method of bringing
they would do and be obedien4. Moses ,&hereupon took divine  ;things more distinctly  wi4hin the grasp and
,4he other half of Ithe blood and sprinkled iit upon the     compr&nsion  of 4heir minds. It was thus that idol-
people and  said, "Behold the  bl,ood of the covenant sworship arose,  and was  wi4h such difficulty repressed
wGoh the Lord  h&h made with you  coneern%ng all             i,n  4he chosen family  i,t&lf."  14 was simply  4herefore
these words."                                                with the view "of meeting this natural tendency, or
   Whereas the nation  .had now  ,declared  its will- of assisting ,the natural weakness of men in deahng
ingness to keep J&ovah's covenant, and 4hus $to own          wi4h the divine and spiritual 4hings, %a4 God conde-
Him as  ,its covenant God, run  4he way of His com-          scended  .to provide for Himself a local habitation
mands, Ihearken  unlto His voice, .and, as :walking  before among His people."
His face, have fellowship  tith Him,  i4s redeemer-God,         The view here expressed is not wholly unobjection-
there was <now need of a complete and constant revela-       able. Gommunion wi4h God, consisting, as ilt actually
tion of tlhe covenant, 4hat is, fof the glorie of God.. as ,does,  in the  exerci,se  of right thoughts toward Him,
Redeemer, of His will, of His achievement consistmg          would  ihave been  wiholly impossible  wi4hout the taber-
in  His saving His people from all their sins, and of        nacle (I now think of Ithe $4his structure ,as including
His people as empowered by  H.is mercies to praise and       Israel's entire symbolical worship). And  the reason
adure  Him. There was need, seeing that His covenant is ,that .i4 was so ,far from being a mere visible help,
had been accepted, of a defini4e  place of communion without  wlhich  the Israelites  woubd have sunk unto


90                                    `I'HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

ignorance, as to be tlhe very thing by which God re- ,tieir si,n !          "NW  let me alone," said  ithe Lord to
vealed unto His people the truth about Himself-the             Moses," that my wra$h  may wax Ihot against them that
very truth <that Ihad to form the suitable thoughts to         I may  ,consume  &em.  . .  ." A great sin had indeed
be directed toward  H.im, so that wit&out  this object been  commibted,   Q sin `greater  than the  n&ion  had
tthe Israelites Iwo&d  !have lacked the very knowledge thus far committed. Consider what had taken place.
that  *was necessary for the exercise of these thoughts. Though  :deserving  to perish  Iwith  lthe Egyptians, the
The tabernacle  for,med a kind of language-the lan- Lord (had spared them and delivered them from bon-
guage of symbol-that, (together with the explanatory dage. They  :had gazed on the symbols of His holiness
word,  compri,sed  the one, special, revelation of God -the fire in which 4he Lord had descended upon the
wiM& in the Scriptures bears hhe name of Inzu. Thus mountain-and  !had trembled.  Tlhey  Ilad  ken sprinkled
communion with  ,God in the Old Testament dispensa- wW the blood of rthe covenant ; and for them the Lord
tion was as utterly impossible without the tabernacle, had prepared a  table in the presence of their enemies.
as  Iwithout  His  self-rre&lation  in the face of  Christ.    Yet in the very shadow of a mountain flanked with
The necessity of rthe tabernacle sprang not, in the first the symbols  .of His majesty, they forsook Him and
instance, from the weakness of men in dealing with mied  for the idol, sand this despite the fact that Jehovah
*divine and spiritual things, but  rather  from  mlan's        ihad just betrothed Himself to them, Ahad  spread His
need of sthe word of ad. What the weakness of men skirts over them and covered their nakedness. Verily,
necessitated is  ;&he kind of  ~hab.i:tation  with which God *a great sin has been committed. And Moses fails to
in tie Old Dispensation provided Himself,                      perceive how this sin can be forgiven. "Peradventure,"
 B&ween   the letting down from  (heaven  of the pat- !that is, by ohance,  it may be, "I shall make an &one-
tern of tlhe. tabernacle and  the actual erection of it lies me& for you." So he said to the Lord, "Yet now, if
the sin of %the people  &on&sting  in their making the         thou wilt forgive  th&r  sin" `it is well'. . .  .; "but if
golden  ,calf. The order of *the events care ,as f&lows :      not," .if %hou canst not forgive except one die for and
The  promulgatEon  of the law by  Jehuvah.   The re-           in their stead, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book".
sponse of tie people to the effect  tfaat tiey will do all        Now  the committing of  tihis  ,great sin immediately
that the Lord has commanded. The ceremony  l&t con- preceded the  e-recting  of the tabernacle. Why ihad the
sisted in Moses sprinkling tie b,lood of the covenant Land so willed ? Why had $he Lord so arranged His
upon the peopl,e. The revelation of the pattern of the counsels that before the tabernacle could be erected,
taberna&le. `Bhs siin of the making of the golden calf. the people had first to commit  Uris great sin? And
The repentance of  *he people.  The erection of the the answer? Th.& it might `appear what His people
tdXXTXXle.                                                     are by nature, namdy children of 4di~sobedience  and this
      When  the people demanded of Aaron that he  m&e          on account of &eir being dead through sin, people w3h
them  (gods'  they  oommictted  a great sin.  I;n the  hn-     affections set upon .the devil-gods of their own fabri-
guage  of  (the Psalmist (106) "They  &anged  God's cation. Tthis had to appear befolre the tabernacle could
glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth  grass.         be erected in order that His people might perceive ithat
They forgot God, Itheir Saviour,  awhich  ihad done great His  dwelling  among them was an  act of love neces-
things in Egypt." Their serving the idol was enmity sitated not by anything of native goodness in them but
of  `Gold,   ,a  rej.eotion  of  Jehovah.  As a  resutlt of his soIely  by His will  1t0 love them  i,n  Ghrist and  t,hat
lifting ,&he restraints of God's (law,  Aaron had unbridled ,their willingness to be His people and to dwell with
their vile lusts, with the result that they ran to their Him in His tabernacle was due solely to His mercy,
idol  ,and gave  Gee reign to their base desires in pagan to His will to save them from  al1 their sins.
song and dance. They *gave themselves up to iOhe wild             If now  the  precinct  of the tabernacle  was to be
license ,witi wlhich  ,&he worship  of Apis Ihad been asso-    the one place w'here  God's people would be standing in
Idated  in Egypt. It is not `true,  *as some writers have presence of His refle&ed  glory, ,&o tie very interior
maintained, that those apostates had no thought of of this structure, in so far as it was visible to the eye,
rejecting the Lord but  th& their purpose was  t,o bring :had <to consist of such materi&  aa formed the symbol
Him nearer to them. This is evident from their  sub- of His  spiritua!l  beauty-materials, costly,  rich, and
sequent  be8haviou.r.  Moses destroyed the  idol. The beautiful. And such was  ,indeed   ;tihe case. The walls
apostates permitted &his,  but wC%h hearts  the&, burned of the tabernacle were composed of planks overlaid
with resemment.      So, Qking his stand in the gate of with gold,  which  rose perpendicularly from sockets of
the camp, Muses cried out, "Who is on the Lord's side" silver, held together by `transverse bars of gold, pass-
`and (such is the implioation  <of this utterance) against ing through  {rings of go&d. Likewise was ,a11 the furni-
tlhe :idol', "let him come 1t0  [me." T.he apostates were ture of the tabernacle plated  with gold. And the mercy
thus placed under the necessity of openly choosing be- seat together  with the  cherubibm  ma,de  into the ends of
tween Jehovah and the idol, &heir de&l-god. ,A& they it `were lof solid goI'd, as also (the pipes of itihe oandle-
chose the idol? consciously.    They did so through their      stick. The pillars upon which the vail hung were over-
refusal &to come to Moses, How enormously great was laid with go1.d and their hooks `were of solid gold. And


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 91

what is said of the h&h priest's garmente,  namely, that in  the i,nner  covering of the (tabernacle.              Now in the
;trhey  were made "for glory and for beauty", applies             book of Exodus the beauty of *&his cloud is called "the
also to the v&l <that made division between tie Iholy g1Ql.y of the Lomd". "Then a cloud covered  ,&he  tent of
place and s&he  most holy and fo the inner tent-cloth that        :&he congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the
formed  athe tabernacle proper. They *were beautifully tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter  ,into the
made, the colors employed ,bei,ng  white, blue, purple            tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode &here-
and scarlet. As to :&is clothe an-d the veil, they were           in,  and the  gl'ory of  tlhe Lord filled  it;he  8tabern~cle".
composed  ,of these colors, twisted together. The varie-          (Ex. 40 :33). Just because the aborve materials, on
,g&ed  yarn was woven  mto the wehite linen, so as to             account of their richness, costliness and beauty, signi-
form figures of  cherubim.  As to the breast-plate of             fied the heavenly glory of God ,and His kingdom, the
t&e  hilgh priest, it, too, ,wtas a  ,&ing  of beauty. It was apostle John saw in his vision *the New Jerusalem a
made of twelve preoious  stones set in four rows: sar-            city of pure ,gol;d,  like u,nto clear glass ; a city, further,
dius (flesh color),  carbuncle (red),  ligure   (pale-            whose light was  hke  unto a stone most precious, even
variegated), beryl (yellow-green) , topaz  (golden-yel-           like a jasper stone, dear `as crystal ; ~wlhose wall was of
bw) , sapphire (`sky-blue),  agate   (glistening-varie-           jas;per  ; w,hose   founldations  were  ,garnished  with all
gated)  , onyx (greenish),  emerals (brilliant green)  ,, manner  of precious &ones-the very stones  that ap-
diamond (transparent or  redldish-yellow)  , amethyst             peared upon the brea&pl&e of the high priest ; whose
(mostly violet), jasper (`dull red, cloudy).                      twelve gates were  ,twelve pearls and whose streets
   Now since all these costly materials  ,denote.d,  certain-     were of pure gold. That  `the beauty of  tihese  metals
ly the variety, manifoldness and totality of the sipiritual       and stones must be t&ken  *as Ithe symbol bf tie radiance
gifts bestowed on the people of God, and united in the of God's perfections, appears from the statement  im-
one spirit of heavenly preciousness,  Ithe  earthly.beaurty       mediately preceding the description, "And the carried
of these materials, as conaearated  to sacred use, ms             me away dn the spirit to a great and high mountain,
at once the symbol of the effulgence of God's perfec- :and  shewed  me  that great  c&v. . .  .having   the glory
tions. That these materials  %thus formed a kind of of God" (Rev. 21 :ll).
glass in which could be seen the #glory of God is a view             The tabernacle was an instrument of +he revelation
abt rests `on firm ground-on the ground et&at every-              of  ,tihe glory  ,of Christ's God and Father, and thus the
where in the Scriptures tlhe earthy  appears as a symbol one place or  (house of intercourse between God and
of the  aheavenly.  So in the Song of Solomon.  1.n this the people of Israel, *noit only as to the costly materials
song, being ,as it is, Messianic, the ~desoriptions  of the of wihich  it was con&u&Xl  but also and especially as
natural beauty of `the two main Icharaoters .are in the *to and on accou.nt  ,of &he symbolioaltylpical  $&hings con-
final instance descriptions of It;he glory of Christ and tained  i,n, gilt and the symbolical actions associated  lwiith
His  dhuroh.  Now in describing this beauty, tie in-              it. As ,has already been explained in former article,
spired writer employs the name of the very precious               these  %hings and  a&ions  bespoke  the glory of  the
metal rthat was used in the eonstruotion  of the taber-           Heavenly. First to be mentioned  ,are  tihe sacrifices by
nacle and the name of two of ,the stones of jthe breast-          blood. Through  rDhe   idea@  of the  vi&ims  fm these
pk3te. "His [head?,  so (declares the bride, " is as the          offerings sin was  atoned,  and, as atoned, forgiven.
most. fine ,gold.  . . . His hands `are as gold ri.ngs set These sacrifices therefore declared the perfections of
with  ltlhe beryl :  (his belly is as bright ivory overlaid       God, in particular His justice and mercy. And dike-
with sapphires. His legs are pillars of marble, set               wise all the other thinlgs conneoted w&h  tie tabernable.
upon  so&&s of  tine gold:" (chap.  5:11-X).   When               they all set forth  tihe loveliness of Christ and the
Isaiah jubilantly exclaims, "The multitude of camels              ahurah  and  &hus  hhe  beautiesi of God in whom the
shall cover  .tiee, the ~dromedaries  of Midian land E&ah ;       life of the church together  with Christ is hidden.
all [they  from Sheba shall come: they  shall bring ,gol:d        The meat-offering set forth the  truth that the church
,aad incense ; and they shall shew  forth &he praises of          is a new creature in Crist,  .holy  ,harmless,  unde!Yed,
the Lord. . . .Surely  tihe isles shall waitt  for me, and the    separated from sinners, a creature anointed with
ships of  Tarshish   tist, to bring  tihy  sons from far,         Christ's Spirit and  joyling in God and thus a body
their silver and  t&heir gold with them," (Isa. 60) it can-       agreeable  to God's palate and holy nostrils. As to the
not be otherwise than that in this `prophetic utterance,          shewbread, it, too, was a symbol of the church  in its
the words gold and silver as well as tie (word ,incense,          state *of perfection.     Its being  plied in God's im-
denote !in &he final i,nstance some spirtiual  gifts with mediate presence, signified  that in this state  *the church
which God's  Teople appear in His  sanotuary.   Let us            is God's eternal refreshment and delight. The aholy in-
notice in ,&his co.nne&ion  the pillar of cloud, which  went      cense was the symbol of the plrayers  of God's believing
before.  itie  children of Israel, when they  mandhed.            people. Th'e burning lamps of the golden candlestick
O?%en if not ~usudly this cloud  bwoulld assume a beauti-         again signified the  spirtiual  beauty of the church,
fd  asped.    Itr its ~&ce would  ,&en be seen, it mlust be ,her  pu.rtiy,   the  ardour of her  `holy passion and her
,assumed, all the colors that appeared in the veil and intellectual and moral enthusiasm..' The `Holy place,


*     92                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

      flooded, as it "NZLS, by tie light ,of the seven lamps, way      Jerusalem, it has  .tie glory of God. This  &atement
      a figure of  $he eternal city, the new Jerusalem, which ies of  tihe greatest  significance.            Consider that the
      will have no need of thfe <sun, .neither of the moon, to tabernacle  pre-figured  Christ and His  tehurch.  If so,
      s&&e in it, in that the glory of God will lighten it, and this structure, ;tog&her w&h sll +he 4thinlgs and a&ions
      the  Ilamb will be  the  Itight  <thereof. And as to the         conneoted with it-the  saorifice,   ,&he  Iholy incense, the
      Holiest place, even in its very dimensions-it formed a srhewbread  a%nd  the  gollden   oandlestick-showed  forth,
      perfect  cu,be--it  symbolized  cthe perfection of Him as ihas j,ust been made plain, !the spiritual perfection,
      Who  dwell  there.      Here in this place occurred the [the glory, also of  Christ and His body. What now
      highest and most distinct  .revelations  of Himself as follows from this? F$stly Ibhat of ,tie glory of Christ
      Israel's  redeemerAGo&  The sacred things for which and His  ah&h, God is the creative fountain and
      &his place `was properly set *apart was the ark of the           secondlly that of God's glory, tie glory of Christ and
      covenant, :whioh contained  tie tables of testimony, the         His people is but *the refl&ion.
      pot of manna and  lthe budding rod of Aaron, and upon               The tabernacle, being what  it was, to wit, the
      whioh .rested  the  mercy+& with the cherubim on the symbol  of the radiance  of God's perfections, was ohesen
      two ends thereocf, stretcthing  forth theti  swings on Ili,gh    by  H&n as His place of residence. It  Ihad been  pre-
      and with their faces looking one to another toward &pared  by Him for fbhis very parpose  and thus also for
      &he mercy-seat.       How  marve180usly  .bhese  hhings  re- the  putnpose  of intercourse between Him and His
      vealed the spirictual and holy nature of God. The law, people. Said the Lord to Moses, after having revealed
      wlbich  is holy, just and good,  disclosed *to the people of to  !him the pattern of the Itabernacle,  "And there  I will
      Israel  .their religious and  meal duties toward God- meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from
      &ties  6n the face of which  God was seen  as a being above  `bhe mercy seat, from between the cherubim
      altogether worthy of the praise and adoration of His wlhich are upon the zrk of the testimony, of arll hhings
      people. The  mama testified of God's `power  and faith- wrhi& I will give thee in commandment unto the child-
      ful,ness  to care for His people in  Ithe most destitute         ren of Israel" (Ex. 25  :22).  When&us  `an end had
      circumstances and thus was ready to  ~witness  against been lmde of the rearing of the 6abernacle and all its
      them ,in all the future, &n&l  they forsake Him and furniture and articles were standing in their places,
      IX-I& in the creature. The  bu.d)ding rod testified of a cloud calvered  the tent of the congregation, and the
      the appointment of Aaron to the priesthood, and of iglglary  of the Lord fil~led the .tabernacle"  (Ex. 40 :34).
      him done.      It therefore through the ages speaks                 The tabernacle (temple), being  ,tie habitation of
      against all those  w/ho despise Christ-to choose for God, and exhibiting the  thmgs  concerning His nature
      khemselves  other modes of  #access to God. And the              and glory, was the hotie& and the greatest   lthing in
      mercy++&  was God's  t&one.          And this throne was Israel. It was the one seat and symbol of the kingdom
      placed  aver  aand  `upon the testimony. Righteousness of heaven on  m&h, and thus loudly proclaimed the
      was thus its foundations.  Bowever, so we wrote in oneness  a.nd invisibility of God. In heathen lands and
      a  farmer   artiole,  if there  `was nothing for  &he eye        especially in  Canaan, every hill and grove had its
      uf God 4~ rest upon but His law, no man could stand separate deity and  peculiar  ceremonies of worship.
      before Him and live. %or  `h fire  g&h  out before But Crod gave His people to understand that he was
      Him, and burneth up His enemies round about" (Ps. essentially and absolutely one through His providing
      97. 33). Burt there are men who do live-live  witi               Himself with one Ihabitation  and one seat of govern-
      Him in &is house as His sons. Men they are whom ment  <and through His commanding them to transact
      He forgives and receives back into His favor, yet not            with Him in  the things concerning His covenant here
      without law but witi law, in the way of right. Here and not elsewhere. Here it was that they had to pre-
      `we stand before the mystery"  whi&  h&h been hid sent  all their sacrifice and  senvice.                   The tabernacle
     from ages  and from generations, but now is made                  (temple) then was the one structure  Ito  w&h the
      manifest  ;to the  sai.nts:  . . .  .whic*h  is Christ in you, believing Israelites could  and did point and say,
      the hope of glory". The mystery is Christ, Who satis- "There  dwel.ls   our Gad." Hence to have access to this
      fied the demands of the law i&rough His suffering and chosen  ,residence  of Jehovah was justly regarded by
      death, and entering in by His own blood once into  the           the devout as  tie greatest privilege; and exclusion
      Holy sfl.ace,  enterilng  in as the atonement-covering of from bhis was like being banished from 6he presence of
      His people. They therefore $dralw near to Him and God.  I;t is only in the li.ght of !these statements that
      live. Thus  &he throne of God is the  dwel.ling  place           the profound grief of the  exS.s can be explained,
      alike of righteousness and mercy-righteousness  up- "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea,
      [holding the claims of the law, and mercy,  bri:ding for we wept  <when we remembered Zion. We @ranged our
      God's people the immeasurable gulf between the  sanc- harps upon bhe willows in the mi,dst &hereof. For there
      tuarry  and hell.                                                they  &a$  (carried  us away captive required of us  a
            How glorious, this earthy tabernacle! And whose song; aod they that w,asted  us, required of us mirth,
      glory  ldid  ilt  Ihave?  As  hhe great city, the  ,heavenly     saying, sing `us one of the songs of Zion. HOW shall


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             93
~-                        -.-----                                                                                         -
we sing tie Lord's songs in a strange land? If I forget children of Israel, and will be  theilr   Ctid.  A,nd they
.thee,  0 Jerusalem, let my ,right  hand forget her cun- &all know Ithat I am  tihe Lord their God, that brought
ning" (Ps. X37). And when the time of their return them out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among
was come, their joy knew no boun,ds,  "When the Lord them : for I am the Lord their God" (Ex. 29 :25, 46).
turned again Ibhe captivity of Zion, *we were like bhem        They were to know this, from this very structure to
that dream. l%en  W&B  our mouth filled with laughter,         be reared, as in the language of symbol and type it
and our  Itongue   *with singing. . .  ." (Ps. 126). Being     set  forth  tie mediation of Ghrist.  Thus, being God's
cihildren  of God,  Ithese  exiles were in the need of a       chosen residence, also the name used to ~designate  it
definite place, where they  co&d be conscious of being         is one that corresponds  to our word dwelling. Other
in the immediate presence of God, of a iplace  where           terms used are house, or tent. During the wanderings
ltihey cou,ld  see God's face .and walk and talk with the      of the people of Israel in *the wil'derness,  the dwelling
Lord. And  It;his need, as was said,  had been met by          was a tent, that is, a collapsible struzture  that could
&he sanctuary.    Hence with  z&he sanctuary in ruins,         be taken apart and set up again. The nomadic exist-
they  fe1.t  themselves alone and forsaken of God. For         ence of tie cfhurch  in this period called for .just such
they knew not where to  locate Him. Their grief was            a  dwel,ling.  And at each new encampment, the La&
akin to that of a child whose home burned down                 would again take up His residence in it, so that, in
and  w/ho cannot locate  its parents.      We  Ford Zion       His own language (I Chron. 17 :5), He went, during
therefore complaining as an exile in Babylon, "The <those years "from tent ;to tent and from one tabernacle
Lord bath  fursaken  me, and my Lord bath  forgotten to another. So  ,did He follow His people or rather
   ." To  $bhis the Lord replied, by the mouth of the          lead  *them (the ark went before  the  maruhing  host)
$e&het,  "Can  ,a woman forget her suckling  dtild,  that all those years, until tlhsy dwelt in the rprum.ised  land
she should not  have compassion on the son of her of their abode. Then eventually this tent was sup-
womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget  ;%hee.      planted by an immovable structure-the temple of
Behold, I  ha% engraven   $hee upon  bhe palms of my           Solomon. This was God's rest (symbolically)-a rest
bards"  (Isa. 49 : 14-16) . It is thus not correct to say whilch He entered wihh His people. But, as this was
t,hat the believer's need of this sanctuary sprang solely not the true rest, God's believing people and thus also
from the weakness of `men  in dealing with divine and the Lord in His association  w& it, was still a pilgrim
spiritual things. For, though the worldly sanctuary and  sojoulrner on the earth. Of this David seemed
waxed  old and vanished away, this need persisted and          not to have been sufficiently mindful. So the word
is ,also being met now by the true *tabernacle, Christ         of tie Lord came to him saying, ".- . . .Thou shalt not
Jesus.    Hence also  ,tihe New Testament Scriptures           build me an ,home  to dwell in. . . .I twill ord'ain  a place
speak of the one house of God, khe sanctuary, to whilzh        ofor my  peolple  Israel,  ,and will plant them, and bhey
believers chave the right uf excess, <and in which they a!&1 dwell1 in their Iplace,  and shall be moved no more ;
meet with God ,anKl *have fellows&p  with Him. "Having neither shall  `the  ohildren  of wickedness waste them any
therefore, brethren, boldness (right) to enter into            more as at  ,bhe  begmning.  . .  ."  (Ghron.  1'7). From
2ihe Holiest. . .  ." (Heb. 10 :19). And a little further the language  ,here employed, it is plain that the promise
on  &he Holy Spirit, by the pen of the same writer, there  made concerns in the final instance  tile rest eter-
asserts that the  churcih  <has now "come  to Mou:nt  Zion,    nal. Thus the temple, being  but a shadow, was aIso
and unto  bhe city of the  Iliving  God, the heavenly spoken of as a tent.
Jerusalem. . . . and  to Jesus  %he mediator  uf the new          Besides these names,  lthere were still others given
covenant. . .  ." By His inhabit&ion  in Christ and in to  ti, descriptive of its use. It was  cal,led the  tent  of
Him  aalune God is still presenting Himself to His `meetin4g  (which has been erroneously translated con-
people as essentially and absolutely one. And the true gregation), on  ,aczou.nt of its being  &he place  wlhere
tabernacle, as #weI as +he one tlhat vanished away, is         God was to meet and communicate with His people.
an  ,objeot  of sense, that oan be seen  an'd handled by       It was also, to be sure,  bhe place where the  people
glorified sense organs, so that all  the  \knowledge  of of Israel  `were to congregate,  but solely because it
God of  lthe saints in glory will everlastingly be taking formed "the cpoint of contact and the channel of com-
its beginning  i.n sensuous perception, and  ,this, of munion" between God and them. In Ex.  29:42,  43,
necessity as  (the children of Zion in glory are creatures bhis is clearly brought out. Here the  I+rd gives an
of body and spirit.                                            explanation of the "tent of meeting", by His saying
   That the tabernacle vvm God's house, reared for             concerning it, Wehere  I will meet with you, to speak
purposes of communion between Him and His people, there unto lthee : and there I w-ill meet with the children
is also literally stated, "And let them  make  me a  sane-     of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory."
tuary," said  ;tlhe Lord to Moses, "that I may  dcwell            Tabernacle of the ;testimony,  ur tent of witness is
among them." (Ex. 25  :3). Thereupon follows a  de-            another name applied to  &he tabernacle. It took this
scripti,on  of the parts, after which the general design name from the law of  &he two tables,  which  were con-
is again indicated &us,  *` And I will dwell among the tained in  $he  ohest or ark  *hat  stood in the Holiest


94                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                        .--                                                                -
place. T4hese tables were called "the testimony". And between him land ,&he "loopers". Burt cannot censure be
they gave their name to the lark and even to the whole applied? Usually not, as the discontented one, through
tabernacle,  wtioh were thus called  respectiwely the his leaving &he church, withldraws  #himself from under
ark of the testimony and of the %enk of the testimony.          the jurisdiction of the  oonsistory.  This seems to be
These tables and their witness  *were thus identified, itn      the customary action. For such a discontented one
a way, with the ark and with the entire tabernacle. realizes that he  has no case he can justly defend. He
Now the ~witness  of the law, is that God is holy and by        thus lacks courage to lappear with his grievances on
implication that His  people  are  <guilty and thus  ill-       tihe meeting of classis. His excuse is th& classis wilt1
,deserving  ,an,d  condemnable before Him. Such was the do him no justimce,  or th'at, being a mere laymen, he
witness  that was  !perpetually  proceeding from the lacks the qualifications which a proper and effeotive
tabernacle. However, on account of the presence of presentation of his case requires. And  thuulgh his
the blood upon tie mercy-seat, the ;tabernacle  in the          consistory  promises to give him all the  aid he may
language of symbol spoke also of better things; it ask for, lhe is not to be moved to go the orderly way
spoke of divine ,mercy and forgiveness and thus ex- ,with  his objections. He  chooses  to  wallk with them in
hibited God's believing people as restored  to His the `wrong  way-in the ,way  that is harmful to himself
favor and blessmg. More must be said, on account of and to all concerned. He  prefsrrs to air his grievances
the presence of the shed blood on cthe mercy+&,,  the in  Ithe audience of those tie should not know them and
tabernacle, as viewed in its connection with this blood, who should not even want to hear them. And with no
formed the very means by whidh God was reconciling              con&story  to supervise ,h.is conduct, he can safely say
(symbolioa4ly)  His people  Ito Himself. Thus this of the mmister  and the consistory with whom he is
dwelling was not simply for imparting  6he knowledge angry what he pleases. And what he pleases to say,
of God's will, or holding communion  with Him, in               is usually untrue. So Ihe also Imakes himself guilty of
general, it was lalso for the mirpose of ,imparting  know-      the sin of slander. So it goes. One sin begets an-
led,ge respecting sin *and redempti,on,  of bringing under other. And  then such a one will yet imagine  that he,
the contiction  ,of sin, and of serving as the means of 8s walking in a sinful way, is being nourished by the
saving sinners from their sins.                                 preaaohing  of the other pastor. From the preaching
                            (To be Continued)                   of thah other paster  rhe (derives  so much comfort. But,
                                                 G. M. 0.       as wits made plain, %is cannot be. For that other
                                                                pastor, of course, is fait;hful  to his calling in the pulpit.
                     &J$                                        He correctly dirvides ithe word of God ; he fearlessly re-
                                                                bukes sin in his hearers, so that no one, walking in
      -.-  ".  .I                                               ,sin, can be at ease  u,nder  lhis ministry of the word.
      .                                                         He .does as he vowed iat the time when the was ordained.
                                                                And  he vowed  ito  han,dle   the keys of the  *kingdom  of
                              "Loopers"                         heaven, to shut and open the kingdom by the preaching
                                                                of the Gospel, wihioh consists in "declaring and publicly
      The position that  tihe "looper" is walking in sin testifying to all and every believer, that, whenever
is the only one that may be taken, so I wrote. This is they receive the promise of the Gospel by a true faith,
especially  tz-ue,  in  case  {the "looper" has serious  ob-    ,all their sins ,are really forgiven them `of God, for the
jeotiuns  against ibhe method of preaching of a certain         sake of Christ's merits ; and on the contrary in declar-
minister or against  ,his person. For through his con- ing and testifying to all  ,unbelievers,  and such as do
stantly and regularly attending the meeting for public          not sincerely repent, %hat &hey stand exposed to the
worship of tlhe other pastor, the "looper" openly de- wrath of God, and eternal condemn&ion, so long as
clares,  "T,he pastor  ,of the church located in the place they are unconverted: according to which  testimony
where I reside, is so extremely objectionable  that it is of the Gospel, God will judge them, both in this and in
impossible for me to  ,derive a blessing from his ministry the life to come." In a word, this other pastor  preacihes
of the word." Now, the person (or persons) guilty of so that t,hose in ,his audieme who walk in sin, do one of
this doing is backbiting, especially so if he at once stub- two: either forsake their sin and retulrn  to IY.w paths of
bornly  refuges  to go with his grievances to his  con- truth and righteousness or promptly leave never to re-
sistory, and, if need be, to classis. How tthoxoughly           turn. And so the minister of the  #word should preach.
unc,hristian,  such a piractice  ! And the minister against Who will gainsay V&s? If bhe kingdom of heaven is
whom the action is  directed  stands helpless. He can not being shut and opened by  bhe .preac~hing of the
do nothing in the way of bringing out the truth of              Gospel, Ia church in phase rpulpit  this is not being done
the matter. He is unacquainted with the grievances becomes more and more like those  sepulchres of whi&
and even if ~l?e had knowl&ge of them, it w,oul,d  not do rnlriS&  spalke.        Those sepulchres appeared beautiful
for `him to contact the persons or the congregation to          outwLtrd,   but were within full of dead men's bones,
whom  :he is being exposed, and have them judge and all uncleanness. The minister is &vays tempted


                                           T H E   ` S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            9.5
  -                    --.            -._-__                            -____-
  *to shirk his duty in ithe pulpit. For to incur the dis-
  pleasure of those who walk in sin and will not repent,                  The Time of the Birth of Chirst
  may spell for him the loss of  .his daily bread. So                                    in Prophecy
  he is constantly being made  to ohoose between his bread
  and remaining faithfully to his calling.          It is said          It is one of  the remarkable peculiarities' of the
  that a minister must use tact in the pulpibt. And indeed ,religion  of Israel, that,  w,hile it  rdaimed  superiority
  he must. But if his using tact must amount to this over every  otiher,  and was  ~distinguished  from them
  that those who walk in sin can love him for lhis preach-          ah,  as alone inculcating the worship of the only living
  ing, the had better be tactless.                                  and true God, and  4iile it was perfectly suited  ito the
                                                                    purpose for which it was designed, it  aoknowdedged
       The question is repeatedly being asked  why  B
  member, if he so prefers, may not join  ,himself  ito  a          that it  `was itself only preparatory to the future, a
                                                                    better, and a perfect revelation. It was professedly
  church, not situated in  that locality  tilere he lives.          adoi>ted  and limited to one  /peculiar  people ;-it was
   (I am now speaking of churches  of the same denomina-
  tion) . That ,he may not do this, except for a lawful             confined, in many of its institutions,  ,to the land of
                                                                    Judea; and being full of promises of better thin@;s to
  reason (a lawful reason is one  with the impress of come, for whir it was only tie means for preparing
  the divine  ap(prmI  upon it) is certain. As the  be-             t,he way, it was  evidently  i:ntended  to be the presage of
  liavers in trhiis life ,are subject to the laws of this earthy    another. It was not even  ,of itself calculated to fulfill
  creation, as therefore the believers, let us say,in C,hina,       the promises given unto Abraham,  ati& in him  ah  the
  cannot, on account of ,distance,  attend divine services          nations of  ithe earth should be blessed;  tilough  its
  on  lOhe Sabbath in Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo, the original institution was founded upon this promise,
  w-ill of God is  plain. His will is  <that there be the           and although the ~accomplishment  of rit was the great
  local  chulti, that thus tie believers who live in the end to be promoted, by the distinction and separation
  same locality bring to manifestation the body of CXrrist          of Ihis descendants from ,all the nations of: the earth.
  in  t&at  locality, where according to His providence,            Burt it was subservient to this end, though it could not
  they have c&ken  up their residence. It is therefore the directly accomplish it; for the coming of the Saviour
  duty of every be&ver to join himself  to that church
  situated in the particular locality where he restsides.           was  qthe great theme of prophesy.        From the com-
                                                                    mencement to the conclusion of the Old Testament
  This is lthe brotherhood with which he belongs. His
  calling is to fight the good fight of faith as a member           Scriptures, it is predicted or prefigured. They repre-
                                                                    sent  &he first act of divine justice, cwlhich was exercised
  of this church  and thus in the locality where God has            on the father of the  ,human race, as mingled with
  placed  ,him.    To maintain that one may  jo.in him-             divine mercy. Before their exclusion from paradise,
  self to a ehurdh located in a place other than the place a gleam of hope was seen to shine about them, in the
  where he  resfdes is equivalent  sto maintaining that the promise of a suffering but triumphant Deliverer. To
  calling of the believer is not to let his  bght shine first Abraham 6he same prtise :was conveyed in a more
  before the men of his own locality.                               deiinite form.  Jacob  spoke distinctly of  KW coming
       Now there can exist a reason on account of yvl3ich           of a Saviour. Moses &he legislator and leader of the
  one `may be finding himself un*der the moral nezzessity  of Hebrews, prophesied of another lawgiver that God
  joining ,a brotherhood not located in his ph~~ae  of [yesi-       was to  ,raise~  up in  ,a future  gage. And while these
  dence. Suuh a reason is that the church of his locality early and general predictions occur in the historical
  has departed in its preaching and teaching from sound             part of Saripture,  which  sufficiently mark the.purposed
  .doctrine.    This reason is valid only  u4en the two             design  .of  fi!m Mosaic `dispensation, the books  that are
  brotherhoods involved do not belong ato the same de-              avowedly prophetic are  ck+arly  descriptiwe, as closer
  nominatiun  of churches.        Can there  sti11 be other search will attest, of the advent of a Saviour, and of
  reasons  that wouLd justify the afaresai,d  action? What everything pertaining to the kingdom He was to estab-
  could these reasons be? This  &at a certain pastor is lish. Many things, apparently  contsradictory  and irre-
  not as able as others, or that he is objectionable as to concilable, are foretold as referring to a great De-
  his method or manner of preaching or that he (walks               liverer, whose dignity, whose character, and whose
  in sin or perhaps ,laoks every qaalification  for the office?     offices were altogether peculiar, and in  &Torn the des-
  Certainly not. If tiheminister  lives in sin, he ,must be         tiny of human nature is represented as  involved.
  suspended. If he lacks qualification, he must be freed Many passages that can bear no other  appliccation,
  from his office. If his method of preaching is faulty clearly testify of Him: Thy king  corn&h-thy  salva-
  ,he must be corrected. If he labors to the best of his tion  cometh-the Redeemer shall come to  Zion-&he
I ability with the talents with which he has been en- Lord  c-ometh-tihe  messenger of the covenant He shall
  dowed, the congregation must bear wiOh his faults and come-blessed is He that  corn&h   in the  ,name of the
  `weaknesses, But sever may `$he member leave.                     Lord, are expressions that occur <throughout the pro-
                                                G. M. 0.
        l,.        ,.. -.                                           phecies, These unmistakably wk of the coming of


     96                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
     -            -
.    a Saviour. But were every other proof wanting, 4he explicit : "The desilre  of ithe nation shall come: and I
     prophecy of Daniel is sufficient incontrovertibly to will fill his tiuse with ,glory,  sail% the Lord of hosts.-
     establish the fact, .whi& we affirm in the very woFds,            The glory <of this latter ,house shall be greater than the
     -that  ;the  comdng  of  tie Messiah is  foreto1.d  in the former."          The contrast which  ,the prophet  ihad just
     Old Testamen& The same fact is confirmed by tlhe be- drawn  between the glory of Solomon's &mple  and that
     lief of the Jews .in every ,age.       It has been so deeply which ihad been erected in its stead, to`wfhich  the de-
     impressed upon  Siheir minds, that,  notwitihstanding clares  ,it was, in comparison as nothing, ,the excellency
     the d&per&n  ,of tiheir  race throughout lthe worl,d,  and ,of  tiis  latier  *house excelling  ;Dhat of silver and of
     .the disappointment of their hopes  for eighteen hundrred         gold ;  %he expression so characteristic of  tihe Messiah.
     years afiter the prescribed peniod of His coming, tihe               The  Savior   wa+s  bhus to appear, according to the
     expectation of the Messiah  has  hi4herto  formed a               prophecies of the Old Testament, during 2;he time of
     bond of union  w,hich no <distance could dissolve, and            the continuance of .tie kingdom of J,udah, previous to
     w,hieh no ea&hy wwer coulfd destroy.                              ,+he destruction of the temple, and immediately sub-
            As  the  Old  Testametit does  contain prophecies of sequent to the next prophet. But tlhe time is rendered
     ,a Saviour that was to appear in  ,t.he Iworld, the only          yet more  dew&e.      In the prophecies of Daniel the
     question to be ,resolved  is, whether sll that it testifies       kingdom of the Messiah is not only foretold `~1s com-
     of Him be fulfiled in lthe person of Jesus Christ.                menci%ng in tie time of the fourth monarchy, or Roman
                                                                       empire ; but the express number of years, that were to
            The rtime of 4he Messi,ah's appearance in the world,       precede His coming, dare plainly intimated: Seventy
     as  predicted  in  th.e Old Testament, is  defined by a           weeks are determined upon 4hy Ipeople and upon the
     number of concurring  circumstances, +haJt  fLx it to tihe holy city, to finish tihe trangreaion, and to make an
     nrery  date of the  advent  of  Clhrist.  The  l'ast blessing end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
     of Jacob Ito his sons, when he commended them to- and to bring in eve&sting ri,ghteousness,  and to seal
     g&her,  tihat  lhe might tell them what should befall             up tie vision and prophecy, and to anoint &he Most
     %hem  in 4he last days, oontains  the prediction concern- Boly. Know therefore and  un'derstand  and, that from
     ing  J&ah: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, the goi.ng  forth of the commandment to restore and to
     nor a lawgiver from between  ,his feet, until Shiloh build Jerusalem, ur~ti the Messiaib the Prince, @hall
     come." The <date fixed by tlhis prophecy for the com-             be seven weeks and  ;threescore  and two weeks." Dan.
     ing of Shil&, or ;the Saviour, was not to exceed the 9:24, 25. Computation by weeks and years was com-
     time &hat the ,descendents  of Judah were to continue mon among the Jewq, and every seventh was +he Sab-
     8 united  peaple,  that should be  ,governed  by their own batical years ; seventy weeks ,thus amounted to four
     lays, an'd should have tlheiir  judges from ,among their hu.ndred and ninety years. In these ,words the prophet
     brethren.         The prophecy of Malachi adds another marks tie wery time, an'd uses :&he very name of khe
     standard for measuring the time: "Behold, I will send Messiah the Prince ; and so entirely is all ambiguity
     my messenger, and He shall prepare tie way before done away, t.h& the destruction of the city and the
     me ; and the Lord, w,hom  ye seek, srhall suddenly come sanctuary, the ceasing of the sacrifice and the oblakion,
     to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, and the commencement of  <the long-continued desola-
     wlhom  ye del$ght  in ; behold he shall come, saith the           tion  i~hat has ever since ensued,  sure all definitely
     Lord of hosts." No words can be rnme expressive of marked as consequent on ;bhe cutting o# of Messiah :-
     tihe coming of  4he praised Messiah, and they as                  And after  4hareescore and  tie weeks shall Messiah be
     clearly (in.@y His appearance in the temple before it             cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the
     should be (destroyed. But  ik may also be here remarked prince that shzll come shall ,destroy  the city and the
     that Malachi was ,the last of the. prophets: wi+h his sanotuary  : and %he en.d bhereof  shall be witch a flood,
     Iprediction  the vision and the  pr.ophecy  was sealed up,        and unto  bhe end of  the war  desol,ations  are in  4he
     or the canon of the Old Testament was completed. midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the
     Though  many  prophets immediately preceded him,                  oblation to cease, and for ,&he overslpreading  of abomin-
     *after his time 4here was no prophet in Israel ; but all ations he shall make  iit desolate, even until  Ithe consum-
     the Jews, whetiher of ancient or modern times, look for mation, land 4hat determined  slhal,l  be poured upon %he
          a messenger  ;tO prepare the way of the Lord,  im- ,desolate"  (Dan. 9  :26, 27).
     mediateIy  before His coming. Tlhe long succession of
          prophets  ,had  dram to a close;  an,d the concluding            The [plainest inference may be drawn from these
          words of the Old Testament, subjoined to an admoni-          prophecies. All of them, cwhile in every respect, they
          tion to remember Moses' import  <that the next prophet p;-es:lprose  the most Ferfect  knowledge of the fu%u:re.
          would be  4he  .f&erunner  ,of  t,he  Messiah.    Another    accord in perfect unison to a single precise period
          criterion of the time is  bhus imparted. In  regar.d to      where all 43eir different  lines terminate at once-the
     the advent of the Messiah, bef,are the destruction of very fulness of $he time when Jesus appeared.
          the second temlple,  4he words of Haggai are remarkably                                                  G-M-0.       ,_I


