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

onwaar  bericht geweest. Sindsdien is het wel gebeurd photon, a matter that is in itself indifferent from an
en is hij ook gevangen genomen. Ret kan al zoowat ethical viewpoint, that. one may do or not do without
een maand geleden zijn, dat het gebeurd is."                 becoming guilty of committing a sin, and may  aho  do
      Deze brief werd den 18den Sept. geschreven. Dus or not do and commit sin in the doing or not doing.
zou Dr. Schilder ongeveer  midden Augustus gevangen It depends entirely on the subjective state of the mind
genomen zijn.                                                and heart of the one that does or refrains from doing
      Intusschen ontving ik een later bericht uit  Neder-    such a thing. The question concerns the eating of
land door den heer van Genderen te Passaic, meldende,        meat that is offered to idols. Now, we know that an
dat Dr. Schilder in een concentratiekamp  te Arnhem is. idol is nothing in th.e world, and that it cannot possibly
Deze verschillende berichten zijn niet noodzakelijk met be a sin to eat meat, just because it is sacrificed to
elkaar in strijd. `Het is natuurlijk best mogelijk, dat idols. Meat does not commend us to God at all, "for
Dr. Schilder eerst in de gevangenis gezet is, maar later neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat
naar een concentratiekamp is vervoerd.          Indien dit not, are we the worse".
waar zou zijn, zal zijn  toestand  ook eenigszins  ver-         But the apostle makes a distinction here between
beterd zijn,  iets, waarover we ons  allen   we1 zullen the stronger and the weaker brother. The stronger
verblijden.                                                  brother is he, who has this knowledge, that it cannot
                                                II. H.       possibly be sinful  ,to eat meat, just because it is sacri-
                                                             ficed to idols. The result is that his conscience is free
                                                             when he eats. He says to  himself:  "I am wholly in
           _.",)          -                                  harmony with the will of the Lord and do not violate
      .                                                      His precepts, when I eat this meat". He, therefore,
                                                             eats without sinning for his own conscience. How-
      About the Perdition of the Weaker                      ever, says the apostle, not all have this knowledge.
                                                             There is also the weaker brother. And he, "with the
                        Brother                              conscience of the idol" eats that same meat as a thing
                                                             sacrificed to idols. And his "conscience being weak is
      From the Roosevelt Park Men's Society we re- defiled." Now, that weak brother may see the strong
ceived the following question :                              brother eat, say in  -public. What is the result, per-
      "How is it to be explained that the weak brother haps? He may be ashamed of his own attitude, and
perishes for whom Christ died, according to II Cor. just for his own sake also eat of that meat, while his
8:11?"                                                       conscience  tel!s him all the time, that he sins against
                                Peter De T'ries,  seer.      the Lord by so doing. In such a case he very really
                                                             sins, for he says to himself: "It is sin against my Lord
      It must be I Cor. 8 :ll (not II Car.) to which the     to eat, but I am ashamed to confess Him here in public ;
brother refers in his question. We read there: And hence, I rather deny the Lord than appear silly in the
through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, eyes of others".
for whom Christ died?                                           Well, in such a case the stronger brother must re-
                                                             frain from eating meat, in order not to put a stumbling-
      The  difficulty  confronting the Roosevelt Park Men's block in the way of his weaker brother. If he eats,
Society is evident, especially if we consider the thought    nevertheless, knowing that he will cause the weaker
of the text as it is expressed in the question of their      brother to stumble, he thereby leads that weaker
secretary. In that question it is positively expressed       brother in the way of perdition. As  fctr as  he  is con-
that the weak brother perishes, for whom Christ died.        cerned, he wil1 let the brother, for whom Christ died,
tIt is clear, therefore, that the society faced this prob- perish. And this `is the meaning of the question. The
lem: how can anyone perish for whom Christ died? apostle does not say that the weaker brother shall
Or, rather, the society, reahzing that one for whom perish, for whom Christ died. Of course not! That is
Christ died, cannot perish, stood before the question:       forever impossible. But he asks the stronger brother
what else can be the meaning of the text?                    a pertinent question, which we may now paraphrase as
      To answer this question, we must bear in mind that follows: "Shall, as far as it is in your power, as far as
the apostle does not directly state that the weaker your attitude is the cause of it, through your greater
brother perishes, for whom Christ died, but that he knowledge, that weaker brother perish? Do you dare
appeals to the conscience of the stronger brother, who to assume the attitude that you care not whether that
has clearer knowledge and a freer conscience than the weaker brother stumbles and perishes, while Christ
,weaker brother, and that he asks this question entirely died to  save him? Will you not give up meat, that your
from the viewpoint of that stronger brother. Let us brother sin not, while Christ gave up His life that
investigate this matter just a little more in detail.        he perish not?
      The apostle in I Cor. 8 is writing about an a.&,-


60                                      T.HE  ` S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

Zelfs  tracht de redakteur van de S. B. dit nog te  doen,
ofschoon  hij redakteur is. Zullen we dan de S.  B.                            Thirsting For God
maar afschaffen?  !Ik  meen  zelfs, dat ons blad in de
zestien jaren  van zijn versdhijning  er nog we1 iets mee Psalm 42 :I., 2 : "To the chief musician Maschil, for
te  doen  heeft, dat onze predikanten goede kost  leveren      the sons of Korah. As the heart panteth after the
op Zondag. Bovendien willen we immers ons blad niet waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, o God.
slechts beschouwen uit het oogpunt van de vraag, of My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when
wij es ook voedsel uit trekken,  maar ook als een propa- shall I come and appear before God  ?"
ganda-middel? En heeft het uit dit oogpunt niet veel              The Bible, beloved, is full of sharp contrasts. And
gedaan? Het spijt mij, dat de broeder schrijft, dat de one of them comes to our mind when we read the super-
S. B. slechts als bijzaak wordt beschouwd door hem scription of this most wonderful Psalm. We read that
en anderen. Een artire  zaak dan de pr.ediking is ons David composed this Psalm for the use of the sons of
blad zeker,  maar  een  bijzaak  in geen geval, zoodra als Korah. Now the name Korah reminds us of that other
we maar verder zien dan ens eigen en lokaal belang.            history where many men and women and children per-
      5. Dat ik mij verblijd, dat  Redlands  niet  alleen  een ished. We read in Numbers 16 :31-35 : "And it came to
eigen school heeft, maar ook een Prot. Geref. School.          pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these
Ik  wensch   wel, dat wij ook zoover  waren.  Maar een words, that the ground  clave asunder that was under
(argument voor hetgeen de broeder wil rechtvaardigen, them : and the-earth opened her mouth, and swallowed
is dit ook al weer niet. De broeder vergeet alweer, dat them up, and their houses, and all the men that apper-
dit argument, indien het kon gelden 8( des neen) , ook tained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and ail
onze andere  gemeenten  zou  gelden. Wij hebben hier that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit,
we1 geen Prot. Geref. School, maar  tech  we1 eigen and the earth closed, upon them: and they perished
scholen, hoogere en lagere. Hoeveel de school onzen            from among the congregation. And all Israel that
menschen in  Redlands  meer kost dan onze  scho!en             were around .about them fled at the cry of them: for
onzen  menschen kosten, weet ik niet. Maar een geld-           they said: Lest the earth swallow us up also. And
kwestie is het niet. Onze scholen kosten ook geld. there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the
Zelfs hebben we destijds eens uitgerekend, dat een two hundred and fifty men that offered incense".
eigen Prot. Geref.  Hooge School, in het basement van             But we read in Numbers 26 :11 that the chi!dren  of
onze  kerk begonnen, schier  niets meer zou kosten, dan .Korah  died not. No, indeed, they died not. qf them
hetgeen het High School onderwijs ons thans kost. we read in II Chronicles 20 : 19 that : they stood up to
Daar komt nog bij, dat, indien wij hier ook eens zulk praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on
een historische                                                high.
                    aanleiding tot een Prot. Geref. S,chool
kregen, als Redlands gehad heeft, en die immers niet              What a contrast! The father goes to burning hell
rec?ht&reeks  in  verband  stond met het Prot. Geref. crying out loud in his anguish and the sons lift up their
                                                               voice to praise the Lord God of Israel. And they con-
beginsel, de zaak hier ook we1 een stoot zou krijgen.
      Mag ik ten slotte broeder Feenstra verzoeken, om tinue their song from generation to generation. For
nu, en dan met nieuwe oogen, mijn artikel nog eens even in the time of David he composes his sweetest
over te lezen, en om dan te doen,  wat ik immers onzen         Psalms for the sons of Korah to sing.
menschen vraag te doen,  en niet precies het tegenover-           It will not be doubted that Psalm 42 is the most
gestelde ?                                                     wondrous Psalm that David ever composed. For David
      Wat ik vraag, kan de broeder lezen in de vierde surely is the author, even though it does not say so
paragraaf van  `bet einde van mijn artikel.                    explicitly. In Psalm 63 we have the same matter and
                                                               the same language and there we read that David is
                                                 H. H.         the composer. Moreover, the very style employed  un-
                                                               mistakenly points to the sweet singer of Israel.
                                                                  It is not easy to attempt to write our impressions
                                                               on this glorious Psalm. In it we listen to the outpour-
                                                               ing of a soul that has soared to the highest experience
                          NOTICE                               possible on earth: the thirst for God. No higher and
                                                               more glorious state is possible for the saint on earth.
All those who have already sent in their Subscription Ah, to thirst for God: what nobility of soul.
fee of $2.00 for the year 1940-1941, please forward the            It is not easy, but we will try to stammer a few
                                                               words in explanation of this hunger and thirst for God.
additional 50~ to R. Schaafsma, 1101 Hazen  St., S. E., This last phrase is also the theme. `First we will see
Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                        the significance  ; then the cause and finally the quench-
                                                               ing, of this thirst for God.
                                           The Board.              Y,ou have already noted that we have rich imagery


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                    61

   in our text.         David likens his soul to the panting of God in the intellectual system of'dogmas. Neither
   heart.                                                         does `David cry for memories of the wonderful past
       That hart is pursued by his enemy, the hunter, or          when he walked with .Him and talked with Him. No,
   the wild beast that would devour her. It is also the but he cried for the living God, `for living, mystical
   weakest member of the species for the feminine gender communion with the Fount of living waters. Where
   is employed, perhaps to be fitting symbol of the soul,         He gives Himself to the thirsting saints so that this
   which  also is used in the feminine gender in the yearning soul may gratify all its hunger for love and
   Hebrew language.                                               devotion in the experience of His blessed nearness of
       That hart has perhaps escaped the immediate dan- love and graee, of life and joy to the full.
   ger of being caught by its hunter, but now a second               Oh, how this Psalm often shames us!
   and still more dangerous condition develops. Its thirst           Yes, we have our confession of God and it is well.
   is tremendous.  It' can go no farther.  rIt is parched         We a!so have our exercises which we call religious and
   with thirst. It has been scared away from its usual there is no one which will call them superfluous. They
   stamping ground where it knew all the eddies  and              have their necessary place in our life here below.
   brooks and watering places. It is in strange territory Neither do we find fault with the system of dogmas
   and knows not where to find the cooling streams of that has been gathered through the ages. They fill a
   water.  *                                                      place in the scheme  o? our ecclesiastical subsistence.
       Its flanks are heated with the chase and from its          But, ok where is that longing for God, for the living
   throat comes the peculiar cry for water. Travelers tell God. That, beloved, is the heart of religion, worthy of
us that this cry is indeed peculiar to the hart; It is            the name. The yearning for the Fount of our life is
   difficult of translation. In the English we have pant- the earmark of real Christianity.              .
   ing, in the Dutch schreeuwen, in the German schreien,             Oh, do not say that we would lead'you to sickly
   in the French snikken.'                                        mysticism. If ever anyone hated that cancer it is
       It is expressive of its utter agony, its longing for the writer of these lines. No, but I would that we all
   cooling, streams where it may  haply quench its thirst.        had more of that longing for real life, for real joy and
   If water is not speedily forthcoming the blood will religion, namely, the longing for God's communion.
   dry up and under the most piercing agony this hapless             It is the breath of heaven. It is the nearness of
   beast will perish and die.                                     the living God. It is the proof that you really live and
       All this, beloved, is used by the Holy. Ghost to ex- are not a Christian in name.
   press the experience of a soul that thirsts for God.              Why does the flower turn to the sun? It loves the
       Again I say that it is not easy to testify of this light. And so the real child of God will know some-
   state.       I __                                              thing of this crying for God's communion which David
       In the image proposed we listen to the hunger for received in a great degree.
   God and that state is portrayed in the most intensive             And I am sure that this is also the reason why God
   degree. Here is a soul-actually crying for God's loving called him a man after His own heart.
   communion. And it is expressed that when God in                   No, we do not champion that sickly mysticism. We
   His communion is not forthcoming such a soul will die.         will prove that when we consider the quenching of this
   The soul that is speaking tells us that there is nothing thirst. There is a sound basis for this cry. And
  it needs, nothing it desires but God and God alone.             David's longing for God is interpreted in the text: he
       0 what exalted, spiritual nobility of the soul!            wants to appear before God. And that means some-
       No higher state is possible on earth. How it shames thing very definite. As we will see later.             .
   our indifference, our hardness of heart, our smug satis-          The next question is : what caused this thirst?
   faction with, things here below. How it brings into                And the answer is twofold. Perhaps I may put it
   bold relief, by contrast, our deadness, our dryness and this way: there is both a negative and a positive cause
   tasteless religion, such as we often find within our for this longing for God. Perhaps it might be. better
   heart and mind and soul.          .    '                       expressed if I call them the immediate and the deepest
       Note that David wants communion with the living causes.  -
   God. Also that word Living is imagery. The panting                 Well, the immediate or the negative cause is sin and
   heart was not thinking and crying for a stagnant pool guilt.
   of water where the green slime gathered for all its in-            It is very unnatural for a man to be in sueh a state
   activity.  No,. it cries out for the waterbrooks. The as we find David. Man is made after the image of
   words that are employed by the Holy Spirit mean God. He was so constructed by the very hand of God
   streaming, flowing, cooling streams of living water, that he could drink out of the Fountain of living water
   where this hart may plunge in and refresh itself in- from moment to moment. He had communion with
   wardly and outwardly.                                          .God  from the very first moment of his creation. That
       So also the spiritual counterpart of this living he is now far from God is his own fault. It is because
   water is no mere confession of God, no dry conception he has sinned and continues in his sin,


62                                     THE  STANDARD   B E A R E R

      For such is the nature of our original sin and also      Fountain seems to cease from flowing, and, indeed, it
of our actual sin. Because it is a continuous process. does sometimes run slower and ever slower. The in-
That which Adam and Eve did in Paradise. we con- flux of heavenly power and saving grace is not always
tinue to do from day to day, throughout our lives. In equally strong and plentiful.
wanton disobedience we severed ourselves from God                 And then the child of .God runs dry ; then he begins
and the inevitable result is that we died of thirst. to suffer.
Man apart from God is in death. And that death con-               In the depth of his heart he always carries with him
tinues.    It is a process. Dying thou shalt die, said the unmistakable knowledge that  God,s communion is
God, and that happened.                                        most wonderful. He loves God and never will hate
      Thus every man, having turned away from. the Him. He also knows that he must have that com-
living God and not being able anymore to long for His          munion if he is to be happy. Therefore when his
communion, has turned to the world and to sin and to spiritual life is low, he begins to thirst for God, for
the devil. And drinking of that water, which is like the living God.
the salt water uf the ocean, it has made him more                 And when, we enquire as to the reason why that
miserable as he continues on his terrible journey.             influx of living water grows weaker, then I must
      And the end of that journey is eternal thirst in hell- admit that I do not know the full  answer.                In fact,
fire. Think of the rich man.                                   there is more than one answer, for the Bible speaks
      Now that is .the negative or immediate cause for of more  thanone  reason. Eor.instaace,  we know that
David's thirst.     Attend to this, that the angels in Peter was in great thirst for God and his communion
heaven do not cry because of thirst. Oh no. They from that fateful Thursday evening'until  the Sabbath I
drink incessantly from the Fountain of living water. morning, when his thirst was quenched by Christ.
And are happy `and blessed.                                    And the reason here was his wanton sinning against
      All suffering on earth reminds us first of all of our the love of Christ. `Be denied his Saviour.
sin. And of our guilt. As we say in Dutch:  Waren                 But in the- case of the thirsting of Job, we know
er geen zonden, er waren  ook geen wonden.                     that  t it was -not sin that caused it. It was a matter
      .This Psalm may have been composed by David when between the devil and God.. Satan was vaunting against
he was fleeing from the face of Absalom, his sons. But the -living. God. and the Lord wanted to show to the
why did he find himself far away from the multitude devil that he was wholly wrong in supposing that Job
that kept holyday? Why did  a'1 these  calamaties  come served God. for the things-of the earth.
over David? 1It was the chastising hand of God over               I might say this, that God. sometimes has reasons
,him. More about that later.                                   which He deems right in His wisdom. For instance,
      But there is also a positive cause for all this crying He sometimes wants to teach us our dependence upon
for God's .communion.      And that positive cause is the Him. We sometimes become  praud and think that we
love of God.                                                   can save. ourselves. Then God withdraws His grace
      You see, this man was regenerated. And regenera- and communion to show us that apart from Him we
tion means the implanting of the life of Christ through have no power and strength. So that we may learn to
the Spirit of the resurrected Lord.                            return to Him in meekness and humbleness of spirit
      Through this new birth, the Fountain of living and beg for His continued communion.
waters gives living water to the living soul. And she             At any rate, the deepest cause of our thirst is the
is blessed. And the giving of this water is as to its          love of God spread abroad in our hearts. IIf you have
content : the Word of God, the application of that Word e.ver tasted that the. Lord is, good, you will thirst for
by the Spirit of grace,; God's communion through these         Bim when you must miss Him, through any reason at
means of grace ; the knowledge that all is well : that         all.. Then you will cry as the hart that panteth after
my sins are forgiven, that I am justified through the waterbrooks.  Then Psalm 42 will have a very parti-
holy sacrifice of God's Lamb; the knowledge that I am cular and peculiar sound to the ears of your heart.
adopted unto a child of God.                                   Then you will  live the most wonderful Psalm in the
      And the result is that I have joy, life, praise, a       psaltery.            e
song, in short, then I taste the well-being of life and all       All that rests us yet is the enquiry into the quench-
its joy, chief of which is the experience of the love of       ing  of, this. peculiar. thirst of the child of God.
God.!                                                             David seeks this quenching in the Sanctuary. And
      Now all this beauty of the communion of God is that is as it oughtto be. He sings: When shall I come
given to me in the way of faith, which is the power of and appear before God? Especially when we read the
salvation wrought by the Holy Ghost and the Word of Psalm to the very end, do we notice that David had
God. And I am kept alive by that wonderful faith, in mind the sanctuary at Jerusalem. This also shows
that spiritual dynamics, unto the `salvation that will that his longing for God was of the right kind and
be revealed in the day of Christ.                              that it is' very much distinguished from sickly mys-
      But sometimes the- living water from the heavenly ticism.


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEARER                                                  63

   Let us first of all remember that David `was living sacrifices. He is now in heaven where he appeared be-
in the Old Testament Dispensation, the dispensation fore God in the heavenly sanctuary and he enjoys the
of shadows.                                                   `blessed-communion with his Saviour without the inter-
   There was salvation indeed, but this salvation was vening types and shadows.
there as a matter of promises and not of fulfillment. It         And in his life he was quenched. jies, David later
was the dispensation of hope. The Lord had given a has returned to Jerusalem and the communion with
picture of the Gospel in the land of the Jews, in the God. For we know that he who seeks will surely find
earthy Jerusalem, in the temple and its worship, its God. He was quenched in principle, but  .only  in prin-
utensils and service, in the priest and the sacrifice, in ciple. The quenching and thirsting continue repeatedly
the blood of <bulls and goats and sheep and lambs.            here on earth. It is only after we pass from this sorry
   And it was blessedness for the real child of God of earth that we may drink of the ever-flowing Fountain
the Old Testament to dwell there where he might see and ,thirst no more.
that picture continuously. Therefore they mourned so            -And we in the New Dispensation?
grievously in Babylon and we have the result of that              We have the fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ.
mourning in Psalm 137.         They could not sing the            And we have communion with our God through
Lord's song in a strange land. On the contrary, we can Him.
indeed sing all the songs of the Lord in a strange land.          And the means are the Word and the Spirit of
And we can do this in the New Dispensation because God.
we do not see salvation in a picture, but we see Jesus,           And we enjoy this in communion with the Body of
crowned with honor and glory.                                 Christ which is the church. Let no one think that he
   But David was far from Jerusalem when he -com- or she can drink from this Fountain in separation from
posed this song. And he longed for the sanctuary. the church on earth. Oh no, when we -thirst for God
There he had experienced God's communion in the con- it is natural that we do so in conjunction with His
templation of the types and shadows; there he had people. That is natural because He also dwells in His
experienced the thrill of divine bliss in the hearing peopIe. I am a companion of them that fear God, sang
of the joyful sound when the multitude kept  holy-            David and we sing it with him.
day.                                                              Thus we are also quenched from all our thirsting
   And this thirst of David shows that he saw his for God.
blessed covenant God in it all so that all the service was        Just because we are regenerated by the Spirit of
not a matter of lip-service such as we  fad it later God and because we are nourished by His Word, we.
with the Pharisees and Scribes and Elders in the days thirst for His communion. Remember that we are
of Jesus. But we see the same thirst for God in Simeon recreated in His image and therefore we can never be
and the prophetess Anna in the same days of Jesus.            satisfied unless we reflect in a creaturely way the glory
   Let us note that for David to be in the midst of the of God. That we can do only when we appear before
worshippers in Jerusalem, close to,the house and sanc- Him. And therefore we also cry: When shall we ap-
tuary of God, is the same as to appear before God.            pear before Thee?
His religion was of the vibrant, living type. He was              We appear before Him when we are in the right
a man after God's own heart.                                  position before Him, that is, that we do His will and
   All this is fulfilled in Jesus.                            that we walk in holiness and righteousness `and in
   The land, the Holy Land of the Jews, was but a pic- love. The injunction comes to us : ,And be ye followers
ture of heaven. Jerusalem is now fulf?lled  and is in of God as beloved children and walk in love. Then we
heaven where Jesus is. The altar is also in heaven,           are as a sweetsmelling savor before God.
because where Jesus is there is all that really counts.           This is exactly what Jesus did in His sojourn and
He is the beginning of the creation of God. That              His labor, on earth. The cry of David has a deeper
means that Jesus and all He has don-e on Golgotha is note when we remember that David was a prophet
the foundation and the erecting of the real sanctuary and that he suffered before as a type the suffering of
and temple of God. And you are the living stones that Jesus.
fit in that temple, which God is building through Jesus           And no one has ever thirsted for God like Jesus
the Lord.                                                     did. He was cast out fromthe communion of God-and
   David longed for God in that he desired to return this was done not  (because  He had sinned, but because
to Jerusalem in the Holy Land. But we long for Jesus.         He took your and my place. And then Jesus sang
Bnd for communion with God through Him.                       ,I'salm  42 like no one ever did or will do in all eternity.
   No, we do not need the temple sacrifices anymore. Oh, Jesus wanted to appear before God and He was
They were good in themselves and they served their cast in agony far away from God in darkness.
purpose. But that is forever finished. For Jesus has              Do you want to listen  ta another version of Psalm
come.                                                         42? It is this: My God, My God, why hast Thou
   *And even David no longer yearns for the te"mple forsaken Me?

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

      He longed for God's communion and had to endure cause Israel felt the need of it.
the torment of devils who received their hour.                        To the contrary.
  But at last the darkness gave way for the bright-                   While Moses tarried in the Mount, the people called
ness of God's loving Face on the resurrection morning. upon Aaron to make them gods. The result was, the
And Jesus sang His song of everlasting love and joy golden  calf, a shameful replica of the Egyptian idol
in God's communion.                                                Apis. The ritual of this god consisted in the licentious
      So also we. When the darkness is forever past and dance and was the expression of the most horrible
we arrive in the heavenly -Zion, we shall nevermore bestiality.
thirst for God for we shall drink of the fountain of                  Let us remember, that six weeks before, Israel had
the water of ltife freely.                                         sworn their oath of allegiance to the Covenant. Hence,
      Then, then we shall be satisfied.                            the dancing around the golden calf was in reality the
      Amen.                                                        breaking of the covenant fidelity. They placed God
                                        ,                G. V.     outside the camp and served the idol. The question
                                                                   whether or not this sin was idolatry or image worship,
                                                                   is not of great import. We b&eve that the result of
              I,+L            -    -
      ii                                                           idolatry is image worship and vice-versa.
            ahcar                                                     Moses, coming down from the Mount, beholds this
                       Obedience Tried                             gruesome picture of the Israel of God, dancing in their
                                                                   shame, committing adultery, while turning to other
                                             Exodus 32 :26-29.     gods. Read the  last,verse  of the preceding and the first
                                                                   verse of this  &apter  and the whole situation becomes
      We speak sometimes of the Spiritual heights in the. clear. "And he gave unto' Moses, when he had made
life of the Church. Of such periods we read in the an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two
history of the Church time and again. There are times LabIes of testimony, tables of stone, written with the
when the Church is spiritually  capable to wage a finger of God "and" when the people saw that Moses
battle' with the enemies of the truth. Her life is                 delayed to come down out of the Mount, the people
healthy and strong and what seems to be almost im- gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said
possible is accomplished.          Read the history of the unto him, "Up, make us gods, which shall go before
Apostolic  C!hur.ch,  immediately after the Lord's Ascen- us; for as for this man Moses, the man that brought us
sion. Or turn to the time of the Reformation and that up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become
of the Secession and you will find such periods, filled            of him". And we may add: Neither did they care.
with heroic actions. There are no buts and ifs in such This old "brombeer" better not reappear in our midst.
times.          Like a mighty army moves the Church of There is always his `correcting. us, from what he calls,
God..                                                              our sinful ways.  *
       We fmd the same to be true of the Church in the                 The Lord had seen it all.
Old Dispensation. Read the history of Henoch, Noah,                    He tells Moses to go down the Mount and after
Job, Daniel, David, Solomon and others. We read of seeing what had happened, the Lord will disown and
them when they were fighting against the enemies of destroy Israel, and promise to make a great nation of
the Lord, fighting a spiritual. battle. in the strength Mosec made it plain to them in no uncertain terms,
of their Lord. A most powerful revelation of grace in my hot displeasure. Moses had to admit, the Lord
and love.                                                          has a just cause and this ill-deserving people must be
       However, the opposite is also true. That same wiped off  the.face of the earth. Does this man of God
history of the Church speaks of the decay of spiritual agree? He does! However, the Mediator prays and
Iove, of spiritual wickedness, provoking the Lord to the Lord will hear him. Prayer is always in agreement
,anger. ,Seemingly,  the latter occurs more often than with the Lord. Moses prayed and points out, the
the former.                                                        triumph of the enemies is assured, if the Lord destroys
       T.hus we find it in this chapter. Moses ascended His people.                The mediator prays in behalf of the
into- the mountain to receive the ten words of the Lord. saints, the remnant according to God's eternal election
And while he tarried the  peopIe  concluded, that it was -His own good pleasure. Oh, how comforting!  In
not at all sure whether he would ever return. Their thine own work Lord Thou canst delight and we plead
words proved it. They said, "For as for this Moses, upon this basis alone. And this intercessory prayer
the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,                being heard is followed by a renewal of the demand
we wot not what is become of him".                     This Moses to show his obedience to the Lord. Israel again must
is expressive  oft their estimate of the Mediator of the be brought face to face with the Lord. The result was;
Old Testament. In their hearts they detested him and that Moses' own tribe responded to this summons, "And
they scorned the idea of calling him their God-appoint- all the sons of Levi gathereed themselves together unto
ed leader. Surely, the Exodus did not come about, be- him".


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        65

    Notice how this demand is obeyed.                           At this time, however, their choice shows that they
   Moses stood in the gate at the camp. This is signifi- had overcome their fear.
cant and is a sermon all by itself. We would expect             Significant is the expression, "Whoso  is the Lord's,
a thundering rebuke by the man of God, denouncing let him `betake himself to me". Moses means to say,
their godlessness. Instead, we read. "Then Moses stood if it is your confession that you belong to the Lord and
in the gate of the camp".       Jehovah's servant kept thus are His property, reveal it in that you separate
ihimself  at a distance. What did this mean? Well, first yourselves from those who broke the covenant. Let
of all, it was a testimony against the idolatrous Israel. `him turn to the Lord in word and in action. He does
Moses made it plain to them in no uncertain herms, not say, if you agree with me, o.r if you agree with
I will have not any part with you in this grievous sin. the truth, nor, I am in favor of you. After all, this
I cannot have fellowship with you, who trampled under may be a. hollow sound. Words and actions call for
foot the most sacred obligations of the covenant. harmony, not for antithesis.
Secondly, in separating himself by standing at the              Yes, but are we not sinners, every one of us, and oh,
gate, their sins became more apparent. Why, so they s o   s i n f u l ?
asked, does he not enter? He was always one with us             Whatever meaning may be attached to such state-
and we meet him in our midst. But this question,             ments, they have always served the purpose of getting
was at the same time the answer. Through it all,             away from the Lord's demand. These so-called pious
Moses revealed how' deeply their sins hurt him. Com- objections are used to hide the real inner man. They
promise was impossible. And even when his brother destroy the spiritual-ethical responsibility and open
Aaron offers a coward's plea, Moses, is not moved by it the way to all kinds of grievous sins. ' Scripture never
and he cannot accept his poor excuse.                        presents such fallacies to the Church of the living God
   We must not lose sight of the fact, that the man and it is not even worthwhile to speak about it. Moses
of God was to bring a severe message. He found him- did not argue, but he placed the Lord's command be-
self in the midst of a tremendous crisis. It was either, fore Israel. If, says he, you belong to the Lord, turn
or: God, or the idol, for or against the Lord. And from all that is opposed to his service. Separate
standing outside of the camp, this man of God taking yourselves, turn from your evil ways and do not have
the side of God, brings the message: "Who is on the fellowship with evildoers. There is absolutely no other
Lord's side, let him come out unto me". This implied, way. To confess the Lord Jesus Christ means that
let him by way of separation prove his sincerity and He becomes manifest in our  wccys of living. In one
confess his sins.    This seriousness of the moment word, `daily conversion is the result of listening to
became, through it all, apparent.                            God's Word, with the result that one turns his back
   Notice, Moses does not say, come out if you have upon all the wickedness and defilement of the flesh
not sinned. .Granting for a moment the possibility, and of the world.
that the  Levi&,  who came out, had not actually com-           That is what happened when the call came to the
mitted the sin of idolatry in the image worship of sons of Levi. They turned away from Israel's cor-
Israel, that they were not guilty of the sin of adultery, ruption and stood on the side of Moses. How this
the question  (w.hich is no question to our mind) re- must have been a reason of joy for the man of God,
mains, had they' protested against it, or tried to keep when his own tribe responded to his call. Levi's name
Israel from it? You say, yes, but after all Aaron was and office agreed here perfectly with his actions.
the leader in the absence of Moses, hence, it would have        Levi means, "a joining". A joining together or a
been presumptuous for them to be as bold as  all of that. cleaving. We would say, in regard to his name, one
My answer would be, as the case stands, every one at who by strenuous labor binds together. That is the
any time belonging to the Church of  ,God has the sacred `purpose of the highest office in the Church of Christ
obligation to protest and if not, he becomes guilty of Jesus. Through the preaching of the Word, the Israel
forsaking his covenant obligations. Besides, the Lord of Jehovah are knitted together, according to the Lord's
did not excuse anybody. He said to Moses, let me good pleasure. United with one another and together
destroy all of them and I will make of thee a great          united, through the bond of love, with God Triune.
nation.                                                      The true Levite labors in the cause of the Covenant,
   The sin of  IsraeI  made everybody responsible. Be- the God of the Covenant and the Covenant people.
sides, the Levites in their own rights, were the leaders Through this service God reveals His grace and loving-
of the people. And we believe that Calvin gives the kindness. And Levi was that minister in the Old
correct answer, when he says concerning the Levites, Testament Church.
"That though. they were not free from guilt, yet, in-           Oh, it is true, Levi had not always conducted him-
asmuch as they yielded to the people under the in-           self properly.
fluence of fear, their sin is lighter than as if they had       He was the third son of Lea and was desired by
approved by their consent of the detestable idolatry". his mother, because Rachel had drawn Jacob to herself
Yes, we like to add, but sin it was just the same.           and away from Lea. In one word, the birth of Levi
                                                                               :-

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

had been a question of the flesh. Moreover, the father in the School, in the family circle, no, not in any
of this tribe is best known in connection with his          sphere ,of life.
bloody escapade, as the result of his vengeance over            Compromise ?
the disgrace of his sister Dinah. Of this revenge 3acob         To compromise means  hypocricy. Come ye out
spoke on his deathbed, when he complained concerning from among them, and after doing so dedicate your-
Levi and Simeon, "0 my soul, come not thou into their selves to the Lord. Hard? Of course, hard for the
secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou flesh !.
united : for in their anger they slew a man, and united,        Is their any reward or promise connected with
and in their selfwill  they digged down a wall. Cursed , it?
be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for         There is. T%e Lord shall bestow His blessing upon
it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter      you. He shall make it well with you and in you. You
them in Israel".                                            shall know Him and adore Him and enjoy His sal-
   There was not much expectation from such a tribe, vation.
who called Levi its father. However, here we find a             Today, says Moses.
different Levi. A Levi turning to the Lord. He be-              Now, when turning from the ways of darkness
longed to the Lord and could and would not have part and sin.
with this sin of Israel. And his coming out of the              For all those?
camp, is the best proof of his repentance.                      Yes, that belongs to the Lord. Whose confession
   This repentance therefore must be tried. Every it is, to belong to him and to flee from sin.
man was to put his sword by his side and go in and              Because, in that way' I am sure of my eternal
out the camp, and slay every man his brother, and election.
every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.            Through Jesus Christ, my Lord.
Indeed, a terrible mission.                                                                                    w. v.
   But this test proved and served to bring out the
genuineness of their repentance. How impossible it                                      -
was for them to show partiality, when they were to
enforce the Lord's command. We read, that they ful-
filled their duty unflinchingly. Through their actions                              IN MEMORIAM
they proved their faith. Whosoever had committed the
sin of idolatry and adultery, died by their sword. Is           The Men's Society of the  Creston  Protestant Reformed
not this action of the Levites the best proof that in the Church  was saddened recently by the sudden death of one of
Church- of Jesus Christ discipline must be maintained? its faithful members,
Maintained according to the Word? Discipline main-                                IvIR. B. STEIGENGA
taned over against everyone and without an exception?
The sons of Levi give us a vivid picture of what it             It is our wish and prayer that the Lord may comfort the.
means to apply discipline. Theirs was the obedience bereaved .widow  and family with the peace which He alone can
to the Word of God'and  we do well to take note of it.      give and which passes all human understanding.
They disciplined themselves, when they heeded Moses'                                          Rev. H. Veldman, Pres.
call to come out of the camp and again,  w#hen walking                                        Mr. G. Geelhoed,  Seer.
through the camp. they destroyed the evildoer, thus             Grand Rapids,  Mich.
dedicating Israel to the Lord.
   Separation and dedication are  closely  related as
cause and result.
   No one can and no one may serve the Lord, except
he, who separates himself from the world and sin. The                               IN MEMORIAM
Levi&s took the Word of God to heart, it was their
guide and they lived the Word over against saint and            Whereas it pieased  the Lord to take unto Himself on Thurs-
sinner. That is the true characteristic of man, who day, August 15, 1940, .
repents from his sins.                                                          MR. BERT STEIGENGA
   Thus it is today in the same manner. Our Lord Superintendent of our Sunday School, the  Cons&tory of the
and Saviour said to his disciples, that even father and Creston Protestant Reformed Church, does hereby express
mother, brothers and sisters, must be denied, when their sincere sympathy with the bereaved family.
placed before this choice, rather, this command. All
are admonished to forsake trhe world and the flesh,                                           Rev.  II. Veldman, Pres.
living in a new and godly life. Hence, we cannot make                                         P.  Vanden   Engel, Clerk.
common cause with the enemies of the Covenant God,              Grand Rapids, Michigan.


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       61

                                                            God's law..  (It is only through our giving God glory,
             Thou Shalt Not Kill                            that we have not before His face other deities. It
                                                            is only through our worshipping Him that we worship
                 "Thou shalt. not kiU." .- Ex. 20 :X3.      not the creature. It is only through our revering His
   It must not be supposed that the command, "Thou name, that we take not His name in vain. It is only
shalt not kill," that is, "Kill thou not thy neighbor", through our hallowing the Sabbath, that we desecrate
is being kept when we merely refrain from killing,          it not. It is only through the children honoring .their
hurting,  hateing  the neighbor. The keeping of this parents that they do not dishonor them. It is only
command consists positively in loving our fellow man. through our giving the neighbor his due, that we do
And I now have reference to a definite man, neighbor.       not steal from him. And so it is only through our
Love is the fulfii'ment  of all the law thus also of the loving the neighbor that we kill him not. Thus the
sixth command. It would seem that it is hardly neces- command, "Thou shalt not kill" is at once a command
sary that we be told this. For the absence of hatred to love-the neighbor. Let us then have regard to  t
is respect of a definite individual spells the presence of that action called love.
love. That is to say, not to hate the individual is to         What is it to love the neighbor? This depends some-
love him and not to love him is to  <hate him. Neither what on whom the neighbor is. If he be a believer,
to Iove nor to hate a brother, to be neither for nor ,then in the first instance to love him is to be drawn to
against well- nor ill-disposed toward him, is impossible. him by, and to delight in, his true goodness. The mark
This being true, it would seem that it is unnecessary of true love, of love that as to its nature is holy, is
for us to be told, in addition to our being forbidden that it goes out to and embraces and rejoices in truth,
to hate our brother, that we must love him. Yet it is, perfection, holiness. Such is ever the working of love.
necessary. For in our sinfulness we like to imagine God delights in Self, in the glory of His being. He
that not love but indifference is the fulfillment of the delights in His children; for, being His creatures in
law, that thus  ilf we treat a brother, whom we find it     Christ, they reflect His perfections. And these child-
,hard to love, with indifference, we at least are not hat- ren delight in Him, whose praises they behold in
ing him, so that the requirement of the law is still        Christ's face. And they are drawn to and rejoice in
being satisfied. Now this reasoning is wrong. In- one another, in the true goodness increated in their
difference is a  species.of  hatred not only, but it is the being by their redeemer-God. In the light of these ob-
most insufferable `species of all. To be indifferent is servations, it is plain that love, as being, is to be de-
to be neither hot nor cold. The church of the Laodi-        fined as a holy bound of delight. Hence, he who loves
cians was neither hot nor cold. What Christ thought holily, cannot delight in wickedness, in the wicked.,
of this spiritual posture may be known from the words          Rut there are still other actions which `Holy Writ
of rebuke' which he addressed to this church, "I know ascribes to love-the love of the neighbor. Actions
thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would they are whidh the Scriptures comprehend in one short
that thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art clause-the cIause,  "Love worketh no ill to his neigh-
lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee bor." Exhorting his readers to owe no man anything,
out of my  mou$h"  [chap. 3  :15, 16). That spiritual Ibut to love one another, the apostle goes on to say, "For
lukewarmness, indifference, is even more nauseating he that loveth another hath  fulfilled the Iaw. For this,
than coldness can be only because the former as well Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill,
as the latter is at bottom sheer hattred, so that to be Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
indifferent toward a brother is to hate him indeed. It Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other com-
is plain then that the keeping of the command; "Thou mandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying,
shalt not kill" consists in loving the brother, that in namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love
order to be free from the sin of hating him, we must worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the
Iove him.                                                   fulfilment  of the law" (Rom.  1323-10).
   If we like to imagine that all that the law requires        "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor." This isthe
`of us is that we refrain from hating the brother, we other mark of true love. The meaning of this bit of
also like to make ourselves believe that  the.law  is being instruction is not that loving is  mereIy a negative
kept by us when we refrain from doing the brother action, a doing that consists only in refraining from
injury. We are willingly ignorant of this that to re-       working ill. To love is at once to work well. As has
frain from doing the brother good is to do him injury, already been pointed out, it is only through our work-
that it is only through our doing him  we11 that we. do     ing well to the neighbor, that we work to him no ill. It
him no evil. It is through one's refraining from feed- lies in the very nature of love to work well. And to
ing a starving brother, that one permits him to perish. this working no limit must be set. For love worketh
Thus it is only through one's doing him well. which all manner of good. And the object of this working is
doing in this case consists in giving him bread, that every neighbor, the evil, and'the good, the enemy that
one does him no evil. This is true all along the'line of    reviles and the friend that blesses. The disciples of

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

Christ love also their enemies, not through their de- our neighbor, as well as we, be like God, why should
lighting in but through their blessing and praying for we love ourselves and not our neighbor and not love
them. The disciples of Christ delight in one another love him as ourselves? And why then should we not
but they delight not in the enemy. For the enemy of want to cherish and work well to our neighbor as well
whom Christ spake, when He said, "Love thine ene- as to ourselves? There `can be no reason. It is the
mies", is an unprincipled person, persecuting God's man who loves depravedly, whose god is his lusts, who
people. Him, therefore, the believer blesses. For him has no room in his affections for the neighbor. So
he prays. And the prayer is that God save him.                then, `rightly considered, the command, "Love thy
      The statement was just made that it lies in the very neighbor as thyself," is equivalent to the command,
nature of love to work good to. This statement is so "Be holy, for :I thy God am holy."
very true. For love is, the bond of delight. Now the             Scripture, as has also from time memorial the civil
desire in respect of the body or being that one delights codes  of'the profane nations of the earth, distinguishes
in, is that it be well with that being. But he whom one sharply between three kinds of killings, to wit, the
hates and loathes, he is inclined to destroy. Loving premeditated  ,or presumptuous killing, the killing for
God, His children bless Him ; and they bless one an- which one other than the deceased was held responsible
other. Hating God, the wicked destroy Him in their on account of his neglect or failure to take necessary
thoughts. All their thoughts are that there is no God. precautions, and the purely accidental killing (acci-
      "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." So dental in respect of men). The Mosaic law that touches
reads the second of the two commands to which hang on the  fnst of these-presumptuous killing- is found
all the law and the prophets. But the first of these-         in Deut.  19:11-14.  A man, who hated his neighbor,
the first and the greatest-is, "Thou shalt love the ,and lied in wait for him, and rose up against him, and
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,       smote him mortally that he died, had to be delivered
and with all thy mind." If the whole heart and the into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he, might
whole soul and the whole mind must be given to God die. An example of the second kind  df killings is found
in love, how can there then be room in the heart for in Exodus 21~28,  29. If an ox gored a man or a wo-
the neighbor? The neighbor whom we are charged to man, that they died, the ox had to be stoned, and his
love, that is, cherish, delight in and have fellowship flesh might not be eaten. If the ox were wont to push
with is the neighbor who spiritually is like God, so with his horns in time past, and it had been testified
that loving him is an action not contrary to but in to the owner, and still he had not kept him in, then he,
full harmony with that of loving God. That neighbor the owner, too, had to be put to death. Otherwise he
is a man conformed according to the image of Christ, was acquitted. From this we learn that if the neigh-
so that to love him is to love Christ's own likeness,
            _ ._                                              bor's death is attributable to one's neglect or careless-
is thus to love God. Therefore, in the language of ness, the neglectful or careless one may consider that
John, he who says that he loves God and hates his he is being charged with murder by God the Supreme
brother is a liar. And the reason is that this brother, Ju.dge  of heaven and earth. The case of criminal neg-
being a redeemed one, shows forth the praises of God. lect just cited-that of the ox known to have pushed
Hence hatred  pf the. brother spells of necessity hatred with his horns in time past-is but one of a Iarge class.
df God, and, conversely, the Iove of God incIudes  love The driver of a car, who runs down a pedestrian and
of the brother. A heart in which there is no room for kills him, murders in the sight of God if the cause of
the brother in Christ, is a heart in which there is no his mishap was his reckless driving, or certain mechan-
room for God. "For he that loveth not, his brother ical defects of his car of which he was well aware
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he  bath          but which he failed to have corrected, or his having
not seen" (John  4:20). God cannot be seen except disqualified himself for safe driving through his im-
in the face of the brother.      It is therefore utterly moderate use df strong drink. Behind the wheel, the
impossible, such is the reasoning of the apostle, to hate man who is ignorant of traffic rules is a menace. How-
the brother and at once to love God.                          ever, safe driving is largely, if not predominantly, a
      "Thou `shalt love thy neighbor  as thy self". The       matter not of the head but of the heart. Under the eye
man whose love is depraved and who thus loves *un- of the police, the unprincipled person drives safely
holily,  as do the wicked, is capable of loving self only.    enough. But the safe driver is the man  w;ho truly
And so he does. For, he loves such only who love him, fears God and who therefore trembles before the com-
his love of others is Iove of self. The requirement of the mand,  "Thou.shalt  not kill." God does not wait with
law is that we love ourselves and the neighbor and the lodging His charge, until the reckless driver actually
neighbor as ourselves. We can do this only if we love kills. The recklessness or the negligence that resulted
holily, if the object of our love is solely true goodness, in the killing is already murder. So, if, when behind
God, and if we and the neighbor be like God. Then the wheel one is tempted to give free rein to the urge
we must love the neighbor, too, and the neighbor as to "step on it" just to satisfy a crave for speed and
self. For if the object d our love is God only, and if more speed, or to get some place in a terrifiic  hurry


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      69

 for no reason whatever, and if the yielding to the for this slaying unwittingly, the siayer was held ac-
 temptation spells  recMess  driving and thus the expos- countable. And justly so  ; for slayings of this char-
 ing to loss or injury of human lives, let him hearken acter betoken carelessless on the part of the slayer.
 to the voice of the command, "Thou shalt, not kill".        If the ax-man had carefully examined his ax, before he
    The Iaw of Moses also made provision for the acci- started hewing, the slaying might have been avoided.
 dental killings. A case at point is cited at Deut. 19:5,    So, though not worthy of death, he was still deemed
 6. It is the case of whoso  killed "his neighbor ignor- worthy of some punishment.
 antly, whom he hated not in time past; as when a man           In the Heidelberg Catechism's answer to the ques-
 goeth in to the wood with his neighbor to hew wood and tion, "What doth God require in the sixth command-
 his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down ment," is contained also the clause, ."that  I hurt not
 the tree, and the head  shppeth  from the  heIve, and myself, nor wilfully expose myself to danger." Now
 lighteth upon. his neighbor, that he die." For this the action denoted by the clause "that I hurt not my-
 killer the law provided a way of escape; for "this man self", is precisely that of the suicide, of one  designedIy
 was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him destroying his own life. Does also this killing belong
 not in time past". In agreement with instructions to the category of slayings forbidden and thus de-
 which God had given to Moses, Joshua appointed six nounced by the sixth command? If so, the expounder
 cities of refuge, three on each side of the river Jordan : of this command must treat also the subject of suicide,
 Kadesh in Galilee, Shechem in Ephraim, Kirjatharba if his exposition is to be somewhat  compIete.  My
 in the mountain of Judah: and on the east side of the raising the question whether suicide belongs to the
 Jordan,  Bezer in the wilderness,  Ramoth  in  Gilead,      class of killings at which the sixth command strikes,.
 and Golam in Bashan. Tothe nearest one of these, the may occasion surprise. .Christian  thinkers generally
 slayer that  kiEed any person unawares and unwitting- have always heId to the view that the principles enun-
 ly fled from the pursuing avenger of blood, a relative ciated in the sixth command do extend to suicide.              -
 of the one unwittingly slain. Taking his stand at the          Even the early Greeks deemed suicide unnaturai
 entering of the gate of the city, the slayer d&lared  his and wrong. The first among pagan men to advocate
 cause in the hearing of the elders of that city, who        suicide were the Stoics.    The early church firmly
 took him into the city, "and gave him place, that he opposed suicide.          However of the church fathers,
 might dwell with them" until the day set for his  tria1. Eusebius, Chrysostom, and Jerome lauded the posi-
 On that day he was led to the place of the slaying, tion that in times of persecution, Christian women
 where he stood before the congregation in judgment. might commit suicide to escape dishonor. But this posi-
 If it appeared that he was innocent of a capital crime, tion was condemned by Augustine and later also taken
 he was restored to the city of refuge, whither he was by the church councils, some of which forbade the
 fied. Here he had to abide unto the death of the high- suicide  honorabIe  burial.      Suicide is condemned in
 priest. If at any time before the death of the high- the general Christian literature of the eighteenth cen-
 priest, he should leave the city of his refuge, the tury, and also in the writings af such men as Spinoza
 avenger, finding and slaying .him, should not be guilty and Kant.
 of his blood. After the death of the highpriest, the           AssuredIy,  the sixth command does forbid suicide.
 slayer was ,permitted  to return to the Iand of his pos- But this must be shown. To merely quote this com-
 session (Num.  35:19-38). Thus whether the slayer mand is not sufficient. It does not satisfy the in-
 had murdered, depended  soIely  on how he had been dis- determinate-persons whose position is that suicide
 posed toward the one slain, at the time of the slaying. is a great sin but who are unable to discover in the
 "If he thrust him of hatred, or hurl at him by lying sixth command such proof as for them is sufficiently
of wait that he die; or in enmity smite him with his conclusive.          Their reasoning is that there are ex-
 hand, that he die ; he that smote him shall surely be put ceptions to this command, that thus there are slay-
 to death; *for he is a murderer: the avenger of blood ings which this command does not at a!1 concern, as
 shall slay the murderer, when he meeteth him (Num. for example, the magistrate's shedding the blood of
 35 :20).                                                    the man who shed man's blood. And they wonder,
    In judging our deeds, how God looks at the heart! do these indeterminate persons, whether also suicide
 When there is a slaying, God, in judging passes by the might not be one of the slayings not forbidden by
 outward deed and is occupied solely with the heart the sixth command.
 and its intent. If there is no evil intent, no charge of       In showing what bearing the sixth command has
 murder is lodged. It is out of the heart that murder unon suicide, I must set out with the observation that
 proceeds. Yet even this slaying a man ignorantly or the statement to the effect that there are exceptions to
 unwittingly,  invoIved  the dayer in some measure of this command is  faliacious.  This command forbids
 guilt, as the circumstance that, if he, before the death murder and all such doings as partake of the character
 of the highpriest, left his city of refuge, the avenger, of murder. Any exception to this command would
 finding him, could slay him with impunity. Thus also therefore have to be a murderous doing, so that to say

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

       that this command permits of esco$ions  is equivaIent           ate self-love and that thus by hatred of God and the
       to saying that there are wicked doings, partaking of neighbor, so that the sixth command is to be para-
      the character of murder, not proilibited  by this com- phrased : "Imagine not in thy heart, 0 man, that
       mand. This can be stated slightly differently. The thy neighbor belongs to thee, exists for thy Pleasure,
       sixth command concerns solely murderous acts. So, and that thus thou mayest do with him according as it
      to say that there are exceptions to the sixth command pleases thee. Thy neighbor is God's. In God's image
       is to say that there are exceptions to the law that             was he created. Therefore kill not thou thy neighbor."
       forbids murder, is to say therefore that to murder is              How sinful this act of one's designedly taking his
       not without exception forbidden, so that it is possible own life appears to be, in the light of these observa-
      to murder with impunity. To say that there are excep- tions ! The suicide is not his own but God's. For in
      tions to the sixth command is as preposterously wrong God's image was he created. He therefore belongs not
      as to say that there are exceptions to the law, "Thou to himself but to God, so that if man may not destroy
       shalt not commit adultery", or "Thou shalt not take his neighbor, neither may he destroy himself. The
       the  ,name of the Lord thy God in vain."' What has suicide does so. Thus the principle of conduct from
       occasioned the reasoning to the effect that there are which he, too, acts is that he is his own and not God's
       exceptions to the sixth commandment  .is the mandate, and that being his own it is his prerogative to decide
       `CHe who sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood              whether he  will live or die. Thus his sin, too, is that
       be shed." But this mandate certainly is not to be re- forbidden by the command, "Thou shalt not kill".
       garded as forming an exception to the sixth command- For, as compelled by inordinate self-love and by hat-
       merit..  Were this true, the  civiI magistrate of rqecessity    red of God, he destroys self, God's creature.       The
       commits murder, so often `as he inflicts upon a mur-            suicide is a self-murderer. .
      derer the punishment of death. But is there not con-                Why do men take their bwn'lives?  IIt is said that
       flict then between the sixth commandment and the about a third of the number of suicides may be  traced..
_.     mandate just quoted? Not at all. The sixth command to mental derangements, thus indicating a close con-
       as to its positive requirement places the magistrate nection between suicide and insanity. Suicide is born
       under the necessity of. loving even the murderer and of despair and disgust with -life, resulting from the
       as impelled by love, of doing him well. His ,inflicting soul's  Iack of power, that is, grace to cope with severe
       upon the murderer the punishment of death, need not conditions, and to stand against their pressure. It
       interfere with his loving him, with his pitying him in betokens the lack of that patience and hope-the  chris-
       his woe. The  belie&g magistrate, who takes the life tian hophthat fails not in the most desperate situ-
       of a murderer, does him evil. But whereas he is not ations. `It is thus indicative of an unwillingness on the
       the'deviser  of the evil, and is not as executioner being part of the suicide to humble himseIf  under the mighty
       moved by malice but solely by the command of God, hand of God. The suicide's taking his own life is
       he,  rightly considered does the murderer no evil. But his final attempt to deliver himself out of that hand.
       the point that I wished to make is that there can be no         The suicide is thus at odds with God: the impulse
       exception to the sixth command nor to any of the under which he sheds his own blood is carnal  self-
       other commands. The killings forbidden by the sixth pity and thus hatred of God.
       command are solely the killings that involve in sin                It  is small wonder then, that the Christian Church
       and guilt.                                                      has utterly condemned the act of suicide. She does so,
             What is this sin? This has been explained in a as  she cannot but regard the act as an absolute nega-
       previous article. But this sin must be standing out tion  OP the fear of God. And therefore the question
       in our minds, if our eyes are to open to the extreme sin- whether Christ committed suicide must certainly be
       fulness of suicide. Once more, then, what is this sin- answered in the negative. But how in view of what
       the sin forbidden by the command, "Kill not thou thy Scripture says of Him, can the conclusion be escaped
       neighbor  ?"    Consider once more that the neighbor that He did. Consider what Scripture says of Him,
       was created in God's image, and is thus God's creature. namely that He chose to die, that He came into the
       And yet this man, so I wrote, this creature of God, who world to die, that He when His hour was come, deliber-
       should live that he, as God's image-bearer, might serve ate!y sought death. `He set His face to go to Jeru-
       His Maker, the murderer destroys and thus silences, salem. He  betook  Himself to  the. very place where
       and this because the neighbor stood in his way, or was          He knew His enemies were to seek him. `He even com-
       not serviceable to him. So then it is plain what the            manded His enemies to take Him. And then there is
       principle of conduct is from which the murderer acts- this word from  Christ's own lips, "Therefore doth my.
      the principle namely that the neighbor is not God's              Father Iove me, because I lay down my life, that I may
       `but his, the murderer's, for him to do with as he take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it
       chooses and to dispose of at will, and that thus the down of myself. II have right. to Iay it down, and I have
       sin forbidden by the sixth command is the sin of one's power to take it again". (John 10  :17, 18).
       destroying his neighbor as impelIed  soleIy  by inordin-
                                    ."                                    `No man taketh it from me. . . . I lay it down of

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

myself". If words have meaning, then what Christ lives to himself and no one dieth to himself. For
here tells His  peopIe  is that not man but that He        whether they live, they Iive unto the Lord ; and whether
Himself caused His own death, the separation of His they die, they die unto the Lord.
human body and soul. True, men wanted to kiil Him.            The question is sometimes asked whether the act
And what they did to Him, no one but Christ could of suicide is pardonable, whether the suicide can be
have borne without expiring. But no man took His           pardoned and saved. It would seem not. Suicide is
life from Him. Christ took it from Him, namely His as pardonabIe  as the sin of murder. Neither are un-
life. Well, if Christ, as He Himself says, took H&s own pardonable sins. The murderer on the cross is saved.
Zife, did He then not commit suicide? Does not the         However, it is only sins that are confessed that are
act of suicide consist precisely in one's taking his own forgiven. Now if sin is to be confessed, there must
life? It does. Christ took His own life? He did.           be opportunity. Now the suicide has no opportunity.
Yet He did not commit suicide. But how is the con-         the wound that he inflicts causes instant death often.
clusion to be escaped that He did not? By pointing to The position is undoubtedly correct, that true be-
the fact that His Iaying down His life, His dying was      lievers do not commit this sin.
an act of obedience, in that it was done in response to                                              6. M. 0.
the commandment which the  .Father  had given Him?
Appealing to Christ's obedience does not avail here,
except this obedience be set forth in its proper light.                               H-c
Suicide is an act of a mere `man taking from him his
life through his dealing himself a mortal wound. Now                        Our  Redemption'
the man Jesus did not take from him Jesus the mart the
life of this man, thru this man dealing the human na-         We are redeemed!
ture of Christ a morta1 wound. Then the man Jesus             Redeemed we are, from  all iniquity; redeemed, be-
would have committed suicide. What took place on the cause Christ gave himself for us; redeemed, in order
cross is this: The person of the Son of God caused the that He might purify unto Himself a people, zealous
human nature with which He was personally united, of good works !
to die. He, God the son, laid down the life otf His           Such is the beautiful content of the fourteenth verse
human nature, caused a separation between His human of the second chapter of  Paul's epistle to Titus, his own
body and soul. After three days, He, God the Son took son after the common faith and fellow-!aborer.
that life again through His uniting His human soul
and body in the resurrection. That life of the human          Redeemed !
nature and also its death was the life of God the Son         What is, dear reader, redemption? It is the being
by virtue of His being  personahy  united with the bought, ransomed, delivered through the payment of a
human nature. The Son of God, the second person in price. From that point of view our redemption is the
the blessed trinity, could therefore speak of the  life of most important single aspect of our salvation., For
the.buman  nature as His, the Son's life, and of the lay- the very word redemption reaches down to the very
ing down of the life of that human nature as the laying depth of our misery, our natura1 condition before God.
down of His, the Son's life.                               We are not only sinfu1 and corrupt, but we lie in the
   Christ, then, did not commit suicide. And His dy-       prison of death, with the sentence of death written
ing obediently is, as has just been made plain, not over our heads, by na?ure. In the fetters of guilt and
the reason His death was not suicide. To say that the shackles of corruption, we lie, bondsmen in our
Jesus died obediently and to add nothing to this, is still hearts as well as in our bonds. For we are not only
to maintain that Jesus committed suicide. The act of slaves, but we love our bondage. We' would not be
suicide is always sin. IIt would have been sin aIso as redeemed. We would not be delivered, for we feel at
committed by Christ.       He had not the command- home in sin. And reverently speaking, God Himself
ment to commit suicide.                                    could not save us, could not deliver us out of  th$is
   Among Christian people, suicide is extremely rare.      prison of sin and guilt until the ransom price, a price
It was just as rare among the covenant people of God sufficient to pay for all our guilt, had been payed.
of the Old Testament dispensation. But it is frequent         That is redemption !
among people who fear not, God. Rare it is, among             Notice, the apostle does not say: He has given us a
the people of God. It cannot be otherwise. For God's chance to be redeemed! He does not speak of a mere
believing people are regenerated unto a living hope. opportunity to be delivered out of the prison of eternal
They have an only comfort in life and death. With death, if we are but willing to believe.                       1
body and soul they are and will to be not their own           We are redeemed! Once the price of our redemp-
but they belong and  wil1 to  beIong to Jesus Christ, tion has been  payed, the sinner is free! Free from
who satisfied for all their sins and by His Spirit as- aW  inipity.   There is no more guilt for sins, past,
sures them,of  eternal. life. Hence, none of God's people present nor future: For the full ransom-price, the

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

payment demanded by God for the release of the con- zealous of good works. They find their chief joy in the
vict has been made. He redeemed us.                         keeping of His commandments, in the walking in the
      What a price !                                        way-of His covenant.
      #How could that marvellaus redemption be accom-          To be sure, `tis all of Him and none of us.
plished? Certainly the prisoner could not free himse'f.        He redeemed us. He gave His only Begotten. He
Nowhere could anything or anyone be found who could purifies us unto Himself. . . .
make the awful payment demanded by the righteous-              Blessed gospel !
ness of God. There was, again reverently speaking,             He gave Himself for us and we are redeemed !
even for the living God, but ONE way to accomplish
this tremendous feat, and that one and  onIy  way was to                                 Rev. "J.-v. d. Breggen.
"give His only begotten Son", Who in turn must give
Himself!                                                                            -
      Himself He gave! What awful depths of agony it
cost the Son of God to accomplish our redemption.                                           '
Think of the tremendous Ioad of our sin and guilt                                   WHY?
which  ;He bore, and bore away. He gave Himself.
Not something of Himself, but all He had, he emptied
Himself of name and honor and position, of life itself,               I used to wonder why my Lord
                                                                          allowed cruel things to come,
in order to redeem you and me. Himself was none
other than the Son of the ever blessed God, the second               But now  I  know--`twas to perfect
                                                                          the things He had begun.
Person of the Holy Trinity, Who, in union with our
nature and in the likeness of sinful flesh, could suffer             Why did He permit evil
and die, as none other could ever suffer and die.                         and malice come my way?
                                                                      `Twas so I`d learn to trust no man,
      And so He made the payment for our redemption.                      that He should be my stay.
What a price ! The question is often foolishly  asked :               Why should injustice come to me
Was then not the death of the Son of God suf-hcient  for                  when I had done no harm?
the sin of the whole world?, Could not through the                    "Twas  so I'd learn to lean upon
atoning death of Jesus the whole of humanity be                         , His everlasting arm.
saved? In answer to this query, we must say that the
value of the atonement of our Lord was infinite. It                  Why shouId  persecution come
was from that point of view sufficient to redeem a mil-                   from those I loved the best?
lion worlds and more like ours. Conversely, if only one               I must learn to bear it joyfully,
sinner was to be saved, the redemption price, the  ran-                   rejoicing in the test.
some' could not have been one whit less than the giving               Why did He let the wicked
of Himself.                                                               bring discredit to my name?
      Marvellous  redemption !                                        They did thus to my Saviour,
      Awful price ! And yet how sinful hands have med-                    and I must bear the shame.
dled with the fact of our redemption. How often it is                 Now since my Saviour's sufferings
presented that our redemption is the result of collabor-                  II have learned to share,
ation between ourselves and G&l ; that we mlust do our                It means a crown of- glory
part in this salvation, or that we must add to the price                  in the future I shall wear. 5
which has been paid, as though it were not yet suf-
f i c i e n t .                                                       I could" not comfort others
      Nay, but He redeemed us. He payed  the price that                   unless I'd first "gone thru"
ransomed us from guilt, and upon the basis of that                   And so I say "Thy will be done,
redemption he now purifies unto Himself a peculiar                        I leave my life with Thee".
peopIe,  a peopIe  who are zealous of good works.                     Prayers may seem to be unanswered,
      Unto good works ! The purpose, the ultimate aim in                  things not going as they should,
God's redemption of His peopIe  is that He might purify              Yet-1 know that everything
unto Himself a peopIe  who are full of zeal to do good                    is working for my good.
works. `No, first of all, that we may go to heaven,                  Yes, His hand of love is guiding,
although, of course heaven is the place where we shall                    tho' the tempest come from Hell,
be able to carry out this divine purpose in perfection,               He knows the way I take,
But also now, here in the midst of the world God's                        and He doeth all things well.
people are those whom He purifes, so that they are                                               Lau,ra T. Halsey.


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                                                                                        Perea. Indeed! But whatever may be the meaning
                      M e d i t a t i o n                                               of the first verse of this chapter, on this "Mount of the
                                                                                        Sermon" He is addressing His disciples, and them
                                                                                        alone; not, perhaps, in the narrow sense of "the
            The Salt And Thanksgiving                                                   twelve", but His disciples nevertheless.
                                                                                            And it is in their capacity of disciples that He calls
                                                                                        them the salt of the earth !
                          Ye are the salt  of  the earth. . . .                             Whatever else they may be from any natural, earth-
                                                             Matthew  5:13.             ly viewpoint does not- at all deserve consideration here,
    How apparently contrary to fact!                                                    has nothing to do with their being the salt of the
    Ye are the salt of the earth ! Would not reality earth. Only the fact that they are His disciples make
appear to relegate this statement to the category of them worthy of this evaluation.                                                     L
vain boast?                                                                                 Ye!
    Ye!                                                                                     But who, then, are they?
    No, the Lord is not addressing the elite of His day,                                    Listen: they Rre the poor in spirit, they that mourn,
the wise and influential men of His day, the doctors the meek, they ! hat hunger and thirst after righteous-
of philosophy, the scholarly theologians, the Pharisees ness, the merciful, the pure in heart; the peace-
and Sadducees  and Scribes, the famously religious men makers. . . .
of the nation, the men that always  cautious'y demanded                                     The salt of the earth ! They? . . . .
a sign. . . .                                                                               And listen: they are those who are persecuted
   Ye!                                                                                  for righteousness' sake, whom men revile, persecute,
   His audience to whom He is directing this appraisal speak all manner of evil against  faIsely  !
does not consist of men that are of renown in this                                          They are the salt of the earth.
world, the men that deal with the problems of man-                                          How impracticable.
kind, of life and existence, of society and the state,
of national and internationa1  relationships, of peace
and war, of self-defense and prosperity, the men that
unceasingly seek after wisdom. . . .
   He is not even addressing the whole multitude !                                          Wonderful appraisal !
   For, indeed, a multitude, a great multitude had                                          The salt of the earth are ye!
followed  .Him. His fame had spread throughout all                                          And what may be the meaning of this metaphor?
the land, and even throughout all Syria. And no won-                                        Men have interpreted the figure according to
der ! For, this Jesus of Nazareth was a wonderman, their own philosophy. Salt, say they, we put into
traversing  a11 the land, teaching and preaching the different substances to preserve it, to protect it against
gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and healing all kinds putrefaction.  .It is, therefore, a means of preservation
of sickness and disease and imperfections among the and purification. When, therefore, the Lord declares
people, giving eyesight to the blind, opening the ears that His disciples, that His Church is the salt of the
of the deaf, enabling the dumb to speak, making the earth,. the meaning is, evidently that the Church is the
lame leap with joy, casting out devils, raising the dead! power that preserves a sinful and corrupt world from
And immense multitudes followed Him, from every corruption.
part of the land: Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judaea,                                    Still more.

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

        Our philosophy about the meaning of salt-is some- shalt offer salt". Lev. 2:13. The salt, as the symbol
what freely applied until it signifies that the Church of the disposition of him that brought the offering,
even  purifies, acts as a leaven upon the present world,      humility, -contrition, the fear of the Lord, made the
to improve it, to make it a more decent world to live         offering "palatable" to Jehovah, pleasing in His sight.
in !                                                             Ye are the salt of the earth !
        And thus, finally, the positive declaration of the        Notice, the  g&h.  Apart from the fact, that the
Lord : "ye cl~re  the salt of the earth" is distorted into    world is corrupt in sin, and that no saIt is ever put
an admonition, as if the Lord had said: "Be ye the            into substances that are already rotten, still less is
salt of the earth". And thus the whole is given a very added to them for the purpose of curing them, the
"practical" application : Church of Christ, understand text does not say that the Church is the salt of the
your sacred calling to improve the world in which world, but that it is the salt of the earth.
you live. Act as the salt of the earth!                           Of the earth and its fulness!
        But what do the Scriptures say?                          The earth and its creatures, its treasures, its
        For, surely, the question cannot and may not be       powers, its products, the means of subsistence and
what significance we may be able to give to a figure          development it offers to man, its rain and its sunshine,
that occurs in Holy Writ; it must be what meaning             its fruit and its crops, its clothing and shelter; the
the Bible itself attaches to it.                              bread you eat, the water you drink, the air you breathe,
        And then there can be no question that the inter- the light you behold. . . .
pretation must be rejected which would make salt the              The earth and its fulness conceived as an offering
figurative expression of the power of preservation that must be brought to the Lord!
against corruption, and that it must be understood as            For the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof!
representing a seasoning medium, making that to                  And all things in the earth are designed to serve
which it is added palatable, pleasant to the taste.           man, in order that man may serve his God !
Is not this evident from what the Lord continues to              Ye are the salt of the earth !
say in this same verse: "but if the salt lost his savor,         Ye, people of God, are the element that causes the
wherein shall  .it be  sahed?"       And is not this the earth and its fulness to be pleasing to Jehovah !
fundamental thought in the similar passage in Mark
9 :50 : "Salt is good: hut if the salt shall have lost           A sweet smelling savor!
his saltness, wherewith wil1 ye season it? Have salt
in yourselves, and have peace one with another"? Or                         I , .."
what else is the meaning of the figure in the light of
Job 6 :6 : "Can that which is unsavoury be eaten with-
out salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?"          Gracious distinction!
And are not the people of God admonished in Col. J :6 :           Ye are the salt of the earth!
"Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with               The statement expresses a fact ; it is not in the
salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every form of an exhortation. It informs the  .subjects  of
man" ?                                                        the kingdom of heaven, the poor in spirit and them
        Let us remember,  **too,  that it was an ancient that mourn, the meek and them that hunger and thirst
custom for parties that had concluded a covenant to           after righteousness, the merciful and pure in heart
ratify or celebrate the ratification of such a covenant       and peacemakers, of their true nature and purpose and
by eating bread with salt, thereby expressing that the        relation to all things.
friendship thus concluded was pleasant to the taste of            How proper !
both parties. Whence also the expression "covenant                The fact must needs be before the exhortation  ;
of salt" in Scripture. All the heave offerings of the the latter is useless unless the former is present.
holy things, offered unto the Lord by the children of             For, how can anything work and serve as salt un-
Israel, were given to the priest and his family; it less it be salt first? And how could any exhortation
was a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord. Nu. to consecrate all things to God and offer them to Him
18:19.      And by a covenant of saIt the Lord gave the        as a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor possibly  be
kingdom over Israel to David and to his sons, II Chron. heeded, unless there first be a priesthood, holy unto
13 :5.                                                        God, ready and glad to bring themselves and all things
        And what is stiI1 more significant in this connection as an offering unto the Most High?
is that all the sacrifices offered by Israel unto the Lord        Ye cvre the salt of the earth.
must be seasoned with salt. Very specific is the com-             That royal priesthood is realized in you, citizens of
mandment : "And every oblation of thy meat offering the kingdom of heaven in the midst of the world.
shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer        Emphatically, distinctively, ye are the salt of the earth  ;
the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking             no one else is. Through you, in you, on account Of You
from thy meat offering: with all thine  offerings thou all things are pleasing  $9 God. If it were not for You


                                      T H E .   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          75
                                                                                           I
no sweet smelling savor would arise to the Most High God, righteousness and holiness; but rather the terrible
from the things that are on the earth. The salt of the stink of manfs pride!
earth ye are antithetically, in distinction from the             Ye are the salt of the earth!
children of this world. For -your `sake only' the Lord          Not, indeed,. of yourselves. There is no reason to
takes pleasure in  the- earth. Even as it, was in His boast. ' There is cause only for humble thanksgiving.
covenant with Noah. Indeed, a covenant of salt it was.          For, ye are His workmanship, created in Christ
For Noah buiIded an altar unto  theaLord ; and took of Jesus unto good works, which God before prepared
every clean beast and every clean fowl, and offered that Ge might walk in them. Christ Jesus, the Anoint-
burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled ed of the Lord, ordained to be Jehovah's Ring-Priest
a sweet savor, the savor of His grace, of the humble from before the foundation of the world,-He is cen-
and contrite heart that would bring Him the glory trally and in the highest sense the sait of the earth.
of His name, and He said : "I  will not again curse the No .sacrifice  was and is ever of a sweeter savor than
ground any more for man's sake. . . neither  wilI  I His. He offered  HimseIf; He became obedient even
again smite any more every living  thing; as I have unto death, yea, unto the death of the cross. And He
done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and har- ever liveth as the High Priest of His own, to present
vest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and the sweet savor of His sacrifice unto the Father, and
day and night  &al1 not cease". Gen. 9 :20-22.               to make intercession for us !
   And it is through grace that this distinction is             He redeemed us !
yours.      ;                                                   He gained for us the right to be delivered from
   Not of works, lest any man shouId boast, and there- the. power of darkness and corruption, the right. to
by the salt should Iose its savor.                           sing the praises and declare the virtues of the Most
   Man, indeed, was originally created the  priest-          High once more, and to taste the sweetness  `of  "His
king of creation, the servant of the Lord that as such friendship.
had dominion over all things earthly, in whose heart            And through Him, by the grace of His good Spirit
all earthly things concentrated and culminated, in we, are aIso dehvered  from the bondage of corruption,
order from and by that heart to be consecrated unto          and led into liberty, the liberty of the sons of God !
the living God. Made after the image of God he stood            Called out of darkness into His  marvellous  light,
in covenant reIation of friendship to the Most High, that we might proclaim His glory !
a relation of a covenant of salt, indeed ; in order that        Formed into a holy, royal priesthood.
he might rightly know, heartily love and wholly serve           The salt of the earth !
the Lord His God, in  all things, before  aII. things,
through all things that were on the earth, subjected
under him; that God might taste the sweetness of
man's  s'acrifice  and devotion, and man might experience
that_  the lovingkindness of the Most High is better            Give thanks, then, unto the Lord!
t h a n   Xfe!                               d                  Glorify Him with gladness, not only on this day,
                                                             but all the days of your life,. for all His'benefits, be-
   But a change was wrought.                                 cause of all His wonderful praises !
   The salt lost his savor.                                     Thus may be the exhortation to you and to me,
   For, the change,. was wrought in man's heart. The based upon this declaration: ye are the salt of the
servant rebelled. The friend of God became His enemy, earth.
willing slave of the devil. His light was changed to           There is room, indeed, for this exhortation.
darkness, `his righteousness to unrighteousness and per-
version of his whole nature, his holiness into corrup-          For,  f?.rst of  all, there is this difference between
tion.  Still he stands in the midst of the earth. Still salt and the people of God, that the former does its
he exercises dominion. StiIl the earthly creature, even work, serves its purpose, without knowledge, will or
in its present bondage and vanity, would serve him. conscious purpose; but God's people are His rational,
But no longer is he God's priest, and no longer does         moral children, always acting with their mind and
he consecrate a11 things a sacrifice of sweet smelling will, freely serving and. loving the Lord, making His
savor unto the Lord. Instead he presses all the earth purpose their own. And, secondly, sin remains in
and its fulness into the service of the flesh, of sin and their old nature, so. that there is the danger that the
corruption and iniquity, of the lust of the flesh and the salt shall lose its savor and become worthless.
lust of the eyes and the pride of life.                         Let, us hear, then, the Word of God! Ye are the
   Even his would-be sacrifice is an abomination unto salt of the earth ; willingly, gladly serve your purpose !
Jehovah.                                                        Give thanks unto the Lord;. for He is good !
   For in it the Lord does not smell the sweet smelling         His mercy endureth forever!
savor of humility and contrition, the love and fear of                                               .     H. H.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         85  i

direkt een duivel'en de aarde een hel? Bet zal tech zoo         God de Heere schudt de volkeren der wereld ge-
mooi zijn, zegt de Schrift, in het laatst der dagen, mooi    weldig door elkander en gebruikt daartoe den Satan.
voor den mensch  die buiten Christus  leeft? Hoe  moe- Daarom is het, schoon Satan rond gaat in de gemeente
ten die beiden verklaart? Een  Regenten  gebaar met als een brieschende  Ieeuw en ook in de wereld zijn werk
een  zeifgenoegzaam  antwoord helpt hier niet.               volvoert, dat hij  tech nooit alles tegelijk kan  doen.
   De Schrift verklaart de boven  gestelde vraag dan         Hij moet werken op een wijze, waardoor hij nooit
ook geheel anders.                                           anders mag  doen, dan het Alwijze Plan des Heeren
   Zij doet ons zien, hoe  alle  dingen  werken naar den dienen. Bedenk daarbij dan nog, dat ook Satan  be-
Raad Zijns willens in organisch en onderling verband.        per& is (zonder gemeene gratie of Geestes  werkin-
En in de zonde en door de genade ontwikkelen  alle           gen), want hij is en blijft schepsei.
dingen   zich  zoo, dat zij het einde, Gods Einde, der          Maar daardoor is het dan ook, dat  er voor de Kerk
wereldgeschiedenis,  moeten bereiken.                        ruimte blijft. De  dingen ontwikkelen  zich op  ax-de
   TJit het oogpunt van de Kerk, de vrouw van Open-          nu eenmaal niet in alles en op alle plaatsen tegelijker-
baring Twaalf, dan zal er voor haar daarom ook een tijd. Zelfs bleef een groot deel der wereld verborgen
plaats zijn.     Let maar op het laatste  gedeelte van en werd na Christus  hemelvaart  ontdekt (periode van
vers veertien. Zij is op een plaats, waar zij gevoed         bijna 1500 jaar wat betreft Amerika alleen) . . En waar
wordt,  tijd en tijden en een halven tijd, buiten  bet       Satan aldus zeer gebonden is, niet kan wat hij graag
gezicht  o?er slang. De vraag is, hoe kan dat?  Zoekt        Wilde doen,  daarom kan er voor de Kerk een plaats zijn
Satan haar, doch vindt hij  $aar  niet?  Is de Kerk op       in de woestijn.     God houdt hem ook  bezig in het
6&n of andere wijze voor hem verborgen? Maar dan wereldgebeuren en aldus blijft dan voor een tijd of
was er immers geen sprake van vervolging? Stond tijden en een halven tijd de vrouw buiten het gezicht
er, dat de vrouw zich verbergt dan, ja maar dan odk der slang. Zoo  nu is het eenigszins  te verstaan, waar-
alleen, zal de duivel Gods Kerk niet vervolgen. Als zij om juist tegen  het einde dit anders wordt. Nu alreeds
zich verbergt en niet leeft uit het beginsel der weder-      leven we in een kleinere wereld dan vijf en twintig
geboorte, dan heeft zij geen last van iemand.                jaar  geleden. En als alIes wat de aarde in zich bergt
   Het is  echter  met moeilijk te verklaren waarom he ontwikkeld  zaI zijn en daarbij de zonde tenuiterste toe
vrouw is `buiten het gezicht der slang. Houden we zal betoonen zonde te zijn, dan begint. de eindstrijd
voor de aandacht, dat in de ontwikkeling der zonde tusschen wereld en kerk, Christus en Antichrist, het
niet een eenheid en werkelijke gemeenschap tot stand Beest en den Geest, dan sluiten de vijanden de vriend-
worden  gebracht. De zonde is en blijft  uiteenscheu-        schap, maar zoolang  is de vrouw er, buiten het gezicht
rend. Zeker, Herodus en Pilatus-worden  we1 vrienden, der slang en zal zij we1 moeten vluchten en vliegen,
maar dan- pas als de Christus  bijna al aan het kruis        doch voor haar is een plaats bereid in de woestijn door
hang%  Niet voor dien tijd. Voor dien tijd werkt             den Heere.
en  zwoegt men voor  eigen-belang  tenkoste van den
ander.       Mensch tegenover mensch, volk tegenover                                                        w. v.
volk.     En saamleving van  allen  is  we1 een mooie
spreuk, maar goed bezien veel meer spreuk dan werke-
lijkheid.     Ook vandaag wil Hitler werken voor een
nieuwe Europeesche orde. Ja, maar niet voor een
Europeesche orde waarin dan alle Europeanen zich zul-
len vmden  en die toejuichen, doch voor een Europeesche                         - As To Books
orde naar Duitschen trant en smaak en opvatting.
Daar mag  Italic en  oak anderen tenslotte  we1  aan                         The Drama of Redemption, by
meedoen. En dezelfde Hitler wil ook naar dat model                           Dr. Samuel Jackson Cartledge.
nog  we1 voor een nieuwe wereld-orde strijden. Maak                          Zondervan Publishing House,
de heele wereld maar Duitsch en hij zal u zeggen,                                 Grand Rapids,  Mich.
zie, dat is nu eigenlijk wat alle  landen  willen. Het                       (142 pages, price $1.00)
verdrukte volk komt nu pas tot vrijheid,  zij het dan
ook, dat hij dit doet met zijn Gestapo en gemechani-            T.his is a very readable book. The subject is the
seerd Ieger.                                                 redemption from the guilt and power of sin through
    De ontbindende  macht  der zonde wordt dan  oak          the work of Christ as applied by the Holy Spirit.
gezien wanneer het individu het eigenbelang  verzorgt           The book is divided into four parts, the first part
en najaagt ten  koste  niet alleen van God, maar ook         treating of God's work of redemption, the second of
van den naaste. Tweedracht zal er blijven, want de man's response  ,to God's work, and under this the
zonde blijft ten einde toe.      Daarom is er dan  oak       author speaks of conversion, of sonship, of the separate
wereldellende, welken  vorm van regeering ge begeert         life and of the value. of a life; the third parts treats of
maakt hier niets uit, de resultaten  blijven  hetzeifde.     God's hand in human life, and the last part of  ,the


                                     `(  T,HE STANDARb B E A R E R

glorious consummation, the future life, the temple in be more nice than God, or modest than Jesus Christ
heaven and the number of the redeemed.                       and the Apostles who used the plainest possible lan-
   The book is usually quite sound, though we would guage when dealing with sexual sins. Especially does
express things in different words sometimes. Some the author feel the minister's responsibility for teach-
parts of it are positively refreshing, as, e.g. the          ing these truths, in view of the fact that the Scrip-
author's description of and preference for a gradual,        tures contain the plainest statements regarding sexual
covenant conversion. The language is good, the style sins and their dreadful consequences that have ever
is clear and strong. The author's vocabulary as  *he         been put in print."
employs it in this book is largely Anglo-Saxon, which           With this we may agree. And in Reformed Church-
is a point in favor of any style.                            es, where the minister follows the line of the Catechism
   On some points we must disagree with the author's once on each Sunday, this is done, too, of course; in
presentation.  T*his is true, for instance, of what the      its proper place and at the proper time and in the
author writes about saving faith. Quite sound is his         proper connection.
definition of regeneration: "Regeneration, then, is that        The book can very well be read, and may serve a
radical change wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit good practical purpose.
working through the Word, by which one becomes                  Nevertheless, what I wrote about "A Virtuous
partaker of the divine nature, the adopted child now Woman" I would not hesitate to repeat here. Books
becoming a born-again child of God". But all the more of this nature, that isolate a certain sin and picture
strange sounds his description of faith in the follow- it in all its horror and dire consequences, inform us
ing paragraph : "Why faith? Why are not Adoption how generally it is practised  and how numerous are
and Regeneration sufficient?         Because, in the plan the cases of venereal diseases, etc. are apt to be one-
of salvation, God has a part, and man has a part. sided. Besides, I do not believe that in order to in-
Have you ever noticed that God nowhere commands us struct our people in the knowledge of sin, in this form
to be adopted, or, to be born again? He says: `Ye or any other, it is either necessary or edifying to
<mu& be born again', but never does He say, `Be born acquaint them with all the corruption there is in the
again'; and never `Be adopted'. But He does command world. Much more spiritually healthful it is to in-
us to believe. `Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and struct our people in the entire system of the truth,
thou shalt be saved' (Acts  16:31). Why the differ- and consider also this sin in its light.
ence? Because Adoption and Regeneration are God's               So does also the Word of God.
part, and He'll take care of these ; while Faith is man's
part, and man must take care of that".                          But let him  w.ho is interested read.
   Why we cannot subscribe to this will be evident                                                         H. H.
to the Reformed reader.
   Read, therefore, with discretion as always.
                                                H. H.
                                                                    Principles of Teaching for Christian Teachers,
                                                                    by C. B. Eavy, Ph. D.
                                                                            Zondervan Publishing House,
                                                                                    Grand Rapids, Mich.
               The Way of a Man with a Maid,
               by Oscar Lowry.                                              (364 pages, price $2.75)
               Zondervan Publishing House,                      We would recommend this book to all that are
                    Grand Rapids,  Mich.                     interested in Christian Instruction, especially to our
               (160 pages, price $1.00)                      Christian School and Sundayschool teachers. It is a
                                                             scholarly, systematic, rather thorough discussion of
   This book is designed to be a "companion volume" the subject announced, and affords pleasant and easy
to the similar work by the same author: "A Virtuous          reading because of its lucid style.
Woman", reviewed in our paper some time ago. It                 II write this in spite of the fact that the book is,
discusses certain problems of sexology, as the title evidently, written with a view to a church-community
suggests. While "A Virtuous Woman" was primarily where the instruction in Catechism and Christian
written for women and girls, the present book seeks          School is unknown, and even the minister of the gospel
its readers chiefly among men and boys.                      does no longer instruct in his preaching, at least, does
   In an introduction the author stresses the fact that not emphasize doctrine in his preaching. The author
it belongs to the calling of a minister of the gospel to makes a distinction between the ministry of the pastor
warn his people against sexual sins. Says he: "Woe and the "teaching ministry". Thus he writes :
be it unto that generation when the ministers seek to           "T$here  can be no question as to the need for the

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

      work of the pastor in the church.         He is set aside
      exclusively for the high calling of preaching  which                The Social Calling Of The Church
      constitutes an important part of his work but which,
      quite too often in our day, tends to become the only               The subject as above expressed may at first sight
      part. . . . He is trained in Schools that exist for the seem somewhat ambiguous, yet the subject thus stated
      sole purpose of preparing him for his task. . . . But expresses a popular conception and it is of that popu-
      for the teaching ministry, which exists for edifying lar conception that this article treats.
      and building up the church, there is no such adequate              Strictly speaking we wouId  not speak of a social
      preparation or honorable recognition. At the same              calling of the church for she as instituted is limited to
      time, it is plainly taught in Scripture that the work of the task of ministering the Word of God to her mem-
I.    teaching is the divine plan of God. Surely the Pro- bers and by that Word she labours  to bring to mani-
      testant Church needs to awaken to the misapprehen- festation herself as the body of Christ inculcating the
      sion under which it has been laboring with respect principle by which this life is controlled.
      to the importance of this mighty ministry and to the               So that in respect to the broad social sphere the
      tragic results of trifling with the titanic task of teach-     church as institute has no other duty than to observe
      ing. Why should not the work of the teacher be recog- the laws and ordinances relating to its property, in-
      nized as well as that of the evangelist or pastor? Why corporation and assembly.
      should not the claims of the teaching. ministry be pre-            However, in times such as ours we again hear the
      sented to our young people? Why should the office remark and suggestion that the church has a very high
      of the teacher not be magnified? Why should not the and holy calling toward our tottering civilization, that
      heroic high call of the teacher receive the emphasis           if anyone, then the church of all agencies has a remedy
      God manifestly intended that it  shouId  have?"                for the ills of civilization and it is her calling to apply
         Unless we bear in mind that the author writes with herself with all her God-given cures and energies.
      a view to wholly different circumstances from those                To be sure, there are several variations to this
      that are known in our churches, language like the general theme or motto or challenge. There is, e.g.
      above is hardly intelligible.                                  the charge that the church's power of influence for
                                                                     mod is only a pretense, a haughty assumption that is
         Unless' the author means something quite different refuted by all of her checkered history.
      from what I understand him to mean, he is quite                    There is also the claim that the church, as Christ
      Pelagian in the following paragraph:                           her Founder purposed her, should have saved the world
         "Original nature is neither good nor bad, but it from its ills, but she has never taken the task upon
      has potentialities for either good or bad. The pos- herself with humble seriousness, witness the priest-
      sibilities for the lowest and the most degrading inhere craft, persecution,  obscuratism,  obstructionism of her
      in it as also do the possibibties  for the ,highest and the    history.
      most noble behaviour. In the qualities of his original             Or, again, there is the claim that the church though
      nature man is not much different  from the animal. In being continually more `pressed to the background has
      fact, he can be more savage and ruthless than the always been a  *great  constructive force in civilization.
      most cruel animal.      He can descend in practice to T.hat our deliverance from the corrupt life of Greece
      depths of degradation never seen among animals. and Rome and that the exaltation of home, motherhood,
      His nature teems with animal-like tendencies that and morals in the Christian era is due to the leavening
      often come into conflict with one another. But while           influence of Christianity.
      the existence of these animal characteristics in man               IHowever,  in distinction from the foregoing we
      cannot be denied, it cannot  reasonabIy  be maintained         have from the lips of Christ Himself this thesis: Ye
      that he is merely the sum of these characteristics.            are the salt of the earth.
      Undeniably there is in original nature that which can              This succinct statement, when properly under-
      be laid hold upon by the power of God." etc. etc.              stood transcends all the above human opinions and
      p. 142.                                                        means no less than that the church does solve, is solv-
         It will be understood that when I recommend the             ing the social problem, does possess the remedy of
      book to our people, I do not subscribe to paragraphs           social ills. We should try to grasp the deep implica-
      like the above. And as a writer is not usually  PeIa-          tions of this word of Christ.  -4nd the attempt to grasp
      gian in one paragraph and Reformed in another, it %his must indeed be an act of faith, for without faith
      also means that I do not agree with the doctrinal view-        we are sure to dismiss this word with an "oh yes, of
      point of the author.                                           course, but. .  ;  ."
                                                                         So, by this nonchalant dismissal, we again give
         Hence, when YOU read, do not merely imbibe and ourselves over to the futile seeking of utopias, social
      absorb, but read critically.                                   panaceas, anxiously weighing the chances between
                                                     H. H.           a communistic dictatorship and a fascistic  dictator-


                                                                                                          .

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

 ship perhaps, but  alway  and again on the  pIane of            social order is not workable in this present world
 all that is earthy, carnal, perishing, and we will fail of order.
 finding rest of heart and mind in that petter heavenly                  Apart from the fact that according to God's council
 kingdom that is even now among us.                              this world will continue its downward way until its
       For nothing less than the ultimate restoration of         climax in a cataclysm that makes way for a new
all things lies in that word of Christ: Ye are the salt          world, it also lies in its internal spiritual constitution
 of the earth !                                                  that it can never be restored unless the entire race
       By this word the church of Christ is pictured to us       could take refuge to Christ and His fulness, which is a
 as that element, that factor in God's creation that             thought to which Scripture gives no support.
 makes His creation still palatable, savoury, pleasing              iIn a word: in this world there is no grace and
 and delightful to Him. The church is a new, heavenly consequently no receptivity for the law of God, and
 creation formed by God in the midst of the sin-cursed,          where men do not Iike to retain God (and His law, of
 passing, vanishing dispensation and through the                 course) in mind He gives them up to the fruits of their
 church the works of His hand will reach their goal              sin.
 and purpose.                                                            But the church is the salt of the earth !
       Now the church is that by nature of the word                      Let us dare to confess it in its full implications.
 that serves as a mould whereby she is shaped and the                    In the church God has given the promise of the
 indwelling Christ who causes her to grow in that                solution of the social problem. Yea, in the church that
 form or mould. By that word she has received of solution is realized.
 God the infallible  reveIation  of a faultless social struc-            At first reflection this strong boast ill accords with
 ture. Of this Scripture gives abundant testimony.               the pathetic figure of the church with her smallness,
       Think of that New Jerusalem where nothing defiles         weakness, vagueness, ignorance,  distension,  strife,
 or causes pain or grief. Think of Isa.  11:9: "They carnality.
 shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain                      Indeed, no sons of the living church will dare nor
 for-note the cause-the earth shall be full of the               care to deny this apparent contradiction. Of all insti-
 knowledge of the Lord." Think of the model king (in tutions there is perhaps none where the contrast be-
 the last analysis, Christ} for Israel as pictured in tween the lofty claims of the apparent reality is more
 Deut. 17 :14ff.  who must read in the book of the law' embarrassing and humiliating.
 all the days of .his life. But beside this eternal revela-              Yet, the great claim which we take over from the
 tion the church has also the living Christ within her           lips of Christ is not based on sight or tangible proof
 who empowers her to become conformed to that writ- but is an article of faith. We believe an holy church;
 ten model.                                                      we believe in an Almighty Saviour, who redeems body
       Now the question may arise however, whether this and soul; we believe that by faith we overcome the
 revelation is indeed applicable to the world in its pre-        world.
 sent form and dispensation.                                             Now it is by this essential being and life of the
       And the answer is  "yes and no".                          church that her social calling is determined. In prin-
       The prescription for a perfect  social structure is       ciple all the distorted relationships as affected by sin
 indeed applicable today in the world. The many pro-             have been restored by grace, and this principle the
 verbs of the wise. king regarding wise dominion,                people of God are called to realize in life.
 social equity, prosperity and peace, are of course true                 And so we come to our practical, concrete Christian
 today.                                                          calling.
       It is true today that if the law of God in its ful-               Usually in discussing these things our mind first
 ness could be applied it would mean the restoration turns to our calling as citizens of our nation.
 of the social structure. This is evident from the fact                  In the political sphere it is undoubtedly our call-
 that even a superficial observance of God's law reveals         ing to be concerned and to participate actively in
 itself in outward peace and harmony. Because the government, for government is an institution of God
 heathen did not like to retain God in their mind He             and as such of legitimate interest to the Christian.
 gave them up to the awful social deterioration of               Perhaps some of us have gifts to administer an office
 Romans chapter 1.                                               in the affairs of state. For it surely cannot be held
       But I said above that the law of God in all its           that the general corruption in this sphere, and the
 fulness must be applied. And this means not only an grave danger of `contamination for an office-holder
 external conformity but also a spiritual affinity with          can justify  rs to shun it and to abandon it to evil
 that law, but above these it means that the righteous practitioners.
 law-giver also demands restitution for all past trans-                  Perhaps, however, some have  onIy  the gifts neces-
 gressions and disruption of His creation and ordin- sary for casting an intelligent vote or recording our
 ances. And by that token the answer must turn to an disapproval to  pobcies or persons.
 emphatic No ! Scriptures prescription for a perfect                     However, in Scripture the emphasis falls rather on


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE?ARER                                                       99

that part of our social calling which is limited to our bond of matrimony that it seems impossible to ever
immediate surroundings.                                      remove the envy, jealousy, estrangement and to again
    It is in the more intimate relations of life that become a reflection of the life of heaven. But God
Scripture pictures our new walk in holiness. There demands it.
are the relations of husband and wife, parent and child,           Per,haps an employer has become so entangled in
brother and sister, master and servant, pastor and his methods of greed and his enterprise has grown up
flock.                                                       so lopsided, that he finds it wellnigh  impossible ever to
    In these relations it is that the love of God restores adjust his business to the rights of his employees.
all things.                                                  Yet God demands it.
    In principle the relation of husband and wife is               Offhand I may not know what is a fair wage for
restored and controlled by the word of Christ so my faithful servant, much less for yours. But love,
that it becomes increasingly stabile and harmonious, spiritual love is able to move mountains and will supply
yea, a reflection of the relation of Christ and His the answer.
church.                                                            I do not know offhan,d when to foreclose a mortgage
    So the relation of parent and child is controlled by or to declare bankruptcy, but if the law of God is
the law and love of God until the implications and seriously consulted in love, the action will be one of
extent of that authority becomes increasingly plain perfect social righteousness.
and effective. In the light of God's law authority be-             The parent may not know how and when to  re-
comes less of arbitrary imposition and caprice, and linguish strict supervision over his growing son, nor
continually more evident that parental authority is when to say yes or no, but spiritual love in the light
derived from God, that commands or prohibitions are of ,God's  perfect revelation will yield an act of perfect
not the expression  of' parental caprice but an  expres-     social adjustment. And indeed throughout the remedy
sion of the will of God through the parent for the           is as rich  and effective as the social relations are
physical, mental, spiritual development of the image various and intricate. Here the perfect society  ap-
of God in him, and as such His commands have the pears only in principle. Here it is a matter of faith in
sanction of God Himself and are corroborated by His Him who established it.
testimony of His Spirit in the heart through nature                As yet it is for us impeded and delayed by a world
and Scripture.                                               and a dispensation that lies under the curse.
    So the relation of master and servant is sanctified,           But He who has said "Ye are the salt of the earth"
causing the servant to fill his position not with eye has also the power to realize His Word.
service as, a man-pleaser but conscious that it is his             Today He is the King of perfect righteousness and
God-ordained  pIace in a God-ordained civilization and that righteousness includes the right and power to
world-order ; and the master will treat his servant  ,in cause this dispensation to pass away by a last great
the consciousness that it is a God-ordained relation wonder of grace, ,and then He shall manifest a new
w.herein  he as a faithful steward can obtain  labor-        world restored in righteousness where the righteous
power for his sanctified enterprise, meanwhile  provid-      shall dwell. .                                    A. Petter.
ing a means for the servant to gain the necessities of                                     . -
life.IOf course, our first reaction is to say that these                       WEDDING  ANNIVERSiRY
things are easier said than done. Yet how reasonable                                    1 9 0 0 - 1940
this demand is even by the most crude standards of                 On November 16, 1940, the Lord willin~g,  our dear parents,
justice !                                                                               JOHN HAMSTRA
                               F
    Is it not most unreasonable to shrug our shoulders                                         and
and say "Well, you try it once and see how far you                            HILDA HAMSTRA-Van  Zingel
get".                                                        hope to  commemorate  their 40th  Weddmg  Anniversary.
    Is it reasonable to spend the greater span of our              We extend to them our sincere congratulations and pray
life destroying society or civilization and then refusing that the Lard may continue to bless them and to spare them
to give equal time to its restoration. Has a capitalist for each other and for us for many years to come.
who has spent forty years in profiteering and accumul-                                  Their grateful children:
ating millions, so unbalancing the social structure, a                                       Mr. and Mrs. Martin Riekse
reasonable right to dismiss his task by saying, That                                         Mr. and Mrs. Harm Hamstra
is easier said than done? Is it not reason that he                                           Mr. and Mrs. Peter Hamstra
should spend another forty years in equally intense                                          Mr. and Mrs. Orie Hamstra
effort to restore the ills. (IIn fact, of course, he will                                    Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Hamstra
be held to that to all eternity).                                                            Mr. and Mrs. John Lugtigheid
   And so it is with all social relations. Perhaps .a         1                              Mr. and Mrs. Arthur  Ondersma
mn  and wife have so long played havoc with the holy         Grand Rapids,  Mich.  .         John Junior Hamstra.


                                                                       gates, her princes, her law and her prophets.
         `Unto  Them That Mourn In Zion                                                                                 This was
                                                                       Israel's glory.
                                                                          What is more worthless, inglorious and sightless
                To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give       than an ash-heap ? Behold Israel! Her palaces are
              unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourn-    swallowed up. Her tabernacle hath been taken away,
              ing, the garment of praise for the spirit of heavi-      as if it were a garden. The places of her assembly
              ness; that they might be called trees of righteous-      *have been destroyed. The Lord hath caused the solemn
              ness, the planting of the Lord that he might be          feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion. He hath
              glorified.                                               cast off His altar, and abhorred His sanctuary. The
        The prophet ,here depicts the beauty, joy and con-             walls of Jerusalem's palaces have been given up in the
secration  of the church of God. There will be beauty,                 hanlds of the enemy. Her gates are sunken into the
oil of joy and a garmefit  of praise'given  to them that               ground. Her bars are broken. Her kings and princes
mourn in Zion. The language employed is symbolic are among the gentiles.  T.he law is no more. Ner
and points to the typical priest of the Old Covenant,                  prophets find no vision from the Lord. The elders of
to the robes in which he officiated before the face of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and keep
Jehovah. For Aaron and his sons were made, so we silent.
read, coats of fine linen of woven work and a mitre                       And the lovers of Zion mourn. Their spirits are
of fine linen, and goodly bonnets of fine linnen, and heavy. Their eyes fail with tears. But they weep not
linen breaches of fine twined linen, and a girdle of fine              for themselves but for their sins. They say, We have
twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of rebelled against His commandments.                           The Lord is
needlework ; as the Lord commanded Moses. Then there                   righteous. Their grief springs not from despair. For
was the oil of holy ointment with which Aaron and his they say, The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; there-
sons were anointed, that they might minister unto the fore will ,I hope in the Lord.
Lord in the priests  office. A holy oil it was that might,                Ashes! Let them speak to us of the curse of God
be poured on no man's flesh save that of the priests.                  that began to stalk over the earth, when our first
        These mourners in Zion then are priests. "But ye parents, giving ear to the slander of the serpent,
shall be named the priests of the Lord," said the pro- disobey&d the commandment of God ; let them speak to
phet to these mourners; "men shall call you the minis- us of the loss of our original spiritual beauty, of the
ters of our God: . . . . Being priests, they will be                   trespasses and sin in which we are conceived and born,
vested in the priestly robe and anointed with the holy of our depravity, of our worthlessness and uglyness in
oil.                                                                   the sight of the Holy God. W'hat is more unlovely than
        But why do these priests mourn? why are their ashes ! And let us, at the hearing of this speech, cast
spirits heavy? 4nd what meaneth those ashes? The                       dust upon our heads and gird ourselves with sackcloth.
Lord hath covered the daughter of Zion with a clould                   And let us weep for our sins. And let us say with the
in His anger, and cast down from heaven unto earth                     prophet, "The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled
the beauty of Israel, swallowed up all the habitations ,against  His commandments."
of Jacob, thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of                     But let us also lift up our heads and say, His  com-
the daughter 02 Judah, polluted the kingdom, cut off passions fail not. They are new every morning. For
in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel, bent His bow               unto them that mourn in Zion will be given beauty for
like an enemy, stood with His right hand as an adver- ashes, the oil of gladness for mourning, the garment. of
sary, and slew all that  iYere  pleasant to the eye in the praise for the spirit of heaviness.
tabernacle of the daughter of Zion. He poured out His                     Beauty will be given them, not the outward beauty
fury like a fire.                                                      of the typical priest, not the beauty of ,an outward
        Why ,hath the Lord so dealt with His people? Jeru- material robe, but the beauty of the robe of righteous-
salem hath grievously sinned. Her filthiness is in her ness and salvation  with which the Lord will clothe
skirts. She had forsaken the law of the Lord, which them, thus the beauty that is the effulgence of holiness
He set before them, and has not obeyed His voice, but in the inward parts, the beauty of true health of a man
has walked after the imagination of her own heart,                     washed from all his sin in the biood of Christ and in
and after Balaam.                                                      whose heart has been shed abroad the love of God and
        Ashes ! What are they? The residue of substance upon whose being, heart, mind and will God has im-
remaining after subjection to red-heat. To the heat of pressed His name. It is thus the beauty of the life hid-
God's  anger  Israel has been subjected. i?or he sinned. den with Christ in God, and that appears when mem-
And in the cloud of His anger the glory departed. And bers which are upon the earth are crucified.                      It is the
Israel's glory was his palaces, his strongholds, God's                 beauty of the new man, renewed in knowledge after
tabernacle, His solemn feasts and Sabbaths, His altar the image of Him that created him. It is the beauty
and His sanctuary, the king and the priest that made that is the  flower  of  the righteousness of Christ in
atonement for sin, the walls of Jerusalem's palaces, her them that mourn in Zion, and the flower of this  right-


                                        T.RE   S T A N D A R D   BBAR~~

 eousness is the bowels of mercies, kindness, humble-
 ness of mind, meekness, longsuffering that t.hey who                    The Levitcal Priesthood
 mourn in sin put on.
    And the beauty of these mourners is  ZFon's beauty,          Holiness, as was brought out (in previous articles)
 Zion's righteousness, and the beauty of Zion's right- was one of the properties of the Levitical priest-
 eousness is destined to go forth as brightness, and the      hood-of Aaron in particular, of his family of priest,
 beauty of her salvation as a lamp that burneth. Then and, in the final instance of the tribe of Levi, selected
 all the gentiles shall see her righteousness, and all keep by the Lord to perform the service at the tabernacle.
her glory.                                                    However, a distinction must be made here between
    To the mourners in Zion will be given the oil of joy. Aaron in his capacity of priest and Aaron's person as
There is reason for joy. Zion has been redeemed with such. The character of Aaron's holiness as priest was
judgment and her converts with righteousness. Zion's solely ceremonial, symbolical-typical. It was this as
children have been crucified with Christ, buried with the office of priest with which he was vested, was solely
 Him, raised with him, and with Him set in heaven. symbolical-typical.             The truth of this statement is
There is then a heavenly, a heavenly kingdom, to be           born out by the how of God's sanctifying him, that is,
inherited by them that mourn in Zion. Heirs of God of His separating him from the common sphere and
are they and co-heirs of Christ.                             of His dedicating him to His,  aGod's service, and to
    And the joy given these mourners springs from the Himself.          The Lord sanctified Aaron through His
certain knowledge that they belong to Christ, their washing him through the agency of Moses, with water,
faithful Saviour, that with Him their life is hi.dden  in through His anointing him with the oil of consecration,
,God, that when Christ appears they will appear with through his sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifice
Him in glory and come into the actual possession of the and of the anointing oil upon Aaron and his garments,
kingdom, into the possession of their reward.                through his preparing for him a body free from every
    Thus they have joy. But this joy is not of them. physical blemish and deformity and endowed with
It is a gift of the Spirit of Christ, the oil with which natural strength, thus, in a word, through His render-
they are anointed, they being priests unto God. And ing Aaron symbolically clean, pure and sinless. Aaron's
Him do they praise, and their praise too is the gar- symbolical sinlessness was thus his cleansed body-
ments that He gives. Of themselves they do not praise, cleansed in the holy water and in the blood of the
cannot. praise, but only revile His name, they being by animal that had symbolically atoned the guilt of all
nature dead in sin. But He clothes them with praise his sins through its suffering and dying. And Aaron
as with a garment, and they bless His name, declare was also commanded to be holy, to sanctify himself,
His glories, magnify their Redeemer,. God.                   *which he did (symbolically) through his refraining
    The reason that this praise is called a garment is from defiling himself for the dead among his brethren
not that it issues not from their hearts, but the reason and from mutilating his body. In addition he was
is that it originates not in them but in God who re- clothed with beautiful garments ; and the beauty of
deemed them.                                                 these garments was the effulgence,- the brightness, of
    Thus will He adorn them who mourn in Zion that his symbolical purity. There is then a close connection
they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting between holiness and purity.
of the Lord, that He may be glorified.                          But Aaron's duty was not merely to sanctify him-
    The tree in Scripture is the symbol of durability, of self symbolically, but also to bring himself forward
that which cannot be moved. The mourners are there- as the living realization of the grace of God which he,
fore called trees.                                           in his capacity of symbolical priest,- symbolized. His
    They shall never be moved, as they are righteous.        calling was also to be holy in the true sense. W,hat is
But their righteousness is not of them. Christ is their true holiness? True holiness must be looked for first
righteousness.    They are planting of the Lord, and         in God. God is holy, that is, he is separated from the
therefore He, not they, will be  gIorified.      G. M. 0.    creature and thus also from sin and is wholly devoted
                                                             to self. Being what He is, holy God, He sanctifies
                                                             His people in Christ. He separates them from the
                                                             terrene of sin, from the world that lieth in darkness
                         ERRATA                              and consecrates them wholly to Himself. This He does
The following errors have occurred in the numbering through His redeeming His people from all their sins
of the S. B. issues, which may be worthy of attention        in Christ and making them partakers of His divine
to facilitate future reference :                             nature. And He commands them that they sanct?fy
Issue of June 1, 1940 is marked 16, should be 17.            themselves by His mercy, which they do through their
Aug.  1 is marked 19, should be 20.                          mortifying their members which are on the earth.
Sept.  1 is marked 20, should be 21.                            Aaron was ,holy  aIso in this true sense. He is called
Issue 3 and 3 of Vol.  XVII are marked Vol. XVI.             in Scripture the Saint of God. The priesthood and the


92                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   "BEADER

whole tribe of Levi (as to its elect neucleus)  was holy the rock, and there came water out of it that the people
in this true sense. Fact is that in the years preceding might drink. 4nd Moses called the name of the place
its consecration to the service at the sanctuary, it had    Massah and Meribah, because of the chiding of the
surpassed all the others in holy zeal for God's cove-       people of Israel and because they .tempted the Lord,
nant. Scripture makes special mention of this. At Mal. saying, Is the Lord among us or not. A similar upris-
2:1-Q', the tribe of Levi is singled out as a family with ing of the people is recorded in Num. 22. The people
whom was the covenant of God. The passage reads, of Israel had come into the desert of Zin. .And there
"My covenant was with him (Levi) of life and peace; was no water. Again the people uttered against Moses
and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he and Aaron a hard speech.  T,he Lord, having heard,
feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law commanded Moses to speak to the rock in the eyes of
of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found the people, adding that it should give its water. Moses
in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity,         was furiously angry with the people. Instead of speak-
and did turn many away from iniquity." This is a ing to the rock, he in his great rage smote it, because
remarkable testimony which the Lord here gives of he was unwilling at that moment to fetch them water
Levi. A similar testimony is given of this tribe at         out of it. Nevertheless the water came out abundantly.
Deut. 33 :8-11, "And of Levi, he (Moses, engaged at the Thus he had believed not "the Lord to sanctify Him in
close of his career in blessing the twelve tribes) said,    the eyes of the people." And then we read, "This is
Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with the holy one, the water of Meribah (strife) ; because the children of
whom thou didst prove at  Massah and with whom Israel did strive with the Lord and He was sanctified in
thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; who said them.". There can be no doubt that both these strivings
unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him;     -the one at Rephidim and the other in the wilderness
neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his of Zin-are referred to, because in their connection
own children: for they have observed thy word,              they were adopted to denote the beginning and the
and kept thy covenant. They shall teach Jacob thy end and therefore the whole of the murmurings of
judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense the children of Israel during the time of their residence
before thee, and whole burnt-sacrifice upon thy altar. in the wilderness. Now it is to these strivings that
Bless, Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his the clause, "with whom thou didst strive at the waters
hands: smite through the loins of them that rise of Meribah"- a clause contained in the above-cited
against him, and of them that hate him, that  they rise blessing pronounced upon Levi-has reference. And
not again." That this blessing has reference not only the thought conveyed is that at  Massah and Meribah,
to the priests but to the entire tribe is clear from the the Lord proved Levi (in his generation as narrowed
statement that "They shall teach Jacob thy judg- down to Moses and Aaron) and strove with them,-
ments. . .  ." The common Levites were also the tea- strove with Moses in particular, because in his great
chers of the law in Israel.                                 anger-an anger that was kindled by the murmuring
      Excellent things is here said of Levi. "Let thy of the people of Israel-he had refused to fetch them
Thummim and thy Urim be with the holy one." The water out of the rock. Now this anger of Aaron,
holy one signifies not God but Levi. The word found         Moses, (Levi) was sinful and is thus to be denounced.
in the original is grace  (chesed).   clt is Levi who Yet there was also a bright side to it. tIt betokened
comes into view here as the participator in the grace the greatness of Moses' (Levi's) zeal, did this anger,
of God. The address, uttered by Moses is directed to this passion of impatience. Levi (Moses and Aaron)
God, "Let 0 Lord thy Thummim and Thy Urim be could not endure that the people should rebel against
with Levi, the gracious one."      The Urim and the God. Some prefer to understand the clause as refer-
Thummim were instruments through which the Lord ing to the people and thus read, "With whom, that is,
gave guidance to His servants in times of stress. It with Moses and Aaron, thou, people of Israel, didst
was attached to the official dress of the highpriest. strive, quarrel, and whom thou did& prove, provoke
Here in all likelihood the two words are used as com- to anger by thy murmurings." But this construction
mon nowns and denote the knowledge of the law. The is too arbitrary. It is with Aaron that God had a
address continues, "Whom (namely, Levi) thou didst controversy. Now it is certain that the holy fire that
prove at Massah  and with whom thou didst strive at flamed in Moses' soul and in the soul of Aaron con-
the waters of Meribah. This is a historical reference sumed the whoIe  tribe of Levi. For the address con-
to Israel's tempting God at the two places mentioned tinues, "Who, namely, Levi, in his generations, said
-a tempting, recorded in Ex. 17 and Num. 22.                unto his father and his mother, I have not seen him ;
The people of Israel, having journeyed from the wilder- neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew
ness of Zin, had pitched at Rephidim. There was no his children." That this statement in its application
water there for the people to drink. And the people must not be confined to a single individual is evident
murmured against Moses and Moses cried unto the from this that the speaker in the sequence embraces the
Lord. In obedience to the command of God, he smote whole Levitical order, when he says, "They have ob-


                                      T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                               93

served (guarded) thy word, and kept thy covenant." Moses. A terrible retribution. Yes, but not more ter-
Levi denied the strongest natural ties when the inter- rible than the sin by which it had been called forth.
ests of Jehovah were concerned. Levi then said to These sons of Levi loved Jehovah more than their own
his father and his mother, "I have not seen him. . . ." kin, more than their own lives. They were thus worthy
Notable examples of Levi's zeal here described, are of His mercy. They keep God's covenant. Thus,
found at Ex. 32 :26 sq. ; Num. 25 :7 sq. ; and Lev. 1 :lJ.    quoting once more the blessing of Moses pronounced
Let us attend briefly to each of these cases.                 upon this tribe, "they shall teach Jacob thy judgments,
   Moses was in the mountain with the Lord. The in- and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee,
structions he was being given concern the ark and the and whole burnt sacrifice upon thy altar." So did the
tabernacle and its service. While these instructions sons of Levi on that day bring upon them a blessing.
were being  give&n, the people camped in the plain turned And the Lord blessed Levi's substance and the work
to the idol. Thus even while the Lord was instructing         of his hands.
Moses to prepare for Him the things that were needful            Another case of Levi's loyalty to Jehovah is found
for His residence in their midst, they began to clamor at Num  25:6.   While the people of Israel abode at
for gods that were no gods'. "Up, make us gods," Shittim, they committed whoredom with the daughters
they say to Aaron. Aaron yields and soon the people of  Motib. And the anger of the Lord was kindled
are whirling in mad  cirdes about a golden calf, as           against His people. Moses commanded the judges to
they shout, "these be thy gods, 0 Israel, which brought slay every one of his men that were joined unto  BaaI-
thee out of the land of Egypt." And the proclamation peor. And the people of Israel wept before the door
of Aaron was that on the morrow there would be a of the tabernacle. And while they wept, one Israelitish
feast unto the Lord. And on the morrow they rose up man was so bold as to bring in the sight of the whole
early, and offered burnt offerings and brought peace congregation and in the sight of Moses a Midianitish
offerings.    Thus the rites of the true religion were woman into the camp. It was Phineas, the grandson
preserved. And they danced with Jehovah's name of Aaron, who, seeing it, rose up and went after the
upon their lips. For it was a feast unto the Lord! man into  .his tent and slew both the man and the
What mockery. A great sin was being committed. woman.
Jehovah had just taken the nation to Himself in the              ,In the light of these events, it is plain that a
blood of the sacrifice. The covenant had just been great change must have taken place in Levi during the
ratified. The Lord sees and hears all. He tells Moses sojourn of the people of Israel in Egypt. For during
to get him down from the mountain. Arriving at the the patriarchal period, Levi was possessed of a wholly
scene of their pagan feasting, he without a word lays different spirit. But during the Egyptian period, this
hold on their idol, and burns it with fire. What is left tribe must have been raised around Aaron to a high
he crushes between stones until it is fine dust. This spiritual plain.
dust he cast into the brook that flowed from the moun-           The statement was just made that Levi, and we
tain, and bade the people to drink their god. And as to now speak of the father of the tribe, was possessed
the people, instead of humbling themselves and re- of a wholly different spirit during the patriarchal age.
penting of their great sin, they so carried on, it must be In the words of the dying prophet (Jacob), Simeon
that Moses perceived that they had no intention of and Levi were brethren; instruments of cruelty were
again permitting themselves to be bound by the re- in their habitations. He bids his soul to come not in
straints of God's law. There were signs of a general          their secret, for in their anger they slew a man, and in
uprising on the part of the people. So it  was again          their  seIfwil1 they digged down a wall. He curses
time for the sternest action. So taking his stand in their anger (but not Levi), for it was fierce ; and their
the gate of the camp, Moses says, "Who is on tile Lord's      wrath, for it was cruel.
side, come to me." "And" so we read, "all the sons of            The utterance has reference to the treachery of
Levi gathered themselves together unto him."  The Levi (and Simeon), which he perpetrated against the
rest refused to come. They were thus for the idol,            Shechemites. The wrath which had led to the slaugter
against Jehovah. So they now openIy  declared through of these men, was carnal. It was not, as to its essence,
their not coming to Moses. But all the sons of Levi           love of God's covenant but family pride, as is evident
came. Turning now to these sons, Moses addressed from what they said in defence  of their atrocious deed.
them as follows, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,          "Sha!l he deal with our sister as with a harlot?" Yet,
put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out it was through this wrath of Levi that the Lord at that
from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay jcncture of sacred history preserved His covenant.
every man his brother, .and every man his companion, For the proposal of Shechem was to the effect  that the
and every man his neighbor. Fill your hand today for tribe which  be represented and the family of Jacob be
Jehovah; for every one against his son and against            one.    Had this proposal been accepted, the promise
his brother, and to bring a blessing upon you this day." could not have been  fuIfilIed,-the promise, "unto  thee
And the sons of Levi did according to the word of and unto  thy seed will I give this land. . . ."

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

      Thus it appears that through the years preceding to which He belonged, the appearance and acts of the
the actual elevation of Levi to the position of priestly young Nazarene, who had assumed and exercised such
tribe, the Lord was spiritually  qr;r,lifying  this tribe for an authority within the courts of the temple, and when
this position. At the time of this elevation, which challenged had given such an unsatisfactory reply, had
took place after the deliverance from the bondage of excited nothing but distrust and antipathy, however,
Egypt and at Sinai, Levi was known among the tribes            in which he did not, could not share. He could not
as excelling in holy zeal. And so it had to be in order concur with those who spake of Him as an ignorant
that the service of God might be rightly esteemed.             rustic, a mere blind zealot, whom a fit of fanaticism
                                             G. M. 0.          had driven to do what He did in the temp!e;  still less
                                                               could he agree with those who spake of Him as an
                                                               imposter, a deceiver of the people. We do not know
                                                               what words of' Christ he heard, what' acts of His he
                                                               witnessed ; but the impression had come upon him,
                                                               whencesoever it came, that He was altogether different
                                                               from what his fellow-rulers were disposed to believe.
                                                               Could this indeed be the man of whom John spake so
And There Was A Man Of The Pharisees much; could this indeed be the Christ, the Messiah for
                                                               whom so many were longing? If it was, what new
                       JOHN 3 :1-Z                             and higher truths would He unfold, what a glorious
                                                               kingdom would He usher in ! Restless and unsatisfied
      Christ's first visit to Jerusalem, after His baptism,    with things as they were, all his Pharisaistic strictness
appears to have been a brief one  ; not longer, perhaps,       in the keeping of the law having failed to quiet his
than that usually paid by those who went up to the             conscience, and give comfort to his heart, Nicodemus
Passover.      Besides the cleansing of the temple He was looking about and longing for further light. Per-
wrought some miracles which are left unrecorded, but haps this stranger who has come to Jerusalem, may be
which we may believe were of the same kind as His              able to help him. He may be poor and mean, a Galilean
subsequent ones, and these were  genera!ly miracles of by birth, without official rank or authority ; but what of
healing. Many believed on Him when they saw these that, if He be really what He seems, one clothed with
miracles performed; believed on Him as a  wonder-              a Divine commission ; what of that, if He can quench
worker, as a man who had the great power of God at in any way his thirst of heart and soul which burns
His command ; but their faith scarcely went further, within? If he could be seen by Him alone, Jesus would
involved in it little or no recognition of His true char-      surely lay aside that reserve which he appeared to
acter and office. Although they ,believed  in Him, Jesus maintain, and instruct him fully as to the mysteries
did not believe in them (for it is the same word which of the coming kingdom. But how could such a private
is used in the two cases). Knowing what was in them, interview be brought about. He might send for Him ;
as He knew what was in all men, undeceived by appear- and sent for by one in his position, Jesus might not
ance or profession, He entered into no close or friendly refuse to come. But then it would be noised abroad
relations with them; made no hasty or premature dis-           that he had been entertaining the Nazarene in his
covery of Himself.                                             dwelling. Or he might go to Him when He was teach-
      But there was one man to whom He did commit              ing in public, but then it would be seen and known of
himself on the occasion of this first and short residence      all men that he had paid Him an open mark of respect.
in Jerusalem, to whom He did make such a discovery             He was`not prepared to face either of these alterna-
of himself, as we shall presently see He never made to tives ; he was too timid, thought too much of what his
any other person in the whole course of His ministry.          companions and friends and the general pubhc  of the
This was a man of the Pharisees, one of the sect that          city might think or say. Yet he is to eager to throw
became the most bitter persecutors of Christ; a ruler,         the chance away. He must see Jesus, and as `his fears
too, of the Jews, a man well educated, of good position        keep him from going to or sending for Him by day, he
and in high office ; a member of the Sanhedrin. He goes by night, breaks in upon His retirement, asks and
was one of the body that not long ago had sent the             obtains the audience.
deputation down to the Jordan to inquire about the                 There was something wrong, no doubt, in his choos-
Baptist. He knew all about John's ministry, about his ing such a time and way for the interview. It would
announcing that the kingdom of God was at hand, that shave been a manlier, a more heroic thing for him to
there was one coming after him who was to baptize have braved all danger and risen above all fear of man.
not with water but with the Holy Ghost. He had been But whatever blame' we may choose on this ground
wondering what this ministry of John "could mean, to attach to Nicodemus, let it not obscure our percep-
when Jesus appeared in the city, cleansed the temple, tion of his obvious honesty and earnestness, his intense
wrought those miracles. He saw that among the class desire for further enlightenment, his willingness to  re-


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                          96

  ceive instruction. He came by night, but he was the some material for reply, and taking it in its literal
  only one of his order who came at all. He came by          sense, he says: "How can a man be born again when
  night, but it was not to gratify an idle curiosity, but in he is old, old as I am? Can he enter the second time
  the disquiet of a half-awakened conscience to seek for into his mother's womb, and be born?" The wise and
  peace. Rabbi, he says, as soon as he finds himself in      gentle Teacher in whose hands he now is, takes no
  Christ's presence. He salutes Him with all respect. notice of the folly or petulance of the remark. He re-
  The Rabbis of the temple would have scorned the            peats what He had said, modifying, however, His ex-
  claim of one so young in years, unknown in any of          pression, so that Nicodemus could not fail to see of
  their schools, who had given no proof of his acquaint- what kind of second birth it was that He was speaking,
  ance with their laws and their  traditins,-to  be re-      "Verily, verily, :I say unto you, except a man be born
  garded as one of them. But the ruler in all likelihood of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
  by many years Christ's senior, and one who on the          kingdom of God."
  other grounds might have counted on being the saluted         Had Nicodemus only had time at first to collect his
  rather than the saluter, does not hesitate to address thoughts, he would have remembered that it was no
  .Him thus: "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher new term, framed now for the first time,. that Jesus
  come from God: for no man can do these miracles that had been employing in speaking of a second birth; it
  thou doest except God be with him." He shows at being a proverbial expression with his countrymen
  once his respect, his candor, his intelligence, and his    wfth reference to those who became proselytes to the
  faith. He; does not doubt that those are real miracles     Jewish faith, and were admitted as such into the
  which Jesus had been working ; he is ready to trace to Jewish community, that they were as men new-born.
  its true source the power employed in their accomplish- The outward mode of admitting such proselytes to the
' ment; he is prepared at once to acknowledge that the       enjoyment of Jewish privileges was by baptism, by
  worker of such miracles must be one sent and sancti- washing with water. John had adopted this rite, and
  fied by God. In saying so, he knows that he is saying by demanding that all Jews should be baptized with
  more than perhaps any other man of his station in the baptism of repentance, as a preparation on their
  Jerusalem would be ready to say. He thinks that he         part for the coming of the kingdom, he had in fact
  says enough to win for himself a favorable reception. already proclaimed, that, as every heathen man be-
  Yet, he is speaking far below the truth, much under        came as a new man on entering into the commonwealth
  his half-formed conceptions and beliefs. It is but as a of Israel, so every Jewish man must become a new man
  teacher, not as a prophet, much less the great prophet,    before entering into that new kingdom which the
  that he addresses Jesus.                                   Messiah was to introduce and establish. It was vir-
     O,ne might have expected that, having addressed tually to symbolize  t.he importance and necessity of re-
  him as such, he would go on to put the questions to        pentance-that change of mind and heart which form-
  which he presumed that such a teacher could give re- ed the burden of his preaching, as a qualification in all
  plies. But he pauses, perhaps imagining that, gratified candidates  for admission into the kingdom-that John
  by such a visit, pleased at being saluted thus by one came baptizing with water. But he took great pains
  of the rulers, Jesus will salute him in return, and save to inform his hearers that, while he baptized with
  him the trouble of inquiry by making some disclosures      water, there was one coming immediately, who was to
  of the new doctrine which as a teacher sent from God, baptize with the Holy Ghost. Was it likely than, or
  He had come to teach; or by telling him something          we may say, was it possible that, when Nicodemus
  more of the new kingdom which so many were expect- now heard Jesus say, "Except a man be born of water
  ing to see set up. How surprised he must have been and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
  when so abruptly, yet so solemnly, without  .exchange      God," he could fail to perceive the allusion to the water
  of salutation or word of preface, Jesus says, "Verily,     of baptism of John and the Spirit baptism of the
  verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again,        Messiah ?
  he cannot see the kingdom of God." Such a man as              In common with all his countrymen, Nicodemus
  Nicodemus could scarcely have been so stupid as to         had assumed that, be it what it might, come how or
  believe that, in speaking of being born again, Jesus       when it might, the Messianic Kingdom would be one
  meant a second birth of the body. He is so  discon-        within which their very birth as Jews would entitle
  cerned,  however, disappointed, perplexed, besides be- them to be ranked. The popular delusion John had
  ing perhaps a little irritated, by both the manner and already, by his baptism and his teaching, done some-
  the substance of the grave, emphatic utterance- one        thing to rectify. The full truth was reserved for Jesus
  which, however general in its terms, was obviously to proclaim, and He does it now to Nicodemus. This
  spoken with direct and personal reference-that, in         master in Israel had come to Jesus to be taught; let
  his confusion, he seizes upon the expression as the only him ~know then that it is not a new doctrine, but a
  one that had as yet conveyed any definite idea to his new life which Jesus had come to proclaim and to im-
  mind. *4s affording him some ground of exception, part. It is not by knowing so much, or believing in

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

such truths, or practising  such duties that a man is of it. First, however, a gentle rebuke must be given:
to qualify himself for becoming a subject of the spirit-      Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these
ual kingdom of Jesus Christ. First of all, as a neces- things? Hast thou forgotten' all that is written in
sary preliminary, he must be born again ; born of the         the book of the law and in the prophets, about the com-
Spirit, have spiritual life imparted, before he can see       ing of those days in which the Lord will pour out His
so as to apprehend its real nature, before he can enter       Spirit upon all flesh; about the new covenant that the
so as to partake of its true privileges,. the kingdom of Lord will then enter into with His people, one of those
God. This kingdom is not an outward or a national             two great provisions was to be this: "I will give them
one. It is a kingdom exclusively of the new-born-of a heart, and I will put a new Spirit within you ; and I
those who have been begotten of the Spirit-of those           will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will
who have been born again, not of blood, nor of the            give them a heart of flesh?"  (Ezech.  11:19). What
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. For that           had so often and so long beforehand been thus spoken
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is .of was now about to be executed. The Spirit of God
born of the Spirit is spirit.                                 was waiting to do His gracious work, in begetting
    A mystic thing it looks to Nicodemus, this second         many sons and daughters to the Lord. Let Nicodemus
birth,-this birth of the Spirit; secret, invisible, im-       be assured of this, on the testimony of one whose know-
palpable; its origin and issues hidden, remote. Marvel ledge of the"spirit-world was immediate and complete.
not, says Jesus, at its mysteriousness. The night is He had spoken very confidently of his knowledge of
quiet around you, not a sound of bending branch or            Jesus. We know he had said, Thou art a teacher sent
rustling leaf comes from the neighbormg  wood but now from God. Let him listen now to words of equal con-
the air is stirred as by an invisible hand; the sigh of fidence, which no mere-human teacher, though he were
the night-breeze comes through the  .beuding  branches even sent by God, could well, upon such a subject, have
and rustling leaves; you hear the sound, but who can employed : "VeriIy,  verily, $1 say unto thee, we speak
take you to that breeze's birthplace, and show  yau           that we know, and testify that we have seen ; and ye
where and how it was begotten ; who can carry you receive not our witness." This work of the Spirit `in
to its place of sepulchre, and show you where and             regenerating is connected with another-my own-in
how it died? Not that the wind-the air in motion,-            redeeming. The one is but an earthly operation ; a
is a wit more willful or capricious, or less obedient         work performed within men's soul ; but the other, how
to fixed laws than any other elements, or is chosen           high have you to rise to trace to its source ; how far
upon that account to represent the operations of God's to go to  fohow  it to its issues? "If I have told you
Spirit on the  souls of men. All its movements are            these earthy things, and ye believe not, how shall ye
fured and orderly ; but as the movements of an invisible      believe if I tell you of heavenly things."
agent, they elude our observation; nor if you sought             "And yet who can speak of these heavenly things
for a material- emblem of the hiddenness with which as I do? You take me, Nicodemus, to be a teacher sent
the Holy Spirit works, could you find in the whole            from God, perhaps you might even acknowledge me as
creation one more apt than that which Jesus used,             a prophet; but know me that I am no other than He,
when He said to Nicodemus, "The wind bloweth where            the Son of God, the Son of. man, coming down from
it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst     heaven, ascending to heaven, but leaving not heaven
not tell whence it  cometh or whither it goeth: so is behind me in my descent, bringing it along with me;
every one that is born of the Spirit."                        while here on earth, being stiI1 in heaven, "No man,
   Already a dim apprehension of that for'which  he           I say unto thee, hath ascended up to heaven, but He
was being apprehended of Christ has begun to dawn that came down from heaven, even the Son of man
upon Nicodemus. He receives the truth as affirmed by          which is in heaven'."
Jesus as to the necessity of the new birth. He begins            And .having  thus proclaimed the ground and cer-
even to understand something as to its nature. Yet tainty of His knowledge of a11 the' earthly and all the
a haze still hangs over it. He wonders and he doubts, heavenly things pertaining to the kingdom, Jesus goes
-giving expression to his feelings in the question,           on to preach His own Gospel beforehand to Nicodemus,
"How can these things be?"                                    taking the lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness,
   If. Christ's answer may be taken as the best inter-        as the type to illustrate His own approaching lifting
pretation of this question. Nicodemus was now troub-          up on the cross, declaring this to be the great and
ling himself not so much either with the nature or gracious design of His death, that whosoever believeth
the necessity of the new birth, as with the manner of in Him might not perish but have eternal life: "For
its accomplishment; the kind of instrumentality by God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
which so great an inward change was to be effected;           Son  ; that whosoever  believeth  in Him should not
for, read  aright, our Lord's reply is not only a descrip-    perish, but have everlasting life."
tion of that instrumentality, but an actual employment                                                      G. M.. 0.


