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

                                                             the C.L.A. already referred to. The sense of the
                                                             paragraph in the "Testimony" is, evidently, that our
                   E d i t o r i a,l s                       men shall use their influence in the C.L.A. in order, if
                                                             possbble,  to have the objectionable elements removed.

             The C. L. A. and Strikes
       In its "Testimony" with regard to membership of          One of the objections we have against the stand
worldly unions the Consistory of the First Protestant of the C.L.A. is against their view on the justifiability
Reformed Church of Grand Rapids also inserted the of the strike.
following paragraph  :                                          It is our conviction that a Christian Labor Organi-
       "In view of the present industrial conditions, the    zation must take the stand that all force employed to
gigantic corporations and mass production; the Con- gain, our end must be condemned, and that, therefore,
sistory recognizes the fact that the individual laborer such an organization must dare to declare  openIy  that
can hardly have a position and collective bargaining it will never strike.
and organization are often necessary. And, therefore,           But the existing C.L.A., afraid  thbat it will  yam
although we cannot in every respect agree with the nothing if it takes that stand, tries to defend the posi-
existing C.L.A., we would advise you to support. it and tion that the strike is  justifiabl,e.
use your influence with that organization".                     Of this we  .were  forcibly reminded by an editorial
       A few parties exp.ressed  their disagreement with     in  The Christian Labor Herald  of February, 1941.
this advice of the Consistory.                                  With the position taken in that article we differ.
       They seem to think that the  Con&story  in this And in order to make plain why we take issue with the
paragraph tries to take a position of compromise.            writer on the question of strikes, we propose to dis-
       One expressed the judgment  qthat the position taken cuss the matter by following him in his argumentation
,in the above paragraph is  in direct conflict with what step by step.
was written a  few  years ago in  The Standard Bearer           We quote:
about the C.L.A.
       This last opinion is certainly incorrect.                "The right of man as an individual to stop working
   Let us analyze the paragraph from the "Testimony". under certain conditions  ,has been quite generally ac-
It contains three  elemen,ts.                                cepted. Actualiy,  to ,refuse to work because the con-
       First, it declares that with a view to the present ditions of labor are unsatisfactory means to make use
industrial and economic situation, it recognizes that        of the right to strike. When a person quits his job
there-is room for a labor organiza$tion. I cannot con- because be has found a better one, or $because  he is
ceive of  ,the possibility that anyone would be ready to moving to another city, or some other  reasotn, he does
dispute the truth of this statement. If I should be mis- not strike. There may or may not be dissatisfaction
taken in this, and there should be those that take the about working conditions. But, when an individual
position that labor organizations as such are to be          refuses to continue to work because of  imjust con-
condemned, just let them reveal themselves and state ditions, and is willing to continue provided the con-
the grounds of their opinion. But this is certainly          ditions are satisfactorily changed, he is not quitting
itn harmony with  the stand of  The  S&&d  Bearer his job, he is striking. The right to do that has never
of a few years ago.                                          been denied. That the exercise of that right was usual-
       Secondly,  iet  advi,ses  our people to support the ly not very effective makes no difference so far as the
C. L. A. and to use their inzfuence  with that organi- fact is concerned. It is important to remember that.
zation. This advice is given on the basis that there         Why? Because, if it is right for an indivdual to
is nothintg  in the Constitution a Christian could not strike in protest against injustices, in order to secure
subscribe to, while on the contrary, the sovereignty of righteous working conditions or to protect himself
God is recognized also in the sphere of labor. And           against maltreatment, then the same holds true also
on the basis of that Constitution it is conceivable that for a group of individuals who, by common consent or
our men use their influence to guide the Christian as' an organization, together stop working until such
Labor Movement in the right direction. I believe it a time as their just demands shall have been  .met.
can be plainly shown that  tihis was also  *he expressed That is something which some people deny. They can
opinion of The Standard Beatrix-  a few years ago.           justify an individual who stops working but they deny
       Thirdly, it plainly declares that we cannot in every the right of a group or organization to do so."
respect agree with the existing C.L.A. In what respect
and why we cannot agree with that organization  *was             I quote this paragraph first, because the writer
S& forth by  The Standard Bearer  in the articles on here expresses his idea of a strike. To strike, accord-


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                245

ing to this conception of it, is to refuse to work be-            But when they leave the shop or other place of
caus,e of existing wrong conditions and to express one's work, they must understand that they have relinguish-
willingness to resume work if the evil conditions are         ed their right to the job, and that anyone else has
removed.                                                      the perfect right to take their place.
    h this sense an individual may strike or an organi-                             (To be continued)
zation or group of workers.                                                                                         H. H.
    Now, it is a well known fact, that neither  i,n prin-
ciple nor in practice a strike is quite so meek an at-
tempt to secure better working conditions.                                                  -
                                               If a strike
means nothing more than  <that either an individual or
a group of workers inform their employer that they                              Meer Gevangenen
refuse to work under existing conditions, and that
they are willing to resume work as soon as conditions             D,at Dr. K. Schilder weer in vrijheid gesteld is en
are improved, we have no objections to the strike, pro- zijn onderwijs  aan de ThooLogische  School te Kampen
vided: 1. That the workers that propose thus to strike heeft  *at, mag  tihans  we1  als zeker  worden  be-
do not work under a  stih existing contract. 2. That sehouwd.
every individual or group  ,that is  willmg to  ,work             Sedert we het benicht  van den beer  van Genderen
under the existing conditions is left perfectly free to ait Passaic, N.  J.  ontvingen,   vernamen  we  aok  nag
work.                                                         ait  andere   bronrnen,  dat  ide geachte  breeder   uit zijn
    But it is a well known fact that by a strike some- kerker   werd  verlost.
thing else is meant. If it were not so, it would be but           Zelf onitvingen  we een brief uit Rotterdam, die den
a very ineffffective  weapon to gain the end in view.         llden December werd  geschreven,  en  waarrin  onder
By a strike is understood:                                    ganderen  ,ook   wend  meegedeeld,   dat Dr. Schilder  drie
    1. A united cessation from work because of certain ,dagen  tevoren in  vrijlheid  gesteld  Iwerd. Dat  klopit
real or imaginary grievances.                                 dus precies met (den datum in bet beri:&t  van Mr. van
    2. The claim that  the strikers nevertheless have a Genderen.
sole right to the job or position in which they refuse            En ,d$e beer Geo. Vrieling  te Ripon, Calif. was zoo
to function.                                                  vriendelijk  ens te laten  ;weten,  dat hij  een brief  ant-
    3. The position that no one has the right to that         vangen  thad uit Groningen,  meildende,  dat Ds. van Dijck
job while the strike is in progress.                          aldaar   salan de gemeente had bekend  gemaati,  dat Dr.
    This is the unionist's conception of the strike, the      Schilder weer vrij is. Ds.  Vm  Dmijk is  sd,ezelfde,  die
extreme  applicati,on  of which conception we have seen ook  we1 in "De Reformatie" schreef en  *die  vooral
illustrated in the "sit-down". At the bottom of such bekend   s&at om zijn standpunt  inzake   "zelfonder-                           .
practices as picketing lies this same conception.             zoek" .in verband  met zijne beschouwing over bet vr-
    And thus understood the strike is and intends to be bond.
a means of coercion, to force the employer to,accede  to          W,e  mogen  bet dus  we1  als  zekar  houden, dat Dr.
the demands of the employees.                                 Sehilder  weer in  vrijlheid is,  i&s,  waarover we  one
    This we condemn.                                          zeker aJJen van .harte vwblij~den.
    No laborer or group oil laborers has authority to             B&u&en blijkt  he2 wel,  d*at  er  nag  meer in de
employ force. The only agency that is authorized to gevangenis zuohten,  oak van de gereformeerden,  zeker
use force is the government.                                  we1 met name van de Ieiders.
    Unless we candernn  thle strike as it is commonly             We ontvingen  niet Iang geleden weer een af&Xring
understood, as it is always intended to be, as it cer-        van  hlet  "Theobogisch   Tij,dschrift".  `t Was  bet  nom-
tainly always reveals itself to be in actual practice:        mer van November. In <de "Kroniek" van dat nommer
as a means of coercion, we simply and inevitably take sehrijft Dr. K.  SieLsma   over  "Alzoo   doende".                     Hij
the standpoint of the "class-struggle".                       pILeit er voor, dat men  zich door den  nood sd,er tijden
    A group of workers certainly has the right to re-         niet zal la&~~  verleiden, om den arbeid  in Gods Konin-
fuse to work under certain conditions, provid$ed  they krijk  te staken en  op  "rustiger   tij,den" te  wachten.
give proper notice of their intention to quit.                "Ik  pleitt",  zoo  sohr.ijft hij,  "niet   voos bet  d#oen   alsof
    It is also quite proper that they state the reason er  niets  gebeurd is en  niets gebeuren gaat. Integen-
why they refuse to work and that they give notice of          deel, maar ik  pleit  er  voor met alle  kracht,  dat de
tiir willingness to resume work if the conditions are arbeid van Kerk en Theologie-ook al is de mogelijk-
improved.                                                     heid van u&even en spseken voor het groote  publiek
    All this on condition that they have first attempted uiteraard  bepeA&-zich  niet Iate drukken in het ,hoekje
to have their grievances removed by petition or arbi- van afwachten en met gebogen rug de slagen incas-
tration.                                       _              sew-en, maar dat .hij doorga met onverstowden  gang,


246                                    TVHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

opdat  &r&s-yin  rustiger tijden'-de vrucht openbaar          to the fifth paragraph of your article and also to *the
wcnxle.     En  als God de  Heere geen rustiger tijden seventh. You wrote that fur five or six years you've
geeft,  dat wij gevonden  Iwarden  bezig `dzoo doende'."      had no d&or i,n We house. You ask, "Is not this a
       We  kunnen  hieruit  `bemerken,   dat de  ma&t  der    great blessing?" Yjes, it is, for if we are  chihlren of
Nazis in  Nederbnd  wel- metterdaad  reeds allerlei be-       God, we know that  H.is blessing is upon us. But I
perking en berooving van vrijheid ten gevolge heeft           would like to ask, "How about the child of God who
geihad.                                                       must  ,call in the doctor constantly?" Who barely skip
       En dan schrijft Dr. Sietsma:                           a month  w&out a  do&r. Is not that  Messi'ng? In-
       "Dat is oak in den gee&  van orme gevangenen,  die     deed it is, for we know that sickness and be&h and
wij  we1 dagelijks mogen  ,gedenken  in onze gebeden,         all things come to God's people by His loving Father
maar die  bet  rnmt  g&&rd  worden,   wanneer   wij  bun hand.
gel,oof  navolgen,  oak in dezen, dat wij doen,  wat onze        You further write that ane of your children was
hand vindt om te doe-n".                                      nigh  unto death and God restored him. Isn't q&hat a
       Er zijn dus meer gu;angenen.                           great blessing also? It is, and our thanksgiving and
    En bet zijn took :gevangenen,  v&gens  dit schrijven      praise rise to  ,God for restoration  fro*m  sickness. But
e n   mettegenstaande   h e t   vijandige   gesehrijf   v a n what would you say about the tither whose child  dm
Dcr.  VanderVaart  Smit, die  om  des  geloofs  wil van was sick in the ,hospital, and whom it pleased the Lord
hunne   vrijheid  zijn  beroofd.                              to take from them? Isn't that a great blessing also?
    Ofsohoon   wij niet z.oo peoonlijk  met hen bekend        Yes, it is, Ifor we have the assuranbe  that God's blessing
zijn, als we bet zijn geworden  met Dr. Schil,der, zullen     is upon His people, and that all things work  togethler
we zeker den wenk van Dr. Sietsma we1 gaarne  op-             ,for good to them that love  God:  Whom the Lord
volgen, en hen in onze gebeden gedenken.                      180veth, He c.hasteneth.  Ps. 73, (Holland) "Hoe danker
                                                    H. H.     ooit Gods weg  moog   wezen, Hij  ziet in gunst  op die
                                                              Hem vreezen."
                               --                                You were able to keep your borne drumring the de-
                                                              pression, you write. Isn't that a great blessing, you
                                                              ask. I would like to ask you, Supposing God would
               The Nail On The Head                           have directed your way so that you woul,d  Ihave lost
                                                              your #home,  as many other tithers had to, would not
       Under  "Voices in the Church", a sort of open that have been a blessing? It woul,d. Blessed indeed
forum, in The Banner of Jan. 31,1941,  a oertain "M.J."       is he that can say, "Though I must lose every  earahly
smes a certain Mr.  Groeneveld,   who has a  .rai%er          possession,  T know that there is  (nothing  that can
sirckly view of "tithing", ,with   an answer that is so separate me  .from the love of God, which is in Christ
thoroughly sound and Reformed from beginning to               Jesus, my Lord, and I know ;tihat God's *blessing  cannot
end, that  w,e cannot refrain from  quotinlg it here in its be  :measured  by earthly possessions, but by His grace
entirety, rejoicing as we  ds in the fact that even and favor toward me". And isn't it true that the
among the read*ers  of TIhe Banner there are men  that        darker our earthly way is, the richer we experience
see  itctLe truth so clearly as does Mr. "M. J."              God's grace? And  isn% it exactly in times of distress,
                                                              loss, and [persecution that we live near to Gold, and th'at
                RESPONSE TO "TITHER"                          we  can say from our inmost heart, "Having  T;hee,
                                                              no want I know" ? Tiherefore the questiCon is, Have I
"Dear  Mr.  G*roeneveld   :                                   derived  sptil~ual benefit  from my experience, and not
       Having read your article, "Another Tither Testi-       what  ea.rth.ly goods  Ihave I  `left. The Psalmist tells
fies", in the Blanner of January 3 several times, I de-       us "it is  <good for me that I have been afflicted, that I
cided Ito w.rite  to you and m&e a few remarks on your        might learn Thy statutes."
airtide.                                                         On the other *and how about the man wlho doas
       Let me begin by saying that I am not only in favcxr    not give tithes, wh,o gives little or nothing for God's
of tithing, &t of doing more than that, according as          kingdom,-though he is well  able to do so, if  he  lhas
the Lord has prospered us.                                    no  ,doctor  in the house for a dozen years, and he does
       You  will  und~oubtedly   agree with me that when not ,have to see his child taken *away  by death nor lose
a family b an in,oome,  for instance, of $20 a week,          his property,  would  you say it's a blessing? We know
and gives tithes, he gives  m,ore than he whose income        better. If he dioes not manifest himself  ,to- be a child
is $40 a week, and who also gives tithes. Therefore,          of God, we know that he is not blessed, even though
                                                                                                              "
wi$.h  Ia large income, I think we should give  mu&           he shoul'd gain the whol,e w&d.
more ,than a tenth.                                              You also wrote, "Then His kingdom would come
       I would 3ike in particular  to draw your attention     more rapidly." We agree that God uses us as a means


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              247

rfor the furtherance of His kingdom, but never so, as           zich  echter  en  skent de  werkeiijkh&d   des  levens niet
if God were dependent upon us. From eternity thet               zoo men  zich  Aldus de veiligheid  van Gods verbond
d,ay and hour ,of Christ's coming having been deter-            indearkt in ens eigen land. Want, al wlordt  .de Christue
mined, and though we pray that  Hle may come quick&y,           openlijk bespot  en ,beschimpt  aan ,de everzij,de  van den
and though we work for the establishment of that king- oceaan,  niet minder  goddeloos  en  gevaarlijk  is de
dom, `we know that ,we can do nothing for Him, com-             moderne  voorstelling van den `timmermaI1s  zoon" die
pared to whom the nations of the earth are  as a drop tegenwoordig  van Iduizenden  kansels verkondigd wordt.
in the bucket and the small  #dust of the balance.              Ook tier mag het vdk Gods we1 op zijne hoede  zijn.
   Let us also remember when we give tithes, that we               Dit neemt,  eehter,  bet Ifeit niet weg.dat  we tegon-
don% really give to God, for it is  IalL Gsd's. What            woordi.g   Eeven in  een  vreeselikk   erneti~gen  tijld. De
have we that we have  Inot received? The earth is the ontwikkeling  der zond'e en de  vervulling der  Schrift
Lord's, ,and the fulness thereof. May we never imagine          betreffende  de  emdaopenbaring  van de  maehten  der
tiat God owes us anything. We are worthy only of duisternis   zijn niet  moeilijk  te  bespeuren. We  be-
eternal desolation.     Thanks be unto God for His              do&n   dat het duidelijk  Fran  worden  gmien dat de
unspeakable gift.                                               godd4ooz.e   wereld  near  die climax  spoedt,   ofschoon
   May you receive these remarks .in the spirit of love bet daarom  nag niet kan wo-rden  gezegd  cl& de huidige
in which also they were written.                                Duitsche   geweldhebber  de antichrist is. C%k lijdt bet
                                Sincerely yours,                schijnbaar  geen twijfel dat er ;kinderen  Gods zijn die,
                                               M. J."           van  twege hunne trouw  !tn het wcnord  Gods, moeten
                                                                lijden om der gxxechtigheid  wil. En  dirt Ls bovendia
   Congratuhtilons,  Mr. "M.  J.".                              bet  geval niet  al&en  in  Duitschland   maar   oak  iIn  bet
   You Ihave a clear eye, a steady hand, ,and you hit oude  vaderland.  Zelfs moge dit  bet  geval  zijn  on&r
the nail squarely on the head !                                 hen  die  aan  ens  verbonden  zijn door  ban&n van
   Whoever you are (and I would like to know), you              vleesch en  b&d.  Meet dus in het  .oulde  vaderland   de
certainly do not belong in the Christian Reformed zaak van Gods verbond, vertegenwoordigd  door kerk
GhLln&a.                                                        en sclmol,  Gjden van wege  den brutalen  tival door de
   You are Protestant Reformed !                                Dtitsche  overmacht,  bet gebed om den vrede van Jeru-
   And  &et  The Banner beware. Stuff 1,&e that, just           zalem  beeft daarom een grootere plaats ingenomen  iln
because it is the simple truth, is appealing!                   ens  g&eda-Ieven.  En dit is  gepast.  Daarom   willen
                                                 H. H.          we in dit kort artikel  een oogenblik l&ten op die bede
                                                                voor den vrede van Jeruzalem.
                          -                                     Jeruzalem.
                                                                   Jerusalem, de stad Gods als in de onde ~bedeeling,
                Jeruzalems Vrede                                was een prachtige &ad,  gebouwd op twee  bergen,  Sion
                                                                en  M&ah.       Zij was  schoon  van gelegenheid,  e&e
   De  .bede  om den vrede  van Jeruzalem stijgt weder-         vreugde  der gansche  earde. Oak was Jeruzalem s&rk.
om  op met  vlernieuwcden   geestdirift  en  beteekenis  uit    Immers, "de koniagen  waren   vergadecrd;  zij  waren
<de  harten  van  vele kindmen  Gods tot den troon van          te  zamen  doorgetogen.  Gelijk zij het  zagen,  alzoo
Gods  g-de in den  tegenwoordigen  tijd.  Deze  bede            waren zij verwonderd ; zij  werden   verschrikt;   zij
is  altoos   noodzakelijk.  Jeruzalem is  immers  i,n  ge-      h&ten   $weg".      Bovendien  was Jeruzalem  &e  stad
vaar. Altoos wordt  <de zaak van Gods verbond  beg              Gods. In betrekki~ng  tot deze wonderlijke  vesting roept
&r&en van  binnen en van buiten. Altoos $hebben  we Ide  dilchter het  ui$, "Want deze God is onze God
de v&e wa.penrusting  ,Gods aan te doen en {d,en goeden         eeuwiglijk  en altoos." Hierin !maet bet hart van deze
strijd des geloofs te strijden  opdat ni'emand onze kroo.n      atad  Davids   gezocht   worden.      Dit  blijkt uit den
neme. Bovendien ga& men Ilchtelijk  van de veronder-            tempel, en dan we1 vooral  uit bet hart van ,dien  tempel,
stellimg uit ldat Jeruzalems gevaar  tegenwoordig schier        de Iark des verbonds. Deze ark ,des verbonds,  met haar
uitsluitend  moet gezocht worden  -aan de overzijde  van twee  gouden  cherubijnen   verrijzende  uit het verzoen-
den  oceaan.    Hier heeft  ihet volk  des  Heeren  dan :deksel,   hunne  iaangezichten  tot  elkander  gekeerd  en
vrede-daar  wordt men  vervolgd.   Hier wordt men nedterziende  op  Idat  verzoen-deksel,   geleek   daanoun  Op
in rust gel&en,  kan ieder zijn Crod vrijelijk diemen, en       een troon. En (de vraag, hoe d,e ,Heere  over Zijn volk
wordt men  sdheef  gaangezien  zoo men  geen  "kerk-            regerde,  werd tevens  door dezelfde ark vender  beant-
Ranger"   is-d&  wordt  de  kerke Gods  verboden   om           woord.    Daar  was  allereerst   bet  verzoen-d&sel,   d;e
getuigenis   te  `geven van  ,de  waarheid   Gods  als  over- a r k   bedekkende,   vvaarop  ih&  offer-bleed   werd  ge-
eenkomstig  haar heilige  overtuiging.       Men  vergist       sprengd. In (de ark warden de tien geboden  bewaard,


                                             THE  S T A N D A R D   BEAFiER                                                         253

       Sij ,deze  beschrijviing van den nataurlijken  mensch eenigszins  moeten toegeven omdat,  vooral  in deze
passen  ook  veIe andere  t&&en  der Heilige Schrift;                 omgevingen, er in een publiek schooltje onderwijzers
als ook onze Heidelbergsche  Catechismus, die, i,n Zon-               en onderwijzeressen zijn die  volgens   belijdenis  en
dag III hot erkent,  dat de mensch, "zoo verdorven is                 wandel  in de #kerk  thuis behooren. Over Ihun getrouw-
dat hij  ganschehjk  onbekwmm  is tot  eenig   goed  en               heid aan hun geloof en belijdenis willen. we geen oor-
geneigd tot alle kwao,d,  tenzij  dat ,hij door den Geest             deal  vellen,  omdat  ons dat niet  toekomt.  Tech  mogen
Guds wederom geboren wordt."                                          we bet neoit  uit het oog verliezen,  d&t (van &a&swege
       Ook is deze vreeselijke beschrijving van den na-               het bun absoluut verboden is als profeet  Gc& in de
tuurlijken mensch onze andere  Belij,denisschriften  niet             publieke school op te treden. Daar tech mag de mend
cvreemd.  In Art. 14 van de Ned. Gel. Belijdenis lezen van den profeet  Gods niet met Gods lof en heerlij,kheid
We:                                                                   overvloeien. Daar tech meet  de mededeeling  van Gods
           "En in alle zijne wegen goddeloos, verkeerd                gedachten aan den mensch verzwegen  worden. Aldaar
        en verdorven geworden zijmde, heeft hij  ver-                 mag men Gods iof niet zingen. Daar tech is de regel
        loren lalle zijne uitnemende gaven, di,e hij van              van de zoogenaamde  neutraliteit (die niet be&a&)  de
        God  ontvangen  had, en. heeft  ni,ets anders                 rege1  van den dag. Maar denk er tech  om dat bij deze
        ayerig behouden dan  kleine  overblijfseien                   regel   oak past de  ontegensprekelijke   regel van Gods
        daarvan, dewelke genoegzaam'  zijn om den                     onkreukbare gerechtigheid: "Die niet voor Mij is, die
        mensch: alle onschuld te benemen  ; o-uemnits                 is  tegen  Mij." Ook trekt God  no0i.t die  regel  ini
                                                                      `t blijft  s&an  tot in  eeuwi,gheid,  en we  zullen  er  a&
        al het  licht dat in  oru is, in  duisterni-s   veran-        worden  getoetst  in den  dag  d&s  oox%e&.   Dammm,
        de<d   is."                                                   hoe hoog  tk? publieke school  dan ook mag  stijgen  op
       De  Dordtsche  Ieerregels spreken ook dezelfde  taal;          de ladder, van het  zoogenaamde  good,  niemand die
hoofdstuken  III en IV:                                               ernstig  de zaak van onderwijs ter h&e neemt zaJ dur-
           "Mar  dmr bet ingeven  des duivels  en zij-                ven,  noch  willen  getuigen,   d-at  j, de  publieke   schola
        nen.vrijen  wil van God afwijlkende,  heeft hij               de zonen der profeten  Gods toegerust  wonden  om straks
        zichzebven  van doze uitnemende  .gave beroofd,               als profeten  Gods in bet midden  der wered op te tre-
        en heeft  daarentegen.  in de  p&&s van  dien                 den. Het staat dus onbewegelijk  vast dat onze  kimde-
                                                                      ren beslist niet near een school kunnen  wear geen posi-
        o v e r   zich  behaald   ,bIindheid,   schrikkelijke         tief ChTistelijk onderwijs  gegaen won&.
        duisternis,  ijdelheid en verkeerdheid  des oor-
        deels in zijn  verstand~;   boosheid  en  brdig-                                       (slot Volgt)
        heid                                                                                                               A. c.
                 en  wederspannigheid   in  zijnen  wil en
        zijm hart : mitsgaders  ook onzuiverheid  in alle
        zijne  geneg&mden.`"  (Art. I).
       En  hoewel   bet  4de  Artikel   belijdt,  dat de mensch
we1  eenige   overb@jfselen   van  natuurhjk  hcht heeft,                    Ascension Into The Hill Of God
dat ,hij daardoor  ee&.ge  kenmis heeft van God en de
natuurlijke  dingen;   zoowel   gals van het  onderscheid                                       (Psalm 24)
ttmshen   goed en  kwaad;   wordt  er  tech  aan  toege-                  We do not know at w,hlat occasion this song was
voegd: "dat hij ldit Jicht niet recht gebrwikt in burger-             composed. That is, we do know in general, but not
lijke  zaken,  ja.  dut hij  bet  geheeE  bezoedelt en in on-         in particular. It may  fit  severa! occasions. It may
gerechtighekl  ten  omder  houdt."'                                   very well point  to the  3Lascension of the ark of the
       Daarbij  ~willen   `we  ens  als  G e r e f o r m e e r d e n   e n covenant into the hilJ of Zirm at the tim,e  D,avid  fetched
geloovigen  zekerlijk  ho)uden ! En  onszelven  daarbij               it from the house of Obed-edom. And again: it may
houdende moet hot oak. onze behjdenis zijn dat juist                  refer us to one of the oxasions when David returned
dat en d&t alleen,  de publieke. school is. Als.dat  niet             from the battle with the selfsame  ark after successfully
zoo is dan is en de  Schrift  en  onze Gereformeerde                  slaying the enemies of the Lord. We do not know at
Belijdenis  niet   cunseq.uent en dus onwaar. Maar met what particullar  occasion this psalm was composed, but
de Schrift  en Belijdenis houden we vast, dat dat het                 we do know that it refers to God's ascent of the hill
onderwijs  geworden is door bet verderf der zonde. Hij                Zion in the ark of His strength. Therefore Psalm 68 is
die uit Christus niet geboren is kan tech niets anders                of like contents. See especiailly verse 18 of that Psalm.
Ieeren en wil niets anders Ieeren  ; ihij t&h  is een profeet             The first and second verses  h!ave troubled commen-
des duivels en zijn iprofetie  past zich aan :bij zijne ken-          tators no end. What seems to be the connection be-
nis, die,  en  zijrn   onderwijs.  dat  enkel  duisternis  is.        tween them  aold the rest of the psalm? What has the
       NU wordt  er cvaak beweerd,  dat bet zoo grof in atie          creation of the world to do with ascent into" the hIill
publieke  scholen niet toegaat.  DW  zullen  we  weI of the Lord?

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

       Well, it seems to me that the connection is very       shall stand in His  Holy place?" And in that question,
lucid.                                                        we first of all proceed from the symbol to the type.
       You h&e tfhe parallel here whi h is found through-         Of that type we read very often.
out in the .Bible, between the earthy symbol and the              Essential in the type is, again, e.xah%tion,  the eleva-
spiritual reality.                                            tion of the earthy to  ithe heavenly. Essential, as is
       You will iail81  agree that the Gospel, the Kingdom    pro.:en when we study the altar: a mound of earth
of God, the realization of His eternal covenant is just or stone, firstling of the hill of the Land, Who raises
this, &that He e~xalts  the thi,ngs that are low, even in     the earthy to the heavenly  thr&gh Jesus Christ. the
deepest hell, unto the heights of the new heavens and         Lord.
the <new earth. Man, elect man, the church, is caught             T#he earth, this present worBd, is in darkness, et.hicaJ
in the everlasting arms and carried to the hill of the        darkness: man has sinned and is henceforth in ter-
Lord, that is, the  hwJenly  city of the new Jerusalem.       rible obscurity,  spinituaddy   without  form and  ~?oid.
And both earth and heaven, as  well as brute creation,        And darkness is upon the face of the deep.
will partake of this exaltation of Cod's people.                  Now Ii&en  again to the question : Who shall ascend
       Of m exaltation  we fmd the symbol in what hap-        into  the htil of the bid ? or who shaI,l stand in His
pened on the third day of creation week. On that              Holy place?
day, the third, the  Blond &led the dry land out of the           That question is answered somehow,  bemuse  from
chaotic state of the earth which is described as without the very dawn of history I see sinful men stand round
form  ad-void.  The whole earth  was one great pool           about altars,  mounds  of earth, elevations of and  in the
of  *mud,  one great morass. And when the Lord called,        world.      I hear Abel's cry and Noah's  &lament,  but
the dry land appeared majestica1Iy  above the churning lament and cry notwithstanding: they worship and
wzkers of  the great ocean. Cod  exalted  the  ear&           aidore  about the altar of God, the God of their salva-
And  h.e e&abl&shed  her upon  the floods; He founded         tion.
the earth  upon the seas:  henceforrth  the earth. is             The altar, later the  tabernaale,  still  later  the
exalted.                                                      temple are types. They are types of a reahty  that is
       And as such, the dividing of the waters and the        blinding and dazzling ain its glory and .btiLliancy.
dry land is a symbol, a picture, of the  ex&tation  of            The altar, the tabernacle and the temple have this
the church  land with her, the world,  unto the dizzying      in common: they typify unto us the fact that some-
heights of the new and eternal commonwealth that is           how God is dwelling  with His people, drawing them
called' The  New  Jerusalem.                                  upward and onward, <from out of the abyss of hell nnto
       Proof for this is II Cor. 4 :6.                        the hill of Cod, the heavenly beauty of His House ?in
       In that place we fmd another symbol of another         et%rnal   bliss.
spiritual counterpart. There we read that the calling             Now let us listen to the answer: clean  ~hands, pure
of Gght out of daTkness  which happened on the first ,heart, Irich soul and true tongue. m.1 those who answer
day of creation week, is the earthy counterpart of the that description shall  reoetie  the blessing of  .tie Lord
spiritual boon. which we often call: the effectual call- and righteousness from the God of his salvation. They
ing. Now `read the verse its such : "For Cod, who com-        are the men and women that seek the face of J&ova&
manded the light to shine out of darkness, ,hath  shined      Cod. Their name  is atta&ed  in a summarizing sense
in our  bearts,  ito give  the.$ght of the knowledge of a+  irhe end of the description: Jacob  is the name of
the glory of God in the <face of Jesus Christ."'              i-hat (generation. Somehow, in some w,ay, 3aeob  wiU
       And in the psalm which we have for the object          rlvmll in the Ihouse of Cod, ,he  will ascend the Ihill of
of our study at this time we find the exaltation of the       Zehovah,  partake of the exaltation of  all  thiangs and
world through Jesus Christ, first as it happened in           fi:nally  sit in splendor and majesty in the thrones round
creation, which is the symbol ;  and second, as it hap-       about the Cod of his salvation.
pened centrally when Jesus  .ascended  to heaven. De-
Eitzsch is w,rong  on two count&~.  He understands noth-          Now continue your psalm for here comes Jacob !
ing of the symbolism of th,i .&`-st <world ; and he mili-     K i n g   J a c o b   !
tates against the patristic effort. to see in this psalm          There is someone  Rrho is seen ascending the  hi111  of
the ascension of  our Lord to heaven. We have a pro-          Cod.      And when he comes  wit&in  hearing of  the
found respect for  Deiitzsch's  acumen as a Hebrew            walls of the city, we shear a cry of ithe accompanying
scholar but we are convinced of the meagreness, the           host : Lift `~0 your heads, 10 ye gates ; and be ye Lifted
futility of his theology.                                     up ye everlsasting  doors ; and the King of glory shall
       After seeing the ,dry Iand majestically appear out     come in!
of the churning waters, as :the earthy will of dehovah,           From within ~eomes  the question : Who is tiis King
whose i,t is by right of creation, we hear a question:        of cggIory? And the answer : The tid mi.ghty in battle !
"Who shald ascend into the hill of the Lord: and who              The question is repeated and so is tie answer, with


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEArcfZR                                                2E

a variation. The King is idemified  with the Lord of of  Innocentius,  and that is our blessed Lord, the royal
Sabaotb,  the Lord of hosts.                                     Jacob, David,  SoIomon.   Jeho$ah  Salvation !
   All this has happened when David  led Cod's people                And that blood is  preciouq. It is so  val~uable and
in Old Testament .times around the ark of the covenant rich that  it has bought the untold millions of the gener-
upward on the slopes of Mount Zion. The doors of ation that seek the face of Cod. It has bought that
the walls of the  city were opened and the ark was  de-          generation not because they seek Cod's face, but that
posited'in the righ,tful  place : in the midst of the people they  might &k i,t.
of  &xi.                                                             That  ~bIood has covered your and my uncleanli-
    But that was a type.                                         ness, impurities, vanities and lies.
    All  ,this  unas fulfilled  e&rally  w+hen Jesus arose           And through the power of that blood  (,the Spirit
in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea  and later ascend- of grace) he makes you principally clean, pure, rich
ed from %Iount   Olir~t,  penetrating the heavens and and true. Since then you lift your heads on high and
arriving  In heavenly Jerusalem,  g&g through the look toward the mountains: ~theexal~tion  of the kos-
heavens and appearing before the throne of God. He mos; centrally, the throne of D&id.
is King Jacob, King David, King Solomon, the  lfulfill-              Yes, Chd spake  and the earth appeared out of the
ment of all the types.                                           whirlpools of mud.
    He  3mer-s  the  descniption  of those that  Shari               And: Hallelujah! God  spake again, now through
calmly be able to ascend and stand, right before ithe His Son, and the exalted earth &and  (haven appear with
face of the Holy God!                                            i$s heart : New Jerusalem, Jesus our Lord and all, His
    Clean  hands, pure heart, nicb soul and true tongue. brethren.
It .is the name of Jesus of Naareth.                                 Cod has gone up jwith a shout (Psalm 4'7 5) ; Thou
    Do you know any other?                          `.           hast ascended on h&h (Psalm 68 :18). Yes, in order
   Clean, pure,  riah  end true are the sine  q  tion            to  give gifts unto the rebellious even.
of communion with Cl. And only in Jesus they ,are                    You wlill kindly remember, beloved, that I. drew
found.                                                           a padIe between the appearance of &he dry ground
   The rest of mankind are unclean, impure, vain and and Jesus' ascension. God made &he earth : He estab-
deoeitful.                                                       lished  Iher upon the waters. Cod made New Jeru-
    I hear you repeat a question  <that.  came to us salem: He established her forever !
through the ages : Who then oan be saved ?                           Well, now listen to Psalm 68 :22b : "The Lord said :
   To answer that  quest&  is  my If you understand              I  will bring My peopIe  again from the depths of the
the types.                                                       sea !"
    Come  w-&h me and we will  .retrace our steps. I                 Is Iit not Divinely beautiful?
have spoken .to you of altars, tabennacles  and  ten@es.             Yes, we  will follow Jesus,  mcending  the slopes
I have spoken of ;t;he ark of the covenant and you must          of  Xount Zion.
look strongly at it. So did the cherubim: they were                  Looking strongly at. Golgotha  we sing : The glorious
very desirous to look into the things of reconciliation. gat& of ri~gh~usness,  throw open unto me ; and I will
They  did not fully understand until tihey were com-             enter them with praise, 0 living God to Thee !
missioned to go to the earth along with the Son and              ' 0 God of eternally miraculous wonders ! I never
wi~tness the Nativity. Then they fully  ~understood.             wrote with fonder adoration : For Jesus' sake !
Later, they saw again and were very still. I refer to                Amen  aand amen!
Gdguiha. Yes, they were  stitll  around  Golgotha.  It                                                             G. V.
was their turn to be still. This hour iwas for the her-
rible laughter of satyrs, of ,devitls,  of hell.
    But we were to speak of the altar.                    _-
    Essential to $&he altar is the ,bIood that lis spilled on
it, the  .sacrifice, bleeding, crushed, slaughtered.  Es-
sen+ial  to the ark of the covenant is its mercy-seat on                            LEARN OF JESUS  _
which is spilled with solemn regularity the blood of
the innocents.                                                             Co to dark  G&hsemane,
   Yes, I have pointed ou;t to you that we have seen                       Ye that feel the tempter's power,
many of the sons of Mam, round about those al&s
of the ages, crying and wailing, but also singing and                      Your Redeemer's  conf%ct  see,`
rejoicing. Psalm 68.                                                       Watch with him one bitter hour;
   They `have cried and they have wailed ; they have
sung and they have rejoiced because of the blood.                          Turn  .not from His griefs away,
   And that blood is Jesus : it  lis fulfilled in the death                Learn of Jesus Christ  to pray.

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

                           Contribution                            on Missions. In either case the allotted space need
                                                                   not be more than a few columns for each issue, espec-
                                                                   ially if sufficient departments are introduced.
     To the Editor of the Standard Bearer,                            Something could also be done to warrant the faith-
     Dear Mr. Editor:                                              ful cooperation of the contributors. There is no reason
                                                                   why some definite arrangement cannot be made that the
            Your challenge in the recent issues of the Standard work be. systematically divided  ,among  the various  con-
     Bearer  can hardly pass  tmiheeded.  The very  khought        triibutors  and each do his part. For example, one
     that the Standard  .Bearer might  luse its  inRuence          particular department' could be given into the hands
     through, .&coming a church paper makes one's heart of three.or four contributors, each taking his turn to
     melt  within  him. While, on the other hand, a  change        fill the  .department.  Or a committee might be ap-
     which would mean a more systematic arrangement                pointed to serve the editor in preparing a list of aub-
     and a ~greater  variety of material, witout changing its jrects  to be discussed by some of the contributors. Each
     present status, appeals to me  `very much. In fact, I cold have his subject appointed to him, know when
     believe that the .time has come that a frank and opeh         his article is due, and make *it his business ito bve the
     discussion on ihow  our Standard Bearer might b$ im- material ready with,in the allotted time. Nor would
     proved  can only tend toward its welfare.                     it be difficult to put so many to work that the editor
            May  I, then, offer a few suggestions as to possible always has an abundant supply  of nraterial  on hand.
     changes ?                                  .                  That would ease his burden by sparing him some very
            First of all, I would favor la change in the present unnecessary  grief *and midnight oi,l.
     editorial staff. Wee ail1 know that this staff `is, to .a        If some such plan could be ,worked  out, it would
     great extent at least, a product of  circmns%anCes.     Al- certainly have the wholesome effect of creating more
     most from  the very beginning by far  tie biggest share variety in the Standard Bmrer,  and thereby make it
     of the  work and responsibility  ,rested on  ;the shoulders more interesting, if not more effective.
     of two amen, rpartly,  too, because others turned deserter       B&.a.change in the administration of the paper is
     and left them to carry on alone. As soon as possible          fully as essential for its welfare.
     two of our older ministers were .called upon to help
     shoul.der  the burden by becoming associate editors.             ..Small  wonder if the R.F.P.A. begins to complain of
     Somewhat later these men were made co-editors,  and           weariness after all these years. That it has produceJ
.    ever since all four have kept t&-&r  noses quite steadily many and ,&sting  aesults,  we all agree, Ifor it has not
     to the grindstone. Though ,at the same  *time a <host of only put away sixteen vol'umes of the Standard Bearer,
     associate editors `were appointed, these did little more but has also pwblished  from time to time many pam-
     than sdorn the title page.                                    phlets and other literature for  tpropaganda  purposes.
                                                                   But we also agree that it has never had the coopera-
            Allof which means4hat  a change might well be in       tion it might  .h!ave  :had. Not so many years ago an
     order. To my `mind,.  i,t would be a step in the. right attempt was made ;to e&rge the society by organizing
     direction to `make the present  edtir-in-&ief the sole wearious divisions throughout our denomination. To
     .editor  of the paper. No one -cares  to deny that his the best of my knowledge no division has ever come
     articles h23ve proven to be of greatest influence both        into existence in California, nor in the southern part
     here *and in the Netherlands. Besides, be is by far the of Iowa, but divisions were organized in Sioux County
     most  .capable  writer we have  and. has had years of and Illinois, but after a struggling existence the Illinois
     experience in the work of editing a paper. And  al-           division died, either from anemia or amnesia  ; no
     though the objection might be raised that this would autopsy was ever held. That leaves the Michigan divi-
     tend to increase rather-thanlighten his burden, I do          sion to carry on practically alone.
     not believe that this is an objection. The other editors
     could be .given one or more departments as associate             Can nothing be done ?
     editors, and  .&he present associate editors could become        It seems to me that it has always been a mistake
     contributors. One or two of the present editors might to Ihave the membership fee so high without offering
     even be released for ,a )period of six months in order the members any other advantages than the satisfac-
     to prepare for some `definite  <department  w!hich  he will tion of supporting ,a noble  cause. I do not know how
     then take upon himself for a given length of  ti,me.          many  ~psid  .members the society boasts today,  buk
     In the meantime one of the younger ministers who is ouppose that we could rally five !hundred members at
     capable and not otherwise engaged, could be appointed three dollars per year, would that not produce as much
     to take over a certain department for a time. Olr even        as, or .more than the -present amount at five dollars
     our Missionary-minister could very well take upon per year? Suppose, again, that these members were
     himself the responsibility of writing for a department scattered all through our churches, would that not


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               257

be a power for good for our Standard Bearer? " Or if
%he membership fee were set at three  :dollars  and  fifty                   Smyrna `s Poor-Rich
cents, and  each member were  promised  besides a  afr*
subscription to the  S~tandard Bearer,  also all the liter-                                             Revelation  2.
ature published by the society  during the year, would-           The Revelation girven  to John is the last ,hook of
n't that be  ,an added incentive fur those five hundred prophecy.           Mot simply written with a view to the
to sign their  *names  on the dotted line in short order?      things that will come to pass, as *is often explained.
Instead of allowing the pamphI&  of the R.F.P.A. to Rather, the book as a w.hole pictures the history of the
collect dust in some dark closet for years to come, they       CZmrch  in the  worl,d  from the viewpoint of past,
could be given a wide distribution, and all would              present and future.
profit. Of ,course, if the Board objects that fije hun-           In the first three chapters this Revelation of Jesus
dred members at that price would not be sufficient we          Christ deals ~directiy  with tie Church. Of that Church,
might be forced to look for still more. -.                     our Lord is the glorious Head. What a tremendous
   But at  ;the same time a strenuous effort could  well       figure Christ must be to John, who had known Bim,
be put forth ai;0 gain more subscribers, even within our spoke with Him, walked with Him,. when He dwelt
own  churches.  Every family  shouId  be a subscriber upon earth in His lowly state. For in every instance,
to the Standard Bearer or know the reason whly. This the fact, that Jesus was the exalted Lord is  pre:
wouEd soon cut the subscription ra;te  down to the at+         dominant.
tradilve  sum of one-fifty or two dollars.                        Flashing  iln  H.is hand were the seven stars. His
                                                               face blazed with an unexcelled brightness, His eyes
   But we can never hope to reduce  *the subscription          were a  davouting fire, the words spoken, the two-edged
rate unless an effort  lis made to remove delinquent sub-
scribers from the list. Most of us still buy a  datiy sword.
                                                                  He proclaims Himself to be the First and the Last,
paper and cigars and numerous non-essentials, which which was dead, and is alive. Who knows the iwurks
total annually to far more than -the price of our sub-         of His own and their tribulations *and,  poverty; but
scription. If anyone is absolutely unable to pay, let          who also  Iknows the enemies in their contempt for Him,
a special arrangement  rbe made between him and the            His Word, His Cod.
board. But, certaitiy, it should be one man's business            Flrom  ,a seven-f&i viewpoint or aspect of that one
to keep a record of the subscribers and notify them            Churuh of Jesus Christ, through the centuries, Revela-
as soon as their subscription is due, even continuing          tion speaks  .and warns us. In reading this testimony
to notify until he knows whether  they care to keep the        concerning her, one does not always find a~beautiful
paper or prefer to ,have it discontinued. A tesk which picture of her. She is often besRrt with many sins and
we cannot lay upon ou,r present treasurer. As it is; he weaknesses. We find 
has the  responsibility  of  the subscriptions, receipts                                lwr  departing from the  .Word,
                                                               allowing heresies to creep in, .becoming  unspiritual.
and expenditures, bookkeeping, making arrangements             She becomes negligent in discipline, so vital to her
with the printer, et cetera. T*he man may have.an  un- spiritual well-being, allowing the practice of all kinds
dying zeal for thecause;but why overtax it? We have of  sEn of immorality.
sufticient  trained bookkeepers and  accou;ntaints  who           Again, we read of men entering the congregation of
would be  r&ily available to assist him.                       our Lord, .&aching *false doctrine, leading ~godless  liives.
   AU of which brings me to a final remark. How                   Many  Bre the sins, the weaknesses and shortcomilng
soon  Ican a  ,drive  be under way throughout all our of the Bride of our Lord Jesus Christ.
churches for membership at a reduced rate  an,d  with an          Yet, one of the Seven Churches is depicted as being
attractive  offer? T.hen either by proxy or by a repre- strong. It is the  81ittle congregation of Smyrna, living
sentative body in ,Grand Rapids a Board can be chosen          in the midst of *all kmds of persecutions. She makes
sufficiently  ,large and capable of handling all the angels    an exception. True, it is a small congregation and,
of the administration . A well organized society means according to the standard of the worl,d,,  she is poor.
much toward maintaining the  Igeneral  interest and- the she is small and poor and persecnted, yet she is rich.
welfare of the  ,paper.                                        A paradox we may say.
    For many years the mountain stream  nushed aim-               Smyrna-as city.
lessly  towand the  ravine before any  eeort was put              The city itself was known for its riches and had a
forth to harness its power to a water wheel. The               worldwi,de  wputation for its beauty. Her commerce
steam from the spout of ,a tea-kettle cannot move a was the source of tier income. And while it is true,
locomotive unless it is put  un,der pressure. A  smalil        that the Roman- Emperor was her ruler, nevertheless,
effort  toward conservation and better application of          many  ~priviieges  were given her in distinction from
energy in our own midst must prove of lasting benefit. other cities. She was a so-called free city, with its own
                                                C. H.          government, its *own courts to such an extent, that


      258                                      TJ3E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

      hers was the right to order any and ail undesirables             tunity  t.o give  vent to their  hlatred  against the sect
      out of ,her midst.                                               of the Nazarene.
             No city, with the exception of Rome, was her                      To be sure, they were Jews, who worshipped in
      equal.                                                           their own places. But their worship was that of the
             Besides, there was a continual flow of money. Com-        E.mperor.  Theirs was the negation of the true and
      merce and trade were her main assets. Smyrna had only God of the Scriptures, well  <known  to them.
      one of the few beautifully situated harbors on the               The only difference was their Ibuilding. In that light
      Mediterranean Sea-the life-line of the then known we understand the expression: "And I know the blas-
      world.      Smyrna's complex was literally one of un-            phemy of them  w,hich  say they are Jews, and are not,
      excelled prosperity.                                             but are the Synagogue of Satan". This sin, as to its
             The  ,life of Smyrna was, from a  religiol:`s   rpiew-    root, is in Iprinciple  the "divine" worship brought to
      $point,  characterized lby its ido1 worship. Caesar was          Satan himself. Anti- Christian  reli$gion will and must
      declared to be  C&xi and received divine honor. And culminate in the tworship of the man of sin. Its pic-
      the city as a whol,e  propogated this form of worship. ture we find in Smyrna.  H,ence,  Rome and Smyrna
      T'he well known "Angel" of the congregation,  Poly-              both were ,not the place for a peaceful life of the con-
      carp,  *standing before bis tormentors, was asked : Why gregation of our Lord.
      he refused to kneel before  tie image of the Roman                       However, it pleased the Lord to  place  in the midst
      Emperor, and his answer why ,he refused was sufficient           of all this wickedness his  *little flock. If we had to
      to put him *to death.                                            decide,, whether or sot Syrna was a fruitful field for
             T.he center of this idol-worship was found in the         the Church, our answer would have been negative, We
      Temple  bmlt for Caesar. The Jews worshipped in would not send our Missionary to a place like Smyrna.
      their own synagogues. However, like ,the rest of the             First of all, darkness would prohibit our  entrance.
      Jews in Asia Minor, so also in Smyrna, these Jews                Secondly, we would say, wLhcy  labor .in a place *where
      ,were the friends of the Roman Empire. They were                 at its best, we can expect a  littIe flock without any
      exempted from military service and their synagogues promise of growth? Thirdly, besides the fact that
      were under the lproteetion  of the Roman ,government.            those people are few in number, they are also poor and
      And in the city of Sardis, a great part of the city was          will be a  finan&al  burden to the `rest of the  churohes.
      set aside  otlicialtly  for them (as token of appreciation).     There is no future at Syrna. That would be our ver-
      In many places,  the Jewish possessions and personal diet..
      belongings, as well  <as their Church property  (Syna-                   That after all, was the verdict of Roman and Jew.
     gogues  and their  cantents)  were protected against Smprna, the city of riches, was the best place for any
      robbery ; and every attempt to steal any or all their one, who placed the business abave his religion. The
      religious  do&men@ was considered to be a federal                trouble of speaking about religion was not known,
      felony and was punished accor,dingly  by the Roman because the  ci,tizens  agreed perfectly, ,that the worship
     government.                                                       of Caesar was the best that could be shad. What would
             So also`at Smyrna, Jewry was respected and hon-           a Christian expect? Could  she live and earn his daily
      ored. Tyipical  is the decree,  Jf any one disfigured the        bread and provide for *his family by means of a pious
      grave of a Jew, the Jewish congregation possessed the talk? He could not. Neither could he escape the
-     power .to impose a fine when such a crime was com- attention of both Jew and Gentile. That temple in the
      mitted.                                                          city of Smyrna and the synagogues of the Jews took
             All these privileges increased to the Jews because care of that problem. Either or, if he was a Jew, his
      they were  faithfd  in their obeisance to the Roman @ace would be found empty in the synagogue, or if he
      Emperor. In some of their synagogues, shields and                belonged to the Gentiles, he was <expected to appear in
      wreaths and inscriptions were engraved telling about the temple  3buillt  for Caesar.
      the glory of Caesar.  In Smyrna the situation grew                       Thus the enemy could watch the  se& of the Naza-
      steadily worse. In the year 195 B.C. a temple was                rene.. The ,antithesis  was visible i.n Smyrna and the
      built to honor the "Eternal" city of Rome and in the             congregation lived out of the principle of that  antithe-
      days of our Lord Jesus Christ, the city received the             SiS.
      privilege to build a temple for the Emperor and the                      And whereas it pleased the Lord to establish a
      government of Rome, for the sole purpose, that the               congregation in.tie midst of this city, it pleased Him
      Emperor may be worshipped as  a  deity.                          also to speak to her, to encourage ,her,  ,that she <will
             Thus we understand why the little flock at Smyrna         remain faithful.
      found ,itself hard pressed through all kinds of perse-                   Yes, from the side of men, all was misery and
      cutiuns. These so-called Jews worked `hand in hand               suffering. Look at it any way you want, the con-
      with the Romans and they ~found the desired oppor-               clusion remains the same: In Smyrna misery, perse-


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          259

o&ion  and even death was the portion of the faith-            but the *riches of #heir Lord, the salvation by faith, the
ful.                                                           assurance of the life eternal now,  are their riches.
        Notice, how the Lord speaks to  `her. He does not         They'belon*g  to Christ Jesus and in Him and with
say, I will remove your burdens. No longer shall the           Him they ahave all things. Now they have an inherit-
enemy  rpersecute you, or, you shall be able to make ance in heaven, reserved, undefiled,  ,incorruptible and
your own living, in order that you may provide witi that fadeth not away. For now they belong to Him.
your own hands for your family. To the contrary, the              And because they belong to Him, they must also
Word of the Lord is : "Behold, the devil shall cast some die. Die perhaps at the Ihands of those, who call them-
of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and  you shall se'Nes  Jews "loovers van C&d", but they are a syna-
have tribulation ten days ; be thou faitlhfui  unto death, gogue of Satan. It is possible they must die, even as
and I will give thee a izrown of life".                        their faithful minister Polpcarp, but they shall live.
_       This means first of all, that the  burden of the con- And .because,  for their Christ it was necessary to walk
gregation w,ould  not be taken from her. Persecution,          the `way of suffering, the cross, de&lb and the ,grave,
bloodshed, all  kin,ds of suffering would come upon her. that He might `save His own, :He dso arose.
These words of prophecy were not by themselrves  Iwords            Hence, He knows also that road, and knowing it
of comfort. They meant more suffering and ma-e hurt He speaks the  comiforting words, be not afraid. I
as far as the flesh was concerned. It would become was dead and behold I live. Ye shall have -a light
more difficult to stay away from temple and  synagugue.        tribulation, light because it .is for a short time, but
They called for more self-denial and they called to li%ve      know, tihat the road of this suffering for your sakes,
the life of fait&h, and that to the very end. Until deatlh.    ended in my `glorious resurrection. And when your
        Where then is the comfort?                             path ended in death., ye shall also live, live with me in
        First of all,  i,n the words "I know". Know thy eternal bliss, to the gory of My Father and the salva-
works, tribulations and <also thy poverty. I know it           tion of your souls.
all. The Lord knew  ,not only His people, but also the            Rich-Poor !
enemies. T&Z Jews, praisers of ~God, who blasphemed,              All belongs to your glorious Head.
the Romans, with their mighty swords, both in league              You belong to Him, for you are of Him.
to.destroy  His own, His  flook,  His loved ones. Yes,            And He shall in the eternal habitations give you
He knew it all. He is the first, the cause of all things, 3fhe crown of life.
He is also the last; the goal of all things. He alone is                                                      w. v.
the Living one, Lord of lords, and King of kings and
their God.
        Secondly,  because He knew, He can say, I also
know you. Hence, He alone can say, you are rich, my
poor. Notice, the Lord does not say, you shall be ,rich.                             Still Ai Sinai
After the brief suffering (ten days) you will inherit
all, no, but, you are rich, Now in poverty, yet bein.g            As to the purification of the Levites, it took place
rich. A paradox ,indeed.                                       in  tthree  acts.    a) First they were sprinkled  with
        You are rich? But Ihow is that possible? If, look-     "water of sin"-water mixed with ashes of the red
ing to the future, to  tfhe end of this terrible perse- heifer-and purified. Then the hair of their body
cution, this word of comfort did refer, we could  ,under- was sheared in token of their putting off the flesh tihat
stand it. Sure, the suffering of this present time can they might be new  crea;ture. And as the garment
never be compared with the glory to .come. Whkt  a shares in the uncleanness of the body, they were also
little suffering, for suffering is always  litmited and commanded to *wash tiheir clothes. b) These trans-
must  Icome  to a speedy end, when compared with the actions are followed by the consecration saorifizs. Two
eternal (bliss 1 Yet, the Savioer does not point to the bullocks were led to the alltar. Then Moses brought
future first of all, but to  tie present.                      the Levites  sbefore  the Lord and  thechildren of Israel
        Now, ye poor, ye are rich.                             put their hands `upon them, for they were to represent
        This is also of necessity. If a man must wait until the congregation in executing the service of the Lord.
the hour of his  death to be blessed, it would mean joy,       Thereupon by a symbolical act callled  zcov&g  and which
with a view to the future. He could live in hope and in all likelihood consisted in this  parti,cubr  case in
inexpressible expectation. Not so here, the  tpcvr  of Aaron's pointing to the Levites and tihen in his waving
Smyrna  are rich  7cow.  Now because  t!he Risen Lord his  *hands, to and  fro in the direction of the  burnt-
died Himself, but now Ities.                                   offering, the Levites were separated from among  the
        That is  al1 that is necessary for them. The know- children of Israel and consecrated to the Lord. Then
ledge, that He is risen is for them a sure token of their folk&i  the sacrificial act. The Levites laid  &heir
own salvation. No, n& the tribulation or the poverty, ,hands on the heads of the bullocks in token of trans-

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

 ference  of sin, and the victims were slain, the one for of no small importance. Their responsibilities were
 a sin-offering and the other for a burnt-offering. After truly great; likewise their significance for the con-
 that .the Levites were set before Aaron and his sons gregation.
 as a staff of servants and again waved unto the                        The fourth  ,recorded   occurence  at  ,Mount Sinai is
 Lord. Thereupon they went in  lto do the  .service of               that of the keeping of the Passover. The word of the
 the tabernacle.                                                     Lord was to the effect tiiat the childlren of Israel also
        The text  -clearly distinguishes between two pur-            keep the Passover at the appointed time, w.hich  time
 poses of the giving of the Levites as a gift to Aaron'.             was in the fourteenth day of the first month of Israel's
 They were given  tihat they might do the  service  of               calendar. It need not be supposed that, now that the
 the children of Israel in the tabernacle and that they              day was at ihand ,for the second keeping of the Pass-
 might be a covering for the Israelites, that the latter             over, the children of Israel had to be  <driven  by the com-
 die not wthen they come near to  the sanctuary.                     mand ,on account of their lazk of real interest in the
        The term of senvice of ,the Levites is limited thus:         ordinances of God. To suppose this is to cast asper-
 From Twenty-five years of age to fifty they "shall go               sion on Moses. For, he, too, had to be toI'd. If he had
to war the warfare in the service of the tent of meet-               clearly discerned the will of Uhe Lord from the ordi-
 ing" (Num. 8 :24) . By the service of the tabernacle is nance of the passover  as first revealed to him on the
 to be understood mrrying water  and wood for tlhe altar eve of the departure from Egypt, !he would not now
 and  .sacrificial  -service,  rcarrying   t.he  .tabernacle  and    have to be commanded to  sot. There  .is ground for
. the ' sacred vessels, preparing the sacrifices, taking saying that he, too, was thinking of the  passol;rer  as a
 away.the ashes and other refuse from the altar. Up&                 feast ti.at was not .again to be kepti until he and his
*&taining  the age of fifty, the Levites  were  exempted             people had (taken up their abode in Canaan. In oharg-
 from-this service. The reason is ob;l,ious.  At this age            ing ,the people on the eve of the departure respecting
 tihe tasks that belonged to this service commenced                  this feast #he had said to them, "And .it shall come to
 being two heavy.         However, as  creed  from them, pass,  *when ye  cwme  in the  land which the Lord shall
 the Levites were not permitted to spend the rest of                 glue you, according as  *he hath promised,,that  ye shall
 .t.heir days in.idleness. W.ith  their Ibrethren  they con- keep this service" (Ex. 12 :25). Moses  .did not then
 &rued 70 keep +be charge" of the tabernacle  (Num.                  know that, on account of unbelief, the promise, was
 8 :26). Tlhe primary meaning of the -Hebrew  :word not to go into fulfillment !for a space of forty years.
 translated  charge  is  watch, guard.          Its secondary           The command is to the effect tlhat the passover be
 meaning is  instruction, command.  The original word kept in the very day-"between the two evenings":
 translated by charge in the phrase "to keep the cha!rge"            originally fixed by the Lord, according to all the rites
 has this secondary meaning, so that to keep the charge of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof."
 was to keep the  aomma.nd,   ~insti-uction   (given by the Not one of these might  be omitted. For to do so,
 Lord to the Levi&s respecting the tabernacle. What                  would be to corrupt the speech of God uttered by tihe
 this command was is clearly stated at chapter 3  :8,                institution as a whole. For, like our sacraments, the
 "And+hey   &all  .keep all the instruments of the taber- passover  was a sign. With the light of God's Word
 nacle of the ,congregation.  . . ." As the Levites were shining upon it, it set forth the truth about Christ's
 forbidden to come near the rvessels  of the sanctuary sacrifice and  4ii redemption of the church, so  that
 and the altar (of intense), that is, to come so near                either to  dim.inish or increase its ceremonies would
 them that'they  woulld  find themselves in the tabernacle           have been identical to taking away from or add-
 proper,  (18:3)  tlhis "keeping the  ,instruments.  . .  ."         ing to the revelation of God. The children of Israel,
 consisted in their sguarding  the tabernacle and its con- at this time, did not commit this sin. T$hey   kept
 tents, that is, in their seeing to it* that no common               the Passover, "according to all that  tile Lord com-
 Israelite entered the tabernacle proper. But  iit im- manded Moses. . . ." So are they [praised for their
 plied still more, did this "keeping the charge", namely,            obedience.
 remaining pitched, together with  VAeir younger  breth-                There were men who could not keep the Passover
 bren, "round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that in the appointed day on account of their being defiled
 there be  .no wrath upon the congregation of the child-             by the  Idead body of a man. They may have been
 ren of Israel" (f 53) . The reason  &at the congrega- Midhael and Elzaphan,  nephews of Moses. For these
 tion dwelt safely in the vicinity of the tabernacle with !two had buried, within a iweek of this passover, their
 the Levites rpitched round -about it, is that, as was               cousins, Nadab and Abibu, who, on  account  of their
 shown  (8:-19)   ; the latter were to the congregation having offered strange fire before the Lord, had been
 a covering in respect to its sins. Such then continued burned by fire issuing from the  hohest  place of  %he
`to  "be-tlhe  tasks of the Levites from fifty years old             sanctuary.
 and upward.                                                            Whoever these men may  have been, they found
        Even the common Levites,  iqt is clear, were persons themselves in a grave predicament. For the failure


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          261

to keep the passover  feast was an offense punishable        wihosoever  is defiled by the dead" (5 2). The laws for
by death. On the &her hand, one defiled by the dead lepers appear already in Lev. 11-15. They had to be
and approaching this sacred feast before the days            excluded from  tihe camp permanently  ; and  khose  defiled
of his purification ha.d passed, had likewise to be put by the dead for a !;eriod of seven days. The perio.d  of
to death $Num.  19 : 13). What were these men then to exclusion for persons momentarily unclean was in-
do.  `Ilhey   appeal their case to Moses. They say to definite,  aococding to the continuance of the malady.
him, "Why are we withheld, so that we may not offer The reason of the exclusion of these' persons was not
an offering to the Lord in his appointed season in the       sanitary but reli,gious,  that is, it was done not in the
midst of the children of Israel?" The meaning of their first place to safeguard  tile  heaIth of the people of
query evidently is, "IKust  our ,being  deflled  by tihe dead Israel but to impress upon their  minds that, being the
stand in the way of our keeping the passover  in the         peculiar possession of the Holy One, they were to be
appointed day?" Judging from their manner of speech, holy, iundefiled,  separa&d  from the morally defiled and
they asked for the suqension of the law that bore on         conseorated  in love to God. The physical  defilement
their case. Moses layed  their case before the Lord.         resulting from tb&ily ,disease  was the symbol of the
And it is well tthat he did so. For the  difliculty  could moral  polution  of sin. And there is connection. In
be Iremoved  only through the amplification of one or genera1 Izlh,ysical  disease is the fruit #and evidence of
the other of the ordinances implicated. So, whereas sin.
these ordinances were the Lord's and not Moses', if             As to  the resting and journeying of the children of
there was any amphfying  to be done, the Lord only Israel, at the commandment of &he Lord they rested in
could do it. So Moses said to these men, "Stand  stil1,      the tents, rand-at  His commandment they journeyed
an.d I will ihear what the Lord will command concern-        (9  :23).  The Lord made known  [his will in  r-t
ing you". The situation was  relies,&  through the to their resting and journeying  throu& the  a&ion
Lord's commandin'g  the defiled one and every one of of the cloud that covered the tabernacle.
the Israelites and of their posterity, unclean by reason        The sacred `narrator gives a remarkably lengthy
of a dead body or in a journey afar off", to keep the and detailed description of the  behalviour  of the cloud.
passover  in the folurteenth  day of the second month,       And what the narrator  wislhes and also does establish
tlhus precisely one month later. Of course, if the           throujgh this description is that in their resting and
journey was for pleasure and was thus not necessary,         marching `the children of Israel were controlled, dir;
or if, though necessary, it  c&d have been postponed,        e&d, solely by the command (original, mouth) of tlhe
or if it was known that the time was too short, a man's      Lord, that is, by His word. The narrator sets out
being on a journey afar off, would render him culpable.      with the assertion that on the day the tabernacle was
Only then di.d he go out blameless, if, through no fau+It reared up the  cIoud covered  ,the tabernacle. The state-
of Ks own, the journey had occupied  mure  time than ment reads, "and at even  tlhere was upon the tabernacle
he had calculated. Because, if n0thin.g more was said,       as the appearance of fire until the morning. So it was
the carnally minded would ,add to the two ground or,         continually: the cloud covered it (,her) ; and (the ap-
against better knowledge, would  conclade  that it mat- pearance of fire by night." So read the original  text.
tered little  whether  or no the passwer was  kept in A distinction is here  made between the  GnuI and Dhat
the day originally fixed, the Lord was careful to add        which  R&d "the appearance of fire". At Ex.  13:21
that "tG-~he  man that is clean, and is not in a journey,    and 40 :38 the distinction is even sharper, "And the '
and fonheareth  to keep the Passover, even the same          Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud. . . .
soul shall be cut off from among ahis people; because and by night in a pillar of fire." "For the cloud of the
he brought not the offering of the Lord in his ap- Lord was  urpon  the tabernacle by day, and fire was on
pointed season, that man &all bear his sin" (9 :13).         it by night." These statements could  :be  ,t.aken to mean
Further, if the Passover was postponed, it had still to that during the day the host was led by a pillar of
be kept according to all its ordinances and ceremonies cloT?d  as unassociated wit*h fire, and that at even there
(9 : 11, 12). So, too, if kept by the stranger that sqr      appeared the pillar of fu-e in the aroom of the cloud.
journed among fhe children of Israel (9 :14). By the But these statements must be interpreted in the light
stran,ger  is to be understood a non-Israelite, thus a of Isaiah 4:5, "And the Lord will create upon every
pagan,  whom  the Lord  lhad  Sranslpolrted  out  of. the    dwelling pIace of Mount Zion. . . . a cloud and smoke
darkness of heathendom into the light of His king- hv day and the ahiaing  of a flaming fire by night. . . .`?
dom.                                                         The text in the orEgina  reads, ". . . . a cloud by day
   Another occurence  that took place shortly before and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night."
the departure from Sinai was that of the purifying of Now the smoke and the cloud were one and"the  same.
tlhe camp.    Moses was instructed  to command  the          This is plain from the language employed. by Moses
children of  ~Israel  "that they put  at of  the  camp       in the 9tlh chapter of the book of Numbers, "And SO it
every leper,  ,and every one that hath an  %srJe, and was when the cloud abode from even until the morning

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

. . . .whether  it was by day or by night that the the children of Israel journeyed.  Jt may be asked
cloud was taken up, they journeye  ?' (9  :21). If what whether the expression by  the mouth of the Lord
abode from  even unto the  mornng was  tihe  &owl,             denotes the revelation of His will solely through the
then it follows that the cloud and the smoke were one,         movement of the clond. The text does not make this
so that the phenomenon was a lcloud which inclused             pEain.    It is certain that the Lord must  also have
fire. Thus that cloud was visible also during title night spoken, 8s the symbol has meaning for man only when
on account of its being fihed with the radience  of its explained by the word. It is ahus not unlikely that
fiery core. Now Jehovah was in this cloud, `"The Lord the departure took place also according to the word of
went  (before  them by day in  th.e cloud. . . ." Thus it      the Lord to Moses and that what the Lord said to
formed, did this cloud,  nh,e earthy appearance of Moses was illustrated and confirmed by His action
Christ during ,the ages of the Old Testament dispen- with 6he cloud. If so, no one could with fairness accuse
sation. As illuminated by the fire that flamed within Moses of coming with a command that  ihad originated
it, it was the type of His ,human  (nature  radiant with with him. The view that God did so speak in no wise
the  gIory  of His Father,  trhe Triune God.                   miiitates  against the notice that the children of Israel
       But the tabernacle, too, was the type of Christ, journeyed when the cloud was taken up.  Nile word
and of His body the church. Therefore the cloud, in of the Lord to Moses was acted upon when the cloud
which was  Jdhovah,  rested, that is, abided upon it. was taken up and not before. Some interpreters  deny
The  tabernrtcle  and the cloud were inseparable. What that Israel was actually and literally led by.the pihr
a remarkable type .was  this structure, of the indwelling of cloud. This is held to be impossible on account of
of the Triune Jehova,h in Christ and af Christ in His the  circ;u:mstance that when  tihe children of Israel
body, ahe church.                                              began their march the ,banner  of Judah ,took position
       The cloud then, was visible also by  nSght, and         in the van and joined. to Judah were  Issachar  and
therefore the Lord as in it, could lead, command, His Zebulon and that not until  Iafter  these did  t;`ne  Levites
people by night as well as by day. Having made this come with the tabernacle. Thus the cloud, it is said,
platin, the sacred narrator  .goes  on to tell how that the    could not be the guiding  thead of the e-medition.        It
Lord did actually take full and complete command of must certainly be maintained however, that the ex-
His army,-the army of God-day and night. "When pedition was led by tihe cloud. This is stated in lan-
the cloud was taken .up from the tabernacle ,then,  after guage that is too plain, "And the Lord went  bef.ore
that the children of Israel journeyed : and in the place       them  by day in a  pilla,r  of cloud. . .  ." (Ex.  13:2`1).
where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel The cloud was taken up from the tabernacle and made
pitched their tents." As long as  hhe cloud abode upon to take the lead.
the tabernacle they rested in  Uheir tents." And when             With Moses was also Hobab, the son of  Jethro,
the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days,          Moses' Father-in-law (Num. 10  :29). Moses beseeches
than  ;the children of Israel kept the charge of the           Hobab to come with ihim land the children of Israel to
Lord, and journeyed not. And so it was, when the               Canaan.  The best explanation of Hobab's presence
cloud `was a few days upon nhe tabernacle. . . . they          in tthe camp at this time is tit Ihe had been left be-
abode in their-tents. . . . " "And so it was, when the hind by Jethro, his father, who, Ihaving heard of all
cIoud  :abode from even unto the morning, that the that Cod had done for His people Israel,  Ihad come to
clou,d was taken up in the morning, then they jour-            Moses in the wilderness and after  a few days had  re-
neyed: whether it was by day or by night  iihat the tu.rned  again to his home. Having arrived  witr:~  his
cloud was taken up, they journeyed. Or whether it              father in the camp shortly after  the arrival of We
was two days or a month, or a year, that the cloud             reople of Israe at Sinai, Hobab had now been absent
tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the            from his home and people for nearly two years. He
~&iil&en  uf Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed        decided therefore to return to his own place.  But
not:  but when it was taken up they journeyed".                Moses strongly advises tim not to leave. He urges him
(9 :X-22).                                                     to attach himself permanently to God's people. He
       The whole substance of this report is that when says to  Hobad, "We `are journeying to the place of
the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the  chiId-        which the Lord hath said, I will give to you ; come witlh
ren of Israel journeyed; and that as long as the cloud         us, and we will do thee good : for the Lord hath spoken
abode upon the  *tabernacle,  they rested in their tents.      goad concerning Israel." But  :Hobab was determined.
The `narratiive  here is actually repetitious. It shows        Says he to Vases, "I will not go, but T will depart to
that the narrator would have it thoroughly understood my own land and kindred." But Moses is persistent,
that this army was under the sole command of God.              "Leave us not I pray thee," is his reply. It may be
       Ir the above nazrative  the statement occurs more asked  wh,y Moses so strongly desired that Habab  should
than once,, "9t the commandment of the Lord (the remain. According to the  prevaIent  view,  ~ his reason
text  ,in the original reads by  the  mouCh of the Lord)       was that Hobab coa1.d  be of great service to him and


                                      T - H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                    263

 the children of Israel as a guide in the wilderness.       Then it may be asked w.hether it was like Moses to
The cloud led the march, but, so it is said, it was very    try and induce a man to march  w,ith him and the
well to have a man that knew all about  tihe oases and people of Israel simply because the tman could be of
the wells, the situation of which was known ony to          further use to him. On the other hand, Moses was .
the desert-born tribes ,and who could teach the help- certainly not despising the service that Hobab had
less slaves from  Goshen   i?ie secrets of camp-life.       rendered him and was still able to render him as
    This view has a firm foundation not in the original     guide. So the truth of this matter 8we must then take
text but in  *the English version which reads, "For to be this : Hobab was a truly good man, one who loved
as much as thou knowest how we are to encamp in We          Jehovah and His people Israel. His  tarrymg   w&h
wilderness, and $hat thwJ mayest be to us instead of        Moses during all  $he time that the people of Israel
eyes"  (10%)). The reasoning of Moses then is this, was encamped before Sinai, his finally consenting to
"Do not forsake us, but abide with us in order that         go with Israel to Canaan ,must be taken `as evidence
thou  mayest  be of service to us as a guide' in  this      of this. Moses also larved Hobab and desired therefore
wilderness." Such was indeed the reasoninbg  of Moses, to promote his true well-being. This being his desire,
 if the text in the original reads as it does in the        he urged Hobab to join ,himself  to God's people and to
translation. But ahe text in the original reads thus,       march with them to Ganaan  that he, too, might enjoy
"For as much Ias thou has known or knewest our en-          the blessing of their rest. This mcst be heId to have
camping in the wilderness and wert to us instead of been Moses principal reason for pressing Ha-bad to
eyes. . .  ." Thus the reasoning of Moses may also          change  $is position. And then it need not be denied
have been this, "Inasmuch as thou, Hobab, knewest that Moses also had before his mind the service that
our encamping, that is, the region wihere  we ,have been Hobab would still be rendering. But this entered in as
encamped for the past two years now, and inasmuch a secondary consideration.
as thou did shew thyself to be our friend by placing           It is not stated in  the narrative of  tl-e book  of'
`constantly all thy  sknowledge of this wilderness at our Numbers  Ithat Hobab, agreed to do as Moses had askedi;:.,
disposal, do not forsake us now; but come with us to        This is told us in the book of Judges. Here we find,"
Ganaan and enjoy with us the blessing of our rest."         evidence of the presence of Hobab's  descenclents  as
Th.us the reason why Moses besought Hobab not to for- incorporated among the people of  Israel.  Jael,  who
sake him is not that he in the first place wanted his struck the tent-peg through the temples of the e&eping
services bu;t that he wan,ted  him to persevere to the      S&era,  was one of these descendems,  for she is called
end in order that he might enter wiuh God's people          the wife of Heber the  Keni,te.
into the rest of Ganaan.                                                                             G. M. 0.
    But the language of Moses may have also this
meaning, "Forasmuch as thou knewest our encamping,
that is, wert thoroughly acquainted with the region
where we these two years have been pitching our tents,
and  ,inasmuch  as thou  hast rendered us invaluable                       The Book Of Daniel
service by thy placing all thy knowledge of this region
at our disposal, do not now forsake us, I pray. Abide          The Hiistorical  Division. ,Ghapter I-4 inclusive.
with us. March with us to `Canaan an,d continue being          Jehoiakim's Captivity. Chapter  1:1,2.
of use to us as in the [past. We surely need thee still.       In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim  came
For the regions  thyough  wh.ich  we are still to pass are Nebudlladnezzar,  king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and
as little known to us as the district which we have just    besieged  iIt. The Lord gave the king into his hand,
abandoned. If thou consentest, we will do thee good,        with part of the vesseIs of the house of God, which
when we come to the promised land of our abode." were carriied into the land of Shinar  and placed in fl:?e
This presentation agrees with the first of the  two pre- house of the god of the  conquerers,  Daniel, Hananiah,
sented above. So there are really only two interpre-        Mishael, and Azariah. Chapter X 53.
tations between which we must choose. The one ac-              Ashpenaz,  a master of the eunuchs, receives ordm
cording to which Moses besought Hobab to attach to present to  tihe king a  sel& number of the children
himself to the people of Israel permanently  an,d so to of Israel fit to stand in the king's palace. These were
continue functioning as their eyes in the unknown to be instructed in the learning and in the tongue of
regions through which they were still to pass, and t!-e  Chaldeans. They were to be nourished three years
according to which Moses promises to do Hobab good ,with choice foods that at  tihe. end of this period of
in his effort to induce him to yield is weighed down        training they might enter upon the career of active
by the following objections.       It  wouEd be strange service, as  ma in robust health. Among those selected
if  Noses  with Jehovah as leader of his expedition were the four. persons whose names are given above.
would feel himself so utterly dependent upon  a man. Daniel was given the tname of Beltesihazar  ; Hananiah,


264                                     T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

the name of Shadrach ; Mishael, o: Maeshash ; Azsriah,          were immediately ,taken to execute the dectree. Also
of Abed-nego.                                                   Daniel and ,his fellows are sought for to be slain. .
       Daniel resoIves not to defile himself with the king's       Daniel &intimates to the captain of the king's guard
meat, *he makes known [his resolve to the prince of the charged wiith the sllaying of the wise men, V.& he can
eunuchs. The latter, fearing that his  charges  might tell the king his dream. Daniel is sent for. If the
not fare well on the menu of their own choosing, at             kin'g would give him time,  Ihe would tell him both
first refused to yield. Daniel asked that he and  1ti.s         the dream  ~witih, its interpretation. His request is
three ,friends be placed on a trial menu for ten days.          granted. He and his three friends at :his request earn-
Food he wished for'.himself  was pulse and water. If esty petition God for the needed revelation. These
their tzountenance  showed that the simpler food was prayers were heard.                   The dream was revealed to
not conducive to their heal&  if as compared with the           Daniel in a night vision and he blessed God.
others they <appeared under-nourished  &er the trial,              Again in the presence of the king, Daniel, in re-
they.  would hold their peace and eat  wqhatever  they sponse to Ihis .Iord's  question wlhether he was able to
miust. He in charge consented to prove them ten days. `make  known to him his dream, answered that the
At the end of the trial they appeared to be in better secret was revealed #to him via the Revealer of secrets,
health than the others and were permitted to continue nameIy  God in heaven. He hkes pains to assure the
on the simpler fare.                                            king that the secret was not revealed to him ,because  of
                                                                his superior wisdom, but solely because  tc?e king had
       The Lord shows  iihese  :four Israelites favor for       to know.
their iloyalty  to Him. He gave them learning, skill,              Daniel tells the king what *he (the Bing) saw in
knowledge, wisdom. To Daniel he gave understanding his dream: a great image with a  terribIe form,-an
in  all visions and dreams. These  fo;Jr Hebrews were image with a head of fine goId, with breasts and arms
presented to the king. An examination brought out of silver, with belly and thigiL of brass, with legs of
tha% they were men of rare abihty. There was none               iron and with feet partly of iron and clay. The king
like them. As they stood before the king in the capac-          was now told what he next saw; namely, a stone cut
ity of. counsellors,  it appeared that they in the words        out without hands, that smote and break the image
of. Scripture were ten times better than all the other to pieces so that it became like {chaff, carried away
magici,ans and  astroIogers  of  the  realm.  Daniel con-       by  tlhe wind and found no. more. Rut the stone filled
tinued unto the first year of k.ing  Cyrus.                     the earth.     Then Daniel  reveais the interpretation.
       Chapter 2:1-13.-In  the second year of his reign,        The golden head of the image was representative of
Nebulclhadnezzar's  spirit was `greatly vexed by a dream the king with his power, strength and glory. After
he was unable to recall.         Those supposedly having him shah arise an inferior kingdom. And thereupon
understanding of dreams, magicians etc., were sum-              a kingdom of brass and finally a fourth, a Ikingdom
moned into the presence of the king and requested by            as strong as iron shall break in pieces and destroy.
him ;to reproduce *what he had forgotten. The magi- But the kingdom is of iron and clay and ,will therefore
cians are greatly troubled. They insist that 8hey  must         fall  apart  as clay and iron do not  cleave together.
hear the dream before they can show the  inte?pre-              In that day God shah set up a kingdom indestructible,
tation.  The king, however, is not to be moved. They eterral,  ,ond destructive of all the earthly kingdoms.
shall do as requested : if not, they shall be cut in pieces        Wlhen Dame1  had done witih speaking, the astonish-
and their houses reduced to a  dungdhih.  If, on the            ed king prostrates himself before Daniel's feet and
other hand, they can function as requested, great riches        wnrshipped him, acknowledging this God as the God
and honor will be theirs. The magicians continued to of Gods. He raises Daniel to the highest possible
remonstrate with the king, repeating  ,&heir plea. The          position of glory in his realm and heaped upon klim
king now charges them with practicing deceit. They gifts. At Daniel's request, the three ,friends  are also
.wouId  gain time because they see that i?m thing, that is,     set by the king in high places.
the decree, is gone from  him. They have prepared ly-                                                        G. M. 9.
ing and corrupt words to speak before the king till the
time be changed. Let them therefore tell the king                                          -
%hds  dream, then he shalI know that they can show him
the interpretation of it.
       The  Chardeans  reply that there is not a man on                                .,,  F A I T H
earth able to do the king's request, that never before
has a king asked a thing so utterly unreasonable from                         Beloved, it is well:
a magician. Only the gods can show it and they dweI1                          Gud's ways are  always  right:
not witlh flesh. The king was furious, ,and commanded                         And love is o'er them all,
that' the wise men, all of them, be destroyed. Steps                          Though-far above our sight.


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                                                                                        men and scrithes"; and when some of them were cruci-
                                                                                         fied and killed, and some of them were scourged in the
                                                                                        synagogue of the "church", and persecuted from city
                                                                                         to city ; when constantly the righteous blood of the
                                                                                        saints nvas shed on the earth, "from the bIood  of right-
                          By A Familiar Friend                                           eous  Abel  unto the blood of  Zacharias son of  Bara-
                                                                                         chias" ; when some were tortured, not accepting de-
                             Yea, mine own familiar friend,  ,irt  whom                  biverance  ; that they might obtain a better resurrection,
                         I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath                      and others had a trial of cruel mocki,ngs  and scourg-
                         lift& up his heel against me.  - Ps.  413.                      ings, yea, moreover of bonds and  impnisonment, were
P                            But  z't was thou, a  ,m.+n mine equal, my                  stoned,  sawn  asunder, were tempted, were shin with
                        guide  azd mine acquaintance; we took sweet                      the sword, wandered about in  sheepkins and  goat-
                         counsel together, and walked  wnto the house                   skins, destitute, afflicted,  mented,  wandered in
                         of  God-in company.  - Ps.  55:15,   14.                  I     deserts, and in the mountains, and  Zn dens and caves
                            I speak not of you  a&: I know whom I have                  of the earth-indeed, then the Stiptures were being
                         chosen: but that the Scripture might be  fu&                    filled  with the sufferings of  Chnist! . . . .
                         fille&  he that eateth bread with me hath                           Constantly the Scriptures were being filled !
                         lifted up his heel  aga&.st  me.  - John  23:15.                    Filled, too, they were with  ithe faith, the stead-
         ' That the Scriptures might ,be ;fulfihed !                                     fastness, the patience and the  ,vi&ory of  Christ
                                                                                         when they offered up more excellent sacrifices than the
          All the Scrit;itures must (be fulfilled, filled to capaci-                     inicked  and received testimony that they were right-
     ty, to the utmost Gogsiible measure, s,o that nat one                              eous,  when they obeyed and  left country  and home  to
     drop can be added, and all will acknowledge that the                                dwell  5n tents and [become strangers in the earth, when*
     limit  ivas reached.                                                                they blessed their generations with an eye to' the
           And'they are all fulfilled in  Chnist.                                        promise, when they chose. rather to suffer affliction
          Also in the old ldispensation  they are being fi!led.                          with the peqple  of God than to enjoy the pleasure of
     Into the measure of the  Scniptures are poured the                                 sin for a season, when they kept the passover  and the
     ~&s&d  promises of  &XI, promises of righteousness                                  sprinkling of blood, when they subdued kingdoms,
     and life, of "glories" that art to follow, of victory                               wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the
     through-suRering and strife, of the *rrecompence  of the                           mouths of Eons, quenched the violence of fire, escaped
     reward, of the city that hath foundations, whose                                    the edge of the sword, out of weakness. were made
     builder and  artificer is God. And the saints of the                                strong, waxed valiant in ~battle,  turned to flight the
     old  jdispensatian  drank in hope out of those Scriptures                          armies of the aliens. . . .
     as they were being filled, embraced the promises, saw                                   By B'l t-his the Scriptures were being filled !
     .them  afar off, believed, and confessed that they were                                 Filled with the sufferings, the patience, the obe-
     seekers after another country, and that they were                                   dience, the steadfast hope, the victory of Christ and
     sojourners and strangers in the world .                             -              the glories that should follow!
          Yes, indeed, always the Scriptures were b&g f-&d.                                  Fi.lIed,  too, with the iniquity of the "world", of
          Wo that measure of the Sor$ptures  `were poured                               mighty tyrants raving against the inheritance of Je-
     also  the sufferings of  C%rist.  For, truly, when God                             hovah ; with the hypocricies of an apostate and carnal
     sent  into the `world righteous men, "prophets  and wise                           "church" ; tith  the devi1ishly  smooth deceitfulness of

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

     familiar friends, plotting for the destruction of the           stretched out upon the bed of languishing. His heart
     righteous. . . .                                                was sore within him, and terrors of *death had fallen
            And yet,  all this was only the beginning of the         upon him. H,is enemies then expected his  ,deatll, and
     fulfi4lment  of the measure of the Scriptures.                  hoped that his name Iwoul,d perish. His friend came to
            Fulfilled they were not, until He came, the Son of visit him in the sick-chamber,, speaking smooth words
     God  lin the flesh, the Christ of God, when He had              of lying vanity, falsely praying at his sickbed that he
     spoken and revealed His mighty works, when He  had              might be spared ; but in his heart he carried the secret
     revealed Himseif  as tke righteous One, Who always              desire that he might perish, and he came only to report
     glorified the Father, when He had obeyed and suffered           in the city that an evil disease cleaved fast unto him,
     e;en  u&o the death of the cross,  &en He had  per-             and that he would rise up no more. . . .
     severed  unto the end, when He had fought and over-                And, in the  meantilme,  wickedness and  iviolence
     come and entered into His glory,-then the Scriptures            was in the city!
     were fulfilled !                                                   Day and night *men went about the walls, whisper-
            The utmost limit of all had been reached !               ing, slandering, pl,otting  to cast down the king, to de-
            No sorrow there was like His sorrow, nor could           stroy him, if ever he  shouid recover and rise again
     human sorrow ever become  [deeper.                              from his sickbed. "Misschief  and sorrow are in the
            No suffering there was li,ke His saffering, nor could    mild& of it; wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit
     mere human frame ever endure such a burden of grief.            and guile depart not from her streets". Ps. 55 : 10, Il.
            No death was like the death of the Son of God in            And all this occurred under the leadership,  lupith the
     the flesh, .fathoming  the deepest depth  of .hell, tasting     counsel  and at the instigation of his familiar friend!
     in one crowded moment of  titme  eternities of woe ;               Had it been his enemy that reproached him, he
     nor could mere man die such a  Ideath.                          could *have borne it; had he that ,hated him magnified
            No obedience was so perfect, no steadfastness' so        himself against him thus, he might have hid himself
     Frrm,  no love so strong, no patience so enduring, no           from him. "But it was thou, a man mine equal, my
     rrighteousness  so ~flawless,  `no truth  so clear as His.      guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel
            And no glory is comparable to His glory, nor could       together, and walked unto the house of God in com-
     it ever be surpassed ! Nor  could fiendish enmity ever pany"! -
     surpass itself ia respect to the baseness of iniquity              That cut through the heart like a twoedged  sword !
     manifested  i,n the contempt and hatred that was heaped            Thus the ki,ng  mourns and lamems.
     upon Him. The limit of  all had been attained. The                To what other period of the history of David's reign
     measure was full.                                               could this possibly refer than to that of Absalom's re-
            The Scripture was ful+filled!                            bellion? That proud and ungrateful prince, much ,be-
                              -                                      loved though he was  lby his father, had conspired for
            The kick of a familiar friend?                           the throne.  W%th subtle deceit and flattery he had
            Mine own familiar friend, in w.hom  I trusted, which     stolen the, hearts  of the people,  alienating them from
     did eat of  ,rny bread, my equal, my guide and my               his father with slanderous words. When he considered
     acquaintance, ,with whom I took sweet counsel, who              the time ripe for action he had sent spies through all
     walked with me unto the house of God,-he hath  lifted           the tribes of Israel with the message: "As soon as ye
     up his heel against me !                                        hear the sound of a trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom
            Yes, also this cuttiag  grief, reproach and shame,       reigneth  in Hebron". II Sam.  l5:5, 19.
     belong to the measure of the Scriptures, to the measure            And all  l&is, no doubt, as we may gather from the
     fixed  by God's immutable decree for the sufferings of          psalms, took place whi.le the king was helpless because
     G,hrist  ; also this form of <base iniquity and treacherous     of a lingering disease  ; took place, too, at the counsel
     deceit that does not hesitate to hide murderous intent of Ahitophel !
     and hatred under a cloak of friendship, to betray with             Ahitophel, the familiar friend, who ate bread at
     a kiss, be!ongs  to the measure of iniquity that must           David's table, who was initiated in.to the very secret
     be filled.                                                      counsels of the king ! He was a man of talent, wisdom,
            Often before this sorrow had been the lot of the         power and influence. When he ,had given counsel, it
     saints.       Frequently the wicked  ,had committed the was as if a man bad enquired at the oracles of God.
     crime of stabbing to death their familiar friends.              Thus it was with David and with Absalom! II Sam.
            David  lha.d tasted the bitter experience of this        16  :23. To Giloh, his native city in the  ,mountains  of
     false friendship and betrayal of trust. And the Spirit          Judah,  hf! had finally retired, waiting, no doubt, for the
     had moved him to sing of it, that it might become               right moment again to appear on the scene of the con-
     a pa8rt of revelation, of the revelation of the smeasure        spiracy `and rebellion, to use his influence for the de-
     of the sufferings of Christ that must be fulfilled. Tt          struction of the king. And from Giloh Absalom  fetch-
     was when  $hle  was sick and helpless, when  `he was            ed him, and he came to Jerusalem, ready to tear off
.


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             267

his mask of friendship and openly declare himself for that when I say that ye are ckan, I speak not of you
the rebellion !                                               all. I am aware that one of you is a devil. Do not
   The king's familiar friend finally lifted up his heel fear that I have made a dreadful ,mistake  when I chose
against him !                                                 You  twelve to be my apostIes,  for 1 knew lit then, on
   Thus the Scripture was being filled!                       the morrow of that night when I had  keen  alone with
   Filled with the iniquity of the familiar friend, who the Father in prayer, and when I called you to be my
violated the most sacred and  ,intimate bonds of friend- apostles. But I chose you all, I chose ,&so Judas, in
ship by lies and  deceit, conspiracy and rebellion. And order that the Baripture might be fulfilled : he that eat-
tilled, too, with the keen suffering and reproach of the efb bread with me, hath lifted <up his heel against me!
king of Israel, the man after God's heart, the anointed           Christ, the fulfililment of David !
of *he Lord on Sion's holy hill.                                 Judas, the ultimate realization of Ahitophel!
    And yet, it did not fulfill the Scripture at  this            Christ: the perfect Thesis; Judas the ultimate
partioulolr  instance.                                        Antithesis, the son of perdition ! The limit is reached;
    For, after al,l, David was only a  tM=, shadow of the Scripture is .full!
Him to whom the Lord in heaven had said : "Thou art               Judas, the familiar friend!            *
my Son, this day have I begotten thee". His suffering             For, such he iwas to all appearances, by virtue of
was keen, but his was not tihe dignity and majesty his being numbered with the  tiwelve. He was chosen,
of God's eternal King ! The rwicked  deceit of Ahitophel and he accepted the choice ! Wlhy he awpted  we know
was dark ti.niquity, inspired Iby the very prince of dark-    not. A very dark, a hideously dark problem is Judas.
ness himself; yet it was committed against the shadow,        Greed, covetousness, love of money, no doubt, was one
.not against the reality. Besides, David was the servant of ,&the dark motives that stir.red his soul. The treasur-
of the Lord, but many  infi,rmities and sins, gross sins er of the little group ahe was, and he was a %hief, t&ough
in  fti, defiled him and  %is way. And might not in the treasury of Jesus there can never have been
wicked Ahitophel with a semblance of j,ustice appeal          much worth stealing! He must have looked into the
to the king's transgressions, if nut to excuse, yet some-     future. His sickly imagination must have been fired
what to explain and minimize his evil deed?                   by  t'e picture of a glorious future in the Messianic
    How, then, shall sin appear to be exceeding sinful? kingdom ; his morbid amlbition  must (have been hindled
    The Scripture must be  fulflled !                         by the desire for worldly glory and wealth in the king-
    The depth of this sorrow must be fathomed. .              dom as he conceived of it. And t&us be ate bread with
    The evil of this sin must be brought into the clearest Jesus, was daiIy in His company, enjoyed His secret
light, tilat it may stand fo&h  in all its hideousness !      counsels, heard His Word, saw His m!ighty works, even
    This familiar friend must lift up his heel  against       preached t%e gospel of the kinggom,  ,heaIed  ,the sick,
Him, of Whom David was but an imperfect shadow:               had power over ,devils,  and  allways hid himself behind
the Christ of C&d, the Well-beloved, in Whose mouth the mask of the familiar friend!
ne;er was found guile, holy, undefiled, sa,arate  fi:om           And .gradually  he was disillusioned. . . .
sinners, the Light, the Truth, the perfect Servant of             Especially when the masses in Capernaum were
Jehovah!           ~                                          estranged from Him Whom they purposed to crown
    That the Scripture may, be fulfilled !                    King  ?
                          -         -                             Es&cially  tien Jesus set His face to Jerusalem,
    1 speak not of you all!                                   and told them that He *must suffer and die, something
    I bnow rwhom  I have chosen !                             which, /perhaps,  :better than the rest of the disciples,
    Dreadful words of unwavering obedience to the Judas understood in  .bitterness  of soul !
F&her  ! Obedience, too, to the purpose of tlhe Most              And, still preserving the appearance of the familiar
High to Eulfill the Scripture!                                friend, he began to #lift !his heel ! Until for thirty pieces
    For,  less than this these words of the Saviour can- of silver he agreed to commit the darkest crime that
not signify. He knew the Scriptures ; He was thor-            was ever committed ! Until he  <betrayed the Son of
bughly cacquainted also with the partiEular Scripture         man with a kiss!
from the forty-first and fifty-fifth psalms, and w.ith            The Scripture is satisfied !
its historical sbackground  in the history of Ahitophel           More evidently hideous, corrupt, deceitful, false,
and David. He knew that this incident in David's Life this particular phase of sin, of the world's sin, of
did not fulfill that Scripture, nor did all the similar covenant-breaking, of lifting our  iheel against our
occurances and experiences of ,the saints of the old          Sovereign-Friend, cannot become.
dispensation. And He knew that this Scripture, too,               Deeper than Jesus felt the reproach of this sin
must be fulfilled. . . .       Hence,  I& chose Judas to-     it cannot be felt.
gether with the rest of the twelve !                              He can clearly  realize now that He must go to hell !
    I know whom I have chosen: all of you!  f  knm                For the sin of His people!                    H,  33,

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

                          ----.---__I
E-i-,I turns into violent outbreaks, when there is rioting and
!LL
                 E d i t o r i a l s                             terrorism, it must be condemned. But, striking and
                                                                 picketing, when conducted within the law, can not be
                                                            ! caIIed weapons of force.
                                                                    By stating what we have written above  r;ve do not
           The  G  L.  ,4. and Strikes                           at all mean to justify the strikes of the  last few
                                                                 months. We believe that many were not justifiable
    The editorial in "The Christian Labor Herald" t-o at all. We have not yet touched upon legitimate
which  we referred in  t!le preceding number of our reasons for striking, nor upon what should precede
lA?aper, continues as foIlows  :                                 the calling  of one. We  rwill do that in subsequent
    "There  *are a number of reasons for that mistaken articles.  W-hat we  ,have tried to do is:  prove, or at
                                                                 least give reasons for our position, that even Christian
idea, a few of <which we shall touch on. First of all workers are allowed under certain conditions to strike,
such a position is ,due to the old idea of rugged indi-
vidualism, according to wii+ch  each man kas to #look            both as individuals and as an organization. The C.L.A.
.out for. himself, should not be influenced or interfered has taken that position from the beginning of its
                                                                 history.
with by others. That totally unscriptural  idea.is still
popular among certain people today. But, there is a                 We wish to add at once that the C.L.A. discourages
very plain teaching of Scripture  which says that we             strikes, and that it insists that no strikes may be called
are our brother's keeper, that we  :have responsibilities        unless the condition complained of is gravely unjust,
and  obli,gations  toward our fellowmen. Tfhe human and not until every effort to settle the difference by
race is an organic whale. The truth has been brought conferences, mediation or arbitration have failed. In
home to us repeatedly through the histolry  of the last          our next article we intend to explain that position
half century. And labor organizations, the radical as more fully."
quickly  aa the others, if not  Ibefore,  grasped that idea,        The reason why we believe that a Christian Labor
if not in a strictly scriptural then at least  in.a human- Organization shod repudiate  ,the strike as an  unszrip-
istic sense. Mass production dndustries,  bringing large tural means to gain its end, is not the first one men-
numbers of workers .together  in close contact, ai1 hatv-        tioned in the above quotation. We  are not rugged
ing the same problems, made organization possibIe  and individualists. We certainly believe that the human
made effective the use of the .strike  weapon, not by            race is an organism, though we also hold that in a
individuals but by  .organized  groups.        In principle spiritual-ethical sense this vrganism is split and di-
nothbng  ~was changed. The right to strike remaine;f             vided into bwo opposing camps, and that, only because
the right also of each worker. But, it was soon granted of this ,there is room for a specifically ChrGtiun labor
that it was a right of a group or organization as well.          organization. I do not believe that +he worIdly uni,ons
   Another objection sometimes raised is  i5at  when   a are organized because they realize the organic unity
group strikes, that group by force tries to impose its of  t&e race, but because they (as well as the capitalists)
demands upon the.employer.  Of course we must here               divide the human race into two classes: the capitalists
at once state that we do not approve of the tactics of           and the proletarians. They are based on the principle
many  Iabor unions. (More on that Iater.) When we                of the class-struggle, which is really but another form
discuss a strike we have in mind the refusal of a group          of individualism. We refuse to  divide society along
of workers, organized or not, to work under certain              these lines. .The employer and employee ought to func-
conditions. We assume that these workers are  justi-             tion in the same society, ea,ch in his own Iposition, ac-
%d in  t!heir grievances. That a strike under such cording to the will of Cod, for the benefit of the twhole,
circumstances constitutes the use of force we do not and not out of motives  of covetousness and greed.
grant. Under certain circumstances, in time  of-a                And, if this only is borne in mind also by unions and
s,na!rcity  of labor for instance, it is very .weI+l possibIe    associations, we  ~belelieve  that, especially in the present
that the strikers  wouId sit in their  <homes until the modern setup of society,  tlhere is room for a Christian
empioyer  rwas ready to remove the injustices. That labor organization, that discusses and tries to solve
would be quite impossible nowadays. However, even the peculiar needs of the employer, not over against,
the picketing of th'e employer's pIace of business can but in sympathy and cooperation with the employer.
not be called using force. Picketing is for the purpose             A' spirit of "rugged individualism" is, therefore,
of letting the public know that there is a dispute, what not the cause of our opposition to the strike.
the grievances are, and to acquaint-would-be-em$oyees                But  OUT reason is the second mentioned in the
with the fact that they are unrighteously interfering quotation from the "Christian Labor `Herald". We
,by taking emlployment. That also is a recognized right believe that the strike is the use of force, that it would
and is upheld in our nation. When such picketing never be resorted to if it was ,not conceived to be a


                                         T R E STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                              269

forceful means to gain one's enId, aed that in distinc-
tion from the  worl,dly  unions a Christian labor orsani-                       De Kreet Eens Ellendigen
&ion ,ought to repudiate all1 use of farce. Might is
never right. The employment of force belongs only                                               (Psalm  2.5)
to the government. And though it may temporarily                      De schrijver acht zidh gelukkig in het feit, dat hij
appear as if the employment  of weapons of  force  (the           in Ned&and on,der die des Heeren Naam vreezen zijn
strike, the boycott, the  dosed  shop) has been  con-             eerste wandelingen  gehad heeft.
ducive of much good to the laboring man, the ultimate                 Zoo  ktwam  hij onder den geest der psalmodie.
outcome  of it all will be  titol,d  misery and destruction            N i e m a n d   achte  dat  mgering.  .
of society.    The statement is often made, even by
Christian  peoipilre, that after all  &he worldly unions,              Er is iets in het gezang der psalme;l,  zooals ze in
even though their principles and Imethods  must ;be cun-          Nederland gezsngen  en gesproken en gebeden worden,
demned, have produced a great ded of ,good  for the               dat `bet geuang `van David in andere landen  verre in de.
workingman. Of course, a Christian ought to recognize schaduw stelt.
that such a stiatement  is a contmdiction  in terms. Evil             Legt den machtigen twee-en-veertiger  naast  de
principles and evil methods are never productive of. nommers 114-118 van de  Presbyteriaansche  "Psalter"
good. And lit is not trl;e, something Wh*ich  is &dent            en ,ge zult het zoo maar aanv&en, .dat de eerste verre
as soon as  yuu look not at immediate results, but at the         boven ,den.tweed,en  uitstraalt in sdhoonheid,  teederheid,
inevitable end of  the road. Though, as immediate  re-            liefli j k%heid.
suits of the employment of th,e force of numbers and                  Men heeft getracht om ons (die schoonheid  weer te
the methods of force such as the strike, the working-             geven  (in de Ikoraalzangen  van de "Psalter -Hymnal".
man may gain some temporary benefits, the end of the              Nu  versta men mij  lK&el: ik `heb  groote bewondering
class struggle is revolution, the  destr,uction  of society.      voor al  zulk  trachten,   doch  (de  uitkomst  stelt te  l,eur.
It is in this direction that we are mol7inlg fast. This           `t Is  werkelijk niet te  veel gezegd,  wanneer  we  be-
is not to be blamed  only to the labor unions, buit just weren,   dat  bet eenigste wat men ons  s&onk is de
as <much to the blind and greedy capitalist, who always           slchoone  wijs der [psalmen, zooals men die voor jaren
accumulates [wealth  at the sexpense  of the laboring man,        in Nederland  zong.
and does not seem to perceive that ih*e is causing his                Zoo is het oak met den vijf-en-tentiger.
own #destruction.     One, marvels sometimes that the                 Twee  weken   %ge!,eden was er wat  ruimte op  cmze
capitalist does not see this. God seems to  mke him  wekelijksehe  bulletin. Die ruimte  g&ruikte ik door
blind  for his own doom.                                          er het 6de vers van Psam 25 op laf te ,drukken. Het is
   Now, I am happy to notice that +he editor of the               No. 48 in de Psalter Hymnal, ,the sixth stanza. Maar,
"Christian  Labor Herald" does not appear, to  diff.er            och  arme, waar :was het schoone  vers mijnar jeugd ?
with me on ,t%i?is  score. I gather from his artBde  that         "Wie heeft lust den  IHeere te vreezen, `t allerhoogst
he, too, would  condemn the use of force. He is not en  eetigwilg   goed?"
defendi,ng  the proposition  that the use of force is                  Sommigen  znl;len   zeggen: de  ,arme  man kan niet
justifiable,  <but that the strike is not the employment          aanvoelen  al het schoone,  teedere en lieflijlke  van de
of force. This rather presqppos&  that !h,e agrees with           engelsche'taal:   ihij is een  vreemdeling.  `t  Kan best
me principally. If it could be proved that the strike             zijn. Doch hiertegen zou ik (willen opmerken, dat ik in
is the use  of force, he  woulld  also condemn it. But he de 46 jaren van mijn leven we1 driemaal meer engelsch
argues that the strike and its  accompanyring  picketing 11as en studeerde dan `ho!landsch.                     Ik  meen,  in  alle be-
is not the employment  #of force  ,at all, and  ,tiat:  Caere-    scheidenhied  zij het ,gezegd, ook gevoel  te hebben VO(YT
fore, it must be  consi,dered  a proper Christian method bet  schoone  dat in de  engelsdl?e  literatuur  ons  toe-
to  fdlow.                                                        spreeekrt.
   But the editor has not at all convin:ed  me.                       En  z-elfs  hollanders  van afkomst, die hier geboren
    l' hope to give, the reasons for this statement in            zijn, tiemden  ,de hollandsche  psalmen  boven de engel-
another article.                                                  sche.
                                                  H. H.               Ik we& maar  nauwelijks wie de geest was, welke
                                                                  ons de  k>erijming   ,der  hoUan&che   psalmen  bereidde:
                                                                  en%och  hen ik hem. Hij is een man geweest die zeer
                                                                  dielit bij God wandelde. Hij  ihdj,gt  ni,et  langer  gelijk
                          NOTICE                                  een  hert der  jacht ontkomen. Hij is  aangeland   daa.T
ATTENTION: This is to remind all Field-Day  DeleG'..  waar.  de Drissche  Iwaterstroomen  hem  eeuwlglijk ver-
g&es, to meet Monday evening, M.arch  17, at the First            kwikken.            Hij is  gertaderd   voor Gods oogen ;  om in
Protestant Reformed Church at 8:OO.                               Gods Huis  %jn  Naam  te  verhoogen.
                                 The R.F.P.A. Board.                  En  honderdduizende   kindertjes   zingen  hem  nag

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

Dat wandelen met God ! `s Morgens  .fluistert  Hij mij
toe: dat is zond,e en dat is verkeerd ! Wend U ,tot Mij                                 Inriocence Attacked
en word  ,b&ouden  ! Ja, Heere, ik heb  Uw stem  ,a1
wer gehoord.          Ik kom al.     En nooit  vexcheen er                                         (Psalm. 26)
morgenstond, waarop ik geen kastijding vond.                              Now  *that is a foolish  thing to  4do. Whatever or
        Maar, Heere, `t is mijn  goed mijn zaligst lot, nabij        whomever you may attack, never attack  innoxnce.
te  nvezen  bij mijn God! Uw verborgen omgang! De You lose before you start. Whatever you ado to  V~~LW
goddelooze  weet daar niets van. `t Is verborgen voor                returns upon your head a million times over. Because
hem. En  d,e  dwaas  ;;erstaat  niet.                                virtue is *God.
        `k  ZaJ dan  stille zijn. d'  Cogen  hondt mijn stil              Ytet  such  (was the case with David. David was
gemoed  opwaarts  *om op God te  letten.                             innocent; still he was attacked. And his attackers lost
        En zo,o peinst David in stille na.chten.                     their case. You cannot ,really harm virtue.
        En zoo'peinzen  de liefhebbers *des $Ieeren.                      We do not know tihe historical background of this
        Voor tijd en wijle zullen we nog eenzaam zijn en gem. It may have ,been the time when David had to
versclhoven  ; ja, d'  `ellenden   drukken ons  neer.  We fl,ee from the face of Absalom, his son.  Itiwould  fit
zullen ,getuigen  van ,angst  en *smart ; we zullen schreiend        this case admirably. Note the Jverses  4 and 10. The
naar .den Heere gaan en Hem verte!den,  dat er duizend               fvrmer  verse would then paint  *to us the miserable
zorgen en duizend deaden  ens angstvallig hart kwel-                hypocrites that followed Absalom.  They are then the
len.                                                                 dissemblers. And in ,the latter verse we have a word
        Maar we zullen schuil,en  onder  d,e schaduw  van het        pilcture of the princes and rulers of the ,land who fell
kruis.       We zullen  roepen om  vergeving  totdat  geen          away from David and for  bribes followed  Absalom.
maan meer  schijnt. En dan  zal `t  ophouden.   Onder                Moreover, then we  can also  un,derstand  David's ex-
de  .behoeding  van vroomheid en oprechtheid  zullen we              pressions in this qxalm  regarding the house of God.
voortgaa~n, totdat Iwe aanlkomen in de luwte van Gods                See verses 6-8. He longs for God's house.
vlerken.                                                                  But we cannot  ,be absolutely sure of that historical
        Zoo hadden  de gebeden van David een eimie.                  baokground.
        En  #bij het einde heeft hij  aan U  geda,cht:  Laat              The psalm itself is clear. And the theme runs
Uw hand in t.egenspoen,  Israel verlossing  zenden.                  through the  wh'ole of the song. David is innocent,
        Ook heeft Hij gehoord.                                       but is accused by the evil and godless that  aremassed
        Want ten  lhuidigen  dage  vertrouwt   `g-e nog  op          around him, But Ihe trusts in `God and `knows that ,he
God.                                                                will Ibe vindicated.                                   ,' i
        En gebeurt het  soms, dat ge Uw ziel  opheft tot                  In the very first words of the psalm rwe have also
denzelfden God in den onvergetelijken  vijfsn-twin-                  the theme: Plead my cause, o Lord ! For that is the
tiger.                                                               meaning of the one cry : Judge me, o Lord !
        De drie kinderkens wandelen met Jezus in den                      David is accused. There is a case pending against
vurigen oven ; de goddel'ooze  koning beefde. Hij werd ,him.
beschaamd.                                                                And he brings t%e case to the highest Judge, his
        Straks wandelen  all,e kinderkens met Jezus,  doch           God. Neither is he afraid of appearing before that
niet  meer   in vurige ovens.         Ze zullen wandelen in great tribunal. He appends his grounds for coming:
eeuwig Ibht, daar waar nimmer tranen vloeien. Daar                   for I have walked in my integrity. What does that
zal bet openbaar wezen.                                              mean? It certainly does not  man that David  was',
        Maar voor een #kleinen  tijld meet het anders.          Tot sinless. Such is not the meaning of the term. No,`
zoolang  heet  ,het:      Gods verborgen omgang! In de but it stresses  tlhe fact that David was a  harm&s
diepten !                                                            man. To be a man of integrity is the very contrast of,-
        En van uit die diepten weerklinkt  het: ?k Hef mijn          being a hypocrite.            It stresses the fact that David
ziel, o God der (goden,  tot U op ; Gij zijt mijn God ! .            was without guile in this case, whatever it may have
        Het wezen  van die gestalte zijn de bergtol:i:en  ,des       been. He had walked in the honesty, the purity and
geloofs  ! .                                                         the righteousness of his regenerated heart. Such
                                                     G. V.           people  ,are hanmless~and it is folly to attack them.
                                                                          A,gain, David was not sinless ; but he was no dis-
                                                                     sembler, no hypocrite. His walk was characterized.
                                                                     by sins  ,and weaknesses; there is no doubt of it. But
                         CLASSIS EAST                                here is the  point:  the main thrust  of his life was.
willl meet in regular session on Wednesday, April 2,                 virtue,  ,goodness,  uprightness.  ,His  !heert  \was pure.
at 9:00 A. M.                                                        M       a    t      t    .         5:8.
                                         D. J,onker,  $3. C.              And David knew all this; He was aware of the'


                                      T H E   S T A N D ' A R D   B E A R E R                                     273

fact  thatchis  enemieshadno case against him.  How           them; we work with them sometimes at the same
could-they have? He had trusted in God. That means            bench. But as soon as possible ; as soon as we can
that David  had given himself wholly in God's safe- separate ourselves from them, we do so. We hate
keeping. To trust is to repose on someone. As it is           their congregations.
stated so often in Dutch prayers: "zich laten zakken             David denominates them by four words: vain
en :zinken  .op de Rots der eeuwen die van geen wan-          persons, dissemblers, evil doers  sand wicked.
k&n.        w&f';-  I-.       '                                  I ihear a question: Must we not love our enemies?
    Surely, when that is your life, you may also say          Must Iwe not try and save them? Must we nut let our
with David: "therefore I shall not slide". How could          light shine  unto them if  haply God wil use us to
you. Sliding here does not merely mean: I shall be            snatch them from the  {brink  of eternal death?
sin!ess. But it means that 3 shall be- free from the             Yes, I have often heard these questions. Some-
great transgression. It means: I shall not slide from times t!hey are put to us in a way and in  aan atmosphere
off the Rod'.o, that is, my God.                              that makes us wonder.
   Thereupon David comes in all the' uprightness of              Yes, we must. certainly love our enemies. That is
his heart to God with the request to make trial of a text from Jesus' lips. And I agree that you must
b.im. And note that he does not mention his apparent try and save the wicked with lwrhom you come in con-
conduct, his outward  behaviour.  He does not say:            tact. Of course, you  are a  walking Evangel. Many
0 God, prove what I have dcine! No, he asks God to            there are who were drawn to God by means of your
make trial of his inward man. And he does so in ask-          Christian <walk.
ing for a: threefold trial. Trial by touch, trial by             ,But always  remember  this:  you will never  .be  a
smell, and trial by fire. For such are the primary            light unto the Gentiles by becoming a boon  com-
meanings of these  tihree verbs.,  although it must be        pa&on  wit!h the wicked. When I wonder about such
admitted that they are often used interchangeably. It questions is when I notice that  the people that ques-
will suffice to note that D.avid,  in using these three tion me thus live on a very friendly footing with the
terms, means to run the entire gauntlet of the trying world. They seem never to be bothered by the vile
and  iproving  and examining eyes of God.                     may of the world. We do not know the [heart, but
   Surely, no hypocrite dares to  [pray thus before it seems to us that they are of a kind.
God.                                                             And such conduct is damned.
   The reins are t&e deepest core uf the emotions and            Ah, beloved, does it not set your heart on fire when
the heart is  .the ethical center of man. There man           you listen to David?
lives in the deepest sense of the word.                          He certainly has ;solved  his social problem.
   And of that heart and these reins David `says that            I have not sat with vain Ipersons. A vain person is
Ihey have` been always under the  contrtilling  and one  w!ho never utters anything but vanity, wind,
beautifying influence of God's  lovingkindness  and His nothingness. Delitzsch tells us that the idea is: un-
truth. For that is the meaning of to wdk. You begin real men, not real men. And who does not  iknow
your walk in the heart. From it are the issues of life. them?
And if our life is in thB truth of God's Word, we are            Yes,' you must try and draw them. But have
safe.    Oh- yes, we will be sinners, but here is  ihe        you ever considered that you may be able  to  drarw
difference,:  such an, one wills goodness and mercy all them by shaming them, (by showing that you detest
tlhe day long. And wherever he departs from such              vanity, by  1eavin.g them and keeping yourself aloof
conduit  it is in spite of th&t heart-life of goodness and    from all "nothingness", vanity? Note that David
purity. That which he does in such a case he allows           does not say: I have not talked to vain persons, but
not. Rom.  7  :15. Throughout it  all he finds that in        I have not  sat with them. That means that  !he never
his heart and reins he loves the law of God.                  voluntarily would seek out their company and sit down
   Moreover, David can prove his case also by his at ease with them. You sit in order to enjoy  your-
outward conduct. He states this in various parallel aelf.
phrases.     But they all  come down to this: Thou               I till not go in with dissemblers. That is worse.
knowest  Lord that I have walked in my integrity,             A dissem.bler  is a hypocrite. They are of all ;men tie
because I hate the company of the godless.        '           most miserable.     They look one way and they are
   Powerful testimony. Anyone can investigate that.           an other. They carry a mask. They are just as
The life of Gods' own are as San open book. The whole worthi2ess  and wicked as the vain persons, but they
world may see it that we love the company of God's            mask all their filth behind a mask.
people and that we do our best to have as little to do           David {would not go in. with them, would not be
with the wicked as possible. Oh, 1 know it: we cannot jointly responsible with them for any kind of work
wholly cut ourselves off from intercourse with the or endeavour.
men ,of Belial. We must buy from them and se11 to                I  Ihave hated the congregation of evildoers. Yes,


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they are the men who are not satisfied to do evii alone.           David has gathered courage in this prayer. The
No, they seek one another out and band themselves               end is calm.
together. And then evil is on the increase.                        He will continue to walk in the upri&tness  of his
       We  hs;e  wondezed  sometimes.       We have met         heart. God tried him and exonerated him in this
some <men  that were evil and to talk with them was             case that was pending.
a bore. But then #we saw the same men in the com-                  David may have had his enemies around him even
pany of an evil group ; and we could hardly recognize after the uttering of this prayer; tfhey  may have con- "
t$em  any more. Where was all that politeness, suavity,         tinued their insinuations and aocusations.
sweetness of speech. It seemed as though hell had                   Never fear, David. He is encouraging his soul.
broken loose., Have you ever tried to sit in the smok- The time will come that he is publicly exonerated.
ing room of a train? Ah, the congregation of evil-                 In the meantime, as far as his inmost soul is con-
doers is more &I ,than a mere evil person. In such cerned: he walks in an even place. That is, he walks
gatherin'gs  evil is on the increase.                           on  t!he way of truth and sincerity of heart, those won-
       Instead of all  t%at, David has washed his hands.        derful gifts  o;T grace.
       And that  Iwas necessary. David also is a sinner            And he found the purpose of all flesh: he  1wil1 bIess
from his youth.                                                 the Lord.
       To wash the hands in  innocency  is symbolic lan-            Do not ask what that means; you know it. It is
guage.                                                          that we may tell  Cod how inexpressibly  wonderfu1
       Innocency is God. He is all virtue. And that             He is.
virtue is manifested, proclaimed, revealed. And David               Incidentally  : that is heaven in our souls.
,had seen it. And David had wrestled all his life to                                                                1 G. v.
wash himself in that virtue of ,Ctid.
       When you want to read Psalm 26 in New Testa-
ment times you will say: I have washed myself in the
blood of Jesus. It means that through the battle of                                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
faith you are striving to walk in  rpurity  before God's                                    1911  - 1941
face. It means that you wa1.k in, sanctification, having
&been redeemed *by CR& blood:                                       On Saturday, March 22, 1941, our beloved parents,
       And your qnqose is that you* may be the correct                                 H E N R Y   M U L D E R
image bearer. And that  :mea.ns  that you  may be  to                                           and
the praise of God's glory.                                                       BERTH4  MULDER-Vander  Zwaag
       Such  we hear from David: That  L may publish hope to celebrate their 30th Wedding Anniversary.
with  th& voice  of thantksgiving and tell  all Thy won-            We extend to them our heartiest congratulations and thank
drous #works.                                                   the Lord for His loving-kindness to them, and earnestly pray
       There is one urge above all in David and all those       that He will continue to bless them and spare them for each
like him: They want to go home. And Home is where               other and us for many years to come.
God dwells with His people.                                                             Their grateful children:
                                                                                               Mr. and Mrs. Lambert  J. Mulder
       Some people you cannot drag to church, it seems.                                        Mr. and Mrs. Herman Sjoerdsma
Very often they Ieave their place empty and the con-                                           Mr. and Mrs. -Gerald Mulder
sistory  wonders.                                                                              Mr. and Mrs. Claytus R. Shoemaker
       There is something wrong,  deftniteIy  wrong. It                                          and 6 Grandchildren.
is too wet, too dry, too hot, itoo cold, too windy. Junior      (Open House  7 to 9 o'clock in the evening at 701 Gladstone S. E.,
has a headaiohe  ; the car won't start, or, at least, I hope    Grand Rapids, Michigan)
it won't; there is a lion on the  :road:  ,ah, miserable
excuses. W!hy not come uut with the truth: 1 do not
care for the place (where Thy ihonor dwell&h!
       Something wrong : they do not  want to go to                                     I N   MEMORIAm
heaven, that is, to God.                                             On February 2, 1941, it Pleased our heavenly Father to
       But David has an horror of the place where all           take unto Himself our beloved wife, mother, grandmother and
people  wilI be gathered who hated God and would not            s i s t e r ,
be gathered in  *His home. And that  (place is hell.                                  MRS. R.. SCHAAFSMA
Oh,  God, says David, do not gather  my  dife  with                 According to Ps.  30:5 she has that jay of peace that  passeth
sinners. .                                                      all understanding. That is our comfort. May the grace of the
       No,  beloved,  if you hate the congregation of the       Lord be upon us.
wicked here, you certainly do not fit in hell.                                              Mr. R. Schaafsma and family.


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                                                             earth signified that his kingdom would be sure to him
                 The Book Of Daniel                          at the end of his humiliation.
                                                                Hereupon DanieI exhorts the king to forsake his
       Nebuchadnezzar now made a huge .image of gold. sin and return to the Lord, that there may  ,be a length-
Assembling all the officials of his realm before it, he ening of his peace. But the king refused to repent for
instructed  tlhem  to prostrate themselves and  worsbiip     at the end of *twelve months the vision was realized in
at the first sound of the music. Anyone refusing would respect to him in an hour of  lbksphemous  boastin,g,
be wt into that very image converted into a fiery fur-       when engaged in  pridi'ng himself  u*pon his owu
nace. The king was  *informed that Daniel and his achievements.
three friends  hald disobeyed. Sent for they are given          But at the end of the specified time his understand-
one more opportunity to comply. They assure the king ing is restored to lhim and he praised God land His
however  tihat they will not  worship  him. The king `in Ikingdom. As predicted, his power, majesty, and \honor
a fit of an,ger orders them bound and cast into the fur- were returned to him an,d he was reestablished ,in his
nace ,heated  so intensely or heated seven ti,mes more kingdom. But he did not forsake :h.is ungodliness and
so that the  soldie:s  selected to execute the kings com- his son Belshazzar  walked in lhis footsteps.
mand perished by the flames. The king is astoni,shed            Belshazzar's Feast : This king made a great feast
to see tlhe three friends accompanied by a fourth walk- Q a thousand of his lords. During $he progress of the
ineg in the midst of the fire unhurt. He saw the fourth      banquet he  :had the  golId and  sillver  vessels of the
form like the Son of <God. Hastening to the mouth of temple broulght in that he in `a feasting company might
the furnace, ,he icalled  to them to come forth. They do     drink  tout of them, which they did, and praised in
so and it was discovered upon examination that not           deliberate defiance to Jehevah,  the false gods of gold
wen  a  !hair of their head had been singed and that         and silver and of ,brass,  of iron, of wood and of stone.
not  *even  the smell of fire was on them. Then the          Then there appeared the  fingers of a man's hand  that
king blessed God  ,and decreed that any people setting wrote upon the  wlall of the banquet hall. The king
thhe'r mouth against the God of heaven ,would  be de-        was terror-stricken ; his loins were loosed and his
stroyed.                                                     knees smote one against the other. He shouted to
       Nebuchadnezzar confesses and extols God's king- bring in the soothsayers and in his great consternation
dom. His eulogy of God's kingdom is the prologue to assu*red  the one able to read the writing great rhonor
his. narration of his vision and its interpretation by       and power, to wit, a place as third ruler in his king-
Daniel. His dream no one  coul,d interpret  but  naniel.     dom. To no one however, would the writing yield its
whom  hR calls  Belteshazer,  the master of magiciana.       meaning. Then t,he attention af ;the king was directed
                                                             to Daniel Iby the queen. He could show the intenpreta-
       In his vision he saw a tree in the earth of ,great tion said she, for in bim was the spirit of the holy
height, reaching to heaven and visible ,to .the ends of gods.  Libght and  ,wisdom  `were found in him in the
the earth. Its fruit `was meat for all. _ All the Ileasts    days of his father Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was brought
found shelter under its shadow and the fowls dwelt in in. The king by his promise of the aforesaid reward
its <boughs. He hears in his idream the voice of the         induces Daniel to interpret the  writieng. Djaniel replies
watchman crying that  t.he tree  shoald be cut off so        that the `king's reward may be to another. He will in-
that nothing but the stump should be left with an terpret the writing. He sets out with a  $brief  char-
iron aband <around it binding it to the earth. Here the ~a~cterization  of his father Nebuchadnezzar's career.
imagery changes. The tree is a human, fur its heart          `Ilhe Most High God  head given him a kingdom and
is to be chanlged  from `a heart of a man ,to that of a      kingly majesty, glory and  honr. But his  ;h.eant was
beast over which was to pass seven seasons. Daniel, lifted up and ,his mind hardened in pride. As a result;
who  reseives  the interpretation was astonished, mute,      he was ,deposed  fr.om his throne till he kner*v that the
for one hour. The king urges him to speak irrespective Most <High God ruled in the `kingdom of men. As to
of  whaat the character of the intenpretation  may be.       Belshazzar, though he knew  arll this, he refused to
Daniel abeys.                                                humble his ,heart,  <but at that very moment was en-
       The interpretation : As the tree, so the king, he `gaged in a voluntary defiance of the Lord of heaven.
too has grown and become strong land ;his greatness          Thereupon Daniel gives the meaning of the writing.
reaches to the end of the earth. But ,he shall be hewn God had numbered his kingdom and finished it. ;He
Idown' humiliated to the level of the beasts among           was weighed in the balance and found w.anting. His
whom  h,is ,d*welling  shall ,be and with whom Ihe shall kingdom  was divided and given to the Medes and
feed .upon the grass of the field and ,be wet with the       Persians. Then the king instead  of repenting realized
dew of Iheaven. Seven times shall go over him until his promise unto  DanieI,  elevating  ;h,im to the  lofty
he <is prepared to acknowledge that God rules in the         position of third ruler in his kingdom. That same
kingdom of men. That  t;he stump remained in the             night  Bolshazzar  was slain and Darius the Median


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          286

took the kingdom at the age of 62 years.
    Darius appointed 120 princes to rule over  the                             Graves Of Lust
kingdom and plaeed them under the supervision of
Dani,el to whom they were responsible. The princes,             Precisely one year, two months and nineteen days
jeal,ous *of this Hebrew's power, began to plot his dawn-    had elapsed since the departure' of the  (children of
fall. As he was  faitXu1 and accurate in the adminis-        Israel from Egypt. Then on the twentieth day of the
tration of his lord's affairs, their attempt to discover second month the cloud was taken up from the taber-
in lhim some fault to which they could attach an accu-       nacle in token that the will of God was to the effect
sation ended in failure. Knowing his singular and un- that His people should now  bre& up camp and journey
divided devotion to  -his God, they now induce the king onward. Sim~ultaneously  the priests blew the alarms
to establish. a statute to the effect that no one far thirty according as they had been instructed and the tribes
days  shal direct a petition of any kind to any God          bestirred themselves. At the head went the Ibanner  of
save to the king, that he disobeying shall be cast into      the camp of the sons of Judah, comprehending their .
the den of lions. The proud and vain king, flattered tribes, as did also the  .banners that followed. Then
by the suggestion and unaware of the' real intention the Gershonites and the Merarites as bearers of the
of the plotters, yielded and  `esltarblished the decree      tabernacle set forward. Next in line was t.he banner
rendered  the very moment the king's seal was impress- of Reuben, followed by the Kohathites  with tihe sanc-
ed upon it, immutably fixed ,by the law of the Mades         tuary (the vessels and the contents of  t.he sanctuary).
and Persians. Daniel continued to retreat three times Then came the banner of Eph'raim folalowed  by that of
a day for his private worship. His open defiance of          Dan, making up the rear. And as tihe ark set forward,
the king's  bdecree  was marked and reported to the          Moses said, "Rise up Lord and :let thine  enemies be
king by his adversaries. The king when he heard, scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before
was grieved, for be valued Daniel's services. He im- thee."
mediately set himself to devising  ways  ,and means             It may be imagined that there were difficulties con-
for delivering  *his esteemed servant from the unre-         nected with the march. The four divisions must have
lenting demands of the law. He labored until the             numbered at least 1,770,OOO  souls, men women and
going  down of lthe sun. When the adversaries heard children. Besides, there was much cattle on hand.
of his endeavor, they rushed into his presence to call       There could be  .no absolute separation of  thae 600,000
his attention to the immutability of th.e decree. The        men, able to bear arms, from their families and flocks.
king perceived that there was no way of escape. With The procession would measure from six to ten miles,
a soul sorely vexed  ,he gave command that the decree depending on the width of the desert passes. A days
be enforced and the sentence executed. So Daniel journey can `be put at no more than ten milles. The
was cast into the den of lions, the king himself sealing fvremost groups would *be several hours on the way,
the mouth of the den with his own signet and with the        when the last ranks of th,e second division were just
signet of the lords of his realm. Even to this they beginning to move; and the rear would still be on the
drove him, fearing that somehow he might succeed in          march when night had fallen upon  the desert. The
frustrating their designs.                  G. M. 0.         journey was a severe  distipline.  Some interpreters
                                                             maintain that the journey was too great a marvel if
                                                             the host was as large as it must have  been,  if the
                                                             numerical figures, which the several numberings  .yield-
                                                             ed are conrect. They therefore receive the explanation
                       NOTICE                                that these figures were accidentally increased in the
                                                             transcription of the narrative. However, nothing is
   The Committee appointed to distribute and mail gained by supposing such an accidental increase. The
the series of sermons by Rev. H. Hoeksema on Romans main difficulties were the wilderness itself-it was
9-11,  <hereby wishes  to thank all those who have paid a "great and terrible wilderness"-and the distances
in full for the series. The committee asks those who to be traversed. These difficulties are not removed by
have not made their final payment to do so in the near a reduction of the figures.
future, so we can bring in our report to the Men's              %h,ree days brought the marching host to "the
Society.                                                     wild,erness  of  Paran". "A~nd when the people com-
   We still have some complete sets on han,d. If any- plained, it displease1 the Lor.d: and the Lord h-d it;
one desires to purchase them they can d*o so; or if any- and his anger -was kindled. . . ." (Num. 11 :l,b) . "And
one desires a bound set at $2.50 you can send in your        it came to pass that the          ople were as persons com-
order to R. Schaafsma, 1101  Hazen  St., S. E.;. or to                                   p"
                                                             plaining or murmuring. . .  ." So reads the text in
F. Pipe, 946 Sigsbee St., S. E., Grand Rapids, Mich.         the origin'al. The  {people  were vexed by the discipline
                                   The Committee.  ^.        to which they were being subjected. Now this disci-

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

pline must no't be made light of. It was severe. The          want. Should they not have patiently endured? But
plain  (before  Sinai--the  #region   that had been aban- they did not. They burned witih resentment. Their
doned-is some 5,000  feet above the level of the sea.         speech became hard. They had no faith. They were
It had been from this elevation, through rugged gorges, void of love. So, the cause of their reaction was not
that the tribes had advanced without a trace of road.         the physical weariness that had resulted from their
It had been a hard journey after that prolonged rest marching, but  ,their  hardness of heart. But `were all
in the upland valleys of Sinai with their pastures and these complainers, un,believers,  persons devoid of the
flowing water.    The  great  multitude, formed as it         life of regeneration? This is not at  a,11 likey. To quote
was of ihuman  ,beings of all ages and of both sexes ; the the apostle, "In me, that is my flesh there dwelleth no
trains of beasts and wagons,  twith  the tents and bag- good thing. . .  ." `There dwelleth in that flesh of
gage, the herds and flocks in long drawn successions,         mine also murmurings and  complainings.'   An,d  Titus
had filled all the ravines, far land near, which pointed      flesh, when its works are not being crucified, becomes
at all in the same direction. Advance  dn a straight articulate. Then their proceeds out of the believer's
line had been impossible, on account of the lay of the mouth murmurings. Anu the Lord is  diaplleased.'
hills. Having skirted these hills, they had  ,found them-     Afterwards it came to pass that the people fretted
selves on  `a limestone plateau of irregular' surface,' in    which displeased the Lord ; and His anger was kindled ;
a region of `open plams of sand and gravel. . . .broken       and 4he fire.of the Lord burnt among them, ,and con-
by few valleys', and then as at  {present  `nearly water- sumed them in the  utterrmost   (parts  of the camp."
less, with the exception of a few springs, situated in        The  .word fire is not to obe understood  metapho&ally
the larger wadies'. - A region it is (and was) `for the (for vengeance. An actual fire burnt among them,
most  ,part hard and unyielding, and covered in many          perhaps terrible lightning, on  ,the outskirts of the
places wiith a carpet of small flints, whi,ch  as so worn     camp. Lives were lost, though  this is not explicitly
and polished. . . . as to resemble pieces of black glass.' said. Yet this must be the thought conveyed by the
It  w-a?,  ,a "great and terrible wilderness, wherein were    notice, "and consumed in the uttermost parts of the
fiery serpents, and  sconpions,  and drought, where there camp." Through His harming only the fringe of the
was  `no water," through which Jehovah had and was camp, the Lord plainly let it be known that if the
still to lead them (Deut. `7 : 15). How slow and difficult murmurings continued, the  whoIe  nation would eventu-
the process must have been. Three days they had               ally be overtaken by judgment.
been  on the march. They were tired now, and de-                 At the si,ght  of the conflagration in the camp, the
pressed in spirit. So were they tested by `the hard- people became frantic. They saw themselves  suc-
ships of the journey and of the life in the wilder-           rounded *by a bIaze that, in a11 likehhood,  was slowly
ness. But as tested, they  `were found wanting.               but certainly closing in on them from all sides.  fn
They murmured and complained. Just what they said their consternation they cry  `unto  Moses. Conscious
is not recorded. All that is told us is that what they        of their sin, bhey' dared  ,not cry unto the Lord. They
said "displeased the ears of God". It was thus hard,          had no confidence. They had a feeling that, should `
unreasonable, sinful words to which they, in their            they pray, He (would shut CH,is eyes. They had need
vexation of spirit, gave utterance. Their reactions now of the mediation of Moses. He was the righteous
were deeply sinful. How could they expect to be jour- man `in their midst. His `prayer, they knew, availeth
neying through a wilderness, such as through which much. He had power with God. So it was to Moses
they were now passing ,without  suffering hardships.          that t-hey turned. . Upon His mercy did they cast them-
And `what had they not been compelled to endure in            selves. "And yuihen Moses prayed unto the Lord, the
Egy@ as Pharoah's slaves. How they had toiled in              iire  `was quenched (the fire sank)  ." So they were
this  tyram's  iron furnace. They were now free men ! saved. But their murmurings at this place were not
And their destiny was Canaan. There God  wouId                permitted to pass into oblivion. We read, "And he
dwell with them, as SHe dwelt `with them -now. And called the name of the place Taberah:  because the fire
what was their present sorrows as compared with the           of the Lord burnt among them."
gIory  that the Lord had in store  ifor them? And as             Soon after this, iperhaps almost immediately, a new
far as they knew, it would not be long now, perhaps a         murmuring arose among the people. "And ithe mixed
year at the most, before the journey would have been multitude that was among them fell a lusting (original,
made. And how had the Lord already befriended                 lusted a lust) : and the .children  of Israel wept again
them ! He  ihad stretched out His. arm and freed them         (returned and wept), and said, Who shall give us flesh
from their bondage. He had redeemed them by the to ,eat." Though they `had just been so severeIy  chas-
blood of His very ow,n sacrifice. He had given them tized, and when God was  ,hardly apsesed, they again
His law. And what had He not already done to smooth gave way to complaining. The murmuring first arose
away their dif&ulties  and to lighten their burdens? from the mixed multitude (the collection), who had
All their needs `were being met, so that they knew no         joined themselves to the Israelites on the eve of the


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       287

departure (from Egypt. It was a crowd of  *persons          they were starving and soon all of them would be dead
whose nationality is not revealed. Many of them must men. That this was actually their reasoning is plain
have been Egyptians, Their ihaving  wanted to quit from  Iw!hat they in their carnal wrath said some years
the homeland has an explanation. There was no               later while they were encamped in the plains of Moab,
"people" in Egypt at that time: only slaves. The "And' the people spake against God and Moses, Where-
common Egyptians were forced to toil, at the royal          fore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the
will, in building temples, [pyramids and cities, under      wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there
the eye of remorseless drivers.  Such was the lot of        any water; and our sod  loatheth  this light bread"
bhs multitude. So, as inspired by the prospect .oE  a       ( N u m .   21:5).
better life, many of them had gone forth with the              What terrible language it .was to .which gthey  gave
Israelites. Their number must have in&ded several           utterance? How astonishingly untrue!
persons of other nationalities, who forcibly had been          They said that they were starving, while the fact
brought under Pharaatr's  oppressive yoke. Moses did        was that  the Lord was daily fully appeasing their
not repel them or order! them out of the camp Iater         hunger. They said  that they were ill-fed,  while the
on. He had no command.- It need not be assumed that fact was that never before had they been fed so well.
in this motley crowd there were no persons of true          Of the  manlna they said  t;h,at as a food it  lwas woefully
faith.                                                      deficient, while the truth of the matter was, that as
   It was this element that first  fel; to lusting. They    a food it was- perfect in that .it lcontained  all the nour-
wanted flesh to eat. It must be, they were the first ishing properties  needtful for man. Eating of it there-
to weep  land say, "Who shall give us flesh to eat? We fore these Israeiites  were strong and vigorous and in
remember &he fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely;        tihe ,best of health. They said that they could no longer
the cucumbers, and the *melons, and the led!=, and the      endure the manna. Had it then been disturbing their
onions and the  garlick:  but aow our soul is dried digestion? Had they been nauseated every time they
away : there is nothing at all besides this manna before    had eaten of it? Was even the thought of this food
our eyes." Their disease of iwatience was contagious.       actually making them rph.ysically  sick? Had it, to their
It did snot take long before the whole camp gave way to great sorrow, become so unpalatable to them on ac-
weeping and to echoing  this speech.                        count of their having eaten of it so exclusively and for
   The Lord, hearing "their  compIaint, sent them so long a time, that they had to force themselves to
quails. "And there went forth a wind from the Lord,         eat of Et? If so, they were to be pittied rather than
and brought quails  ifrom  the sea."' And while the censured.           This manna was not making  trhem  sick.
flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed,       Would God give them food  inhe~rently  nauseating-food
the wrath of the Lord was  ~kindled  against the people,    indigestable? But they said that their soul ,loathed it.
and the Lord smote the people with a very great             But this loathing was without a physical basis, if by
plague."                                                    physical basis is meant a .ruined digestion. It was not
   The Lord smote the people. It tells us that they         a ph,ysical but a spiritual nausea that was troubling
committ~ed  a great sin at this time. It cannot be that them. Its seat was not their body but their perverse
the Lord found. fault with them merely because flesh        wili and mind. It rose not. from sick stomachs but
and the other foods mentioned would have tasted good        from sick hearts. It means that the fault layed with
to them, if these foods had been available. To take them and not with the manna. The sacred narrator
this view of their  murmurin,g is to  lbe driven to the     wanted  %is understood. For be affixed  to their mur-
conclusion that all hungering after. meat and onions        murings a description of the virtues of. the manna,
is sin. What then was their sin? To know this, re-          "And the manna," says he, "was as coriander seed,
gard must $e ha.d firstly to the mood that they were in.    and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. And
That mood was evil. The ~language  which they used the people went about and gathered it, and' ground
tells us this. They said, "Now our soul is dried            it in mills ,or beat it in mortar, and baiked  it in, pans,
away. . .  ." The expression had a definite meaning. and make cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the
It denoted a diminishing of natural force, a wasting taste of fresh oil. And  when the dew fell upon the
away of the body. Their grievance was then that they camrp at night, the manna fell upon it."
were actually starving because there was notlxing  for         The manna, as a food, was as  `pure and wholesome
them to eat but manna. "There is nothing at all be- 9s the dew upon which it, during the night, would fall.
sides this manna before our eyes". It is plain that But its taste was that of fresh. oil. It was thus a food
what they meant to say of this manna is that as a food (with a soft, mild, inoffensive taste. Onions and garlic
it was woefully deficient not only but also that they and leeks on the other hand are foods with a tang. "
Vhad eaten uf it for so long a time that they could no      Their taste is sharp. They  are  foods capable of power-
longer stomach it, that it thus had become to them          fully stimulating the taste organs and thus of in-
food unfit rfor human consumption. This being true, creasing and wetting the apetite. What strong drink


288                                      T H E   .,STANDARD   B E A R E R
                                                        --- ,.. _. I
is  amon'g the beverages, these foods are among the                     Thisthey were unwilling to do. Despising the.,manna,
things that man eats. As ,to me ons .and meats, the they c~j+ for their meats and onions and so brou:ght
former are known (for their luscio..sness  and the latter themselves.forward  as a people whose God was their
for their hardiness.                                                    belly and whose' only pleasure was to serre at the
       This explains  the behavior of those weeping Israel- shrine  of this god. The Lord gave them manna. But
ites. They had t,o do without this natural appetizing                   so attached were they to those other meats, s,o  powc:-
food and be content with manna. But they `were not ful their lusting, that-they worked themselves up into
content.     They despised the  imanna,  God's bread of a frenzy because they coulld  no longer feed on those
weeder,  because, however nourishing it might be, it                    meats.    How can heaven  have any  aqpeal for  suah
was not a food  witih. a tang. It was that appetizing q~eople?  It cannot. The  I;romise,  "And he that  over-
food-the food with a tang-that they wanted. And                         corn&h will I give to eat of the  hid,den manna," leaves
because they h,ad it not, they (wept. They thus wept, tthem  cold. They despise the manna. It is onions and
mark you, not for nourishment-they had that-but                         leek that their  souls  crave. Is it to  Abe marvelled at
solely for food to stimulate their taste organs, thus                   that those weeping Jews were for returning to Egypt?
for  carnal,.  sensuous, enjoyment. But are they honest                    The manna-that food. the taste of which was as
enou'gh,fo  admit it? Do they confess before God that the taste of fresh oil-typified, as was  sai,d, the  hexTen-
the foul fountain of their tears ,is their carnality and                ly. In a more particular sense, it typified Christ, the
that thus they are at fault? They do nut. Instead they revelation of Christ, thus sound, pure  doctrine.  In
blame God. They accuse Him of wanting to let them contrast to the manna, those other foods-the  foo*ds
starve.. This they do through their indirectly  dedar- with a tang- it is to be ta!<en  as the `embl.em  of the ylis-
ing that they cry not [for Igratification  of the vile l,ust of         dom of the world, of the  pihilosophy   cif man. The
their lower nature, but  atiually  for some real nourish-               former only is, the true nourishment of the ~0.~1. The
ment, for the ,fulfillment  of their needs, thus for the                latter does not nourish. It is only for stimulating  tie
preservation of  ,&heir very lives. What  astonishin,g                  mental sense-organs of the flesh. God .demands  of us
wickedness ! What  amasmg  ingratitude ! How furious that we desire  the manna, that we may grow thereby.
they  .were with God sand with Moses ! And just be-                     But so many are not satisfied with the manna. Yet
cause they lacked the means wherewith to gratify their they say they are. But set the manna before them in
animal natures.      How powerful that lust of `theirs                  its pure state, as unmixed with the l,eeks and onions of
must have been ,if th,ey lcould so carry an just because                Egypt, and they raise a *cry and a hue and say that
they had to do without flesh and onions,-powerful                       there souls are withering ,away.  Yet, they wiI1 insist
because instead of crucifying they fed it after first that they cry for true nourishment. But they qxak
having awakened it. Consider what they had done and                     not the truth.
were doing. They had voluntarily,  dehberately,  di-                       God  I%eard  and answeed  the prayer of those we
verted  their  thoughts from the manna and focused                      ing Israelites. For that is what their crying for flesh
them  .on flesh and onions and leeks. Through this                      was-a prayer, "An.d the Lord said unto Moses, , . . .
&tic+ they had awakened their lust. So, in their                        say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against
`mi&8sts, in their imagination,  they  had turned  tiheir               tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh ; for ye habe wept in
bati" upon' God and Canaan and Bad set themselves                       the ears of the Lord,  saying,  W/h,0  sh,all give us flesh
down.`bfore Egypt's fleshpots. And there they sat,                      to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt: therefore
feeding on what they in their minds were bringing up the Lord will give you flesh, and ye  shall  eat."
out of those puts. And  there they continued to sit,                                                                G. M. `3.
feeding the fire of their lust until by it they `were
consumed. What did it show? That they preferred
flesh and leeks, the fleshpots of Egypt, the earthy,                                                  -
the pleasures of sin, above life with God in the wilder-
ness and ultimately in Canaan. This was their great                        Christ wants us to remember `Him, especially in
sin. The eating of meats and of the ,other articles of                  His sufferings and deatih.
diet with, which men nourish their mortal frames, is
not as such sinful. It is the only food we have. The                                             * *  4:
point to the case of the murmuring Israelites is that,
having taken away from them their meats and leeks-                         No more than we want to forget the dea&hbed  of
things representative of this eartrh,y-and  having put a member' of our family, do  `we  want to forget the
                                                                        cross of Calvary on which our Saviour  died.
in the place therof the manna-a thing that typified
the heavenly-the Lord demanded of them that now,                                                 *  rp:  *
for the  tilme being,. they set their heart upon this
manna and look away from their meats and leeks.                            One+-sin  hardens the heart for another.


