                                                                                              I
  VOLU&lE   XVIII.  ~.                                  A P R I L   l,  1 9 4 2                       ,' .          NUMEER  13

                                                                     _ ten. Doch het program voor  .Jezus'  lijden is  opge-
           MEDIT,ATIE                                                  maakt in de eeuwigheid. Het is het program  van Gods
                                                                       wijs bestel. Daarom staat daarin elke `bijzonderheid
                                                                       op haar eigen plaats, en heeft alles zin en .beteekenis.
               Een Laatste Ontmoeting                                  En dan zien we in deze: ontmoeting van Jezus en
                En als  Hero'dus   Jezus   xug,  werd  hij  zeer Herodus niet maar ,een  willekeurige appendix aan het                  1
             verblijd; want  hij was van overlang  bebeerig           <lijden   ban  den Heiland, maar een laatste ontmoeting
             geweest Hem te zien,  omdat   hij  veel van-Hem van de twee eerstgeborenen, -die  heel de Schrift door
             hoorde; en  h,oopte~   eenig   teeken te  zien,  dat     worstelen om de plaats der ,eerstgeboorte!
             van Hem gedaan  zou   wor,dein.  En hij vraagde              Jezus staat hier als de Eerstgeborene!
             Hem met vele woorclen; doch Hij  anxv,oorrJAe               De. eerstgeborene heeft  gro0t.e  beteekenis in de
             hem niets. En de  overpriesters  en  (de   Schrift-       Schrift. Hij `is degene, "die de baarmoeder opent",
           geleerden stonden, en beschuldigden Hem en  alzoo  de wegbereider is voor zijne  broederen.,   `Op
             heftiglijk.  En Herodus met  zijne   kriigs-             hem viel dan ook de bijlzondere  verbondszegen, en hij
             li.eden  Hem veracht en bespot hebbande, deed nam de eerste plaats in onder en over zijn broederen.
             Hem een blinkend Meed aan, en zond Hem                   Hij was  heerseher;  zijne broederen moesten hem  ,die-
             weder tot Pilatus.             Luk. 23 :8-11.            nen.
      Twee eerstgeborenen !                                               Maar alle eerstgeborenen in de Schrift ontleenen
      De Eerstgeborene naar de verkiezing, en de eerst-               hun beteekenis uitsluitend aan den Christus. Van
  geborene. naar  (de  verwerping.                                    -Hem  waren ze typen en schaduwen. Hij staat aan het
      De  E,erstgeborene  naar den Geest, en de `eerst-               hoofd van de (vergadering der -eerstgeborenen. Want
  geborene naar het  vleeseh  : Jezus en Herodus !                    Hij.  is de Eerstgeborene bij uitnemendheid. Eerst-
      En als  altij,d,-  naar  Gods   wonderlij8,  vrijmachtig        geborene is Hij als de Christus, de Gezalfde des  Heeren.
 bestel, staat de eerstgeborene  ' naar de verwerping,                In den raad des AIl'erhoogsten  is Hij de eerstgeborene
* naar het vleesch, op d -plaats van den Eerstgeborene               aller  creature,  haar wegbereider en hoofd, om  Wien'
  naar de verkiezing, naar den Geest !                                alle dingen gemaakt zijn, in Wien alle dingen tezamen
      Zoo  immers moet-`zbeschouwd  wor'den  deze  ont-               bestaan. In Hem worden dan ook straks alle dingen
moeting van Jezus en Herodus, willen we haar zien in                  vereenigd, die in den hemel en die op ,de aarde zijn.
  het  li!cht  der Schrift, dat is ,in het licht  van Gods  raad.     Eerstgeborene onder vele broederen is Hij, Die ook der
  En dit laatste is noodig. Och, zoolang we het program broederen weg bereidt in Gods  Huis, en #die  eeuwiglijk
  van Jezus' lijden eenvoudig beschouwen als  `de heel                onder hen de eerste plaats inneemt, als hun Heer en
 gewone geschiedenis van een zwaar en bitter lijden, is               Hoofd. En als zoodanig is Hij ook de eerstgeborene           ,
  het misschien wel interessant om van stap tot stap uit de dooden,  Die Zich een baan breekt door  de baar-
. .  ..dezen   .Man  van smarten-te volgen op Zijn lijdensweg;        moeder' des doods tot in het heerlijke leven der- op-  -
  interessant ook, om te letten op al de  verschillen~de              standing, en dat alweer als de wegbereider voor Zijne
  personen,. die een rol speelden in het drama van dit                broederen.
  lijden: Judas, (en, ach, ook Petrus !)  Annas  .en Kaja-             Erfgenaam is Hij aller dingen!
  phas, Pilatus en Herodus; maar in het eigenlijke licht                  Koning der koningen, Heer der  heeren   ! Voor Hem
  der openbaring zien we dit lijden dan toch niet ; en ook moet alle knie zich buigen ! .Hem  moet alle tong be-
 .verstaan  .we  dan niet, waarom de Heiland op Zijn via lijden!
 .dolorosk   al deze verschillende personen- moest  ontmoe-               Dat  .is. Zijn plaats, de plaats Hem toegewezen in


278                                      Tm3  STANDARB  B,ARER

 Gods  eeuwig raadsbesluit.                                       gonnen.  Want daar reeds  worsteld.  de `verkiezing
 Maar op die plaats staat Hij hier thans, voor                    met de verwerping om de  koningsplaasts.   Ea   & Re-,
 Herodus, niet !                                                  bekka  heen gaat om hierover  $den  Heere te vragen,
       Inttegendeel,  Hij staat hier ,op de tweede, neen, op      wordt haar door het Goddelijk  antwoord  een worsteling
 de laagste plaats: gebonden, als gedaagde,  voor  <den           voorspel,d,.  niet maar tusschen  de-   twee~`zonen,  die  uit
recht,erstoel  van den koning Herodus, den eerstge-               haar geboren zullen worden, maar tussehen  twee `vol-
 borene naar het  vle&+ch,  den verworpen eerstgeborene !         kan,  tusschen de  verkiezing  en  ,de verwerping. de
       Altijd tias  het, naar Gods.  vrijmachtig welbehagen,      eeuwen  door;   tiene   wor,stelinjg,  het  ejnde  waarvan zijn
 zoo  geweest in  ,de geschiedenis. Want Christus  `was  uit zal, flat  de meerdere den mindere zal dienen ! En als
 hert   huis   v&-Davi'd.  Eh ook David  wlas  (de   `eerstge-    straks de  Ikkinderen  geboren worden,  heeft  die "min-
 bor,ene  naar de verkiezing, en in zijn  ges1ach.t  werd         dere" den "meerdere" bij de hielen, worskelende  reeds
 dtij,d  (de   ,eerstgeborene   ,Gods gevonden. Doch  Daviid      om de  koningsplaats!      . . . .
 stond naar zijn geboorte uit Isa niet op des. eerstge-              Ja!kobs  w~orsteiing  met Ezau lom Gods  verbond !
 borenen plaats: hij was de laatste onder zijne broed?- *             Doch in Jakob openbaart zich een arm des  vleeeches.
 rexnaar  het vleesch. En David was uit Juda. En ook Zleher,  o zeker,  .als Ezau zijn  ~eerstg&oortenech;t  ver-
 Juda behoorde tot de eerstgeborenen naar de vrijmach-            koopt, dan openbaart hij zich als den profane, den
 tige verkiezing, zijn geslacht was  een  (geslacht van           onheilige,  -en hoereerder, maar dan laat Jakob toch
 koningen, die heerschen  zoufden   totdat  Silo zo komen.       aan'God  niet  #de   ,eer,  en dan heeft het toch al den schijn,
 Maar Juda stond niet op de plaats der eerstgeboorte alsof Jakob zichzelven  plaatst op den koningstroon. En
 naar het vlesch : hij was de vierde uit Israels lendenen. zoo schijnt het nog weer, als Jakob met  Ibedrog.den
 En -Juda  was uit' Israel. En nogmaals was Jakob de              zegen tracht te verkrijgen. Eerst bij  deti Jabbok, wan-
 eerstgeborene naar de iverlkiezing  der genade, en nog-          neer dez&Jezus,  die th,&s  voor Herodus staat, m& den
 maals staat hij op de tweede plaats in de geboorte, en           vleeechelijken  Jakob worstelt, I,eert  deze  het verstaan :
 staat de verworpene op de plaabs  der eerstgeboorte. `. .        "Niet door kracht of door geweld". . . .
       Ezau, Edom, de Idumeer, Herodus! . . . .                      Gods   koning,mo& door God en in  Gods  weg, als
       Want Herodus was ee Edomiet!                              Golds knecht,  top  .den  troon worden verheven !
       <Men meent soms, omdat. immers de profetie aan-               -De   verhieeing  inoet  overwinnen !
 gaande den scepter van Jda vervuld moest wor.den,                   `God zal Zijn eer aan geen anderen geven!
j dat men in Herodus nog een laatste en verre afstam-                 En de  w,o,rs;teling,  in  R&ekka's  schoot begonnen,
 meling van David moet zien. Maar Israelietisch  ko-              zet zich voort door heel de geschiedenis heen. Want
 ningsbloed was er in Herodus' aderen geen druppel.               Edom haat Israel, `de verwerping haat de verki,ezing.
 Herodus  Antipas,  .die  regeerde- over Galilea en Perea,        En die haat  opetibaart  zich ten einde toe.  Amalek
 `was  zoon van den gruwelijken Herodus den Groot&,               kwam reeds bij Rafidim tegen Israel om hem te  ver-
 en deze was de zoon van  Antipater, gouverneur van delgen, en nog weer bij Kades, toen het  vleesrehelijk
 Idmnea,  het land ten zuiden van Juda, door de  Edomie-          Isra  tegen alle Godd.elijke  openbaring in optrok' om
 ten sedert de  ballingscha,p  ingenomen en bewoond.              het land Kanan in bezit te nemen. En hoe nieri  overi-
 En  Iduinea  is slechts een andere  naam  voor Edom.             gens ook Gen.  14:7   veflklaren  moge, ook de Amale-
 Idumeers waren Edomieten. Koning Herodus, wat kieten  waren Edomieten, want  Ar&alek   yvas  een .zoon
 mengeling van' bloed er ook in zijn aderen gevloeid              van Elifaz, den `zoon van Faau.  (Gen.  35 :12.
 moge hebben, is` officieel Edomiet !                                 En altijd  is  het  Edam,  -die `door zijn zwaard Ser  '
       Jezus voor  Herodus!                                       had verwonnen, -di  met bitterenrhaat  zich stelt tegen
       De Eerstgeborene naar de verkiezing en- de  eerste-        zijn broeder Isra.el. Dpor zijn land wil Ezau zijn broe-
 geborene der verwerping !                                        der niet laten trekken, als deze het land der  Ibelofite
       Maar nogmaals staat  ,de Eerstgeborene der ver- mIde&.  En als  Israel  zijn  ,erve  van  <den  Heere heeft ont-
 kiezing hier op de laagste plaats!                               vangen, leeft Edom met hem op den voet van voOrt-
       De twee eerstgeborenen !                                   duretiden  oorlog. Zoo  was het gedurende de regeering
                                                                  `van Saul, David, Salomo, Jehosafat, Jehoram, Amazia
.  Jezus  voor Herodus!                                           en Uzzia. En als straks de wereldmacht  on,der  den,
       Een laatste ontmoeting. . . . in de historie althans !     trokschen  koning van Babel Jeruzalem verwoest en het
       `t Moge niet  zoo  schijnen,  ma& hier wordt ge-           volk der eerstgeborenen  gevankelijlk  wegvoert, dan
 worsteld, hard gestreden door den Eerstgeborene naar             verheugt zich  Edam  over  zijns,-broeders   verfiedering
 de verkiezing om Zijn Hem van God aangewezen plaats en roept met woord en dad den geweldenaar van Babel
 als  kotiin,g  te veroveren !                                    toe :  `60ntbloot  ze, ontbloot ze,  t,ot  har  fundament toe  !"
       `t Is het einde van een lange en batige  worsteling        Ps.  137:7.  . . .                    \
 tusschen Jakob en Ezau!                                           Straks wil  fiatian  het konirgszaad uitroeien tot
       Reeds in Rebekka's  schoot was deze worsteling be-         den laatste toe ! .En  Haman  is  de  Agagiet,`de Amale-


                                           T H E   .STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                            279

 kiet,   de  E d o m i e t !                                              Ziet Jezus  .daar  staan ! Gebonden en  machteloos   !
 Voor een wijle wordt Edoms macht verbroken                           Bleek en uitgeput van de vermoeienis van den voorbij
 door de machtige Makabbeen.                                         geganen  ,Gacht   ! D.e sporen van het bloedzweet, in `den
      Doch lang duurde deze glorie niet.                              hof  uitgedrnkt,  nog op Zijn gelaat. Er is aan Hem
      En onder  de. sluwe Herodianen, die van  Rome's                 metterdaad geen gedaante noch heerlijkheid ! Als men
 -Caesar  wisten. te verkrijgen, door kuiperij en vleierei; Hem aanziet, is er  nie;ts begeerlijks in Hem ! En zeker
 wat ze door de macht  van het zwaard nie;t  vermochten               boezemt hij, naar de maatstaf der wereld, en naar all,e
 te veroveren, komt Edom zelfs op Davids troon!                       Ezau's  berekening van Herodus, geen vrees in!
      En zoo  staat Eldom hier in Herodus voor Jezus!                     Doch om volkomen  geruststel1in.g  te verkrijgen doet
      Een laatste ontmoeting !                                        Herodus Hem. vele vragen, die zeker met het rechts-
                                                                      geding hoegenaamd geen  verband  hielden. Dan grijpt
    Herodus de koning !                                               hij moed, om dezen Jezus, den Koning qer Joden, den
   `,: De eerstgeborene naar het vleesch op den troon!                E,erst&ebor.ene  naar !de verkiezing ,der  genade, met  b,e-
 Ziet hem grijnslachen! Want heeft hier niet de                       hulp van zijne Brijgsknechten  te verachten' en te be-
  verwerping de eindelijke  .overwinning  op de  verkie; spotten, drukt zijne verachting en  duivelsche   blijd-
  zing,?                                                              schap  uit in het  konings-spotklieed,  td,at  hij `den  H:eilanhd
      0, .Jezus,  Die immers Gods  program van Zijn lijden            om de schouderen werpt, en -zendt Hem  teru)g  naar
  kende, verstaat  het zeker wel  op dit oogenblik, dat hij           Pilatus! . . . .
  als de Knecht des  Heeren  hier staat  yoor' Edom, den                  De triumf der verwerping!
verworpene, en dat deze thans de plaats  inneemt.van                      De verworpene op de plaats des verkorenen!
 ._ den eerstgeborene.                                                    Jezus voor Herodus!            -
      Maar  ,verstat  -ook Herodus, die `!vos", er althans
  niet iets van, dat deze Jezus is de Koning der Joden,                   Doch neen! . . . .
  de verwachting Israels, de eerstgeborene  tiaar  de                     De verkiezing verwint!              .'
  bel#of$e   Gods  ? Beeft  <dan  zijl gruwelijke vader hem               Gods  Eerstgeborene worstelt hier  .voor  en met
  niet verhaald, hoe deze Koning der Joden te Bethlehem Herodus,  en heeft de overwinning!
  geboren heette te zijn, en hoe hij al de  fkinderkens  in               Wat Hij antwoordt den koning met geen enkel
de  stad  Davids  omfbracht,  om te voorkomen, dat deze               wloopd  !    En Hij weigert  b,eslis& om  ook maar  ,een
  Eerstgeborene hem  vaxi  den troon zou  stooden?  Of                enikel   ,betoon  van Zijne macht hier te geven ! En
  hoe kwam hij, deze Herodus  Antipas, er dan toch bij,               juist in dat stilzwijgen,  juisit  in die  passime houding,
  om  d,eze Jezus straks het Spotkleed van een koning om juist in die lijdelijke  oo$moed  ligt Zijne overwinning!
  de  ech:ouldieren   ite hangen,  alss  het niet  `ian  zijne  b&    Z,@ker,  Hij zou op dit oogenblik Zijne macht kunnen
  doeling lag om te spotten met- Israels.  hope, en, in be-           openbaren, met een blik Zijner  oogen  den koning en
  ginnel  althans, triumf te vieren over den Eerstgeborene            Zijne trawanten aan zijne voeten kunnen leggen, of
  der  yeti&iezing?-                                                  met een woord uit Zijnen  mond   Zijne vijanden kunnen
      0, .hij  verheugde zich ze&, deze "vos"! Reeds lang verdoen. . . .
 had hij een satanische begeerte gekend, om dezen  Jezus                  Doch  %een,  dat mag thans  @et   !
  eens te  -zien.   Meer  dan ne  r,eden  had hij voor dit              Niet `door een arm des vleesches mag de strijd nog-
  verlangen.  W.ant,   8ofschoon  hij in  longerechtighei,d  bij      maals worden bedorven.  Het'is  de strijd des  Heeren,
  zijn goddeloozen vader niet onderdeed, en ofschoon hij              die mo'et  &e&re'den,  ten ,einde  toe.
  dezen in sluwheid misschien nog overtrof, was hij toch,                 Herodus moet zijne "ure" hebben!
  zooals zoovele wreedards en  .goddelooze&  een lafaard.             _ Maar de Eerstgeborene der verkiezing moet Zijn
  Hij was in zijn hart niet, rustig over dezen Jezus.                 konilngschap   & koninkrijk  8ontyangen  van God ,alieen,
  Zijn door gruwelen verward  *br&in had- reeds  uitge-               en daarom in den weg van  Gods  recht! En die weg
  rekefid,  dat- Jezus wel Johannes de Dooper  kon zijn,              ligt over het kruis.. Op dat  kr.u$%eeft  Hij ook thans
  uit de  dooden   weerg&eerd ! . . . .        _                      Zijn oog gericht. Van den wg  va~~at  kruis laat Hij
      En dan, men vertelde toch, dat Jezus naar het                   zich niet afvoeren, ook niet als Hij in eene -l$%te ont-
  koningschap dong, en  dat- Hij een  grooten  aanhang :moeting  Edqm op Zijnen weg  tegetikomt  ! Dr, aan
  had !                                                               dat kruis zal-de  wor&eling  om  Gods  verbond worden
      Slechts enkele dagen geleden had men Hem  trium- beslecht.  ; . .
  fantelijk in Jeruzalem als koning uitgeroepen !                       En daar heeft de Eerstgeborene de volkomen over-
      En men beweerde, dat deze Jezus een groote won-                 winning !      Daar  moet'  alle eerstgeborene naar het
  dermacht bezat !                                                    vleesch het onderspit delven !
      Doch nu verheugt hij. zich !                                        Straks staat Hij op in heerlijkheid, wordt Hij met
      Want met n oogopslag vergewist hij..zich,  dat hij            -macht  bekleed in de hoogste hemelen ! . . . . -
  van dezen  armen  verschoppeling niets te  vreezen   heeft,!           Christus  Triumftor  !               .'  t        H. ti.


     iSQ                                                                                                    ` T H E   S.TANDARD   BEAR'E.R'

                                      The Standard Bearer
              Semi-Monthly, except  Monthly  in July and August                                                                                                                               EDITOitIALS
                                                                   Published by
                           The Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                                  1101 Hazen  Street, S. E.
                                           EDITOR - Rev. ,H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                            .Gog And  Magog Awaking?
        Contributing editors-Revs. J. Blankespoor, A. Cammenga,
        P. De Boer, J. D. de Jong, H. De Wolf, L. Doezema,                                                                                                                                The  Christian is naturally interested in the events
        M. Gritters, C. Hanko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,                                                                                                                      that  are taking place in the world today.
        A. Petter, M.  Schipper,  J.  Vanden   B?eggen,  H. Veldman,                                                                                                                      And although his interest does not exclude, but
        R. Veldman, W. Verhil, L. Vermeer, P. Vis, G. Vos,                                                                                                                            rather -include, things temporal, such as the social
        and Mr. S.  Qe  Vries.                                                                                                                                                        problems,  the economic situation, the political setup,
        Commdnications                            relative to contents. should be addressed                                                                                           `it is not centered on these things as such,  ,but   con-
        to REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand.                                                                                                                         si,ders  these in the ,light  of and  wi+h rel.ation  to some-
        Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                                             thing that far transcends them all: the kingdom of
        Communications -relative to subscription should be ad-                                                                                                                        God.
        dressed to MR. RI SGHAAFSMA, 1101 Hazen   St., S. E.,
        Grand Rapids, Mich.  All Announcements and Obituaries                                                                                                                            -Even  in and through  *he  present world crisis and
       must be sent to the above address and will pot be placed                                                                                                                       universal madness of the nations,  $he  beiiever is mind-
       unless the regular fee of $1.00 accompanies the. notice.                                                                                                                       ful of the word of the- Lord Jesus :  `73eek  ye first  the
                                                Subscription $2.50 per year                                                                                                           ikingdom  of God, and all other things shall be added
              E n t e r e d   aa   s e c o n d   c l a s s   m a i l   a t   G r a n d   Rapid;,   M i c h i g a n                                                                    unto you."
                                                                                                                                                                                          And the chief question in the mind of the Christian
                                                                                                                                                                                      is: how do  the present world events stand related  to
                                                                           -                                                                                                          the coming of the kingdom of, God and the  "day.of  the
                                                                                                                                                                                      iLord"?
                                                                                                                                                                                          That they are related to that day, there is no doubt.
                                                                  CONTENTS  '                                                                                                         The Chiistian  believes  tha$  all things that take -place'
                                                                                                                                                                        Page          in this' present time  Ibelong  to the coming of Christ,
     MBDITATIE  -  '                                                                                                                                                                  and  .Fust  culminate -in His final manifestatiop in glory,
       EEN LtiTSTE ONTM.OETING                                                                 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  I:..:  . . . . . . . . . . . 277    His coming on the clouds of heaven. Hence, for him
               R e v .   H.  yoeksema.                                                                                                                                                the  `events,   o,f this present time are  ,ess.pecially  of
     EDITORIALS  -                                                                                                                                                                    interest as `"things that must  shoftly Come to  p&s"
       GO,G AND  MAGOG  AWAKING ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  * . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                          2 8 *..
                                                                                                                                                                                 0    -with a  view  to that final coming.
       A S T O THAT MYSTERIOUS REPLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282                                                                              The world is looking for, and  eveti now speaking
               Rev. H. Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                                      of a  new  world order,  ai order in which justice and
     `IlHE   TiUl+LE  KNOWLEDGE  -                                                                                                                                                    righteousness shall dominate all relations, in  tihi!ch
       EX.POSITION   OF  TKE   HEIDELBERG                                                                            CATECHISM  :.....253                                             there shall be freedom and abundance for all, an  order
              Rev. H. Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                                       of. abiding and firmly established peace. And, indeed,
       THE DAY ,OF THE LORD IN 0. T. PROPHE,CY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 there can be but -little  doubt that the ..structure  of the
              Rev. G.  i$ Ophoff.                                                                                                                                                     present world ordei, socialljr,   eleonomically  and politic-
       COMMUNICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..I . . . . . .  284
                                                                                                                                                                                      ally, is crashing  over  our heads. It. is quite safe  ho
                                                                                                                                                                                      say that, ,whatever  may be. the dutcome of the present
               Rev. G. M. Ophoff.                                                                                                                                                     world struggle, the old order is doomed. It will never
       EEN BOETELING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                           ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      2 9 2       returh. Whether the dream of a new world order will
              Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                                             be realized, and what form this realization will assume,
       PUBLIC OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ~ . . . . . .  ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
                                                                                                                                                                                      is still an open question.
              Rev. A. Petter.                                                                                                                                                            The Christian,. toq, looks for a  .new  world order,
       THE INFLUENCE OF MODERN LITERATURE .: . . . . . . . . . . 297                                                                                                                  but it is an- order that in every sense transcends the
              Rev. M.  Gritteirs.   -                                                                                                                                                 present, so-that it  capnot  be conceived in the line and
                                                                                                                                                                                      ai  the ultimate dutcome of the historical development
_      CONTRIBUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ~ . . . . . .  ..I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  :..298                   of,  the present  horder.  It, too, is an order in  whi,ch
       ~. The Consistory.                                                                                                                                                             righteousness prevails, but  it is not  the righteousness
       A  PRQg&EM  AND A SOI;UT-I& . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .._....... 293of Man, but the righteousness of God.  It,. too,  iS an
                       Mr. B                                .                                
                                                                                               Veldk?mp.,.i-:..;  I-:`:,  .
                                                                   j  1.                                                                                                              order that. is characterized by permanent and abiding
                                                                                                                                                                                      peace, but  it  is  not  the peace of Man, established by
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   .


                                            T-IKE:   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                281.

treaties and  ,mainctained  by force; but it is the peace               deceiving. Can it be expected, in spite of the moment-
of  ,God  in Christ that dominates that order. It is ary military alliances, that there is a fundamental
not of this world. It is strictly universal, for it em- basis of unity  b,etween  Japan and Germany  ;  or between
braces the whole creation, heaven and earth  ; and it is the democratic nations and Russia? Humanly speak-
heavenly, not earthy: concentrated in the heavenly,                     ing, one can vizualize  a11 kinds of possibilities  develop:
resurrected Christ. Therefore, it cannot come by way                    ing in the future.
of historical evolution\ it will come through the final                     Y,et, it seems as if gradually something definite
Wonder, the appearance of our  Lor.d   Jesuls  Christ. It
                                                        .-              emerges from the confusion even now.
is regeneration !                                                           We know from the  Bijble-  that the time will come
   But, although the present events cannot possibly ,when  the "nations that live on the four corners of the
give birth to that eternal kingdom of heaven, the                       earth",  ,Gog  and Magog, will awake. The devil shall
Christian knows that somehow they lead up to the                        be loosed with r.espect  to these nations, and he will go
moment of the regeneration of all things. The measure                   forth to deceive them and to gather them for the  bat&
of all things must be made full, before that "hour" can of the great  God..  This implies that these nations,
cotie.    God's alphabet must be read through, every                    that for a long time lived outside of the pale of history,
letter of it must be historically realized, from the                    wiI1   <gain  their independence and unite.        To these
alpha   to the  omega,  before that abiding order can be                nations, I am convinced, belong especially the yellow
ushered in. And it is in this light that the Christian                  peoples, the millions upon millions of the Asiatic
is  chi,efly  interNested  to view the &events  fof  this present nations, Japan, China, India. For centuries the white
time, especially when these assume  .gigantic   prop.or-                race dominated the world; the yellow races were con-
ti.ons  `and  acquire special significance; as is the case in           sidered inferior and brought into subjection. Their
the present war.                                                        riches and resources w,ere exploited iby the white man.
    Of course,' as he attempts to. interpret these  ,events             What would the British empire, what would .Holland
in the  right  of the kingdom that is to `come, and of                  and other nations of Europe be, without their colonies?
the end of the present  .world,  he must be careful.                        There are signs that all this will be permanently
Surely, Scripture reveals to. us "the things that must changed through the present conflict. The allied na-
shortly come to pass".          But  even  so it does not  de-          tions `anxiously look toward India, and are deliberating
scrilbe  to us in detail the history of the world before it upon the question what can be done to align its millions
is realized. It gives us "signs", that we may believe, "and its fabulous  ri&es  on their side in the struggle
And as the things do come to pass, the believer may                     against Japan. Already Sir Stafford Cripps was sent
recognize them in the light  ,of  prophecy, not to satisfy              to that country to see what can be done about it.
his curiosity, but to strengthen his faith and quicken <Gradually  it  b.egins  to dawn upon the allied nations,
his hope.                                                               even upon Great Britain (reluctant though Mr.
    And so the question may be asked: is there even                     Churchill evidently is to admit it) that India's  favor-
now something  to. be recognized of this realization                    can  b,e   ,bought  only at the price of her freedom and
of-the purposes of God in the-present conflict?                         independence.
 `. As we consider the present stage of the world                           Reflecting upon an article by Edgar  Snoiw  in the
conflict, things look  stili rather dark and confused. :                Saturday  Esvening  Post, the editor of that magazine
    In Europe and Africa the period of the German                       writes :
Iblitzkrieg,  with its surprises and  qmck  brilliant  vie-:
tories, appears to  be-  definitely ended. On the other                     "Edgar Snow asks  .on  another page whether the
:hanjd,  the  Russian  ioounter-offensive   di'd   n'ot  result  i,n    United Nations- can hope to defeat Japan unless we
cracking the German line, and as soon as weather and                    have the native peoples `of Asia wholeheartedly on our
ground conditions permit we will probably witness side: The price of their help, he says, is their.liberty.
one of the bloodiest battles of the war. In the mean- That would mean the end of the white man's  imperial-
time Japan is carrying on a blitzkrieg of its own in the                ism~ in Asia, but that is ended anyway, he believes.
southern Pacific, and, no doubt, has given the allied                      "The American people have had a hard lesson in
nations the surprise of their life by the manifestation geography in the past three months. They have Iearn-
of their power and  th,e extent of their preparedness.                  ed, an'd  in a way they will remember, where their rub-
In quick succession they conquered the Philipines, ber, tin, silk, tea and spices came from. They have
Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and southern Burma. learned abruptly that the Asiatic is not an inferior
In the meantime our own country is exerting  ail  its fighting man, because we have-seen what the Japanese
efforts and using all its resources to get ready'. `But can do against  us, what We Filipino and the Chinese
the  pilcture  is still too confusing to venture any definite           can do for us.
predictions as to the possible outcome of the war.                         "There is another lesson yet unlearned, one which
B,esidks,   -&e-  present line-up of the nations may be                 Mr. Snow. is  tealching-out  of a firsthand- knowledge -of

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

        Asia as intimate as that of any'living American. The                        According to Edgar  ,S&ow,  the Chinese realize
        lesson is that the- curtain fell on December seventh                    rather clearly  tihat  the independence of  tl%=`&i&ic
        upon a two-century era in Asia ; dropped finally, re-                   peoples is one of the stakes  in.~t;he present world-con-
        gardless of the outcome of this war. From 1700  `or                     flict. He quotes a Chunking  spok&kan  as  sayitig   : -  .L
        thereabouts  t,o  1941 the  wh,ite   man;   th.e pukka sahib,                                                                       __.   _
        dominated much of Asia, dealing with the natives as                         "The battle .of  the l$qutihwest  Pacific is `a battle for
        inf,erior  and  subjsect  peoples. This white man's Asia                the.freedom   qf  the Asiatic people%.    It is &. battleto  de-
       has had a  gr,eat  fall, and all our men and all our planes              cide whether Chinese, Indians,  M&ays,  Fili.pinos  and
        cannot put Humpty Dumpty together again, even if we                     other Asiatic peoples  cati have a future of free inde-,
        wished.                                                                 pendent  development."
               "This is a fact the American people must face in
       the midst of war, so that they may understand what we                       `We are not trying to predict definitely what will
       dre fightin'g  for in the' Pacific. We are fighting first. be the outcome of the war. But it is easy to see that
       of all to defeat the Japanese, of course, because Japan                  one of the results may be the end of many colonial
'      has stepped into the white -man's shoes with a ven-                      `empines  and  th(e  beginning of the  .freedom   .and   self-
       geance, and is creating a huge Asiatic empire which                      government of millions upon  milliotis  of the yellow
       `directly threatens all America, Australia and New                       race.
     ,Zeal+nd.        Whipping Japan, then, is our immediate                        And this certainly would  .mean  to us that the
       objective in the Pacific.                                                Scriptures are being fulfilled rapidly with respect to
                                                                                the "na&ons  that live bn the four corners of the earth."`.
               "But  ,what  of our long-range  objecttve? When                      There is reason to ask: Are Gog and Magog awak-
       Japan is smashed, fenced back inside her little island                   i n g ?
       world, what then? Do we intend to ask our Chinese                                                                           H. H.
       allies to return to' the white man the  coloni,es  and con-
       cessions which the Japanese have t&ken  over tempor-
       arily?  And  what  wou1.d  be  Ithe Chinese answer?` Are
       we committed to restore the white man's Asia in China,
       IndoJChina,  Malaya, the Netherlands East Indies,
       Burqa, India  ?                                                     I             As To That Mysterious Reply
               "The sooner we face these questions, the better,                     The previous issue of the  Standard.  `Beayer   sent
       because our answers may have an important  ,effecit                      many  `of our readers on a wild goose chase for an
       up-on  the outcome of the war, certainly l?::on  its dura-               article to which they foun,d  a. reply in our paper, but
       tion. If the Asiatic peoples, the Filipinos included,                    which they  cduld  not find. Some  tooik the trouble  to,
       get the notion that this is a war to determine whether                   look through  &he  preceding issue. Others wondered
      the white man or the Jap shall rule them, they might                      whether it could  h,?ve  appeared in the  Churvh  News.
      ' decide  that,it i's immaterial to them who wins, a choice All in vain.                              b
       .of  frying pan or fire. These Orientals will die on our                     Now, i`t  is not, and never will be, the policy of our
       side only if they are convinced Chat our vi!ctory  will                  paper' to publish replies to articles that are not printed.
       be  th,eir  victory."                                    _~                 Nor is it our custom to print replies first, iii order
                                                                                to print the original articles later.
           And again:                                                 ,             That the latter happens this time is simply, ,due  to
           "Pearl Buck, another America-n who  knotis the                       a misunderstanding. And with apologies  $0  Mr.  B.
                                                                                Veidkamp  we publish his article in this issue.
       East's' head and heart, to1d.a  New York audience in
       February, as Singapore was falling : `The peoples of                        The reader will understand that  the editor is  not
       Asia wan,t  most of all in this war their freedpm. Japan responsible for any other Icontributions  that appear in
       aims to show them that if the United States wins, they our paper  tlian  his own. Criticism of articles he sen,ds
       will not have-it. We leannot  win thiswar  without  con-                 to the contributors concerned.  -
       vier5n.g   tour  allies  &at we are  fighti.ng  -for fneedom               Of course, he may use his authority to close a de-
       everywhere.                                                              bate when he deems it advisable.
           "If it is true, as we believe, that the. white man's                    But even this he will not do; unless  ,it  becoties
       Asia is gone forever, outmoded in time, then the quick-                  striictly  necessary.
       er Great Britain and the Netherlands realize and act                        But he cannot assume responsibility for the con-
       upon  ihis fact, the better for them and for us. It is                   tents of contributions or criticisms~outside'     of his own
       easy to give away ohher  people's empires, but what is                   departments.
       the alternative?"                                                                                                          .H,`H.


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE'R                                                          283

                                                                               It was this truth that was emphasized by ,Augustine
                                                                               over against  the `polished and superficial Pelagius and
                                                                               other opponents. According to him the will of fallen
   - The Triple Knowledge
                          L' . :. :                                            man is free only in the sense that it does not act by
                                                                               compulsion from without.  .Man  still acts as a free
                                                                               agent: he considers, prefers, chooses, and acts accord-
      An  Exposition Of The Heidelberg                                         ing to the choice of his will. But this does not mean
                             Cateeh  km                                        that the will is. free to choose and to do that which is
                                                                               good. Fallen man is not free to choose both good and
                                       IV.                                     evil. We  mulst remember, thus he teaches us, that
                                                                               the will itself is  ,either  good or evil, and that the ethical
                            LORD'S DAY III                                     condition of the will determines its choice for good or
                                       4 .                                     for  evil,.  Sin or grace determines the condition of the
                    T,otaI  Depravity. (cont.)                     -.,- * :    will. And in the natural man it is the sin of Adam
                                                                               that determines his.  will for `evil. Fallen man does
   No less explicit and clear are the Canons of  Dord-                         not even have a remnant of the original righteousness
recht   .on the truth of the depravity of  th,e natural man. of Adam in the state of in-tegrity.                        All righteousness he
In III, IV, 1, 3 we read.: `.`Man  was originally formed                       l.osit.  Hle is free from righteousness,  ,even  as in  hhe
a f t e r   th:e  image,   ,of   `Gold.       His-  understanlding  was state of integrity he was free from sin. He is nothing
adorned. with a true and saving knowledge of his                               but a peecat!  S~YZIUS,  a slave of sin. Erich.  ch. 30.  .He
Creator, and of spiritual things; his heart and wili does, indeed, serve sin- according to the ichoice  of his
were upright; all his affections pure; and the  whole                          own will, but never can he choose anything else than
man was holy: but revolting from God `by the instiga-                          evil. He has, therefore, indeed a  Mberum   a~biz+um,
tion of the devil, and abusing the freedom of his own                          a free will,  but  only in  ma&is,  ad  peccandum,  to evil
will, he forfeited these excellent gifts; and on the con-                      and to sin, not ad agendum bonum, to do the good.
trary entailed on  himseIf   bIin,dness  of mind,  horrib1.e                       It might be expected that Pelagius  C.S.  pointed to
darkness, vanity and perverseness of judgment,  .be-                           the  #virtues  and noble deeds of the heathen and ungodly,
came wicked, rebellious,  `and  obdurate in heart and                          in opposition to  th'e  doctrine of total depravity as  de-
will,  :an,d  impure  i*n   .his  affections. . . .  Thereforte                fended by Augustine.           Highly these virtues of. the
all men are conceived in sin, and by nature children                           *ungodly   wer'e   ,exto&d  by  [him,   `even  as is  #often  done
of wrath incapable `of saving good, prone to evil, dead                        today by those that  #defend  the theory of "common
in sin, and in bondage thereto, and without  theregener-                       grace".    But Augustine explained that these virtues
ating grace of the Holy Spirit, -they  are neither able                        w,ere  in reality nothing but vices and sins. In the
nor  willihg  to return-to  ,God,  to reform the `depravity                    ungodly there is often a conflict of sinful motives and
of- their nature, nor to dispose `themselves to ref'orma-                      desires, so that one sin restrains another. This is
tion." It is true that in the first half of Art. 4 of the very evident by such men as misers, but may even be
same -chapters of the Canons they declare that "There discovered  am,ong   the, great Romans. When often
remain, however, in man since  th,e fall the glimmerings                       they repressed their sinful  lusts  and aoeomplished
of natural light, whereby  he.retains  some knowledge                          things that are praiseworthy in the estimation of men,
of  ,God,  of natural things, and  ,of  the difference between they were motivated ,by their love of honor and sinful
good and ,evil,  and discovers some -regard for virtue,                        ambition. The so-called virtues of natural'man may
good' order in society, and for' maintaining an orderly                        better be called vices. Sin is not checked, "sed  aLiis
external deportment." But that the fathers of Dordt peccatis  a&a   vincuntur",                                some sins are chained by
did not mean by this declaration to attribute any good other sins.*
whatever to fallen man, may Ibe  seen from what im-                               Calvin  emphasiz,es  the same truth. It is true that
mediately follows in the same article: "But so far is                          the  dtefenders  of the common grace theory often appeal
this light of nature from being sufficient to bring him                        to Calvin for their view that the natural man is able to
to a saving knowledge of God, and to true conversion,                          .do  ,good  by virtue of the influence of a common, non-
that he is incapable of using it  aright  even in things                       regenerating grace. They do  thisin order to defend
natural  aed  civil; Nay further, this light, such as it is,                   their right to the name of Calvinists! And it may
man in various ways renders wholly polluted, and holds readily be granted that the term `(`common grace" is
in unrighteousness,  .by  doing which he becomes in-                           often found in Calvin, while at the same time he ex-
excusable before God."                                                         plain's the so-called virtues of the ungodly in the
    This was. the doctrine that was developed and de-                          Augustinian way. The fact that man after the fall
fended over against the enemies  `of -the  truth. by the                       *De  Predestinatie-leer van Aug. Thorn. v. Aquino en  Calv.
great men of God-throughout the  hi,story  of the Church.                      Dr. A. D. R. Polman, p. 77.

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

            retained his reason and the remnants of natural light,              still others rise above~   t,+e common level in order ihat,
            he ascribes to the general grace of God. It is true, he by their majesty they may keep others into subjection.
            writes, that some are born idiots and stupid, but this And thus IGod  by His providence restrains the corrup-
            does not obscure the general grace of God: "Nam quod                tion of the nature, that it does not break out in  in-
            nascuntur  m80riones  guidam  V$   stupidi,  defectus   ille        iquiity.    But He does not purge the nature from within.
            generaBern  Dei  gratiam   non  obsicurat."    Inst. II, 2, 17. Inst. II, 3, 3: All.this quite agrees materially with the
            He even designates as special grace the fact that in                views  of' Augustine, even though one may object that
            these natural gifts one is more excellent than another :            the use of the teym  grace is to be condemned as im-
            "Unde enim  al&s  alio praestantior, nisi ut in natura proper in this connection. For it certainly cannot be
            !communi  emineat specialis Dei  grartia,  quae multos              called grace when one is restrained by his own- sinful
            praetieriens,   n'emini  se  sobstrictam   lesse   clam,at?"  He    and selfish motives from breaking out into certain sins.
            even seems to teach a certain grace whereby ccorrup-                3. That  with Calvin this explanation of the "virtues"
            tion in the sinful nature of fallen man is some6hat  re-            of the ungodly, which he, top; like Augustine, ultimate-
            straihed,  so that it does not break forth in all possible          ly con(demns  as vices (see Inst. II, 3, 4 : the more excel-
           `sin and violence. He notes that in every age there ;Ienrt  ,on,e  was, the more he was mo&ivated  by his carnal
            were some that throughout their life strove to be virtu-            ambition, so that all the so-called virtues of  the  un-
            ous. By this they furnished proof that there was an                 godly loose  -their pleasantness  befor,e   (God.  Therefore
            element of purity in  th'eir  nature: "honestatis studio whatever appears praiseworthy in ungodly men must
            documentum ediderunt, nonnihil fuisse in natgra  sua be considered of no worth: pro nihilo ducendum  esk
            puritatis." But to explain this, we must remember quicquid laude  dignum  apparet in hominous profanis.) ,
            thak  in the corruption of  the human nature there is               never occurs as a main doctrine, but only as an appen-
            still a little place for the grace of God, not to remgve,           dix to his doctrine of  %otal  depravity.  Anydne   whd
            but to  restraili the corruption: "Sed  hit  succurrere             reads the Institutes will admit  that  Calvin  w'ould  never
            nobis  dbbet,  inter illam  naturae corrupti"onem  esse non-        have thought of deposing ministers from their office
            nullum gratiae Qei  locum,.  non quae illam  purget,  sed because they insisted  &at  l&e  natural  znan   .is  inlmpable
            i&us cohibeat."     Inst. II, 3, 3.  H,ow.e-v;er,-we  must re- of doing any good, as did the Christian Reformed
            member: 1. That Calvin never tea&es, that any posi- Chtirch in 1924 ! 4. That, as far as the  employmenrt
            tive good proceeds from the fallen and corrupt human of the term "grace" by Calvin is concerned (communis,
            nature. In this respect his use of the term "common                 generalis, specialis, specialissima!), we must  riot for-
            grace" has  no;thing  in common with the modern con-                get that our  resormer `was still in his twenties, and not
            ception under that name.  With Calvin the natural                   long out  :of the Catholic Church, when he wrote his
           `man  remains corrupt in all its parts; it is never  im-             Institutes, and that it was hardly Calvinistic blindly to
            prwed. Man has lost all his  excellencgifts.  Only of               ,adopt  even the terms which he employed, especially
            his natural powers he retained a remnant, so  th& he is since these terms with him have an entirely different
           Istill  a ration?1  being. But even these natural gifts are meaning from their  pkesent   iconnotation   ! We con-
            corrupted. These natural gifts as such are ascribed clude, therefore, that Calvin taught  6he  truth of total
            by  Calvin to the Holy Spirjt, who  distributtes  all gifts         depravity in all its  implicati~ons,  and that   `the  modern
           ,an,d  talents  seven  as He will., But he agrees, neverthe-         emphasis upon the goodness of natural man is  certa?nIy
            less, with Augustine, that  tkie natural man  corr%pts              not  .Calvinistic.
            and defiles even these' natural  gifrts, so that he derives              Calvin was not the only r.eforme_r  who emphasized
            no praise from them for himself:  "ita  n.&uralia  haec             this doctrine of the  to@1   dlepratity  anew in the  .six-
            quae restabant,  corrupta fuisse dooet (i.e. Augustinus,            teenth  century. Nor are the teachers of  `this  truth at
            H.H.).  Noon   qu1o.d  per se inquinari possint,  quatenus          ithat  time  .limited to his associates. Martin Luther
            a Deo proficiscuntur : sed quia polluto  homini  pura  esse         `taught the same truth with equal emphasis, and with
           ;desierunt,   ne quam inde  laudem   consequatur."  Inst.            all  the  vehemence  of.  his ardent nature defended  i'
            II, 2, 12-17. 2.  ,That  Calvin explains this  s'olcal,led          against opponents.       This may be shown from his
     "i     restraining grace in- a way with which we can heartily polemic against Erasmus' "Diatribe" : "The Bondage
            agree, and which makes the term  grace a misnomer.                  of the Will." Writes he: "AS  to the other paradox
            For at the end of the  same  paragraph in  whi#ch  he               you mention,-that,  .`whatever   is done by us, is not
            speaks of this restraining grace, he explains that some             done by Free-will but from mere necessity'-Let us
            ari! restrained by shame, others by fear of the  laws               briefly consider this, lest we should suffer any thing
            from breaking out in all kinds of corruption,  e'ven                most perniciously spoken, to pass by unnoticed. -Here
            hhough  for the most part they do not  try to cover up,             then, I observe, that if it be proved that  our salvation
            their pollution  (ubcunqu,e  suam magna ex parte  im- is apart from our own strength and counsel, and de-
            puritatem  non dissimulant)   ; some  le$d  an honest life          pends on the working, of God alone  (~which  I hope  I
            because they consider it profitable for'  theins6Ives   ;. shalcl clearly prove hereaf%er,   iin th'e  oourse,:of  this  dis-



L


                                       T H E   S.TANDkRD   BEARE.R                                                          285
                                                                                                                              -
 cussion)-;  does it not evidently follow, that when God          facu.lties,--oontem~ers  of  -ala1  the things of God, of His
 is not present  wjth us to  6ork  in us, everything that         w,or,ds,   .-His   -works,  His  laws,.  His precepts, and His
 we do is evil, and  that we of necessity do those. things        will !    What then can, reason propose that. is  Tight,
 which are .of  no avail unto salvation? Par if it is not who is thus blind and ignorant? What can the  wi,ll
 we ourselves, but God only,  t,hat  works salvation in us, Ichoose  that is good, which is thus evil and, impotent?
 it must follow, whether or no,  that   we.do  nothing unto       Nay, what can the will pursue, where the reason can
 salivation   before  the working of God in  us. But by propose nothing but the darkness of its own blindness
 necessity I do not mean conzpubion;  but (as they term           and ignorance? And  where  the reason is thus erron-
 it) the  necessity of immutability,  not of compulsion;          eous, and, the  will adverse, what can the man  ,either  do
 that is, 3 man void of the Spirit of God, does not evil          or attempt, that is good!" pp. 334, 335.
 against his will as by violen'ce,  or as if he .were  taken         The same teaching is found in Ursinus' "Schatboek",
 by the neck and forced to it, in-the same way as a  thi,ef       who under Question 8 of the Catechism . discusses
 or cut-throat is dragged to punishment against-his  wilil,;      various degrees  oflfreedom, and-writ,es  of the freedom
 but he does  it  spontaneoqly, and with desirous willing-        of the natural  man  as  f,ollows  : "The second degree or
 ness. And this willingness and desire of doing evil              step of freedom  ,of the  @ill is the will in  fallen  man,
 he cannot, by his own power, leave off, restrain, or             born of corrupt parents, before regeneration. In
 Ichange   ; but he goes on still desiring and craving. A n d this state the will acts indeed freely, but is only led
 even if he should be compelled by force to do  sany thing        &o evil and can do nothing but sin. The reason for this
 o&war&y  to the contrary, yet the craving will within            is that the fall .of  man was  f,ollowed  by the 1'0s~  of the
 remain averse to, and rises in indignation against knowledge of God in man's intellect, and of the  indina-
 that. which forces  02 resists it. But it would not rise tion  to- obedience in the will and in the heart  ; and that
 in indignation, if it were changed, and made willing             instead he entailed on himself blindness and aversion
 to yield to a constraining  pow'er.  This is what we             to God,  which   tian cannot put off -unless he is re-
 mean by the necessity of immutability :-that  the will           generated by the Spirit of God.  !In short, after the
 cannot change itself, nor give  i%self   tinother  bent;         fall there is in man  only  the capability. of choosing
 but rather the- more it is resisted, the more it is irri-        e v i l . "   p .   8 2 .
 tated to crave; as is manifest from  -its  indignation,               Here follows an objection to the  doctrinfe  of  total-
 This would not be the case if it were free, or had a depravity,  answered  .by Ursinus :
 `Free-will'. Ask experience how hardened against all
 pers_uasion  they  are, whose inclinations are fixed upon             "Objection  1:  -Nothing   5s  `easier,  Erasmus  says to
 any  one  thing. For if they  yi.eld  at all, they yield Lut,her,  than to  ref;ain  the hand from theft..  .Yea,
 through force, or through something attended -with               even Socrates, Aristides and others did many virtuous
 greater advantage; they never  yi,eld   wi,llingly.  And things. Hence,. there must have been with  `them   a
 if their inclinations be not thus fixed, they  l&t all things    free  wil*l to do good before regeneration.  Aknswer:
 pass and go on j&t as they will."  ~pp. 72, 73.                  1. The description of the free will as freedom to do a
     Or consider the following  fr'om. the same work:             good  work, or the- power to exercise obedience well-
 "Where are you now, friend Erasmus! ~0~1,  who prom-             pleasing to God, is erroneous. This freedom the un-
 ised `that you would freely adknowledge  that the most           regenerate do not  poss&s. Even though they  ref?ain
 excellent faculty of man is flesh, that is, ungodly, if it       from committing external.sinful  acts, within them rage
 should be proven  fr,om   the Scriptures?' &knowledge the evil passions.  .2.   (God  by His providence directs
 now, then, when you hear, that the most excellent also the hearts of -the unregenerate ; but from  this  it
 facuJty  of man  i# not only ungodly, but ignorant of            does not follow that they can easily perform inner
 God, existing in the contempt  of-  God,  turnled  to evill,     obedieece.  This cannot be present with  them,  seeing
 and unable to turn towards good. For what is it to be they were not` regenerated." p. 83.
 `utiright,eous',  but for the  will (which is one of the             Ursinus, too, discusses the so-called "virtues" of
 most noble faculties in man), to be unrighteous? What the unregenertite,  and.+  some instances  LKJ~S  language
 is it to .understand  nothing either of God or of good,          whirch  we would avoid,  but.   h&  never hesitates to  de-
 but for the reason (which is another of the most noble _clare  that these "virtues" are  scins. He distinguishes
 `faculties' of man). to be ignorant of God and good,             bettieen  acts thlat  .are  as-such sinful, and ,acts that are
 that is, to be blind to the knowledge of godliness?              sinful through "secondary causes".  Thkse  latter are:
 -What is it to be  `gone  out  ,of  the way', and to have "the deeds of the unregenerate and the hypocrites; and
 become unprofitable;but for men to have no power in              they-are indeed commanded by God, but they displease
 one single faculty, and the least power in their most            Him nevertheless,. because they are done without faith
 noble faculties, to turn unto good, but only- to turn            and conversion to God ; thus also' the a&apbora  that
 unto evil! W,hat  is it not to fear `God,  but for men to        give offense. `And all that is not of faith is sin,' Rom.
be in all  th~qir faculties, and most all  ie their noblest       14:23.     `But unto them which are defiled and  unbeliev-


      286                                     TH.E  ST-A-NDAIRD   BYE-ARE`R-.

      ing is nothing pure.' Tit.  1:15.  `But without faith it
      is impossible to please God.' Heb.  11:6.              All the               The Day Of The Lord Jti Old
      virtues, therefore, of the unregenerate,  sufch  as the                                Testament Prophecy.
      chastity of Scipio, the courage of Julius, the faithful-
      ness of  R,egulus,  the righteousness of Aristides, etc.,              This  articl'e  is a continu,atison  ,of  the .article  appear-
      even though- they are in themselves good deeds com-                ing in the  pr'evious  issue under the title  "Th'e  Pro-
      manded by God, become, sins through something ad-                  phets". The titlle  should  have been the lone  appearing
      ditional and they displease God  ; both, because the               above this article.
      persons that perform them do not please God, and be-                   In  hheee  articles I address myself  ito  the  task  `of
      cause they are not done- in the `way and with the pur-             aseelrtaining  :
      pose required by .God,  viz., not out of faith and not to
      the glory tof ,Go'd ; and these certainly ,are  the r,equire-          1) The Idoings   `of the   Lord in "that  aday".
      ments for any good work ; without these even the best                  2)  .The   signifieanoe   Iof "that  #day"`.
      deeds are sins; so that it is sin when an ungodly man                  3) Its  sucoessive-and  final appearing:
      or hypocrite prays,  gives'alms, offers sacrifices, etc.,              What was that  :day  to these prophets? It was the
      because he does not&  these things ,out  of .faith  and to         day  of the  Lorcl,   thus a  ,day   f&d   with His  ,doings.
      the glory of God. `The hyprocites  ,d,o  alms in the syna- Aed.  th,ese  ldloings  were the fulfil~lment  -of all the pre-
      gogues and on the  ,streets,   tkiat'they  may have glory of       tdictions   `of  each  antd  `every   prop%`&   of. God.            In this
      men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward.'              `day   CL&  their  pr,ophecies  were  realize,d.  The  truth of
      Maatt. 6 : 2.. `H:e  that  `killeth an  `0,x  is  <as.  if  he  slew a this statement is borelout by the  fact that in their &is-
      man ; he that  sacrificeth  a lamb, as if he cut -off  ,a          courses the  ,expressio,n   that day  is associated with
      dog's neck  ; he that  ,offereth  an oblation, as he that all1 their  predicti,ons.
      ,offereth   swine%   bl,ood;  he that  burneth  incense;  as-if
      `,he  blessed an idol. Yea, they  have  chosen their own               As the-  <doi.ng of the Lord -to be accomplished  ia
      ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.'            "that  ,day"   a;re,   :s was  sai,d,   the   rv:ery,   .events   foretol,d
      Isa. 66:3." p. 61.                                                 by ,each  anld  every lone  of :God's  proph&s,  showing .what  -1
         The most faithful- of `the- leaders -and teachers -of these  ,doitngs  1ar.e  is a task that -consists in setting-forth
      the Church, therefore, have always emphasized  ,.-the              at  Iteast the substance $of  the predictive sections  `of the
-.    truth that after the fall man is totally depraved, A n d ldiscources  of  `the.  pr,oph&s   ,of   Gold.                    W)e   -came.up   t,o-
      when, by way of answering  obj,ectioils,  they spoke of            thle   conte,nt  (of  the prophecy of Obadiah.
      the so-called "virtues" of the ungodly, this  `part of                 The date of Obadiah's prophetic activity caneot'be
      their teaching was considered so accidental and un- .determined..  This prophet announces the  ,utter  destruc-
      important, that no trace of it can be  f,ound  in the tion of Edom on`account of his hostile purposes. against
      Reformed Confessions! And it was considered quite ,Judah;  the ,deliverance  and exaltation.. of the Church-
      snfficient  to declare : "Are  `we  then so corrupt that and Jehovahls  universal sway.                               -
      we are  wholly  incapable of doing any  go'od,  and in-               ~According  to  the. heading in  1:  lj Micah- prophesied
      clined to  all, wickedness?  Inde,ed  we are  ; except we in the days of Hezekiah, commendng-his-labors before
      are regenerated by the Spirit of  ,God."  But in 1924              the dispersion of the ten tribes in 741.  In  his dis-
      the Christian Reformed Church extolled the virtues course he sets' out with announcements of judgments,
      of the wicked, and- did not hesitate to depose ministers which:-  he  Ldirects  against the ten tribes and Judah.
      that refused to join in the praise  ,of  what is an abomin- He predicts the utter destruction of  Samaria  and
      ation- before God !                                                Judah, -but also- thereturn of a-purified remnant under
                                                         H. H.;          the leadership  of.   Jehotvah,  and -further. the' healing  -of
                                                                         the disperse& the- revival of. the &ingdom. of -David, :
                                                                         the destruction of the enemy,- and the. birth and reign
                                                                         of the Messiah; He, too; holds forth to God's -people
                                                                         the-promise-of a glorious' restoration; and ends-with.a--
                                                                         song-   of,  praise to Jehovah, `Who alone, is God.
                  TO PARENTS AND  %RIENDS                                    The. date of `the 3propheti.c  activity of Nahum must
                       OF BOYS IN SERVICE                                remain a matter of uncertainty. The prophecy decrees
                                                                         Nineveh's doom; holds forth the `promise of Judah's  _.
      Is he receiving the Standard Bearer? If  cot  please               deliv~eran~ee,  and depicts the- universal exaltation over
      forw,ar.d  his name and address to the .Treasurler  (of  tile      the fall of Nineveh;
      R.FP.A.,  Mr. R.'  Schaafsms,  1101  Hazen  St., S. E.,                Habakkuk must have prophesied about 625 B.C.,
      Grand Rapids, Miohigan. C!opies  will be  mail,ed,  gratis,        thus before the exile of Judah. The book expresses
                              T& Board `of the R. F. P. A,.              the prophet's perplexity over how Jehovah can justify


                                           .TH-E   STA-AN-`D.ARD   B E A R - E R                                                 287
                                            ,.
 .His  indifference of the wickedness and violence of His           themes. Their -collective contents are comprehended
apostate people. The  .reply  of Jehovah is that He is              ill. -three expressions : judgment ; permanent redemp-
 -not indifferent but that a fearful judgment to  b"e               tion of the church through judgment; the- everlasting
  executed  ,by the Chaldeans is about to  overta.ke   -the         glory and blissfulness  *of  her heayenly existence.
  sinful  .people.    This gives rise to a new perplexity on         As to the character of  that day,  it is  a. day  of-
  the part of the prophet.      H,ow   can  a holy God employ a terrible wonders. In it the Lord will -cause. the -sun
  godless agent? Jehovah's reply is that the Chaldeans,             to go down at noon  and he will darken the earth in. a
  though temporarily  victorious, will  ,meet with certain          clear day (Amos .8 ;8ff),  show wonders in the heavens
  doom and that the righteous, though temporarily af-               and in the earth (Joel 3 :21)  : The l&nd  shall tremble
 -flitted,   lwlill live forever. The discourse closes  with        and every one mourn that dwelleth in it (Amos 8 :8).
  a prayer in which the prophet extols Jehovah's mighty             The Lord in that day will come forth out of His place,
  Iworks of the past and voices his confidence in Jehovah,          and will  ,come-  down and tread the  hi:gh  places of the
  the God of his ,salvation.                                        earth ; the mountains shall be .molten  under him, and
      As to Zephaniah, the- title of his  ibook  places his the valleys shall be cleft (Micah  1:3,  4) . The super-
  prop$ettic  activity in the reign of Josiah, that is, be- ficial and unbelieving populace, deceived by the false
  tween 639-668.      This  pgophet  sorecasts  imiversal  judg-    prophets, liked to contemplate it as a day to be-de&red.
  nient. There  are judgments coming  ,against  Judah and --But  in-contrast to this  unbelieving  attitude, the true
 Jerusalem.,and  against the nations, to wit,  Philistia,           prophets of God  affirmed its terribleness. Every de-
 .Moab,   Ammon,  Ethiopia,  assyria.   .But-Zion  is exhort-       cisive  event  or  eo'mbination  of events, by which the
  ed to rejoice for-her salvation by the Lord.                      ends- of God's kingdom are promoted, must be a-  sift-
    ' The `prophecies  .-of Haggai were  utiered  in the            ing.   ,of  the Lord's people, a thorough purging  <of  His
  second, year of Darius, that is, in. 520 B.C. The pro- -floor. Hence the day of t&Lord is  olie  of great judg-
  phet rebukes the religious indifference of of the Jews ment for  His  people.  -In this  days   ,God  -will send fire
  who returned -from -exile, with -the result  that  the            tipon  Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of  Jeru-
  temple is  bailt. W,hen  once completed, the prophet sal,em  (Amos 2  :5)  . Against the family of Israel He
  pr,omises  the overthrow of the nations, the  establish-          -.w~ill  revise evil fro,m  which they shall not remove their
 -merit   of,  the Kingdom  ,of  God, and the exaltation of         necks   (Macah 2 :3). . He will send the Assyrian, the
  Z,erubbabel,                                                      rod of His anger, and-will give him-charge to take the
      As to -Zechar.iah,  also his prophecy is  pla,ced  by its     spoil and. to tread them down like mire of the streets
  title in the second year of Darius. `This book predicts            (Isa.  1:6).
  the final conflict and triumph of -the' kingdom  of God.              For the true  IsraeI  the day of the Lord is char-
  Ephraiim  and Judah  wiil   be rejuvenated. The exiles            acterized by ,.hope  and joy ultimately. ,God  till-  .bind
  will be  rest.ored  from -Assyria and Egypt. Jerusalem up the breach of His people, and heal the stroke. of
  will be  captured  arid  delilviered.    The hostile nations her wound `(Isa. 30  :20). The day of the Lord will be
 will be  ,destroyed.      T;he  whole land  $will undergo a a day of  terri,ble  vengeance against Israel's enemies.
  most remarkable -fertility and felicity. The  remnant             All the despots who oppressed- Israel- shall be broken.
  of the  nations  will  beg  converted. And Judah and              The day of the Lord is- near upon all the heathen ; as
  Jerusalem will.  rbe  holy- unto Jehovah.                         they have done, so shall it be  don&  to them. Their
     .:We   .may  gather- from- the prophecy of Malachi that -reward shall  Peturn   .upon  their head  @bad.  15).
  also this prophet began his  labors .aft,er  the captivity        Jehovsh   &ll come from-His holy mountain in all the
 ,of   Ju,dah.  -The prophet declares  Jehovahls  love of His       gl,ory  and majesty of the tempest. H ewill march like
 ,peo'pIe  in reply. to ?heir inquiry:.  ".Wherein  hast thou       a lion  .before  His people. He, `the  great king of all the
 -loved us  ?" He  cond.emns  the. people's neglect of the          earth, .who  possesses all natiuns,  will come to dwell on
  senvlice   of.   God,- their mixed marriages, and their  re-      Zion, to set up His royal  t?lrone  there over the whole
 ligious indiff  eren,ce   :and skepticism, and  f,oretells  the    earth, and `manifest His glory, so that-all nations..may
 ,utter  destruction of the wicked and the exaltation and know -that  He is king forever.
 -glorification of the righteous. His closing  .word  is               A.s the above &et&es, indicate, ahe  day (of  the Land  -
  an exhortation to .faithful  observance of the ,law,  and         is the  great&t  hurnitng:point  in  ;tlle   his;tory   :of   i&e
  an announcement that the Lord will send thein  Elijah Church~.and  of the world, when heaven and earth are
  bef,ore  the coming of His great and  terr+ble  day to turn       finally set- in motion and when all relations are com-
 th.e heart of the fathers to the children and the heart. . . pletely changed, so that, among all the days. of time,
  of the children .to the fathers.                                  this  .is the day which God has  and creates. for Himself
      As  th,es.e  sketches  indicate,  `there  is remarkable .&d  His great wo@,  of which He speaks and in which.                      i,
 agreement betw,een  these discourses, and this of neces-'          He' is  klorified.    ( Isa. 29  :1_7-24:  Haggai  1$:6,  22  ;
city as each  foreDells-  what will  colme  to pass in  that        Ezek.   30:3;-Zech.  14:l;,Zech.   3.:8;.Ezek..34:13).
 ,day.  All therefore have in  com?on  the same great,                  So we are finally confronted by the  .question  : When


          *:.   _
           2 8 8                                         T H E   STANDAmRD  BEARE'R

           ,did  this day come? It came  Yirhen  the Lord came in                   burnt  up"  (II Peter  i  :lO)  . And there will be  new.,
           judaent   &ainst  Israel  &nld  Jadah  and  the  foreign                 heavens and a new eatih,  wherein dwe&th  righteous-
           nations and when he' redeemed His people from Baby-                      ness  (I(1  Peter 3 :13), thuas  ,an earth cleansed from the
           lonian captivity. Yet the  t`ranspi.ring  of these events,               r.ace   `of  ,men  that now corrupt it.     Theti  will God's
           however dreadful, does not  sat&y  the.  pr.edilctions  of tabernacle be with men." This  lwill  be the last  of the
           IGod's  prophets. This is clear from the consideration gyeatesi   Iof judgments, the final world-catastrophe, the
           of the following scriptures of which the discourse3                      consumation  of  $11 things.  The6  all the requirements
           of the  pro,phets  are full: "The wolf also shall dwell                  of all prophecy,  compr,ehended  in the promise  .as  first
           with the lamb ,and  the leopard shall lie down with the,                 revealed by the Lord td the ,first parents of the human
           kid ; and the calf- and the young lion and the fatling                   familylthe  promise : "I will  set enmity-will be- fully
           together. . . . They shall not  -hurt'  nor destroy in all satisfied. Then all Christ's enemies-those  who, while
           my holy mountains : .for  the earth shall- be full of the                in the flesh, derided Him and denied His  sexistence-
           knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea                       will be made-actually made- His footstool in that
                (&,a.  11 :lO)  . For behold I create new heavens and a             place  fof  everlasting desolation. As subdued and hum-
           new. earth ; and the former &all not be remembered, bled sinners, they will  gay  to Him: "Trply, Thou were
           nor come into mind. -Bat be ye glad and rejoice for-
     o                                                                              %nd  srt Lord".
           ever in that which I. create ;for behold, I create Jeru-                     So  wil.1 the day of  `the  Lord once more  cetitainly
                salem a rejoicing and her people a joy. And I will                  .com,e,  as it has come again and again  ; first through the
                rej,oice  in  J,erusalem   ,and joy in my  -peo-ple;  and the       .destrulction  of the world by the fltood ; second, tb.rough
                voi!ce of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor                the 8dev&ation  `of Egypt by the ten plagues, the slay-
           the voice of  crying.  . . . (Isa. 65  :17,   18) . Malachi              ing  .of   E,gypt%  first-born,  the   <drowning  of Pharaoh and
                continues  to.prophesy-  of lthe  coming of God's terrible his host in the Red Sea, and the exterminati,bn  of the
                day  with Judah again in Canaan.                                    Ganaan.ites  ; third, through the destruction of the  neigh-
           ,         Th.us   %ese  prophecies  call for still  anol$er  coming bouring  nati,ons  of the people of Israel  ;  fourt.h,  through
          of the "day of the Lord". The "day of the Lord" has                       the final  ,destruction  .of  Jerusalem  ; fifth, through the
                once  .agaiti  come, truly come, It did so when  God                l a s t   j u d g m e n t .
           sending forth-Hi.s  Son "made pf a woman, and made                           But  the  j.Ll(dgmeti  came also against  Ch!rist  through
-          .under  the law, to redeem  %hem  that were under the                    His being bruised for  `our  sins. This judgment was
                law, put Him to grief for our iniquities, engulfed                  foreshadowed first, by the deluge ; second  *by  Pharaoh's
                Him by the billows of His wrath on account  of our                  oppression of  [God's  Son, the  peo$e  of Israel  ; and,
                tr&sgressions.  Then was  Zion  redeemed' with judg- `third, by the great grief to  wh.ich  God put Israel, His
                ment. `Then, too, was the judgment of this world on Servant, through Lthe  agency of the Syrian, Assyrian,
                account of its having crucified the Lord of glory.                  and the oth.er  ;he&hen  c,onquerors.      So was the day of
I               So,' raising up His Son  unto  the justification of His             the  Lord,  as often as it came, a season  ,of  greatest
                people, God exalted Him by His.  right hand. And He                 grief first for IGod's'fieople  and this on account of their
                reigns now,  does`  Christ-reigns in the midst of His               sins,- and  th'en  for  the enemies who had oppressed them.
                enemies-the kings  ,of  the earth who set themselves,               But their Redeemer lives-He, why  through %His  bear-
                and  the rulers who take counsel together, against the ing  bhe  grief of God's terrible  <day,  atoned their sins.
                Lord, and against His -anointed, saying,, Let us break ~ Through the sufferings of ,`God's  terribl,e  day He there-
           -their  bands asunder  ,and cast away their cords from fore leads them to the glory. Out of all .their  troubles
                us. He breaks them with a rod of iron and dashes                    He will  ,delive?  them in the day of His appearing.
                them in pieces like a potter's Vessel-He, God's true So, looking  od upon the career of the church as set
                anointed  .King  upon His holy  hiU  of Zion, the  J&u-             before us in the ,Scriptures,  we see in them five great-
                salem  that-is now  ,above  (Ps. 2). So has the terrible est  jadgments  and  deliveran(ces,   <each of  wh.ich  marks
                day of the Lord truly come.                                         the end of one epoch, dispensation or day-and the  be-
                And yet,  even  with the transpiring of these events ginning of another. Th,e  last  great judgment and the
                the Holy Spirit by the mouth of the apostles continues final  ,deliverance  marks the commencement of the day
                to  spetik  of the coming of  t&,e   .clag  of the  Lard. G.od's    e t e r n a l .
                believing people, they say, "know perfectly that the                                   -.                           G. M. 0.
                day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in  the night. For                                                                - -
                ;when  they ishal,  say, Peace, and safety; then sudden
                .destruction  cometh upon them, as  travsil upon a woman                                     ANNOUNCEMENT
                with chil,d ; and they  shall not  ,escape"  `(I Thes. .5 :3).           T!he   Mid-W;&  Radio program  `of  `our  Protestant
                "And the heavens shall pass away then with a great R,eSormeld  Churches, ,sponsored  by our  Young P,eople's
                noise and the elenients shall melt with a fervent heat,              Societies,  will commence April 5, at 4 :00 P. M., ,over
                tihe  earth also and the  works that  ,are   ther'ein  shall  be     S'tation  K-S-O-O, 1140  on your a&al.


                                             -  T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA-RER                                                       L89

                                                                                Question :      How must we  exp1ai.n  Solomon's  ex-
                          Communication                                      periinefit  from the ethical-moral `point of view? Could
                                                                             he give his heart to kn&v  madness and folly without
          A  brother'   s,en.d  tihe   $oJlowing  questions  8or me to committing.sin?
      answer.                                                                   Reply : My correspondent does' certainly not mean
      Rev. G. .M. Ophoff, ,_                                                 to ask : Since Solomon, in common with allUbelievers
                                                                             had but a small beginning of true #obedience  and thus
      Dear Brother:                                                    -     was always increasing his guilt even in the perform-
          I read with  considerabl,e  interest  your!   ,+rticle,  in        anoe  of the very best of his works, how could he per-
      the February 15 issue ,of  the StandarcJ  Bearer, entitled, form that  very good work of giving his heart to f,olly
       "The Author of the Bodk of Ecclesi.astes".                            and madness  *hat  in his  owln  language "he might see
      In general, I agree with your  oonlclusions,  especially               what was good  f,or the sons of men", without at. all
       in regard to  th,e  Solomonic'  authorship of the book.               s i n n i n g .
      I believe that the article is very instructive and there-                 If tliis were the thrust  of the `question, my answer.
      fore serves toward a better understanding of the book                  would be simply: No, assuredly,  he could not. For
      of Ecclesiastes.  There  are, however, a few questions                 the best works of  `God's  believing people are tainted
      *hat  d would like to ;have  answered. They are ,as  fol-              with the  iSsues  of the -flesh.
      lows : In the first place, how must we explain Solomon's                   The stand of my correspondent is, it is plain, that
       experiment from the  .ethical-moral  point of view? Solomon'ls  doing, h-is giving his heart to know madness,
      Could- he give his heart to know madness and folly                     was as such sinful, even  ,dteeply   sinfu$l-  perhaps,  like-
       without committing sin? `Or `was he in  some  way murder and theft, s,o  that what he wishes  I%  know is:
       excusable? In the second place, was not this  whol,e                  How could Solotion witih impunity, be it for the pur-
       experiment  .incompatible  with his  gr,eat  wisdom? Did pose of advancing true  knowl,edge  (that is, seeing
      `not even  `the  most simple  .child  of God in the  O.ld              what  is good for the sons  <of  men), make experiments
n  Dispensati'on  know that  ,madeess  and folly implied                     as  su&sinful  and $hat  rthus  i'nvoltvled  him in sin? Itiay
     sin? May we not then conclude that Solomon, with. a man  `ever  experiment with sin; however good his
       all his profound  wisd,om,  knew `chat far better and fhat            purpose? May he abandon-:himself  to a life ,of  iniquity'
     %heref.os&  such an eirperimeht  w&s  entirely unnecessary              tb see whekher  such a life is spiritually profitable? &s
       e&h&r  for him personally or for our instruction? Fin-                this   everi  possibl,e  either for a believer or $or + wicked
     ally, how are the questionable actions  of Solomon to be                man? Would   the  wicked  one a.otually  be  interes$ed  in
       expl,ained  in the  lighti  of his  wisdoti   which  God gave         seeing  ,what  is truly good for the sons of men and
      -him? I refer  n.ow  to such things  :as   o+er-taxing  the            could  th,e  believ,er  get himself to revel in sin that he
       people for the sake of maintaining his extravagant might see? My correspondent% answ'er  to .these  ques-
       way of living, his marriage of so many wives and                      tions is, of course, an  memphatiic  no.  An.d  this is  @so
       especially his turning away from the Lord to serve my  8nswer.                           Well then, if the experimenter of `our
       the  id,ols  of his  heathen.  wives in the last years of his         book should have to be found guilty of this,  how,  in
       life.  -                                                              this case, could it be maintained  $hat  he is a firm
           I realize that  it is impossible to answer all the ques-          believer in God; a man of deep religious convictions?
     ti'ons  which might arise in simply one article. I am How could it then be accounted f,or that our &ook  was
       also aware of' the fact that the matier in question does given a  ,place  in the canon  ,of  the Scriptures? Such
       not  catagoritially  fall under the heading of your and similar  questi,ons`  arose in the mind of my  cor-
       article. They-are, nevertheless,  q!estions which arise ?espon.dsent  in his study of our book.                        This can be
      -in the s&dy ,of  the book of Ecdesiastes and therefore `eirpected.  As I just said, the  d.bings  of our  experi-
       closely related to the subj,ect  about which. you wrote. meriter   -pr,ovok.e  just  su& questions. Let us see if
       Would you therefore kindly consider these  questionis                 we can remove the difficulties that here present them-
       and   .answer  them in the  Stan&&   Bearer?  I would selv'es. I believe this can be done  .by a careful examina-
       appreciate  it very -much and I believe  int  wlo,tilid be profit-    tion of the  preatcher's  report concerning his experi-
       able to the r,eaders.                                                 ments and  .in the  wiy   ,of  setting forth 
*                                                                                                                             these. experi-
                                      Your  Brother   .in  Chriest.          ments in their true light.
                                                                                 The preach&  tells us that he proved hi's  heart with
                                  .REPLY                                     mirth (chap.  2:l).      He withheld not his  hear*  from
                                                                             any joy.     Whatsoever his eyes desired he kept not
           A tho.ughtful  reading .of  our book does  in,deed  pro-~ from them, his purpose being to see what was good for
       vohe  ju&   such   ,questions.   ,My  correspondent  `,desires        the sons of men (2 : 10).
       that I answer them.' I herewith do so the best I knoiv'                   The  first question confronting us is whether the
       how*                             ,.I  ,           I  I  ,...          Preacher is here telling us that what he did  was  to


                                                                             0

 2 9 0                                         T.J%E   .`$:T  A-N:D  A;R D  :B:E   A.R]E  R

 follow pursuits, drink of pleasures, indulge in g?atifi-                   &dge;  yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set
 cations,  ,as   such  sinful and  ;therefor&   forbi-d&n.  In in order many proverbs. Then preacher sought to find
 answering this  questi,on,  we must allow. the Preacher out acceptible  words : and that which was written .was
 to tell us just what his proving his heart with mirth                      upright, even words  .of.  truth?.  `How  .far  from the
 and his laying hold on folly consisted in. It  consisted,                  tru&h  then that in  the  Preacher's  town  mind his  o'z-
 according to his report, in the  following.actions           : giving cupartions   :and   $he   p@asmes  whi,ch  he (derived from
 himself to wine; making  him  -great works; building them-those (doings  `of his  wh?ich  be  .names   iin chapter
him houses ; pjanting  him vineyards, makin'g  .h.im-  gar-                 two, in a word, his  experim#enit;s  or tests which he
 dens and `orchards, ,and  planting trees in them  ,of  all relates  in this chapter-stood out in his mind as being
 Bind of fruits ; making him pools of water, to ,water                      in themselves  ,sinful  and thus forbidden. According50
 therewith the wood *hat  bringeth forth tr'ees;  getting the Preacher, th,ese  `doings. formed. .a. l&our  that was
 him servants and maidens, .and  having.  servants born                     by itself altogether lawful. in  IGod's  sight.       It  was   a
 in his  house   ; having  gr,eat   p,ossessilons   `of  great  and         tiork  that the  : Lord  :had  given him to do  ;  aed  the
 small cattle -above all that  w,ere in Jerusalem before pleatiure  which it- yielded him was a good gift of God.
 him; getting ,him  also silver and gold, and the peculiar And  ihis'  counsel to his fellowmen is -that they,  ~tco,
 treasure  ,of  kings and of the  provinloes;  getting-him make their soul enjoy. good in-  their  Zabouy.and   regar.d
 men singers and women singers, and the delights of. this. good as God's gift to them,
 the  IsOns- of men, as musical instruments, and that of                          #So  if this labourrand the pleasure it afforded-was
 all sorts (2  :3-s   j .                                                  actually sinful  ,by Itself;  t&n Dhe  Pr,eaeher   .was  a man
     Were.  thes,e   ?doings  of the Preacher, was this  This               who abandoned himself to a  ,disreputable  way of life
 labour  and the joy that he  derived.  from  it<   a'  such,               not  .only  but who in addition was so lacking-in moral
 sinful? According to the Preacher,--  nothing- could be                    sense that he, perceived not  thata:hg  did. wrong and-that
 further from the truth than,  to say of it that it -was. :the   resulhant  pleasures  weredsjnful.  -Or  if he did have
 Of  l&e rejoicing, of his heart  * in this :  labour  he says understanding  of  this,  : he deliberately falsified  as.  a
 that it  .was  his. portion in it (2  :-lo)  ; that there is - teacher `of,:men.                  Then.  hisOcounsel  is not only bad, but .
 nothing better for a ,man,  th,an  that he s*hould:,eat  and               it is a counsel of which .he  knew that it is bad.         Then
 drink, .and  that he .should  make his  soul  enjoy g?od in his statement to the `effect  .;th&  what he -wrote is .up-
,his  labour  (2  :24)  ; that  thi!s  was from the. hand' of               right,  even  words of .-truth, is not only -false+ but a  -
 God `(2  :?4)  ; that  #every  man should eat and drink,                   deliberate lie. It all  comes  down  to.  this   that. if  @is
 and  `enjoy the good &of,  :his  labour  ;~ that this. is the-gift         labour.   by  itself is -sinful; we  ar'e  simply at a  1'0s~  to
of  God (3  :12;  22 ; 5  :18,  19,  ,20)  ; that an untimely birth         know how to sex$,in.the inception of our ;book  into the
 is better than the man  who  begets an hundred children,                   can,on  of the Scriptures, uhless  we want  to say that the
 and  lives  many years,, yet without his ao,ul being filled -church made a grave  niistake.   .: But  .if  so,-  what   beo@mes
 with good  (6:3).           H.e  &even  commends mirth, because *-of  the-promise `of Christ that-Be will  lead-His  church
 `a `&an  has no  b.et$er  thing .under  the sun, than .to ieat,           .&o   &l truth.
 tinsd to ,dr%nk,  and `be merry ; "for &at  sh&  abide with                      So  the question confronting us is this : Was this
 him  ,of  his  labour  the days of his  lif,e, which  iGod  giveth         labour  and its resultant  pletisures   ccs  m&h  sinful? `Tjhe
 him  .under  the sun" (8  :15). This series  df  thoughts                  thing for  -us  to -do is to subject the  Preach,er's  narration
 -&oaghts   *hIat pervade  thte.  w%hole book-is com- of his -1abour  to .a-  careful  ,analysis  ; then we will. kn'ow.
 prehended in a `final copious  coeclusion.  that reads : :. Says- the Preacher : "I sought in mine heart to  giv&
 `fGo  thy `way, eat thy bread  With  joy,  .and  drink thy -myself unto wine, pet. acquainting mine heart with
 wine with a merry  Xheart;  for (God  now acoepteth thy .tiisdom ; ,and  to 1ajT  `ho1.d on f,olly,  till I might see what
 works. Let thy garments be always white  ;  and  let  thy                 ywas  good for, the  ..sons   ,of  men. . .  ." (2  :3).     The
 .head  lack no ointment. Live joyfully  with the wife                      text in l&e #original  reads : "Then in my heart I made
 whom thou lovest  all th'e  .days  of the lif,e  ~of thy sanity  : deep search, to rein my flesh in wine, my heart guiding
-for that is thy  potiion  in this life, and in thy--labour                 in wisdom. .  ;  ."       All interpreters are agreed that
 which thou takest under  th.e sun. Whatever  thy,  hand what the Preacher  her,e  tells us is  -.that  he  di.d not
 findeth to do,  *do  it  with thy  `might;  fop   ther,?,  is no           plunge himself into unbridled sensuous intoxication,
 work,  nor .,device,  nor knowledge,  n80r..wisdom,,  in .the             `but  that-:he..behaxed-:himself     with wisdom and thus ih
 grave; .whibher  thou`  goest" (9 :7-10)  .                               his use  {of  wine certainly practiced the required moder-
     Such is the counts+1  bf the preacher,  ,which  h'e him- ation and this in order.  &hat  he might not disqualify
 self  ,als,o lived, through his having kept himself ,occu-                 himself for testing w?th  calm reflection and in a com-
 pied in a manner described in  capter  two. Arid of this posed-,way  whether ,veal  contentment was'to:jbe  secured
 couns,el  as yell. as ,of  ali. the keaizhin$g  co.ntain,ed  i.n .,our     by#sensual  joy. Now ,a moderate use  df  <wine  Icertainly
book, he says (ii  :9,  lo),  "And moreover, because the is  not  as such.sinful,                       According. to S.cripture,  Wine is
 Preacher was wise, he stilly  taught  the   .,people  Iknow-               a  ,good  gift of God; and likewise the sensual pleasure


 which a  ~moderate  use of it affords. It is  only.  the               pleasures of sin but for  ,anoth.er  reason. It is precisely
immoderate use  #of  wine and the  resulta.&  drunken                   because  the, preacher wants this strictly understood
madness that Holy Writ denounces as sin.                        -'  Y  - that he-affirms over  and over that a man's labour  and
     Such then is the  constructi,on  to be placed- upon                thee   pl.easur,e  it affords him is the gift of  :God.        The
the above-cited- statement. It `shows that these other doctrine contained (either  in this book. or in any other
 statements-I  sai:d   i:n  mine. heart, Go to  .no,w,  I               book  -,of  the Bible is not that to reach a high state
will prove thee with mirth,' therefore enjoy pleasure-                  spiritually and intellectually the normal  oocupations
may not  Ibe  taken to mean that the Preacheer  iedulged                and lawful. pleasures  of.  this' earthy must be  aban-
in forbidden sensual pleasures or that, though- .the#se                 `doned   ; but the teaching is that these oscupations  and
,pleasur-es  by themselves  `were  lawfd;  the Preacher,. in            pleasures must be- retri,eved  from  th,e sphere of dark-
pursuing them,  failled  to  oontrol  himself `but, over-.              ness and restored to the  servioe   `of  ,God.-  Therefore
stepping his` bounds,  who&  abandoned  himself to a the  counsel  of the Preacher is not only, "Rejoice,  0
life ,of  sensual  .gratifilcation  and that  this was his sin. young man in the  ,days  of thy youth. . .  ." but also,
Ha,d   .he   .lost himself in these  -.plteasures-pleasure       by     "but know thou, that- for all these things  ,God  will
themselves lawful-he would have  d.estroyeld  himself.                  bring thee into judgment," and  %or   Go#d   sha.11  bring
~ Then what  w,ould  have become of his -resolution to see,             every work  int,o   ju.dgment,  with  ,ev,ery   `secret  thing,
through   &ese  ~experiment$,  what was  th&  good  f,or                whether-it  ,be  goo,d  or whether it be evil"  (11:9;   12:
the sons  .of  men? As  t,o  the  othler  occupations of the            14'). Herewith the first  .questi,on  of my corr.espondent
 Preacher that he tells us about-His making him great -the question : "Could he give his heart to know mad-
works and the  li.ke-not   oneof   them.was   as- suchsinful. ness- an,d  f,olly  without  oommitting  sin?-has, I believIe,
Certainly  such;   *doings  as  ,bui,lding  houses, planting been answered. The Preacher  oould   a&d   `did-give  his
vineyards; getting servants. and maidens,  -a&gather-                   heart to know folly without  oommitting  sin because
ing gold and-silver are n,ot  .as  such sinful. In the case             this~  giving his heart to -4now  folly idisd  cot  bring him
of  -the  Preacher, it  -was  a-:labour  that his hands were            und'er  the necessity  `of `abandoning himself to a way
 finding to  ado.  It was a  labour  of which he was per-               of life in itself  sinfuland   forbi'dden.  All that it re-
suaded that it had been ,lai,d upon his -hands- by the                  quired  .of  him is that  .he   .perf'orm  the work that his
Lord. And so it  haId. Because Solomon had not asked                    hands found to do and that he test the lawful plea-
for himself riches, wealth and  hontourj  but  wisdbm:                  sures that this work afforded him.
and knowledge that  h'e might judge the people of                           Now sin, the sinful way of life of the godless, the
 Israel,  ,God  gave him, in  .addition  to wisdom, riches worksof.   unprinciplled  men, is, to be sure, folly, mad-
 and wealth, such as none of the kings had had that                     ness. But the message of our book is not that  sin is
had been  befoae  him; neither any of the kings after                   n&dness.  What the Preacher has before his mind,
him  ,would  have.  I,n agreement  h,erewith,   thle Lord               when he exclaims, "Vanity- .of  .vanities  ; all is- van.ity,
had increated in the Preacher's nature such traits                      madness;"  is the-  w8ho,lle  busyn'ess  of life, th6  practiciing
as a love of wisd80m,  sense of .thebeautiful in nature                 of trades and crafts, the cultivati.on  of science and art;
and art, and  a~  l.ovemof   splend,our  and  ,dignity.    It was to    the pursuit of wisdom, in a word, all human  ,endeavour
these traits that he  gave'expression in all his enter-                 and achievem,ent  ,of  whatever character of unbelievers
prises. This certainly was not as  such  sinful of him.                 and believers alike. All this  labour  even apart from
    So if this  labo,ur  of the Preacher was nevertheless               its moral  w,o&th;   is' in itself vanity, folly,  vexati,on  of
sinful, it was this' solely on th'e  ground of ,his  not  hav;          spirit, that is,  aoc'ording  to  `thte  text in the original,
ing   perf,ormled  it  Lout  of faith. And if his  pleasures-           a f&ding upon or (desire  after the wind. And it is this
the sensual (delight that his moderate use  .of  wine and               because it is- essentially  profit&s; gainless,  cdevoild
food afforded  him-w,ere  sinful;  th'ey   werae  this be-              of true progress, and thus utterly- futile `(chap. 1:3).
cause, being a child of darkness, ahe  was not thankful.                Therefore, speaking-now of `himself, the Preacher de-
But the Preacher was a -believer.               His  veryexperi-,       clares  th.at  he causes his heart to dispair  #of  all the
ments were works not of skepticism but of -faith-of labour  which be has taken- under the sun. He hates
the faith that affirms that "the whole of man is to .life;  because the- work that is wrought under the sun
f:ear   IGod".  Upon  thle  foundati,on  of this truth he pro- is grievous to him : for all is  avanity  and a feeding upon
 ceeded.    It must not be- supposed that he -began-as an' the  win'd  (2 ~20, 27) . :Mark you, it is man's busyness
atheist  .and  ended up as a believer ; `that; after having under  the sun,  iof   w.hich  the Preacher speaks-; namely,
tried out everything -else and found them-wanting, he                   of the ea.rthly  busyness of &his  life.
concluded that the best he -could do for <himself  is t,o                   W*hy  now is  .a11 this labour-the Preacher's own
fear God- and, as so concluding, just simply believed:                  and that of ma-nkind  in.general-so  profitless and thus
    ,Why  then did- the Preacher 141  these labours  and                so-vain, futile? The preacher advances several reasons,
pleasur,es   .,of hi:s vanity,,  f,oBy,  madness,  vlexation   of. the principal  `one  ,of  which he states in this language:
spirit?     Not because  as. such- they were works  an,d                "That which  -is crooked cannot be made, straight  :' and


 292             .'                  I'--   `i-THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   .

 that which is wanting. cannot be numbered"  (1:15) .                      lab'our   ; but "this sore travail hath God given to the
                                                                                                                                 -
 The parallel passage reads:  `Consi'der  the work  ,of                    sons  ,of  man to be afflicte,d  therewith"- (1:13),  in ,order
 God: for who-can  make that straight, .which  He hath                     that  m.an,  His believing people, may in the school of
 made crooked?" (7 :13). Thus the straight is crooked, exp&ence  come to realize more and more keenly that
 God' making it so, how  anId  on  acoount  of what, the all  .this  bbour  andi  the pleasure it yields is  in  itseZf
 Prea.cher  dloe!s  not say. The teaching  `of our book must vanity indeed, that by it man attains  t,o  no true  success
 be round.&  out here by a reference to the facts of the                   and happiness, that thus the wholIe  of man is to fear
 fall, of the `doom  *of  punishment, and of thesubsequent                 God..  C,ertainly,  it is not necessary  to show from the
 operation  ,of   thle  curse  of  ,God  in the  lspbere  of  tchis        Scriptures that it is exactly in the  sohool  ,of   harsd  ex-
 earthly. Some tolkens  ,of  the presence of this  nlew  and               perience that  ,Go,d's  people  aearn  all their great and
 perverse order  `of things, observed by the Preacher,                     valuable lessons,  aed that the  propbets  and apostles
 are : all the oppr,essions  that are ,done  .under  the sun ;             of God reoeived their great  r,evelations.            So  dvoes  God
 the oppressed  b'eing  without a comforter, and power                     make all this  -labour,  by itself vain, to work together
 being on the sid'e of the oppressor (4 :1)  ; the violent                 f,or  goo,d  to  them  that love Him. As  they   Idevelop
 perverting of judgment and justilce*  (5 :8)  ; a just man                spiritually in this school they say with growing  eon-
 perishing in his righteousness, an(d.a  wicked man pro-                   vi&ion and understaeding  : "Truly, the .whiole   sof man
 zlonging  his  l.if,e ian his  wickledness  `( 7 : 15) ; just men,        is to fear  (God.   Th,e  language of the Preacher ceases
 unto whom it happeneth according to, th'e  w'ork  Iof the                 to puzzle them. They know whereof he speaks when
 wicked  ; and  wi.cked  men,  to whom it happeneth accord-                he says : "9 said of laughter, it is mad: and of mirth,
 ing to the work of the righteous (8  :14)  ; one evlent-                  What  ,doeth it?" and "I 1:ooked  upon al.1 the works that
 going to the dead-coming alike to all-to  thae   right-                   my hands have  wr,ought.  . . .  ,aed,   beholld,   .a11 was
,eous  and to the wiCkeh  ; to the goo'd  and t,o  the clean ;             vanity and  vexati,on   *of  spirit. And all their  labour,
 to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrifices not                    however vain in itself, is a good work of which the.
 (9  :2)  ; the race not being to  thie swift, nor the battle              Lord will not be f,orgetful.        An'd  they  may.count  them-
to the strsong,  neither bread to the wise, nor yet riches                 selves co-workers with God in the sph,ere  of His- cove- -
 to the men  dof  understanding, nor yet  fav,or  to the nant. This, I- believe, answers the second question of
men of skill ; but time and-chance happening t,o  them                     my  oorrespondent.  The third question I will  ,answer
 all (9 : 11) ; folly set in gaeat  heights and the rich. sit-             in the next issue of our magazine.                         `.
ting in low places (16  :6)  ; and finally, servants riding                                                                     G. M. 0.
 upon h,orses  an'd  princes walking as servants upon th'e
,earth  (10:7).
    So has  thse  straight been made crooked indeed.                                                       -
 And man by  all his  labours   ldlo;es  not rectify what is
 unjust in- this world,  Idleliver   fr,om the  curse  of God,
 free human existence from thle wrath ,of  IGod  by which                                         E&n Boeteling
 it is pervaded. For  Go,d  has made crooked the straight.
 Despite al81 man's eff,orts,  the curse .of  IGod continues to                                        (Psalm 51)  .*
 sta1.k the ,earth   anld the  revelatilon  ,of.  His wrath from
heaven persists. Thus  hmnan   Ieffort  attains to no true                     Laat mij het  maar  direkt  .aan het begin zeggen:
 suoc,ess either in  s  practi~cal.  or  theo,retical  relation. ik voel mij aangetrokken tot den persoon  of personen
Neither ,does  it attain to <enduring  wealth of happiness.                die  ldezen   psalm.sop   mij.n   gezet   bebben.    Met  een  half
 For everything that is accomplished  undfer  the sun i.s                  oor kan  men merken, dat hij ingekomen is in ,de smart
subjected to the  `.curse  of temporality.             And at this         en het berouw van David. De  melodi'e  is langzaam,
st,ern  lbarri,er  all  ,eff,orts  after the  oattainmaent  of `durable    treurend, klaaglijk. En zoo  bl,eef  het tot het einde.
happiness utterly fails. The satisfaction that is striven .In"t Engelsch zou  men het  ,een  `tdirge" noemen. Een
_ after is as the wind. The happiness. sought is but a                     "dirge", en dan nu geen lijkzang, doch  een treurzang,
momentary  Idelusion.        The great void in human exist-                een klaaglied. En nu moogt  Idat "lijkzang"  oak   we1
ence remaies. This being true, to what real purpose yoor  .lief nemen. Als ge er dan maar  aan   de&t,  dat
then is all man's  labour?  To no purpose whatever. It                     .dit  "lijk" uiting   sgeeft  aan   [de  vernielingen  Zen  verderf-
is utterly vain. This is the message of sour book. Not.                    lijikh'eden  van den geestelijken ,dood.
to see this is  to miss the point. in the whole argument.                      -Meet ik `de geheele geschi!edenis  van David's aonde
    But if matters stan'd  thus, if all the works that are                 met Bathseba en Uria aanhalen? Moet ik het  doen,
done ,under  the sun are vanity and vexation ,of  spirit,                  omdat er misschien onder mijn lezers zijn die er nooit
why should a man work at all? Because he must. It van hoorden?  ,Ge  glimlacht,  en terecht. Ik denk, dat
 is his portion, his lot. It is doing that ,which  his hand                er-niemand  is bnder  Jons  die de droeve  geschiedenis niet
 finds  to do, True, it is vexation of spirit, is all this                 weet.  Ivan  zijn kinderjaren af  aan.


      Indien  ge er lust toe hebt, leest  danniaar  11 Sam.                  Want  God zal hem opzoeken met  ben  Geest des
  1 2   :.l-25:   `.                     I                               lichts en  der  waarheid.
      Daar'zult   `dan  te  doeIn  krijge&   niet  zc zeer met-  die         We zullen wat wachten.
bl,oote  geschiedenis  -+an,  tiooY'd  en. van wellusten, doch            -  En- daar komt hij weer te voorschijn. Hij  heeft
  daar leest ge diezelfde geschiedenis uit' het  oogpunt                 21 verzen  .gedicht. Wij noemen  hG%  den  een-en-twintig-
  van het  $emelsch  licht dat van  God's  aanzicht straalt.             sten psalm.
  Daar  ho0r.t  *ge van  `den  wandelaar die tot David kwam.                 Het is wel, als we- voorts dien psalm maar vaak in
  En die  wandela.ar   w.as  belust op een ooilam;  Doch                 de  eenzaamh,eid  lezen. En bidden.
  David verschoonde  tb  fiemen  van zijn  eigen  ooilam-                    Toen David uit zijn binnenkamer kwam' met dit
  meren.      Hij had  .er vele. 0  eeen,  hij sloeg `zijn og lied en toen hij de hovelingen vroeg naar  .den  opper-
  op  eens~an,derer  ooilam. Ook wordt  dtit andere ooilam zangmeester, moest hij vaak  czijn   roodbareten   oogen
  ontroerend  ,otichreven.       Het -was Bathseba,  het  ooilam         uitwisschen.       Ik moet hier denken aan Petrus, die
  van Uria. Zij  tias   e&n  e@nig  klein.  ooil&m.,   ,da% hij  ge-     bitterlijk  weend'e  in diepen nacht.
  .kocht had. En hij was arm. Daarom was er  niet,  dan                      Toen ik klaar was met de studie van die  .ied,  dacht
  d.at   ,eene   #ooilam.  Hij had  haar  gevoed, dat zij groot          ik : Wat is God toch onbegrijpelijk eerlijk en oprecht!
  geworden  ..was  bij hem en bij zijne  Ikinderen  tegelijk:                Hier is de  man.  naar  Gods  hart. In die dagen             ~
  zij at van zijne  hete  en  #dronk  van  iijne beker,  en              leef,de  er geen mensch waar de Heere meer  van  hield
sliep in eijne schoot,  sen  dat ooilam, die.  Bathseba,  was            dan van  David.
~  @em  als  .eene  dochter.                                               Doch de Heere stelde al deze zonde in  `t volle licht
     .Doch  er kwam tot den rijken David `een wandelaar.                 van   Istiel  en van de zon.  -Zelfs de goddelooze wereld
  Zijn wellusten  werd,en opgewekt, en in plaats van  orh                heeft gelegenheid gehad- Om de rooving en vernieling
  te zien naar zijn eigehe  -kudde,-verechoonde  hij dezelve' v&  het  #ooilam   t.6  zien.  Eenige  verachtelijke lieden
  en sloeg  Zijn hand aan het ooilam van den  .arme.              Er maaktBen-  er een toneelspel  v8n. En  <de Engelen  Gods
 `moest iets  Ibereid worden voor den reiziger, doch  het,               moeten  ,wel  hun  aangezilchten   Ibedekt hebben toen men
  gescliied,d`e  ten koste van de liefelijke sprake  `van  God :         speelde de vreeselijke geschiedenis van het kleine,
  IGij zult in de  rel,atie  der  s,ekten   schoox?  en  aanvallig-      teedepe   ,ooilam.
  lijk leven!                                       .:                       Daarna vaagde ik : en' wat zullen wij nu doen  smet
      Doch toen  .die  reiziger- zijn  ,sporen achterliet, moes-         deze smartelijke geschiedenis ?
  ten die uitgewischt met  het  hartebloed van Uria. En                      ET zijn er geweest  die. van voorlang hun antwoord
  d,e  wijze van  ,wass,&en  en  uit&sschen  is de wijze  d'ie           klaar hadden'.
  `gevlgd  wierd  door  (Satan. Het moest  een  lweg   zij,n             Ziet ge, in allerlei  schakeeringen  herhaalt zich deze
  van  leugen, veinzing, bedrog.. Kom, Uria,  g zijt                    geschiedenis in alle landen en volkeren.  I!k  heb het
  moede  `en mat van het krijgen!             (Ga  in uw huis en         zelf  veelmalen  gezien. Ik ben er bij geweest als de
  neem rust.  D,och  toen was het  ,ooilam  alreede  gestolen            D,avids ontmaskerd werden  door.de   Nathans.
  e n   v e r s c h e u r d .                                                En toen heb ik  ,ook een soort menschen gade-
   1 En we  hooren  de sprake van  Nthanj,neen,  van God                geslagen die het.  wo0r.d  vroegen. En toen ben ik ge-
  Z,elf:  David,  gij zijt die man!                                      tuige   gew,eest  van het schelden en razen  derzul.ken. Ik
      En aangaande Mijn straf,  David?*-'  Gij hebt  di4 ben er bij geweest  wanneer   zulk  een David prooi
  alles gewrocht in het verborgen en het duister. Doch w'erd  van  ver,achtelijke  behandelingen, van  grtiwelij.ke
  Ik  .zal  het vergelden voor  gansch  IIsrael   `en voor  ,de  zon,    scheldwoorden, van hoon  ,en van spot  .en  vati. venijn.
      Toen   zeide  David:  Ik-  .heb  gezondigd tegen  d.en             Er zijn er  gew,eest  die de woorden van  J&us   be-
  Heere;                                                                 antw,oord hebben met daden.  D,ie   Jeius,  geide: Wie
      En  Nathan   zeide  tot  Davi,d: De Heere heeft ook van U zonder zonden is die werpe de eerste steen op
.uwe  zonde weggenomen, gij zult niet  sterven.   .   .   . haar! En dat  s'oort  menschen hebben ijlings die stee-
  Eerder had de profeet de boodschap al uitgesproken:'                   nen aangegrepen.         Zij omklemden  ,die   steenen  met
  Het zwaard, David, zal van  ,uw  hu,is niet wijken.. .  -.  .          macht en Wierpen ze naar het (betraande aangezicht
      En David is  stil,l,e,  zeer'  stil.lle,  weggegaan.  Go'd         van die  Davids.'
  ontnam hem de eenzaamheid niet. Dat was een gave                           En wat  kullen   tic-hiervan  nu zeggen?
  Gods.      En woord was er bij  gew'eest,   hettielk  de                  Ik kan geen ander  ,antwoord  vinden dan  .de  woor-
  opening is  voo?  ,de  treurzang die  volgen   m,oest.     En dat      den  v%ti Jakobus.: Dit moet, mijne broeders,  alzoo
  ne woord was dit:  W,aaPom  hebt gij, David,  het, niet geschieden !
  Woord des  IHeeren  veracht,  doend,e,,  dat  4kwaad is, in                Neen,'  w  moeten wat anders zeggen.          En-  d a t
  Zijne  oogen?  En  I.ater was  ,d,it  wor,d  herhaald.  gel           andere zal  `God  Zelf U  #op de lippen zetten.  ,En dat
  worden  :'  "daaroti  dat gij Mij  veracht  bebt  !"                   rindlere is de  een-en-vijfkigste   psal~-~.
     --David'  is gekomen tot de binnenkamer.                                Dat is  ,dan   `ook de reden waarom die psalm opge-
      Daar zullen  tic hem niet storen  qm Godswil.                      nomen is in  ,den  Bijbel.' Die psalm  is.  daar omdat het


                  .

          294                                          TH.E  S T A N D A R ' D   Bl$AR-EB
                                                                                                            .~  .                                  _     _                 .
          hoereeren en moorden van David, mitsgaders zijn  be-                        reizigers die aankloppen.  Aankloppenom.met              vriende-
          drog, veinzen. en leugen, bakens zijn in de zee des                         lijke  :stem U aan  `t werk te zetten. Een werk, dat-door
          levens.                                                                     God genoemd wordt : zonde en  ongerebhtigheid   !                        ._               :
                 Als David begint om met zijn bevende stem, een                            Dus zijt gij schuldig met David.  .:.Verander   dande
          stem die nu en dan  -%vergaat  in snikken, zijn lied te                     woorden maar `die  b&r&king   hebben-  op  schande  van=-
          ,zingen, geduriglijk  st,ande voor het aangezicht van                      hoererij  en moord,  do&  behoud het snikken en  tranen.,
          geheel Israel en de zon, dan moet gij,, mijn broeder,  _ om der zonde wil. En het zal wel zijn.
          naar David toegaan. Dan moet ge hem beleefd ver-                              En nog steeds staat David daar  voor  ons,  voor
          zoeken om.  wat.  ,opzij te treden.           En moet  ge  naast            geheel Israel en  `de zon. Ge  herinn,ert  U,, dat de Heere
          hem gaan staan  ,orn  met hem zijn lied te zingen.                          ,hem  daar  eeerzette,  nu zoovele jaren geleden.
                 H,et zal dan niet lang meer duren, of  `ge zult  be-                    -  Dloch  neen,  ,als  we weer eens zien, dan verliezen we
          merken, dat Uw stem stokt,  .heete tranen zullen in                         David bijna geheel uit het oog. Ik zie David. Doch
          Uwe  oogen opwellen, terwijl het harte langzaam                             hij staat  ,daar  te midden van een  schre  die niemand
          breekt.       Uw  aangezilcht   z.al  vuurrood  word,en   `van  tellen kan.
          schaamt,e,  `en-0  w,o,nder,  het zal net zijn alsof ge Uw                       En  .d$ie schare hieven hunne stemmen op en  ween-
          eigen lied `zingt en  k$laagt  en treurt.                                   den.
                 En als er  n,u  nog  zijIn  `die voortvaren  ,orn  te zeggen :           -Ze weenden den onvergetelijken treurzang van den
          Pardon, maar ik kan zulks niet zien,  noch  vers,taan   ;                   een-en,vijftiger.
          dan zullen we U moeten wijzen op het zevende, vers.                              Doch ik smeek U, vertel het mij  toich,  wie is die
          Daar staat : "Zie, ik ben in ongerechtigheid geboren,                       gestalte  Ndile   Idaa*r  te  mildd.en  van de  ween'enden staat?
          en in zonde heeft mij mijne moeder  lontvangen   !"                         Zijne gestalte is als de gestalte van een Zoon  der
     -      `Och,  mijn broeder, daar  bemerlktet  gij toch wel, Goden!
          dat  6r  ,een  vreeselijke harmonie is tusschen  Davi,d                          En het snerpende en het grievende  ,da;t  de ziele
          die voor Israel  ,en  de zon staat en U die  zoo  verre                     wondt, beluisteren we in Zijn klaagzang gelijk nooit,
          schijnt van het snikkend gezang:  h.ij zal  U  wijsbeid  te voren.                             Zijne huilende en  .brullende  stem doorklieft
          leeren..   IGij zijt k in ongerechtigheid  gebor.en  ,en -in het geheele  .heelal.
          zonde heeft ook Uwe  Jmoeder.  U ontvangen... Die zonde                          Ik zal het U zeggen, mijn broeder.                                         .
          kwam in andere  lvormen misschien tot  .openbaring.                              IHet is Jezus Christus, de  {Heere.
          .De vruchten,. de vieze vruchten,  verschil~len,  doch de                        De God des  Verbond8  heeft  David%  hoereeren  en
          vuile bron van  David3  zonde en  d Uwe zijn homogeen.                     moorden, zijn liegen en veinzen op het Lam  ~Gods   ge-
          Psalm 51 behoordet door U gezongen, totdat geen                             legd. Herkent ge Uw aandeel ook? Alle  ongerechtig-
          maan `meer. schijnt.' De Heere gaf die treurzang aan                        hed,en  zijn alle op Hem  ,aangelfoopen.
          Zijn- kerk met dat doel. .Hij wil ontdekkend -werken.                            En toen  ,dezelve geischt werd, zie, toen  .is- Hij
                 Nog  hor  ik stemmen die zeggen: Dat mag alle- verdrukt.
          maal waar wezen, doch het is ook waarheid, dat ik mij                            Hij heeft Zijn eigen  editi,e van den een-en-vijftiger.
          n'ooit  te buiten ben gegaan met  #het ooilam van mijn                      Hij  ,weent  alsof Hij het zelf gedaan heeft.  YGod  doet
          broeder.      Werkelijk, menschen, ik  h,eb  nooit iemand al                alsof de  `Groote   IOnschuld het Zelf gedaan heeft. Wijze
          liegende  v.ermoord  ,om  mijn schande in `t hoereer&                       menschen noemden het  .de  Toerekening.
          te bedekken.                                                                     God heeft- dat bloedende Lam, met  de*  zonde van
                 Dan zou ik willen zeggen :  ,Ga  toch bij  Davi.d  staan !           David beladen, ten toon geteld voor geheel Israel en
              IIk  wil gaarne gelooven, dat wat gij zegt waar is.                     voor  ,de  zon.
                 DJoch   tweer4ei  moet U  Igeantwoorld.                                  Later bedekte de  H,eere de zon voor Hem en moest
             .E,erstens, misschien is  ,er nooit die  ,vreeselijke   reisi-           Hij voortsnikken in den donker.
          ger bij U gekomen om  .onderdak  en verzorging. En                            ,: Jezus heeft de treurzang gezongen tot het bitter
          als hij  ,w41  kwam, dan  heeft-IGd  Zijn Engel gezonden;                  einde.      (Ge  kunt de  snakken  niet vertalen, nooit  ver-
          bijtijds,  .om U te weerhouden van te  ,doen  naar den in-                  staan.      Zijn  snikk'en is ervaring van de  wanh,oop  des
          spraak van de ingeboren zonde of neiging tot zonde:                        $euwigen   ,doods.              Man van Smarten.
                 Tweedens, luister naar het wonder-wijze woord                             Zie dan  !sterk  op.  Jezus. Hij- staat voor geheel
          van Jakobus: "Want wie de  g.eh,eele   .Wet  zal houden, Israel en de zon.                                                       '  "
          en in  en  zal struikelen, die is schuldig geworden aan  ~                      Neen, -God heeft  D,avid niet verdoemd om de  zond'e
          alle." CGe  hebt dus nooit gehoereerd  en.nooit  gemoord ?                  van Bathseba en den  #moord  op  Uria.
          Ook niet in het diepe hart, waar `de uitgangen des                               Toen God. die zonde zag, vermelde  IHij ze  .in Zijn
          levens zijn? 1G.e  hebt nooit gehaat?               E n   d a t   .is,   d e   E i g e n   E e n i g   (Ooilam.
          wortel van den doodslag. Ge zijt  met  homogeen. met                            -David's rood-bekreten  oogen zijn afgewischt. Zijn
          de  zon,de   !van   D,avid? Doch  lhoe staat het er  #bij met smarten hadden een einde. Terwijl ik schrijf, zingt
          de andere  gebo'den ? Er is een  heirleger  van  ivreeselijke               hij zijn  hallels  voor den troon en het Lam.
I                                                                                                   ^


                                            T`H.E   STAN--D-A--R'D-   BEARER-                                                               295
                                                                                         --
   Teywijl onze  -stem-   ii@ ietwat  beeft.                              woullld  have no  reas,on  or  m,otive  to  withhJolXd it from
   "*A%`g&  zdo tersloops ,er op l&ten  wilt, o vreemdeling, the publilc.  The purpose is to impfart  this knowledge to.                             .
 welke de bladzijde  to-&  mag zijn van `t  openliggend                   all,  withput  r,estraint,  .without  holding this  knowledge
 b6ek;   d9$r  op de pal&d&  zangers, dan zult ge lezen:  - in respect  6or the public enjloyment.
 "Een  p&alin  Davids, voor den  opperzangmeester,               toen         This we may even consider to be reflected in the
 de  Profeet  Nathari.  tot hem was gekomen,  nadat  hij                  standpoint  :of  the #living,  believing church  over against
 tot. . .  ."                  -;                                         a11 heathen  wor,ship  with its secrecies in its  cultus,
    . Pijnigt ons niet door -`t spottend  vragen: Waarom,                 w(heneby  the real myst.eri,es  are for an- esoteric (insi,de)
 pilgrim, waarom weent gij?                                               group in  distincti,on   from an  exo+erid   (,outside)  multi-
     D,e zuchten  ,#en  tranen der bidcel zijn heilig  l.and.             tumd&
 Daar  waaPt   d,e   SGeest  .Gods  rend   met.   balsem  in Zijn           Also against  Ghe   F&Oman Catholic Church with  its  ldoc-
 vleugelen. .             -                                               trines `of faith in tw,o  ldiffer,ent  senses this normal funlc-
                                                         G. V.            tion `of organic knowl,edge  stands  mopposled. The Roman
                                                                    2, Catholic  oonception  namely is that there is an inner
                                                                          circle, the Hqoly  Church, iyhioh  is ,abl:e to define the doe-
                                                                          trine's  of belief while there is  allso the  multitede   that
                                                                          cannot  understan(d  these things but believes them by
                       Public.Opinion                     -               a  eo-called  implicit faith. It  `doeIs  not  k:now.  It does
                                                                          not  nee:d   t'o  kn'aw,  it simply trusts that the  Chunch's
     This general  ,expreslsion  scarcely needs introduction knowing  i,s sufficient.
because of its familiarity. However in general we  m'ay                       Par  this   f,orming  thereof  oou&e  many means in
 and usually  `do use  it  t'o  dif%eFentiate  and to express             the wiorld.     The  firsit would of  [course  be hard to define.
 the general, the  p.e,opBes' view  ,of   &ings as distinct `Ferhaps  the first is simple speech. But we  thsen  im-
fnom the private  ,opinion,  that is,  -the  opinion which mediately come upon the art  aln,d  gift  `of public speak-
 private persons  h,old  for themselves,  `of the initiates ing. By this gift  multitu,d8es  are moved to adopt cer- .
 th,e `opinion `of persons who are in a position to knlow                 tain principles or plans  ,of  action, and without reflect-
 what the gen'enal  public `does not.                                     ing further as to the  ~ooit. Wext  comes the  art~of  print-
     The possibility  ,of  public  (opini.on  lies in the fact            ing by which the fruit of the mind can Ib,e   mu.ltiplied
 that  peopl'e,  men taken  together are an 8essfential  unity,           t,o  fl$ood  the ma&et and steep  aslong  the 5opinifon  of the
 creaked  to live in  relation  to'  leach   othler   land  to be         public. We  `only  need to think of the Middle Ages  when
 mutualily   `or to have fellowship in the use of the one                 th(e  art of printing  blecame   k.npwn.        It was one of the
 body of knowledge.                                                       miglity  ?a\ctors  to give impetus to the  flo.o'd   !of  the
     Immediately, as  wle begin to look at this the prob-                 Rtenai,ssance  and  th,e  Ref,ormation   `of  %he  Christian
 l,em  arises, what now is the normal and what is the `chunch  `of the Middle  Ages. If  ,explains   .how  a few men
 abnormal because  ,of  sin. We ooulcd  `easily  l,et ,oprselves          like  Luth,&   and   ,Calvin  could move the masses  `of men
 be  mislea'd  by #our  observations on the subject, due to               of the midIdle  ages to baeak away from the shackles :of
 the fact that  all  observation would be taken from an                   the great institutilon  Iof the Roman Catholic Church.
 abn'ormal  wo~%d,  from an abnormal humanity that has                        This  fiel(d  was  soy several  oenturie#s  held by the
 been ruined by sin where the  1Se   Icorrupts  all.                      public press with its  manif'ol'd  forms of  adaptabtlity.
     So we must first see our-que&on in a normal wor1.d                   Somle   `of the  `oopy  is  .designed  to  +.atch  the  `eye   #of  the
 not pet maraed  ,by the influences ,of  sin.:                            scanning  Ee&er,  other copy is written for the news
     Th-ere   w,e &oul,d fin'd  no distincti,on  .between  private reader, and some .is m'eant  for more  careful  ref,lective
 and public opinion in .the  sense that the two  wer'e  in                reading.  Nlearl;  <every  one reads a  >daily  paper and
 opp,osition  to leach  oth'er  ;  n.either   woul:d  we have a several  *daili,es number their  aeaders  in  milli,ons.m  So
 private  -opini,on  that, was not  mede  Eor public lenj.oy-             the newspaper c'an bteoome  a mighty factor in modding
 m e n t .                                                                public  sentiment. This is  `often  heightened when a
     The normal  w,orld  is the  worlld  living according `considerabl,e  group ,of  papets  in various sections of the
 to  the   n.orm   ondaieed   f,or it. For the rational moral country are  al,1  un,dser one-powerful head of control.
 creature that- means living  acoording  to the law of sin- `Thi.nk   ,of  the  mjany   Healst news pap&, which  are
 lessness, living in the  l.aw  of  love  to God  and   the neigh- often  said  to be the rulers of public sentiment in our
 bor. To get  .some idea  ,of   tl+ we look  usu.ally  at the land, especially under certain  administrati,ons.
 record  `of man's creation  in  Geeesis  and to  the  mandate                A fourth powler  is the  rsdi'o,  which is a very f&t-.
 th.ere   pr.escrib,ed   f'or  him, and  al,io  to the  relati'ons  in    growing and  ,deve210pilng   instituti,on.   Also this is a
 th'e  New `heaven aed earth inso.far.  as  `we  can, gather              vmy powerful ,fector  in the mo,ulding  ,of  pulbli,c  opini.oa.
 them from IScripture.                                                    It is of  course  closely  Tel&ted   `as to  metcods of propa-
     Thus  all  (opinion  would be one ;  1,eaders  in opinion            gating public opinion to the  newspaper.  Striking


296                                        T H E   STANDA'RD   BEA.REk                                                                          ;
phrases  an'd  slogans  ar,e coined  la&l  in the hands  of the        speak 6hat  we  do know, and  tesitify  that we have seen.
unscrupulous these phrases  nn'd  slogans  *often  brist,le            A.nd  no man hath ascended up to heaven, but .He  that
with  hi,dden  falaci,es,  equivocations, f.alse  suppositi'ons.       came down from heaven even the Son of man whiieh  is,
`One is often remied&d`,of  bhe  words of the seedy tramp              in heaven, John 3  :14.                                             . .
`who wrote to a soap manufacturer, "Two. years ago I-                      So it is  ,when  men try to silence the testimony th&
got a bar `of your Kleeno  Brand soap and I  ,haGe not                 speaks about the Kingship of  th&  Messi?h.   .He  ans-
used  :any   lotheer  s&e".                                            wered and said unto  i&em,  I tell you if these  should
       Because of the cl,ose  relation. of the r~adio  and the holed their pvce  the sitones w,oul,d  immediately cry out,
nlewepapers`   espe&al.ly  as they are coordinated  by   tie           Luke  19:38-40.  I have  give  them Thy word. . . . .
government in a time of crisis, we may ,expect  them to                sanctify them through `Thy truth ; Thy word is  .truth.
mo,ul,d  public ,dpini,on  after a definite pattern. So it is Father I wil! .that  those whom thou hasi given me be
that men with great `God-given  tallents   ayTe   able  to             wit me, John 17  :14,  17, 24. Jes{zs  answered, n/fy  king-
-move the m'asses   and  initiate crusades.                            `do-m  is not of this  w,orld  ; if my kingd$om  were of this
       Anid   %eref,ore  if  it is in the  service of  tru+h!  the     w$orBd  then ,w;ould  my serva.nts.  fight that I  shou1.d  not
men who .have  received gifts `of leadership will .bfe  able           be  ,delivered  unto  ;the Jews  ; but now is my kingdom
to. communicate the visions and insights  and  convic- not from thence. . . . To this end wag  I born and for
ti,ons  anld  `enthusiasm to those `dependent upon them.               lthia   cause   came. I into  &is  ,wor18d   tihat  I  should   b&ear
That  i'deally  w'ould  make for a happy world.                        witness unto the truth. Every `one  that is of &he truth
       But the  ,bitter  fact is that  these   gylleat  agencies of heareth  My  voice,  John 18  :36,  37.  80 futiher, J,esuS
communic&ion  are emplmoped  in thse  service of sin and               saith to Peter:  Freed  my sheep. . . . Feed my  ?+mbs,
S&iptur,e  teaches  US  that they will be  increasingly  s,o           Jlohn  20. So again., To me  i,s given  la11   pow[er  in  h@atiefi
used.  That  means that private opinion  and.  public and on  `earth.  . . . Go ye therefore and teach all na-~
wi#ll not be ,of  the same content. This of course in a tions.   : . . Lo, I am  width you always,  #even unto  th&,
aelative  sense. That is to say:  thle men who give en.d of the worl,d.  Am'en.   M&t. 28  :19.
leadership in thonght  wi.11  not.   speak  their honest  con-
viction. They will have a -more initiated view them-                       These passages  coul,d  be multiplied an,d though at,
s&es,  lbut  for pub1i.c  consumption they wilt1 ispeak  lies          first glance they (do  not seem to  ihe point, yet a little
in  hypoc+y,   alth,ough  it is  true   &at in  %hose   false          Fefsleoti,on   wilt1 convince us that in the midst of  the
propheks   th&e will be an'elemelit   `of self-,deoeption.             greatest  totalitar&n  stippxessiton  of the truth, Christ;
       Let  US try to  realize  what it  wiB'  mean when all           th,e  Great Prophet, the  ,Great  Witness, the Heaven
those means  ,of   kn~owl~edge  will  be   contY;oUed  by  th,e        :sen,t  Minister  $of   publiimtion  will  Bnow  His  own   gibvlen
power of sin.. No  ,one  may speak  tinlesS  he places Him of the  Father, and He will make known to t&em
himtself  in subservienc,e  to the power ,of   sin and anti-           ,everything  He  ,desires   to  h,ave   them  know.. And al-
christ. That  all-supppesiing-        power'  )of  the sensor can though al:1 ,other  public opinion wtll  be m,ould%ed by the
be somewhat seen in ;the  totalitarian state Iof .our  -day,           power ,of  the lie, He will have His people in the world
.&.-~d   `of  course  it will reach its  full'eff~ectivenless  only aid also'  +hen  &hey  shall know tihe tru+h  and the $rubh
`in the f;&owing generation; whlen  even the r,emnants                 shall  maike  them free. ' ,
,of  the truth that still  llingered  in the heart of the                                                      .                A. P. `. .
f,ormer  g@neration  has been starved out by sy8tematilc
suppress5on   ,or the means  ,of  religious  communieati,on,                                                   ..
in sermon, in literatur,e,  in letters perhaps, yes, even
in se,cxet co-timujnion  ,of  twlo  ,or  three who axe gathered
                                               i
ia  th,e'  name   `of the Lord.
       &-that  great  tiDd  complex  worl,d  there will also                                       IN MEMORIAM          -
be christians.       Sohehow  or  ,other   thiey  must  have  the              The Ladies Aid of the Protestarit  Reformed Church of. Hull,
Wopd   `of Life. How will they  peoeive  it? How will it Iowa, hereby expresses its sympathy to their fellow menibers,
be  bronght   to them? The answer may be ,difficult  to                Mrs. G. Oostenink and Mrs. P.  Vhnder`   Schaaf  in the  l&s  of
give. But  wle know that Christ is  tie great Prophet;                 their father,'
H,e is the ,oee great  S'ource  of knowlledge.      Bxt  He ,do.eis                                                                  ,-
not  posses  *hat  knowledge as a private opinitoti.          Do&                               H E N R Y   RIKKERS
 He .not ag the Immanuel, the ,exalted  Man possess  all                       May the God of  ail  grace- comfort the sorrowing families
t-hat  know)ledge  precisely that He may  impart it to His in their bereavement, and may the bJessedne%s  of those whq
 brethren. Scripture abundantly testifies. to this.' No die in the Lord assure us of God's -&ailing promises.
 man  hath.se&~God   at~any  time, the Only Begotten  Sin,                                . . .
 which is in the bosom of the:-Z@ather;He  hath ideclared                                                    Mrs. P: Vand&  Schaaf, Secti.
 Him. John 1  :I%  Verily,  verily,  I say  un$o  you  to                 -                                  Rev. A. Clmeenga,  `Pres,
                                                                                  .       .l,._


                                                TtiE  S T A N D ' A R D   B E A R E R                                                         `297

                                                                         spare time is view'ed  as a license to indulge in the base
     The Influence Of Modern Literature                                  things. Consequently, he will never have time to read
                                                                         anythmg  that is  worthwhi:l:e.         The family `does have a
       Jesus  fr,eqnently  used expressions such as, "Have               library, father has  !geen  to that, and that was wise.
  ye not read",  or,  "Have ye never read?" or, "Have yc                 But  ,son  never touches any of those books.              His spare
  not so much as read?" this  `or  that passage .from  the               time is consumed in a  ,lust  `for foolish things and he
  writings of            ,God.      -     I'                             `does .not  .edify  himself. This brings him further than
       Tlhese  passages are explained by that one upbraid-               ever -away from the reading of the writing  ,of  God.
  ing word of the Lord,  "Yae   <do  err, not knowing the                Z%e  thrilling, the sensually sensational non-sense of
  Scriptures".               :                                           vain man captures his  Inst;   as the  forbi,dden  tree in
       Have ye not read?                                                 E'den   captuie:d   th?e lust of Eve,  u.nti:l finally she saw
       The   ,world  is full  <of  literature, but "have ye read".       only that tree. The writing  `of  Gold  is put away and
  We fairly stumlj1.e  our way through a jungle of liter-                vanity comes in its &ead.          Modern literature promotes
  ature,  but -"have ye 
                ,           r,ead"  ?                                    this apostacy. If the pastor ,appelars  with an elder for
       T,he   .capacity  to  r,eed  is the  w'ork  of  mGo,d  whereby    family visitation  an,d asks  "<have  you never read" he
  He  sdapts us to as  w'ell as oonfines us to His written               must admit that he has not  aed  Idoes  not read. . . .
  reveljatio,n.  Consequently, any reading which ,does  not              God's writing. And that is apostacy. That is wilful
  lead us to the more thorough acquaintance with His                     blin,dne,ss.  That. is using the  ,God-gi,ven  capacity to
  writing, is  purposelless  and vanity  lof  vanities.  R,eally         rea.d  in  (order  to  .by-pass  God's writing  aed read that
  it is not Peading.     M,odern  literatur,e  has le,d us to gloat whi1c.h  iss base and vain.,
  over  the non-sense of men's writings,  ah:as   indu,ce,d  us to           Seoondly,  howlever,  the  bul!k  of modern literature
  thrill,  to the imagination ,of  mere men, and in so doing <has  sensual  ,appeal. It seeks to satisfy a certain morbid
  leads us away from the writing w4hilch.  IGod  has -given.             curiosity, it appeals  t,o the sex-lust,, to the. wander-lust,
  This  ,only by way  `of  intro.duct5on.   -                            adventure-lust, and so many other lusts  which  fill ,our
   Mod#ern  literature covers  ,a big  1 field. We cannot by  natur,e  so #depraved  livies. Modern literature seeks
  put all of  today's  literary productions  ,on  <one  shelf            to give us .a thrill. It wants to bring us excitement.
  nleither  can `we  thtereftore  pass one criticism  .over  them        Qui.etly   eo.metimes  it  .liRs  the curtains aside  ,and  lets
  all. There is good `literature, there is supposed&o-be- our  `eyes  feast on vanity  aed  corruption.  B'esides  the
  good literature, iand  th#ere  is bad literature. I am  nto            (damage  ,these   ,things  do to our spiritual life (one  ,surely
  Painter on Elements of literary criticism, nor yet am                  is not making his  .calling  and election  ,sune  by so `doing)
  I a b,ook  reporter, but maybe for convenience we coulxd               they  als'o  influsenoe   `our  reading taste.  T'he  result is
  put all  ,of  today's  .literatur,e  on those three  Ishelves.         that  the person develops a crave  f,or the sensual and
  W.hilte  I  shoul,d   thlen   u.rge  the reading  ,of   goo,d  literature, `develops a positive ,disli.ke  f'or  the spiritual. Spiritual
  ,exh,ort   mod8erate  and critical reading of the supposed-            literature no longer appeals to him,.  t,o  him it is  ,so
  to-be-good  .literature,  I would nevertheless  ,confine  my-          "dry", so `?ong" and so boring. Rather than read the
  self in this  articl,e  to the  infhrence  of this  wiorld's           articlle~~on  Esther he  w'oukd  read about the flirtations
  modern literature, its influence  ,o,n  us  an,d  ,our  children. Iof  IGreta Garbo,  R801b'ert   1!Iontgomery  appeals  t,o,  shim
       It is  ,Satuaday   ,evening.   Y,ou  are in the  +oeal  drug      muoh  more than the sincere striving of  th.e  Wittem-
  store Ifilling  a prescription. In  ,steps a young  m.an.       He b.erg monk. If the Standard  B'earer  and the  comics
  (looks over the <display  of `magazinles  ,on the book stand.          come in the same mail, in the mad rush for the comics
  He  has  beftore.  him what  `one  might call Modern liter- the  religi'ous   p,eriodical  is  trample'd  under feet. The
  ature.       R,ows   ,and  rows  `of magazines, confessions,           crave for the sensual,  a.s  f'ostered  by sensual modern
  romances,  west,ern,  ,detective  letc.  (etc.    The young man 1iterature;is really also a tvici,ous  circle. The more ,one
  sel'ects  lone  of these and it goes home with him for his engages in the 8'ensual  appeal the more the lusts de-
Sunday reading.  Nee,dless  to say, that literature he                   velop which seek that appeal, until one is wholly ,en,-
  carries home with him tiarri'es  a wealth ,of  mfluence.               gulfed  i,n   ;th:e   floo,d   ,of  sensuality. Wholesome  lljterature
       We might cite this as a looncrete  case -and  use it to is flung, aside, it makes no appeal. Aed naturally not,
 illustrate our  whol'e  point.                                          for the things  <of  `the:spirit, of truth, Ido not  fee*d  lust
       What influence ,now  #does this literature have upon but they oondemn lust. If the things that are true,
  the reader. First of all  th'e  reader fills his  .spsre  time the things that are honest; the things that are  purz,
  with reading things from ,wihich  he certainly Idraws,  no             if they no .longer  appeal to us, it is high time that we
  benlefit.    Thle  immediate result of which is that it takes examine  Xourselv~es   .and  ask  w.hether   t4he   inflluence  of
  the  pl:ace  of profitable reading. Instead  <of  using his            modern literature has  .not  already lured us down the
  spare  timeto  engage in  e,omething  of value  +he  uses his broad way that  <leads to  :destruction..                                -
  spare time to engage in vanity. Soon enough his `vain                    But, thirdly, modern <literature  also ,has ,a formative
  literature  6al.w  the p&e  of  a?  #edifying  habits and his influence  ton  our  ;iives. Indeed this is more true per-
                                                                            -_


                                               THE  STANDAR,D.                    B.EARER

 haps in the case  .of  young  realders  but the fed holds
 f.or all of us as  w)ell.       The  charadters.  your modern                                         Contf.ibution
 literature brings you in print become v'ery  much alive,                       &eston  is one  *of   ;the churches  in our Protest&t
 so alive that you  .begin  to  k'eep  company  wirCh them.                 Reformed group that neither rece$es  nor gives much
 Y,ou  beg@  to associate with th,em.  T:hie  more  your liter-             pub,licity.      A,lth.ough  ,,ws&  +?e a-l&tl,e'  S~XXT  iti, the"church
 ary characters  %live   f,or you  thee  more  ,an#d  the better you        firmament, we still  remain   ia  jight   a@dst   &  crdoked
 enpoy it. Witness, for instance,  h,ow   t.rue   ;this is in               and perverse  geae&ioti.               B,eing   small  in numb&  .(fijr
 thle  matter  ,of  the children  aed the comics. And as                    we  co,unt   ,only  about  Itwenty-five  families)' and  poulig
 your characters betcome  .alive  you associate  with them.                 in years as yei, %ver&heless  we  are making his&y.
 Ytou  ride the plains with your  herlo,  with him (her)
 you spend th,e  Saturday night .at the tavern, with her                         So it was, t.hat  <on  July 28, 1941, our pastoi, -the
 you  visit the Mar,di  :Gras, with .her  you engage in illicit             Rev. H,  Vel,dman,  `mad'e  knowIn  that he had  received a
 loves   an(d  intriguing romances,  ,etc.   <etc.   Thley  become          cdl  from the  Pyotestant  Reformed  ,Church  of  Kalatia-
 your friends. And th'e  end of it all is that you conform .+oo,   w!hich   he, after prayefful  !aonsideration,  accepted.
 yourself to the  worl(d,   you   besome   ,what  they  ar,e.               .Qn  September 21 (of  that year he pr,eached.his  faTewe
 `l%ere  are many cases on the court records ,of  boys anId                 sermon, and thus the tie betw'een  pastor land  ,congrega-.
 girls whose life of crime was's ,copy of the crimes they tion was severed.  B,efore  the  Rev.  Veldman left us
 read about in m,odern  literatur'e.          Many a police court .the  con&tory made  a triso,  from which Rev. P. De Bqer
 gets its  sown  `d,et,ectiv,e  storiles  full in the face, enacted         of EoNand,  Michigan `was ,elected  by the congregation.
 by youthful thugs, .wh#o  in turn Webe  tutored by book After the  distiurbance  created by  the.  leaving  ,of   owr
 thugs.  Aed so we might continue.                                          pastor,  w;e wer.e ,disappointed  by the sact  that  Rev..P.
     Wme  would not  con,demn  such reading as affords                      De  Boer   coulld   not  accept the  ,call  extended  ;to him. Buk
 clean  ,&tert&nment   ,or  gives edifying amusement,` we were not  discouraged,  and  coon  another trio was
 neith!er  w(ouId  we cond,emn  reading a oontr,olled  .amount              m.ade,  from  tihich Rev. J.  D,e Joag  ,of   Hudsonvill'e,
 `qf  cl.ean  fiction' (Dr. A.  Kuyper,   h'owlever,   ,says  we %!tichigan  was  crhos&. With anxiety of  beau-t  we  Bwaiitr
 sbouuld  not read more  th,,an a few in a year), but, by ed the 8outcome.                          At the  appdinted   timethe  good  tidings.
 way of conclusion we wodd seek to emphasize  tw,o                          -were Feceived  : "I. wU come `oir,er and help you".                      It is
 things.                                                                    unnecessary tlo say what our reaction was, for w&at  is
     First, we  shoul,d  not let  .ent,ertainment  take too                 a  fl,ock   withsout  a shepherd? So  ,our  vacancy  was  not
 great  a part in our lives.  T.hat  we need a certain                      of  ex.t,ended  (duration.
 ammount   `of  ,entertainmIent   )I   will  not  d,eny,  but  tlo  give        On December ld  oiur new pa&or w~as   installe,d  .by
 th.at  phase of our lives so much #emphasis is  ,entirely                  our oouns&l,lor,  the Rev. H. Hloeksema,  assi,sted  by Rev.
 wrong. But when wle ,do and if wle do rlead  for`jenter-                   P. D,e Bo,er  of Holland. Rev. Hoeksema  preache,d  fr.om
 tainment it must  Icome  (under  the rule  `of "W,hatsoever                II- Tim. 3 :l-5 ; R,ev.  De Boer rea,d  the  Form of In,$al-
 is true,  whats.oe.ver  is pure,  ~wh~atsoe~ver is wholeso,me,             latation.      The next Sabbath  our  pastor preached. his
 think ton th,at"  an'd  read th;at.- Whenever then  the  soul-             &ugural  sermons, in t,he morning from II ,Oor,  4 :5-7
 searching Gos&l  `of ,t.he  Lord asks  us "Have ye yead?"                  ,aed  In  the evening from Eph.`G  :18-19.                         I 1
 we  caln'anBw8er,  "Yes, Lord".                                                On  01:d  Ycear's  Day, just preceding a  s.ev,ere  snow
  And secondly, we should cultivate  r.eading  such                         storm,  ,our  pastor and family moved into the  patisonage
 mjaterial  as-has  Ilasting,  spiritual value.  W'e   sboul-d  be          which the  congregdion  had purchased a  sew  weeks
 engaged in -reading  such material -as  Serves  to equi@                   pr,eviously.   ?Jp~  to this  itime  the  congregati,on   ha'd
 us with the necessary  armamentis  to fight the good fight                 rented 9 hgouse  for its pastor.
 ,of  faith. Wie  ought to  rea'd  -that which can give us  thie                On the even.ing  of January 15th the congregation
 tripl,e  knowledge we ,so .mech  need. And what dught                      came together to w,elcome  and get acquainted wi!th the
we to, know? We ought to know God' in what H:e .has                         pastor  an,d  his  samily.        A  program  was given, a  goo.d
 rev>ealed  of Himself. Then we  ,ought  to know our-                       luech was served by the  lad&   aed  w'e   altl returned
 selves, what we are and What is hour  calling. And we                      ,home   wikh  gledness   <of   heeart   &d thanks to our God
ought also to know the world, what it is, and where it                      who haId  made  all things well.
 is going an'd  wh.at  is. our calling in the  mi,dst  bf  that
 world.                                                                         W,e  htiaeby  wi,sh to extend a word ,of  thanks to our
     Parents,  get  a  Ilibrary   wh,ere  your  chiadren   mny              counsellor,  Rev. H. Hoeksema,  ,and  al!1 those who helped
 learn to read%hat  which is wh&es80me.                                     us in w'oad  or deed *during  ,our  `vacancy.
     Al1 ,of  us, meet the bad literatur,e  .and  its influence                 Nay  lthe   L&d   hour   ,God  watch over us to the end that
 with the good  influ~en~ce  of good literature.                            His name may be glorified in the  -hi&ory  which we are
     B,e  not   overco,m&   ,of  evil,  b$   ov@r&ome   evil  with          making  Bs a church.
 g o o d ;                                                 M. G.                                            - -            The  Consist&y.


                                                               ,.

                                                   T$E               ST,pN'DARD                 BEARER                                             299

      :            A Problem  And A Solutioil                                    that which is God's;
                                                                                      I wish to state there  also that the writer's, remarks
 - Dtmy Mr. &-Jitor,  i :. Y-(  .'                                               in  regard   60 the  uni,o:n   n'ot  bringing much material
                                                                                 gain, being  ,oa$h-bound,  etc.,  are not  well-fou.nded.  It
           . PIlease   alloy  me some siaee  in ,our   Standaud   .Bearer        is an undeniable faot that thrlou&h  labor unions work-
  . to oomment  &I the articl:e  :of-$.  D.. v., lappeaking  unlder              ing  coeditions  .have  been greatly improved: Wages
   the  hea~dipg  "News  F,porn  Our  :Ch;rches?'  in the  i,ssue                have been broulght  to  .a 3evel  where a familly  can  live
   of         Febreary 15. .                                                     as it ought to,  anld   l<bor   coaditions,   inn  ,our  modern
           Plermi,t  me first of all to  <e&me+ that  I fti~ll~y  agree          ~sss-pro,duct.i.on  plants  hxave   be&  placed under  ,con-
   with Mr.  S. D. V. in regard to his peeling  @at  *&at be                     trol  `so that a man i,s not simply reganded  as a piece of
  writes is really not news. Busely   $herle  must be suffic- machinery but is  .again-  treated as a human being.
   ient  nlews   &hat   eoul(d  be  gathered  from our  chiurohes                T!hose   +hings  must  b,e appreciateld.        W,e  cannot ignore
  .to   fiB the space allotted to &him.  If thlat  wer,e ,dolie  the             them. Aad  it  i,s. not true that all  tinions   ,are   oath-
   ,department  would  answer  its purpose and. Mr.  S.  D:`V.                   bound  `organizatipns,   `or  that their Constitutions and
   waul,d  not have to fall  into the  &or  #of  writing on a                    By-laws are very innocent  Idocu(ments.  That they. do
  .swbj,e&  Bbout  which he levi!dehtly  has very little know-                   nlot  recognize God  as  s'overeign  is  itru.e. Let that be
"`l,edge.        T.hle   gYtea*test portion `of Ithe  artiolce   con phidh  I    emphasized.  A&ovie   all,   let's   .remain  honest and true
   am  oommentilng  was  .;devoted   Ito  a  #discussion  of the                 in  tour   &arges.        - ,
   tini&pr~obbem,  `and  the stand `of #our  bhurches  in regard                      It amused me  &so to note how Mr. S. D.  V:charge\s
   to  m'embrership  in  th,e   C.  I.-IO.   iojr  A. F.  `of L. Now  11 s80,me  with  maki:ng  the  sweepi,ng   sta$ement  that the
   vish  to make dear  :at  `oece   ithat  I am fully in agreement               ,chqrch  should also "tackle" members  )of  the  Associaa--
 with  th:e   positilon.   Gf  `our   churches   ion  th'at  question. Iti'ons  (;evi,dently  businessmen's  associati'ons  ar.e  meant.
 "  But,.  I  .object  to the manner in  which  it is presented B.V.) , then proceeds +o argtie  that the unions an.d  the
 *.  b$   S. D. V., who makes  no  distinctioa whatever  be-                     Associations cannot,  beoausje  of  ,the   ,diff,erence  in them,
  `&ween  .un+ons,  makes  unw:ar.rante.d  statemen,ts,  anid  fin-              be mentioned "in one breath", anld  finally ends up by
 ' :.ally  ,dismisses  th.e  problem  with .a pious aldmo:nition  to             stating as  hBs  convicti,on  that  lthere is in principle no
 ' accept the (discipline  ,of   th,e  church  in Jove-without ldiffevence   betw'een  them,  th,us  turning the accusation
  -`offering any  ,solutiton  to  th:e  v,ery  practical  probl'ems              of  mlaking  a sweeping statement against  himeelf  ! O n e
  <which are presented to many ~Christian.  wmorkers.                   It is    caneot  help wondering whether Mr. S. D.  *V.  re'ally
   very easy to  Idso  that  fof   th'ose  who  ldo not come into knowis his  (own  mind. This is my  positi!on  : that a
   daily contact with the power of the unchristian unions,                       Christian may be a member  ,of  an organization that
   but  it is another matter for ,on,e  like myself who m%st                     dtoes not in its ,exppessed  purposes an.d  practices violate
   constantly  rbear  that cross and  has   -a large  samily to Christian  ethi.eal  princippbes  of ,lif,e, based  ,ofi the Wopd
   suljpo&.  . M?.  E!.  D. V.`s  r,easoning  is rather mysterious.              of  CGod.    Als,o, &hat as soon as any organii:atlon,  be it
   He:  st&tes. &one  ,place  that readers may  comment that a labor union or a businessmen's` assoc<aticn,  violates
   th&   d~kcisi~on  +hat   m'embers   `of  our-ch.u&hes   `,cannot  be          those  pri&ipl,es  there is  anso'  longer any place for a
   members  .of  the  labor  union is "tough",  .beccLuse  we                    Christiaa-   ifi  it. For  &at  reasion  also I  tirn  I:nonvinced
   must live. He replies that of oourse  we must  live;  bu4                     that membership in unions affiliated with  thfe   fC.I.0.
   thlat  in ,that  way %e  lcann80t `.live  because  the wages of               and  A; F.  `of L., both of which  have  given abundant
   sin is  ,d&ath.       How bright !- .To thus- brush aside: a re-              proof th& they are unchristian isn  many of their prac-
   m(ark   coincepning   p,hysical   lise   with  a   r2i%tience   t o           tices, is not  ,compatibJe  with a Christian  Xfe.  That
   spiritual  &ath  is amusing,  but-also   yery  `oonfuging  and convicti'on  has  sustaine'd  me in  ,enduring  oppression,
   Ear from  ,enlighrtening.                                                     ridicul:e   aed  persecution   ,ovtir  a  peri'0.d   `of  yea?%,  im-
           He continues that kind  ,of   (logic  by stating  that   ev?n         posed by a  C.J:O.   .~affi:liate.  I  th:ank   Co,d  that He has
   materisally  the  uni,ons   id'on't  gain  a,nyone  much, and                 given me strength .to ien$dure  i.t.
   that, anyway we are not intere&,ed  in that because  we                         .  Butthe  practi.cal  problem is  th&&bY  no,t  yet solved.
   have  a ri,ch Father in`heaven  who ,wiB  .take  care of us !                 Some  ,day~  It,he  shop in  w;hich  I am employed may be-
   Strange  ,reasoning ! Of course we have a tich Father come ,a closed shop. T.hen  I have no  ghoitce  ,except  to
   in heav,en  who has promised tti take care  of us, but'we                     quit., My family mu& be supporte'd.                It is easy to say
   .have  also the responsibility to work for it. We canndt                      that the  Lou;d   wills  provide. I believe that  t~oo.  But
  .si,t  &ill. We ,a%  n,ot  .fatalists  ! And we are interested ,Goid uses means  a&r+                           And  it is  my  Iduty   t,o see to it
   $alslo  in materiaal  things. They may not  zbe  first -in  `our              that   I' Ido all, yvithin  my power to bold my job and, if I
   -lives,  assuredly not.  Btit,  I am interested in earning must   l,ose  it, to put  f;o$h   (every  effiort  to secure ,another.
   sufficilently  so that I  ..can  properly take care of my                     F'or   lone, Ithat  may  nsot be so hand,  although it  c,an be,
   family;  give my chilbdren  Christian instruction, contri-                    but when  the& are many more in  thhe  `same position the
   bute to Kingdom causes,  etc., thus rendering unto God                        pifoblem  becomes `just that much more hifficult.              If we


do not  fin.d  other work is Mr. S. D. V. going to take                 gram as a solution. It  is the only way as  I'see it; May
 care  `of us? Qr is. ,he   goi.ng  to point us to the church,          God  grant  that all of us may eee it, and that we may
 or perhaps to  ,other  means  `of support?  Able-;bodied               unite  ,in fighting this evil  w,hiloh  is becoming  suoh  ,`a
 men; ar&ous to work, should not be supported by the                   serio,us  thr'eatin our present day.                                                                          ~ .                             ",                   !
 church,,. `But, if the time comes that  shlops  everywhere                                                                 . .                                           Mr.  B,en. Veldkamp.
 arle  cl,osed to us, ,and  the builmding-trades  85, well,   wkhat
 axe  we going to d#o'?        M.r.  S. D. V. may answer that we                                   .'
                                                                                                                                                      .;
 are aot  that  far yet, an,d  that we-must  plase  our bur-                                                                                                       -
 dens upon the Lord, which  woul,d  be characteristic,                                                        -.     j.                  .             .     .                        `.
 but that `doesn't answer the problem. The time  is.com-
 iing  when we will bave that ,&uation,  unless we wake                                       ARE:   YOU  RESPONSIBLE                                                                                                       '                  1
 up and fight it with all our might.                                   thiat  our boys in  -service  ane not receiving reading
     Right here I must find fault with Mr.  S.  D.  V.`s               material that will edify? Sen'd  his  ,name  .and  ;address
 methzold   tof placing  al,1   umons   `on   th,e same level; and     now to Mr. R. Schaafsma,  1101 H:azea  St., S: E., Grand
 presenting it  as if  tour  church has condemned all of               Rapi,&,  Michigan, and we will mail the  Stan-dard
 them. T*h.at~is not true. It  !has  iendorsed  the   C,hristian       Bmearer  to-him. gratis.                                                                   !..     .'
 Labor  Aseociation,,  of which I am  pqud  to be a;-mem-                          .'              "  .-`.   !  `.  `T.&   B@&`of   the  RI   Jj'.'   pa  A.  "
 ber. If  wae  want to  &do  something  f,or  olur  Christian                                                                                                                                           "1,,,.   I  II,.          ?1   ST*,
 workers let's strengthen that organization.                It  has
 been. the means in the  hantd   `of God to prevent the  -                                                                                                         -
- closed shop in the  fa,etory  in which I am employed,
 that I  ~surely  believe. And it is  conti~nuously  opposing
 it, not only there but in many other  plalces as well.                                                                                                I N   MEMORIAIi
 That  -`organization  is  ialso  trying, very  beaand, to get
 -the  labor laws  *of  this country changed  so that unions                 `Whereas, it pleased our Covenant God totake unto @nself
                                                                                                                                                                  :                  .
 will  lbe  f:or&d  to recognize  `each other,  sxo  that   in.that     0~1`   br?ther:Elder                                                                                    :
 way Christian workers may get recognition as  #organ-  '                                                                                HtiRY  G.  SCHUIL                                         -
 ized  l&or in their .own  unions. What  ,ar,e  we ldoiang to
 help it in that great bsattle? Is Mr. S. D. V. a member w&o  fell' asleep in Jesus the last day of February,  1942,  the
 of it?                                                                 Consistory therefore decided to express herewith publicly its
     I am  a.s  strong in my  convi,ctions~   ooncerning.  the          heartfelt sympathy with the bereaved family.
 -C.  I. 0.  anId  A.  F..  of L. as. anyone. `I agree ,with  the            While the Consistory itself took courage and was strength-
 stand ,of [our  churches, ,all,ow  me to repeat that. And I            e;ed to continue in the work of the Lord which  our.  dpparted
 am  :not  #saying  thils.  as one sitting in ,an ,easy  chair, but     brother loved -with all the devotion of his heart and mind.
                                                                                                         ,'
 as one who has been in the very midst <of  the fight for                                .                                               `The.  Consistory of the
 seve.ral  years. This also I must say : there are. many                                                                                               Redlands  Protestant Reformed Church.
 in the SC.  I. 0. w'ho  do not want to be there.  ,They  were Redlands, California.
 forced into it. That must be figured with. Let's not,                                                               ,.
 be too hasty in  8our.  condemnation of  su1c.h   pe'ople.
 Labor with them, yes',  and make it very plain 60 them __
 $hat  they must break their  affiliatimon  with the  un-
 ohrietian   organizati'on.       But, give  such people .als.o the                                                   .,                       . .
 assurance  ;&hat  if  thley   ,ar.e   thrown   `out  of employment                                                   CLAS,SIS   E A S T
 that  then there wi.11  be provision made for them,. if ait
 -all possible in the form of  ano&er.   j'ob.  That's  .im-            lwill   m&et in- regular session. Wednesday, April 1, at
 Oportant.    Urge them also to join the C. L. A., to fight  9  "0  A*  M.2  at  Fu11er   Ave.
 for their  ri.gh$ts as Christian workers through that                                                                                                                    D:.  Jonker,   S .  C;
 :organization..   Alnd,   prfevail  upon  Chri~stian  business- . . ,                                   _
 men to form a  ,Christian   mempliopers  organization,  respec-                              i                                    ,,
 ially for the purpose `of providing work -for  th,ose  who             "                                                                 ! - N O T I C E - !   .
 become the victims of the C. I. 0.  and-A. F. of .L.
 closed  shop  poli,cy.  Su.&  an  organizati,on   could.  also A.11 Announcements and  Obitu&es  must be sent  to
 join with the C. L. A. in` fi,ghting  f,or changes in;labor            Mr. R. Sehhaafsma,  1101 Hazen  St.`,S.  E.,.Grand.Rapids,
 1egislati80n,  against the closed shop, etc.                          Michigan; and,  wi:ll  not be placed  nnless  the regular  .fee
     That, Mr. Editor, is my  oontribution  to  thispro~-              .. of $1.00 aoeompanies  the  notice..                                                                               .~                 ,,
 lem for the time being. I have tried to present  a pro-                        PLEASE ,do,not  aend  notices to the printers.


