                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      -
                                   The Standard Bearer `. _ --
       Semi-Monthly, except  Menthiy in  July. and August                                                                                                                                O.         EDITORIALS
                                                                    Published by .  A  I.,-`I,
                     The Reformed Free Publishing  Abbo&tion
                                                 1101  Hazen  Street, S. E.                                                                                                                     Restraint of Sin  and War Babies
                                         EDITOR - Rev. H. Hoeksema
 Contributing editors-Revs. J. Blankespoor, A. Cammenga,                                                                                                                                       In more than one way our present times of war
 P. De Boer, J. D.  .de Jong, H. De  WoIf,  L. Doezema,                                                                                                                                  and ,destruction  in the whole world shed an interesting
 M. Grit&r, C. Ranko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,
 A.  Petter, M.  Schipper,  3.  Vanden  Breggen, H.  Veldman,                                                                                                                            light upon those phenomena in human life which
 IL Veldman, W.  VerhiI,  L. Vermeer, P. Vis, G. Vos,                                                                                                                                    the Christian. Reformed Churches in 1924 endeavored
 and Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                                                                                                                    to interpret by their theory of common grace as dffi-
 Communications relative to contents &o&Id  be addressed                                                                                                                                 cially adopted in the "Three Points". This is  especiahy
 to REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                                                    true of the phenomenon of the apparent good which
 Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                                                       the natural.. man performs in this present world. It
 Communications relative to subscription should.. be  ad-                                                                                                                                is the Reformed view that man by nature is totally de-
 dressed' to MR. R.  SCHAAFSMA,  1101  Hasen   S&S. E.,                                                                                                                                  praved, which, according to the Heidelberg Catechism,
 Grand  Rapids,  Mich.   All Announcements and Obituaries  ._                                                                                                                            Lord's Day ..III, means nothing  ,Iess than that he is
 must be sent to the above address and will  not `be placed.
 unless the reguIar  fee of $1.00 accompanied  the notice.                                                                                                                               wholly incapable- of doing any good and inclined to all
                                              Subscription $2.50 per year ,                                                                                                              evil. And this conception is certainly based on and
                                                                                                                                                                                         completely in accord with Holy Writ. But there seem
                                                                                                                                                                                         to  be. many. phenomena in actual life that contradict
                                                                                                                                                                                         this doctrine of man's total depravity outside of the
         4
                                                                              -                                                                                                          grace of Christ. Every man does not always appear
                                                                                                                                                                                         to sin. It appears that he does many good things, not
                                                                                                                                                                                  Y      only in a physical and natural, but even in a moral
                                                                     comENTs                                                                                                             sense. ,.He does not reveal himself as a devil, as the
                                                                                                                                                                       Pam               doctrine, of total depravity might lead one to expect.
MEDITATIE  -
   DE  BELGFTE  DES GEESTES ..* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                                There- is a good deal of decency and good will among
                                                                                                                                                                                  1
              Rev.. H. Hoeksems.                                                                                                                                                         individuals and nations. The world does not appear, to
                                                                                                                                                                                         run to destruction as fast as possible. All this would
EDITORIALS  -                                                                                                                                                                            seem to contradict the teaching of Scripture and of
  RESTRAINT OF SIN AND WAR BABIES. . . . . . . . . . . .._ I . . . . . . `1.. 4                                                                                                          the Reformed  ,Confessions  with regard to the com-
   AN OPEN DOOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~...~.................
                                                                                                                                                                           5             plete corruption of  L the human nature. This apparent
              Rev.' H. Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                                         contradiction the Christian Reformed Churches have
  EXPQSITION OF THE HEILDELBERG CATECHISM:..... 6                                                                                                                                        endeavored to explain and to eliminate by the theory
              Rev;  II. Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                                        of the restraint of sin in the heart and life.of the indi-
                                                                                                                                                                                         vidual, as well as in the life of the community. Ac-
  THE.  MANNA * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . *a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9               cording to this conception there is a working of the
           Rev. G. M. Ophoff.  '                                                                                                                                                         Holy Spirit  ~ in  the life of every man, an operation
  GOD DIE OP  AARDE RIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...*.... * . . . . . . ...*.*.. * . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12                                                                     which is not regenerative and, therefore, not unto sal-
           Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                                                   vation, but by which all men are so improved that they
                                                                                                                                                                                         can  *perform  natural and civil good. This really means
  DE STATER IN  .DEN MOND VAN DEN  VISCH . . . . . . . . . . . 14.                                                                                                                       that in this world the sinner can do good works.
           Rev. W. Verhil                                                                                                                                                                      Now, in times like the present, when sin abounds
  THE PROBLEMS OF A JUST PEACE ..,.... -4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
                                                                                                              _.'                                                                        and men andnations are bent upon destrudion, there
           Rev.  A. Petter                                                                                                                                                               are many phenomena, many `actual facts which give
  OUR  MISSIGN.  AND THE TIMES  ,..............................,........  19                                                                                                             the lie  :to the entire theory of common grace, and,
                                                                                                                                                                                         particularly, to the doctrine of the restraint of sin by
           Rev. C.  Hanko   :,.,                                                                                                                                                         a gracious  -operation  of fhe Holy Spirit, and which
  CURRENT EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21 sugge&..an entirely different explanation of the  ap-
           Rev. L. Doezema                                                                                                                                                               `parent goodworks of the natural, unregenerated man.
  THE MEANING OF CHRIST'S  IN'FER=ESSION  IN                                                                                                                                             One of these phenomena is the recent increase in the
  HEAVEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . .23    birth rate in our country. Time was, when it was
          Rev. B. Hok                                                                                                                                                                    simply not in style for young married couples to get
                                                                                                                                                                                         babies during the first years of their marriage ; and
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                3.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                -.-i.,, `)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               "!i.. ;.- I.


                                     T H E   STANDAIiD   BEA.RER                                                      5

 it certainly was old fashioned to raise large families.      he refrains from practicing this sin; `and raises a
 Of course, exceptions to the rule that when people           family. He knows  not.how  to do good. For he departed
 married they  could expect children, there had always        from the living God. And apart from `Him is only
 *been. Also children are a gift of God, `and in  ol,den     death.
 times it was not up to man to determine whether or                                                     H. H.
 not children would be born to him in wedlock. And
 God did not always bless thi marriage relation with
 children. But in recent years the phenomenon of
 childless marriages became so general, that we all
 knew there was something wrong. People took it
 into their own hand to live in `the relation of matri-                         An Open Door              b
mony without giving birth to children. They  practised
the evil of birth control almost without restraint. Re-          I am writing these editorials from .Waupun,  Wis-
 cently, however, .the tables are turned. An amazing         consin,  where I am, staying with friends during the
 number of new babies are born. One cannot but be            brief period  ;that I am appointed  to labor in these
 struck by the long lists of birth announcements in          ,parts in the interest of our mission. This time Waupun
our daily papers. And no one  can fail to notice the         itself is not the `center of our activity, although it
numerous expectant young mothers, often, indeed, very        begins to appear to me that it could very well  ,be
young. It is `very evident that the sin of birth control     made a center. For many of our people that remember
is' restrained to a great extent.                            the past .the .name Waupun does not awak@pleasant
    Now, how `can this change be explained? Does. the        memories. For a little while `we had a congregation
theory of the Christian Reformed Churches apply              here, which, however, soon `revealed  .very morbid
here? That would mean  that before the war there was         tendencies of which they stubbornly refused  to, be con-
little or no ol-eration  of the ~Holy Spirit in the world    verted. They did not remain with us .very  long. And
,( I am not writing of th& people of God, of course ;        a small group of them still congregate here on  :the
a& God forbid `that it should, ever be necessary to          sabbath and try to feed themselves .with- :tbeir  `own be-
write about this evil in connection with the Church of       loved husks. But in the first place, not all-of those.
Christ  !) to restrain this evil of birth control, that      that belonged to our former church here were-spirit-
undermines the life of families an,d nations; but that       ually sick. And some of them remained loyal to our
,today this restraining influence of the Holy Spirit is      cause to the very last, and are even now attached to b
again operative in an increasing measure. On the very        the Protestant Reformed `Churches. And, secondly, a
face of it such an explanation would, already seem           number of our people have. moved to. Waupun from
absurd. Why should there be such a restraining               Michigan, and have  families.here.  For these the place
operation in one period and not in another, without          where we are working at .present  is too distant. And
any apparent reason? Besides, such an explanation            it might not prove either impossible or undesirable to
would be contrary to the theory itself, for according        work in Waupun once ,again  in the future.
to it the checking and improving power of common.                [However, as stated, we  `are.not making Waupun the
grace is not increased, but rather withheld as time          center of our labors at ,present.  That center is Ran-
goes"on;`But  even apart from this, we all know what         dolph, which is about  &&en miles distant from
is  reafiy the restraining power in this case. We            Waupun:`That the board of  .,.missions decided to labor
certainly do not have to look for such a pious cause         in, this vicinity, and that, too, while.  we have no mis;
6s the restraining influence of the `Holy Spirit, in         sionary, is due to the recommendations of Rev. C.
order to understand the present remarkable increase          Hanko  of. Oak Lawn, Ill. He had  contaot  with some of
in the birth of children. The cause is to be found in        the people in this vicinity and thought that there
the war, and, more  parti:cularly,  in the  ,draft. The      might be a'field.for us here. It seemed to him that the
sin of birth control was abandoned, and children- were       Lord had opened a door for us in  .this community.
wanted, partly, because many hoped that in  this, way        He, :too, was the first to be appointed by the mission
they would escape &he draft; and, partly, because the        board to labor in this vicinity for a few weeks. He
parents expect support from the government in case. established contact with some families in Randolph,
the husband has `to join the army, and a pension in          as well as in Friesland and  Rast Friesland ; secured a
case he should not return from the war. In other             place of meeting, preached twice on Sunday and visited
words,  i%t is not grace, it is not an operation of the      several families during the week. After his stay the
Holy Spirit that restrains the evil of birth control; but    meetings on Sunday were continued,  an,d some of our
fear and greed and selfishness. ,As is very frequently       ministers have conducted the services here. And so'..
the case, one sin restrains another. And it is' evident      ffie mission board decided to request of the Fuller AveT,'
that the wicked always sins, whether he  practises           consistory to let me labor here, Itoo, for about t&%6
birth control and refuses to have children,. or whether      weeks, a request which  .was readily granted.


  6                                         T ' H E   S T A N D A R D   B&:ARZR

           At the time, of this writing I have preached in                                                                      _  -
  Randolph twice. The services, which are ,held in the                          .
language at night, were well attended. In the  after-
  HolIand language in the afternoon, and in the English                   The. Triple Knoyvledge
  noon the audience numbered between sixty and seventy,
  and in the evening between seventy and eighty. These
  ,are not bad audiences, especially when one considers                    An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
  that they consist mostly of adults. Tonight (Sept. 17)
  I expect to deliver a lecture, for two `more Sundays, the                                   Catechism
  Lord willing, I expect to preach, while for next week                                        PART TWO
  two more lectures have  bee&advertised..   In the mean-                                OF MAN'S REDEMPTION  *
 time I have visited several families, some in  Fries-
  land, some living on the farm, and  so,n&  in Randolph.                                        Ch8pter I
  So that we may :safely say :.&at in this 1:rst week of                                      LQRD'S  DAY V           '
  my stay here, I; have become acquainted somewhat
  with this new  f@d of, labor. :.                          ,~,                                     2. .
        )However,  it is too early to express a  .definite opinion                   The Impossibility of Satisfaotion +
  on the prospects of our cause in this: community.
  Surely, it would be premature taspeak  of organising                    The second question that must be answered in this
  a congregation. In Randolph  :there  is  a' fairly large            conneation is: "Can another creature, a creature that
  Dutch Reformed church, some of whose members are                    is  `snot man, satisfy for our sin?" The Catechism
 good Reformed people; and a small  Chris$ian Reformed .answers : "God will not punish any other creature for
  Church..  There we:. have our meetings. The meetings                the sin .which man committed". This. will of God to
 were started in a kind of pavilion or community -hall,                punish only the creature that  ,sinned and no other
 which,offered  plenty of room, but had a rather  delapi-             creature is not arbitrary. God's will is always in a&
 dated  `appearance,  and was not the most desirable                  cord with His justice, and justice and righteousness
 meeting place. After a meeting with the minister and                  belong to His  :very  .Being. And God cannot deny
 two board members of the Congregational Church -in                   I$mself.  And He certainly would deny Himself if
 Randolph, however, we were able to rent their building               He, would punish another creature for man's  s&J This
 for our medings both on Sunday and during the week.                  statement. does not exclude the possibility of a .sub-
 Henceforth, therefore, we expect to have our services                stitute,  For a substitute is not another ,erBcctu~e, but
 and lectures there. Not far from Randolph are Fri;?s-                another person, and the relation of one person to
 land and East Friesland, small towns in the midst of                 another or to others may be  such,that he is permitted
 a prosperous farming community. As the names indi-                   according to justice to take the place of  &he others
 cate, there are many Holland&s of  Friesian `stock                   in judgment. But here, it is. the question of ano.th.or
 jthere  ; and,. if I am not mistaken, there are several              crea&ur+ It is a creature that has nat the same kind
 &f'.these   Friesians  that are rather sound in faith.               of nature as man. It. is different. It has not the same
 They reveal at least an interest in our cause. Even                  body, mind, will, experience, life as man. It does not
 though it is too early, therefore, to say anything de-               Iive a human life, and -it cannot die a humun death. .
 finite as to the future of our church here,..we  may state           Now, whether that creature is animal or angel,"  it
 that the Lord has opened unto us a door. There can                   could'n&ver  receive man's punishment for man's sin  in
 be no question about that. If the Lord be pleased to                 his stead. For if the justice of ,God demands that an
 give us another missionary soon, he may well start                   evil be inflicted upon the sinner which is commen-
 his labors' right here.  ,.AAnd  if we must struggle on              surate with or equivalent to the sin committed, "an
 without a missionary for some time, the labors should                eye for an eye, a, tooth for a tooth," then it is evident
 pot  be- abandoned, nor even discontinued in this com-               that only. human death, i.e. the-suffering of death in
 munity. For the Lord h&s ,given us an open door.                     and by human nature can be the proper punishment for
                                                   H. H.              the sin of a human being. Hence, God will not  ,punish
                                                                      the sin which .man committed.in  any other nature than
*,.                                                                   that of man. Besides, it must not be forgotten, that
            i                     .                                   the ultimate purpose of punishment is that the sinner
            a.,. C.                                                   must acknowledge that God is good. Sin is really
  ..( `                                                               an attempt to deny the goodness, i.e. the holiness,
 "Ged sometimes&$huts  the door and shuts us in,                      righteousness and truth of God. It is transgression
  That He may speak, perchance through grief or pain,                 of the law. It is  .the realization of the intention  Ito set
       And softly, heart to heart, above  ithe din,                   up another standard of goodness than the will of  God.
       May tell  s.qm.e.  gr@ous thought, to, us+-gain."              And God .maintains  ,Bis goodness,.. and compels.the


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            7

 sinner to acknowledge that He is the only good by in-         to it.  It is never its own. He may forfeit that life,
 flicting the punishment of death upon him, by thus            and he does, if with it he does not const,antIy'  conse-
 causing him to experience the unspeakable misery of           crate himself to God in the obedience of love. And if
 departing from and rising in rebellion against the            he forfeits it, his life is taken away from him and he
 living God. But this purpose could not be attained by        suffers death. But never can he have the right and the
 punishing another creature, a creature that exists and        power to lay it down so as to bring a sacrifice to God.
 lives outside of the scope of man's experience, `for the      He has the right to consecrate that life to God  &  life;
 sin of man. It is in the experience of human nature,         he cannot possibly make it a gift in death. One must'
 of the human body and the human soul, of the human           be more than a mere creature in order to lay down his
 mind and will, that God's holy wrath must be felt, and       life  &nd to perform the atoning  a& of death. But to
 that He must make Himself known, even in opposition          sustain, "ertragen", also expresses tlie notion of en-
 to sin, as the sole Good. Hence, :the same creature that     durance to the end. In order to satisfy the justice of
 sinned must receive the punishment for sin. For it is        God,  ape must be able to finish the aot of bearing the
`not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should     punishment against sin. :He must get through with
 take away sins. Heb.  10:4.                                  it. If he does not finish it, he mustebe  crushed under
    The third question is closely related to the second:      the burden of the wrath of God, and &here is no de-
 can a me creature substitute for.us? At first blush          liverance. In other words, he must have the authority
 it may appear as if this question had really already         so to lay down his life, that by this act he obtains the
 been answered. If man cannot satisfy for himself,            right  to take it again. And he must, `also have the
 and if another creature cannot take his place, then it       power, the ability, the capacity, so to ,lay down his
 stands to reason that there is no mere creature any-         life that through death he `will live. He must be able
 where that is able to satisfy the j&&ice of God with         to live and act even  while he is. dying, and so per-
.respect  to sin. Yet, this last question considers the       forming the act .of "death he must emerge from,  all
matter from a different viewpoint. The question now           death as the  living  one.'  And it is evident that no
 is, not whether another kind of creature is able to take     mere creature can ever emerge from death in his own
`our place, but whether a mere creature, one that is          power. He has no life in himself to overcome death.
 nothing but a creature, one that is no `more than a          It is evident, then, that no one who is not. more than
 creature, even if it were permitted to substitute for us,    a creature could ever sustain the wrath of God.
 would be able to bear our punishment and to restore             Besides, the Catechism reminds us, that a subs&e
 us to  ahe favor of God. And  to this question the           must so bear and sustain the burden of the wrath of
Heidelberg Catechism gives a double answer: (1) no            God, that he delivers others from it. And this im-
mere creature can sustain the burden of God's eternal         plies, .fmst .of all, that by the act of laying down his
wrath against sin ; and `(2) no mere creature could           life such a creature must obtain the ?-&At, according
deliver us from that wrath of God. All emphasis should        to the justice of God, to deliver many from that wrath
be placed here on the word "sustain". One could not           and  to restore them to God's favor. And how could
substitute a term like  ."suffer"  here. The German           a mere creature ever so perform the act of death?
uses the term "ertragen". The word conveys especially         Suppose there  were  a creature that had a life to offer,
two ideas: that of actively bearing any burden, .and          and that was able to offer it to God in sacrfice;  and
that of bearing such a burden to the very end. In our         suppose such a creature was in a position to offer it as
discussion of the implications of satisfaction. we            a substitute ; how could the sacrifice of that one life
stressed the fact that the wrath of God must be en-           ever serve as a substitute except for only one other life
dured as an act, in the obedience of the love of God.         similar to the life th& was offered? A mere creature
 To satisfy the justice. of  `God one must not merely         is never capable of bringing a sacrifice for  many.+
auger,  passively bear, the'punishment for sin. That is       But it implies, secondly, that after the creature has
done by ,&he  damned in hell, too. Yet they never bring sacrificed his life, he must have the power to actually
a sacrifice for sin, and they never atone for their guilt,    deliver us from death and impant new life to us. We
for the simple reason that in suffering the wrath of          are in death. We are, not like prisoners that have been
God they never perform an act of love. God  hzfticts          condemned to death and still await the execution of that
punishment, He takes payment from them, but they              sentence ; we are already in the power of death. We
never willingly give it. Now, no  ^m.ere creature can         must be delivered. We must be quickened. And one that
ever so sustain the wrath of God that he performs a           is to save us, must have the power so to deliver us
willing act of obedience in the love of God. For the          that the shackles of death are `broken and we are
punishment of sin is death, utter death, physical and         quickened unto new life. Bet to speak of the possibility
spiritual death, eternal death. In order to be active         that a mere creature, that has no life in himself, would
in death, to perform the act of death, one must have          have the power to deliver us after `he laid down his
a life that he has the power to lay down. &And that           life as a sacrifice for sin, is absurd.     .'
is not true of any creature. The creature's life is  given       The conclusion, therefore, is that  89 far as we are


Ei                                            TEE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

     concerned  &e way is closed. There is no possibility of                 is proved that there is no hope in the creature.  It
     satisfaotion;'  Our case is strictly hopeless. We can sin;              knows that with God all things are possible. ,It under-
     but we can never atone. We could. fall from a state                     stands that'it is the glory of God to reveal His power
     of righteousness by  ,wilfuIl  <`disobedience, but we can               and wisdom exactly there where- human  popirer.:   is
     never return to that state. We can  n-n&e  ourselves                    utterly inadequate. And so, it is not dismayed; ,bu:t
     worthy of God's wrath and of His just sentence of                       rises from the creature to the almighty-God. And it
     eternal damnation, but we can never ,do anything or                     is' that faith that continues the ,search  for salivation
     bring anything to God that will again make us worthy                    and asks: what sort of a mediator and deliverer must
     of His favor. We can cast ourselves into the prison of we then seek for?
     sin and death, as we *did through`the   ,fall and dis-                     *We must understand that the Catechism here does
     obedience `of our first parents in paradise; but after we               not yet speak of the real, but only of the possible medi-
     do so ,the. door is locked and we can never unlock ,it?                 ator. It intends to demonstrate in the  next,Lord's  Day
     the justice of God keeps it securely barred. And not                    the necessity of the incarnation. It would give an
     only is tkere no power or possibility in and with us                    answer  fo  `the, question of  AnseIm: Cur  De-us   home?
     to deliver: us,  but  i,n all creation there is  nd hope.               why must God become man? This answer is supplied
     Wherever we turn, there is no  .possibiilty   of,  satis-               in the first two questions of* hhe next Lord's Day. It
     faction.;-There is no way out?                      Y:L..:
                               .                                             might appear as if logically this question  shoul,d  have
                                    `,  `,                :.a.  :            been the i?rst question of .Lord's  Day VI. Yet, this is
                                                     .4..  : ?  I%V
                                                                     I ..    not the case. The':question  as it appears here, at the
      ,,       i.    `The Pbssibility  of S@sfa&n      '  .`"  ".  '         end of Lord's Day' V is a summary and conclusion.
        .,I                                                                  The'  instructor of our  Heidelberger  considers, as it
1            Where;- then; must we look,  fo; salvation? If there            were, once more the condition of the sinner with a
     is  no,hohe  in self, and if in all the universe there can-             view to `possible salvation;: It measures `carefully the
not  be- found a creature that is able `to bring s&is-                       gap caused .by the faII .of man; in order to ask the
factioti  `for siPand.  to deliver us from ;the guilt and                    question'  what kind of a deliverer would be able to
     power of sin and death, whither shall we turn? `That                    fill that gap. And it reaches the :concIusion that only
     is the next question  ..asked  by the instructor in our                 a mediator that is real and righteous man, and that
     Heidelberg Catechism: What sort of a mediatoz+  and                     is `aft the same time ivery God, would be able to fulfiil
     deliverer then must we seek for? It woukl  seem that                    all' the conditions of a deliverer from sin and death
     there -is.no  longer room for a; question such as this.                 We must look: "for one who is  very.man,,and  perfectly
     The way has been- closed: It would appear that -all                     righteous;  ,and yet more powerful than all creatures ;
     ~possibilitieshave  been considered  .&nd: thoroughly  izi;             that is, one who isalso very God".
vestigated. We must satisfy the  justice.0"  God, and we                      ~This, then, is the conclusion after careful consider-
     canilot. `Unless that justice of God  ,is fully  satisfied              ation of the condition of the sinner' in the light of God's
     we& cannot be received again into: the favor of God.                    demand for'satisfadion of' His justice, and after `in-
     We have no right to be-delivered .from ,&he power of                    vestigation of all possible  creaturely mediators and de-
     sin and death,. ng right to life, unless the justice.of                 liverers. For, as we consider our condition and mea-
     God' be first completelysatisfied  But it seems that this               sure the gap made by our fall into sin and.our  rebellion
     is.an impossible demand. The condition of satisfaction,                 against the living God, we find that we must have a
     so we have seen, we can never meet. Nor is there  an,                   mediator, one who mediates in our behalf, who takes
     other creature,  a  mere creature that can take our                     our place in judgment and makes satisfaction in our
     place in the  judgment.of God and satisfy  ia our stead                 stead, for ,we ourselves could never bring that satis-
     and in our behalf. Must we; then, not give up all hope?                 faction. He must, therefore, be a representative per-
     And is  it not absurd at this point  to,,ask the question:              son, for otherwise- he had- not the `right to substitute
     what sort of a mediatory  must -weth@n  look' for?' It-                 himself for us. `We found, too, that he must be a man,
     certainly would . be, if. the .questiun  meant that. we                 for  only in the human nature will God punish the sin
     should investigate once. more the. possibility of Sal-,                 man committed. He must be very -111811,  flesh of our
     vation  on our part. But this ' is not the intent of the                flesh, blood of our blood, living our human life, and
     question. It is not the natural man, but the believer                   entering into our human experience. He must be able
     that asks this question concerning  a. possible. mediator               to bring the sacrifice of his- life and enter  in'to all the
     and deli,verer  after `. ail creaturely possibilities have              suffering of death willingly, and make of death an
     been exhausted. It is a question of faith: And faith.-is                act of love. He'.must, -therefore, not be a sinner, but a
     an evidence of things unseen, the -substance of .things                 perfectly righteous man.  :However,  we found,: too,
     hoped for. It segards not the things thatareseen,  but                  that a mere creature is not sufficient, for he must be
     the things that are not seen. .. It clings to God as seeing             able to deliver many, and his sacrifice must have in-
     %.-he  Invisible. It is not desperate, it  does:.not  hope-             finite value. Besides, he must be -able to die and live,
     less@ give up the search  Ltfter   saIvation when it                    to lay down his life and to take it, again, and to deliver


                                      T H E   STAN.DARD  BEARE-R                                                              I  I 9
 US  from the power of death and impart eternal life to        salvation ; aiid when you discover. that there is one
 VS. He must, therefore, be more than mere creature,           and only one .possibility  of his salvation: the coming
 that .is, he must be tiery God. And so the Catechism          of the Son of God in `the flesh ; you draw the con-
 draws k,he  conclusion that our condition is such, that,      clusion that the former must  setie the latter: the fall
 if we are-to be saved, there is only one (`sort of medi-      and disobedience of man, the temptation of the devil,
 ator" that can meet all the requirements and fulfill all      and all the work of darkness must serve the purpose of
 the  con.ditions:  Immanuel, God with us, the Son of          opening the way for the .coming  of Immanuel. For,
 God in the flesh!                                             He  .is the Firstborn of every creature. And by him
    The rkasons for  &he necessity of the incarnation were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are
 with a view to our salvation  we need not.now  discuss        in earth, Visible and  intisible,  whether they be thrones,
 in detail, for the Catechism considers them in the next       or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things
 Lord's Day. But surely, the question forces  itseIf upon      were created  by him, and for him. And he, is before
 our  minis and hearts : how  must it, be explained that       all things, and  by him all things consist. And he is  the
 the condition of fallen man is such that >his salvation       head of the body, the cliurch: who is the beginning,
 rquires the incarnation of  the Son of God?  fHere            the firstborn from&he  dead ; .$hat jn all things he might
 we meet with a striking phenomenon ! The state of have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
 f@en  *man is exactly such that only a divine-human           in him should  a!1 fulness dwell. Col.  1:15-l?.  An&
 mediator can save him ! The gap w,hich he caused by           therefore,  a& we stand by the gap caused by the fall
 43s fall and disobedience is exactly of such size and         and disobedience of man,  `and discover that only
 shape cthat the incarnated Son and `He alone fits .in it! Immanuel fits into that gap to save us, we know that
 fi&w must this be explained? Surely, one cannot be so         divine wisdom so designed all things that even our
 blind as to attribute this striking .fact to mere accident    sin must serve the purpose of opening the way for the
 or  coincid,ence?  There must be a  .~plan  ..and purpose     Coming of' the Son. of God in the flesh. 0 the depth
 behind  all this. The one eust be adapted to the other.       of riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God?
,  Jyhen you see a large building erected, and you notice      how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways
 that as the walls are being built by the @&ons  large         past finding out!               !     .
 $q@ngular gaps are left therein ; and as you qontinue                                                      H .   H .
 Vqhching  the construction of that edifice you discover                                                                 t
 E;hat in those holes left in the walls window frames are                           /.
 placed tha! fit exactly in the gaps to 131. them, you do                                            ,.'           .,
 n?t conclude that it is a happy. accident .that those                       1,
windows  .exadly 121 .those holw in the'  walis, but you                            , The Manna ,
 &dw that the latter were-- intentionally built into the
 @J, in order that there might be room for the former.            Having  delivereg  the people of `Israel from their
 There is purpose, there is design in the work of the          Egyptian bondage, the , Lord led them into a region
 builders. Well, here you behold .a condition of `fallen       of -desert.&  wa+erIess  tableIands, barren  ,mountain
 n&n that requires the incarnation of the Son of God,          ceains  and valleys  yheie streams  ran dry-the Sinai
 if `man is ta be saved. Would. you concIude  that this        Peninsula. By brilnging them into this  tractless  wilder-
 is ,a mere coincidence?  Or shall we say, that the            ness,  `the Lord  too& from  them  every natural resource
 incarnation -of the Son- of God is an  afterthough&  of       and .in particular bread-such bread as is the product
 tie Most High, and that it is determined by the fall          of man's own industry. It thus seemed as though they
 and disobedience of man? Would you say that  -the             were doomed  <to perish from hunger. The  carnai
 shape  and size of the windows in the edifice of `our         Israel.  so judged. They said, "Would t`o God we `had . .
 illustration were determined by the shape and size of         died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,
 thd holes that were left in the walls by ,$e builders'?       .wh& we  sat  ,by the  fle.shp&s, "and  wheh we did  &t
 You reply, of course, that exactly the opposite is true:      bread to the full ; for ye have brought us forth in this
,the latter are determined by the former ;  "the architect     &wilderness  to kill this whole assembly with hunger".
 bgd designed exactly those particular windows for that The Lord immediately put the rioting of this unbeliei
tiifding, and the holes :were left in the walls accord-        ,fo shame. "Then the Lord said  to Moses, behold, I
 @ly. But would you, then, speak differently of the            will  .rain bread from  ,heaven for you . . . And when
 wRrk of the -Most `High? Would you say that it' is a          the d,ew that lay was gone up, behold, upon athe face
 terrible accident that man by his disobedience caused         of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as
 the gap of sin and.. death, .and  that afterwards the in-     s&all as the hoar-frost on the ground. And when the'
 &nation of the Son of  God was  desig@d to fill that          khildren  of Israel saw it, they said one to another,
 gap? You know better. H,ow;then  could God be GOD?            it is manna. For they wist not what it was. And
`Rather, whkn you examine `t'he condition of man from          Moses said unto them, "This is the bread that the Lord
 ei;ery aspect,,from  the viewpoint of the question of his     hath given you to eat!" (Ex. 16: 4, 15, 16).


                                                                                                                       . . . .
 10                                   `THE  TA'ND.ARD   R E A R E R
                 ,..
       It  is.: the  mar-ma  that forms the subject of this    ports man's natural  ,,life,  `(it does, certainly) but
 essafi   We arrange' our remarks under these two              whether this bread,  even  as  so'inspirbd,  is  %%n's true
 points: (1) The purpose of its being sent; (2) Its            life. And -the teaching .here encountered is that it is
i typical significance.  i'                                    not. Man's true life is the Lord, every outgoing of
       (1)  Tihe. purpose of its sending is set  forth by      IHis mouth, as dwelling in the true manna, which is
 `#the following language contained in one of the final        Christ. I* %+a8 with the view to preparing His Church
 sdiscourses'of  Moses: ". . . . And he fed thee witi man-     for &lie revelation  oad reception  of this truth that the
 aa, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fsaher%           Lord fed the people of Israel  with  the manna-the
 know; that ,he might make thee to know that man does          bread from heaven-during the period of their resi-
 not live by bread only, but by every word that pro-           dence in the wilderness.
 ceed&h out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live".              But why did this doing of God-His suffering the
 (Deut.13  :3), The meaning of this scripture is perceived     people to hunger and  His feeding them with the man-
 only through a thoughtful consideration of the language na-so wonderfully demonstrate to them that man lives
 here employed. There are rtwo interpretations of this         not by bread only but by every outgoing  of'the Lord's
 text. The one: Man  does not live upon  bread alone,          mouth?- Firrtly, bscausre it w.as a bread +hat the Lord
 i.e;, all by itself, solitary, but he Eves &P by the will     rained for them from haven. Thus it was .not from
 of God. Here the contrast is inspired and uninspired          below but from above. It was not brought into being
 earthly bread, such bread as man obtiins from the soil        by `tie ordinary working of God's providence i.e., it was
~ through his own  industry,so  that what, according to        the product not of  the earth-a bread that man obtain-
`this interpretation,  .the scripture under consideration      ed from the soil by his  .own labor-but of a special
 is held to teach is that.ordinary  bread cannot nourish       workhng  of God's power. It was ,one of His wonders,
 life irrespective of God's will  or,,that  he  can supp~~$    a  new  thltig,  which, in the language of' Scripture
 life without it or without any means at all. This,            `thou knewest not,  n.&her did thy fathers know".
 certainly, is very true. Ordinary bread, apart from the       It was  *therefore so  remarkAbly evident that to live by
 operation  .of the word or will of God in it,  avail8         it ~&LB tom Ifive by a bread whose appearance could be
 nothing at all. But the context shows that this is not        explained only by the fact that the Lord had spoken,
 the point to the reasoning of the sacred narrator, not        by a bread that was the  pro&& of Kis creative word,
 the truth that was meant to be demonstrated by the            and thus  an outgoing of His mouth.
 working of God with which we here have to do.                    But now it seems that there is found in the place
       So we come to the other interpretation: It is this:     where for the first time the bread of heaven was given
 Man does not live by bread on&y i.e., by the earthly,         by Jehovah So His people, a substance-the juice or
 nature, but he lives only by the word that proceed&h          gum of a sort of tamarisk tree-that resembles this
 out of the mouth of Jehovah or, as we, have it in the         bread in color and form and also bears its name. On
 original, by every outgoing of the mouth of Jehovah.          the ground of  this fad, modern rationalist have denied
 With this construction upon the text, the contrasts           the miraculous character of the manna of SoIy Writ.
 which it, presents are : common bread on the one hand         What the Israelites collected and used was,  itis said,
`and the word of God and the manna on the other. Such          merely the natural product of the region where they for
 are, assuredly, the contrasts, as is evident from this:       a season sojourned. What this reasoning shows is
 The Lord, so we read  (Deut.   7:3), suffered His people      that the natural man is utterly incapable of spiritually
 lti hunger, that is, through leading them into a tract-       apprehending the things  which  are of  the' Spirit of
 less wilderness, He  .deprived  them of ordinary bread.       God. The plain testimony of the Scriptures is. to the
In the place thereof He gave them the manna ; and by           effect  that there was a miracle performed in the
 His Wor.d as operative in it, He fed them. Thus the           matter. How were the people of Israel made to know
 truth set forth, the point to Moses' argument, is this:       that man  Iives by the outgoing of the Lord's mouth
 Man's life, his bread of life, is not that ordinary bread     if not by the produ8ion of +he manna by His wonder-
 at  al1. Such is the vain imagining of the carnally           working power, if not by this bread from heaven?
 minded; who say to bread, to the  earthl.y, Thou art          Yet it is not amiss to take the stand that this natural
 my God. Man's life is Jehovah. It is by His Word that         manna formed the natural substratum of the manna
he lives. So, to be pitted against God is certain death. from heaven, that, in bringing into being as a substitute
It is, therefore, the part of true wisdom  to keep His         for  .zommon bread; the Lord took some  nakural  Pro-
commandments to walk in His ways, and to fear Him              duction of the desert and miraculously increased and
 even though the result be that a man lose his earthly         modified it and so performed a miracle identical  to
`,bread. For, if Jehovah is man's  Iife and not  that          that which Christ performed when he availed `Him-
 earthly bread, what will it profit a man, though he           self of a few loaves of bresd and fishes to provide a
gain the whole. world, and have not God.                       hungry multitude about Him with a miraculous. sup-
       So then, the point at issue here is not whether         ply of bread.
 common bread, as uninspired by the Word of God, sup-             There is contained in. the books of Exodus and


                                     THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              8     21
 -        .                                                                                            _.     .._
 Numbers a rather detailed description of the manna.         turbed  digestion but of sick hearts.
 It is stated that it fell. upon the ground round about          (2) The manna was not the true bread, however
the camp by night with the dew; that it consisted of         a miraculous supply of food it was. Its imperfections
small whitish particles, compared to hoar-frost, cori-       are indicated by Christ. "Your fathers," said Christ
ander seed, and pearls; `ithat it melted when exposed        to the Jews, "did eat manna in the wilderness and are
 to the heat of the sun, and tasted like wafers made         dead". The reason that the fathers, despite their eat-
 with honey, or like fresh oil, that the people went         ing the manna, `died was that the manna was for the
about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat support of the body and not of  #the soul. As such, how-
it in mortar, or baked it in pans, and made cakes of ever, it was a type of Christ. .The truth of this state-
it. Num. 10 :`?-9; Ex. 16 :13-14.                            ment is born out by these very words of Christ, by
    It is easily discernable that in giving this des-        what He says of himself in connection with the manna
cription it was the' aim of `the sacred narrator to set      and of the manna in connection with the fathers.:              I
forth the virtues of the manna. It was a food most              Being a type of Christ, the manna conveys certain
pleasant to the  taste-it."tasted  like wafers made with     points of instruction about Christ, namely,,. the
honey or fresh oil". It was as pure and wholesome as         following :-                 -                   ,,-
the dew upon ,which, it, during the night, would fall            (a) As the manna, so Christ. He,is  bread. Hence,
-it `tasted like fresh oil". That it corrupted if            in His own words, "except ye eat the flesh of the son
kept beyond a day and melted when exposed to the             of man and drink his blood, ye have no life .ih you".
sun was not due to its being a light f*d lacking in          But, in distinction from the manna, He is the  tmce
substance. It was of such consistence that, like the         bread.  IHence,   whoso  eateth "His  flesh   has  etern.u&
corn of cultivated lands, it could be ground in the          life ; and Christ will raise him uy, at <the last day.
mills and did not melt when subjected to the heat of             (b)  The.  manna `was bread from heaven. Likewise
.the ovens. Fact is that its nutritional value was so        Christ in His office of mediator and as to His human
high as to be phenomenal. It formed  the sole article        nature. As such He is in the true sense "every out-
of diet during the period of Israel's sojourn in the         going" of the mouth of the triune Jehovah, the God
wilderness. By this bread alone they lived and living        and Father of Christ, the heavenly offspring of
by it enjoyed perfect health. And the abundance in           Jehovah's creative word, brought into being by His
which it was given was so immense, that there wzcs           special working, and thus peculiarly the gift of God,
bread enough for all. The manna of the' Scriptures           coming freely and directly from  `His hand. For' He
was truly a miracle of the  fu%t magnitude. Such.being       was born not by the ,will of man but of a virgin over-
its excellencies,  ,and being a bread rained from heaven     shadowed by %he power of the Highest.             I
by the Lord, thus a bread that was so plainly the  mery          (e) As the  quama  on the low earthly.  pl&q  `so,
outgoing of His mouth, it `was certainly calculated to       too, Christ on the' heavenly plane, He is the all-suf-
make known that man lives by every outgoing of the           ficient bread of His people., For in Him, in His. human
Lord's' mouth alone.                                         nature, dwells the whole fulness  of the Godhead. IHe
    Yet, though a bread. of such virtue, and though          is, therefore, the sanctification, the justification,,: the
witnessing for a truth so vital and glorious, the' people    wisdom and the redemption of  {His people. He is their
of Israel in their  carnallity  despised it. On' one oc-     life. By Him alone do they live and live everlastingly.
casion they said, "Who shall give us flesh to eat? We        He .is their sole article of diet while they sojourn in
remember the &h, which we did eat in Egypt freely;           this wilderness and forever. For He is every word of
$the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the       the mouth of His  God,-every word by which His
onions, and the garlick;  but but now our soul is dried      I;eopie  live. Every word of blessing and life dwell in
away ; there is nothing at all besides this manna before     Him and are spoken by the Father through Him, who.
our eyes," and on another, "Wherefore have  *ye-             Himself, too, is the word of God in whose face we see
Moses and Aaron-brought us up out of Egypt to die            God as He is. iHe~ being the true bread, should ,God!s
in the wilderness? `For there is no bread . . . . and        people then go to wailing for the  fleshpots  of this
our soul loatheth this light bread" (Num. 21. :5). So,       world?  Do they grow in grace by what can be brought
they were willingly ignorant of `the all-sufficiency of      up out of these pots?
the manna and thus declined to acknowledge that                 (d) The manna was plentiful. So, too, Christ,
man's true -bread is the Lord. They lusted after foods       as in Him dwelleth all the fulness of which all  IHis
that powerfully stimulate the sense organs : onions          people receive as their need requires. No one need
and leek; and after the luscious melon and the hardy         to envy his neighbor on account of anything at all,
foods, such as meat. Thus they ,waiied not for nourish-      but ail may rejoice in the goodness of  God.
ment-they had this--but for sensual gratification,' for         There are things connected  with the  giving and re-
the appeasement of their carnal lusts; It was,  idn  a       ceiving of the manna, which have use for us apart
word, for the things below that they cried. Their            from any typical reference that they may bear to the
loathing of the manna was  indicatke not  of a  dis-         things of  the  gospel,


12                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAtiER

      Every man had to gither according to his eating,
an omer for every man, according to the number of                            God Die Op. Aardc Richt,
his dependents. And he. that gathered much had
nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack.                De Heilige Schrift  zegt,  dat de drukking der melk
Undoubtedly what took place is this. Some gathered                hater  voortbrengt; en dat een broeder in de benauwd-
more than was needful for them and some less: The                 heid geboren wordt. Spr. 30  :33; 17  :17. Naar  dien
amount, if too large mirac&usIy  diminished ; if too              zeIfden  regel .wordt  deze psalm een gouden kleinood
small, it was found to have. increased. The apostle               geheeten. Dat  ziet eerst' zoo niet. We  zouden   Feel
Paul' seizes upon this to arouse the rich in the con-             erder geneigd zijn om den 23sten psalm een gouden
gregation of Corinth to share their abundance with                kleinood te noemen. In dezen psalm is de &oek en
their (needy brethren "that, there may be equality . . ."         de. donder van het  Goddelijk  geridht.'  ' Hier ruikt het
so the apostle wrote.                                             al naar sulfur. Om een gezegde van een  zeer ouden
      IIt required faith to live day by day'upon the word         vriend te gebruiken : "Men moet God  zeer  veel,  lief-
of the Lord. Unbelief reasoned that on the morrow                 hebben om in dezen  psahn een  gouden  kleinood te
the new' supply of manna. might be wanting. As if                 zien." David's  ervaring met een  goddelooze   Ivergad-
.the Lord could prove Himself unfaithful ! Some who, ering brengt het goud der waarheid en van het recht
under the constraint of  t,his doubt,  us&d only a part of        naar boven. Onderwezen,  zullen  we er van  zingen.
their portion, would discover to their dismay and                   Er is `gegist naar den tijd waarin  David,  al deze
shame that what had been hoarded had during the                   smart  e'nvoer. Het dunkt ons te slaan op. den  tijd
night bred.  <worms  and . had thus become unfit for              die  aan de  rebellie van Absolom  voorafging.   Toen
human consumption. So was it. shown &em that it                   tech was er een groote samenzweering op touw. gezet
is folly to labor to heap up treasures that cannot be             tegen God's  gezalfde.  Ook  moeten we  lniet  denken,
used.             `,         .b                                   dat `David daar niets van gezien  heeft:   Bij zag  duide-
      The manna had to be gathered early in the morning           lijk, dat de aangezichten van velen  rveranderden  tegen
because after sun-rise it would melt and vanish away.             hem,  dat men  zich meer en meer  achter  zijn  zoon
The `lesson to. be drawn from this is that what is re-            schaarde. , Bij ernstige studie kwamen we tot ,de over-
quired of .God!s.people  is that they take diligent heed to       tuiging, .dat we hier in dezen psalm dezelfde geschie-
do. His commandments and be .about  the business of               denis hooren  als in de  psalmen 55, 56 and 57. Het
their Lord with a will. Of .the prophets we Tead over             zijn  benauw,de  dagen geweest. vuor David.            1
and over that they were wont to rise early in the                    En tech-alle  dingen werken  mede ten goede vodr
morning to deliver their messages.                                albn die God liefhebben. En  Darid  had God  waar-
      There-might be no gathering of the manna on the             lijk lief. Daarom heeft hij ook  wijsheid  geleerd
Sabbath ! Neither could there be as on this day no                zelfs in de.dagen  die  aan zijn smartelijke  vlucht  vooraf
manna fell.  .kut  .on the sixth day they were commanded          gingen.
to gather twice as much and to lay  `up the surplus                  Hij  zal ons in dezen psalm  onderprijzen  van de
until the -morning. Doing so, they found that " it did            vreeselijke zonde zijner `tegenstanders  aan de eene
not `stink and neither was there any worm therein":               zijde: en van God's wrake aan de andere zijde.
(Some there were who nevertheless went forth on the                  De  vraag waarmee de psalm aanwangt  sluit in zich
Sabbath to gather, `but they found none. The lesson               ook het antwoord. "Spreekt gi j&den waarli jk gerech-
*that comes to us here is that God's people receive tigheid,  gi  j vergadering ? Oordeelt  gij billijkheden,
          .
in the.`srx  days #what is needful for them that on the           gij menschenkinderen?" Ziedaar, in slechts een twee-
Sabbath day they may be freed from the necessity of               tal vragen  de toestand  aangewezen. Er was een ver-
following their earthly pursuits in order that there              gadering,  een gemeente, een groep volk die geroepen
may be opportunity for them to avail themselves of the            waren om recht te spreken.  `Het is niet met zekerheid
spcritual refreshments with which .the Lord                       aan te wijzen waar die vergadering op  slaat. Ik  hel
                                                      provides
them on the Sabbath.                                              er sterk toe aver om hier te denken aan het hoogste
                                               G. M. 0.           wat  op aarde gevonden wordt, namelijk,. de. recht-
                                                                  bank. Ik nogmde  dat het hoogste hetwelk op aarde  be-
                                                                  s&at.   En terecht,  rechters   worden  in- Gods  Woord,
.h                                                                zelfs.   goden  genoemd.  Als de wetgevende  Ii&amen
                                                                  klaar zijn en de uifcvo&ende  machten  hun werk deden,
                                                                  is er altijd nog het laatste  appel: de rechtbank. Daar
                                                                  wordt dan alles  haarfijn. onderzocht en  als zij  ge-
               "And shall there be no cross for me                sproken hebben spreken wij niet meer. De uiting, de
                  In all this life of mine?                       eindbeslissing van Zijn EdeIachtbare  is het einde op
                Shall mine be a11 a flowery path                  a a r d e .
                  And all the thorns be' Thine?"      "              I\dbcht er echter  iemand'zijn~die  ook daar geen recht


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           17

                                                                 evade. God  apphes  His law and judges today as really
            The Problems of a  J&t Peace
  .._                                                            as He shall in the day when He brings to revelation
                                                                 what has always been His evaluation.
         The formulation of this subject suggests a book            We may here apply the challenge which God casts
which has recently appeared, written by Ex-President             down to the peopIe,of  Israel; Wtih you, . . . cease to
Hoover and the diplomat, Hugh Gibson, entitled The               do evil, learn to do we& and your sins shall be as white
Problems   of Lasting Peace. However,  it will be at             as snow . . . and ye shah eat the  good.`of  the land.
once noticed that the present formulation points more            Isaiah  1;
to the underlying question with which we must be con-                But kho is able to respond to  ,that ultimatum?
cerned ; it begins at the beginning and it rightly sug-          There is only one answer: Zion shall be. redeemed in
gests that the difficulty lies not in keeping a peace once       judgment. Isaiah  1:24-25. And thus not this world but
attained, but in ever getting a peace that is true to            a `new world shall arise in righteousness and peace.
the name.
         Now in discussing this problem we must avoid two        So&  fkbleys  of  A  Material  Nature
e.xtremes.                                                           I believe that when we try to think  i~nto these
         On the one hand is the  dazger  of a simplicistic problems,  one, that especially strikes us is that between
answer of saying, "Why, sin, that's the only problem             group solidarity and personal, individual rights in  ,&he
- s i n . " For if we give this answer we are forgettilng        many forms in which these can stand toward each
a principle similar to the one we express when we                other.
condemn  "a gospel on a thumb-nail".  `Then   .we are               aConcretely,  this will first appear in the constitution
forgetting that just as 6Iie grace.-and wisdom~of:God            of  +he body which formulates the terms of peace,
is manifoId,  so also sin is manifold and complicated,           There those hming the right to a seat $vill~. be `those
and that the corruption of the best, is the worst. Then          considered free from war guilt. Yet  how-, difficult
we fail to see how sin has corrupted the entire organ-           it will be to get a represeni+tion  that is really repre-
ism of which we are members, and in which our whole              sentative in that way will appear when we consider
life must be redeemed by grace.                                  that in some instances leaders pushed their people,
         On. the other hand- is the danger of making it `a       in other instances the people pushed, ,their  leaders.
purely intellectual `problem of economic and politieal           IHave we of the  A&d  powers not talked of aggressing
science. `For then we forget .the principle. that .is so         on Sweden to help little Finland, and of .aggre&ng
finely expressed and often quoted:  Op. den bodem                through neutral Russia, (before we knew her strength)
aller vragen ligt der wereld  zondeschuld.                       to strike Germany from the Near East  2 Yet our
         To the task of' this discussion .I set myself with a    leaders have refrained from such acts and through
mingled feeling. For firstly there is-the. consciousness         them we  wiI1 be represented as innocent. In. that  final
that in God's Word we.have  `the revelation and the wis-         settlement some of the victors w,ho dictate the terms
dom  f to understand these problems. Especially the              will  hawe become guilty of aggression in fact or in
Calvinists of the Netherlands have emphasized `that              spirit, whereas among the vanquished will be such as
all these spheres have their God-ordained laws. Thus             Fiinland and Rumania who are the victims of  form
we may speak in a sense with, confidence.                        and brutality. And then in  connection   with this  wo
         On the other hand is the immense task of formulat-      have the rights of neutrals, which through'history is
ing these laws, of .applying  them to a chaotic world,           a very fluctuating conception.  In how far must a nation
and then of submitting to them as to an easy yoke.               fighting for its life, respe&,the  aeutraIity"of  a nation
How, in a world of relations and inter-relations that            that is designedly or undesignedIy  aiding an aggressor'?
must stagger `the intellect of the greatest statesmen            We may think in this connection of the Food Blockade
and economists, can we hope to restore those relations and of 1Madagascar.
after sin has reigned there for six-thousand -years !                Another problem at the peace conference will be,
         Hence there is every reason for humility and I will     that of Indemnities. Justice we know requires full
only hope that the general thrust of my' thesis will be          measure. This is not at all in  ,conflict  with the law
in the right direction.                                          of forgiveness of the kingdom of heaven. I may, of
                                                                 course forgive my neighbor if he  steais  or wrongs
A Severe Criterktn                                               me, but. the judge who in this case would simply
         In speaking of a just peace we: must. remember that     absolve him, or compromise the case would be grossly  '
we have to do with a +ery severe criterion, w,hich  is           violating justice.
none other than the holy law of God, And although it                 The question before  the'member  of the conference
is true that it is God's law for certain specific  relations     will be that of equity and remuneration to those for
and spheres, it is nevertheless the justice of God's             whom he as plenipotentiary is called to arbitrate. The
ordinances which no convention or international Iaw              quantities there involved are immeasurable, suti as
 or temporary measures of I expediency  , or utility can         national honor violated, suffering incurred, property


       18                                     .THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

       destroyed, lives (taken, health of the populace per-
       manently affected. And this multiplied by the factor
        of relative  innocende  or guilt.                      *            But now we come to another dimension in the  pro-
              Closely connected with this is the question of new         .blem.  It is almost like going from the geometry pro-
       boundaries, which  inust consider such things as racial           blems of a plane surface to those of a solid.
       background, natural geographic bounderies, majorities                In the above I have left out of consideration as
        and minorities, minorities who were voluntarily in-              much as possible the, factor of sin. Not that I imagine
      . tegrate or forcefully annexed or even group exiles.              that even the more material part can be reviewed
              Of confused racial backgrounds we have instances           apart from sin. We: know these problems are not as
        in the Balkans. Who belongs where, according to                  complicated as seen above because they are given with
       justice?                                                         .the constitution and development of created things.
             Of geographic boundar.ies  we have the Polish Cor-          Not at all ! These problems have developed among the
       ridor, Ice-free ports for a great nation like Russia in           nations, under' the dominion of sin, and they have
       the Gulf of Finland ; the right of Italy to  have one             developed until they are beyond solution  .even  for the
       good harbor on her east coast, i.e., Fiume ; the right            best of intentions.
       of Japan to find elbow room for excessive millions.                  But now that the factor of sin is introduced by
              What in all these cases is the will of the AlMove-         name we may in general have our verdict ready.
      "  reignwho created man to multiply and develope the               Politics, so we say, is corrupt and international poli-
                                                                        tics is doubly corrupt and therefore hopeless. And yet
\1      earth, having determined the bounds of their habi-
       tation?          '                                                such a verdict is too hasty and too, one-sided. Not
             ` Of the rights of minorities, annexed and exiled           politics is corrupt but man and humanity is corrupt
       groups, we have all the glaring cases of Poland and               and wholly corrupt.' That is the seal of the hopeless-
       the.Balkan  states and peoples.                                   ness. And I believe it is the failure to see the depth
             Last1y.a  just peace  invokes,  of course, the question     and meaning of this that mars the recent book of
       of war debts.  ' Both as to the powers adjudged as                Hoover and* Gibson. IHowever  presumptuous it may
       guilty, and also to the relative burden the victorious            seem for a mere layman to criticize such a great
       powers will have to bear. In this computation, will it            authority ,and. charge it with- overlooking the .mailn
       be fair, the following will *have to be considered:               point, yet I am sure that here the christian may say
              The advantage accorded to and gained by each               "I have more wisdom than all my. teachers because I
        power.                                                          observe Thy testimonies". And I believe that states-
             The ability to bear.                                        man and historians of the future;.will  read this book
             The comparison of the investments of each.                  with the same amused, smile with which these ,men
                                                                         review the list of books which attempted to point the
         The  domparison  of value as between men and                    way in the past.
       material.                                                            Against the six forces which these men see working
              That these must all be considered appears from the         for war they place one by which they hope to counter-
        history of war  .debts since 1919. We recall the several         act them all. That is "the will to peace". However this
       attempts to, help Germany pay her indemnities, then              will to peace is a false assumption.  `A'careful  analysis
       to help thg other nations to pay and, finally, the mora-          will reveal that this will to peace is also another &de
       torium and stand still agreement after the crash.                of the destructive forces. It is peace for the sake of
              We r&all how recently, even, moulders of public            gain, of power, of advantage, of security and that
       opinion, in seekmg an added reason for good measure,              is why it has no remedial power.
       why Britian should fight her own war, suggested she                  Thus we have all the inherent problems multiplied
       had first let us arm her for the previous war, then by the dimension of willful deliberate greed, hatred,
        induced us to fight her war, and then to climax her              vengeance. Of this we could give as illustration all the
       perfidy, repudiated her debrts and called U. 43. ,Uncle          diplomatic scheming and bartering that filled  :the five
       Shylock for still mentioning them. One must not try               months required to draft the  .terms  of peace. The
       to anaIyze such oratory of leourse.  It is not meant for          history of the past peace conference tells us  .of  a
        that.                                                            Lloyd  ,George  who was retained as minister by his
              What, e.g., may Russia rightly expect, having              people upon the understanding that he would "Hang
        borne the brunt in men material and territory de-                the Raiser" at the peace  conferewe.  Clemenceau ;
       stroyed, as compared with U. S. and Brazil who pro-               ditto and worse. The Italian delegates had inflamed
        fess to have entered for the same reason as Russia,              their people to demand Trieste and Fiume so that
        namely; the defense of hearth and home?.                        they might show the  people,how  their party got things
              We could continue, citing France, China, The               done at Paris. And it is showIn that Wilson bartered
       Netherlands, whose sacrifice in men and material whose            the rights  .of small nations to buy support for his
       advantage gained and whose ability to bear all differ.            League of Nations Plan. Competent observers saw


r
                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R - E R                                                 19

       a wind being sown and predicted a whirlwind  hanvest.         buried in the past. What, so it is sometimes asked,
       Since mankind has not improved it is vain to expect           do people know about the happenings of some twenty
       these conditions to improve. ,                                years ago which gave rise to our Churches? How
                                                                     do they know where to lay the responsibility for our
       The Christians Conclusion                                     separate existence? And,. what is more, why should
           In such a world the ehristian  has a peculiar cal-        it still. interest them?
       ling. .Firstly he has no illusion that a just or lasting         But an even greater objection might be that the
       peace is possible. He bases this' sober view on the           whole world is enveloped in the most extensive and
       plain prediction of Scripture concerning wars and devastating conflict mankind Ihas ever known. Fore-
       rumors of war and on Scripture's constant characteri-         most in the minds and on. the lips of every person
       zation of the inherent direction of man and mankind. is the present war with its horrors, its sufferings,
       In the second place he will work with all his might for ,the accompanying doubts and fears, and the resultant
      * peace. He does so by a necessary urge of an inherent         economic disorder. Young men in the prime of their
       power. Picture an A. Kuyper or an H. Colyn at such ;lives are being inducted into service and sent to various
       a peace conference. Can you imagine anyone working            distant fields of action, sons and brothers and friends
       harder for a just peace? And by the same principle            are expected to leave at a moment's notice, and even
       that this is true of such men i,t is true of every chris- young husbands and fathers live in uncertainty as to
       tian. He talks peace, he seeks peace, he advocates their future. In many oases business is disrupted, labor-
       peace. He teaches his children peace and he lives in          ing* hands are hard to find, defense, work with its 24'
       the way of peace out of the power of the peace of God         hour program disturbs the routine in many homes,
      which fills his heart and mind through Christ.                 while tire ration and the. impending gasoline ration
                                                    A.  P.           threaten to reduce traveling to a minimum.                  1
                                                                        With a view to these and similar. circumstances,
                                         f
                                   *                                 would it not be better to postpone our efforts until
                                                                     a more suitable time?
                                                                        Yet the objections are hardly raised. before we
                    Our Mission and the Times                        realize that our mission work cannot suffer delay; and,
                                                                     what is more, is now even more important. than ever
                                                                                                                            1
           In times like these the question presents itself quite    before.
       readily whether the times are Gpnduciive  toward con-            The fact that we are already so far removed from
       tinuing our mission endeavors or whether it might             1924 can only mean that our responsibility grows as
       not be advisable to discontinue them, at least for the time goes on. The history that, has led rto the final
       lpresent.                                                     breach between us and the mother church, the circum-
          The more so because of the peculiar. nature of our         stances that have given rise to another distinct group
       mission work.                                                 of Reformed persuasion, and the reasons for our
          `It is true that the war has practically closed every      separate existence may never be lost  out of sight.
       foreign mission.field,  and that therefore every available       In the meantime the breach grows between us
       means could well be applied at home, but the fact is          and them, as we strive to be progressively, Reformed
       that as yet all our effort have been restricted to a          in ,the healthy sense of the word and as those churches
       home field. We have not yet reached a stage where             continue in the error of their`ways. There can be little
       we were able to send out a foreign missionary, but            .doubt but that we `are  farther  removed from  each'
       have felt it our calling as Protestant Reformed               other now than we were at the time of the separatian,
       Churches to labor first of all in the erring churches         and that  tFie line of demarcation must become in-
       which have east us out, in order to show them the error       creasingly evident as time goes on.
       of their ways.                                                   Besides, another .generation  is arising that knows
           To the churches which have departed from the              nothing of the history of some fifteen to twenty years
       truth of God's sovereign grace and fallen victim to           ago. They are  `not informed about the facts that
     . the heresies of  -4rminianism  we have directed our           brought about our separate existence and are kept in
       efforts, that they might see their error and return' ignorance about our teachings. Frequently the in-
       to the truth of the Word of God.                              formation they do receive concerning us is even gross-
        But the question might well arise whether the                ly misleading. ,They are either told that there is no
       times are not opposed to such efforts, and whether it         fundamen+al  difference between us, or that our views
       might not be better to discontinue our mission work,          are entirely contrary to  ,`Scripture  and to the Con-
       at least "for the duration".                                  fessions. And, at  ,the same time, the theory of common
          The objecltion  might be raised that we are already        grace is being  inculcated,into  their  receptive  minds,
       so far removed from 1924 that it is almost impossible         both  ,directly  and indirectly, so that they become
       to create interest in the issues. which are all but           ready victims to its errors..          ,~                              .


 20                                        TH-E,STANDARD  ~BEARER

       Our task is not merely church extension, but the writes the following : "War has reached thr mgh with
  calling to defend the truth of the Word of God and               its bloody fingers and has  `modidcd  that which we
  to  oppose all doctrines repugnant there-to, to strive for       thought and think should be immuned to all outside
  the unity of faith overagainst every dissenting heresy, forces. It has vitally affec'ted  our religiousoutlook and
  and to seek the pure manifestation of the true Church exercises. It has in many a mind raised dmbts  about
  of Jesus Christ, which is *His body, the temple of the           the obligation. to -love * our enemies, if t,hose  enemies
  living God, founded on that foundation of which be Germans, Nippon&e  or Italians. I: has challengid
  Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone.                           ua to rethink OUT  cdnception  of God. It tends to make
       These peculiar times, instead of interfering with           us national rather than universal in our religious eval-
  that form of mission work, are in many ways especially           uations. It tends to modify our ,conception  of the *Chris-
  favorable to it.                                                 :t,ian virtues of meekness lowliness, humility, resig-
       To mention but one aspect, these times certainly nation, forgiveness, and so on.~ Our whole conception
  belie the whole theory of common grace.                          of what is  Ithe proper way to manifest our Christianity.
       How anyone can maintain that God is graciously seems to undergo tremendous changes, There is a place
  inclined to all mankind and at the same *time justify for hating and killing now. Vengeance no longer seems
  our entrance into the present conflict is hardly con-            to belong to God. It is not easy to be sober minded now;
  ceivable. If God's favor rests upon Hitler and his There is obvious confusion all about us ; and we share
  compatriots, upon Mussolini and his actions, upon in that confusion. We should be above it, if our Chris-
 ,Japan in their surreptitious assault upon the American           tianity means anything at all."         ;               ~.
* possessions,  [can we afford to be less gracious than:              Note particularly the statement which I under-
  God? How can. war ever be justified on the basis of              scored above.
  common grace? Should we arise in hostility against                  Theponly.possible  solution to all'the problems of our
  a nation and snuff out the lives of those w*hom  God             day lies in the fact that God's curse rests upon this
  favors in His grace? And yet there is no doubt but               world and that He is visiting it with His judgments
  that the defenders of common grace also justify                  as never before.
 America's eni%&e into .this war.
       Bowever,  if .human ingenuity and inventions are               The measure of iniquity is;rapidlp  being filled as
 the fruit of common grace, it must also be conceded               the world makes itself ripe for the final judgment to
 that the axis powers have been richly endowed with                come. Whatever the  outcome.pf this war  mayI be,
 khis grace during the -past decade,  Hi&r% whole things  are  ,developing  with such  irmre&ing. rapidity.
 war  machine  which is spewing forth destruction of               that we are literally being swept along toward the last
lives and property from day to day and .his military               days of the an&Christian power.
 strategy w,hich has beaten down nation upon ,nation are              Wars and rumors of wars are, in the meantime,
 the products of such human skill and ingenuity as the             but the beginning of sorrows. Well .may we. hee.d  the
 world has never seen.         Every field of science  I and       words of Jesus, that we `be not troubled, for. all these
 industry is being called into  action  to `muster enough          things must come to pass, but the end is not yet".
  forces to meet  -and counteract these powers. But if             These things are only the beginning. They da include
 these things are the fruit of common grace, the results           the principle of sorrow, the filling up of the measure
 today  p r o v e   h i g h l y   u n s a t i s f a c t o r y .    of sin and the outpouring of the judgments of God,
       More weighty even than that is the question how             but many more things must come to pass before our
 anyone in times like these can still maintain and                 final deliverance is reached. . .
 teach .a restraint of sin through rt;he operation. of the            We are living in particularly serious times. Times
  Holy Spirit in the hearts of the wicked. In times                in which the Church must especially  watch) in prayer,
 when even the world speaks of  uniwersal  peace and               walk ,circumspectly,  properly evaluating. and buying
 brotherhood and exercises the friendly, neighbor policy           out the time, since the days are evil. Now; if ever,
 toward one another it may prove simple enough to al-              we are called to maintain and .ltie our spiritual iso-
  low" ourselves to be deceived into thinking that the lation: What fellowship bath righteousness' with `un:
 human heart is not so bad after all. But these dreams             righteousness, and what communion hath light' with
 are suddenly blasted when the hearts and secret darkness? What concord bath Christ with Belial; or
 thoughts of men are revealed. Enmity against God,                 what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
 greed for power, burning hatred aml bitter animosity              Wherefore come out from among them, and be; ye
 turn this world into a seething cauldron ,>f destruction.         separate, saith the Lord, and. touch not the unclean
       Is  Pt possible that the leaders in the Christian Re-       thing, and I will receive you.          '                     >'
 formed Church are beginning to realize their error?                  For the sake of the Church of' Jesus Christ in the
  One might be inclined to hope so, judging from an                midst' of the world as a chosen and peculiar people,
  article appearing in the September  4. issue of The              we must strive for the  unity,*of faith  whiqh  has'. its
 Banner, written by Prof.  II.  S'chultze,  in which he            one and only. foundation in the Word of God.


 I                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            2l

      our missionary efforts cannot suffer. delay; but Labor
 must continue with even added zeal, also in these times.
                                             C .   H .            Along with the promised control of farm prices
                                                               and wages we are experiencing, already in  a  measure
                                                               with a promise of complete control,  eonstiption  of
                                                               labor. With  ,the conscription of labor it is promised
                                                               that all athe man power of the country will be controlled
                  Current Events  :                            by the `government. That means that the government
                                                               can establish an American's pay by decree or executive
                                                               order, and freeze or chain him to his job. Westbrook
                                                               Pegler.in commenting on this situation, wrote that
      We refer' with  this  heading to  t'wo reports of        the general impression was gotten from the President's
 missionaries who have recently `returned from the             speech to Congress that collective bargaining' has
 Orient. These. two `reports are found in The Banner           changed, a  great deal from what it was in peace times:
 alld in the Presbyterian Guardian  respectiwely.  In          We can see how that this has taken place from the
 the Banner of September 11, Rev. S. A. Dykstra writes         control of the-working man's wage and rights on the
the  first  article about their return from Jukao, China,      one hand, and the control of the profits by taxation
which belongs to that part of China now occupied by            aad regulation on the other. This is indeed a' change
the Japanese. He speaks of the "Crises in China",              in our American  way  of. living. But this columnist
 and about this last crisis he writes, "Our third return       raises another question  wi,th  respect to this significant
 marks the greatest crisis in mission history. We were         impending legislation which shall change the relation
 ,&own  the  door- More than 1,500 Americans were              of employee and employer. He raises the question
exchanged for the same number of Japanese." From               about +he future of unions. He wrote, "O,ne very im-
 this first hand report ,y~~~can .realize the implications     pontant  issue must be met soon. That is &he question
 of the present  conflict.   in  ;the Orient for missionary    whether citizens who are compelled to work or fight
 activity  among that part of the Yellow race. Another         or  to go hungry, shall be forced to join unions. Unions
 f&+hand report is  I  6ven by Rev. Bruce  F. Hunt,            would seem to have lost their reason for being,"their
Gnthodox  Presbyterian missionary-to  ,Manchukuo.  `He. role as bargaining agents, under a system of  .tied
writes in' his letter from the M. S. Gripsholm, August         wages and compulsion, but of course they will be kept
 7, published in the Presbyterian Guardian of Septem- going, anyway, as  ,a sort of front to balance the repre-
 ber 10, the fdOting, ::Cver one-third, and almost one-        sentatives of industry in consultations on pay, hours,
,' half of. the passengers on board are missionaries.  No      rate of production and so forth. But  as bargaining
 `protestant  missionaries have been left in Korea of any      agents, they can only plead, not demand, and under
 &nOmhatiOn  Or  country.   In Manchuria  only pro-            worker compulsion, their sacred right to strike, would
&&ant missionaries of non-allied nations,  Norway,             seem to be gone. Why, then, should anyone be com-
 Denmark, and Hungary, possibly Finland, have been pelled to join a union? And why should anyone volun-
 allowed  to remain. All American and British Fro-             tarily join a union, unless in the determination tha&
 t;esbnb are out even though some of them, including           when peace comes the united workers will insist on
 myself, when asked our preference, had said  #they            the revival of free competition in industry which' is
wished to stay. In <China the wishes of `the individual        the only system which provides freedom from govern-
 were respected in some instances but in other cipses          ment control for the worker?"
those who expressed a preference to stay are, being               This question indicates that important changes are
sent  out. An exception was made for American Catho-           going to take place which will require another or a
lics in Manchuria ; about half of them are staying             new emphasis of our Christian principles. Our Chris-
 and half of them are with us on the boat. In Korea            tian principles will never change but their  applicatian
 all the American and British Catholics are  leaving,          to unions may have to be changed. It depends on the
 ;;by  order of the bishop", but it is a question whether      interpretation and action of the government. .If the
 the Korean bishop dared do otherwise without  having          government makes  of'the unions an instrument in its
 trouble."'                                                    own hands to recruit and regulate the relation of the
      One part of this letter of Rev. Hunt shows a             laborer toThis  government then they no longer shall
 l;eautiful  Christian missionary spirit. He writes, `(We      faI1 under the condemnation they now do from our
 are daily praying tthat when we come-to you- we will ,Christian principles, but they become officials of the
 come to you in the fullness of the blessing of Christ,        government itself; If, however, they remain ingepen-
 ad we are praying for God's guidance as to what His           dent with their own creed, but subje-t  to all the reg-
 will for us is .in wartime America. You have had to           ulations of the governmen&  and then also an organi-
 face  a lot of thimand think through a lo:t of issues         zation which shall become obligatory to join, the same
 that we have not yet hadto come. up against."                 criticism  will apply then as it does now.


 2 2                                  T H E   STAN.DA,RD   B E A R E R

The War and Education                                         always been broken. up. Christian as well as  non-
    It is pointed out to us by leading educators that         Christian homes have been touched by death,  ejven in
rthe schools are directly affected by our war program.        "normal times". Divorce has  preceeded  this war in
Not only are the schools of higher education affected         the breaking up of the American home. So to many
but all the schools.' The colleges and universities had       Americans it may not seem so dreadful &at such is
to shorten the time of education. This shortening of          going to take  place. Dreadful it is. Departures of
the time required for education does not necessarily          the sons has been a beginning of sorrow. Departure
m&i a poorer education. It is admitted that now it            of husbands and fathers is another step in that load
cari be seen that Hutchins of the University of Chicago       of sorrow. But all this is only the "beginning of
was right when he accused our educational systems of          sorrow". Other lands have certainly. :experienced  in a
wasting time. Instead of having a college  abd  uni- more dreadful degree the chaos and the ravages  o!f war.
versity,training  take eight years he advocated six and          It may seem that our Christianlhomes  will be dis-
seven years. This is now being done.  The subject             rupted. We may think, what will become of the
                                                              Christian instruction and leadership that is  .dependent
matter has also received a different emphasis. In the
high schools and in colleges the emphasis is upon upon  fathers.  Knowing  f&art  God's ways are not our
physics and mathematics `instead of the social sciences,      ways, we feel  assured  that nothing can disrupt the
which formerly received the emphasis.  Now..,it is Christian home established by God to bring. forth His
                                                              elect,. or to be guardians of `His elect. When'the evil
reaiized  what a bad technical training was given `when
the army and navy require the best technicians.               day draws nigh the Christian mothers shall be strong
   Especially in possible `danger areas the educational       in the Lord to guide, their children in the fear of the
system must take into consideration the horrors of Lord. Their fervent prayers shall be answered. Now
war. Conditions caused by an air ram must be con-             fathers and mothers  have  time yet to strengthen
                                                              themselves by the grace  af God in their common faith
sidered. First aid has to be taught for accidents.            in the eternal and unchangeable God who is their
Preparation has to be made now for the. shock which           Father in Jesus Christ. This is not particularly a time
war brings to the children and the weak in `an air raid.      of grace. T,h.is is a time to work while it is day. All
    For those who are soon to be selected from  the           time is a time of grace for the Christians. Separated
schools to enter combat *the proper morale has to be ,husbands  and wives, fathers and mothers, shall enjoy
kept up, it is ,warned.                                       the dreadful times too as a time of grace for them.
 That these things must necessarily be taken into             That is especially the blessed truth they must have
consideration we readily realize. Particularly ought          straight and firm in their minds. In that they will be
it to be emphasized in our Christian schools and in           sustained. We must be khankful to God for preparing
our  Ghristian  homes the spiritual preparation we and        us so `long ago, by giving us parents and leaders who
the children need, to prepare us for the events that          have sacrificed much to have us learn the doctrine of
shall shortly take place. The battle is really a spiritual    eternal and sovereign grace.
battle. The  crhildren  must be taught to expect the                                                L .   D .
events that are pictured to us in the Bible. They
must be taught why these things must come to pass.
What can we expect of the morale and the spiritual
condition, of covenant children and  *young  people who
must inevitably face a more horrible *condition than
there ever happened in history if the educators are
always praying for peace wlhen  there is no peace and                                NOTICE
always speaking of God's grace in the way of dollars
and cents and peace and prosperity? May we pray
for grace to teach covenant people and covenant chil-            The Theological School Committee will hold a
dren to pray with us for grace to expect and to pray          special meeting on Tuesday evening, October 6, in the
for the coming of the Kingdom"of  <heaven  in the way         classruom~~of  the First Prot. Ref. Church of Grand
God reveals it must come. For as we ask for this grace        Rapids, for those young men who have definite in-
of faith and courage we all shall be equiped with that        tentions of entering our Theological School within the
invulnerable armor, according to the promise of God.          next few years and must obtain deferment from mili-
                                                              tary service in order to complete their pre-theological
Mnm'ed  Men and the Draft                                     studies. Such young men are requested to appear at
    Some men with dependents have already been                this meeting with a recommendation from their con-
drafted. The prediction is that in a very short time we       sistory and a statement of  heal,th  from a reputed
must expect to see married men with wives. and                physician.
children drafted for military purposes. Homes have                          #'                      C. Hanko, Sec.


                              ,.cn    T H E   iSTANDARD   B E A R E R                                                 23

    The Meaning  of Christ's Intercess'ioq'. wait if there will be some who will *accept His meant
                                                               of&r of salvation ; but in heaven  !He is actively en-
                 * In Heaven                                   gaged in the work of redemption. By His Spirit Be
                                                               regenerates, He calls, He justifies, He sanctifies, and
     There is great need in our day of emphasizing the He glorifies, and He does this by constantly interceding
 absolute necessity of Christ's intercession for  `His
)1* people in heaven. Many cthere are who would present        for all those given Him by the Father.
 .rt as *though Christ's work as Mediator was finished            To  interiede,  in the Scriptures, is to approach a
 when by .His suffering and death He merited a mere person for another. This is beautifully expressed in
 possibility of saivation  for all men, and on His work        1  John 2:l "And if any man sin, we have an advocate
 being finished it is up to man whether or not he is with the Father, Jesus Christ  the righteous". The
 wihing to accept this salvation which is freely offered       relation of Christ to His people is here pictured from
 unto him in the preaching of the gospel. They do not a jddicml  point of view as ,that of an advocate to his
 emphasize or entirely ignore  `the fact that Christ's client. The word advocate, even as the original Greek
 intercession in  .heaven for those given Him by the           word. pamkbtos,  literally means called to one's side,
 Father is just as an  ,essential  part of' His work as        one  who  pleads another's cause before a judge, a
 Mediator as IHis suffering and death. The one is the          pleader,,and  therefore an advocate. We still have this
 compIement  of the other. Christ's atonement and in- original idea expressed in the `Holland word  udtiocnat.
 tercession in heaven are as insepararbly connected as Thus when the apostle says, *`we have an  advo&te
 creation and providence. The one cannot exist with-           with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous", he pre-
 out the other. But even as Deism separates' the work sents Christ as appearing before God for us in order
 of Divine providence from creation, so the Pelagians to plead our cause: It is not necessary for us to be
 and Armenians separate Christ's intercession from His personally present, for our advocate takes our place.
 atonement. They deny that Christ is our Mediator unto         He pleads our, cause.
 the very end, that  ,we receive all the blessings of grace       To thus be our advocate Christ is particularly
 only through Him, and that He bestaws these blessings qualified. An advocate must. have  certain definite  quali-
 only upon those given Him by the Father. They do not          facations.  In the first place he must have a right to
 understand that without  t%e work of Christ's inter- appear in court. IHe must be admitted to the bar. Be-
 cession in heaven, His suffering and .death  upon the         cause of sib: we have no right to enter the courts of our
 cross would have been in vain. For of what value were         God and appear before Him. This right we have for-
 `the atonement without the gifts of regeneration, ef- ever forfeited. God has righteously east us out of His
 fectual calling, justification, sanctification, preserva- holy  presence,  for no sinner can stand in His hoty
 tion and  fin&l glorification? These are all fruits of presence. We lie in the midst of death, born and con-
 Christ's prayer in heaven for us, "Father I will that         ceived in sin. We are in a state of  hopeIess  condem,
 they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where nation. Our sins are more than we can count. `We lie
 I am". John I7:24.                                            in the midst of death, born  *and conceived in sin. We
    The work of our  Mediator,  therefore, does not only are in a state of hopeless condemnation. Cur sins are
 consist in His atonement upon the cross, whereby He more than we can count. We cannot deny them. We
 made salvation possible, but also in His intercession cannot atone even for one of them.                 Hence God's
 for us at the right hand of God whereby He actually justice and our sins makes our condemnation inevitabIe.
 accomplishes the salvation of call those given Him by We therefore need an advocate who has a right to  ap
 the Father, regenerating,  c.aUing,  and sanctifying them pear before God for us, and who is qualified to plead
 by His grace and spirit. Therefore He is a complete our cause at His tribunal. No one can do this for him-
 and perfect Saviour.  ,His work was not finished with self. No man can do it for his fellow-man. No crea-
 His suffering and death, `but He continues His  Media-        ture can do it for his fellow-creature. There is  onIy
 (torial work in heaven by interceding for all those given one qualified for this office, Jesus Christ the righteous.
 him by the Father,  and applying unto them  `all the          He alone is entitled to appear before God for us. He
 blessings of salvation.                                       alone has the right of entry to the tribunal of God as
    Even as the' High priest in the Old Dispensation the representative of His people.
 nnfered  behind the veil on the great day of atonement,          An advocate must aIso have knowledge of the law
 bearing upon his breast the names of the twelve tribes and the demands of justice, as .well as a complete know-
 of Israel, in order to sprinkle the blood upon the mercy      ledge of his client's case if he is to successfully plead
 seat, even so Christ Jesus, as our High priest, enters        his cause. Christ as our advocate before the Father
 into the heavenly sanctuary to present His perfect had these qualifications, for as the Son of God He
 sacrifice unto God as a propitiation for our sins and         knows perfectly the demands of God's justice, and-as
 maketh intercession for us. Hence Christ did not enter        the Son of Man, clothed in our human nature and- in all
 heaven merely to receive glory for `Himself and to            things tempted like as we, he has a complete knowledge


24         .(                            T H E   Sr!AN.DA%?   BE~Al$BB                         .,.:              .j
        "A        -                                                                      `.
of our misery. ( "For .we have not an high'priest-which         .+eti~  to WC&X &tercessiolt  fob them:`: E&b. P :25..m And
cannot be: touched with .the feeling of':our infirmities ; " ,Bomans  ' 8 i34 `,"Who ' is he' that; colidemiieth?  ,"+It-%s
but was, in all. points tempted. like,as  we x&e;:  y&.w$h;      Christ that died, yea;`~*ath~r,:tkiat.is  risen again; who is
out-min.?fEebrews  4 :15;                                 A,     even& the right hand of God, ,,~?~.dts~`rnaket~~~ntgr-  j
       An+:  finalIs if an.  advucate is. to'  plesd a client's  &e&on  for us". II John 2 :1 %I$. Iittle children;  `these j
cause.  succ&sfulIy .he. must have a. s&i&ent~.pl&  to ,: .things write I unto. YOU, `that we sin not. And"if .a.ny  ' ~
offerin his behalf. Christ has such a plearin his &wn man ,sin,m we have `an adv,ocate  with,.t'he  `Father,. Jesus".
                                                                 chr&t  s,  ~jgh$e&.%  ,'  (  `/r'.`,                  _                         ,,,
rerfeei righteousness. , He has done all that just& and.
holiness requires: for our complete  pa&c&   and:  accept:
ante. The piea, which, 14% is thus enabled to..present
ig. .a. s*ient *one, , His  intercessions  ist based -upon
.r$ghteousness  and justice.. Hence  GhrisVs  intercession
8oes not,have the character of a pleading, in the usual
sense  of the word, but of a righteous and, just demand.                 iI met. God in the morning
1% is not the asking of grace. for a penitent, .even  as .an                When the day was at- its best                         '                     I
advocate pleading for clemency for his client, but an                    And His presence'  ame  Iike glory
authoritative demand on ,,the basis of. justice. Even                       Of #the sunrise in my breast.
though His people fie in the midst of sin and death, and
are worthy of eternal condemnation, He has merited                       All day long the Presence lingered,
for them. regeneration, faith, justification, sanctifica-                   AlI day.long He stayed with me,
tion, and a full. redemption. Therefore upon.  the. basis                And  wesailed.  in perfect calmness  _
of Bis perfect obedience and sacrifice upon the cross                      O'er a very  troubled  sea.
He appears b&ore  the Father witkthe-demand  "Fa.%ker'
I wiU that they ako,  whom thou hast given me;be with                    Other ships we&.-blown  and;~ba~e&&  ,  '                          !
me where. I am". John X'R24.  That is also the reason                       Other  shis  .w& sore  distres+&  ,I
why  `Christ  never intercedes in vain.  Xis prayer  ia al-              But the winds tha++ee&d to;drive t`hem;
ways answered It must-be answered. It-cannot  right-                      c Brought to  us1a peace  and, rest.  `,
eous!y be. disregarded. This demand is not only effec-                                                      L
tual for some, but ,for alI in whose behalf it ia urged,             Then I. thought of other mornings,
for all those given Him'by the Father. And $his inter-                      With a  keen  remorse of mind.
cess&y  prayer is always answered; not in the first place                When I too, had !ocsed the moo+ngs
because-of the mercy of `God, but because of Christ's                       When the Presen&e left behind.
perfect sacrifice; Indeed the mercies of God are `the
ultimate source of aI1 the spiritual blessings of salva-
tion, but these mercies only cume upon us &the. way
of justice. "Zion is redeemed through righteousness."
       The purpose of an advocate is not only to obtain
for his client the verdict of not guilty in order  ti, save              0 God of the impossible!
him from'the inflliction  of the penalty with which he                      Since  a11 things are to Thee                   I          :
is"  theeatened,  but  also to assure  for  him the quiet                But soil in which  Qmnipotence
enjoyment of his inheritance or property. Thus Christ                       Can work almightily,
as our advocate not only secures for us the verdict of
not guiIty, our compIete  justification before the bar `of               The  `very storms that beat upon
Gods justice, but  also secures for us the enjoyment of                     Our little barque so frail,'
.a11 the blessings `of grace which he has merited .for us.               But manifest thy power. to quell
He not  only delivers us from the  `guilt'of  sin, but  ak%o                All forces that assail.                                                     .
from the power of sin and of the deviI`, and by His Holy
Spirit regenerates our hearts,  calls us out of darkness                 The things that are to us too hard,
into H~slight,  leads us into all truth, and preserves us                   `The foes that are too strong,
unto eternal salvation and blessedness.                                  Are. just. the very ones that may
       This most comforting truth is a pilIar  of strength                 "`*Awake  a triumph song.
for God's children in the midst of doubts and tempta-
tions. Thus this truth is ever presented to us in Holy                    0 God of the impossible,
Writ. He, Christ Jesus,  "`bath an unchangeable priest-                     When we no hope can see,
hood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the                       Grant us the faith that still believes -
uttermost'that  come unto God by Him, st+xirtg  He cptier                   ALL possible to Thee !


VOLUM'ti XIX                                         OCTOBER 15, 1942                                   NUMBER  ;
                                 _       __,    _            deliver the dreadful message which he brings? . . .
       MEDITATION                                               But all your inquiries are v&n!
                                                             "Elijah appears without introduction, he presents
                                                             himself to lthe king of Israel for just a brief moment,
                                                             delivers his brief message in staccato notes and
             Standing Before God                             disappears !
                                                                One flash, one mighty clap of thunder, then a11 is
            And Elijah the Tishbite,  ,who  was of the onCe more profoundly, distressingly, oppressively still.
          inhabitants  of  G&ad,  said unto Ahab, As            You are disappointed, and continue to inquire?
          the Lord God of Israel  .liveth,  before  whom        Beware, lest your inquiries lead you in the wrong
          I stand, there  shall not be dew  nor  rain        direction, and your curiosity become the cause of your
          these years, but  according  to my word.           failure to hear the Word of  `God that comes to you
                                       I Kings 1 Y.-l        through this amazing appearance ! Beware lest your
   Amazing apearance  !                                      investigation result in your collecting so many facts
   Elijah  the Tishbite . . . said unto Ahab. . . .          about the man Elijah that because of these you are
   Perhaps, you  mare  inclined to criticize  ,the writer incapable of seeing the Elijah of the Scriptures !
of this history ? You remark that here he introduces            Do you not remember that the Jews of Jesus'
a character  `to his readers, and speaks of him as if *ime, the scribes and `Pharisees,  ,knew all about
all his readers should be thoroughly acquainted  with Him, and occasionally made use of that knowledge
him, while fact is that in his entire  ,narrative  he to soothe their own conscience, and quiet the fears of
never even mentioned him before? . . .               `i      their unbelieving hearts, and to find an excuse and
   Perfectly true: like a brilliant and wholly unex- justification for their rejection of  Nim and their
pected flash of lightning in a pitch black night Elijah opposition to Him? "And they said, Is not this Jesus,
appears here on *the stage of the history of God's king- the son of Joseph, whose father and mo:her  we know?"
dom. ..4nd, too, you are expected to know him, to re- dohn 6:42. And they made the reasonable deduction
cognize him at once: And Elijah the Tishbite said that He could not possibly be the "bread of life that
unto Ahab! . . .                                             came down from heaven". And so did his own country-
   Yet, you never heard of him before. This is posi- men know Him: "Is not this the carpenter's son?
tively tihe first time you meet him. You do not know Is  no& his mother called Mary? and his brethren,
,whence  he is, for even the congnomen  "Tishbite" does James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his
not supply you with any certain information about sisters are they not all with us," And they concluded
thits man. And you would  Iike to inquire, perhaps, that His'words of wisdom could not possibly be true
into his past. Where did this man come from? Was and genuine, and certainly could not be accepted . . .
he a Gileadite? Even this does ndt seem sure at all,            And they were offended in Him! Matt. 13 : 56-56.
for the statement that he was of the inhabitants of             Bew,are, lest in Elijah, too, you be offended!
Gilead may  ,denote  nothing more than that he dwelled          Men like him need no introduction. You need not
in that wild country for s&e time, was a stranger, know the details of their natural life. Fact is, they
an immigrant in that  Trans-Jordanic  region. Who are better omitted, in order  thal he may boldly stand
are his parents? Where was he born? Did he have              forth as the Elijah of revelation, the man that sta=deth
an education.? Does he bring credentia!s  that authorize before God.
him to intrude into the palace of the king, and to              And Elijah the Tishbite said. . . .


26                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                                         i
      Hear him!                                              the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that
                                                             were before him." I Kings  1625. And now Ahab
      Elijah : my God is Jehovah !                           reigned, the seventh from the beginning of the ,king-.
      Elijah:  ithe' prophet that  stand&h  before God!      dom. And again we read of him: "And Ahab the son
      Elijah: the ambassador, who before the wicked          of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all
king of Israel swears by the living ,God, and announces      that were before him". I Kings 16 :30. He even sur-
that He is Israel's (God !                                   passed his wicked father  in iniquity. To Jezebel, the
      Mighty figure is he, not,  mdeed,  if you inquire wicked heathen princess, he had joined himself in wed-
about his  urigin and character and the facts of his         lock. She was the daughter of Ethbaal,  king of Tyre
life, for then you will discover a man of like passions and  Sidon,  who had killed his brother and usurped the
as yourself: but when you contemplate him as he              throne. It was through Jezebel that the  *worship  of
here appears, without introduction : a representative Baa1 was introduced into the kingdom of Israel. Baa1
of the Most High, declaring war to the end upon was the chief god of the Phoenicians, the Canaanites,
Ithe powers of darkness !                                    and all &he ,Western  Asiatics, related, perhaps, to Be1
      For such is Elijah: a light in darkness. And his       of the Babylonians. His name means Lord and he
voice is like  :the angry roar of the lion, like deep, was worshipped as the cause and sustainer of all
mighty thunder. . . .                                        physical life, and of all the reproductive and generative
      Because he speaks for  {God in times of apoatacy powers in nature. To him Ahab, at <the instigation of
and great  wickednss.                                        his wicked wife, who was a much stronger character
      Dark, indeed, it *was in the land that was Elijah's than the king, built a temple and made an altar in
field of labor. He labored among an apostate people. Samaria.   Baa1 was worshipped by the  (royal  family,
For the ten ;tribes, we recall, had revolted from  Ju8dah, and the people soon found  2t expedient to follow suit.
and from  ;the house of David, after the death of A swarm of priests and prophets of Baa1 were intro-
Solomon ; and they had established a separate king- duced into the land, and occupied places of honor and
dom under Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin. And              importance.
whatever may have been the occasion of this revolu-              And the prophets of Jehovah were persecuted and
tion, and whatever one may judge of the reason they killed !
offered for their insurrection, certain it is, that their        `The apostacy was  compIete   !
breaking away from the house of David was a sehis-               0, to be  sure,  there were even then still seven
mati;c  act, disapproved by Jehovah. For  in  the loins      thousand that had not bowed the knee to Baal, but
of Judah was "the Lion of Judah's tribe", and with they were hid, and did not dare to show themselves
the house of David God established His everlasting openly.
covenant; and ,to break away from them was to sepa-              The antichristian powers of darkness prevailed !
rate themselves from God's covenant. And though                  The powers of evil were dominant among Israel.
outwardly the kingdom of the ten  ltribes was more They occupied all the pos$tions  of power and influence :
prosperous, often than that of Judah, and though             `on the throne, in the schools, in the places of worship.
numerically they were  <the more powerful, yet they And  ithe cause of God's covenant appeared completely
represented the schismatic church.                           lost !
      And soon they began to reap  stlhe fruit of their          And in that darkness, suddenly, unexpectedly, no
apostacy.                                                    one knows whence, appeared Elijah !
      They became separated, too, through the sin of             He stands before God!
Jeroboam who made Israel to sin, from temple and                 His name is Elijah : my God is Jehovah !
altar and priesthood, and worshipped the golden calves           iHe swears by the Iiving  God, the God of IsraeI!
their wicked king had made for them. And from that               He invades the  very  camp of the enemy, and there
time  Ithere `was  a  continual and  srapid descent into the dclares  war !
pit of corruption and  .destruction.  In his wrath God           Mighty man of God!
gave them wicked kings  ato rule over them. All walked
in the sins of Jeroboam. And the people followed their           Standing before God !
kings in the way of apostacy and iniquity.                       That phrase expresses the characteristic position
      And just now, at the time of the first appearance of Elijah.
of Elijah, the man of God, the darkness was thickest!            Therein, in that position, lies his great signifi-
      About sixty years of history the kingdom of Israel cance as a man of God.
had passed through, a history of increasing wicked-              And it, too, explains to us the secret of his power.
ness. Six kings had reigned over them, all walking               It is expressed in his name. He is Elijah the
in the sins of Jeroboam. But the sixth had been worse Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead. This
than all his (predecessors, for "Omri wrought `evil in       probably means that he was born in Tishbe, but that


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             27

he had migrated to  trans-Jordanic  Gilead,  and dwelled upon thousands ; he has power over the- sword ; the
there as a stranger in a strange land. But his name,          mighty and the noble are on his side. . . . .
Elijah, is significant, for it means : My God is Jehovh  !        And Elijah is a lonely figure !
There was a clear confessio.n  in that name. There was            But he stands before Jehovah !
a confession in ,&at name which was a loud protest. It            His will be the victory !
meant: My God is Jehovah over against Baa1 and all
his forces of darkness! The <name  pictures this man of           And Elijah said. . . . .
,God as standing before God in opposition to the wicked-          But what did he say to the wicked king?
ness of his day!                                                  Was he, perhaps, the court-preacher, that must
   It is evident from his oath.                               always be careful to please the ,king and speak flat-
   He swears by Jehovah, the God of Israel, the living tering words ?
God ! And in every word of this oath he emphatically              He declared war!
announces that he stands before  ,God.  For to swear              Nay more: he even now announced that Jehovah,
by Jehovah indicates to stand in His presence, to speak before Whom he was standing, and Who is the living
before His  farce and to call upon Him as a witness           God,,  womd  reveal His power, and would bring to
of the truth of one's words. And the announcement nought the power of darkness as represented by Baal:
is both emphatic and antithetical. A strong confession, "there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but a&
and a  gowerful  protest and condemnation of the              cording to my word !"                            I'  -'
powers of darkness there are in this oath. Elijah's              The question,-which is not a question at a$," but
lGod is Jehovah, the I AM:  Baa1 is not. Jehovah is           is vainly raised as such `by the powers of iniquity,-
the God of Israel, a relation that has its source and was, as always : who is GOD ? Ahab  an.d Jezebel, and
eternal ground in God's free and sovereign election: all apostatizing Israel answered,: ,Baal is God! Or, at
Baa1 can never be Israel's IGad, despite the efforts of least, they ideclared that Baa1 also `was -God. It was
a wicked king and a cruel queen to enthrone him as Baa1 that was the cause of all the generative and
lord over God's heritage. And  rthia Jehovah, who is reproductive powers in nature; Baa1 that gave rain and
                                                                                                         "
the God of Israel; is the living God ! He acts, He sees fertility, crops and prosperity, according-ko  his wor-
and hears, He knows and speaks, He is mighty in all shippers, or rather, according'to the wicked  pretention
His works.  Baa1 is dead  ? . . . .                           of his adorers. The heavens and the earth, therefore,
   Thus the man of `God swears confesses, protests, must bear witness, that Jehovah is God, and He alone
condemns. . . .                                               is Lord of ,a11 !
   And he openly declares his own position : before               It shall not rain !
whom I stand !                                                   Neither shall there be dew!
   And that is always the position of the Church                 And lest the shut heavens and the cracked earth
in the tiorld  : she stands before ,God !                     be.  interpret,ed  as a "natural phenomenon", or lest,
   And that is always the calling of the  Chunch  in perhaps, the drought be attributed to the displeasure
the world; she openly declares: I stand before the and wrath of Baal, the judgment of God is connected
living God !                                                  w?& the servant of Jehovah,  w&h the word of him
   Even to the end of this worl,d, even in that dark that  stand&h   ,before  God. He must bring the an-
period of oppression that is still  to come over the nouncement of Jehovah's judgment to the king; and he
whole world, the `<two witnesses" are the "two olive          shall have the power to shut and to open again the
trees' and the two candlesticks standing before the heavens : according to  my word!
God  of the earth." Rev.  11:4.                                  For this the man of God had prayed: the prayer
   For to stand before God is the position of the ser-        of the righteous!
vant-friend, of him that stands in covenant-relation             Even in the wilds of `Gilead he had been standing
to the only Potentate of potentates, the L<ord  of the        before God. And his soul had been sorely grieved
whole earth, Jehovah is His name, the living God. st the sight of Israel's  apostacy  and of the reign of
It means to be conscious of standing before His face, the ,&icked in the land of the covenant; And he ha,d
of being the object of His graoe, of tasting His good-        prayed ithat it might not rain. . . . .
ness. It means to receive all power and authority to             Even as often the Church, standi,ng  before the God
speak and to act, to fight and to suffer, from Him            of the earth, prays for His coming in  ,the way of
alone. It signifies to act and to speak in His name judgments !
and in His behalf. . . .                                         And the prayer is heard. It was heard then ;
   That is the significance of Elij,ak                        it is always heard. . . . .
   And that is the secret of his power!                          Until the coming of Him that always stands  beforo
   For apparently precarious and impossible is his            God!
posittion  and stand. Baa1 is represented by thqusands           Come, Lord Jesus!


                        .        _    THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
heid, <die ze dikwijls in hun jeugd we1 hebben  gekend,        (Dr. Schilder met name)  we1  we&,  dat het precies
maar in lang niet hebben gehoord, en alzoo te werken andersom is. Een andere ,broeder  kwam mij na den
en te strijden voor de reformatie der kerken, en dan namiddagdienst vertellen,  .dat dien Zondagmorgen zijn
ite ervaren, dat de Heere een open deur geeft en ook domine mij met name genoemd had van den kansel,
positieve  vrucht op den arbeid  geeft,---dlat   ,is  met- als ieman,d,  die van de mensohen stokken en blokken
tterdaad geestelijk genot  voor wie de zaak des Heeren maakte, een  mensch met een ziekelijke voorstelling, die
lisfheeft.  En zoo was het met ons.                            de  hoorders wijs maakte, dat ze maar  [heelemaal niets
                                                               moesten  doen.  Ook daarin vinden we, vooral in per-
    Het ligt haast we1 in den aard der zaak, dat we soonlijk gesprek, dikwijls een aanknoopingspunt. Maar
in dit werk niet meer ,dezelfde methode  kunnen-  volgen zeker is weI, dat iemand, die diit werk op zich neemt,
als  een vijftien  jaren  geleden.   Toen leefde de zaak,      een andere methode die&  (te volgen dan die van de
die wij voorstaan, in veler ha&en,  en stond ze althans        eerste   jaren van ons ,bestaan.
meer of min shelder voor veler bewustzijn ook buiten              Onze tijd was te kort in Randolph. We hadden een
eigen b-ring. Men kon  toen in een  zekere omgeving paar weken langer moeten kunnen werken. Maar ik
vergaderingen beleggen om te spreken over de "Drie geloof dat er onder  des Heeren zegen, binnen niet
Punten" en hun beteekenis, up een goede opkomst al te langen tijd aldaar eene geneemte ltot stand kan
rekenen, en  zoader   veel inleiding over die  punten          komen, en ook dient tot stand te komen. L&en we die
spreken en duidelijk maken, hoe ze in den grond af-            mak gedenken in ons gebed !
wijken van de gereformeerde belijdenis. Dat is tnans                                                          ,Hs. H.
niet meer het geval. De Christelijke Gereformeerde
Kerken achten, nadat  ze die punten als een stok hebben
gebruikt, om ons er mee te slaan, hen niet van genoeg                                      -
belang,  om  ze op den voorgrond te stellen. Integendeel,
ze  vergeten  ze liever. Vele menschen hebben nooit van
de drie punten  gehoord. En de meesten  weten niet,
wat :hun inhoud is. Men kan dus niet meer met de deur             The Triple Knowledge
in huis vallen, en spreken over de "Drie Punten". Dit
will natuurlijk niet zeggen, dat onze "twist met
moeder"  heefit opgehouden, of ook,  ,dat die twist thans          An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
.over een ander geschil  loopt. In den grond der zaak                                                                        .
gaat het ook thans over het punt der souvereine genade                                 Catechism
Gods. Maar  we1 wil dit zeggen, dat we een andere                                       PART TWO
meth'ode  dienen te volgen, en de zaak langs een anderen                       OF MAN'S REDEMPTION
weg hebben te benaderen, dan in de eerste jaren  van
OILS  `be&an. Door positieve prediking en  voorstel-                                     Chapter II
ling van de waarheid in lezingen en?persoonlijke  ge-                                  LORD'S DAY VI.
sprekken,  alsmede door  alle dwaling  k'egen de  waar-
hei'd strijdend,  aan ,de kaak te stellen, scherp  en over-                  Q. 16. Why must he be very man, and also per-
tuigend, worden  de menschen vanzelf wakker geschud.                     fectly righteous ?
Men behoeft daarbij aanstonds de "Drie Punten" niet                          A. Because the justice of God requires that the
bij name  te' noemen. En Gods  voik geeft u daarbij                      same human nature which hath sinned, should like-
getuigenis, dat  hetgeen  ge verkondigt de waarheid is.                  wise make satisfaction for sin; and one, who is him-
Velen hebben  er ook  nug  we1 van gehoord, dat wij                      self a sinner, cannot satisfy for others.
de "algemeene genade" loochenen, en ze hebben  daar-                         Q. 17. Why must he in one person be also
van mee&aI  een vreemde  voorstelling. Ook daar kun-                     very God ?
nen we dikwijls een aanknoopingspu'nt  vinden, en de                         A. That he might, by the power of his Godhead
menschen   sop  dit punt  beter  on'derwijzen.  En  einde-               sustain in his human nature, the burden of God's
l'ijk zijn' er ook nog altijd verkeerde en leugenachtige                 wrath; and might obtain for, and restore to us,
geruchten van  ens in omloop, die niet zelden door  on-                  righteousness and life.
kundige of  kwaadwillige  predikanten word& verspreid
                                                                             Q. 18. who then is that Mediator, who is in one
of in lhet leven gehoubden. En zulke  geruch$ten  schijnen
                                                                         person both very God, and a real righteous man ?
vooral weer levendig te worden,  als men in de buurt
komt om de menschen beter in  cte  lichten.  Zoo  ver-                       A. Our Lord Jesus Christ: "who of God is made
                                                                         unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification,
telde een Christelijke  Gereformeerde broeder mij, dst
zijn predikant hem had verteld, dat ondergeteekende                      and redemption."
de  schuld.`was,  dat de bekende vergadering in de Pant-                     Q. 19. Whence knowest  thou this ?
lind in `1; water is gevallen, terwijl ieder deskundige                       A. From the  hoIy,=gospel,  which God himself


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           31
                first revealed in Paradise; and afterwards published    creature to bring the required satisfaction, is here
                by the patriarchs and prophets, and represented by      stated positively. There ,it is explained that God will
                the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; and     not punish any other creature. for the sin man com-
                lastly, has fulfilled it by his only begotten Son.      mitted; here it is stated that God requires that the same
                                    1.                                  human nature that has sinned shall make satisfaction
                                                                        for sin. There we were taught that we ourselves can-
                The Necessity of  thge Incarnation '                    (not make ,%he required satisfaction, because we are sin-
         There is some  ,difference  between  .the original Ger- ners, and can only increase our debt: here we are told
  man text of t,he answer to question eighteen, and our                 that one who is himself a sinner cannot satisfy for
  translation of it. The German reads: "Unser Herr others. There the reason wbhy no mere creature can
  Jesus Christus, der  uns  z;u  vollkommenen   Erlcising deliver us was found in the  .fact that a mere creature
  und Gerechtigkeit  gescherikt  ist". In . English :the cannot sustain the wrath of God and deliver others
  correct rendering would be: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, from it; here we are taught that a possible mediator
 who is given unto us for  comple!te redemption and must be very ,God, in order hhat, .by the power of his
  righteousness". Our translation follows the Latin text, Godhead, he might be able to sustain the `wrath of
 ,which in turn, evidently followed the text of  I  Car.                God, and that he might be able to obtain for us, and
1:30:        "But  of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of to restore to us righteousness and life.. There can
 <God is made unto wisdom, and righteousness, and sanc- be no question about the fact, therefore, that there is
 tification, and redemption." To the sense, however it a measure of repetition of what was treated before in
 makes no r.eal difference, whether lthe one  ,or the other this sixth Lord's Day. The same arguments are used.
 translation is adopted, though it must be remembered Only, while in the previous Lord's Day the instructor
 that ,tie one ,that follows. the German text, which is adduced these arguments to demonstrate the  impossi-
 rthe original, is the more correct one.                                bili'ty of salvation by man or any other, mere, crea-
         As to the. contents of this sixth Lord's Day, the ture; in this Lord's Day the same elements are brought
 first two questions are still concerned with the yuesition             forward in order to give reasons for the necessity of
 of a possible mediator,  and,  particularly,  swith the                the  incarnsution. This, therefore, must be borne in
 necessity uf his being both very God and real righheous                mind when we explain the  first two questions of
 man in unity of person; the third question places us                   Lord's Day VI. And when  ure consider them from
 at once before the real Mediator, our Lord Jesus *his viewpoint, we can appreciate  .tbe fact that the
  Christ, in all the fulness of His saving riches and                   instruator is rather slow in coming to the point, and
 power; and the last question points  to the holy gospel that *he demonstrates the necessity ,of the real man-
 as the source of our knowledge of this Mediator.                       hood, the righteous manhood,  ,the very Godhead, and
         As we consider the first two questions of  +his sixth the unity of the person of &he mediator that is to de-
 Lord's Day, we are once more impressed by the fact liver us from sin and death.
 that our instructor takes his time about the matter.                      We must remember that, at a very early date in the
 We are even inclined to remark  &hat he is rather history of the New Testament Church, all  ,these differ-
 slow in coming to- the point. After investigating the ent elements of the truth concerning the Saviour were
 possibility of salvation, and insisting  `on the necessity denied, one after another, by false teachers. It was
 of satisfaction ; and after having pointed 0u.t the im- denied that Christ possessed a real and complete human
 possibility of satisfaction by man himself, or by any nature. There were some who taught that His human '
either,  mere creature ; the Catechism had, in the nature was only such in .appearance,  not in realilty,  not
 previous Lord's Day, reached the conclusion, that if of our flesh and blood ; even as angels can an'd often
 ever we are to be saved it must be through a mediator did assume the appearance of men for a time, so
 that is at once very God, and real  righiteous  man. And the Son of God assumed the resemblance of a h$uman
 now, in the sixth Lord's Day, instead of immediately nature. There were others, wtho insisted ,that Christ
 pointing to the only Mediator of God and man, the assumed only a partial, not a whole or complete human
 instructor first devotes two more questions to a  postible             nature: the Son of God, the divine nature, took upon
 mediator, and to  ithe reasons why he must meet some Himself a human ,body  and a ahuman soul, but no human
 very definite requirements. Ministers that are re- "mind", or "spirit". The divine nature took the place
 quired to preach on the Catechism must often ,have                     of the human  rtous or mind. Then, too,  at an early
 the feeling, when they reach this sixth Lord's Day, date of our era, the real and essential Godhead of
 that it is difficult to avoid repetition of ,what was al- Christ was attacked and denied: Christ was a highly
 ready treated in connection with the preceding Lord's gifted and exalted man, who, according to  H,is exalted
 Day.  An,d, in fact, there is a measure of repetition position and office, is worthy of the  (title "Son of God",
 here. What is stated negatively in Lord's Day V, to but who is not one in essence and co-eternal with the
 make plain that. it is impossible for man or for a mere Father and the Holy Ghost. Again, by some, both


                                                                                                              ,.-..
32                                   THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

t!he real Godhead and the real manhood of Christ, was eternal purpose that in Christ as the incarnated, cruci-
denied, when they explained  ithat throrgh the  incarna-    fied, raised and glorified Son of God,  all  the fulness of
ition the human and  ,divine natures had merged or Go.d should dwell bodily. And as we stressed before,
fused  into one nature. They preferred to speak of the this is not an after,thought  of God, so that Christ is
Lord Jesus  C!hrist  as the  Godman, the "Theanthropos". appointed only to repair what has been marred and
And, on the other hand, by others the  unity of the destroyed by sin and the devil; but it is God's first and
two natures in the one person was denied; and they SO       only final  perpose.    (He purposed to reveal Himself,
separated the two natures &hat Christ really became         and to realize His everlasting covenant, and thus to
-tw~ persons. This controversy about the person of glorify His  iholy  name, in the highest possible degree.
,t;he Mediator  w2s brought to a close, as far              And this revelation is to be realized in Christ,  Itie Son
as the Church was concerned, by  Xhe decisions of           inthe flesh, crucified and raised from the dead. Thus
the council of Chalcedon,  in  381, which declared ithat it is God's good pleasure. And it is for this reason
Christ is very God and real righteous man, and that that Christ is called the firstborn of every creature, i.e.
the two nature of Christ subsist in unity of divine the  firstborn'in  and according to the eternal counsel of
Person, without change, without mixture, wifthout divi:     God, for whom and through whom, and unto whom all
sion, and without separation.                               things are created. If we consider the necessity of the
      When one considers these early attacks upon the       incarnation from this higher viewpoint, even sin and
truth concerning the Saviour, His person and natures, death, the devil an,d all the powers of darkness, are but
and is aware of the fact that all or most of these means unto an end: (they are subservient  ;to God%  pur-
heresies repeatedly arise in the Church on earth, and pose of bringing His Son into the world, and of realiz-
attempt  to destroy .the true Christian doctrine concern- ing in and through Him all His good pleasure. How-
ing Christ and salvation, he will be able to appreciate ever, our instructor does not consider the necessity of
properly  rthe efforts put forth by the Heidelberg Cate- ithe incarnation in its relation to God and His eternal
chism to demonstrate the  necessity  of the two natures,    good pleasure, but in its soteriulogical relation to sin
an,d of the unity of the person of Christ. For by  so and salvation.
doing, it emphasizes the importance and preciousness           Why, then, must our mediator be very man, real
of the  rtruth, and it impresses upon  .believers  the man, and also perfectly righteous? The  Catechism
urgency of the calling to maintain and defend the true answers that he must be very man because satisfaction
faith in a11 its purity of doctrine. It shows that there must be made in the <human nature, itie same ihuman
is an inseparable relation between our salvation and nature that has sinned ; and ithat he must be righteous
true doctrine. Salvation cannot be accomplished ex- man, because no sinner could satisfy' for the sin of
cept by exactly suc,h  a mediator as is described in these others. He must be  very,  i.e. real man. And a real
two questions and answers with respect to his chief         man is one that partakes of our human nature. He
requirements. Deny  t.hem, and you deny salvation.          must not assume a temporary appearance of a  -human
Deny that Christ is eternal God, the second person of being, for then he is not related to us. He must not
the Holy Trinity, and you have no Saviour left. Deny come in a specially created human nature, for then he
that He is very man, flesh of our flesh, and blood of       stands outside of ;t;he scope of our race. ,He must be
our blood, and you lose the Christ of God. Deny that of us. He must subsist in the very human nature that
these two natures are never separated, nor ever mixed, was created in the beginning, and as far as his .human-
but that they subsist in unity of the divine person of      ity is concerned, he must have been with us in the loins'
the Son of God, and you deny all possibility of salva-      of Adam. Hle must  ,be a very real "son of man". This
tion. By demonstrating this, the Catechism centainly        is necessary, for otherwise He  cannot  make the re-
impresses upon our minds and hearts the necessity of quired satisfaction. As we have seen before, God will
being indoctrinated thoroughly in  t,he truth of the        not punish the sin of man in another creature. This
Word of  God.       And  irt warns us that we shall not same trut,h is now positively stated : "ithe justice of God
assume a sympatheti,c  attitude toward those that would     requires that  &he same human nature which hath
introduce false ,doctrine  into the Church of Christ in sinned, should likewise make satisfaction for sin." The
the world.                                                  punishment inflicted must be equivalent to the sin  corn-
      The Catechism  consEders   &he necessity of  t,he in- mitted ; the evil suffered must be commensurate to &he
carnation  only from the viewpoint of its relation to       evil done. Such is God's justice. Human sin is sin
our salvation. This is wholly in accord with its prac-      committed in and through the human nature,  ithe
tical .&aracter.    It is possible, of course, to view this human soul, the human mind and will and heart, the
necessity from a different aspect, and to consid,er  it human body, Ithe human eye and ear and mouth and
from a higher, a  theoIogica1  point of view. The ulti-     hand and foot; such sin can be atoned for only by
mate reason for all necessity, for every "must", is the suffering human punishment, i.e. death in the human
eternal counsel and good pleasure of God. It was God's      nature. A  cow or a dog could not possibly receive  Ithe


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          33

punishment for sin committed in the human nature.             party interposes  ,himseIf between them to bring them
We may add here, that Christ must also be very man, together. He reconciles  God to man, and man to God.
and actually subsist in our nature, because as mediator But let us notice here, that the Catechism knows
He must be able to deliver us from death, and impart nothing of intermediary beings between God and `man
His own new resurrection-life to us, and this is possible A mere creature, so it is taught us, cannot sustain the
only if He is organically related to us, if He partakes       wrath of God and deliver others. Very well  ; a mediator
of our human nature. It would be quite impossible to must, therefore, be more powerful than any mere
transfuse the blood of a horse into  t.he  yeins of a         creature. Does that mean that we must look for a
*human body ; and similarly, th,e resurre&ed  Lord could third, a kind of intermediate being, that is greater
never transfuse His own life into our hearts, if He lt,han all creatures, yet is not very God?  B,ut no; if
were not related to us. A mediator that is to save us,        mere creature is incapable of sustaining the wrath
i.e. who is to make the required satisfaction, and who of God, there is only one other possibility: that God
is also able to deliver us from the power of sin and          does it Himself! 0, indeed, the mediator we need
the dominion of death, and give us new life, must must also be very man. He must be God and man
be very man.                                                  united. But do  ,not make the mistake that for this
   But he must also be perfectly righteous. This reason you consider this mediator a  sor8t of inter-
means, first of all, that he must not fall under the  irni mediate being, standing between God,  and. man. For
putation of Adam's  first transgression. Though,  ac-         such a mediator, who is real man and very God, could
cordmg  to his nature, he is like us in all respects, and not possibly come into being by an act of Go-d and man
was with us in the loins of Adam, yet he must not per-        both, by each coming half way to meet (the ot,her;  but
sonarl~y stand in the same relation to the first man the very idea of such a mediator implies  <that God
Adam as we. He must have no original guilt. Secondly, HimseIf  comes down, reaches `down all the way to man's
this also implies that he must be free from original low estate, to become His own mediator in our beh.aIf  !
pollution. Even though he is a son of man, born of               Very God the mediator must be. That means t,hat
woman, blood of our blood, and flesh of our flesh, yet He must be of the divine essence. He must be the
the defilement and pollution that adheres  *to all men, eternal One Himself, the I AM, the  inflnike  God, Who
to the whole human nature, `may not cleave to him. He e.xists  in Himself, and has life in Himself, Who is the
must be perfectly righteous. And the reason which almighty, the  allwise, the omniscient, the Lord of all !
the  Hei,delberg Catechism here gives is, that "one, The mediator must not be a god, but he must be very
who is himself a sinner, cannot satisfy for others".          God ! For, first of all, the Catechism reminds us, he
The underlying thought here seems to be that one, must sustain, "ertragen", bear completely bear
who is himself a sinner, would have to satisfy for him- <through, and bear to the end, the wrath of God against
self, and could never apply his satisfaction to others. sin ; an.d this .no mere creature can do. There -must
And  Ithis is self evident. Bu.t we may go a step further,    be divine power to bear to the end, and to bear away,
and say that no sinner can bring the required satis- ito bear and live through divine wrath. Hence, the
fac5on at all, not even for himself. This truth we have mediator we need must be very God. And there must
repeatedly tried .to make plain. Let it suffice' now, be a very intimate relation, a close union between the
therefore, to remind ourselves &at to satisfy the jus- divine and the human nature of this mediator. For,
tice of God with respect to sin, one must be able to although  then mere human nature could never sustain
bring the perfect sacrifice of love. Nothing  Iess will the wrath of God and live, yet, it must be in that human
do. And one, who is himself a sinner, is wholly incapa- nature that the wrath of God must be borne ! The
ble to bring that sacrifice. A mediator, t&hat is to save divine nature could not be the objeot of the divine
us, therefore, must be perfectly righteous; he must wrath. Nor can the divine nature suffer and die.
have neither original guilt, nor original  pollution;  and The  .x-elation  between the real manhood and true God-
all his life and death must be perfectly consecrated head of this mediator, therefore, must be such, fthat
ito the living God.                                           in f&he human nature the divine nature sustains the
   But why must our mediator also be  xry God? infinite wrath of Go-d, that  #God bears the punish-
In the conclusion of the previous Lord's Day it: was ment for, sin in the ,human  nature ! He must, there-
stated that the "sort of a mediator" we need must be fore, not only be real man and very God, but be man
"more powerful than  all creatures, that is, one who and God in one person ! Only then can he sustain the
is also very God". Let us take n0t.e  of this, lest we        wrath of God to the end and live. Only then can he
receive a wrong conception of what  &his `name give infinite value to his atoning sacrifice. And only
"mediator" indicates. Often  ,it is presented as if a then can he deliver us from the power of sin and death,
mediator is someone, who  stand,s in between God and an'd restore to us righteousness and Iife ! indeed, the
man. They, i.e. Crod and man, are at variance. They incarnation is necessary. Without it there is no
are separated from each other. And now a third                possible salvation.                             H.  H.
                                                                                                  _

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

                                                            direct bearing on the people of Israel and  (2) as  b
                The Brazen Serpent                          its typical reference to Christ.
                                                               The brazen serpent signified certain vital truths
      The desert period of Israel's national existence      which the church of that day ,had need of hearing in
has ended. The command has been given that the              order to participate in the salvat!ion  of God. TO know
journey, to the promised land be resumed. Beginning what  ,+&se  truths are, attention must be directed first
at mount Hor, the way led by the Red Sea, and en-           to the  living reptiles by which the rebellious Israelites
compassed the land of Edom. The journey was dif-            were bitten. What cdid these creatures signify? Some
ficult and the people became impatient and disgusted hold that they have to do with the serpent in Eden or
because of the way. They rebelled against the guidance with the devil, the old serpent. According to others,
of God and the leading of Moses. They said, "Where- they signify in the first place  ,the devil, then sin, then
fore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to `die in the      further inherited. original sin.  S,till others make them
,wilderness?  For there is no bread, neither is there the symbol of judgmerrt, punishment, curse and evil,
any water ; and our soul loatheth this despicable bread,`" as borne not by fallen man but by Chris,t,  and hold ithat
they said, meaning the manna. Undoubtedly they were in this view ,$he mystery, in its great: features, soon
weary to ,the point of exhaustion and famished. So,         comes to light. The view of evil in the confidence that
in itrheir unbelief, in their willing ignorance of all that it is Jehovah's remedy against sin, this, it is said, is
God had been and done for them in the past, they the main thing.
concluded that they would now have to perish in the            Now  +he divers views, presented above, divide into
way. The presence of the manna in their midst meant two sorts. In the one class,  lthe living serpents signify
nothing to them. 1.t was a despicable bread, so they sin in the sense of moral corruption; in the other, they
said, unfit for human consumption. And they heartily appear as the symbol of the punishment of sin as
loathed it. Their unbelief grew out of the same de- aChrist bore it in His flesh.
lusion which the previous generation had expressed.;           It is plain that both these views cannot be correct.
and the sin, which they at this juncture  commiitited,      The trouble with interpreters in general is that they
was just as great.                                          fail to differentiate between the living vipers and the
      The ground of the iterrain, through which their brazen serpent made after the similitude of these vile
way now crossed, was fuIl of holes, the home of ser- creatures. The brazen serpent was a type of Christ
pents. And  ,the judicial providence of God  ,used  the but not those vipers.                                   *
obnoxious product of the land for punishment, con-             Just what did the latter signify? It is certain that
verting the serpents of the desert into a divine puni- among God's irrational creatures, the living (not the
tive visitation. The Lord sent fiery serpents among brazen) serpent, thus also the vipers of the wilderness,
the people-fiery, literally, burning serpents; so called is preeminently the symbol of sin, of all that is sin-
from the inflammatory nature of their bite, which ful, corrupt, vile, thus of doom, the curse, the ban of
infused a deadly, burning poison, and also perhaps God. It was to the serpent that Go.d said, "thou art
from their fiery red color. Much people died, fur the       cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the
swarm of serpents was extraordinary large. The ter- field."
ror of the people, increased by  t.heir conscience awak-        This makes the serpent the symbol firstly of the
ened to a sense of guilt, was great. They confessed devil, the murderer of mankind, the liar from the be-
that they had sinned against Jehovah %heir God, and ginning, the originator of the lie with which he insti-
against Moses and besoughti  him to intercede in their gated our first parents to disobey God's command.
 behalf. The remedy was adapted to the situation.           This was the first bite of the serpent.
 Moses was commanded to make him a fiery serpent--              If the serpent signifies the ,devil, it also signifies
an image of one-and to set it upon a pole or standard his brood, tie natural man, dead in sin. This is plain
 and it s8houlsd come to pass that every one that was from the language that the Scripture uses in speaking
 bitten, when he looked upon it, should live. Such of this man. At Ps. 140 : 1-3 it is said of the violent
 was the promise to which fully correspon*ded  the  mira- and evil man that he sharpens his tongue like a serpent,
 eulous results.                                            and that adders' poison is under his lips. In reproving
       This event rises into great importance through the t,he pharisees, Christ calls  &em serpents, a generation
 application which Christ Himself makes of it to His of vipers. And so, too, the Baptist.
 own life. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the           Properly, ;&he serpent signifies the principle of sin
 wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted as it riots in the essence of fallen man's (an,d also the
 UP; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish       devil's) being. The serpent lurks in man's own bosom,
 but have eternal life". John  13 :14.                      corrupting his whole nasture and producing in him all
      It is the brazen serpent that forms the subject of     sorts of sin, becoming in him a root thereof. It is
 this essay. Let us consider this object (1) as to its       this conception of sin that we encounter in  Remans


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        35 '
 -.  ""
7, where the statement occurs, "But sin, taking  oe-        pent was by itself nothing at all. Yet it was the power
casion by +the commandment, wrought in me all man- of Cdd unto the cure of the serpent's bite. The reasons
ner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was are  two. The brazen serpent revealed the righteousness
dead. For I was ahve wi,thout  the law once; but when of God. It Ideclared,  *together with the sacrifices by
athe commandment came, sin revived and I died". Sin blood, that Zion was to be redeemed with judgment and
as an active principle in man, working in him all man- her converts  with  righlteousness.  It proclaimed  &he
ner of sin through the intervention of the law of God, vintues  of God, `now seen in the face of Christ. Because
without which it remains an unknown power-this it did so, God affixed to it the promise of His healing
is the working of the adder in man. So in the ease and His will, determination, to ,heal all such who by
of the dews of the wilderness. The serpent that His mercy received the brazen serpent as the God-
slumbered in their bosom, taking occasion by the will appointed remedy for their physical wounds. Upon
of God that they bear the hardships of  ,the journey that object, the Lord imposed, to say, His almighty,
,with patience and k,now  that man lives by every oult- healing blessring word. Hence, to look upon this object
going of God's mouth, revived. Reviving, M bit them, was art once to look up to God. Their beholding it
produced in them wanton rebellion.                          was thus the exercise of faith in the willingness and
   The serpent, in fine, signifies sin, curse, doom,  &he power of God to heal their wounds.
ban of God.                                                    And all they were asked to do is to behold the bra-
   As  to  the serpent of brass it was  not by itself a zen serpent. Through the bringing of the sacrifice
serpent but was made one. "Make thee," said the by blood the ancient worshipper  also gave expression
Lord  b Moses," a fiery serpent". It was thus made to his faith in the willingness of the Lord ato pardon
a%er the exact similitude (make thee a  fiery serpent)      transgression and to redeem the life of His people from
of the living reptiles of the wilderness, thus made sin, destruction.     `Here, however, faith was expressed
a curse (symbolically), so made, in other words, as do -through a symbolical  transection  consisting in the
show f0rt.h the cursedness of cthe vipers without being sacrifice of an animal partly through the agency of
seen as armed with their poison. .For, being what i;t the priest. Here we meet with action that could be
was, a thing of pure metal, it was, from the nature of construed, and so the carnal Jews did construe it, as
matters, devoi,d  of this poisvn.                           forming a kind of meritorial basis for God's benefits.
   Being made a curse, this harmless, poisonl,ess  life- B,ut it could not very well be maintained that the ,dying
less thing #was set upon a pole or ,&ree.  This bespoke Israelites merited with God simply through looking
its ban--the ban of God-branded it a curse, and ex- upon His provision for the healing of their diseases.
posed it to view a sin-offering. These certainly were The requirement that they do nothing at all but look
the reasons of its elevation. It is not correct to say that upon this object, *the cure, the instant recovery, that
the sole purpose of the lifting up vf the brazen serpent accompanied such beholding, was well calculated to
was to render its conspicuous. Were this ,&rue,  there drive home ithe fact and truth that salvation is solely
would be no point to this doing. The #confession that by grace through faith and not of works.
God demands of the sinner is that  .he is saved through        The (brazen serpent, it is plain;  `was a most remark-
faith in one-Christ Jesus-who was made sin. A man able symbol. It so forcibly and clearly declared that
may look upon the  Savio,ur ever so steadfastly, believe the remedy of sin is sin's curse as born by God's ap-
,in 93im ever so firmly, but if he refuses to see in Him    pointed innocent substitute, and that salvation is solely
vne who bore for His people the  bur,den of divine through faith in this remedy.
wrath against sin,  .he perishes in his sin.                   2. The brazen serpent was not God's true remedy
   Thus what the bitten Israelites were comman8ded          of sin. It  w;ts given for the healing merely of a
:to behold was a gracious provision of God, made like       physical  wound, inflicted by  .the poisonous  b&e of a
unto the reptiles by which ,they  had been bitten, but natural, creatural reptile. The power of God associated
free from their poison, thus an objeot  altogether harm-    w&h it was for the  ,healing  of the body and not of
less, taken in their stead and made for. them a sin and the soul. It was thus tiuly a visible sign and a seal,
a curse. ,So it appears that t.he brazen serpent is in- appointed of God to declare, and seal to the true chil-
,deed a symbol of the punishment of sin.                    dren of the covenant the promise of the gospel. As
   Looking upon this objeot, the wounded Israelites such it was, in the final instance, a type of Christ,
were cured. Thus the poisonous bite of the serpent and this according to Christ's own word, "As Moses
Iin t,he wilderness was healed through the beholding lifted up the serpent so must the Son of man be
of a harmles brazen serpent made sin and as such ex- lifted up . .  J' `What was done with the serpent on
posed to view.                                              *he low plane of the typical-symbolical, mu.& be done
   But the brazen serpent was after all but a lifeless with me on the high plane of the heavenly realities'.
thing. HOW could the beholding of it be rewarded by Such certainly  is the thrust of this utterance oi Christ.
<the cure of a serpent's deadly bite? The brazen  ser-      He does not, by  *this  ,word,  place  the lifting  up of


 se                                        ?C"HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 the  serpent  on a level with His own. He takes this
 event in the desert' for  what it  is-a doing of His                                 The Fulness Of The Time
 heavenly Father, prefiguring His, the Chris&, atone-                       The expression "fulness of time" occurs in  szrip-
 ment.                                                                   iture and is found at Gal.  4:4. The passage reads,
       Being  w,hat  it is, a prophetic  !type, the brazen "Buti when the fulness of time was come,  Gud sent
 serpent conveys  definite points of instruction  about                  forth his Son . . ."
 ,Qristi, namely, the following :
       (a) The brazen serpent was made like unto  the                       The surroundings of this text show that the fzl-
 poi,sonous  vipers of the wilderness in one thing                       ness 
                                                               o:llY,             of time is the time appointed by God, which 1. as
 to wit, in outward appearance. I,t was thus made sin to elapse until the  appeaning  of Christ. It is of et.his
 but merely in this respect that, due to this resemblance, time that the apostle speaks in the preaeding  three
 it reflected, as a thing inanima.te,  the cursedness of the verses, the time of the  &ate of minority of the church.
 vile creatures which it imaged without its  lifeless                    This periud  is conceived as a measure that had to be
 structure housing  Itheir poison.                                       filled ere the, Son of God could be sent. --And the mea-
       The living Christ was made like unto His fallen sure was filled, the "Fulness of time" was come, when
 brethren in all thirzgs.  *He owned their guilt assumed                 that moment of time, through which tthe measure was
 their nature, bore in His sinless flesh their griefs,                   filled, arrived. This then is the thought conveyed;
 carried their sorrows, and was wounded for their                        (1) When  tie precise moment appointed by God
 transgressions. So, in this respect, was ;He made sin lhad arrived, He sent forth His Sqn. (2) Christ had
 and did He exhibit in His flesh the curse and punish- to be sent precisely at that moment, no sooner, no later.
 ment due to sin.                                                        (3) The precise time, when  Ee appeared, had a
       (b) The brazen serpent was lifted up. Christ                      peculiar relation to His appearance. (4) The ante-
                                                                WAS
 hanged on the ignominous cross-so the' justice of cedent steps, through the previous development of
 IGod ademanded-and thus exposed to view as the tmLe the history of the church in particular and  0:" the
 sin-offering. From His cross He was lifted up into world al; large in general, had been directed by God
 the highest heavens and is set before all creatures as precisely to this point in order to  admi,t: of His
 the only and true  rfitmedy of sin through the preaching appearing.
 of  `the gospel. For, God so loved  bhe world.                             To bring out the truth' of these  statemeyts,  we
       `(c) Whosoever looked upon the brazen serpent was must get before our :eye these steps. That .t7here were
 healed  `of a physical wound. Whosoever looks upon such steps means that both the church and the world
 Christ is truly and permanently  ,healed  of all his had been brought into such a condition as to admit of
' diseases and `has life everlasting. For He is the only                 Christ's coming.
 remedy for  all the spiritual wounds  inilicted by the                     The gentile worM. The prevalent view is that this
 serpent's bite. Anointed with the oil of gladness, He world had been brought into:, a state of receptivit,y
 is  .&he  true balm in Gilead.                                          with respect to  Chrisb,  His gospel. So the historian
                                                   G. M. 0.              Schaff. Though he sets out with defining heathenism
                                                                         as a religion in its wi1.d grotih on the soi! of fallen
                                                                         human nature, a darkening of the original conscious-
                                                                         ness of IGod, a deification of Me rational and irrational
                                                                         creature,  an,d a  &orrespon'ding  corruption of  th.e moral
                                                                         sense, giving ithe sanction of religion to natural and
                                                                         unnatural vices, he nevertheless  mainftains that "there
                                                                         was a spiritual Israel scattered throughout the heaeen
                          IN MEMORIAM                                    world, that never received  The circumcision of the flesh,
                                                                         but the unseen circumcision of the heati  by the hand
       The  consistory  of the  Prot. Ref. Church at  Doon,  Iowa,       of the SpirK whiclh bloweth where it listeth, and is
 herewith desires to express their sympathy  to  Elder  H.  Kuiper       not bound ,to any human laws and to ordinary means".
 in the death of his wife                                                The notable representatives of this group were, accord-
                       MRS. HENRY  KUIPER                                ing to this writer, such personages as Socrates, Plato,
                                                                         Aristotle, Pindar,  Sophecles,  Cicero,  VirgeI;  Seneca
       May  ihe God of all mercy and grace give to him and his           and Plutarch. They were personages whose beautiful
 family a rich measure of His Holy Spirit to comfort them in             and true sentences may be called "the testimonies of
 this hour of deep bereavement.                                          a soul constitutionally Christian, of a nature predes-
                                The Consistory                           tined to `Christianiity".
                                   P. Zylstra                               The historian Walker declares that the  world-
                                   S. Stillinga                          the heathen world-at the coming of Christ: 1argIy de-


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          37

manded, was crying for, a religion that taught one maliciousness ;' full of envy, murder, debate, deceit,
righteous God; possessed a definite revelation of the malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, de-
will of God, held forth a future life with rewards and spite&l, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, dis-
punishment; promised a real forgiveness of sins; obedient to parents, without understanding,  covenant-
possessed a redeemer-God who could come into union breakers, without natural affection, implacable, un-
with men by  c.ertain sacramental acts; a religion, merciful (verses 28-32).               Persistent idolatry going
finally that taught the brotherhood of man. Hence, hand in hand with the eruption of all manner of sins
Christianity must possess or take on all these traits the final stage.
if it was to conquer the Roman empire or to become a             What we have described t-o us here is a process
world religion.                                               of development in sin over an extended period, a
   The flower of this spiritual aptitude, of  t.his re- gradual sinking away into the morass of superstition,
ceptivity, for the truth of God, for the Christ of the sin, and crime, so that, when the fulness of time was
Gospels, constituted the sign, such is the view, that come th,e &ate  of civilized heathendom was one of com-
the fulness of time had come, that God therefore  co,uld      plete spiritual and moral dissolution. And it is ,God
send forth His Son into the world-a world ready to who gave them over through the lusts of their own
embrace Him and to take home to  i,ts  Beart:  His heart%. Sin was continually being punished with sin.
gospel of peace.                                              Without interruption the wrath. of God was revealed
   We come upon  Iike sentiments in the work of from heaven over all unrighteousness.
dogmatics of Dr. H. Bavinck. The concluding  &ate-               Yet, there seems to be some truth in the  state-
ment of his  adehneation  on  ,this subject reads, "Daarom men& that in the pre-Messianic period the religious and
staati het Christendom niet  uitsluitend  antithetisch moral development of heathendom  was inclined toward
tegen het heidendom over; het is er ook de  vervulling Christ. The gentile Sergius Paulus, deputy of ithe isle of
van . . . Wat ginds gezocht wordt is hier te vinden . . . Paphas, desired to hear the Word of God and, un,der
Christus is de beloofde aan Israel en de wensch  aller the constraint of this desire, called for Barnabas and
heidenen."                                                    Paul to preach  It'o him the gospel. At Acts 17:4 it is
   Such is the view. All that we have to say about it reported  ithat a great number of  devout  Greeks believed
is that  ili! runs contrary to Scripture,  ,to what the and consorted with Paul and Barnabas. In the Acts
Scriptures tells us about this heathenism. The heathen-       of the apostles, the gentile Cornelius in Caesarea stands
dom of the pro-Messianic period, i.e., the  Graeco-           before us as "a devout man, and one that feared God
Roman world of men, was indeed  spi,ritually  prepared        with all his house, which gave much alms to the people,
for the a,d:venit.  of Christ. B,ut the preparation had been and prayed tb God alway".  It was :to meet the need of
purely negative, away from Christ. There had been these gentiles for Christ that God sent to them His
growth indeed but in sin. The apostle passes in re- servants with His gospel. "Thy prayers," said God to
view its stages. (1) Because when they knew God               Cornelius, "are come up for a memorial before God.
they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful  ;       Send men `to Joppa, an,d call for one Simon, whose sur-
but became vain in their imaginations, and their name is Peter and he shall tell thee what thou oughtest
foolish heart was  ,darkened.  Professing themselves to do." But Cornelius, devoutness and need of Christ
to be wise, they became fools. And changed the glory was not certainly the flowering of a natural religion.
of the uncorruptible  God in!to an image made like unto This man was one of the several  gentriles the soil of
corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts . . . whose heart had been previously prepared by the
Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness through scriptures, by the truth. The knowledge of the Scrip-
<the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their bodies tures had been spread far and wide by the dispersed
between themselves. (Rom. 1: 21-24).  .A forsaking Jews. `It is estimated  ,that at the time of Christ there
of God ending in gross idolatry accompanied by un- were six times as many Jews outside o.f Palestine as
natural sexual vice-the first stage. (2) Who changed within its borders. A notable part of the population
the truth of God into a lie, aad worshipped and served of Alexandria were Jews. Jews had settled in Asia
the creature., more than the Creator . . . For this cause Minor and in Syria. They were to be found in Rome.
God gave them `up unto vile affections: for even their Few were the cities of the empire `were there were
women did change the natural use into that which is no Jews. This Judaism  of the Dispersion had the
against nature. And likewise also the men . . . (verses sacred scriptures. It took witth  it everywhere the syna-
25-27). Persistent idolatlry accompanied by most revolt- gogue. These synagogues had about them a large
ing sexual immorality-&he second. stage. (3)  Bnd number of proselytes and Judaized converts, the devout
even as they did not like to retain God in their  ,know- men made mention of in the Acts  of the Apostles.
ledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do In fine, it is the scriptures mixed with true faith and
things which are not convenient: being filled with all not pagan religion and culture that had paved the way
unrighteousness, fornication, ~wickedness,  covetousnek+s,    for Christ, But when the fulnesa  of time wits come,

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

the great mass of men of the pagan civilized world expectancy and yearning for salvation. But the church
were steeped in sin and prostrated before the shrine was still contemplating  .the promised deliverance large-
of their idols, were thus strangers to this faith, ene- ly as deliverance from foreign oppression. The  itrue
mies of God and of the gospel of Christ. Such was the people of God were.            This can be explained. In
state of affairs in that world when the fulness of time the past salvation had always assumed this form. When
was come. It was a world that! bore all the marks the people of Israel forsook  the Lord, His anger would
of being hopelessly lost.                                   kindle against them. Then the a,dversary  would prevail
      Of the outward condition of this world we present in their borders. When they repented, He forgave
the following description. The lands surrounding the them and sent deliverance. Thus what was hoped for,
Mediterranean were in the possession of Rome. These         when the fulness of time was come, is a saviour,
tterritories  embraced all  tliae common men knew  or' through whom Jehovah would again send salvation and
civilized life. The Roman empire and the world of so provide His people with fresh evidence that He
civilized men were co-extensive.  All was held ibogeiher    loved them and in His love, pardoned itheir iniquities
by allegiance to a single emperor, and by a common and delivered'them from all their troubles. It was for
military system subject to him. The Roman army pre- a new token of this love that the true Israel yearned.
served the Roman peace. Under that peace commerce The hope of this Israel,  4hough mixed with much
flourished, communion was made easy by excellent that is of this earth and of the flesh, was essentially
roads and by sea. In tie larger towns a common pure. What the  achurch lacked was insight into the
language was spoken-that of Greece. It was an em- mysteries of God, the reason being that  the Spirit  .was
pire whose officials secured a rough justice such as        not yet.
the world had never seen.                                      Bet the entering of the law had still another pur-
  The condition in which the people of Israel-the           pose, namely, that the  offence   migh$ abound  (Ram.
church-had been brought deserves special attention.         5:20). What motions of sin by the law! And through
Tt is especially with a view  ,to the church  that the      the centuries these motions worked to bring forth
apostle declares, "When the fulness of time was come, fruit unt!o dath `in the reprobate Jews, until, when the
God sent forth His Son .  _ . to redeem them that were fulness of time was come, the measure of iniquity was
under the law . .  ." God had' put the church under full, the Israelitish nation was ripe fur judgment and
the law to school it unto Christ, until the time ap- in its reprobated seed was spiritually capable of cru-
pointed-the fulnesa of time. Through the demands cifying Ghrist, the Lord of glory.
of the law and the working of *its curse in tie bosom of       Such  then were the prevailing conditions when the
the nation through the centuries, the Lord trained  *His    precise moment arrived through which the measure
people to live by  the promise and to -wait for the con-    of time  became  full. Christ had to be sent at that
solation of Israel. So, when  :the fulness of time was moment, at that time, when these conditions prevailed
finally come, yearning was deep, and hope lively and and no sooner. The  RomanLGraeco   ,world had to be
,the expectation of the true Israel ran high. The aged sunk in all manner of debasing crimes, had to be
Simeon took the Christ-child up in his arms and blessed giving itself up to all forms of idolatry. And in the
God and said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant de-       Israelitish  nation sin had  ,to be abounding. So it
part in peace,  according  to  thy word: for mine eyes had to be.
have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared               The reason is given by  fhe apostle. Before God
before the face of all people  ; a light to lighten the would send His Son, every mouth had to be stopped,
gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel". And and all the world had to become guilty before God.
Anna, the  wi'dow,  coming in at that instant "gave Before ,God could send His Son, it had to appear how
thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all absolutely true it is !that by the deeds of the law no flesh
ithat looked for the redemption in Jerusalem." There shall be justified in His sight!, that by the law is the
were those who looked for redemption. The law with          knowledge of sin. (Rom. 3  :19, 20).
all that appertains thereto-the typical symbolical             Before God could send His Son, it had to appear
institutions  ,whieh it prescribed, the  j,udgments  of God that the world by wisdom knew not God (I Cor. 1:21).
that overtook the nation on account of its repeated Indeed, the world had wisdom. It was an  empire-
,apostacies  and that, when the old dispensation was was that ,world of Christ day-that, as was just said,
drawing ,to a close, had worked the destruction of so had secured a justice such as  lthe  wor1.d  had never be-
much of Israel's typical glory-the law had indeed fore seen. And how proud it was if its wisdom! How
done  i,ts work.                                 I          proud of its intellectual achievements, of its  wisemen,
      This does ,not mean that when the fulness of time scribes, disputers, of its culture and civilization. In-
was  !come the true Israel had Christ directly before deed ! But by its wisdom it knew not God. By  i?s
:their,  eye. What it means is that through the law the     wisdom it crucified the Christ. So did God show up
Lord worked in the bosom of the church  the necessary this wisdom for what  ib is-foolishness, devilish,


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          39

"Where then is the wise? Where is the scribe. Where
is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made                 Uit Zwakheid Krachten Hebben
foolish the wisdom of this  worl,d?  `(I Cor.  1:20) The                         Gekregen
question comes to us all. It thus comes to  :the  ex-
ponenps  of common grace. Where is this wisdom?                                   (Psalm 59)
In the apostle's day it was prostrated before the shrine       Onwillekeurig  da&t ik  aan Hebreen 11, de verzen
of fourfooted beasts and of creeping things and was 32 tot 38, bij het lezen van dezen psalm; en meer bij-
saying to these beasts and things, "Thou are my God".       zonder  `aan de woorden die boven dit  artikel  staan.
And this wisdom is supposed to be springing from a En ik dacht ook aan den Middelaar en Zijne smarten,
principle  of grace common to all men?                      waarvan David een sterk type is. Jez.us heeft de smart
   By the dee,ds  of the law shall no man be justified van David vervuld, zoovele jaren later.
in His sight. This, once more, ha,d to appear. God so          Historisch is de acbttergrond  van dezen psalm de
willed for the sake of His son whom He was b send. smart die David ervoer van zijn schoonvader Saul, die
For this Son, and this Son alone is man's righteousness "gezonden had die zijn huis bewaren zouden, om hem
sanctification wisdom and  redempttion.  So,  *when  the ite dooden". We lezen die geschiedenis in I Sam..
fulness of time was come God se& His Son. Let then 19 :llvv.
every mouth be stopped ! Consider ~tiat for centuries          E'et laatste wat David van Saul gezien had, was
in that pre-Messianic  period,`God  was giving over  to  a zijn door wreede haat verwrongen aangezicht en de
reprobat!e  mind, through the lust of its own heart, spies die zijn hand verliet om hem aan den wand te
mankind, to stop every mouth from boasting in man, spitten. Toen was David naar huis gesneld.
in his goodness and wisdom. And every mouth is                 Doch de wreede Saul had boden gezonden met de             '
stopped. For God always gets His way in things. The opdracht om zijn huis te bewaren, ten einde hem op
mouth of His people is stopped through His saving zijn gemak af te maken.
grace. But the mouth of tie wicked is stopped as well.         Doch  Michal, David's vrouw had het David te
For, said, Christ, "when he-the Spirit of truth-is kennen  gegeven:  Toen  liet! zij hem neder door een
come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteous- venster en hij ontkwam.
ness, and of judgment" (John 16  8). The Spirit has            Wanneer David dezen zang dichtte? We  weten
come. Through the preaching of the Word, He hangs het niet. Ik ben geneigd te geloven,  .dat hij het gedaan
before every man, the apostle's depiction of the moral heeft in den nacht, toen  de boden van Saul rondom het
dissolution of mankind of his day; and the testimony huis lagen, wachtende  op den morgen  om hem gevan-
of that picture, He, the Spirit, put& i&o every man's gen te nemen. De ,taal tvan den psalm leidt ons tot
heart. In a word, He convicts every man of sin so that dit gevoelen. Een kleinood weer, een gouden  kleinoorl.
despite himself every man says in his heart: It is De schoonste gestalte van God's volk is wanneer er
the ;trutbr I am vile. If a man has grace in his heart,     drang en smart is : "Van strak gespannen snaren !"
he turns to God a penitent sinner, and the voice of his        En uit de zwakheid van dien nacht werd er door
conscience becomes the confession of his lips and the genade kracht geboren. We zullen er van hooren
truth makes him free. But the  <wicked  repress the juichen in den zang.
truth, hold it under, boast in man's inherent goodness         .Het begin is een schreeuw itot God: Red mij van
an,d despise Him-the Son, Whom God sent when "the mijne  vijanden, 0 mijn God! Dat is het  $hema van
.fulness  of the time was come". But he is without de eerste drie verzen.
excuse. And his mouth is stopped.                              Let op de beschrijving der goddeloozen: vijanden,
                                         G. M. 0.           ,degenen  die  tegen David opstaan,  werkers  der onge-
                                                            rechtigheid en  mannen des bloeds. Wat vreeselijk
                                                            oordeel ligt al in die namen ! Was David nu nog een
                                                            kwaaddoener, een  &k der natie,  dan ware  shet  eenig-
         The earth and heaven shall pass away,              zins te verontschuldigen. Doch David was God's gun-
              Like vesture worn and laid aside,             steling,  een man naar Zijn hart. Het is we1 waar, dat
         But changeless Thou shalt live for aye             David zondig was,  doch in dit geval was hij geheel en
              Thy years forever shall abide.                al onschuldig.  Let op de verzen 4-6 en 13. In het vierde
                                                            vers zegt David het met nadruk: "Want, zie, zij leg-
                                                            gen mijner ziel lagen, sterken rotten zich tegen mij :
                                                            zonder  mijne overtreding en zonder mijne zonde, 0
          As heaven is high above the earth                 Heere !" In het zesde  vers maakti  David onderscheid
              So great His mercy proves,                    tusschen zonde en zonde. Hij klaagt tot God, dat men
          As far from us as east from west,                 trouwelooslijk ongerechtigheid bedrijft. Er is een
              He all our sin removes.                       hemelsbreed verschil tusschen zonde en zonde. Elders

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

                                                              mitteth adultery".
      !T!he Right of the Innocent Divorced                       And in  Matt. 19:9 we r&d:  "And I say unto YOU,
                 Party to Remarry                             Whosoever shall ,put away his wife, except it be for
                                                              fornication, and shall: marry . another,  committe:h
                                                              adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away
      My subject presupposes that this particular di- doth commit adultery".
vorced party is innocent. The extent or degree of his            In  M&t. 15  :32 we read of two parties who commit
.(or her) innocence need `not be  discussed.  Neither adultery and of one who is the cause for another com-
does this article purpose to answer the question mitting adultery. The  first man, who put away his
whether, one may seek and obtain a divorce. Some, we wife except for fornication, c,a,useth  his wife to com-
know, are of the opinion that a divorce is never per-         mit adultery. The second man,  whq marrieth her thaD
missibkz.  They believe that what God :hath joined to- is put away, tiommitlteth  adultery. And this, of course,
gether man may not and cannot put asunder. Death implies that the woman,' who, when put away re-
only can make separation. Only then, when God Him- marries, also is guilty of adultery.
self breaks the bond, is remarriage permissible. `Of             In  Mati. 19  :9, on the other hand, Christ speaks
course,  tthis also applies to the "Innocent Divorced of three parties who are guilty of adulitery.  The first
Party". He (or she) may certainly remarry when the                                                                `.
                                                              man who, having put away his wife except for form-
,other party dies.                                            cation, marrieth another, and the second man who
      This need not deter us, however, from expressing marrieth her  w.hich is  .put away are `guilty of this
our opinion on the question mentioned above. We do sin. And the  $hird party  guility of adultery is, of
not believe that a divorce is never permissible. Rom. course, the woman who, having been divorced except
7 :2 and I ,Cor.  7 :lO are not applicable here and can- for fornication, remarries.
`not be quoted to s~ustain the :contention  that a divorce       At one of the Christian  R,eformed"synods,  when .
is never permissible. For, although these passages do this question was being treated, these  p-ages  of
teach that the  wioman is bound to her husband as long        the Saviour were  expIained  in  su+ a way that all
as the husband liveth, do they also  teach that this three parties, of whom Jesus declares that they com-
is *true in t,he event of fornication? Fornication is not mit adultery if they marry again, can marry without
discussed in either Rom.  7:2 or I Cor. 7  :lO. The rendering themselves guilty of the sin of adultery.
passages in Scripture w,hich do throw light on the ques-         Their reasoning was as follows. Firstly, theI first
tion whether an innocent divorced party may remarry man puts away his wife but is therefore not as yet
are Matt. 5 :32 and 19 :9. These passages, in distinction guilty of  aduItery. df now he should immediately
from Mark  10:11,12-  and Luke 16  :18,  ,throw light marry another he would be guilty of  adulitery.  But,
exactly on :this ques.tion  because they speak by impli- the reasoning continues, another possibility presents
cation' of the "Innocent Divorced Party", the party di- itself. He waits until his divorced wife marries an-
vorced saving for the cause of fornication. Although other. This remarriage of the wife would  free the man
i!t is true that man may not put asunder what God tith        and permit him to marry again, inasmuch as his wife
joined together, he nevertheless  &n and does put would free the man and permit him to marry again,
asunder. The words of Jesus in Matt.  5:32, "But I inasmuch `as his wife married another and there-
say unto you, That whosoever shall  pub away his by committed adultery. Secondly, the second man,
wife, saving for the cause of fornication," surely imply should he marry the divorced wife.  immediatel~y
that it is permissible to  puit away one's wife in the .upon her being divorced by her first husband
event of fornication (and this means that a man without waiting for him ;to marry another, becomes
legally divorces his wife). This, of course, does not guilty  of adultery iriasmch  as the woman was as yet
necessarily mean  <that  .as soon as fornication occurs legally bound to her first husband. But if now the
the other must seek a divorce, Ithe spirit of Christ.ian      second man  aIso should wait until the first man again
love must seek to overcome (and can overcome) and marries, he is at libenty  to marry the divorced party
pardon also this sin. Yet, so Jesus implies, the sin without committing the sin of adultery.               This con-
of fornication, can be a cause for divorce. However, clusion is based .upon  a translation of the text which
our subject forbids us .tb enter into ithis phase of the would read : "And whoso  marrieth her when she is put
problem. We are at present concerned only with the away", which translation is understood in .the sense:
"Innocent Divorced Party" and his {or her} right to immediately after she is put away and before the first
remarry.                                                      &man  ,ha.d married another woman. Iit is claimed that.
      In Matt. 5 :32 we read : "But I say unto you, That thati part of the text which reads, "And whoso  marrieth
whosoever shall. put away his wife, saving for the her which is put away", permits this translation.
cause of fornicaittion, causeth her to commit adultery:       Thirdly, this also renders it possible for the divorced
and whosoever shall `marry her that is divorced  com-         wife  ti marry again without committing adultery.


                                      T H E - S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             43

She has been divorced by her husband. If now she had put away his wife on unbiblical grounds, mighft
should marry again before her husband remarries she remarry immediately but  ithat the divorced woman
becomes  guilty  of adultery. But  <has her husband mar- must await at least three months. Consequently, it!
ried another, she is free to marry again and is not was impossible to marry this woman immediately upon
guilty of the sin of  aduhery.                                  her divorce, for the simple reason that she was com-
   Is it not strange, when viewing these interpretations pelled by Jewish law to wait at Ieast three months.
of  ithe words of the Saviour,  thalb an explanation of The interpretation of the text, that only then adultery
the text should lead to a conclusion which very evi-            was commited  when a man married this divorced w-
denltly  teaches the very  opposi,te of what Christ in- man immediately wihhout  -waiting for her first hus-
tended to teach us? Let muus  then look at ithese inter- band to marry again, is itherefore impossible. How-
pretations a little more closely.                               ever, it is very doubtful  w*hether  one may read the
   The assertion fhat tbt first man is rut liberty to above translation i,nto the text: And whosoever shall
marry another is surely *in conflict with the clear ex-         marry her when she is divorced. Literally we read
iplanation  of the text. We do not read anywhere in here : "And whosoever, if (or, in case) he should
tie text that he commits  ad,ultery when he marries marry the one having been  ,divorced,   commibtath
.immediately,  hence before his wife marries another. adultery." The natural explanation of  *the text is:
We do read: "Whosoever shall put away his wife, If anyone puts away his ,wife and marries another,
saving for fornication, causeth her to commit adult- and another man then marries the divorced party, ithis
ery". It does not make a particle of difference when or second man commits adultery and also the woman is
under which circumstances be should marry another, guilty of  ad,ultery.  And, finally, this erroneous ex-
he.commists  ad,ultery. Yea, he not only commits adult- planation proceeds from the assumption t-hat forni-
ery, but, according to the text in  Ma&t.  5, he also causes    &on and adultery have  ,the same meaning in the
his wife to commit a,dultery. He is guilty of a double text. If  the first man marries another, thus is the
sin. He himself commits adultery. And he is also the reasoning, he commits fornication and fornication is
cause of the sin of adultery as commitbed by his adultery and adultery is a legal basis for divorce and
wife if she should marry another. Is i.t not a rather remarriage with another. And the divorced wife is
strange reasoning, whereby the man, who causes his then free  to  reimarry  if the  fmst man has married
wife to commit this sin, now in  iturn becomes in- another  woma,n. Does  this interpretation not  reason
nocent of this sin when she  marres  another? The that when the first man marries another he commits
man causes his wife to sin and that sin of his wife adultery? Does this act of ithe first man not liberate
renders him innocent! Hence, we may safely  con- his wife and permit her to marry anotker  ? Or, does
$clude that the man who divorces his wife, except for this act of the first man not permit his wife to ask
fornication, and marries another is guilty of adultery. for a divorce?  .Is not fornication (according  if;0 the
Never may such a marriage be condoned or recognized text) the Scriptural ground for divorce? We read, do
.by the church.' The second and  .tthird  instances belong we not: That whosoever shall put away his wife,
xtogether,  inasmuch as the second ma.n marries the wife saving for fornincation,  committeth adultery? Forni-
who had been divorced.                                          cation, is therefore a ground for divorce. Hence, forni-
   The question is simply this: May a divorced wo- cation and adultery are regarded as identical in mean-
man, put away by her husband saving for fornication, ing. But, this is evidently not the rtrue interpretation
marry again? Or, one can ask the'question more signi- of the text. The text  distinlguishes  between fornication
ficantly: Is she not at liberty to marry another if the and adultery. Fornication refers ~to a living of sexual
man, who putt her away, marries another? The above fellowship of one of the married parties with a
interpretation of the words of Christ, given at a  syn0.d stranger. Adultery refers to the breaking of the
of the Christian Reformed Churches, answers this marriage bond. Not adultery but fornication is given
question in the affirmative.                                    in tihe text as a possible basis for separation or divorce.
   We must remember that the above erroneous con-                  Hence, we  conclud,e that, if there be no fornication,
clusion was based upon the assumption that that part a man and his wife must be regarded as united,
of the text, translated, "And whosoever shah marry commit adultery when the one lpets away the other.
her that is divorced", can be translated so as to read:         This means that he having put away his wife commits
And whosoever shall marry her when she is  ,divorced.           adultery, and she having been put away also commits
Of course, even if this translation were  possimble,  it adultery, if she marry another. Hence, if the woman
would still not be identical with the  readitng  : Im- who has been put way be innocent, having been di-
mediately  upon being divorced. And one can surely vorced by her husband except for fornication, she
not read into  ithe text: If  `the first man have not may never marry again. If she marry again, she
remarried. In his connection it is well to bear in mind commits adultery. His adultery ,does  not render her
khatr it was a law among the Jews that a man, who free. Even so, however, the question may arise: But if

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

the man divorces his wife except for fornication and ~peace  and happiness, true freedom, are to be found in
marries another, does he then not commit the sin of the sphere where the Word and Law of God in Christ
fornication? Does he then not live the life of matri- orders and controls. So the psalmist declares: "I will
mony with a woman with whom he is not legally walk art liberty for I seek Thy precepts," and again,
married, according to Scripture? Scripture regards his "Great peace have *they  which love Thy law".
first marriage as  ,binding.  Yet he lives the  hfe of          Moreover, though Christian  li,berty is subjected to
matrimony with anoither. To this we answer that the the law of IChris+ in the Scriptures, it is nevertheless
words of Christ presuppose exactly this state of affairs,    under no obligation respecting external things which
for we read of a man who, having divorced his wife in themselves are indifferent, things which we may in-
illegally, marries another. Nevertheless, Christ con- differently sometimes use, and at other times omit
tinues: And whosoever shall marry the one who has them.  1~ is necessary that we have a ready knowledge
been divorced committeth adultery. This implies, does of  ithis aspect of Christian liberty, lest we fall into
it no, that also the one divorced committeth adultery. endless superstitions and lose all tranquillity of con-
Hence, the "Innocent Divorced Party", we conclude, science. Some in the Church of Paul's day had evi-
may not marry again, as long as her legal husband            dently fallen into the error .&at it was wrong to eat
(or legal wife)  liveth.                                     meat and therefore arte  rherbs, while others believed
                                             H. V.           that they might eat all things. One man esteemed one
                                                             day above another, while another esteemed every day
                                                             alike. To each of these  cIasses the apostle, exhonts:
                                                             "Lek  every man be fully persuaded ,in his own mind.
                                                             He ,that ,regardeth  the day, regardeth it unto the Lord ;
          The Conscientious Objector                         and he  that regardeth  .not the day, to the  ,,Lord he
                                                             doth not regard it.  CHe  that eateth, eateth to the Lord,
      The expression "Conscientious Objector" hardly for he giveth God thanks; ,and he that eateth not, to
needs a definitiun.  Most  everyone is well aware of what the Lord he eat&h  not, and giveth God thanks." And
it implies. Especially  is this true in these days of war    further he states : "I know, and am ,persuaded  by the
in which many are placed before the questions: What          Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself,
is right? and, What is wrong? What must I do? and, but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to
How shall I do it?                                           him it is unclean." And further: "For  ithe kingdom
      Though the term  coul,d be applied in a general of God is not  meat and drink ; but righteousness, and
way to all who object to certain things or acts for con- peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." And finally:  "Hast
science sake, `@it is more particularly used in times of thou faith? `have it to thyself before  #God. Happy
warfare such as the nation and the world is now con- is he that condemneth not (himself in that thing which
ducting. One reads and hears often now-a-days of the he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he
conscientious objector.                                      eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is
      However, no matter whether we speak of it in a not of faith is sin"..                   "
general sense or particularly, the fact must be esta-           We learn from this brief discussion on christian
blished that in either case we have to deal tith the liberty therefore in the first place that all christian
important subject of  ,c.hristian  liberty. And if we liberty must be  control(led  by law, the law of God
understand the conception `Christian Liberty' correctly,     in Christ. As a bird in the air and the fish in the
i;t is a liberty which is circumscribed by  th,e law  -of    water are free so long as they abide in the law of
.Christ. In other words, there can be no  Ichristian         God in the air and `the water, so the christian is free
freedom other than that which is ordered and  cun- so long as he abides in the law of Christ. And secondly,
trolled by the law of Christ Jesus our Lord.  I All that &hat law, as such, has no respect unto things in
liberty which is not governed by this law will be re- themselves indifferent. Sin is not in things . Though
volution and anarchy in a must  liiteral sense; a liberty the law prescribes our conduct in the use of things,
also in which the conscience is activated by the law it dues not have respect to the `things themselves. And
of sin. This pseudo liberty we wirtness  in the period therefore, finally, we conclude that to him who thinketh
of the French revolution which was instigated by a that it is sinful  to do a  centain  thing which in itself
man like Rousseau who advocated the liberty in which is not sinful, to him it is sin, for he sins against his
all the decency and order prescribed by the Word of conscience. Or to paraphrase the words of the apostle:
,God were barriers of restraint, and a liberty in which `It is not sinful  to eat meat, but if you think it evil
individualism could come to its own. This pagan free- to do so, and you nevertheless do eat meat, you have
dom, though it gives free reign to the lusts and pas- violated your christian liberty, and you are damned if
sions of sinful men, is a freedom without restraint, and you eat'.
such freedom is revolting. On the other hand, true             Nqw what does this have to do  with 8he conscien-


                                   -    T H E   S T A N D A R ' D   B E A R E R                                      4.5

tious objector? To answer this question, we must bear fa& that the Scriptures plainly state that God has ap-
in mind that we conceive of such an objector' as one        pointed governments to wield the sword in the civil
who purports himself to be* a Christian, standing in state within its own borders and with respect to its
tlhe liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. He OWL citizens, or against other governments as in the
has therefore been delivered from the law of sin and case of war. And God has also commanded the citizens
death, and walks now in principle according to the under that government to obey unconditionally the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. His mind and sword power over them in all ikhings that pertain to
heart have been renewed, and therefore he also has a the domain of that government. One may not con-
renewed conscience which al,lows  or disallows, Yvhich      scientiously object to participation in warfare when
condones or condemns, which says go'ahead or stop, the law over him demands complete submission to
but always according to  the will of God revealed in the order of his government. His conscience, should
Christ in the Scriptures. Walking in the light ,he he nevertheless object, is  not true, because it conflicts
necessarily will be a conscientious objector to all that with the law of God. The Christian is not morally re-
opposes that light. He will, for example, when he hears sponsib1.e for the justness or unrighteousness of a war
God's name blasphemed, raise his voice in protest, declared by his  govei-nmenb   Netiher  is he responsible
and  ref,use  the' companionship of  those who violate for any act performed in strict obedience to the govern-
this commandment of God. He will, `,when the itemp-         ment as in the case of mi,li;tary  service. But the chris-
tation arises, as it did with Joseph, to `commit forni- tian is morally responsible to obey the law of God
cation and adultery, refuse and exclaim, `how then can which demands obedience to ithe call of his govern-
I do this great wickedness and sin against God?' Hav- ment to fight. Should the christian doubt the justness
ing been delivered from the  curse of the law, he has a of the war his government wages, he  (can have no
delight in the law of God after the inward man.' He conscientious objection to fighting in obedience  1t0 his
is a conscientious objector to all  that opposes that government, but he may lodge a well-grounded protest
new principle of life. His christian liberty consists with his government stating why he deems the war
herein that he knows that he has been delivered from unjust. Yet  ithough  it is his privilege to judge the
the bondage of sin and death by the perfect obedience righteousness or unrighteousness of the war, a thing
of Jesus Who now calls him  to walk in all good works most  difEicul6  for one not acquainted with all the facts
according to the law of love. +Ie is free therefore to and purposes of his government, it is not his privilege
serve his God once more antithetically by saying `yes' to disobey the call to arms. For God wi'll have every
to God and `no' to darkness,  ithe  devi'l,  and the lie. soul in  s,ubjection  unto the higher powers who bear
Every christian in this sense is truly a conscientious ,the sword in the name of God. The law of Christian
objector.                                                   liberty binds the Christian also to ithis law of God.
   But then, it must be equally plain that the Christian       The same applies to the matter of Sunday labor in
objects to nothing that does not mililtate  against the defense industries. One. may be convinced that all
principles of  chrisian  liberty, and certainly, he  ,will iabor on the Sabbath is a violation of the fourth corn-
%take care that he objects not to any of ,the ordinances mandment. Jesus Himself  tauiht us that works of
of God, even though these may seem to conflict with necessity not only may  but must be performed on  ithe
his feelings. He will have to judge all  ithings in the Sabbath. Add to this the fact that should the govern-
light of the law of Christ and conform to that which ment demand such Sunday labor in a national emer-
is right according to that law.                             gency,  the Christian citizen again is duty bound to
   This applies also to the question of participaiting obey his government. In either case the Christian may
in the present war now raging. One's conscience may have no objection which ,violates the law of God in the
tell him that it is evil to  mmder.  In this case the       Scriptures. His conscience, should  iit object, militates
conscience is true and responds truly in accord with against the ordinance of God and may not be relied
the law of liberty. But if one's conscience should say upon.
that all killing is murder, therefore I may not take            However, in connection with this matter of Sunday
Fart in the death of a murderer, that conscience is not labor, we have something to add. It is our conviction
true, for it conflicts with the law which commands that much of this Sunday labor for defense is not
that all evil must be punished and he who sheds man's by order of the government at all. Industrialists and
blood, his blood must be shed. If one therefore should manufacturers of defense goods have taken it upon
conclude ithat he may never kill because all killing is themseIves  to order a seven day week, at least many
!--urder, he would forever make it imr,ossible to realize of them have. Though  ithe powers that be have hinted
frhe ordinance of God to kill murderers. It must be that war emergency would eventually demand a seven
plain that his conscientious objection is resting on false day week, it  ha; :lot yet become evident to us that the
premises and not on the law to which he is subjected law has been clamped down on every war plan?. This,
in  Xhk sphere of Christian libetry. Add to this the of course, makes it difficult for the Christian to decide


c


          46                                   T H E   STANDARb   B E A R E R -   - -  -----.--

          whether the order to work on Sunday is government           We will attempt, however, by citing some represent-
          ordained or an order issued by selfish, covetous  indus-    ative Ipassages to sketch the Scriptural pattern of all
          etrialists  motivalted  by lucrative principles. Because of ;t;hings, and thus designate the place which ,tlhe "shak-
          this, we have advised Christian labor men who gues-         ing of all things" occupies herein.
          tioned ithe matter of Sunday labor and were not sure
          that the order came from the government, to make it Definition of the  "Tams"
          a matter of conscience. In other words, should the             The Bible in many places speaks of "all things".
          Christian  do.ubt  the authenticity of his orders to work Sometimes it employs  thi,s  very term, and then again
          on the Sabbath, and he felt that he did wrong by            it speaks of- that for which this term stands. Thus
     .    working, he may not sin against his conscience. And         in Gen. 1  :l we read of  `<heaven and earth". This is
          it is our opinion that in every case where no immediate     significanlt,  for it points to the scope of God's re-
          emergency exists and ithe government does not demand demptive work in His Son. (Certainly also Genesis
          it, the Christian must be a conscientious objector to       1 is "dated"  ~Christologi~cally)  . This appears especially
          Sunday labor. And as  to choosing jobs in which  so-        beautifully. in Col. 1:.16  where we read: "for in Him
          called works of necessity must be performed, such as        were aa things created, in the heavens and upon the
          policemen, firemen, switch-board operators, trainmen, earth, things  visible  and invisible, whether thrones
          etc., the conscientious objector to Sunday labor does or dominions or principalities or powers;  all  ti&gs
          righIt in leaving tbem well enough alone or rather have ,been created through Him and unto -Him." The
          leaving them to be performed by those `who have no          same is  ,taught  in the "Prologue" of the  ,Gospel  of
          religious scruples concerning %he Sabbath.                  John. And in Ephesians 1  :lO we'have that illucidating
                                                      M. s.           passage an the Divine plan and purpose with "all
                                                                      things".
                                                                         It is also quite clear from  it;he Word of God, "all
                                                                      things" are a Cosmos, a Universe, a well arranged
                                                                      whole. And also this is an aspect of God's appraising
                     The Shaking Of All Things                        eye, when *He saw that all things were very good.
                                                                      ,Gen. 1:31. For this is nob only evident from the nar-
          Some  P~e.8imin.u~  Observations                            rative of  Gen. 1 telling of the order of creation in
                That all things are indeed shaken in the events' ithe successive days, but is also clear from Eph. 3:15
          transpiring before our very eyes there can be little which speaks of the "family" the "fatherhood" in
          doubt. That the times in which we live are stark heaven and  on earth, which passage evidently has
          reality is a truth which also those, outside of the reference to the piace of each Icreature in rthe w,hole  of
          believers in Christ and His Word, must admiit.              #things,  by virtue of its increated nature. This is veri-
                The attentive student of current events, while not fied, as far as the angel world is concerned, in Jude 6,
          reckoning with the "sure Word of  pr,ophecy,  neverthe- where  the writer speaks of the "own habitation" which
          less asks where are `we, and whither are we bound. the wicked angels have left. The Archangel Michael
          He also `recognizes that history is more than the' mere understands his "habitation" and "durst not bring a
          enumeration of facts and happenings. He sees a  defln-      railing judgment" against Satan. On the okher hand,
          ite continuity everywhere. And so he attempts apart in Psal*m 8 we are taught that God also has determined
          from the revelation of God, ho construct a view of ithe     the bounds of man's habitation, and of  ,his future
          world and of life which is  comipatible  with the facts elevation. From this can be seen what Scripture in-
          as experienced. But, alas! the vision of the entire         tends to have us understand with the  "iterm" "all
          pattern, and the God-given meaning must always seem things".
          foolishness to him. Also today,  &he unbelieving student       When Scripture speaks of the "shaking up" of all
          of history is a "blind man leading the blind" with things it has reference to the breaking up of the esta-
          the inevitable consequence of all the misery and dis- Iblished  order of creation, as it has come to a certain
          illusionment  `chat it entails.                             development. The idea of "shaking up" presupposes
                But to the believing student of scripture there is that there is a well founded world-course. And that
          no disillusionment, for in "God's li,ght  he beholds the God as the "Almighty" violently shakes the established
          light". To `be sure, a.11 the details of history are nab order of this present creation  ito a chaotic mass. Only
          revealed  .to us in the "more sure prophetic Word", He who upholds all things  by the Word of His power,
          but the broad outlines of the pattern of history as de- causing all things to consist `in the Logos (Cal. `:17)
          creed by the Chief-Architeclit,  the Alpha and Omega of can really shake the universe.
          all things, are known to us in the "darkened glass".           And &his shaking is not along the lines of created
                All the data of scripture relevant to this subject ordinances, but is. a  Catastrophic4Shaking-Up.  It is
          cannot be discussed within the space  allotited  to us.     in a sense the breaking thru of the Wonder of God's


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          47

 grace, because it precedes the last miracle, the re-        Truth interprets His own Word as recorded in He-
 generation, the renewal of all things.                      brews 12:26'.  For there Sinai is expressly mentioned
    That all things are "shaken up" also implies that        and contrasted with Jerusalem unto which the New
 nothing is to be annihilated. Scripture teaches neither Testament church has come, because of the "blood that
th.e eternal continuance of the present order of things, speaketh better things than Abel".
nor their annihilation. The former was taught by the             The second "shaking" the "once more" of which
,Grecians  philosophers, the latter by anabaptists of IHaggai sepaks is also expIained by the writer of the
 every shade and color. Just as the sinful elect is not Hebrews in the above mentioned passage. It then has
 first erased out of existance,  and then created a new reference to the Catastrophic Shake-up of the Universe
~creature,  but the sinful creature is justified, sanctified, of which  we are told in .I1 Peter 3 :ll-13. `Peter here
 glorified, so also God  wih bring a glorified world out of speaks of the `heavens  b,eing  on fire shall be dissolved,
 the chaotic ruins of the world "shaken  ,u.p". This is      and elements melting with fervant heat". It is the
 suggested in such passages as Rom. 3  :ll and Phil.         same event referred to in Rev.  6:12-17  where  wiith
 3:21  which speaks of ithe positive, reconstructive side the Lamb's breaking of the "sixth seal" the sun, moon
 of all things as represented in man's glorified body.       and stars fall to the earth, and the physical universe
                                                             is "shaken up".
 Some Representative Texts                                       That' this is the ease further appears from  ithe
    The first passage of Scripture, a passage which fact, that Haggai speaks of it as lying in the future.
 because of  its historic setting, and New Testament Haggai, a contemporary prophet of  Zechariah, pro-
 interpretation, we consider  ,most  representative, is phesied after the  .babylonian   captivirty.  It will be a
 Haggai  2:6, 7. We quote: "For thus  saith Jehovh of "little while", when this shaking will take place. The
 Hosts : yet once more, it is a little while, and I will     time element must here be reckoned  aozording to
 shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the the "speed" of God, and not according to our human
 dry land ; and I will shake all nations,  and the precious experience and evaluation. Haggai alao presents this
 things of  all nations shall,  (come, and I will  fill this "second shaking" as introducing a new and here-to-fore
 house with glory, saith Jehovah of Hosts".                  unknown  glory of the "temple". And the Temple is
    A few remarks of an exegetical nature are here in symbolic of God dwelling with His people as the God
 order.                                                      of  infinite perfection, in  ,the beauty of holiness.  ,It
                                                             will be a house of greater dimension, as spoken of
    First of all, we call attention to the fact, that the    in  hhe visions of Ezekiel  40-48, and as realized in
 prophet Haggai here speaks of the shaking of "all the outpouring of  {the Spirit at Pentecost. Then there
 things". He expressly enumerates' them. He speaks of will be no more weeping at the sight of a "miserable
 "the heavens, the earth, the sea and the dry land". hut",  but  &he true joy of the feast of tabernacles.
 T,he "sea" and "dry land" are evidently a further Zerrubabel and Joshua, the Royal-Priesthood of God
 illucidation  of "earth". It is also clear that this must can take heart, for Jehovah of Host, the Lord who rises
 be understood in the most literal sense.                    to the battle (Numbers 10 :35 and Psalm 68 :l) will
    That the text distinguishes between a  twofofold         bring this about in the "shaking of all things". For it
 shak&g  of the earth. The Lord says  thhsb  He will will mean that the heirs of the kingdom will receive
 shake all things "yet once".' This presupposes that the heritage which shall not be shaken. Hebr.  12 :27.
 He had shaken the earth before. When we turn to                 There is according  to Scripture a definite reason
 the context we find  sugestred the shaking of the earth, for the greater shaking of all things, above the shaking
 at the voice of God "speaking" at Sinai. This is what       having taken place at Sinai. This is suggested by  cbn-
 the Lord has reference to when we read: `iaezording         text in Hebrews 12. This is what we would Cal41 the
 to the Word that I convenanted  when you came out of historical-revelational motive. We now live in the  dis-
 Egypt and my Spirit abode among you". This shaking pensakion  of the Spirit. God "has spoken to us in
 at Sinai must not, according to  ,HoIy Writ, be ascribed these last days through His Son" that is the keynote
 to some natural phenomena (as if anything ever in the whole epistle to the Hebrews. Greater and
 occurs in this world in this deistie sense) abut to the higher revelation also means greater flashing forth
 br,eaking  forth of the holiness and righteousness of of the lightning, voices, thunderings and earthquakes
 God who is a Consuming Fire ! So terrible was the from the throne of God's Majestey. In the dispensation
 sight that Moses said: "I  exceedingly fear and  trem-      of the Spirit the great day of the Iord assumes greater
b l e " . It was the herald, the trumpet- sound of the potentiality and actuality. Shall God be justified in
 pouring out of the vials of God's wrath upon all who judgment, then the catastrophic shaking must wait
 would not acknowledge Him that dwelleth between the till  "Last  time". The waiting of the judgment day
 Cherubim.                                                   is nut grace, but is the  culminabion  of the wrath of
     That was the first shaking. Thus the Spirit of God for the wicked.


._    *`--      58                                     T H E   STANDARD--B"E-ARER

                Some Conclusions From the Foregoing                                                Cqntribution
                      In the light of the foregoing we can make the fol-
                lowing observations:  `(l), In view of the wicked               Esteemed Editor:
                iwhether  they be  *viewed  under  lthe  aspect of their           At the last meeting of' the R. F. P. A. the Board
                individual life, or national constituency, the shake-up decided to inform the writer of "News from our
                of the universe, their  G&d-ordained  home it is the            Churches"  to write a  littIle more news  a';o'.t our
                rendering  desolarte of their home. This judgment be- ,Cnurches.
                gins at the house of God, where the light of God's                 Now as I have said and written before: If I  do
                revelation shown most brightly. See 1 Peter 4  :17.             not receive news, then I can't write it, and therefore
                Th.e order of judgment is  al,so note-worthy in Rev.            I would ask the different Consistories of our Churches
                11:1-3  where the temple of God is measured. For                in and around  about Grand Rapids: please send in
                rthese also the shaking up in wars and great conflicts          the news, so I can place it. It is much easier for me;
                and crises in history is the Divine "laughter" of Psalm and some of the readers like it better.
                2, having the nations in derision. In spite of their               There were a goodly number who took my  la&
                endeavors th,eir  sword is always against themselves. artlcle in the Standard Bearer wrong. It seems there
                This was typically the case with  &he Midianites whom is a misunderstanding. As you know, in the article,
                Gideon and his band slew (Judges 7  :22) and of the             I wrote on Defense and the Christian. Some were of
                Host who marched against Jerusalem in the days of               the opinion that it was my  ,contention  that a Chris-
                Jehoshaphat. (II Cron. 20 :22, 23). And this shaking tian might not work..on Sunday in a Defense faotory.
                of the nations now often is the deatrudion of nations              Now to remove that misunderstandinlg  I will write
                by their own swords.                                            in the English what I meant to explain in the Holland.
                       A remark of a practical nature may be inserted              It is my conviction that a civilian not only may,
                at this time. Should not the present conflict of nations but he is du*ty bound to work on Sunday ; strict de-
                in its broad scope be viewed as the trumpet sound of fense work in a defense factory.
                the final shaking of all things? The "issue" in this               We must never forget, times are abnormal We
                war is still the "glorification" of the temple of God., are in the midst of a terrible war, and soon it will ,
                All things must work together to that end. Let us               take thousands of our own boys. They must fight
                not be deceived, lest we forfeit our crown.                     regardless. Also on Sunday. You may say, they are
                      ' (2) Theologically it  must be said, that the great      drafted, and as long as the  Governmen(t  does not
                issue at stake is the "theodicy". God must be justified.        draft us, don't work on Sunday. Now, let the boys
                This is the prayer and hope of the "saints under the            do it (hey), and die with a  broomstiazk  in the hand
                altar" of the Zerrubabel-Joshua, King-Priestly peop?,e          instead of a gun.  -5Iave we forgotten  Ithose incidents of
                of God in the World.  It is the content of the testimony months gone by?
                of the. "Two Witnesses" of God in "Sackcloth during                We must not say, either, as some do, the Govern-
                [this entire dispensations". (Rev. 11)                          ment don't need it all, for there is a shortage of many
                       That this is the case, the wicked in the vision of things.
                Rev. 6  :l%-1'7  recognize. The great and powerful in the          Now, as I see it, then, ilt is no sin for a Christian
                earth, must give praise to the "God of heaven". Tphey           to work on Sunday, defense work in a defense factory,
                see that it is the great day of the wrath of God, and and he must not wait until the Government drafts him,
                that none can stand !                                           for a civilian in time of war becomes a soldier while
                        (3) And finally, it is the execution of the deovrees    he works in a defense factory, and the Government is
                of ,God which stand fast forever and ever in the way of         responsible for it and no& we.
                His  unsearchab,le  judgments. 0, ithe depth of the riches          If I am wrong, (and  aocording to some I am) let
                of His understanding and wisdom ! For out of Him and us have a friendly discussion in our  .Standard  Bearer.
                through Him and unto Him are all things !                       Th,en we get some more light on the subject.
                                                                ,G.  L .                                                    S. D. V.




                             Ye children of God's  covenant,                            * 0 Lord, remember me in grace,
                                  Who of His grace have heard,                                 Let me salvation see;
                             Foregt not all His wondrous deeds                            The grace Thou showest to Thy saints,
                                  And judgments of His word.                                   That grace reveal to me.


