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      3.48                                                                                                                 TIIE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

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        * . .                   .:.               E D I T O R   - Rev.  H. Hoeksema
                   Contributing editors--Revs. J. Blankespoor, A. Cammenga,                                                                                                                                                3.
       ,;  P, De Boer, J, D. de Jong, H. De Wolf, L. Doezema,
            . M. Grit&s,  C. Hanko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,                                                                                                                            The Itrue conception of the "`moment" against the
            `A. Petter,  M'.  Schipper, J.  Vanden  Breggen, H. Veldman,                                                                                                                     background of the counsel of God, makes it possible
            `<R. Veldman,  W.  Verhil, L. Vermeer, P. Vis, G. Vos,                                                                                                                           to give real meaning to history, according to Van Til.
            `and Mr. S; De Vries.                                                                                                                                                            For, according to this view, it is God's meaning thart .
            `Communications  relative to contents should be addressed                                                                                                                        is in all things. They do not. receive their meaning
        . . to REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand _                                                                                                                           from man, for "God's idea of Kmself is in re", and
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                   Communications relative to subscription should be ad-                                                                                                                     with God.  p`. 8.
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            ,.Gr+nd  Rapids, Mich.  All Announcements and Obituaries                                                                                                                             On this basis we can explain and maintain the real-
            _must be sent to the above address and will not be placed                                                                                                                        ity of the "posi(tive  and negative instance", good and
                   un!ess  the regular fee of ,$l.OO accompanies the notice.                                                                                                                 evil, and especially moral good and moral evil. They
                   ,.,                                      Subscription $2.50 per year                                                                                                      are historically real and have meaning, I exactly be-
      I: `Entered  am  second  clam  mail  a t   G r a n d   Rapids.  Michinsn                                                                                                               cause- they are viewed on the background of God's
                                                                                                                                                                                             eternal counsel, and because God controls all things.
                                                                                                                                                                                             "It is because. the reprobate is reprobated  tha!t his
                                                                                                                                                                                             sin must be given and can be given as the reason for
                                                                                                                                                                                             his lost estate. It  .is because the elect are  elected that
                                                                                  CONTENTS                                                                                                   salvation is `by faith alone. It is because of the ulti-
                                                                                                                                                                           Page              mately `uncondiltional' in God Ithat :the `conditional' of
      MEDITATIE  -                                                                                                                                                                           history has  meanmg." p. 10. In the light of God's
       ., LAA'I' UW WERK BLIJKEN! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145                                                        sovereign cuumsel we can also maintain the true cor-
            . .           .Rev. H. Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                                 re;lativeness  between the "positive and negative. in-
      EDITORIALS -                                                                                                                                                                           stance",  between good and evil. For God has freely
       *  ,C!CMMON  GRACE . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148                        determined that the evil should serve to bring out the
        _- THE HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  * . . . . .151                                                                                      good by contrast.         "The  probaltionary  command in
                             kev. H. Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                               paradise was based on this principle. Those who were
                                                                                                                                                                                             `elected to eternal #life, whose destiny was in God's plan
       `*. THE NEW SEPARATION FROM THE HEATHENISM                                                                                                                                            fully determined upon as being in  .,the direction of the
                                OF MIDIA  '
                                                                 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*..................................*.....* 154              good, were yet threatened  width eternal misery. Their
                     MARTYRDOM UNDER THE ROMAN EMPERORS . . . . . . . . 155                                                                                                                  moral act as a conditional act required the inclusion
                            Rev. G. M. Ophoff.                                                                                                                                               of this  `threat'. On the other hand those wha were
                     VERMOGENDE ALLE  DINGEN . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .158                                                            not elected  ~to eternal life, whose destiny was in  G~d's
                            Rev. W.  Verh2                                                                                                                                                   plan fully determined upon as, bei,ng in the direction
                                                                                                                                                                                             of ev%l, `were yet placed before the conditional promise
                     GOD'S JUDGMENTS AND WAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160                                                          of eternal life. Their act of disobedience, to. be real
                            Rev.  ,H. Veldman                                                                                                                                                disobedience, required  *heir  confro$ation   wilth  moral
      `CTJRRENT   E V E N T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . *..* . . . . . . . *.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162                                     glory as lthe reward of moral virtue'. The `Ithreat'  of
                            Rev.  1,. Doezema
                                       .,                                                                                                                                                    eternal punishment to the elect and the `promise of
                                                                                                                                                                                             eternal life to Ithe non-elect stand on the same  epistemo-
                     LUTEER'S QUEST FOR JUSTIFICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163                                                                                       logical level." p. 10.
                            Rev. J. A.  Heys.                                                                                                                                                    On this attitude of God and  `His dealing with
                     LET'S PRESERVE BALANCE . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
            II                                                                                                                                                                               "the elect" and  `%he reprobate" in Adam,  Vali  Til
                          Mr. B. Veldkamp                                                                                                                                                    has more to say in a later connection. Before  we
                                                                                                                                                                                             call  ait,tention  to this, however, it is necessary to
                     INGEZONDEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . .162    take cognizance of the distinction he i.ntroduces  into
                            Mr. H. D. J.                                                                                                                                                     \the "Moment",. We will quote him literally. In order
                                                                                                                           -                                                                 to understand his meaning the reader may take fo?
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     i  .,.,


                                                                                                                             /      j      .          .
                                              I                                                                                    . :i --
                                     T%&"  ` S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                               .,.1.-  I.    _-  -1%9-
                                                                                                                       ,,.  a.
                                                                                                                 I."                             /
granted that by "moment" Van Til means all the               destined from before the Moment  (h&n-y,  IS.IH:.) as'
events of ,history from the beginning to the consum- such, and require not one but fwo important  Mo~&s,
mation.  .He writes:                                         for their realization. They are good works based 031:
    "But wh have yet to reach athe climax of' our diffi- the historical rejection  ,as well. as on the  histori&,
culties wilth respect to [the possi,ble significance  of the acceptance of sin. The first  Momenlt  speakq,.af  the
Moment (history, H.  I&). The Moment (history, historical acceptance ; the second Moment,. of the, his-
H-H.)  is really a series of Moments (related histories? torical rejection of evil. The one is incomple.`e ,with-.
H-H.). The Moment must be  subdiv,ided  into Moment out  the other. In order to clarify  &he nature  of'the,
A and Moment B. Hence the Christian  correlaltivity-         connecting link between  Moment A and  .*Moment   B as
idea (the idea that good and evil are so related, ac- subsidiary to the  Moment  .in general we must proceed
cording to God's counsel,  #that evil, by contrast, serves to one more step of subdivision.  Moment  `a,., and.
,to bring out the good, [H.H..) must. be carried into this Moment   ,b, are representative of  the ordinary moments.,
Moment-by-Moment relationship.  Indeed,  the  cor-           (here the term has a new meaning, it seems lto me,:
relativity-idea itself (would be incomplelte  wilthout this eH.H.) of daily human experience., Just  ,as we  sub+:,
Moment-by-Moment relationship. And without the divide U+e Moment that is&istory as such, `(here Van:
completion of the correlativity-idea the Moment (his-       Til identifies  t7Ee  Moment with  rhistory,   H.H.)  iota
Itory, H.H.) would have no significance. Moment A Moment A an.d Moment B, so now we must subdividce,
without Moment B (history in the state of original Moment A and Moment B into moments a, b, c, `,. :' . .
righteousness in paradise, and history under ein and of ordinary human experience. If we are to deal with,
grace? H.H.) is incomplete.       The general Moment lthe `universal' or law of  hisltory we need  aIli these.
`(history, H.H.) includes both.. The question then is distinotions,"  pp. 11, 12.                                      r,(<  .:!I':
as to the Moment by Moment relationship (ie. the re-            As I have stated before, all  ,+&is  .is not  exa&l,y'
lationship. between Adam, the probationary command,         lucM, the :difXculty being that Van, Til's  contents'.or
lthe fall, on the one hand.; ,Christ, election and reproba- &not&ion of  rthe term "Moment" appears to be rather
tion,  salvaltion and damnation, on t.he other hand? changeable. But. the general purpose of this. part- of ~
H.H.) And on this point there are, as is to be ex- his reasoning is to show the meaning of  the Christian.
pected,  ,only  two answers.. The Christian answer is correlativicty-idea.  He himself states this as follows;
based on  *the presupposition of  lthe Christian necessity "The individual (Adam, Christ,  HH.)  can  influe-w
concepit  God has determined by his free counsel on the nature of the universal (the human nalture,  H.H.)  :
the eternal destiny both in ma.luy  (ma&m,  of course,      and the universal  (the human  .nature,   HJH.)  can in-
H.H.) and in bonqm partem  of all his mural creatures.      fluence the nature of the i.ndividual  (all men, the ele$,,
(i.e. predestination unto eternal evil and  &ernal good, +he reprobate, H.H.) .
1H.H.). Apparently without differenltiation  he places          The significance of all Ithis for %ommon gra@.as  . .
all  thjese  moral creatures before the probationary com- conceived by Van Til becomes evi,dent when he. applies
mand. We say apparently wilthouit  differentiation be- this philosophy to God's counsel in relation lto adual
cause it was not really  wilthont  differentiation. More history as revealed to us in the Scriptures : to,Adam,in
Moments (one could almost use the term "dispensa- the state of righteousness,  Ithe probationary command,
tions"  ,here, H.H.) were to follow the probationary all men .in kheir relaltion in Adam; and in him. t%God's.
Mom&t (history, dispensation,  H.H;) . In  particular       .command,  God's attitude to Adam, and to all men:,i,n;
,one Moment, the? Moment of ithe redemptive and re-         him, before the fall and after the fall,;  Ghri& and.
prob?tionargri,l~~-~~~s  a  correot  term?  H..H.) work of redemption in Him, election and  sreprob.ationr  the
Christ was to  foliuw  the probationary Moment. And general "offer" of salvation, and God's favorable atti- J+
tt$ later Moment was to be related to the earlier tude to all men. For it is to these tthat Van T.iI %~plf~+
Moment. Both were means to the" .6nal end as planned bhis basic principles of the philosophy of  hist.ory,as  laid
gby God.    Both Moments operate against  Ithe back- :down in the first part of `his work. O.ne  w.ould   expeo:
ground ,of .th$,basic  universal of the counsel of God. %h.&, having started from a  *broad   basis,.,,and,   hav&g-L
They bve significance  in relationship to one another recognized  Ithe fact that the question of  %ommpnc
because of ithis general background of the counsel of $race"  really concerns the problem of .history,i~~e7~~,
God. Without  rthis general  ,background   $hey   wou,ld    l&ion  to God in all its implications, Van Til;would,~lso
be utterly isolated and therefore have no meaning. build a broad superstructure, and be concerned w&h
The moral differential of the probdionary  command khe problem of common grace  tin its  comprehlensiye
required lthe inter  Moment, a la!ter Moment also oper-     asp&,  However, this is not the case. i When he, ap-,
attive  before the counsel of God. Believers have been plies his principles of the philosophy of l$tory  fdevel-
chosen in Christ before the. foulndation  of the world aped   in the first  pa&  of  h,is  <book  to  tie  $.&ltion  of
that they `should be holy .and. without blame ,before       "common Igrace", he  after  all concerns himself `only  :
Him in  lo&, The good  works"of  believers were  gre- with  -the narrow question whether there `is a  con&&i


                                      T,HE S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                   - . . . I

attitude of God  $0  ithe eleot and  reprobate  in this act of the second Adam this became, in the case of the
world, the question of "the  ithree   points".    And he elect a redeemed human nature. . . . No ordinary
argues that befoqe  the fall all men, elect and reprobate,    historical individual, a, b, c, could change rthe human
in Adam were the objects of a common favor of God;            nature made sinful by the first  representsvtive  indi-
fthat after the fall all men became the object of a com-      vidual. . . .    If the Moment as such was to have
mon wrath, even so that God "hated all men", elect significance, Moment B, in which the divine represent-
and reprobate ; and that, hherefore,  there must be a ative  ~Individual  changed sinful  ,human  nature, had
certam  "commonness" in God's  attirtude  of favor  *to       to follow Moment A, in which  [the human represeaL
elect and reprobate to the end of time.                       ative changed the original good human nature." p. 14.
   We are not now  criticising  his view. We are                 On p. 62:
trying to show how Van  Til applies his philosophy               . . . ."When history is finished ,God  no longer has
of `the "Moment"  lto  tthe question of common graze. ,any kind of favor toward the reprobate. They still
As far as I can see, he does `not place himself ,before       exist and God has pleasure in their existence,, but
lthe question of the value and significance of "the not in lthe faot of their bare existence. God has pleas-
Moment" with respect to the final fruit and consum- ure in theP historically defeated  existence. . n . There-
mation of all  ithings. He deals  ,especially   wiith  Adam fore God no longer in any sense classifies him in a
and all men  .i.n him. Let me quote a few more passages generality with the elect. It was only at an earlier
in  th,is connection.                                         date before the consummation of itheir  wicked  &riving
   "The Christian idea of correlativity in lthe Moment was made complete that God even in a save classified
finds concrete historical expression in the idea of repre-    him with the elect. . . . When God first spoke to
Isentation. I,t was because of the true correlativity  in Adam he did so as the representative of all men. . ,. .
the Moment that Adam could represent the whole hu- When he fell all men  became  sinners;  ithey became in
man race. He, as  `an individual, could change the nature Adam  Uie objects  ,of God's  ,wrath. . . . It was by
of the universal called human n&ure. This human na- the same negative  a& to the same `offer' that  all men
ture was created good. Ylet as such it was amendable to ,lost  the favor of God and became the objects of ::he
change by the action of the individual. It was not that `common' wrath of God. . .  ,. The elect of God are
abstract eternally unchangeable something which, on always the objeats of favor in the ultimate sense. . . .
tihe principles of Parmenides,  ilt should be. If  ir: had Then the eleot became sinners in Adam and as sinners
cbeen such, no historical action of any individual could the object of God's wrath. .  ,. . Thus the elect, to-
have modified  ,it. Man was perfect, but yet able to gether  witi the reprobate are objects of Gods' wrath."
sin when first he came from the hand of God. On the              Again and again Van Til refers rto the "comman-
other hand human nature was not amendable 50 lchange Ifless" between the elect and the reprobate  ithat existed
by the action of  every individual.  If it  .had been  irt in paradise. According to him, both the elect and
would have been no univtmal  at all, and would there- reprobate performed good action in Adam  `up to a
fore have had no influence on individuals. . . Scripture centain   p&t. "There was not only (a) commonness
speaks of Adam, the first historical individual, who of mere existence. There was (b) commonness of
could change the universal of human nature in such a official capacity. There was (c) commonness of good
.decisive  manner that all later historical individuals action in official capacity. Thus there was  genuSrue
were born with an'evi2 character for which they are yet commonness in goad up Ito a certain point between
held immediately responsible. All historical  indivi.duals    believers and non-believers. There was a genuine
who came after Adam are guilty as well as polluted commonness in evil up to a point after the fall. There
before God. . . .        This representative action would is no reason wlhy there should not be genuine common-
be impossible on any basis but that of  correlativiity ,ness up  Ito a  poinit throughout the course of history
between the historical universal and the historical as  ,long  as the consummaltion  of wickedness has not
tparticular  as based on  Ithe counsel of Gad back of been reached." p. 64.
history.    There was a true universality into which ithe        One more  quoltation: "We need not hesitate to
first individual was born and  Ithis true universality affirm then that  iln  tie beginning God loved mankind
was amendablh  t.o change by the first individual be- in  ~general.            That was before mankind had sinned
cause he was the representative individual." p. 13.           against God.      A little  l&r God hated  makind  in
    Further:                                                  general. . . . So the elect and reprobate are under
   3 is only on ,a Christian ,basis then that progress a 4commm  wath."  p. 95.
is possible. The action of the second Adam was mean!,            This may be cons3dered  to give a fair idea of the
in the counsel of God, to follow the action of the first      way Van Til applies his conception of the Moment
Adam.. There was first a ,good  human nature. Then and  correlativitty   .in the Moment to the problem of
through the action of the  first Adam rthis good human common  `grace. Next time, the Lord willing, we will
pature  <became  a sinful human nature, Through  &he offer our criticism on this point.                  H,  H,


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          161

                                                              resurrection of Jesus from the dead was a well estab-
        The Hope Of The Resurrection                          lished  facit,  corroberated  by many witnesses, whose
                                                              testimony that they had seen Him after the resurrec-
   What Christian,  who is at all acquainted  with the        tion cannot very well be gainsaid. And Paul himself
Bible, when he hears of 1th.e resurrection of rthe dea,d,     could testify that he had become a witness of the
does not at once thi.nk of that mighty resurrection song      risen Lord. And  rthe apostle concludes  (this section:
that is  ithe contents of the fifteenth  chap:er  of first    "Therefore. . . .so we preach, and so ye believed."
Corinthians.?    Not, indeed, as if  :that chapter were       HOW then could some of them say that  (there is  no
the only Scriptural passage that speaks of the resurrec-      resurrection of the dead, and argue, probably, that
ltion: there are many others. Often  the Lord makes           the whole idea of a resurrection is absurd? For, to  ,be
mention of it. More than once He foretold His own sure, if the sweeping statement  tthat there is no resur-
resurrection ,on the thind day. To lthe sister of Lazarus rection of the dead be true, it follows that one must
that came ito meet Him after her brother's death, He          also deny the reality and truth of lthe resurreotion  of
says : "I am the resurrection ,and the life: he that 1Ghrist.   Burt if Christ is not raised, all our faith is
believoth  in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live :    #vain : we are still in our sin. But Christ is raised, and
And whosoever liveth and believeth  in me shall never         therefore, also the  resurreution  of His people is an
die." Solemnly He assures His people: "Verily, verily,        established truth, the object of a sure hope. For the
I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when risen Lord has become the  firstfruilts  of them that
the dead shall hear the voice of Ithe Son of God: and slept, and they shall surely follow Him in the glorious
they that hear shall live. John 5  :25. And again:            resurrection. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming in which shall all be made alive. But each enters the resurrec-
all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall tion glory in his own order:  Christ is first, for He
come  fonth  ; they that have done good, unto the resur- is the  firstfrui&s ; afterwards come they that are His,
rection of life  ; and they that have done evil, unto the at His coming. But the resurrection cannot be denied.
resurrection of <damnation." John 5:28,  29. His own Death shall surely be swallowed up in victory, and
glorious resurrection is the very heart of the gospel Ithat  la& enemy shall certainly be  ,des,troyed  by Him
which  lthe apostles proclaim in the world after His          unto Whom all  tihings are subjected.
ascension into  h.eaven,  and this resurrection of our           After having established and applied all this in .
Lord Jesus Christ is the basis and pledge of the the first section of this beautiful ,chapter, the aposrtle
aglorious  resurreo$on  of all His own.      For "if the turns his attention  to the nature  of the resurrection-
Spirit of  lHim that raised up Jesus from the dead            body.  !He introduces this part of the chapter by a
dwell in you, he khat raised up Christ from !the dead         question which he supposes that someone might ask:
shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that "How are  /the dead raised up? and with what body do
dwelleth in you.." Rom. 8:ll. And they that have the ithey come?' Evidently,  rthis question might be asked
fir&fruits  of the  Spiritt, groan within themselves,         in a spirit of contradiction by someone who, even
"wajlting  for the adoption, to wit, the  redemprtion  of after the apostle had demonstrated the certainty of
our body." Rom.  8  :23. "For if we believe that Jesus the resurrection, might still intend to expose its ab-
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep            surdity. You have people like  &at. After you have
in Jesus will God bring with  h.im." I Thess.  4:14.          shown them the truth, and they cannot deny it, (they
.&nd it is  rthrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ         make a last attempt to overthrow  ithe truh of  Ithe
from  khe  [dead, that we are begotten again unto a gospel by trying to show .the absurdity and impossi-
lively hope, I Pet. 1:13. But although the doctrine of ,bility of it all. And so someone might ask : "How are
the resurrection is  taughrt everywhere in the New lthe dead raised up? and with  whatt body  ,do they
Testament, nowhere is there a passage like I Corin-           come?" But to such an one the  apostle replies: "Thou
thians 15, the whole of which is entirely devoted to          fool, that which thou sowest  is not quickened, except
the exposition of  ithis glorious truth.                      it die." vs.  36. ,&Xl let us nut misunderstand the
   The occasion for the writing of this chapter was           meaning of  ithe apostle. He does not mean to assert
a heresy in the congregation of Corinth. There were, or to  demon&ate  that the resurrection lies  within
namely, s,ome among them (that denied the resurrection        the scope of our rational comprehension. From a
of the dead. They simply insisted that there is no            rational viewpoint there is, indeed, room for the  ques-
resurrection of the ,dead. Hence, the apostle in writing t.ion of inoreduliky  : how are rthe dead Iraised UP? For
this  ,woederful   chap&r proceeds from the firm ground consider what becomes of our bodies after death.
of the resurrection of Christ. For so he had preached They are utterly  .decomposed,  so that there is nothing
ihe gospel to them, and so had  rthey believed,  t.hat        left of them after a short itime.    And  [their  chemical
Christ died for their sins, and that He was buried,           substances  assume other forms, and become part of
land  th& He was raised the third day. Surely,  t.his         other bodies, How then can there be a resurrection


  152                                    TIIE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 of the dead? What body is there  &to be raised?  WSth         wide difference between the organism  o'f a human
 what body do they come? But, altbough  this is true,          body, and that of ithe animal. And we may, no  <doubt,
 Ithe question is, nevertheless, foolish, for the simple       denote this ,difference  in a general way by saying that
 reason thait i+, assumes that whatever Iies outside of the human body is adapted to be instrumental in the
 the scope of o,ur reason cannot possibly be true. Let reflection and manifestation of rthe image of Gold in
 this incredulous questioner but look about him,  and man. Hence, that it is a body through which the
 read  rthe very language of the resurrection in the           image of God may shine forth, I take it, belongs to
 things Ithalt are seen. For also the resurrection of the the very nature of a human body. Lastly a human
 ,dead takes place repeatedly in the parable of the seed body is individual. Even though there are millions
 that must die before it is ,quE?kened again. Yet ejrea        upon millions of men, and YOU easily recognize {them
 rth)is  parable in nature we do not comprehend.               as human  bemgs,  yet there are no two  indfvildual
    But, of course, ,the same question concerning the human beings alike, either in soul or in body. And
 body of the resurrection may also be asked by faith,          each individual human person or spirit requires his
 and with a real spiritual interest to know a little of own individual body. You could not function or live
 this wonderful  mysltery.      And to  Ithem  the apostle     in my body, neither  woulld  my person be able to ex-
 replies : "So  aIso is the resurrection of the dead. It press itself in your bodies. We may conclude, then,
 is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:          thait the resurreation  body will be like our present body
 It is sown in  adishonour ; it is raised in glory : it is in this threefold respect: it will be material; it will
 sow,n in weakness; it is raised in. power: It is sown a be the proper instrument for the reflection of the
 nartural body ; it is raised a  spiriltual body. There is a image of God ; and Lt will be distinotively  individual :
 natural body, and there is a spiritual body." In these each one will receive his own body. The body that is
 w,ords  the resurrection body is compared with our sown in death will be quickened in the resurrection.
 present bodies from a fourfold  vi,ewpoint. Let us look          However, even though the resurrection body will
 at these distincltions  a little more closely.                be essentially the same body ,that is stored aw'ay in
    But first, let us notice that the apostle also here ,the grave, it will be quite different in form from the
 compares physical  *death and the  resurreotion  to ::he latter. It ,will be elevated to the higher plane of the
 quickening of a seed that is sown. With a view to kingdom of heaven. It will be glorified, even as was
. the resurrection, burial is like the sowing of a seed. lthe resurrection body of our Lord `Jesus Christ. And
 For those that believe in Christ crucified and raised, this implies, first of all, ithat all the effects of sin will
 dearth has lost its sting, the grave its victory,. They be erased completely, aad that it wisll not only be de-
 bury their dead as the husbandman sows his seed: in livered from the corruption of death, but ilt I will be
 the hope of the resurrection. But  col;ice that this          wholly victorious over death. It will be beyond  ;the
 metaphor also has something to  (tell us about  ,:he          reach of the claws of death. For it will have put on
 nature of the resurrection. It informs us, first of all       immortality, and it will1 exist in the sphere of incor-
 that it is emphatically resurrection, not a new creation      ruptibility.     TAO denote this, the apostle makes the
 out of nothing., It is the quickening of that which is threefold distinction between the sphere of  corrup!tion
 dead. Howlever  incomprehensible it may be for us, and incorruption, of dishonour and glory, of weakness
 however impossible it may appear to our understand-           and strength.
 i,ng, Ithat our completely decomposed bodies shall be            It is sown in corruption. This means that the
 called out of the dust and appear in glory;yet that is        existence of our `present bodies is wholly characterized
 exactly what is meant by the resurrection of the  dea,d.      by corruption. One the one hand, there are corrupting
 Essentially the same  bo.dy that is apparently swallowed agencies at work in our `bodies from the moment we
 up of death shall be raised in glory. When a peasant are born, germs that eater into  $them  from withouct,
 sows wheat, he does not expect a crop of barley; and and that tend to disintegrate, to decompose, to destroy
 when he sows rye, he ,does not look for a crop of corn. Ithe marvellous organism of our bodies. These cor-
 And so, essentially the same body Ithat is sown will          rupting agencies are all about us: they are in ;the air
 appear again in the resurrection. We may ask, per- we breathe, in the food we eat, in the water we drink.
 haps,  wbt belongs to the very essence of a human             Think only of the tiny wild beast that is called the
 body? And  to th,is question we would give a threefold {tubercular germ,  that swarms  inIt0 our lungs to destroy
 reply. In the first place, it belongs 1:o the essence of      us. And it signifies on the other hand, that our bodies
 a human body exactly that it is a body, i.e. that i~t is      are exposed to this corruption: they are corruptible.
 material.    We are not speaking now of the kind of They are not, and they never will be viotorious over
 matter  of which  (the resurrection body will be com- these powers of corrup;tion  that drag us to the ,grave.
 posed ; but it must be established that it is a body, and,    This process of corruption begins at the very moment
 therefore, material. Secondly, it  belo,ngs  to the very -we enter into this world, for we exist  in  t;he very
 nature of a human body hhat it is  human. There is a          sphere of corruption. Throughout our lives it reveals


                                     TBE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             153

itself in all kinds of diseases, both ph#ysical and mental,    heavenly beauty.    And the glory of the perfected
for Sod and body ar,e very closely and delicately inter- image of God shall forever radiate from and through
twined. And it has its cons,ummation,  when physical that new body.  Lt will be a body that shall be far
dath finally has the victory over us, and the process exalted in power and glory and beauty above the body
of corruption is completed in the grave.                       which Adam possessed in paradise before the fall.
   But  (there is more. It is sown in weakness. This For that body was, indeed, not corrupted, but it was,
implies that our  pres.ent  bodies possess only a limited nevertheless, corruptible ; it was not  u,nder the do-
amount of strength. They cannot continue forever. minion of de&h,  but it was, nevertheless, mortal; but
They have no inexhaustible source of power to live.            the body of the resurrection is victorious over all,
And their amount of strength is small. I;t is measured clothed with incorruptibility and immortality, and
by the span of threescore and ten years, or, at the shining forth in heavenly beauty.                  And the reason
most, by fourscore years; and we fly away. Even for it all is, that the resurrection body has the source
apart from any especially corrupting  influ,ences  that of  i,ts power and glory in the  resurreoted  Lord, the
ruin our bodies, our bodies decline in strength, our           Son of God, Who is the life and the resurrection!
eyes grow dim, our ears gro,w  dull, our shoulders stoop          But there is still an&her difference to which the
under the burden of years, our heart grows weary               apo&le   Palls our attention.    Ilt is expressed in  the
and exhausted, and we hasten into the arms of death.           words : "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a
We are like the flower of the field, ,which, indeed, is spirit,ual  body." The term "natural body" does not
destroyed when the wind passeth over it, but which             express the meaning of the original very adequately.
witthers  and dies because of ilts limited strength, even The word used in the original might better be trans-
though no storm breaks its  ,tender stem.                      lated by our word "psychical". It is difficult to define
   And, lastly, our present bodies are sown in  dis- the exact meaning of this term, and to describe clearly
honour. In the text dishonour stands opposed to glory. just what is meant by a "psychical body". Bwt we may
The honour and glory of the human body is that Bf is say something about  it, especially in the light of what
the visible manifestation of the beauty of God's image, ithe apostle continues to write in this chapter. He goes
the instrument for the operation of the true knowledge on to explain that there is a "natural" or "psychical"
of God, of posiitive righteousness ,and of perfect holi- body, and there is a spiritual body. And he reminds
ness. The shame and dishonour of our physical organ-           us of the fact that Adam was made a li%ng soul, in
ism is the very opposite. For we have lost the image distinction from whom Christ is made a quickening
of God, and our bodies have become the instruments of spirit. And he continues to teach that the first man
the lie, of iniquity and ethical corruption. And, be-          is of the earth earthy, the second man is  (the Lord
sides, death has dominion over :them. Corruption, sin, from heaven. And as we now bear the image of the
and death leave their marks all over the body, and earthy, so we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
cover them with shame. For a moment it may seem From this it seems clear that "natural" and "earthy"
as i'f even the present body is still glorious, when it are closely related. Our present body is so constituted
is blooming in the flower of its youth, but soon it            that because of it we are earthy. It is a soul-body.
becomes manifest #that the Wor.d of God is true, and           Through it we are bound  ,to the earth with all the ties
when finally the corpse lies in the coffin, the under-         of our present existence. It is weighed down to the
taker may make an attempt  *to cover up its dishonour,         earth, and in it we could never ascend .to heaven. It
yet even so it is repulsive: it is sown in dishonour !         has earthy needs, and from the earth only it can be
   But all  !`chis  will be changed in the resurrection. sustained.         By the earth it is replenished. And  i,t
For the glorious body of the resurrection will be raised has the earthy senses of perception,  ,through  which it
in incorruption, in power, and in glory. In :the sphere can have  ino contact with heavenly  #things,  but only
of the resurrection there will be no more destroying with things  #that are earthy. Even though with our
agencies that creep mto our bodies to corrupt them ;           present bodies, suppose this were possible, we were
neither will the resurrection body be subject  ,t.o any right in the midst of heavenly things, we would not
corruption.    It will be incorruptible, completely vic-       be able  ,to perceive them, to enjoy them, to inherit
torious over all corrupting powers. These can never Ithem.  For "flesh and blood cannot inherit the king-
enter  i,nto that new world of the resurrection. Xt will dom of heaven." vs.  10. In death a "natural" body is
be raised in power. The source of its strength will be sown, that is a body in which our  soul  is strictly
inexhaustible, and it will perpetually renew its youth limited ,$o earthy things, and through which it is im-
as the  eagle's.  Never  shal'l it grow weary. For ever- possible for us to apprehend ,t.he heavenly. And even
more  it shall be able to function with perpetual vigor. when the heavenly realilties are revealed to US, they
And it will be raised in glory. For not only shall all are  premted   in earthly figures and symbols, in order
the  dishonouring  vestiges of sin  aed  corrupSon  be that we may apprehend them by faith, and long for
erased, but it shall be raised to the higher level of them in hope.

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

    From all this it will also be evident (that in contrast
to our present natural body the spiritual body is not to                 The New Separation From the
be coeceived  as immaterial.     In fact, an immaterial                         Heathenism of Midia
body is no body, but a spirit; and to speak of an im-
material body is a contradiction in terms. Rather                In  ,the previous issue of this magazine there appear-
must we understand by this term a body <that is fully ed an article from my pen that bore the title "Israel's
adapted to be an instrument of our glorified spirit as Sins.`" The title should have been the one appearing
dominated by the Spirit of Christ,. No doubt, the              above this writing.
nature of the material of `our resurrection body will be          The  su'bje&  dealt with was the whoredoms and
`quite different from that of our present body.  Ian idolatry of the people of Israel in the plains of Moab,
answer to the question : "and with what body do they their joining themselves %a Baal-peor and the subse-
come?"  ,the apostle reminds us that "all flesh is not quent death of twenty four thousand of their number
the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men,         by the fire of God's anger that flamed against them.
and another of beasts,  an*d another of birds, and                We must now state and explain the significance
another of fishes." So  th,e same matter may assume of this event. The people of Israel, as the army of
different forms. The solid ice may  melt into  the fluid God, were about to address themselves to the  I?ask of
water, and the water may change into the volatile and warring  God% warfare for the possession of the
invisible steam. Yet, it remains essentially Ithe same promised land. The performance of this task had to
body. If you sow the seed of a gladiola or dahlia,             be a venture of faith. It had to be undertaken in
that seed will uktimately become a bulb, yet you still the assurance that the battIe  is the Lord's and &hat
have the same body. And so, the resurrection body, the victory to be achieved is His gracious gift. More-
though essentially the same as our present bodies will over it was a task that had to be performed under
be quite different as to the nature of its  makerial  from the impulse of the love of God. But  ,there were too
our natural bodies. Through them we shall be able many in the camp who were devoid of true faith.
to apprehend the spiritual things of the kingdom of Men they were who deneid God in their hearts and
heaven. We shall see spiritual things, hear spiritual          who lusted after the things of this earth and the
sounds, stand in direct  relatio,nship  even with the pleasmes  of sin connected with the worship of idols.
angels of heaven, and see God face to face !                           With the presence of this element in the camp,
       Hence, we must be changed, in order that we may         the army of God would continually be exposed. to
inherit ithe kingdom of God. For most of us, part of the  (curse.              There would be little inclination on the
that change lies through death and the grave, while part of such people to wage a war of  ex,termination
the other part of this glorious change must wait till also against the devil-gods infesting Canaan. It was
the hour of the resurrection. For others, `those that to eliminate `this e!emen:t,  or at least to so diminish
shall live at the coming of the Lord, the whole change its number as to render its influence negligible, that
will come in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at God so arranged His providence that the Midianites
the last trump. That resurrection glory is ,the object         in  colaboration  with Moab, acting on the counsel of
of our hope, and we know *t.hat in this hope we shall          Balaam, sent their daughters into the camp of Israel
not be ashamed. In hope we triumphantly shout in to invite God's people to <the sacrifices of (their  gods.
the face of death: "0 death, where is thy sting? 0 The call was heeded. A great number perished by
grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is the plague. So was the army of God freed from lib-
sin, and the str,ength  of sin is the law. But rthanks         ertinism in the leaders, and hypocrisy in the small,
be to God which giveth  ,uS  ,tie victory through our from all the mingling of hallowed. festive service,
Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my beloved brethren, with seductive and corrupting feasts, in a word,
be ye stedfast,  unmoveable, always abouading,  in the from the heathenism of  Midian.
work of the Lord,  forasmuch  as ye know that your                     This event had significance in still another re-
labor is not vain in the Lord !" I Cor. 15 $5-58.              spect.      The Lord through Moses had over and over
                                                H. H.          cautioned  His people against fraternizing with the
                                                               heathen and serving their gods. He had told them
:  I  .,,,                                                     that such practices would without fail lead to disas-
                                                               ter.      The old generation had been  provided  with
                                                               proof  thait this was no idle threat. In consequence
                                                               of their worshipping the golden calf at Mount Sinai,
                     CLASSIS  EAST                             many of them had been slain. The terrible judg-
will meet in regular session, D. V., January 6, 1943,          ment had made a deep impression. We do not again
at 9 o'clock at the Fuller ,4ve.,  Church.                     read of this generation involving themselves in this
                            D.. JONKER, Stated Clerk, .        sin. But `the Israel encamped in the plains of Moab


                                    TtHE        STANDA`RD*BEAkER;                      I_,     ;                  i55-
 - .  ..-
was a new generation. Could it be that time had so             When the question is one of the sovereign reason
dimmed their recollection of  *the catastrophe at Sinai,    of this hostility, we must certainly look to God with
that they no longer trembled at the thought of it, and an appeal to Rom. 9 :18, "and whom he will he harden-
that thus the sin that had called forth this judgment &h.." As it is with all things, so it is with this martyr-
had lost for them some of its heinousness ? It would dam,-it remains in the final instance an u,nanswered
seem so, judging from the ease with which they heed-        question, if in uncovering its causes, God is not in all
ed the call of  Moab to idolatrous `worship.     So the our  thoughti  as One Who "worketh all things after
Lord demon&rated  also to the men of this generation thpe council of his own will," Eph. 1 :ll. It is only as
that, religious  apostacy  leads to certain ruin. The armed with this truth as a working principle that we
lesson was taken to heart. The army of God that have true understanding of events and movements in
invaded Canaan was an army purged to a large extent history.
from idol,aters  and one that trembled before the com-         In hardening the heathen-the persecutors of th6.
mand, "Thou shalt have no other -gods before me." Believers-God used means both objective and sub-
The  task that had to be perfomed-the  ,extirpation of jective. The objective means was the very gospel
the Canaanites and the destruction of their idolatrous and the men and women in whose lives it was seen
worship--called for just such an army. It is worthy to bear fruit. The gospel was a savor of death unto
of noite that the generation by which the conquest of death with respect to the persecuting heathen. But
Canaan was achieved did not serve idols and that it         it was this as God's means. But there are in addition,
was not until after this generation had passed away subjective means to be mentioned, to wit, the wicked-
that the nation again committed this sin. We come ness of the heathen, their hatred, pride, sinful lusts,
upon this notice in the book of Judges (2~7-12)  : "And and superstitions. As God, in the language of the
the `people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and apostle, gave up the heathen to uncleanness through
all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who the lusts of their own hearts-mark you, through the
had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did lusts of their own heart-(Rom. 1:24), so did He give
for Israel.    A#nd Joshua the son of Nun died. . . .       up these same heathen to the sin of actively hating
and also that generation were gathered unto their and persecuting the church, through the wickedness-
fathers ; and there arose another generation  af,ter pride, selfishness, superstition and the like- that
.them, which knew  riot  tht? Lord, nor yet the works .dwelt in their flesh. To express this same fact and
which he had done for Israel. And the children of truth in a language borrowed from the Old  Tes'tament
Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served         Scriptures, He turned the heart of the heathen to hate
Baalim.."                                                   `the Christians and to deal subtlely with them, (Ps.
                                          G. M. 0.          105:25), and, God moved the heathen against the
                                                            Christians to say, Come, let us destroy  t.hem,  (2 Sam.  i
                         -                                  24:1).
                                                               So then, these persecutions were God's work-a
      Martyrdom under the Several                           work in which the heathen functioned as His agent
                                                            but on this account, certainly, non the less responsible.
                   Roman Emperors                           What they did to the Christians, they desired and will-
                                                            ed to do and in doing what they did they acted in full
   [Having passed, in review th,e history of ,this martyr- agreement with their character. So all the fault was
dom, let us now attend to the "why" of it and to i'ts       theirs.  But God moved them.
significance.  '                                               Now both God and  the heathen had their own
   To begin and to end with this  hostilitjr of the         reasons, designs.    It is of importance to know- the
heathen world `toward the primitive church in the           reasons of the heathen; but  it is of far greater im-
men of this world, in their wickedness, more particu- portance to know God's reasons. If we be willingly
lar, in  their native  haitred  of the truth or of God's    ignorant of the latter-ignorant of the fact and truth
gospel, or in the various other motives by which they that He moved the heathen to persecute His  people-
were driven in troubling  God% people, is to be at a all our inquiring after the true significance of this
loss how to explain the reception of the gospel on the early martyrdom is an essentially fruitless occupation.
part of the others unless one wants to take  th>e position, We will not know. What has weight here is not why
as many do, that they were men and women inh,erently        the heathen persecuted  the church, but why God
better than the ,wicked by whom they were harassed. willed that they should.
But we know that  "aEF are under sin ; as it is written,       What were the heathen's reasons? There were
there:%  tione righteous, no, not one ; there is none that several. The basic of these is set forth by St. John
understandeth, there is none that  seek&h  after God," in this language: "Behold what manner of love the
Rom. 3 :lO, II.                                             Father bath  bestowed upon us that we should be called


166.                                 T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

the  sons  of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, was amazingly extravagant. Fortunes were spent on
because it knew  no% him", John 3  :l. And again, and the pleasures of lthe table. The belly was the god of
this with reference to Cain, "And wherefore slew he the rich. They ate until they were replete and then
him (Abel) ? Because his  own  works were evil and resorted to an agent of emptying, the stomach and ate
his brother's righteous, "John 3 : 12. Fundamentally again. With luxury came lthe vices of sensuality, both
the spiritual contest between paganism and Christian- natural and unnatural , Averice, suspicion, robbery
ity was a combat between good and evil, a struggle and bribery prevailed on every hand. The idea of
of darkness against light, but a struggle in which light natural sympathy and kindness between man and man
had the  victory-     These early persecutions formed seems hardly to have existed. Poisonings and assassin-
hell's answer to the preaching of Paul.                        ations were so common that such atrocities seem hard-
   When, in obedience to the comman,d  of Christ, the ly to have been regarded as a breach of morality.
gospel ministers of the church .went forth to preach There were no alms-houses, no hospiltals,  no societies
;t:he tidings of salvation to all creatures, pagan civiliza- of benevolence.  ~
tion and culture had attained to the measure of its               Alongside of great wealth was hopeless poverty.
fulness. It was the golden age of literature. The far- The provinces were exhausted by enormous taxes and
flung empire, whose internal organization was per- industry was crushed by slavery so that an immense
fected by Tragan, stood under a  well-or,dained  juris- number of the population was bult slightly removed
diction. The seas had been swept of piracy. Canals             from begging. The slams came from the conquered
had been dug and military roads had been built and             nations and they were so plentiful and cheap that the
the result was that commerce flourished on the Medi- masters inhumanly' wore them out by neglect and hard
terranean Sea.       There was protection of life and usage.
propenty.    Improved methods of farming had in-                  As to the emperors, all were godless mien and ndt a
creased the yield of the soil. The great cities were few of them were monsters of iniquity. Soon Tiberius
renouned for their temples, theatres, aqueducts, swim- entered upon a career of crime and surrendered him-
ming pools, and magnificent buildings of every kind self to luxury, and to every sensual indulgence. Cali-
Industry in all  its  deparlments  prospered. Institu-         gula was wholly under the dominion of lust and pas-
tions of learning sowed abroad culture. Though the             sions, and his cruel!:y  was equal to his insane folly.
printing press is an invention of our modern era, books        He had men tortured,  sbeheaded,  or sawn in pieces for
in ancient Rome were pIentifu1 and cheap as copies             his amusement. Demonized by cruelty, he  WAS  heard
were multiplied by hundreds of slaves employed as              to express the wish that all the Roman people had but
scribes.  A house  without  a private library was not          one neck, that he might dispatch [them at a blow. The
considered respectable ; public libraries were in every Y;ileness of Nero was bottomless. Glaudius, in the
great city and resorted to by the cultured.                    midst of his boundless debaucheries, was an imbecile
   Assuredly, on the surface we have to do here with           brute. Vitellius, though neither cruel nor  tyranical,
a lovely and magnificent achievement. The eighty-four          surrendered himself to every possible degree of vol-
years from the accession of Nerva  I:O the death of            uptuousness, and self-indulgence.    Domirtian  amused
Marcus Aurelius-a period in which `the Roman empire            himself most with the  torn.%mts of the dying.  Com-
was at the height of its glory-has been pronounced             modus with his hundreds of concubines idled away
by some "the most happy and prosperous period in the           his time with butchering men and beasts in the arena.
history of the world.                                          Heliogobalus, as dressed in women's clothes, was joined
   It was this perhaps but only on the surface. The            in marriage to a profligate boy like himself. He vio-
civilizdtion  and culture of the Roman-Graeco world            lated all the laws of nature and was at last butchered
was rotten at the core. The majority of men were               by the soldiers and thrown into the Tiber . And after
wretchedly poor or they were slaves and as such were           their death such monsters, by  ithe authority of the
treated `like beasts of burden ; gladiatorial  show,s, i.e.    s.enate, wene canonized gods ; and their memory was
public games in which men were forced into mor-                perpetutid by festivals and temples.
tal combat with their fellow men or with w,ild  beasts            Certainly the apostle Paul's picture (Rom. 1) of
fo!r the amusement of the peopl- the free citizens             the state of corruption of the Graeco-Roman world,
-were  Itie order of the  dfay in Rome. There was              is not overdrawn.
perpetual war between the legions of Rome and the                 All this corruption  ,and wickedness was concen-
fierce barbarian tribes who dwelt on the border of trated in Rome, though not confined ito this city. This
the empire  ; and the followers of Christ-the most             metropolis was the chief offender. "Nlever,  probably",
loyal and virtuous of subjects-were being thrown to            says Canon Farrar, "was their any age or any place
wild  beatits  or driven into exile for no other reason where the worst forms of wiokedness were practiced
than their being Christians. The luxury `that resulted         with a more unblushing effrontery than in the city of
from the influx of wealth from the conquered nations           Rome under &he government of t&e Caesars,"


                                    T*HE  STAND.ARD   B E A R E R                                               157
                                                                                                                 r.
   But, as was just said, ,this wickedness  was not con- empire. And *the spiritual antagonism was mutual.
fined to Rome. Every city of considerable size had its All the other gods of the empire were allowed to dwell
gladiatorial shows ; and the amphitheatre was the together with the gods of Rome. There was mutual
most imposing building. Thene murder was practiced regard. In Rome the Persian  Mi!thras, the Egyptian
as a sport, from morning  Ito evening, and countless        Isis, and the Roman Jupiter each had their temples
men and beasts were sacrificed to satisfy a thirst for and their altars side by side. But not so the God of
blood on the part of the onlooking populaoe. The the Christians. This is understandable. There was
human combatants, called gladiators, were condemned concord between Jupiter, Isis and  MSthras. Gods they
criminals and  captives  of war.    Paganism assumed were, made by man himself in his own image. But
supreme lordship over human life and dealt with  St as the god of the Christians is light. In Him dwelleth no
it pleased.                                                 darkness at all.
   Thus it is not strange  !:hat the religion of Jesus         The trader in sheep and oxen, and the maker of
Ghrist roused the nameless pollution of Rome to a images and other ritual belongings hated the Christian
frensy  of rage, and that an attempt was made to crush      because he spoiled the various markets open to them
the faith of  `the Church. Rome's works were evil.          in connection with the sacrifices of the gods. The,
And the religion of Christ was  pure.  It denounced         priestly cast disliked the  Chrisrtian  with a deadly
adulitery  and extortion and all manner of evil. It de- antagonism, for as Christianity gained ground, the
manded of men that they forsake their abominations, temples of the gods were depleted and the priests had               *
turn Ito the living God, an.d be saved from their sins to go a ,begging.
by faith in  (His resurrected Christ. It proclaimed that       Finally, the superstiltious  common' people had the
God looked down with holy  in,dignation upon idolatry, grievance. They regarded the dreadful public  calami-            ,
that He would avenge all wrong and that a day was ties of that age as punishment justly inflicted by the
coming when all the world would &and at His tribunal        angry gods for the disregard, of their worship. In
and that every man-emperor. and slave-should re- every flood, or drought, or famine, or pestilence, the
ceive according to his deeds.                               fanatical populace cried: "Away with atheists! To
   However, examining this rage and  the causes of it, the lions with tthe Christians."
we discover that each social cast had a reason of its          Finally, to the Jews the gospel was  an  offence  and
own why it hated and persecuted God's people. The foolishness  to-`the  wisemen  in the  .world,   ,to such as
religion of Christ disrup!te.d  the family, as when one strove by their own wisdom to  .know  God. An out-
or two of its members would believe and the others standing example of the latter class was Marcus  Aur-
would cleave to their gods and persist in their sins. ,elius, &he Stoic  ph.ilosopher  in the throne of the  ~
Then, as Christ had foretold, the brother delivered up      Caesars.  The pagan religiousness and righteousness
brother to death, and the father his chil,d ; and children of Marcus is striking. Face to face with Christianity,
rose up against parents, and caused  thsem  to he put to he, from superstitious fear, honored the Roman gods.
de&h.  As the second century drew to a close, there In his "Meditations"  there is much itha!t approaches the
was  scarcrely a family but some member of it--slave or ethics of Christianity. Everywhere there is constant
mistress, freedman or master, son or daughter- be- reference ,to the gods, not only to t ho ancient gods of
longed to the community of Christians.                      Rome but to  ithe Eastern deities with their corrupting
   The `great Roman statesmen including the best of rites as well. He sympathizes with all religions save
the emperors, the serious thinkers who in their heart one  - the religion of Christ. Towards Christian-
were too conscious  {that the pagan religion of the ity he is hostile. In his "Meditations" he alludes to
empire was unreal, viewed Christianity as the Empire's it but once and ithis with scorn, Under his reign there
deadliest foe, an enemy which must be stamped oust.         flowed  much Christian blood ; and all the while he
For they were persuadted  that the old State religion,      turned a deaf ear to the apologies -of the Christian
wirth its immemorial traditions, was the policy whi& apologists by which he was flooded.
had built up and was the bulwark of Rome's worldwide           So wexe the Christians hatted of all men, as Christ
empire. In their eyes, the followers of Christ formed had foretold.  Wrirting  to Timothy, Paul with refer-
a stranged  an.d dangerous community.       They chose ence to himself asserts: "Who was before a blasphem-
to live outside the pale of the religion of Rome. They er, and a persecutor, and injurious, but 1 obtained
refused to worship as God the emperor and his statue, mercy,  becazse  I did it ignorantly in my  wnbeli,f".
and  \to take part in any idolatrous ceremonies at public 1 Tim. 1:13. So too, the persecuting heathen of the per-
festivals. They desregarded politics and depreciated iod of which we now write, they did it ignorantly in
.a11 civil and temporal affairs; and this of necessitty as their unbelief. Their measure of guilt is thus not
polities and these affairs were in a state of hopeless as great as that of those enemies of Christ of whom
corruption.    Thus the Christian religion and its de- it is said (Heb.  6 :4-9) that  ithey were once enlight-
votees stood quite alone among all the religions of the     ened, tasted of the heavenly gift, were made partak-


 158                                       TtHE   S T A N D A R D   B E ' A R E R

ers of the Holy Spirit, tasted of the good word of God, Is er niets of hij is bekwaam bet te verrichten? Dat
and the powers of the world !to come and crucified to kan natuurlij,k de verklaring niet zijn, want we hebben
themselves the son of God afresh.                                bier ;niet te doen met een vergelijking<  die hij maakl':
    A brief word about the signifi:ance  of these perse- ttusschen  zichzelf en anderen, doch de sprake .des ges .
 cutions in the following article.                               loofs, het getuigenis der geloofservaring. Er  zijn;
                                                   G.M.O.        van die menschen,  die in hoogmoed we1 eens zeggen,
                                                                 wat een ander kan doen,  dat kan ik 00-k:          ..i
                                                                    Of he& de Apostel wellicht zijn ambt, .-gaven  en:
                                                                 blent en vermogen  tot het volbrengen`  van Zijn Apo,sto-
           Vermogende Alle  Dingen                               lische arbeid op  ,het oog? Dan  tech  ,is de gedachte,
                                                                 dat hij in  onderscheiding van de andere  Apostelen,
                                                                 zooveel mee rkon  doen  en gedaan heeft.       We  weten
                                             Fillip. 4 : 13.     echter,  dat hij dit zelf noemt een roemen in dwaasheid,
    De verzen van  dilt hoofdstuk vormen een geheel sprekende  naar den mensch. Trouwens,  schoon hij
van vermaningen en staan dan ook in nauw Yerband                 daar  het oog niet op heeft, op den arbeid als Apostel,
met het leven in al zijn schakeeringea Dit i`s duidelijk zou dart ook niet waar zijn. We1 is het waar, dat hij
als we  letten  op de wijze. waarop de Apostel de onder- meer gearbeid en meer overdoedig is geweest  dan de
linge  verhoadingen door eensgezindheid wil zien geken-          anderen,   doch  aan hem  waren   tenslotte niet al de
merkt en lgeopenbaard  worden.                                   gaven,  nood,ig voor  bet Apostolisch ambt,  ;geschonken.
    Niet zoo, alsof zoude er tweespalt zijn in de ge-            Petrus  en Johannes en de anderen bezaten` ieer zeker'
meente,  want de Apostel verblij,dt  zich immers in hot          gaven, die bij den Apostel gemist  worden  `Het  ging
 feit,  d'at zij zijne blijdschap zijn in den  H%eere. En hen, zooals het ook tot openbaring komt in bet lichaam
terwille  .van die  eenheid  schrijfit hij dan ook  aan van  Christus   (,de Kerk) , dat niemand "in )zich al de
Euodia en Syntyche,  .die wellicht een kleine uitzonde-          gaven  draagt, doch dat het omgeke&de  waar,  God de
ring maakten, die wellicht  beiden zeer be,kwaam  waren,         Heere gaf al de gaven in rijke  versche.idenheid.
 doch het met ,elkander  nu juist niet zoo goed  konden            Het is dan ook al te gedrongen, omhier  in den tekst
vinden.                                                          te  denken  aan hot Apostolische anibt. :Tekst  en  ver-
    Trouwens,  ook dan wanneer er geen ergerlijke mis- band, in wat voorafgaat en in wat volgt, maken  daar
 standen zijn in de gemeente, is het juist we1 op zijn           in het geheel geen melding van.
 plaats om voor mogelijke oneenigheid te waarschuwen.              Neen, maar waar *bet hem te doen  is, om de gem-
.*Het  gaat er dan ook meestal  we1 in.                          eente  te wijzen op  64n der werkzaamheden des  ge-
    Daarna  richt hij  zieh tot de gemeente, haar wij-           loafs, daar roept hij  voor hun  `aandacht.  zijn eigen
 zende,   .dat zij in geen ding bezorgd zal zijn,  doch  in leven en levenservaring. Wilrt ge, ,hij spreekt hier als
alles en ten allen  tijde waakzaam worde bevonden in kind van God, over hetgeen de  kinderen  Gods met
 bidden en smeeken, met dankzegging haar nood en be-             Uuem  gemeen hebben.
 hoefiten den Heere zullen bekend  maken.                  4       En let  er nu op, dat hij zijn leven ten voorbeeld
    Van uit  bet algemeene der vermaningen, roept hij            stellende, daarmee  zich  aansluit, bij wat  schier  allfe
 vervolgens de gemeente its uit zijn eigen leven en kinder-en Gods ervaren. Vooral in zijn eigen tijd.
 levenservaring hen voor de aandacht. En in dat                    Hij vermocht  te  doen.
 leven van *den apostel was nog al heel wat afwisseling.           Hij vermocht te verdragen? Och, zoo zeggen en
 Hij wist van gebrek tte lijden en zich in overvloed te          bedoelen  wij  bet vaak,  nietwaar? Het "lot" ons  toe-
kunnen  verblij*den.  Hij was in alles  onderwezen.  De bedeeld is eigenlijk te zwaar, maar tenslotte  zullen
 Uevensschool  waarop hij de lessen geleerd had was              we het  stillekens  dragen.     Of ook, we  zullen   ans
 niet altijd gemakkelijk geweest.  Doch op die school openbaren, maar als mannen, die zelfs  ond:er  den druk
had hij vermocht alle dingen  te kunnen door Christus            door hun veer en  spiorkrachrt  niet  hebben,  `verloren.
 zijn Heiland die Hem kracht geeft.             Hij had  alle    (Yes, we can stand it). Het is immers  toch  al  t'e
 dingen  niet  slechts omtvangen  en verdragen,  doch deze kinderachtig om onder allerlei leed en ellende te zuch-.
 allen  waren  hem uit s'Heeren  hand geschonken.                ten? Zoo betaamt  he timmers den Christen?' We&en,
    H.et  is met het oog op die geestelijke ervaring, dat zoo juist niet ! Hij moet op zijn  tandben bijten en'  zich
 de Apostel  hen dan oak wil `vermanen,  opdat  ook zij in       onder leed en ellende  niet laten  meesleepen, door die
 staat zullen  zijn,  alle  dingen te  kunnen  doen,  die de ellende en dat leed? Hebt  ge weleens gemerkt,  wan-  '
 Heere hen toebedeeld.                                           n.eer op de  tanden wordt  gebeten,  dat dit geschied met'
    De Apostel gebruikt hier zeer sterke taal, als hij gebalde vuist ? Dat is  we1 mannelijk, maar  uit het
 zea: Ik kan  alle  dingen   doen  (I can  .do all things). lvleesch  en heeft niets te maken  met geloofswerkzaam-
 Bij den eersten oogopslag zouden we geneigd zijn Ite heid .
 lezen,  ik  verdraag   alle  dingen.  Wat  bedoelt  hij nu?        Waar dan nog -bijhomt, da-t de Apostel hier in het'


160                                    TlHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                that victory will be our's. But is it Scriptural to
            God's Judgrnerks and War                            teach ithat if tie church of God confess her sin, ithese
                                                                wars wiB cease in the midst of the world? It seems
       It is generally agreed in orthodox church circles to me that we must view these matters from another
today  rthat  the present "global-war" must be viewed as and more realistic point of view.
a judgment of God upon the earth. To be sure, an-                   Indeed, wars are the result of sin. This is an
other explanation is offered of this conflict. It is said undeniable fact. Lust for power has been a cause of
that we are fighting for the most  precious  heritage war throughout &he ages. History abundantly testifies
which man can possi,bly  enjoy, namely, ahe right and to this fact. Men like Alexander the Great and Napo-
liberty  for each man to live his own life. And we are leon were certainly driven on by a mad  Ithirst  for
fighting for this invaluable possession over against            world-domination. `And does it not belong to the
the forces of barbarism and  crue!lty.  ~ This explanation creed of Nazism  that the German race is  lthe superior
would explain the present world-wide conflict solely race, and that all other peoples must be subject to it?
from the viewpoint of man. However ,it is generally B,esides,  is it not generally acknowledged today, also
acknowledged, particularly in orthodox church circles,          in the democratic countries of the  world,   thab  t&is
mankind today is being  visitted  by the judgments OF           present conflict and the last world;war  are inseparably
God.                       t                                    relabd to each other? Must we not now lay the
   One hears much today of the terribleness of war. groulndwork for a lasting and enduring and just peace,
And, indeed, who will describe the misery which is              and  avoid the mistakes which were made some 25
the  inevikable result of a conflict such as is being years  ago ? Moreover, what else than war can we
waged today, the like of which .Me world has never expect of men (including ourselves) concerning whom
before witnessed? The world had not even recovered              we confess that they are conceived an'd born dead in
from the horrors of 25 years ago when  iIt was plunged sins and trespasses, haters of God, and enemies of one"
into another catastrophe greater than the one before.           another? Is not war  the natural result of  .t$e prin-
The scars of khat confliat are still in evidence  among         ciple of  enmihy  which fills the hearts of all men?
`us. What a misery a war as of the present must leave ,Surely,  war is the result of sin. None  would dare
in its wake ! What an agony of Soul caused by the fact refute this fact,
that thousands upon thousands fail to  ret-nrn  from               Moreover, also in this respect *the church of God
the various  batitle-fronts  ! Besides, how many will has a calling. Firstly, she must not entangle herself
there be who are rendered helpless invalids throughout with the world in a vain seeking of a vain peace. One
their motial  days ? "War is hell", declared a cerbain          hears much today of a righkeous  and enduring peace.
general some years ago; and, although he with these             However, there is no righteous and enduring peace ex-
words clearly revealed that he had not the  fain?es:            celj;t the peace of Calvary.  And the church of God
conception of hell, we are all nevertheless agreed as musit never permit herself to recognize any other
to the terribleness of war.                                     peace.    Any other peace  except  that of  Calevary  is
   This, however, views war merely from the human surely nothing else than the attempt of  si*nful man to
point of view . There is another aspect of war which establish prosperity, to destroy %,he results of sin with-
is  ofbentimes   e&rely  lost sight of. Do we, as  peo,ple      but confessing sin itself. And it is  lthe calling of  tlhe
of God, ever ask ourselves the question, "However church, not only to refrain from  Ithis activity of the
terrible this war and all wars may be, would it not be world,  butt also to proclaim the judgment of God upon
more terrible if, in this worl dof sin and <darkness iind       it and be the panty of the living God an,d of the Prince
corruption  ,a11 wars and rumors of wars would cease?' of Peace also in this respect. Secondly, it is the call-
Do we sufficiently realize ,not only that God is some-          ing of  tie church to  shew  forbh the light of God's
how realizing  IHis eternal kingdom  #through  <these           Word and proclaim the gospel of  Gold in Chris& This
catastrophes, but that the holy and just and righteous we must do in order that out of every nation, tribe,
God cannot reveal Himself differently to a perverse peopie,  and tongue the church of God may be  gabheked
and godless generation than in the way of jedgmen+?             and all the people of God, according to God's sovereign
Would a different manifestation of the God of our               will, may come to the knowledge of  &he  :trufi And
salvation be more comforting and `reassuring to the in this proclamation of the gospel of God &he churuh
church of God? However dreadful war may be and may well remember that it pleases the Lor,d  to save all
however terrible the misery may be which always classes of men,. so that the prayer for the salvation of
follows in its wake, is it  not  ,brrue that war, when those who are in  autihorilty  must not be neglected,
viewed  from the viewpoint of God, assumes an entirely if only we remember that God saves also from  among
different aspect? It is said that wars are the result ;them those whom He eIected before the foundation of
of sin, also of the sins of the church, and <that if the        t,he world. However, even so and also by means of this
people  of (Cod confiess  their sin ,this war will soon end,    shewing forth of the light of God's Word, We church


                                    TiH.E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       161

will be the  panty of the living  God over  ggainst the righteousness He eternally wills Himself an,d is per-
world. The church is surely a  .de$inite,  elect people f,ectly devoted to Himself. This also explains His
whose calling  i!t is to be the party of %he living God relation to the creature,  panticularly  man. Lvving
over against a  worl,d which  lieti in darkness. This HiLmself  He only can love those  .who are like unto
church the Lord will lead into everlasting heavenly IHtmself. Hence, He loves His  peopbe,  not as they
glory. Throughout the history of this :t.ime  the cause are in th,emselves, bu% only as they are in Jesus Christ,
of God  wil'l be opposed by the party of darkness. This our Lord. And loving His people in Christ Jesus He
party of `darkness is, naturally,  !the stronger from blesses them, seeks their eternal  happi.ness and salva-
every point of view. And, hence,. the church must tion  ,.and exercises covenant-fellowship with them.
understand that her future hope does not lie in an How different, however, is the Lords' attitude towards
ultimate salvation of  $he world and an earthy  restura- [the wicked, the reprobate world. Them His soul hates
tion of all things. Rather, she must be t;he panty of evel'y day. Life and blessedness we can experience
the living God and never fail to proclaim the judgment only in fellowship with the Lord. Apart from Him is
of God upon an  unrepenftant  and unbelieving  worl,d.       death. That the Lord alone is life and peace also the
This life of the antithesis is our calling. And besides, sinner who forsakes Him `must experience. This he
it pleases God rto save His church also through the          experiences in the way of misery  an.d death. Never
hatred of a naturally stronger world in order that does the Lor(d stand in an attitude of love !towards  him.
our salvation may proclaim the praise of His glory.          Never does he experience peace within his soul: The
  We must bear in mind that God cannot reveal Him- Lord is against him aad causes all things to work to-
self over agai#nst this wicked world except as tthe God      gether unto his eternal ruin and destruttion. And alsQ
of judgment. We too often forget that it is C&d Who in ithis life misery and death is his lot. The ravages
wages war. Too ofiten  we view war as merely waged of sin are experienced daily in his body. rHe is filled
by men. We ought to remember +hat Jehovah has de- with spiritual darkness and death. Never is  irt his
clared war on this world already from the beginning privilege to experience the blessedness of the service
of  itime.    These wars and rumors of war whereof of the living God. This judgment of God also reveals
Scripture speaks are declarations of God Himself itself in wars and rumors of wars and other world-wide
and are inseparably connected with the coming of His calamities. Special  .judgments  of the Lord they are,
kingdom. This, I' say, we must ever bear in mind, if         when Jehovah causes even ;the world to pause, as it
we are to be comfotied also in the midst of the prc;jc+nt    were, and  &.aste the very evident outpouring of the
world-con&t. War must be viewed in the light of ,math  of God upon an evil world. Surely, these wars
God,  oply in the light of God. Only then will we be are also caused by the spirit of enmity and hatred
able to understand that it would be more terrible if which lurks in every human heart. Bu;t it is .tie living
&he living God would permit a wicked world to live at God Who, through man's wickedness, plunges this god-
peace.                                                       less world into ever increasing misery and sorrow,
  The living God is always judging  #the  worl,d.  And Was not  ithe  last war the war to end all wars? In
this ju.dgment  is ever a judgment .of condemnation. vain, however, will a wicked world which refuses to
The Lord's  attitude  towards the world is never an acknowledge the living `God succeed in banishing wars
attitude of love  buit of wrath. This the Heidelberg and rumors of war. In vain will this wicked world
Catechism would teach us in Lord's Day 4 where we establish an era of peace and happiness wi$hoizt  the
read that God punishes the wicked with temporal living God. In vain will this world liberate herself
misery and eternal punishment in hell. Temporal mis- from the results of sin. In vain will she seek an end
ery is not temporary misery, which is but for a sjhort       of these miseries, until at *tie end of time the world
time, but it refers [to  :the eternal and unchangeable will be united against the cause of God and Christ here
wrath of God, which, because  ht is eternal and  un- below,  anly  rto be plunged immediately thereafter into
changeable,   tiherefore  also strikes the wicked in this eve&sting  desolation.
time. W&at  other attitude cou1.d God assume towards           Can the Christian derive comfont from this present-
tie  ticked whom His soul  hebeth!  For the Lord is ation of Scripture? Indeed he can. Surely, to pursue
the li+%ng God. He is a Light and in Him is no dark- after a just and righteous and enduring peace is like
ness at all. He is the Absolute Good, the God of in- pursuing a phantom or tie end of a rainbow. Whtit.
finite perfections. As such H  e  isthe God of eternal comfort can we .derive from praying for an.d seeking
love and righteousness.  ' The remark is heard so often a peace which cannot be? If, however, we conduct
nowadays  lthat the  .God of love cannot permit this ourselves as the panty of ,theliving  God, we can be c&--
catastrophe to  cotitinue much longer.  T*hey who ex- forted with the thought that  :tiese judgments are' the
press  lthese sentiments forget, however, that God's judgments of a living God, the manifestation of Il.&e
love is fundamentally Divine Self-love. Jehovah loves i&d of our salvation towards a wicked world. Let us
Himself as the Absolute Good. And as the God of confess our sins, humble ourselves deeply before God;

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

not to secure thereby an end of world hostilities, but Ithe true situation has not been made clear. The aims
Ito experience the blessedn,ess  that, in the midst of .&ese    that have been expressed are not definite enough and
judgments in which also the church is involved, we              do not at all cover rthe mi.ghty  practical problems which
may taste the peace that even now Gad is caring for shall arise after the war. An Atlantic Charter has
us and causing  all things to work together for our been made. But many questions and differences have
s a l v a t i o n .                                             been raised about it.
                                                 H. V.              The problems of reconstruction will remain for
                                                                generations  to come. The problem of maintaining  a
                                                                peace that wi11 have been established is a knotty one
                                                                that so far has  not been answered  satisfactorily  to
                                                                those nations concerned.
                       C u r r e n t   F v e n t s                  Some of  lthe problems of reconstruction are enum-
                                                                erated and explained in an article in the Deecmber
                                                                IHarpers   entitled, "Hunger, Hatred, and Postwar
Peace Ai~ms and th,e Post War World.                            Europe". The wriiter introduces his article with the
   Especially of late has there been a persistent clamor following paragraph : "The many "peace plans" and
for definite peace aims on it,he part of the Allies to pre- "blue prints" for  "reconstruotion"  which have been
pare for the post-war world. Leading commentators               issued in &he past few months all, so far as I am aware,
and editors have been showing how that it is absolutely presume the existence of stable and cooperative govern-
necessary to state .the war aims and the peace aims             ments of Europe. When such governments come into
clearly now before the war is won in order that the             being the  meri&s  of these proposals will have been
chaos and failure of It.he last armistice may not be re- $ested,.        After the war the wurld wil1 have TV recover
peated.    And, of course,  ijt is also understood that         from an economic and social demoralization such as
this must be the decision of the United Nations in  8he it has not known since the Thirty years war, perhaps
form of clear statements of future policy si,gned and since the Dark Ages.`! He enumerates the  realilties
agreed to by the majority.                                      which have to be faced. First he mentions  hunger,
   This  .demand for statement of policy comes at a which is now and shall prevail after the war. Just a
time when there is more sign of <victory  for the United little thinking will startle us with lthe reality of this
Nations than ever before. This  feeli'ng of optimism is fact. We only have to remind ourselves of the present
general in spite of the warnings that the end is still          rasioning  and shortages which will increase as time
a long way off. Churchill called it the end of the be- goes on. The next thing mentioned is the  wealth that
ginning. Many others have spoken of the difficult $s  destroy&.  Bombs and destruction will  habe de-
positions which still have to be conquered. Those of stroyed much of industrial Europe. Much more of the
us who have been rtoo enthusiastic will better be able          land and cattle will have been depleted than in the
to judge of the position of the Allies and the nearness last war. During  (the last war the writer  {tells us it
of victory when the truthful reports that come months was from 25 to  507% throughoat the continent.  De-
and even a year after their happenings are revealed. Scsrimtion  of machines amd consumers go& is men-
Itt will also be plainer to us when the present of,fensives     tioned in the  Ithird place.  Destmctim of  huwum life
shall have developed more. At this writing and prob- is another reality. Confusion over prop&y,  over lund,
ably for some &ime to come it will be impossible for a demorabixatrion  of finance, what to use for  ,money,
.layman  to judge of the true progress of the war.              absence of a market, confil&ing social  cLa.sses are men-
Nevertheless there are some i.ndications  which definite- tioned in that grim list too. Last of all he !treats  of
ly point ito a marked success the united nations are hate. He says, "Never in history has such a volume
having. There is the remarkable increase in produc- of hate been generated as will be released on Armistice
tion in our United States. The output of industrial Day".
Detroit it is told us, exceeds the peak production in              These  ,things we  f,eel  are the stark reality and they
automobile days. This change-over and tooling up for cause us Ito become very sober in our outlook upon the
war exhibits the genius of our  Ameriscan  engineers.           future. The years that lie ahead will be filled by the
   That an expression of aims `is absolutely necessary Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. However, the opti-
cannot be denied. It not only is a foolish way to wage mism and certainty with which some leaders speak and
a war without definite aims, bnt the reason for waging plan  abouit the post war world cause us to feel ttit
a war at all is taken away when [there is no objective they may attain ltheir goal. E,specially do we think so
and a real cause, However, it cannot be denied that when we read of the descriptions of achievements of
there have been some aims expressed and that there the powers of darkness as they are  piotured in the
has been a cause for war because of  lt.he aggressive powers of the beast, which arises out of ithe turmoil
actions of the Axis powers. Yet the real causes and             of ,&he waters, the nations.


                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR.ER                                                   163

The Voices of Church Leaders.                              of the  importanbt.events  that are taking place to  e-+alu-
                                                           ate  &hem  at length. Much could be said about  sur:h
   It is to be expected that the leaders of the churches trends in tie church world for union. However, to  '
will also raise their voices  ito speak about the post war make a comment, we would say, many of them are pro-
world am3 about the dteps  to take to atkain a better bably characterized by the same error and  shortsighft-
world. ILooked  at superficially the churches could be edness as is shown in this position of E. Stanley Jones.
pointed at with an accusing finger  and question, "What To propose to make the conffession of Peter the basis
ihave you yourselves done for peace and harmony in of Church organization would demand (that we jump
the church world?" The divisions among the church& back into ,the days of the apostles and forget about the
seem to deprive rthe churches of a right to epeak to history of the Church of Christ since that time. The
the  wurld about reconstruction. And  ik seems as if Church of Christ was surely founded upon the rock,
that is the feeling among church leaders today in the conffession of Peter, which is lthe epitome of the
England and in America. That is how I would ex- Church's conffession in the entire Word of God. But
plain the many voices of church leaders  ,today for the true Church of Christ has gone through a history
church union. Especially during this war has  that2        of almost  rt;wo thousand years. In that time she was
subject been raised. Steps also have been taken to guided by the Holy Spirit to affirm and confess that
attain more unity iin. Ames&a and especially in Britain. same confession more fully in the li,ght of `the, entire
There are the following unions already: "The Federal Word of God. This fuller expression was occasioned
Council of the Churches of Christ in America", "The by false  ?teachers  that  crepit into  rthe church. Over
National  *Clhrietian  Council" in  kndia, a union of against the heresies the Church has made clear state-
churches is in the process of being formed in Britain, ments of the truth of the Bible, and  #this confession of
a "World Council  ,of Churches" was formed at Utrecht,     Peter. The error of El. Stanley Jones then is by for-
*Holland, just before the war as is expected to take       getting the full expression of our confession even in
permanent form as soon as peace returns.                   the Bible, and forgetting the sins of schism and
    In this connection  I' would like to point to  4he heretical church  groups,, to wish to start all over again
article of E. Stanley Jones, in the "Christian Century" from the beginning and set  forth  without the full
of December X6.      He writes about  Chwch Federal armor of the truth. Such a federation would be a
Urnioln Now. In hhis article E. Stanley Jones maintains mighty force as  tonumbers and power. But it would
that afiter the suffering of the war men will long for be a babe as to  the expression of the truth. Lt would
a vast world reconstruction and that the time is now become susceptible to every wind of false doctrine.
for cooperation fro the reconstruction. A plan to Such a church would easily become the victim of
amalgam&e the denominations into one church union another "beast".
in which the churches would lose their names, their            ,Centainly we should strive for unity. That unity
policy, their organization, their distinctiveness,  khem- we have in principle-one body ,one Spirit, one hope,
selves, is rejected by him. "If  that is the vision for, one Lord, one faith ,one baptism. W emust yet, how-
church unity",  he.writes,  "then I think we are striving ever, fight against error and the flesh and powers and
for  Ithe moon" He proposes therefore a Federation. principalities. By faith in that oneness which we have
It would be a union of churches like the union of States in lthe truth we can seek unity, the unity of truth and
th& we have. In that federation churches would cease not outward organization merely.
to be churches and become branches of one Church,                                                            L. D.
"The Church of Christ in America"; He proposes that
&here  could be national branches too of one world
church,     "the World Assembly of the Church of                                        -
C h r i s t " .
            As to the dootrinal basis the confession of
:Peter, "Thou  lart the Christ, the Son of  the Living          Luther's Quest For Justif  ication
God", would be the rock upon which this church would
be built. He maintains that would leave  ithe door             An expression one frequently hears today is this.
open  to everyone who would make such a confession. "Beh,ind every news item there is a story". ,This un-
It. would leave khe door open to ,the Roman Catholic, doubtedly is true. We may, howcser,  .also. revise  rthe
if he would submit to becoming a branch of the Churcjh expression somewhat and say "behind #every histori-
upon that confession.     E. Stanley Jones believes it, cal event the& .is a story". There certainly is. Thus
oan be realized just as well as it was realized in our     it is that `Luther's quest for Juskification  is one of khe
union of states in America, and  ithat in such a Federa- stories behind that great event of ,church history which
tion the Church might be the spearhead of reconstruc-      we call, "The Reformation".
ti,on.                                                         Shall we consider this &ory behind The Reforma-
  56 is not so much our purpose in pointing to some        tion from an angle seldom considered? Usually Luth-


164-                                  TlHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

es's quest for Justification is treated from a purely        lighh let me quote literally some of t.he t.hings these
historical, viewpoint and often from an Arminian view- indulgences guaranteed. They guaraflkeed  : ( 1) "liber-
point. Shall we approach it from a spiritual view- ation from all excesses, crimes, sins that thou mayest
point considering ithe spiritual story behind Luther's have committed, however great and enormous they
wst for Justification?                                       may be, or from whatever cause ;. (2) a remission. of
    The  first thing we should consider is this spiritual penalties which would have been endured in  purga-
principlp  that the natural man hates  .the  truth.  All ,tory. (3) If thou shouldest not die before long years,
history and especially all church history, teaches us this grace will remain unalterable until thy last hour
that he hates the  trtiLh and bears out  the word of God shall arrive". In 1476, seven years before Luther's
in Rom. 1:18  that he does, "hold the truth under in un- birth, these indulgences were also made available for
righteousness".       F:rom  the days of the early church souls in purgatory. These  declarations  of the priest
when the Comforter, The Spiri!t of Truth, <came  and led could be attained for a sum of money, by undergoing
the church into thle truth until this present day the hardships and pains prescribed by the priest or even
natural man has sought to hold the  truth  under in by entering in upon a monastic life. One special way
unrighteousness. The attempts have been many and to acquire  a.n indulgence, which Luther himself under-
variled.      The method depended upon the particular took  during,his  quest for Justification, was  Ito descend
place the  naltural  man, who strove to repress it, occup- on one's knees-the so-called staircase of Pilate. Does
ied. We do not  fmd the natural man merely in the not this practice  an,d thia doctrine teach  tha% a man is
out-and-out ungodly man but also in the false church justified by his works?  Th,at these indulgences  could
and even in our hearts. The method employed to hold be acquired for those in purgatory also reveals that
Ithe  ,truth under in unrighteousness, then, depends on the individual is justified by the works of other men.
whether it is the world, the false church or the old There is another Roman Catholic doctrine which
man of sin within our hearts who seeks to repress it. proves  Rhat they teach justification by the works of
The world seeks to do so by persecution and oppres- others. I have  in..mind  the doctrine of  Mariolatry.
sion, striving to exterminate  I'che church physically According to this dootrine we may pray to Mary, the
and thus rid the world of the truth. The false church mother of Jesus, who will imercede  for us and for her
and false teachers seek to undermine faith in that  tra:h    sake, Christ will forgive our sins. We are, thus, also
and thus do away with it. They come with doctrines justifi,ed  by the work of Mary. To be sure, rthe Roman
pleasing to man, that fascinate him and appeal  ito his      Catholic Church will deny all this and say we are'saved
proud nature. We repress and reject the truth by only by the  b1oo.d of Christ. But, then, why teach
running away from the means of grace.                        these and other  .things as necessary besides that blood
    In Luther's day it was the false church that repres- an.d as helps  Ito be justified  ky His blood? This is
sed  [the truth by preaching the lie. It was the Roman nothing but a perversion of the ltrurth and a manifest
Catholic church of his day that sought to hide the hatred for it. This perversion of the truth Luther
Itruth, and presented a corruption of the truth. With found in his day.
this perversion of  lthe truth we must deal when we             To understand Luther's quest. for Justification we
consider Luther's quest for Justification. For, it was must also consider another spiritual reality generally
because the truth of man's justification was pervert- overlooked in our church history books. The reality
ed and corrupted that Luther  found no peace of mind is this, that even as the natural man hated I&e rtruth
and sought to find assurance of his justification.           and seeks to pervert and repress it, the regenerated
    Let us briefly examine the teachings of the Roman child of God loves the truth, seeks tit and cannolt  feel
Catholic church concerning man's justification. In an satisfied until ,he has found it. He has the life of Christ
article of &his nature we have not the space to give a in him. This causes  him to long for Christ. He hun-
detailed view of the Roman Catholic teaching of Just- gers and thirsts after righteousness ; as  Ithe ha& pant-
ification.     This is not necessary either. It may  Ibe eth aftser water brooks, his soul pants after God. He
simply stated that the Roman Caltho1.i:  church taughk       declares with David, "One thing have I desired of the
that man is justified by works. He is justified by his Lord, that will I seek afiter, (that 1 may dwell in His
own individual worlks  or by those of others, together house all the days of my life". Therefore is he especial-
with his' works,`or entirely sepertite  from them. The ly eager to know the truth concerning his justification.
Roman Catholic doctrine of Indulgences makes it plain His sins rise up against him. He knows, he feels and
that it is their teaching that man is justified by his he believes that he has no right to dwell in God's house,
own works. These Indulgences were written declara-           but he is also so eager `to be with IHim.
Itions of the priest that man's sins were forgiven him,         When you come to this regenerated child of Go'd
that he is justified before God, righteous in His sight with the lie, it leaves him cold, dissatisfied and
and therefore delivered from the penalties of sin. Lest troubled. This must be the case for the lie leads away
I be accused of presenting these indulgence in a wrong from God. If you come to this man and tell him he is


                                       TAHOE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          -1.65

justified by his works, he will not find peace. He will when he expresed his desire to dwell in God's house
only feel more keenly his unworthiness and feel farther all the days of his life, but we must not forget that it
from  God% house. You can deceive the unregenerated is this same spiritual life in Luther that drove him to
by  th:e lie and make them believe that their works are seek justification and  peace with God.              In David,
sufficient, but the new man in  Chri,st  will be satisfied Luther and every child of God the life of Christ is
only when you come  t,o him  wirth Christ, and not a implanted and this drives him to seek peace with God.
Christ of your own invention but with the Christ of This explains David's one desire, Luther's quest for
the Scriptures, Jesus  Christ, the Son of God. He is justification and our hungering and thirsting after
%he way, ithe truth and the life. You must come with righteousness. By nature Lather also hated the truth
Him and justification through His  b1oo.d. alone. He and sought to repress it. It is the new life in him that
i.s the way and another way t,here is not. The way of drove him to seek the truth in order to find peace with
the cross leads home. Through His work on that cross God. Of course, fthere  is more Ithat can be said of this
we are ju&if?ed. Thus a man is  not justified by works quest. One thing, however, should still be said to com-
bat by faith in Him. Not so now that this faith is our plete the picture. Luther's quest for Justification must
work, but it is God's gift to us and His means whereby           also be explained in the light of God's providence.
He imputes to us the perfeat  righlteousness  of Christ. God filled him  with such a  greait. measure of spiritual
Come with this truth to the regenerated child of God. life and gave him such a great measure of grace to seek
and he will  fmd peace. Of course he will, for Jesus             for the truth in the midst of darkness, that we,today
said, "The truth shall make you free", and this is the might have the truth and might have peace with Him.
truth  of  Scriptture.  Since we are justified by faith, But again we sould note how God works in His provi-
the contents of that faith must be the truth, and this dence. He does not force Luther to seek and maintain
is the truth of Scripture that Christ died for our sins the truth. He uses him as a rational willing creature
and by His  blood.we are justified through faith. Eph. whose mind and  heant are renewed.
2 :8, 9 ; Rom. 5 :9 ; Rom. 3 :26,28 ; A& 13 :39 ; Gal. 2 :16.                                             J. A. H.
    Thus it was that Luther could find no peace with
God. He, being a regenerated child of God, and thus
,eager to dwell in [His house, sought for i!t carefully and
earnestly. He practiced what Rome prescribed.  NO
one can say that he found faullt with the Roman Catho-                      Let's Preserve Balance
lic teachings without giving them a fair {trial. He
soughh  and strove, trying this and trying that. But Editor of The Standard Bearer,
not until he found th,e `truth in God's Word, "By grace
are ye saved  ,through   fai!th,  and that not of yourselves Dear Mr. Editor:
i.t is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should           Will you please allow me some space in our Stan-
boast," (Eph. 2:3, 9), Ithat he found peace. He found dard Bearer again to comment on the contributions
Christ, the way and the truth,  and by faith was as-             concorning the C. L. A. ?
sured that in God's sight he is righteous.                          I am convinced  thatthe C. L. A. is not being fairly
    The point that'l'  wish to make in Ithis article is this, judged by too many among us. Because it promotes
that Luther's quest for Justification was not a quarrel also the material interests of  rthe laborer it is con-
with the Roman Catholic clergy whose corruption he demned as an organization that is interested only in
saw. Et was not a desire for mere intellectual enlight- the  things  of this world. Rev. Hanko has given ex-
enment. Nay, it was the new life of Christ in him tensive quotations from C.-L. A. lilteralture  to try ..to
that caused him to hunger and thirst after righteous- prove that point.. Personally I cannot see anything
ness that drove him in his quest for justification. His          unchristian even in what he quoted, not if properly
quest for justifica$ion  was not first of all a quest for interpreted. The Rev. Hanko stated in his last article
the doctrinal truth of justification. To be sure, he that especially tthe statement which he underscored,
sought this. He had tto seek this, as we tried ,to make "It  (It&e  C. L. A.) is opposed to,  izr&  ~reudy to fight
plain, for only the truth can make us free. But the              opp%ssion  by employers and  thkr agents" expresses
story behind this all is this, that in  Luther  seeking an entirely different sentiment than that of the  Chris-
justification we have a  /true child of God breathing $ian who is not interested, first of all, in his material                L    f
and panting after his God. In him we see the work of welfare, but in the will of God, whom he seeks to
the Spirit. Luther had no quarrel with the church serve with all his heart and soul and strength. That is
or with anyone else. He was seeking peace with God. beyond me. I was always of the opinion that a full
But Luther was no exceptional man.  Ralkher is this orbed Christian life meant that we must fight when-
the case that God gave Luther an exceptional measure ever we meet it.                Surely oppression of workers by
of His grace. We marvel at David's spiritual life employers or their agents is also sin. Would Rev.
                                                                                       .


166                                     T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

Hanko really contend that lto fight such sin, not with         you that the C. L. A. and %hose  who give leadership
violence but through peaceful organization efforts, to it are not first of all fighting for the cause because
is  conltrary to the Christian life?                           of material interests.    I know better. If material
       This quotation from a recent piece of propaganda things  were first they would have given up long ago.
liter&me of the C.L.A.  is much more biblical, I believe :     They know that through other unions much more could
   "Basic to a proper understanding of Biblical prin- be done, materially. No, they are fighting, against
ciples of Social justice  and their application is recog- tremendous odds, for the right of Christian workers  Ito
nition of the fact that SIN is the cause of all the dis-       work under just labor conditions, at their chosen trade,
cord, strife and injustices in  Ithe relationships between without membership in an ungodly union such as  tihe
employers and employees. The C. L. A. is pledged to            IC. I. 0. and A. F. of L. They are spending large
fight this sin in order to establish proper, just rela?ion-    sums of money time and again, with no hope of finan-
ships. It rejects the theory of the necessity of  2he cial return, simply  It.0 protect a few Christian men
class-struggle, because it conflicts  wiit-h the Scriptural from those unions. And what are most of us doing
demands for  love among men all created after the to help? Sitting on the sidelines and criticizing!
image of God, denies the Biblical conception of the               One of the chief objections still seems to be that
organic unity of the human race,  ,and is  ultterly            ithe C. L. A. in principle accepts the right of the
materialistic.'  iChri&ian principles demand that there Christian to strike. In doing so it very striotly cir-
be cooperation between individuals and various groups cumscribed the conditions  ueder which a strike might
in society, respect for one another's rights, promotion be called as a last resort. The conditions complained
of each other's and the genera1 welfare, and recogni- of must have been put  for&  Ito come to a peaceful
tion of divinely instituted authority. Application of settlement, including the offer to the employer to sub-
these principles will bring social reform."                    mit the dispute to arbitration.      Then, finally, af?ter
   "The C. L. A. organizes workers in trade and in- an unjust employer has refused to meet just  deman*ds,
dustrial unions for the purpose of propagating these spite ,of his ability to meet them, and has refused i:o
principles and applying them through  praeti:al  meas- submit the dispute to arbitration, the employees  ,have
ures: for the elimination of injusltices  and the estab- the right to refuse Ito continue to work,. `to strike, so
lishment and maintaining of righteousness. Because says the C. L .A. And then it goes on to say that in
of the independence of workers and their responsibili- the strike no violence of any kind may be used. It
ties toward one another the C. L. A. believes that all must be a peaceful strike, entirely wi$hin  the law.
workers should be organized, but contends also I:hat              Now anyone would say, it seems to me, that is a
those who confess Christian principles of life must very conservative and Christian  posi!tion. But no,
establish their own indepen,dent  unions, in order that some among us still find fault with it. It is still force
they may collectively make  &he application of those t.hey say. Rev. Petter has already shown that that is
principles effeotive."                                         debatable and that it is very #difficult to  &ate  whether
   "The C. L. A. also takes the position that Chris- certain actions can be called force and whether or not
ti,an workers should not be members of labor' or it is proper to use it at certain times. I simply do not
other social `organization which in their principles ,believe  that i&here is anything unchristian in the calling
or practices violate Christian principles of life and do of a strilke  under such conditions as set forth by the
not recognize Scriptural  preceplts as the infallible 1C. L. A.
rule for all of life, including organization acitivity. It        It is of course more or less a dead issue anyway, as
holds that all workers who join such organizations has been said before. The C. L. A. will perhaps never
thereby  become  responsible for  w'hat such  organizs-        call one. Arbitration is the order of the day. The
tions do, and guilty before God of the violations of C. L. A. already before the government a:!ted s:ated!
Biblical precepts in which such organizations may en- that strikes during the war were not to be tolerated
gage."                                                         under any conditions; and that all disputes should be
   That, Mr. Editor, expresses a healthy  Chri&ian             ~s&Ied by government appointed arbitration boards.
view.     It is militant, well-balanced  Chrisltianity.   I We now have the War Labor Board for that purpose.
cannot  ,escape  the impression that Rev.  Han!ko  and And very likely after the war that Board will continue
others are unbalanced in their views. Mr. GriXers in to function under a different name. The C. L. A. will
his article showed  `very clearly that for a Christian not allow any strike if there is an arbi!tration  board,
to be interested in the advancement of material inter- appointed by the government, with final authority to
ests, so long as  ithese interests are not primary, is not settle disputes.
wrong, necessary in fact. But Rev. Hanko comes back               But appeal to such a board would undoubtedly also
with the same old argument about the sinfulness of be wrong, according to the views of Rev. lH.anko  and
seeking material things as an end in themselves. Who others. Suppose that the C. L .A. were in a dispute
has ever contended that &halt  is, right? I: can assure        w&h an unreasonable, unjust employer, who could


                                         TcHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 167

   afford to pay fair wages, but refused to do so. Finally were men  with large possessions, given to them by
   the C. L. A. would appeal to the War Labor or some               God. He gave to Israel of old a land flowing with miIk
   such body. That Board would look into the  matrter               and honey and gave laws to protect the poor against
   a& order the employer to comply with &he C. L. A.                w.ant.  The whole creation, now lying in sin, is God's
   dem&ds.  Thalt would be wrong too, I suppose. Why?               His people are called upon to be instruments in His
   Because that Board would have been used by the hand to render the glory of it again unto Him. The
   C. L. A. to gain the just demands which it otherwise             real test of the Christian is this:  %o be spiritually
   could not gain. That Board would then be coercive minded, to place first things first, while enjoying a
   means in the hands of the organization to gain  3%               sufhciency  of the material things. The bread question
   ends. And Rev. Hanko has said that a Christian may               is more than  incidenltal in the plan of God.            The
   never use coercive means to gain his ends.                       danger of falling into worship of the material. is there,
       Now some may say that I'm carrying that itoo far.            I grant. But, that danger must not cause us to fall
   Perhaps. But no further !than Rev. Hanko, Mr. Ten                into the exftreme position of saying that to seek the
   Elshof and others have carried it. This is what  I advancement of material interests is wrong. That is
   want to bring out: that ithose men are emphasizing a             not Scriptural.
   truth to the  exltreme  where they are losing proper                                                             B. V.
   balance. Basic to their arguments is this idea: that
   the Christian must be satisfied with whatever position
   he is placed in because that is the will of God. I chal-                                     -
   lenge that. We cannot so easily determine what is
   the will of God.  ,I do not believe that it is the will                               Ingezonden
   of God that men should work for wages that are not
   adequate to give  itheir  families proper care, to educate
   their  *children  in the Christian School, to contribute  :to    Eerwaarde Redacteur :
   Kingdom causes, and, that he must be satisfied with                 In de Standard Bearer tvan December 1 las ik een
   that even though he knows that rthe employer is well             ingezonden stuk onder het opschrift "Gedachten Over
   able to pay adeguate  wages, etc. I do not believe that          De, C. L. A." van de hand `van Mr. A. Hirdes. En in
   when a Christian fights against social injustices,               de December 15 uitgave zag ik dat een broeder zijn
   against sin, he is  then in revolt against  lthe will of         stem verheft tegen bovengenoemd stuk,  htetwelk  ik
   .God. Witne%ing,  of which Rev. Hanko likes to speak, heel  goedkan   verstaan  daar ik van hetzelfde gevoe!en
  means more than talking : it also means taking action             ben, hoewel  ik het misschien een weinig anders had
   against sin,  to remove it!                                      gezfegd.
       This is the danger lthat is threatening us: that we              Ook ik was niet weinig teleurgesteld bij het lezen
   become passive entirely, that we eimply  sit dvwn and            van Broeder Hirdes artikel. 1% de eerste plazts schijnt
   say that things as they are going are going according het mij toe ,dat Breeder  Hirdes niets afweet waar de
   to the will of God and that we may do nothing !to try            C. L. A. eigenlijk voor staat.
   to change it, lest we fight against God. That is an                  Het is ook niet mijn plaats om op al de punten in
   unbalanced and dangerous position.           Let us rather       te gaan die de broeder er bij sleept.  Aheen  wil ik
   take  rthis position : that whatever is sinful is con-           opmerken  dat hij de  C. L. A.  EGO  maar even  op de
   trary to the will of God, and that therefore we must             zelfde lijn plaatst met al de andere anti-Christelijke
   oppose it with all that is in us. That is more Biblical          organizslties die hun ontstaan hebben in de sfgrond,
   I'm sure. When we take that position we will be more             en daarom werken zijn djes duivels, een Christen on-
   militant than `we are today. Then we will not merely             waardig lid van te zijn.
   take negative action, against unchristian unions, but               Broeder Hirdes  szhrijft  d!at de C. L. A.  zich de
   we will not stop there: we will then also take positive let!ter C onrechtmatig toeeigent, m.a.w., ze is niet
   action to apply the principles which we confess. And ,Christelijrk,  dus onchristelijk (neutraa1  bestaat niet) .
   then we'll all be C. L. A. supporters.                           Het schijnlt met Breeder  Hirdes te wezen  als met velen
       Once more, Mr. Editor, let's be on our guard against en dan bedoel  ik in `t bijzonder velen onder ons volk,
   unbalanced views. Even Rev. Petter, whose article I die  zich schijnbaar blind staren op een  artikel  in de
   appreciated, is inclined toward extremism when he                ConstituJtion  der  C.L.A  handtelende  over strikes  slls
,  cl,aims   lthat the bread question is only incidental.  1        uiterste middel  tot  bet  verkrijgen  van billijk  recht,
   wonder whether that is the right word. We agree,                 alsof dat  bet hoofddoel der C. L. A. was. Ik denk dat
   of course, that the spiritual interests come first. But, Broeder Hirdes niet kan wijzen op voorvallen van
   the  procurring  of our daily bread is more than in- strikes en picket-lines in de  historic der C. L. A.
   cidental to it. It is God's, will that His people shall             Verder zegt de bro.eder ook dat we we1 persoonlijk
  have a  suflicient  amount of  Bt. The patriarchs of old          naar lotsverbetering mogen streven, maar we mogen


VOLUME XIX                                           JANUARY 15. 1943                                        NUMBER 8
                                                                     For to  Zarephatb  the Word of the Lord directed
         M,EDITATION                                              him this time. And he arose and went to Zarephath.
                                                                     A strange call this; one, perhaps, which Elijah
                                                                  would rather have declined. For was not Zarephath
                                                                  situated ybetween  Tyre and Zidon, the country of the
                        At Zarephath                              enemy,  .the very *center of the worship'of Baal. Must
                                                                  he, then, leave his people, and turn to the Iand'*whence
                                                                  the worship of Baa1 had been introduced into Canaan?
               And the word of the Lord came unto him,               Must he, without whose word there never would
             saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which be rain again upon ,the land, now forsake the people
             belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there; behold, of Jehovah, and, perhaps, leave them desolate? . . . .
             I have  commanded  a  tidow woman to  SUS-              But the Word of the Lord had come to the servant:
             tain thee. So he arose, etc.
 4                                                                Arise, get thee to Zarephath !
                                             I Kings 17:8-l 6.       So he arose and went to Zarephath.
      Arise! . . . .                                                                       -        -
      So he arose!
      Elijah was he that stood befoxe  God, Whom in all              Significant sign !
his activity `and  .,appearance  he represented on the               Elijah and the widow of Zarephath!
earth, and as such he was the obedient servant, wait-                A sign similar somewhat to that of Jonah the
ing for and acting upon the Word of the Lord.                     prophet !
      For the Word of the Lord he had waited at Cherith.             For thus the Lord Himself, whose forerunner and
      There the ravens had brought him his food every type the prophet was, interprets this incident to the
day.  An.d there he drank out of the brook. And for               supercillious  citizens of His home town,  $when  He
a  considera,ble  period he must have remained there, preaches to them "the acceptable year of the Lord."
in complete oblivion, far from the scene of action. For              0, indeed, they ,gave Him witness  and' wondered at
"after a while" the brook  `dried  u,p. And the sight the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth.
of that #drying  brook might have filled his soul with But they knew Him as Joseph's son, and that was
anxiety, and might have rendered him impatient to de- sufficient for them to reject His Word. And they would
part from Cherith. Drying brooke  are serious causes say unto Him: "Physician, heal thyself! Thou would-
for worry if they are our only means of sustenance. est come to us, thou, son of the carpenter, to ~preach
And many of us leave our Cheriths,  and depart from the gospel to the poor, while we are not poor; to heal
the Word of the Lord for far less significant ,reasons the brokenhearted, while there are no brokenhearted in
than drying brooks. Not  $0 Elijah. It was by the Nazareth; to preach deliverance  ,to the captives, while
Word of She Lord that he had been sent to Cherith.                we are all freemen  ; and recovering of sight. to the blind
There he must abide until that same Word would bid *while we all see clearly; to set at liberty them that are
him depart.                                                       bruised with chains, while we never were subjected to
      .And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, the yoke of  ,bondage?  . .  -  .
Arise! . . . .                                                       "Physician ,heal thyself! Come with better creden-
      So ,he arose!                                               tials than fair speech, and the wonders which, accord-
      Unquestioning obedience !                                   ing to rumor, thou performedst in  C(apernaum,  do also


170                                    TlHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

here in thy country, that we ma y believe thee  !"
       "Show us a sign !"                                         A severe test!
       Always a wicked and adulteyous  generation  seek-           To this the poor widow was subjected at once:
eth after a sign; and always the same sign is given               Must  not. he that would enter the kindom of 
unto them, the sign that was given them more than                                                                     God
                                                                wholly trust in the Word of the Lord, and have regard
once in the past, but whi'ch they were too <blind to re,ad ;    for ;the things that are not seen, rather than for the
the sign which the Lord, Whose sign it was, interpreted things &hat are seen?
to them, and which was  fuIfilled when the kingdom of
God was taken away from them through  (His death                  Must he not always seek the kingdom of God first,
and resurrection !                                              (believing that all things shall be added unto him?
       Did  *they not know that Elijah was sent to the poor       Already the heart of the poor wi,dow had been pre-
widow at Zarephath? Did they not know that he was pared for `#the trial and the choice, ,both by the know-
thus sent to the heathen widow, and away from Israel, ledge of Jehovah, the God of Israel, of Whom, she had
at a time when the heaven was long shut up, and when undoubtedly, heard, and by the mysterious operation
there was great famine throughout the land? . . . .             of the efficacious Word of God in her heart. For that
       They knew the fact, and they hated to be reminded        she knew Jehovah is evident from her oath: as the
                                                                Lord thy God  liveth!  0, indeed, she professes Him
of it.                                                          here as Elijah's God, whom she at once recognized as
       But had they never inquired as to the reason why the prophet of Jehovah. She dare not say: Jehovah,
the prophet that stood ibefore God had been sent out            my God! Rut she heard of Him. * She $was aware of
of the  iand of  .Israel  to a heathen woman at such a the fact that it was by His Word that the windows of
time of distress? Were there, then, no poor widows heaven awere shut, and  ,that the famine devastated the
among Israel, that the labors of the prophet had to be earth, and had also invaded the very dominion of Baal.
extended to heathen women? 0, indeed there were ! And she believed that He is the living God! More
There were many widows in Israel at *that time, and than that: she swears, not rebelliously by Baal, but
they were all in distress. That was not the reason why humbly and believingly by Jehovah, the living God!
the prophet received the call to go to Zarephath!               And that her inmost heart had been prepared for the
   But his departure from  the land of Israel was a ,test.  by the mysterious, efficacious Word of God is im-
sign and a threat to lsrael!                                    plied in the Word of the Lord to Elijah: I have com-
   For t,he Word of the Lord was inseparably connect- manded a widow woman to sustain thee!
ed  wit.h the prophet Elijah, and with Him departed               No, this does not  necesarily  mean that  G,od had
that Word! It was the Word of blessing in a double spoken to the widow explicitly that He would send a
sense: the Word that must reopen the heavens to give prophet. to her, and that she was to take him under
,rain upon the earth; but also, and that was far more her roof and shelter and feed him. This is not even
serious though immediately related to the former,  .the probable. For not only does the first reaction of the
Word of God's covenant with Israel, the Word of woman belie such an interpretation, but the command
ealvation  !                                                    of Jehovah to the widow was also similar to the corn-
  His departure from Israel was the departure of that mand  whi,oh,  before this, the Lord of hosts had issued
Word !                                                          to the ravens. The Word of {His power had directed
   It was a sign of blessing, indeed, to the Gentiles the ravens as  `a command to bring food to the prophet
that *knew not God; a sign of that sovereign grace of at Cherith ; that same Word of power had mysterious-
lthe Most High that was in no way bound to the na-              ly and efficaciously prepared the heart of the woman to
tion of Israel ; of that sovereign dispensation of God          be obedient to the command of the living God as soon
that would always be merciful to <whom He would be as it would come to her through the mouth of His ser-
merciful, and that would harden whomever He pleased vant.
(to harden.                                                       And is it not always thus?
   For, right in the heart of the dominion of  B&al, God          When .the Lord opens the heart, when His efficacious
had one little chosen vessel, poor an,d forgotten, but Word has wrought its mysterious, regenerating won-
m'ecious  in His sight, that must be blessed by His             der in the inmost soul of man, he is able to hear and
everlasting mercy through the Word of the prophet!              to obey the calling Word.,
   And a threatening sign that Israel's house would               Fetch,me,  I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, ,that
be left desolate was given to the generation of  ;that I may drink!
time, and to the ,wicked and adulterous generation of             Thus came the Word.of the Lord to the woman, who,
all times !                                                     at the very moment when the  ,weary prophet reached
   Elijah and the widow of Zarephath !                          the gate of the city, was there, not indeed to meet and
   Amazing sign, indeed !                                       to welcome him, but to gather a few sticks for the


                                     T-HE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               171

 preperation of a last meal !                                 that the woman's test was not so severe as ours, that
   Fetch me a little water !                                  she had not much to risk, that she  could easily gambl,e
    This first command did not overstrain her faith.          with the handful of meal and the little oil, as a ven-
 W,ater could, evid,ently,  still be had, even though the ture rather than as an act of faith. But what have
 famine had spread to  Phenicia.  And though there we, what have you or I to risk, except the same little
 cannot have been an abundance of water, the woman            handful of meal, and the same small amount of oil
 was ready enough to comply width the request of the          in a cruse? Are not the `things that are seen temporal,
 prophet. Was she not preparing her last meal? And do we not fly aaway, and do we not die tomorrow? And
 what good would water be to her, more water than             are not the things of the kingdom of God eternal,?
 she needed to quench her present thirst and moisten              Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His right-
 her dying lips?                                              eousness !
    And bring me, I pray `thee, a morsel of bread ! . . .         Yes, the test is severe; it was so for the woman;
    That  .was hard ! Impossible it seemed ; or, at least,    it  is  So  for  us.
 extremely unfair a demand.       And pathetically she            But severe for the flesh only! For faith embraces
 cries out: As the Lord thy God  liveth, I have not a the promise, the promise of the wonder!
 cake, ,but an handful of mea1 in a barrel, and a little          The never failing promise !
oil in a cruse : and,. behold, I am gathering sticks, that
 I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we
may eat it and die!                                               Blessed wonder !
    Yes, but the Word of the Lord stands !                        Glorious realization of God's faithful Word of sal-
    Fear not ; go and do as thou hast said : but make         vation  !
me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me,             Only a little moment, a sign of  *the Wonder the
s and after make for thee and for thy son ! Only, now widow of Zarephath witnessed of it at the time. More
 the Word is  accomrpanfed  by the promise: For thus          she would see and taste of it, no doubt, ,as the days
saith the Lord God of Israef, The barrel of meal shall        flew by :that she sheltered the prophet under her roof.
not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the         For a wonder she witnessed indeed !
 day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth! It                For she obeyed the Word of God through the mouth
is the promise of the Wonder that will save him that          of Elijah, and they that believe and obey are never put
believeth, and, therefore, the promise that can be  em-       to shame. She and the prophet, and the entire house
*braced only by faith !                                       of She widow, ate many days. And the  Ibarrel  of meal
    First me! . . . .                                         wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according
    First the kingdom of God! . . . .                         to the word of the Lord, which he  spake   #by Elijah.
    First unconditional obedience ! . . . .                       Was the meaf gone and the cruse of oil erhpty after
    And then, when according to all human calculation each supper she prepared for them all, and did she
and reasoning there should be nothing left of the meal find the barrel and the cruse replenished  every morn-
and the oil, then make for thee  ,and for  t.hy son! And ing? Or did the quantity of Iher supply of meal and
to perform .this super-rational act, cast thyself upon oil remain unaltered, no  ,matter how often she used of
the  j apparently impossible promise of the Wonder:           it? Either may have been the case. But whether the
 when there should  :be nothing left, there will be           one or the other appeared as the form of the wonder,
enough !                                                      each time she dipped into the barrel of meal and pour-
    It is always thus !                                       ed out the oil from the cruse she  ,performed  an  `act
    Always we stand before the same altern,ative  as the of faith, relying on the Word of the Lord. And every
woman of Zarephath.  It is the alternative, not, as it is day she  founld that the Word of the Lord abideth  for-
sometimes stated, between the thing certain and the every faithful  and true!
thing  uncetitain.  For there is nothing more certain             Out of the hand of Jehovah she lived!
to him that believes than the promise of God, even                And what is more blessed than the tieace of a heart
though all reason and all  experienoe  witness to the that may daily trust and taste that the Lord is good  !
impossibility of its realization. But  it is the choice X And in that partial wonder did she not approach the
between the seen and the unseen, between our word Wonder of which her constantly  repleni.shed,  never
and the Word of God, between the kingdom of God dimishing supply was a sign?
and the things of this world, between the temporal and            Soon He would come, Who would take a few loaves
the eternal. . . .                                            and a couple of fishes in His mighty hands, and with
    Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteous- them feed thousands!
ness !                                                            The Breald  of Iife ! Heavenly Manna !
    Perhaps, we are inclined to argue (for our deceit-            Satisfying forever !
ful heart always argues against the Word of God !)                                                          H. 13.

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

                                TheSfcrndardBearer
        Semi-Monthly, except Monthly in July and August                                                                                                                     EDITORIALS
                                                           Published by
                    The Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                            1101 Hazen Street, S. E.                                                                                                            Common Grace
                                     EDITOR  - Rev. ,H. Hoeksema
   Contributing editors--Revs. J. Blankespoor, A. Cammenga,                                                                                                                                4.
   P. De  Boer, J. D. de Jong, H. De Wolf, L. Doezema,
   M. Gritters, C. Hanko, B., Kok, G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,                                                                                                       Van Til's philosophy of the "Moment" is really the
  A. Petter, M.  Schipper, J.  Vanden  Breggen, H. Veldman,
   R. Veldman, W. Verhil, L. Vermeer, P.  Vis, G. Vos,                                                                                                          basic and essential part of his philosophy of history in
   and Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                                                                                         as far as he makes an attempt to find room for the
                                                                                                                                                                theory of common grace. His conception of common
   Communications relative to contents should be addressed
   to REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                         grace is not different from the current view of this
   Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                            theory as, for instance, adopted by the Christian Re-
   Communications relative to subscription should be ad-                                                                                                        formed Churches in the "Three Points". In this re-
   dressed to MR. R. SGHAAFSMA, 1101  Hazen  St., S. E.,                                                                                                        spect it is literally true what he wrote in the intro-
   Grand Rapids,  Mich.  All Announcements and Obituaries                                                                                                       ductory paragraph of his book: "To the perplexing
   must be sent to the above address and will not be placed                                                                                                     problem of common grace we do not pretend ;to give
   unless the regular fee of $1.00 accompanies the notice.                                                                                                      an,  aldeqtiate  answer. It is nothing essentially new
                                          Subscription $2.50 per year                                                                                           that we  .bring."    Tlhe difference between his work
                                                                                                                                                                and what has been offered before on this subject must
                                                                                                                                                                be found in  :the method of approach. He does make *
                                                                         -                                                                                      an attempt to demonstrate the truth of "common
                                                                                                                                                                grace" in a new way. That the conclusions of "com-
                                                                                                                                                                mon grace" are, in the, main, correct, he never serious-.
                                                           CQNTENTS
                                                                                                                                              Page              ly doubts. But he set out to give the theory a new
MEDITATION  -                                                                                                                                                   basis, or rather, to demonstrate its ground in a new
                                                                                                                                                                light. This new method of approach, this new light,
 1 AT ZAREPHATH . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  *..* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169           is philosophical rather than theological, rationalistic
          Rev. H. Hoeksems.                                                                                                                                     rather than exegetical. Never does Van Til argue
                                                                                                                                                                from Scripture. Even that which he presents as the
EDITORIALS  -                                                                                                                                                   most fundamental principle of his philosophy, the
  COMMON GRACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . 172.     most basic startingpoint, "the ontological trinity,"
   THE HOPE OF HIS COMING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
                     a                                                                                                                                          remains rather remotely in the background throughouit
          Rev. H. Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                     the book. But in as far as he develops his history of
                                                                                                                                                                .philosophy  in order to demonstrate the plausiebility of
   MARTYRDOM UNDER THE ROMAN EMPORER . . . . . ...168                                                                                                           "common grace", his conception of  :the "Moment"
                                                                                                                                                                occupies a very important place in that philosophy.
           Rev. G. M. Ophoff.                                                                                                                                   Hence, we well take time out now to criticize that con-
                                                                                                                                                                ception.
   HET CVERSTELPTE HART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.........181                                                  Van Til agrees that `we can properly understand
   STIL TOT GOD ,.............................................,......~................. 183                                                                     the meaning of history only if we view the "Moment",
           Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                          all things in time, on She background of God's eternal
                                                                                                                                                                counsel. But the more I tried to get into his way of
   THE INFALIBILITY  OF OUR ENGLISH BIBLE . . . . . ...185                                                                                                      thinking and studied his philosophy of history, the
                                                                                                                                                                more I became convinced that he fails exactly on this
           Rev. R. Veldman                                                                                                                                .*    most important point. To me, to view all things on
                                                                                                                                                                the background of the eternal counsel of God, means
   THE PERSPECTIVE OF MATT. 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189                                                      that every "moment,' is eternally in God's eternal
           Rev. P. De Boer                                                                                                                                      purpose, and is, in that eternal purpose, related as
                                                                                                                                                                means to an end to every other "moment,`, while all
    RADIO BROADCASTING AND MISION WORK . . . . . . . . . . . . 191                                                                                              the "mments"  of history are related as means to the
                                                                                                                                                                ultimate end: the highest revelation of the glory of
           Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                                                                        God in the realization of  !His eternal covenant in
                                                                                                  -                                                             Christ Jesus, ,the firstborn of every creature and the


                                             TlHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  :
                       . .                                                                                           173
                              -_ `- -- -.
first begotten of the dead.' For "known unto God are good `works of Adam before the fall were imputed to
all his works from the beginning of the world."  Be-            the elect and to the reprobate, to all men. And if
fore the mind of God `are all things as they will be in Van Til really wants So'view Moment A., the `state of
the new heavens and the new eart'h,  but also all the           righteousness in the light of, or on the (background of
"moments" of history as by His infinite wisdom He               the counsel of God, then he wiI.1 have to see Aldam,  the
has designed them in relation to the end, and they are          father, the head, the root of &he human race, as the
thus before His divine mind, and in His sovereign               first elect in Christ, who could be placed before the
conception  etemdly.   Even  :time itself, and all that antithesis, disobey and fall into sin, yet fall on Christ
develops in time, is eternally in Him. With Him there and be saved. And lthen  Van Til will have to vliew all
is "no variableness neither shadow of turning." Crea- God's dealings with Adam in Paradise in the light of
tion and Paradise, Adam and the state of righteous- that counsel, The state of righteousness and the tree
ness, sin anld grace,  Christ, the cross, the resurrection, ,of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and
the exaltation, the elect and the reprotbate,  all things in :the so-called "probationary command", and the fall of
their beginning, their development, and their final the first man Adam must be viewed in that light; they
consummation, are `before His divine mind, in His all (belong to God's dealing with Adam according to
eternal good pleasure, in their proper relationship to His eternal g00a pleasure. It is not clear from Van
one another from everlasting to everlasting. The el&t           Til's book just what place he gives to sin in the light
in their glory, and all that must lead to their glory ;         of the counsel of God, and in the dealings of God with
the reprobate in their utter desolation, and all ~that          Aldam.  He speaks of Moment A., the state of right-
must lead to their damnation-all have their place in eousness and of Moment B., the state of things. after
that good pleasure of Ache Most High unchangea,bly  and the fall and in Christ. But, viewed in the light  .of
forever. How otherwise could the Scriptures say God's counsel, <what is the relation between the two
that "whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate Moments? How do we advance from Moment A. to
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he mi&t           Moment B. ? The advance is made through the fall
be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover and  ,disobedience  of the first man Adam. But how
*whom he did predestinate them he also called; and              about  *hat "moment" of sin, when viewed on the back-
whom he called, them he also judfied; and whom he ground of the counsel of God. Shall we say that God
justified, them he also  ylorified"?  Or how could it willed Adam to fall? Or shall we prefer the statement
possibly *be said that "He hath not beheld iniquity in that God permitted Adam to fall? I far prefer the
Jacob, neither hath :he seen perverseness in Israel"? former statement, for God is the Lord. But whether
Nu.  23:21.     .And this also implies that it is not the       you prefer the one or Ithe other, the point is that the
"moment" that ~det,ermines  the attitude of God, eiher fall of Adam is eternally in the counsel of God as a
to the elect or to the reprobate, but  :that it is  {His own    "moment" fixed by His sovereign decree. Well, them.
good pleasure that sovereignly determines His attitude when God realizes this eternal "moment" of His coun-
to  the creature in the "moment",. This to me is the sel in time, and so ,deals with Adam that he falls into
meaning of viewing the "Moment", and all "Moments" sin and death `(a statement to which even the weakest
and "moments" against the background of God's eter- Reformed man  *will not object), did He so deal with
nal counsel.                                                    Adam in His love or in His hatred of Adam? Was it
   Wad Van Til really -.done  this, he could not :have          eternal love that motivated God in planting the tree of
said that God assumed an  attitude  of grace toward *knowledge of good and evil, in issuing the "proba-
the elect and reprobate in Moment A., in Adam in the tionary" command, in arranging for the temptation
state of righteousness ; nor that also :the reprobate           through the serpent, or hatred? Van  -Til proposes
in that Moment were good, and performed good action that God loved Adam before the fall, and that  IHe hated
in Adam ("a commonness of good action in official               him after the fall. How did God consider Adam in
capacity" ; and a "commonness in good up to a certain His own dealings with Adam that led up :to the fall?
(point between believers and non-believers") ; nor that If we would view all things in the light of God's coun:
after the fall ,G*od  hated both the elect and the repro-       se1 this question must needs arise and ought to  be
{bate ; and that now, because the lend is not yet, and :the answered. Now, my answer, and I am persuaded that
elect, are not yet perfect, neither the  re,probate  utterly it is the answer of Scripture, is that God loved Adam
damned, there is still a commonness in God's attitude w?th an eternal love, not as Adam but as the  frst
of grace toward both.         For, in what Van Til calls eleot in Christ; that, moreover, there *was an entire
Moment A. the elect and reprobate do not as yet exist church, a multitulde of elect in Ad'am's loins; and that
historically  <as such, they were not yet born, neither all God's dealings with Adam were absolutely moti-
had they done good or evil. Rom. 9 :ll. Hence, historic-        vated by that sovereign love of God to Adam and. to
ally there could be no common attitude of God to the the Church that was in his loins in Christ. H@ loved
elect and the reprobate. Nor  did they perform any him as elect in the state of righteousness, He loved him
good- works; unless Van Til means  to- imply. that  ;the        when He so controlled all things that he fell,:and He


  174                                                        ToHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  1ove:d  him as an  eIect after he had fallen. For, ac- 1~.  Yet, this is quite contra& to the Word of God.
  cording to the election of grace,  Adam fell  upon Christ.                                   Fact is, that God hated ,the reprobate in the loins of
  There was, then, never a  .motient in Adam's existence Adam in Lhe state of righteousness, in the event of the
  that God hated Adam.                                                                         fall, and after the fall. And al! His dealings with them
        And the same is true of the elect. `Indeed, when                                       are motivated by that sovereign hatred of His good
  one views Adam in Paradise in the  state of righteous-                                       ple,asure. "For the chilldren being not yet born, neither
  ness, in the light of, on the background of God's eber-                                      having done any good or evil, that  *the purpose of God
  nal counsel, he stands there, :too,  as the father of all                                    according to election might stand, not  df works, but of
  the elect,.as  the progenitor of the Church'sccording to him that call&h;  it was said unto her, The elder &all
  the flesh. The Church was in his loins. And God sez've  the younger. As it is written,  Jacob have I lovled,
  loved Adam as the progenitor of that Church, no doubt but  Esau have I hated." And it is not  ,difficult  to see,
  but He also loved that elect Church in him. Even when you view history on the background of the coun-
  Christ, according  ato the flesh, was in Adam's loins, for sel of God, that this sovereign  h&red of God's good
  Christ is "the son of. . .  .Adam,  the son of  C&l."                                        pleasure, is  <the motive of all God's dealings with
  Now, when God *caused. that Church in Adam to fall                                           Adam in the state of righteousness and  aft,er, that is,
  into sin and death, did He do so in His love or in His                                       as far as the  reprobste  are concerned. For it were
  hatred? In  IHis eternal  loge. And when that Church better for them that they had never been born!
  in Adam had fallen, did He hate or love that Church,.                                                                                         H. H.
  and did He deal with that Church, even immediately
  after the fall, in His love or in His ihate? In His love.
  For He had provided some better thing for that
  Church than the first paradise. He had prepared
  for them a city. He loved the elect in Adam before
  tihe fall, He loved them in the  gall, He loved them after                                           The Hope of His Coming
  the fall. And mark you well, :this is not an abstraction,
' as if it were thus only in God's eternal counsel, but this                                     The Word of God fixes the eyes of hope of the child-
  eternal love was in every "moment" of God's ,dealings                                        ren of God upon the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
  with His Church. You may object that they, neverthe- as the <consummation of all things, and  :the final realiz-
  less, became "children of wra& even is the others".                                          ation of all God's promises to #them. For salvatiqn  does
  We have no  objlection  to this. God's holy wrath is                                         not consist in this that God saves out of this world a
  kindled against all sin, in the elect and in the reprobate.                                  number of people and :takes them to heaven, but in ,the
  But do not forget,' that if you view ithis wrath of God                                      establishment of the kingdom of heat`en,  the new heav-
  against the elect's sin on  &he  baekgro:-nd  of God's
  .-.A-  -^..,                                                                                 ens and the new earth in  whic,h   right.eousn:ess shall
                   -c.--noc.l    :t  :n  ')  ~rrrn+h   crc  1*--n  .-y  '".a"Lly   $Ld'  Jq
                                                                         .                     ,2~!1,  and in which the tabernacie  of God shall be with
  borne to the end in  the2 ctead by Christ Jesxs  &air                                        men. This was the real contents of the promise given
  [Lord.                                                                                       :to the saints of old, and to lt.he realization of this prom-
        And how about the reprobate? They also were in- ise they looked forward. For they "all died in faith,
  Adam's loins; And, if we are `to believe Van Til, God not having received the promises, but having seen
  loved the reprobate in Adam in the state of righteous- them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and em-
  ness, and after the fall He hates them. But when he Qraced  them, and confessed that they were strangers
  states this, he surely does `not look at the "Moment"                                        and  .pilgrims in the  ear:th. For they that say such
  on the background of God's counsel. Fact is, that he                                         things declare plainly that th,ey  seek a country. And
  considers God's attitude to the reprobate entirely in                                        truly, if they had been mindful of ,that country from
  :the light of the "Moment". Van Til emphasizes that, whence they came out, they ,migll;t have  *had an oppor-
  in order to find a solution of the problem of "common tunity to have returned. But now they desire a better
  grace" we must lay greater emphasis than heretofore count.ry,  that is, an  heavenly  :, wherefore God is  n&t
  on the element of time. It is my opinion  that'he  does                                      ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared
  this :to such an extfent  that he carries the element of for them a city." Heb. 11: 13-16. The prophet Isaiah
  time into God's counsel itself, and that he lets *that                                       speaks of the kingdom of perfec't  peace, that shall be
' element control and determine the attitude of God established by the Branch growing out of Jesse's roots,
  Ito the elect and to the reprobate. But in this way,                                         a new world-order in which "The wolf also shall dwell
  he. very really presents God Himself as change-                                              with `the lamb, and the leopards shall lie down with the
  able.           CIod changes His  atti,tude as the "Moment"                                  kid;  ,and the calf and .the young lion and ,the fatling
  changes. I am quite sure, of course  t;haX he is far :together  ; and a little child shall lea,d them. And lthe
  from intending to teach that :there is variableness in                                       cow and the  tbear   shSall feed; their young ones shall lie
  God.            But in his presentation of the  `<Moment" he down together: and t;he lion shall eat straw like the ox.
  nevertheless, makes God change His  tittitude  repeated-                                     And the sucking child shall play on (the hole of the asp,


                                   TsH~E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           175

and the weaned child shall put his  kand  on the cocka-     who rebelled against his sovereign, and subjected him-
trice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my       self to the `devil, %he prince of this world. And this
holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the know- kingdom develops throughout the ages. With all the
ledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Isa. means at its command it strives for its consummation.,,
11:6-g  . And *even th;ough  that Old Testament prophet It is  a kingdom without God, and'without Christ, the
:t:he promise was announced: "For, behold, I create kingdom of fallen man, subjecting the things of this
new heavens and a new earth : and the former shall not      present world under his feet, in science and art, in
be remembered, nor come into mind."                         culture  an,d civilization, and pressing them all into
   In  :the New Testament, as we might expect, this the service of sin. But i:t is not in this line that the
promise assumes a much clearer form. Frequently the kingdom of God must be expected to come. On the
Lord speaks of the kingdom of heaven. And although contrary, it is in this line that the  first sin, committed
it is true that this Ikingdom is often spoken of as al-     in paradise, will bring forth its  fieal fruit, so that
ready present in the spirit&i sense of the word, yet the measure of ,iniquity  shall Ibe full in the kingdom
its consummation and perfection is a future hope. $of Antichrist, whose number is six hundred and sixty
For in the end the Son of man shall gather out of His six. In fact, none of :the grand and imposing products
kingdom all things that offend, and "then shall the of modern invention and civilization shah ever *enter
righteous shine forth in the kingdom of their Father." into that kingdom of glory. For, even apart from the
Matt. 13  :43.    And He speaks of "the regeneration fact that the kingdom of. this world is governed by
when the Son of man shall sit in the  Ithrone of his ithe law of sin and death, while the kingdom of `God is
glory",' and when also  ithe apostles "shall sit upon       un.der the law of the Spirit  of life, the -former is
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." earthy, while the latter is heavenly. And :the fashion
Matt. 19  28.  An'd in the figurative presentation of of this world shall pass away, even so that "the heavens
the final judgment we hear the King say %o those that shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
are at His right hand : `"Come, ye blessed of my Father,    shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the
inherit  ,the kingdom prepared for you from the founda- works that are therein shall be -burned up." II Pet.
tion of the world." `It is a kingdom in which all things 3:lO.. Through that final world conflagration nothing
shall be subdued under Christ as :the  [Head  of all things, of the proud works of m8n shall pass into the kingdom
`and when all things shall be subdued unto him, then of heaven. Babylon shall bring nothing in.to the New
shall the Son also be subject unto him  Ithat put all Jerusalem.         The kingdom of God  Thas nothing to do
things under him, that God may be all in all." I Cor. with a new world-order man may establish in the
15:28.    For it is :the eternal purpose of God "that in earth.  '
the dispensation of the fulness of times he might              On the contrary, the expectant gaze of the ,believers
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which is direct,ed  upward .to heaven, and out of the heavens
are in heaven, and which are on earth." Eph. 1  :lO.        they expect that kingdom to come. "For our conver-
And. "we, according to his promise, look for new sation is in heaven ; from whence also we look for the
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous- Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our
ness." II Pet, .3 :13. And on Patmos  the seer beholds vile body, thalt it may be fashioned like unto his glori-
"a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven         ous body, according .to the working Iwhereby  he is able
and the first earth were passed away  ; and there was       even to subdue all things unto himself." Phil. 3 :20, 21.
no more sea," Rev.  21.:1. And he "heard a great voice It was the  attitu.de  of the people of God under the old
out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is      dispensation. Always they ,cried  : "Oh that :thou  would-
with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall est rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down,
be his people, and God Himself shall be with them, and that the mountains might fIow at thy presence." Isa.
be their God. And God shall wipe away all their tears 64 : 1. And athe heavens did rend, and He did come
from their eyes;  anId there shall be no more death,        down, when the Christ-child was born in Bethlehem,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any and the Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us.
more pain: for the former things are passed away.           In Him the kingdom of heaven was seen in its <begin-
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behol,d,  I make      ning. And He battled His way into His kingdom,
all things new." Rev. 21:3-5.                               and established it on the foundations of the everlasting
   But how shall these things be? In what way shall righteousness of God, through the blood of the cross.
this final and eternal kingdom of God be ushered in?        He went away again into the heavens, leaving the dis-
It certainly will not come in the way of gradual de- ciples behind Him, still gazing upward into the hea-
velopment of the present world. There is, indeed, also vens. Once more the heavens rent and again He came
a kingdom of this world. It had its ,beginning  in the ,down, on the day of Pentecost, this time in the Spirit.
fall of the first Adam, who was king over the earthly       But still all things remained the same as before, and
creation, in order (that at :the pinnacle of creation he still the promise is not fulfilled. And  all the more
might be the servant and representative of God; but because they now have the fir&fruits of the Spirit, the


 176                                      T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                           -       -
 children of the kingdom groan within themselves, to- fully : "Immediately after the tribulation of  *those days
 gether with the whole creation, as they wait for the             shall the sun be darkene.d, and the moon shall not give
 adoption, to wit  tihe redmption of their  ,body. And,           her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and  lthe
 therefore, we are still looking upward into :the heavens,        powers of the heavens shall be shaken : and then shall
 (expecting  :t.hat the heavens will rend once again, and appear ;the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then
 that our Lord may appear in all the power and glory              shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall
 wherewith He is clotihed  at the right hand of God, in           see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
 order to establish His kingdom for ever! Not in the with power and great glory." Ma;tt.  24  :29-30.  The
 way of gradual development,  but through  th.e final angels bring the message to the amazed disciples on
 wonder of the coming of the Lord will :the kingdom of            M.t,. Olivet, as they stand gazing up into heaven: "This
 heaven be ushered in.                                            same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven,
        Of this ,coming  of ,the Lord all Scripture testifies.    shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go
 Already Enoch in predeluvian times prophesied: "Be-              into heaven." Acts  1:ll. And so  ;the apostles preach
 ,hold, the Lord corn&h  with ten ithousands  of his saints, and teach.         To  the vain philosophers  ,on Mars' hill
 :to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all  that Paul proclaims that God commands all men to repent,
'  aare ungodly among them of all their  ungoldly deeds "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he
 which they have ungodly committed, and of all their              will judge the world in righteousness by that man
 hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assur-
 against him." Jude 14, 15.           And all the prophets ance to all men, in that he hbath raised him from the
 speak of the day of the Lord. "For, behold, the Lord *dead." Acts X7 :31. And he speaks of the (day "when
 will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirl- `God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ
 wind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke              according to my gospel".      Rom. 2  :16. And again :
  with flames of fire." Isa. 66  :15. Joel cries  out in "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
 amazement : "Alas for the day ! for the day of the Lord a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
  is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty trump of God." I Thess.  4:16. He speaks of retribu-
  shall it come.'  ' Joel  1:15.  And again: "Put ye in the tion upon the enemies of the church, but of rest to  thte
  sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for believers "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
  the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wicked- heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking
  ness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of vengeance on them  that  [know  not God, and that obey
  decision: f,or the day of the Lord is near in the ;valley        lot 4the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be
  of decision. The sun and the moon shall be <darkened, punished with everlasting destruction from the pre-
  and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord sence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power,"
  also shall roar out of Zion, and  utt,er  his voice from 11 Thess. 1:7-g. The entire book of Revelation is really
  Jerusalem ; and the (heavens ,and the earth shall shake : an elaboration on the  ,theme:  *`Behold, he cometh with
  but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the            clouds; and  <every  eye shall see him, and  #they also
  strength of the children of Israel." Joel 3 :13-16. And which pierced him: and all  kin,dreds of the earth shall
  the last chapter of the Old Testament speaks of that wail because of him. Even so Amen." Rev.  l:?. He
  day as follows: "For,  Ibehold, the day cometh, that testifies: "Surely, I come qumkly, Amen." Rev. 22 :20.
  shall burn as an oven; and all the prou,d,  yea, and all And in the hope of His coming the Church of all ages
  that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the  lday that           responds in faith: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Rev.
  corn&h  shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts,            22 :20,.
  ,that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But              Upon this final coming of the Lord, then, the hope
  unto you that fear my name shall <the Sun of Righteous- of *the Church is fixed. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
  ness zarise  Iwith healing in his wings; and ye shall go        of God come in  the flesh, born of a  svirgin, w!ho was
  forth, and grow up as calves of &he stall." Mal. 4:1, 2.        crucified, dead and buried, raised from the dead on
  The Psalms, too, sing of this coming of the Lord: "For the third day, was received into heaven, and who sit-
  he cometh, for he cometh to judge the ear.th:  he shall         teth at the right hand of God, the same shall come
  judge the world with righteousness, and the people              again, to judge the quick and 4&e dead, `and .to finish
  with his truth. Ps. 96  :13; 98  :9.                            the  w,ork  the Father gave Him to do. in this literal
        And the New Testament holds *this coming of the sense of the word we believe that He shall come again.
  Lord  b&ore  the eyes of believers as  the object of their      This does not mean that we entertain a carnal or
  hope.      Frequently, the Lord  (Himself speaks of  His earthly conception of His coming, or, in fa:t, that we
  coming again. "For as the lightning cometh out of .the make bold to form a conception of His return at all.
  east, and shineth even unto the west; so also shall the His advent will  (be the  fmal wonder. This must never
  coming of the son of man be," Matt. 24  :27.            And be  forgotiten.  It is this that is  oserlooked  by those
a g a i n : "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coarse mockers, ,who propose to demonstratle  the im-
  coming of the Son of man be." Mat&. 24 :37. Or,  more            possibility of Jesus' being seen by every eye at His


                                     `I+HE  ` S T A N D A R D   `BEARER                                               177

 coin&,  by pointing out that the earth is round. Eut taught that before the coming of the Lord "the man of
 this is' also forgotlten  frequently by professing Chris- sin" must be established, during whose reign there
 tians, that have a rather carnal conception of His com- shall lbe great tribulation for the people of God, so that
 ing and of the kingdom He is coming to estiablish. It they shall be persecuted to the death, and they shall not
 is the resurrected and glorified Lord, that is coming         be able .t? buy or sell, unless they adapt ,the mark of the
 again: [His coming will be an appearance.       It will be beast. II Thess. 2 :l-12 ; Rev. 13. We know, moreover,
 revelation.    He is coming, literally and personally, that the Idevil must be loosed for a season, ,that !he nray
`but not in the sense that He is returning to our earthly      deceive the nations that live on the four corners'of  the
 existence, but rather in order that He may make us            earth, and. I see the beginning of this in *the waking
 and all things like unto Himself, and `to take us unto        up of the, heathen orient, witih its hundreds of millions.
 Himself, that we may forever be where He is.                  Rev. 20:1-10.  And, finally, we know from the Bible,
    There  &LS been, and there stili  is, a good deal of that the day is near, always near, that this is ,&he  "last
 speculation as to the time of Christ's return. And we hour", and that Christ does not  ,tarry ;  t.here  is nq
 know that this speculation is vain in as far as it con-       delay or restraint : He is coming quickly! I Pet. 4 :7 ;
 cerns  ,the day and the bour of His coming. This, how- I John 2 :18 ; Rev. 22 :12, 20. If, in dew of all  bhis,
 ever does, not mean that we know nothing about that we look about us in the world, we may certainly say,
 time. The `contrary is true. We know, for instance,           without attempting to predict anything as to the day
 that we must not expect the coming of the Lord in the and the hour, that our own times convey the urgent
 way of a gradual improvement of the present world, message : "The end of all `things is near; be ye there-
 or of a steady growth of the true -Church,  and a uni-        fore sober and watch unto prayer !",
 versal  spread  land acceptance of the Gospel. If this           That coming of tihe Lord is ,the object  of the hope
 were the picture  held ,before  us in the Bible, the trend    of all the people of God, unless they are so entangled
 of ,development  in the world would be quite disappoint-      in the things of the world, that they would  pather
 ing. Rather must we expect times like our own. For ,k;ave Him tarry, or, perhaps, have Him stay away
 there shall be wars and rumors of war, and the end altogether. They long for Wat coming. They live `in
 is not' yet. And nation shall rise against nation, iand the expectation of that coming. They pray for it, and,
 kingdom against kingdom ; and there shall be earth-           princifpally,~  all their prayers are conditioned by the
 quakes in divers places, and there shall be gamines           hope of this coming. For they know that peace and
 and troubles, but .these shall only .be the beginning of      righteousness will never be established in  ithe world,
 sorrows. Mark X3:7, 8. We know, too, that *the time until after  tihat great day of the Lord. With a  t':iew
 preceding, the coming of the Lord, shall be character- !to that coming they earnestly strive  <to keep their
 ized by a great apostiacy,  f6r "men shall be `lovers of      garments clean, and to purify themselves, in order
their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphek-         that they may see Him as `He is. In the expectation of
 ers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unhaly"  and ,that hope they are willing to be strangers and pilgrims
 "lovers of pleasures more .than lovers of God; having         in the world, and to Idwell in tents. And in the pow&
 a form of godliness but denying the power thereof."           of ,that hope they are able to suffer tribulation patient-
 II Tim. 3 :l-5. The  <world in those days shall be char: ly. It is that hope that sustains and comforts them in
 acterized by carelessness and .indifferenee,  carnality times like the present, when the world is full of con-
 and joy in the things of the world, for id shall be as in fusion and there is destruction on every hand, when
 the days of Noah, when men were eating and drinking, rthe place of the true Christian, who would be faithful
 marrying and giving in marriage, until' the flood came to his Lord, becomes narrower by the day, and when
 and destroyed  <them all. Matt.  24:38.  Also in this the Church apostatizes from the truth of the gospel.
 respect the biblical picture of those days offers a For they know that these ;things must needs come, aiid
 striking resemblance to our own, age. 0, the world the end is not yet. And not only do the sain'ts on earth
 can assume a beautiful mask of piety, especially in our look forward to that day, but also the glorified saints
 own land. We pray and give thanks and speak ever in heaven long for the day when God shall judge in
 so piously. But be not deceived ! More than a form            righteousness, and shall avenge the blood of His saints
 of godliness it is not. For lewdness and corruption upon them that Idwell on the earth.
 abound. There is drunkeness and adultery, zind the               But why ,do they hope so earnestly for that coming
 divorce courts are  ;crowded,  and make light of the          of the Lord? `Chiefly, because it will be the perfect
 sacred  tie of matrimony. ,Profanity,  cursing and swear- revelation of the glory and righteousness and justice
 ing in the camps of our armed forces, by officers and of God. The cause of the Church in the world is the
 privates, are so proverbial that Christians ,called  .to cause of &he Son of God, and the cause of the Son of
 the colors must Idaily vex their soul  wi,th their ungodly    God is  ithe cause of God. That cause is  despised,
 speech. But at the same time, on certain occasions, trampled under foot, moc!ked,  defeated, blasphemed
 the world cloaks itself in .a garb of piety that might        in  tihe world throughout the ages, ever since the
 almost deceive the very elect! We are very definitely         fall  of  fie  &st Adam, and the entrance of  sin in-

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

io  bhe  ,.world.     The `Word of God is always  ,con-             In addition to the ,writings  of John, we have. a few
tradictd.  . The Lamb ,is always slain. Christ is al- compositions from men who `were disciples of the, a-
     ways: crucified by wicked  hand,s. The blood of the            postles and who, in some instances, outlived: them  .,by
.$aints is  .aIways shed. The cause of God's covenant many years., For the second and third centuries lhe
.always:suffers  (defeat. But that cause shall have the             compiler of Church History gets. most of his assist;-
victory, and all  .the, powers of darkness shall be put to ante from the literary productions of the Church Fat&
%hame.  forever.  n Christ, who was once the suffering ers. From Pagan writers he gets little and yet much.
Gservant; despised by all, shall  -then  become revealed in What he has from these writers is a history  of.-the
.a11  `the  ,glory and power the Father gave Him, and               civilization and culture of the Roman-Graeco world.
every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that,                  Among all  *these  source-materials; which are cop-
     He  "Is Lord. `He shall be publicly justified as God's         ious, none, .of course, can compare for relibility with
$ighteaus  Servant. And with Him  al1 the saints of all the Holy Scriptures, they (being infallible Word of God.
ages and out of every nation shall be justified. For                  Examining these Scriptures, we, find that severpI
,.they shall be publicly, before the eyes of all, adopted of their number contain clear references also to, this
as  .sons `of God in glory. Their bodies shall be re- early martyrdom. But as  *the Canon of the scriptures
     deemed from the power of the grave, and made like              was closed circa A.D. 100, these  references6   can+ be
.udto  .the most glorious body of their Lord.             Each only to persecutions that precede  th.is date. Yet they
one of them shall take his proper place in the grand                are, on this account,. none the less invaluable... :As in
     whole of the body of Christ, and add his own share             these references we brave fo do with God's :infallible
to  ithe glory and beauty and blessedness of the whole.             word, they serve us as an unerringstarmard  in. deter-
&rd  there  will  -be a new creation, a new heaven and a mining the degree of veracity of the testimony of ,these
:%rew earth, a  htivenly creation, of which Christ will other source- materials respecting the trials and suf-
be the head,`the  Lamb will be the light, and the glory             ferings of God's people in these early centuries. Let
,oC ,God :w+ill be the everlasting beauty. Then God's us then have regard to the testimonies of the Scrip-
     tabernacle will be  with men, and in His light shall we tures referred to.                                              .`a
hea: the light in heavenly perfection for ever. And                     Paul*explains  to his readers ,t.hat they have reasons
+$th Clh-rist we shall reign over all the new creation,             to glory in tribulations also, Rom. 5% .The brethren
in:peace and righteousness, as servants of the living of the church in Philippi must not allow themselves to
     God that He may be all in all ! Thalt is the contents of be terrified by their adversaries:  <which is  ,to. them an
43% hope of Christ's coming. And in that hope the                   evident token of perdition, "but to `you of' sal&ion,
chdlch, ,prays  fervently : Come, yea, come, Lord Jesus ! and that of God. For unto you ,it is given. in behalf
`                                                   IX H.           of Christ, not :only ,to believe ,in him, ,but also to suffer
                                                                    for his" sake" (Phil. 138, 29). The Thessalonians *be-
                             -                                      came followers of Paul (and his companions), and.-of
                                                                    the Lord, having received the word in much affliction,
                                                                    with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that they were ensam-
         Martyrdom ,Under the Roman                                 ples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. The:;.
                     t Emperors                                     1:  6,`7.. So did they  fbecome  followers of ,the .ckurches
                                                                    of God which in  Judea  "are in Christ Jesus: for ye
                                                                    also have suffered like things of your own countrymen,
       Having passed in review this martyrdom and having even as they have of the Jews: who hath killed the
     notice`d  its causes, let us now regard its significance.      Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persc-
;Before occupying ourselves with this last phase of our cuted  US  (`I Thess.  2:14, 15). He,  Paui, is bound  ,to
     subject,  it may be well at this juncture to confront the thank God alw,ays for these brethremso  *that he glories
,question whether there are available a sufficient a- in them in the churches of God for their patience and
     mount of reliable materials out of which to construct          faith in  all their persecutions and tribulations  .that
     the,  lay of the story of this  <early martyrdom and of they endure: which is $a manifest token of the right-
     Christianity in general in the first, second, and third eous judgment of God, that they may  be: counted
     centuries. These materials are at hand. `For the earl-         worthy of the `kingdom of God, for  <which   they~lalso
-ier years, that is, from A.D. 33 to circa A.D. 100 they suffer: seeing `that it is a righteous thing with God  ,to
:are the New Testament Scriptures - the gospels of recompense tribulation to them that trouble  th,ese
t Matthew, of Mark, and Luke, the Acts of the apostles, brethren. They are to rest assured that when the
     and the epistles with the exception of those written by        Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His
     John, for the years A.D.  33 to circa  A.D.`80"$$  for mighty angels, He shLal1  take vengeance on' their.acl-
     the last two  d*ecades  of this century the gospel, the Gversaries.            They shall be punished with everlasting
: letters, and ,&he Revelations of John, y;ho ,,;_ l,i.ve,d,`and    destruction from the presence of the Lord, II Thess.
     taught and wrote at Ephesus until  AD. 99 or  100.             I :.I.!).    1  t was the persecution. of the Church by the


                                     TGE  S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER                                                         179

pagan authorities that occasioned th,e exhortation of           spread and severest persecution. And such, as was
Paul to the effect that Timothy and his- flock pray             seen, is also .the testimony of the church fathers. W.hat
"also for kings and  ,for all that are in authority."           these scriptures also tell us is that the Epistles in-
Timothy must not conclude  .that kings, us  u  chs,             cluding the Revelation were directly addressed to  .the
arereprobated  ,because so many of their number were            church in persecution, that .the hope and the .cgmfo,rt
troubling the church, 1 Ti. 2:1-3. He is further  ex-           which they hold forth is for a people-the, people of
hopted  to be partaker of the afflictions, of the gospel        God-in, tribulation And .the.lesson  of history,is  that
according to the power of God,-. 2 Ti. 1 :S, and to be          only when the church finds itself in the crucible of
mindful of the saying: "For if we be dead with him,             affliction are God's people especially ready to 1iye.b~
we shall also live with him; if we suffer `we shall reign       the promise and to know that their Redeemer  ,liveth,.
with him; but if we deny him, he shall also deny us."           It is then that faith is strong and, hope lively.        .*..:,
2.Ti.  2:11,  12. The brethren to whom the epistle to               The question is frequently asked why the world
the  .Hebrews  is addressed, took joyfully  *the spoiling of    kills God's people only intermittently, why it is not  ' ;
their goods, knowing in .themselves  that they had in           laying violent hands on them today. There is still  -":
heaven a  ,better  and enduring substance. Heb. 10  :34.        persecmion  of the faithful yet not in this form, at  L  :I:'
ThQ, same ,author..includes  in the cloud of witnesses          least not in our western hemisphere.  Is the  ..world   ,_
by which his readers `were &compassed  .about  also those       today less wicked than the world of the Roman  I{
"who ha&trial  of crued;mockings  and scourgings, yea           Caesars? The world today is just as wicked, ,just as- ,I:
moreoverof  bonds and imprisonment; they were ston- unwilling to forsake its abominations and turnto .th,e, :'
ed, they  swere  sawn assunder, were tempted, were slain        living God to be saved in the blood of His crucifie,d  and
with the ~swond; they. wandered about in sheepskins             resurrected Christ, thus just as intolerant of and .an-
and goatskins  ;. being destitute, afflicted, tormented  ; tagonistic  to the truth and to God's people,  just.  as.
(af,whom  the'world  was not worthy.) `they wandered            selfish and selfcentered, superstitious cruel and in;
in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and eaves of human. Then why is the church not  ibeing troubled
the. earth" ()Heb. 11:26-28).  These same brethren (to by the world now? One could point to more than one
whom this epistle was written) are exhorted to remem-           reason perhaps. Yet the longerthis question is ponder?
be+:them   .that are in bonds  .with   th.em: and them ed the clearer it becomes that the only satisfying  an2
which  suffer  adaersity, "as being yourselves also in swer is: God does not will.                                         ,
,the body'" (Heb. -13 :3) . Finally, let them boldly say,          He is not turning the hearts of the Egyptians  ..to
"The Lord is  .my helper, and I will  notfear what man hate His people. But it may not be long now,. There
shall do unto me" (Heb, 13 : 5b). For despising the poor        are foreboding signs.' I think now of the thousands
James rebukes his brethren in this language, "Do not            upon thousands of priests of  .the Greek Orthodox
rieh men oppress you, and draw you before the judg-             Church in Russia slain by Stalin. I think of Hitler's
ment seats?, Do they not blaspheme that worthy name `active and  ,cruel opposition to the church in Germany;
by which ye are ,called?" Jas. 2:6,. 7. Further on, at          I think, finally, of the rising tide of Communism in
Chap.  5:6, he flays  these..same  rich for condemning Europe and on our own continent.
and killing the. just, who. does not resist them. The               As yet, men need not pay ,with their lives or with
strangers to whom the apostle Peter addresses his all their worldly goods for holding fast Christ's `name.
epistle are in heaviness through manifold- temptation,          It costs little to bear the name "Christian." In genenat
1:Pet;  1:6. They must think it not strange concerning there is willingness to pay *but little. Rather th,sn su&
the fiery, trial which is to try them, as some strange tain the smallest material loss, the preference  iis to,.be
thing happened to them: ,bat rejoice, .ipasmuch  as they unequally yoked with unbelievers, There is little de-
are partakers of,.Christ's  sufferings, 1 Pet. 4 :12, 13.       sire to live from right principle. The studied attempt:
The brethren of .the church at Smyrna are told that is  .to steer life's course clear from the troubles  and
the  :devil shall cast some of their number into prison, disturbances incident to confessing Christ's name be-.
that they may be tried, Rev. 2 :10. Babylon, the mother fore men. When sin is exposed and rebuked. in:rth;r5
of harlots, is .dru,nken  with the blood. of the saints,        pulpit, anger kindles  ,and the church is forsaken.. : ~,i!
and with'the  blood of thepmartyrs  of, Jesus, Rev. 17 :6.        The day in which we live is indeed evil. *The :IWPI
   Babylon is the  worl,d,  versus the church, the king- of many has waxed cold. There is wide-spread falling
dom of God-the world not of any particular period               away from the truth. The denial of the fundamentals
only ,but of all ages. In John's day, Babylon was the of the Christian religion is  consi,d,ered   s:holarly:  in
Graeco-Roman, empire as concentrated with its name- m.any  a Christian circle : and ,the community of church:.
less polutions Ian ,the ci.ty of Rome; : .That in the vision es who still want to be known as Reformed are  devit;,-
of John it. appears as dru,nken  with the.  blood of the        alized by insipient Modernism. The carnal  elemen,$
saints indicates, assuredly, that of those who held fast in  the.church  is loud-mouthed and occupies the place,
the name of Christ the number slain .was great.                 of influence.,' What would happen today  `if all  t&e
                                                                pai.ns,,  which iron, and steel, #ire .sncl sword,  rltck  and.


     130                                    T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

.    cross, wild beasts and beastly men could inflict, were          early martyrdom is  .a fruitless occupation. What has
     again employed to induce the Christians to deny                 weight here is not so much why the heathen persecuted
     Christ's faith? Would  Cy*prian,  were he still living,         the church, bu,t why God willed that they should."
     again be amazed and appalled at the sight of so many               The answer to this question is again contained in
     faithless members of the church rushing to the temples ~Holy Writ. The apostle Paul glories in tribulations
     of the pagan gods to burn incense at the heathen altars also, because he knows that tribulation worketh pat-
     b escape the loss of their goods or free themselves             ience ; and patience experience ; and experience i hope,
     from the penalty of death ?                                     Rom.  5:3. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews
       Sceptical  writers have expressed the view that the           tells his readers that God chasteneth His people  ,tlmt
     martyrdom of  *those early centuries, that steadfast- they  migh.t be partakers of His holiness; that chasten-
     ness of God's people in persecution, their remaining ing afterwards yieldeth the peaceable fruit of rigbt-
     faithful unto death, forms no evidence that Chris- eousness unto them that are exercised thereby, Heb.
     tians, in distinction from other men, are the people            12:10,  11.  A$nd according to the apostle Peter God's
     of true virtue. In support of their view, these writers believing people are now for a season, if need be, in
     point to the persecution of Christians by Christians            heaviness through manifold temptations that the trial
     in the later middle ages, and in the 16th century.              of their faith, being much more precious than of gold
     They point us to the fiendish scenes of the papal               that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be
     crusades against the Albiginses and Waldenses, to the found unto praise and honour and glory at the appear-
     massacre of the Huguenots and  ,to the persecutions of ing of Jesus Christ, Pet. 1:6, 7. There are more such
     fhe Protestants  ,by the Duke of Alva. But Christianity scriptures expressive of the same sentiment; and in,
     is not responsible for the crimes perpetrated in its            their totality they form the  anwer to the question why
     name  .by the  a&i-Christian  powers within the walls of        God willed that early martyrdom and what he accom-
     Zion ,and bearing the name YChristian".                         plished through  it, and so set forth its true signifi-
        We should have nothing but sympathy with the                 cance.
     heroic faith manifested by these early martyrs. Wrote              But we are still confronted by the question, what
     the historian Lecky : "The most horrible instances of significance this early martyrdom had for the church
     torture were usually inflicted, either by the populace,         of subsequent ages, what its meaning is for us. Why
     or in their presence, in the arena. We- rea,d  of Chris- did the church of this Dispensation at the very outset
     tians bound in chains of red-hot iron, while the stench         of its career and for three long centuries thereafter,
     of their half-consumed flesh rose in a suffocating have to pass through that valley of the shadows of
     cloud to heaven ; of others who were torn to the very           death. Another question is: Why did God so arrange
     bone by shells, or hooks of iron; of holy virgins given         His providence that persecution in this violent form
     over to the lust of the gIadiator  or to the mercies of         finally ceased? This last question is to be answered
     the pander; of two hundred and twenty-seven converts `thus: The church has need of periods of "stillness" for
     sent on one occasion to the mines, each with the sin-           intensive and sustained study of the Scriptures ami.
     ews of one leg severed by a red hot iron, and with an           for the expression of the  ,truth  of Holy Writ in proper
     eye scooped from its socket; of fires eo slow that the form, Further, it is in the need of "stillness" also for
     victims writhed for hours in `their agonies; of bodies the extension of God's kingdom through the preaching
     torn ,limb from limb, or sprinkled with burning lead;           of the Gospel unto all creatures. But what was first.
     .of mingled  salt and vinegar poured over the flesh that of all necessary is that the church come ieto the pos-
     was bleeding from the rack ; of tortures prolonged and session of the conclusive evidence  that the gates of hell
     varied through entire days.        For  <the love of their      do not prevail against it; that the faith of God's ,true
     Divine Master, for the cause they believed to be true,          people is indestructible, and that real Christianity is
     men, and even weak girls, endured these things with- indeed the  fruitage of  .the  wonderiworking  power of
     out flinching, when one word *would have freed them God's sovereign grace. And it ttlso first of all had to
     from their sufferings. No opinion we may form of be demonstrated unto ,the church how true it is that
     the  Iproceedings  of priests in a later age should  imp&       <if believers walk as children of the light before  ,the
     ,the reverence with which we bend before the martyr's face of the godless, the world does not know them. It
     Pomb."                                                          was God's will that through the ages His people  stend-
        Now finally a word on the significan,ce  of `this early fastly fight the good fight of faith and continue their
     `iri%;rtyrdom.  In the foregoing article on this subject pilgrim's journey to the everlasting  destina.tion,  which
     I `wrote : "these persecutions were God's work-a work           is the Father's house, only as armed with this amazing
     $n  `which  the heathen functioned as `His agent but on evidence of the indestructibility of their faith.
     this  account  none the less responsible. Now  both  God           As we have seen, that age of early martyrdom was
     and the heathen had their own designs. If we be will- already interspersed with brief periods of "stillness',`.
     ingly ignorant of  ,the latter-of the designs of God- Then, when persecution again  *would  break out, many'
     &31 our inquiring  afetter the true  signiticance  of  *this    apostatized,  This, too,  wae made to come  to pass  #at


                                       T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       USi...
the church of the centuries that followed might be              Zoo was het met David hier.
aware that in times of quiet there a.$e always ,to be           0, David  we& wel, dat de Heere alles ziet en alles
found in the church many who say they are Christians hoort. Daarom bedoelt hij dan ook niet dat de Heere
but are not.                                                onverschillig is tegenover hem, wanneer hij zegt :
                                             G. M. 0.       Merk op mijn gebed ! In die uitdrukking geeft hij
                                                            uiting aan zijn grooten nood. Hij wil er meer zeggen:
                                                            Beere,  het staat er bang voor met mij en zonder Uwe
                                                            wondere en slmachtige uitredding ga ik onder.            2
                                                                In plaats van tot God te gaan vanuit het hart des.
                                                            lands,  `waar de  lkoning  Israels zijn eigen  plaats had
                Het Overstelpe Hart                         onder de feestvierende menigte, moet hij nu kermen
                                                            van het einde des lands; inderdaad, het is  zelfs  buiten
                         (Psalm 61)                         de grenzen van het land in het over-Jordaansche
                                                            Mahanaim.
    `t Kan soms stormen  in ons hart. Een beeld ervan           En dan volgt een  beschrijving  van zijn  begeerte..
zien we in de zee, wanneer zij bewogen wordt -door          Hij wil door God geleid  op den rotssteen.
proote  atormen.                                                Altemaal beeldspraak,  doch zoo doorzichtig,  dat.
 Een overstelpt hart is een hart cwaarin  het stormt.       het niet moeilijk valt om te raden naar de beteekenis-
Het harte kan dan zijn inhoud niet langer  beheer-          van  dien' rotssteen.
schen: hoog  ver,heffen  zich de baren en de golven in          De rots is God. Dat had immers David  we1  ge-
.i!at hart.     Overstelpt: het hart  loopt over in  ge-    lezen in het onvergetelijke lied van  Mozes? (Deut.
sehrei.                                                     32 :4).
    Zoo ,verging  bet David in dezen psalm. Iets derge-         Daar  "lezen we: Hij is  ,de rotssteen, wiens  werk
lijks vinden we in psalm 42. En `t schijnt alsof beide ,volkomen  is, want  alle Zijne wegen zijn  geriehten;.
psalmen gemaakt  zijn in hetzelfde tijdvak, namelijk,       God is waarheid en is geen onrecht, rechtvaardig en
toen hij vluchtte voor het aangezicht van zijn  `zoon       recht is Hij!
Absalom. In beide psalmen  wordt gezongen van het               Dear bidt David om in zijn benauwdheden. Wijs-
verlangen naar God en Zijn dienst. In beide  psalmen        heid van het kind van God.
glinstert het geloof ten slotte. Tk zal C&d, mijn God,          Wijsheid, want die den  rotss.teen  bezi'c is veilig
nog loven,  zingen  we in den twee-en-veertiger.. En tegen alle stormen.  Wijs, want dan is  alle we&VOL.
hier  we& David, dat hij ten slotte  tech tot in der maakt en af. Daar  k.an men  rusten en  belacht men
eeuwen eeuwigheden in God's hut zal verkeeren.              alle stormen  `van duivelen, menschen en. de vreeselijke
    0 God!                                                  machten van zonde en verderf.
    Zoo begint  David zijn psalm.                               David  wist, dat God's werk van eeuwigheid tot
    Die uitroep kan gedaan als men vol is van de ge-        eeuwigheid altijd af is. Dat lijkt we1 anders zooals
nade Gods en bij het licht van die genade de schoon-        wij er tegen  aan zien. Dan schijnt alles verkeerd te;
heid en lieflijkheid van God te zien krijgt. Dan roept      gaan, ook met Gods werk. Dat is  zelfs  zoo met  "bet
men het 0 God ! in verwondering en bewondering.             werk Gods in de schegping en onderhouding aller din-
    Doch dat is hier het geval niet.                        gen. Er is koude en hitte, honger en gebrek,  vuur  en-
   !Hier is het een schreeuw.  van een geprangd hart.       vloeden, lawine en verwoesting ter  rechter-  en  lter
 Dat kan men merken uit het  ,volgende.                     linkerhand. De  oceanen  verheffen  zich, zoodat haar
    Hoor rnijn geschrei !                                   golven bruisen ;`de w&ken breken en er komt een groote.
    Zoo spreekt men gewoonlijk niet. Dit gebed is ecn vloed op  aarde die alle menschen en dieren verzwelgt.
ongewoon  gebed. Meestal zijn we kalm  als `we bidden En  tech   weten  we door het geloof, dat alles  zich  be-
en het beekje van ons leven kabbelt rustiglijk en weegt en roert of stil staat in ijskoude verstijving
vrediglijk daarhenen. Dan bedenkt men zijn  nooden          naar ,den raad des Heeren Heeren. Geen stofje  dat
en behoeften en gaat men tot den Heere om Hem al zich grilliglijk beweegt in den gouden  stroom.,van   `.t
die nooden en behoeften bekend te  maken. Of men zonnelicht, of  bet  beantwoordt   aan het gebed des
zag de deugden Gods en in aanbidding buigt men  zich        Ileeren.  Als de  menseh  wandelt en  glimlachlt, of als
neder om het den Heere te vertellen,  hoe schoon en hoe hij rauwelings brult en kermt en gilt in  vreeselijke;
goed en hoe  lieflijlk Hij is. Daar zingt men:  Aan- smart, zich krommende in den dood: het is alles de
biddelijk Ogperwezen !                                      openbaring van de Rots, wiens werk  volkomen  is:
    Doch soms kan het stormen in het hart en wordt          `,ti Is af.
het hart overstelpt in het binnenste van ons. Dat zijn          Zoo is Hij ook de Rots in  verband  met `t nieuwe:
meestal bange tijden. Wet werd benauwd. Er seheen           koninkrijk.
geen uitkomst meer en de .vreeselijkste  gevaren  dreig-        Die openbaring ligt vast aan Jezus.  .Daarom  wordt
C&J.. Danbestormit  men den troon  der genade.              Jezus dan ook de Rots. genaamd ,. 11a.Ha--kwam itot:


                                 -  T,HE  S T A N D ' A R D   B E A R E R                                             185

wat er in Uw  har.t  stormt en raast. Stort dat hart        "Dat de sterkte G-odes  is!" Ja,  draar zijn we ook mee
voor `Hem uit. `Ge kunt nooit de schoone  stilte ervarer    begonnen.    Hij is de Rutssteen, Zijn werk is  vol-
vooraleer dat harte ledig is aan zorgen en lbenauwd-        komen.                    t
heden.  Vertelt Hem alles  wat U angstig maakt en              En dan zal `t gaan.              .I- .- __ _-. _-.--
bekommert. En als dat hart ledig is, zal Hij het ver-          Dat is uw werk  : vertrouwt  on Hem reheel  en al !
vullen door U te geven een `klaar gezicht op den Rots-         En weest maar niet bang voor de goddeloozen;  want
Steen,  de Rots der eeuwen die van geen wanklen weet.       het slot zegt : "Gij zult een iegelijk vergelden naar zijn
Dan zult ,ge zien, zooals David, ,dat alle dingen mede-     werk."
werken ten goede  voor allen  die den Heere liefhebben,        Komt Uw werk, dat van voor de grondIegging be-
het volk dat naar Zijn eeuwig voornemen daartoe  ge-        reid is, opdat gij daarin zult wandelen, in het gerichte
roepen is. En dan zal het ook Uwe  behjdenis zijn:          Gods, dan zal Hij naar Zijn goedertierenheid over U
Immers is mijn hart  stil tot God! Hij is  mij,n  toe-      vergelding  doen.    ,Gij krijgt  genadeloon   on genade
vlucht.    Dan mogen de  stormen   ,voortgaan  en dan       we&en.
mogen de goddeloozen ,woeden ; geen nood : we zijn             En komt het goddelooze werk van de vijand in `t
aangekomen in den rottsteen en alles  staa+t veilig.        gericht, dan zal  (Hij  toorn  beloonen  op  ,hun toornig
Niets en niemand kan ons schei,den  van de eeuwige          werk.
liefde  Gods die daar is in  Christus Jezus,  onzen            Ja, zoo is het  :Pmmers is mijn ziel  stil tot God.
Heere.                                                      Als irk stil hen, heel stille, dan hoor ik het ruischen  van
    Een andere weg is er niet.                              het eeuwige lied der  liefde.
 " `Gaat  tech' niet naar de gemeene  lieden,  dat wil         En dat lied is ,de hemel, bet is verrukkelijk schoon!
zeggen, het volk wiens naam  zelfs  verkondigt, dat zij                                                      6. v.
gelijk  zijn Ban een damp die ras verdwijnt, Want zoo
staat het er in het oorspronkelijke. - Zij zijn, zooals
het de tekst zegt : zonen ,van roode klei en daarom een                                    -
ademtocht gelijk. : Met nadruk  staat de naam Abel
vooraan in het vers, Abel, de naam van Eva's tweede
zoon: een ademtocht.  Wat voor heil is er te wachten The Infallibilitvc  of our Englitih Bible
van een ademtocht?
    Gaat ook niet  naar  de zonen van een mensch, dat Afn object of faith.                                             I
wil zeggen, dat volk hetwelk nog wat schijnt, de groote
lieden, hetzij in naam en aanzien of in kracht en macht.       That the Bible as we have it today is indeed the
Doet het niet, want die zija niet meer dan een leugen. infallible Word of God,' our only and complete rule of
De gedachte is blijkbaar, dat de belofte van naam, aan- faith and conduct, essentially different from all other
zienlijkheid,   kracht en  macht  van dat volk bedriegt:    writings in history, we apprehend only  :by faith.
ze kunnen U ten eenenmale niet redden van Uw nood              Never do we come to this conviction in the  pre
en smart.                                                   sumptuous way modern theology imagines it should
    Ook meet  ge niet trachten om Uzelven te  helpen  in be reached. According to the latter it is not scholarly
allerlei ,verkeerde  wegen. Bij voorbeel,d,,  moet ge niet and scientific and proper to approach the Bible with
trachten om sterkte te verkrijgen uit booze  onderdruk-     a priori prejudices in the matter. In seeking to deter-
king van Uw naaste of door te rooven en te stelen.          mine the real character and value of Scripture we
Uw  ,begin is dan al zonde en ge  zult  .nooit  het  ge-    should approach it with an open mind, examine its
wenschte  doe1 bereiken. Voor ge den strijd  *begint history and contents without bias, and by way of im-
met zulke  lbooze  middelen zijt ge het  al-verloren.       partial reasoning, logical argumentation and applica-
    En als de Heere U alles wat aardsch en Iieflijk en tion of  accepted  literary principles seek the answer to
schoon is als  isn den  schoot  werpt, moet ge ook niet the vital question: Is the Bible actually the Word of
rusten en  vertrouwen  in dien ongestadigen rijkdom. God, `hence infallible? Or is it merely a wonderful
Dat is 66k dwaaa. Zet Uw hart niet op de dingen van guide, though *the product of mere men, and hence faI-
het stof. Daarin'is  geen hulpe en verlossing.              lible and subject to all the principIes  and methods of
    Wat dan?                                                the human critic?
    Ge moet  scherpelijlk  luisteren.                          This position, however, is just as'impossible, spirit-
   -God  lheeft  &nnaal gesproken. En nu moet gij           ually and psychologically, for those who advocate it
tweemaal luisteren.      Eens als de openbaring Gods m for  lthe child of  ,God.
naar  U toekomt in het Woord, dat gewis en zeker is;          Modern scholars themselves cannot assume such an
en eens als dat Woord in' Uw hart weerklinkt, toege-        unbiased standpoint, for the very position and method
pas.t door des  `H&en   Geest. Hier is stem en echo.        they suggest already evidences an a priori conviction
Ben dubbel getuigenis.                                      that the Bible is  not  the Word of God.  ny seeking
    En in dit verband xegt die stem al. maar door: to approach it as they do any other .literary  product,


186                                    T'IZE  S T A N D A R D   BE+ARER

they begin by placing it on the level of all human upon and through the minds and wills and hearts of
wortks.  T4hat  certainly betrays partiality. Note, if the      human instruments, whereby these were enabled, di-
Bible is God's Word it can  lji)e apprehended as such           vinely moved to speak and  ,write the Word of God
only by faith; it can ,never be placed in one category infallibly. Its character is manifest from such  oft-
with all the literary products of man and submitted             repeated formulas as "All this was done,  ,that it might
to a common type of  investiga5on   and  1iLerary  criti-       be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the pro-
cism. He who insists on doing the latter begins with            phet", Matt. 122, and "as `He spake by the mouth of
the assumption that  the Bible is  nolf  `ihe Word of his holy prophets", Luke  130..  By virtue of this
,God.                                                           divine work God is the real author and spokesman,
       By the same token no Christian can assume the            while using men as the instruments of `His revela-
impartial position which modern theology presumes to tion.
require of him, for even as the ungodly  Gzannot  escape           This inspiration is verbal and plenary.
the bias of #their uabelief the Christian cannot ignore           It is not so, that only the ithoughts  of Scripture were
the power and testimony of his faith. That faith de- inspired while it remained for the secondary authors
termines his whole approach by  givi,ng him the spirit- to put these thoughts into their own form and  lnn-
ual, a priori assurance, the spontaneous conviction of guage, as a man migh,t  give his secretary the gist of
heart, that the `Bible is the Word of God, and therefore a  l,et,ter  he wants written, while leaving he rest to her
infallible.                                                     own judgment and ability. In this way all  would be
       This assurance of faith is the fruit of the gracious `lost, whereas thought and word and inseparable, the
operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart. Not that             1aCiter is the vehicle of the former, and the former
there is not also an objective testimony of the Spirit in comes to us only in the way of the latter . If the one is
the Word itself, for there is. How could Scripture              not infallible the other can never be.        Besides this
be the Word of God without itself giving testimony to           entire presentation is  ut;terly  unworthy of God. A
this fact? From cover to cover it is one grand testi-           man, for the sake of time and convetiience,  ,might  leave
mony  to its divine origin and dignity. To that testi- much to the discretion and ability of his secretary.
mony we must give ear, always listening rather ,than After all, she may have more ability in certain things
presuming to investigate. Doing this we shall discover than he. God, however, never works in such a hap-
these same Scriptures to be the answer to all our hazard and slipshod manner. He doesn't in nature.
questions. From every possible point of view they Here He works out all things Himself to the minutest
leave nothing .to be desired. Let the modern &tic tell detail, and all is absolutely perfect.  Wha.tevei  is of
us, what an infallible revelation from God should man is crude and extremely imperfect  ,by comparison,.
contain, which is not contained in our Bible. That The point of the finest and shanpest needle, when seen
objective testimony in the Word finds its counterpart under a microscope, appears dull and irregular as a
in a subjective testimony of the Spirit in our hearts.          rusty nail. It is the work of man. God's work is
The two together supply the full conviction, that our           marked by absolute perfection. The sting of a bee
Bible is indeed the Word of God.                                may be examined under the most powerful microscope
       Consequently, in this essay we a& not asking: Is         without detecting the first evidence of imperfection.
.the Bible the infalli,ble  Word of Cod? Neither are we Shall that God, then, whose works in nature are mark-
going to attempt to reason the modern critic into sub-          ed by such infinite perfection, be less careful and pre-
mission. After all, a deaf man cannot be persuaded cise when i,t comes to His self-revelation in His writ-
of the harmony of a grand symphony; not because the ten Word? Shall He permit that revelation of Him-
harmony is not there to be heard, but the hearing is            self in Christ to be in part the work of man? Shall
not there to receive the harmony. Our sole question             He inspire only the thought, while leaving the expres-
is:  Ho-u; is the Bible the infallible Word of God? In sion `6f the thought to the ,discretion  and ability of the
which wonderful way of divine grace did God give mortal, sinful creature?
unto us and preserve for us this Bible so that it was              No, inspiration, to mean anything, must  abe verbal
and always remained His infallible revelation  un,to            and plenary. The authors of the several books were
US?                                                             wholly under the influence of the Spirit. Each word,
                                                                each letter was divinely inspired.      For that reason
Infallible inspiration.                                         Scripture can build whole arguments, base entire  doc-
       The Scriptures were given unto the church in the .trines on a single word, or the mere form of a verb,
way of divine, infallible inspiration.        That applies, or even on a single letter.       InLuke  20% Jesus Him-
I know, to the original, individual books of the Bible,         self bases the truth of the resurrection and life eternal
but  that is the ultimate reason, nevertheless, why also on a single word, on the fact that God spake to Moses,
our Bi,ble of today is undoubtedly the infallible Word lo.ny u,fter ilbraham,  lsaac  and Jacob were dead, "I am
of God.                                                         (nit "I UY&`) ,the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
       Inz+piratian  is that work of tile Holy Spirit in and       More could certainly be said about this wonderful
                                                                                              Y


                                      T'HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                187

work of divine inspiration but for the present  ptirpose          ially the Spirit, Who would abring all things to their
this is not necessary.                                            remembrance, John 14:26, even reveal the <things ,to
   That the Scriptures, the original manuscripts, leome and lead them into all the truth, John 16  :13.
were thus infallibly inspired is clearly the claim and            When the Apostles, therefore, testify of Christ,  al,so in
testimony of  Scripture itself.  Generally speaking it their writings, i,t is not they  th,emselves  who testify;
is certainly true, that all ,the Scriptures claim for them-       but the Holy Spirit, Who came to glorify the Son and
selves the right to be regarded as the Word of God, take it all out of Him, speaks through them. There-
not of man. Therefore it never argues, but simply fore Paul can be so convinced that he is proclaiming
demands faith and obedience. Always it comes with the Word of God,  ,that he writes to the Thessalonians,.
the  nuthoritaltive   "thus saith  *the Lord",.  IJndeni,ably,    "For this cause also ,thank we God without ceasing,
the Bible is the infallible and authoritatiYe  Word of, because, when ye received $he word of God, which ye
God, or it is the most shameless, impudent, blasphem- heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but
ous hoax  +the world has ever produced, for it certainly as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually
says concerniniittself,  that it is the Word of God.              work&h  also in you that believe."        1  Thess.. 2  :13.
   II-low plainly the Old Testament  Scriptures claim Therefore all the Apostles attach eternal life or death
~this for themselves. Moses and all the prophets speak to the acceptance  or rejection of their testimony.
and write in the assumption that they are speaking hfallible  ccznonizntion.
and writing the very Word of God. How else shall we
explain such expressions as,         "God  spake all  t,hese         Granted now, ,that the individual books were di-
words, saying," and "thus saith the Lord", and "the vinely inspired and revealed by God Himself ,how do I
word of the Lord came to me", and many others? know that ,the Bible as a single volume, as a collection,
How else could Isaiah say, "Hear, 0 heavens,  and give            is as such the infallible Word of God? After all, the
ear, 0 earth: for the Lord speak&h"?                              Bible `was not given as a whole. God did not give us
    And that this self-testimony of the Old Testamen,t            by way of divine inspiration a single book, but ;through
                                                                  the secondary authors He gave us a number of indi,
Scriptures is sealed as true by the  ,testimony  of the
Incarnate  Wor,d of God Himself ,our Lord Jesus Chrfst,           vidual writings. Moreover, it is likely, tha,t there were
who will deny? Repeatedly He quotes the Scriptures more inspired writings than just these, writings which
and always as the last word, the end of all dispute, the ilave  since been lost and which never were received
only rule of faith and conduct. If we believe  in.ChrisY:         into the Canon.     Who collected these writings, al;ld
as ,the Son of God we must also believe in the divine             separated them and united them into one volume?
inspiration of Moses  an,d David and the prophets.                How was this done and what determined this work?,
Deny the latter and you must needs deny the Christ and            Ho.w do we know that the Bible as we have it now is
brand Him an imposter and a liar, or at best a simple             the complete and perfect Word of God? Are we cer-
individual who was as foolish and misdirected and stain that books have not been  left out whilch  should
superstitious  as  *the rest of His day. Modernism, so            ha  ;e been included? Can we be positive that some
boastful of its consistency, cannot possibly respect were not included which were not inspired by God at
the Christ, even as a mere man of wisdom and truth-               all? Are we sure, that exactly these 66  .books,  no more,
,fulness,  while denying the divine character of the              no less, no others, constitute the  infallibl'e  Word of
,Scriptures.                                                      God?
                                                                     Beginning with the Old Testament Scriptures we
    Likewise, who can deny ,that the Apostles of the              note, that <the individual writings were collected and
new dispensation give to the Old Testament Scriptures united into a single volume by the church of the old
this same testimony? Listen then to Peter.                `-We    dispensation. In this M'ork the church,  though divinely
have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto Ped, was not divinely inspired. This gathering of the
ye do well that ye take heed, . . . .          Knowing this bdividual books into the one volume, the Old Testa-
first, that no prophecy of the Scriptures is of any ment Canon, had already been compleMd a.t the time
private interpretation . For the prophecy came not in of Jes& sojourn on earth. The Old Testament Canon
old time  *by the will of man: but holy men of God                was closed  approximately  3 centuries before the incar-
spake as  ,they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Pet. nation. Hence, when Jesus was on earth, there were not
1:19-21. And what does Paul tell us? "All scripture .only a number of individual scriptures, but there was
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for a Bible, the Old Testament Bible, just as we have it
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in `today. That is evident from Ithe fact that both Jesus
righteousness". 2 Tim. 3 : 16.                                    and the Apostles repeatedly allude to the Scriptures
    And what of the New Testament Scriptures? Jesus as a whole. Besides, history records  it as an indisput-
left, us no  wri,tings of His own, but elected and qualified able fact, that the Old Testament Canon was closed
His Apostles to be His witnesses after :His depar,ture.           Ibng before the advent o-f the Christ. Now this is viltal,
To them He gave special gifts for this purpose, espec-            because it means that Jesus Q-limself  can give us $he


i88                                   TiHE  STaNDARD   B E A R E R

answer to the question: Is ;t;he Old Testament, as we longer the Word of God?
have it today, the  W,ord of God? Surely, if the Old             Consider first, that some of  $he  Greek  manuscripts
Testament Scriptures were not the pure and perfect we have today are ah-eady  1500 years old. These might
`Word of God, if there were books in the Old Testament,       well have been copied from  szopies  made from  ,the
which should not be there, our Lord would  h-tve told as?     original writings of lthe Apostl,es  themselves. There
Instead, in all His teeaching  He clearly testifies, tha,:    need not be many steps in between . The oldest  IHeb-
not only ,the individual books were divinely inspired, i.ew manuscripts today are about 1200 year old. These
but these same books, as collected and canonized by the       zould well have been copied from manuscripts already
*church of the old dispensation, are the infallible Word in existence at the time of Jesus on earth.
of God. Hence, not only does  ,thse factor of inspiration        Consider, too, that those who transcribed the Scrip-
"bear His seal, but also that of canonization by the tures worked with <the utmost care, even to th,e point
church. This is possible only on the  assumpition,  that of superstition, in copying their Hebrew manuscripts.
Xhe church, in collecting the individual writings and         They counted not only all the words, but all ,the letters.
placing them in a single volume, was guided infallibly They noted how otten each letter occurred. A sheet
!by the Holy Ghost. The same applies to  [the testimony ~1 *which  an error yvas detezted  was destroyed at once,
of the Apostles. When they speak of the Scriptures, jo fearful were they of making a single error. The
"the law and the prophets", they speak, not of a group ,writer pronounced aloud each word *before irt `was writ-
of isolated writings, but of the Old Testament Bi,ble,        ten, and never was a word written from memory.
the same as we have today. Of that  Bisble Paul says,         After the work was completed each new copy was
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God", and 1:horoughly   tcheckeed  with the original.  ,So scrupulously
Peter testifies, "For the prophecy came not in old did these copyists work. In spite of all this, errors did
time by the will of man : but holy men of God sparke as       creep in. This can be the better understood in the
they were moved by the Holy Ghost."                           light of the fact, that the Hebrew manuscripts had
       Now the history of the New Testament is exactly no vowels, that there was no spacing between the
%he same as that of rthe Old Testament Canon. ,41so           words originally, that there was no division into chap-
these books were separate manuscripts originally. ters and  ,verses,  and all the manuscripts in those days
Gradually, however, their real significance dawned on were written by hand.. Ict is a marvel of history, that
the church, they were treated with reverence and  re-         the Bible reached us so marvelously  eorr,eot  as it is
,garded  as canonical, until  finahy they were added today. Even so, note, that 95 percent of the variants
officially rto the Old Testament Canon into what is now       in all these numerous manuscripts have no weight at
*our full Bible. The point is: the New Testament all, and that 95 percent of the remaining 5 percent
Scriptures were gathered in exactly the same way as have but little significance. Does it change the Wor,d.
were th,e Old Testament Scriptures, on which Christ of God, for instance, .that our Bible has %e" instead.
Himself has set  lthe stamp of His approval. Jesus            of "us", or a past tense instead of a present? The best'
Himself assures us that God has willed to give us His of authorities assure us, with respect to the New Testa-
infallible Word in no other way..                             ment, that the variations introduced by copyists  bwhich
                                                              are of any importance at all, effect less than lJ3.000
lTnfallibb  pmservation.                                      of the entire text, and that not one of them affects e
                                                              vital doctrine. To which we may add, that with so
       Finally, granted that all this is true, how about the many ancient manuscripts to consul& an error in one
fact  that we no longer possess the original manu-            is invariably detected and overruled by the overwhelm-
scripts, but have only  ,copies and translations, marred ing evidence of all the rest. Thus there is nothing in
by human errors and imperfections? Does this not all those variations to cause any alarm at all.
make it impossi,ble  to regard the Bible as we have it           ,Consider,  finally, that  ,the Old Testament Canon of
today as  ,the infallible Word of God?                        which Christ and the Apostles spoke, w&as  also com-
       The faot  as such cannot be gainsaid. As far as we     posed of copies. Then, too, the originals were lost.
know all the originals are lost. What we have now,            Those copies, too, were marred by human error and
also in the so-called "originals", are not originals at       fallibility. Yet, our Lord honors  th.e Old Testament
all, but only copies. ln these copies numerous errors         canon as the Word of God, and speaks of the Scrip-
will be found. We would expect nothing else, when it a';ures as "Moses and the prophets" ,though they were
is given to fallible men to copy and recopy. ,There  are,     only copies of  Noses and the prophets. This should
by the way,  #ousands  of such manuscripts, copied            end all argument and be our Icrowning  assurance, that
from earlier manuscripts Iby Jewish scribe and devout the Bible we have today is indisputably the infallible
men from time to time ; approximately 4000 of the             Word of God, the sure and undeniable revelation of our
New Te&,ament  only. In all of these New Testament            covenant Jehovah in the face of Jesus Christ, our
ma.nuscripb   approximately 150,000 variations occur.         Lord.
       Does  all this mean, however, that our' Bible is no                                            "  :    R ,   v .
                                                                                 . . . ,
                                                    `.


                                    T#H,E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           189

         The Perspective of Matt. 24                          perhaps view the temple still better, :and perhaps even
                                                              a large section of the city. Privately they now come
                                                              to Him and asked, Tell us, when shall these things be?
  I don't know just where Edna St. Vincent  Millay            and what shall be ,the sign of Thy coming, and of the
was standing when she penned th>e beautiful descrip- end of the <world? The question consisted of two main
tion,                                                         parts: the first regarded the time when ithese  things
                                                              of  whiah He had spoken should take place; the second,
         "All  I could see from where I stood                 consisting of two parts, what shall be the sign of Thy
            Was three long mountains and a wood;              own coming and ,(together  with it) of the end of the
          I turned and look the other way,
            And saw three islands in a  ,bay."                world. The discourse that  foIlows  in Matt. 24 com-
                                                              prises the answer to the twof,old question of the dis-
    I said that I did not know'swhere  she was standing ciples.
when she wrote this beautiful description. I do know            Now the great question before us is, What is to be
however that to see  exectly that scene you must stand the proper perspective for understanding the signs
-where she stood.    You cannot stand on one of the Jesus gives? Or to put the  probl,em   iti other words,
mountains or on one of the  islands and see that whole Wihat is the proper method of interpretation to be
scene as she saw it. There is only one place to see it applied? Was Jesus only speaking of the destruction
and that is to stand exactly where she stood.                 of Jerusalem, or was Jesus also speaking of the time
    In a similar way a proper understanding of Mat- just prior (to His second coming which we now iealize
thew 24 demands that you stand where Christ stood, was to follow only a long time after Jerusalem's .de-
you must view the future not from the year 1943 but struotion? Or was Jesus perhaps only speaking of the
from the year in which our Lord was crucified. Yoti           end time of the world as it stil1 lies in the future? Do
must to some extent place yourself in  <the disciples'        parts of the discourse only refer to what is now at the
position, you must imagine yourself a Jewish follower present  rtime still future, while perhaps other parts
of Christ having heard His words  t,o the effect that slave been fulfilled?
Jerusalem shall be left desolate, you must place your-           !Hodge in his Systematic  Theology, Vol.  III, pages
self before the destruction of Jerusalem,  before  t.hb `798-800 cogently summarizes the various views and
crucifixion and resurrection. And there in that place, briefly evaluates them. He states, "There are three
from that vantage  poinit you must listen to Christ's methods of interpretation which have been applied  ito
discourse on the last things. You must see Jerusalem's this passage. The first assumes that the whole of ohr
end coming with all its awful woe, you must hear Lord's discourse refers to one question, namely, When
the distant roll of  the  athunder. Only then can you was Jerusalem to be .destroyed  and Christ's kingdom
catch the right perspective.                                  ~to be inaugurated; the second adopts the theory of
    ,&cording   to. the context  ,Jesus had just ended His    what used to be called the double sense of prophecy;
terrilble woes upon Jerusalem  <that killed the prophets, that is, that the same words or prediction refer to one
He had just stated that all the righteous blood shed event in one sense, and to a different event in a higher
from Abel unto Zacharias the son of Barachias should sense ; %the third asumes that one part of our Lord's
come upon this generation, their `house should be  lef$`s predictions ref,ers exclusively to one of the questions
desolate. Now Jesus went out and departed from asked, and  (that other portions refer exclusively to
the temple.     As they were leaving  rthe temple  .and other questions."
Temple Hill (the last rays of the sun were reflecting           The first of these sbove mentioned views or per-
upon are t,emple  very likely) the disciples poin,ted out spectives is to our mind  adefiinitely  out. It refers
Ito Him the buildings as they stood there in all their        everything in this chapter to the overthrow of the
glory. It was as ;though they meant to say, How can Jewish polXy,  the destruction of Jerusalem, and the in-
this destruction come, come upon that beautiful house auguration of  th,e Church. In that  ca+se the chapter
of God? Jesus answered, See ye not all these things? has historic interest but it has nothing to say of the
a question which does not mean at all, of course, to future. All that it says is fulfilled, was fulfilled  when
call  <their attention to the temple building; it rather the Jewish nation met its fateful end and the Church
means to ask, Don't you see all this woe and doom spread out. Even the sign of the coming of the Son
hanging over the temple and Jewish na,tion?  over the         of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great
nation that had rejected the Saviour and within two glory has no meaning for us. This interpretation is
days would sea1 their rejection by nailing Him to the rationalistic, modernistic.
cross. Thus it is ithat Christ also adds, "Verily, I say        The second interpretation sees in Matthew 24 and its
unto you, There shall not be left here one stone ugon         predictions a double sense,  ,th.at is, a nearer and more
another, that shall not  *be thrown down."                    distant  fulfillment. According to this view the dis-
    And so the Lord and His disciples slowly moved on ciples believed that the three events of the destruction
and came to Mt. Olivet. From  rthat hill they could           of  Jerusalem,  the second coming of Christ and the end


190                                 TbHE S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

of the world would come at one and the same time.            final end draws near,. Then there are the signs within
Thus the Lord answers them without seperating the ,the Christian community itself-persecution, falling
different subjects from one another.      He keeps the away, false prophets within  (the fold, lawlessness. Still
,whole before his mind, and takes the long range of -to our encouragement--Christ assures us that the
prophecy.. The Lord then takes one~grcat  end in hand gospel shall be preached in all the ,world, be it for a
and speaks of all else and what is preparatory only so       witness.    Only then can the end come,  but then  ik
far as it stands in connection with that end and shall come. Now certainly the gospel can hardly be
appears as one of its elements. As Isaiah's descrip- said to have been preached in all the world, except in
tion of Israel's deliverance from captivity was so  fram-    a very limited sense, when Jerusalem was' *destroyed
from their  aptivity  in Babylon and to the greater in the year 70 A.`D.
ed as to answer b&h to the redemption of the Jews              In the vss. 15-28 it seems  $0 me that the Lord more
redemption by the Messiah, so too Jesus' discourse particularly speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem.
on the last things  in Matthew 24 is couched in terms Then the Romans came and wrought frightful  ven-
that have a fulfillment in t.he final end of the world.      gelnce upon the Jewish  .nation.  The horror of  that
Everything accordingly that will be fulfilled fully and event is well-nigh indescribable.        At  <that time the
finally in the advent time of Christ's final return, had Jewish Christians  fIed to  Pella in Perea across the
its counterpart in .the destruction of Jerusalem.            Jordan.     If the Lord had not remembered his elect
  There is a third method. of interpretation. Accord- from the Jews in those terrible days, an,& shortened
ing to #this the three indivildual  parts of the disciples' those clays for their sake, tthe destruction would not
question are each answered in a seperate portion of have stopped until all the  Jews,`Christbans  and un-
the chapter. Some parts, for example, vss.l5-28  deal believing Jews, had been  <wiped out. In that time
with the destruction of Jerusalem ; others deal with the some did shout that the Messiah had come (azcordng
time  just prior to the world's end, vss. 4-14;  &ill ito the conception of the Messiah the  wicked Jews had).,
tithers  deal  ,with  the very coming of Christ in glory Jesus warns them not to go forth to the desert to
vss. 29-31.                                                  find Him. He will  not appear at any particular place.
  To my mind the second of these views must not be           When He comes the S,on of man will come as lightn-
discounted.    It is indeed true .that prophezy  is never ing  cometh out of the east and shineth to the west.
history and rthat historical details given in advance;       They will not have to go here or there to find Him,
prophecy always looks ahead and speaks of the more           He will come in great glory visible  ,to all when He
distant future in one breath and in the language of comes. Those that proclaim themselves Messiah's and
the prophet uttering it. It speaks in the known terms beckon the people to rally round them whether in *the
of ithe distant, as e..y. lsaiah s&eaka of the New Testa- desert or in a secret chamber are false Chris& only
ment Church as Israel etc.       Prophecy reaches out the wicked will follow  such leaders, as eagles  on!y
always to the end, and it can (do that since every end swoop down to devour the carcase, rot alone will seek
is a forerunner and type of  .the final end. Jerusalem's rot.
destruction and the woes with it is  nolt chronologically      Of course, even these conditions applicable as they
one with the final end of the world, but ideologically were lto the Jews of that time, will be applicable in a
they are inseparable and the one is a part and fore-         sense to the end-time.
runner of the other. Certainly what Christ says in             Finally, the vss. 29-41 speak more particularly of
this chapter of the end-time is true of the end of the $be actual moment of Jesus full and final coming.
world as well as of the destruction of Jerusalem. An After the tribulation of those days, typified in the days
abundance of Scripture could be quoted to show that of Jerusalem's destruction  aed fulfilled in the end-time,
the conditions prior to Christ's final return  ,will  be immed%tely  after that, Christ shall appear and gather
as pictured here in Matt. 24. Why then should we His elect. The children of God must therefore read
limit these predictions to Jerusalem's end alone?            the signs of the times and know when these foretokens
  However, the third view that some portions of the come to pass ZIhat the actual day of Christ's second
chapter refer more particularly to the  end of Jeru- advent is at hand, that the summer of grace  is at han,d.
salem  and others more particularly to the end of Jeru-      However, the exact day and hour no one knows, nor
ought to be allowed to stand. In the case of prophecy need we know. We must watch, and therefore Christ
this is more frequently true. And it seems to me that adds that those days just  preceding  His return will
ahe chapter itself suggests this quite readily. In the be days in which we will need to be watching. For a3
verses 4-14, then, I should say Christ speaks primarily it was w&h the  ,wicked world in Noe's day, so shall
of the signs presaging his  fmal coming. There will it be then. And when Christ comes, only they ~511 be
arise false Christs and deceive many, there shall be taken unto Him who as Noah are righteous and  *walk
wars and rumors of wars, famines,  pes,tilences and with God, the others will be abandoned.
earthquakes in divers places. These are signs in the           Watch therefore and be ye ready.  Anld read the
work3 in general, ever present ,but multiplying as the signs of the :times, for they multiply even in our day.


                                    T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           191
                                                                                   -        -
The  .day of the Lord is at hand. The summer of and our  Redlands  Church  h.as also undertaken to
grace is nigh.                                              broadcast on its own initiative.
                                            P.D.B.             These various efforts deserve our interest and our
                                                            liberal support since !:here can be no doubt but that
                                                            we have a  distinot  calling as Protestant Reformed
                                                            Churches to make use of the radio as one of the avail-
                                                            able means for doing mission work.
                                                               Overagainst an abundance of superficial preach-
  Radio Broadcasting and Mission                            ing, which is mainly even a flagrant departure from
                                                            the truth of !the Scriptures, man-centered instead of
                        Work                                God-centered, it is our calling to tell the praises of the
                                                            ever-living  *God by maintaining the absolute sovereign-
  Radio broadcasting is the latest, most up to-to-date ty of His Name, Particularly times like these present
form of mission work.  Iit has this great advantage a definite challenge. Philosophies concerning a uni-
that it knocks at the door of hundreds, or even thous- versal love and common grace of God, a love of man to
ands of homes at the same time, and gains admittance man and the good that sinners do, must now suffer
whereever there is interest in religious programs,          shipwreck on the rocks of internecine warfare. Times
thereby reaching many (that could h.srdly be reached in which challenge us to declare. the sure sovereignfy  of
any other way.                                              God whose blessing is upon His people, and whose
  There is a  wi,de variety of such programs on the air     curse is upon the wicked.
particularly on Sunday, so that a simple turn of the           By means of !the radio we can also reach those who
dial frequently carries the listener from a Jewish to could not possibly be reached in any other way. Many
a catholic, from a denominational ,to an undenomina-        people of Reformed persuasion are entirely held in
tional broadcast of various  .faiths.                       ignorance or  ,even misinformed about the teachings of
    One cannot help but marvel as he listens to some        our Protestant Reformed Churches.           People who,
of these programs, particularly to those on a nation- nevertheless, have a sound, Reformed background and
wide hook-up, that such superficial and empty mes- are even frequently aware of certain departures from
sages can appeal to a sufficiently large audience to        the .trut.h  in their own churches. The radio offers an
warrant their remaining on the air from week to week opportunity to teach them and acquaint them with our
and from year to year. This does not speak very well        preaching.
for the spiritual .appetite of the religious elements of       Availing ourselves of this opportunity we can con-
America, but does reveal a rapid growth of the apost.ate    tinue to fulfill our Mission mandate amI at tthe same
Church.                                                     time we may pbe able to gain an open door for the more
   Nor can a person help but feel that mission work         personal contact  anld labors of our missinary.
frequently is understood ,to mean nothing more than            What many of our people may not know, is that
"winning souls", rather than proclaiming the Gospel the matter of radio broadcasting in connection with
of Jesus Christ, the glad tidings unto the praise of our mission work  has been discussed at our last Synod
the God of our salvation.                                   and promises to appear on the agendum again this
  But rather than writing about mission work in year.
general through the channel of the radio, I would              The reason I state that many of our, peopl,e may
ralther limit my subject to radio Ibroadcasting  in con-    not know this is because our church papers have main-
nection with our mission work as Protestant Reformed tained an almost complete silence on all the actions
Churches. I do this even though fully aware of the taken on our last synodical gatherings. Anyone who
fact that I can write only as an interested observer was not present at those meetings hardly knew whether
who has taken no active  p,ar;t in radio work itself, nor the Synod had even met. About three or four months
in the various discussions  helid on  this subject in com- later, when most of us had forgotten all about the
mittees and in our S.ynodical gatherings, but who only meeting, the Acts of Synod finally appeared. Then
looks on from the sidelines.                                the consistory members, who were privileged  wirth re-
   As most of us know, the matter of our own radio          ceiving a copy of the Acts, and a few others who
broadcasting has been a subject of discussion from availed themselves of the opportunity to buy a copy,
various angles from  time to time. And it is also well could acquaint &hemselves  with the decisions that were
known that our churches are already engaged in radio made.           All of which is  conlductive  toward killing,
work in no less than three different communities in         rather than fostering the interest of our people in our
our denomination. "The  Prot&ant Reformed Hour"             synodical meetings.
is in its second year over a station in Grand Rapids,          Rather lthan offer an apology for this digression, I
while the Churches of Northwestern Iowa and Minne- cherish the hope that in the future more consideration
sota are also in their second season of broadcasting,       will be taken of the interest of our churches at large


                                -                 I  .- -- _~__ __ .__-.." _.._. -.-- i..
  192                                   ~.T;RE:STANDARD   BEARER
  -._  -_-
  in our broadest  eccleXi@stical  gatherings.                            matter; and report to the next synod; and further,
         But to return to the matter at hand, our last synod that this r,eport be mimeographed, and copies diatri-
  did consider radio broadcasting as one of  thte channels buted  Ito all offlzebearers  for study by the consistories,
  for mission work. The mission committee came with and by the classical bodies, prior to the next synod.
  the recommendation that "our churches start radio                           This advise was adopted by the synod, which means
  broadcasting, regulated, supervised and financed synod- that the question of synodically supervised broadcast-
  ically", with the purpose  "rto  propagate  our Protestant ing is due to come up for discussion at the next synod
  Reformed truth and in this manner further the cause at which time the committee on radio work will very
  of our church extension work."                                          likely be ready to report. We,may  hear more of this
    This recommendation seems to have  ,been accompan-                                                    .-. . . -_
                                                                          in the future.
  ied ,by a "minority report" of the Western (division of                     In the meantime, 4he question arises wheth,er the
  !this committee, which differed with th,e Eastern divi- synod should not have approached, the matter of radio
  sion on the advisability of beginning radio sbroadcast- ,broadcasting  in  connectiail  with mission work from
  ing, synodical,ly  supervised, at this time. Their ob- another angle.  it even seems somewhat questionable
  jections were that the radio broadcasting lacks the                     w7hether  ithe' Mission Committee actually intended  ,to
  personal contaclt necessary in missionary endeavors, pIace Synod before the question as stated by the com-
  and that, to be successful, it would lay, too great a mittee of pre-advi.ce  "whether all broadcasting with
financial burden upon our  !churches.  They also  ob-                     which the name of our churches is used ought to `be
 ,-jetted  that synodioally supervised radio work would done synodically and not otherwise." And as the mat-
  destroy all personal initiative to carry on thhart  work ter now stands, there is a possibility  tfhat our next
  in. a local community. And finally, that this matter synod may discuss  the.principal  question without ever
  should not be imposed on the churches by a committee coming to a practical plan of action.
  of lthe Synod, but should be brought to Synod by way                        6t is `not difficult to conceive of other possibilities.
  of consistory and Classis.                                              For example, Synod could authorize the Mission  Com-
    The committee of pre-advise, appointed to investi- mittee.to  consider the advisability of using the radio
  gate this matter and serve the Synod with advise                        as a channel of mission work through some local con-
  saw two parts in the recommendation of the Mission sistory or group of consistories entirely independent
  Committee, and reported as follows:                                     from any radio .projects {that are being sponsored by
    "The first concerns supplementing the labors of the local initiative.                             i  :  .
  missionary by radio broadcasting to be done by the                          The advantage of this wouEd be that, the mission
  missionary in the locality in  .whEch he is stationed.                  work done by the Mission Committee through the
  We advise Synod to. empower the missionary so to means of the radio would in no way, displace or inter-
  supplement  \his work as opportunity offers and as                      fere wilth radio broadcastings which are now the un-
  the Mission  Commi'c~ee  deems advisable and  fman-                     dertaking of local groups. "ro my mind, it would also
 &ally possible. Such  I:abor may indeed serve to pre-                    remove any possible objection against synodically
  pare the .field for further personal work and contact. supervised broadcasting.. And it would also be pos-
  It would also be  mission,ary work in the full sense, sible for us to reach new fields where there are as yet
  since it is the calling of the missionary to preach no  Pro$estant Reformed Churches or where local
  God's Word to outsiders, as is  !the case over the radio." groups  Izould not posibly finance such an undertaking.
    The second matter deals with the question of our                          Whether &he Miss.ion Committee had this in mind
  church entering the field of radio work even apart or. not makes no real difference; it is worth consi,der-
  from the work of the missionary, and henceforth to                      ing. Mission work through the channel of the radio
  bring all radio broadcasting in our midst under synod- is worthy of our wholehearted support.
  ical supervision and support. The point here is, wheth-                                                                        C.H.
  er all -broadcasting  wilth which the name of our church-
  es is used ought to be done synodically and not other-
  wise.      We believe there are questions of principle                                                                -
  involved in synodically supervised broadcasting that
  can be investigated and ought to be prior to .our en-.
  trance into this matter. e.g. Is radio broadcasting                                        The glory of His kingdom
  ministry of the Word, even when Idone by a minister                                          Proclaimed  abroad shall be,
  not called as a missionary? There are other questions,                                     That all may know His mighty deeds
  equally of a principle nature. `We  ,believe  there is                                       And glorious majesty  ;
  just reason to appoint a committee to investigate  ithese                                  His kingdom is eternal,
  principal questions. Besides, there is the matter of                                         His throne shall stand secure,
  financing any radio ,work on a large scale: We suggest                                     And His dominion without end
  ,that Synod appoint a committee of five to study this                                        *Through  ages shall endure.


