330                                                                                             TltiE  YTANDARD   B E A R E R

                               The Standard Rearer
        Semi-Monthly, except Monthly in July and August                                                                                                                      EDITORIALS
                                                          Published by
                   The Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                           1101  Hazen Street, S.  Fl.                                                                                                         Common Grace
                                    EDITOR - Rev. H. Hoeksema
  Contributing editors--Revs. J. Blankespoor, A. Cammenga,
   P. De Boer, J. D. de Jong, H. De Wolf, L. Doezema,                                                                                                                                    VIII
  M. Gritters, C. Hanko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,                                                                                                        We must still  call  the  attention  of our  r,eaders to
  A. Petter, M.  Schipper,  J.  Vanden  Breggen,  H. Veldman,                                                                                                 Van Til's "As If" philosaphy. It is, according to him,
  R. Veldman, W. Verhil, L. Vermeer, P. Via, G.  Voa,
  and Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                                                                                        especially with a view to the practical cooperation be-
                                                                                                                                                              tween the Christian  and the  non4hristian in this
  Communications relative to contents should be addressed
  to REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                        world, that we have need of an "as if," and we actually
  Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                           proceed on its tacit assumption and presupposition.
  Communications relative to subscription should be  ad-                                                                                                          We cannot quote here all that Van Til has to say
  dressed to MR. R. SCJXAAF SMA, 1101 Hazen  St., S. E.,                                                                                                      on this subject. Yet, <before we .discuss this notion, we
  Grand Rapids,  Mich.  All Announcements and Obituaries                                                                                                      will let him present his ideas in his own words.
  must be sent to the above address and will not be placed                                                                                                        Writes he on p. 18:
  unless the regular fee of $1.00 oceompanie  the notice.
                                         Subscription $2.50 per                                                                                                   "On what basis then can `we speak of cooperation
                                                                                                   year                                                       between believer and unbeliever? It is on the ground
                                                                                                                                                              that both have all facts in  ,common  objectively. Both
                                                                                                                                                              deal with the same universe. Both are mea& in the
                                                                                                                                                              counsel of God to cooperate in bringing out the mean-
                                                                         -                                                                                    ing of history. The  beli&er's  affirmation of God is
                                                                                                                                                              to be worked out in contrast with the unbeliever's de-
                                                           CONTENTS                                                                                           nial of God. The unbeliever's negation of God is to
                                                                                                                                             P8ge             be worked out in contrast with the believer's affirma-
MEDITATIE  -                                                                                                                                                  tion of God. If this is to ,be accomplished "coopera-
                                                                                                                                                              tion" between believer and unbeliever is unavoidable.
  RIir  IS OPGESTAAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337            Believer and unbeliever may in this sense be said to
        Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                      vie  tiith one another in bringing out the glory of
EDITORIALS  -                                                                                                                                                 God. In the second place, since believer and non-
                                                                                                                                                              believer have nothing in common subjectively the na-
  C&MMON  GRACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.............................................. 340                                                   ture of the cooperation between them must be an `as
         Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                     if' cooperation. That is, it must be an `as if' coopera-
  DEATH IS GAIN v........; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342    tion of the Christian sort for the believer. Because
                                                                                                                                                              of his ultimate scepticism  the non-believer, as noted,
  . Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                          .               virtually holds that all opinions are equally *valuable.
  THE COMMAND TO DRIVE OUT THE CANAANITES..346                                                                                                                He therefore thinks, theoreticalIy  at least, of the be-
       . Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                                    liever's opinion as being on a par with every other
                                    .                                                                                                                         opinion, and he is ,willing to cooperate on this basis.
  EEN STiLLE LOFZANG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  349 Yet;, when, and to the extent that he becomes epis-
        Rev. G.  Vor:                                                                                                                                         temologically self-conscious he will no longer cooper-
  SEMEN  RELIGIONLS  IN CALVIN'S INSTITUTES . . . . . ...352                                                                                                  ate.  H,e may even then cooperate hypocritically but
         Rev. P. De Boer                                                                                                                                      this is because he, as yet, lacks the power of oppres-
                                                                                                                                                              sion. The believer, on the other hand, knowing that
  MEANING OF "ISRAEL" IN ROM. 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*............... 354                                                                           he has the truth and that the non-belicqer  builds on
         Rev. H. De Wolf                                                                                                                                      the lie, acts on an "as if" basts with the nonhbeliever  _I
                                                                                                                                                              in order that the gIory of God may be advanced. He
  THE VALIDITY OF NATURAL LAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356                                                             knows he must be in the world with those who are `of
        Rev. A. Petter                                                                                                                                        the world.'    He also knows that while in the world
  CURRENT EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358             with those that are of the worl,d  he must himself not
                                                                                                                                                              become of the world. He is a soldier of the cross who
         Rev. J.  -4.  Heys                                                                                                                                   must fight during the whole course of his life on
                                                                                                                                                              ,earth.    Every soldier must sleep. All the soldiers


                                     T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           341

must be fed and clothed. Thus there is a legitimate matters. As an unbeliever he means that in a Chance
while necessary abstraction from the believer's duty universe, in which this chanceLborn  thing called human
to make God and His Christ known to all men every- rationality thinks 3 finds or constructs certain `as if'
where, all the time. It is for the very purpose of ful- universals, there is such a thing as he sees fit to call
filling his duty of glorifying God that he must act color, and there is a certain specimen of this color be-
`as if' there were certain facts and lews  that he has fore him now which, in  .distinction  from other such
in common with the unbeliever."                                specimens, he chooses to call green. As a believer I
    We may pause here a moment, in order to remind mean that in a God-created universe I, as God's ra-
ourselves how we always presented the matter of tional creature, observe a  Go.d-created  fact in relation
which Van  .Til here speaks. It is evident that he is to a God-created law. I must seek and have sought on
dealinlg here with the antithesis. This antithesis, ac- other occasions to convince my neighbor that his in-
cording to him, results from the fact that believers terpretation is impossible and that mine alone gives
and unbelievers in this world have all things in com- meaning to this thing we both call green. But for
mon objectively, but subjectively have nothing in com- purposes of  daily.life  we must both abstract from our
mon. And this antithesis will become manifest more interpretative endeavors and speak and `act if' we
sharply according as believer and unbeliever become meant the same thing when we say the grass is green.
more self-conscious epistemologically. I cannot agree He needs me an'd I need him even in order that our
with this presentation of the matter. Th!e problem of mutually contradictory interpretations of life may be
what believer and unbeliever have in common cannot be brought into being. And as I know that his interpre-
correctly  stated in terms derived from the relation of tation, that is his negation of God ultimately must
the  objec,tive  and subjective, but must be  presente.d'in    become subordinate to my affirmation of God, my  `as
the light of the realities of "nature" and sin and grace. if' treatment of my interpretat&  opponent is in obe-
The believer and unbeliever have all things in com- dience to the command that I must do  all things  self-
mon, objectively and subjectively, except grace. They consciously to the glory of God. My `as if' treatment
are in an.d deal with the same world, and they have of my opponent is no lapse into neutrality.  iIt is a
the same means and powers, the same faculty  of know- self-consciously interpretative procedure on my part."
ledge, the same sensation, perception, imagination,               This is a rather interesting paragraph, which is
reason. But on the basis of the sameness they stand            worthy of some careful analysis. And analyzing it,
in antithesis to each other in a spiritual, ethical sense,     I come to the following observations:                  i
the unbeliever living his whole life in this world from           1. That Van Til and his unbelieving neighbor do
the principle of sin, which is enmity against God, while ,not act on an `?as if" basis when *they  say "the grass is
the believer lives in principle from grace, the love of green," but that they very really do mean the same
God in Christ Jesus his Lord.                                  thing, as long as neither of them says any more. They
         Perhaps, I do not understand Van Til's last re-       look at the same grass, with similar eyes, similar sen-
mark in the  abo've paragraph.        How the fact that sations and perceptions. There is no "as if" about
"every soldier must sleep," an.d that "all the soldiers        this at all. In fact, if this were not the case, there
must be fed and clothed," can possibly abstract from would be no possibility of conversing about this fact
the believer's lduty'to  "make God and His Christ known with each other. The very fact that Van  Til on a
to all men everywhere, all the time," I fail to see.           fresh spring morning in May, and after a copious
Does Van Til mean that the necessity for the Chris- shower of rain, steps out of his house, and finding
tian in this, world to maintain his earthly subsistence his sceptic philosopher of a neighbor also outdoors,
and his position in the  worl,d, absolves him to an says to him: "How green the grass is this morning,"
e,xtent  from his obligation always &and everywhere to is sufficient evidence of his conviction that his neigh-
tive from the principle of regeneration, an,d gives him bor is capable of seeing exactly the same thing. As
the right really to live in cooperation with the unbe-         long, then, as Van Til and his agnostic of a neighbor
liever "as if" he is in spiritual agreement with him? say no more than "the grass is green," they are mutu-
I cannot believe that he can mean this. Xf he does I ally confident that they mean the same thing. They
most emphatica'lly deny the truth of this position. If do not act on an "as if" basis at all in the making of
he means something else, the statement is in need of this general statement;
some elucidation.                                                 2. Of course, as soon as they say more, they differ.
    But let us quote a little more on this subject. On But the difference is again not one of mere philo-
pp. 18, 19 we read:                                            sophical interpretation of a fact, as Van Til presents
    "We shall therefore need first an `as if' for daily        the matter. The difference is spiritual, ethical: it is
life.      When I say the grass is green and my non-           a matter of sin and grace.      Even for  ,the agnostic
believing neighbor says the grass is green we must neighbor "the invisible thin,gs  of God, even from the
act `as if'  *both meant the same thing. Interpretative-       creation  ,of the iworld, are clearly seen, being under-
ly considered my neighbor and I mean quite difFerent           sto0.d  (by the things that are made, even His eternal


342                                           T$HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

power and Godhead." God speaks even through the
green grass, and it is a speech that also addresses it-                            Death Is Gain
self to  $the non-believing neighbor of Van  Til's. But
the unbeliever holds the truth in unright,eousness.  He
says in his heart that there is no God. He opposes the
speech of God.            And over against this wicked at-
titude of the ungodly, Van Til rightly  Iwitnesses  of the
Word of God. He does not oppose his interpretation
to the philosophy of the unbelieving neighbor, but he
witnesses of the Word of God as coming through the
green. grass, and that, too, in the light of Scripture.
The moment, #then, Van Til and his neighbor say more
than simply "the grass is green," they are opponents,
not as two coolly  .differin,g  philosophers, but as repre-
sentatives of the thesis and the antithesis, God and
the devil, Christ and antichrist, light and darkness.
They mean the same. thing no longer. Neither can
they act here on an "as if" basis. Certainly Van Til
does not mean that he may leave the impression ever
that he agrees with his agnostic neighbor.
   When, therefore,  `both say "the grass is green"
they say and mean the same thing: there is no need
of an "as if."
   When they say more, they agree no longer, and
may not act "as if" they meant the same thing.
   The real question, then, is whether the Christian
may ever simply say that the grass is green, leaving                               To die is gain. Phil.  1:21b.
God out of his expressed thought.                     H. H.              Funeral services for our deceased brother, the Rev.
                                                                      Wm. Verhil, were held in Grand Rapids in the Fuller
                                                                      Ave. Church, on April  7k.h. From the West, where
                               -                                      also services had been held on April 5, there were
                                                                      present  tw,o  {delegates from the consistory of the Pro-
                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                               testant Reformed Church of Edgerton, Minn., and the
                                                                      four pastors of our churches in Sioux and Lyon Coun-
        On May 7, 1943, our  dear parents:                            ties, the Revs. A. Cammenga, J. Blankespoor, M. Grit-
                                                                      ter, and P. Vis, who also served as pallbearers. April
                      MR. JOHN CAMMENGA                               7, was the day for the meeting of Classis  East of our
                                 and                                  churches, and the ,Classis  had decided in its morning
          MRS. JOHN CAMMENGA nee Beatrice  Bergsma                    session to atteed  the funeral services in a body, and
hope to commemorate their 45th wedding anniversary.                   also to follow the procession to the cemetery. A large
        We thank our Heavenly Father who spared them for us           audience had congregated in the auditorium of the
these many years, and for the Christian home which we might           Fuller Ave. Church to pay their last r.espects  to the
enjoy  ,through  them.                                                departed and to express their sympathy with the be-
        As children we extend to them our sincere congratulations.    reaved.
Our prayer is that the Lord may continue to bless them through-          In the  ,church the Rev. G. M. Ophoff and the Rev.
out the further part of this life; and may they always experi-        $3. Hoeksema officiated, the former leading in prayer
ence the joy and peace which is the heritage of them that love        an.d in the reading of a portion of Scripture, the latter
Gad.                                                                  preaching the sermon. The interment took place in
                                   Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Boerkoel        the  Garfie1.d  Cemetery, where the Rev. B.  Kuk read a
                                   Mr. and Mrs. J. Cammenga Jr.       few passages from the Word of God, and led in a final
                                   Rev. and Mrs. A. Cammenga          word of prayer.
                                   Mr. and Mrs. P. Cammenga              At the request of the delegates of the consistory
                                   S. T. Cammenga                     of Edgerton, I here reproduce, partly from a few notes,
                                   14 grandchildren  '                partly from memory, as nearly as possible the sermon
        Open house afternoon and evening, May  7th, at  1036          delivered on that occasion. I spoke approximately as
Logan St., Grand Rapids,  Mich.                                       follows :

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

    Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ:                      ence  of sorrow and say that there is reason to rejoice?
   Mrs. Verhil and daughters, brothers and sisters Who would dare to contradict the testimony of your
of the deceased, relatives ;                               present  experi$ence,  and claim that there is no loss,
                                                           but only gain in the death of the Rev. Verhil? Surely,
   Delegates from  Edgerton   ;                            we feel that here the word of man is vain. If mere
   Friends gathered with us:                               man  shou&d attempt to contradict your loss and the
                                                           testimony  of your tears, his word could only be re-
    First of all, I wish to express a word of heart-       ceived as idle boast. We must have more than the
felt sympathy to you all in your present sorrow and word of man: we need the Word of the God, and that,
bereavement. Our hearts are overwhelmed because of too, the Word of the God of our salvation, the glad
,what the Lord has done to us. My sympathy especially and mighty Word of the gospel. It always contra-
to you, Mrs. Verhil, and Marie, who bemoan the loss        dicts our experience as here we lie in the midst of
of a beloved husband and father; and to you, dele- death, and by contradicting it, lifts us up, and gives
gates of the Consistory of Edgerton, who have been de- us the victory of faith. According to our experience
prived of a beloved and faithful pastor. We all deeply we are guilty and damnable; but the Word of the gos-
f,eel  your loss,  which  is also our own, the more so pel boldly contradicts and declares us righteous be-
because the departure of our brother was so sudden fore God and objects of His blessed favor. All our
and unexpec.ted  that we can hardly realize that he is experience loudly proclaims  that we are corrupt, dead
no more with us, and it is as yet difficult to adapt in sin; but the Word of God unhesitatingly contradicts
ourselves to the new way in which the Lord now leads and calls us saints in Christ Jesus, holy and beloved.
us. <Our hearts are troubled and filled with grief; and In our experience we lie in the midst of death, but the
the consciousness of the loss we have sustained is very Word of the gospel again contradicts and assures us
vivid in our present experience.                           that we are raised with Christ, that we are set with
    Such is our experience at this moment.                 Him in heavenly places, and that we have life eternal.
   We have  Zost a husband, a father, a brother, a And so, our present experience, as we are gathered
pastor, a fellow laborer in the Lord, a faithful friend, here on this sad occasion, witnesses loudly and persist-
,and the keen sense of our loss is uppermost in our ently that the death of our brother is a great loss, and
minds and hearts.                                          nothing but loss; but once more the Word of the gos-
   But you have not congregated here in order to be        pel opposes to the end the testimony of our experience,
reminded of your bereavement  an$d loss. Of this you contradicts it till it must be completely silenced, and
have no need whatever. You have not gathered here declares : "to die is gain." And because I know that
on this occasion and at this place in order to have me     you need, and are looking for, a word of contradiction
analyze your experience, and emphasize your great that is powerful to raise you up out of the present
loss. That would be no help of comfort to you: it          d,epths  of your experience, it is to this Word of God
would only lead you more deeply into your present from Phil. 121, that I would like to call your attention.
sorrow. There is nothing in all our present experience        These words occur in a context in which the
that can lift us up. Nor is there real help and conso- apostle is writing about himself. Just as we  +would
lation in human' sympathy, good though it be in cir- write to friends  ,from a far country  all about our-
cumstances like these to feel the sympathetic throb of selves, trusting that our friends would be interested
loving hearts.    In the expression of our sympathy to learn about our way and circumstances  ; so the
we descend to the level of your sorrow `and `death, as apostle Paul informs the Philippians about his person-
the very word denotes, but from there we cannot al condition, especially since they know that he is in
raise you to a higher  (level.     Expressing to you our prison. Yet, he is not writing about those things that
sympathy, we can but declare that with you we, too, concern him as a man, of his human experience, for
lie in the midst of death, and our experience is the then he might gwell have presented a gloomy picture
same as yours. And what help is there in that? No, of himself, and have found many reasons to complain
you are looking for something else. In your deepest and to seek the sympathy of the Philippians, For he
heart you desire a word of contradiction. You are look- is in jail. He is shackled. He cannot move freely,
ing for someone that will contradict all your present and labor in the gospel. Yet, he writes: all is well!
experience, all your loss and sorrow, and by contra-       He views all things, even his imprisonment, in the
dicting it <lift you out of the depths of your sorrow to light of his being an apostle, and a servant of Jesus
the heights of a new and transcendent joy, out of your Christ. And looking at himself and his circumstances
ldarkness to the light of life, out of your present ex- in that light, the main question is not: `what may
perience of loss and defeat to the assurance of gain become of him? but rather: what becomes of the
and victory.                                               name and the gospel of Jesus Christ? And thus he
   Yet, who will speak that word to you? Who would writes "that the things which happened unto me have
have the courage to contradict your present  experi-       fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel."

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

His bonds are gain ! For that his bonds are  in Christ,     with the husks  ,which the swine do eat, he rejoiced in
that he does not suffer as an evil doer, but for the        that portion, nevertheless. But other portion he had
sake vf the gospel, is manifest to all, both in the pal- none. The things that are seen and heard and tasted
ace and other places. Moreover, other brethren have and touched were the objects .of his desire, and the
taken heart from the bonds of the apostle to preach contents of his whole life. And when he dies he de-
the gospel more boldly than heretofore. Some indeed,        parts from them all. And for such a man, the.awak-
preach that gospel out of contention, out of spite to ening on the other side must be accompanied with an
the apostle, others in love and sincerity. But the gos- awful sense of utter  ,desolation  and want, resulting in
pel is preached, nevertheless; and in this the apostle utter despair. For him, even apart from the consid-
rejoices.    And, as to himself, he is confident that,      eration of eternal suffering of the terrible wrath of
whether in life or in death, Christ shall be glorified God, death is nothing but a sheer loss.
in him. .And that is the only matter that counts. By           But the apostle is not speaking of mere man when
life or by death, Christ will be magnified. If he lives, he triumphantly declares that death is gain. He is
he will continue to speak boldly; if he dies, he will speaking of his own death, and of the death of all
joyfully lay down his  Iife.  For to him to live is that with him are able to say: "For me to live is
Christ, to die is gain! And in that consciousness he Christ." We must remember that the iapostle  is not
would be able to glorify Christ even in his death as making a general statement here, as if death were al-
a martyr.                                                   ways gain. Nor is he simply, announcing a doctrine,
   Our experience, our present experience, and all that ,death is gain for those whose life is Christ, even
our experience always, must naturally contradict this though this would, of course, be true,. He is making
bold assurance of the apostle: "to die is gain." Ah, a personal confession.           He is considering his own
but what else is death than sheer loss? Death is the        death from a  d'efinite  viewpoint. He is making a
dissolution of the earthly house of our present taber- personal evaluation of death. He declares what death
nacle, and with the dissolution of that earthly house is to him. And he is making this evaluation from the
we lose all!  It is through and in  that earthly house view.point  of him to whom to live is Christ! Exactly
that we exist and live, that we have our, con- from that viewpoint it is  .that one can make the
tact with the world about us, that we hear and see and statement: to die is gain! The two statements can-
taste and touch, that we think and plan and long and not be seperated. And they constitute a  *double reason-
desire, that we speak and act, that we occupy our for the double statement made in the context: "AC-
position in the world, in the home, in society, in the cording to my *earnest expectation and my hope, that in
church, that we are connected to those about us with nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all ,boldness,
ties of love  anrl friendship. And in death, the dis- as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in
solution of our earthly house, we lose all &is! We live my body, whether it be by life, or by death." Christ
no more! We hear and see no more, we taste and would be magnified by his life, for to him to live `was
touch no more, we speak and act no more, and all the Christ. And Christ would be magnified by his dying,
precious ties of love and friendship are severed. 0,        if he would have to lose his life for Christ's sake, for
whe.n someone dies that is dear to us, and that oc-         to him to die was gain. Life and death, therefore, the
cupied a large place in our life, we usually think of the apostle considers from the viewpoint of the magnifi-
loss from  oz~r viewpoint. In the present bereave- cation of Christ.
ment  `we lost a husband and father, a pastor and              For that is the meaning of the statement: "for me
friend, a -beloved brother. Yes, but consider what he       to live is Christ.`" To be sure this confession presup-
that departed from us lost! He alone lost everything :      poses as its basis that Christ lives in him, and that he
wife, daughter, brothers and sisters, friends and relat- is in Christ. Christ is the very source of the life of
ives, his flock as a pastor, his position and calling as    which he is speaking. He lives, yet it is no more he:
minister, his place in our churches,-he lost it all!        Christ lives in him.     He has been begotten again
All our present experience loudly testifies that his through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
death is a tremendous loss, that death always is a dead, and the resurrection-life Christ is the prin-
loss and nothing else!                                      ciple of his whole existence. Yet, when the apostle
       0, indeed it is!  .And if you speak of mere man,     declares : "to me to live is ,Christ," he means some-
of man as he is dead in trespasses and sins, a~, he lies    thing else, something more.  IHe  m'eans that Christ,
in the midst of death and does not and cannot pos- to use the well-known Dutch expression, is "zijn lust
sibly see the way out, and then insist that death is en zijn leven." Take Christ away, and you take his
nothing but a loss to him, the apostle, the Word of life.         To be conscious of Christ's love, to live in
God in general, will fully agree with you. I,ndeed, such Christ's fellowship, to live unto the magnification of
a man will lose absolutely everything in death. He haci Christ, to put his whole existence, with body and soul,
his portion in this life. And even though, while he with mind and will, into the service of Christ, to keep
tried to enjoy this portion, he was but filling his belly His good commandments, to confess Ris name, to


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preach His gospel,-that it is what the apostle means sin we always still discern in our members. There is
by the statement : "to  me.to   li,ve is Christ." You may much that intervenes between Christ and us, much
take everything else away, and you cause him no loss. that seperates, much that causes us sorrow because we
For the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ do not and cannot keep His precepts perfectly, much
his Lord he &counts  all things, i. e. the possession of for which we must always again humble ourselves in
them, but loss. Christ is his all, his life, his supreme,    dust and ashes. But in dying we make the transition
his sole joy !                                               to that which is perfect in respect to the life of and
   Principally this is true for every true believer in       with and unto Christ. All that is the old man, all that
Christ. 0, `we will perhaps hesitate to take this won- is of sin, all that is of the flesh and  of the world, then
derful confession upon our own lips! It is but too           drops away, and only that which is of Christ remains.
true, that our life is not always Christ, that much of Then we shall be  abIe to confess in perfect joy: "to
our life is self and world and flesh. Must we not con- us to live is Christ!" Death is the d'eath  of sin and
fess, perhaps, that sometimes it appears as if most of death, and the perfecting of our fellowship with, and
our life is still this world and its lust? Indeed, as life unto, Christ! And, secondly, death is also the
fully and freely as the apostle here declares that to transition from the earthly to the heavenly. We shall
him to live is Christ, we will not dare to repeat it not only live unto  ,Christ  perfectly after death, but we
after him with application to ourselves.       No doubt, shall aIso live on a higher plane, on a level that is far
for him this was true in an eminent degree. But, let above the present level of our earthy existence, as
us not forget it, even for the apostle this was true only    Christ, the Lord of heaven, is exalted above the first
in principle. He too had to complain that he had a man Adam! Here, at the very best, ,we can only see
delight in the law ,of God according to his inward man, in a glass darkly, there we shall see face to face ; here
but that he found another law in his members, warring we can only know Him imperfectly there we shall know
against the Iaw of his mind, so that often he found          even as we are known ; here we must be satisfied with
himself not doing that which he would, and perform- fellowship with Him through the letter we have of
ing that which he would not. And in principle it cer- Him in the Scriptures, there we shall for ever embrace
tainly is also true for us, for every one that is in H,im personally ! Let us, then, magnify Christ in the
Christ Jesus, that to live is Christ. Principally, we face of death and the grace, and triumphantly shout:
too' confess. that you may take all things, earthly "to die is gain !"
possessions,: position, name, glory, pleasure, liberty,         Yes, you say, but our experience has another con-
yea, life, away, and if we only have Christ and may          tradiction. All this may be true for the brother that
live unto `Him, we have lost nothing! And I am confi- `was called home, but how about us who remain be-
dent that this was principally also the confession of hind? We gladly grant that this  fdeath is gain to him,
the brother that is now called home.                         but his gain is our loss. We lost a beloved husband, a
   But then we may magnify Christ in death, in our           dear father, a brother to whom we were attached, a
own dying, in the death of those that go before. For         pastor that had gained the love and confidence of
then to die is gain. Let us not forget this in our his flock, a fellow-worker in Christ. And thus the
prejent  experience of sorrow and bereavement. Let Church of Philippi  would say to the apostle. 0, they
us be careful that we do not sorrow as the world that would answer, we know-that death is your gain, belov-
has  `no hope and no confession in death. Let us be-         ed Paul, but how about us? What shall we do with-
ware lest we attemlpt  to wake up the brother that is out you? We are in need of you, of your preaching,
fallen asleep by our lamentations as we presently pass your guidance, your counsel. What must become of
the coffin.-- We have a confession to make. We must ithe church if you are taken away ? We simply cannot
glorify Christ. We must have somewhat to say in bear the thought of your departure from us! Do you
vi,ctorious contradiction to death and the coffin and        not give this a thought, beloved Paul? ,4nd the a-
the grave, that Christ may be magnified ! And how postle would answer : Yes, I know; and because I
else shall we glorify Christ by our present confession, know this, because L realize t.hat it is better for you
and in our present circumstanoes,  than by glorying in that I stay, I am betwixt these two, and I know not,
the knowledge of Him, of His death, and of His               if it were  lef,t to me, what I should choose: to be `with
resurrection?  ,And how else can we show forth the           Christ is far better, yet to abide in the fIesh is more
glory of the power of the risen Lord, than by lifting needful to you ! And so our deceased brother would
up our heads, even through our sorrow, and by con-           speak:  .He realized that it would be better for you,
,fessing  triumphantly: "to die is gain !"?                  his wife and child, and for you, his congregation, to
    0, but indeed, if to us to live is Christ, to die can    remain in the flesh. In fact, it is but a few weeks
only be gain! For, first of all, to cdie in that case is     ago, that he declined the call he had received to be-
the transition from the imperfect to the perfect. Here, come home missionary for our churches, on the ground
we said, we can at best only confess in principle that       that he felt he must needs stay with his flock in Edger-
for us to live is Christ. The co-operation of the law of ton, and parti,cularly,  because he felt that the move-


346                                   TI%E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

ment for a Protestant Reformed School that ha,d been not of the cities of these nations; but of the cities of
begun there, `was in need of his guidance and support. these people, which the Lord thy God does give thee
And now God sent him a  call which he must needs ac- for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that
cept, and which he w,uu,ld  not have declined if he could 1 breatheth  : but thou shalt utterly destroy them : namely
       And yet, even so, as we weigh our loss in the bal-    the Hittites,  and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the
a&e, we find that we only consider things from the Perieites,  the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord
viewpoint of their earthly and temporal relations and thy God hath commanded thee. . . ." Deut. 20 :lOscq.
value:  Let us, first of all, remember, that our loss           Let us once <more  .notice that a distinction is here
concerns things temporal and earthy only, and that made between the peoples "which are afar off" and the
exactly in as far as our life is Christ, we too have lost accursed Canaanites. To the former the armies of
nothing. And, secondly, God provides. His work is Israel had to proclaim peace, that is announce to them
always perfect. He makes no mistake. To be sure,             that not a hair of their head would be harmed, if
in His perfect wisdom, and according to His grace over they surrendered without a struggle and agreed to
us, the death of our brother was necessary even unto become tributary to the people of Israel. If the over-
our own salvation. No, I grant that we cannot under- ture of peace was spurned,  and the unwilling city
stand this. God's way is deep. His work is far be- made war aginst  IsraeI,  only its male  Ipopulation
yond our bold$est imagination and cornsprehension. But might be put to `death after the battle. The need of
we know that all things work together for good to this  Ibit of legislation rose from the circumstance that
them that love God, and that our light affliction, *which the ideal boundaries of Canaan included many tribes
endureth but for a moment, worketh for us a far more not under the ban of God and thus not predestined to
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. We may not being extirpated. All these tribes were subdued not
understand, neither need. we understand the ways of *by Joshua but in after years by king David, who
the Almighty, but  `we may trust, and commit our way ,thru these conquests laid the foundation of the peace
to Him. And the day will surely reveal it, that even that eharactized Solomon's reign. "(For) he had
from this viewpoint we have reason to glorify Christ dominion over all the region on this side the river
and to confess: "to die is gain !"                           (the river Euphrates) from Tiphsah even to Azzah,
       May our God give you all, and us all, grace that by over all the kings this side the river: and he had
f&ith we may truly lay hold upon this mighty and peace on all sides round about him" (1 Kings 4:24).
victorious word, contradicting all our experience, and All these kings paid Solomon tribute in earthly sub-
lifting our eyes from the things that are seen unto          stance and also in honor and esteem. Besides these,
the things that are not seen, in order that we may all the kings of the earth sought his presence to hear
magnify the glory of our resurrected Lord, even while his wisdom. And they brought every man his pres-
we are in the midst of death! Amen.                          ent. 11  `Chron.   9:23,  24.
                                               Ii.  H .         These events and doings have  typicai  bearing and
                                                             are thus prophetic. The proclamation of peace with
                                                             which the armies of Israel through their generals
                                                             had to come to the cities "which are afar off" points
                                                             to the instructions  Iwhich Christ gave to the church of
                                                             the New Dispensation and is thus typical of the gos-
                                                             pel preaching. "And into whatsoever city or town
         The Command to Drive Out                            you shall enter, enquire who in it -is worthy ; and there
                  The [Canaanites                            abide till ye go thence.  A*nd when ye come into a
                                                             house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your
                                                             peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your
       Let us again get before us the description of peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive
Joshua's task with respect to the enemies of Israel. you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that
"When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against house or city, shake the dust off your feet. Verily I
iti then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land
make thee an answer of peace, and open unto thee, of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than
then it shall cbe, that all the people that is found there- for that city."  (Mat%. 10  :lI  seq.).  Here, too, the
in shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve proclamation of peace is a command, directed to every
thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will one indiscriminately, that he surrender himself to
make war against thee, then thou shalt beseige it: Christ and serve Him and that, doing so, he will be
and when the Lord thy God shall deliver it unto thy saved, in that God is certainly gracious to His  geople,
hands, thou shalt smite every man thereof with the the obedient. The house had to be saluted, in all like-
edge of the sword. . . ." Thus shalt thou do with all lihood, ,by some such saying as, "God bless you," and
the cities bwhich  are very far off from thee, which are     with the reservation, "If it be His will." This greet-


                                    T*H:E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        347

ing, in the text, is identified with peace, and is there-       But the supposition, though as such unobjectionable,
 fore a prayer for salvation and spiritual fellowship in is nevertheless erroneous. It collides with the com-
 behalf of the house that was entered.                       mand that the people of Israel "take heed to thyself,
    The unworthy cities encountered by the armies of lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the
Israel, were to be immediately punished through the land"  (Deut.   20:16)  ; "they shall not dwell in thy
slaying of the male population, while the punishment land, lest they make thee sin against me" (Ex. 24 : 12)
 of the unworthy houses in the gospel period is post- and against the fact that in this warfare with the
poned to the final judgment day.                             Canaanites Joshua did not proclaim peace to any of
    The reason that the overture of peace extended their cities.
to the cities "which are afar off" could have this typi-        If it be asked why peace might not be proclaimed
 cal bearing is that the commonwealth of Israel  `was        to the Canaanites, the answer. is forthcoming that
 the custodian of the oracles of God and a holy com- they formed a race of men so completely marked for
 munity setting forth God's virtues.                         destruction, that, with the exception of the  Gibeon-
    Solomon's reign was a greatly extended rule, char- ites, there were no houses or families among them
 acterized by military peace.     The true Solomon `is to be spared. What this teaches is that the primary
 Christ as highly exalted and thus with all His enemies purpose of gospel-preaching is the salvation of the elect
 His footstool.                                              and that, when this purpose has been achieved, all
    We come now to the Canaanites proper, to the             preaching will cease. It teaches, therefore, that to go
 tribes which were under the ban of God. Just how forth with a gospel according to which God desires
 had they to be dealt with? According to the  above-         to bring the whole world back to Hi&self  is an utter-
 cited instructions these races of men-both male and ly vain occupation.
 female, in a word, everything that breathed, and thus          Perhaps the strongest evidence that no peace was
 not merely the males among them-had to be de- proclaimed to the  ,Canaanites  was the craft. of the
 stroyed. This line of demarcation between the Can Gibeonites. Having heard of the deeds of Joshua, the
 aanites and the surrounding nations is clearly drawn Gibeonites hit upon a plan of negotiation, but ,with
 in the above ,excerpt. The question that confronts us deceit. They pretend to have come from a country
 is whether Joshua first had to proclaim peace also to far off to form a league with Joshua. But the thing
the  &ties of the Canaanites and whether the execution looks suspicious to the Israelites, hence they ask:
 of  ju.dgment  upon them, too, was to take effect only in "Perhaps thou dwellest  in the midst of us, how then
 consequence of their unwillingness to surrender and to can I make a covenant with thee?" To this embar-
 make peace with Joshua.                                     rassing question the Gibeonites reply not at dl but
    The scripture at Deuteronomy 10 seq. is not expli- say: "We are thy servants." Joshua is not satisfied
cit on this pomt. This  :pas=ge  does assert that these and asks again, more pointedly than the others have
tribes shall be utterly destroyed; but it does not say done, "Who are ye and from whence come ye?" So
that Israel must refrain from first proclaiming peace pressed, the Gibeonites first repeat what they have
to them This has led some interpreters to suppose,           said before but add that they have come on  account  of
as has already been pointed out, that also with re- the name of Jehovah, whose fame they have heard,
spect to the `Canaanites the execution of judgment had and all that "he did in Egypt and to the two kings
to be preceded by a proclamation of peace. There is          of the Amorites, that were beyond the Jordan, to
no objection to this supposition as such provided it         Sihon king of  HRshbon,  and to Og king of  `Bashan,
be understood and maintained that the proclamation which was at Ashtoroth." They say nothing of Jeri-
was not a declaration of the determinate will of God cho and  Ai (to have heard of  Iwhich might indicate
to free the Canaanites from the curse and to spare           that they lived not very far off) but cunningly con-
them alive, if only they allowed Him to have His way fine themselves to what God has done to kings at a
wi.th them by accepting His proposal, but  m.erely  a distance, even in Egypt. They then recall the com-
command to the effect that they surrender and live ; mission given them by their elders: "Wherefore our
provided it be und,erstood,  furthm,  #that also this com- elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake
mand belonged to the means by which the Lord, in to us saying, Take victuals with you for the journey,
-agreement with land in the execution of, His counsel, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your
sovereignly hardened them in preparation of their servants: therefore now make ye a league with us."
doom. ."If the proclamation of peace be so construed, In conclusion they `refer to their mouldy  bread, their
and if it be maintained that the purpose of its abeing torn wine-skins, and their worn-out clothing in con-
made to the Canaanites was to harden them, the firmation of their  d,eclaration.  "This our bread we
sulpposition  that it was actually made does not, cer- took hot from our provision out of our houses on the
tainly, render the destruction of the Canaanites more day `we came forth to go unto you; but now behold it
agreeable to unbelief. However presented, God's works is -dry and it is mouldy : and these bottles of #wine,
remain thoroughly disagreeable to unbelief.                  which we filled, were new; and behold, they be rent :


848                                 T*HE      STAND,AkD   BE,ARER

and these our garments  ,and our shoes are become that Joshua might not proclaim peace to  the,-,Canaan-
old by reason of the very long journey." It is plainly itish cities, then we see that the.,meaning  to be,attribu-
their purpose to convince the Israelites that they be- tad to this notice is that,notwithstanding,  if these cities
long to the nations "which are afar off", whom Joshua      without first making war against Joshua, had surrend-
may spare alive on the condition that they become ered unconditionally and expressed a readiness to  ,be-
tributary to the people of Israel. They played their come tributary to the Israelites, they would have been
part admirably; for all the doubts which had been spared, and the judgment would not have  takqn effect.
expressed are now silent.                                  The proof of this is in the experiences of the Gibeon-
       The men of Israel took their victuals as a sign     ites. "Joshua delivered them out of the hands of the
of friendship,  uf  inclinatio,n  to make a league with the c,hildren of Israel, that they slew them not." True,
Gibeonites. Tt may also mean that they received the the princes and certainly also Joshua, though,  this" is
men `by reason of thie, victuals. They did so without not expliditly stated, "let them live, lest wrath be upon
asking counsel of the Lord, which they should have us, because of the oath which  `we sware unto them;"?
done according to the explicit command, Num.  27:21,       Yet it must not be supposed that the Lord  svould  have
that the priest Eleazer should seek counsel from God ordered the Gibeonites destroyed, or would have,, al-
for Joshua through the judgment of Urim and Thum-          lowed them to be destroyed, had the princes not sworn
mim. And Joshua made peace with them and assured unto them. For, firstly, Joshua was not really bound
them of preservation from the edge of the sword. The to keep the oath, whieh they had sworn to the, Gibeon-
league was confirmed by an oath. The deception was ites, after it appeared that the condition on *which  it
soon discovered. After not more than three days  the had been given did not hold good. Certainly, the con-
Israelites  hear that the Gibeonites dwell intheir  very dition of the validity of the oath, was the truth of the
vicinity ; yet they spared them because of the oath        declaration of the Gibeonites. Yet Joshua delivered
<which the princes had sworn to them. Discontent a- them out of the hands of the murmuring Israelites.
rises in the camp on this account,  bu,t the prinoes ap- He did not allow them to be destroyed. Thus, in ex-
peal to their oath and are resolved to let them live. fplaining  Joshua's doing, account must be taken of
lest wrath be upon the Israelites because of the oath.     another factor that entered in, namely,' the attitude
The princes adhere to their resolution, but th.e Gibeon- of the Gibeonites  t0war.d Israel and Israel's God. The
ites, as a penalty for their falsehood, are made  wood-    Gibeonites give utterance to .a remarkable speech.
choppers and water-carriers for the congregation and "From a far country thy servants are  come.because
the altar of Jehovah.     Joshua communicates to the of the name of the Lord thy ,God  : for. we have lieard
,Gibeonites  dhat has been decided upon. "There shall      the fame of him and all that he did in Egypt. . .There
not fail from among you servants and wood-choppers fore we are thy servants." After the discovery' of .their
and water-carriers."     The Gibeonites plead as an fraud, they say, "Because it was certainly told thy
apology their fear of th.e Israelites and express their servants, how that the Lord thy God co,mmanded his
readiness to submit to whatever it may please Joshua servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy
to do to them. Joshua does as he has informed them all the inhabitants of the land. . . .therefore  we were
"and delivered them out of the hands of the childr.en      sore afraid. . and now behold we are in thine hand;
of Israel, that they slew them not." The  .Israelites      as it seems good and right unto thee to do unto us,
would certainly, in their warlike zeal, as  *we may inf.er do." They here cast themselves upon the mercy of
from their murmurings, have  sIain the Gibeonites. Joshua and thus on the mercy of Jehovah. There is
But Joshua is in full harmony with the princes, and        certainly no case on record of the Lord ordering men
gives  *no heed to the murmurings of the people.           so disposed, destroyed.    It is exactly to sinners so
   This episode proves conclusively that Joshua might disposed to whom God shows favor. Substantially
not proclaim, and thus was not proclaiming peace, to the declaration of the Gibeonites is identical to
the  races of men in Canaan. For if so, the Gibeonites that of Rahab the harlot. Said she: "I know  that the
*would not have been afraid and in their fright resort- Lord  bath  given you the land, and that your terror is
ed to trickery in their endeavor to save themselves fallen upon us. . . .For we have heard how the Lord
from the Israrelites: They would have known that the dried up the waters of the  R:ed Sea for you. .  ,Our
same ends could be gained simply by their accepting hearts did melt because of you : for the Lord your God,
Joshua's overtures  of peace.                              he is God in heaven above, and in earth neneath. . . ,"
       But if peace might not be proclaimed to the Ca-     (Joshua 11 :lOscq.)  . Rahab was reckoned among the
naanit,es, how then is the following scripture to be heroes of faith.
explained, "There was not a city that made  peace  with       That the Gibeonites were the objects of the Lord's
the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants favor is plain from their after history. In his carnal
uf Gibeon: all the other they took in battle" (Joshua zeal, king Saul (and his bloody house,) slew the Gib-
11:18). If this scripture be interpretated in the light eonites.  His  obj.ect  was to exterminate them. Saul's
of what now has been establish,ed  as certain, namely doing sorely displeased the Lord ; and He sent a  fam-


                                    T>HE  STANDARD:BEARER                                                               349

ine upon Israel in  th,e days of David.. Relief came
afterithree.  years but not until ,amends had been made                   Een Stille.`: -Lof zang
and,  the crime atoned for by the hanging of `Saul's
seven sons. 11 Sam. 21: 1 seq.                                                      ( P s a l m   6 5 )
    Thus the reason that the other Canaanitish tribes
swere,destroyed  is that instead of forssking ,t,heir sins       Al wat we met zekerheid  weten aangaande den
and turning to Jehovah to own  H,im  a.s the God in historischon  achtergrond. van dit lied, is dat het door
heaven and on  earth;- as the .Gibeonites and Rahab did, koning David gedicht,, is.' ,Wat de aanleidende oorzaak
they continued to the very end to .make  war against was, weten we niet. Afgaande op den inhoud, schijnt
God and to contempt and deride and defy `Him. "There het eep, loflied te. zijn ;na een groote droogte, die door
`was not a city that made peace with the children of den Heere veranderd was in het brengen van een over-
Israel save the, Hivites.." But this was of the Lord. vloedfgen regen.
"For. it was of- the Lord to ,harden  their hearts, that         ,Het srhijnt wel, dat het er benauwd bij stond met
they should come against Israel `in battle, that He Israel.,  Zoo benauwd, dat men, den Heer~e   geloften  ge-
might destroy them utterly, and that they might have daan, had. .Dat is,. men had den Heere beloofd Hem
no favor,. but that he might destroy them, as'the  Lord grootelijks  te prijzen, als. Hij verandering  mocht  geven,
commanded Moses."                                             uitredding, verlossing.
    Thus-the judgments that finally overtook the &a-             David was die gelofte niet vergeten. Daarom psalm
naanites were doubly deserved. This certainly is plain 65.                                                       . .
and myst be made plain by anyone treating this sub-              We Ieeren hier iets zeer bijzonders. We. leeren, dat,
                                                              wanneer het haart vol is .van dank, er geen uitbundige
ject-
    And. right here is where some interpreters, and  a; vloed van woorden noodig is om het den Heere. te
mong  ; them Fairbairn, fall short. Though' Fairbairn vertellen hoe dankbaar we zijn. Let op, het begin van
dwe& at. Ilength on the fact that `the sins of the Ga- den psalm als zoodanig : `De lofzang is i.n stilheid tot
naanites  "had waxed great and were come- up to heav-' U, o God!" Eigenlijk moet ge het woordje "in" er uit
en," and that therefore the execu*tion  of judgment on laten. Dat staat niet in den oorspronkelijken tekst.
their sins *was deserved, yet, by his neglect to make Dan lezen we: De lofzang is stilheid tot U, o God!
plain from the scriptures that the Gananites  refused Daar schittert een  schoone   gedachte.  Als het hart
to make peace. with Joshua, and thus. continued to vol  .ii van bewondering, aanbidding van God, "dan be-
taunt and defy ,God to the very end, he failed t;O set hoeft ,ge. geen woorden.           Dan is een stilte schooner
forth these men in all their wanton and amazing un- ,vertolking  van wat in `t harte.  leeft,  dan al.le uitbundig-
godliness. He thus failed to show as he ought, just heid van  swoorden  en geluid. En God behoeft ook  de,
how abominable *these  men were and how altogether woorden niet om te  wetenhoe  gij over Hem  denkt;
just, therefore, their destruction. That the Canaanites Hij ziet immer. het hart aan. Als ge dan ook somtijds
refused to make peace with Joshua is certainly a mat- wel, spreekt, dan  ziet Hij.  tech  achter  Uw woorden
ter that must *be stressed. Scripture as has been shown naar  `t diepe hart.
stresses it, for a reason just stated. And what must             De stilheid van `t .hart  is tot God. Ja, dqch  het is
also be stressed is that the Canaanites would certainly. tot ,God in Sian. Dat is een  rijke toevoeging.  Xn Sion,
have lived had #they turned to God. TQ impress this beteekent  eigenIijk: in Jezus  Christus..  ., In `t  .Oude
upon our hear+, He spared the Gibeonites  in connection Testament was de bedoeling : op de plaats.  waar hemel
*with' their casting themselves upon the mercy of Josh- enaarde elkaar..ontmoeten,  en dat.was  in `t binnenste
ua. But to this certainly must also be added that the heiligdom, in de tabernakel. Doch. voor ons die psalm
Lord was sovereignly determined to destroy the others 65  ,nu  zingen   beteekent  dat  Jezus. Christus. Want
and that therefore in His sovereign good pleasure He in Hem is die gedachte  ,vervuld.  Al wat David  ,had.
hardened them.                                                was  .de typische woning des Heeren in Sion.  Doch
    Fairbairn even makes it appear that it is not true        wij. hebben Golgotha, waar de  hemel  de aarde  ant-.
that the  Canaanites  would have  *been  spared had they moette. Later. in den ,,psalm zullen we daar meer van
*turned  to the Lord. He sets aside as erroneous the moeten  zeggen,   namelijk,  in  verband  met het zesde
view that, to use his own language, "the execution vers.
of judgment upon the Canaanites was only designed                Ja, als de Heere Zijn volk verlost heeft,. zal de  ge-'
to take effect in case of their obstinate  refw,l  to sur- lofte  betaald   worden   aan den Allerhoogste. Alle wer:
render." ,Certainly  it is one of the foundation truths ken Gods zijn uit, door en tot Hem. Daar zorgt God'
of scripture that God is merciful to the sinner who  r+ ,voor.
pents..  There is, to be sure, a sovereign election, but         Die gedachte  %wordt  verder uitgewerkt in `t  vol-
no one is sent into eternal desolation who truly wants gende vers. `<Gij hoort het gebed ; tot U zal alle. vlcesch
,to go to heaven. This, too, must he stressed in treat- komen." De psalmberijmers namen deze gelegenheid
ing the doom of the Caaaanites.                G. M. 0.       waar om den Heere eene'  Zijner schoonste namen te


3      5    2                         T-HE  S T A N D A R D '   B E A R E R

                    Semen  R e l i g i o n i s  j           background of oblivion. In the present article,. the
                                                            undersigned finds himself impelled  `in the interest of
                 ,Jn     Chin's          Inditutes          sound Reformed truth to differ with Calvin. ,I: Let no
                                                            one think even for a moment that we <wish to aid those
                                                            whose purpose it is to depart from Reformed truth.
      Calvin's  Institues  of the  C?wiskikn   Rdigion  is the On the contrary it is our earnest conviction that the
best known of ,a11 Calvin's works, and is. worthy. of very Reformed heritage demands that we here and
reading, and study to this very day. The first edition there  depart from Calvin's conception; Calvin him-
of the Institutes were written by Calvin when he was self would have been the last to maintain that his work
about twenty five years old. Several times Calvin `was the summation of Reformed doctrine. Calvin was
rewrote it! until, some yea,rs prior to his death it ap- a*pioneer, and it need not surprise us that it has been
peared in  its present length and form. The Institutes necessary  more than * once in the past  to' correct Cal-
were written in. Latin, but also in a French. transla- vin's conceptions.  8
tion which, Calvin himself. supplied. The Institutes
gained,,  a wide reading public from the very first,                   WHAT DOES CALVIN MEAN  '
and became the handbook of many theological schools           In the <very first chapters of the I?Wtitut& Calvin
is courses on theology.       The Institutes have been treats of the knowledge of God. Calvin maintains
translated repeatedly, the latest translation in English the knowability of God on the part of man. As part
appeared in 1936.                                           of his explanation of this he refers to what he aaIls
     :  I The work gained prominence a once for  vzmrious. "the seed of religion" (semen religionis). He also
reasons. First of all, because it was the first book speaks. of the "sense of  diety'?  (sensus   divinitatis)   :'
of its kind. There were of course Catholic works on         In a general way we may. say that with these terms
theology, but up to.,Calvin's  time there had appeared      Calvin has in mind what today in Reformed dogmatics
no  iwork that attempted  logioally  and coherently to set is generally spoken o.f as the innate knowledge of God,
forth in order the system  .of Reformed truth. It'was in' distinction from the acquired knowledge (cognitio
the first important contributionas a systematic dog- Dei insita et acquisita). ,By the cognitio insita (in-
matics. Secondly, the clear and convincing develop- nate knowledge) `we understand today, not that man
ment of argument that pervaded ,the ,book  #at once,,  took is born into the world  .with definite ideas and  con-
hold of the Reformation fathers. It crystallized ,their     cepts of God, but that man's mind at birth is not li.ke
thoughts and brought unity among the definitely Be- a sheet of paper upon which everyone may write what,
formed branch of Reformers.                                 he wishes `in regard to the knowledge of God. On the
      Although other. works.,have  since ,been written on contrary, man is born into the world with an inerad-
dogmatics, still Calvin's institutes  retains more thlsn    icable idea that God is i.  e. with a natural propensity
a historical interest. There has been progress of dog- to know God. This is the underlying fact that makes
ma since the,days  of Calvin so that we have in several     it impossible for man to be really an atheist, so that
respects advanced beyond him, still in other respects atheism is a spiritual-ethical matter rather than  a.
one cannot help but feel that there are corresponding logical error.                                        ` .,
losses. Although Calvin, spoke in another generation            The question is, does Calvin mean this' and no-
than the one in which ,we live, and we often cannot thing more? Or do  iwe read our ideas into him when
help but feel that it is for that reason difficult for us we so interpret Calvin? There is always that danger
to understand Calvin's terminology and analysis, Cal- when we read another mean's writings with our own
vin still is worthy of study. Much as I personally dis- conceptions in our mind, especially when the writer
like abbreviated and condensed copies of cwurthwhile        belongs to an earlier generation. And the question re-
works, still H. J. Kerr's `A Compend  of the Insti~bs garding *Calvin's meaning is not altogether unimpor-
of  the Ch&$ian Religion  `(Publ. by the Presbyterian tant, especially since the conception of what Calvin
Board of Christian Education ,at Philadelphia, 1936)        cells :Che semen religionis is related to the more gen-
is an aid in reading Calvin exactly because it omits ,eral question of the value- of so-called natural theol-
al1 such extraneous materialthat-demands a knowledge ogy, and so also to the question of common grace.
of medieval' thought  and, conditions that tends to dis-
courage and befuddle the present day reader.                                  QUOTATIONS
      In this day and age in which the Reformed faith           What does Calvin mean by "religion"  bwhen he
is on the defensive rather than on the offensive one speaks of the seed of religion? It may be answered at.
hesitates to. criticize- John Calvin's theological posi- once that Calvin does not at all mean the fear of God
tion. There is. so;%little  regard for John Calvin's Re- in `Christ Jesus the Lord. Quote, "By the knowledge
formed thought that  one, fears  .that any disagree- of God, I understand that by which we not only .con-
ment may only add.fuel  to the fire and help those who ceive that there is some God, but also apprehend what+
love nothing. better than to relegate his ideas into the it is for our interest, and conducive to his  glory, what


                                    TlHE  STaNDARD  B E A R E R                                                    353

in short, it is *befitting to know where there is no You must note  th,at Calvin says "scarcely one in a
religion or piety. T am not now referring to that spe- hundred", that means there are some who cherish
cies of knowledge by  awhich men, in themselves lost this knowledge in their heart, be it only relatively
and under curse, apprehend God as a Redeemer in a few, although even in them this knowledge does not
Christ the Mediator. I speak only of that simple and grow to maturity and does not yield fruit in its season.
primitive knowledge, to which the mere course of na- See also Bk. I, chapter  !,  .panagraph  15. We ask,
ture would have conducted us, had Adam  stoo,d   UP-          In whom does this  primitive  knowledge of God, a
right. . . .  -Since,  then, the Lord first appears, as knowledge apart from Christ, find a soil where it is
13reIl  in the creation of the Iworld  as in the general dot- cherished? Of course,  ~Calvin maintains that this
trine of Scripture, simply as a Creator, and afterwards knowledge is corrupted at some stage or another along
as a Redeemer in  Christ,-a twofold knowledge of him the way, yet in some it does reach a measure of de-
hence arises: of these the former is now to be consid- velopment.
ered, the latter twill afterwards follow in its order."          Tn  vleJ7  especially of the latter statement, it is
(Bk. 1, chapter 2, paragraph l-Beveridge's transla- evident  that Calvin does mean by "seed of religion"
tion, Vol. 1 p. 30.)    Further he says, "For this sense a knowledge that'  if cherished and cultivated has in
of the divine perfections is the proper master to  tmch       itself the possibilities of  deveIoping  a primitive re-
us piety, out of which religion springs. By piety  Z          ligion, i.e. the sort of a religion Adam would have had
mean that union of reverence .ahd love to God which if he remained upright.
the knowledge of his benefits inspires"  (,p.41).  Cal-          To my mind Dr. A. Kuyper errs ,when  he as?serts
vin is vague and unreal in answer to the question,            in his  Dictaten  Dogmatiek (if these  studentnotes  may
What  *does he mean by religion. He seems to refer to be attributed to him) that C)alvin simply means what
a religion, ap,art  frbm Christ, that would have develop- we refer to when we speak of the cognito Dei insita.
ed had Adam not sinned. The term does not simply I quote Kuyper, "Niet  ongeIukkig  heeft Calvijn die
refer to the objective knowledge of God but also to cognitio Dei insita bestempeld met den naam van
the subjective response to that knowledge in fear and semen religionis,  daaro,m zulk een gelukige term,  wijl
love of God, as the second quotation indicates. This juist in "semen". het potentieele karakter dier kennisse
is, to say the least, vague for it is difficult to conceive ligt uitgedrukt. Immers, het semen heeft de  mogelijk-
of a knowledge of God apart from Christ, and also heid in zich, om op te schieten, bloesem te dragen  en
unreal  sintie it would have developed had Adam re- vrucht voort te brengen.  Doch op zichzelf heeft  he!
mained upright which he of course did not.                    semen nog geen bloesem of vrucht. Sluit ik den kokkos
   By the seed (semen) of religion Calvin seems very          (seed, P.D.B.) in een doosje, dan gebeurt er niets.
definitely to refer to  a positive principle of true Maar laat ik dien kokkos acquirere  al de elementen, die
knowledge in the above original sense, a  principl,e that in terra, in acre, in sole, in pluvio liggen, dan rijpt de
if only properly cultivated would develop into the vrucht. Welnu, ook wie alleen het semen  religioonis
fear and love of God and the keeping of his command- had zou geene gedachte omtrent God hebben, veehnin
ments. We  q,uote Bk. 1, chapter 3, paragraph 1,  "Th:at die onder worden  kunnen brengen. Eerst als er van
there exists in the human mind, and indeed by natural buiten af de cognitio acquisita xbijkomt,  kan de cognitio
instinct, some sense of Diety, we hold to be beyond Dei insita rijpen tot eene notio Dei  Clara ac distincta."
dispute, since God himself,-  to prevent any man from         (Vol. II, pp. 43, 44).
pretending ignorance, has indued all men `with some              A few years ago in the course of our one and only
idea of his Godhead, the memory of which he con- season's meetings of the Dogmatic Study Club, the
stantly renew and occasionally enlarges, that all to a Rev. B. Kok delivered a paper on the semen religionis
man, being aware that there is a God, ,and that he is in Calvin's hstitutes. Our leader, the Rev. H. Hoek-
their Maker, may be condemned by their own con- sema,  dictated some criticism at the close of our dis-
science when they neither worship him nor consecrate cussion which I should like to quote in full. The read-
their lives to his service." Now it is certainly true er gwill understand that for the form and the exactness
that  to every man God  has  not left  ?.lmoeif  NTitl;out    of the quotation the undersigned alone is responsible.
witness that  IHe is and must be feared, and that man We feel confident that the gist of the criticism is a
reacts to this revelation of God, Gbut does not Calvin        true  resum&  We quote:
aive too much content to this innate knowledge? Cal-             " . . . .a11 this is rather vague and  unr,eal. The
vin admits that this knowledge is corrupted, yet the religion of which Calvin speaks is merely an abstract
following quotation is very striking.  !In chapter 3,         product of the mind, in reality it does not exist, for it
paragraph  I., Calvin. says, "But though experience is a religion that would have deveIoped  if Adam had
testifies that a seed of religion is divinely sown in all, not sinned. That by the term  religio Calvin refers to
scarcely one in a hundred is found who cherishes it           the objecti,ve  knowledge of God and to the subjective
in his heart, and not one in whom it grow,s to maturity, response to that knowledge in the fear and love of God
SO far is it from yielding fruit in its season." (p. 46).     and in His service, all this conceived in its original


354                                       TtHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

form, apart from the fall and apart from Christ. That
by the sem&  ?-eligionis  he refers to a positive prin-               Meaning of "Israel" in Romans 11
ciple of true knowledge in its original sense, which if
only properly cultivated would develop into positive Introdmtion
fruit of the love of God, the fear of God, and the keep-                The eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans
ing of His precepts, which would have positive fruit may be divided into three main sections. The first
but  whi%h man corrupts so there is no true piety."                 section, containing the vss. 1 to 16, is concerned about
       "Criticism--lf  this interpretation of the expression the question with which the apostle introduces it in
as it occurs in Calvin be correct, we add: 1. That there the first verse of the chapter, namely, "Hath God cast
is indeed due to God's revelation and witness in all away his people?" The second main part, comprising
men the know,ledge  that *God is and that He must be                the verses 1'7 to 24, presents to us the figure of the
feared and glorified. 2. That man as a rational moral olive tree with its natura1 branches, some cut off and
being  `who is adapted in his whole nature to be an re-ingrafted, and also the ingrafted branches of the
image-bearer of God surely responds to, and  resets                 wild olive tree. The final section, verse 25 and follow-
upon that knowledge of God with all his heart, and ing, speaks about the final salvation of all Israel.
soul, mind and will, emotions and strength. 3. That,                    Now the question that has been raised for our con-
however, in the natural man the  habitus  according to si,deration is, to whom does the Apostle refer when he
which he so reacts cannot be called a semen religion&,              speaks of "Israel" ? Whom does he have in rhind ?
for the simple reason that the natural man is wholly
corrupt. There is nothing in him that can be culti- Various   Inteqwetation.3
vated into a positive good, no matter who would culti-                  We may state first of all, that there is no difference
vate it, and his ,reaction  to the knowledge of God is amongst most Bible interpreters in respect to the
always enmity against God, revealing itself not in any meaning of Israel in the first part of this chapter.
religious act but in the  *very  antithesis of religion which It seems that all are agreed that "Israel" means there
is idolatry."                                                        "the Jews". Differences of opinion arise, however,
       We consider it a gain therefore that later develop- with a view to the meaning of "all Israel" in the 26th
ment in Reformed dogmatics has dropped Calvin's Iverse, where the Apostle says, "And so  all Israel shall
term semen religion&s, and that our Forms of Unity be saved. . . ."
have nowhere adopted it. There is in the natural man                    Hlere one finds mainly three different  explan.aMons
no principle, no latent seed, from which the fear of of "Israel".
God can be cultivated. The only  semen  of religion                     One view holds that "Israel" here is the spiritual
there is is the seed of regeneration.                                Israel, composed of elect Jews and Gentiles together,
                                                          P. D. B. that is therefore, the Church. This is the view held
                                                                     by Augustine, Luther and Calvin.
                                                                        A second explanation contends that  zby c`IsraeI" the
                             -                                       apostle has in mind the Jewish nation as a  ,whole.
                                                                     Those who hold to this view are of the opinion that
                                                                     we must expect a wholesale conversion of the Jews
                                                                     in the latter days. This view is popular with the  pre-
                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                               millennarilan  and is in harmony Iwith his view of dsraeI
                                                                     and the Church as `two separate bodies. (Scofield)  .
       On Sunday, May 2, 1943, our beloved parents,                     The third interpretation, given by BengaI,  Olshau-
                                                                     sen and Philippi, explains "Israel" here as consisting
                         DICK  JONlKER                               of the elect Jews which lare brought into the Church
                               and                                   in the New Dispensation.       These constitute only a
                 MARIE JONKER nee FLOKSTRA                           very small part of the whole Jewish nation.
                                                                     Gene&  Obsermtions
hope to commemorate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.
       We thank God for His loving kindness toward them, and            Instead of merely criticizing the above views and
pray that He may continue to bless them in the future.               giving the reasons for the one we favor, it would un-
                                                                     doubtedly be more beneficial to make a short study of
                            Their grateful children,                 the whole chapter. In this <way `we shall be able to
                                          Gertrude M.                determine which of these views, mentioned above, is
                                          Cornelius A.               the correct one.
                                          `I!helma  M.                  There can be no doubt but what the apostle has
                                          James D.                   in mind the Jewish people in the first verse when he
Grand Rapids, Mich.                                                  asks, "Hath  God cast away his people?" This is evi-


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .                                      355

dent from the fact that he supports his negative ans- apply to the individual member since it is not possible
wer to t.his question ,by saying that he himself is an that one should truly be a member of the Kingdom of
Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Ben-       God and fall away. This however is possible with a
jaman. The fact that he, who is an Israelite, is a be- ,view to a certain generation. [History very  plainlv
liever is a sign that God has not cast off his people         teaches that people fall away in their generations, so
and therefore also shows that by "his people" is meant that whereas some time in the past a certain family
the Jewish people, the natural seed of Abraham. It            were members of the Church, today their posterity is
is still of that same people that the apostle is speaking lost in the world. Notice also, that the apostle speaks
when he says in ,verse  7, "lsrcnel hath not obtained that of essentially two kinds of branches, the natural
which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it,      branches and those that have been taken from a  :wilcl
and the rest were blinded". We may paraphrase this            olive tree and ingrafted in this good olive tree. Fur-
and say, "Israel, as a whole, that is, all the natural        thermore, of the natural branches he says that some
seed of Abrham, has not obtained that which it seek-          have been broken off while some remain, for he speaks
eth, but only the elect from among them have obtained of being "grafted in among them" vs. 17. In the light
it". The greater part of that which is called Israel of the preceding context, especially ,verses  12 ,and 13,
were blinded and hardened; they did not believe the it is evident that the wild branches, "wild by nature",
word of the Gospel but clung to their own Old Testa-          are the Gentiles and the wild branches that are in-
ment system of worship, ,which they had subjected to grafted are the believing Gentiles. At the same time
be a means for seeking their righteousness by the deeds it is evident that the natural branches are the Jews,
of the law, that is by their own works. Comparatively         those that have been broken off are'the unbelievers,
speaking, there were only a few out of the multitude those that  have been blinded and hardened, while
of Abraham's natural children which believed in the the natural branches which remain ar.e the `believing
Lord Jesus Christ. They were "the election". They Jews, who in the line of their generations have been
obtained wh:at they sought after, that is, righteousness.     faithful to the word of the Gospel from the very be-
They are also the living proof that God has not cast ginning of the New Dispensation. Finally, there are
away His people. Ther,e  is also now, in the New Dis- among the natural branches a third group, namely,
pensation, salvation for the natural children of Abra- those that have been broken off but were also again
ham, however, not for all of them, not even for the set into contact with the tree by way of being "graffed
most of them but for a very few of them who are the           in". It is especially to this last fact that the apostle
objects of God's sovereign election. They are "Israel". oalls the attention of the believing Gentiles. He warns
Not those who were blinded and hardened, but the us ,that we shall not boast nor exalt ourselves above
spiritual element, those Jews who were elect and              the branches that have been broken off because "God
therefore #believed, are the true Israel. This agrees is able to graff them in again." If a wild branch could
with  *what the apostle teaches in chapter 9, verses be ingrafted, surely God is able much more to graff
6 to 8. "Not as though thle word of God hath taken them in again in their own olive tree. vs. 24. And
none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are that is exactly what God does with all those Jews that
of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abra- believe, the elect. Through the way of faith they are
ham, are they all children: but, in Isaac shall thy seed being ingrafted into the olive tree and in this way all
be called. That is, They which are the children of the Israel shall be saved.
flesh, these are not the  chil.dren of God: but the child-       That is the mystery of which the apostle speaks in
ren of the promise are counted for the seed."  Bere           Verse 25. He tells us there that a part of the Jews
the apostle plainly teaches that the true Israel is com- are being hardened in order that the Gentiles may be
prised of only those who believe, that is, the spiritual saved. However, we must not forget  th-at while the
children of Abraham, the children of God by faith in Gentiles are being saved, God has not cast away His
Jesus Christ. There are many that are called Israel,          peopIe and that also, now in this present dispensation
(called that because they are natural children of Abra-       thjey, that is the elect among them, are being saved
hm) who who actually do not belong to Israel at all.          also. And they are being saved in the same  `way,
Only the  beliwing  Jew can truly be called Israel.           namely by ingrafting them in the olive tree by faith.
   Now to  the question why so  m-any of the  natur,al        and believing Jew constitutes true Israel, the apostle
chihlren  of Abraham have been blinded, the apostle           And since, as we have established before, only the elect
answers in verse 11,  ". . .  .through  their fall  aalva-    can say, "And so  nllllsrael  shall be saved."
tion is come unto the Gentiles." And to illustrate this Co"nelusi0n
fact, the apostle uses the figure of the olive tree.             We are now ready to consider the various interpre-
   The olive tree is undoubtedly the Church, or, if you tations already mentioned. In favor of the first men-
wish, the Kingdom of God. The branches do not repre- tioned explanation is the fact that it is a thoroughly
sent individuals but generations. The figure of the scriptural idea. Against that view however is the fact
brsn~h  that, is cut off from the tree can not very well      that in both the preceding as well as in the following

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

context the apostle clearly differentiates between the
Jews and the Gentiles and refers to the Jews by the                     The Validitvw of Natural Law
term "Israel". In that light we will have to main-
tain that distinction also in verse 26.                               Definition :
    Against the second view, namely that the Jewish
nation as a whole shall be saved, is all the context as               For a simple, genera1 definition of Natural Law as
well as the word "so" in verse 26. The premillennar-               used: in the field of Ethics I can best borrow that given
ian explains verse 26 as though we read there, "And by  J. Gottschick in the Schaff-Herzog Religion  En-
then all Israel shall be saved." They explain that the cyclopedea  since the term has a long history and the
the hardening of a part of Israel, (the Jews) is only definition  variies with the conceptions of God and the
temporary; that it lasts until the fulness  of the Gen-            Cosmos.
tiles is brought in and that then there will be a  ,widle-            The above work defines as follows: "Those abso-
spread conversion among the Jews and all Israel shall lute and universally valid imperatives ,and that are
be saved. We must insist however on the fact that innate (inborn) in the reason of every inditvidual  and
the `word "so" means "in this manner" and cannot be                necessarily come into consciousness with the develop-
explained to mean "at that time." Another objection ment of the mind."
to this view may ,be found in the figure of the olive                 The writer further  illucidates  as follows: This
tree.      There the apostle teaches that the natural thought originated with the Stoics who wished to
branches were broken off for the sake of the salvation show that "the good" is not binding because of arbi-
of the Gentiles. The Gentiles, therefore, that are in- trary human statute,  <but because of  I inner necessity,
grafted-into the olive tree, take the place of the Jews and to establish, in contrast to the former ethical  par-
that'have  fallen away. It would therefore be incon- ticularism, a system of morals binding on every one.
sistent with the figure of the olive tree if the whole             The thought was plausible by reason of the fact that
Jewish nation were to be saved after all.                          among the peoples of the earth a far reaching unanim-
    We msy conclude, therefore, that when the apostle ity in moral judgment actually prevailed.
speaks of Israel in this chapter, he has in mind the
Jew+ish  people.     In the second place, since the part              Historic Development.
stands for the whole, since the children of the promise               H,istory tells us of the mighty tyrants of the em-
are counted for the seed, the apostle can safely say,              pires of which Egypt, Assyria, Babylon  .and Rome are
when he sees the salvation of the elect Jews, "And so              SO  well known to us from the Bible. Gibbon in his
all Israel shall be saved."                                        -"The Decline and Fall of Rome." Vol. IV. Ch.  44.,
                                                      H. D. W.     gives a ful1 picture of the Roman state among which
                                                                   he quotes from one of the ancient codes, "`The pleasure
                                                                   of the emporer has the vigor and effect of law, since
                                                                   the Roman people, by the royal law have transferred
                                                                   to their prince the full extent of their own power and
                                                                   sovereignty."
                                                                      So highly exalted above the people was his despotic
                            IN MEMORIAM                            majesty that he was deaf and insensible to the inter-
                                                                   ests and desires of the people and held in his hand
       On the morning of April 16 it pleased the Lord in His       their fortunes and lives.
inscrutable wisdom to remove from our midst by the cold hand          Into this dreadful darkness there was injected a
of-death, out of the Church Militant into the Church Trium-        natural light by the influence of Greek philosophy
phant, our dearly beloved Wife,  iMother,  Grandmother and         which sought after the fundamentel relation and pur-
Sister,                                                            pose things and the ethical values of life. Consequent-
                                                                   ly they taught that there is a higher law which obtains
                    MRS. EFFIE POORTENGA                           above the will of citizen.
at the age of  54 years.                                            When the Christian Church began its spread and
                                                                   influence in the nations it was of course immediately
       Our hearts are bleeding but we mourn not as those who       confronted (with  the question of its own authority. It
have no hope. We know that for her to live was Christ. Death,      taught as we know, that there is a kingdom of God
where is thy sting! 0 grave, where is thy victory? Thanks          whose l,aw is the Word of the Gospel yet at the same
be to God Who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus         time it felt that it did not have dominion over all of
Christ.                                                            life but stood before the question in how far its Gos-
                             The sorrowing family,                 pel and doctrine was  aIso regulative for the life of the
                      G. Poortenga, Children and Grandchildren.    state and apparently somewhat unconsciously it took
Comstock, Michigan.                                                over from the existing general ethics that which seem-


                                       9`sHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      357

ed unobjectionable and reasonable and added to it of necessity, that is, political necessity. And  wbat-
the principles and spirit of the gospel of love.            ever necessity may dictate as advantageous to the
   Il-hwever  not only did the church confess the ab- state the ruler is justified to resort to. Thus his book
normality that had come into the world by the Ea!i, "The Prince" presents a system of unscruplous  politi-
but even the unbelieving ethic held that there had cal trickery as a civil polity.
once been a golden age ,wherein  there had reigned a           On the other extreme we have those who set the
natural law of freedom and equality-a time that,            natural law even above the will of God and maintain
alas, was no more.     And so the logical conclusion that due to the primacy of the intellect man can know
seemed to be that the natural law only has relative         and trace  thesle   eter'nal principles by reason even if
force, and the inequsiity  and violence and oppression theere  `were no God.
which resulted from sins entrance made necessary               But there is a distinct contribution made to the
the bridle of governmental force.                           entire field of natural law by the great Remonstrant
   It was especially Augustine (354-430) who labored Hugo de Groot (rotius-1483-1645) who is known as
through his great gifts and deep biblical insight, to the father of Natural Law. His motive was to find a
trace the principles for the organization of the  church    law or  prmciple for the ordering of the disrupted civil
and for the civil polity, in such a way that the two and religious Europe of his day,-a l,aw that lay above
might be brought into harmony of conception.         He the religious devisions. In his classic work "Concern-
took his stand in the doctrine of the sovereignty of ing the Rights of War and Peace" he sought I to point
God as Creator. Even though that original creation out such a universal code of civi1   cond.uct, a kind of
`was broken by sin this did not affect the reality that     international law. In evolving this' structure Grotius
God still controlled the broken world by His laws and uses a two-fold approach, 1. He tries to prove that a
to His purpose.                                             thing does or does not necessarily accord with the
   The two parts of the broken creation he  called          rational and soci& nature of man, 2. he observes the
the "City of God" and the "City of the World." ,4nd conduct of all peoples and from the ,thing they all do
although the great earthly states are often the con- and feel i.n common he distils natural laws and from
crete embodiment of the city of the world, th,ey  are these he draws out the practical precepts. This ap-
not necessarily so and may become by ordering their proach rests on the supposition that what is every-
polity and life according to the doctrine of Scripture,     where found must have a deeper common cause. And
a manifestation of the city of God. For this state strange though it may seem to us who are accustomed
the laws must be in harmony with the eternal law of         to the one rule of morals of Scripture, Grotius easily
God, although they are founded upon a natural law tolerates a disharmony between his ethics and his na-
increated by God in the mind of man, as  aftserward  re- tural-law principles.
asserted in Scriptures. Thus the state is the type and         Th.e attitude of the Reformers is instructive in
shadow of the righteousness of God's  d.ominion,  and this respect.
under the guidance of Christ's law of love, does have          Melanchthon, the most liberal of the Reformers,
its own organization, but is subordinate to the Church's under the influence of the Scholastic Theology, uses
place and purpose as City of God.                           quite freely the conventional conception of "law of na-
   With Constantine we have `a Christian Emporor ture," "natural rights" of ,which Iwe and all people have
and with him the beginning of a nominally Christian an inborn knowledge. For this there is, of course the
empire. From that time  thtere  arises through the presupposition in the teaching of Scripture, Rom. 2 :15.
edicts of the pope and the d.ecisions of the Synods a          Luther has a more negative look upon the state.
new body of law alongside the old Roman civil  law-         He does teach th.& the state has its authority from
sy&m. It is known as Canon law  that is, the canon- God, but on the other hand that the kingdom of the
ized edicts and decisions of the `church as they were       magistrate is the kingdom of the world, and is thor-
used also in civil affairs. This of course became a oughly evil. The civil power has the calling to avert
tremendous source of influence in the life of the Eu- a general self-destruction, but if you are the victim
ropean Middle ages. And thus it comes that through of all manner of tvio!ence in that world do not be sur-
the  rtyes there is the stream of Natural-law and Scrip- prised.. That is the way of things in that realm. With
tural principles combined ruling the life and thought its wrath and sterness it is a picture of hell.
of the peoples.                                                iIt is Calvin who saw also here, better than the
   However, from this principle there were departures other Reformers, sees the true relations  ,and the place
to the right and to the left, either depending upon the of natural law. Being on the one hand, bound by the
philosophy of the leading  figures  o; the utilitarian teaching of Scripture, especially, Rom.  1:19 and 2  :15,
consideration of the times or both.                         to the fact that there is a natural revelation of God.
   In the Italian Renaissance we have ,a Macchiavelli       He also sew the depravity of the mind and held that
(1469-1.527)  who sets aside the entire traditional ethics all natural knowledge  w.as to be completely checked by
and religion and builds his civil polity upon the law Scripture's light.


358                                                                                                                1"
                                      T'IXE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

       ,Ccrming to Kuyger,  we have a very large develop-    purchased from other stores. That is decidedly un-
men,t of the theory of natural law, because  Kuyper          christian and is only one example of swhat has been
has, of course given a complete Staatkunde worked out going on in every city and sate in our country. The
in great detail. However with Kuyper we have the Christian, according to Paul in his epistle to the Phil-
strange phenomenon that in the period from 1880 to ippians, does not look on his own things, but also on
1894 the term natuurlijke Godskennis (which is close- ,the things of othlers. The early Church had all things
ly related to natural law) haas given sway to th:e term in common. There was no striving to get it all and
Gemeene  Gratie.                                             let the other fellow worry and see to it that he has
    /However,  Kuyper maintains that the government what he needs. The Christian cannot sit down and
has in Holy Scripture the basic principles, the natural fill himself with dainties and enjoy them, knowing
theology oan even at its highest stage only give in a that he is eating that of which he has deprived o,thers.
very weak form.                                              You may argue as you wish, but such hoarding of
       Summarizing, I think we may establish the  follow-    scarce items is not motivated  <by love for the brother.
in'g :                                                       Is not the activity  dlemanded  of us, namely, seeking
1. There is a natural law.                                   the  Kingd.om  of Heaven and its  righteousn,ess.   It is
2. This has been so marred .by sin that it is a very not seeking the things above. Much less is it in har-
    prearious structure.                                     mony  `with the prayer, "Give us this day our daily
3. The sinful state tho often unconsciously living from bread." Surely it is seeking the things of this world
    that law,, also often deliberately transgresses it.      as an end in themselves, rather than seeking them as
4. The Scriptures must indeed be our spectacles where- a means.-wherewith  to serve God.           I
* by we read this natural revelation.                           This practice of  maki,ng a run on these scarce
5. What  ,Scripture,  either expressly, or by  Iassuredly items is not the work of a few either. Were this  ,the
    valid implication teaches, is authoritative in pre- case then my statement that this country does not
    ference to any assertion of principle that appeals have the right to be called a Christian Nation would
    to Natural Law.                                          have to be retracted. But there are not  mer,ely a few
6. The denial of Common Grace does not imply  tile           isolated cases of this in our country. This thing is
    denial of Natural Law.                                   found every place .wh.ere  these items are. sold. The
`7. The denial of Common Grace does demand a criti- fact that the Government must freeze the sale of these
    cal appraisal of the application of Natural Law, items proves that this  pratice is  very widespread. As
    against all  con.fusion  by the  ,dualism  betwfeen   a long as the entire nation does this we must not call it a
    natural and spiritual ethic, a temporal  *and a spirit- Christian Nation. A Christian Nation  `walks in the
    ual ethic.                                               steps of Christ, and you may be sure Christ would
                                                A. P.        never have ,done this nor advised His disciples to do
                                                             so. A Christian is a disciple of Christ. Nowhere in
                                                             Scripture does Christ advise us to practice such things.
                                                                More items may be rationed in the future. Much
                              -                              depends upon the crops we raise this year. But th.e
                                                             child of God will "Take no thought for the morrow
                                                             for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
                  Current ;Events                            itself." The child of God, who has the right to be called
                                                             a Christian because of the <work of Christ, must also
                                                             behave in his work as one purchased by Christ and
       In the last two months our country has proven as a member of His body.
again that it has no right to be called a Christian Na-         Another event on the home front revealing this
tion. Indeed there are many Christians in this country same unchristian behaviour is that of raising the price
of ours. There are thousands upon thousands of them of thlese rationed items in restaurants and cafes to get
to be found in these United States. But the behaviour an added profit a,t the expense of the public. To &be
of the nation as a whole, on the home front, has been sure the merchant has a right to profit on the goods he
decidedly unchristian. I have reference to the hoard- sells. But when there is a price ceiling on the items
ing spree that preceded the rationing of canned good.3 he  purch.ases  so  tiat his expenses are no greater than
and of meats *which  forced the Government to freeze before the rationing he is taking a sinful advantage of
these products so that the store shelves might not be an item to fatten his o'wn purse at the expense of the
drained of them before the rationing began. The public. Because of this the Government has set a
story had been going the rounds here in Grand Rapids price ceiling, recently, on these rationed items in
of a woman who ordered a large ham and asked <the            restaurants and cafes. This again reveals how wide-
clerk in the store to carry it to her car. This h.e did spread this practice was.           Now  place that serve
only to find eight more h:ams in the car, which she had      meals are not al1owe.d  to cut down the portions and


                                   ToHE      S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          359

charge the same price as formerly charged for a             their loved one has lost his life for his country. What
larger portion.    And coffee may not be sold for  7c       a comfort, then, for the believing father, mother and
a cup.    Personally the undersigned has seen menus wife who is left behind to know that having lost his
stating that a cup of coffee w,as 10~ and even 15~. In life in the service of his country their loved one has
the <dining ear of a train one must pay 25~ for a cup also entered insto a "better country, that is, the heav-
of coffee. Scarce as co&e may be in our country such enly." There he *will never need to fight again. There
a price makes it even scarcer. But then,  *what  eIse       is true peace and life and glory. May God grant them
can we expect in this world? When man lives for grace when these telegrams come they may say, "The
himself and not for God, when he is seeking the world       Lord gave, and the Lord  h:ath  taken away ; blessed be
[and not the kingdom of heaven such things will result. the name of the Lord."
Break the first table of the law and you surely will           In the south Pacific Japan is reported massing
break the second table. Hate God and you will covet troops and planes for a drive on Australia. Even
what God gave your neighbor, and as a result you will Alasaka  is expected to be attacked. Is it possible
bear false witness,  .and steal, and kill, and commit that Germany has at last induced Japan to strike the
adultery, and disobey those in authority.                   Allies at the same time that Germany begins her
    Washington has also revealed, of late, its revised spring drive into Russia? If Japan does so it will
draft classification.    Married men without children be only for Japan's sake anld not to relieve the pres-
but who were marriled before the selective service act sure we might be preparing to bring on Germany.
are rapidly *being reclassified into 1A unless they are Japan will do so to protect what she hm conquered
performing some work d'eemed  necessary for the war and  beoause  she deems us too busy i,n Europe to retard
efKost.  Many such married but childless m,en  are al- her progress. At that Japan might be right. To the
ready serving in the armed forces. It will be but a lay man it does seem that more material and troops
month or two  an'd fathers  yvill be inducted whether are sent to the European theater of war than to the
 they have become fathers before the selective service south Pacific.  Bu,t we must not be too hasty in our
act or after it was made a law. One cannot  h.elp but judgment. The statements of General Mac Arthur and
 wonder what it will mean to the Church that these          of Australian diplomats stressing the need of more
young men are taken from our midst. For one thing an$d more men and equipment may be done to deceive
the duty of bringing up the covenant seed in the fear       Japan, if possible, into thinking that we are weak
of God's name will rest entirely upon the mothers.          and thus lure her to more destruction as  *was done in
                                                                                                                     r
No doubt the  chil'dren  of  these  drafted fathers are the past.
 either just arriving at the age where instruction in          ,One thing seems to become more and more plain
the fear of God's name can be begun, or else such           each passing week, that is the fact that this war will
instruction in the home has been given for a year or        not be over at the end of this year as many of us
two. Then there is the deprivation of these fathers         thought and many of our leaders were bold enough
themselves of the means of grace. The men's societies to claim. But let this be our comfort and confession,
will suffer a decrease in membership, and consequentlv      "I am persuaded that  ,neither. . .  .principalities,  nor
th.e  ,discussion will suffer. If the number of drafted     powers, nor things present, nor things to come. . .
fathers is great and the congregation is small the          shall seperate us from the love of God which is in
church may also suffer financially. These are only a        Christ Jesus our Lord." Would we live  Ifrom that
few of the possible effects.                                principle the loss and trials that come our way will
    As to the war itself, many changes have taken place be easier to `bear. We still feel the loss. But we will
these last two months. The westward drive of the not despair of God's love tq us. An.d in spite of the
Russian Army has been stopped, and Germany has loss we will still be able to hope and look up.
regained Kharkov  an'd a large strip of the Ukraine up                                                  J. A. H.
to the  Donets  River. Meanwhile in Africa activity
has again flared up. At this twriting  Germany holds
no more land in Africa than a strip approximately one
hundred miles long and fifty miles wide. The battle
is yet to come in Africa. Germany occupiles  the heights
in this strip that is left to them, and is concentrated
in  tan area well suited for a long drawn out seige. To                             N'OTXE
cdpture  this region can mean nothing less than a
great cost of life and material. The enemy can  hidle
behind many natural barriers while the attacking  ,41-         Field Day Committee meeting wiI,l be hel,d May 5,
lies must expose themselves in order to drive ah.ead 7 :45 P. M. in the basement of the Fuller Ave. Church.
and capture these heights. Many a father, mother All delegates from Societies that wish to take part
and wife will be notified, when this battle begins, that    in this annual'affair, please arrange to be there.


360                                         T,?ZE   STANDAFD   B E A R E R                                                                   -I-
                                                                                                                       P
                       CARD OF THANKS                                 8                                   IN MEMORIAM

       .Since it is impossible to send a personal letter of thanks          The consistory of the Protestant Reformed Church at Hull,
and appreciation to our  man.y friends who by word and deed           Iowa, herewith wishes to express its sincere and heartfelt sym-
comforted us in our deep sorrow in the death of our beloved           pathy to Mrs. Wm. Verhil and Marie and the other relatives in
husband and father:                                                   the death of their loving husband, father and brother:

                     REV. WILLIAM VERHIL                                                        REV. WILLIAM VERHIL

we hereby wish to express our sincerest gratitude to all for                As consistory of the church in which the brother first
the many tokens of love and kindness, Especially are we grate-        served as Minister of the Gospel we thankfully commemorate
ful to the pastors, who by the grace and Word of God, cornfort-       the work which God  ,performed  through him in our midst.
ed us in our grief with the blessed promises of our Covenant                Our  Lrayer  is that the comforting Word of God which he
God and Saviour.                                                      spoke to our sorrowing hearts may also be of comfort to those
                                           Mrs. Wm. Verhil            whom he left  .to mourn. May the God of all mercy graciously
                                           Marie Verhil               comfort and sustain. in this hour of trial with His blessed Word
                                                                      a n d   S p i r i t .

                                                                                                   In the name of the consistory,

                                                                                                                 A. Cammenga, Pres.
                                                                                                                 G.  Bla;lkespoor  Sec'y.


                          IN MEMORIAM

       The English Ladies Society of the Protestant Reformed
Church of  Edgerton,  Minnesota, hereby wish * to express their
heartfelt sympathy to their Vice-President, Mrs. W. Verhil, and
to her daughter Marie, in the sudden loss of their husband and                                       1N MEMORIAM
father,                                                                     De vrije Christelijke School Vereeniging te Edgerton,  Min-
                     REV. WILLIAM VERHIE                              nesota, betreurd het  verlies  van een hare leden,

who so faithfully served as our President and Pastor.                                                DS. W. VERHIL
       We commend them unto the care and keeping of our heaven-             IIn hem verliezen wij een,. die tengevolge van het  strijden
ly Father, Whose grace is sufficient for every need.                  voor de waarheid, de oprichter onzer vereeniging was, die door
                                                                      zijn prediking en arbeid bij ons levendig hield  het begimsel der
                            Mrs. G. Broekhouse, 2nd Vice-Pres.        verbondsmatige opvoeding onzer kinderen.
                            Mrs. M. Mesman, Secretary.
                                                                            H,et  is onze  hoop en bede dat het zaad  door hem gestrooid
                                                                      in  deze,  ook verder vrucht moge drage, tot de bevestiging van
                                                                      Gods Verbond in ons  midden,  en tot de komst van  %ijn
                                                                      Koninkrijk.

                                                                                                           J. Tempelman Pres.
                         IN MEMORIAM                                                                Marinus  Mesman Sec'y.

       The Men's Society of the  Edgerton  Protestant Reformed                                       .
Church  .hereby  expresses,, it's deep sorrow and grief in the
sudden departure of their beloved pastor and president,

                    REV. WILLIAM VERHIL
                                                                                         Soon shall the glorious hope
       We are grateful to our covenant God for what He has                                     Come  .from on high;
given us in him during the few years that he so faithfully                              `Death shall be, swallowed up
laboured in our midst, and are comforted by the thought that                                   In victory.
he has gone before us into the eternal reward of God's children.                        Then shall we gladly sing,
                            J. Dokter, Vice Pres.                                       Death, were is now thy sting,
                            A. Blyenberg, Secretary.                                           Thy vie tory ?                       1.       i


                                                              .  :


