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

                                TheSfandardBearer
        Semi-Monthly, except Monthly in  July and August                                                                                                                      EDITORIALS
                                                             Published by                                                                                                                                                 --
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        -
                    The Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                             1101 Haxen Street, 5. E.                                                                                                             Common Grace
                                      EDITOR - Rev. JB.  Hoeksema
  Contributing editors--Revs. J. Blankespoor, A. Camtnenga,                                                                                                          As a rule for the believer's life in this world, Van
   P. De Boer, J. D. de  Jong,  H. De Wolf, L. Doezema,                                                                                                           Til's "as if" theory is, I think, quite inadequate. The
   M. Gritters, C. Hanko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,                                                                                                       rule, if I understand Van Til  ,correctly, is' that the
  A. Petter, M.  Schipper, J.  Vanden  Breggen, H. Veldman,                                                                                                       believer must  " to a certain extent" assume the atti-
  R. Veldman, L. Vermeer, P. Vis, G. Vos, Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                                                        tude toward the unbeliever and live with him "as if"
   Communications relative to contents should be addressed                                                                                                        there was something in common between them apart
   to REV. H. HOEKSEMA,`1139  Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                          from the "metaphysical situation."  I't would seem
   Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                              that this principle as a standard of living for the
   Communications relative to subscription should be  ad-                                                                                                         Christian in the world is rather vague, stretchy,  am-
   dressed to MR. R. SCHAAFSMA, 1101 Hasen  St., S. E.,                                                                                                           biguous. The question arises inevitably: to what ex-
  Grand Rapids,  Mich  All  Announcements and Obituaries                                                                                                          tent would Van Til appIy  this'"as if" theory in actual
   must be sent to the above address and will  not be placed                                                                                                      life? It appears that he would give no definite an-
   unless the regular fee of $1.00 accompanies the notice.                                                                                                        swer to this question, but that he would let the ex-
                                           Subscription $2.50 per  year                                                                                           tent of the  "commoness"  between the believer and the
                                                                                                                                                                  non-believer be continued upon the degree of their
                                                                                                                                                                  "epistomological consciousness." The more they be-
                                                                                                                                                                  come "epistomologically  self-conscious" the more the
                                                                                                                                                                  "territory-in-between" narrows in scope ; the less
                                                                                                                                                                  self-conscious they are in this respect, the larger is
                                                              CONTENTS
                                                                                                                                                    P8ge          the field of their cooperation and common activity.
MEDITATIE                                                                                                                                                         But all this is quite subjective, relative, ambiguous.
  DE GESPLETEN OLIJFBERG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429                                        It would be very difficult, on'this  basis, for the church
         Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                         to take any stand at all, and act accordingly,, in con-
                                                                                                                                                                  crete cases of amalgamation with the world on the
EDITORIALS -                                                                                                                                                      part of the Christian. What stand would  Pan Til .
  COMMON GRACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482    suggest, for instance, in such cases as membership
         Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                         of the worl,dly unions, the lodge, all kinds of worldly
  EXPOSITION OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM....434                                                                                                                   clubs and associations ; or in cases  of indulgence in
          Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                        worldly pleasures, theatre and movie attendance, etc?
  THE CHANGE UNDER CONSTANTINE . ..*....................*.. 437                                                                                                   In all these cases, those that defend membership, or
          Rev, G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                                       indulge in such pleasures, frequently appeal persist-
  DE UNIVERSEELE ZEGEN I.................................................  440                                                                                    ently to their lack of "epistomological self-conscious-
         Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                              n.ess : " they cannot see any wrong in it! Must the
                                                                                                                                                                  Church be satisfied with this  subjiective  excuse, or
  ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY & HUMAN FREEDOM......443                                                                                                                   will she have to take  `a stand and act according to
       Rev. H. De Wolf                                                                                                                                            some objective criterion?
  THE CONCEPT "PERSON" IN SCRIPTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445                                                                                                As for me, I am quite convinced that Scripture
         Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                                          must have nothing of the "as if" theory of Van  Til.
  CURRENT EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..I..... * . . . . . . * . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * .*.......                             It teaches us very  qdistinctly  that believers and un-
                                                                                                                                                        447
          Rev. J. Heys                                                                                                                                            believers have  nZZ things in common in this world
                                                                                                                                                                  except grace,  and that, for this reason, ,there cztn  be
 `.CONCERNING  THE STRIKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $49                                       no agreement or cooperation between them in the
         Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                                                                            spiritual-ethical sense at all. On the common stage
  CONTRIBUTION .* . . . . . . . . f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . .450      of "natural" things, they live from the  ,prin,ciples  of
       Mr. B. Veldkamp  '                                                                                                                                         sin and grace respectively.       And these two  Iyzve
  INGEZONDEN ~.....~~~.~.~.~.~.~..................~.......~................~............                                                                          nothing in common.       Hence : "Be ye not unequally
                                                                                                                                                        452
          Mr. J. Vander Wal                                                                                                                                       yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellews'ii:~
                                                                                                                                                                  hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what
                                                                                                    -*                                                            communion hath light with darkness? And w::at  :o8-

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                                      T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              433

cord hath Christ with  Belial?  or what part  bath he        per's views, pp. 22-32.     Thseupon  he gives a re-
that believeth with an infidel?- And what agreement view and evaluation of the "debate on common grace"
hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the            including a discussion of the "Three Points," pp. 32-
temple of the living God ; as God hath said, I will 65. And the book closes with "Some Suggestions for
dwell in them, and w%lk in them, and I will be their Further Discussion." We are now concerned with
God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come his review of the "debate on common grace," and
out from among them, and be ye seperate, saith the particularly with his evaluation of the "Three Points."
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I will re-           But we must limit ourselves. To enter into all
ceive you, and will be a  F'ather  unto you, and ye shall    the *details of Van Til's criticism would make our
be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."          discussion too lengthy, `and, besi,des,  would necessarily
II Cor.  6:14-18. There is no "as if" about this clear       lead us .simply to repeat what we have written long
exhortation of Holy Writ.                                    ago and  relpeatedly.  We will, therefore, select some
    And how this "as if" theory can be applied to Cod        points that seem to us to be of chief importance.
and to His attitude toward the elect and reprobate,              Let me begin  .by saying that in his presentation of
`I confess to be wholly beyond the scope of my com-          our, criticism ,of the Three Points, Van Til is quite
prehension. Yet, this too Van Til appears to think           fair,    I$e quotes rather elaborately from our writ-
iquite possible and proper. Discussing the difference ings on the subject, and leaves a rather correct im-
of opinion between Zwier and Schilder with regard pression of our chief objektions  against the doctrines
{to the question of  "a certain grace of God to the adopted by the Synod of Kalamazoo, 1924. And this
reprobate," he writes as follows : "With the  East state- we appreciate, especially in view of the fact that we
ment of Schilder we may well express agreement. have not been used to such treatment on the part of
We may add that in making up the balance all of the those that sought to defend the Three Points over
factors existing in man at any particular time in against our criticism of them. But what  Ibe said of
history must also be taken into consideration. We the  fairn.ess  of Van Til's critique as long as he pre-
are Schilder's pupils if we say that in everything sents our view, is not always true of his critical eval-
Scriptural we deal with `covenant-dating.' If we speak uation of the- same. He writes that we "have been
of grace to the  non-.elec;t,  we must, therefore, with unable to be fair" to our opponents.  p. 53. I now
Zwier speak of a `certain grace.' This indicates the fact raise the same complaint against Van Til's criticism
that all of God's attributes have been thought of of our position. I do not mean to  brinlg this as an
simultaneously.    It is to recognize that there is a accusation, as if he purposely distorts our view in
similarity of attitude on God's part toward the elect his criticism.          The fact remains that he does so,
and the non-elect, but a similarity with a difference.       nevertheless.
Et is therefore an `as if' similarity." P. 61. Now, as          Thus, for instance, Van Til writes about our criti-
far as I can see, if this last statement `is supposed to cism of the "two wills  " in God  ldefended   #by  Heyns
have any real meaning, it signifies that God assumes as if we had proposed a fatalistic, deterministic view
an attitude to the reprobate "0~s if" He were gracious       of man in relation to God. I quote from p. 53:
to them, while in reality He is not  Iat all. He acts            `!Over  against this, however, Hoeksema argues the
"as if" He  cblesses  them while in reality He curses equally abstract, in fact more abstract, positiox  thlt
`them. But even Van Til  could not possibly mean this, the `facts' do not exist at all since they must be in-
for it would ascribe duplicity to the living God. But terpreted in the universal God. This is, we believe,
if he does mean this, what sense does the statement          involved in what we have heard him  say, particularly
have : "It is therefore an `as if' similarity?"              in what he says about the relation of the *divine will
                                                             to the human. His argument is very similar here to
                      -          -                           that of Karl  Darth.    God, because He is God, says
                                                             Hoekaema, cannot ofiler anything. He says that even
                                                             the murderer does not resist the will of God on the
    However, this leads us to the consideration of ground that he is punished for his  murder.+  These
Van Til's discussion of the "Three Points," partic- points, and other of a similar nature, presuppose the
ularly of the question concerning the gracious atti-         idea that a party to be a party next to God must be
tude of God to the elect and reprobate alike, and,           an absolute or underivative party, and that man to
still more par'ticularly,  that which concerns the "gen- resist the will of God must resist the secret counsel
era1 well-meaning offer of grace and salvation on the        of God. On this point we believe  the criticism of
part of God." After his discussion of the principles *Heyns fair enough. It is perfectly true that God can-
of the philosophy of history which we have tried to          not and does not `in the same sense with respect to
explain to our readers thus far, Van Til offers a criti- the same Object' will the mutually contradictory. But
cism of all that has been written on the problem of the thrust of Hoeksema goes further than that. :; It
grace in recent years. He begins {by discussing Kuy-         says that because man is not ultimate and therefore
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  434                                   T,HE  STP;NDARD   B E A R E R

  cannot set aside the seoret counsel of God it follows
  that man can  i'n  n,o  sense  set aside the will of God.
  Or when man obeys the will of God he in no sense                The Triple Knowledge
  really obeys; it is God that obeys in him. It is thus
  that Barth, not committed to the doctrine of tem-
  poral creation as he is, reasons ; it is virtually thus
  also that Hoeksema reasons. It is in effect to say            An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
  that the distinction  betw,een  the revealed and the                             Catechism
  secret will of God has no significance. It is to do
  away, in short, with the significance of `secondary                                PART TWO
  causes'  ; it is to  destroy  the meaning of the relative                    OF MAN'S REDEMPTION
  on the ground that we must believe in an absolute                                LORD'S DAY VII
  that is really an Absolute."                                                        Chapter 3.
     `Now, we have become acquainted with Van Til's                            The Object Of Faith
  tendency to compare someone, especially the under-
  signed, with Karl Barth.        Van  Halsema, we recall,        At the close of the important seventh Lord's Day
  was greatly impressed  ,by this novel comparison, and the Catechism introduces the  object  or contents of the
  put, me to bed with that Swiss theologian. And even <Christian's faith, which then, in subsequent chapters
  though comparisons are odious, I am not at all  offend-      it expounds in detail. In Question and AnsweY  22 it
  sd at this aas far as Van  Til` is concerned, though, I briefly defines that which "is necessary  for a Chris-
  think, he should warn his satellites, whose imagina-         tian to believe" as "All things promised us  in the
  tion is set afire by such comparisons even though they gospel, which the articles of our catholic undoubted
  know nothing about their implications, not to repeat Christian faith rbriefly teach us." And in answer to
  them blindly and ignorantly, lest they make fools Of .Question  23 it quotes the so-called Apostles' Creed.
  themselves in public. But it is but natural that Van            It *draws  our attention that the C,atechism defines
  Til, who has been making a good deal of study of the object of saving faith, not as "the Word of God,"
  Karl Barth, is even, I am informed, going to publish nor as "all that God has revealed to us in his Word,"
  a critique of Barth in the near future, should be in-        as was stated in Answer 21, nor even as "all things
  clined to look at others from the viewpoint of their contained in the holy gospel," but very definitely as
  comparison with Barth.                                       "all things prwmtied  us in the gospel." The promises
                                                               of the gospel, therefore, are the object of saving faith,
    Now, I have stated before, and will reTeat it here, according to the Catechism. The question  arises: how
  that even though I would not be classified as a Barth must this be understood? It is possible, of course, to
  ian theologian, and feel quite sure that, if I should take this expression in a perfectly sound sense. rln
  attempt' to do this, Barth would immediately ,disown         that case it does not intend to exclude the rest of the
  me and expel  me from his school, I have a  *notion  that Word of God in any sense of the word from the object
  Van Til and I do not agree on the question just whzlt of saving faith, but merely intends to  emphasize
  Barth teaches, and, therefore, we differ in our criti- that to true faith, as  saving  faith, that embrares
  cism of him. `I am afraid that; becaus.e  of this fact, CChrist and all His benefits, the holy gospel is the gos-
  Van Til is suspicious  that I rather agree with  his p$ of the promise, the  euangelzbn of  the  epangeliaa,
  Barth, i. e. with Barth as he sees iiim;  while the truth and the promises of God, therefore, stand in the
  is that I do not agree with `tny o,w,n Barth, i. e. with     foreground.    Or one could express it in this way:
  Barth as I see him, even though I cannot so utterly just as in Scripture the entire Word of God is some-
  conademn him as some of the theologians of Westmin- times called law, or law and prophets, or testimcr.~ies,
  ster do. And, surely, 1 do not agree with the state- statutes, prece@s, etc., so it may also. be de.&lated
  ment that "facts do not exist at *all since they  mrlst by the term  the  ho& gospel, and the  heart of that
  be interpreted in the universal of God," whether Barth gospel are the promises of God realized in Christ ;
  would put it that way or not. And, again, whether or and saving faith naturally looks upon the Word of
  not Barth would subscribe to such a  do&rim?  or re- God especially from the viewpoint of its being the
  padiate it, I certainly would never tetrsch,  that "when gospel of Christ, the good tidings concerning the
  man obeys the will of God he in 80 sense really obeys; promise of God. But it is also quite possible to offer
  it is God that obeys in Him." In fact, in my opinion a different interpretation of the statement in Answer
" this last statement is a contradiction in terms.             22. The promises of the gospel may be taken in the
     However, this is an ever interesting problem. And strict sense, as referring to only part of the Word of
  I tiust say a little more about it next time, the Lord God. The meaning of the answer  thdn would be that,
  wiliing.                                                     while faz%h dn ge.neraZ ho& for truth and assents to
                                                H. H.          all that is revealed in the Scriptures,  saving  faith


                                     TFiE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          435

appropriates particularly the promises of the gospel. God is the object of the knowledge of  faith in  gc/eneral,
    The former interpretation must undoubtedly be while  justifying  or  saw&g   faith  deals exclusively
considered as conveying the truth, regardless now of with the promises of the gospel. And these distinc-
the question whether it was the intention of the tions are, in our opinion,  unt,enable.                Faith is one.
authors of the Catechism to express this meaning. And that one faith is both a true spiritual knowledge
Saving faith is assured of and relies on the entire and a hearty confidence. And it has for its object
Word of God as revealed in the Scriptures, and it the one and entire Word of God, revealing the God of
does not have the promises of the gospel only for its our salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. And the know-
object. All that the Scriptures teach concerning God ledge of this Word of God is briefly expressed in "the
and creation, man and sin, Christ and salvation, the articles of our catholic, undoubted Christian faith."
Holy Spirit and sanctification, the Church  and means
af grace, the coming of Christ and things eternal, is            A word must here be said about these "articles of
included in what is necessary for a Christian to be- our catholic, undoubted Christian faith, generally
lieve.    That this is true, is  ;evident   even  from the    known as the Apostles' Creed. Its exact origin is
fact that the Catechism refers to the Apostles' Creed unknown. The tradition that gave  rEse to its name, as
as the brief expression of the object of  savin'g  faith. if the apostles themselves were the authors of this
For in that catholic confession the Church does not de- confession, must <be rejected as false. For not only
clare itself with regard to the promises of the gos-          is there no shred of evidence for this tradition, lnor
pel only, but speaks concerning all the main doctrines even for the contention that this symbol in its present
of Scripture.     And, therefore,  ,when the Catechism        form existed in the time of the apostles, but it  ,did
here answers to the -question what is necessary for not belong to the proper  calli::ig of the apostles as
the Christian' to believe, "A11 things promised us in such to prepare confessions of faith for the Church.
the gospel," we will have" to take the statement in the Their proper task it was to lay the foundation of the
broadest sense, so that it includes all the knowledge         Church, other than which no man ca;n lay, and their
of God, His Will and precepts, and the ,whole counsel infallible writings (belong to the Canon of the Scrip-
concerning our salvation and all things as revealed tures. The confession of the Church is based on their
in the Holy Scriptures.                                       word. This does not mean that there can be any
    When we insist on this we assume the stand that           serious objection to maintain the name by which these
agreement with the Heidelberg  Catechi,sm  does not articles of our faith are universally known. But the
necessarily always imply agreement with the meaning name expresses that the contents of this confession
and interpretation of its authors. For Ursinus in his are truly apostolic, in fact they are almost verbally
explanation of the Catechism makes it quite plain that taken from the New Testament Scriptures.                 It is,
he intended to convey the sense set forth in the second however, one of the most ancient symbols of the
interpretation mentioned above. As we explained in ,Church.  And even though in its present form it can-
a previous chapter, in the answer to question 21 he not be traced farther *back  than the sixth or fifth cen-
distinguished between the knowledge of faith ~TZ ge,% tury of our era, parts of it date from the immediate
era& which holds for truth all that God has revealed          post-apostolic time. It was not composed at once in
in the holy Scriptures, and savz'ng or justifying faith,      its present form. The general opinion is that i:t grad-
consisting in a hearty and assured confidence that            ually developed from the instruction that ,,was given
the blessings of salvation are freely given me of God, by the church to catechumens before their being bap-
for the sake of Christ's merits. That this presentation tized, and from the confession they were required to
of  tie a,uthors'  meaning in Ans. 21  iwas correct, is cor- make at baptism. Writes Schaff,  Creeds of Christe.n-
roborated by Ursinus' own *commentary on the answer dom, Vol. 1, p. 16ff.: "As  `to the origin of the Apostles'
to Qu. 22. Writes he: "After our treatment of the sub- Creed, it no #doubt gradually grew out of the confession
ject of faith, the question now follows concerning the of  P,eter,  Matt. 16  :16, which furnished its  mAeus (the
contents of what must be believed or the object of article on Jesus Christ), and out of the bap'tismal for-
faith. Faith in general, as `became evident from our mula, which determined the trinitarian  order and ar- *
description of it, embraces the entire Word of God,           rangement. It cannot be traced to an individual author.
and assents to it fully. But justifying faith in par- It is the produdt  of ,the Western XCatholic  Church (as
ticular respects the promises of the gospel or the            the Nicene  aCreed  is that of the Eastern Church) with-
preachmg of grace through  *Christ. The gospel is in the first four centuries. It is not of primary, apos-
therefore particularly the object of justifying faith.        tolic, but of secondary, ecclesiastical. inspiration. It
For this reason the gospel is also called the doctrine        is not a Word of God to men, but a word of men to
of those things which  ,are to be believed, in distinction `God, in response to his revelation. It was originally
from the law which is the doctrine of those things and essentially a ba~Eisma1 oonfessian,  growing out of
that must be done."  p. 155. Here Ursinus makes it the inner life and practical needs of Christianity. It
very plain that, according to him, the whole Word of was  explained  to the catechumens at the last stage


  A36                                    `FHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  of their preparation, professed by them at  ba$ism.             those articles which have been most assailed in rezent
  often  repeated  with the Lord's Prayer, for private times, as the supernatural conception of our Lord (cf.
  devotion, and afterwards introduced into' publi: ser- Matt.  1:18; Luke  1:35), the descent into Hades
  vice. It was called by the ante-Nicene fa'thers  `the rul,e     (Comp. Luke 23  :43; Acts  2:31; 1 Pet. 3  :19; 4  :6),
  of  faith, ' `the r:>le of truth,' `the apostolic tradition,' and the resurrection of the bvdy  (1 Cor. 15 :20 sqq.,
  "the apostolic preaching,' afterwards `the  symbo:  of and other places) ."
  faith.' But this baptismal creed was at first not pre-             There is something charming in the  simple beauty
  cisely the same.       It assumed different shapes and of the  strudt.ure  and contents of this creed of the
  forms in different congregations. Some were longer, whole Christian Church. It is very brief, yet quite
  some shorter; some  ,declarative,  some interrogative in comprehensive, giving expression to all the main
  the form of questions and answers. Each of the larg- truths of revelation that are "necessary for a chris-
  er churches adapted the nucleus of  ,the apostolic faith tian to believe." Its form is wholly positive, not con-
  to its peculiar circumstances and wants ; but they all troversial: in it the Church professes her faith, ap-
  agreed in the essential articles of faith, in the general parently without considering the possibility of its
  order of arrangement on the basis of the  ibaptismai            being gainsaid, or the necessity of defending the
  formula, and the prominence given to Christ's death `truth over against heretics. It is a declaration of the
and resurrection. . . . .                                         historical facts of the gospel, rather, than an  abstra-t
         "The most complete or most popular forms o,f the statement of doctrines.             It professes faith in the
   baptismal creed in use from that time in the West triune ,Go& yet. it does not expressly mention the trin-
  were those of the churches of Rome, Aquileja, Milan,            ity, far less declare any  spesific  doctrine  concerning
  Ravenna, Carthage, and Hippo. They differ but little.           the relation of the Persons of the  .trinity  to the
  Among these  agam,  the Roman formula gradually divine Essence. All the salient doctrine of  Christ-
  ,gained the acceptance in the West for its intrinsic o!ogy are professed in this  Credo, the divinity of
  excellence, and on account of the commanding  poai-             Christ, His virgin  ,birth, the  .humiIiation  and ex-
  tian of the Church of Rome. We know the Latin altation of our Lord, and His expected return, but
  text from Rufinus (390) and the Greek from  Mar-                they are all stated simply as so many fa-zts af the gos-
  cellus af Ancyra (336341). The Greek text is us- pel, without as much as suggesting their dogmatic: im-
  ually regarded as a translation, but is proba$bly.older         plicatio.ns. And the same is true of the articles con-
  than the Latin, and may date from the second cen- cerning the Holy Spirit, the Church and the benefits
  tury, when the Greek language prevailed in the Roman of Christ's work such as the forgiveness of sins, &he
  congregation.                                            ,      resurrection of the body, and everlasting life. Schaff
         "The Roman creed was gradually enlarged by sev- truIy gives the following evaluation of this creed:
  eral clauses from older or contemporaneous forms, -"It is net a logical ststement of abstract doctrines,
  viz., the article `descended into Hades' (taken from the        but a profession of Iiving facts and saving `truths.
  creed of Aquileja) , the predicate `catholic' or  `gE;neraI'    It is a liturgical poem and an act of worship. Like
  in the article on the Church (borrowed from Oriental the Lord's Prayer, it loses none of its charm and ef-
  creeds), `the communion of saints' (from Gallican fect by frequent use, although, by vain and thought-
  sources), and the concluding `life everlasting'  (aprobab-      less repetition, it may be made a martyr and an empty
  ly from the symbols of the churches of Ravenna and [form  ,of words. It is intelligible and edifying to a
  Antioch) . * These additional clauses were no doubt child, and fresh and rich to the profoundest Christian
  part of the general faith, since they are tsught in the scholar, who, as he advances in age, delights to go
  Scriptures, but they were first expressed in  1o:al $ack to primitive foundations and first principles,
  creeds, and it was some time !before they found a place It has the fragrance of antiquity and the inestimable
  in the authorized formula.                                      weight of universal consent. It is a bond of union
         "YIf we regard, then, the present  text of the Apost- between all ages and sections of Christ,endom.  It can
  les' Creed as a complete whole, we can hardly trace it never  (be superseded for popular use in church and
 ,  Ibeyond  the sixth, certainly not beyond the close of the school." (Creeds of Christendom, 1, p.  15). Indeed,
  fifth century, and its triumph over all the other forms one can conceive of the wish that this  &VG?O  of our
  in the Latin Church was not completed till the eighth catholic undoubted Christian faith might have proved
  century, or about the time when the bishops of Rome sufficient for all times, and that the Church of Christ
  strenuously endeavored to conform the liturgies of in the world could have remained united on its basis!
  the Western churches to the Roman order. But if                    However, as the Church developed `and advanced
  we look at `the several articles of the Creed separately, in the knowledge of the truth a brief statement of the
  they  ,are all of Nicene or ante-Nicene origin, while its object of faith like the Apostles' Creed must needs
  kernel goes back to the apostolic sge. All the  fa:ts           prove inadequate as a bond of union ; and it would
  and doctrines which it contains are in entire agreement be quite impossible for the Church of today to turn the
  with the New Testament. And this is true even of clock of history  back, and return to this ancient creed


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              437

 as `the sole basis of agreement for the whole church mouth the term is completely emptied of i,ts true sig-
 in the world. For, first of all, many doctrines whose nificance so that it does not express at all the essential
 maintenance  ,is quite essential to  t.he Church on earth,    divinity of the Saviour. And they love to speak of the
 are  ndt even mentioned in this symbol. The funda- kingdom of God and its  ri$ghteousness,  while they refer
 mentalists of our time may, in this resp,ect,  be satis- to a kingdom of mere man, and of this world. And so
 fied with the declaration of the Apostles' Creed, for we might go on. It shows, that as the Church ad-
 the four truths on which they lay emphasis as essen-          vances in the knowledge of the truth, it will not only
 `%a1 to Christianity,  t,he virgin birth of the Saviour, need a more elaborate confession to express its faith
 vicarious atonement, the resurrection of Christ, and          positively, but it must also more definitely and fully
 His return for judgment, are at least mentioned here, define its doctrines, lest they be open to the attack of
 although this can hardly be said of the doctrine of gaiasayers  because of their ambiguity. And, there-
 substi'tutional atonement. But they are in error when fore, though the Apostles* Creed will  certainIy  always
 they think that the defense of these general doctrines remain the basis of unity for all that understand its
. is sufficient to safeguard the faith of the Church over declarations in their historic and biblical sense, it can-
 against the attack of the enemy. They may be com-             not possibly serve as the sole basis of unity for the
 qared to a certain extent to a gardener that weeds his Church in the world. And for this reason, the Heidel-
 vegetable plot, but is satisfied by pulling off the tops berg Catechism proceeds from the correct standpoint,
 of  ithe weeds, leaving their roots in the soil.  T,here      when it does, indeed, declare that these articles con-
 are fundamental doctrines without whose maintenance tain all that is necessary for a Christian to believe,
 even truths such as the vicarious  ator.ement  of our but at the same time offers a rather elaborate expo-
 Lord cannot he successfully defended. The great doc-          sition of these articles in the chapters that follow.
 trm * of sovereign predestination, with election and                                                         H. H.
   t?
 re robation, of sin and grace, of preservation and
 perseverance, are not even mentioned  iin the Apostolic
Confession. And yet it is quite essential that they be
 defined in the standards of the  ,Church  of today.
    But, in the second place, such a summary and fac-
 tual statement of the great truths of the gospel as is          The! Change Under Constantine
 contained in the  Apostl,es"  Creed can  hardIy be con-
 sidered adequate as a clear and unambiguous  exapres-           As we have seen, the first three centuries of our
 sion of the faith of the Church.        And this is  es-      Christian era formed a period of intermittent perse-
 pedally  true in our times. It is a. well-known fact cutions for the Christians. As Christ had predicted,
 that those that seek to undermine the foundation of all men-men of every class of society and every sta-
 the truth upon which the Church is built, and to intro- tion of life-hated and harassed  God's people. For,
 duce false doctrines, hardly ever rev,eal  their evil in- as was pointed out, in.the eyes of men the followers
 tention by openly declaring their opposition to the of Christ formed a strange and dangerous commun-
 doctrines as they have  lbeen formulated by the Church ity. They chose to  Iive outside the pale of the religion
 in the past. !On the contrary, they prefer to employ of Rome. They refused to worship as God the em-
 the very same terms the Church has always used to peror and his stature and to take part in any idola-
 express her faith, although they give them a new and trous ceremonies at public festivals. Their religion-
 entireiy  strange  content. If they mean to deprive the the worship of  #the only, true God-being pure,  de-
 Church of the truth of sovereign grace, and to intro- ,nou*nced  the nameless pollution of the Roman-Graeco
 duce the false doctrine of free-will, they employ the         world. It demanded of men that they forsake their
 Scriptural terms of predestination, election, and repro- abominations, turn to the living God and *be saved
 bation nonetheless ; only they, declare that God has from their sins  Iby faith in His resurrected Christ.
 chosen them that believe, and rejected those that re- Lt proclaimed that God looked down with holy indig-
 main in their unbelief.  Or they speak of a "double nation upon  all unrighteousness of men, that  He
 track" and insist that, while they firmly believe in          would avenge all wrong and that a  (day was coming
 the truth of absolute predestination, they also hold when  al1 the world would stand at His tribunal and
 the very opposite, viz. that God will all men to be that every man-emperor and slave-should receive
 saved. And thus they do with regard  .to every funda- according to his deeds. The result was that the pol-
 mental truth of the Bible. Even present day modern- lution of Rome was roused to a frenzy of rage.
 ism, though it rejects and opposes all the fundamental           Especially the Roman statemen, so we saw,-the
 doctrines of historical Christendom,  is often very statemen  including the serious thinkers who in their
 efficient in the employment of practically all the terms heart were too conscious that the pagan religion of
 used to express the object of the Christian faith. They, the empire was unreal, viewed Christianity as the
 too, speak of Christ as the Son of God, but in their          Empire's deadliest foe, an enemy which must be


                                                                                                            "...
438                       "  -I      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

stamped out. There was present in these statesmen Eranted the church (321) the right to receive  legacies
a strange instinctive dread of Christianity. They could i. e., gifts of property by .will.
not help noticing how in spite of edicts and persecu-            In 323 Constantine, through defeating his last
tions Christianity was rapidly increasing. And they rival, Licinius, in battle, $ecame  the sole ruler of the
beard  rumours  of a new kingdom which the Christians Roman world and the first Christian occupant of the
were  to establish, of confidently expressed hopes that throne of the Ceasars.  Width  the defeat of Licinius,
the  Ikingdom  would soon come, and of openly asserted who was hostile to Christianity, the church was every-
prophecies that ,it would be established on the ruins swhere free from its enemies.
of Rome itself. Yet, the people of God were the meek              Constantine, in a general exhortation, now be-
of the earth.                                                 sought and urged his subjects to embrace the Chris-
       So the lot of the Christians in these first three tian religion. In the year 330 he transferred the
centuries was hard.      They were  jterrified  by their seat of his government to Byzantium, turned the city.
adversaries. They had trials of cruel  mockings  and into a new Christian Rome and named it Constan-
scourgings,  of bonds and imprisonment; they were tinople after himself. Here, instead of idol temples, .
stoned, tempted, slain with the sword ; they were Christian churches rose  ; and all forms of pagan wor-
destitute, afflicted and tormented. They wandered ship were forbidden and with them the gladiatorial
in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of shows, so popular in Rome. But among the churches
the earth. In the Revelations of St. John, Babylon-           the crucifixes and statues of deities from all over
the ,Graeco-Roman  worl of his day-appears as drunk- Greece were also gathered in the new metropoiis.
en with the blood of the saints and with the blood of            Constantine was faithful in the attendance of
the martyrs of Jesus. In these three centuries, the divine worship. He even himself wrote and delivered
despised sect, like Christ in the days of .His humilia- sermons to his count. In response to general i
tion, had not where to lay its head.                          tions, issued by the emperor, the citizens in c
       However, in the year 311. this state of things flocked to the palace to hear the emperial preacher.
began to undergo a fundamental and radical change. When appIauded  by his audience, he would show his
As was said, Dio:letian  (284-305). immediately after disapproval by pointing to Heaven as the source of
combing to power,  ha'd  csllad to his side three  sutb- his wisdom. He called himself the bishop of bishops,
ordinate ,vice-gerents,  Maximian, Galerius, and Con- summoned the first general council, and made Chris-
stantine Chlorus, and divided with them his vast em- tianity  ithe religion of the empire. But it was not un-
pire. In 303, he promulgated three persecution ediats tii  he felt that the hour of his ldeath  was at hand,
of ascending severity. A fourth one was issued soon that he allowed himself to be admitted by baptism into
after by Maximian. The aim of these edicts was the            the full communion of  ,the church in the sixty-fifth
entire uprooting of the Christian religion. The terrible year of his age. A few days later he died, trusting
persecution which these  ediots  initiated lasted ten in the mercy of God. "So passed away the first Chris-
years. In 311, Galarius, under the constraint of a con- tian emperor, the first Defender of the Faith. Pagan
science awakened  ,by a terrible disease with which he and Christian, orthodox and heretical, liberal and fan-
was smitten, and almost died, published, in connection atical, not ito be imitated and admired, tbut much to
with  Constanti*ne  and Licinius, his colleagues in the be remembered, and deeply to be studied."
emperial throne, an edict of toleration ; and .the per-          Doubtless, Constantine's acceptance of Christian-
secutions of the Christians by the Roman ceasars and ity was, i,n a measure, a matter of personal convic-
the pagan Graeco-Roman commonwealth permanently tion. His generous conduct towards the Christians
ceased In 313 Constantine, in conjunction with his betokens a certain degree of sympathy. There is
colleague, Licinius, published an edict of religious tol- ground for supposing that he was Christian minded.
eration which granted full freedom to  all existing He himself attributed his conversion "to the appear-
forms of worship including the Christian and thus ance, in the course of one of his military expeditions,
placed the latter on equal footing with heathenism. of a flaming cross in the sky at noon-day with the
At the same time it ordered the governors in all the motto "By this (cross) conquer.`" Some treat the
provinces to restore all confiscated property to the story as a fable. It may be supposed, however, that
body of Christians, at  fshe expense of the imperial Constantine narrated the incident on good faith. There
treasury.                                                     is nothing improbable. in the theory that accounts for
   From this time Constantine favored the church, the appearance of the cross by the natural phenomen-
yet without forbidding heathen sacrifice. In his im-          on of a parhelion i. e., of  a bright spot at the  alti-
perial edicts the Christian church is always mention- Itude of the sun in the form of a cross. But it is
ed with reverence. Christian  bishops were admitted likelier that Constantine gave external reality to what
into his confidentia1 circle. He freed the  cl,ergy from was nothing more than an optical delusion and that
mihtary  and municipal duty (313) ; abolished various the voice which he heard was purely subjeotive. But
c:;stcnx xxf qu-di~npxcq ~hatcful  f;o the Qristians ; and    wfiataver
                                                                 ._         the p&ure of the exgerlence  my have bc%


                                     T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           439

 its effect upon Constantine, to judge from his later ing with the -4rian controversy ; there are no traces of
 conduct, fell far short of a true  an3 thorough con- deep personal interest .on his part in the cardinal ques-
 version; it probaibly  did not amount to more than the       tion. True, the church `was everywhere free from its
 creation of a superstitious belief in the symbol of enemies ; hurt it now found itself under the dominion
 the cross. To maintain that he was converted in the of a new master-Constantine the great, the first
 sense of a true and  iwholeh,earted  acceptance of the       Christian occupant of the throne of the Ceasars.             -
 religion of Christ, and of a thorough rejection of              The conception of the empire-pope did not originate
 paganism, is inconsistent with the hesitating attitude with Constantine.           All the pagan "emperors from
 in which he stood toward both and with the crimes Augustus on were supreme pontiffs, heads of state
that darkened his career. Paganism was an operative religion, who performed priestly functions even to
 force with the man down to the close of life. He con- offering sacrifices.
 tmued  to cleave, after his conversion, to many pagan           As to the Christian Church, under the favor and
 superstitions. To judge the tree by its fruits, he was pat.ronage  of Constantine, it grew by leaps and bounds
half heathen and half Christian, who sought to com-           in numbers and soon found itself fabulously rich in
 bine the worship of Christ with the worship of Apollo.       eanthly  goods. As was said, he granted the church
 He had  ithe name of the one and the figure of the the  right to receive legacies i.e., gifts of money or
 other impressed upon his coins.        He ordained the property by a last will. He himself made liberal  ,con-
 observance of Sunday under the name "God of the tributions  in money and ,grain  for the support of the
 Sun." He gave  ord,ers  that, if lightning struck  ;the clergy. But being Lord of the public treasury as well
 imperial palace or any other public building, the pagan as of his private purse, he could afford to be generous
 deriners should be consulted as to what it might signi- -generous at khe expense of his realm. He also gave
 fy, and a  ,careful  report of the answers should  rbe       to the church i.e., to the clergy in distinction from the
 drawn up for his use.                                        laity, the depleted heathen temples and their estates
    But if his acceptance of Christianity was a matter and the  confiscaited property of  h'eretics.          Wealthy
 of personal conviction in the sense just explained, it subjects of the realm, following his example, bequeath-
 was also, on the other hand, a matter of  shrewid   judg- ed their property upon the church. Bishops and monks
 was also, on the other hand, a matter of  shrewld            became legacy-hunters by playing upon the supersti-
 statesmanship. There can be little doubt that he em- tious fears of widows and dying persons. The result
 (braced Christianity from expediency and  ,as driven was that the hierarchy ,became the owner of enormous
 by necessity. IChristianity  could be of use to him for wealth in money and gold and in' houses and `lands.
 instilling new life into the organism of the dying em- In Ithe early feudal age it possessed most of the non-
 pire of Rome ; also, it was the oncoming  Bhing so that land wealth in Western*Europe. It owned, in addition,
 to oppose it was to be destroyed by it. So, instead of fine church buildings ; chapels, abbeys,  cathedra!s,
 trying to crush its power, as his predecessors in the        cloisters, libraries, merchandise of all kinds a*nd ,de-
 imperial throne had tried to do, he entered into an al- scriptions, fine cloth embroidered with gold, besides
 liance wirth it in order to secure political control over enormous chests of treasures. These treasures were
 its growing organism. In this he sncceeded.  He took in turn converted into real estate so ithat the higher
 it upon himself to supervise what he termed the ex- clergy soon came to own a tenth ipart of all the landed
 ternal affairs of the church, and thus brought into property. From its extensive lands it received pay-
Ibeing  an imperial papacy alongside the existing spirit- ments of the peasants io whom this land was let for
 ual hierarchy. In his self-appointed role of "bishop cultivation. Thus ,did the clergy (not the laity) come
 of bishops" he convened  ithe council of  Nicea, presided into the possession of a huge and independent source
 over its meeting, and took a prominent part in its of income of its own and thereby ceased to be de-
 proceedings both before and Ibehind  the scenes. The pendent on the voluntary contributions of the lay
 year before it met he had urged such a formula as members in the church. So w.as the clergy raised to
 might include Arians and orthodox in the one church. a  posiltion of material independence. This, certainly,
He was thus the earliest of broad churchmen. After- was contrary to Scripture. The greatest church fathers
 wards he approved the orthodox creed that was the            realized. this. Augustine asked his people in Hippo
 result of the council's  deli!beretions  and thereupon to take back the .church  property and to support the
 addressed himself to the task of enforcing uniformity clergy and the poor Iby free gifts. The stand of Augus-
 by means of su.bscription.  His conduct in supporting tine was certainly correct. It is the Lord's will that
 first Arianism and then the orthodox faith was per- the  mi$nisters  of religion be dependent on the free gifts
 fectly consistent. He acted in the interest of the of the brethren for whose spiritual  benefilt they labor.
 state. The  rending of the church into a number of The teachings of St. Paul are to the effect that even
 bitterly contending factions would be a constant source as the Lord ordained that they (the Levites) which
 of danger to the empire. In all likelihood, it `was by ministered about holy things live of the things of the
 this consideration that ,Constantine  was guided in deal-    temple,   so  h,ath the Lond ordained that they which


440                                  T*HE  STkNDAkD   B E A R E R

preach the gospel should live of the gospel.                 bishops and the archbishops in the church lo&ed  arms,
   The enrichment of the clergy by Con~stantine  work- flattered and petted and praised often to the point of
ed great harm.  %t entangled them in  (the affairs of nauseation. At the celebration of the third decenium
this world. With a thousand matters foreign to their of his reign, Constantine was told by one of his
office they had to meddle. For these large estates bishops, congratulating him, that he had been appoint-
.had to be managed and cared for. Besides, the clergy ed by God to rule over this world and would reign width
became lovers of ease and luxury, and a host of un- the Son of God in the other. Eusabius was so blinded
worthy persons were lured into  the  servi%ce  of the by  e`mperial  favor that he saw in a banquet which
church.                                                      Constantine gave to the bishops at the close of the
   Constantine corrupted the church in still another council of  Nicea an emblem of  the glorious reign of
respect. By making Christianity the religion of the Christ upon earth.
empire,  ,he secularized  rthe church, It became a matter       So did a great many of the pagan  nogbles of the
of fashion to be a Christian, so that, as was said, the empire adopt the  rehgion `of their sovereign, Constan-
church grew by leaps and bounds in' mere numbers. tine, and of the court. But many others of the pat-
Pagan customs rdefiled the service of God and con- rician houses and of the cultured classes held ithem-
taminated the lives of Christians. Hypocrites and selves aloof and viewed the strange triumphal march
formal confessors abounded. True Christian zeal and of the Christians with shuddering disdain. But for
lbrotherly love diminished. For the church became them the end  #came  when their cults were swept away
the church of rthe masses. Rulers and subjects alike         in the wild torrent of barbarian invasion.       Yet, all
worshipped at the shrine of mammon.         There was a *that  rszlly went is merely the shell of, paganism, the
morbid passion for vain  idisplay among the clergy and form. The essence abided to stalk the earth in the
laity alike. Speaking of the clergy, Gregory of Nazian-      dress of the Christitan  religion. The "beast" embraced
zen draws the following picture: "We repose in splen-        Christiani;ty.  The old satanic hostility to the Iight of
dour on high and sumptuous cushions, and are vexed Heaven, as  emistted by God's believing people,  con-
if-we but hear the voice of the moaning pauper; our tinued.                                           G. M. 0.
chamber must breath the odor of flowers ; our table
but fiow with the most fragrant and costly ointment,
so that we become perfectly effeminate. Slaves must
stand ready, rightly adorned and in order, with wav-
ing, maidenlike hair, and faces shown perfectly smooth,
more adorned than is good for lascivious eyes ; some
to hold cups both delicately and firmly with the tips
of their fingers, others, to fan fresh air upon the head.
Our tables `must  bend under the load of dbhes, while                              (Psalm 67)
all the kingdoms of nature, air, water, and earth, fur-
nish copious contributions. . . . The poor man is con-          Men  hceft  dezen psalm een zendingspsalm genoemd
tent'with  water; but we fill our goblets with wine to en terecht: het gaat over den u,niverseelen  zegen van
drunkenness, nay,  immeasureably  beyond it." This bet evangelie, die  zoolang  de  volkeren zal zegenen tot-
`was said with reference not to the lower but to the ldat de uitverkorenen uit alle natien zullen komen en
higher clergy and the rich laity in the church. Accond-      aanbidden voor Zijn troon in Sion.
ing to Libanus  the household of Constantius (the son           Een zendingspsalm, want men zal op aarde  Gods
of Constantine) had a thousand barbers, ,a thousand weg en heil eerst kennen wanneer wij de genade en de
cup-bearers, a thousand cooks, and eunuchs so many zegen Gods ontvingen. ILeest slechts de verzen 2 en 3;
that they could be compared only to the insects of a Daar staat : `{God zij ons genadig en zegene ons; Hij
summer day.                                                  doe Zijn aanschijn  aan ons  lichten, Seb, opdat men op
   As to  Constanitine,  his reign is marred by the gross- de aarde Uwen weg kenne, onder alle heidenen Uw
est crimes. Thou>gh  he had solemnly promised Licin- heil."          Het redebeleid is dus: Zegen ons, Uw kerk,
ius, his vanquished rival, mercy, he ordered and se- o God, opdat men op aarde Uw heil moge kennen!
cured his execution. `His suspicions lead hi,m to cause         Wat dat beduidt is doorzichtig.
lthe death of his nephew, a lad of eleven years.  J3e           Als wij, de kerk, ons mogen baden  in de genade, de'
mundered his eldest son on the generally held false zegen en het licht Zijns aanschijns, ,dan kan het nieit
charge of political intrigue and incest.                     uitblijven, dat er een helder  schijnend licht van ons
   Such was the moral character of the pagan masses uitgaat tot  allen  die met ons in aanraking komen. Dan
that, following the example of Constantine, joined zal on? leven een gedurige prediking zijn. Zooals, b.v.,
themselves to the Christian church and by which the de Heidelberger er nadruk op legt, hoe wij door ons
church was enriched. Speaking now in general, it ,godzalig  leven anderen mogen trekken tot den Deere
was said with such men that the higher clergy, the           onzen  God.                         f


-       _-                          THE  STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                443

                                                           sovereign is to say that He is Gud ! It means  t,hat all
              Absolute Sovereignty                         things .that are His sole possession, are maintained
              And Human Freedom                            and governed by Him; that He does whatsoever it
                                                           pleaseth  Him as the Almighty because He is the
                                                           Supreme Ruler, so that no one can thwart His purpose,
      In discussing the above mentioned subject, we shall resist His will or defeat His counsels. Scripture tells
call your attention first to each of the two parts and US, "Our `God is in the heavens ; He hath done whatso-
shall then attempt to throw some light upon the  rela- ever He hath pleased."  `(Ps.  115:3)  "And all the
ion  Ibetween  these two. It will readily be admitted inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and
that  our  mein difficulty will be encountered in the He doeth according to His will in .the army of heaven,
attempt to harmonize the two parts of our subject. and among the inhabitants of  Ith,e earth: and none can
We do not promise a solution to the problem, nor do stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?"
we assume for a moment that we shall ,be able to an-       (Dan. 4:35.) "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness
swer every question which  .may Ibe raised. How,ever,      thereof" (Ps. 24.1.)    "Woe unto him that striveth
we are of the opinion that an honest attempt should be #with  his Maker! Let the potsherd  strive with the pot-
made to understand, in as far as that is possi.ble, the shends of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that
relationship which exists between God's sovereignty fashioneth it,  .What makest thou? or thy work, `He
and human freedom. We surely are not justified in hath no hands?" (Is.  45:9.)  ". . .Who worketh all
doing what so many have done and still do, namely things after the counsel of His own will."  (Eph: 1  :ll.)
to deny the one or the other, or, even worse, to make         God's sovereignty is universal, absolute, immut-
an &tempt to hold both, to formally confess both cbut      able, irresistible and infinite.    It extends over all
actually lose one or the other because they present a things in heaven and on earth. It has no limit, His
contradiction to our mind. The result of this is, that authority is supreme over all creatures. It cannot be
while one seeks to maintain theoretically both truths, denied, ignored or rejected. It holds all creatures,
one finds that it is impossible practically and becomes great and small, within its grip and nothing can es-
either a determinist or a palagian, or, as many in our cape its sway.
day, sometimes one and sometimes another. There are           *God is sovereign in all His attributes and En all
those who will one day preach the doctrine of abso- His works. He does as it pleases Him and He is
lute sovereignty and the next will deny it by their never obligated to answer to anyone. Whatever He
<presentation of the human will. They pride them- does He does because He wills to do it and never is
selves with the boast that they preach the Word of <He in any sense of even in th,e slightest degree forced
God as it is and will in their smug complacency accuse to do  anythinlg  or restrained in doing what He de-
those who seek to harmonize these doctrines of ra- sires.          He is sovereign in the work of creation, in
tionalism.     However, far from condemning such an His providence, in His government, in salvation, in
attempt as rationalistic, we beleive that it is our duty reprobation, in all things. The Word of God can be
to seek such harmony in the light of the Word of quoted in great lengths in support of the above facts.
God. And while many excuse themselves and accuse However that does not lie within the scope of our
others by saying that "the secret things belong unto subject. We will have to Iimit ourselves to the study
the Lord our God," we would rather remind ourselves of God's sovereignty as it pertains to the lives of
of the truth expressed in the rest of that text, "but His rational-moral creatures.
those things are revealed to us and to our children           God's sovereignty  ext,ends  over all ma. kind and
forever, that we may do all. the words of  ithis law." over all his affairs. In His sovereign counsel the Lond
Surely, if both the truth of God's sovereignty and that has  fore-erdained  all things that shall come to pass
of human freedom (belong to the revealed things (and as  well as all  thinfgs  that shall be, when, how and
who would deny that?), then it is most arbitrary to where. In .that counsel He has sovereignly determined
insist that the relation between them belongs to the not only the destiny of every one of HIis rational-moral
hidden things of God.                                      creatures  buit also every step and every detail of that
Absohte   Sovdreignty                                      creature's way to that destiny. Every work, every
                                                           word, every thought, every plan and every purpose
      The term "absolute sovereignty" is applicable only of man has ;been determined *by God with a view to
to God.       This implies that God alone is sovereign. every man that ever lives in this earth. What he says,
Although an earthly  (king may be called "a sov- &hat he  wiIls and what he thinks has all been ordain-
ereign," the the term is applicable to him only in a ed by the sovereign God from before the foundation of
relative sense because he is the man who rules over the earth. Never is there, as far as God is  con,cerned,
other men in a certain kingdom. Ita respect to God any surprise or uncertainty in fhe works of men. God
such a man is not sovereign in any sense. `God alone has in His absolute sovereignty ordained all things,
ia $?vpeip gf heaven a@ Barth, To say that God iw aim all things that pertain to tht: 3ivcs cwd the &-Xairs

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

 of all men. He guides and directs them all and ful- chooses, he affirms and denies, he considers and de-
 fills all His counsels through them. Scripture .teaches    cides and thus in a sense determines his course through
 us this very plainly when it says:  "tin Him we live,      life.    When he does something he does it  ,because
 and -move,  and have our being" (Acts  1728,) "The he chopses to do it, `he wiIls to do it. In his own mind
 preparation of the heart in man, and the answer of he was free to do it or not to do it and what he does
 the tongue, is from the Lord" (Prov. 16  :l,) "The is the result of his choice.
 king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers
' of water : He turneth it whithersoever He will" (Prov.    The Relation
 21 :l.)    (Scripture  tea&es  us also that out of the         The problem which presents itself must be plain
 heart are the issues of life (Prov. 493)  and that as      to all of us. It is this: how can we harmonize this
 a man thinketh in  .his heart so he is (Prov.  23:7.)      freedom of man with the sovereignty of God? How
 If therefore the heart of the king is in the Lord's must it be explained that God sovereignly determines
 hand and He moves it as He pleases, it must mean all man's  t.houghts, words and acts, and so directs
 that the Lord directs all his thoughts, desires, plans, and guides him that he always fulfills His decrees and
 purposes and all his acts. It must be pl.ain therefore counsel but that man nevertheless is free in his choice?
 that God's sovereignty  ru1e.s over the entire man.        The problem becomes more difficult of course in the
 Human  Freedom                                             light of man's depravity and natural corruption. On
     In discussing this phase of our subject we shall the one hand we must be careful not to lose man's
 have to be  {brief  lest we exceed our allotted space.     responsilbility, while on the other hand we must not
 We will not be able at this time to enter into any fail to maintain <God's sovereignty. . Moreover there
 detail with a view to this doctrine of human free- is also this angle to the considered: how can God de-
 dom. We can approach our subject most  Idirectly by termine that a man will commit wickedness while He
 asking, in what sense can we speak of human free- hatmes all wickedness and commands man to do the
 dom?                                                       good?     How can God demand that a man love Him
     In answer to this question we would make plain when He has sovereignly ordained that that man
first of all that this human freedom does not consist shall hate  Him? And if God has determined that a
 in .wha;t so often is considered to be liberty, namely man shall hate Him, how can we still speak of human
 to do or to *be able to do anything that we please. freedom? And so the questions multiply. We cannot
 True freedom is not lawlessness but consists in being even begin to answer all the questions that arise
in harmony with the law. Human freedom does not             even` if we `were capable of doing so.    Perhaps ' the
consist in this therefore, that a man is able to choose greatest benefit of- our present study will consist in
the good as well as the evil, to love God or to hate ,this that we become increasingly aware of our in-
 Him, to  Ibelieve  in the Lord Jesus Christ or not to      significance and God's infinite greatness. He is God
[believe in Him, to repent or not to repent, to love his    and God alone, and we are but creatures of the dust,
neighbor or to murder him. Such freedom  Idoes not less than nothing because we are sinful and corrupt.
exist anymore. The Arminian contention of free will In this connection it will be proper to remind our-
 is not a scriptural truth but an invention of human selves that, whether or not we will be able to under-
 philosophy. It fragrantly contradicts and denies all stand it, the  soiution  to our problem lies in this direc-
that Scripture teaches us concerning the condition of tion, that we confess that God is so great that He is
the natural man, namely tha% he is dead in trespasses, able to sovereicgnly  control and direct all the acts of
 inclined to all evil and  mcapable  of any good. We        His moral creatures and yet leave them free, in the
tneed  not quote Scripture in this respect since this is sense that they freely choose to perform  ,what  He has
readily confessed  Iby all those of Reformed persuasion. fore-ordained and determined. It is in this light
 The natural man is free only to sin and commit in- that man's responsibility is to be explained. Man
 iquity, not because he is forced to that from without, Idoes what he does because he desires to do that. When
 but because he is bound from within. His heart is Judas betrays the Christ, he is not motivated by the
 evil and therefore he is evil in all his life. True free- fact that God ha.s determined t.hat he shall do that but
dom, on the other hand, is the freedom wherewith by his own desire. There lies his responsibility. The
 the Son makes us free, the freedom of our Lord Jesus facit that wicked man fulfills the counsel of, God does
Christ Who could not sin but Whose meat and drink not excuse him. Although God and Judas both willed
 it was to do the will of God.                              the same thing, Judas did not will the will of God.
    Human freedom, as far as we are concerned pith That would imply love; Judas however was  mot.ivated
 it, consists in this that man as a rational-moral crea- by hatred. Hence, although from the point of view
ture by means of his mind and will determines for of God's sovereignty it must be admitted that Judas
himself his way of life. He assumes an attitude in could not do anything else than betray the Christ,
 respect to God and His law as well as all things with  _ from the point of view of human freedom it must be
 which he  wme~   ints  amkv?,~  Ws  wde~plates   and       maintained that Judas wa;Fi not wwe sf that at: .,a11


                                    .T*HE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     445

but that when he stood before the choice of betray-
ing or not betraying the Christ, he freely chose the        The Concept "Person" In Scripture
former.       God therefore fulfills His counsel through
Judas and still leaves Judas responsible for that wick-        We  ibelieve in a personal God. We consider this
edness. Suppose now the question arises, where did to be a fundamental tenet of our faith, so fundament-
the idea of the betrayal of Christ originate? It must al, in fact, that it is basic for all religious life. It is
be plain, in answer to this question, that  Ihe idea impossible to :deny this `truth and continue to main-
originated in the counsel of God. God determined tain any exercise of true religion. Whosoever denies
that this should be done and God sees to it that it is      that God is personal denies God. And, inseperably
fulfilled. He not only determines that it shall be done connected with this denial, inexorably following from
-but He also ordained that Judas do it. Hence, God is it, he has denied the essence and the possibility of
the deepest cause of all things that take place. Never- prayer, the reality of sin and guilt, the moral  re-
theless, God does not commit any wickedness. It is sponsibili ty of man. This is evident in the modern
Judas who commits the sin and must bear the guilt. world which is guilty of exactly `this abominable her-
And that holds true of all the  a&s of His moral esy.             The modern world speaks of God's almighty
creatures.                                                  "power, of God's wisdom, of God's omnipresence, speaks
   To the question, how can God determine that a of God in the  a33stract.  Of rourse, God is almighty,
man shall sin when He Himself hates all sin and omniscient, and omnipresent;                However, God is not
delights only in righteousness, we answer as follows:       merely power,  wisdom in `the abstract.     He is. the
Gorl's work is synthetic ; it must also be viewed as personal God. A person  G&e define as an individual
such, that is, for example, God does not delight in the substantiality existing in a moral-rational nature.
suffering of His people, and still He does, for if He Applying this to man we may &ay that ,his person is
did not they would not suffer: how is that to be ex- that unnameable something in him, whereby he is con-
plained? The  sufferin%g  of God's people  does  not stand scious of himself as a moral-rational being, an'd that
alone as an isolated work of God but it stands in  rels-    as such ,he condutc himself and is `the author of all
tion to all the  oth.er works of God. That suffering his deeds. That God is personal would imply that He
is a  meants  to a high end. As a  means God delights knows Himself as the living God, that He is con-
in it. As an end in itself He could not delight in it,      scious of Himself as the Absolute Good, infinitely
but it isn't an end in itself and may never be regarded exalted above all that is called creature, the product
as such. 11 t is a m.ea2a and as such God delights in of His hands, and ,tha't He therefore also maintains
it because it serves its purpose which He has ordained.     Himself as that Absolute and infinite Good, loving
Therefore God can allow the wicked to persecute His Himself and His people for His Name's sake and hat-
people; He can ordain from all eternity that ,the anti- ing and condemning all iniquity and workers of in-
christ will torment His people, not because  H,e delights iquity. Man also is a personal being. This we must not
in the suffering of His Church but because He real- merely understand in the sense  tha,t  his is an individ-
izes His purpose of their salvation through this means.     ual existence in distinction from other human beings.
Therefore He will also punish the  >wicked who have Understanding self-consciousness merely in this gen-
persecuted His people, even though in this persecu-         eral sense we might safely assert that also the animal
tion they were' fulfilling His counsel.                     would then be a personal being. Also an animal can
   Finally, to the question, how does God operate in make certain  8distinctions  between itself and other
man to cause him to fulfill His decrees, we can only Iclrea'tures.       Yet,  Iwe do not speak of an animal as
answer that we stand before a mystery.        We know being personal-we do not use the personal pronoun,
that there is some direct operation of God upon man. for example,  ,w.hen  speaking of or  u&o an animal.
This is true also when man sins, for it is no solution Neither do we refer to man's heart when we speak of
to  say that God  perm%s the wicked to sin. That his person. The heart in Scripture is the center of all
brings us into a dualistic conception of God and sin. man's spiritual life. Scripture teaches us that out of
Moreover it does not help in any way since when one the heart are all the issues of life. As a man's heart
permits something it implies that he has power to ,is, so is he. ,Our heart determines all my life from a
prevent it and therefore essentially stands in the same SpirituaLethical  point of view. And it is plain from
relation to it as though he had caused it.                  Scripture, particularly from Rom. `7, that my person
   We realize that we have made a very feeble at- does not determine my being, but my being determines
tempt to throw some ligt on this age old problem.           whether my person, my I, is holy or corrupt. Man,
We have perhaps  ldone no more  #than to write what then, is a personal being in the sense that he is con-
others have written before us. But if the above may scious of himself as a moral-rational creature and
serve to cause us to confess that God is God, it will conducts `himself accordingly. My person is that un-
not have been in vain.                                      nameable focal point in my  ,being, in which my en-
                                           H. D. W.         tire nature concentrates itself, which renders me a


4 4 6                              ToHE      S T A N D A R D      B E A R E R

sdf-conscious, moral-rational creature.                    Himself, that He loves and maintains Himself, that
       Moreover, we can distinguish between man's per-     He seeks Himself as ,the Infinite and Absolute Good.
s'on, his I, in an essential sense and also in a  con-     We deem this to be of ,the utmost significance. And
scious sense. We have an essential "I" and a con- it is surely characteristiti  of the Word of God through-
scious "I". All men are. personal beings.  Hwnever,        out. Secondly, in cloze  connection with this truth, the
*this does not necessarily imply that every moral-ration- living God always `addresses Himself as the living
al creature is conscious of himself as such. An infant God to man (we would leave the angels in this. essay'
or a young child is a personal being. Yet, when he         out of *consi,deration)  .    God does not address Him-
begins to speak he does no-t uss the personal pro- &f to the animals. They are not exhorted and com-
noun witli respect to him,self and ,to others. Only then manded to love and serve the living God. This Di-
will he use the personal pronoun with respect to him- vine address comes,  only to man. Man is comma'nded
self and to &hers when he becomes ,conscious  of him- to forsake his evil way and turn unto the living God.
self as a moral-rational being. The concept "person"       It is  witih man that God establishes His covenant,
refers -therefore  ,to an  in'dividual  substantiality ex- speaks as a Friend with His friend,  impar'ts  unto him
isting in a moral-rational nature.                         the secrets of His own heart. For man was created
       The question which arise?, however, and which       in the image of God, is conscious of himself as a moral-
alone can determine whether the above is the true rational creature, and  unders,tands  his calling with
in'terpretation  of "person" i,s, of course ; Is this Scrip- respect to the living God. The point which I wish to
ture's presentation of the concept "Person"? We make here is that `this, establishes the analogy exist-
believe this to be the presentation of Holy Writ. In ing between the living God anId man, the creature of
this connection permit me to remark that fhe word          God's hand, formed in God's own iniage.
"person" as such is a Latin word and that it does not         Thirdly, to limit ourselves in this brief essay to
appear in Scripture. Besides, the Latin "persons" is the New Testament, I would call attention to `the word
of uncertain #derivation. Its exac't meaning, ao:ording    "prosoopon,`" which means literally "face." To be
to the late Dr. A. Kuyper, cannot (be determined. It sure, the literal meaning of this word is "face." As
is true, as far as Scripture is concerned, that the        such it is used very often in  tie Holy Scriptures, tit
translation Hebrews 13 contains `the word "person." would be superfluous on my part to quote the Word of
However,  t,he Holland version of  :this text uses the     God to support this fact. Then again, this word is
*word  "zelfstandigheid."    And the original word in also  ased in the sense of outward appearances. When
this Scripture simply refers to a setting or placing I read in 2 Cor. 10 :7 : "Do ye look on things afterlthe
under, a substructure,  founda'tion,  and it then ac- outward appearance?" <the words "after the outward
quired the meaning of actual existence, a substance,       appeara3nce"  are a  transla'tion  of an original expres-
a real being. ScriF,ture does not know the word  "pm- sion which reads "according to the face." The im-
son." it is undoubtedly for this reason that ,the s.ub-    plication of the word "face" in this verse of Holy
ject assigned to me deals wi'th  the concept "Person" Writ has undoubtedly been correctly interpreted by
in Scripture. The term "person" is of later origin. the translation. The same interpretation. of  "ou't-
Moreover, there has been difference of opinion as to, ward appearance" also appears to be the idea of this
the exact meaning of this term. We `believe that we word as appearing in 1 Thess. 2  :17 where the ex-
,can and  shoulld speak of the personal God, of the three pression "in presence" is a translation of this word
Persons of the Trinily, of man as a personal being.        "prosoopon."
And we are also -convinced that the aAbove interpre-          However, it is our conviction that  tiis word, which
tation of "person" is clearly the teaching of Holy in the early Christian  `church  was first used as the
Wrilt.                                                     iword  ,desigdating  "person," is used also in Scrip-
       In the first place I would call attention to Jehov- ture as implying more than merely one's facial ap-
ah's speaking of Himself. I need not, of course, pearance. Permit me to quote a few passages from
quo'te  in  this. connection from Holy Writ at length. the Word of God. In Matt. 18 :lO I read : "Take bed
The Word of God abounds in these .expressions.  Con- `that ye despise not one of these little ones ; for I say
tinuously the Lord speaks of Himself, using the per-       unto you, Th& in hctiven  their angels do always be-
sonal pronoun. Expressions such as "I am the Lord, hold the face of My Father which is in heaven."
I am the Holy One of Israel" appears through- Surely in this  passa,ge the "face of My Father" is
out Holy Writ.          In the ten commandments we the Father's Self-manifestation, inasmuch as none can
are       commanded,    "Thou    shalt have no    other see God essentially and live. In Acts 20  95 I read:
gods before  rue."       These Scriptural expressions, "And now, behold,  I know that ye all, among whom I
iwherein  the Divine Scrip'tures abound, surely convey ha:.:Fe gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see
and must convey to us the truth, not only that the         my face no more." And in Rev.  229: "And `they
Lord is God, Who gives His glory to none other, bu:t       shall see His face ; and His name shall be in their fore-
also that He is that God consciously, that He knows heads." In this latter passage this word "face," which


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            447

      undoubtedly refers to the face of the Lamb, does not
      merely emphasize Christ's facial expression in the                             Current. Events
      outward sense, but refers to the blessed  Self-mani-
      festa'lion  of the living God. Therefore it will be a            The events of the past two months have once more
      wonderful glory to see  that face, and to be  adaptezl        reminded the child of God of his utter dependence up-
      to be able to see it. land the text of Acts 20:25  does,      on God. The world rushly madly on and says, "There
      of course, refer, first of all, to Paul's face.       How-    is no God." But call it fate or nature or providence
      ever, the underlying thought of the p,assage is surely or  wha:,ever  you will, even the world must admit that
      that not seeing Paul's, face again they. would not see        it is helpless and is coping with a power against
      him again.      Speaking of himself he uses the word          which it cannot  sueFeed.  Call it  Iwhat you will, the
      "fa2e."     It is evident therefore from Scripture that       ungodly cannot plant their seed or till their ground
      the word "face" is  used as referring to more than            any sooner than the child of God. The storms and
      merely `the outward facial appearance.                        floods of the  -past two months have very seriously
          This last use of the word "face" is striking and          endangered this  na,tion's  program for a huge crop
      surely throws light on the concept "person" in Holy wher&with  it expects to feed the nation's of  .the world.
       Writ.     Does not  th.e apostle use the word "face"         The child of God, however, sees the hand of God in
       when referring to himseif ? Is the face of man not           this. The world madly rushes on, frets and fumes
      therefore his self-manifestation, the outward appear- about the weather and says, by its actions as well as
       ance of his inner life? We speak of the eye as the           WODd,    `There is no God."
       light of the soul, do we not? Animals do not have               The child of God not only knows that  .there  is a
     faces. Man has:  If then the face,  partioclarly  the          God ,who controls all things, :but he also knows that
       eye, is the  focal  pain: of his inner life, and Scrip- God cannot be mocked, and wonders if God is not now
       ture uses the  word to denote  man himself, we con-          coming with punishment. He wonders if the events
       clude tha& the person of man is that focal point in hi3      as he sees them transpire about him are not prelim-.
       being, of his entire life, through  which  he  i::  co:l-    inaries  to a stinging display of Go>d's wrath upon the
       scious  of himself as a moral-rational being.                workers of iniquity. Not so many years ago God gave
          ,Our person is therefore not a  seperately  created       us an abundance of Iwheat  and meat, we ,plowed  our
       part of our human nature.        We were not created wheat under and burned our little pigs while thous-
       body and soul and person. Thus Dr. A.  Kuyper                ands in our own country  <were  poorly fed and many
       would understand the person of man. According to more thousands in Europe were starving. A few of
.      him it is  .:he center, the core of our being, and it        God's children dared to condemn this sinful practice
       influences and determines the nature of man. Thi,s,          at that time.     But the world laughed. How  self-
       however, is no'L in harmony first of all with Rom. 7. centere,d sin really is! It cares not for God nor man.
       According to this passage it is not man's person             And apparently God did wink at this sin. Nothing
       which determines the spiritual-ethical condition of his happened. Still one cannot help  .wondering if God
       nature, but his nature determines his person, his "I".       is not waiting to come in  Hi's wrath at a  ,time when
       Paul  *does not teach there that our ua.ture is holy or      the punishment will be felt the more keenly. Today
       corrupt (because our person is holy or corrupt, but the the  alttitude  of the world hasn't changed one whit
       ethical condition of my nature  .determines  my I.           (a.t least not for the better). There was no acknow-
       When the apostle writes that. ";I am carnal, sold un- ledgment of sin, no confession of penitence, no hum-
       der sin ; I perform not the good, which I will; I serve bling of themselves before God. Instead with even
       &with the flesh the law of sin," it is  evFdent  that his more pride man lifts his head, looks away from God
       person sins, and that his person is  corrupt exactly and claims to be the master of his own fate. ke: is
       because of the corruption of his nature. And, second- sure of victory in his own power. He sits down and
       ly, to elrplain  the person as the heart and core of my      plans a huge harvest for this coming autumn with-
       *being is surely not in harmony ,with  the Inoarnation out one thought of God. But God, whom the  ~world
       of the Christ. For we confess that the Per.son  of `the      ignores, suddenly and unexpectedly appears on the
       Son assumed the human nature. If then my person scene in His wrath. The rain descends, floods come.
       is the *core, the heart of my human nature, and the          and now, the middle of June, many fields must still
     Person of the Son of God, He must have assumed a               be plowed. Many crops which should have been in
       human nature without a core or center, and, conse-           the ground ,by the first of June at the latest, cannot
       quently, an incomplete human nature. Hence,  21~0 :be sown until after  ,the waters recede and the soil
       the analogy of the Incarnation supports the view that is worked.           In other instances crops planted before
       the concept "Person" in Holy Writ does not refer to          and during this rainy spell have  roltted  in the ground.
       an essential part of my being but to man as an in-           and this condition prevails over quite an extensive
       dividual substantiality in moral-rational nature.            :section of our country. Is this perhaps the begin-
                                                     EL V.          ning of the fulfillment of Matthew 28? "Nation shail

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

rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: cording to the  rway he suggests, and that it will never
and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earth- <be accomplished in this world. But, read it for your-
quakes in divers places." In the past our country self. He writes:
saw no need for providing food for the hungry in              "Columns are being written about it.
Europe. Now, all of a sudden, we must raise crops :            The wisest men in the allied countries are think-
for practically the whole world, and man has set ing about it,. talking about it, holding meetings, de-
out to do so, not because he delights in good works, bating, planning, envisioning.
for then he would not forget God and behave as though          How to have a permanent peace. How to put ;n
he does not need Him, but because he sees the pos- end to wars. That is the great probIem  and it seems
sibility of profit in it for the future of our country.     to be extremely difficult to find the answer. Well,
Our country and its principles. Still God may have gentlemen, I'11 save you`time and money. I'11 save you
other plans, and His plan will be carried out.              traveling expenses, reams of paper, gallons of ink.
   We must not be hasty to read the signs of the               For I, no expert in economics, politics, statesman-
8mes and predict a. famine for this year or the next,       ship, psychology or black magic-I, a simple-minded
but surely we must not close our eyes to the fact newspaperman-11 have the answer.
that God has declared that in the last days these              And that  amtwer  has been there ever since the
things shall come, and that they can happen also to twentieth chapter of the book of Exodus in the Old
our country. Surely it cannot be truthfully denied Testament was written.
that we, as a nation, deserve a famine.                        For in that chapter are contained the Ten Com-
       The strikes of the coal miners and workers in mandments. If' we will but live up to them there  can
defense plants, which have taken place in the last never be another war.
two months, remind one of the scriptural expression,           Each war, so far conducted, has been caused by
"Peace, peace  awhen there  is no peace." While our the breach of one or more of the ten commanldments.
men are dying and suffering on the battlefield that            Hitler created strange gods and took the name of
we may have peace, a  #bitter  war is being fought at the Lord in vain.
home. Labor  anfd Capital are again, or rather still           He  kiiled.    He bore false witness against his
at grips. One cannot help but wonder how furious the neighbour.
battle will be after' peace has been achieved, on the          He coveted his neigh.bours  house, his servant, his
battlefield., If these strikes occur, as they have oc- ox, his ass and everything that was his.
curred, at the expense of our war effort, what will            He showed no mercy, he stole, he honored neither
transpire when the war is over and it no longer be-         father nor mother.
comes an excuse for desisting from striking? We                And no{w that he and his accomplices have violz2ed
may very well have peace in the military sense of the       the commandments, there will be eye for eye, tooth
word and yet have a labor war which puts the lie            for tooth, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
to any claim that peace again reigns upon the earth.           Don't you see how easy it is ?
Regardless of who is' unfair-labor or capital, or              Why go to all the trouble of finding a way, when
both-we must first  ciean our own house  :before            the way is so clear, the road so weil marked, the whole
there really will be peace. We may subdue the has- thing written out-for centuries, ready for use?
;tile nations about us, but -what does that avail us if,       This is my plan, a plan I learned from my father
as citizens of one nation, we live in open hostility with and mother who had it handed down to them genera-
one another? . Peace? As long as these conditions tion by generation.
exist, there can be no peace. And the vicious nature           That's all you need to do, you learned statesmen
of the union i,G also revealed in- its readiness to defy and scientists.
even the Government. Even after the Government                 Utopia is here-Exodus,  ,Chapter   20.`"
has taken over the mines so that to strike is to strike        It is safe to say that the learned statesmen and
against the Government, a second walkout is ordered scientists will not heed this advice.             This answer
and executed. Can there be peace, at home, when an :they  do not want. They are not able  ,to desire the
e!ement  defies the Government?                             keeping of God's commandments. Utopia is not here.
   Meanwhile the post-war world  a& the possibility It will be in the New Jerusalem where all shall do
of a permanent peace is still much talked about. The         God's will perfectly.                    J. A. H.
other day I read an article written by Erich Brandeis
for the King Features Syndicate, entitled, "I have the
answer." The author is not in a serious vein at all,
but I pass it on to you for what it is worth. He                               CLASSIS EAST
surely does have the answer except that he does not iwill meet in regular session D. V. Wednesday, July 7,
realize  ,that the regeneration power of God's Spirit at 9 :OO A. M. at Fuller Ave.
is necessary to bring about this permanent peace ac-                                        D.  Jonker,-S. C.


                                       T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              44.9

                                                              their places. The  strike is planned in  adwance and
            Concerning The Strike                             the whole group lays down their tools together, un-
                                                              doubtedly with the purpose of exerting pressure on
 Esteemed Editor :                                            the employer in order to force him to grant them
                                                              their wishes.
    May I once more obtain  ,cpace  in the Standard                  And thirdly, that the  workingma,n  has the right
 Bearer?                                                      to gain certain concessions which the employer re-
    In the April 15 issue of our paper Mr. Gritter, fused to grant under any other circumstances and is
 secretary  of the C.L.A. complains that he is grow- now forced to grant even against his will.
 ing tired of constantly  repe&ing  that his organiza-         My position on the contrary is,
 tion wants no part of the strike such as used by un-                That the em,ployer  has `the right to his personal
 christian organizations.     But for that he has only property and the free use of it without outside inter-
 himself to blame since he still fails to make plain that, ference. `That he has the moral right to continue pro-
 even though there is a  dlifference  of degree, there is     duction `by calling in other help when his men re-
 also an essential and principle difference between the fuse to work. And that he has the right to decide
 st,and of the C.L.A. and the worldly unions on the on the wages of his employees without being forced
 matter of strikes.                                           to a decision against, his will  ,by pressure of his
    Nor do I grant him the right to infer that my `workingmen.                   If he does not have this  au?hority,
 sympathies are in any way with the capitalist who given him of God, just what authority does he have
 oppresses the workingman. No one denies that the             in distinction from the employee? We need not even
 injustices of the man of means have frequently and conceive of the relation of master and slave to grant
 still do cry to heaven for vengeance, and my sym-            that there is much God-given authority placed upon
 pathy is" altogether with the man whose sweat and the employer.
 brawn and blood are used to fill the pockets of the                 On the other hand, the  em'ployee  is obliged, in
 rich. But that does not j,ustify  us in proceding from the first place, to work in service of his employer
 the principle of the class struggle in our arguments us long as he holds claim to his job. To  insist on
 on this subject. And no illegitimate means, such as          holding his job and refusing to work is  .an act of
 the  str+ke  can ever be used in the fight for justice.      insubordination.
~ A just cause demands that justice  ;be maintained                  In the second place, he is duty (bound  before God
 throughout.                                                  to respect the rights of his employer, allowing him
    Moreover, Mr. Gritter  shoul'd not  ,becloud the is-      free use of his property without any outside inter-
 sue by presenting the matter as if I denied the ab-          ference. To hold up production and prevent his em-
 s'olute sovereignty of God over all  thin,gs, particu- $ployer  from hiring others in  ,his place, either by
 larly in the sphere of the employer and the employee. denying them the moral right or by hindering them'
 My vantage point  tlas just exactly been that God through picketing the plant, is to assume an authority
 is sovereign above all and that man as steward over which he does not have and is at the same time an act
 God's goods is respon+ble  solely to God for what he         of revolt.
 does with ,those goods. That is the basis for his re-               And in the third place, any concession gained by
 sponsibility, (duty and rights, also in the mutual re-       forcing the employer to grant it against his will is
 lation of employer and employee. Both are account- an act of extortion based on insubordination.
 able to God, otherwise how could I appeal t.o the                   All of which is condemned by the `fifth command-
 fifth commandment in condemning the strike? Mr. ment, an.d is contrary to  th,e demand of Scripture that
 Critter should have realized that.                           the servant shall be subject to his master, not only
    From the rest of his article  1: gather that the stand    to the good and the gentle, but also to the froward
 of the C. L. A. is:                                          (1 Pet. 2 :18), as servants of Christ doing the will of
    First of all, that the workingman has the right to        ,God from the heart (Eph. 6  :5,  6), in singleness of
 refuse to work un,dsr unjust conditions and yet hold heart fearing God (Col. 3 :22).
 claim to his job, denying anyone else the moral right               I am sure that I have made my point sufficiently
 to fill his place. He can do this even after he has          clear that Rev. Petter will agree that my appeal to
 <failed to convince his employer by every other means        the fifth commandment in condemning the strike in
 of the justice of his demands, so that he remains the any form, shape or manner, is not "too precarious,"
 sole judge that his is a just cause. Even then he holds as he stated in the May 1.5 issue of the Standard Bear-
 claim to his job, but refuses to fill it.                    er.
    Secondly, the workingman ha.s the right to refuse                P!y appreciation to the editor for allotting me this
 to work in concert with others and by  melns of              space.
 peaceful picketing  prevcqt   anyonq   else  from  #ing
                        ,,                                                                                    C!* M,


450                            ,     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                 tions, the public  school%,  etc. No-one will find fault
                    Contribution                                 with that. We pride ourselves on being very strong
                                                                 in our convictions concerning the Christian school.
Dear Mr. Editor,                                                 That's fine.      Yet, I repeat,, that there is not one
                                                                 text in the Bible that says in so many words that we
       Will you please give me another opportunity to mcst have Christian s-hools. Of course there is pIentp
reply to Mr. Ten Elshof? 1 hope that your patience               of ground for it. The whole Bible teaches it. But it
znd that of the readers is not being overtaxed.                  is nevertheless taught indirectly and by implication.
       I am very glad that brother Ten Elshof has stru&          We arrive at the conclusion by deduction.
a better tone, at least toward me if not toward the                 The same is true also in regard to the Christian
C.L.A. 1 no5ced  also that the arguments I presen2o:IJI          labor union. It is not based on one text. Anything
in my previous article and the questions asked were              th:t is base&  on the Reformed view of life never is.
passed over very lightly and tha: the main burden It is based on what the whole Bible teaches con"Yern-
of the brother's last article is a more direct  at&k             ing the sovereignty of God in all of life, the indus-
upon the organization which. I defend.                           trial sphere included; it is based on the teachings
       In regard to that being more or less Scriptural,          concerning the position of the Christians as bearers
I think we can now  drop that. The brother  eviden>.-            of light, as the representatives of God upon earth to
ly accepted  my explanation, so why go into that any .proclaim  His will and to contend for righteousness.
*further? Space in this paper is too valuable for that; Those duties come to us as individuals but also to
   However, brother Ten Elshof still  s&s for Bibli- Christians  collectively.              The Bible speaks to the in-
cal proof. Now I am at a loss somewhat as to what I dividual, but to the Church as well. And the Chris-
am supposed to prove. I do not intend to write about tians as members of tha.t body, in its organic sense,
the strike question any further so long as the CL.A.             must unitedly do that. Such is the  teaching  of the
secretary is doing that. If his articles have not made Scriptures.                That is our Reformed life-view. That
the C.L.A. position clear and have not convinced the             is Calvinism.
critics I am sure I cannot do so.                           '       In answer then to Mr. Ten Elshof's plea for a
   Perhaps the brother wants Scriptural  proo.f  that            text I answer: My dear man, I give you the whole
a Christian may join even a Christian labor union Bible. Study it, an5 don't stare yourselves blind on
that strives for the betterment of labor conditions              a few texts which in reality have no bearing on the
and! the defense of the rights of the laborer. I get the question at all. Leading Bible scholars all agree  -6hat
impression from his writings, and especially from the            the quotations from James and Paul in regard to
texts he likes to quote, that he is of the opinion that          the submission of the slaves and servants of those
Christians may not form such  organiz&ions.  If bro- days cannot be literally applied to present day condi-
ther Ten Elshof is consistent in holding to the in- tions. Yes, also today, authority of employers must
terpretation which he gives of those quotations, and still be respected but consideration must be given to
their literal application in our day, he must !:ome  to          the changed  condition.s,  to the freedom which the
that conclusion. If I am correct in that the brother laborer today has as a  resuIt  of the general operation
ought to be  f?ir in shifting his attacks from an  es- of God's Spirit. To us that is a blessing which we may
tabhshed  organization, in concrete, to an  abstract             fully enjoy. Also texts in regard to Christian suffer-
condemnation of any and all labor' unions.                       ing as a result of his Christian  6confession  have no
   But, as to the Biblical proof, now for the position direct bearing on our problem. Sinful conditions
that Christians may form Christian labor unions for which the worldling suffers as well as we cannot be
the purpose of improvement of labor conditions, the classified under crossbearing; And all that is not
remova of sinful labor relationships and the estab-              crossbssring as a result of our Christian testimony
lishment of just and harmonious con%tions,  through we may and must oppose. Let's please remember that,
the application of Christian principles. I admit. that otherwise we will not remain militant.
not one t,ext  csn be quoted from the Bible that says               The secretary of the C.L.A. has supplied the an'
in so many words that such organizations must be swer to brother Ten Elshof's attacks on the C.L.A.
established. (The same is true also of the opposite This is what he iw-rites: "Mr Ten Elshof has given
position).     The same  ,:an be said concerning the some information which is partly true, but which
XChristian  school. There is not one text in the Scrip- cannot be classified as undeniable. A brief explana-
tures that says in so many words that we must hav?          tion will have to be given. (1) The brother to whom
Christian Schools. There is a reason for that too of Mr. T. E. refers was, of course,  .well known to  LIS.
course. And I am sure that all of us will say that if When he joined the C.L.A. he was as far as we knorw
the Apostles were living today they would most cer-         a  member of an orthodox Christian Church. ,He was
tainly have *been very insistent upon the Christian married to a member of the Roman Catholic Chur-h.
achosl  for  gur children, in view of the social  cvndi.    The brother then and later never  once  in our contacts


                                     T.HE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                451

  with him showed anything but great interest in the control because it refused ,to allow the men to strike.
  Christian principles of the C.L.A. and remained loysl      That broke the organization. So actually the  half-
  w.hen others left. In the depression of 1938 he was truths contained in the brothers accusations become
  out of work. His wife went to an0the.r city, back to recommendations of the C.L.A. when the facts are ful-
  a job she held before. Later she refused to return ly known."
  to him, although he `was anxious to have her. Her             So far the quotations from the C.L.A. secretary.
  job was better than his. When the C.L.A. Board be- That surely puts an entirely differ,ent  light on it. The
  came aware of the situation it considered what should last part of brother Ten Elshof's article I cannot now
  be done. But, the C.L.A. is not a church, and we had anew er. It would take too much space. However,
  no reason whatever, on the basis of his personal con- I can briefly say this: that, while the government
  duct, to discipline him. We can hardly be expected         is  eTen now punishing those who violate the labor
  to  Lcheck  on church attendance, etc. Nevertheless, the laws, of  whirch  we approve, such  stalte  control of
  brother was not renominated when his term of office every phase of human life as brother T. E.`s sugges-
  was up and during the last two years of his life he        tions woul& e&ail if put into effect, would in a short
  was not any longer an officer of the C.L.A., not even time rob us of ,a11 freedom of action. That is not in
  a member in fact, although that  `was perhaps not accordance with ,the Scriptures' teachings concerning
  known in Holland.                                          the function of government. And, if put into prac-
      (2) I  do not doubt that Mr. T. E. was contacted       tice, it wouId  be the death-knell of all Christian  ac-
  by a C.L.A. agent to join the organization. The C.         ;ivity in the social realm. I would advise `the  kro-
  L.A. does not ask for a confession of faith. But, ther to read Christelyk  SociaIe Beginselen of C.
  before members are accepted they must express agree- Smeenk, and Pro Rege of Dr. A.  Kuyper  in  ,that
  ment with the first four or five articles of the Consti- connection.
  tution. (3) It seems a bit unfair to condemn the                                                         B. V.
  C.L.A. because of what C.L.A. members may or may
  not have said to acquaintances of Mr. T. E. But,
  even if they did, I can understand very well that
  even a Christian might prefer wor,king  next to a fair-
  minded C.I.O. member above working next to a non-
  union man who lives only for himself and has no
  sense of social responsibility. All C.I.O. members are
  not necessarily evil, and all non-union men are not                         ~Contribdm                            '
  Christian. (4) That joining the C.L.A. will easily
  lead to another step, that of joining the  (X.0. or
  A.F. of L. is definitely not  <true. Mr. T. E. puts it     Dear Editor,
  as if joining the C.L.A. is the first step on a  down-
  :ward  path. Joining the C.L.A. because of its prin-          On our last  Classis,  one Consistory came with a
  ciples, will never make one a candidate for member-        protest against the action of a neighboring Consistory,
  ship in other unions. The C.L.A. influence will be to for admitting to the Lord's Supper members that came
  the contrary. Some who were formerly  C.LA.  mem-          to them from the first mentioned Consistory without
:bers are now in other unions. But, such men never the proper testimony of a godly walk.
  fully understood the principles of the C.C.A.  In re-         As I understand it, the protesting Consistory did
  gard to the carpenters mentioned by the brother, ndt go  -In a body to the other, but just sent a cold
  he has the "faots" wrong again. Those men, most of letter of protest, (for a mere letter to settle difficul-
  them, never did promptly join the A.F. of L. The           ties between two parties, who confess the name of
  C.L.A. carpenters union was wrecked on the strike          Christ is always cold).
  question. The C.L.A. had enough prestige but would            The neighboring Consistory did not give satisfac-
  not allow the men to strike when the majority  lwant,ed    tion, and so this protest came to  Clamis. Would it
  to. The Exec.  Comm. would not sanction it. Then not be  f,ar better, to go to the guilty Consistory in
  the majority quit the union. They did not promptly the spirit of love, calling upon th,e Name of our God,
  join the A.F. of L. Many of them never did. Only and relying upon His promise: "Where two or three
  a minority later were forced into that organization are gathered together in My name, there am I in the
  through A.F.L. controlled P.W.A. jobs. Those are midst of them."?  Mat%. 18  20.
  the facts. Incidentally,  it ought to be of interest to       And if this would pro;e to be a failure, go there
  Mr. T.E. and others. to know that the very faot that again with a third  consi&ory  or a committee thereof?
  the C.L.A. stood on its Christian principles were the         Was this case really ready for Classis?
  cause of its failure in Holland to hold its member-           11s it therefore not necessary or at least much
ship, In the  fwnitur~  f&oriea  a189  th9  GLA  lo&
        ,                                                    better, that a consi;storp,  als9 follows the admvnitivn


                                                                _

                                        T*HE  STANDARDl.!.@EARER

of Matt. 18, just like a consistory does in trouble be- .
tween brothers of the same household?                                                         NOrlyx
   Yours for the welfare of our churches.                            The  synod  of  fix  Protcsta;~t  Gefo:med  Churches,
                                                               in  session  JKce  3-7, 1943,  exmiined   t,:e foliominx
                                J. Cammenga. Sec'y.            stu&uts :  Scl;astian  Carcnienga,  Wilter   I-Iofulau,  John
   The above is first of all a matter for the consis-          Il.+  I?ersma,  ,who  had  finished   t h e i r   <.ourse   a t  OLW
tory to which Mr. Cammenga refers. However, that               Theological School,  and  unanimo&   admiXed them
consistory cannot answer Mr. Cammenga's  accuse-               to  Ihe candidacy for the  ministiy of  Ihe Word of God
                                                               and Sacraments  in our clnuxi~cs.
tion without revealing itself. The result .would  be a
public  de.bate on the whole case in our paper. I do                 They  will be eligible to  rect-ix   e  ai:d consider a call
not think that this is d,esireable  at present.                after June 25, 1943.
   Personally I am convinced that the case to which                                                            D.  Jonlrer,-S.  C.
Mr. C. refers was quite legally before Classis.
                                          The Editor.                             -           -      -             -

                                                                       18TH  A N N U A L   FBELD  D A Y
                                                                                 JULY 4 - IDEAL PARK

                                                                                       Dinner at  12:OO
                    Ingezonden                     i                                   Games at 1 :OO
                                                                                       Program at  3:80
                                                                                       Supper at 5:30
Geachte Redakteur :                                                                    Program at  6:30
   We zijn dankbaar voor het  aetlwoord  dat u de
lezers van de Standar&  Bearer gaf inzake echtschei-                 Notice two changes necessitated by wartime re-
ding.                                                          strictions :
   Door uw antwoord is onze opvatting die we hadden            1. `The canteen will not sell lunches-only confections,
aangaande deze kwestie geheel gcwijzigd.                       soft-drinks,  c,offee  and doughnuts will be on sale.
   ,Ook  wij  meenden  dat de invoeding,-anders dan
van  hoererij- een  vrijbrief gaf  aan de onschuldige 2. There will very 1ikeIy not be enough ,benches  to seat
p3rtij om weer te hertrouwen,  doch uwe verklaring everyone. So bring your own camp chairs or blankets
werpt een geheel ander  licht over deze kwestie.               to sit on.
   In de teksten die u aanhaalt gaat het in de eerste
plaats niet over de  sche?ding  en  <de onschuldige partij,    Come all day and spend the day in Chri&ian  fellowship
doch over  het  w,eer   trouwen  met een ander, en dat                                                           The Committee.
noemt de  Schrift  overspel.
   Nu geloof ik we1 dat dit onderwerp sommige pen-
nen in beweging zal zetten, om een gsngbare meening
door een vraag en antwoord op  !te lossen. Zal moeilij,k
gaan vrees ik. Toeh geloof ik zal het zijn nut hebben
om ook in deze netelige kwestie te trachten eenheir                                      I         N                 MEMORIAM"
van gedachlten te bringen,  want de Bijbel is voor geen
twee uitleggingen vatbaar.                                           D Vrouwen  Veraeniging  der Protestantsche Gereformeerde
                                '    J. R. Vander Wal.         Kerk te Hull, Iowa, wenscht biermede haar deelneming te be-
                                                               tuigen met een harer leden; Mrs. Gerben De Jong, in het over-
                                                               lijden van haar schoonmoeder,              r
                                                                                  MRS. `THOMAS DE JONG
                                                                     Moge de God van alle vertroosting de bedroefde  familie
                                                               troosten met Zijnen Geest en genade in de  blijde hope van het
                                                               eeuwige leven in  Christus den Heere.
         Search me, 0 God, my heart discern,
          Try me, my inmost thought to learn;                                                 yamens  de Veereniging,
         And lead me, if in  sin I stray,                                                          .-A. Cammenga, h-es.
         TQ choose the everlasting wsy,                                                             Mrs. P. Vander Schaaf, Seer:
                                                                                                          .",,           .-,,


VOLUME XIX                                           AUGUST  1. 1943                                       NUMBER  20
                                                                  in hell, present or future, can seperate us from the
         M E D I T A T I O N .                                    love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord! . . .
                                                                     We were on the heights of Carmel!
                                                                     And then we  .precipitated  into the depths of gloom
                                                                  snd ,doubt and despair that made us, seek Ii,he mourn-
                Utterlv                                           ful solitude of the juniper tree in the wilderness that
                          *  Despondent                           there we might morbidly implore the Lord to release
                                                                  us from His service, seeing that His is a Iost cause
                  But he  himself  weA a day's journey and that our labor for that ,cause is vain !. . . . .
               into the wilderness, awd came and sat down            Nor, indeed, does there seem to be a very gradual
               ,under a juniper tree;  and he  ,requested   fo,r descent, sloping from the heights of glorying into Ithe
               himself  that he might die;  and said: it is depths of despair.
               enough ;  new,+,   0 Lord, take  away  my life;       On the contrary, a very steep incline draws one
               for I am not better  tha.n my  fiathers.           from Mount  Carmel  to the juniper tree.           r
 dl+-,*  -.                               1 Kings 1.9 ;A             One moment we gloried in the Lord, and afmost
    From CarmeI  to the juniper tree!                             the next moment, it seems, we despair of His cause!
    From the glorious heights of a victorious faith                  From the heights into the depths !
down into the lugubrious depths of utter despondency !               Strange contradictions!
    Ou!t of the consciousness of an exultant assurance
that  God's cause has the victory into  4he doleful state
of mind of one who is ready to give up because all
is lost!                                                             It is enough!
    Who of God's people is not more or less acquaint-                Now, 0 Lord, t&e away my life !
ed with the vivid contrast and transiition?                          Thus the man of God, who had been a lonely wit-
    We have had moments of glorying.  N,either was ness for tt.he  cause of Jehovah in a (time  of great apos-
our glorying vain:  It was a glorying in the  <cross   o,f Tracy and wickedness, despairingly beseeched the Lord.
Jesus Christ, our Lord. The Lord  ms near and faith                  Let us not be too hard on the prophet.
seem&  strong. We rej,oiced,  not merely in `the assur-              He was a man of like passions even as we,  an-1
ance of personal salvation, but in .the &song convic- there were  hitstorical circumstances that at least may
tion that, whatever betide, God's cause in the world be said to have occasioned this  healzllong  precipitation
will surely have the victory. We were triumphant.                 from glorious  Carmel into  ihe gloom of the juniper
God became very great; the enemy dwindled into in- tree.
signifiasne.      From the heights  of a victorious assur-           Carmel  had been a revelation of the Lord's power,
ance we challenged the enemy. Nothing seemed too but the revelation had not been permanent  ;  iit had been
difficult. With the psalmist we could sing that by a prefiguration of "the day of  i:,he Lord," but not
God we w'ould  run (through a troop, and leap over a that day itself. The people had been overawed by the
wall! With the apostle we  ,boa&ed .that God is for us, revelation of the power of God, and had shouted
land that, therefore, nothing could be against us,                thait Jehovah is the God, but they had not repented
that we are more than conquerors through Him that with a  `t.rue sorrow after God. They had slain the
loves us, and rtha't no power on earth, in heaven, or             &&,-priests at Kishon,  but they had not turned their


459                                       `I'tHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

idolatrous hearts to th,e Lord. &4nd the king had ap- rtrong1.v  desire to die? Di'd he not, under the juniper
parently repented, but his repentance  hind never been          tree, beseech the Lonzl to t&e  his life from him. . .?
Itrue. Relieved he must have felt when the prophet                  Y&t,  we Ithink, that the words have been quite prop-
that ran before his chari&  in the pouring rain had not         erly rendered by : `Lhe went for his life."
persisteld to accompany him to the palace, but had left             Such is the most  simpIe rendering of the  w,ords.
him at the gates  of Jezreel.                                   This meaning is suggested by  f.he context.  And the
   And when he came home, he "told Jezebel all thalt            argument that Elijah was not eusceptible  to fear for
Elijah had done, an'd wilthal  how he had slain all the         the wicked queen overlooks  rthe  facl; that he was a
prophets  wirth  the sword."                                    man of like passions even  131s we are.' Nor is it true
       A sinister note we detect in these words.                that this would be in confliat with his prayer under
       No longer, we surmise, was there in this report of the juniper tree. Let us  rem'ember,  that while the
Ahab to the wicked queen  a  note of repentance, And            prophet  field on the spur of  `the moment, evidently
whatever may have been his motive in bringing Ms taking the impotent threat  09 the queen  quiJ% ser-
report  tto Jezebel,  t.he fear of the Lord was wholly          iously; his prayer under the juniper tree was uttered
absent from it; nor did the king have any intention to          later, after he had fir& gone to Beersheba in Judah,
follow up the work of Elijah begun in the name of tiznd thereupon had travelled a day's journey into the
rthe Lord, and obliterate  compleitely  the worship of wilderness.
Baa1 from the land of Canaan. Nay more, as u-e re.ad               And as he travelled, and reviewed the situation,
these words, w,e fear that the king's report was cloth-         the gloom deepened, doubt and despair took more and
ed in wonds calculated to arouse the fierce wrath of more complete possession' of his soul, till he became
the queen, and suggesting thal she take action against ut~:erly  despondent.
the prophet, that "troubler of  Isnz&."  Did, he not                To Beersheba in Judah he  travelled  in  .the com-
report what Elijah  ha.d done? And was it, then, the pany of his servant. There he left him. Henceforth,
work of Elijah &hat had been the domin&ing  feature             he would need him no more. Was  he  #not going to
of the scene on  Carmel?  Was it not emphat,ically  the hand in his resignaition  to Jehovah? Alone he travel-
work and power of Jehovah over against the utter led on, in the wilderness, a day's journey, contemplat-
impotence and vanity of  Baa1 that  h.ad been revealed?         ing, no doubt, upon the hopelessness of  tthe whole  si&
And did not the king, forgetful of the $a& that *Carmel         uation and .&coming  more and more convilnced  that
bed Ibeen the revelation of Jehovah, place :an evil em- all his strenuous efforts in the cause of the Lord, `all
phasis in that part of his report that concerned the            his zeal, all his sufferings, all his labors hald been vain !
slaying of all the prophets of Baa1 ?                              0, how hopeless the cause of Jehovah appeared to
        In the report of the king, the revel&ion of the God     him !
of Israel became, no doubt, a  murderous  plot of the              For what, after all, did it signify that the wicked
prophet  o?t' the Lord !                                        queen was able to utter the threat  agai.nst his life?
        And rthe ef&t  of it was as might have been ex-         It meant that she  was still in power, that the king
petted:  the queen wlls furious!                                had told her all about Carmel and had not repentad,
        And she  ,dispatched  a messenger  :to Elijah  wir:h    that the four hundred prophets of Baa1 were still eating
the fierce  ,oath : "So let the gods ,do to me, and more Iat ithe table of the queen, and that: it would not be long
also, if I make noit thy life as the life of one of Ithem       ,before  Jezebel's wicked devices woulld  obliterate com-
by to morrow about this Itime."                                 pletely the effects of Carmel's  victory, and IIsrael would
                                                                be seduced to follow after the Biaals once more. . . . a
        A4nd the  propbet   "wetit  for his life. . .  ."          0, looking at the situ&ion from a purely human
        It has been denied that the prophet fled for fear vilewpoint,  as, no doubt,  E!.he prophet did that entire
of the queen. A man like Elijah, it is  Issgued, who            day of his lonely journey through ithe wi18derness,  there
was not afraid to face the wicked king and announce could be found  `pie&y  of justification for the profound
to him ithe fieroe wrath of God in his very palace ; who,       despair  antd despondency  <of the man of God !
moreover, had been the recipient of such mighty reve-
lations, and whom the niuvens  hatd fed upon the word              He longed for fruit upon his labors, tangible, vis-
of the Lord ; who alone had fought the Ibattle on Car-          ible fruit! And who does not?
me1 and  gain'ad the victory by faith,-that such a                 He yearned for the cause of Jehovah to prosper
migtiy servant of Jehovah should now be  afntid  of in the world ! And what man of God does not know
#he wrath, #of the impotent fury of the wicked queen,           this longing?
and flee to save his life. The original Hebrew,  i.t is            He strongly desired  .to see the victory of God's
pointed out, literally reads: "he went uuou his soul,"          covenant, and the compla:.e  defeat of all the powers
,which may have quite a different meaning. Ana, be- of `darkness !
sides, why should Elijah flee for his life? Did he not             And for a momen't,  on Carmel, it had seemed that


                                      T*HE   S T A N D A R D   B E . A R E R                                           456

the joy of beholding this  vio:ory   mould be his!               In a  sta!!,e of high spiritual tension the prophet  hlid
    Alas ! it might not be so !                              been on 4he mount. A mountain height of faith and
    The enemy was still in power!                            spiritual joy  Carmel  had been for him. 0, how he
    His labors had been  vlsin!                              had rejoiced in his battle with the  prieays of Baal!
    Lord,  jtake my soul!                                    How certain he had  been of victory, when vainly they
    It is enough'!                                           called upon their god to *bring fire from heaven to
        _-.                                                  light the sacrifice, and when he had mocked them,
                  ' !  -.                                    and expose3 their vlzaity  in \fhe sight of all  ithe people!
                                                             How he ha.d been lavished with delight, when, after
    From Carmel  to #the wilderness!                         they had beh$eld  the glory of the Lord, all the people
    Tremendous,  appar&:ly   strange  and inexplicable, had e.houted  that Jehovah  alone is God, and when, at
yet thoroughly human reaction !                              his word, they had slain the prieslts  of the idol II\:, the
    For though the circumsrtances  were, indeed, the oc- brook Kishon ! And then ithere  had been the sight of
casion of the com@&#  discouragement an$ utter des- the apparently penit.& king, his rapture on the mount
pondency of the man of God, they cannot  explain his& when he beseeched Jehovah to fulfill His promise and
state vf min,d und,er ithe juniper tree entirely.            send rain on the ear!%, the Itremendous  tension of soul
    It is true, Ithe situation was bad, and Carmel  had an,d body when he ran Ibefore the chariot of the king,
evidently failed to bring the $final victory  f,or which strong, victorious, to the gates of Jezreel!              Every
the prophet longed,. But had not conditions been fully fib& of his soul, his mind and will and all his emotions,
as bad, if not much worse,  fhefore?      Baa1 had been had been in a state of ecstatic ,auItation,  kindled by
compla",ely  in powier.  The forces of darkness had had the  mighlty revelation of the Lord on  Carmel  !. . .
complete sway. All the people had, apparently at                The day of the Lord it was !
least, apostat.ized  from the Iiving God and embraced           And now?. . . .
the cause of the enemy. The faithful mere few and
had been hid, in danger of their lives. The Itrue pro-          The reaction, bad come ! The return to normal !
phets were  kilIed. . . . .                                  And normal was that the d.ay of ithe Lord, the day of
                                                             final, visible, tangible victory was still far in the
   An'd then the man of God, rath.er  than pour out his
soul under juniper trees, had arisen a mighty warrior,       future, that the powers of darkness were still in the
a lonely witness, filled with ze~11 for Jehovah's cause, IanId,  th& they  woul,d rise again. .  -  -  .
mighty in power, strong in !fhe Lord, to fight the bat-         "As the gods Iive I will kill lt,hee  to morrow about
tle alone.                                                   this time'!"
   Why, then, this sudden collapse? Why  &his pre-              For that reaction the prophet was not prepared!
cipitate  dsscem  from the heights 09 victory into the          And (thus, descending from the glorious mount of
sl,ough_  of despair?                                        victory, he sank into the morass of despair!
   P.artly, at least, strange  though it may seem, the          0, God!  :take  aa-ay my life! I wish to resign!
answer ito this question must be eought,  not in Elijah         ht is enough !
under the juniper tree, but in the mighty man of God
on C&me1  !
   Let us learn the lesson: the juniper  tree always
stan,ds  close to  Carmel!  It is on the very heights of        Marvellous  ways of God !
fait% and spiritual victory  [that the danger of  <doubt         For, even Elijah, the mighty serv,ant.of  the Lord,
and despair lurks, and threatens it,o overwhelm our must learn that he is, after all only a servant!
soul! It is in moments of high spirit&  tension that            And a servant of the Lord is one through whom
God's people in this world, anld especially those that       it pleases the Most High to Ido His own work ! And
are  <called to balttle in the front ranks of God's ho&,     when  &halt  sermamt  is not satisfied with the way in
must watch and pray, lest they fall into temptation.         which the God of hosts accomplishes His own work,
For then it is that Ithe de&-e  to remain on those glor-     he often must pass ithrough  dark valleys and by lonely
ious heights, whence we o3n see lthe victory of God's juniper trees, to become fit for further service!
cause even h&e in this worltd, takes a mighty hold on           After giori,ous  revelations Paul received his thorn
our soul. ,4nd then it is, too, that we are in danger i,n the flesh !
to forget lthat "the day of the Lord" is (not yet come,         After  Carmel,  God makes His mighty servant very
an,d  /to become completely unfit, for a  time at least,     weak and small, ito rtaach him that he is bult a servant,
to grapple with the ever rising forces of  d,arkness dependent  u;tterly on Jehovah's grace, and that he
once more !                                                  must humbly follow.
   Such, it seems to us, was Elijah's experience!               His strength is made perfect in weakness !
   Carmel had been victory ! Visible,  tangible  victory        And His is the victory!
the  prophat  had witnessed there!                                                                            H. H.


458                                     TaHE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

   God had, volgens Zwier, d.ezen  goddelooze op bij-
zondere algemeene wijze zeer lief.                               Religious Liberty and _ Our Youth
   En in Zijne bijzondere algemeene gunst over Bileam
zond Hij hem naar Balak, en deed Hij hem profeteeren,               At  cthe present time we hear a good deal about the
en dell rijkdom van Zijn volk zien,                              fascinating  subjedt  of liberty.    Murn aspires after
   En zoo ontvangt de valsche profeet dan een eere-              freedom. He hates to be enslaved. He  wnnts free-
plaalts ander de doorluchtige  groo.ten  der  4gemeene           dom of movement, freedom of soul and body, freedom
genade goddeloozen.                                              of the mind, of the will, of co.nscience.    Much of the
                                                                 history of the world, especially of i,ts wars and revo-
                                                                 lution is  *to  ,be explained from the  conflicjt  be&veen
                                                                 this search for freedom and the powers of oppression.
       En hoe wij ,dan dit alles loochenen?                      And the present world-conflict is  said to be such a
       Hoe bet mogelijk is om in weerwil van  diit treffend war for liberty for  freedom  of religion, freedom  09
en! sterk voorbeeld en bewijs voor `de algemeene genade speech, freedom from fear and from  wnmt.                  Nazism
tech de  .algemeene  genade weg te redeneeren?                   with its ideal of the absolute State prepared its in-
       Och, het is  tech zoo eenvoudig voor wie  niet in zijn struments of destruction for its own aggrandizement,
eigen philosophie verstrikt is geraakt! Ik zou  haaet            ancd to enslave the world. And the allied nations ral-
geneigd zijn om te zeggen,  dat Bileams ezel in deze lied around the  bumner  of liberty to  ,meet  the foe.
zaak meer licht had dan Zwier. Had de vrager sleshts             When, :tierefore,  I shall try to make a few remarks
die ezel geaddresseerd  inplaats van Zwier, hij had e!.el- about the subject that was announced, I may expect
lig meer licht ontvangen dan hij thans kreeg. Want your interest and attention from the outset, without
let er  we1 op, dat  Bileam zelf (de groote dwaas!)              any more words of introduction.
zich inbeeldde, dat hij het voorwerp was van Gods                   However, we must  `at once  CIXU your  att&ion to
bijzondere gun&, toen  hij op weg ging en op weg was             the `fact, that much that is presented as true liberty
naar Balak, van zins om Gods volsk te vloeken. Maar in our times cannot be  a-cepted  m such $y those that
de  eze4 (`t  bee& was eigenlijk eene ezelin) zag  beker         understand and believe the Holy Scriptures as the in-
dan Bilesm. `t 8t.omm.e  dier zag de engel  des Heercn fallible source of their knowledge, and who stand in
op den weg sl!aan, zag de vlammende~ toorn Gods aver the liberty wherewith Christ  has made-them free.
Bileam, en werd verschrikt. Die ezelin had den vrager For many centuries there have been in {the nominahy
in-De Wachter  kunnen vertellen, idat hct niet in Zijne          Christian world two fundamentally different concep-
genade, maar in Zijn brandenden toorn was, dat God,              tions of liberty, two currents of search after freedom,
toen Bileam Hem voor de; tweede maal  om verlof  vroeg which, though widely different, are often confused.
om Israel tte vloeken, hem naar Balak zond; dat Hij              The one has its  source in  lthe Spirit of Christ, its
zich steeds  meer op Bilenm vertoorntde,  ltoen de dwz!as        criterion  i,n the Holy Scriptures,  umd runs over the
onderweg  zich aldoor  voorstelde, dat hij wei een kans Reformation of the sixteenth dentury;  the other has
zou  Brijgen om Israel  ite vloeken en zijn loon der its source in the heart and mind of (the natural ,man,
ongerechtigheid te verdienen ; en dat het nog altijd its critterion in man's own philosophy, and runs over
in gramschap was, det Hij Bileam de schoonste -zege-             the  Renaisance  of pre-Reformation  ,origin.  The one
ninmn  Ideed uii%preken  over (Israel  ten aanhoore van          declares the authority of the Bisble, the other the au-
den woedenden koning van Moab, zoodat deze ten tonomy of man. And I  iear  t.hat also  itoday  the two
slot:te tot hem zei'de: "Pak je weg!"                            are frequently confused, `cio much so, ithalt when  one
                                                                 speaks of religioes liberty he often means irreligious
       Het zou die ezelin heelemaal niet moeilijk gevallen liberty. We must, therefore, clearly distinguish the
zijn om de algemeene  genad'e over  Bileam weg  t.e too.
redeneeren.
       Laat Zwier, en  la& ook de  vrlger,  :&lechts bij `t         I. Christian Liberty. In order to understand the
stomme dier in de leer gaan !                                    nature of true liberty, and Ithat is Christi.an  liberty,
       Bij Bileams ezel  ligt de oplossing van Zwier's  raad-    we must from /the outset consider it as a relation to
selen in ,dezen !                                                God land to His will. Failure to do this, and merely
       En zeg nu niet, `dat ik schrijf, dat Zwier nog ldom-      to look upon liber!ty as a relation to God, results in a
lmer is dan .een ezel. Dat zij verre van mij !                   false conception ,of freedom, and leads 150 the confu-
                                                                 t&on of  liber,ty  with the so-called  lautonomy  of man.
       Maar  hier ligt het punt: God deed Bileams ezelin Acconding to the latter view, man is really the meas-
spreken. En Zwier  spreekt  naar menschelijke  philo-            ure of all things. He is independent. He is his own
Sophie.                                                          lord and master. He is his pwn law, creates his own
       En dat verschil verklaart alles.                          work& makes his ow(n God, is tthe criterion of all things.
                                                  IT. H.         According, to this  prou,d  philosophy,  *freedom  is the


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  459 _

state in which man thinks as he pleases, wills as he thus to live in the sphere of His favor and !His ever-
pleases, speaks and acts as he pleases, not only  with- lasting  ,covenant-friend&hip.  For  Go,d  ma,de man af-
ou,t being interfered with by  h& fellowmen, especially ter His own image and in His own likeness. His na-
by the power of the State, but without being limited             ture was adapted to know God with a true  knowbdjge
and  de'ixrmined by any  obje&tive  norm or  standan&,           of love, b will His will, and to seek anld find His bless-
except  that w,hich  man may put up for the common ed fellowship. He was made a covenant-creature.
good, the humanly conceived wellbeing of State and Hence, freedom for man is i;he sta\t.e  in which h,e will-
Society. The  ix-&de1 leaders of  Ithe French Revolution ingly Eiulbjects  his mind to the minS of God, his will
raised the slogan of "liberty, equality,  and fraternity", to the will of God, and has his delight in the law of
but wharb they understood by liberty is evident from God according to the inner man. To be motivated
this other sl,ogan: "Ni Dieu ni  mai$tre"  : No God or in all his <life by the love of God, and (thus to walk in
Master ! The so-called freethinker etit,ert&ns  :the same true knowledge of Go& perfeclt  righteousness and holi-
conception of liberty, when he proposes to emancipate ness, Ghat is man's liberty !
his mind from the shackles) of all objective  standaads,            And this means especially two things, which it is
more particularly from itlhat of ,th,e Word of God,,  anod       important for us to remember. First of all it means,
to be an indepedent source of  (truth  in himself. Ac- th& for us sinners this liberty is only in Christ,
cording \to this view, religious liberty is the freedom through His Spirit: where th,e Spirilt.  of the Lord is,
to worship or not to worship, to confess God or to there is liberty ! And-, secondly, it implies that for us
deny Him, to serve fhe true God or Ito make one's own true freedom  can  *be consciously possessed and enjoy-
i,dol. Liberty is merely considered  !z, a relation of ed only through the Scrilxtures. By nature, man is not
man 1t.o man. God  BI not considered.                            free, but in bondage. For he sinned, and he is a sin-
 However, it requires little  ,though;t  to understand ner. He is in the! bon,dage  of condemnation, for r`here
that this is nort true freedom, but licentiousness. Man rests upon him a load of guilt which he can never
is not his own maker. And, therefore, he is not self-            blot out, a debt which he ozn never pay. He has no
determined,  anld he cannot be autonomous. God is right to liberty. He  in, a  chil,d of wrath in himself.
lthe Creator,  and man is the creature. God only is And being  guiMy, he is  conldemned  to be a slave of
lautonomous,   iam.d man's  lilberty can never be other sin.            Under sin's dominion is he. He is shackled,
than a crealturely  freedom. God determined him, his w&h the chains of corruption, mott ou!t,wardly,  but from
ibeing and nature, his soul and body, his mind and within. His mind is in darkness, so that he cannot
`will; and God, too, determined man's relation to God know God ; his will iw sh*ackled so that he cannot will
land to all the rest of creation. Maa is not above the the will of God. In this true sense of the word,  ail1 men
law, butt underthe law. He is not his own law, but he are not  Iborn free, but  ehey are born slaves. And,
is bound to  Ithe law of  (3x5. And liberty for man is itherefore,  liberty is in Christ only. He  obt5aine3  the
not to be lawless, neither does it consist  in this that right `to set us free through His cross and resurrec-
in an e&ernal  sense he tries to conform his outward ti.on, by th'e which we are justified. And He-received
life to the co,de  of ithe law of God ; bust  i~t consists in    from the Father the power to  Bet us free by the Spirit
this, that his inner nature is in conformity with the which He receive6  at His exa:ltation.  And, therefore,
will of God, so that he moves and acts and' lives, wills where the Spirit of  the Lord is, there is liberty. And
.and thinks and desires freely within the scope of  [that the only criterion or standard of  ,this liberty is tie
law. There is a law of God for every  creature.  And Won5 of God in the Scriptures. It is  jthe truth  (that
this law is increated in the very .nature of each crea- makes us free, and that truth is  reveaIed  in Ithe Bible.
ture. The law of the fish is to live in the water, of the It is through the  Holy Scriptures that  ithle liberty
bird to soar in the sky, of the [tree to be rooted in the        wherewith Christ makes UBI free is proclaimed to us,
ground; and  lthis law is  (quite  in harmony with the           that we may know and believe and rejoice in that
`nature of each creature. Liberty for each of these true freedom by faith. And it is through  rthat Word
creaturcls is that St can live itself out within :the scope tha,t  we may again have .the .true knowledge of Gud in
of its respective  h.ws. And within that  bw each the face of Christ Jesus,  and  {that we may  ,~OW
creature  fin&  ilts happiness, its true freedom from what is rtho good and acceptable and perfect will of
fear and *from want. And the same is itrue for man. God, to perform which from lthe heart is to w'alk in
God determined his ,nature, and the huw that is in har- liberty. He, therefore, who is in Christ Jesus,  llnd
mony wi'th  that nature; and liberty for man consists who lives by the indwelling  Spiri,t of Christ from
in this thalt he freely moves within tihe sphere  of the         within,   and according  It,o the Word of God in the
law of  ,God.                                                    Scriptures,-he  19 truly free!
   If we bear this in mind it  shoultd  not be  ldifficuh
{to *determine what is true freedom for man. It  is to              II. Religious liberity. What, then, is religious lib-
love the Lord his <God  wi'th  all his heart and soul and        erty  in  Itshe  positive  sense  of the  TVO~*~&?  YOU  under-
mind and strength,  it.0 serve and glorify Him, and              stan,d, that we may make a distinction between true

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

 Christian liberty, an,d what is know as religious free-         stand it. And by liberty of interpretation is  mean,t,
 *dam.  The  gormer  concerns our  true relation  iko God,       firs5 of all, that every beli#ever  must have free access
 tha$t latter concerns, our position among men. The to the Bible: he must have the right to possess a Bible
 former no man or devil or power. of darkness can ever of his own and to read it; and, secondly, th& it must
 take  a!way from us. It is true, that because of that           be explained in its own light. Exegesis must be free.
 true spiritual  Iibenty  and our  conf,ession  of  ilb, they It  musIb noit be shackled  :to an accepted code or system
 may deprive us of our civil liberty, may put us in              of doctrine. And every believer must have the right
 prison or concentration camp: but even that does not to ilnterpr&  it withou,t  being hampered or limited by
 afrect the liberty which we have in Christ. But the human power or authority. It is :true, Ithai: this may
 lsutiter concerns a state among  mpn: the  right to  ex- not be understood in the individualistic sense of the
 erche our Christiiln liberty in this world without in- word. No one arpproaches  the holy scriptures in sep-
 tzrference   on the part of men. You will understand aration from the church  of the pa& and of the present.
 now, too, that wh,ait is known as religious freedom in Also in Ithe past the H,oly Spirit led the church in all
 our day is simply the  fr*eedom  of indifference, of  ir- the truth.  Ancd it pleases God to  pneserve the  trwh
 religion. The right to serve God or ncit ~lo serve Him, in the line of generations. But even so it.belongs  to
 the right .to make of God whatever `ivs please, and to          the exercise  od Christian liberty, and  Itherefore,   :?I re-
 express about Him whatever we wish or think proper! ligious freedom &hat every believer has the right to
 the right to glorify Him or to ,deny that He exists,-           interpret the Bible.
 all Ithis irjr not true freedom of religion, but is rather         Then, too, it belongs to religious freedom that  l5he
 the freedom of indifference in respect to religious church has ,the right'freely ?nd publibly to preach th>
 matters. And the only religious  libe:r!iy is the right Word of God within its own domain, and without in'
 to exercise the i!rue Christian liberty, i. e. the right all  5he world. For this is the calling wherewith she
 to know and confess .and worship and serve God in               is called:  /the Church must preach the  Wor,d to all
 Christ Jesus according to  His Word, as He has reveal- the world. She lives  ua3era divine injunction, and it
 ed it unto us in the Scriptures, wilthout  being hinder- belongs to religious freedom that she be not hampered
 ed or persecuted by men.                                        by human pow,er or institutions to carry out this in-
     What does religious liberty imply? It signifies, jundiion. It also is the wil1 of her Lord thaut she con-
 first of all and above fill: freedom of the Bible itself,       fess His name, and publicly call upon His name, and
 as the sole authority in matters concerning faith and the free exerckle of this calling in publiz worship t be-
 dootrine. If true Chri&ian  liberty is to live from the         longs to religious  freeidom.  And what is  (true of  the
 principle of this indwelling Spirit of Christ according church organically and institutionally, is also true of
 to the will of God revealed in the Scriptures,  i: is the individual believer: his Lord calls him to confess
 evident that for the exercise of this freedom in  t'ne          Him before men, and to walk in the mid&  of the world
 world it is paramount tha!t, the Scriptures remilin our worthily of ILLhe calling wherewith he is called, not to
 sole  authorilty.     Take the Bible away and you remove become conformed cto this world, but more and more to
 the very sphere of Chriskian  liberty ai:,d render all re- be transformed through the renewal  09 his mind,
 ligious freedom impossible, just as you make it  im-            that he may prove what is that go015 and acceptable
 po&ble for a fish to live if you  drzin the pond in             and perfect will of God. And  freedom,  the right to
 which he swims. By shackling the Bible you destroy confess the name of the Lord before men,  `2nd to walk
 religious freedom. Any human  authori,ty,  whether according to His will belongs ;to religious freed,om.
 it :be of tradi,tion,  or reason, or of experience, that ex-
 alts itself above the Bible, is an enemy to all religious          III. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. We
liberty in th*e posiitive sense of the word. And when .t.hey     all know that winged. slogan. It presupposes that there
 who thus exalt human authority  rl%bove the Scriptures are alw;lzys  forces at. work in the world ithat are bent
 still &peak of religious freedom, they do so ignorantly         upon  Idepriving  us of wha,t is ,known as political lib-
 and falsely.         And thus it is evident, too, that it is    erty, and  ,purpose  to enslave us to their own will.
 often the enemies of religious freedom  :that most loud-        There are foroem  of greed, of oppression, of lust for
 ly  boast of it, and  th,at the mockers of religious  lib-      power and aggrandizement, of proud ambition, that
 .erty  often pretend to worship most ardently and de-           would impose tt!heir  own will upon the will o.f all, and
 votedly  lart  i,ts shrine. Freedom of  ,the Bible is'  :the    deprive the latter of their freedom even  ita exist.
 heart of religious #freedom.                                    Hence, we must watch over the liberties we  ,have
     In close connection with this first element of re- obtained : eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
ligious freedom, must be  -menrti~oned  a second: free- An13 this slogan may be applied very w,ell to religious
dom to  interpre:t  the Scriptures. It  is: based on the freedom in particular, and  wirth special emphasis.
 prin-iple   tha,t  the Scriptures are characterized by  pcr-       There are especially three forces in  Zhe world that
 specuity, and that all that walk in itthe libenty  where- may deprive us of this freedom of religion : the church,
 with Christ eets us free are able to reald and under- the state,  and society. When I mention the church


                                                       `-l?HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  -  -`--  -
 .- I "    I . _..___....__-_  ____ __^ ,,                                                                                     461
                                              - ..---_.  .-- r
in this  tionneotion.;   f  am  referring  to  the  i'n&tutcj  of is "societ:y"  that offers us opportunity to work and to
the church, width it8 o&&$&+8  and i-di'itistry  of the he,  that can bestow or withhold its favors. And es-
Word. It may seem strange  t&t  Z-i  in&&&n  tha!'                     pecially in our day, with  its! many  associa!tdons   and
is especially *designed  and, whose peculiar  Calling  it, is          unions, society is a mighty  force.     It  c!a:n  seri,ously
to be a piI& of lthe truth and to watch over 13he trud                 limit the exercise of religious freedom by imposing
libenty  of the peopbe  of Go.d, should become an agent                upon the individual members  certan  requirements and
of  onpress~ion  and slavery. Yet, it is not difficult to conditions in order to enjoy the opportunity to make
tinders&id   %hji  thfs  shoubd  be true. They  Ithat have a decent living, or even t,o make a living at all. And
&lie  c8lling`  to  w&i over  an&  dev&Ij  &e truth are if those requiremer!s  are such that they would bring
in  the  best  p&.&n  to corrupt it; `they that are  ap;               the Christian  b&ever in conflict with the Word of
pointed to rule and ha% Ohe oversight over I?he flock GOI!,  should he  meet  and fulfill them, organized so-
have the best opportunity to lSr8 it over ithem ; and                  ciety becomes an  insltrument  for the  de&ruotion  of
if those that are in high places of  &S  &ur& are religious liberty.
devoid of the love of Christ, Itrhey will use their high                  Hence, eternal  vigilme  is the price  eof liberty.
office for their own  personal  advanfiage,  and the saiS- We must watch  kst the church imposes upon us a new
isfaction of their carnal lusts. This is a matter of yoke of bondage by inventing doctrines and institu-
history,  I% was frequently the church that  t3eprived                 tions of men. We musit be on the alert, lest:  we yiel'd
Ithe pubpi@ of God of their religious freedom, and put                 to the  demandwi  of the state, whenever it would in-
upon Ithem  the yoke of human authority and precepts. terfere with the, exercise of our religious freedom.
I but ba!v~~  to remind you of the ~hierarchial  yoke of the And we should always beware lest our position in
Roman  Cathohc  Church,  aiid  the liberating move- society  encroach upon the exercise of  +he liberty
ment of  t,he Reformation.  Nor  was  this evil com- wherewith Chrislt  haith made us free !
pletely stamped out  iby the Reformation  of  the  six-
it,eenth century.          Always  `the same tendency  r&veals            IV. It is here that religious freedom comes with
it:j:,elf,  and the same hierarchioall  power develops and a special message to our young men and young women.
attempts  It.0 enslave the church to the authority of men.             For how elhall  we be vigilant, and where shall we place
   The State has the sword power. And by this power our sentinels.? W,ha;t, after all, is the indispensible  con-
she has the calling to protect the good and punish evil dition for all watchfulness? The answer is: we must
doers in her own domain. This implies that in her clearly understand and discern the truth of the Word
own territory of power she must be rthe guardilsn  of of God, and that, too,  i,n distinction from all error and
true religious freedom,  ,and guarantee to  Ithe Church the false philosophy.              We must be  afble to  di&inguish
right tta worship according to the Word of God. But true Christi~an libenty  and genuine religious freedom,
here,  toa, the very opposite is often  wiltnessed. Fre- from the false ifreedom,  that is proclaimed on every
quently in history the State is not satisfied with her side in our i&y, tha& offers itself to us from pulpit and
own,  Goddrdslined  power, in her own domain.                     She lecture room, by means of literature `and radio, the
seeks ilio becom the sole power in all domains of life.                novel and the stage. We must know, we  must be
And in thati case ,she becomes especially j&ous of the                 thoroughly grounded, and trained in the truth. It is
power and freedom of the Church, as well as of the the truth, lthe truth ~a it is in Christ Jesus, and as, itt
individual *believer. And she will make  Ian attempt to is contained in the Scriptures, that makes us free,
subject  the Church to her authority, and to mak,e her that brings to us the very atmosphere in which we
subservient to her purposes. She will inlterfere  with m,ust move in okker  to enjoy our freedom. How neces-
lthe internal &Fairs  of the church, command her what sary, then, that we should know that truth, one and
to preach and what to pray for, and limit her right to all! Only according as we know the truth, shall we
worship. And the same au:thority  she will attemgl",  to ,be truly free, and be able ito stand in the liberty wherc-
exercise over the confession and walk of  lthe believer.               with C,hrist  h#as made UI~I free. An,d only in as far as
An'd because the government bears  ltbe sword, suffer- we enjoy the true liberty in Christ /through  ithe Word
ing and persecution must be the result for  ~11 who in- of God, shall we be able to discern the lie, andr detect
sist that Ithey  must obey God rather than men. The the error of false philosophy, whenever it would offer
Nazi State in Europe is a modern illustration of &is                   the bondage of darkness for the light of liberty. Only
abuse of  I& sword by the government, and of the then, we shall be able, too, ito resist with true spiritul3d
destruction of religious freedom.                                      weapons, the weapon of the Word of God, whenever
    B&t also "society" may be an agent for  cthe  cur-                 Church or State or Society-  woul,d encroach upon our
ti2!ilment  anid  ,destruotion  of religious liberty. For,             freedom and though  t.hey may by sheer force and
=ven (though "society"  has no power and authority, power curtail our religious freedom in  rthe world, they
it has many means at its command to impose its will will never be eblie to deprive ~14 of the liberty which
upon the  mdividual.                 In society we have  Q name we have in Christ. We must be  itho&ughly  trained
and a pBa!ce ; there we have our position and job ; it                 in the truth of the Word of God,


462                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAREB

    And youth is especially the time of twining. This
is true in tthe physical sense. How well ,this is realized             Joshua The Son Of Nun
to&y by our government!  IIt was found  thak   the
average age of our men in the service is too high.                 Moses' successor was Joshua. Let us get before
The  ,draft age must be lowered. Veteran soldiens are us `the early career of this man of God-that part of
good ,enough,  but `you cannot trlzi:irn new men for mod- his career that  endeth   wi,th the  deal%  of Moses.  *In
ern warfare, when they  hfave passed a certain age the first book of the Chronicles (1 Chron.  7:20-27)
limit. This is true mentally: a man  mqusit receive his JOS~LIIB'S pedigree reaches back through eight genera-
eduaation  in his youth, not when  ihe is- become old. tions and over a period of four hundred years to  Eph-
But the same holds spiritually.  tiso our religious raim. He thus had Joseph a.& his arms&or; and of the
training for lthe spiritual bati':le for religious freedom two sons of Joseph he ~1.~5 sprung from the one who,
anid1 Christian liberty in the  mid& of  &he  worlld,  we cthough  the younger, would be .the greater. He was a
should receive in  ,the days and years of our  you:h, scion of the chief family of the tribe, as his  gmnd-
while the evil <days  are not, nor the years draw nigh father,  Elishama  (1 Chron.  7:26), was head of his
in which we shall say: I `have no pleasure in them. tribe and thus also of  thka  whole camp of Ephraim
iIn youth t,he mind is plastic, recepitive,  alert, and we      which, in addition to his own tribe, included Manas-
easily learn snd und,erstand.      It is in  youth   \:hat we seh amd Benjamin. At  Rephidim,  in the early days
become trained  to detect and to meet the enemies of. of the wilderness sojourn, the Amalakites,  wandering
religious and spiritual freedom. Youth is the time deseri  tribes, swooped down upon  fthe  stragglers-
to become thoroughly acquainted with  Iand schooled in upon the sick and infirm-of the marching ho& (Deut.
tthe principles of the truth IZS contained in the Word  elf 25 :17, 18). Joshua was selected by the Lord to repel
God!                                                            the attack; and was even allowed tto choose the men
       `Hence, my subject appeals especially  rto our youth. by which this was to be done. Under his  connnaind,
It comes w.ith the message that we should  exeri', all God fought for His people and gave compld:e  victory.
our power, and employ all our  tirme, and use every From God's throne, through Moses' elevated han.d, in
opportunity, to acquire the knowledge of the Word of which was the rod of God,  vilztorious  power and confi-
God. Yes, that means, of  course,   rthat we should dence  flowed1 into the host of warriors.  Amalek'a:  trea-
make use oif the means God offers us through i`khe in-          cherous  ,doing, his discomforture, and the expressed  de-
stituted church: the preaching of the Word, and cate- terminaition  of the Lord eventually to put out his re-
chetical  instruction.    Better training school for  k.he membrance from under heaven, were written in a
battle for  liberiky  there is none.  II`C  Mans, too, how- book and rehearsed in  *the ears of Joshua-so  .the
ever, that we apply ourselves to personal reading and Lord had commanded-in token that the future  ,ex-
study of the Word of God. And  .it implies that we tirpation  of the Am,alakites  was e&rusted  to him; and
help one  tanother, and meet  u,nto mutual edification so it became evident, even now  at this'early date, that
and upbuilding in  lthe  knowIedge  of the  itruth. It is he was destined to be the successor of Moses. (Ex.
especially for the latter purpose that our young men's,         17 :8-16). His former `name, Hoshea (help or salva-
young  I~adies', and young peoples' societies are or- tion) was enriched by the insertion  ot a syllable of
ganized.  Ansd unto  ,mutual  edification and training the divine name. (Num.  13  :16). "And Moses called
in the use of the  Word of  C&d  [they are excellently Hoshea  the son of Nun, Jehoshua"  or Joshua (Jehomsh
ad!s:pted.    May  Ithey  ever  keep  this purpose  Ibefore     is help or salvation). It was this present victory that
[them, and never degenerate into mere social clubs in all likelihood occasioned the change.
,where the members seek ,an evening of pleasure and                After this Moses selected Joshua to be his personal
entertainment in the worldly sense  of the word.                servant and !l;ttendant. He was w&h  Moses Iduring the
       Of course, I  lam well aware that  the mere study `of time that the latter received the law on the top of the
Scripture cannot make us free, or  muse us  ,to preserve mount, as appel:as  from the notice at Ex. 24:12,  13.
(religious freedom;  lthat is the work of the  Spirik of The Lord commanded Moses to come up to Him on the
Christ. A head full of knowledge, even though it is mount (vs. 12). "Then Moses rose up, and his minis-
the knowledge of the Bible, does not liberate us: we ter Joshua: and Moses went up into  lthe mount of
mst have grace. But given this grace of the Spirit God" (vs. 13). Here  ag!a:in Joshua was signally hon-
of Christ, `I am confident that they will  m&t enjoy ored.             He was placed before the congregation who,
and most consistently maintain their  freedtom  that  are in its approach to God, was  permitked  to progress only
most thoroughly schooked in the truth of lthe Word of to the  baseof the  m,ount `(Ex.  19:12). He was pre-
God. Stand therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ ferred, on this  occasion,  even above Aaron, Nadab,
bath made you free !                             H.  II.        Abihu, and the seventy of rthe elders of Israel. The
                                                                latter were called to ascend to a certain height and
(*)  Mdress delivered at our last Convention of  .Protestant    worship   afar off; while Moses, accompanied by  JOS-
Reformed Young People's Soqieties, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. hua, wenlt up into the mount of God ( Ex. 24 :I, 9-11) 1


                                     TaHE S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               463

However, it is not clear from the narrative whether his master was. not uni:ainted  by f~~natical zeal. Moses
Joshua  was with Moses all the time, also when the             had complained to the Lord that the burden of the
latter was in the  ~&mediate  presence of God. The             people  w.as  crusing him. (Num.  2  :ll-15).  When the
fact of the matter is probably  tthis: The whole com- Spirit descended upon *he seventy elders, appointed  io
pany-Moses, Joshua, Aaron and his sons and the assist Moses in bearing the  bur,den  of the' people, ifhey
seventy elders-went  upto  a  ocu'tain  part of the mount,     propheeIed  around the tabernacle. Two of the men
where all came to rest and  "saw the God of Israel that hvd been summoned had remained in the camp;
and  ldid eat and drink" (Ex. 24  :8-11).  Then Moses but even they began to prophesy. Joshua, on hearing
was summoned to ascend  &ill higher, and only Joshua this, showed great zeal. They seemed not to  Ibe ordain-
accompanied  hirm (Ex.  26  :13)  and was with him ed by his honored  ma&r. Their failure to appear
"when the glory  o,f  .t.he Lord abode upon mount Sinai, at the tabernacle rslt the time specified for their ordina-
and the  cloud covered it six  days"  (Ex.  24  :16). tion struck him as indifference to the presence of their
Again God called Moses to' ascend still higher, and            head. So he hurried  to inform Moses thinking that
"Moses, went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him he would interfere  r'o forbid them and to censure their
up into the mount?' (vs. 1X), with Joshua remaining irregularity. But the wrong zeal of youth was shamed
behind in a place midway between the spot where all            by amemorable  rejbuke  from the  leaider. "Wilt thou
had seen and fellowshipped with God and the summit be IZI zealot for me? Would that all the Lord's people
where Moses was aione with God for forty days. But were prophets,  &hat the Lord would put His,  Spiri:t
we deal here with a probability. No statements  occur upon them." (Ex. 11$29).
in the  narrarkive   that militate against  th*e view  that        Not long aft,er Joshua was appointed one of twelve
Joshua went with Moses even 3nto "the mildst of the spies that were sent to search  i!.he land of  Canala.
cloud." Yet it does not seem likely, that when Moses When they came  ,back,   tha ten spies raised  t:heir voice
stood face to face with God in  r:he holiest  (!the very against any attempt to take possession of t.he land.
summit), a third party was  pnssent.  It would seem But C&eb resented t:he notion that the people were
that  Joshunt did not move from his intermediate posi- nctk able to take pcrssession and urged them to go up
tion on the slope of lthe mount all r:he forty days and at once. But the rniszhief had been done.
forty nights when Moses was with God. That, cer-                   The cry of the people, "Let us make a captain, and
tainly, was a case of remarkable obedience, of  d won- let us make a captain, !aad let us r&urn into Egypt,"
derful devotion of a servant to his master and to the          shows how strongly* the tide of unbelief was flowing.
cause that  ,t,h*e master was  espousing--l&e  cause  o;i      Overwhelmed, Moses and Aaron fall on their faces
God and Hits people.                                           before  ,the congregation. And the two faithful spies?
   At long last Moses left God's  presenoel  either in With rent clothes they made  [their way among the
company with Joshua or, if the latter o.P the two views        people, spellking  wordis  calculated to arrest fear and
just presente'd  is corr,ezt,  lto rejoin him., As they pro- stimulate faith in God. "The  Iand is an exceeding
ceeded to  (the foot of the mountain, a noise was  he:,rd      good land," they said. "The Lord will give it  us, . .
from afar. aoshua thought it was the noise of war Rebel not against  )tbe! Lord. . .  .Fear  ye not  I:he people
in the camp. No, says  Moses<,   +vho  haJ been  told by       of the land, for their defence  is departed from them."
God what went on below, they are  nctt. sounds such as         But it was all in vain. "All the  congneg&ion  bade
the victorious ;a:& the conquered utter but fhey are stone them with stones." The cry would have been
1`0~ sounds of them that  si'ng, the antiphonies of a nww      heeded,  had nol: the spectacle  of the glory of the Lord,
worship, the shotits of unholy and shameful riot. And appearmg  in the tabernacle,  made.them  afraid.
so it was. For when he reached the camp, he saw the                For this great sin, the  Fen&y was  ;;,,evere.  The
calf and the ,dancing.                                         congregation were to wander in the wilderness for
   During all the crisis that followed,  Joshurl. remain- forty  ysars,  till all that  gener&ion  be  wasted in  I:.he
ed faithful to Moses. When `Moses took the  tabes-             wil,dern,ess.    The ten unfaithful spies were to die at
nacle, and ,pitched it `without `th,e camp, afar off, Jos- once from the plague. But Joshua and Caleb were hon-
hua was with him, and departed not out of the tab- ored. Their lives were preserved and they alone were
ernacle (Ex. 33 :11) . WhetbEn  he ascended the mount to enter and be established in ,the promised land.
with Moses thesecond time, we are not  itold. But  iii             Upon the events  ,of the next 38 or 40 years in the
is likely that he did. Be this as it may, he was much life 02 Joshua an unbroken silence falls. Like Moses
with Moses at .thk formative period of his life. His he suffers a long burial in the wilderness, and then he
impression of the true nobility of Moses' greact  soul,        reapplwars on the st.age  of Israel's  history  (2nd does a
of his wisdom and fait.h,  his conseoraition  to God and       great work,  conparable with  thalt of Moses. The
devotion to His people, his steadfastneaa ijnd meek- first we read of him, after his long eclipse, is in n,on-
ness-must have been deep. And, being a child of nection with the notice of the death of Moses. (Deut.
grace, his desire to  ,be  iike him, must have  waxed          31:`14). God virtually appoints him to succeed Moses,
stronger  and stronger, But his great arktachment  for and orders  both of `them to present themselves in the


                  _
464                                      TeHE  STANDARD   BBARER
                                                                         """__  .,  _.  _.    ._ _.. .._ . _ _ - -    __.  ,.  ." I -. .-_ ..-.I-
Ollbernacle of the congregation. The Lord  i  hrough         kh~~ugh  w&rfa'are  the  i%nci  given   them by their  G&l.
Moses gives him a charge and says:  "Be strong  anzi         Now   %tjlio%v~  if%%.  i2-lEj, a special demand of Joz.hua
of good courage: for thou shalt bring the  chibdren   of upon the Reubenites,  Gladites,  and  lt$e half tribe of
Israel into the land which  I sware  unto them: and I        Manassah. They had, on account of their flocks and
will be with thee."  (Deut.   31:23).                        herds, been given their  Fortions  in the land east of
    We mighit desire to know how Joshca was fuzthcr          the Jordon on the condition  tha? they should help  tthe
prepared for his work in those thirty aln d eight years ;    others in the conquest of Canaan proper. They are
we might dasjre  to know more of him in the years that now asked to  fulgill  thllt condition, which  they  a1'3o
follow. But this is denied  us. He stands out simply promise to do.
as a militiry hero of faith, and his faith was not ex-
celled by ithat of Moses himself.
    Was the descent from  Mos&  to Joshua very great?
In ran sense it was. He was no legislator and no pro-                                         -
phet as was Moses who through his revelations laid                                                                         _,_  ._-  _.-.-
the foundatiun of all later propbqy, and whose name
therefore reappears con&antly,  in the psalms, i,n `rke
gospels  aad in the epistles. Joshua did not rank with                Rahab And The Spies
Moses. Of all the prophets, Moses was the preatest.
Yet in a sense he  ,did rank with Moses. If  Moses              On he same day,  dvubtless, that  Josh&  rece!ived
brought i.n&umentally  the people of Israel out of the       command. to cross  ,&he Jordan, he  a@nt  out  the!  dpies
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, Joshua to go  `over   Je.&ho   about  twenty   miles   distisnt..  As
gave them rest-the rest of the earthy  CansIan.              mention is made 0% thrsijr b&g young men (Jo:. 3 :23) ,
    Immediately  aftar Moses' death,  rlhe Lord called they perhaps  were  taken on account of their youthful
Joshua to activ$y-"Arise,  go over this Jordan,  thou vigor and courage.  Having been a spy himself, Jos-
and all this people, unto the  land which I do give unto     hua knew from his own experience that the veTLure
them. . ." (Jos.  l:l, 2). The history of the con%quest called for courage. Sending these youths into Jericho
of jthe land of Cansan  commences here ,and forms the        was like sending them into  zu den of lions and expect-
first part of the book of Joshua.                            ing* them to return. For the  inhabitans  of  Canaan
   <God  announced  further  Itshat  H,e was now in the xvere  desperate. They knew :that                                       t of their
act of fulfilling His promise,-that the land pledged to country by the Hebrews was pending. And tliey had
Abraham was now to become the possession of his heard  amllzing  things about them. Yet they judged
se&.   Having expatiated on its boundaries, the Lord that there was hope for them only if the invaders be
encourages and admonishes Joshua. There shall not repelled, so that a  :Hebrew  caught spying out their
any man be able to stand before him all the d,ays  of cities was doomed to a certain (death.
his life. As j:he Lord was with Moses, so He will be            It does riot appear from  ,&he  89tzret3  *narrative that
with him; He will not fail him nor forstie him. Let Joshua, in sending forth the spies, was acting under
him be  rs;tr.ung and of ,good courage: for he shall divide the  con&air& of a  divin'e command.  Y&, certainly,
for an inheritance the land unto this people. He shall his docng is not censurable. There could be no reason
take a careful observance of the law, in order that the why the command given to Moses was still not valid.
grelft work assigned to hJm by the Lord may be ac- Jdshua  person'ally was in the need of encouragement;
complished. The .book of i`khe law shall continually be aad this need ibetokened  no unbelief. The godless  will
in his mouth. He must spellk ,to ithe people the words not believe ; they disdain  and reject the speech of
of the law and impress upon them its sacred design ;         God's  signa  that He gives  to strengthen faith. But
and he  must also ground himself more deeply therein. Joshua, incommon  wit,h  God's people, wanted to be-
Therefore  irt is  .added: "Thou shait meditate therein lieve; and  be  pnaved that God help his unbelief. From
day and  nigh):, . .  ."    He is to  penetrrzrte  into its the  ,point of view of nature, his  itask  was hopeless.
rn~c~~ning   m,ore  deeply and thus become qualified to The people to be conquered were numerous  and, strong ;
speak God's word to the people. Observing to do ac-' and their  cities were walled.                           And they would be
cording to all that is  wrii?en in the law, he shall make fighting for thejr coun'try and homes and wives and
his way prosperous, and then he shtsll have good suc- children. They would be fighting for their very ex-
cess. Once morehe  is commanded to be strong and of istence as nations. They  ,ha3 therefore to win that
good courage, not [to be afraid nor to be dismayed in        NIX. They could, of course, refuse to fight and, as
that  Go.d will be with him whithersoever he goes.           penitent sinners, cast themselves upon the mercy of
(Jos. l:l-19).                                               God. This alternative they refused to consider. "There
   Joshua now commanded the ofl%rters to charge the was not a ci.ty that made peace with th,e children of
people.    They are to prepare them  victnzlls, as in Israel, save the Hivites. . . .For it was of the Lord io
three  days they shall pass over J&on  to appropriate        hz+rden   their  hearts, that  t&y  &ould  come  against,
                                                                                                                                       _  ---.-


                                      T,HE  STANIhiRI)  B E A R E R                                              465

Israel in battle, that he might destroy them u:tterly,        But the spies must have hoped that i%ey had es-
and that they might have no favor." (Jos.  11:18).         caped detection  and had  foun.d a  saife place of retreat.    .
   Jeri,cho was the gateway to Canman,  the key city It must not be imagined that they knew from hearsay
of the Amorites  west of the Jordan ; and its capture how this disreputible woman--ohe was a  harlo: indeed
was the first objective. The  tu-o men were directed and not, as some would hmve it, a reputible  keeper of
to limit their spying to this ancient metropolis. "And an inn-was disposed to their God and their people
aoshua sent out two men, saying, Go view the  k~+d. and therefore deemed it safe to tell  h,er who they were
even   Jer-icho." Ilt was thus not an extensive journey and  ,to ask her to collaborate with  {them in making
on ,which the men were sent. For it was only a short their escape. But the woman  $2~ that they were
distance from the Jordan to  :this city. The  0bjec.t of Hebrews ; and the determination formed in her soul
this venture was not, as previously, to explore the to do what she couh% for them, to see %o it Ithat (they
broad country, to e,ee the land, whether it was fat or left the city alive. Surmizing, we may imagine, tha!,
lean  ; and the people  that dwelt therein whether they the  presenc,e of the  sqies  in her house was known
were few or many and whether they dwelt in tents or to the <king and [that very soon now hhe deputies of :Ihe
in  stronghol,ds  (Num. 13 :17-20)  ; but the object was king would be standing  tit her door `demanding of her
to  Wrn all about  th,e morale-the zeal, spirit, hope, that she produce the fugitives, she warned the men ;
and confidence---of a  Idefinite  Canaanitisli community. an3 they must have wondered at this evidence of her
The state of min.d and heart of this community could good-will itoward  them. Even as she spake, she per-
be taken as an index to the state of mind of all the       ceived that  Ithe deputies of the king  *were  standing
other peoples. The discovery th.at confidence was gone at her door. The woman was quick to  c&rrt.  She  or-
an,d that the spirits of the Canaanites were  cru&ed  by d,ered the men to the roof of her house. The Hebrews
paralyzing fear would be encouraging. To  (the believ- did as they were  toI&          The pressing haste of the
ing Joshua and his spiritual kin it would be a sign that wciman  bespoke  her sincerity. Having covered  lthem
the Lord had indeed given Israel that land.                with stalks of  .flax, she went  :down  ko the  compant-
   The spies were sent out secretly (silently, in the ment below to face the king's deputies. They wanted
original). It is a debated question among interpreters the Hebrews that  ha.d come to her; for they were
whether  th&s silence is to be understood as referring spies. She  dared  not contrsdiat them. She  &id  nob
to the  Canaanites  or to the Israelites or to both. The dare. to deny that men of that description had entered
correct view, it would seem, is  ahis: The congregation her house, ,W she feared that the ,king had (been  too
as a whole was kept in ignorance until the spies had well informed. The denial would arouse suspicion;
fulfilled their mission.    This precaution had to be and the house would be searched. So she sent tihem
taken with a view  ,to the enemy, who might have on a wild  _ goose-chase.             "True," she  sCd to  It,hem,
learned of the matter  a111 too soon, had it been un- "there did come ;to me men, but I wist not whence they
timely  publish&,  as the  di&mce between the encamp- were", `and, certainly', she meant to say, `it WWI not
ment  ,of the  Israelit~es  and Jericho was small. Cer- my business to find out. The men are no longer here.'
tainly, the good news of the break-down of the mor- "It so happened that, about the time of the shutting
ale of  the.  Canaurnites  was  cot withheld from the of ithe gate, they left. Whither they went, I know not.
people after the return of th*e spies.                     Pursue after them  quickIy;  for ye  sh&l overtake
   Did the spies walk the streets of Jericho and theme." The woman was taking her life in her own
lrningle  with the inhabitants and if 6x0 how did they hands. And this for the Hebrews? It  could be ex-
succeed in hiIdling their identity? Had they disguised pected  &at her word would be `doubted, the house
themselves? But their `speech and the mould if their thoroughly searched, and the hiding  placee  of the
fe:atures would betray them. Perhaps they  avoided         spies discovered. In this case she would be  put to
showing themselves in public places and, knowing of death as  a traitor to the cause of her people. The
Rahab,  m,ade straight for her home along the side spies, if  they overheard her reply, must have  mar-
streeb  imm~ediately  upon entering the city. For the velled.
notice in the narrative is to the effect that they went       But, strange to say, the king's deputies believed
IXK& came into a harlut's  .house, named Rahab, and the woman. The only satisfying explanation is that
lodged there and that it was evening when they arrived it was of the Lord.
(Jos. 2 53). The tmen were doing what they could              With the king's deputies well on their way and
to avoid detection. Rahab's house stood on the out- before the apies laild ithem down, i.e., retired for `the
skirts of *the city near the wall.                         night, the woman came up to ithem on the roof. She
   But ,desp%te this precaution, the two were seen and made  !to them a  won'derful  revelation of the inmrd
rec.ognized  for what they were--Hebrew  spi,os who had state of her mind and heart; and it explains all. From
come to *E!wiurch  out the country. Their presence in the her speech we learn that the redeeming grace of God
city, and also their hiding-place was reported ,to the     haA reached into that pagan Icommunity  and had drawn
king.                                                      out a harlot and her  %tily.


  466                                   T*HE  S T A N D A R D  BEA.RER

         The woman had heard how Jehovah hind tdu-ied  up         It was accompanied by works, by fruits worthy of
  th.e  Walter of the Red Sea for His people when they repentance. She received the spies with  Peale  an,d
   came out of Egypt and what He did to Sihon and Og delivered1  them from the hand of the king's *deputies.
  east of the  Jo&am. These  ,kings were utterly  destroy-        For she loved Godls people. James makes a point of
  ecli. Having  :heard,  the woman was afraid. Having this in his epistle. `Lihwise dso was ndt: Rahab the
  heard, she knew that `the dehovah  of the Hebrew3 is            harloit  justified by works, when she received the mes-
  the God  iqn  heaven  above, and  im earth  benealth.  She      sengers, and  it;hrust  them out another way? For as
  knew that He had given His people the land, that He             the body without the spirit is dead, so faith rwithout
' had promised and that the promise would be fulfilled.           works is  dead/ (Ja. 2  :25, 26). Then, she had the
  But  <her countrymen were  afraitti  too. Their hearts, spies sware to her that  tiey save her alive-her  m,d
  as well las her theart.,  melted because 08 Jehovah and         her family. She would have  puit in a plea for all
  because of the amazing  miliitary  successes of His             her countryme;n,  had they no& continued d,efiant.  She
  people.     And they, too, knew, as well as she, that           vvas no hater of humanity, but  QI penitent sinner who,
  as to the Jehovah of the Hebrews, He is the God, and            under the constraint of her living faith, was forsaking
  th&, it was therefore useless to oppose Him  ia His her abominations and quitting the world as represented
  purpose. They were as paralyzed by fear as was she.             by Jericho !to be join& Ito God's people. Once incor-
  Yet, ishe received the spies wi'lh peace and thus sur- porated in the commonwealth of Israel, her E&th did
  rendered to the Jehovah of  !t,he Hebrews  andr cast her- not cease. It abided and continued to flower so con-
  self upon :His mercy. They, on the other hnmd, holding spicuously, iit must have been, that, :seeing her faith,
  the truth in unrighteousness, persecuted the spies, and         a godfearing Jew took her to him'for his wife; and
  thus continued ito defy ,and' make war wilth the living she became  ithe  ancesltress  of  Dbavid, king of Israel.
  God and His people to the very end. Thus, (to try to            "For he is  not a Jew, which is one  outwandly. . . .
  account for the reactions and `behavior of this woman           But he is a Jew which is one inwardly" (Ram.  2 :28,
  by appealing to her terror of soul isr to be at a loss how 29).
  to  explain  Itie reacitions  and beh!avior  of her country:       Her `lying to the pagan's king's deputies  i&s!, of
  men. She differed from them in this respect that                course, to be denounced. But, one may ask, what was
  there operated in her a principle of aew life. Ovor-            the woman to ado, if she might not deliver ithe spies?
  looking this, refusing to take account  09 it, we cannot        She might  no% lie ; but neither was she obliged to tell
  explain her at all ;  an,d she remains a  connundrum.           the deputies that she ha& the Hebrews in ,her house.
  She, in `distincition from !t:hem, #had faith, true, roving     She could have kept silence  and left the consequences
  faith,  w,hose   essense  is love of God and His people         to God. Under no circumstances may God's people
  an'd thus also necessarily hatred of His enemies, of r,esorting  to lying. If /the choi,ce is between  ,lying or
  the world, of Jericho, Babylon, of sinful flesh and             dying, we must choose to die. She sinned when she
  the devil. "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not lied ; confessing *her sin, she  va)sisI f,orgiven. It was by
  with them th& believed not-mark you, that believed faith that she  recived the spies with peace, hid them,
  no&when she had received the spies with peace"                  and let them down by a chord through the window.
   (Heb.  11:13), And to say that her faith was God's             But it was not: by faith  thalt she lied. Nowhere is it
  gift is to end with her reactions an.d Ibehavior  solely taught us in the Scriptures that a man lies, can lie,
  in God. As  with all phenomena, so with the pheno- by faith.
  mena with which we now deal,-we must end with                      But it is to be remembered in this connection that
  them in God or  [they continue  1t0 baffle us, continue to there is a vast difference  ebdt,ween lying  aad lying,
   defy every  &tempt  on our part to  Csatisfactorily  ex-       between sin  an,d sin. There is a  sin that  52 not for-
   plain them. To say  [that she believed of herself as given.  :
  driven by dread is again to be at a loss how to explain            And how are we to judge about her patriotism?
   the unbelief of  ithe others. They were as much afraid She turned again& her own people, didn't she? Christ
   as she. God ,hthd  mercy on her ; and {the others He has something to say about this. "If a man come to
  sovereignly hardened, as it was His purpose to ,destroy         me,  an,d hate not his  fialther,   and mother, and wife
   them.     Why bring  rthis in here, someone may ask. and  chibdrren,  and  brethlren,  and sisters yea, and his
   If  ~God Himself makes a point of it, in connection with own life  also7 he cannot be my disciple" `(Luke 14 :26).
  the conquest of Canaan (Jos. li :19sq.),  should we keep The worZd  says, My mother and brother, my country-
  silence? Dont we love God?                                      man, right or wrong. This, according  Itao the world,
         The woman  confessied  with her mouth the Jehovah is patriotism. But it is  od:  uf  Ithe devil. God says,
   of the H,ebrews,  the Lord Jesus. Nebuchadnezzar did           Mother and brother and country o~l'y when right. Me
   likewise and perished in his sins (Dan. 3  :39 sq) . But oynly shalt thou love.  Bieside  me thou shalt desire
   Rahab confessed the Lond~ Jesus unto salvation; and nothing at .all.            The  Canaani\tes  were wrong. They
   v&h her heart she believed unto righteousness. For were pitted againat  God. They ha:d to be hated and
   she had faith; and her faith was ndt (dead  but living.        forsaken. Rahab did so by faith.         G. M. 0.


                                     :TlHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          469

    Wlant God had hen lief met een eeuwige  liefde.          And let me first try to show you what things Scrip-
    Gods wegan zijn vlak. Die door de vlakke vclden ture ascribes to the heart.
 rijdt: Zijn naam is Heer der Heeren!                            We adduce a few passages first which show that
    De  Koningen  der goddeloozen zijn  sid'derencle  ge-    the heart of man is the organ, the center of his life.
 vlucht  ; ze zijn door God gegrepen en omgekomen ; Not the mind or the will but very definitely the heart
doch  Israel is verlost, werd sneeuwwit als op Zalmon. is the center or the hub around which the whole of
    Ismel is gerechtvaardigd geworden.                       life is organized. In 1 Sam. 1:13 we read that "Han-
    Ze werden  sneeuwwit al13 op Zalmon.                     nah spake in her heart". Her lips moved, but her voice
    Hoe is dat  tech zoo gekomen?                            was not heard. Being pressed for an explanation she
    Luistert: Er was een onderling in  Iden  hemel  die answers that she is a woman of a sorrowful spirit and
aan Johannes vroeg of hij het wist wie die menschen          pouring out her soul  befor  the Lord. Notice that a
tech  waren  met hunne lange witte kleederen. Wel, sorrowful spirit was pouring out its grief through  the
Johannes wist bet niet. Hij  amtwoordde  dien ouder-, soul, but that this all was going on in the heart. Very
ling zeggende: Heere, gij we& het !                          beautifully you find this same thought in Prov.  14:10,
    Toen antwoordde ldrie onderling en zeide : Dezen zijn ,but then you must read it in the Hebrew. In the Eng-
bet die uit de groote verdrukking komen ; en .zij hebben lish you read, "The heart knoweth his own bitterness."
hunne lange kleederen gewasschen en hebben hunne In the origina  you read, "The heart knoweth the bit-
bange kleederen w-it gemaah$  in bet bleed  des Lams!        terness of his soul." Showing you the heart as being
    Later lezen we in dezelfd~e  Openbarmg  van Johan-       the bathysphere of our life, thatwhich lies below, un-
nes: "Want de bruiloft des Lams  is gekomen, en Zijne der, at the bottom of our life, so much so that the heart
. vrouw heeft zich bereid. En haar is gegeven dat zij can speak of "its soul." Again, in II Sam. X4  :1 Joab
bekleed worde met rein en  blinkend  fijn lijnwaad perceives that David's heart "was toward Absalom."
 (denkt  aan ldie duif met goud bekleed) ; want dit fijn Here it is evident that the-heart is the center of pa-
lijnwnad zijn de rechtvaardigmak~ngen  der heiligen." ternal love and affection. The heart loves. The Lord
    Als God zoo wonderlijk we&t, als Hij geweldig is God claimed that affection when He commanded that
in Zijn goedertierenheid  over het elleadige  Israel, zul- we shall love. the Lord with all our heart. Again, in
 Ien wij dan niet psalmzingen?                  G. V.        1 Sam.  24:5 we read that, "David's heart smote him",
                                                             and there the heart is idemified  we might say with
                                                             what we commonly call the conscience. When we read
                                                             of Lydia's conversion we read," Whose heart the Lord
                                                             opened that she attended to the things spoken by
                                                             Paul." Here the opened heart makes possible a mind
 The Concept Heart In Scripture which perceives and attends to, the opened heart gives
                                                             spiritual interest, attention and perception.      Again,
                                                             in Prov. 2l:l it is said that the king's heart is in God's
  The heart of man is deep. Its depth challenges but hand. The king's heart is synonomous to his inten-
at the 1:arn.e  time defies description.    It has  dlepths tions, aspirations and plans. While in  Eccl.  8:ll it
which no man can sound and which no pen, however speaks of a heart which is "Fully set in them to, do
ready, can fathom.                                           evil;" where the heart is the organ of determination.
    Only  #God knows the heart. He knows all hearts             These and other such passages convince us how
and He only knows all hearts.                                much the heart is the center of all our lives, the center
    Inasmuch as only God knows the hearts, we will of our sub-conscious life, of perception, of emotion,
not turn to the medicos and surgeons for a descrip- of affection, intellectual and volition life.
tion of the heart, but we shall have to turn to God and         If therefore the heart be evil, all these faculties
His Word. We surely cannot turn to the philosophers are evil.
and modern educators, since they dwell much on the              But this brings us to the second general description
mind and the will but do not seem to realize that there with which Scripture supplies us concerning the heart.
is such a thing as the heart. Rationalism (and  Pel- `That is, that the heart is abo the fountain of our life.
agianism) separate mind  Il.nld will from the heart. Ra- It is not only the cent&r, it is also the fountain.
tionalism, striving as it does to reach the arena of            Especially evident is that when in Prov. 4 :23 God
"pure thinking" has erased the word heart from its tells us that "Out of the heart are the issues of life."
categories. Neither even can we rely on what seems Issues here are the outgoing things, the things which
to be experience,' for we would say, "I think Iwith the reach the surface and flow out into active, personal,
mind" (or the head) but Scripture would soon enough social life. These things were incubated as it  we,re in
refute us and tell us that we think with the heart, the heart, they found their fountain in the heart. `This
not with the head.                                           matter is further explained in Maitt.  15:X9 where we
    So we mwt turn to God Who lin~w the head, are told that "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts"


  470                                     TQE  STANDAR'D   B ' E A R E R

  Not the mind but the heart is the fount&a.                       ter of our life, renewing it and stimulating it with
  And the heart issues forth through  and under  t&  `the glorious life of Him Who was raised from the
  direction of  th*e mind. The mind  gives  direction  bet dead.
  the heart is the fountain. In  Matt. 12 :34 it is, "O.it            And lastly, although the h&art  is principly renewed,
  of the abundance of the heart the  morlth  speake&"              the emotions of the flesh @ill remain in us, the ruts o
  Not only the mind but also the mouth is fed by and               sin cut deep through mind and will, and it shall be a
  supplied  by~the issues of the heart. In that.same  vein constant conflict for the newness of heart to express
  it speaks of the, "Thoughts of many  Jlearts" (Luke itself in a mind which thinks  God's thoughts and  a
  2:25) and tbe "Secrets of the heart" (Ps. 44 :21). will which desires His will.
  Rather interesting also to notide  that one of the Heb-             Inasfar as, by grace, we arrive at that newness,
  rew words for the concept "thought" (Sarah) means there comes  ,also peace  of heart.
  literally "to extend or  st.r,etch  out," perhaps like a            And sometime when we awake, tyb shali be satis-
  branch.      Our thoughts protrude like a branch,  b;it  fied with His image,
  they spring from the tree. So the thoughts spring                                                               M. G.
  from the heart. In that sense it is true that as a mag                            .,
  is in his heart, so will his thoughts be.
     Thus then the heart is the fountain of our lives.
     Perhaps in connection with and as qualifiaation of
  this last statement Scripture also emphssizes  that al-
  though the heart is a fountain it is nerertheless  not               A Reply to Rev.  `C, Hanko
  original. For in John  13:2 we read "The devil hav-  '
  ing put into Judas'  ,hfasrt to betray  J,estis."  There is
  thus a  pow,er behind the heart, a power which can Dear Mr. Editor,
  influence the heart and pour incentives in&o its trea-              WiIl you allow me to reply to the article of Rev.
  suries.     But in Rev. 17  :17 we read that "God hath           C. Hanko ca;ppearlng  in ithe July 1 issue of your- paper?
  put into the hearts of peoples and  nat.ions  to fulfil
  His will." There God reserves for Himself alone the                 We seem (to be getting a little closer to Ian under-
  glory of unquestioned sovereignty over all hearts and staading on  the strike questian. At l,east  it seems to
I also the king's hearts are in the Lord's hands as be well unders&ood  now that the C.L.A. t3oes pot ap-
  streams of water, He can bend them at will.                      prove of the strike as commonly conceived of, with
         Finally Scripture describes that heart as it has be- its accompanying violence,  eke. It was beosuse of the
  come through sin. In Jer. 1'7:9 the heart of natural             presentation a21 if the C.L.A. did approve of that, in
  man is said b be "deceijt'ful and deadly." Ezek. 11:19           spite of my repeated assertions to the  conikrary,  that I
  speaks of i:t as "stony" elsewhere as "hardened" and complained.                If my complaint has'  mnrde  that clear
  perverse. Signifying that the heart, both as the cen- I have made my point.
  ter and the fountain of our lives is evil and thoroughly            `Lt was  noit my intention to infer that Rev. Hanko's
  corrupt.  And out of that unclean  treasury  come all sympathies are wiith  the capitalists.                But, his con-
  manner of unclean thoughts, actions, decisions  aed tinuous emphasis upon the  Tights   of the employer and
  desires. Not only our sins but our sinfulness brings (the duties of the employee could  easily lead one to
  down upon us the wrath of Him who commands pure that conclusion. No, we must not proceed from the
  hearts.                                                          principles of the  Iclass struggle. Far from it.  Buit,,
         In conclusion a remark or two might be beneficial.        does Rev. C. Hanko realize that such a presentation
         If our perversion lay only in our intellect or  volun-    as he has repea:tedly  given intensifies that struggle?
  taEl,  educiation,  discipline and environment might effect It is the one-sided emphasis which  ,does  that.  Thud
  improvement in man's conduct. But the heart, which there is class  contflict no one can  #deny.   3:s solution
  is deeper than intellect and will, cannot be touched.            is not found in setting the rights of the one over
  One may pull some obnoxious weed fruit off the twig, against the  other,  but  In recognition of the rights and
  even sa*w off the branch, but the tree remains. So it duties of both. Thus justice can  lbe  atitaine&  And,
  is with the heart of man. It remains an evil fountain. the use of  ithe  ,right to refuse to continue to work
  Until God in His grace brings about, through Christ,             under unjust can,ditions  is not an  illegiitimate  means
  new hearts, or, as stated in 1 Chr. 28  :9 "Perfect heart by which to secure jusitice.
  and willing mind." When that heart of man is made                   I  ,do not sac bow I beclouded the issue in any  w~s,y.
  perfect, the mind becomes willing, the  intelEect  be- Certainiy I did not accuse Rev. C. `Hank0 of denying
  comes enlightened and the desires become purified. the  Eiovereignty  of God over all things. However, it
  It is then that the tenth commandment begins to find is not  ah  la11  cl,ear to me  thtit the brother proceeded
  fulfilment in God's people. In regeneration God's from that vantage point, and the  sccounts<bility  of em-
  wonderful grace reaches  down  to the fountain  and ten- ployers and employees to Ggd, in arriving at an appeal


                                      "T,HE  STANDAkD  BE-ARER                                                          471

to the fifth commandment in  condeming  ithe strike. I to injustice,  not because of his Christian confession
rather rthimk  it was his one sided emphl&s  upon the          bit because of the sinful use of the economic power
rights (authority)  of the  e:mployer,  and  Ihe duties        oif the  employe-r,   is made to  suffer.    An,d, lest  1 be
(subondbination)  of the employee which led him to misun,derstood,  that is not lthe kind of suffering which
i&hat appeal.                                                  Christians ane exhorted rto submit to i:n the texts so
    Just a little more on the strike  que&on. I wish of,t.en quoted by Re,v. Hanko and others. But, geOting
we could  fi,nd another word for it. The word  "&sike"         back to the employer's siede of t*he problem, what a-
as used in our day ,has an ugly sound. BecJLuse  of the bout him*? What would happen to an employer of a
misuse of the strike by unchristian unions the term            few hundred men, if all @rt once ,they all quilt: and re-
has acquired a meaning that  izi  revo1t:ing.    The Dutch     fused to return?  Hia business  would be ruined.  Irt
term "staking" or "werkstatking" is much milder. woubS take him many mon.ths, if not years, to break
It merely in&i&es the cessatiom of work. The C.L.A. in a YMXV crew of workers. Isn'it it much more Chris-
Iaccepts  the right of the "staking"  ,withoult   *he bad tian to recognize rights, duties and moral obligations
implication of  ,the strike.    Such cessation of work on  boith si,des, land fto work for a sol&on tiivt will be
would not be approve3  of unless there was a r;eal in- just for both, even though it inay not be entirely in
justice and until  everyithing  within reason had  bee?        .zu=lzordance  with ithe unjust will of one of them?
done  lto secure justice by other means. It would have            I am convintied  t,hat it iin a mistaken conception of
to be entirely peaceful. There  could be no  interfer-         property rights and of authority of ,the employ& that
enoe with the righit  of others to work. And the em- Ieads Rev. Hanko to wrong  conclusipns.  Although
ployer would~ have the right ito hire others. But the his statements in his last articIe are more carefully
employees who had ceased to wok, in pratz&.  against worded Ith!%n  in a previous one they are still basically
an injustice, would have the right to acquaint pros- the same. Rev. Hanko sulllig up his stand as follows:
peotive  new employees #with  their grievances :and by "That the employer has the right  !to his personal prop-
such moral persuasion try to influence them  not to erty and the free use of it, without o&side  interfer-
interfere  with their legitimate pursuit of  ju&ice.           ence. That he has the moral right  ito continue pro-
That is the 1C.L.A. stand.                                     duction by calling in &her help when his men refuse
    Allow  me to explain  also  what we mean by a ;to work. And that he has the right it,0 decide on the
moral claim on a job. When  em.ployees  have  ceatised         insrges of his employees without being forced to a
working in the manner approved by the  C.L.4.  2, &&sion against his will by ,his workmen." The ontly
would be because they tiere  forced to do so by the in- responsibility in lthe use of property which Rev. Hanko
ju&ice  of the employer. We take the position that if recognizes is aozountability  :to God. But, when thait is
they have  sough*  what was  rassonable  and just, if used as a (basis for human  responsibility in steward-
their demands were fair and the employer was well ship, in the ysie of property, he is nat free to use it
able to fulfill itshem,  and he in spite of that. persists in as he pleased to do! Surely the demand to love  one's
the imposition of injustice through his control of `the neighbor implies  (that one's  properiky  must be used
means of production, the employer is using his power in  the  in:t.erest  of fellowmen too; that the blessings
of control to force his  W@LS~  will  upo"~~ them. Em- derived from those possessions must be shared by
ployees who refuse :to continue to work un'der duch  a them? A man who owns a factory is not justified in
cuadition  have a rightful  monaI claim  ito their job. shutting  iit down, thereby  subjeating hundreds  ,of
An,d i;t is in accor,danc;e  with labor laws too. The Na- people to poverty, simply because  a:n excess  profit  up-
tional Labor Relations Act in some cases even recog- on his investment  iis denied him ! Nor is he jus't'ified
nizes a legal claim. If lain employer is guilty of an un- in withholding from his employees for his own per-
fair,  unLwfu1  labor practice, and the employees strike sonal gain ,that ,to which they are ju&ly entiltle&  When
as a result, the National Labor Relation Beard can such unchristian  pracitices   `are known outside  inter-
order the employer 90 pay the em@oyees  for time lost ferenoe to  m!ake  him do what the  law of God demands
whilte striking as a result of his unlawful practice. concerning  his  dtities  toward  hiis neighbors is not
We can not see ,anything  unchristian in It&&.                 only justifiable butt imperative.
   There is still an&her angle to that problem. , It              Even  .the statement that the employer has  sthe
is  *this: we believe  thait employees who cease working moral right to engage other help in ease of a strike
because of injustice, and who have laid down certain           is very debateable. It all depea%.  If :tihe strike is an
conditions under which they will return rto their jobs, unjust one, yes, not onIy itthe mors:l but also the legal
are monally obligated to hol,d themselves available to right. But, iif ,the &ike was caused by the employer's
the employer for return  !when  itheir  just demands are unjust practices, NO. Then bs has not the moral right
m,eit,. Telling people to quit, with no strings  atltached,    ito hire others in order thereby to be able to con!t.inue
and without recognition of moral claims or obliga- his sinful  practilzes. He might then still have the
tions, h not the solution. The employee who cannot legal right,  buit the moral right?, never !
find an&her job, and  whv  is thus forced  to  submilt           And why should anyone, in vur day, still contend

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

  that only the `employer  hr,s the right to  determine Church.               With the greater freedom and privileges
  what his  worken?  wage shall be? Why  shouS3   that which the centuries have brought  grealker  respg::si-
  be his exclusive right because he owns the means of bililties  have  come to us. In many ways it is much
  production?  Don% the employees own their ability more difficult  to be a Christian today  thzlsa it  was
 `to work, their skill, their brains to use their  &ilI?         1900 years ago. The only way in which we can do
  Isn'it that just as important? Why then should  ht be what God requires is by giving full re:cgnition  lo the
  the olnly one to <determine  what the wages of the em- great changes in  the social relationships and then  2(p-
  ployees shall be? The enswer will be, I suppose, that          plying the principles of the Word of God to them.
  he has the right it.0 offer a wage and they can take it Those principles are found in the  ful~fillmen~  of the
  or leave irt. That's the old  capiitalistic  argument. B;lt basic law which  chnam8ds  that we love our neighbor
  it is not fair, unless the wage is just :a.nd sufficient.      as ourselves. Employer& and employees are neigh-
  And the trouble has always been that generally  il bors.
  was not. And the (workers, who had to have  `work,                Finally, I believe we could use our time much
  coubcfi take  ijt or starve. Thank God that:  15 change has better  than in an academic, abstract  &scussion of `the
  been brought about in that thoroughly unchristian strike  quest&on.                That is not going to be the big
  system.  There is the danger, of course, that organ-           problem of the future for us. Our problem will be,
  izations will go too far the &her way,  aed  demand            how we as  Christhians  will be able to continue to work
  w,hat is unfair. The C.L.A. condemns  th& too. But wilthout affiliation  utith sinful organizations.                     The
  if an employer offers an unfair wage, we believe that solution of that problem iwill require the full support
  the workers have the right to use every fair aad law- of all who desire to be loyal to the Christ.
  ful means to bring him to  :terms,  and  ,to use legitimate     Thank you, Mr. Editor, for granting me this privilege.
  pressure to make him do what is right. That is not                                         J. Gri'tfer,  Sec'y C.L.A.
  extortion. Nor is it insubordination.
     What then of the employer's authority? Ju& what
  authority  Idoes he have? That's  ,t.he question. Here
  is the answer: He has the right to exercise authority
  wi!thin the bounds of law and justice.         That's all.
  Certainly, he may determine what to manufacture.                              NOTICE,  CONSISTOR\IES
  He has the authority to require a just day's work for
a just day's wage. No more. He  has the right to                    Classis West, of the  Prot&ant Reformed Cddrches,
  hire and fire so long as it is done justly. But when will meet in the regular tsession,  in Rock Valley, Iowa,
  `the employer uses his posiition  as owner of the means the first Wednesday of  Se@. 9 o'clock, D. V. Those
  of production to misuse authority opposition to such desiring lodging will please contact the Rev: l?. `Vis.
  misuse is not insubordination.        Sometimes it is a
  goold  thing to make a man do something (against his                                    M. Gritters, Stated Clerk
  will, K his will is bent toward doing whait is wrong.
  The results.  (will be good both for him and his em-
  ployees.
      In  conn,lusion I would like to suggest that more
  attention be given to employer-employee relationships
  as  th.ey dare ttaught  throughouii the Bible, instead of                            IN MEMORIAM
  pointing rto the master-serPg,nt-slave  relationship pre-
  valent among members of the early Christian Church.               The consistory of the First Protestant Reformed church of
  What about the relationship between Abraham and Grand Rapids hereby wishes to express its sympathy to our
  his  servan,ts; between Boaz and his workers;  wh3 brother elder J. Miedema in the loss of his brother.
  do  th,e Mosaic laws teach concerning such  relation-             May the God of all  grace'  comfort our brother and his
  ahips? Aren't there clear indrica;t.ions  in the. Parables family in this their bereavement.
  of Christ  t,hat ithe hiring of free men was then not un-                                       Rev. R. Veldman, Pres.
  known? Didn't Jesus use an  illustraltion  the  appar-                                            H.  Meulenborg,  Clerk
  en,tly well known picture of a landlord agreeing with
  fr.ee men to  (work for him at a certain rate?. There
  are principles  laid  down throughout the Scriptures
  ithat ought to be well recognized. The main  poixtt is
  this: that we live as  Christians  in the particular  ie-                               NOTICE
  la'tionship  in which God has placed us. That means
  an entirely diff,erenit attitnd>e  toward employers of our         As is customary, The Standard Bearer wa.s not pub-
  day  thqn toward masters of  the  ,days  af the  early !isb&  July  15,  a~rd  wi!Z.  not  be published August  15.
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