L                                                                  _.....     _     _     _     -         T H E   XTANbAtiD  B E A R E R
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                                             EDITOR - Rev. H. Hoekaema

           C!ontributing  editors--Revs. J.  Blankespoor, A. Cammenga,                                                                                                              Fermit  me to  cont'inue   my  quotation  from "The
           P. De Eoer, J. D. de Jong, H. De Wolf, L. Doezema,                                                                                                             Gospel," to demonstrate how little ground' Van Til
           M.  Gritters,   C.  Hanlco,  B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G.  M. Ophoff,                                                                                               has for his indictment that I really make God the
          A. Petter, M.  Schipper, J.  Vanden Breggen,  If. Vehiman,
           R. Veldman,  I;. Vermeer, P. Vis,  .G. Vos, Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                                                   Subject of man's obedience or disobedience:
                                                                                                                                                                                   "What then is the fallacy of Heyns' reasoning?
           Communications relative to contents should be addressed                                                                                                       When, on our Tart, we deny the doctrine' of the two
           to  REV.  H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St.,  S; E., Grand                                                                                                       wills,   we  deny the theory  that God can  will two exact
           Xapids,  Michigan.                                                                                                                                            opposites  i-n the  same sense  and with respect to tie
          Communications relative to subscription should be ad-                                                                                                          same objects. This is wlhat Heyns teaches. He claims :
          dressed to MR. R.  SCHAAFSMA,  1101  Haven  St., S. E.,                                                                                                        1. Gpd wills that all men shall be saved. 2. God does
          Grand Rapids,  Mich.   All Announcements and Obituaries
          muat be sent to the above address and will not be placed                                                                                                       not will that all men shall be aved. These two pro-
          unless the regular fee of $1.00 accompanies the notice.                                                                                                        posi%ions in that form represent nonsense pure and
                                                  Subscription $2.50 per year                                                                                            simple. I even claim that no one can accept both pro-
                                                                                                                                                                         positions. There is no faith th'at can embrace them.
                 Eme,.ed   u  second   clam   mail   a t  
                                                                                          Grand   R a p i d s .  
                                                                                                                                        Mkhipsn                          I do not hesitate to assert that Heyns himself does not                    I
                                                                                                                                                                         believe them. P,s scan as he declares-thaiz  he believes
                                                                                                                                                                         the first  proposition,  he thereby already asserted
                                                                                                                                                                         that he does not believe the second proposition.
                                                                                    -                                                                                                                                                     HiTw-
                                                                                                                                                                         ever, in order to make these two cont'radictory  pro-
                                                                    CONTENTS                                                                                             positions somewhat acceptable, Heyns explained the
                                                                                                                                                       Page              first will of God, according to which He wills that all
     AMEDITATIE                                                                                                                                                          men shall be sat-d as a longing or desire  onI the part
          VERLOST JERUZALEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1                    of God, the second as decree. God desires that all
                 `Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                       -men shall be saved, but in view of the  fact that some-
                                                                                                                                                                         thing interfered from without to frustrate this  d.esire,
     EDITORIALS  -                                                                                                                                                       God decreed to save the elect only. And thus Heyns
          COMMON GRACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~.................................................. 4 `destroys God's decree! Heyns' God is not God! But
                 Rev.  g. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                       what  dws he do? IHe, argues : if you deny the two
          THE CHRISTIAN REF.- SYNOD ON LABOR UNIONS....  5                                                                                                               wills in .God,  you must abo deny the vaIidity  of God's
                                                                                                                                                                         commandments. And what is his error? This, that
                 Rev..  H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                      intentionally or unin`ozntionally,  he overlooks the dif-
          EXPOSITION OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM...... 6                                                                                                                 ference between -God's will of decree and His ethical
                 Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                       w i l l . The argument Heyns  -ascr?bes  to us runs as
                                                                                                                                                                         follows: 1. God wills (according to His decree) that
          THE  REINOUS  SIN OF ACHAN . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10                                          someone commits murder. 2. God therefore wills (ethi-
                 Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                                       cally)  murder., 3.  #God cannot  bre serious about the
          PSYCROPANNYCHIA OR THE THEORY OF THE                                                                                                                           sixt!h commandment. Now, we never taught anything
          SOUL SLEEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 like this.    Such a thing could never arise in the mind
                                                                                                                                                                         of any Reformed man. Nor is this Iogic, it is sqphis-
                 Rev. R.  Veldman                                                                                                                                        try. The error is that Heyns' tries to introduce  &s
          CURRENT EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15      dualistic presentation of the will of God  into our
                 Rev.  J. A. Heys                                                                                                                                        argumentation, and then ascribes his erroneous con-
                                                                                                                                                                         clusion to us.
          HYMN SINcGING IN PUBLIC WORSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16                                                                               But we do not argue this. Our argumentation runs
                 Rev.  P. Vis
            ~                                                                                                                                                            as follows :
          AUTHOR OF THE EIPISTLE TO THE' HEBREWS . . . . . . . . . . 18                                                                                                            l., God willed eternally, sovereignly the coming and
                 Rev. B..  Kok                                                                                                                                           occurrence of  t/hat which He  h%tes (the  einner  and
                                                                                                                                                                         sin) ; and that, toa, in order that His righteousness
                                                                                                                                                                         and h@qq might become manifest as hatred of sin.


                                              T H E '   S T A N D A R D  BEARERj,   :  s                                          5
           God's counsel is not dualistic, but antithetical. Even
           as God therefore knew His own eternally in love, so          Trhe Christian Reformed Synod on
           He eternally knew ,and knows with a sovereign hate
           of His good pleasure the reprobates. In His counsel                        the Labor :Unions l
           the elect  ore known, ordained, called, justified and
           glorified. In His counsel the reprobates are rejected,         Let us consider the first point of the principles
           fsllen, lost, cast into outer darkness. What occurs in adopt,ed  by the last synod  of the Christian Reformed
           time, God has eternally before Himself and with Him- Churches on the Unions. We quote it here again:
           self.    Eternally He loves Jacob, eternally He hates          `Church membership and membership in a so-call-
           Esau.     God therefore, hates the ungodly and their ed nutral labor union (CIO  and AFL) are compatible
           works eternally ! For, and this it is that Heyns con- as long as such union gives no constitutional  warr2nt
           stantly forgets: God is GOD!                               to sin, nor shows in its regular activities that it. cham-
               2. When, therefore, the ungodly, in committing sin, pions sin."
           exemtes God's decree, then he pexform$,,  as rational-         Now we may pass in silence, or at least just men-
          moral creature, willingly and consciously, that whdch       tion in passing, some of the minor objections that may
           God  hates. (Van Til ought to pay special attention to be raised against this "principle." The Synod here
     *    this, that he may revise his opinion, and correct his leaves the impression that a labor union may be neu-
          error. Here, to rbe sure, the ungodly is presented as tral, that is, neither for nor against Christ. It is
          being the responsible subject of his own actions, not       true that it  tiries to save itself by the  qualification-
          God). That he executes the decree of God, does not         "so-called." but the fact that it declares  the possibil-
          alter the fact, that in the execution of that decree he ity of compatibility of church-membership  and uabon-
          does what is in conflict with the will of God, and         membership certainly proceeds from the same assump-
          that which He hlates,  so that he becomes the object Eon. In 1916 Prof. Berkhof, one of the members of
          of God's avenging justice. Thus the Scriptures teach the committee that advised synod to  adopt  the above
          us. When the ungodly Jews crucify Jesus, they fulfill "principle," knew better. He ,then  spoke of "the anti-
          God's counsel, yet do what He hates. Thus Pharaoh Christian character of the  gen.eral labor unions." Then
          was ordained, "raised up" to say "No" to God. And          he directly opposed the stand he now assumes, as is
          as he stands there in Egypt,  so he stands eternally in    evident from the following quotation: "Conditions be-
          the counsel of God, and that, too, in order that God       ing as they are, we can only come to the concmsion
          might show his power in him. And even as God hates that our Christian laborers must organize separately,
          him as he stands in all his ungodly rebellion in Egypt,    if they feel constrained to take an active part in the
          so does God hate him eternally with the sovereign          industrial struggle. We can say this advisedly, not-
          hatred of His good ipleasure  in His counsel.              withstanding the position  re:ently  defended in one of
           " 3. When the ungodly fulfills God's counsel in time, ot?r Church papers that a Christian may join `an or-
          doing that which He hates, God maintains Himself ganization in the sphere of natural life that does not
          over against him, and shows him that He hates him officially name the Word of God, and is therefore neu-
          Ibecause  of His ungodly works, even as He hated him       tral in religion.' For our contention is that the gen-
          eternally in His counsel, and therefore He persists eral labor unions are not neutral and cannot, strictly
          in His demand of that ungodly man: `thou shalt love speaking, be neutral."*               It seems to me that  Prof.
          Me and keep my commandments.' And this demand              Berkhof owes it to -God and his conscience, as well
          of the law of God, in which God maintains Himself as to us who listened to him-in 1916, to tell us frank-
          as  th.e Eternal Good, the ungodly also faces as he ly and clearly just how he was converted  so radically
          appears in Go-d's eternal counsel. And this demand to the opposition on so serious a question as this.
          he also `confronts in time.  Icdeed,  it  all is firmly    For a serious matter it is, no doubt, first to point
          established in the sovereign good pleasure of God,         out to the people of God the' Antichrist, and then,
          Who is GOD indeed  !"                                      some twenty five years later, to advise them to join
              Van Til will have to admit that the above  pre-        him because he is "neutral."
_         sentation is quite contrary to what he attributes to           We may also mention just in passing the ambiguity
          us as our view, and that we do not present God as          of the wording of this first "principle," an ambiguity
          the real subject of man's actions. It is true that in that always characterizes the attempt to justify ,the
          the above quotation we do not speak of  obedience,         wrong standpoint or the lie under the cover of main-
          but of disobedience. Principally, however, this mak.es     taining the truth. For, if we take this first  "prin-'
          no difference.    And, besides, there is in the same ciple" literally, it onsly declares that church-member-
          bookleti  of ours on "The Gospel" a paragraph setting ship and union-membership are  compatlirble so long
          forth our view of the relation between God and man's as it involves no sinful act on the part of the church-
          obedience,  whioh we will quote the next time, D. V.       member. And who would not agree with this? But
                                                      H.  H..        *the Christian Laborer in the Industrial Struggle, p. 2%.


r6                                     T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 if this is the meaning of the first point in this de-          ship in the union is approved `by the synod.
 claration of  princ@les,  it says exactly nothing that            Once more: in 1916  Prof.  L. Berkhof virtually
 everybody did not know ,before  the committee made wrote this first point as follows:  "Church-memb.er-
 study of this problem, and it surely says nothing              ship and membership in the general labor unions is
 with regard to the problem the committee was ap- incompatible,  ,because they are anti-Christian, give
 pointed `to investigate: the *character of existing labor constitutional warrant to, sin, and show in their reg-
 unions. B,ut everyone feels, too, that this cannot be          ular activities that they champion sin." One but has
 the meaning of the fi,rst "principle," exactly because to read the pamphlet from which I quoted above to
 the committee was to give advice with respect to the           convince  himseli  of this.
 concrete question of a Christian's membership in the              I ask why the radical swing to the left?
 existing unions. And one feels that the committee                 Prof. Berkhof owes us an answer.  ,I ask him to
 makes a declaration, here with regard to that concrete give it. He once taught us to shun membership in. the
 problem. And herein lies the ambiguity of the state- general  lab'or unions as anti-Christian; now he ad-
 ment.     No one can accuse the committee of having vises us to join them. In 1916 he supported his stand
 literally  declared the compatibility of church-mem- by an abundance of grounds. For his present stand
 bership and union-membership; yet everyone will un- he does not offer a single ground. We would like to
 derstand that this is exactly what the committee here hear them. We are entitled to hear them. We are
 virtually advocates and the synod ad'opted.                    entlitled  to hear from him a refutation of his own
      But this last element in the "principle" adopted arguments offered us in in 1916.
 by the synod we cannot pass in silence. It is all im-             But it is evident that the synod here dealt the
 portant.  &nod  adopt;ed. the "principle" that  church-        death-blow to the Christian Labor Alliance, and that,
 member&ip  and  ,union-membership  are compatible!             too, upon advice of one of its own members, Mr. John
 And this settles the matter as far as the  Christian           Van Vels !
 Reformed churches are concerned. The first and main                                                        IW. H.
 clause of the entire program of "principles" adopted
 by synod is positively in favor of union-membership
 on the part of their own" church memibers. Such is
 the literal wording of the first point:  "Churc,h  mem-
 bership  and membership  6n a so-called neutral labor
 ~rn.ion  (CIO and AFL) are compatible!"
      You object that this is not the meaning of the first
 "principle" because this clause is definitely qualified?          The Triple Knowledge
 But my answer is:
      1. That if the first declaration has any  mean.ing
 at all, and is not a mere commonplace, j:he qualifying          An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
 clause means  that the existing  ,union.s  do not  neces-
 satiy   give "constitutio:nal   u?arrant  to  sin" nor show                        Catechism
 in their  9egular  uctivities"  that they champion sin.
 For if this is not the sense of the qualifying clause,                                PART TWO
 it has no sense at all, and there surely was no earthly                        OF MAN'S REDEMPTION
 sense in adopting it. And exactly because this is the                              Lord's Day VIII.
 sense `of the limiting clause, the main clause stands in                              Chapter III.
 all its sinister meaning  : "Church-membership and
 ,mbership  in a  so-caUed  neutral union are  oompat-                  The Revelation Of The Living God:
 jble!"                                                            The Catechism emphasizes that the doctrine of the
      2. `That! by members of the Christian Reformed holy trinity is known only from. revelation. The
 churches this first *`principle" will be interpreted es-       Church an,d the individual believer speak of Father,
 actly in the sense we here ascribe to it, especially lby       Son, and Holy Ghost, as three persons in t:he divine
 those members that look for the synod's "moral" sup- essence, only "tbecause God hath so revealed himselF
 port for their union-membership. It must: be grant- in his word, th!at these three distinct persons are the,
 ed that this first "principle" declares plainly  that one only true and eternal God." This does not mean
 compa,kibility  of  church-wbembership  and  union-m.em-       that the doctrine of the trinity as suoh,  as a d'ogma,
 hership  are quite possible,  because  t,he condition for      can be found in the  Birble.    The Scriptures. do not
 such  co,mpatibility  (no constitutional  .warrant  to sin,    speak of the trinity, of three persons in one essence,
 etc.)  is presented  os quite  poss,ible.   Hence, the gen-    nor explain the relation of the three persons to one
 eral membership of the Christian Reformed churches another.  It is not a system of  .doctrine from which
 will certainly dra,w  the conclusion that their member-        one may simply quote  literally in order to prove the


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEAR,ER                                                 .7

truth of a certain dogma adopted by the Church.        It glory, I thave formed him, yea, I have made him. . . .
is the revelation of the living God. God came down           Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, an3 my servant
to us to speak to us, on our own level, in language          whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe
we could understand, concerning Himself. And when            me, and understand that I am he : before me there
He  thcs reveals. Himself, speaking of His glorious `was ro God formed, neither shall there be after me.
majesty, His works and virtues, He stands before LIS         I, even I, am the Lord; and beside  ,me there is no
as the triune God, Who is one, yet also three, and Who       saviour. I have declared, and  ha+e saved, and I  h:.ve
through His threeness makes Himself known as the shewed, when there was no strange god among ye:
one, true, and eternal God. And the written record therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I
of that revelation of the living God we have in the          am God. Yea, before the day was I am he: and there
Holy Scriptures. Hence, even though the ready made is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will wc;:k,
dogma of  the trinity is not to be looked for in the and who shall let it?. . . .I am the Lord, your `Holy
Bible, it should not (be  difficuit to demonstrate that      One, the creator of IsraeI,  your King." Isa. 43 :l-14.
"GQd hath so revealed  himself  in his word,  ,that these God is one, Gal. 3 :20; and there is one God and Father
three distinct persons are the one only true an.d eternal    of all, 7n ho is ahove all, and through all, and in you
God."                                                        all, Eph.  4:6.
    Abundantly the Scriptures witness that God is one.           There is, therefore, "one only simple spiritual Be-
In distinction from, and in opposit.ion  to the polythe-     ing, which we call God," and to this  oile Being belong
ism of the heathen nations, Israel must know and con- all the essential divine attributes. Thhis one B,eing is
fess that there is only one God, and that IHe is one         self-existent, infinite, eternal, immutable, transcend-
Lord : "Hear, I Israel : the Lord our God is one Lord." ent and omnipresent, omniscient, all-wise, good, right-
Deut. 6:4. His name is Jehovah, the I AM, the One eous, holy, gracious, merciful, infinitely glorious and
Who exists of and by Himself, the Being of  .beings,         blessed,  ~a11 powerful, the one sovereign Lord. And
the Unchangeable, the Eternal, the infinite  God,            He is one in Himself, so that all His virtues, although
the incomparable Holy One of Israel. He, therefore,          reflected and revealed to us in their manifold riches,
is God alone, for two or more independent Beings,            are one in Him. He is His virtues.  He  is love and
possessing infinite properties, would imply a contra- truth,  knowledge and wisdom and power, righteous-
diction in terms. Hence, without expressly declaring ness and holiness, mercy and grace. Nor is there any
the unity of God, the Scriptures deeply impress the          dsvision or conflict between these vasious  divine vir-
oneness of God upon our minds whenei;er  they speak tues. They are absolutely one, so that His righteous-
of the infinite  attrilbutes  or virtues of God. Hence,      ness is His love, and His mercy & His holiness, and
He is the one God, beside Whom there is none other,          His grace is His truth.      And this one only simple
and Who alone is worthy  of- all praise and adoration,       spiri  t.nal Essence, "which we call God," and Who is
Whose name is excellent in all the earth, and Who            the Incomprehensible, Who  d:elleth  in the light no
set His glory in the heavens, Ps. 8 :l ; Whose glory         man can approach unto, revealed Himself `IS the 0%~
the heavens declare, Ps. 19:l; and Who reveals His           Lord, in order  <that He might be glorified as God,
eternal power and Godhead, in order that men should          and ,be the sole abject of all our adoration and wor-
glorify  Hi'm as God, and be thankful to  IHim, Rom. ship, of all our confidence and hope, that we might
1:20, 21. IAS the one only true God He speaks t.o us know  /Him, have fellowship with Him, and in that
in the singular, and insists that there is no other God      fellowship and adoration of the living God be bless-
beside Him. "I am the Lord thy God" are the in-              ed for ever!
troductory words of the Decalogue, and hence, head-             Yet, it is equally true that Scripture everywhere
ing all the commandments  Stan&s  the first: "Thou           reveals that there is a plurality, a threeness, in this
shalt have no other gods before me." In the prophecy one simple spiritual Being, a threeness that never
of Isaiah the first personal pronoun with reference eliminates or destroys the essential oneness. Even on
to God  oilten  occurs with great  emph&s. "I have the very first patge of Scripture this plurality in the
called thee by thy name ; thou art mine. When thou oneness is plainly indicated: "And God said, Let us
passest through the waters, I will' be with thee. . . ,mfake  man in our image, after  OZL"T  likeness." Gen.
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,           1226. Here, let it be noted : 1. ,God is addressing Him-
thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia self, as is evident from the very contents  o? His
and  Seba for thee. Since thou  wast precious in my          speech: to no one beside Himself could He ascribe the
sight, thou hast *been honorable, and I have loved thee:     work of man's creation or any participation in that
therefore will I giive men for thee, and peorple  for thy iwork;  $2. He is the  [orn'e God speaking: God said ; to
life. Fear not : for I am with thee: I will bring thy which it dare not be objected that the plural form for
seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;           God in the Hebrew (Elohim) implies d plurality. of
I will say to  t.he north, Give up, and to the south,        G,ods,  for the  Hebrow  form of the venb said  (wsjo--
Keep not  `back: , , .for  I have created him for my         mer)  ds in the singular; 3. That, nevertheless, a  plur-

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

ality is ascribed as subsisting in the one divine  ZS- searches all things, even the deep things of God,  I
sence by the  plural pronouns  US and  our.           God is    Car. 2  :lO; and  Ee alone  knolws  the things of God,
one, and His image and likeness are one; yet, He is,            I Cor.  2:ll. He participates in creation, Gen.  13,
in some sense more than one, and that, too, in such             Ps.  83 :6 ; is the Spirit of life, and of the resurrection,
a manner that He is  able to speak to Himself, sug-             Ram., 8  :2, 11; and of the adoption, Rom. 8  :15; the
`gesting  a plurality of  perso.n&   subsistences.              Spirit in whose name, as well as in the name of the
     And thus the Word of God throughout reveals                Father and of the Son, we are Ibaptized, Matt. 28:19,
that Yhe one God .is also more than one, is three in            `and  throuigh  Whom the blessings of grace are be-
persons. The "Angel of the Lord" is Himself God,                stowed upon the Church, II Cor.  13:1X   Moreover,
even though He is also distinct from Him. For this He is not Ian impersonal power, but everywhere He
Angel speaks as God to Hagar in the wilderness:                 appears as a person, Who comforts, John 14  :16;
"I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall            tcC.ches all things, and brings to remembrance the
not  cbe numbered for multitude,  Gen; 16  :lO ; and words of Christ, John 14  :26; reproves the world of
Hagar recognized Him as God, for she "called the sin, righteousness, and judgment, John  16:8;. speaks
name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God  sees:,          not of Himself, but speaks whatsoever He hears,  and
me." Gen. 16 : 13. It is, no doubt, with reference to shews things to come, John 16  : 13; and He works, all
this same Angel of the Lord that we read: "Then the the  sevmal  gifts of grace, dividing  unto every man
Land rained upon Sodom and uipon Gomorrah brim- severally as He will, I Cor. 12  :ll. Indeed, "three
stone and fire from the Lord out of heaven."           Gen. there  a.re  that bear record in heaven, the Father,
19:24. Moreover, we learn from the Scriptures that              the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are
in all His works God reveals Himself as  acting in one," I John 5:7 (A. V.):
threeness of persons. For "by the Word of the Lord                 A profound mystery  is this truth of the trinity.
were the heavens made, and all the host of them by And this need not surprise us, for God Himself is
the Spirit of His mouth," Ps.  83:6.  In calling the            the Mystery of mysteries. We may know  Him as `I-Ie
things that are not as if they were, God speaks crea- has revealed Himself to us, but  b.ehind or beyond that
tively, and in the Gospel according to John Scripture revelation we cannot  possi,bly penetrate. The infinite
comments upon this divine work as folIows:  "In the             depths of His being we can never fathom, the im-
(beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,             mensity of His essence we  c*ln never comprehend,
and the Word was God. The same was in the begin-                the secrets of His nature we can  never  scrutinize.
ning with God. All  thinmgs were made by him ; and              But this does not mean that the do&r&e of the trin-
without him was not anything niade that was made." ity is an absurdity, or that the revelation of the trin-
And, besides, x-e read in Gen. 1:2, that the Spirit: of         ity is contrary to our understanding. We must give
God moved upon the face of the waters. Ps.  11O:l               ourselves account, therefore, of what we mean when
puts the following words in the mouth of the inspired           we say  tblt God is one,  and that He is yet three.
author : "The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at               In what sense -is IGod one, and in what sense is He
my right hand," where David, calls the Christ his three? For that He cannot ibe one and also three in
Lord, Matt.  12:41-45.  In the synagogue of  Nazareth           the same sense is evident. And this question the
the  Saviour  quotes the words of Isaiah 61  :l with            Heidelberg  Cathechism  answers by  stating  that "there
application to Himself: "The  Spirit  of the Lord God           is but one only divine essence," and  thmt yet  the three
is upon me." It is the same Spirit of the Lord that             Persons  are distinct in that divine essence,  .so that
renews the face of the earth. Ps. 104:30.                       Father, Son, and  H~oly Ghost are the one only true
     In the New Testament this threeness in God is and eternal God.
much more clearly and distinctly revealed, for the  So:-!          There is, then, one divine essence: God is one
of God is sent into the flesh, and the Spirit is poure:l        with respect to His Being. There are not three Gods,
out into the Church. And this Son of God is very there is only one God. There are not three divi'ne na-
,God Himself, for  `Yhe Word  was  made flesh,  an3             tures,  *there is only one divine nature. There are not
dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, the glory three divine minds, there is only one divine mind.
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of  graez           Tehere  are not three divine wills, there is (only  one di-
and truth," JLohn  1:14. And He is "the only  begot-            vine will. And it is in Ithat one divine essence and na-
4en God (monogenees theos), which is in the bosom ture that all the divine ,atrtributes  subsist: the one di-
of the Father," John 1  :X8  ; "the true God, and eternal vine essence is the implication of all infinite perfec-
life,"' I John 5 :I$. And He declares of Himseif  that tions. Bult in that one divine being there are three sub-.
He is one in essence with the Father: "I and my                 sistances,  ~hypostases,  persons. And  here three ques-
Father are one (hen, essence)," John  103). And                 tions arise that require an answer in order some-
throughout divine names,. virtues, works, and honors            what to understand the doctrine of the trinity, viz. 1.
are  ascribed   %o  Hiim.    And the  2r:lrn.e  is true of the What is meant by person. 2. What is the relation of
Holy Spirit. He is called God, Acts 5  $3, 4, 9; He             the three persons of the Trinity to the divine  Ee-


                                                                                                        _"     ,._.._
    -      -I    ~._._.     __     -            THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             9

sence?  3. And what is the relation of the three per-                 three ,Fersons subsists in part of the divine essence,
sons of the Trinity to one another?                                   or that the three persons are of different ,nank,  sub-
   What is a  perso.n?                  In man his person is  that    ordinated to one another. That would lead to  tri-
which he caIls his Ego, his I. It is the subject of ail theism, to the  doctrine  of three Gods.  0n the con-
h.s actions, and it remains Ithe same through whatever trary, all the three persons of the trinity subsist in the
chac,ges  he may  pcss, in life or in death. I think,  I whole divine essence, and equally possess all the es-
desire, I will, I sI;eak, I see, I hear, I eat and drink, I sential properties  of. the Godhead. All are equally
rejoice and sorrow, I love and hate, I sing and weep, I infinite, eternal,  innnutable,  almighty, wise, and good.
suiier and die, and  I $%rn raised from the dead. In all If I may express myself thus humanly, all the three
these  actions and experiences my persoh  is the sub- persons live and act on .the same plane of ,the infin-
je. t that performs and experiences, and that remains itely perfect Being of God. The Father is not the
the same throughout. From infancy to old age we                       chief Gc3, the Son God in a secoadary  sense, auld the
ptlss through many changes, yet we know quite well                    H,oly  Spirit in a still more subordinated sense of the
that we  remamed  the same individual subjects.  In- word. These three distinct persons are equally the
death the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved,              one true and eternal God!
yet it is the same person that passes through death,                     And so,' the relationship' of the three, persons of
and into his eternal home.  IA person, then, is the                   the Holy Trinity to one another is such that He is
subjfect of all actions and experiences in a rational,                the living God, and that He lives the life of infinitely
moral nature. A tree may he an individual tree, and perf,ect  friendship: He is the covenant God in Him-
a cow may be 1I.n individual cow, but neither the tree self, and  IIis own covenant life of friendship is the
nor the cow is a person: they possess no rational                     infinite archetype and basis of our covenant relation
moral natures. Eut the human nature is  rational-                     to, and covenant fellowship with `Him.
ethical. And the individual in that nature is a self- con-               The doctrine of the trinity implies that God is
scious person, a  na.tional-moral   subject  acting through the livin(g God !             He is Life, and He lives in and
mind and will. When, therefore, we assert that there through  iHimself.                    Life is energy expressing itself
are three persons in the Godhead, we mean that in in activity.                       And it presupposes relationship,  bsr-
the one spiritual nature of God there are three, sub- monious relationship. To live is to act and react nor-
jects, three that say I, distinct from one another in mally in that relationship. Life cannot be in solitude.
pcrson:l properties,  ibut subsisting in the same divine It always is some-kind of communion, of fellowship.
essence, and eternally remaining the same in their Now, God is  .the implication of infinite energy. In
distinct  sub.sistence.  These  distinct personal proper-             Him there is an infinite depth of divine power, of
ties are indicated Iby their names: Father, Son, and                  durJamti, of wisdom and righteousness and holiness
Holy Ghost. The Father is eternally and distinctively and  goodness  and love and  mercy  ,and truth, inces-
Father: He genenztes  %he Son. `The Son is eternally santly active. And in the triune God there is also the
Son: He is generated  Iby the Father. The Spirit is                   infiniteIy perfect relationship and  ba.rmony  for this
eternally Spirit: He proceeds from the Father, and                    energy  to express itself into constant activity. `For
from the Son. The Father is subject of all- the divine He is  one: and this oneness is the eternal basis of the
essential properties, and of all the divine works, as                 divine unity and harmony: in God there is  Ino discord,
Father: He thinks, wills, loves, counsels, decrees,                   no conflict, no dissonant, no disagreement; He is
creates, saves, as Father, never as Son, nor as Holy                  eternally in harmony with Himself. Yet, He is not
Spirit. The Son is subject of all the essential divine                alone, though He be one. Were He alone, He could'
attributes, and of all the divine works, as Son, never not be the living  Cod in Himself. But now the one
as Father, nor as Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit                    God subsists in threeness of persons, Father, Son, and
is subject of all the essential virtues of the Godhead, Holy Spirit, that sustain  tie relationship of  Iperfect
and of 1911 the divine works, as Spirit, never as Father, harmony to one another, and that react upon one an;
,nor as Son. One divine essence, one divine nature.                   ot,her  with all the energy of the divine nature, in
one divine mind and will, one divine life we confess;                 knowledge  &nd wisdom, in righteousness and holiness,
,but ,in *that one d.ivine essence and nature there are in infinitely perfect love. And so there is a  contin-.
three that think, will, love, and live, each in His ow@               uous current of divine energy, of infinitely perfect
,d's.inct  .personal manner.  The H.oly  Trinity is a three-          divine self-consciousness and joy, a glorious stream of
ness  .of persons in unity of essence.                                life from the Father, to and through the San, and in
   As to the relation of these three persons to the es-               the  ZIoly Spirit. God is life. He lives in Himself.
sence of the Godhead, we must emphasize that there And as the living God He is perfectly  self-sufflcicnt.'
is no division, no separation, no subordination be- He is in need of none [besides Himself. Of the Father,
tween the three persons, but that all are equally God                 through the Son, in the Spirit, He. knows and  is~
in the one Being. It is not so, that the divine essence               known, He loves and is loved, He adores and is adored,
is divided among the three persons:, that each of the                 If:! glorifies  ls.nd is glorified in Himself. The truth of


                                                                                                                                     I


                                             . . .
10                                                    TRE  ST.ANDARD   B!E'A,#ER

the trinity .means  that God is the living God  !..                   to quailify them'for His warfare and respond to- His
 .And.He   is*th&covenan&   G o d . For the idea of the work in them by making the adversary their footstool.
covenantisnot  that of an agreement, pact, or alliance : Thus the victory that conquers the cursed tribes that
it  isa bond of faiendship.and,living  fellowship. Friend- infest  Clx.naan  is solely their faith. It was to drive
ship is  %hat+.bond  of fellowship  bet,ween  persons  X-             home this vital truth that the miracle of the fall of
cording to which and `by ,which they enter into once an- Jericho's walls was worked at the very  :ommencc-
other's life in&perfect knowledge and love, so that ment of the conquest of Canaan. It is so evident from
mind is knit to mind., will to will, heart to heart, and              the history of this warfare that victory is theirs sole-
each has no. secrets for the other. It presupposes a ly  Ibecause  the Lord fights for them.
basis of likeness, of  1 equality, for only like knows                  `,Bec&se the victory is God's, `the spoils of war-
like; and on that basis of equality it requires personal              Canaan, its inhabitants together with all their posses-
distinction, for without this. there is only  sameness;               sion in their silver and gold and iron and' cattle-is
there.  can  :be no  cfellowship.  And both, the equality also exclusively the Lord's. `Hence, with these spoils
and the personal  .d.istinction are in God. For He is                 He may do as Hepleases. Thzf the people might ha..2
the triune ! The most absolute equality exist between understanding also df this, the city was accursed `to
Fa'her,.  Son,  .and  :Holy Spirit, for these  .three are the Lord.  (ch. 6  :17). It'was burnt with fire, and all
onei,in  essence:  ` And in Him there is the personal that was therein;both  men and women, young and
distinction  -bet%veen  the three persons subsisting in old,  end ox and sheep and ass-was destroyed  w-ith
the one  Essence.~-  And so, the three persons of the the edge of the sword. And the silver and the gold,
Holy Trinity:eompletely  and perfectly enter into one                 and the vessels of brass and of iron were put in the
Canother's  life: .-Their fellowship is infinitely  ,perEezt.         treasury of the Lord. Of His spoils, He will freely
They have no secrets -from one another. There is no give them.                       But what they receive, they will hold
conflict  between  them. Their relationship is one of merely as a trust: He will remain the absolute pro-
perfect harmony. The  .Father knows and  love3  the prietor. They  will.be dwelling in God's country as
Son in the Spirit; the Son knows and loves the Father                 His servants in duty bound to consecrate themselves
in the Spirit; the Spirit. knows and loves the Father                 with all their possessions exclusively to Him, their
through the Son- in. the *Himself.  The living God is Saviour  tind Redeemer.                      Being, as it was, the key
the covenant God!!. `That. is the great significance of cilty of the  .CanaaniiZes,  the capture of  Jeri'cho was
the truth that God  is triune; and that these three dis- ,the pledge of all the victories that were to follow.
tinct persons-are the one only true and eternal God!                  With this city vanquished, they were now in the pos-
E-          f,                `kg     :*,                  !H.  H.    setsion  of the firstfruits of the conques:.
                       ,~       `. .             i                       There was still another lesson that was learned
                  (*-,."/,)                  :`:                      at this juncture in connection with Achan's theft and
                     . .  :.          -                               the resultant reverses suffered by the army in its war
                                                                      with the city of Ai. Let us get before our mind the.
                                                                      facts in this.sad  -case.
                 Irlk.  H&d& Sin Of  A&an                                 The first words with which the account begins
                                                                      are to the effect that Israel committed a treslyass in
         Jericho has .been captured. Its walls fell by faith.         respect to that which, was devoted. But the individ-
The victory was solely God's and His. gracious gift                   ual directly involved was Achan, the son of Carmi,
to  -His  .people in `response to their faith-a faith of              the son of  Zabdi,  the'son of Zerah, of the tribe of
which their oompassing  `the walls of the city was the Judah. His. sin was that he took of  whs.t had been
living expression. _ Thus the victory was not of them,                devoted, a Babylonish, garment, two hundred shekels
of. anything theyzhad  done; for they had done nothing. of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight.
at.:-all except march, shout,  and.   blaw the trumpets.-.. The sin hasaits evil effects in the expedition against
         Certainly, the falling of the walls could not be at- k4i. For the anger of the Lord was kindled to a blaze
tributed-' to their, marching. The victory was the
       I  .*.                                                         and it turned its destructive force first against the
Lord's;  lsnd; though  .in the warfare that was to fol- whole people;
low, the people would take:,an  active part--they must                   Joshua sends men from Jericho to Ai, to explore
engage-the enemy on the battlefield-the victory would the land. The.report  was brought back that the en-
continue It;0 .be..&he .Lordfs..  They must strive to enter' tire population of the city amounted to only twelve
in;  \but`$heir  striving-their joining battle with  :the             thousand .and that therefore a few thousand chosen
aclversary-- must.  :be the expression, not  .of a sin- warriors would be sufficient to overcome its military
ful. and- vain :det&-minat.ion*  to achieve by their own force. But the movement results in a dismal failure
strength . (being  God%.  hj.ndiwork,  they are without not because the strength of Ai had been underrated.
strength. in themselves)-  (but of  a. living faith in their Thirty six of their number are smitten in the flight
redeemer-God,  of the- assurance.  that He  will continue from the gates  of Ai. The loss is very sma.ll? but the


                                        T',HE-  STAN.D'A`RD-   B E A R E R                                                  Ii

     people are thoroughly disheartened. Their heart melts its members. For the group is as sinful as the mem-
     and becomes water. And there is reason. If the Lord bers of which it is formed; and therefore it commits,
     no  lon,ger fights for His people, they  have no prospect if not actually then  poitentially,  all the sins committed
     save that of  <being annihilated by the combined forces by its members. The lust of which Achan's theft was
     of the adversary.                                             the conclusion, rioted in the flesh of every Isr3slite;
         Joshu+a?s distress is deep. With the elders he falls ibut with this difference that in Achan lust had crystal-
     down before the ark of God and continues with them lized into action. lAll lusted. All stole. But in them
     in lamenting their lot in the ear of God until the even- the will to obey had triumphed over lust. A&an, as
     ing. They rend their  cl.othes  and put dust upon their consumed by lust, had taken of the accursed thing.
     heads in deepest displeasure. "Alas," says Joshua,                And the  sesl;onsibility  is also theirs, They all
     "Alas ! 0 Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all .brought       are now under the b2.n of God (vs. 12). The Lord no
     this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of longer fights for them. But of this they remain ignor-
     the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had              ant until confronted aby the men of Ai. Then the Lord
     been content, and dwelt on the other side of Jordan!          fails to gird their warriors with courage and daring
     0' Lord whait shall I say, when Israel turneth their for the battle. At the sight of the onrushing'foe, they
     [backs  before the enemies: For the Canaanites and all        are seized by a panic and take refuge in disgmlceful:
     the inhabi&nts  of the land, shall hear of it, and shall      flight. Joshua is astonished.' And the hearts of  tl&:
     environ us round and cut off our name from the earth:         people melt.
     and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?"'                     It is not easy to know just what construction is  `to,
        That Joshua, a man  trustirig in God and wholly be placed on the complaint of Joshua. What we must
     consecrated to His  muse,  could voice in the ear of God      bear in. mind, in the attempt to discover the thrust
     sentiments such as these-there is in his complaint            of this complaint, is that he who here'  prostra;tes  him:
     the suggestion that God might be betraying *His peo-          self. before the Lord is a believer, a child of grace:
     ple-shows how Israel's defeat. has amazed, confound- Though as to the form of the,words,  the complaint has'
     ed and distressed him.. He does not really mean to            somethin,g  in common with  the'murmurings  of the
     accuse God. But being ignorant of Achan's theft and rebellious generation that had perished in the  wildcr-
     of the guilt in which the deed has involved the whoIe         ness, it must differ radically from these murmurings
     nation, he is at a loss how to explain the dissaster. as to the spirit that pervades it. "And what," so he
     And the elders share his ignorance and likewise the wails, "wilt thou do. unto thy great name?" This is
     whole people. Yet it should have occurred to him that the,lan&age  of love. God would do His name greatest-.
     someone must have sinned and  th2.f therefore the             injury, should he now destroy His people. For prom--
     cause of the defeat lies not in want of faithfulness on       ises have been made, for one thing. Unless these
     the,part of God but on that of Israel. The Lord's promises are kept, the Lord will disgraee Himself in
     reply to him  Far-takes  therefore of the nature of a the eyes of the nations. For Joshua, `the though is too
     stern rebuke. "Get thee up," says the Lord to him,            painful to contemplate. Then, too, he knows that in
     "Wherefore Iiest thou thus upon thy face, Israel has themselves the people whom he must lead in battle,
     sinned. . .  ." <God's displeasure is vehement as ap- are sinful and condemnable so that, should the Lord
     pears from the several designations of their sin. "They do with them according to their sins, He would cer-'
     have transgressed my covenant. . . .: for they have           tainly deliver them into the hand of the Amorites, to
     even taken of the accursed thing, and have stolen, and destroy them at this very junat;ure. The thought  rises
     dissembled also, and they have put it even  amon,g            in his soul that the Lord might be resolved to do this
     their own stuff."                                             very Ithing,  destroy them for all sins commitlfed  in the
        Though the actual stealing was the evil work of            past and unforgiven. Brt he well knows that  this-
     one individual, the  wholre people are accused. The sin cannot possibly be. Yet there is the defeat of Israel's
     is communal. -411 are held responsible. The sin of warriors.              What, since Ithe capture of Jericho, could'
     the one is the sin of the many, not certainly because         ha.ve occasioned this disaster, whalt new sin comnC! ted
     Achan legally represented the whole nation but on the by the people. He knew of no sin.  "0 Lord, what
     ground of the solidarity of the family and race, i.e.,        shall I say, when Israel turneth their  Ibscks  before
     of the entire union of interests and responsibilities in a the enemies." Joshua knows not what to say or whaR.
     social group. It is useless and vain to ask whether it to think. He is in ,a: quandery. He feels ,that alreatly
     is  ri,ght and just that there should be this union of re-    he has said too'much,  ha.s offended with his speech.
     sponsilbilities.  Irrespective of whether the justice of         It must have come to him somewhat as a relief
     it appears to us, it is just, because God so wills. WC when the. Lord, helping him out of his dilemma; Cd
     deal here with a divine ordinance. With God there to him, "Israel has sinned. . .for they have taken .of
     can be no injustice. But it must also be clear  to every the accursed thing." The Lord's  regly,  though dread-
     *unprejudiced mind that God does the group-no in- ful and s;sddening,  is the answer to his questionings.
     justice by holding it responn$bl,e  for the-actual sins of There is an accursed thing  in their rrlid,st (WI% 13).


L


 12                                      T&HE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

A great sin has been committed indeed since the  c3p-           not in all  .his thoughts.    `Hence, `the warfare, as he
ture of Jericho in connection with the spoils of war. has lbeen warring it is, as are all mrodern  wars, but an
The Lord becomes very definite. Directly the matter unholy, a mad scram'ble for this earth, a vile contest
concerns a lone individual. The actual theft was com- with men as corrupt  tind depraved as he for the rich-
mitted by one man only (11-14). And except they de-             es of this earth.' Thus that warfare, in so far as it
stroy the accursed thing from among them, the Lord was waged by. him, was murder, thievery, idolatry,
will not be with them anymore.. However ominous                 the achievement of carnal  arnhition. It was the break-
this threat, it is full of comfort. There is salvation ing of God's covenant indeed.
for the whole people if only they denounce and  re-                W,e must not minimize Achan's sin, reduce it to
ludiate the great sin through bringing to trial and small propotions and then begin to weeder  how God
in the name .and by the direction of the Lord inflict-          could deal so severely with the man for a sin so  trifl-
ing punishment upon the offender. The punishment ing:-the taking of a little gold and some silver from
demanded is not any more severe than the sin is                 a store so vast. When the sin was still in its con-
heinous.       He that is taken with the accursed  thing templative stage, the man himself .must have made
shall be  burn,ed with fire (after being put to death           light of it. All that he was about to do is to appro-
/by stoning (ver. 25), "he and all that he hath : because priate for his own use an insignificant portion of the
he  hath'transgressed  the covenant of the Lord, and            substance of men accursed by God. He wouBd not be
because he hath wrought folly in Israel." The Lord              robbing his brothers. And wasn't he entitled to some
points out to the judges the offender through the lot. small reward for his war effort? And what were the
Conformably to God's command, Joshua the next priests to do with that vast treasure? Certainly, he
mornmg  brings the tribes of Israel before Jehovah,             would not be the only offender. So he must have
when Achan is indicated as the transgressor. There reasoned by himself.
are four lots. By the first the tribe of Judah is taken;           True it is that others  aIs0 offended. There were
by the second  ,the  clan of Zerah; by the third the            many  .perhaps  who  com,plained  of the shamefulness
house of Zabdi; and by the fourth the man Achan.                of the destruction of so many fine cattle and costly
       Being exhorted by Joshua to confess  his, sin  A,chan    finery. But when the deed was done, .God said that
owns all (vers. 16-18). The stolen property is found His covenant has been broken.
in his tent  acording  to his statement (vers. 22-23).             Achan's sin was great also on this account  thllt
        He himself *with all what Ibelongs  to him is stoned Joshua, in behalf of the Lord had with such  .emphasis
and burnt (vers. 23-26). And they raise over him and in speech so unmistakable commanded the people.
a great heap of stones. So the Lord turns from the "And  ye," he  hlxd said, "Ye, in any wise keep your-
fierceness of :His anger., ZAnd the name of the place           selves from the accursed thing, lest ye make your-
is called  "Achor" or  trouble.  The memory of this self accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing,
"terrible story lives in the mind and heart of the and make the cam.p of Israel a curse and trouble it"
people for judgment, to be sure, but, in latest times,          (ch.  6:18). WAS for Achan, the Lord might just as
also for hope. The valley of  -4chor  will be given for well not have spoken.
a' door of hope, where God's people shall sing.  (Hosea            The disobedience of the ,man, his defiance of God,
2:15).                                                          brands him a hardened sinner. IGod is not real  Ito
       Something more must be said about the man Achan him. There are several indications  that Achan is just
and his sin. As to his sin, it is truly atrocious as to         this kind ,of a man. Firstly, his sole consideration is
its character. Israel's warfare is God's. He willed how to make away with his loot without  <being detect-,
and dedlared the war and connnanded  and qualified ed by Joshua and the elders. He has to do solely with
His people. The war was a holy crusade against men Joshua, so he *thinks, and thus not with God through
who were sinners directly before God-sinners who Joshua. So he hides his ztreasure  in the earth in the
had filled their measure of iniquity and who, there- mi,dst  of his tent  ias willingly ignorant of the fact  Ithat
fore, by divine direction, had to  .be destroyed, devoted all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him
to' God without redemption for the' enhancement of with whom we have to do ({Heb. 4:13). That he has
His glories. To the people of Israel it is given by             now made the camp of Israel a curse, and troubled- it;:
grace to be co-workers with God in this warfare and             is  40 him a thought too ridiculous to contemplate.
Eight His  ,battles out of faith, in obedience to His           He is that kind of a person. Apparently, the defat
command, as constrained by the love of God, and as              of the three thousand leaves him unaffected. He
sustained by the gladdening prospect thixt Israel will perhaps even denounces them in his heart for their
dwell with the Lord their redeemer in Canaan, when lack of courage or criticizes Joshua for underrating
this country shall have been cleansed from its present the  strengrth  of `the adversary. Of course the man is
corruptors.      But as to the man Achan, his interests pretending. He really is ill at ease  esp.ecially  now
lie elsewhere.      His god is gold, the things below.          w,hen  word passes through the camp that the defeat
And the lust of these things constrain him. God'  is is to be ascribed to the presence of an accursed  thmg


                                                  ,

                                     T-HE     S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                    13

in the camp.  HOW  could they know? Had someone,                   So Ido they make of him a terrible example. And
who saw him bearing home his  loolt, reported his the truth `set forth for Che ins:trut:tion  of the whole
theft to Joshua? But this could  ,not be as he was people is  that  ,the warriors of God  mu& be  c,onse-
cetiain  that he had taken all the necessary precau- crated to &lim in love and not to an ,idol and that,  ex-
tions. He is again confident when he hears that Ithe cept they are this, their warfare is an  abominartion
offender must be ascertained by the use of the lot. to,the Lord and they themselves cursed. 1 t was need-
The offender is still unknown; and he has no faith in ful `th&t  this Iruth be emphasized now that lthe con-
the lot as a means of detecl:ing  crime. Yet it is strange quest of Canaan had commenced.
that the tribe of Judah is taken, for to this tribe he be-                                                    G. M. 0.           *
longs. Fear grips his soul; and when Joshua finally
brings before the Lord his own household, man by
man, ,and he, himself, is tken, he stands speechless yet
impenitent; for he is a hardened sinner.
    The plight of r:he man deeply effects Joshua. He
has sorrow in his heart on  account of the terrible                              P s y c h o p a n n y c h i a   *
punishment which must be. inflicted upon the culprit.                                        or
Speaking kindly and earnestly, he says to the man,
"My son, give, .I pnay  thee, glory to )the Lord God of             The Theory of the Soul-sleep
Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me
now what thou  hast  :done;  hide it not from me."                 John  Calmvin  \in his own  characteri&ic  manner
`Own &Em as the G'od who seeth and knowe'th  all sin,           speaks of athis doctrine as "the error  el:lertained  :by
however deeply hi,dden.'     The man by this time has some unskillful persons who ignorantly imagine that
regained his composure. He steels himself. Finally in the i&erVal  between dea%h  and `the j.udgment  hhe
he speaks "Indeed,  d have sinned  ,against  the  Lor!d         soul sleeps,"  tan "`absurd dogma -of `babblers," and a
God of Israel, and thus  and~ithus have I done. When I "madness  wh,ich should be severely repressed." It
saw among the spoils a goodly ,Babylonian  garment, concerns itself width the intermedia$e  state, (which is,
and two  hun!dred  shekels of silver, and a wedge of as Calvin  puts  59, the interval between death and
gold of fifty shekels weight, then' I coveted them and juc'!gment,  between our departure from this life and
took them; and behold, *hey are in the ear%h  in  $he           the consummation of .a11 things ,in the appearance of
midst of my tent and the silver under it." This is              our Lord Jesus Christ.
-not the language of true penitence. Bt bears noi: the             The presentation of `this theory is simple enough.
marks of a true confession. Judging from the re-                The tioul of man, either {that of the righteous or that
actions of  Jcshurtt,  the tone of the man is defiant.          of ,the wicked, does not efiter  at once in:o .i'ts e'tiernal
1% bespeaks a .wrong spirilt. Perhaps the  Ithrust  of his destination. The godly do not enter immediately upon
reply is well set forth in this langua'ge,  "Yes, indeed, death into active conscious life and glory with God,
I  h'ave sinned against the Lord God of Israel, but             nor do the wicked enter  at once into cons&us  `tar-
what of that."                                                  ment.    The spirits of  ,both continue in a  state of
     The tent of A'chan is now explored, and it is found        sleep, of unconscious repose, of spiritual insensilbility
that he  h&s spoken the truth. It seems unlikely that until  `the return of the Lord Jesus Christ  `:o judge the
he could have sbrough't as unassisted, so much silver amck and the dead and to make all things new. Ac-
and gold to his tent. There  must have been, so  Iit            cording to many there is .also  an intermediate place,
would seem, an accomplice. The man's own wife anid              where  \a11 the souls of -all `the dead `thus' slumber to-
children must have known of the theft.                          gether until awakened in %he day of the Lord Jesus.
    The recovered loot is brought before J.oshua and               For this fantastic theory, which, according to Cal-
the elders, pho lay it  outt {before the Lord. They vin, originated with the Arabs and has since found
`thus  present   50 the  * Lord the evidence of the sin,        its adherents throughout the ages, a  variciiy of proofs
meaning to take Him as their witness that in infliciking        is presented.     1) Men reason that there can be no
punishment uyon Achan  (there is no miscarriage of clionseious,  active life apart from the  Ibody. The soul
justice.                                                        sin its conscious activity is simply dependent on the
    Achan,  his  lied, his sons and his daughters, his brain, and if the latlter  is destroyed the f,ormer  can-
<oxen, `zi-sses, and sheep,  and all that he h,as, is subse-    not function.     Think of the change effected in our
nu.enltly   ,brought   It.0 the valley of Achon. Joshua' is soul l,i:fe by sleep. The moment the body falls asleep
now very stern.      Facing  ,t.he man, he utters these all consciousness is  a$ a standstill, and although
Iterrible  words, "Why  hast thou  itroubled  us? The there remains a subconscious activirty of t:he soul, all
L;ord  Ishall Itrouble  thee 3his day. Achan is stoned, he, perception ceases and mind and will cease to func-
and his sons  a.nd  daughtitrs.  And  all  sthat he has is tion normally and orderly. And in sleep man is still
burnt.                                                          alive and all contact n?rith the morld  of  .things  is still

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

unbroken.' How  munh  Ithe more will the  spiriit of and the physical  (brain   ; that at present all conscious-
man cease to function actively and conscib,usly when              ness and activity are dependent on my nature as it
death enters to sever all contact with  rthe world of now is. Does this mean that Cod cannot provide in
things until the  ,day of resurredtion. 2) Does not               any other way? That I cannot be conscious  here
Scriplture  itself repeatedly speak of death as a sleep?          without ;the <brain does not imply that this is also im-
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt                 pcssi:ble  in the life to come. 2) It is true that Scrip-
sleep with thy fathers  ;. . .  ." Deut.  31:16.  To  `the        ture refers frequently to death as a sleep. However,
J.ews in the home of Jairus the Lord says, "Give                  this does not refer to the spirit with relation to the
place: for .the maid is colt dead, but sleepeth."       Matt.     things to come.     In that case how could Job say,
9 :24. ConcerningiLazarus  Jesus says to His disciples,           "They shall lie down (sleep) alike in the dust, and the
"Our friend Lazarus  deepeth,  but I go,  ithat I may             worms shall cover them. "  21:26? The  Iworms  shall
awake him out of s&x-p;" John 11 :ll. Jesus is called             cover their spirits in the  intermediaite  state and place?
"the firstfruits of them that slept,"  I Car. X:20, and           No, the reference is to man's present body. In death
Paul would not have us to be ignorant "concerning the child, of God lays down his head, closes his eyes
them  whioh  are asleep." I Thess. 4:13. Listen #to Job and departs all that pertains to this present life in
as he complains,  `HAS  the (waters fail from the sea,            tthe hope of being resurrected to eternal life in the
and the flood  decay&h  and drieth up: So man lieth ,glorious  day of our  Saviour.  Therefore his death is
down, and  riseth not: till  <the heavens  `be no more,           called a "sleep," and therefore Scripture applies this
they shall not  ar;vake,  nor  lbe raised oat of their sleep."    figure  ito the death of the Christian only. 3) There
Job. 14:11,  12. 3) In numerous other passsges  Scrip-            are passages in Holy Writ which `present the dead as
ture, although it does not use the word "sleep," cer-             unconscious. However, in each case  Scriptur.e  intends
itainly tea,:lhes  us fhat the dead are unconscious. "For to stress the point that in the state of  deaith man can-
in death there is no remembrance of thee:  In the                 not partake of the activities of this world. The view-
grave who shall  &vve  lthee thanks?" Ps.  6:5. "The point in this life, not he life to come. Thus there is
dead praise not the Lord, neither *any that go down               in death no remembrance of  (God and thus his thoughts
into silence." Ps. 115  :17. "His breath goeth forth, he `perish in that very day. 4) Likewise Sheol (Hades)
returneth !to his earth ; in that very day his thoughts           is the place of the dead, the land of silence and for-
peris,h."     Ps.  146:4.  4) Holy Writ repeatedly speaks         getfulness from our earthly point of view. It is the
of death as the descent into Sheol (Hades .in the New             realm of  lthe dead in distinction- from this present
Testament), and She01  is ;the kand of silence, of rest,          life, where.man, the righteous as we11 as the wicked,
of  forgdfulness,  where man has no  Tart in all that             is cut off from all that is related  s&o this earth and
takes place under the sun. It is the dreary abode of              from all earthly communion and contact. However,
the shades, wherein both the righteous and the un-                from the viewpoint of the eternal state of the dead
godly enter at death. It is the realm of unconscious- Sheol is distinguished in two: the state of glory and
ness and  inactiviity  to which all alike descend and             eternal life,  w.hich is "Paradise," and the state of
which all the <dead have in common, the hazy region suffering and eternal punishment, #which  is "Gehenna."
of the `dead. 5) According to the Word of God the                 Therefore the Old Testamenlt  Scriptures can speak of
eternal destinies of all men will :be determined iby `a           the descent of the wicked into Sheol as something ex-
final  judgmeat,  a single judgment which will render ceedingly dreadful.                It is the place of destruction.
to all Itheir just rewards, Ito the godIy everlasting life,       "Sheol is' naked before him, and destruction hath no
to the  #wicked  eternal desolatibn. Before that day covering." Job. 26 :6. There burns the fierce wrath
there can ,be` n.o blessedness on the one hand or pun-            of Jehovah. And therefore &here  is joy for the right-
ishment on the other. "For we must all appear be- eous, even in the face of death. For them the des-
fore lthe judgment sea$ of Christ, that every one may cent into Sheol means the entrance into everlasting
receive the things done in his ,body, according to that           glory. Therefore, also  lthe Old Testament,  althou,gh it
he hath done, whether it  ebe good or bad." 2 Cor. 5:lO.          has a word for heaven, has no special word for hell.
Hence,  lthe soul cannot enter into its .destiny,  either Sheoi,  for the wicked, is'hell. 5) It is true, that the
Ito rejoice ,or weep forever, immediately at death. 6)            eternal destiny of all men is determined in the way of
Finally, several individuals  Ihave been raised from the judgment. Also, there will be a final judgment, in
dead in the Old Testameht and  Iby our Lord Jesus                 which all men will alppear, the judtice  of God will ,be
Himself, but none had any account  Ito give of their revealed, in the presence of every creature and every
e,xperiences  in the realm of the dead. It seems plain man's reward will be announced publicly. Thait judg-
that the interval between death and their return to ment  twill lead to the consummation of all things.
life was spenlt in complete insensibility.        .               However, ,God always judges man ; wherefore all are
        Let us now consider these proofs in the order in .ready to receive the reward of their works lthe mo-
which they  wer,e given. 1)  Zt is true that there can ment they depart this life. 6) Finally, it is true that
be no consciousness in this life apart from the body              none of those raised from the dead had aught rto tell


                                      T H E S T ' A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       15

of their experiences, but at best this is merely an          entire country  buit even of the  southem  and central
argument from silence. In the light of .a11 Scripture parts of 18taly. Further we know not defmitely  wheth-
teaches this is no argument whatever. Some suggest er  ,Germany  chooses to defend any more than the  por-
that these individuals were not permitted  I:O tell about %ion north of the PO River. True-%  is she is ,putting
the things they bad seen. Others feel  that an account up a great resistance near  Naples, :but a few days may
of heav.enly  t.hings  would have been impossible in hu- reveal this to  ibe  rbut a delaying action battle even
man language. We prefer Ito believe, that in view of through the forces employed are of  great strength.
the fact that they were to  Ibe  <raised, God did keep       Besides thi's, we cannot  got a complete and true pic-
them in a state of unconsciousness until the moment ture of the effect of this  ca,pitulation  of Italy upon
of their return )to !this life. Whatever be the solution, the <German masses. Germany will not tell us, and \we
it is  .cellLain  that no argument can at any time be have no sure way  ,of determidng.
based on silence.                                               A few things do stand out clearly however. For
      `It  is'.pl:ain,  therefore, that this theory is indeed one thing  Ger'many  has been given a good dose of her
an "absurd dogma of babblers," which finds no sup- own medicine. Deceit was her  favorirte dish,  and now
port whatever in the Word of God. Clearly Scripture she is deceived by her own Ally. Herr  ,Hitler is  a
teaches the very opplosiite. True; God's Word speaks great one for making treaties and promises only to
comparitively  little  ,about the intermediate  &ate. That break them before  ,the ink is dry. However, two can
is particularly true  Iwith respect to the wicked. Rather play that game and now Italy tnot only withdra,ws  her
does it direct our attention to the end of all things,       support from Germany in her war but does so very
to that full salvation which shall be our portion in the deceitfully. The armistice is not made known until
consummation <of the ages. This does not mean, how- the Allies have ,time to invade far up the coast of Italy
ever, that ,Scriptur,e leaves us in the dark'with  respect to the surprise of the Germans,.
to  `the question: What is the present  &ate  of those          One favorable aspect of  *this  susrender  for the
who have passed on? The wicked open .their eyes in Allies is the fact that our Atlantic fleets can now
eternal torment. They are in misery the moment they steam to the south Pacific to  in'tensify the war in  th:is
depart from this life. The rich man opened his eyes area Undo&tedly  we shall in the near future see a
in hell, `where his &ate, fixed forever, is one of con-      new flare-up here  an:d hear of bitter naval engage-
scious misery. The righteous  ,on the other hand, are ments between our Navy an-d that of .Japan. *Japan's
in perfect bliss the moment they depart from this life. Navy.at  present is in hiding, but Japan will soon dis-
Therefore they are "willing rather to be absent from cover that you cannot win wars Iby hiding a*way from
the `body and to ,be present with the Lord." 2 Cor. 5 :8.    the enemy especially not if he has a large enough navy
Therefore Paul considers it "far  ibetter to depart, and to come and look for you.
to be with Christ." Phil.  1:23. Therefore Jesus can            However when we consider the enormous problem
assure the malefactor on the  cross, "T&y thou  shalt of feeding Italy's hungry populace, we realize tha,t it
be  z~1:th  Me in  Paradise." Lu.  23:43. Therefore we is a costly victory for us. This will also in a measure
rejoice that God has appointed us "to obtain salvation offset the advantage  o.f acquiring Italy's fleet, for the
by our Lord Jesus  Christ; Who died for us, that, feeding of Italy will entail much shipping and convoy-
whether  +we wake or sleep, we should live together ing of these cargo  shilps across the  Atlan'tic.
with Him." I Thess. 5:9, 10. The moment the Chris-              What amazes  ane is  *the reasoning of our own
tian breathes his last the <blessed lighat and life of the Government.      It sees fit and considers it a need to
eternal day, not the shades of night and  insensiibility,    feed these hungry Italians with our wheat and our
envelop him,-forever.                        R. V.           meat. Far be tt from me to condemn this action as
                                                             such. If  ~wecan,  let us do so. These Italians  sureIy
                                                             ar,e our neighbours  t&lay, but it is amazing  ,that the
                                                             same administration that advoca,tes  this and intends
                                                             to do this saw fit a few years ago to burn our wheat
                                                             and meat when thousands of our own people were not
 *                 Current Events                            able to buy it and many went hungry in our own land.
                                                                We are supposed  -to be a Christian nation, and yet
      At this ,pres@nt moment.  the most outstanding event our <present administration reveals very boldly its anti-
of recent date still is  the complete capitulation of Italy Christianity if not its atheism.     It speaks of God.
to the Allies. It is still too early to see this complete It  )prays  to Him. It promises us religious freedom.
surrenlder  in the right perspective. In the first place Yet in spite of *all this it shows its atheistic and anti-
we have no way of telling how strong the German Christian tendencies. We are promised freedom from
army is- in Italy. From recent developments it has want, but you may rest assured that our Government
appeared that Germany has suf-hcient forces there to will `never I'ulfill this promise. No Government can
caa.se  great delay  in  the. occupation not  only   of the promise thex things and fulfill its promiwe. Only  God

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

can  *give us an abundance of food, and He can also Christ. When this  prevaiIs   a,t home and cannot be
make us live in dire  want should He so  de&e. The conquered by punishment and education, how can we
early killing frosts that we have experienced in this be promised freedom from fear of `what the outsider
vcinity  brings this home forcefully. How can any may do to us? Nay, where there is religious freedom
Government guarantee us freedom from iwant when there can be no freedom  from fear. Only where you
God controls  all things and sends the weather He sees have a real Christian natian  is there any possibility of
fit to send? Many officials already predict a shortage          freedom from fear of  tthe neighbour, and not until,
of foodstuffs which we formerly had in  albundance.             Christ's kingdom and not the kingdom of the Anti-
If our Government  would only take God's existence Christ is established over the length and breadth of
as  ,the Sovereign Ruler of all things into consideration       this earth will all fear be `banished and all war for-
it would not promise us freedom from want. Coupled              ever cease. Let us put it this way: Where there is
with the promise of religious freedom this surely  wiIl         no fear of God, there must be fear of your fellow men,
never work. Religious freedom means that we are and where' there is the fear of the Lord, all fear of
not only free to serve God if we so desire but also             man vanishes.
means that we are free not to serve Him in case we                  The child of God is free from fear. "Jehovah is
do not believe  in Him. No nation that allows its citi- my light and my salvation near. What shall my soul
zens the right to be free from serving  #God can pro- &Fright or cause my heart to fear?" he sings. He
mise to its citizens freedom from  w'ant. No earthly knows that in Christ Jesus our Lord he has the vic-
Government is above God. When man  fi:rst sinned tory. He realizes that his neighbour may take his
in Paradise, ,God  told him he would eat in the sweat of life and possessions, but he also knows that in Christ
h's  Ibrow.    Throughout history God has  .been  punish- he is heir of all things. `He recalls ,the word of God,
ing the ungodly with famines. How then  ,can any "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."
Government which gives man the liberty not to serve                These are promises that Christ gives unto him
God promise over God's head that man shall escape and not his earthly Government. These are promises
punishments for his sins? A Government can pro- from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. These
mise religious freedom, but then it must not also pro- are promises given. only to the citizens of the kingdom
mise freedom from want. Such a Government should of heaven. These promises can be given to that citi-
warn its citizens that the day of vengeance will come.          zen of the kingdom of heaven by its  mng because He
God will not be mocked. If America would bless God, has died for their sins and arisen for their justifica-
we could pray and sing, ."God Bless America," but-if            tion. They are reconciled to God  lthrough  Him and,
America refuses to serve God, we cannot even expect Ibecome His  chiIdren, and now when God is `for us,
God to give us an adundance  of earthly things..                who can be against us? There is freedom from fear.
       As far as freedom from fear is concerned, this           It is promised by God in Christ and only unto His
likewise cannot be guaranteed by any Government. people.                                                  J. A. H.
It makes no diffenence  to me what my Government
may  ,do, I will always >e afraid of God and ,His just
judgment.      Were it not for the cross of Christ, I
would be deathly afraid of Him. Were it not for His
cross I would also :be desperately afraid of my neigh-
bour and of the other nations about me. No man and Hymn Singing In Public Worship
no group of men can change the hearts of the ungodly.
You may punish them and you may teach them, but                    In the life of the sincere child of God singing is
you will never change them.  Therefore~  no Govern- a necessary engagement. The true child of God must
ment can promise its people freedom from fear of sing. Not only <because God demands such of him but
invasion by the enemy. A nation can arm  i*tself to also because it is lthe desire of his heart to do so. For
the teeth and far outstrip all other nations in the the sincere Christian reahzes  that he has (been saved
wearpons  of defensive and offensive warfare, but it will by sovereign grace, and in the measure that he does,
only confess by its actions  th.at.  1% still lives in fear.    his heart must needs express itself in singing of un-
       Besides this no nation on the face of this earth fathomable wisdom and boundless love. He cannot
has up to this .present moment freed its citizens from help but sing. iHewever.  also in his singing it is his
fear. With all the police forces, detective agencies            calling and desire to do all to the glory of God. For
and the like,  ,we live in fear of murder, theft, kidnap-       that reason any subject dealing with the content of
ping and even  lynchengs  not to mention the fear of his songs and the manner in which they must be sung
fraudulent practices and  fly+by-night  concerns. There is of interest to him and is proper and significant.
is fear in every country on the face of this earth, for            However that may be said of this subject in par-
every man fears his  neighbour with the exception               ticular.. For, firstly, it speaks not merely of his sing-
that the child of God is not afraid of  his ibrother   in       ing in general but specifically of his  `$nging  in  Di-


       -.
             I                       TtHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 17
                                                `
vine  ,worship.    And it is exactly there in Divine ment to the spiritual welfare of  ;the church. But that
worship that singing is dear to him. There as no- hymns may tbe sung in public worshi,p applies only to
where else in communion with the saints he gives those hymns which are thoroughly sound. And with
expression to the joy and sorroy of his heart in song. that we mean that as to content they must be Scrip-
But it is also there that his singing has tremendous tural throughout. They'may not give expression to
influence. Many a false doc,trine  has taken root and an  untriith, nor to half of the truth, or even to the
has been nourished by means of songs sung in public whole truth and then in a vagce an'd indefinite way so
worship. We do well to always  nemember this, but that they allow a  two-fol'd  interpretation, as do so
especially now when we deal with a subject *such as many of  ithe hymns in our day. Instead they must
this. And, secondly, the subject speaks of hymn sing- express  the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
ing in these cherished and influential services. This t9e truth, and that very plainly and definitely, so that
adds to its significance and timeliness. For hymns they leave the impression with no one that  God is
are being introduced in all other churches and it is be- gracious but not righteous, merciful but not  jnst.
coming increasingly difficult to obtain Psalters. Hence Such hymns are truly sound, and that they may be
quite naturally  #the timely and weighty question arises :     sung in public worship should be douibted  (by no one.
Can we as churches not sing hymns in public wor-                  Yet even so we  a.re strongly opposed to hymn
ship? 1s it wrong in this respect to follow the crowd? singing in public worship.              We could never recom-
   In answer to this we would say first of all that mend the singing of hymns in our Protestant Reform-
the singing of hymns in public worship as such is not          ed Churches. For, firstly, it would be very difficult
to  lbla condemned, provided the hymns sung are truly to obtain suitible hymns. In spite of the many hymns
sound. There have been some in the past and ther.e today there are but few that are <doctrinally sound.
are still a few today who maintain that hymn singing And to make hymns is not everyone's task. How dif-
in public worship is always wrong  an'd to be condemn- ficult it is to make proper hymns is evident from the
ed and that for the simple reason that they are hymns labor of the Church in the past. Throughout all the
and not psalms. And it often happens in a dis'cussion          years she has "succeeded in makin,g only a few good
on this subject that the main question Seems to be hymns. To make suEable hymns is therefore an ex-
whether or not hymns may be sung. However to our tremely difficult task. But you say, are we not the
mind we have no problem  *there at all. Scripture no- purest church in the world today? Do we no.t clearly
where demands of us that in our singing we confine understand the truth? May we therefore not hope to
ourselves to the Psalms nor does it forbid us to sing :be more successful? Yes, $ut to make spiritual hymns
hymns. Rather it does the very opposite. For we suitable to be sung in public service takes more than
read in Eph. 5 :1.9, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms a good  understan'ding  of the truth.               According  6
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making Scripture it takes men who are filled with the Holy
meTo?iy in your heart to  *the Lord." And again in Spirit. Before we set out to make hymns which are
Col. 3  :16, "Teaching and admonishing one another in to be sung in public service, probably from week to
psalms and hymns and spiritua1  son'gs,,  singing with week and from year to yesr, it certainly behooves us
grace in your hearts to the Lord." From these verses to think twice, and maybe even more often.
it is eviden,t `that rather than to limit us in our singing       But secondly, even though it were possi,ble to ob-
to the Psalms God even encourages us to sing hymns tain  suita;ble hymns it would still  Ibe dangerous to
in addition to these. This w& also seen and under- sing them in public worship.                     For history simply
stood by the  Chuch in the past. Therefore it allowed proves that whenever the church commences to sin#g
the Song of Mary, Zacharias and Simeon, the Morn- hymns the Psalms are relegated to the background.
ing and Evening Hymns, and the Hymn of Prayer After they have a few hymns they want more,  anld
to be sung in Divine worship and gave them a place after they have more they want a still greater number,
in the Psalm (book and Psalter. Hence the question till finally the hymns take  tihe place of the Psalms en-
is not at all whether we mray sin.g  hymns. Scripture tirely. Hymn singing is the deathblow to the singing
plainly teaches us that wle may and this the Church of the Psalms, which were sung with joy and delight
has always realized.                                           Iby many in the past and are still dear to the hearts
    This  ,does not mean of course that we may sing of `many today. Moreover, thus we would be setting
any and all hymns in our public worship. There are a dangerous precedent for our churches in. the future.
many hymns  w,hich  cannot stand the test of Scripture, By introduaing hymns we leave .the impression that
in fad, that is true of most hymns today. To sing our singing in public worship is a small matter, that
such hymns is of course always wrong, not only when new songs may `be introduced and old ones replaced
they are sung in puiblic  worship, but also when they wbenev.er  we  d,esire,  and that the  chuch has the
ars sung at homle or in school. And against this  ~-TOW- necessary talents to compose new songs at any time.
ing evil we should be ever on guard regardless  w!lcre         A::d tl:e result will !be, that should the greater eleemcnt
$  .r~~?y  cwr, for it is God-dishonoring and  a  dctri-       in our churches in the future aFostatize,  which may

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

God graciously forbid, it would be quite easy for that
element to gain the upperhand and introduce the songs                                  Author Of
which we today  condemn.           lHence we do better to
maintain that which we have and introduce nothing                     !X'he Epistle To !The Mebrews                                 .
new, in order that we may thus leave the impression
that when we enter upon the plane of our singing in                 The  yuestiofi   as  to  the  author  of  the  epistfe   to t,he!
public worship we tread upon holy ground where it               Btibreivs   h e s   ag%gcd  t h e   titi&   6f  mriy  immd
behooves us to take the shoes from our feet.                    the616&&n&   firbm  the  v&y  @$rl&6t  chur&  f%&@rS;
      However, thirdly, to introduce hymns is  aiso  al- tifitil  the  pr&etit   d;zy. `rh&%  ark  three.  ieading.   dpiii=
tagether  unnecessary. Were it  necr?ssarji,  then it itjn's  entErtained  fn regard  to this question. The over-
would be our duty to do so, even though it be difficult         whelming majority  as&be -the authorship of this
and dangerous. Thus it is with our confessions. To              epistle to the apostle Paul. There are some who
make confessions is  aIso difficult and in a sense a ascribe it to other authors than the apostle Paul,
very dangerous task. Yet the church is in need of               either Barnabas or Luke,            Others  ascrilbe it to the
them, and  therefore  we make them in spite of the arbstle   Paul  iti  cbhcert   or  c6njuticti6fi   with  another
difficuIty and danger. But so it is not with our songs authbr,  and this other author is heid  to be ~cotdidg
for public worship. These God has provi.ded  us in-the to some Appolos, and accord:@ t6 stheks  itik!.
Psalms. And in these Psalms we have a book of ade-                  The objectiom  that ha@ tibst  genersiif b&n raid-
quate songs which  are sufficient for any and all  oc-          ed  agai&&t the apostle  `P&ui being the author of this
Casio&.     True, they often speak the language of the epistle aire as follows: the chief and foremost is the
Old Dispensa'tion. But that is even the case with the fact that the name of the  author  is not mentioned.
book of Revelation and the epistle to the Hebrews.              The strength df this objection does not lie in the fact
When understood correctly they provide us with songs that this epistle is without an  inscrjption,  for so is
for every occasion, whether it be one of joy or of sor-         the epistle of John, concerning  whfch   It  WZM  n@v@r
row,  &even though it be Christmas or Easter. And on doubted but that he was the auth6r  of it, but in t;he
all occasions and in every circumstance they allow us constant usage of Paul, prefixing his name unto sll
to  ,give full expression to all that  dwelIs  in our hearts, his other epistles. Hence unless a just and good reaa-
whether it be sorrow or joy, hope or love. Hence, the on can be given why he should' divert from  that CUB-
Psalms are adequate. We are not in need of hymns.               tom in the writing of this epistle, it may well be sup-
      For that reason we would Bay in the fourth pla:e          posed that it is not of him. Another objection is bas-
that, in general, the clamor for hymns is a sign of ed upon  thee fact of the dissimilitude of  &,yle,  and
the times.      If the Psalms are truly adequate then           manner of writing, from that  u,sed  `by St. Paul  ib
either of two things must kfe true, those who clamor h% other epistles. It is stated that r'$he style and lan-
for hymns are not fully acquainted with and do not guage, the categories of thought and the method of
und.erstand  the Psalms, or they do understand them argumenct,  all differ widely from those of  ,a'ny  ,writ-
but  ,are enemies of their contents. The former is the ,ings  ascribed to Paul." Finally it is maintalined  that
case with some, ,but I am convinced the latter with             Paul could not have written !Hebrews  2:3 "How shall
the majority. That this is true is again evident from we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ; which
history, During periods of decline and spiritual leth- at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and WZIS
argy the Psalms were always relegated to the ba:k- confirmed unto us by them that heard him;" for he
ground while hymns came more prominently to the em,phatiically  declares that he did not receive his gos-
fore. The reason for this is plain. When the church             pel from the older disciples (Gal. 1:12; 2  5).
loses its vitality it becomes superficial. In such.times            Various answers have been given to the objection
of spiritual lethargy `the church goes after the form,          that the author's name is not mentioned, while it  tias
the  esth.etic, the :beautiful,  that which is pleasing to      invariably the custom of  .the apostle Paul to prefix
t.he ear of a church which is in spiritual decline. In          his name unto all  hi's other epistles. Some have ex-
such  times it cannot sing the Psalms for the simple            plained this from the fact t.hat the apostle Paul was
reason that they condemn the church.            For Psalms very specifica.lly  the apc&le to the Gentiles; that his
always emphasize God's holiness and righteousness,              allotment of work was to l&bor  aniong  the Gentiles,
His  justice  and majesty. But hymns on the other               and if in writing unto the Hebrews, he had prefixed
hand always emphasize God's love, mercy and grace.              his name unto his epistle, he might ,have seemed $0
      Therfore, in conclusion, with a view to our pre- transgress the line of his allotment. By agreement
sent Psalter I would say, let us hold fast that which James, Peter, and John were to&tend the ministry
we have in order that no man take our crown. Then of the Circumcision, while the apostle Paul and Bar-
in the measure that we understand its songs and                 ndbas  would attend to the ministry-of the  IGentiles.
c-a:k. in the light we will have no need for hymns.             Hence Paul, finding it necessary for him to  .wri%e
                                                   P. v.  -     unto the H&brews, would not prefix his name with ixh


   -                                TH-E  ST,ANDA-RD  B E A R E R                                                           19

apostolical salutation unto his epistle, that he might          much  dificulty.  If  cthis  lvas the motive, it was an
not seem to have invaded the province of others, or             instance of tact such as was .cert,ainly characteris:ic
trzisgressed the line of his allotment. This explana- of Faul, and such was not unworthy any ,man."  Hence
tion,  a,s though the apostle concealed his name in             this  Idefect  of  frnscr'i~fioa   rather proves, than disp-
&his epistle, becRzlse  he was doing I:hat which was not        roves that fthirs epistle is (of the apostle Paul.
meet for him to do, is unworthy of the apostle Paul.               Owen gives  us still another reason why the apostle
The commission given by the Lord Christ unto His did not /prefix  this Epistle to the Hebrews with his
apostiles  was that they should teach all natioas, and name   Izird  apoeto+   lauthori%y.            "tinto  #all others  ,,he
even though it  ,be)true  that  .Paul was especially called prefixed this title; declaring himself thereby to' be
to minister  unt,o the Gentiles, this did not mean that *ore so  a,uUzcri;cd  to  ze7;&1  the  my&eries   of the
he did not also labor (for the conversion of the Jews,          gospel {that!  they to u-horn he wrote *were  to atiquiesce
as well as that we find  ,Peter  ministering  unto the          in his  authorif'y,   r?tnd to  r'eso1v.e their faith into the
4&n'tiles.     In writing this Epistle to the Hebrews he revelation of the Will of SGod mBde unto him hnd by
did nothing but what in <duty  he .ought to do in obed- him, the church being to be `built on the foundation
ience to  Christ,  and therefore he need not conceal of the  ,apostles   ,and `prophets." . . .  ."In his dealing
his name as though he were doing something  bnjust-             with the Hebrews Ithe case wz ftar otherwise. They
ifiable. ,                                                      lwho believed, amongst ihcm,  never cha.nged  the old
        There is another answer t,o this objection which foundtition,  or church-state grounded on the Scrip-
is far more satisfactory, namely this, that the apostle tures, th,ough they had a new addition of privirleges by
Paul had  weifghty reasons  lnot to declare his name their  faiKh in  (Christ  Jesrs,  as the Messiah now  .ex-
at the v,ery beginning of thios, Epistle to the Hebrews,        hibited.    And therefore  I-.,e  deals not with `them as
,because of the prejudices that many of them had                with `those+wh'ose  faith WZB built absolutely!on  apostol-
against him. ,, This is the explanation given by many ical au~thor'ity  and `revelal:  ion, :but upon `the common
theologians. It is very  firttingly  stated by Barnes in        principles of the ,Old Tes-tanzent,  on  *which they still
his notes on the New Testament. "The name of Paul stood, and out of which evangelical faith was educed.
was odious to the Jews.        He was regarded by the           Hence `the `beginning of the Epistle, wherein he ap-
nation  as an apostate from their religion, and every- :pozls to the Sc?+&&u?& as the founda:t.ion  that ,he in-
&vhere they showed  ,peculiar malignity against him. tended to  build upon, and the authority which hc
See the Acts *of the Apostles. The fact that he was             would press them withal, supplies the ro:om  of that
so regarded by them might indirectly influence even int.imation  of h&s up~toliscrl  az&~or%y  w?&& *&rz ~&.`z~or
those who had been converted from Judaism to Chris-             places he maketh use of. And it serves to the very
tianity. They lived in Palestine. They were near the            sa'me  purpose. For, as in those epistles he  rproposeth
temple, and were engaged in  (it's ceremonies and sac- his cpcstolical authority as the immedia!te  reason of
rifices-for there is no  evidence  that they  !broke  off       their assent and  dbedience;   SO in  thti he doth the
from these observances on their conversion to Chris-            sc'riptures of the  <Old  Tes'tament."      (Owen  Volume
tianity. Paul  wal  aibr0a.d.  It  might; have been re- XVIII, pp. 52, 33).
ported that he was preaching  aga+mt  the temple and               Having answered the chief and  foremoe& objection
it's ciacrifices, and even Jewish Christians in Pales- tigainst Paul being `the  .author of this Epistle, we  c&i
tine might have suhosed that he was carryiag mat-               be more brief with the other two. It h& indeed been
ters too far. In these circumstances  ,it migh have zdmitted  by compete& authorities that the style and
been imp&e&  for him to have announced his name                 langualge,  and the method of argument, in this Epistle.
,at  ,$he  ourtset,  for it might  heave aroused  prejudices    differ re,markably  from those of the other epistles of
Iwhich  aI wise man would wish to  all,ay. But  .if he          Paul. The re*asons for'this are not farlto seek. "The
could present an argument, somewh&  in the form >f              argument  i&fated of in this Epistle is  <diverse from
an essay, showing $hat he believed that the Jewish              tbzt  of most  $he others; many circumstances in those
i'nstittitions were a.ppointed  by:God,  and that he was        to Iwhom  he wrote sing&r;  `the Is'pring of his reason;
not an apostate and infidel; if he  coul*d  ,cctnduct   a       ings and way of his arguings peculiarly -suited unt5
demonstraliom   lihat  .-would accord in the main  ,with        his  subjedt-matter  and the condition of those unto
the prevailing views  of  the  Chridtians  in  Pales$ine,       whom he wrote. Besides, in the writing of this Epistle
iand that wns ,ad@ed to strengthen  them ,in the faith          there .&as  in him ,an especial frame and incitation of
of the gospel, .and pxplain to them the true nature of s-,irit,  oaossioned  by many  occurrence3  relating  untc
:the Jewish rites, then the object could  Ibe gained  with-     it. His intense love ,and near'relation  in the flesh unto
oet  diffikurty,  and then they  ,wlould   zbe  grepared  to    them to whom he wrote, affectionately remembered by
learn that  Paul  was  the author, without prejudice himself, and expressed in a. manner  inimitalble,  Rom.
or  alarm.      Accordingly he thus  *conducts the argu- 9 :l-3, did .doubiless  exert itseif  in his treating about
ment; and lat the~&se gives `them such  ini5ndtiom              their greatest  :and  nearest  concernment." (Owen Vol.
that  they  >vo&l  pn,derstand  who  yvrote   it without        XVIII, p. 77. Hence the very su,bject  matter of which


 20                                                        s  T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                     `-

 he treats in this Epistle; and the unique circuma!;ances                                                   but there is room for improvement. This year we
`of those whom he is addressing, amply explains the                                                         fare an added cost of $550.00, so that  mexns we have
 differences of style and language, and the method of                                                       to pay  $26.CO  more per issue, 22 times $25.00 ma'!-es
argument,  ,which  the apostle uses in this  Epi.;!le in                                                   $550.00 this coming year.
distinction from all his other writings.                                                                             So friends if your treasurer pleads with you to
       The remaining objection  tlx$ the apostle Paul                                                       rrmcmber this cause once more, please let it not be
could not  ,ha-t-e written Hebrews  253,  Bbwause   $he                                                    in vain. He has plesded with you for ten years, and
writer of it seems not  tto reckon himself amorig  the                                                     the Lord has blessed us. It is true we had to struggle
apostles, but among  rtheir auditors, does  not carry sometimes, but God's grace was. always sufficient to
much weighrt. The apostle here  p!aces  himself among bring us on top again. So  fridnds,  give Him the
those unto whom he wrote, though not personally con- praise and glory, namely our Sovereign God.
cerned in every particular detail. This he does very                                                                 Heretith we present to you our annual report for
frequently in his writings, as is evident from such the year 1942-1943.
passages as I Car. 10 :8, 9 and I Thess. 4 :17. (See `also
I Peter 4  :3)  .- Hence when the apostle here says  "u.?                                                                                               July Report - 1943
he means `the church art large.                                                                            Received during July . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $251.25
       Among  lthe  exiternel  evidences that this Epistle Balance on hand, June . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117.45
was written by the apostle Paul, the testimony given Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368.70
unto ilt by `the izpostle  Peter in II Peter 3 :15, 16, de-                                                                                                      Disbursements
serves consideration in  cthe first place. Here we read, Doorn Printing Co. July 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $105.00
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salvation ; even was our beIoved brother Paul  also, `a:- Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                   4.13
cording unto the wisdom given him,  bath  wri'tlten  unto                                                  Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
you;  a8' also in all his epistles, speaking in  them  of Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.....................................                                                                            2.00
these things." From these words of Peter it is evident PostaI Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                               3.00
that  lthe apostle Paul  Iwrote a peculiar  epistl,e  unto                                                 Change of plates ;. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                    1.59
"`-cm  unto whom Peter wrote his, namely,  t'o the Jew- Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..I............................. 137.33
ish Christians. "He b&h written unto you ; as also in
all his epistles  ;"-i Besides his  other  epktles  to other                                                                                                                                                                               $368.70
churches and persons, he hath also written one unto                                                                                                                                                                                           137.33
you.* From this it is evident tha.t qbesides the other Balance on hand, July 31, 1943 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $231.37
epistles of Paul, he also wrote itb the Hebrew Chris- Feb. Report. Short . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                                              1.50
tians, hence  it  is evident from this testimony of Peter                                                                                                                                                                                 $232.87
that the anonymous writer of `this Epidtle was none                                                                                                                                     R. Schaafsma, Treas.
other than the Apostle Paul.                                                        B. 3X.


                                                                                                                                                                ANNIVERSARY
    TREtASURER'S  FINANCIAL REPORT FROM
                AUGUST 1, 1942 to JULY 31, 1943.                                                                    On September 21, 1948, our beloved parents,
                                                                                                                                                      JAMES VELDMAN
Dear Friends of our Standard Bearer:                                                                                                                                             and
       Again another year has passed by for our  Semi-                                                                                      EVELYN  VELDMAN,-Hoeksema
Monthly Magazine.                         This year was different than celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.
other years, for this year we had the privilege of                                                                  We  are indeed grateful to our Lord, Who has spared and
sending The Standard Bearer from East to West and blessed them these many years, and our earnest prayer is that
from North to South, yea to the uttermost parts of God may spare and be nigh unto them in the future as He has
the earth. There has not been a year in the past when been in the past.
our Standard Bearer visited so many states as this                                                                                                                           Their grateful children,
year. We sent to 48 states. Starting with Mr. Wm.                                                                                                                                         Mr. and Mrs. C. Schermer
Doezema,  who received our first free copy, we now                                                                                                                                       Rev. and Mrs. R. Veldman
have 230 on our list. Four soldiers pay for their own                                                                                                                                    Rev. and Mrs. H. Veldman .
copy.  So friends listen to our financial report for a                                                                                                                                  IMr. and Mrs.  B. Hoe*%.:
few moments.                                                                                                                                                                             Ann                                                   .*.
       Stamps and envelopes for these copies, which were                                                                                                                                Nell
v-mitten  twice a month, cant more than $100.00. It  WEIS                                                                                                                               n:ycc
indeed a busy pear. Financially we cannot complain,                                                                                                                                             gn(?   `19  Grandchildren,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           .


VOLUME  XX                                          OCTOBER 15, 1943                                         NUMBER 2

                                                               he was the object of hatred and  der;ision  of the proud
      M E D I T A T I O N                                      that persecuted hiti.
                                                                  He was, even in  hi.s .yoath,  acquainted with the
                                                               reproach of Christ!
                                                                  The way of Jehovah's statutes was a way of suf-
                                                               fering according  tom the flesh.  70 keep it unto the
   Prayer For Divine Instruction                               end meant  a hard `battle.
                                                                  And he knew his  own  weakness, and proneness to
          Teach me, 0 Lord., the way  of  thy  staiutes;       wand,er.
          and I shall keep if unto the end.                       Hence,  <this  entire  se+zki,on  Ts an earnest prayer for
                                               Ps.  118  98
                                                         .*    preservation in order that he may keep ,the way of
                                                               Jehovah's statutes even unto the end.
   Unto the end !                                                 Give me understanding !
   `1: shall persevere !                                          Make `me to go in the path lof cthy commandments !
   Upon that  blessing of  perseverence  the inspired             Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not
poet of this beautiful psalm fixed his longing eye!            unto coveteousness  !
   It is, perhaps, the main theme, the controlling                Turn  away my  eyes from beholding vanity, and
thought and yearning expr&sed  in this paFticul&-  sec-        quicken thou me iln the way !
&ion  of the psalm.                                               Estatblish  rthy word unto thy servant;  turn away
   For as we know, the one hundred and nineteenth              my reproach which I fear; quicken me in thy right-
psalm. is d'ivided  into different sections, twenty two        eousness !  1
in all, according to the number of charactens  ifi the            For he knows that only `-mrhen Jehovah hears his
Hebrew alphabet, each  se&ion  consisting of  eighz            prayer and  preservcts  him in  ,t.he midst of his enemies
verses; lznd in the original each of these eight verses        by His grace, he win1 be able to persevere.
begins with the same Hebrew letter. `The whole psslm              77hen only shall he be able to observe Jehovah's law
is a eulogy of the WoTd  of God, and expression of the         with his whole heart, to taste the goodness  of  &His
love of that Word on the pati of ,the psalm&t, anld of         judgments, and `to have his delight in the path of
h'is longing to keep it and to  %waIk in its way; and          His commandments.
each section ,of the inspired song speaks of a partic-            To keep the way of  <the  Lord's statutes!
ular aspect of that glorious theme. The ionging  &o               Even unto the cud!
keep that Word and to walk in its way unto the end                                      -
appears to  Ibe the theme of this particular section.
   I shall keep ti unto the ,end  !                               Wonderful and blessed way!
   I  &hall keep  thy  raw, I shall observe  i.$ w'ith my         The `way orf Jehovah's ,statutes !
whole heart !                                                     We understand, ,of course, even though we might
   A resolution to persevere !                                 overlook `the  fault because the Scriptures  so frequently
   But ,t-he psalmist clearly realizes the difficulty to       employ this particular figure, that  i'n the text we  have
carry out this resolution. Who he was is not kn,own.           figurative language.
From the contends  we gather, ho,wever,  that he was              It is the fi,gure  of a path%:ay,  a clearly d&ined  and
a young man, who  loved the law  ,of the Lord, and             outlined road, that  strtre'tches  itself before the eyes
walked in the way of His covenant; that he lived at            of the traveler as far as he can `see; while ther,e  are
.a time orf twides'pread  and marked apostacy,  and that       #so many, other roads, curving away from the main


                                                                                                 ._  -.    "
.>A                                        TSIE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

road,  tendilng  to confuse the traveler's sense of  di-          That, too, is implied in  ,the figure of the  ,way of
ro:Pion~,  and tempting him tto folIow  their way. And         man !
the psalmist `prays for instruction that he may not be            For man was `crealted  out of the dust of the ground
deceived, but that he may clearly discern and stead- by God's very fingers, ,and He breathed into him the
fastly keep rthe one main road, the away af the statutes       breath of life, and thus man, in  distinctioo  from all
of the Lord, that is, the direction that i.s determined other creatures,  `b-me a living soul, a  {being  capable
by the Word of God, eve.n  unto the end !                      of  *bearing  the ,image of God,. to know the Lord his
       And the figure has reference to man's active life,      God, and love Him with all his heart ,and mind and
and that, too, from an ethical, spiritual viewpoint.           soul and strength, and to `walk before `Him in true
       Man is like such a traveler!                            righteousness and holiness; and, for that very reason,
       He is ever active ! Always, continuously, he  wallks  ! capable, ,too, of turning about, away from the living
Never does he pause; incessantly he is active. Con-            God into the dankness of enmity against the living
stantly, every moment of his existence in the world,           God, into the perverse way of unrighteousness and
he is busy. Whether he goes forth in the morning to            iniquity.
the place of his diaily *work, in shop or office, in school       That is the direction of all man's activity, man's
or store; or whether he returns in the evening to seek Way !
rest. and -relaxation in the midst of the family circle,          There is motive power from within, and there is
-he is always  a&tive.  Whether he arises -from his            ,an end, a purpose in view of all man's work, that
bed to start upon the way of-another day, or whether -determine the ethical spiritual direction of all his
he stretches his `weary limbs -to seek repose in sleep,        thinking and desiring and  .willing,  of `all his emotions
-constantly he is engaged. He walks  !. . . .  ~               and inclinations, even , of the secret recesses of his
       There is-the incessant activity of his inner being, heart, as well as `of his outward `walk and life.
of his mind, his will, his contemplations and aspira-             It is the direction of his wl:ole active life trvu;nrd
tons, his cogitations and meditations, his joys and his        or  au;ny  from,' in hnrmony  with,  or  in  opposiction  to
sorrows, his love and his hatred, his desires and his          the living God !
lonlgings,  ithe flow of which he can never stop. There           And even as there are progress, constant activity,
.are,  even below the surface of his conscious life, the       and direqtion En the Iife of man-so  there is .an end,
secret and inadvertent motions of his inmost heart,            a destination, toward which man constantly moves !
over which  he apparently has no control,  an,d that              Life or death ; outer darkness or eternal glory !
constan?3y  arise from the dark and mysterious  se-               And the way of God's statutes, of which the poet
cesses  of his soul above the threshoid  of his conscious-     speaks, is `the  rdiroztion  of `that whole life of man,
ness,-a  thousand unshaped thoughts and- .emotions             with all its activity, as  ict is determined and counselled
that appear to crowd one another to the surface of (by the  .Word of Jehovah!
experience.                                                        It is, the `way in which no man can or will, or is
       All are so many steps in the way he travels !           inclined to walk, for by nature he loves darkness
       There is the outward at&ivity  that comes t.o mani- rather than life : it is the way of grace !
festation through his  o.utward  being, his activity              It is the way of forgiveness, of the righteousness
through the `body, by  *which  he stands and acts in           of God in `Christ Jesus our Lord!
inseparable  rela!t:ion  to the `world about him. Man is           It is the way of the new creature, of repentance,
constar&ly  active in seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, of renewal and sanctification !
smelling, speaking, singing, laughing, weeping, labor-             It is `the way of light and life!
ing, toiling, runnin:g  and h,a&ening  on his way. The             It is the way of fatih in the cross, uncl in the resur-
eye is never satisfied of seeing, the ear is never ,weary      rection of Jesus Christ from the dead !
of hearing, or even when they are satisfied and weary,             It is the way of eternal gl,ory, the way home
they must still hear and see. The mouth constantly                 Blessed way !
forms its speech, uttered or unu,ttered.  Man is active
personally, individually, and he is active  Iwith relation
to those about him, and with relation to the broad
(world in which  he lives and moves: in home and on the            Teach me, 0 Lord !. . . .
street, with relation to his wife and children, broth-             For, indeed, without Jehovah's own  ihstruction  no
ers and sisters, and with relation to, his rfellowmen,         man will choose the way of His statutes, so foolish
in society and in the church, whether he is toiling in         is he. .                 -.
the field or lalboring  i'n the factory. . . .                     And without God's own constant illumination no
       Always he is active !                                   man will <be able to continue in that blessed way of
       A traveler is  he that can never rest, that never light. Always again he will be deceived by the dark-
sits. idle by the ,wayside.                                    ness of his mind, and led astray by the folly of his
       *And in  all his  lattivity  :there  is direction!      evil  nature:


   -..-  .--  ___  ..__  -  ._              .--TTH-E   ,STA-N-D-A-R   D   B   33  A R - E - R                                 2 3

   Teach me, 6 Lord, the way of thy statutes !                            Teach me, 0 Lord, for I am poor and needy; end
    0,  ,to he sure, this instruction is accomplished                 even though I should study thy `Holy Scriptures con-
through the revealed Word of God. Apart from  ,i't,                   tinually, .I could n,ot discern the things of the Spirit,
there is cio knowledge of Jehovah, of His righteous- neither choose unto myself or keep the way of  t?hy
ness and salvation, of  Hi.s precepts and glory. And                  precepts, but ,by the light of thy Spir$, and  .the power
the psalmist ,knows that revelati,on  of the Lord, and                of thy marvellous grace!
to meditate on it daily is his delight.                                   Teach me to know and to keep  (the way of thy
    But he realizes that ev'en so, he is constantly de-               statutes !
pendent  ~poh  Jehovah's own destruction. For it  ia                      Teach me today and every day!
not for a mere natural and intellectual knowledge of-                     0 Lord, my God !
the statutes of  #he Lord that he longs, he craves true,
spiritual knowledge, the knowledge of love! `What he
longs for, is not that knowledge of the Word of `God,
wherciby  he mlay be able to theorize about its riches,                   &id  1%  ishall keep it!
about  .the <Lord and tiis Anointed, about Jehovah and                    Thm,  when thou, 0 Lord,  shalt have heard my
His salvation, about Christ and His cross, and resu,r-                prayer, and shalt teach me, day by day, then I shall
rection,  and exaltation at  ,the right hand of God  ;                keep the way of thy statutes!
about all the spiritual blessings in Him: righteousness                 - Then thy Word and the way of thy statutes shall
and forgiveness, the  ado,ption  and the rebirth, the be more precious `to me than gold, and H shall keep
hope and `the eternal inheritance; and about the good- them, preserve them, as something very dear, dearer
ness and  fierfection  of God's precepts.              He desires     than all other things, to my heart ! For  such is the
that other, deeper, spiritual knowledge, whereby he                   implication of the original word used here for lieep.
may taste the goodness and sweetness of it all, appro- AnId, counting ell things earthy but dross ,for `the ex-
priate all the promises of :God unto himself, and stead-              cellency of thy knowledge, I shall Iwalk in the way of
fastly choose and keep the way of God's blessed Word                  thy word with great delight!
even *unto the end!                                                       Even unto .the end !
   And to be sure, it i,s true, that the psalmist of the
eld dispensation could as yet but dimly discern these                     The end of my earthly way!
pleasures and deli:ght,s  of the :wxxy of God's statutes,                 For there is the end of `the battle, and there  ,waits
for he could but apprehend them as they presented                     the victory and the crown of Ilife for those that per-
themselves to him in the shadows of the law.                         .severe even unto that end!       MO indeed, there does
   And it is ,true,  too, that we 0.f the new dispensa-               not end the `way of Jehovah's sta!tutes,  for His Word
`tion behold all the  fulness  of this glory of  ithe way             is eternal, and when the battle is finished, and the
of  *God's  .Word in Jesus Christ  our Lord.                          vidtory is won, we shall for ever have our delight in
                                                                      His perfect Word, and that, too, in heavenly perfec-
   But principally this makes no difference.                          tion`before His face. But the end of our earthy way
   Also the poet of the old dispensation longed for                   is the end ,of the enemy, of the apowers of darkness,
the spiritual  knowledlge  of the God of his salvation                ctf temptation, of battle, of the danger of ever de-
that alone could satisfy his soul.                                    parting ,from the lway of Hi,s statutes.
   And so he must be instructed, enlightened, re- .  Unto that end I will keep the way!
newed, sanctified, guided by Jehovah Himself.                             Yes, and unto the end implies that ~1 will keep it
   And he prays: Teach me, 0 Lord!                                    even to the extreme of temptation and suffering. Even
   And so `God's  people always pray, throughout the                  though the end would be the loss of all things in the
ages !                                                                ,world, dersision  and shame, yea, very death, I would
   Teach me, 0 Lord, the way of lthy statutes, for I                  still keep the way of thy statutes  !
have a small beginning of the new obedience; and in                       Bold statement!
virtue of that small beginning I <know that I am called
out of darkness into thy marvellous light, so that in                     And yet,  it is the expression, not of some rash,
                                                                      man-made resolution, but of a well-founded assur-
principle I love thy Word, land thy salvsition,  and thy
gaod commandments, and i-t is my earnest desire to                    ance.
appropriate them, to love them more and more, to be-                      For the confidence of the psalmist is not rooted
hold the beauty of them, to taste their goodness, to                  in self. It is  :not carnal vainglory that causes him to
direct my whole life in -the [wlay of them, even in the               be assured of his perseverance even unto the end.
midst of this                                                             His hope is in Jehovah his God ! Teach me. . .and
                  WOI   id of darkness !
   Teach me, 0 Lord, for I earnestly seek to know                     I will!
thy Word, and to study if, and hear it, and meditate                      Blessed assurance!
on it day and, night, is my delight 1                                                                                H. H.


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                                EDITOR - Rev. %I. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                           Common Grace
         Contributing editors-Revs. J. Blankespoor, A. Cammenga,                                                                                                                                                            ' XII.
         P. De Boer, J. D. de  Jong, H. De Wolf, L. Doezema,
         M. Gritters, C. Hanko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,                                                                                                                                       That Van Til has no ground whatever for the ac-
         A. Petter, M.  Schipper,  J.  Vanden  Breggen,  H. Veldman,                                                                                                                                 cusation that we present God as the real Subject of
         R. Veldman, L. Vermeer, P. Vis, G. Vos, Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                                                                                    man's actions, and that, on the contrary, he had plenty
         Communications relative to contents, should be addressed                                                                                                                                    of material in his possession to conmince  him exactly
         to REV.  HI HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                                                       of the opposite, may become still more evident from
         liapids,  Michigan.                                                                                                                                                                         the following quotation from my The Gospel:
         Communications relative to subscription should be ad-                                                                                                                                          "Of a similar nature is the objection of Heyns'
         dressed to MR. R. SCHAAFSMA, 1101  Hazen St., S. E.,                                                                                                                                        that our view presents men as being passive. Man,
         Grand Rapids,  Mich.  All Announcements and Obituaries                                                                                                                                      Heyns teaches, must do something  .to be saved. It
         must be sent to the above address and will not be placed                                                                                                                                    simply will not do just to tell him : you have to do
         unless the regular fee of $1.00 accompanies the notice.                                                                                                                                     absolutely nothing! No, he must believe and convert
                                    Subscription $2.50 per year                                                                                                                                      himself! Doing this he will be saved. Well, on this
            E n t e r e d   aa  s e c o n d   c l a s s   ma.3  st  G r a n d   R a p i d s .   M i c h i g a n                                                                                      point we agree perfectly. We would even refuse to
                                                                                                                                                                                                     accept Heyns' progosition  that'small children are not
                                                                                                                                                                                                     saved through faith. To be sure, in the way of faith
                                                                                                                                                                                                     and conversion man is saved. But we do not agree
                                                                         *                                                                                                                           with him, when he insists that the offer of salvation
                                                     CONTENTS                                                                                                                                        sets man to work. He means to say, that, if we do not
                                                                                                                                                                        Page                         proclaim a general, well-meant offer of grace, man
  MEDITATION --                                                                                                                                                                                      will passively sit down anld wait for God as a stock
         PRaYER  FOR DIVINE INSTRUCTION . . ..I........................... 21                                                                                                                        an#d block. But again,  Reyns overlooks two facts,
             Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                                        for the simple reason that'he does not think Reformed.
  EDITORIAL&  -                                                                                                                                                                                      He overlooks that no offer of grace will ever set man
         COMMON GRACE                                                                                                                                                                                to work.
                                            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  241                And he also overlooks that almighty gate
             Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                                        does just this, and that, too, without fail. There is
         THE CHR. REF. SYNOD ON LABOR UNIONS . . . . .._...........  25                                                                                                                              absolutely no' danger that' he, who is drawn through
             Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                                        the grace of God becomes a stock and a block, no more
         EXPOSITION OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM . . . . . ...26                                                                                                                                      than tha,t there is any danger that the ungodly will
             Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                                        reveal himself and' adt as a stock and block over
         THE ALTAR OF BLESSIN GAND CURSING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 against the Gospel. No, under true Reformed preach-
             Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                                                                       ing every man is called to stand before the face of the
         THE STANDINcG STILL OF SUN AND MOON                                                                                                                                                         living God. The ungodly is touched in his  conscience,
                                                                                                                                                . . . . . . . . . . ..I..... 33
             Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                                                                       and is condemned, when he repeatedly and constantly
         THE PRAYER IN CONSISTORY BEFORE SERVICE . ...34                                                                                                                                             says : "no ; I do not want God !" And he that is the
             Rev.  M. Gritters                                                                                                                                                                       recipient of God's grace cannot help to exclaim: "God,
         VOOR DE DOODEN GEDOQPT (I Kor. 15:29) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36                                                                                                                Ibe merciful ,to me, a sinner!" And God is justified in
             Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                                                                         the consciences of both when He judges.
         THE SIN  -4GAINST  THE HOLY SPIRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..I.......... 38                                                                                                              This should be sufficient to,convince the reader that
             Rev.  -4. Petter                                                                                                                                                                        Van Til had absolutely no ground for his indictment
         THE ANGELS AND SALVATION IN CHRIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39                                                                                                                       that we make God the real subject of man's obedience,
             Rev. J. De Song
                 .                                                                                                                                                                                   or disobedience. Let me add a few remarks concern-
         THE OBJECTIVE REALITY OF THE TEMPTATIONS                                                                                                                                                    ing my .view  of this interesting .and frequently dis-
         OF JESUS ~.~.~.~.~~`~~.~.~.~.~..~..~...........................~............................~..41                                                                                           cussed problem.
             Rev. A. Cammenga                                                                                                                                                                           1. Man's moral freedom can never mean that he
         THE FORGOTTEN MAN IN OUR MIDST ,........................,  43                                                                                                                               is sovereignly and independently free to choose and act
             Mr. P. Alphenaar                                                                                                                                                                        regardless of the  will. of God's decree.    It may be
                                                                                                             .                                                                                       readily granted that here we deal with a problem


                                                TBE  STA.,NDARD   B E A R E R                                               2 5

      which in last analysis we cannot solve, but we must               Such is the view always maintained by us.
      say all we can about it in the light of Scripture, in             And it is, to the best of my knowle,dge  the teach-
     order to avoid falling into error of Pelagianism. And          ing of Scripture, and the view of all Reformed people.
     the Bible teaches us very plainly, that, although man              Nor is there another side to .this truth.
     ever remains a moral agent, he is, even so, limited on                                                        H. H.
     every side by the will and counsel of God. God's will
     and counsel on the one hand, and man's freedom and
     responsilbility on the other, may not be presented as
     ,two parallel lines  e-&ending infinitely on the same
     plane, or as two tracks that never meet. Even though
     we may not be able to fathom this relation! completely,          The Christian Reformed Svnod on
     Scripture teaches us very plainly that it is a. relation
     of dependency: even as a moral agent man is utterly                           the Labor Unions *
     dependent on the sovereign will ccf God, Who. executes
     all His good pleasure even through the moral deeds                 L,et us take a little closer look at what the Synod
     of man, *both  good a.nd evil.       i,                        had to say on the question of corporate  responsibil$y,
          2. Man's voluntary determinations as to their eth-        and its application to union: membership.               ,I
     ical character are subjectively determined by the eth-             We find this in "principles" 2 and 3 :
     ical state or condition of his.nature. It is this that is         "1. The Biblical doctrine of corporate responsi-
     denied by Pelagianism. According to it either good             bility. and the Biblical teaching of the Christian's
     or evil consists only in the act, and the will as such,        separation from the world make it imperative for
     or man's moral nature can never be either good or bad members of neutral labor organizations to discontinue
     essentially.    But Scripture teaches differently. A membership of such unions whose common practices
     good tree brings forth good fruit; a corrupt tree are clearly in confli-ct  with the principjes  of the Word
     bricgs forth evil fruit.     And this has always been cxf  Go.d-
     taught by Reformed scholars. From an ethica view-                 "2. The doctrine of corporate responsibility does
     point the heart is the center of man's being. But it           not imply that membership in unions which have en-
     is not in man's power to make his heart good.                  gaged in sinful practices makes one liable to  ecclesias-
         3. The natural man's nature is wholly corrupt.. tieal censure, however, when members of, the church
     Hence, he can never will to do good. He is incapable render themselves guilty of acts that are contrary to
     to think or to will and to do that which is good. He the Word of God, the usual application of <the rules for
     is `Lfree  to sin." With him is only the psse peccare.         discipline shall be made. Corporate responsibility may,
     In this state he surely can never assent to the gospel,        render one worthy of ecclesiastical discipline but the
     or even will to receive the grace of God in Christ. ,degree of guilt must be determined $by the local con-
     This does not render -him passive, so that he is not a sistories.'  '
     moral agent, responsible fZor his determinations and              In passing we may  notice  here that  "so-called
     acts. He loves evil, chooses sin, rejects Christ as a neutral" organizations now are simply called "neutral
     conscious moral agent. iHe is not a stock and block.           labor organizations.`" This reveals what was in the
     He is much worse. A stock and block cannot:morally             committee's mind.      As far as they are concerned
     IY%lct.    The natural man can only so react upon the          (and as far as the Synod is concerned) you may as
     preaching of the  gyspel that he always rejects Christ.        well omit the qualifying phrase "so-called." Neutral
         4. It is almighty, efficacious, irresi*stible  grace only labor organizations are a  possi:bility.
     that changes man's corrupt nature, and makes him a                But let us confine ourselves to the main question:'
     new man in Christ. *And it. is only when the tree is that of corporate responsibility.
     thus made good that it can bring forth good fruit.                We must make a serious at-tempt to understand
     Only when this operation of grace has been accom- what the committee and the synod meant to say in
     plished in man's nature  cBn he will the good, and can the above two "principles." This is not `easy, ,as any-,
     he' hear and receive the  gospel  unto salvation. But one will admit as soon as he asks himself the question.
     again, this operation of almighty grace, whereby man's what  defini,te  action  cons&tories  will have to follow
     nature is fundamentally changed, does not make God             on the ,basis  of these principles. The language is such
     the subject of his actions or obedience; and does not          that it is in need of a commentary Iby the committee
.    render man passive. On the contrary, through that              or by synod ftself.  .But we shall try to interpret the
     grace he now becomes  aLTtive,to  do good. He repents, meanmg of the committee.
     he believes, he embraces Christ, he fights against sin,           1. It appears that synod'on advice of the commit-
     he walks in all good works. It is God that worketh tee adopts  $he principle of corporate responsibility.
     within him to  /will and to do of His good pleasure;           We say advisedly,  appears, for several other state-
     therefore. he is .&able  to, work out his. own .salv.ation.    ments, in these two "principles" give the impression.


26  -                                 T*HE  S T A N D A R D  `BEA'RER

that the committee and synod did not adopt this prin-          distinction must be made between  "commonL'  and
ciple "in all  its meaning and implicaition, but rather ."uncommon"  practices. What did they have in mind
ao. qualify it that sufficient room is left for church .by this distincjtion? Which are the "uncommon"  prac-
members .to be members of "neutral labor organiza- itices of the union? Are they such actis `of violence as
tions." This is evident from:                                  ,were committed in the "sit-down strikes?" Or did
    a. The fact that the committee and syn,od  do not          the synod have in mind .a11 kinds of acts of violence
speak of the imperativeness to discontinue member-             and molestation commirtted  ,by union members upon
ship in organizations whose consttiution.  is clearly in       non-union workers, to make life miserable for them,
conflict with the Word of God. But suppose that a              and  *thus to compel  tthem  to join  the,  union?      Such
constitution of such an organization declares that all         a&s are "common" enough, indeed. But does synod
men, are  [born free, that they all have a God-given           mean  40 say that a Christian who i's member of a
right to happiness, and tha!t the pursuit of happiness         union  rthat connives at and  encouragez3  such acts of
consists in the seeking of material things, that go-           violenae committed upon a fellow Christian. that works
vernment derives its authority  ,from man, in other            in the  same shop  ;with  him, is  not corporately respon-
words, that a constitution is based on the principles sible for such acts, and is free in his conscience to sit
of the French revolution, thus denying all the funda-          with the same mahrerrted  brother at the communion
mental truths of Scripture and the Reformed Faith;             table? It is  evi,dent,  that `although  ,the  languatge is
and suppose that the same constitution plainly de-             very ambiguous, and although we `are clearly in need
clares that only those that subs&be to these philo-            of a commentary by the  \committee  or by synod on
sophical principles can be member of such a union,             :this distinction ,between "common" and "uncommon"
is one who  ,joins  such an organization responsible for       practices, synod did after all not fully adopt the prin-
its ,philosophy  ? Is he not an open denier of the Chris-      ciple of corporate  respon&ibility,  and left plenty of
tian faith? Or suppose that a  c:onstitution demands           room for union membership by members of the church.
,of its subscribers an oath or solemn pledge that they                                                           H. H.
will hold their union membership sacred above  ull other
relationships, social, political,  w religious,  is one who                               -
joins such an organization  responsitble for this oath,
and that, too, regardless of the question wh,ether  he
is  ac'tnally  ccmpellsd to swear it or not? Th.e com-                                                                     .-
mit&e  dces not seem to think so. To us this is the
first and most  impor!tant element in  oorpora$e  re-             The Triple Knowledge-
sponsibility for the acts of any organization one may
join. But the committee and the synod speak only of
"unions whose common practices are clearly in con-
flict with the principles of the Iword of God."                 An kxposition  Of The Heidelberg
         b. The fact that the synod speaks of the "common                           Catechism
practicds" of such unions. Now, it is not very clear
what the synod would comprise under this term.                                        PART TWO
Very common  praclti~s  of the existing unions are the                          OF MAN'S REDEMPTION
strike, picketing, the closed  she-p, and the  boyaatt;and                          Lord's Day IX.
all the violence necessarily connected with `these. Did                      Qu. 26. What  ,believest thou when thou sayest,
,the committee have these in mind and did the synod                       "I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker  of
adopt a resolution condemning these when they adopt-                      heaven and earth?"
ed "principle"2 ? But that is unthinkable, for these                         That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus
practices are so common that no union could be con-                       Christ, who of nothing made heaven and earth,
ceived without these  praotices,  and in "principle"  t                   with all that is in them; who like Nvise upholds and
                                                                          governs the same by his eternal counsel and provi-
synod  adotted   ih~e  r!ooasibility  of  aompatibility  of               dence, is for the sake of Christ his Son, my God
church-membershi,p  and membership of such unions                         and my Father; on whom I rely so entirely, that  1'
as the AFL. and CIQ. If `this had  (been  the meaning                     have no doubt, but he will provide  me. with all
of the committeer it should have plainly stated that                      things necessary for soul and body: and further,
`the Biblical doctrine of corporate  responbibility  makes                that he will make whatever evils he sends upon me
                                                                          in this valley of tears turn out to my advantage;
it imperative for members of "neutral" organizations                      for he is able to do it, being Almighty God, and
 to discontinue membership in the AFL. and the CIO.                       willing, being a faithful Father.
Yet, I cannot possibly think of other and more com-                                     Chapter .I.
 mon practices which the committee and  the synod
 can have had in mind. But, plainly, the committee                     The Father Of Our Lord Jesus ,Christ.
snd the synod meant  ,to convey the  thought  ithat  a             Only one Lord's Day, strictily  speaking, the  Heidel;


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D  B.EARER                                               _ 27

berg Catechism devotes to the discussion of the first His almighty  pow&,  and eternal love!
article of the Apostolic Confessim:  "I believe in God            The main theme of this Lord's Day is plainly the
the #Father,  Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth."          Fatherhood of God. A mistake do they make who, in-
It is true that also Lord's Day  X is arranged under stea.d of emphasizing this Fatherhood of God in their
this head, but it occurs as an  ap,pendix  to the present      explanation  ,of the  Cactechism   ina speech or print,
Lord's Day, and as an elaboration of the statement present  an elaborate discussion of creation. It is not
already found concerning Yhe providence of God in              creation ,bu't the Creator that is the chief subject of
this ninth chapter. And let us note that this entire *the first article of the Apostolic Confession. Faith in
answer consists of one sentence. Yet, this one an-             God is expressed  ,there.  And  it speaks of this God
swer is both  Ibeautiful  and very significant.       It is    as. F'ather  Almighty, Who is revealed as such in His
beautiful, for it is  noit a mere  dogmiatic  explanation      divine work of creating heaven and earth. The Ca,e-
of the article of the Confession: it is the expression         chism  has discerned this quite clearly, and while speak-
of a living faith. The Catechism  ,would have us bear ing of the <work  of creation and of providence only in
in mind that it  is discussing the  .truth  from the           passing as it  iwere,  ,places all the emphasis on the
vi'ewroint of the faith of the Church, and that, too,          Fatherhcod .of (God. IAnd we may distinguish here at
as the expression of a living, saving faith, which is once a threefold divine fatherhood, viz. the father-
both a true spiritual knowledge and a hearty confi- hood of God with relation to our Lord Jesus Chris&,
dence. Ursinus, in his Schcntboek,  reminds us `that hhe       His fatherhood as the [Creator, with relation to all
first  article of the  Apost,olic  Confession  speaks of things, and &Iis fatherhood with relation to His peo'ple
faith  z'n God. And: "I  believe  .&z  Go$ signifies: I        in Jesus Christ and for His sake. It is  this first
believe that ;He is my God, that whatever He is and            fatherhood of God, His father-relation to our Lord
has, He is and has unto my sa,lvation.     To believe God      Jesus Christ, that is the subject of our discussion in
is, strictly speaking,  $0  Ibelieve  that  there is a God     the present chapter.
in accord cwith all :His perfections. To believe  im God          But here we must at once make an impor'tant  dis-
is: to accept that God  ciauses all that is ascribed to        tinction,  -that, namely, IbeQveen  the eternal fatherhood
Him, for His Son's sake, to work together unto my of  `the First Person in  relation  to <the ,Son  in the di-
salva'tion."  I, p.  186. And this is clearly and beauti-      vine nature, and the fatherhood of the triune God in
fully expressed and emphasized in this ninth Lord's            relation to  Chi-idt   .as the Mediator, in His human
Day: the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . .          nature. This distinction is frequently overlooked, and
is my  G,od and  F&ther  for Christ's sake, and I rely         in some instances even expressly and consciously de-
completely on Him, in  prosperi.ty  a.nd adversity,            nied, but it i,s very important that it be clearly dis-
knowing that He is <both  able and wiiling to `turn all        cerned and ,maintnined.    In  Sermons on  the Apostles'
things unto my advantage and salvation.                        @reed,,  edited by H.  J.  Kuiper,   `we read on p. 27:
   But not only is this ninth Lord's Day, brief though         "A&er this general description we must now direct
it be, beautiful  and rich as the expression 09 a, living our attention to the fact that, in harmony with what
faith, it is also highly significant from a doctrinal          Holy Scripture reveals about God, the ninth Lord's
viewpoint. One cannot but wonder, when considering Day for our Catechism speaks of God's fatherhood in
this twenty sixth answer of our Heidelberger,  at the          more than one sense. To be father is to be the root,
ability of its authors to crowd so much important              the cause .of things or Fersons  to whom th'at. father-
doctrine into a. single sentence. Let us note that this hood pertains. To be the.  Al"pha, the origin, of all
Lord's Day speaks of: 1. The eternal Fatherhood of             that is and lives can be said ,only of the Creator in
God with relation to our Lord Jesus Christ. 2. Of              an absolute sense, and not of any creature. But to
the work of creation out of nothing. 3. Of God's               God that fatherhood is attributed in different i*a.ys,
providence.    4. Of his eternal counsel.       5. Of his for God is ~o't the first cause of all beings in exactly
Fatherhood in relation to the believer for Christ's `the same sense, or by the same activities. Scripture
sake. 6. Of his omnipotence. 7. Of his power and cIearly distinguishes between three kinds of father-
`willin:gness  to cause all things to work together for        hood which are ascribed to God.  Of  course,   when
our. good. And let us notice,  itoo,  that a.11 these truths speaking here of three  d>iffierent  kinds of divine father-
are set  .Eorth in their proper order and relation to hood,  .we have reference to  the first person of the
one another: It is  the God and Father of  our Lord            T&r&y.    (Italics  itre mine.) He is the Father of the
Jesus  Christ Who as such, i.e. precisely as God  avid         second person, the eternal Son, by his act of eternal
FcrtheY of  OUT  Lord Jesus Christ,  created  aI,1 things, `generation. But in his Word He is also revealed as
and upholds and governs all things; end Who, being the Father of the entire universe. And, lastly, we
for Christ's sake also my God and Father, from the honor Him as the Father  of believers, whom He has
very beginning adapted all things, and still adapts all adopted as his beloved children. He is the father of
things, according  t,o His eternal counsel, to  my sal-        Christ, of all the creatures in general, and of his spir-
vation; so `that I may, indeed, completley confide ia itual children in Christ. Thus we should think and

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

 speak ,of Him as we meditate on th.e first Article of               economy of the Trinity, the  latter  a relation of the
 the Apostles' Creed: `r believe in God the Father, Al- Triune God to the creature outside  of Him. The for-
 mighty, Maker of heaven and earth.' "                               mer  ia. a relation between two persons of. the Trinity,
        I do not know, of course, whether and in how far the latter is a relation between the Being of God, as
 the author of this sermon was fulIy  conscious of :the              subsisting in three persons, and the creature formed
 implication of these sentences; but it seems to me                  by  IHis  ,wil!l and power.    The former  is an eternal
 that, on second thought, he will discern that they pre-             relation, the latter i's caIlad into being in time. The
 sent a serious error. For they imply that in the first former may be called a n,atural,  necessary relation in
 article of the  i4postalic  Confession the believer speaks God, the latter is rooted in God's sovereign counsel
 of the first person of the Holy Trinity only, that only             and ~$11.
 the first  pe@son  is the Creator of the heavens and the               rAnd for the s,ame reason we must make a distinc-
 earth, and that only the first [person is  ,the Father of tion  ibetween the relation between the Father and the
 ibelievers,  so that, when they address God.in the Lord's           Son within the Holy Trinity, and the relation betwe@
 Prayer as YIur Father, who art in heaven," they are                 the "God and Father of our Lord  Jesus Christ," and
 praying to the first person only, to the exclusion  of, the Mediator in l[is human nature. The author of the
 the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It is evident that sermon from which we quoted above ostensibly denies
 this  Icannot  be the meaning of the  Apastles'   0?ed,             this expressly.  !He writes: `"God is our Father for
 and that this is not the. correct presentation of the               Christ's sake. By that very expression we also staite
 sense of the ninth Lord's Day.                                      that God's Fatherhood over us is essentially different
        That it was not *the conception of Ursinus is plain          from his relation to the eternal Son. In the present
 from his  Schatboek.  In explanation of the words- "I               humanhtic tendencies of our American churches we
 believe in ,God,"  he writes : ".ln `God." The name God must hot suffer ourselves to be led into modernistic
 is here to be taken as denoting the being in the place              vagueness  and confusion. Remember how carefully
 of IGod the Father, the Son, `and the Holy Spirit ; be- our Savior expressed himself when he instructed the
 cause the venb to h&eve  connected with the preposi-                disciples about the Father and his Fatherhood. He
 tion in has reference in the `same manner to all the                ne, er confused the relations but spoke distinctly a"bout
 three  perso.ns  of the  <Godhead.  For we  .do  no, less           `my Father' and  `yo'ur Father.' Never did he draw
 believe in the Son Land in the Holy Ghost than in the hum,an  beings, even if they were his beloved friends,
Father." p.186. And on `the term Father in the first                 into that unique relationship between the Father and
 article of the Apostolic  Gon)`~&on,  he writes as fol-             HimselL He never spoke about  our God and  owr
 lows : "The Father. The word  Father   here  stan,ds                Father, but always clearly distingeished between `my'
 qover against  San to denote the  perron  and signifies             and `your' Father. Only once did He use the expres-
 the first person of the Godhead ; when He is ,compared              sion: `Our Father, who art in heaven.' But we know
 wit;h the  weo%wes, one  wnderstands by  this word  t&e             that was to ,be the disciples' prayer, not his own.' "
 being  of  God,  Q  zd  tlws  the  wovd Father  ,pefdrs  to  6he    pp. 31, 32.
 w'Nole  divine  t.ssence,  (Italics`  are `mine.) as in the            The truth in the above quotation is, that there is an
 Lond's Prayer: `Our Father, who art in heaven.'  "                  eterna,l  distinction  4between  Christ's  Sonship  as the
 idem, p. 186.                                                       `<only begotten God," and our  sonship of adoption and
        And the same distinction is presented ,by Dr. `A.            regeneration. As condemnation of modernism Ito draw
 Kuyper in his E P'nto,  p. 186: "Speaking o.n this point,           the essential So&rip  of Christ as the second person of
 we  *mu& mean while remark that the name  Fathe?                    the Trinity down to the level of man's  sonship, or,
 may Ibe used (by t.he areature, either in the narrower              pantheistically, to raise our  sonship to  thalt. of the
 sense of the First Person of the Trinity, or likewise               second person of the Holy Trinity, the distinction made
 of the Divine Being without `distinction of persons.                is quite true.- But when the author insists that in no
 Over against the creature, Father, Son'  arid Holy                  sense Christ could say our God and  OUY Father to-
 Ghost is Yhe Cr&tor ac'd the Fountain of all `goo5;                 gether wi*th His brethren, i.e. according to, and in and
 and we call upon the Triune Being as our Father' in                 through His human nature, he is in error. And even
 heaven. Rut if we inquire fur'iher,  in who.m of these              to su,ccessfully  [defend the distinct essential Sonship
 three Persons this Fatherhood lip the Etern& Divine                 of Christ in His divine  natu,re,   ,it is necessary to point
 Essence its found more pa.rticdarly  (that is, economi-             out that IHe was also the Son in His human nature, the
 cally) this Fatherhood in the narroiwer  sense'must  be             "holy Child Jesus," .  and that, although the two are
 as'cribed  to the First Person."                                    related  so that the latter is rooted in the former,. even
        We must, then,. make a  distinctior.   :Latv~en-  the        as the two natures are'united in the one divine Person,
  unihue fatherhood of  :the first person of the Holy                ye: they must `be distinguished. This is evident even
 TrinMy   width  relation to the essential  .and  e't;einal          from the very words of the Lord to which the above
  Son sf !God, anld the fa;therho$dd  of, God with relation          quotation seems to refer; the words of Jesus to Mary
  to all creatures. `The former is-a relation within the             Magdalene : "But go to my brethren, and say unto


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  "                                            29

them,  1 ascend unto my Father, and your Father;                 in the first  pla,ce,  to the eternal generation of the Son
anck to  my  Go&  and to  @our  God."  J'ohn 20  :17. For        of God. And the context of the second psalm bears
how could the Son in His divine mature call the Father           this out.    For it is evident that the psalm has its
His  God As the essential  ,Son He is very God Him-              historical  .background  in David as the theocratic king
self, land in the (divine nature He could no more call           of Israel, and  (that the wonds of vs. 7 must be applied
the Father His God than  lthe Father could call Him His          to him in the first place. It is against him that the
God. Or  how could the second person of the holy "heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing."
trinity  <r*s~rm~d  to the first person?  I,t is plain, then,    He is the  Bnointed of  t.he Lord against  who,m  "the
that the Saviour inithese  ,words speaks as the Mediator,        kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take
Dhe Brother among many brethren, in His human na-                counsel together." It is of him, first of all, that the
ture; and that as such He speaks of "my Father and               Lord declares : "I have set my king upon my holy hill
your Father".in one sense, in the same sense in which of Zion." And it is he, too, as far as the histori-
God is also "my  IGod and your God." It is not the second cal  ba'ckgronnd  of the psalm is concerned, to whom
person  in rthe divine nature that here speaks of His            rthe words refer: "Thou art my Son, this day have I
relation to the first person, `but the divine Son En and begotten thee." In this historical background of the
through His human nature, that here calls, not the               psalm, therefore,  we. must take our  start.ingpoint,
first person, but'Gekd  His Father. This is corroborated         would we do justice to rthe meaning of Holy Scripture.
by the well known expression "the God and Father of                 Yet, we must immediately add that it is unly in a
our Load Jesus Christ," Born..  15 :6; I Cor. 15 :24; II         comparatively small way that the *words  of Psalm II
Cor. 11:31; Eph. 1:3 ; I Pet. 1% It is true that some            earn be applied to David. They are spoken of him only
interpreters claim th& the genitive "d our Lord Jesus as a type, as a  faictt prefiguration of Another. This
Christ" (tou Kuriou heemoon Jesou  Christ0.u)  must              is evident from the words of the Psalm itself. It would
be understood as modifying only the  nlame Father,               be the height of presumption to apply all the words of
and not also God. But not only have they no exegeti- this inspired prophecy to a mere man. This is evident
cal reason `for  rthis construction, and not  oaly is it         if we. only consider the last verse: "Kiss the Son, lest
much more natural to connect the genitive with both,             he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his
God and Father; but besides, we find the expression              wrath is :kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that
"T#he God of our Lord Jesus Christ," Eph. 1:17 ; and             put their; trust  ,in him." But this is very plain if we
the Savior calls .Him .his God, Matt. 27 :46 ; John 20 :1'7 ;    cons&t  the passages in the. Now Testament that quote
Rev. 3 : 12.    All  *this, and many  other evidences in         the second  psalm. From these it is raised beyond all
Scripture of the same truth, plainly shows that we               doubt that, David spoke prophetically of the Christ,
must make a distinction between the essential and                ,the Son of God in human nature, the Anointed par
eternal Sonship of Chri,st  in relation to the Father as         excellence, wha is made heir of ,a11 things, and to whom
the First person in the  ,Holy Trinity, and the assumed indeed  &he ends of the earth are given for his posses-
sonship of the $aviour  in His human nature in relation          sion. But even  s,o, the words of Psalm 2:7 may not
to God  8s !His Father.                                          even in the second place be idirectly  applied to the eter-
   We must bear this in mind, even when we would                 nal generation of thle Son: they refer directly to the
qu'ate proof texts for the doctrme  of eternal generation.       fact  that according to the  dec,ree Gad  begot Christ, `His
There is no doubt that Scripture teaches this truth.             Servant, the Anointed, the King over Zion, against
But iwe must be careful when we quote texts in sup-              whom all the <kings of Ithe earth set themselves, and the
port of this doctrine, less we do violence to Scripture.         natiozrs  rage and imagine a vain thing, but who is vic-
Thus, to mention just lone example, Ps. 2:`7 is (often           !torious  and made heir of all things. This is evident
offered  as direct proolf  of the eternal generation of the from. that beautiful prayer the Church uttered upon the
Son of God: "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath return to them of Peter and John:  f'lord, thou art
said unto me, Thou art my Son: this day have I be-               God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea,
gotten thee." But if we are not areful we will, by               and all  that in them is. Who  <by the mouth of thy
quoting this text as referring directly to the generation        servant David ha& said, Why rdid thre heathen rage,
of tthe Son of aGod, fall into the error of modernism, or,       and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the
at least, into that of the theory that the Son is sub-           earth stood up,  and the rulers were gathered together
ordinate to the Father. Let us notice, in the first place,       against  lthe Lord,  ad against his Christ. For of a
that there is mention here of the  decree. It is, there- truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast
fore, a&ording  to the decree of God th& the one that            anointed,  *both   Herod,  and  Pontius  Pilate, with the
is here speaking is God's Son. But surely, the second Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were garthered  to-
person is not Son by virture of a decree of the Triune gether, For to (do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel
God, but by virtue of the act of eternal generation  Bay         determined before to be done." Acts  4:24-28.  It is
?he (first person. We must, therefore, at onc'e conclude         evident that here the  (words of Psalm 2 are applied  Ito.
that these words do not refer exclusively! and not even          the "holy child  Jesus:,"the Anointed of God, Christ in

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

His human nature. And more specifically, the words armies. It seems that Joshua had not sufficiently kept
of Psalm 2 :7 are .appli&  ,to the resurrection of Christ this in mind. `He had been guilty of undue haste, of
En  ,&&cj  13  ~32 , *jr)
                      da: "And we declare unto you glad tid-    taking mai?ters  out of the hand of ithe Lord. Without
ings, how that the promise which was made unto the &uiting for orders, he had sent forth spies Ifrom  Jeri-
fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their cho to Ai for the purpose of exploration. The advice
children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again ; as it of the spies had  `beem that, whereas the  inhabitantIs of
is also  ,wriltten in the second Psalm, Thotl  art my Son,      Ai swere but few, a few `thousand warriors would be
t,his day have I begotten thee." It was, therefore, in sufficient to overcome its military force.' It therefore
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that             would tbe `polintless,  they said, to ma.ke all the people
the decree was fulfilled: "Thou art my Son, this day to  labor thither. To these spies the warring of God's
have I IbegclXen  thee."' l't was then that God begat           warfare was somewhat of an ordeal,  ,a burdensome
Him to  Ibe  tar ever King over Zion.  1% was in the task to  cbe avoided. The victory over Jericho had come
rqsurrec'tion  that we find the beginning of that exalta-       exceedingly easy. Consequently, the thought seems
tion that was completed &hen He was placed at the               to have taken root in `their soul that, whereas  ,the
right hand of God in glory. "This day" of Psalm 2 :7,           battle was the Lord's, they could afford to. stand aside
`therefore, refers, first of all, to the moment of David's now and  pIay the role of passive onlookers. But in
anoint,ing  as king of Israel; and, secondly, to the thics they were sorely mistaken. Assuredly, the (battle
moment of Chrisk's resurrection from the dead. From was and would continue to be the Lord's Their faith
all this it is .evident  that, when we speak of Father-         had  conquer&  and would continue to conquer the
hood of God with relation to Christ, we must make a             world; But this could only mean that, in the strength
distinction between  tthe Fatherhood of the first person of their redeemer-God, they must do battl,e  ,with the
of the  iHoly Trinity with relation to the second person,       adversary, and thus strive to enter in. The advice of
and the Fatherhood of the Triune God with relation to           the spies was bad therefore and should not have been
Christ in the flesh. The first is  ,by eternal generation, adopted. Joshua should have consulted twlith the Lord.
as we hope to explain in the next chapter, the second           And this he failed to do. Assuredly, the principal
is according `to the  (decree  ,by which the Son was reason of Israel's [defeat was Achan's theft. But might
anointed Mediator, alnd heir of `all things. And accord- this disaster not have ibeen worked by the Lord also
ing  t.o the last relation tthe "holy child Jesuis" is su,b-    to rebuke the inordinate  forewardness  of Joshua and
ordinate to the Father, His servant, and the Father is          the lack of zeal and wrong passiveness on  the part of
also the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.                          the people?
                                                  lH. H.           In further prosecuting the war with  Ai, Joshua,
                                                                under the direction of God, now puts into operation
                                                                a stratagem, i.e., a trick for misleading 4he enemy.
                                                                An ambush-a post of troops in wait, concealed. for
                                                                the purpose of attacking  `an enemy by surprise-is
        The Altar Of Blessing and                               stationed on the west side  ,of the  city between Bethel
                                                                and Ai, while the main body of the assaulting force
                             Cursing                            pitches on the north side of ,it, on a mountain and.thus
                                                                in full miaw of #the enemy. There is some  o:bscurity  in
                                                                the narrative. Verse 3 of chapter 8 does not seem to
      As soon as Achan's crime is punished by his death         agree with verses 12, 13. At verse 3 it is stated that
God reassures Joshua and the  peopie, exhorts them to           30,000 men are placed in concealment ; according to
.be courageous and cheer?ful, and for the second time           verse 12  :they are only 5,000. "And Joshua chose out
to undertake the expedition against Ai in the confi-            thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them
dence, reposing on Xis promise, that the king of Ai             away by night. And he commanded them saying, Be-
and all that appertains  It.0 him-his people, city,  and        hold, ye shall lie  lin wait against the city, even behind
land-has been given in Joshua's hand.                           the  ,city."  (vs. 3). "And he totok  about five thousand
      In this second ,venture,  the Lord and not Joshua         men, and set them to lie in wait ibetween  Bethel and
takes the initiative. These are  :2Tis orders to Joshua. #Ai." (vs. 13). Further, according to  veme  13,. the
All  Ithe people and thus not merely a  ltwo or three           troops to lie in wait weresent out already on the even-
thousand will do battle with the adversary. The city ing .before;  in $verse  &13, on the contrary, these same
is to abe captured by a tactical trap. Its inhabitants,         troops  betake  themselves to thair place of concealment
including the king, are to be slain; but Israel will take on the morning of the battle. If only we were in the
to themselves the cattle `and rthe spoils according to possession of all the .particulars  of this engagement,
the commandment of God.                                         these contradictory statements could be reconciled,
      By this introductory step, the Lord let  ,it ,be known which means that  ,the contradictions are not real but
thalt He ,and not Jqshua is the real captain of Israel's        only apparent. There is certainly nothing that com-


                                      T*HE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                31

pels us to maintain that they are real. Doubtless the             an altar `to the Lord  ,God  of  Isra.el in  Mou,nt Ebal.
whole ,force amounted to thirty thousand of which five            It was an altar of whole stones, over which no man
thousand formed the ambush. It is not likely that                 had lifted up any iron. So it was written in the book
thirty thousand men could conceal themselves in a                 of the law. The action  Qs thus a fulfillment of the
valley `(there  was ,a valley Ibetween  them and Ai, (~1's.       command given to Moses. (De&. 27 :5, 6). IJpon `the
11)) so as to ,be Envdisilble  from the city. Verse 17 says       altar thus erected (burnt- and peace-offering are ,sacri-
.that "there ;vcas not a man left in Ai or Bethel, that           ficed unto the Lord. Thereupon Joshua writes  uron
went not out after Israel". From this statement it ,great  stomes,  whitewashed with lime, a  co,py of the
woukl appear that the men of Bethel left their city               law of Moses, the commandments proper, in all  like'lii-
and went into  Ai.                                                hood,  w&h their rwarnings and admonitions. The in-
    The full  ,plan for the capture of  th,e city is this:        scription  Etself,  accordring  to some, may probably have
The ambush \vEll :be concealed west of the city in *the           been effected not: till after the ceremony was com-
valley. Ai will be attacked from the north, possibly              ,pleted,  being reported here by  antici,pa'tion.  But this
from the East, by  .t.he main force under the direct              view militates against the statement that it was  ldone
sommand  of  :Joshua.      The king of  Ai will  ,go out          "in he presence  of the children, of Israel." The sacred
against Israel `to <battle,  he and all hi,s people, confident    narrative  con'tinuea,  "And all Israel, and their elders,
of victory. Joshua twill give a Signal `to the men lying          and officers, and their judges stood an this side the
in concealment; whereupon these  .men will break forth            ark  .and on  tha,t  tide before the priests the  Levites,
into the city abandoned by the enemy and set it on                which bare `the Ark of the covenant aof the Lord, as
fire. At sight of the flames, the pursuers will turn              well the stranger as he that was born among them, over
and rush <back to save their city; then the main force            again& Mount Gerizim, and  half of them over against
of Israel till tunn,likewise  and thus the enemy will be          Mount Bbal; as Moses &he,  servant of the Lord had
caught between the two sections  of the army and. be "commanded before, that `they should `bless the people
destroyed. The plot was entirely successful. All the              of Israel" (ch. 8 :33). Thus the position of the people
inhabitants of Ai ,in the field were slain. Thereupon             was such `that the priests with the Ark of the covenaat
the Israelites returned to Ai and smote it with the stood in the midst of the valley, between Ebal lying on
edge of the sword. The number slain, both men and                 the aorth and Ger@m lying on the south, but h'alf the
rwomen, were twelve thousand. The city  &self was people over against Gerizim, therefore on Ebd, and
~burned and made a heap, a desolation forever, "even              the,other  half over against Eb.al, therefore on Gerizim.
till this day." The kitng of Ai was hanged on a tree. IAfter  this had /been arranged Joshua caused to be read
At sunset his carcass  *wits taken down and cast at the           all the words of the law, the blessing and the cursings.
entering af the gate of the city. Upon it was raised              We learn from Deut. 27 that the curses are directed
a great heap of stones.                                           against idolatry, contempt of parents, removing a
   The question has been raised whether the employ-               neighbor's landmark, inhumanity  torward   ithe  blin'd,
ment of stratagem (.craft in war) was ,consistent  with           strangers orphans `incest and sodomy, murder, and
the dignity of God. It was this, assuredly, as God,               finally  against the transgression of the law  in, any
Himself, had ordered it. The craft here employed thus             manner. Blessings are promised in the city and on the
,belongs  to the legitimate science and art of tilitary           field (ch.  28), on all births, on the  .hasket  and the
command. it was not properly deception. For it was                kneeding-trough,  on going out and coming in ; a bless-
not `the breaking of a promise previously  `&ven  the             irng in particular on their arms in contest ,with their
adversary, but simply the execution of a plan of action           enemies, a blessing on the position of `Israel  among the
that had `been adopted for this particular war, To                nations.
denounce the craft as sin is to be  <obliged to maintain             From Deuteronomy we learn `that the tribes group-
that, in  war, a general finds himself under the moral ed on Gerizim embraced  &neon, Levi, Judah, Issachar,
ne'cessity  of revealing to the enemy all his contem-             Joseph and Benjamin. On Mount Gebal  stoold Reuben,
plated strategic movements. The parties to a war do               Gad and Ashur, Zebulon, Dan and Napthali. The
not expect this of each other. Each knows that it is              priests were stationed between, and readout the  blesls-
a part of his business to *watch  the other amd to ima-           ings and the curses in the audience of the people.
gine his real purpose. If the one or the other is too             When blessings `were read out the `tnimbes  on Gerizim
careleas  to watch, he must suffer the consequences.              responded with Amen. When  cursos were read out,
But when oonditions  have been reached on both sides,             those on Ebal did the same. "It was" in the language
when promises have been made, and treaties  digned,               of one writer, "beyond question or comparison the
the  &se is altogether d.ifferent. Thea the enemy has most august assembly the sun ha& ever shone upon. . .
a right to expect tkat he will not #be mislead. A word The loud-voiced Levtites  proclaimed from `the naked
of  honor has been given. A pledge has been made.                 cliffs of  Ebal, `Cursed is the man that maketh any
Aad to  disregar,d  this pledge is a heinous sin.                 graven image, an abomination to Jehovah.' And then
   We now `come to .Ebal and Gerizim. ,~, Joshua buillds : the tremendous Amen 1 tenfold louder from.the  united.


32                                       T H E- -`s `.i! A N b A'R  D' B E A R E R

congregation, rising and swelling and re-echoing from shut up the heaven that there be no rain. Blessing
Ebal to  ,l=erizim and from Gerizim `to  E'bal. Amen!             and  "unre  is set before them ; blessing for them if they
and even so, let him be accursed."                                obey, but curse if they obey not.
      But the whole ceremony can bbe und'erstood  properly           The entire oollection  of exhort.ations  of these final
only in the light of the final c%scourses  of Moses con-          discourses of Moses is summed  u'p in two statemen'ts:
tained in the book of Deuteronomy. The substance of               (1) "Ye shall therefore keep my judgments and my
these discourses is that `the pedple of Icsrael  hearken          statutes; which,  if a man do, he shall live in them."
unto the a&t&es and judgmenis  "which I, teach you                And  (2) "Cursed is he tha't  confirmeth  not  &ll the
for to do them," that  ,they may live, and go in and              words of the law to #do them." - The Ibook of ,Deuter-
possess the la.nd whi'zh  the (Lord Go,d  of their fathers        onomy set forth the doing of God that consisted in
giveth  them. The people are told that the end of the             .I-I:s pla&g the .people  of Israel, .the church of the Old
la,w is obedience and therefore exhorted to hear and              Dispensation, under `the law. In this book the law is
to olbiserve to do Ii t, to love `the Lord, their God with all    added to, imposed upon, the promise.  Ia the 27th
their heart, to teach Hds  Iwor'ds to their children,  and        chapter af this  <book,   Mosses set forth the  commmd-
`to write them upon the posts of their houses and upon            menits  of which tie solemn `ceremony  jutst depicted
their gates. They  shall  bew,are lest they forget the            was the fulfillment. What  3T.oses  had enjoined was
Lord, which brought them-forth out of `the land of                now Iperformed Iby Joshua because the conquest of the
Egypt, from the house of  ,bondage,  when He will have            land has keen `virtua;lly,  i!hough cnot actpally (but ac-
`brought them in the  prom&d .land of their abode and             conding  to some interpreters  u&u.&Zy)  completed. The
have  filled their houses with all good. They shall fear          Lord has thus  .fulfilled  His  promise  made `unto  t,he
the Lord and sware  `by His name and phall not go after Fathers. He .has redeemed Psra,el and planted them in
other ,g.ods.    They shall not tempt the Lord as they            t:he promised  land-!His  la.nd-having  driven before
tem,pted Him at Massah.  They shall do that which is              them their enemies. 80 the blessings dre now read
right and good. They  shaI1  ,surely  smi'te the nations          out and ,the tribes shout Amen. The curses, too,  .sre
inhabitiing . the promised land. They shall make tno              read out, and again th,e ;triba shout *Amen  ! It m,eans,
marriages  (with them. Instead they shall cleanse the celfa.iinly,  thati Israel assumes full responsilbility and
promised land  Srom   ,a11 defilement of their abominable         the full b1arr.e  for all his nast and future transgres-
idolatry. For they are  i holy people unto the Lord.              sions of the law  an,d thus  ,declares  that  lin  vilsiting
They shall know `that the Lord keepeth covenant and               uk,on  them itbeir sins Jehovah is just.
mercy ;Jvith them  that love Him; and repayeth them                  Will Israel walk  lin  t&  rxay  0.f  the Lord's com-
that hate Him to their face to destroy them. If they mands? Will he keep  #God's covenant? i Israel  qnnot.
hearken unto these judgments they shall be blessed                Walking in the way :of the commandment  presupojsses
above all people. They are exhorted to obedience with             life. Andi Israel is by nature dead in sin @cause he
regard to the Lord's dealings with them in the past.              must be. The command of  {God, "Do  a.nd live" as it
They  are warned lest, after the Lord shall have de-              comes to fizllen`man,  places tim under the necessity of
stroyed their enemies and `brought them in to  possel~s           atoning his own guilt and `thereby delivering  h6mself
the land, they glory in themselves, in their own right-           from the cunse of the law. But all that (man ca'n do
eousness instead of in the Lord. Let them understand              ia to increase his guilt. Thus  in shouting out &heir
that the Lord giveth them the land not for their own              cmms,  th,e  reopk  of Israel signed their  own  dea't,h
righteousness; for they are a  (stiffnecked  people. This         sentence. The people awill transgress. ) The law enter-
He shows them by recalling their past rebellions.                 ed  can'd sin abounded.
Their minds are directed to God's (doings in the past                Mcses,  being a prophet, foresaw and  foreto1.d  their
in renewing with them the covenant at Sinai, the cove-            apostacy.  `LBut Jeshurun waxed fat-and kicked :. . . .
nant they had lbrotken,  through His restoring the two And they provoked him to jealousy with  strange gods,
tables, and hearkening to  Moses'  prayer for them.               with  abominaitipns  provoked  they  Him to anger. They
And what naw ,does the Lor'd require of them but to               :fzcrif?ced  unto :devrils, not to IGod;  to gods whom thejr
fear  IHim, to walk im all His  (ways, and to love Him            knew {not,  to new gods that came newly up, whom your
and to serve Him with all `their heart !an,d soul.' Th,e          fathers feared not. Of the ro.& that/begat thee thou
Lord  (is their praise. He has done for them these                art  unmindfu.1,  and hast forgotten God that formed
great and terrijble  thEngs  {which  their eyes have seen.        thee" (Deut.  32 :15-18). Being a prophet, Moses also
And now He has made them a~ the stars lof heaven foxesaw and foretolld their doom, the curse by which
for  mtilti'tude.    Therefore they  s&all love the  Lord         they were finally  .driven  into exile  lbecam*e of their
their  (God. Their eyes have seen  ,a11 the great acts            ulins. "And when the Lomt  saw it, he abhorred .them,
of the Lord which He  dild.  Let them  th.erefore  keep           because  ,oz the  provokring   tof his  Isons,  and of his
all His commandments. If they do, He will prosper                 daughters.   A+nd he said,  ,Z will hide my face from
them in the land of Canaan. If they.forsake  the Lord,            them,  and I will see what their end shall be: for they
H& wrath will be kindled against them, an4d He will               lz.re a very rfroward  gEmera%iirun, children in whom is


                                          T  *Iii  E-  `3  T:A N  D'A'.R,U.  B  E'A  R'E,R                                   33
no faith. They ha,ve  moved me to jealousy with :that
,whic,h is  r-o  Ccd;  they have provoked  ,rne  ,tol'%.nger           The Standing Still of Sun and Moon
with1  their vanities : and I will  `move them to @alousy
with  thcE.e  71  hich are  pot  a people;  II  will  .provoke                 At' the camp of Gilgal a strange company ,of am-
them to  anger  ~:Bi/tith   ,a. foolish  n)ltionl. For a fire 6s bassadors arrived. Professedly  -and"apparently'  the
.kindled  in m5ne anger, and  shall burn. unto the lowest travellers came from a9ar; For the sacks upon their
hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase,                  asses were old, their wine bottles old and rent and
and set on f&re :tple foundation of the moun::@ins.         1 ~121    bound up, their shoes clouted upon their feet. The
he&p  misctiefs upon  ,them;  I will spend mine errors                garments upon them were old, and all the bread of
upon  tll!eun. .  ~  . I will scaltter them into corners. . . . their provision was dry and  mo'uldy.  &cording  to
And ith%e Lord rooted thlgm  out of their kenId in ange;r,            their `account, the land of their abode lay far beyond
and  lin wirath,  and  Iin great indignation, & cast: them the ,borders of Palestine, where their fellow-country- 1
into  andheIr  land,  as it  ia  .this  dlzy".  (ch.  31:21-Z?   ;    men had heard the fame of Jehovah, the God of Israel,'
gg 138).                                                              and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did to the
    Bwt being a prophet, Moses also spoke of the -rem-                two kings of the Amorites,' that were  ;beyond Jordan.
nant  ~accorcling  to the election,  the people Q whom the Attracted by the name of Jehovah, they came to make
WV was the schoolmaster to Ch,nist and' who were thus                 a league with' Israel. Joshua allowed himself to be de-
-clellivered  <by ,Christ from the curse of the law. Thris ceived  aed made a league  ~with `them, which was rati-
peop,le Moses blesrzes iin `his song (ch. 33). Upon this' fied by an oath. But the deception was  soon  discovered.
people the. blessings read oultl by Joshua descended.                 After three days the lsraelites heard that the strange  8
They  wene God's  satlints  in Israel. And `Christ, was               visitors were Hittit,es and thus `belonged to a people
th& righteousness and redemption.                                     who dwelt nearby and whose cities were Gibeon, Chep-
   There  is the question  of the Iplace which this narra-            hirah,  Beeroth,  and Kirjathjearim. Yet, because of
bi,ve of `the ceremony on the E&al and' G-erizim  has in              the oath' which the princes of the -people.,had  ~swdrn
the Bible. These Itiwo mounhains  are sew&l days jour- them, their lives were spared. But, as a punishment
ney from Bethel and  AZ. Because it would have taken for their falsehood, they were made woodchoppers and
several dlays rfor the people ,of Israel to march all the water carriers for the congregation and the altar of
way to these  nmuntaias   land then to march  /back  to               Jehovah. .As .the .case of the Gibeonites has ,already.      .
Gilgal, many  #have come, to believe that this passage Ibeen fully dealt ,with in a previous article, We pass on,
has been inserted out of its prop&.place,  land would                 without further comment, to the great victory at  Gib-
appear to .be in p&e  later, perhaps'af&r  ch. 9 :23. It eon over the five Canaanite kings.
is said, further, that it is not likely  %hat befo,re  the                The capture and destr.uction  of Jericho and Ai, and
complete conquest of Canaan, Joshua could  have  un.der-              the surrender of the  Girbeonites  made `terrifying news
taken such a ~celebration,  and ibesides,  we find him still,         to the kings of Southern Canaan. For it is stated con-
f&s. 9, 10) in the south of Palestine. But it in a ques- cerning.Gibeon  that it was a great city, "like one of
tion cwhether any weight should be allowed to this. It the cities of the kingdom," that is, perhaps; like one'
may be that the camp at IcXilgal, spo.ken  of art ch. 9 :6,           of the cities in which a king dwelt. They who have
is no,t, the @Igal ~nezlr Jericho but another place of that           explored this region tell us that these Hittite towns,
:name near Shechem.         Mention is made in Scripture of whi:ch  Gibeon was the chief, commanded the sum-
of another Gilgal near Bethel (2 Kings 11:2). But if mit of the great passes' to the coast and to the south..
Joshua  ,ha,d  removed the  lencampment  thither, it is               If so, the possession of these cities'threw  the whole
strange that the author in some way gives no intima- `south. of Canaan'upon  to the incursions of the Isr-ael-
tion of the fact. There is still another explanation.                 ites.      Mindful of this, the chieftains of this region
It is possible that Joshua subdued'the central part of were furious with the Gibeonites;  especially:so  Adoni-
the country before encountering the confederacy of zedec  the king of Jerusalem whose city lay within easy
Adontiedez  1st Cribeon and Bethhoran.                                reach of Gibeon. It was he, therefore; who exhorted
                                                 G. M.  0.  " the other kings-Hoham, king of Hebron, (about  seven-,
                                                                      hours south of Jerusalem) + #Piram,  king of Jarmuth;  '
                                                                      (about three hours to the southwest of Jerusalem) ;
                                                                      Japhia, king of Lachish, and Debir, king of Eglon,  to
                                                                      the southwest of Hebron,- to come to him and help
                                                                      him smite  Gibeon.  Under the leadership of Adoni-
       The Lord our, God is god alone,                                zedek these kings went up they and  all their hosts,. and
                                                                      encamped <before Gibeon to make war against, it.
            All lands His judgments know;                                                                                  The
                                                                      purpose was to root out treason in, their, own camp,
    His promise He remembers still,                                   and further to recapture the city and thereby .neutral-
            While generations go:                                     ize the grave danger to which the surrender- of these

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

Hittites ,had exposed them. The Gibeonites, outnum-
lb&&d perhaps; sent to Joshua and implored immediate            The Prayer
                                                                               w     4n Consistory Before
help. How they feared the wrath of their countrymen
is evident from the urgency of their appeal: "Slack                                   Service
not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly,
and save us, and help us : for all the kings of the Amor-       A committee of a certain Classis  in the Netherlands,
ites that dwell in the mountains are gathered against whose t3s.k  lit wlas to ,tiace the origin and define the
us." That same night Joshua marched to their relief meaning  of the pre-service  prayer, wrote to Dr. Rut-
from Gilgal, "he, a$nd all the people of war with him, gers, camplaiting  that it couBd find ho material om that
that is; all the mighty men of  valour."       With their subject. Dr. Rutgers answered that this was nothing
spirits strengthened and sustained by the word of strange since he  .doubted   :whether,   !before  the nine-
encouragement that the  Lor,d gave Joshua: "Fear them teenth cen'tury,  such a prayer had even been in com-
not: for I ha.ve delivered them into thine. hand; there mon usage.            (Dr. Rutgers, Kerkelijke  Adviezen I. p.
shall not a man of them stand before thee," the host         255).       He himself could  f-?nd nutting on it  in the
went up all night and suddenly stood before them in ,earliiler  centruries.
the morning. They fled before Israel, the Lord's host.          I am not more successful than Dr. Rutgers.
The latter smote them in a great defeat at  Gibeon              It is penuhar to `notice  that nei*ther Voetius ,in hlis
and chased them northwestward on the way to the              "De  KerkeIijke  Gebeden" nor Heyns in his  "Lithur-
ascent of Bethhoron and in a southwesterly direction giek" nor even Dr. Kuyper in that monumental, "Onze
even unto Azekah and Makkedah. This was the Lord's Eeredienst" maike   iany  explanato;ry  mention of this
work. The sacred narrator, as is his custom, makes particular prayer. In his "Kybernetiek"  Heyns touch-
a point of this : "And the Lord discomfited them before ,es on it (p. 252) .but about its origin and meaning he
Israel. . .  ." By what means is not stated. In  1. Sam. too is pecuharly  silent.
`7 :lO we are told that, at Samuel's prayer, the Lord           Before 8he nineteenth century there seems to Ibe
thundered upon the Philistines, and discomfited them.        no trace of  this prayer. The churches evidently did
The Lord may have thundered upon the Canaanites at not use lit.
Gibeon,  and thus fought for His people out of the              As accurately as we c;an trace, ,its origin (thanks
c;loud. Assuredly, He did this very thing.  As they          to Dr. Rutgers, I p. 255) lies in the days of the "Af-
fled from Israel, He cast down great stones (hail)           scheiding",   {when molestations of church worship were
from heaven upon them unto Azekah. More were kill- very frequent, persecution severe and the consistory
ed by the hailstones than the children of Israel slew        freqnently  fin do& whether the t:!ervice would go on
with the sword. The Lord first may have terrified            without   ~interruption.  Police might come to see how
them by thundering upon them from the oncoming many souls were at the meeting, a recorder might
storm-cloud. During their flight the storm broke upon        enter to take notes of what the mitister  was preach-
them in full fury; hailstones fell on them of such a size ing or some mischievous rogue might  hu,rl  ia stone
that more died from these than were slain by the through the window. Our fathers were quite often in
sword.                                                       difficult ways  iwhen  it came to holding  #the  church
      But the work was but half done and the day was         service.
far spent. The enemy might still escape before being            Under  ,thfe press of  tms  tsuspense,  it seems, our
completely crushed. Then there formed in Joshua's            godly forbears #de&led  to call upon the Name of the
soul the passionate desire that the day might be pro-        Lord Ibefore the service  began, `bring H~im their trouble
longed  ".until the people had avenged themselves upon and reverently `beseech Him to grant  cthem an hour of
their enemies." IThe desire crystallized into a prayer quiet and unmolested worship.
of faith,-which is quoted in the sacred text from the           Perhaps, therefore, we had better assume  .th,at the
"Book of Jasher,"-or "Book of the Pious."                    prayer came to us from the days vf the persecution.
  "`Zen spake Joshua to the Lord in the day. . . .           T.hen you feel at once that this prayer had meaning
and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand still upon    and pathos in it. The  church,  in aipite  of severe perse-
Gibeon; and moon, in the valley of Ajalon."                  cution, conceived of  .the service as  ia divine command.
                    (to. be continued)                       It was (dangerous to gather together for service, but
                                            G. M. 0.         dan.gerous  as it was, they were no cowards. Danger
                                                             would not deter them, it would not move them .to shirk
                        -                                    their Galling. In  &ildlike trust and reverence they
                                                             begged the Lord to make this service possible and to
          While yet our fathers were but few,                give  ithem  *that necessary courage to take this service
            Sojourners in the land,                          upon themselves.
          He sware that Canaan should be theirs,                The prayer then is a reminder of the fact that "in
            And made His covenant to stand.                  the world ye shall have  trlbulat,ion",  Perhaps if  `wye


                                       T H E   STAN.DARD   B E A R E R                                                             .35

had been  ~onsistory   mem!bers  in  Pa&r Niemoller's lhim in secret, that is Iw'ell, <but now, let there be public
church during the ,days of *his .trial,  this prayer would prayer made on his behalf. That is perhaps the only
perhisps  have taken on the full and rich meaning it time he hears anyone praying for him. The minister
one  ti.me had.                                                   is rasaponsible  for what he will ..proclaim, <but the con-
    Times have changed greatly, im *hat sense.                    sistory is  .no less  responsitble.    Let them pray that
    IThe prayer, in its or,iginaI  setting, has somawhat          the minister may, with all tibriety and reveremce,  sin-
lo&  i.ts  signScani=e  for we have "religious freedom" cerity and, zeal be an arbassahr  of Christ, to  prach
sntd physical pers'ecutica  is unhard ti in our day and the truth and nothing but the tnuth. Let him be .an
l o c a l i t y .                                                 ambassador   of no one than alone  of,  Christ.  If he
    By which I do not .mean  .that it has no meaning for ,carries  the word from the High  [Connnand,  let him
us today ,and that therefore we could perhaps just .as            bring it  in its purity, without  altaation or corruption.
well  discontiue it. By no means.                                 besides, since the minister is only human and only an
    Bust then .th& particular prayer ought .to take its erthe,n vessel, he has need of the soothing, calming,
designated place  among  the  va.rious  prayers which energizing power of prayer. Perhaps the  ,burden, of
are organized around the service.          There are first his message makes him restless or `nervous, perhaps
of all prayers iby tie various and ,individual  worship-          he is spiritmlly umready for the service, perha&  .he
pers whel;l .they  t/Ike their places i:n -the church build-      feels that he isn't "in it" as he would like to be. Per-
:ing. Then there are the prayers of the minister #before          haps he has'to  say <things he .do.es not like to say. In
he ascends ,the platformi and of :the elders and deacons all these and like cincumctances  the. pre-service prayer
before they  `take  their  :places. Then  the prayer  of the can  Ibe a decided support to the minister and  ,a means
minister during the service,  the pastoral or congrega- to attain to a consecrated ministry.
tional prayer.                                                         Finally this prayer requests that the entire service,
    The  pre-service  prayer, .to cbe orderly and effective, <as it 4s now to begin, and as it stinds  icn the charge of
 should not <therefore  *be a repetition or overlapping of the officers, may proceed without interruption to the
these other prayers,  but it should  ,take a proper place weltire  of the church and She glory of !I% Name. The
 among these, and in or&y with .them.                             congregation waits for the service to begin, "They
    That all  thimgs  be done orderly.                            come to Iearn the will of God." "How beautiful upon
    With that in view I ,believe we might sugge&  seven31         the mountaims the feet of those -that pms3ch peace". ,
thiings concerning `&is prayer.                                   The organ is playing, the children of God are  .&t@g
    First of aII that we :bear in mirnd that it is a prayer for the rkfreshing streams of living water.. The ser-
 by  &he consistory, [within  t&he   ccmsistory and therefore vice is to begin. Who does not feel a great responsi-
 that it bk a prayer w&h a view to the con&tory more bility? Let us pray. Let us go up to.Zion  2nd let us
 particularly.  The entire  service  is conducted by and say to her, "comfort ye, comfort  Jre my people." Be-
 under the  su*pervision  of the con&story, she is respon- fore we do that, let us pray.
 sible for the service and the consistory must realize             In conclusion, it  need  scar,cely  be said  .th& this
 its respoastile  position.    In  too many  churches  the prayer ought to  Ibe  short. It ought not to cover the
 official character of the service has disappeared, the entire  field  inasnnich as it loses its effect if it  lbecomes
 service becomes a meeting with  +he minister for chief a  ,pastoral   .or  congregatiolnal  prayer, in  that aense.
 speaker. We realize that the ministry is  ofIic6al work Undue length  ,defeats  its very  Ibeau%y  and  ,purpose.
 and the consistory the chief official. In view of that, This is true psychologically also as far as the minister
 let the prayer be to the effect that we may function in          is concerned. The co&story  should allot time for .this
.unison, in harmony, each olbserving his of&e in o!rder           prayer tso that the `service may be@ on time. Let the
 that the service may proceed  from Christ  t&rough His brethren consistory members take turns in offeri,ng
 earthly representaiives,  in such %t way that His church this prayer.
may be edified and H~IS Name pglorified.  The deacons                  Then I feel sure .&is prayer may  h3ve  $5 rich in-
 mtist  gather the alms, ,the elders prove the preaching fluence for good.                                         *-  .
                                                                                                                    . ,I
anxd the minister  must .bring the Gospel. Let the pray-               And so be it.
 er beseech grace and power to  lbe  faith@1  officers,                                                           M. G.
 ea& one  in his own place. To confine this prayer                                                                               a `c:
 therefore to  trhe minister is  +o  forget  that we  are  all                                                              .
 officers of Christ and all charged with the calling: !I  !f                              -
 Preach the Gospel.
    Secondly, stilnce the preaching of the Gospel is, by          f The seasons are fixed by wisdom divine,
 the very nature of the case, the center of the service,
 let the prayer be in behalf of the pastor. The fervent                 The slow changing moon shows forth God's design  ;
 prayer of .&e righteom  is often a great support  *to him              The sun n hs circuit his Maker obeys,
.who stands ready  to .deliver  the Word. Men pray for            L     And ru*nning  his journey hastes  not nor delays. i


38                                     TOHE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  -

pen in de plaats van gestorvenen. De mogelijkheid  be-         native, for tie sake of a powerful effect upon ,the s;pec-
staat  dat deze gestorvenen  heidensche  Christenen  wa-       tators. They boldly as&be  it to the devil, in order to
ren die iwel door God bekeerd waren maar tech niet             stigmatize Christ as.very wicked, and this is an out-
in dien Christus  waren gedoopt, om welke reden dan right, malicious. mairitenance  of the ridiculous in the
ook. Er waren Christenen nu die gedoopt werden in face of  plan.facts.   h
de plaats van die gestorvenen, daarmede. getuigende                T,he .material  of John's first epistle ,( 5 :16, 17) is
van hun geloof in de zaligheid en daarom  i,n hot eeu-         instructive  .and  ,helps us further in our consideration,
wige  leven dergenen die ontslapen  waren.         En  zich when rwe speak of sin (not a sin, but a kind or class of
aldus  doopen  latende, werden zij, door middel van deze sin) unto death. The-manner of expression is instruc-
ultdrukking van of dit getuigenis des  geloofs,   ver- .tive.   Johndoes  not treat of such sinning here, but
sterkt, in hun bewustzij,n  en  conscientie,  in de zeker-     mentions it in passing, His purpose is to exhort unto
heid der heerlijke opstandirig tot in het eeuwige leven. . prayer for the sinning brother. Prayer for a sinning                .
                                                 H. V.         of sin not .unm .death,  will be heard. The limitation
                                                               "not unto .death" is a necessary~  reminder to the breth-
                                                               ren that. there are also. limits to prayer in sbehalf  of
                           -                                   sinning persons, and so the apostle expresses the inci-
                                                               dental thou.ght  -negatively. , There is a sin unto death,
                                                               he means to say. Don't loose sight of that when. you
The Sin Against The Holy Spirit 1 take up my exhortation and when  -you *would intercede
                                                               for a sinner. ' Not concerning that kind am I saying
                                                               that he shall pray. That is, not concerning that kind
      When we speak of this sin we may first of all &ab-       am I speaking now, of course. Now this manner ,of
lish that there is in the Scriptures ample ground for statement ,teaches  us that there is a grade or degree of
the discussion of such a sin. For  -we may at first sinning  "for which t,he brother  miay'and  is exhorted to
.thought  imagine *that the question is based .upon  an pray, and the brother can know; he sees that sinning,
isolated instance in Matthew's gospel, which would and is able to judge..whether  it is pardonable. It will
leave the discussion of it rather precarious. Against lie quite. evidently well. ,within the. unknown bounds.
this we must first point out *that not an isolated pas- But this does not imply that the brother knows exactly
sage or instance teaches  US  about this, but that besides where to draw the line, where the boundary lies. The
the main passage of Matt. 12 ,w-e also have the parallels      apo&le.  doesnot touch  upon th.at. here since his refer-
in Mark 3  :20-30,  and Luke 11: 17-25, but besides this ence is incidental, a passing reference, as limitation
we have the gassages  of Hebrews 6 and'1 John 5.               upon. his main thought.
      But now we must also add a second observation,              But. there is a third passage which stands in line
namely, that it may be advisable to consider whether with the above and gives additional content to the
we should speak of "The Sin Against the Holy Spirit",          sin. Heb.. 6 :4ff speaks-of this sin. The presage  speaks
or, rather `of "Unpardonarble  Sins". For we are indeed of people `who fall away from the faith, crucify the Son
in danger of confining the .thought  rather- narrowly of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. With
to an isolated, particular sin, which will then stand          such people the case is hopeless. Their perdition is in-
out as rather arbitrarily chosen, .and as for some un- evitable. That is, it is impossible to bring  ,them again
known reason or other having an unalterable rather unto repentance, and their covenant background is as
arbitrarily  afllxed.  This limited, narrow conception it were the means of their. irremediable, condition.
will then cause us to miss the meaning of Scripture. They have `namely been. partakers of a very bright
Therefore, we must take all the teachings of Scripture revelation of ,the heavenly kingdom. All the character-
together and try to find the peculiarity of sthis sin.         ization in the passage of their knowledge and experi-
      Im the parallel gospel passages referring to thissin,    ence points to the apostolic  age when the glories of the
we find that Jesus had performed the miracle of heal- kingdom `were visibly and miraculously attested by
ing a demon-possessed man:, and the Pharisees, in the signs and wonders and -powering spirit-gifts. And
face of this striking miracle by twhich all the sp&atons       it is altogether possi!ble that as and when these over-
were utterly astounded, as&be  his work to  Beelzebub,         whelming  ,manifestations   s&sided with the disappear-.
the Prince of the Devils. J.esus effectively refutes this 8nce of the apostolic dispensation the participants sim-
charge. They do., not merely choose an alternative that ply returned to indifference.
would draw in question the supernatural power of                  And although in the text the  tau& relation is not
Jesus, for it had been possible  that they ha,d accused necessarily and not strongly expressed by the parti-
Him of having ano greater power than their own sons, ciples "crucifying" and "putting to open shame", yet
who undoubtedly performed some kind of demon exor- the climatic position of these participles and the  illuci-
cism, for Jesus says: "By whom do your sons cast them dating figure of `the field that was oursed because it
out?" But, no, they choose the most improbable  al+? yielded thistles, strongly  Buggests  that their inevitable


                                      T'HE   S?I!.`&3lDARl2   .B'EARER                                              3 9

destruction is the effect of their conduct..  Howeve?
there is a  yuesi%n here which commentators  gen.erally             The Angels and Salvation In
overlook and should be answered here; namely, does
the finality lie in their inner attitude toward the cross                         !Christ
of redemption (they crucify Him to themselves anew),
or ,does it lie in their damnable outward life and con-           We confess in Art.  12 of our Belgic  Confession:
dmt, tbefore  the eyes of men (they put Him to an open         "He also created the angels good, to be His messengers
shame). And to this we may safely choose the latter. and to serve His elect; some of ,whom are fallen from
For, firstly, it is easier to conform the first (crucifying that excellency, in which God created them, into ever-
,to themselves) to the last (putting Him to an  open< lasting perdition; and the others have, by the grace of
shame), as meaning an outward conduct of life than to          God, remained steadfast and continued in their primi-
conform the last to the first, and to think of an inner tive state." From, this quotation it is plain that among
attitude. But, secondly, i,t i& also the general teaching other things we believe concerning  thee angels: 1. That
of Scripture that men come to  a' state of outward sin, .a11 of them were created good. 2. That some of the
rebellion,, and abomination that places them under angeIs  fell into everlasting perdition. 3. That others
unchangeable condemnation, as an example of God's              remained steadfast. 4. That the angels are messengers
justice vengeance. It is not a question of God's power of God to serve the elect. Naturally much more could
to save and it is not a question of irreparable attitude <be said about the doctrine  of the creation and the work
and psychological spiritua1  condition, but it is a ques-      of the angels. We believe e.g.  aLso that the angels
-tion  of God's <will and justice.                             as originally created were higher creatures than man.
       Here we have essentially the picture of those who Man, even though created after the image of God was
surrounded Jesus and blasphemed. They were enlight- earthy, the angels were heavenly creatures. On the
ened, that is, they experienced the powerful effect of other hand when man has reached his eternal destina-
God's speaking: they  <saw and experienced the powers tion he  will.Ibe  higher than the angels. (Psalm  8:4, 5).
,which the age of salvation then setting in wrought in         However, no matter what we believe and teach  con-.
the visible world, yet they boldly defied it and rejected eerning the angels our doctrine must be (based upon,
it.                                                            drawn from and be in harmony with Scripture. That
                                                               also holds true with res-pect  to the subject which we
       From these Scriptural teachings I believe we may are to discuss at present. We may not let our imagina-
conclude that this sin is  .the deliberate  ,and well medi-    tion decide as to what part the angels play with respect
tated rejection of the gospel as it comes attested by all to the salvation in Christ. We do believe, as stated
the New Testament revelation. Therefore, it is erron- above, that the  angeIs  *are messengers of God to serve
eous to read the pertinent gospel parallels in any such the elect. But with this mere statement our task is
way that a distinction is made between'the  Father and not ended. We must broaden out on this subject, `illus-
Son on ,&he one hand, and the Spirit on the other. For trate it and prove it from Scripture.
the distinction which Jesus makes is .plainly  that al-           To begin with, the word angel means messenger.
though one may blasphere and contradict the Son of Angels are heavenly messengers of God.. The Bible
Man as the Messenger whose identity is still in dis-           speaks very frequently of angels. Some are even men-
pute, yet the contradiction of the work which is'proved        tioned by name, I have reference now to Michael and
above all doubts to  hbe the work of a Divine power            Gabriel. The Bible also seems to speak of different
which is  estalblishing  the kingdom of salvation and          classes of angels, of cherulbnn  and seraphim. Scrip-
grace in the world, is demonstrably a malicious, .de-          ture furthermore definitely teaches us thet there ar,e
liberate contradiction and opposition against the Spirit many angels, for the Bible speaks of hosts and legions
of God, Who establishes an unescapable testimony by of angels. As we read Scripture, beginning with
means of miracles and the conviction of conscience.            Genesis, we frequently meet with the appearance of
       Therefore, the  pradica1  import for us is not to       an.gels  to God's people of old. Especially is this the
ponder inquisitively what the limits for repentance o2se in the ,Old Testament although the New Testa-
and forgiveness may be, but rather to ponder the ment also records various  instance  wherein  angeIs
awful holiness and righteousness  an,d jealousy of God appeared unto men.
Who says to His creatures, "In order to vindicate                 It would indeed be interesting to study and describe
My-holiness, this rebellion and defiance of My `glory' what many of the ancient people believed concerning
shall receive its just punishment, and that  puni&tment        the angels and our salvation. Even in our own day
shall  -be an unalterable sentence of condemnation".           there are various interesting theories on this subject.
Isa. 8 :19-22 and I Thess. 2 :14-16, and II, Pet. 2 :1-g,      There is e.g. the theory that every man has a ispecia1
and Jude 4.  IAISO God is sovereign in His avenging guardian angel which is at all times near him, pro-
justice.                                                       tects him  n,d endeavors to lead him in the right direc-
                                               A .   P.        tion. When one reads up on the doctrine of  angel-


 40                                      T*HE  S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R

ology   one comes across very strange notions, theories          (Matt.  28).  rAsd the Lord frequently speaks of the
and philosophical reasonings.         However, interesting angels in  !connection  with His coming judgment of the
though it might be to study the  brolad  subject of angel-      w-orld and the final salvation of His people. (Matt. 24).
ology,  this lies ,beyoad  the limits of our present sub- In this connection we also might mention the book of
ject. And therefore we may safely-pass it by  `as ir- Revelation. The entire angelic service is concentrated
relevant material as far as our particular subject is           around the ,Christ and it is indeed true as stated iby
concerned. It seems to me our subject calls for the Dr. A. Kuyper:  "En geheel  deze bu.&n~en~u>nt! engelen-
task of clearly bringing to the foreground a few un- dienst vindt zijn middelpunt in het dienen van den
deniable facts BS taught us Iby the Word of God. Na-            Christus, wiens komst zij aankondigen, wiens geboorte
turally our discussion will be far from complete and            zij toezingen, dien zij dienen in de woestijn,  onder-
e,xhaustive.   iHowever,  our writing will not have  ,been steunen in Gethsemane,  wien zij den  Steen van het
in vain if we succeed in stating some definite facts, graf afwentelen, bij zijn opvaren ten hemel tegemoet
give food for thought and arouse, at least by some, a snellen, en dien. ze  !bij zijn wederkomst  znllen   ver-
further interest in the study of this subject.                  zellen. Immers de Zoon des menschen zal verschijnen
       As to the angels and salvation in Christ, severa         rn&  &in,e   heilige  engelen.  En ook in  afweehting  van
outstanding facts are taught us. To begin. with, it is dien dag der dagen, hooren we hen in den hemel .dank-
plain from Holy Writ that the angels of God at various          baar een echo geven  op het lied van het Lam dat ge-.
occasions appeared to God's people to deliver to them slacht is." (De Engelen Gods, p. 276).
a special message from the Lord. They usually appear-               Much more could be add4 to the foregoing, but we
ed in the form of a man. oft-times theirs was  11 mes- must come to the conclusion of our subject. And in
sage of encouragement, of joy and glad news, as was             conclusion we wish to state: 1. The angels are. very
the case with Jacob when he was on his way back to              definitely to be mini&rants of Christ at His second
Canaan and the angels of God met  `him at Mahanaim. Advant. "The reapers in the great harvest are angels,
The very sight of this host must have encouraged and they seperate the tares from the wheat.  (Matt.
Jacob. The same is true of  IGideon,   Manoah, Peter,           13 :39).    The Son of Man pwill send forth His angels
Cornelius, etc. At other times the angels served as to gather out all that offend. (Matt.  13 :41). He shall
messengers of God to warn', admonish, rebuke the
               .-_                                              come in iHis glory, and all the holy angels with Him.
wicked or God's own people. (Numbers 22, Judges 2,              (Mlatt.  25 :31). He shall send forth His angels with
II Samuel 24, etc). "It even may be noted that angels the great sound of a trumpet to gather the elect. (Matt.
never serve as an explanation of the events of nature, 24:31, I  Thess.   4:17,  II  Thess.   1:7),
but appear only in connection with a divine revela-                2. The angels are indeed deeply interested in our
tion."                                                          salvation. Besides what we have said on this point
       In the second place Scripture reveals to  ,us that the already, the words of the angel  are instructive which
angels take a very definite part in prophetic revelat,ions      are recorded in Rev. 22:9  where we read: "I am thy
and the judgments of God. This becomes plain when fellow servant, and of  t.hy brethren the prophets, and
one reads books like Zecharias and Revelation.                  of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship
       In the third place, the angels take a very active and    God." The same deep interest in the progress of the
interesting part in the salvation of *God's people. Much #Church appears in Eph. 3:10, where *we are taught
could be mentioned in this connection. We'll quote a that one great purpose of God's work of salvation was,
few texts to make our point clear. Says  ,Christ in that "Through the Church the mamfold  wisdom of God
M,att. 18 :lO : `TTake  heed that ye despise not one of might ,be made known to the principalities an,d powers
these little ones ; for I say unto you, that in heaven          in heavenly places." And in the Church is displayed
their angels do always behold the face of my Father the perfections of God for the admiration and adora-
which is in <heaven." And again, Luke 15 : 10 : "Like- tion of th,e angels in heaven.
wise, I say unto you, there `is joy in the presence of
the angels of  (God over one sinner that repenteth."               3. In their ministering to the elect they reveal them-
When the beggar Lazarus dies, he is carried tby the selves as obedient servants of God whose calling and
aagels  into Abraham's bosom. (Luke 16  :22). Speak- joy it is to glorify the Christ of God.
ing of Christ's glory and the revelation of God's saving           4. In their selfabnegating service they always seek
grace in Christ, the apostle Peter states: "Which and promote the spiritual welfare of God's children,
things the angels desire to look into." (I Pet.  1:12).         watching over them, influencing them for good, long-
   But, in the fourth place, we read above all about ing for the consummation of all things, to the salvation
angels in connection with our Saviour Himself. They of God's people and the glory of God Triune.
announce His birth to Mary, to Joseph, the shepherds.              Finally, a few practical  remarks are perhaps not
(.Matt.  1, Luke I, 2). They minister unto the Lord, out ,of place. `There is a, closer relation between the
comforting Him and stre%@hening Him. (Matt. 4 :ll,              children of God and  t,he angels than  `we are often
Luke 22 :43), The angels announce His resurrection. aware, of. ourselves. And even though the angelic  ap-


pearances of olden times do no longer happen today,            so that !He could even enjoy temptation? Or did Christ
due to the fact that we possess the full revelation of         actually feel the temptor's sting and did He feel His
God, we may safely conclude that the holy angels of own  indbility  to meet these temptation,; alone? Did
God are ever near us. One .does not need to believe in they cause His soul to fear and did they drive Him out
a guardian angel to come to this conclusion. This in fn bitter agony to  `God for help land mercy?
itself is a comforting thought, there are not only devils         The cause of this questioning  finds its source in
around us but also angels. #However, great and power- the quality and attributes of the natures ascribed to
ful  and, might.y the angels may be they never may be- Christ. #Christ  is no ordinary human ibeing, but He is
come objects of worship for us. Neither can they in            God and man. As God He is the fullness of all divine
any way $e our mediators. There is but one Mediator, perfections, absolutely holy and perfectly righteous.
Jesus Christ the Lord. But when the curtain of this As man He came in th.e true human nature, weakened
world's history falls land the Lord shall appear with through sin, yet sinless. As far  m His human nature
His holy angels to judge the world and Himself renew is concerned it, too, was absolutely holy,  penfectly
all things, then  `we shall also fully understand, and that `righteous and positively unable to sin. Hence, Christ
for the first time, what important role the angels might be tempted in the niost  furious mianner but for
played in the salvation which  is ours through Christ.         Him it would never be  possible to fall. `In all temp';l-
And then it shall Ibe the privilege of ,God's elect to join    tiom He would remain the tsue, obedient Servant of
the angelic host in praising and worshipping Him Who Jehovah and prove  :His absolute righteousness.
is worthy to receive all honor and glory unto all eter-           This very nature of Christ,  His inability to fall
nity. .And then it also shall be the eternal privilege of into sin, seemingly makes true temptation impossible.
the angels to remain ministering spirits unto those            Oine would think  temptiztion  could never have the
who were  /bought  with the blood of the  &mb. And             least affect upon such a nature. To us it would ap-
God will be all in all.                                        pear that ,being gifted with :such attributes it would be
                                                 J. D.         a joy to seek out temptation since its conquest would
                                                               be an absolute certainty.
                                                                  However, .Scripture gives us fan altogether' different
                                                               picture. Temptation, when present, was no joy for
                                                               Christ at all. In Helb. 5 :7 we read : YVho in the days
                                                               of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and sup-
                                                               plications with strong crying and tears unto Him that
   The Objective Reality  ' Of The                             was able to save Him from death, and was heard in
                                                               that He feared."
          .Temptations  Of Jesus                                  This testimony of Hebrews is in perfect harmony
                                                               with what we read concerning Christ when Gethsemane
   Our subject is one which has often been the cause           with its temptations  przssed from His soul the words:
of much ,debate  and perplexity. Every ,now and then "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death",
someone is bound to ask whether or noti the tempta-            and He prayed saying: `"0 my Father, if it be possible,
tions of Jesus were real and genuine in character in           let this cup pass from. me: nevertheless not  QS I will,
the sense of being effective. Whenever this question but as thou wilt." (Matt.  35, 39). Previous to  Geth-
is  lasked the one enquiring does not necessarily doubt semane Scripture records another temptation  ,brought
the holy record of Scripture that Christ `was tempted          upon Christ by the thought of ;His coming suffering
by Satan (Matt. 4), or that the evil one employed his an.d death when in John 12 :2'7 "Jesus says : "Now is my
means of temptation as in Matt. 16  :23, and many other isoul troubled and what shall I say? P&her, save me
instances recorded  in. Holy Writ. In general the en-          from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this
(Firer is most willing to accept Scripture's testimony hour." What a world of misery, too, is wrapped up
`that Christ wacs tempted i,n. all points like as we are.      in that horrible word, "offense", when Christ, sensing
(Heb.  2:18;  -3:X5).      But when enquiring whether or Satan's onslaughts through Peter, says to him: "Get
not these temptations were objectively real he is ask-         thee  beEnd  me, Satan: thou art an  offense  to Me."
ing whether these temptations of Christ actually af-           (Mat&. 16 :23).
fected Christ as they affect us. Did they cause Him               All the instances in JfsI1s' life which are connected
trouble and anxiety, fear and strife? ,Or did it mean to the ,citations  #quoted  above are considered tby Holy
nothing at all to  Jlesus to be tempted? Did Christ Writ `as temptations in Jesus' life. Besides referring
merely  shake off the onslaughts of the evil one as if it      to Matt. 4 we would enumerate many more su,zh in-
were nothing at all and simply pass on to the next stances recorded by the Holy Spirit, and the ac-
episode in His life as if nothing had happened? Was companying misery which they caused in Jesus' life.
Christ's nature so repellent to temptation that it af-            In connection with all  Jesuis' temptations it will be
fected  Him  po more than water  would`an  aquatic fowl noticed that Satan used  th.e  8Pme tactics  on Christ


 32                                   THE  STA.N.DARD   `B.EAR'E-R                                                    - 7.5

 as he does on any and all whom he desires to tempt.         that Christ ever hesitated as to what He should do,  `but
 When Satan tempts he always focuses and directs his         His very doing and the  ,determirtcction  to do  often
 assault upon `that certain point in our life where he       brought upon Him a dread of the suffering that await-
 can influence us most easily and where, if  `we yield, it ed Him in the future, and it made Him fear  .and
 will spell certain- ruin. In the life of a Christian that tremble, and sweat drops of blood and caused Him to
 point is usually our  in.clination  toward the world with cry out in agony to His God for help. So often He
 its pleasures of sin. This was not the 38se with Christ.    seemed forsaken and finally He was forsaken. Ter-
 The world offered Him no pleasures,  aor was there in       ribI,e were the realities of His temptation, much more
 Him any irmlination  toward sin. With His whole .being      so than what they are in our owln lives since Christ
 He, abhorred sin with all its pleasures. Neither could. as perfect man realized the implioations  of the tempta-
 the pleasures of sin influence Him in the least .because    tions far more than what we ever can.
 He  `wa.s perfectly holy and righteous. In Him sin an.d            Finally, the possibility of Jesus' temptations being
 the inclination to  &n was an absolute impossibility.       an objective reality can aalso be realized if we ibear in
       The focal point in Christ's life was  `His terrible suf- mind one other factor in connection with Christ's
 fering and death on the cross. So terrible was the humsn  nature. That fact is that wonderful powers
 anticipation of this suffering that it  hauntsd Him         contributed to iHis human nature by which He per-,
 every step of the, way from the manger to the grave.        formed miracl,es  1an.d read the thoughts of His fellow-
 It often caused (Him a sorrow of soul at the point of ,men  and could prophesy of things to  come were not
 we11 nigh killing Him. On the other hand, 80 intricate original to His human nature. By this we mean that
 and all important was this whole way of Christ's suf-       we must never consider these powers as being  nnturnlly
 fering, so weighty.was  each step and the manner in         present and finding their origin and abode  and resi-
 twhich each step was taken that. one single step in de- dence in Christ's h,uman  nature. It must be remem-
`. parture from this way would spell ruin for Christ and bere.d that the origin and residence of the miraculous
 for His Church. Ev,ery step, every moment, every in- powens  which Christ revealed through the medium of
 clination, motive and desire was of eternal value in the    His human nature were ,found in the Person of the
 obedien.ce   dem.an,ded by the righteousness of God in Son of God. By Christ's divine Person His human
 saving His chosen saints.                                   nature had to  ;be continually  i'nfused   with these peculiar
       Satan was well aware of these facts. Therefore, in gifts. It was Christ's divine Person contributing these
 all his endeavors with Christ he  fo':used  all his as- gifts to His human nature. Therefore, it is also con-
saults upon that part of Jesus' life. Whether he tempt- ceiable that these gifts were in some measure withheld
 ed Christ personally or through his selected means,         from Rim human nature so that Scripture can speak
 *by Christ's own disciples or by t.he multitude's laud      of the fact that Jesus developed, learned and grew.  li
or bitter .mockery,  he was always after that one single     As, for instance, Scripture speaks of Jesus  incre&ng
 step in departure from the JVS~ of Christ's suffering.      in favor with God and man, (Luke 2:52) and of Zenm-
 That one single mis-step wo>ld Ibe Satan's glory and a'mg  obedience lby the things that He suff,ered,  and of
 Christ's downfall. Thus he focused everything in that beirLg mccde  perfect though He were a Son. (Heb. 5 :8,
 direction and upon that point.           .~     _           91.      In considering these things we can somewhat
       Now it is true that Christ could never depart from understaed  how the reality of the temptations were
 that way. It  waas impossible to deviate one step from very well possible.
 the terrible race set before Him. `He was the perfect              Seemingly the question about the objective reality
 Servant of Jehovah Who would [build God's house.            of Jesus' tempt&ions is an ulnimportant  one, likewise
 This perfection of Christ was ,due to the fact that al- its answer non-essential. We should bear in, mind that
 though He possessed with His divine nature a true the very reality of Christ's temptations is considered
 human nlature,  both (body and soul, yet th,e person in by Scripture as a tremendous comfort to us in our
which these natures were united was not a human. per- temptations. Whenever our evils press upon us and
 son but the Person of the Son of God. Hence, sin,           overwhelm*  us we may call to mind the Son of God
 deviation from the  sway of suffering and obedience was who labored under the +%rne, and since He has gone
 impossible.                                                 before us there is no room for us to faint but rather,
       However, although Christ had a perfect human n+ first of all, be  remin.ded that deliverance from evil can
 ture from the viewpoint that He was absolutely sinless, be found from no other than God alone to whom in
 yet it was a  weakewd.   human nature. Though sin all temptations Christ always  betook Himself. Finally,
 itself was not foun,d with Him, yet the results of sin,     since Christ is our merciful  iHighpriest to whom we
 such  1~s sickness and death, fear and anxiety, strife      must look for mercy and grace in the midst of  all
 and misery were found with `Him.           This we have     temptations we may be assured that: "He is alble to
 previously proven. Hence, it can be understood how succor them that are tempted in that He `Himself hath
 temptation could affect Christ in that it produ,ced the     suffered  ,being tempted" (Heb.  2,:18), since: "We have
 effect of fear, anxiety,. misery and even strife. Not not an high priest which cannot be tquched  with the


 feeling of our infirmities ; ,but was in. all points tempt-       Take, for instance, the case of a minister with a
 ed like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore           family of five or six, in a congregation of from sixteen
 come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may              to twenty families, with a salary of a meagre fourteen
 obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." or fifteen hundred dollars a year or about twsBty-seven
 (Heb. 4 :lti, 16).                                             or  ftwenty-nine  dollars a week. How far does that go
                                                 *A. c.         for such aa family, especially if they have some chiklren
                                                                .going  to school? What if they wish their child or
                                                                children to have a higher education?
                                                                   Yes, I know they have free rent, but, even so, let
                                                                us do a little figuring and then let us freely admit that
                                                                such a salary is indeed inadequate.        Do not forget
                                                                either that the'  mi(nister has to buy  gbooks  and read
 The Forgotten Man In Our Midst magazines. These books are his tools, so to speak,
                                                                an,d certainly cost money, and he of all men must keep
     Dear Editor:                                               aibreast  of the times.
                                                                   At any rate, we may not be satisfied to pay them
     Please let me have a little space to give expression just a mere living and deny them the little luxuries
 to something  .which has been on  Imy mind for some            b which we seem to think we are entitled.
 time.                                                             Now, as .far <as the practical end of this is ;con"uern-
     In this day of high cost of living, most of us have        ed, we shall find it very easy in most cases to bring
 obtained higher wages, salaries, or (business returns these salaries up to where they belong. We could
 to  meet the greater layout for daily necessities. Some        sum it up in these few words: "Let everyone give
 of us, who are working in war  imlustries, even re-            according as the Lord has  pr0spere.d him." But let
 ceive much more than ia needed to meet the higher              us be specific. Again let us take a  congregstion  of
 cost of living and "profit" greatly by the terrible con-       sixteen to twenty families. If each family contributes
 flict in which also our nation is involved. But while only half a dollar more a week, that would give the
 for most of us  th$e  increases in income are proportion-      minister some four or five hundred dollars more per
 ate to meet rising expenses, there is a very small group       year. mat a little that would mean to us and how
 in, our churches that has not shared in this proportion- much that would mean to him and his family. Certain-
 ate increase of income. The forgotten man in this case ly we are not overpaying him by giving him around
 is the mimster  of the gospel.                                 two thousand' dollars a year; let us 4not worry too much
    He never did receive a remuneration  commensurate atbout.  t h i s .
 with his office, but he found it below the dignit.y  of his       If our group is larger or if we can do more,  so
 offi.:e to fight for his rights. He felt  thaat the church much the better. The very small congregations will
 should know her dbligation  towards him by spiritual prob&bly  need some support to accomplish this im-
 intuition. While he was always  ,willing  to bring sacri-      provement, but also they should strive to  (bring  it up
 fices for us, were we always justifie.d in asking these to the proper level.
 sacrifices?                                                       As far as bringing up the extra half dollar or so
     Are we justified in placing our ministers with their is concerned, it will be hardly `a hardship on any of us.
 education and responsibility in a class wth the lowest         I doubt whether we would even have to deny ourselves
 paid factory worker or the stenographer in an office? any luxuries for it. But suppose there are  soy,e of
 If we  rightful'fy  expect the employer to pay the sweep- our poorer families that are unable to  Icontribute  `this
 er in the factory and the girl in an  qffice a living much more, there are some that could give many times
 wage, what .about  the minister of the gospel, the am-         this extra amount without missing it. Be not concern-
~ bssador  of God to His people, he who has the most            ed  *about  the poorer or larger families. Doesn't cx-
 responsible of all positions, who ibreaks the bread of perience teach  t,hat they are, in comparison, the more
 life to us, who teaches our children and us according liberal givers? It is probably the  individ.ual  who. is
 to the  Wor,d of God? Let us pay him Ia salary as befits making so much more than he needs who needs God's
 his  offi#ce.  Let us Ibe so grateful to our God that He special grace to give that extra five- or ten-dollsr bill
 gives us $aithful  servants that we are willing  to make       every Sunday. Then, too, there are our young people,
 sacrifices for them, rather than. expecting them -to many of whom are earning goo3  money these days. If
"make  sacrifices for us.                                       presented to them in the proper way by their  pare-Its
     Therefore, let us hasten to make the  necessary ad- and  exhorted by their exl.mple, they would be the first
 justments. Let it be below our dignity to bicker abou:         to willingly and gladly do their share.
 it, and let  us do it in a spirit of love and appreciation.       If the government, to wage this war we are en-
 Easy will it prove to be when we thus approach the             gaged in, takes one dollar out of five above the amount
 si$gatjon,     m                                               we need to live on, and ,a~ gaod  Christian citizens we


64                                                      s  T$H.E   S  T A - N   D;AR*D.  BEA?R:E-R

pay this without murmuring, how much more should praise and glory, aamely, our Sovereign God.
we voluntarily and gladly give out of the remaining                                                                 .Herewith  .we present to you our annual report for
four for the cause of God's Kingdom, as citizens of the year .1942-1943.                                                                                                             j
that heavenly kingdom, as co-laborers with God, wag-
ing the spiritual warfare in  whi,ch  the church is en-                                                                                                                            Receipts
gaged under the leadership of her ministers.                                                              Balance on hand, Aug. 1, 1942 . . . . . . . . . . . ...' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $                                                                  91.29
           Let us, when we make up our budgets in a few                                                   Received for Membership Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
weeks, include this substantial increase for the minis-                                                                                                                                                                                                          1.95.00
                                                                                                          Received from Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1448.50
ter, asking of the Lord. to make us willing and cheerful                                                  Received from Collections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
givers. Let us not bicker about it, and do it without                                                                                                                                                                                                            950.12
                                                                                                          Received from Adv. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                              !KOO
.any fanfa.re.  We are only doing then what.we should
have done long ago.                                                                                                            Total ,.........................................................  $2'700.91.
           Tm conclusion, let us prove the Lord in this: WilI.                                                           -5:  ,,/ .                                      Disbursements
He not spiritually prosper us ; will He not !bless us with
a still more devout ministry, and a  grea,ter  love in the                                                Doorn Printing Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2327.61
Church, and a lesser inclination to seek the material Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                                       49.26
things?                                                                                                   Plate changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                           22.56
                      Yours for the work in God's Kingdom,                                         .' Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ..~.             32.75
                                                      Peter Alphenaar                                     Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      8.00
                                                                                                         Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-                              26.86
                                                      1850 S. Bundick St.                                                                                                                                                                                  --..""  ^__^_
                                                      Kalamazoo, Michigan.                                                     Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2468.04
                                                                                                          Balance on hand, July'31, 1943 .,......................  $ 232.87
                                                                                                                                                                                                      R. Schaafsma, Treas.



             TREASURERS FINANCIAL  REPQRT
      ,      from AUGUST 1, 1942 to JULY :;I., .194:3
Dear Friends of our Standard Bearer:                                                                             REFORMED WITNESS HOUR BEGINS THIRD                                                                                                                         '
           Again another year has passed by for our  Semi-                                                                                                                    i  SEAiON   *
Monthly. Magazine.                       This year. was different than,
other years, for this year we had the privilege of send-                                                             On Sunday, October 17, at 4 o'clock, Central Was
ing The Standard Bearer from East to West  ancl from                                                      time, the Reformed Witness `Hour, a Protestant Re-
`North to South, yea to the uttermost parts of the earth.                                                 formed Radio Broadcast, <will  -begin its third season
There has not  Ibee$n a year in the past when our Stan-. under the sponsorship of the Young Men's Society of
dard Bearer visited so many states as this year. We                                                       the First  P&e&ant Reformed Church of Grand
sent to 48 states. Starting with Mr. Wm. Doezema,                                                          Rapids. The broadcast will again come to you .dire:tly
who received our first free copy, we-now have 230 on                                                       from the auditorium of  First  ,Church,  and may be
our list. Four soldiers pay for  t&r   own,copy.  So heard over any of these four'  sta$ions: W-L-A-V,
friends listen to our financial report for a few mo- Grand Rapids, `W-T-C-M, Traverse  %City, W-K-B-Z,
ments.                                                                                                     Muskegon, or - over our newest and most powerful
           Stamps and envelopes for these copies, which were                                              station,  WLJ-J-D,  Chicago at 1160 on your dial.
written twice a month, cost more than $100.00. It was                                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema has again consented to speak
indeed a busy year. Financially we cannot complain,                                                        for us, and he will begin the season with an interesting
but there is room for improvement. This year we face series on  S&&ion.  By Grace.                                                                                                                                      Our excellent radio
an added cost of $550.00, so that means `we have to choir will again furnish music for the%roadcast,  this
pay $25.00 more per issue, 22 times $25.00 makes year under the direction of Miss Doris Van Dellen.
$550.00 this coming year.                                                                                            If you desire any further information, or if  you;'
           So friends, if your treasurer pleads with you. to                                               would like to support this cause, write The Reformed
remember this cause once more, please let it not be                                                        Witness Hour, Post Office Box 8, Grand Rapids, Michi-  '
in vain. He has pleaded with you for ten years, and                                                        gan. But be sure you don't miss any of the twenty-six
the Lord has blessed us. It is true, we had to struggle broadcasts beginning `October 17 !
sometimes, but  ,God's grace was always  suthcient  to                                                                                  Radio Committee of the Y.. M. S. of the
,bring us on top again.                           So friends, give Him the                                                              First Prot. Ref: (=husch  of Grand Rapids,


