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`98                                           T H E   ST.-ANBAR.D   B E A R E R  `.'  -.-  -'

spelers meer ! Wie weet hoeveel  nog levende vrouwen
een man op die manier kan hebben, terwijl hij  tech
met zijn laatste vrouw een wettig huwelijk voor `God                  The Triple Knowledge
heeft aangegaan !
       Maar in elk geval mag broeder Cammenga zoo de
S&rift niet lezen.                                                  An Exposition Of The Heidelberg                                  ,
       2. Wat nu I Car. 6 :16 betreft, bet volgende:                                   Catechism
       a.  Zeker,  als de apostel schrijft:  "vliedt  de hoere-
rij," dan bedoelt hij : "bekeert u van uwe hoererij, die                                 PART TWO
gij zoo schandelijk bedrijft, en houdt u bij uwe wettige                           OF  MAN'S  REDEMPTION               .
vrouwen." En hij schrijft dit ieker aan de gemeente-
des Heeren, maar dan aan eene gemeente van welke                                       Lord's  &jr  ma           *           " Ii
men "ganschelijk hoorde,  dat er hoererij onder  u is,                            Chapter 3 (cont.).
en zoodanige hoererij, die ook onder de Heidenen niet
genoemd wordt,  alzoo dat er een  zijns vaders  huis-                          ZThe Eternal Father Creator.
vrouw heeft." 5.: 1.                                                  This same truth,  ,that in God's eternal good pleasure
       b. Zeker,. op het oogenblik dat iemand  (de hoer aa.n-      Christ is first, and all other. things are conceived in
hangt,  d.w.z:,  geslachtelijke gemeenschap met haar               Him and unto Him, is also taught in other passages of
heeft, is hij  44n vleesch met haar. Maar hij is dat               Holy Writ. We have in mind especially that glorious
door eene zondige daad.           Daardoor schendt hij de          and profound part of the epistle to the Colossians
band, waardoor  aan zijne wettige vrouw verbonden is.              that expresses the theme of the whole letter: "Who
Wil dit nu zeggen, dat hij, met die hoer voor God ge-              is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of
trouwd is, zodals  broeder Cammenga  schijnt  te mee-              every creature: For by him were .a11 things created,
nen, en  dat de band met zijne eerste vrouw voor altijd            that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
verbroken is? Immers  neen!  Wettiglijk en voor God                invisible,  whet.her  they be thrones or dominions, or
is hij  &Sn  vleesch met zijne  prouw.  Hij moet  ldus de          principalities, or powers: all things were created by
hoererij vlieden, belijdenis doen  van  zijne eonde, en            him, and for him : And `he is before all things, and by
tot zijne vrouw terugkeeren. Dat is de weg.                        him all,  ,things  consist. And he is the head of the
       c. En wie heeft nu ooit gehoord van een kerkersad,          body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn
die  iemand  met den ban afsnijdt,  als hij hoererij heeft         from the dead; that in all things he might have the
                                                                   preeminence. For it pleased the Father; that in him
bedreven, belijdenis doet, en tot zijne wettige vrouw              all the fulness  should dwell; And having made peace
terugkeert? Broeder Cammenga zeker ook niet.
             L                                                     through the blood of  .his  cross,  !by him to  `recondle
       3.  Wat de doodstraf betreft op overspel merk ik            all things unto himself; by him,. 1, say, whether they
nogmaals op :                            .                         be things in earth, or things ,in heaven." ,To be sure,
       a. Dat ingeval een bverspeler  gedood werd, de dood,        He of whom the apostle here speaks has His personal
en niet het overspel  deonschuldige  partij vrij maakte.           subsistence in the Son of.lGod,  the second Person of
Dat heeft dus in geen geval iets met. de onderhavige               the Holy Trinity. And yet, even as `was the case with
kwestie te make-n.                                                 `Wisdom in Proverbs 8, it is evident that all that is
                                                                   predicated here of this Firstborn cannot be said of
       b. Dat broeder Cammenga bij nadenken ook we1                the Son of Cod `in  t.he `divine nature. Whatever at-
`weten  zal, dat onder Israel  de doodstraf werd toege-            tempts have been made to  explai,n the expression "the
past, of in elk ,geval moest toegepast worden op meer              firstborn of every creature" so that it might  bs ap-
gevallen, dan de twee, die door hem  worden genoemd.               plicable to the divine Son of God, it is very clear that
Zoo  moest  de Sodomiet gedood  worden,  Lev. 20  :13;             this phrase does not apply to the second Person of the
bloedschande  werd met  Iden dood gestraft, Lev. 20 :11,           Trinity. He is not the "firstborn of .every creature,"
13, 14, etc. ; een wederspannige zoon  moest gesteeni'gd           for IHe is neither'born  nor a creature: He is the eter-
worden,   Deut.  21:18-21; wie iemand  trachtte  te  .ver-         nally begotten  .God ! Nor is the Son as such the head
Ieiden   tot, afgodendienst moest gesteenigd  worden,              of the body, of the first begotten from the dead ; nor
Deut. 13 :6 w. etc.                                                even can ,it be said of the Son -of God in the divine
       Maar dat ook onze overheid geroepen om in zulke             nature, that He has the preeminence in all things, or
gevallen  de tdoodstraf  toe te passen,  is'in elk geval iets      thzlt by the good pleasure of the Father all the  fulness
nieuws.                                                            dwells in  Him; But all these predicates are readily
       En.hierbi.j  zullen  we het vooreerst maar laten.
        ~                                                          understood if  owe apply them  to.&hrist;and that, too,
                                                     H.. H.  m.    as He appe&s"in  God's eternal conception of all things,


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E - A R E R                                            99

that is, in the counsel of God. In that counsel Christ,       "of nothing made heaven and earth, with all that is in
an.d that as the firstborn from the dead, the glorified       them." This is hardly meant as a  definition  of the
 Christ,, in whom all the fulness should `dwell, is the       act of creation. As such it would be very defective.
beginning (the  archee; the  reshith of  Prov.  8)) and       It may have value from a pedagogical viewpoint to
the firstborn .of every creature, Who in the counsel          teach our children that "creation is to make something'
of God is not only logically first, but Who as the first-     out of nothing," but as soon as they begin to reflect
born, also opens the womb of creation, and prepares           they should be shown the inadequacy of such a defini-
the `way for all creatures; and again, Who as such            tion or .description  of the act of creation. For, to be
holds the preeminence above them all. The eternal             sure, "nothing" is not the source of creation, nor is
Son of God, the Word that is with God in eternity,            creation always out of nothing: the plants are ca!led
and Who is the express image of His substance, is,            out of the' ground, so are the animals, and man is
as it were, the infinite pattern according to which all       formed out of the dust of the earth. Nevertheless, it
things are conceived, and in Whom as the Christ exalt-        may serve to emphasize that apart from God's creative
ed ail the fulness must dwell. God is first the "Father       act there is absolutely nothing: God was not limited
of our Lord Jesus Christ," and as such He is also the         in His act of creation by some kind of material that
Creator of heaven and earth. As the Catechism ex-             existed, and upon which He wrought creatively  ; and
presses it: "The eternal Father of our Lord Jesus             it brings out emphatically that all things are the pro-
Christ" made of nothing the heaven and the earth              duct of His omnipotent will alone. He called all things
and all things that are therein, and still upholds them       that are not as if they were ! And by faith we under-
by His eternal counsel and providence!                        stand that the worlds  w.ere framed by the Word of
    Now, all this may not completely dispel the mists         God, so that the things which are seen are not made of
that hide the deep things of God from our searching           things that do appear! And thus the act of creation
eye, but it shows us the direction in which, coul,d we        reveals God as the absolute Sovereign of all, and as the
only see far enough, we would  find the solution of the       Father Omnipotent. Only, we must not conceive of
two problems we mentioned before: that of God's im-           omnipotence merely in the vague sense of infinite pow-
mutability, and that of God's self-sufficiency in  re-        er, but rather in the concrete sense that there is no
Iation  to the "beginning" of Gen. 1  :l. It is true, even    power, never was any power, and never will be any
so we cannot fathom the reIation  of the "beginning"          power, whether within God or in all the universe, ex-
to eternity, because in all our thinking we are strictly      cept the power of God. :He is the power for ever!
subject. to and limited by time, `and for evermore we            Secondly, in this first article of the  dpostolic   Con-
are inclined to ask: and what was before the begin-           fessim we confess that the world is exactly as God
ning? Nor can we fathom the relation of space to the          willed it. The truth of creation teaches us that God's
Infinite, and always we postulate more space beyond           will and counsel are the  onIy  rczison   d?  etre  of the
space. When we say that God created heaven and earth whole universe. There was nothing that limited the
out of nothing, we speak in mysteries, for we cannot          will of God. When man makes something, he is limit-
conceive of "creation," but neither can we conceive of        ed and determined on every side by the material out
"nothing," except as empty space, which is not nothing,       of which-the proposed article must be fashioned. When
but itself a creature. But we can at least begin to           an  .architect  draws plans and specifications of an edi-
see that God in Himself, by virtue of His eternal coun-       fice that is to be constructed, he is  subj,ect  to, and
sel, is the Eternal Father Creator, and th,st the "be-        must figure with all kinds of existing laws; and he is
ginning" and all things' in time are eternally in Him,        limited by the means at hand. Not so with God.
so that they do not postulate a change in God. And,           Creation means ,t.hat the universe is solely the product
secondly, we can also obtain a glimpse of the truth           of His omnipotent will, and this will is limited by
that God remains the self-sufficient One, and that crea- nothing. He is above all laws, and Himself the sover-
tion does not add anything to His infinite greatness.         eign Creator even of them. He proposes the end, and
The world as it is eternally with God in His eternal          He cseates  the means ; He conceives of the idea,.and  He
conception and decree is far more immense than it can         calls into being the material of His world. The world
ever be in any moment of its existence in time. Our           is exactly as He willed, it to be. Creation is an act of
world of the moment is but a small reflection of. the         absolute freedom and sovereignty.
fulness of the world in God's eternal conception !               This also means that the world, as it was called
   Thus we can begin to understand the significance           forth in the beginning, as it develops in time, and as
of the confession: I  belie?)e  in God  the  Father, Al-      it will be perfected in the "age of ages," is the revela-
mighty, Maker  of  heaven and  earth.        Creation is      tion of perfect divine wisdom, the highest possible
revelation. It ,does, indeed, reveal God to us as the         revelation of the glory of God. I think we may `even
omnipotent  One. The act of creation is an act of             say, on the basis of  .Scripture,  that it is a  complete
omnipotent will ! The catechism  teIIs  &us that God          revelation of God, and in that sense adequate, even


JQQ                                    T4HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R -__ ^- ^  _

though it is true, of course, that the measure of this         Him that was to come, and Christ is the last Adam.
revelation is  creaturely.  For  ?t pleased the Father         The First Paradise is an earthly picture of the Para-
that in Christ, as" the firstborn of every creature antr!      dise of God in the new creation, and the original tree
the firstborn from the dead, a.11 fulness should  .dwell.      of life is to be fully realized in its heavenly beauty
We may say, therefore, that even though God's works            when all things are made new. The seed that falls in
are a  weuturely   revelation of Himself, so that He           the earth and dies and is quickened again is a parable
iHimself  for ever remains the Incomprehensible One,           of  th,e resurrection, both in its spiritual, and its physi-
they are not a  pcwtial,  but a  full' revelation of the       cal sense. The sun that dispels the d,srkness of the night
living God, through which all His glorious virtues             is an image of the Sun of righteousness, and the moon
.will shine forth and be declare3 for ever. And it is,         that floods the night with its mellow light, and as-
no doubt, the highest  possibIe revelation of `that glory.     sures us that the sun is still there, though we do not
You understand, I am not now referring merely to the           see her, is a silent preacher of the promise of God
world as it was formed in the beginning, but to the            that the Sun will rise again in all its glory in the Day
world as it is in God's counsel. Hence, we must also           of the Lord.     And so  all creation, the lion and the
maintain that this is the best possible world, and for         lamb, the soaring eagle and the strong  ok, the tall
that very reason the only world God could create. In           cedar and the sturdy oak, the mighty mountain and
the abstract it may be granted, perhaps, that God              the barren desert, the flashing lightning and the
could have created an infinite number of worlds.  `And         rolling thunder, storm and zephyr, earthquake. and
often this is asserted and considered a statement of           eruption, color and number; as well as man in all its
great piety and reverence. But if  this  worl,ct is the        relations of man and wife, brother and sister, father
revelation of the highest purpose of God, adapted to           and son, king and subject,-all speak the language of
the reflection of His greatest glory, this is the only         redemption to us if our ear is only attuned and made
world God, Who can `only make that which is char-a--           receptive by the Word of God in Christ Jesus our
t,erized  by highest perfection, could conceive of: the        Lord. And so, all the works of God are one, even as
greatest and fullest revelation of His own excellent           He is One. They were one in the beginning. For God
virtues.                                                       did not create a mere number of creatures, but a  kos-
       Further, conceived of as the realization in time and    mos, rising by His creative power from the darkness
space of ,God's eternal good pleasure, the end of  which       of the chaos ,in a succession of creatures higher and
is that in Christ, crucified and raised, all things should     higher, until they reached th,eir pinnacle in man, in
be reconciled and united, so that in Him all the ful-          whose heart the whole kosmos was unite3  with the
ness should dwell, the world in the "beginning" was            heart of God ; a kingdom, in which all creatures must
adapted to the end with perfect wisdom, i.e. was so            serve man, that man might serve his ,God.  But they
created that, through  ,the deep way of sin and death,         are also one, in that the beginning is connected, with
it could be raised to the highest possible glory by the        and adapted to the end: the new creation that will for
power of grace in Christ. God knows `the end from              ever be united with God in the h,eart of Emmanuel,
the beginning, and the latter is adapted to the former.        God with us !
When He created the world,  He had that end in view:               And thus, finally, we can fully appreciate and un-
the highest realization and revelation of His  taber-          derstand the language of the Catechism in this ninth
nacl.e.with  men in Christ Jesus our Lord! When God            Lord's Day, and that, too, as a firm ground for our
in the beginning saw that all things were good, the            only comfort in life and death. "What believest thou
meaning is not simply that they were perfect and flaw-         when thou sayest `I believe in God the Father, Al-
less, without defect, as they had come forth from His          mighty, Maker of heav.en  and earth?' That the eter-
hands, but also that they were perfectly adapted to            nal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who of nothing
the end He had in view. And that end is the Kingdom            made heaven and earth, with all that is in them; who
of heaven, the heavenly tabernacle of God with men in          likewise upholds and governs the same by his eternal
Christ; It is because of this that the things as they          counsel and providence, is for the sake of Ch'rist, his
were made in the beginning are an image of things              Son, my God and my Father; on whom 1 rely so en-
to come, and that things  are  done or take place in           tirely, that I have no doubt, but he will provide me
parables.      It is true, of Course, that without God's       with all things necessary for soul and body: and fur-
revelation in Christ as we have it in the Holy Scrip-          ther, that he will make whatever evils he sends upon
tures, we could never see this reflection of things to         me, in this valley of tears turn out to .my advantage;
come in the things that are made ; and that Christ only        for he is able to do it, being almighty God, and will-
could point out `the parables that take place  roun,d          ing, being a faithful Father."
about us; but the fact remains that the earthy cres-               What does it ail mean? This is not the place to
tion  reflects the things of the kingdom of heaven, is         discuss every element of this glorious confession with
an image of `things heavenly. Adam is an image of              respect  to God's Fatherhood and our  sonship,  and the


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           - .                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   .                                                   101

      practical implications of this relationship, in  :detail.                         riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not
      For we shall have occasion to speak of our  sonship                               by chance, but by his fatherly hand.
                                                                                        Q. 28. What advantage is it to us to know that God
      for Christ's sake in a different connection; and much                             his created, and by his providence still upholds all
      of what the Catechism here mentions must be  discuss-                             things ?
      e,d as we explain the next Lord's Day. But the central                                That we may be patient in adversity; thankful
      idea the Catechism here expresses must be grssped                                 in prosperity; and that in all things, which may
      clearly: it is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus                               hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in  our
                                                                                        faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate
      ,Christ, and that, too, not only as the eternal Father                            us  from his love: since all creatures are so in his
      of the  eterna1  Son, but also as the  F.ather of Jesus                           hand, that without his will they cannot so much as
      Christ, that created all things according to His eternal                          move.
      counsel; and Who as such is my God and Father for                                                Chapter 1.
      Christ's sake; hence by faith I may put the present
      evil moment ,in God's perfect counsel of wisdom and                                   The Idea of God's Providence.
      love, and believe that all is well!                                       The doctrine of creation postulates that of diqine
          God is the eternal Father of  .the elect. 0, it is                 providence.      If you open your window to fill your
      true, He is the Father of  al1 in the sense that  Re                   room with the gol,den  light, of the sun, that sunlight
      brought them forth, created them. Butt in the true,                    in your room is constantly dependent for its continued
      spiritual sense, He is the  F%ither only of His own,                   existence on  3s connection with its source. Draw
      whom He  gave in Christ in His eternal counsel. For                    your shades, shut off the light in your room from its
      through sin men became the children of their father                    source, and there is no light left in the room. And
      `the devil, and do his will. They  neit.her have the                   thus  it is with all  crea'tion  in relation to God. If
      right nor the pow.er to be children of `God. We must                   God  created. all things, if He called them by His omni-
      not follow modernism in its boast of a universal                       potent will, if they were framed by the Word of God,
      fatherhood of God. But in Christ, and for His sake,                    then He remains the Author of their continued exis-
      we obtain the right to be called children of God, and                  tense.    That they came into existence was due only
      by His grace we are also conformed according to the                    to His sovereign will; that same will is the ultimate
      image of IHis Son. -4nd all this is realized according                 and only ground of their continued existence. For
      to God's eternal purpose, that same purpose and good                   creation can never mean that God gave independent
      pleasure, according to which He  c+ated all things,                    being to a creature  outside of Himself. An indepedent
      and governs  la11 things. What then? Knowing that                      creature is impossible. To speak of it is a contradic-
      He is my Father for Christ's sake, I know that in His                  tion in terms. If, therefore, after all things were
      eternal wisdom He so arranged all things that  al1                     created, they would have been separated from the will
      things must cooperate unto the final  .revelation  of                  and power of God, they would at that very moment
     ' Christ, and the salvation of all that are in Him !                    have sunk back into nothingness. The world dEd not,
      Knowing t.hat He is almighty, I am assured that He                     develop of itself; it cannot exist. by itself. It is from
      will surely accomplish all His good pleasure, so that                  moment to moment dependent on `%he almighty and
I     nothing can betide me but by His will. And  know-                      everywhere present power of God."                  Creation pos-
       ing that He loves me, and that, too, with an eternal                  tulates providence.
      and immutable love, manifested in the death of His                         Hence, the Heidelberger is quite correct in append-
       Son, I trust that `He will  sureIy  cause all things to               ing to the chapter on the Father-Creator, a Lord's
      work together unto my salvation. And so, the be-                       Day on the providence of God. The first article of the
      liever in Christ relies on Him entirely, confident that                Apostolic Confession does not speak of this upholding
       all things always work together for good to them that , and governing power of God, but only of God the
       love  God!       The eternal Father of our Lord Jesus                 Father, Almighty, ,Creator  of heaven and earth. Gut
       Christ, the Creator omnipotent, the only  P&e&ate of                  realizing that the doctrine of creation postulates, even
       potentates, the God of our salvation, is my God and                   implies that of  provildence,  our instructor, in explain-
                                                                             ing the first  article of our holy catholic faith, appends
                                                                             a chapter on this important point of doctrine.
                                                                                                                                   H. H.
                                Lord's_  Day X.
                     Q. 37. What dnst thou mean by the providence of
                     Gud ?
                       The almighty and everywhere present power of                     I to the hills will lift my eyes;
                     God; whereby as it were by his hand, he upholds                    0 whence shall come my aid?
                     and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so                   My  `help  is from the Lord alone,
                     that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and
                     barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness,                 Who heaven and earth has made,


102                                  ` T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                  Thirdly, whether Jonah was alive or dead while in
       Was Jonah Alive In The Fish?                           the fish, in either case we have to do ,with a mighty
                                                              miracIe of the Almighty. For that reason the modern
       "NOW  the Lord had prepared a great fish to swal-      critic accepts neither. To him the whole  nar&ive
low up Jonah. .And Jonah was in the belly of the fish         is fantastic and fabulous, an incredible myth. If Jonah
three days and three nights." Three  dmsys  and three         were kept alive in the  belIy of the fish, this  woukl
nights in the belly of a fish!                                certainly be a miracle far surpassing a,11 human com-
       But how?    Was he alive during that three day         prehension. If he were dead in the fish the  miracl,e
entombment, as the concensus has always been among            would be equally great, for then we have to do here
students of the Bible? Or is it possible that he was          with a raising from the dead. Our subject, therefore,
dead, and that the church has been in error on this           in no respect draws the  mirzc:rlous  into qu,estion.
point?
       I should like to begin with a few general observa-
tions.                                                            The contention, that the prophet Jonah  XX+, not
       First, we are not questioning the fact as such that alive but dead during that three day entombment in
the prophet of the Lord was actually in the belly of          the fish, would: have to rest, no doubt, .o.n the following
the fish. Of course not! Neither is there any point. considerations.
in discussing whether there was at that time and is               l-The natural and ordinary results of such an
today any kind of known Mediterranean fish capable            experience as Jonah had would be death. According to
of swallowing a man whole. That this is  precisely            all natural laws no man could! survive in such a ,place
what happened is the testimony of Scripture, and that as the belly of a fish. Would we not expect, ,then,  that
for the Christian is the end of all dispute. I once           if Jonah were kept alive nevertheless during  ahat
heard a. minister say, "And if Scripture said that            period, Scripture would give this special mention?
donah  swallowed  t.he whale I would believe that, too."      Instead we read, "`Now the Lord had prepared a great
Nor wil1 one, who really believes in miracles and the         fish to swallow up Jonah.  IAnd Jonah was in the
almighty power of Jehovah have any trouble what-              belly of the fish three days and three nights."
ever on this point. If there were no fish with a throat           %-The three days imprisonment of the prophet in
large enough to admit the passage of an entire man,           the belly of the fish was typical of the three days and
the expression "now the Lord  h*ad prepared a great           nights our Saviour was to be in the grave. "For as
fish" would mean simply, that the Almighty create3            Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's
a fish for this special purpose. However, that need           belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three
not be the implication, for there are records of fish,        nights in the heart of the earth." Matt. 12239. Would
species of shark, that are capable of swallowing              the typical significance of this incident not require,
creatures far larger than human beings. According to          then, that Jonah too was dead? Mind you, "As Jonas
Keil and  Delitzsch  a certain  Oken  rela.tes  as a fact,              , so shall be. . .  .". Could `this mean: `in the
"that in the year  1758 a sailor fell overboard from a Same -manner as' ?
frigate, in very stormy weather, into the Mediter-                3-In the prayer of Jonah which is recorded in
ranean Sea,  land was immediately taken into the jaws         the  second  chapter of the book which bears his name,
of a sea-dog (shark), and disappeared. The captain,           the prophet says, "Out of the belly of hell cried I, and
however, ordered a gun, which was standing on the             thou heardest my voice." vs. 2. "Belly of hell" is liter-
deck, to be discharged at the shark and the cannon-ball       ally "Womb of Sheol." Now Sheol is the  land of
struck it, so that it vomited up again the sailor that it     silence, of rest, of forgetfulness, where man has no
had swallowed, who was then taken up alive, and very          part in all that takes place under the sun. It is the
little hurt, into the boat that had been lowered for his      dreary abode of the shades, the realm of the dead, the
rescue."                                                      grave. Doesn't Jonah himself, then, suggest that he
    Secondly, I  am not aware that any Christian Bible        was dead and is this not strengthened by what he says
student questions the contention, that Jonah was pre-         in vs. 6, "earth with her bars was about me for ever:
served alive during his imprisonment in the belly of          yet hast thou brought up my  life from the pit"?
tho fish. All commentators take this so for granted, that         G-True, this would mean that the prayer of Jonah
not one., as far as b know, even mentions it as the view      could not have been uttered while he was in the fish's
of others, that the prophet might have been  dss,d dur-       belly.     However, is it not possible that *the prophet
ing that time. That  <does  not mean, however, that the prayed this after his release from his strange prison?
matter may not be questioned and, that past scholars          The entire prayer, you will notice, is not a petition for
might not have been in error on this point. Things            deliverance at aall, as we might expect were Jonah still
have been taken for granted in the past which sub-            in the fish, but it is a song of thanksgiving and praise
sequently have been proved wrong.                             for  .deliverance  already received,  _ You will also  ob-


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              `108

serve t.hat the entire prayer is in the past tense. "I            men are cut off from all that pertains to Ithe earth.
c-ried by reason of my affliction. . . .         Oat of the $However,  this does not mean that Jonah was actually
womb of Sheol cried I. . .  ." etc. If he were still in           dead. When the prophet  wzs  cast  in:o the sea,  thle
the belly of the fish when this prayer was uttered,               inevitable was death. There was, as such, no other al-
would he not have said, "I cry by reason of. . .  ."?             ternative. Death stared him in the face and from its
In addition, he speaks literally of deliverance already           snares there was no escape. In like  mlanner  David re-
granted. He says, "1 cried by reason,of  my affliction            joices in Psalm 30:3,  "0, Lord, (thou  hast brought up
unto the Lord,  cxnct   hc  heam!  ?~ze;   out of the belly of    my  so1.11 from the grave; thou hast kept me alive, that
hell cried I, and thou  heardest.   my voice."  Is it pos-        .I should not go ,d.own to the pit."
sible, then, that this prayer was uttered, not while in              4. Finally, the prayer of the prophet. It is true,
the fish, but later?  But you object, that we read in             ,that it is not a prayer for deliverance, but of thanks-
the verse immediately preceding the prayer, "Then                 giving and praise for deliverance already wrought;
Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's              that Jonah' literally says, that the Lord had ,already
belly." Yes, but could t,his mean, that Jonah prayed              heard him; and that the whole prayer is in the past
unto the Lord his God (being) out of the fish's belly,            tense. This does not mean, however, that the prayer
i.e., when he himself was out of the belly of the fish?           was not uttered until after the prophet had been re-
In that same verse we read: "Then Jonah. . . ." This              leased and was once again standing on dry land. There
"then" follows the words of chapter 1:1'7, "And Jonah             is another explanation. To Jonah the fish itself was
was in the belly of the fish three  day,s. and three              already  e refuge, an  " ark of safety," wherein the
nights." "Then  Jonah prayed. . .  ." After  4he three            Almighty preserved His prophet alive. When Jonah
days and nights? But how about the verse after the                had been swallowed whole, and when he ,d:iscovered
prayer, you say, which reads: "And the Lord, spake                that he was being kept safely in his strange retreat,
unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry              he regarded this as a  ld.eliveranse   aIready  effected and
land." However, if we should read "for" instead of                a certain  pledge  of further deliverance to come. For
the first  `fand",  would this not- place this vomiting out       that deliverance he praised the Lord then and there.
of Jonah before the entire prayer?                                He had been cast into the deep, into the midst of the
                                                                  seas ; the  floo.ds had compassed him about ; all God's
                                                                  billows and waves had passed over him; the depth
   What about it all? Is there anything convincing                closed him round about and the weeds were wrapped
about these grounds  that.might  be  ad'duced in support          about his head; the  esrth with its bars were about
of a view that Jonah was dead during his incsrceration            him for ever. All seemed lost  ; utterly hopeless. Then
in the fish's belly? Is there any reason to altar the             it was that he said, "I am cast out of thy sight; yet
age old view?                                                     will I look again toward tky holy temple." And Jehovah
   In general the answer is : Not at all! All things              hnd heard  him. He had prepared  ai1 ark of refuge,
still point 160 the belief that Jonah was very much alive         a safe if strange  retrea:,  the great fish, to receive and
during his stay in that strange tomb. Consider the                preserve him. Actually, therefore, he was. saved by
following.                                                        and in the fish, For that reason his prayer, while in
   1. It is, true that according to all laws of nature            the fish, can be one of thanksgiving and praise  .for
no man could live longer than a few moments in such               deliverance already wrought. The marvelous grace of
a place. * With Go& however, all things are possible.             God had been there to preserve him, for was he not
`It is true also that Scripture makes no special mention          being kept alive in a most  extmordinary  and wonder-
of the fact, that the natural' thing (death) did not              ful fashion?
happen and that the prophet was kept alive. But                      5. Furthermore, even though the prayer had been
neither does Scripture in any way suggest  thet he                uttered after his release from the fish, this would  .::ill
might have been dead. Holy Writ simply takes for                  be no proof that he had been dead. Even then the
granted that Jonah was preserved alive.  *                        verbs "I cried," and "I said," and  "I remembered"
   2.. The question whether Jonah was alive or dead               would allude to the period. of his confinement. Be-
has no connection with the typical significance of the            sides, the simple meaning of chapter 2  :l, "When Jonah
incident. The point  *of comparison is not the fact               prayer unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly,"
that both Jonah and the Son of man were dead, but                 is certainly, that, his prayer as  .s.uch proceeded out of
merely the entombment as such. As Jonah was three the belly of the fish.
days and nights in the belly of the fish, so the Son of              Jonah, therefore, was certainly preserved  alive i:l
man should be that long in the heart of t.he earth.               the fish. Not that this either adds to or $&-acts  from
   3. It is true, that Jonah speaks of the "womb of               the greatness of the miracle involved. But, such is
Sheoi,"  and that Sheol is the land of silence, the dreary        to my mind the clear teaching of Scripture. In the one
abode of the shades, the realm of the dead, where all             case the prophet would have been  cleacl and raised


104                                     TsHE   STANbARD   BEARER

again by the almighty power of Jehovah. In the other          peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces.  T
he &ould have been ,dead  according to all the laws of        gat me men tingers and women singers, and the de-
nsture, but he was miraculously preserved  by the om-         lights of &he sons of men, as musical instruments, and
nipotent wonder of the grace of God. However, even            that of all sorts. So I was gr& and increased more
so the victory is definitely over death i&elf, and thus       than all that were before me in Jerusalem; also my
the :entombmelit  and .Zelive: ante of Jonah, the prophet,    wisdom remained with me." Comparing  t.his with
remains a glorious type of Him, who was to come, to           what is written of him bolth in Kings and in Chron-
die for our sins, to enter into (the heart of the earth       icles we can only conclu,de that no one else but Solomon
that He for us might lead captivity c&ptive, and to be        could be the Prescher,  who concludes in chapter 12  :8-
raised again the third day for our justification.             10 by saying: "Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher,
                                                   R. v.      all is vanity. And because the precher  was wise, he
                                                              still taught the people knowledge ; yea, he gave good
                                                              heed, and sought out, and set in order rne'lny proverbs.
                                                              The preacher sought to find out acceptable  words,
                                                              and that which was written was upright, even words
                                                              of truth."
 a        The Authur CBf Ecclesiastes                            ,Considering all this we can safely conclude that the
                                                              Preacher is none other than king Solomon, whom the
       It has always been a saf,e  and established rule to    Lord granted riches and wisdom in  adundance.  We
determine  the author of 1% certain book of Holy Writ,        can even  concIude  that he wrote this book in  t&e
if at all possible, from the book itself. What surer          evening of his life after he had experienced all that
guide could we have than  athe Word of God, which             life could offer to one in his position, and aster he had
is its own indubitable testimony of its infallibility?        tzsted to the full the realities of tho.se things of which
       Applying this rule to the book of Ecclesiastes it      he wrote.
hardly seems possible that any one should as much as             Yet, with  all this overwhelming evidence before
question  lthe fact that Solomon is its author.               Ithem,  the Bible critics, almost without exception, are
       The first chapter expresses this very definitely.      well agreed `that Solomon could not possibly be the
Its opening statement reads: "The words `of the               author of this book. They quite unanimously insist
Preacher, the Son of David, king in Jerusalem." Al-           that some other person, at a much later date, either
though he calls himself the Preacher, (Koheleth in the        collected various proverbs of Solomon into one book,
Hebrew, Ecclesiastes  in the Greek, from which the            or wrote the entire book under the assumed n3me of
book derives its name) he adds that he is the son of          the Preacher, as if he himself were king Solomon,
David and king in Jerusalem. Verse 12 adds to this:           "repro.d.ucing  the  Ithoughts and experiences of the
"I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem."         memorable personage, Solomon."            (Keil and  De-
And verse 16 continues: "I communed with my own               litzsch, Commentary on Ecclesiastes) .
heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have           Entirely ignoring the divine inspiration of the
gotten more wisdom than all they that have been be-           Scriptures and ruthlessly exalting their own opinion
fore me in Jerusalem ; yea, my heart had great ex-            above the testimony of the Word itself, they reduce
perience of wisdom and knowledge." To  ass.ure our-           this book to the Ievel  of a mere piece of fiction.
selves that this could only refer to Solomon we need             Their  main objection to recognizing Solomon as
but compare it with I Kings 3  :12, where the  Lo& ad-        the author of  Ecclesia+tes  is, as they say, that  lthe
dresses Solomon, saying, Be.hol.3,  1. have done according    style of the book is of a much later date, when the
to thy words ; lo, 1, have given thee a wise and an un-       Hebrew language was  _ interspersed with many  Ara-
derstanding heart, so that there was none like thee           maic words iand expressions. This objection is based
before thee neither after thee shall any arise like unto      on the assumption that Solomon  coubd  not possibly
thee."                                                        have  made  acquaintance with those Aramaic terms
       If more proof were needed we could refer to tie        which they find in the book. Yet it hardly takes into
second chapter, the verses 4-9, "I made me great works        consideration that as king, the like of whom could not
I  builded me houses, I planted me vineyards. I made          be found, with all the  building which he had done,
me gardens and orchards, and I plasted  (trees  in them he must have had exceptional amount of contact with
of all kinds of fruit. I made me pools of water to            the nations  roun;d  about. Granting that there are
water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees.           msny words in Ecclesiastes not found in the earlier
I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born          writings of the Old Testament, this is still no r,eason
in my house; also I had great possessions of great and        to deny the testimony of the book itself that it was
small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before          written by Solomon. The  style and language must, be
me.       T gathered me also  silver and gold, and the        that of Israel's great king,               .  ,,

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

   The other objections bear even less weight. It is         him to be a preacher as well as a king in Israel. He
object.ed  that Solomon would never have said: "I, the       writes  (1:16) "Lo, I am come to great estate, and
Preacher, CZ~ king over Israel." iHe might have said,        hsve gottee  more wisdom than all they that have been
`am king,' but never `was,' because he remained on before me in JerusaIem  ; yea, my heart had great ex-
the throne until the ,day of his death. "But this objes-     perience of wisdom and knowledge." And  ,again in
tion is  ,more fancied than real. Must we assume that        chapter .2, verse 9, "Also my wisdom remained with
he couId  nojt possibIy  have said that he was king over me." As in his conchsion,  (I2 :9) "Because the preach;
Israel unless he had abdicated the throne? The only          er was wise he still taught the people knowledge; yea,
correct explanation is, that he appeals to his rich          he gave good heed, and sought out and set in order
experience as Israel's anointed king in giving his es-       many proverbs."
timate of life, as he does in the first chapter.                This fact is the more significant because the office
   Again, Et  is objedted that Solomon would never have      was generally imposed on separate individuals in the
said that he was `king over IsraeI  in Jmusnlem,'  since     oId dispensation.    &though the threefold office of
he had no knowledge of kings over Israel who had not         prophet, priest and king is  essenti`ally  one office, as is
reigned in Jerusalem. The assumption is that only one        evident from Adam in paradise, in Christ in His three-
who was acquainted with Israel's  Iater  history would       foId office, and in the office of beIievers today ; yet the
emphasize that Solomon was king in Jerusalem instead         old testament prophet was no priest, and the priest
of in Samaria. Also the objection is raised  (that, since, was not a king, according to the general rule.
Solomon had not proceeded from a long line of kings,            But Solomon presents himself to us as the Preach-
he could not have spoken of `all thlat were before me in     er-King, who had been endowed with the Spirit of
Jerusalem.' These last two objections may well be            wisdom, not only to rule the people as their king, but
considered as "begging the question." Taking for             also to instruct them as their prophet. A fact which
granted that the anthor  was acquainted with Israel's        clearly emphasizes that the threefold office as essen-
ldater  history, it is a simple matter to arrive at the      tially one, even as it was perfected in Christ, the
conclusion that must first be proven.      There. is, on IAnointed  of God, par  excellence.
the other hand, every reason to accept that the theo-           The message of the Preacher carries a special ap-
cratic king of Israel, conscious of his high calling         peal to us in our day because it is so exactly the op-
and having his throne in the Holy City, would not            posite from ,a11 present day philosophies which boast
hesitate to mention this in introducing himself to his       of the wisdom and culture of the world. One keynote
"readers. Nor is it strange that he would sky that his rings through the entire book,  that all things, outside
wisdom exceeded  "all  that  were  before me in Jeru-        of `the grace of God  in  Christ Jesus, are  subject to
salem,' since God Himself had said,  "I; have given          vanity. God's curse rests upon the world of fallen
thee a wise and understanding heart, so that there W'LI,S    mankind, and man himself bows under the bondage
none like thee before thee." He is simply  dating            of  corruption"and  death. There is nothing new under
that God's promise was fully realized.                       the sun, nothing that is not branded with death, no-
   Having established in our own minds that Solo-            thing `that is not subject to vanity. Even joy and
mon is the author of this book, it raises the interest- mirth are empty madness,  an,d natural wisdom brings
ing question, Is Solomon also among the prophets?            grief, while all labor is vexation of spirit. The creature
   We know that no one could hold any office in Is-          runs in a tread-mill as in a "vicious circle." All man's
rael unless he was an anointed' of the Lord. Anoint- skill and ingenuity, his  .discoveries  and inventions, his
ing spoke of the fact that God had ordained and called labor and his progress end in destruction. War  -
him  to a special office, and that God also qualifies him    peace  - depression  - war &a&s  man's path wherever
through the Holy Spirit to fill the office to which          he turns. All `that is and all that cometh  is vanity.
he was appointed;                                            Vanity of .vanities, saith the Preacher, all is vanity.
   We also know that Solomon was anointed to be                 This is the conclusion of the wholIe matter, Fear
king over Israel, and that he had been endowed with          God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole
the special gift of wisdom as  theocratic  king. The         duty of man.                                               "
Lord had granted his request when he asked for wis-                                                           C. .H.         '
dom to judge the people with an understanding heart,
"that I may discern between good and bad, for who
is able to judge this Thy so great  *a people"      This
wisdom was not a mere natural gift, or blent, but a
special gift of the Holy Spirit to qualify him to the                 Eternal is Thy kingdom, Lord,
office to which <God had called him.                                  Forever strong and ever sure ;
   But Solomon received even more than he  had ask-                   While generations rise and die,
ed. Ecclesiastes  inform us that this wisdom qualified              $hall Thy dominion still endure.

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

te gelooven vermag de krankzinnige nu  juist niet.           the people of. Israel. He is a cruel and unjust deity.
Daarom wordt dan ook dikwijls de bange vraag  ge-            Thus to identify ;Him with the God of the Christians
daan: Is -er zaligheid  voor de krankzinnigen, of ook        is to inflict the followers of Christ with god whom it
we1 laat God'het toe dat Zijn kinderen  door deze ziel-      is impossible to obey and adore.
ziekte  worden aangetast ?                                       These opinions every true believer denounces as
 `De spreker gaat voort met te zeggen: dat er geen blasphemy. The Canaanites, as was said, were wick-
troost  is in een dogma van willen,  en  loopen,  en aan-    ed, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. `Instead
nemen wat- wordt aangeboden. Dan komt de krank-              of forsaking their abominations, they chose to continue
zinnige ,er, zeker we1 buiten te staan, want ,hij is be-     defiant to the end and thus chose death. And what
rooft van  .zinnen,  en grijpt dien  Christus zeker zoo      they chose tiey received from the hand of God.
nooit aan.                                                       Being just, the extirpation of the Cananites was
   Het is zeker waar, dat Gad een volk heeft verkoren        not cruel. But who can read of the military campaigns
voor Hem  zelven om te vertellen Zijne wonderwerken.         of Joshua-of the slaying of  countkss numbers  of
En ook dit vermag de beroofde van zinnen niet te doen.       humans including women and children-without ex-
Doch het is ook even goed waarheid, dat wij die nor-         claiming, How terrible ! And to  say...that  God had
maal zijn in ons denken  hebben nog maar een klein           commanded it, is not saying enough. It was Jehovah's
begins4  van deze  gehoorzaamhe$.   Aanstonds  zullen work, in which Joshua and his army were, busy merely
w'e Hem verheerlijken in volmaaktheid; en, in dat  prij-     as His agents. We will then say of God not that He
zen Gods  deelt ook de kranke van zinnen. God heeft          is cruel but that He is terrible in His holiness. This
verkoren het onedele en het  onwijze.der  wereld, o@%at      is the truth about  ,God  that receives statement in Holy
niemand zou  roemen.                                         Writ over and over. "For the Lord most high is
   Het is goed duidelijk geworden in des Ds. betoog,         terrible; he is a great king over all the earth" (Ps.
dat we allen  voor God  dood ter neder ,liggen  inonze       47:2).    By terrible  t,hings in righteousness will He
zonden en ellenden, en dat bet vrije Souvereine genade       answer His people, Ps. 65:5.  Terrible are the things. *
is,  dat we uit dien doodstaat  worden   gered  door de      w,hi,ch  He did by the Red sea, Ps. 106:22.    He is the
Souvereine God.                                              great and the terrible God, Ne.  1:5. With him is ter-
   Indien  dit in Cutlerville anders wordt voorgesteld       rible majesty, Job  37:22. He drives away His enemies
of  anders  wordt gepreekt, heeft dit  hospitaal  voor       as smoke: as wax  melt&h  before the fire, so the  wick-
krankzinnigen  geen zielenherder noodig, en komen' ,ed perish at His presence, Ps. 68 :2. He shall break
dezen buiten het koninkrijk Gods te  s&an.                   them with a rod of iron ; and dash them in pieces like
   Het was jammer dat er niet, meer belangstelling a potter's ,vessel, Ps. 2 :9. The earth shook and tremb-
was, We bevinden ons tech in een oorlog-krankzinnige         l.ed ; the foundations also of the hills were moved and
w e r e l d .                                                were shaken, because he was wroth, Ps. 18  :7.
   Laat ook ons gebed uitgaan tot den Allerhoogsten             The God of the New Testament is just as terrible
God ; en &sat ons ook vooral  als kerken, niet bidden        as the Jehovah of the peopIe  of Israel, for  .he is Je-
voor de vrijheid der wereld. Ook niet voor  victorie         hovah He reveals from heaven His wrath over all
en blijvende vrede, maar alleen voor de vrede van            unrighteousness of men. He .gives them up to unclean-
Jeruzalem.                                                   ness through the lusts of their own heart, and to vile
                                           S. D. V.          affection and 40 a reprobate mind, Rom. ch. 1. The
                                                             plagues of the book of Revelations, all the torments
                                                             of the  humsn  family of this hour-the torments of
                                                             war, famine, and death, and every torment that is
                                                             named-proceed from His counsel.          And when the
                                                             day of His wrath is come, He will do terrible things in
The Great and The Terrible God righlteousness..  The stars in heaven  -will fall to the
                                                             earth; the heaven will depart as a scroll, and every
                   (Joshua's wars)                           mountain and island will be moved out of their places.
                                                                Some would tone down the severity of God by say-
   Attention has already been called to the .great  of-      ing t hat iHe. would be a kind father to all men but can-    '
fence which the history of the conquest of  Canaanhas        not because He stands helpless in the presence of man's
given to the opponents of, Christianity. As was said; unbelief. But  <God doeth terrible things  .in" righteous-
the Manichaeans classified it among "the cruel things ness because He wills and not because men, through
which Moses did and  comman ded," and which went to their  unwillin.gness to repent, compel Him. At the
prove, according to their view, that the God of the ,end of time, it will again be said of the wicked, who
Old Testament could not be the God of the New. This          perish in their sins. There was not one of them that
j~i the  uanal criticism  bmught against the Jehovah of wilIed  ta be reconciled to God, because it was of God


     .     ,I
                 .--
.                                        T'HE   STANbARb   kJ3AREk                                                     109

to harden their hearts, that they shoul,d remain unpen-          ness, into everlasting desolation. But men-the re-
itent, that He might destroy them utterly and that               probated, world-do not want to be destroyed. What
t.hey might have no favor.                                       man does ! But neither do they want to forsake their
           It is sheer hypocricy  in the natural man that he     abominations, and turn to the living, the great and
stands aghast at the severity of the God of the Scrip-           ,?errible  God, to be saved. What they desire of  Go3
tures. Within the limits of his creatural capacities, man,       is that He bless th$em in their sins. But this God can-
too, does terrible things, not in righteousness but in un-       not do. Disappointed they turn to their idol, prostrate
righteousness. For example, in his mad and unholy                themselves before the' shrine of a god of their own
scramble for this earth, he goes to war and employs              making, who will go along with them in their sin and
all the fruits of science in the destruction of the-life         bless them in their iniquity.
and property of the competitor nation.           It has been          But we must consider that, as with God there is co
estimated that in. the present conflict 22 million               respect of persons, He doeth terrible things in right-
humans-men, women, and children-have already                     eousness even to His people, in the first instance to
died. Still the war must go on, however the cost in. Christ, the Saviour, whom He bruised for their iniq-
human lives is daily mounting. Yet man will find                 uities and wounded for their transgressions.  : And in
fault with God because, in His righteous severity, He            bruising .Him, God was again doing a terrible thing
metes out punishment to the wicked.                              in righteousness. We have but a faint notion of what
           Man does not object to the severity of God, if God    Christ suffered under the mighty hand of God from
will only exercise His severity in man's interest to the         His agony in the garden, from the words that He ut-
exclusion of the interest of his fellowmen, in helping           tered upon  .the cross, and from complaints such  ss
man win his wars which he wages with his  fellow-                these, "I am poured  .out like water, and all my bones
men. Each party to the conflict implores the divine              are out of joint : my heart is like wax ; it is melted
aid. Each will conquer with God's help. Each de-                 i.1 the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up
cries in God's ears the sins and atrocities of the other like a potsherd; my tongue cleavsth to my jaws; and
but of which all are equally guilty and in which all             thou hast brought me into the dust of  death"  (Ps.
glory-glory in their shame. Each thanks God that 22 :12-15).
he is not like (those) other men. Each prays, "Let                    God  doe,th  a terrible thing in righteousness to His
God arise, let our enemies be scattered." So do men              people. In His love He chasteneth them for their cor-
contempt God. And the example is set by the clergy.              rection.    Under His mighty hand, they have many
           It is plain, then, that the reason of the natural     tribulations and are in heaviness  t.hrough  manifold
man's hatred of the God of the Scriptures is not that            temptations. At times His hand may be resting upon
He is terrible but that He declines to be terrible in            them ,with such weight that with Job they cry that
the interests of man, of his carnal aims. The reason their grief, if laid in the balance together, would be
is that God does  terribIe  things  ,in  ~~ightermmess,   is     heavier than the sands of the sea.
thus terrible in the interest of His OZV~  cause only,                Yet it is this very Go3 whom believers  desire-?he
which alone is righteous, and which at once is the               God that doeth terrible things in righteousness. With
cause of all righteous men, His people, chosen in                the love of this God shed abroad in their hearts, it is
Christ, reconciled to God through the cross, a people            the only God whom they can will to desire. And He
constrained by His love to war His warfare and sus-              is righteous to remember their work and labour, which
tained by the gladdening prospect that,  .t.hrough   al1         they shew toward His name. In tribulations  they be-
His terrible doings, God perfects their salvation, and           come partakers of His holiness. All things  adva:?ce
thus promotes the ends of  His kingdom- the kingdom their salvation. His mercy is upon them and .His good-
of heaven-so that Et comes and will appear in glory              ne.ss followeth them all the days of their life. He
on the new earth where God, who doeth terrible things            prepares for them a table in the  presence  of their
in righteousness, will tabernacle with its righteous             enemies and gives them pea-e.  As executing terrible
citizens-righteous in Him, Christ Jesus--Who is the              vengeance upon the wicked who persecute them-He
righteousness of His people.                                     doeth terrible things in  righkeousness-He delivers
           It is this God that the world hates. For with this them out of all their troubles and crowlIs them with
God in heaven in the throne of the universe men must             glory. Therefore do they glory only in Him,  :he Go3
either eschew evil, do righteousness, know Him the               of their salvation, who answereth them by  .:errible
onIy  true God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent,                things in righteousness. This verily is their song:
desire nothing in heaven and on earth beside Him,                      0 clap your hands, all ye people: shout unto God
thus cease hating and killing one another in their mad                 with the voice of the trumpet.
lust for the things below and set their affections oil                 For the Lord most  high is terrible; he is a great
the things above, or be destroyed, be chased by the                    king over all the earth.
curse of God, who doeth terrible things in righteous-            d     He shall subdue the people under us, and the


110                                    T*BE  S--TAN;DARD  -B-.EARER

        nations under our feet.
        He shall choose our inheritance for us,  ,the excel-        The Division of the Land in
        lency of Jacob whom he loved (Ps. 47 :I-4).                            West Palestine
       Being God's aons and partaking of His nature,
believers, too,  .do terrible things  in  righteousness.                     (The inheritance of Caleb)
Joshua and the true Israel that with him warred God's             With the thirteenth chapter begins the second part
warfare  di.d.    And not only they but ;the believers of       of the book of Joshua, The description of the f&vi-
the gospel age as well. AI1 God's people do, especially sion of the land begins with this chapter and continues
the saints fin heaven, they who have passed to their            through chapter nineteen.
reward. The souls under the altar-the souls of them                As Joshua has become ol,d and stricken in years,
that were slain for the word of God and for the tes-            and as much of the land is still to be conquered, with
timony which they held---cry with a loud voice, say- no prospect of his completing the conquest, God com-
ing, How long, 0 Lord, hoIy anil true, dost thou not            mands him to wait no longer, but to undertake the
judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on idivision,  ch. XIII :117. It will be well to note the land
the earth?" (Rev.  6:lO). When the prayers of  all that remains to be subdued. First, there were all the
saints (Rev. 8 :l-5) ascend up before God and are cask          borders of the Phi&tines,  and all Geshuri, in the south
on the earth, there are voices, and thunderings, and            of Palestine, from Sihor, the brook of Egypt,. even
lightnings, and an earthquake. Judgments we are to              unto the borders of Ekron northward, the city of the
think of here-judgments with which the saints in-               fly-&al,  Baal-zebub,  conquered by Judah  (Judg.
flict the habitants of the earth-their faith conquers           1:18}, afterward lost "again and  reconquered  under
the world-yet not they but God *who answ-ereth them             Samuel (I Sam. VII  :14). In  eluded  in this district
by terible things in righteousness. An.d many of the were the  ;five Lords of the Philistines, residing in
saints are among these habitants and thus participate           Gaza, Ashdod, Ascalon, Gath, and Ekron; and all the
in the very grief for which tk.ey  pray. And they do so         Evites. Some of these towns are familiar to every
willingly; for unto them it is given in the behalf of           Bible stuldent.  Gaza is first mentioned at Gen. X:19,
Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer          as a border town of the Canaanite peoples. It was
for  :His sake (Phil.  12.29).   ". "Thy kingdom come," is      conquered by Judah and afterwards lost again, Judg.
a  pet,ition for the coming of Christ in judgment over          IdI:3.  Samson carried the gates of Gaza to a hill,
the world, and this of necessity, as it is only through         Judg. XVI  21-30. (Against this city prophesied the
judgments that His kingdom can come.                            prophets Jeremiah (XXV  :20 ; XVII  :5), Amos  (1:6,
       We cannot, therefore, approve the appraisal of           7)) Zephaniah (II  :4), and Zechariah (IX :5). It was
,-Joshua,  according to which he and the religion under. on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza that Philip bap-
him  Idid not appear in  very close relation to  msny           tized the eunuch  (Acts  VIII  :30).  In Ashdod  ,Dagon
things that are lovely and of good. report  ; the appraisal     was cast down before the ark of God (I Sam. V :l-`7 ;
that ascribes the  zeal.and  vigor with which Joshua VI : 17). Against this city also the prophets mentio,ned
fought God's wars to the spirit of his age which was            above raised their voices in condemnation, in the same
cruel (the spirit of every age is cruel) ,; and that prais-     passages which were there quoted. Gath  was the home
es the man for his ruggedness as a soldier but criti-           of Goliath (I Sam.  17:4)  ; and is mentioned with  Ash-
cizes him for his lack of sweetness and light, charity          kelon  in David's lamentation  (2 Sam.  120).  The
and  gentlenms.  The cruel, hard, and brutish man  is           whole district was "remarkable in all  a.ges for the
the man who doeth terrible things in unrighteousness.           extreme riches of its soil; its fields of standing corn,
But God's believing people do  :terrible  things in  Tight-     its vineyards and oliveyards are mentioned in Scrip-
eousness.  and therefore they are at once the meek of           ture (Judg. XV  :5)  ; and in the time of famine. the
the earth, who love their enemies, bless them that              land of the Philistines  was the hope of Palestine (2
curse them, pray for them which despitefully use                Rings VIII 22).
them, and thus bring themselves forward as children                 The other two sections of the country still  to be
of  Bim-their Father in heaven-who maketh  His                  subdued were thxe land of the Sidouians-the  Phoen-
sun. to rise on the evil and on the good. True zeal of          ician territory-and  all the hill country. toward the
God's house, certainly, is not demoralizing. If it were,        east from Lebanon.
Christ  would have been the greatest of sinners, It                 In instructing Joshua to (divide the land, the Lord
 is sin, and sin only, that injures a man's soul.          It first takes account of what Reuben, Gad, and the half
does so, because the wages of sin is death and because          tribe of  Mlanassah have received from Moses in the
 God, who doeth terible things in righteousness, pays           part of the country east of the Jordan, ch. X111:8-33.
 the sinning soul its wage,                                     First, we have the borders of that part of the country
                                               G, M. 0.         generally ; then the territories of the `two and a ha,lf


                                   THE  SeANbARD   B E A R E R                                                  111

tribes. The only part of this district that has not been    XII'I.:30).  His fidelity was rewarded. He w'ss exempt
subdued are the territories of the Geshurites  a.nd         from the sentence of exclusion pronounced upon the
Maachathites.    David must have brought into sub-          rest with the exception of Joshua. "But my servant
jection these tribes in his Syrian war "whe.n he went       Cal,eb,  because he hath another spirit with him, and
to recover his border at the River Euphrates," (2 Sam.      hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land
VIH:3) but without expelling them, for in the days          whereinto he went ; and his seed shall possess it" (Nu:
of Absolom there still reigned in Geshur a king to          XIV :24). .It is  th,is promise that he  ilow puts  for-
whom that prince, after the murder of Ammon, could          vvwcl . "Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said
flee, 2 Sam.  X111:37.  Though the conquest of this         unto Moses, the man of God, concerning me and thee
district was nearly complete, it was the least s,ecure      in  Kadesh-barnea."    "Moses, the man of God." The
part of the country. It was continually being invaded       appelation is significant.' Moses was God's prophet
by the neighboring heathen; and the two and a helf          whose integrity was known to all.      It was this man
tribes whose request had been granted to settle in this     who had communicated to Joshua what the Lord had
beautiful region, were the first to be carried into cap-    decreed. There could be no doubt that he had spoken.
tivity by the king of Assyria. It indicates that cove-      in the name of God. (Having thus fortified his plea,
nant infidelity was at its worst east of the Jordan.        Caleb recalls the service that had led to the promise.
   Now follows the specifications of the alIottments.       At the time he was sent forth, he was forty years  oId.
That of Reuben was farthest south. Gad's territory          He brought back a report "as it- was in mine heart"
lay north of Reuben's. His lot included the southern        (ver. 7). Being a spiritual man and not discouraged
part of Gilead ; Mahanaim, and Peniei, where Jacob          as the rest, he had spoken out just as he felt it. Not
wrestled with the Angel, and Ramoth Gilead. The             so his brethren who went up with him. They  `Ais-
half tribe of Manassah received the kingdom of Og,          couraged  the heart of the people. In consequence of
and the northern part of Gilead.  Ii1 this tribe was        this"Moses swore to him to give him "the ktwd  whereon
Jabesh-gilead,  whose habitants Saul delivered from         thy feet  Slave  trodden"  (ver. 9). This must be made
the treachery of the Ammonites, I Sam. XI. Here             to apply not certainly to the whole of Palestine but to
also was the lake of Galilee ; here the "desert-place"      a definite  Iocality  i.e., the region of Hebron, which
across the sea, where Christ would repair when in           he had spied out (Nu. XIII  :22, 23).  `As according
need of rest, here the mountains where he would spend       to Nu.  XPI;I:21,  he had gone much further into the
the night in prayer.    In the gospel narratives, this      country, he may have spied out this region alone, the
part of Palestine bears the name Perea. Here Christ         other spies having been too terrified to follow him
performed many of His miracles. This section of             here. Spying out this region was `a. particularly dan-
the description ends with the notice, "But unto the         gerous undertaking in the point of view of nature.
tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: the Lord      For the giant sons of the Anakins were here. And the
God of Israel was their inheritance, as he said u,nto       Lord decreed that this very region should be his in-
them" (Ch. XIII  :33). In this section also occurs the      heritance as a reward of his faith. An,d God has ful-
parenthetical statement respecting the death of Bal-        filled His promise and kept him alive, as He spoke,
aam.    "Balsam  also, the soothsayer, did the children     and that for these forty and five years while Israel
of Israel slay with the sword among them that were          walked and perished in the wilderness (ver. 10). The
slain by them" (ver. 22). The slaying of Balsam  had        natural force of the hero is unabated although he is
taken place in the days of Moses in the war with the        now eighty-five years old. He is as strong this day
Midianites by whom the Israelites had been drawn            as he was in the day that Moses sent him. His capac-
into idolatry, Nu.  XxX1:2.  That the fact is men-          ity for war is unbroken (ver. 12). On the ground
tioned here is Idoubtless  due to the circumstance that     of these facta he now asks for Hebron, and if the Lord
it had occurred on the boundary line between  .Reuben       be with him, he shall be able to expel from their
and Gad.                                                    stronghoIds  those giants.    A remarkable  o!d man,
   We now come to the division of the country west          this Caleb. The vigor and freshness of youth is in
of the Jordan among the nine ,and a half remaining          him.  * He is still ready for military  interprise.  The
tribes. As distributors Joshua  / and Eleazar,  Aaron's     presence of giants in his possession, inhabiting cities
third son and successor to the high-priesthood, are         great and fenced, holds no terror for him, Joshua
named here, as in Nu. XXXIV :17. But before they            blesses the man-who wouldn't-and grants his re-
have opportunity to address themselves to their task,       quest. The following chapter contains a brief account
Caleb approach.es  Joshua and desired that the moun-        of his military expeditions. "And Caleb drove thence
tain of Hebron may be given to him. His demand was          the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai,
well grounded. It was he that "stilled the people be-       the children of Anak. And he went up thence to the
fore Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and pos-        inhabitants of Debir. . .  ."  (XV:14, 15).
sess it for we are well able to overcome it" (Nu.              Debir, or Kirjathsepher, was another stronghold


                                                                                                                                                  .".
88                              8      T~HE'STAm'rrzr-#D--B-EARER
of the Anakim, lying in Caleb's possession. To whom- narrative to give us `an example of the generosity of
soever should capture it he promised his daughter the man, of his being free from a carnal attachment
Achsah ,in mariage (Ver. 13-20  ; Judg. 1 :LO-15).  This,       t,o his earthly possessions, of his being the kind of a
it would seem, was like putting her up to public com-           man that, possesses as not possessing. Certainly no-
petition. Perhaps the doing would not  strike-2s  being         thing of what the holy men of God have incorporated
strange, if we knew the circumstance. Othniel, who              in the Scriptures, i8 without significance.
is called Caleb's brother, which may mean his brother's            There was truly something remarkable about Cal-
son, took ,it, and got Achsah for his it-ife. Achsah had        eb's faith. Caleb and Joshua had acted alike, in op-
received from her father a portion of land with which           position to the other ten spies; but of the two, Ca!eb
she was not satisfied. There was a certain field be-            sems to have been the bolder and the more outspoken.
sides, which she  ,desired, and which she urged her             It was he that "stilled the people before Moses. . . ."
husband to ask of Caleb. But it seems (the text is              and at first his name occurs alone as exempted from
not plain here) that he had not the courage. Then               the sentence of exclusion. Caleb was evidently the
she' herself turned supphcant.       On approaching her         man who took the lead in the opposition to the ten,
father, she sprang from the ass on which she was                not only po,inting  out the course of duty, but manifest-
riding, and humbled herself before him. Perceiving              ing the spirit of utter disgust tow.ard the cowardice
that she had something to present to him, he asked,             that forgot God was with His people,
"What wouldest thou. `And she said, Give me a pre-                 The scriptural proof that Caleb was given a large
sent; for thou hast set me in the land of the south ;           territory over which his descendents spread themselves
give me also springs of water." She names the springs           is, that even in David's time it was named simply
instead of the field watered by them. The fie1.d that           Caleb  and was thus distinguished from the rest of
had been given to her may have been a dry land. Her             Judah as a peculiar district; I Sam. XXX  :14. The
wish was granted:-"he gave her the upper springs                Egyptian servant reports to David that his master
and the nether springs."                                        invaded the south of the Cherdthites and upon the
      We must apprehend the significance of Caleb's             coast which belonged to Judah, and upon the  south of
faith and of the manner in which it was rewarded.               Caleb.
What Moses in the name of God promised him was                                                                                     G. M. 0.
Hebron  and not merely a  port,ion  in the land of Ca-
naan to be determined by the lot of Joshua. ZIence,
what Caleb desired is  "this  ,mountain,  whereof the                     .J..
                                                                          i)                                   -
Lord spake in that day  ;. . . ."     (XIV  :12). Caleb's                                         .:
portion, as compared with the lots of the other fami-               :,            .e
lies in Israel, was uncommonly large. As was pointed
out, it included two cities. It thus called, and through                                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
all the years would continue to call, for an explanation.
It necessitated the telling of Caleb's  storysto  .each  new        On Nov. 12, 1943, our dearly beloved parents,
generation,-the rehearsing of  his"covenant  fidelity,
of the daring undertakings and achievements of his                                      MR. WILLIAM VAN WEELDEN
                                                                                                                and
faith, of the reward of faith and thus, by the way of                           MRS. Wm. VAN WEELDEN-Bouma
contrast, of the unbelief of the generation that per-
ished in the wilderness. `Caleb's inhesitance was a             might celebrate their 30th Wedding Anniversary.
memorial of his faith.      And so, through the Scrip-              We, their children, extend to them our most sincere and
tures, it still speaks-speaks to us. It tells us that           hearty congratulations.
God is righteous to remember the- work and  labour  of              Togther with them, we bless our Covenant God who has
His servants, which they shew toward His name and               spared' them for one another and for us, and it is our sincere
that the reward that He has prepared for them is                prayer that the Lord may continue to bless them in His love
commensurate to what He, through the  powier  of                and mercy.
His grace, accomplished through them in this life.                                                      J              Their grateful children
      <Caleb certainly, was not acting under the impulse
of a Iove of the things below in claiming his reward,                                                   Mr. and Mrs. John Van Weelden
                                                                                  *
but under the constraint of the love of God, of the                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit Kelderman
desire that the memory of God's gracious dealings with                                                  Mr. and Mrs. Kryn `De `Ronde
him should be kept alive, live on in the memory of the                                                  Cpl. and Mrs. Sjoerd H. Van Weelden
antecedents of his generation. * His readiness in grant-                                                James, William Jr., Raymond, Peter.
ing the request of his daughter for another field forms                                                 Ernest, Anna Beth, Harold, Jeanne.
an episode that may have been inserted in the sacred                                                         Frances, and eight Grandchildren+
                                                                                        ..:.-4


VOLUME   X X                                         D E C E M B E R   1 5 ,   1 9 4 3                     NUMBER B

                                                                  plowed upon its back and left long and deep  furro2ws.
         M E D I T A T I O N                                      A hated tyrant, descendant and worthy represent-
                                                                  ative of the `Reprobate, occupied the throne in Jeru-
                                                                  salem ; and even so, the sceptre in his hand was  con-
                                                                  tro!led  by a mightier hand than his: that of ithe glo-
    That Ever Wonderful Story                                     rious Caesar of Rome! And a decree went forth from
                                                                  Caesar Augustus. . . .
                                                                      The outward form of the kingdom of God had been
                  And it came to paa,~  in those duy.s, that      swallowed up by the mighty world-power!
               there went out a decree from CaeSar Augus-             Even so, the  fulness  of time had come !
               tus, that all the world should be t,a.xed. And         True, it did not appear so to those that had ex-
               this  taxing   NXS first made when  Cyr~nius       pectations of an earthly Messiah and world glory.
               was  gocernor of  Syka.  And  alb went to  be      But God's purpose was different. The earthly form
               taxed, ~~~~wgox~e  into his own city. etc.         of the kingdom was a mere shadow.         It might dis-
                                                 -LU.  2:1-r'     appear. And it must needs depart, that the essence
   How wondrous  arcs  ::ie ways of God!                          of that Kingdom might become manifest. God's King
   Thus, indeed,  O!X exclaims ever again, as often               will, indeed, also cause the kingdoms of the  world-
as he may read the utterly simple, yet amazingly msr-             power to crumble into the dust, but He would not ap-
vellous story of the coming of Immanuel!                          pear in  ,a halo of glory, with world-crowns on His
   Wonderful is that narrative from its very begin-               head, royal purple about His shoulders, and glittering
ning.                                                             sword in His hand, but as the lowry Servant of Je-
    Or is it not amazing that the story that tells of the         hovah, the Man after God's heart, Who will establish
incarnation of the Son of God, of the birth of Christ,            His kingdom in righteousness !
,t.he Anointed "of God, should be introduced by  !tJhe name           Hence, not in Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem, are His
of Caesar Augustus, the head of the mighty  morld-                proper connections.
power?         A decree went forth from Caesar Augus-                 There He must be born!
tus!. . . .                                                           And the world-power must cooperate to this end:
    It testifies, indeed, that  *the glory had  depsrted          a decree went forth from Caesar Augustus!
from Israel.        How otherwise could a decree of  <the           Wonderful ways of God !
mighty Caesar have any bearing upon the realization                                       -
of so distinctly an Israelitish hope as the birth of                  And Joseph also went up !
*their  Messia.h? Yet, so it was. After the  captivi.ty               For, "all went to be .taxed,  every one to his own
in Babylon, there h.ad? indeed, been a brief period of            city."
hope and joy. The temple was rebuilt. Jerusalem                      -Critics have denied the fact that such a general
had been raised from its ruins. The  law had been                 taxing ever took place at the time when the Saviour
restored. But never had Israel been restored to its               was born. They argue that secular historians know
former  gIory and freedom. A mere handful of people               nothing of such a taxation; that, even if it had taken
had returned to the land of their fathers. Though the             place,  Herod's  dominion would not have been subject
&emple had been rebuilt, the Holy of Holies remained              Do the direct decree of Caessr  ; and that, even if it
empty: the ark of the covenant was lost for ever!                 had  take2  place and affected Judaea, all could have
Israel had been the pla-ything  of cruel nations, that            registered in the city of t.heir habitation.


I.14                                    +HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

        Interesting, indeed !                                   would concei,ve  in her womb One that would be callet
        For the gospel narrative itself informs us that this    the Son of the Most High, Who would sit on the throne
taxing was actually first made, "when Cyrenius was              of His father David for ever? And did she, at this
governor of Syria," and this was ten years after the            moment, not ponder her own timid question concern-
death of  Herod  the Great. At that time Judaea be-             ing this mysterious matter, and the much more mys-
came a Roman province. The truth, ;then, a`ppears to            terious answer of the angel, that the Holy Ghost
be, that the decree itself went forth at this time, that        would come upon her, and the power of the Most
Herod hastened to please the emperor, so that all were          High would overshadow her? And was ,not this Won-
registered, and that the actual taxation did not take           der of wonders about to be realized ?. . . .
place till years afterward.                                         And Joseph?. . . .
        And so: Joseph also went up.                                #Had he not been minded to leave his betrothed
   He, indeed; would have to proceed ,t.o Bethlehem,            secretly, not knowing anything of the Wonder that
for in Israel the cencus  woulfd  be taken according to         had been revealed to Mary?
tribes, houses, families. And since also Joseph was                 And had not he, too, received a revelation, which he
of the house and lineage of David, to Bethlehem the             had believed though he understood it not,  ,warning
decree of Caesar wouId occasion him to go.                      him not to carry out his intentions, seeing that Mary
   Hardly, however, .does it account for the fact tthat         was pregnant of the Holy Ghost, and that the Son
he went "with Mary his espoused wife," for neither              she was about to bring forth would be Immanuel, and
according to Roman nor to Jewish law was it required            must be called Jesus, because He would save His
that she should accompany him. It appears probable,             people from their sins?
however, and for evident reasons, ,that they intended               These things had begun to come to pass!
to move from Nazareth, that city of ill repute, and                 And now, as they .were  near the end of their jour-
to take up their abode in Bethlehem permanently.                ney, they had but little eye for the beauty of the land-
   And thus it came about that Joseph went up "into             scape; for their hearts were filled with the thoughts
Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Beth-           of those things that were on the eve of their realiza-
lehem. . . .with Mary, his espoused wife, being great           tion.
with. child."                                                      &A strange wonder occupied their minds.
   We can imagine that, perhaps, it was toward even-                What would the immediate future bring? How
ing of the  .third  or fourth day after they had left           would it all be?                                   *
Nazareth, that they approached the city of David.                   Many questions crowded their hearts !
The country surrounding Bethlehem, the terraced gar-                And so they went on, these it;wo, till they entered
dens, the vine-clad hills, and the rich fields, even at         Bethlehem.
this late season,-for it was winter in  Palestine,-                 In silence !
presented a beautiful view, as it was bathed in the                                   -
golden glory of the setting sun; but, perhaps, the                 Arr"d "the days were  accomphshed   !"
two weary  traveIers paid scant attention to the beauty             While they were there, that is, not long afterward,
of the landscape.         Then, too, the country through        if not the very day after their arrival; or even in that
which they passed, as well as the ancient city of their         same night, for in the night it was, when shepherds
fathers which they approached, might have reminded              keep watch over their flock.
them of the past and Israel's ancient glory; but even              Not long after their arrival it could have been, for
these reminiscences may hardly have registered- in              it all took place in a very hastily prepared shelter
their consciousness. Other matters occupied their               they had found for the night. For es they arrived in
minds and hearts, things of the present and of the              the little town, they found it crowded to capacity
immediate future, and that, too, in connection with             with visitors, so that there was no room for them
events of  <the recent past. Their state of mind would          even in the inn. Refuge they had found in a stable ;
be one of expectation and wonder. . . .                         according to some the inn-stable in the adjoining
   Did not Mary have many things to "keep, and to               court; but more likely one of the caves or grotto's
ponder them in her heart?"                                      in the outskirts of the city, where passing caravans
   Could it be possibIe that at this moment, as s&hey           would stable their animals for the night.
are approaching the end of their journey, and, at the              While they were there, her days were accomplished !
same time, the fulfillment of a most  marvellous  ex-              The days of Mary: that she should be delivered!
pectation, she was not revolving in her mind the                   Yes, but also *the *days  that must pass, the hours
mysterious message of the angel that had visited her that must glide into the past, the seconds that must
humble dwelling in Nazareth, and had pronounced                 be ticked off, in order to reach that exact moment that
her the favored one of the Lord, the most blessed               is called "the  fulness  of time." For, "when the ful-
among women. `Had he not informed her that  she                 ness `of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made


 of a woman, made under the law." The days `were                   Her days were accomplished that she should be  i
 tlccomplished ! The most significant moment in all             delivered: like every other child He had developed in !,
 history had come ! The Wonder of wonders had been              Mary's womb.
 performed: God is come into the flesh!                            And she brought forth her firstborn-son: he was
     Must not human language be exhausted to publish            flesh of Mary's flesh, bone of her bone, blood of her j
 this glorious event, and to describe this amazing Won-         blood.
 der ?                                                             And wrapped him in swaddling clothes: helpless i
 ~ But no!                                                      `a.nd dependent as all other chiklren he came into the i
     IJtmost   simplici'ty  characterizes the form of the       world.                                                   :
 narrative !                                                       And laid him in a manger: the glory of the wonder :
     "While  tlhey were there, the days  `were accom-           is here enshrouded in deeper darkness.
 plished that she should be delivered. And she brought             0, ever wonderful story !
 forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swad-                                      -     -    -
 dling clothes, and laid him  in a manger, because there           The manger !
 :was no room for them in the inn."                                0, the shame of it all!
     These simple words convey  -the report of the most            She laid Him in a manger, because there was no
 astounding Wonder, of the most profound mystery,               room for them in the inn !
 of the most blessed event of salvation, of the most               When God comes into the world, when ;He sends
 central fact of all history. . . .                             His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, when Christ
     Disappointing?. . . .                            ,..       the Lord is born, the only place for Him in  all the
    Yet, consider for a moment. Could anything but              world is Ia miserable stable, the only cradle that oan
 the barest simplicity be proper here?         Or can the       receive him is a manger! 0, it is true,  2,  ?ould."not
 most glowing terms human speech can produce ever               be helped. No one knew of His coming. Jerusalem
 do justice to the report of the "mystery of godlines!,"        was sound asleep. Bethlehem was crowded. The poor
 and ever do anything more than add ito the mystery             people of Bethlehem could not  .possibly have provided
 and incomprehensibility of it all? 0, to be sure, there        more room for the two travelers that arrived so late
 in that night of all nights, in that humble stable, the        that there was even no room in the inn. . . .
 Most High has laccomplished  *the Wonder of all won-              But, o, the shame of it!                              8
  ders, the realization of His promise. And you may                Yet, what would you?
 exhaust human speech, you may pile phrase upon                    Would you come to Bethlehem,. only to be indig-
  phrase to express it:: meaning. God is come into the          inant in your heart with a  self-righteous  indigrmtiin
  flesh ! Eternity is come into time! The Infinite is           at the sight of the Babe in the manger? Would you
  for ever united with  it,he finite !  .The Lord has  .be-     jutdge  #that the royal palace in Jerusalem had been a
  come Servant! The Almighty is revealed in the weak-           b&tter p&e for this Son of God in the flesh, and that
 ness of human flesh! But after you have thus exerted           royal purple should have taken the place of those
  your utmost to explain the mystery of Bethlehem,              swaddling  cIothes?  Are you, perhaps, in your  self-
  have not your-efforts been in vain, and have you not          righteous and religious fervor and zeal, on the' verge
 merely declared the incomprehensibility of it all?. . .        of calling in some social  arelfare  agent to take  this
     Besides, true though it all may be, that is not            mother and this Child out of `this stable, and to pro-
  Bethlehem !                                                   vide comfortable lodging for them?.  . . .
     "And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and                 But wait!. . . .
  wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a               Do not destroy what God has wrought!
  manger."                                                          For this stable and this manger are thz divinely,
     That is Bethlehem!                                         appointed place for this Child ! True, circumstances
     Yes, in the manger of Bethlehem lies the mystery           determined it so  :. because there was no `room for them
  of godliness, but it is hid, completely hid. Tchere  you      in the inn ! But God determined the circumstanoes.
  may behold by faith God in the flesh, but emphatical-         Here  ,in this poor stable, in that humble manger,
i  ly you behold Him  in the flesh.  And because He is          among the beasts of the field, on the very edge of the
  come into the flesh, `the Wonder is  complletely  `lost to    world, He sent His Son, made of a woman;  ,made
  sight. All other wonders are amazing and astounding,          under the law. . . .
  because the divine power of grace in them flashes                 Do not destroy ,the sign, for it speaks!
  through the  rlsrkness  and misery and death of the               It proclaims that in your heart and my heart, in
  sin-cursed world: in Bethlehem God revealed is God            human society, in ~a.11 the world, there is no room for
  hidden in the likeness of sinful flesh !                      the Son of God!
     What else then would you say, `to describe the                 Until He makes room `for Himself!
  event, than what is recorded here?                                Glory to His grace !                        H. H.


116                                                                                               TfIE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                             _ -_    "_          .~_

                         The Standard Bearer
       Semi-Monthly, except Monthly in  July and August                                                                                                                                        EDITORIALS
                                              Published by                                                                                                                                                                                   -
                The Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                  1101 Hazen Street, S. E.                                                                                                                          The Christian Reformed @God
                             EDIT& - Rev. .H. Hoeksema
   Contributing editors-Revs. J. Blankespoor, A.  Qmmenga,                                                                                                                                      on Labor Unions
   P. De Boer, J. D. de Jong, H. De Wolf, L.  Doezema,
 M. Gritters, C. Hanko, B.  Kok,  G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,                                                                                                                                        (Cont. from p. 73).
   A. Petter, M. Schipper,  J. Vanden Breggen,  H. Veldman,
   R. Veldman. I,. Vermeer, I'. Vis, G. Vos. Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                                                                      The  question is: does corporate responsibility im-
                                                                                                                                                                                ply that a church member is liable  .to ecclesiastical
   Communications relative to contents should be addressed
   to  REV. H. HOEKSEMA,  1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                                       discipline, if  &he union or  associ%ion  to which he
   Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                                            belongs is or was engaged in sinful *practices? The
                                                                                                                                                                                Christian Reformed Synod replied : not necessarily ;
   Communications relative to subscription should be ad-
   dressed to MR. R.  SCHAAFSMA,   ll@l  Hazen  St., S. E.,                                                                                                                     it all depends on the degree of guilt.           The correct
   Grand Rapids,  Mich. All Announcements and Obituaries                                                                                                                        answer  to this question, however, is and must be:
   must be sent to the above address and will not be placed                                                                                                                     most assuredly!
   unless the regular fee of $1.00 accompanies the notice.                                                                                                                         Let us first of all  #dispose  of  th;? question of "de-
                                Subscription $2.50 per year                                                                                                                     gree of guilt." Whether or not a sin is censurable can-
       Entewd   as  second  class  mail  at  Grand  Rapids,   Michigan                                                                                                          not be made dependent upon the degree of guilt, or the
                                                                                                                                                                                degree of sinfulness of a given deed. That would make
                                                                                                                                                                                *Christian discipline quite relative, so that it would
                                                                                                                                                                                ultimately be impossible to apply it  at all. No  sin
                                                        *-                                                                                                                      .is  censwable tha.t is  ,repentecF  of,  for he that repents
                                                                                                                                                                                is forgiven, an,d therefore in the kingdom of heaven:
                                              CXXVl!ENTS                                                                                                                        he cannot be excommunicated from tha't kingdom.
                                                                                                                                                                                Even if a man should be convicted of murder,'  and
MEDITA'IXON                                                                                                                                                   Page              condemned to be hanged, the Church ,would not dis-
   THAT EVER WONDERFUL STORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  113                                                                           cipline and excommunicate him  if  he repents. On the
       Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                         basis of the same  principIe,  every sin  is  cens~%rblt
                                                                                                                                                                                that  i*s: not  ,repetited  of,  for  he  that does not repent
EDITORIALS  -.-                                                                                                                                                                 is not forgiven, and is therefore outside of the king-
 THE  CHR. REF. SYNOD ON LABOR UNIONS . . . . . . ..I..... 116                                                                                                                  dom of heaven. If a man does not repent of one sin,
   THE CHRISTIAN LABOR HERALD DIFFERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118                                                                                                       however small it may appear to us, he cannot repent
       Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                         of any sin.     Hence, he is subject to  di.scipline  even
                                                                                                                                                                                unto excommunication.
THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                                                                                                                                               That leaves the question: does corporate  responsi-
   EXPOSITION OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM . . . ...119                                                                                                                          biIity imply that a church member is guilty of  *the sin-
       Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                         ful  practices of any union or association of which he
                                                                                                                                                                                is a member, even though he does no't personally com-
DEBATE:                                                                                                                                                                         mit them? And our answer is : certainly :
  INTRODUCTION - Rev. G. M. Ophoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122                                                                            a. If such sinful practices are quite in accord  with
 AFFIRMAtMVE - Rev. .B. Kok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125                                                         the principles of such union or association, as an-
                                                                                                                                                                                nounced in its constitution,
 NEGATIVE - Rev. G. M. Ophoff . . ..*............._......................... 127                                                                                                   b. If such sinful practices are ,not in co&fEicf  with
  tJ;T DE DIEPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  :..... ..1....... 130 the  principles of such union or association, as an-
       Rev: G. Vos                                                                                                                                                              nounced in its constitution.         This, too, is possible.
                                                                                                                                                                                The constitution of a union or association may be
  CURRENT EVENTS . 
                                             . .
                                               . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . f . . . . . . . . . . . f . . . . . . * . . . . . * . . . . . .
                                                                                                                                                                     133        "neutral."     Bt declares neither positively Christian,
       Rev. J. De Jong                                                                                                                                                          nor  directly antichristian principles. In such a case,
  THE DIVISION OF THE LAND IN WEST PALESTINE 135,                                                                                                                               sinful practices are not directly in harmony with the
        Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                                                       constitution, but they may be committed  under if,
                                                                                                                                                                                because they are not in conflict  with it.  If such
                                                                                                                                                                                sinful `practices are committed, and one  ~ernains   (t

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

.membel; nevertheless, he is responsible for them.             heinous o@e$we"  of this "rotten and as yet incurable
    c. Even `though such sinful practices should be            "member,"  who is in  "the  bozds  of  the devil,"  and
quite  irr conflict  with   the principles of such union or    who  "cluily  ctggrccvates   his sin, which in  .&elf is  vz,ot
association, as declared in its constitution, but are          small."      It is plain, then, that before the Consistory
committed under the approval of such union or as-              can discipline a member, which is the beginning of
sociation, condoned by it, protest has proved to be            excommunication unless in the course of the admoni-
vain, and one still remains a member.                          tions given to him the member repents, they must be
    Let me add a few words of  expllanation.                   able to  r&ame  his sin.  And if his sin stands in con-
    1. First of all, we must, I think, proceed from            nection with his being a member of some organization,
the standpoint that, in order to discipline a member           lodge, union, or association, not merely that  mem!)er-
even to excommunication from the kingdom of heav-              ship, but the sin involved in such membership must
en, the Church must be able to point out to such a             be announced to the congregation.
member, and to admonish him with respect to some!                  2. Now, if we apply this, we may state the follow-
concrete and definite  uct  of  s<n which he commits.          ing :
and of which he refuses to repent and convert him-                      a. A church member is censurable when he joins
self.    In the case undrer discussion, the Church must        any organization that is based on ,antichristian  prin-
be able to point out that one of its members commits           ciples declared in the constitution of such an organ-
an act of sin by being a member of some organiza-              ization. Anyone joining an organization thereby as-
tion, be it labor union or employers' association, and         sumes responsibility for `the constitution of that or-
the nature of his sin must be clearly pointed out to           ganization and declares that he agrees with its prin-
him. Hence, it must be concretely proved that the              ciples. If, then, that constitution contains a declara-
organization of which he is a member is sinful and             tion of principles that are contrary to the ChristiAn
commits sinful practices.      For this reason, for no         faith, that rule out Christ from the sphere of labor,
other, I cannot agree with the stand that a Church             that demand of him that joins a repudiation of his
can and may exercise discipline and excommunicate              .faith, or a pledge to acts of violence, or the like, and
members simply because they are members of some                a church member joins under such a constitution, he
union or association, even though you cannot point to          adopts the principles of that constitut.ion,  and is, on
anything positively antichristian either in their con-         that basis, censurable. In such a case he can be ad-
.stitution  or practices.    I readily agree with Rev.         monished for his sin of having denied Christ and the
Petter that basically and principally, there is no "neu-       Christian faith, an,d having broken the vow he made
trality." And this holds also for any organization.            `when he made confession of faith before the Church.
In deepest principle it is always for or against Christ.       And if it must come to excommunication  that  sin  can
And I believe, too, that the preaching of the Word             be announced to the congregation.
should emphasize this, and warn  ,a11 believers against                 b. From this it already follows that any-  church
membership even in "neutral" organizations,,  that de-         member is also liable to censure, if by the organiza-
clare nothing directly antichristian in their consti-          tion to which he belongs sinful acts are committed,
tutions, nor openly are known to be engaged in sin-            or sinful  pxactices are engaged in, that are  quite in
ful practices.    But I do not agree that on this ab-          accord  ,with the constitution of such an organization.
stract and general basis the Churoh can excommun-              By joining the organization he assumed responsibility
icate her members. And all ecclesiastical discipline           for the principles declared in the constitution, and
is principally excommunication. To be able ,to apply promised to abide by them. One dare not offer the
such discipline, the Consistory, but also the members          excuse- that he never saw a constitution, that he was
of the Church, must be able to point the guilty party          not asked to agree with any principles and that, therr-
to some definite sin, so that it is quite clear that he        fore, he is not responsible for anything.  %or he
is outside of the kingdom of heaven. No Consistory knows very well that  ever:<'   organizaii:,n  has its  do-
can or may consi,der  it sufficient to announce to the         claration of principles, and that by joining he as-
congregation that N. is to be excommunicated merely            sumes responsibility for th*m.         To  joiv any organ-
on the ground  that he belongs to a certain association,       ization  blin'dly is itself a sin.    Hence, if sinful acts
union, or any other organization. His  sin must be             are committed `that follow from the declaration  of
announced definitely. This is clearly implied in all principles,  a11 the members  commit them, jointly,  and
the Church Order has to say on Christi,an  Discipline,         have expressed their agreement with them by express-
Art.  71ff. It must be explained to the  coagregation          ing agreement with the principles of the constitution.
how one errs in doctrine, or offends in conduct. And           And if such a church member is to be excommunicated
this is also very clear from the language of  tshe Form.       these sinful acts  to which he is a party  an;l of  whicil
of Excommunication,  which presupposes that the con-           he is guilty can be announced t.o the Church as the
gregation is acquaint@ with "the great &%n," and `Yhe          ground of his censure.


 ;h 1.18                                       T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

             c. But suppose that an organization to which a
   church member belongs-commits, approves or condones                  The Christian Labor Herald Differs
   sinful practices that are not directly implied in the
   principles  dceclared in the constitution, but are neither                                      (Cont, from p. 73.)
 . in conflict mith it. The constitution is "neutral." It
  .does  not.  decIare  itself on any moral or religious                      The Christian Labor Herald reflects on my criti-
   principles. Is  such a member even -then responsible                 cism of the decisions of the Christian Reformed Synod
 ' for  such acts, and, therefore,  censurable?  He is. For             regarding labor unions, as follows:
   he knowingly joined an organization that did not de-                          The foregoing ldecisions  were taken as a re-
   clare itself on matters religious and moral, and that                       sult of a report rendered by a committee ap-
   left plenty of room for evil acts and sinful practices.                     pointed in 1940. In answer to an overture of
   By these sinful acts it becomes evident to him and to                      one of the Classes" of the Church the Synod
   every one else, that the organization to which he be-                       decided the following: (Art. 175, p. 105)
   longs is not at  all "neutral," and,  .therefore,  he should                  "1. To' appoint a Committee whose task it
   break with it. -If he does not, he certainly becomes                        will be to make a study of "Corporate respon-
   liable to ecclesiastical discipline. And again, if it must                  sibility" in industrial, professional, and busi-
   come to excommunication, his being guilty of the sin-                       ness organizations.
   ful practices of his organization must be announced
   as the ground of his censure.                                                 2. Synod urge the  Ieaders  of the church to
             d. And this is even true if sinful acts are com-                  warn and instruct our people regarding the
   mitted or approved by any organization  contraw  to                         dangers of their participation in the unchris-
   the declared principles. of its constitution. Suppose                       tian, practices found in C.I.O. and A.F. of L.?'
   the  C.L.A. would become guilty of this. In that case,                        The editor of the Standard  Bearer severely
 ' the members have, of course, the right to protest                           criticizes point A of the decisions. We suspect
  under the constitution, and they must. But suppose                          `that he quoted from a press report instead of
   protest  wouId be vain. Then  it. simply becomes the                       from the offiaial Acts of Synod because the
   Iduty of the members to resign. For they certainly                          designation in parenthesis of CIO and AFL
ai are responsible for the acts of `the organization, and                     after the words "so-called. neutral labor union"
 -:`- liable to censure if they  re,main  member in spite of                   is not found in the Acts. However, it may'be
  its .corrupt  practices.                                                    that the editor felt justified in injecting those
            These, it seems to me, are the general principles                 initials in parenthesis because membership in
 ' implied in the one principle of corporate responsibility.                  those two organizations was the real question
            And they hold, not only for labor unions, but for                 before Synod. And no-one will deny that .the
   all organizations, lodges, employers' associations, busi-                   decision does intend to justify membership in
   ness associations an'd the like.                                           the -affiliates of those movements if such affil-
                                                         H. H.                iates do not give ponstitutional  warrant-to sin,
   .                                                                          nor show in their regular activities that they
                                                                              champion sin.
                                     .                                           But, the editor is hardly justified in con-
                                                                              cluding that the Synod by that expression also
                                                                              declared that the existin.:  :o-called  neutral labor
                               IN  MEMORL4M                                   organizations (CIO and AFL) do not neces-
        As we are again drawing to the elose of another Year, it has          sarily give constitutional warrant to sin, nor
  .pleased  the Lord to take out of our midst two of our members,             show in their regular activities that they cham-
                                                                              pion sin.          In fact  it can be argued on  .good
                  MRS. P. MINNEMA - SEPT. 14, 1943                            grounds that the Synod actually declared `that
                MRS. S.  G.  SCEAAFSMA   - DEC. 4, 1943                       membership in the CIO or AFL is not compat-
        The Ladies Aid of the First Protestant Reformed Church                ib1e wit$h membership in the Church when, at-
                                                                              tention is fixed upon the last of the decisions,
   wish to express our heartfelt sympathy to Mr. P.  Minnema
   and family, and Mr. S. G. Schaafsma and family, in each the                in which a warning is given, very specifically,
                                                                              against the "unchristian practices found in the
   loss of a devoted wife and mother.                                         C.I.O. and A.F. of L." That decision in ef-
        May the Lord of all comfort and sustain the bereaved                  fect eliminates those organizations from the
   families with His divine Presence and grace in their sorrow.               "so-called neutral unions" membership in which
                      _,.:      .    Mrs.  J. Vander Wail. Pres.  `.          is declared to be  compaGble  with membership
                                     Mrs. A. Pruis, Sec'y.                    in tie church on the condition that they do
                                                                        "                  .'                                      (_  ii:


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           1.19

    not give "constitutional warrant to sins," nor           impression that by  "neu'tral labor unions" the  synod
    show in their regular activities that they cham-         referred to the CIO and AFL.
    pion sin. Surely the warning against the "un-               4. However, whether or not under B, 1 the synod
    christian practices" found in those organiza-            referred to the CIO and AFL, my criticism of the
    tions by implication  declares that they do cham-        ambiguity of the language of the decisions, as  tvell
    pion sin in their regular activities. We have            as of their opposition of corporate responsibility vs.
    therefore a perfect right to contend that the            ecclesiastical censure, may stand unaltered.
    Synod of the Christian Reformed Churches,                                                              H. H.
    held in 1943, taking its decisions as a whole,
    declared that membership in the C.I.O. and
    A.F. of L. is not compatibIe  with membership                                     -
    in the Church because of the unchristian prac-                      .
    tices found in them. With that we are in
    compIete  agreement.
    Now, I have already stated (cf. S. B. p. 73)) that-
it was not I that "felt justified in injecting those
initials (CIO and AFL) in parentheses," but that                The Triple Knowledge
they were inserted in the Press report from which I
quoted.    And I readily admit that if there is no re-
ference to the CIO  a;l,d AFL in  B,l of the decisions        An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
of the Christian Reformed Synod (cf. S. B. p.  73.)?
that part of the  dezisions  assumes a somewhat dif-                            Catechism                                -
ferent aspect, and my criticism was not quite to the
point. Nevertheless, I must, remark the following:                                PART TWO
    1. That I do not agree with the Christian  Lube                          OF MAN'S REDEMPTION
Herald  when it states that: "it can be argued on                                Lord's Day X.
good grounds that the synod actually declared that
membership in `the CT0 and AFL is not compatible                               Chapter 1. (cont.)                   t
with membership in the Church, when attention is
fixed upon the last of the decisions, in which a warn-4                 The Idea Of God's Providence.
ing is given, very specifically, against the `unchristian       The word providence is not a very accurate term
practices found in the CT0 and AFL.' That decision           to express what it is meant to denote. From the
in effect eliminates those organizations from the `so-       term itself the idea cannot be deduced; In the sense
called neutral unions' membership in which is de-            in which it is used in this connection it does not oc-
clared to be compatible with membership in the church        cur in Scripture at all.    Li*terally,  according to its
on condition that they do not give `constitutional war-      derivation, the word means  foresight.  And it has
rant to sin,' nor show in their regular activities that      acquired the added meaning, which it now commonly
they champion sin." If it were true that such a warn-        has, of -fulfilling a need, of making provision before-
ing were given by the Christian Reformed Synod of            hand. We see `that winter is coming, and we provide
1943, I  ,couSd  agree with the above statement. But         for it by filling our coal bin. So one provides for the
this is not the case. The warning is of 1940. The            needs of. his family, a traveler provides himself with
present decisions. do not mention the CIO and AFL            money for the journey, a ship is provided with sup-
at all.                                                      plies for the voyage, etc. It is, perhaps, because the
    2. That, as the decisions stand, the "so-called neu-     word is usually employed in this sense that even in
tral labor unions," mentioned under B, 1,  may,,  at         modern circles, that have long forgotten the Scrip-
least, include the CIO and AFL, and  B,  1 may be            tural teaching about God Who is really GOD, He is
thus interpreteNd.    T*here is nothing in the decisions     preferably spoken of as Providence, as if God were
to prevent such an interpretation. And this is all           nothing but some good and beneficent Power, Who
the more plausible, because it was membership in             really exists to help us in our need, and more especial-
those unions that was the definite issue before synod.       ly to be called in when we perceive that we can no
    3. I do not know whether reports prepared for            longer help ourselves, or when we  ar,e in trouble.
the Press are approved by synod, or by a committee And on thanksgiving day we remember `this Provi-
for  publicati,on,  before they are -released, but it is     dence for the abundance of worldly prosperity in
evident to all events `that the Press reporter, who          which we may rejoice. But this is certainly not the
must have been present during the discussion on this         teaching of the Word of God concerning the "provi:
matter on the floor of the synod, labored under t.he         dence"  of God, nor is hit this sense that the Church

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

employs the term. And it may, therefore, be well to                       either rule out God from their own and the world's
remember that Scripture never uses the word at all.                       affairs altogether, or are reminded of  IIim only on
It is a "theological,.  not a biblical term.                              special and striking occasions. Even our language is
   The Heidelberg Catechism #defines the providence                       usually Deistic. Are we not accustomed to replace the
of God as "the almighty and omnipresent power of name of God by the impersonal  p&noun  "it?" We
God  ; whereby,  a.s it were by his hand, he upholds                      say that  iE rains, it snows,  it  thunders,  it  freezes, etc.
and governs heaven, earth, and all  creat.ures."  The  " How different is the language of Scripture in this re-
basic- idea, therefore, of God's providence is His om-                    spect!  It is God, who  "sen;leth  the springs into the
nipresence. Ansd we will do well to give ourselves ac-                    valleys; which run among the hills. . . .He watereih
count of what is really meant by the omnipresence of                      the hills from his chambers; the earth is satisfied with
the Almighty.      For even of  .this marvellous virtue                   the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow
of God we are apt to form a wrong conception.                             for the cattle, the herb for the service of man: that he
   By the confession of God's omnipresence the                            may bring forth food out of the earth. . . .He appoint-
Church really expresses two ideas, that may never                         ed the moon, for seasons: the sun knoweth his going
be separated from each other, those of God's im-                          down. Thou makest darkness, and it is night: where-
manence, and His  transcendence   ; by which she op-                      in  ,a11 the beasts of the forest do creep forth." Ps.
poses two very serious errors, that of Deism on `the                      104:10, 13, 14, 19, 20. Or again: "He sendeth forth
one hand, and that of Pantheism on t-he other. These his commandments upon the earth: his word runneth
two heretical views are usually so distinguished that                     very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool: he  scatter-
Deism (denies God's immanence, His presence in the                        eth the hoarfrost like ashes. He dasteth forth his ice
world, and. only believes in His transcendence; while                     lik,e morsels : who can stand before his cold? He
Pantheism teaches that God is only immanent, and                          sendeth out his word and melteth them: he causeth
denies His transcendence. For practical purposes this                     his wind to bltow,  and the waters flow." Ps. 14'7 :13-l&
distinction may be adopted, although, strictly speaking,                  According to Scripture God is very near. He is in all
it does not accurately describe these heresies.                   For,    things, and they all reveal His wonders.
although Deism certainly will have nothing of  an                            However, over against the Deistic and Pantheistic
immanent God, it neither has a correct conception of                      philosophies the Church confesses that God is omni-
His transcendence; and although Pantheism knows                           present,  t.hat He is both immanent in, and transcend-
nothing of a transcendent God, it can neither spea!r                      ent. above  ,the world. By the latter is meant that God
of an immanent God, for it identifies God with the                        is essentially different from, and infinitely greater
world. According .to Deism God is not in the world!                       than all creation ; by the former is expressed that with
neither is He really transcendent in relation to the                      His infinite and transcendent being He is in all crea-
world, but  H,e exists outside of the world, and has                      tion, and in every creaiture. We must beware, lest we
nothing to do with it. Just as man builds a house,                        conceive of this transcendence of God in terms of
but when the house is finished has really nothing. to                     space, or in terms of time. We are very apt to do
do with its continued existence except to keep it in                      this. Not only is our thinking necessarily bound to
repair whenever necessary; or ,just as the mechanic                       the laws of space and time, but Scripture itself often
constructs an automobile that can function and run                        speaks of God anthropomorphistically in the same lan-
without him when it is ready  ; so God formed the                         guage. "Beholld  the heaven and heaven of heavens
world, gave it its laws and inherent powers, and now                      cannot contain thee ; how much less this house which
*the universe runs by its own power and by virtue of                      I have builded." 1 Ki.  8:22.  And then we conceive
its own laws. God is not transcendent, still less im-                     of God as being  endl::tsly extended in space, `or as
manent in the  worl,d, but He is outside of the universe                  being infinitely extended in ,time. God's omnipresence,
Re created. And according to Pantheism, God is not                        according to this conception, simply means, that He
transcendem  in' relation to the world, neither can it                    fills all space (His immanence), but that He also in-
be said t.hat'He  is immanent in all things, but He is                    finitely is extended beyond the limits of our space
the world. The  ess$ence  of God and the essence of the                   (His transcendence) . But this is not correct. God
world are Identified.      Everything is God, and God                     is infinitely exalted above all creation essentially. He
is everything. All things are a part of God's being,                      is the simple, infinite, absolute, eternal, independent,
and especially in man God reaches His supreme self-                       and immutable essence. There is an infinite chasm
expression, and self-consciousness.                                       between the being of God,  and the essence of the
   We may remark here in passing, that while Pan-                         creature. He is infinite in His being and nature, in
theism is the ultimate expression of man's sinful  prid$e                 all His virtues and wonders. The creature exists in
instilled into his heart through his acceptance of the                    time, and time is change, succession of moments, con-
word of the devil: "Ye shall be as God"; every day                        stant flux. On that indivisible moment that constant-
thinking  and life are rather Deistic, so that `men                       ly moves from the future into the past, the creature is


                                   -_.THE   S T A N D A R D  BiARER                                                    E!i

 czrried on, and in that moment he exists only in part.         He is in all things. Eternally He is  transce&ient,
 He never is what he was, nor will he be what he is.            yet, as the transcendent One He is immanent. For
 But God is the eternal One: He is transcendent above           "the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot  cont@n
 all `time. To be sure, this also signifies that He is          Him," I  &i. 8  27; and he, the "Lord. of .heaven,,and
 without beginning and without end. But eternity is             earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands,"
 not time, not even time conceived as endlessly extended        Acts 15'24  ; yet, `He is "not far from every one  pf
 into the past and into the future. There is no *time  in       us : For in him we live, and move, and have our be-
 and for God. Paradoxically the Bible expresses this            ing." Acts  17227, 28. "Thou hast beset me behind
  by saying "that one day is with the Lord as a thou-           and before, and laid thine hand upon me. . . .Whither
 sand years, and a thousands years as one day," II Pet.         shall I go from they spirit? or whither shall, I  `fle&
 3 53. He is t.he I AM, Jehovah is His name. There is           from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou
 no ,change or becoming, no flux or succession of mo-           art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art
 ments in God. Constant, infinite fulness is He. God            there" Ps. 139:5,  6-8.                                 ^
 is transcendent above all time, and above all that ex-            This, then, that God is essentially present in t$e
  ists in time. And the same is true of His relation to         universe, and in all things, in eve,ry  creature, `in eves?
 space. The creature exists in space, and he occupies           part of every creature; in the m,aterial  and spiritual
 space. And space is distance from one point to an-             world, in all the sense and meaning, in ,a11 the,mo<ec
 other, extent, limitation, form. But God is immense,           ment and relations of the universe, must be strictly
  immeasurable. There is no space for God, nor does             maintained in order to understand `the idea of the
  He exists in space essentially although no point of           providence of God. The existence of the creature $
. space  excl'udes Him.    You cannot measure the dis-          in contiguity, in constant touch with the essence of
  tance from God to the world, nor is there cdistance  or       God. Nowhere is there separation between Go,d~.and
  extent in Him. And to conceive of Him under  any              the world. As the Catechism expresses it :  .he upholds,
  form is to create an idol instead of the living God.          as it were by his hand, all things in heaven and earth.
  He is God, the Lord of heaven and earth, essentially          This essential immanence of God must not be con-
  and infinitely exalted above all that is called creature!     fused with the covenant idea of God%, dwelling with
  The t.rsnscendent  One is He.                                 us. For this means that God is near to His  people,&
     But this transcendent God is also immanent in the          His blessed favor, grace, friendship, so that He takes
  world, in every creature, and in <every  point of all that    them to His heart, reveals to them His secrets,, has
  exists, and that, too, as the ,t.ranscendent  One. Let us most intimate communion with them and they with
  make no mistake. Cod's `transcendence #and .His im-           Him, so that they taste &hat the Lord is good. In this
  manence may not be divorcezl  from each other in our          sense, He is near unto His people in Christ Jesus
  conception of  Bim.      As the immanent One He is            only, while He is far .from ,t,he ungodly, is present to
  transcenfdent,  and as the transcendent One He is in          them in His fierce wrath, as a consuming fire. Not
  all creation.    We are apt to  conoeive  of God's im-        His covenant nearness and. fellowship, but His es-
  manence as consisting in this, that His divine essence        sential contiguity in all created things is meant when
  is distributed through space, so that He is everywhere        we speak of God's immanence in the world. He is in
  in extent. Just as the ether fills all space, so God          everything visible and invisible. He is in space a@d
  is,everywhere  present. But this is an erroneous con-         time, and in all' that ,exists  and moves in them. He
  ception. Nor may we conceive of God's immanence               is in the lig,ht  and in the darkness, in the flower. of
  as referring merely to His  power. .It is' true, the
                                             .,                 lthe field and in the trees of the forest, in the ,lighF
  Heidelberg Catechism speaks of God's providence as            nitng and in the thunder, in sea and land, in storm and
  being "the almighty and omnipresent power of God ;            earthquake, in man and beast, in color and form;, in
  whereby, as with his hand, he upholds and governs every relationship and movement in matter and force.
  heaven, earth, and all creatures." But this may not           And He is in every creature, and all its  compon&&
                                                                                                                             .-
  be understood as implying a denial of the omnipres-           parts according to the nature of that creature, and
  ence of God's essence. God's power cannot be sephr-           according  to its meaning and relation to ,a11 .the `r&t
  ated from His essence. For He is a simple Being.              of creation.
  His essence is .His attributes, and His attributes are            In the second place, we must remember th& God
  His essence. Wherever God's power is, there He is             is present in all creation and in every creature as  .the
  Himself, the almighty and ever living God. But                living, almighty, ever active, sovereign Lord.  Go$s
  God's immanence does mean that with His essence,              providence is not mere  cominguity  of God and the
  and that, too, with His whole infinite, transcendent          creature, it is such a presence that there is a con-
  essence,  .He is in all creation, in every creature ac-       tinuous action of God upon the creature, whereby the
  cording f~ the nature of that creature, and in every          creature continues to exist. God is the living  dad.
  atom of the universe. Nothing can contain God, yet            He is almighty power; And this  aimighty  power `is


     122                                          T H E .   STAADARD   B E A R E R

     co,nstantly   ,active.  With this almighty power God is            1:3. Of Him, but for that. very reason also through
     @+.&nt in, and seazts  upon the whole world in all its             Him, are all things.  Rom.l1:36. Providence is not
     parts and relations. He is and remains the sovereign               an act of continuous creation, but it is the continua-
     Lord of the universe. Not for one moment does any-
      .i                                                                tion of the Word God spoke in the beginning. He does
     thing exist. without this act of God's almighty power.             not continue to speak new words, but He does continue
     God alone exists in and of Himself. The creature has               to speak the Word he spake in the beginning. When
     no. independent existence., it receives its being from             God says: "Let there be light," light springs into ex-
     @zl  constantly. This does not mean that God's pro-                istence. And only when He continues to speak that
     vidence is the same as a continuous act of creation,               same word, can light continue to exist. If God would
     as:Ursinus  asserts (I, 196).  For creation is the act             recall that word "light," or cease to speak it, that
     of God whereby He called the things that are not as                moment the light would exist no more. It is thus that
     if. they were.. And the heavens and the earth were                 God upholds all things, "as it were by his hand." And
     finished on the sixth day. Nothing is added  to t.hem              thus we can aIso  unlderstand  that all things in heaven
     .by.  Godl,`s providence. But. it does mean that ever and earth are. a revelation of the living Word of God
     +&ice  the end of Theo sixth day there is a constant in-           concerning Himself, so that "the heavens declare ,the
     flux :of the,activity  of God's almighty power into the            glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handi-
     world He- created ,and into all things, ,and that it is            work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto
     only, by this continued activity of God that all things            night sheweth knowledge." Ps.  19:1,  2.
     exist and. continue to be what they are. When you                                                                  R. H.
     turn the' electric switch in your living room there is
     light,, in the bulb of your lamp t.hat illuminates .the                                                           t
     en&e room. Does that light now exist independently                                           -
     i$ithe* electri~c bulb, so that you can cut the' `electric
     current  and still have, light? Of course not. There
      ,.       I
     must be `a constant current of electricity into  th-at
     bulb in order to keep it lit. The same is true of God's                                 Debate:
     relation to All creation. He is the almighty God, the
     living Lord.               And as such He created all things in                        INTRODUCTION
     the;.b@inning,.  calling the things that are not as if                                                                   /
     they wepe.           +nd through this act of creation the             The question: Resolved  that a local consistory has
     world received existence in distinction from God. Does
     :.---  t                                                           the right to act contrary to our Church  Order.
     that.mean  that henceforth that world can exist by it-                Rev. B. Kok argues on the side of the affirmative.
     self,, and, that God, can cease to act upon the world              It is thus his task to prove the affirmative proposition,
     Hel.created?~  Not for one moment. If God does  noi                thus to prove that a local cons&story  has the right to
     up.hold all ,things  constantly they sink back, into nihil.        act contrary to the Church Order. The undersigned
     :: I This, ,then, is the meaning of the Catechism when a.rgues on t.he side of the negative. It is thus his task
     i;t: states  t!hat  .God, as it were by his hand, upholds          to prove the negative proposit.ion,  thus to prove that
     he$ven,,:earth,  and ail things.. Let us not be misled             a local consistory  has  not the right to act contrary to
     by., the `: anthropomorphism of the expression "he up-             the Church Order.
     Eioklq,.  &s* it .were by his' hand." For then we might               My introduction, 1 admit, is rather long. This is
     still, entertain the id'ea that the thing that is upheld           due to the fact that the matter on which we dispute
     has.' existence in itself. When I carry a book in my               is rather complicated and that, if this disputation is
     hand, .I may' be said to uphold it. But the book that              actually to advance the cause of truth, we must take
     I.`,^th&  carry' and  uphold  does not receive its contin-         great pains in making straight paths for our thinking
     uous'  Zistence  through my  a,ct of upholding it. It              before we begin to debate.
     &iste apart from my power.                 I may put it on the        The object of argumentation,  as was said, is to
.    tablei~or drop it to the floor, but it still exists. But           arrive at definite conclusions regarding definite mat-
     if' God  `woulld' not uphold the creature it  wou1.d not           ters in order to advance the cause of truth. If this
     simply, drop somewhere, it would be nowhere, it could              purpose it to be achieved the disputants must state
     not possibly exist even for one moment. By omnipo-                 (1) the immed.iate  cause for discussion ; (2) the origin
     tent, `infinitely intelligent will all things were called          and history of the question> (3) define terms; (4)
     into being, and by that same omnipotent will they are              restate the question as defined; (5) exclude all  ir-
     kept `where  .and wlhat they are. By the Word of God               revelent   matt,er   ; (6) state admitted matter;  (`7) set
     they,.were.  called into being, and by that same Word              forth the main contentions on the affirmative contrasrt-
     they are caused to continue in existence. He is "up-               ed with these of the negative ; (8) declare fthe main
     hohling  all things by the word of his power.", Heb.
             . .I. .,     :.                                            issues,


                                      T*HE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                . ..g3

     The origin and immediate cause of this discus-            opponent must refrain from appealing  tihe.  ~ase...aP
  sion is an action of the con&tory of the Protestant          Hudsonville versus classis to the synod .and spee@~
  Reformed church in Hudsonville that consisted in its         urge his consistory to undo its a.ction.             1              *
  admitting to the Lord's supper persons who r,ame to              However in all fairness to my opponent, I  .tiant  to
  it from another sister church but who  xvere not re-         state that it is not his view that a Iocal consistory l!+s
  puted to be of a godly walk. This action of the con-         ,the right  :to act contrary to  t.he Church Order  21
  sistory of  Hu,dsonville  militated against more than        opposition to the resolution of the classis  that: it be
  one of the articles of the Church Uncier; in particuIar      observed. But his stand is that a resolution of this
  against art. 6`1. which reads: None shall be admitted        character is strictly. out of order, that it shoulls  not be
  to the Lord's Supper except those ivho according to          made, that in making it the  classis oversteps its bounds
  the usage of the church with which they unite them-          by interfering with what he considers to be the pri-
  selves have made a  confes*sion  of the Reformed re-         vate and inalienable right of a local consistorp.  ,lf:,:I
  ligion, besides being reputed to be of a godly walk,         am mistaken, I can't explain' his past. conduct, .$flI
  Mthout  which those  who  COW  from  other  churches         am mistaken, I can't see why he appeals his case t,o
  shall not be admitted.  The question also has a his-         synod except it be on the ground of the contention of
  tory: It is briefly this: The consistory of the sister       cthe classis that the Church Order may not be contra-
  church (Byron Center, Mich) from whose fellowship            dicted alt all, either by a local eonsistory  or by synod.
  and jurisdiction the aforesaid persons had withdrawn         But my opponent ought to know that this, c,ertainlg,
  themselves, addressed to the consistory of Hudsonville       is not the contention of the classis. ,                    ,,  >'
  a writing in which it directed the attention of the              Finally, the  pre,dicate  "has the right to act con-
  brethren to their having negated our Church Order            trary to" is in the indicative mood. ,My opponent $11
  and in which it besought them to return to the Church        not object, I trust, if I enlarge the predicate by the ad-
  Order by undoing their action. This they refused to          dition "should have the right." This addition enlarges
  do. Thereupon the consistory of Byron brought the            the range of our dispute.                                     `,
  case to Classis,  and its protest was sustained. Still           Having defined terms and set forth the  main:con-
  the brethren refused to yield and are now resolved to        tentions of the disputants, let `me now restate the ,q~eg;
  appeal the case to synod.                                    tion as defined. Resolved that a local consistory:$as
     Definition?  of terms. The sense and meaning of           and should have the right to act contrary to  ,the
  the predicate of the- proposition (which my apponent         Church Order independently with respect to .cl$ssis.
  affirms and which I deny) is clear. But I want to            This may also be expressed as fohows :Resolved  that `a
  observe that to act contrary to the church Order  ie  a.t    Iocal consistory has and should have the right to- place
  once to  d&part   from  and to take exception to,  the       its own private construction upon the Church. Order
  Church Order, and further that the tight to act con-         without any  interference  from  Classis (Synod).  :.
  rary to it necessarily implies the right to change,              There is certain  irrevelent   tnatter  `that must `be
. modify, or amplify as one-a. local consistory-sees           excluded from our disputation.          In case of a. clash
  fit: it includes the right to do with the Church Order       between the profit of the  lo%1 church and the  .churc'n
 what one pleases and to place upon it whatever pri-           order, must the consistory first act (contrary to!the
  vate construction one finds convenient and suitable          Church Order) or the classis  f?rst advise (on the: basis
 for the hour.                                                 of the principle that its advice must be adopted and in
     Thus the predicate must mean, certainly, the right        the assurance that its advice will be adopted). This
 to act contrary to the Church Order independently             is an issue upon the settlement of which the truth or
 with respect to the  classis (synod). My  opponent            falsity of either the affirmative or negative prop&
 must realize that this is indeed the meaning of the           tion does not hinge. It  must therefore be'  excluded
 affirmative proposi!tion.     Its meaning is not that a       from our  rdiscussion, from the argument as well  a$
 consistory  <has the right to act contrary to the Ghurah      from the issues. For after all was said that  .could.,:be
 Order only in its capacity of member of the federation        said on either side of this question, the i&ue'  `wouId
  (clazsis)  so that in this capacity alone it may exer-       still be there waiting to be debated, whether a T%Zi
 cise this right-thus exercise it  only in collaboration       consistory has the right to act contrary  to the. Ch.ure1.i
 with all the churches met in classis and as always re-        Order.                                                     64 :.: *
 cognizing it to be entirely right, and proper that it            Let me now state the admitted matter. The Church
 subordinate its private judgment to the judgment of           Order, being he work of man, is fallible. (If it  cere
 the classis and that it submit to, adopt, and execute         not, our proposition  woulid  be strictly  undeb&blZ)i
 the will of-the  classis as <expressed in its resolutions.    On this a,ccount,  it may be in error, inade+&te  in some
 The  afhrmative  proposition, so construed,  sets forth       of its articles, antiquated and unusable.'  "  in  Z&Z, far as
 my view exactly but not that of my opponent. If  it           it is found to be so, it must be contradi,cted  and COY-
 does, we have nothing to argue about. Zf it does; my          rected,  altered," amplified; in a  -`word,  revised. And


124                                                  T - H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 ..v..--~--.
@is for the true profit of the churches. Several of its                     in the affirmative proposition tha.t  it has snot this right.
articles have been revised through the centuries. Some                      The affirmative therefore, need have no fear that he
Ii&e  even been eliminated altdgether  and other artic-                     will have proved more than he [desires, should he win
les  pl,aced  in their room. This matter, being admitted this debate. Even his failure to prove the affirmaiive
by both disputants (my opponent  and I),  form the                          proposition, would not warrant the conclusion that it
basis of the argument and, ac0rdin.g  td the principles                     is false, and that therefore the consistory  has not  the
pf the art of disputation, must be excluded from the                        right to act contrary  t,o the Church Order. The af-
issues  although  not from the argument. Hence my                           firmative proposition must be @roved,  to be false be-
opponent and I are not allowed to make an issue of                          fore any such conclusion may be drawn. And this i,s
$he `question whether the Church Order may be con-                          the task of the  negative,  namely to prove the affirma-
tradicted.' Doing so, we sildestep  the proposition ap- tive proposition false, no more and no less. Hence,
pearing above this article. The sole question in this                       it is not to be expectied  of him that he prove that the
digpute is whether, in the sense just defined, the                          classis has the right at issue; for it is not implied in
,Church  Order may be contradicted by a  locat cons&                        the negative proposition. Should he nevertheless make
to&i  Thus; my opponent may not come with some                              the attempt, he would be sidestepping the real questioh
&ch  reasdning  : A local consistory has the right to                       and likewise the affirmative with respect to what is
`act contrary to the Church Order, for the Church                           expected of him. My opponent and I do not strive Lo
Order  is fallible. This issue is not debatable in this                     prove but we we  admit  that the  classis has  thins right.
disputation, as it is admitted that such is the case.                           Let us now state the issues in this disputation.
      And so I admit that the Church Order is not a col-                         I. Is one  of  the  cetitral  ideas of our  Church go-
lection of iron clad i.e. unbreakable rules. Being fal-                     vernment rule by the  majority  or  *rule  by the  mim-
lible, it may be in error (but not nece%arily  so), may                     om'ty?
and must be broken,  if found to be in error: But here                          In order to prove the positive propositi?n,  my op-
it&in the sole question in our dispute is whether this                      ponent must prove that the central  idea, of our church
right belongs to a local  cons13ory. This matter, too,                      government is rule by the minority. Further, he
n&St be excluded from the issue although not from the                       must i&prove that it is rule by the majority.
+pnhen t .                                                                      II.  Dioes a  local consistory  promise  and is it  i@..s
      To "&y that the Church Order is breakable h cer-                      in duty bound before God  a& the churches to deny
l@inly noi &uivalent to saying &hat ilt is not binding. I                   its private judgment and will in the interest of the
Admit the former  but not the latter. And it seems to me judgment and will of the majority?
Fiat my opponent should also be ready to admit this.                            My opponent must prove that a local consistory
Because  the question is not whether the Church Order                       prom&es  to always assert and maintain its own pri-
is binding, but whether, in the event it is found to be                     vate jad.gment  and will in opposition to the common
in error as to one or more of i& articles, its chords                       judgment  anld will. Further, he must  dis;prove   that
may be broken by a local  consistory.  In our present                       a loCal consistory promises and ti thus in duty bound
disputation, therefore, we must not make an issue of                        to deny its ,prkate  will and judgment in the interest
this mat+-. Doing so, we sidestep the main question,                        of the common judgment and will.
$liich is, whether a local consistory has the right to                        III. Does article 86 Ideclare  that a local consistory
act, contrary to Church Order. Let us, by all means,                        has  *not  the right  of private revision of the Church
&ictly  keep ourselves to the real issues.                                  Order? My opponent must prove that  articls 86
 .'  -Fui=th,er,   the'affiimative  (my opponent) I feel  cer-              cdeclases  that a local  consistcry  does have this right.
tain;~hoFds   the view that the  classis as well  as the                    He must disprove my contention that the article de-
&&story  and thus not the consistory to the exclu-                          clares that a local consistory  does  not  .have this  right.
sion of the classis has the right at issue. I can ad-                          IV. Is the Church Order the private property of a
&t that the  classis has this right but certainly not                       local  con&story or the common property  of  all  the
that the consistory has it. It is my view that the                          churches  ?
classis (synod)  alo.ne  has the right. But the point is                       My opponent must prove that the Church Order is
here that we both admit that the  classis has the right ;the private property of a local consistory. He must
ii question.                                                                disprove that it is the common property of all the
       (Rightly considered, bhe cl,assis  has this righl'c only churches.
if it `be th* broadest essembly in the organization of                           V.  Has the Church Order  qn authority similar
`&$omin&ion~of  churches, otherwise  ,not)   .                              to that of our Forms of Unity?
 :--: '         .,..
     I+$ ii&now  see what, may and may not be expected                         My opponent must prove that the Church Order  has
fro&t@  disputants; in this argunient. It may not be no authority at all. He must disprove that it has an
`&$&+d  from &~~~ffirmative  that he prove that the authority similar to that of our Forms of Unity.
$$&J !@.                        the fi&t at istie; for it is not implied
                        not               "     :                              v!T.   wQU@  'the   right'Qf   Q  @Xd  CWiStQ?+Jj   to  Cd


                                                     T.HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            125

eon&ry to the Church Order result in Chaos and sin                               A Church-  Order is very .essential  to the welfare of
the final dissolution of our entire Church Fdrmation?                        a Church or denomination. .As soon as a body of be-
        My opponent must prove that the right of a local lievers are organized into a Church institute, one im-
consistory to act contrary to the Church Order would mediately feels that there must be rules and regula-
work for order, harmony and stability. ' He must clis-                       tions to regulate the ecclesia&ical  life and welfare of
vozie that it would result in chaos and in the final                         the congregation, and when various churches, having
dissolution of our Church Formation.                                         the same confession of faith, unite into a denomina-
 ' VII.  Would the right of private revision of our                          tion, there is need for an accepted body of rules to
Church Order be promo&e of `grossest injustices?                             maintain unity and good order.  God is in all  Lhings
        My opponent must prove that the right of private                     a God of order, and also demands that in His Church
revision of the Church Order would be promotive of a.11 things be done decently and in order. I Cor. 14 :40.
justice in our  ,orgaaization  of churches. He must dis- In fact congregational and denominational church life
prove that it  wquld be  promdtive  of grossest injustices.                  would be impossible without such rules and regula-
 VIII.  Can. it be otherwise but  tha.t for a  local'con-                    ,tions. Even as in a congested area, where there is
sistoi-y to &nsL~t that jt has the right in question must much traffic, there must be rules and regul&ions to
mecessarily  proceed from a wrong, sinful mot&%?                             guide and direct the flow of traffic, so also in our
        My opponent must prove that it cannot be. other-                     congregational and denominational church life there
`wise but that for a local  cons&tory   Ito insist that  itt                 must be ecclesiastically prescribed rules to regulate
has the right .in question proceeds from a good motive. sthis church life. These rules must be mutually adopt-
He mu.&.d&rove that it necessarily proceeds from a                           ed, and mutually observed. To deny this would create
wrong motive. In a word, besides proving the posi-                           disorder a& chaos. No church or denomination could
tive proposition, my opponent must overturn my en-                           long exist without them, neither if having them, they
tire `argumentation. If he accomplishes all this, he were disregarded. They are not necessary for the
wins this debate.                                                            bedng of the Church, but are absolutely essential for
       "Now I believe that I have discovered all the issues her well-being.
in this disputation. If my opponent knows of others,                             Hence the question in this debate is not at all
let him advance them and I will be'only too glad to                          whether or not a local  con&story,  may arbitrarily and
consider them. If he knows of no others, he  aad  I                          without good reason, act contrary to the mutually  a+*
must keep ourselves strictly to the&issues. Not ldoing cepted Church Order. If this were the question in our
so, we si,destep  the main question which is whether                         discussion it  woulld  be nonsense. Such a question
or no a local con&story  has the right to act contrary                       were not even debatable. It  woulct  be  sheer  folly to
to the Church Order,- i.e., the' private right to revise                     accept certain rules and regulations and then utterly
its' articles.                                                               disregard them.      Such folly would lead to chaos.
 ,t                                                           G.M.O.         Imagine what would happen, if in a congested city as
                                         `(,                                 Chicago, a driver of an automobile would arbitrarily.
                                         .(                                  a.ni9 without any good reason whatever, disregard the
              (I . .,.,                                                      traffic rules of stop signs, traffic signals, and one way
                    4             i.
              ":                                                             drives ? That would be fatal, and if every driver
       `,                  .,.          AFFIRikiATiVE                        would act thus, it would lead to chaos and confusion.
                                                                             Thus it would also be in our ecclesiastical life if a
Resolved that a Local Consistory Has the Right To                            consistory wantonly and arbitrarily  Idisregarded  the
             Act Contrary To the Church Order.                               accepted Church Order. Such action would be fatal
                                                                             to a 104 consistory, and if such an attitude became
       By Church Order, in the subject of our debate, we                     general among the local consistories of a denomina.-
understand a body of  eccIesisstica1  rules,  ,mutually                      tion, then all denominational church life would be an
adopted, for the purpose of maintaining goad order                           impossibility.    If our congregationad and denomina-
in the Churches.                        They are `rules `and regulations,    tional church life is to function smoothly, it must be
which have .been  prescribed by mutual consent, an,d                         well regulated according to certain ecclesiastical rules
which all must' obey for the furtherance and welfare                         which all have adopted  an.d which all must obey. They
of the Church of Christ.. They must not, however,                            are necessary for the  ma.intenance  of good order, as it
be regarded as divinely prescribed ordinances, or as                         is expressed in the first article of our accepted Church
a set of legal laws which must be applied and obeyed,                        Order, namely of the General Synod of Dordt.
no matter what the result might be. They are moral                              But the question in this debate is whether or not
in character, not judicial. They are regulatory and                          a local consistory is so bound by the Church Order,
mean to'guide"and direct, but are not to be regarded                         that it may never, under any circumstances, make any
as' a legalistic met .of laws  which muat be sktyed.                         decisiona,  or take any  acticm which  n,re  mnn$rary   $0


I26                                    T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

the  Church  Order.    We of the affirmative maintain          zich het gezag der kerkenordening uitstrekt,  n.1. of
that it is very well polssible that in a particular situa-     het de conscientie bindt of vrijlaat; of het door onder-
tion the observance of the Church Order would be a             teekening moet warden, of eene zekere vrijheid  van
physical impossibility, or would clearly create harm           beweging laat."
and disorder in the congregation, and that in such                "Allereerst ontkennen wij dan, dat de  kerken-
circumstances the' consisltory  would be perfectly free        ordening eene conscientie bindende kracht zou hebben,
to suspend the rule for that instant, if at  lea:s,t  the      zooals de Roomschen beweren. Zij  tech zeggen, dat
article in question does not concern a definite pre-           alle menschelijke  wetten,   zoowel  kerkelijke  als  poli-
scribed principle of Holy Writ. The opposition must            tieke, met Goddelijke  wetten op een lijn  staan, en
prove that under any and all circumstances it is al-           daarom de conscientie binden. De Gerformeerden on-
ways per se wrong for a local  consi&ory  to act con-          dercheiden  echter met Voetius tusschen Goddelijke
trary to the Church Order. This is a question of               en menschelijke wetten.      De Goddelijke  wetten zijn
fundamental importance. It is a question,that  involves        direct en per se van conscietie-bindende kracht, o&at
our Christian liberty, the liberty wherewith Christ            God  `de  He,ere.  der conscientie is, de Eenige Wetgever,
has made us free. We maintain the affirmative with             die het geweten  des menschen  binden kan. Jakobus
all our heart, and by the grace of God we will always          4:12.   Maar  de menschelijke  wetten  binden  niet per
defend  it with all of our God given strength and tal-         se en direct, zelfs de apostelen traden by de regeling
ents. To deny this would be the most dangerous kind            van het kerkelijk leven niet met dwingend gezag op.
of Roman Ca.tholic hierarchy, which places its eccles-         I Cor. 7 :35 ; 2 Cor. 1:24  ; Hand. 15,:20 ; en de geloov-
iastical rules and decrees on a par with Holy Writ.            igen mogen geen dienst.knechten  van menchen worden.
No Church Order or ecclesiastical set of rules may             Zelfs  $die artikelen eener kerkenordening; welke  recht-
ever bind. the conscience, for this is alone the pre-          streeks  aan de  Schrift ontleend zijn, hebben alleen
rogative of the WorcI  of God, who alone is Lord, also         eonscientie-bindende kracht, omdat God zelf ze voorge-
of the conscience.     But never may we ascribe such           schreven heeft, en niet omdat ze in de  kerkenorde-
powers  to ecclesiastical rules or rulers.                     ning staan ; dus niet in qualiteit van kerkelijke, maar
   Indeed a Church Order must be based upon the                Goddelijke bepalingen." p. 53. (See also Voetius, Pol.
Word of God, and contains many prescribed ordin-               Eccl.  1:263-64.
ances which do bind the conscience, not however,                  Even Prof. Heyns in his Kybernetiek quotes Dr.
because they are found in the Church Order, but be-            Rutgers on page 127 as follows; "Vandaar dat `er in
ca.use they are provisions taken directly from the             de Nederlandsche Kerken  altijd  zekere ruimte was met
Word of God. Even then it may never be said, "Thus             betrekking tot het naleven der Kerkenorde, en dat
saith the Church Order," but "Thus saith the Lord."            men met betrekking tot haar laag zoo stipt niet was
Then  it is not the Church Order, but the Word of              als met betrekking tot de  Belijldenis.        In gewone
God that binds the conscience. In order to understand          omstandigheden, zoo oordeelden zij, was men aan de
thsi we must clearly distinguish between divine la::-          Kerkenorde gebonden, maar als  soms gehoorzaamheid
(jus divinus) and human laws (jus  humana).  God's             aan een of andere  bijzonderheild van de Kerkenorde
laws  a,re immutable, unchangeable, and must therefore         in moeilijkheid dreigde te brengen, bdv. met de over-
always be obeyed. Not so, however, are human laws              heid of anderszins, dan moest wat het zwaarste was
and regulations. These can and may be changed and              bet zwaarste wegen.       In overeenstemming daarmee
also  leatve room for discretion and considerations. They      is de eisch van het slotartikel, idat de Kerken en Classes
only serve to guide, direct, and regulate for the main-        "naarstigheid zulIen  doen om de Kerkenorde in alles
tenance of good order, They are utilitarian. There-            te onderhonden," een uitdrukking die eenige  speei-
fore if circumstances demand it they may be suspend-           ruimte last."
ed, altered or changed. Now our. Church Order con-                Thus also Dr. Hodge in his Church Polity writes
tains both divine laws and human regulations. This             as follows : "There are certain things prescribed, to
is evident from the fact that Article 86 prescribes            which every Church ought to conform, and many
that (if the profit of the churches demands it) the            things as to which she is at liberty to a& as she deems
Church  or:ct,er  may be altered, augmented or dimin-          best for God's glory and the advancement of his king-
ished. This can never be said of divine ordinances,            dom. All we contend for is that everything is not
but it is only applicable to human laws and regula-            prescribed ; that every mode of organization and ac-
tions. And it is in respect to these that it is our con-       tion is not either commanded or forbidden; that we
viction that a local consistory is at liberty to act con-      must produce a "Thus saith the Lord" for every-
trary to, if the welfare of the congregation demands it.       thing the Church does. We must indeed be able to
  To this most  all the anthorities on Reformed                produce a "Thus saith the Lord for everything, whe-
Churtih polity agree. Jansen in his `De Kerkenorden-           ther a truth, or a duty, or a mode of ecclesiastical
iilg!: writes as follows : "Eindelijk is  Ide vraag  hoever    organization or action, which we make obligatory on


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R - D   B E A R E R                                            127

the conscience of other men. But our liberty of                dualistic. `In the Presbyterian system the consistory
faith and action beyond the prescription of the Word           under Christ is the sole judicial power over the local
of God, is the liberty with which Christ has made us           congregation. The consistory consists of a pastor and
free, and which no man shall ,$ake from us." p. 122.           a number of elders elected by the people.            Ir thus
And on page 130 he continues ; "The third point of             exhibits with its flock the unity of the body of Christ
difference between two systems is the extent to which          in a visible tangible form. It emphasizes the  equality
liberty of the Church extends in matters of govern-            of the ministers by concentrating the utho!ity  in all
ment and modes of operation. According to the old,             its ministerial members, sets forth the rights of the
and especially the genuine American form of  Pres-             people by the presence of their elders as their repre-
Ibyterianism,  nrhile :t is admitted that there is a form      sentatives ruling jointly with the ministers, and ex-
of government prescribed or instituted in the New              alts the headship of Christ by magnifymg  the Scrip-
Testament, so far as  its general  principles   or features    tures as the  soIe infallible rule of procedure. But
are Concerned, there is a wide discretion allowed us           to emphasize in a yet more ,marked  degree the unity
by CAd, in matters of detail, which no man or set of           of the body of Christ all the  local  consistorics  (with
men which neither civil magistrates nor., ecclesiastical       their congregations) organize,  league together, and
rulers, can, take from us. This is part of that liberty        thus form an  orga.nizecl   tle:l~,mintltiL~,:i  of churches.
with which Christ has made us free, and in which we            This organization has broader representative,  #bodies
are commanded to stand fast."                                  than the consistory, known as elassis and synod. The
      Whereas the space of fivetypewritten pages, which authority which these assemblies  e-xercise   o-ver  the
was alloted us for this debate is almost filled we will        local consistory is not juridical but  ethica8,  which
conclude with the following from Joh. Jansen in his            means that this organization by its representative
"De Kerkenordening" page 56 ;  "Hieruit blijkt  vol-           bodies (classis, synod) may not  depose  consistory
doende,  tdat de onderhouding  der.  kerkenordening  niet      members and excommuni-,ate  them out of the Chris-
zoo  streng werd voorgeschreven, dat er  geene   vrij-         tian Church.        The local congregation only, acting
heid van beweging overbleef.  WeI ging die vrijheid            through its consistory, has this right. This organ-
niet zoover, dat  ze in ongeregeldheid en  bandeloosheid       ization, Ieague, thus emphasizes the strict  judicia:
oversloeg.     Want de afwijking zelve was  aan  een           equality of all its members--the local  consistories-
drietal  regelen  g&o&en: a- er  moest   reden   voor          but also, to be sure,. {that the judgment and will ,of
afwijking zijn, de goede orde en stichting der gemeente        the majority of its members, as embodied in the reso-
moest er beter door worden  bevorderd. b- er mocht             lutions of its representative bodies (classis; synod),
ondertusschen   niets in de  kerke!:ordenmg  zelf  ver-        shall prevail over and against the private judgment
anderd worden,  want dat mocht alleen door een gen:            and will of any of its members, a. local consistory, if
erale synods geschieden ; en c- als er verschil  over de       it cannot be proved tha: this common judgment and
afwijking rees, dan was de dienaar een de kerkerand,           will militates against the Scriptures. If this cannot
de kerkeraad aan de Classe, de Classe aan de prov-             .be proved, the lone member, of the organization, of
inciale en deze weer aan. de generale  synods gehoor-          the league, is in duty bound, before~  God, to Ideny its
zaamheid schubdig. Zoo bleef er ruim,te, maar  binmen          private judgment and n-ill :?nd act according to the
zekere grenzen  ; en regelmaat zonder  formalisme."            judgment and will of the majority of the members of
                                               B . K .
 *                                                             the organization to which it belongs. If  ZI local  con-
                                                               sistory cannot do so, for conscience sake, it must
                                                               break off its connections with the organization after
                                                               having protested to  $he end. This is its right, as it is
                                                               autonomous. But it has ,not the right, as a member
                       NEGATIVE                                of the league, to persistently negate the will and judg-
                                                               ment of the majority of members of the league to act
A local  con&tory has not the right to  Iact contrary          according to its own private judgment and expect to
to the Church Order i.e., place its private judgment           be tolerated as a member in the league.
upon any of its articles and to act according to it, for          Thus one of the cenkral ideas of the Presbykerian
      I. The  idea of our Church government  b rule by         system of church government is majority rule: From
majority  arid not by minor@.                                  this it follows:
                                                                  a) That a local consistory  has i?ot the right to act
      Allow me to explain. Our system of  Church go- contrary to the Church Order i.e., place upon any oi
vernment is presbyterian in distinction from that of           its articles its own private  aonstruction  to act accord-
the Roman Catholic system  and the system known as ingly, for
Collegianism which are hierarchical, and that of the'              1) just because the construction that is followec
Independents  or  congregationalists  which is indivi-         is private, a local consistory, in following the  con-


     128                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE'AR%B

     &u&ion, acting upon it, sets at nought t.he juidgment           Church Or;jler and to always be willing to subjeot  its
     and will of the majority.                                       private judgment and will to the common judgment
            b) That the organization  (classis,  synod) cannot       and will of the churches, for the above-cited article
     a.llow  a local consistory the right to act contrary to         explicitly declares, `ko local congregation but the gen-
     the Church Order i.e., place  upo~  any of its articles         eral synod.
     its own  priv&e  construction and to act accordingly,
     for                                                               IV. The Chwch Order. is not the private property of
             1) doing so, the organization repudiates in prin-       a local  cons~story  but the common property  of  the
     ciple the entire Presbyterian system in the interest            churches, for
     of the individualism of Indenpendentism.                                a) The churches organized  on its basis and thus
                                                                     conjointly adopted it.  Therefore  a local  coJsistory,
       II. A local con&tory prom;ised  and, i8 thus in duty          being, as it is, a member of the league of  churched,
     bound before God and the  chuwhes to deny its  private:         has not the right to  aat contrary to it i.e.,  plake its
     judgment and will in the interest  of  the judgment             own private construction upon its article, for
     md will of the majority,  for                                        1) in  doing so, it proceeds on the false +!ssump-
            a) this promise is implicit 1) in its voluntarily        tibn that the Church Order is Bts dtifi'private  property.
     joining itself to the brganization; 2) in its voluntarily
     continuing as a member of the organization; 3) in its               V The Church Order hns an. authority ,similar  to
     attaching its signature over and over to the classical          that of our Forms of Unity:  the Thirty seven articles,
     credential and thus insltructing and authoriiing  its dele-     t,he Canons of Dart,  arid th.e Heidelb'erg  Catechism, fo?
     gates to take part in all the deliberations and trans-              a) According to the firm conviction of the  churches
     actions of  classis regarding all matters legally com-          it sets forth the only system of Church government
     ing befbre  the meeting and transacted in agreement `contained in and  &hus legitimatized by the Scriptures
     with the word of God according to the conception of             for the New Testament Churches.
     it embodied in the doctrinal Standards of  t:he Pro-                b) The churches subscribe to it as truly as they
     testant Reformed Churches,  as  ,well  as in harmony            sabscrlbe to the three Forms of unity, for
     width our Ch,urch  Order.                                            1) They are organized on its, basis;
            Here, too, therefore the conclusion is entierly war-          2)  Ithrough  attaching their signatures to the, clas-
     ranted that a local consistory has not the right to act         sical credential they, over and over, instruct and
     contrary ,to the Church Order, not the right to insist          authorize their delegates to take part in all delibera-
     that, .particularly  with respect to our Church Order           tions and transactions of classis in harmony with it
     and its -revision the private ju:dgmenL  and will of a
     local eonsistory be held legitimate and practicable.            ~3s  well as  ,in harmony wi&h the  WOKI  of God according
                                                                     :to the conception of it embodied in the doctrinal Sbsnd-
      III Art. 86 ;f the Church Order ,declares that a par-          a&s. This being true, the right of private revision
     ticular congregation shall not be at liberty to alter,          of the Church Order is akin  ,to the  righit of private  in-
     augment or diminish the article of the Church Order. Lerpretation  of;the creeds. It is  difKcult to see why,
     This  atiicle (86) reads, "These articles,  relating  to the    if a local consistory  has the right to do the former, it
     lawful order of the Church, have been so drafted and            should_not  h&ve the rikht Ito do the latter. It is dif-
     adopted by common consent, that they (if the profit             ficult td', see why, if the chssical  credential, in which
     of  ,the church  ldemanld  otherwise) may and ought to          office-besrers promise to transact all matters begally
     be altered, augmented *and diminished. However, no              coming before the meeting in harmony with the
     pa;rticular  congregation-mark you, no particular co+           Church Order, has once become a dead letter, the
     gregation-classis  or synod, shall be at liberty to `do         Formula of Subscriptioq'in  which these same office-
     so, but they shall show all diligence in observing them,        bearers promise to teach and defend the  poink of
     until it be otherwise ordained  by the genleral synod."         doctrine contained in the Confession, the Heidelberg
            Therefore a local consistory  has not the right of       Catechism, and the Canons of Dort, should not like-
"    private revision of the Church OFder,  for                      wise become a dead letter.  Siffnitig the' latter, too,
            a) it, a local consistory, is organized on the basis     would become a mere gesture. It would cease to par-
     of the Church Order;                                            take of the character of a solemn pledge, and any con-
            `b) It' voluntarily remains on this bmis as a mem-       sistory would be free to contradict the aforesaid doc-
     ber of the organized denomination of churches;                  itrine in .its pulpit.
            c) it signs over and over the classical credential.          (I speak here of revision of our Church Order.
     Through these acts and doings,  It. adopts also the             My so expressing myself is certainly justified. There
     above-cited article, certainly, and solemnly promises           is no essential `difference between revising the Church
     to show all diligence in observing it, thus promises            Order and acting contrary to it. Td do the latter iti:
     to refrain from privately revising the articles of the          to  pIrace  in the  rooti  6f one or  r%ore  of  i%  ar4icles


                                      T*HE  S T A N D A R D  BEA'RER                                                      129

others of a different charaoter  a,nd content).                 rectly expresses what we believe to be the truth of
   I speak here of the authority of the creed an,d of           Scripture respecting the doctrine contained in it.
our Church Order. What is (authority? Whenoe  does
i,t proceed? The authority of the creed is its right to           VI  T$?  right  of a  local  cons&tory  to  act  contrary
demand of us that we teach and defend the points of             to  the Church  O.rcLer zwuld  result in Chaos and  ihe
                                                                final 
doctrine contained in it. The authority of the Church                     disuo&tion  of our qnti.e  Church  ,Format&Yn.  If&
Order is its right to demand of us that its articles be            a) The Church Order would `be supplanted by.&
observed. And this right proceeds from the pledge               many private Church Orders as their are churches in
of the office-bearers in the churches to, do this very our organized denomination of churches. Each .con-
thing. This  plerrige  they make through their  volun-          sistory would transact according to its. own private
1tariI.y  organizing on its basis and through their atta,ch-    Church Order. Classis and synod would be only two
ing <their signatures to the classical credential. This         names. Their resolutions could have  nu `binding power
pledge, further, is the expression of their firm con-           and their meetings  woul'd partake of the character of
viction that the Church Order  sets< forth the only conferences such as those held by the independents or
system of government for the  N,ew Testament church- congreg&ional  churches.                    Now if this is what we
es contained in God's Word. And as long as this is              want, let us say so, bat let us then cease prating about
their conviction the Church Order {and the Creed) is            our being Re4ormed  in our church government.
necessarily as binding upon their conscience as fare the         VII-  A local  ~cmsistory   hxzs not the right to  act  corn-
Scriptures. As long as this is their conviction, it fol-        trary to the Ghurch Order, for
lows that, in aoting contrary  *to the Church Order,            the right of private revision of the Church Order could
they, before their consciousness, act contrary to the           be  promotive  of  grossest  injustices.  To illustrate.  ,A
Scriptures  zcnd commit a  &in just as great.  Zet me           consistory could put a member under censure and then
put this (ti a test. The very first :a$rticle of the Church     eliminate from the Church Order the  Izrticle according
Order reads "For the maintenance of good order in to which anyone, who complains that he has been
the church of ,Christ  it is,necessary  that there should       wronged by the decision of a minor assembly, shall
be: offices, assemblies, supervision of idoctrine, sacra- have the right to appeal to a major assembly, band that,
ments and ceremonies, and Christian discipline." Let whatsoever may be agreed upon by majority vote shall
anyone  contradiot  if he  oan, this article, without being     be considered settled and binding, unless it can be
accused and denounced by his heart of contradicting proved to conflict with the WoYd of God or with `the
the Scriptures.                                                 7articles of  lthe Church Order.        (Art. 31). In the
   We well  undlerstamd  that the Church Order (creed)          case which I now imagine the decision of the  con-
is fallible. But, certainly, this does not mean that it         sistory is wrong, wicked, and thus the censure thor-
must needs be in error. And if in this Church Order oughly unjust. Yet the classis can do nothing about
the Fathers of Dort have Iactually expressed what we            it, as the consistory, having  <the right of private re-
firmIy believe to be the Word of God respecting ithe            sion of the Church Order, deprives the  a.ggrieved
system of Church government contained, in it, the               one of the right to appeal his case to cIassis,  through
Church Order, according to our firm conviction,  is             striking out of the Church Order the article athat gives "
not in (?rror.     (This applies also to creeds). For ac- him this right. The aggrieved one, though innocent,
cording to my unwavering faith, this very system is             is finally excommunicated out of  ,the `Christian Church.
taken, actually taken, directly from the very Word              A more horrisble  case of miscarriage of justice is not
of  G&X.  Of the great creeds of Christendom-those (Go be conceived of. But let us not  szy that it couldn't
which have.  stood the test of  ages-we-.dq,say  that           happen, with the right of revising the Church Order
they are infallible. So, let us speak softLE,!when  say-        vested in a local consistory. Imagine a case of this
ing that the Church Order (the creed) is fallible, and          kind. A consistory places a member under censure.
when saying that we commit a great sin .when-contra-               But the brother will not submit to church disci-
dieting in action (or words or thoughts) the Scrip- pline. So he notifies his consistory that he is leaving
tures but BS to the Church Order! , Well, -brethren,            and receives a certificate of dismissal. A `neighbor-
it is only a Church Order ! Let us make sure that               ing consistory of a sister church receives the censured
whein we say such *things we are not giving expression, brother, lifts his censure and admits him to the Lord's
to some such sentiment as this: No creed but Christ,            supper.  .But to do so, it had  &II eliminate from the
`or no creed but the Scriptures.       Let us understand Church Order article (61) i.e., the last clause of this
that what they who say such things really mean is article which requires that  trhose who come from other
this: No creed and no scriptures apd no Christ. We              churches shall not be admitted (to the Lord's supper
do not pEace the creed on a level w&h the Scriptures            except they be reputed to  be of  la8 godly walk. The
or ascribe to it the authority that the  Scripturesalorm        consistory struck out this clause, as it has the right to
can and do have, butt we do affirm that the creed car           privately revise the Church Order. `But if .the censure


  130                                     T*HE  STANDtARD   B E A R E R

  was just, something terrible has Oaken place. Now  we
  must not say that a thing like this couldn't happen.                            Uit De Diepte'
  It could certainly. To return to the first case imag-
  ined, the consistory could allow the censured one to                          (Psalm 69 ; derde deel)
  appeal his case and await the advike of classis.        But        Als de Heere Zijn lieflijk aangezicht voor David,
  chassis'  advice is not to its liking, so it frees itself       voor Jezus, verbergt, dan wordt het waariijk benauwd.
  from its binding. power by erasing the last clause of           Dan  worden  zij bang. En de  reden is doorzichtig :
  #the  aboveacited  article. One more case. A  consis-           "Gods vriendelijk aangezicht,  geeft   vroolijkheid  en
  tory, for reasons of its own, deposes an Ielder withouit        licht voor alle oprechte  harten!"
  the advice of a neighboring church. Rore some reason               David  bi&:  ". . . . en verberg Uw aangezicht niet
  it recoils from seeking this a:dvi,ce  and thus lifts out       van Uwen knecht,  want mij is bang ; haast U, verhoor
  of the Church Order the article that requires .thak it          mij !"
  shall *be sought. If the elder was unworthy of deposi-              We kunnen daarin komen. Als men door den Heere
  tion, something terrible has again taken place, with-           geroepen is uit de duisternis tot het licht van Zijn aan-
  out the classis being able fo do anything about it; as          gezicht, dan kan men voorts nooit meer gelukkig  zijn,
  a Iooal consistory has the right to revise the Church           dan in den wandel van `dat licht dat van Zijn aan'zicbt
  Order.                                                          straalt.    De  wedergeborene  en bekeerde geloevige is
         Thus, in the light of my entire argument, it is plain    een kind ides lichts. Hij ontving dat licht in bet-diepate
  that the Church Order, as  the common property of all           vI;1n zijn bestaan, van zijn wezen,  van zijn hart. Ook
  the churches, thus as maintained and adhered to, a3             ontving hij daardoor verlichte oogen des vex-stands
  honored and loved as ,one of our priceless heriti,ges,          Het is voorts zijn lust en zijn leven om te wandelen in
  by all the  me:mbers of our organized denomination              dat li,cht.  Daarom is zulk een mensch niet volkomen
  of  churches,  is indeed the only foundation of  just           gelukkig, totdat hij in den heme bij God wandelt.
  rule and order and the only guarantee of freedom and               Doch  ide Heere  verbergt  zich. 0, Hij  ziet hem  al-
  securilty,  of fair and just dealing within this organiza-      Itijd, Hij denkt  aan hem in gena in de bangste ure, Hij
  tion, and that, therefore, to transfer the right of re-         zal ons nooit  begeven  en verlaten.  Doch hier is het
  vising it from  classis ,to a local consistory is to destroy    punt waar het in dezen psalm om gaat : God verbergt
  l&is foundation, is to lay the  foun,dation  for unjust         Zich voor ons  in het  beumstzijn.   En dan wordt het
  practices and insecurity for chaos and the eventual                                                                   I
                                                                  bang in het hart, verstand, gemoed.
  dissolution of our church Fornation. Isn't it  about time           Dat dilt zoo is en niet anders, blijkt uit wat volgt.
  that we refrain from scoffing at the Church  Order-             Let er op,  rdat David zegt:  "Nti.er  tot  ntijne  ziel!"
  Ssn't it about time that we stop saying, "Well brethren,        Tijdelijk   UYLS  sljn  xi@  in  duisternis.   Dat is vervuld
   its only the ,Church  Order." Methinks  it is. Such talk       in Jezus. Denkt hier aan de drie-urige duisternis rond-
  is positively dangerous. And so I come to my  fina!             om het kruis. Het eigenlijke van die duisternis is, dat
   issue.                                                         we niet langer  wandelen in hat, vrienrdelijke  ervaren
  VIII A lo.cu:al  con&story does not have the right to act       van ,Gods aangezicht. Daarnaar verlangde David en
. contrary  to the Church  Order, the right of private            smachtte Jezus. Waarom hebt Gij Mij verlaten, o
   revision.  of its  articles,  for                              mijn God!          "
         a)  It cannot be otherwise but that to  imist that           Soms  is daar ook  objectieve  openbaring van. Ik
   a local cons&tory has this right proceeds from a awror~g,      hoor David spreken  van versmaadheid, schaamte en
   a sinful rno the, f o,r                                        schande. De versmaadheid is de uiting van de  vij--
          1. It is. not at all necessary, for                     anden; s&aamte  is de ervaring ervan in ons binnenste
             a. As my opponent also concedes, the  classis has    hart;  en-  s&ande  is het gevolg  dgaarvan rondom ons
  this right. Why then should a local consistory also             in den kring `die ons omringt. Denkt hier aan de  hui-
   have it?                                                       lende massa rontdom  het kruis. Het leek we1 of de he1
          2. The vesting of this right in a local consistory      Iosgebroken was.
   woulid  lay the foundation of la41 (the evi,ls enumerated          AlIe mijne benauwers  zijn vtir U ! De smartelijke
   above. No good at all  ,coulvd  come of it; only evil could    zang  getuigt  van  :Gods alweteadheid. De zanger kent
   come of it.                                                    God. Grijpt Hem aan in Zijn deugden keer op keer.
         But, une may say, cannot the classis (synod) err?            En nu worden  we ,bij de hand genomen om weer:
   It can certainly. Burt ithe danger of 8 local eonsiatory       bet kruis van Jezus te zien. Jezus buigt Zich en weent
   erring is certainly much greater than the danger of vanwege al den  smaad die o'p Zijn  heilig hoofd neer-
   twenty five churches erring. If we don't believe this,         daalde. Die smaad heeft Hem doorpriemd. De klan-
   let us then say so, and forthwilth (dissolve as an organ-      ken van spot en hoon dringen ,diep door tot in het bin-
  4zation  of denomination of churches.                           nenete  hart en daar doen  :die spot en hoon hun helsch
   ization of  denumination  of churches.             G. M. 0.    werk.  Luistert  maar. "De versmaadheid heeft Mijn


                                     T*HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .                                         133,

                                                              which would necessarily mean another war.`!         Thus
                  Current  Events                             far the quotation. Hence, even though there was the
                                                              greatesit harmony among  .the conferees,  sxl even
internutionnl  Conferences.                                   though Austria  was promised independence  after the
                                                              war, the Moscow conference looks very much like a
   Of late we have been hearing a great deal about            great victory for the `Russian Bear.' And it certainly
international conferences.     No less than three such        would be most logical that  Russis  becomes  .the domin-
conferences were  beld, the last of which has just come       an,t power on the European continent after the war is
~to a close according to a Idispatch  from Moscow.            finished and wcm by the Allies. Naturally the Chris-
    First there was the Moscow conference:. At this           tian Church fears the power of ruthless, atheistic com-
.can.fereace  the foreign ministers of England, China,        munism.
Russia, and our own Secretary of State, Mr. Cor~eil               The Moscow conference! had hardly come to  %
Hull, were the principal parties. This conference was         "successful  conclusion" or there were rumors in the
.hailed as a great success and the  American Press cer-       air about another conference and that  ithere was great
tainly gave Mr. Hull a  large share of  irhe credit for       political news in the making. ,By now we know that
the accomplishments tit Moscow. We were told in               an&her conference has t:ken  place in Cairo, Egypt,
glowing terms about the splendid achievements nd              among  th!e `big three:' Roosevelt, Churchill, and  Chai-
wonderful harmony among the `big four.'          Various      ang Kai-Shek the  Gensralissimo  of  .the Chinese Re-
questions about present political  aad  intern&ions1          public. That important discussions were held among
problems in connection with  the prosecution of the           the `big three' follows from the nature of the case.
war were settled in an amicable way around the con-           At this conference  Ahe questions of strategy, of  :the
ference table.     And  al.so on the postwar problems         immense complications of global warfare, and matters
they came to  certsin very important agreements. Sec-         of territorial boundaries, the latter especially in con-
retary Hull assured Yhe American public that -there nection with the Japanese Empire, were discussed.
were no secret agreements.  Hewever,  subsequently it         That it was an  augus:  body which met in Cairo is
became clear that some of the most important post-            plain from the fact that both Mr. Churchill and Mr.
war problems were not discussed. Nothing was staid            Roosevelt were accompanied by their entire general
for  exampIe   ,about  %he fate of some of the  ~small~       staff.    There were more than two hundred British
natiions  in postwar Europe. It was agreed that the           idiplomats and  mili!tary  men, the Amerian delegation
Italian formula of self-government, the people choos-         numbered a hundred men, snd China had abou,t  twenty
ing their own leaders and form of government, would           men present. We are told that the conference `decided
be applied to the liberated nations. However, it was          on a final drive on the Reich due tihis winter. Various
significantly added that this formula of  selfgovern-         idetails  were worked out at :the conference and unre-
metit,  the p.eople  choosing their own leaders and form      lenting pressure oil Germany was promised. At this
of government, would be applied to the liberated aa-          conference it was also decided that the Japanese Em-
tions. However, it was significantly  add& that this          pire is to be-broken up and that Japan is .to be reduced
formula of selfgovernment will not apply until the            ,to a minor power. The daily papers stated that the
boundary disputes are settled. This means in  xone            heads of the three governments had agreed: (1) "Jap-  '
diplomatic language that e.g. a country like Russia           an shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific
which has boundary disputes with Finland, Rumania,            which she has seized or oexpied  since .the beginning
Lhe Baltic states, Poland etc., will first `settle' ithese    of the first World War in 1914."       (2) "All the  ter-
disputes before the people con choose their own form ,ritories  Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as
of government. In other words Russia will first Itake         Manchuria, Formosa and  :he Pescodores, shall be
what it wants and then the people that are  l&t can do        restored to the Republic  0;" China." (3) "Japan will
as they desire. Concerning this particular agreement          also be expelled from all other ,territories  which ahe
there appeared an article in the Herald Americain  of         has taken by violence and greed." (4) "In due course
Nov. 22, under  *the caption "Sacrifices to Commun-           Korea shall become free  a:ld independent." Naturally,
ism." The article states among other +things:  "I;t is various  pohtical  questions and postwar territorial
plainly evi,dent  that Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Lat-       claims are to be s&led at a  later date. But if the
via, Estonia, probably Czechoslovakia, and many others        agreement of the `big  :hree'  is to be  executed  and
have been  abandoned  to Russia by a  ,formula  which         realized this would mean a realignment is the Orient.
says no "self-determination" will be extended to them         Japan would become  a small, unimportant country and
until their territorial future is,determined,  since that     China would become the  leadmg  and dominating power
will be when Russia has taken armed possession of             o f   A s i a .
them, and practically incorporated their territory in             Hardly had  ;this  conference come to a close or
Russia, and says "take them away if you  call-                Mr. Roosevelt and  :  j%r,  Churchil], presumably  wjth


 1 3 "                                 `T*HE.`STANDARD   B E A R E R

~ttheir general staffs proceeded to go to  Tehera.n,  the      any worthwhile gains or whether  ihe Russians are
6 Persian capital, where they were to meet with the            strong enough to hold on to their present positions and
 Russian dictator Joseph Stalin. While I am writing get ready for new, crushing offensive battles. Fact
 this article word has just been released that this            is  ithat although Germany has sustained terrific losses
 conference has come to a close, however iIts decisions        both in men and material, as to Idate the German  ,Army
 and results are as yet not known to the general public.       shows no signs of ,an immediate collapse.
 One of $he chief topics has undoubtedly been the war             It becomes more  evi,dent  by the day that the Allie;d
 strategy against Germany. Detailed plans were per-            drive in Italy was a great disappointme&  and certain-
 haps drawn up with respect to a coordinated  (drive           ly upset the time table for the conquest of Italy. Our
 against Germany from the West by the Allies, Eng- Armies are still more than 60 miles away from Rome.
 land and America, and from ;tbe East by Russia. A             Our men in the 5th Army, under ,General  Clark, who
 new' psychological `war of nerves' may also be expect- at present are  s&&in@;  into the Nazi winterline, have
 ed  again& Germany in the near future. The confer- seen some bitter fighting, and their progress is slow.
 ence also may have dealt with problems about postwar          The 8th Army under Montgomery has finally crossed
 reconstruction of Europe, the rebuilding of Russia's          the Sangro river and thereby threatens the main Ger-
 devestated cities, perhaps an agreement has been made         man positions of its  so-,called   tinterline. HQW long
 about various territorial boundaries, the  rehabillta-        ;the .battle  will last before .the Allies enter Rome, no
 tion of the conquered nations etc. etc. It is  also  ex-      one knows. Hopes are high that the worst is over in
 peoted that these `big *three'  have drafted an ultima-       this particular theatre of war. But that leaves North-
 tum to Nazi Germany demanding immediate union-                ern Italy still full of ,German soldiers. The continual
*  dithonal surrenlder  or suffer total destruction. IHOW-     rains  anvd the difficult terrti of fighting have done
 ever it is not likely itha,t Russia has made any agree-       much to slow up the progress of the 5th and 8th Army.
 ments with the Allies which would conflict w&h her               Recently tthe U.S. marines launched an offensive
 present well known policy to divide Europe as she sees against some of the Gilbert Islands in the Mid-Pacific.
 fit.      Before the conference ever started the papers       Our marines were victorious in their adventure, but at
 stated aalready : "Washington officials are confident of a very heavy cost of men. The conquest was accom-
 complete understanding betwteen  the President, Churc- plished at a cost of 3772 American fighting men, ei:ther
 hill, and Stalin, on all the remaining major questions kill.ed ,or .woumlded.       At this rate the loss of life will
 with the possible exception of boundary problems."'           be terrific when our Navy undertakes major offensive
 Russia is a powerful nation, thus far she has stood  it,he    battles against the Japanese. Recently we read an
 brunt of the fighting, and she naturally has a strong         article about the fanatical tenacity of ithe Japanese
 voice  and's *determined will at the conference table.        soldier.  Qne  of our military men stated: "The Jap-
         Reading about such momentous decisions and politi- anese soldier fights to die, the Allied soldier fights to
 cal maneuvers Bt seems that the destiny of ma,nkind           live." One thing is clear, we should  .not underesti-
 ,is in the hands of a few men. However, it is a great mate the Japs. It is rezonable  ;to expect that during
 comfort for the child of God to know that the Lor,d,          the coming winter our Navy will undertake more of-
 God Almighty, reigns as King Supreme and that He              fensive blows against the outer  defence  ring of the
 executes His will and realizes His counsel. If this w&        Japanese empire.
 not so we  mighlt indeed be apprehensive  asbout the fu-         The Allies are still waging the air offensive aga;mst
 ture. Thanks to God we know that He will bring in             Germany. Berlin, the capital of Germany, has of late
 His  own way and by. His eternally determined means been severely bombed. Within the.last  two weeks no
 the climax of all #things.                                    less than 7500 tons of bombs have been released upon
 Progress  elf the War.                                        the city. It is claimed  &hat from one fourth to one
                                                               third of the city is in complete ruins. According to
         The latest news can ,be briefly summed up as fol-     reports many more severe aerial blows are  tto be
 lows: In the Russian theatre much bloody fighting executed against Germany during itlhe winter. No less
 is going on at the present. The Russians have scored than fifty two cities are on the ,list for total destruc-
 tremendous gains this past summer. At present how-            tion. It is horrible to think about it what all this
 ever the Russian offensive seems  ito have slowed down means in terms of sorrow, trouble, :destruction,.fear
 considerably  and Germany is making a supreme effort and ,death.
 to  regai:n the initiative. We are told by the daily            Of late tthere  have been several peace rumors; but
 papers that bloody battles along a 600 mile front are high officials tell us not to put any stock in them. The
 raging wherein Germany attempts to regsin the con- opi:nion sems to be quite general that Germany will
 trol of vital communications and supply lines and halt not collapse internally this winter under a su&ained
 the surging Russian drive to the old Polish border. aerial offeneive,  and no ,decisive  defeat is expected on
 It still remains rto be seen whether Germany can make the battle fields till  ntext  year. If this estimation is


                                          TvHE S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   +                                         135

  correct it means that some very bloody fighting lies and to put everything in the war effort. However, a
  ahead of our armies and that the future rate of casual-        great many individuals and groups try to squeeze out
  ites will be heavy when the Allies invade the European         of the war as much as they can. No wonder that one
  fortress.    Some experts believe that our casualties          hears a protest every eo often from our boys that do
  will be extremely  heavy  when  !the Allies start their        ithe fighting in the fox-holes, in the air, and on the
  invasion of the West. And then of course we still have         seven seas. Y,es,  indeed, `de~mocracy'  as we spesk of it
  to deal with Japan. Hence, it is not true that the war         and have it in our ow,n  country is very cumbersome,
  is over except for the shouting. The worst, climatic           has its many weakness&s, and certainly will never
  history  ,in terms of loss of men, perhaps with the            bring the glory and the golden age of which many
  exception of Russia, is still to come. Raymond Clapper         philosophers and  po1iticia.n.s  dream.
  wrote  ,iln! one of his latest syndicated  arti&e these           What are we to do? We shoulid  be faithful in our
* significant  wor,ds: "Many people think the war is over <task as citizens of America. But let us  not be deceived
  when Germany surrenders, but for us the dying will             as if a future ides1 sta~te of affairs were in store for
  only have begun." The latest list of our American              us. Our expectations are not from man. Our goal
  casualties for all branches of the armed forces has            is not the earth. W$t,h the patriarchs of old we should
  reached already the formidable figure of 126,969, kill- evermore intensely seek the Country and the City that
  ed, wounded, prisoners, missing.                               is above.    For we  expect  new heavens and a  $new
  C?n the Domestic Front.                                        earth in which righteousness dwelleth.
                                                                                                                J. D.
     Space does not permit us ,to broa,den  out on this
  point at all. Let me mention a few of the things
  tings that are going on at home.
     As far as eating is concerned the American people
  certainly are well fed. Those in authority claim that
  food supplies, of most things are adequate and will                 The Division of the Land in
  continue so.
     We are piling up a tremendous ,bill of war. Only                            W e s t   P a l e s t i n e
  part of the cost of this war is paild for at the present.
  The future generation will be burdened with a tre-                The matter of Caleb's inheritance being taken care
  mendous debt the equal of which has not been in all            of, a commencement is made of the distribution of the
  the history of the world. It is  e&imated  that the            land among the nine and a half tribes. Being the
  present war will cost the U.S.A. at least ~300,000,000,        kingly tribe, Judah was the first to receive his lot
  000 dollars. An astronomical figure which we can ,and was planted in a conspicuous territory.                          Pre-
  mention but none of us has the slightest  iIdea how much       eminence was due to this tribe, which had inherited
  300 billion dollars really amounts to.                         the patriarchal blessing, and from which He was to
     Both business and labor makes money on this war.            come in whom all the nations of the earth should be
 ' In `fact practically all classes of people in our Cou:ntry    blessed. But Judah was not planted in the heart of
  benefit financially from  *the present war. And still the country. That position was given to Ephraim and
  people are never satisfied, much to the chagrin of the         Manassah, while Judah obtained the southern sectio:?.
  boys that have  Ito do the fighting.                           Accodring to some interpreters, Judah and the .:ons
     The inflation which our government tries to curb            of Joseph seem not to have obtained their inheritance
  and control is of late threatening to expand faster            by lot, but by their own choice and early possession.
  khan. ever. Washington we are told is full of  lobby-          This view militates against the notice at ch. XV :l.
  i&s, each fighting for his own group. Labor wants              "This then was the I,ot of the tribe of the children  of
  higher wages, especially since John Lewis practically Judah by their families." And at ch. XIV : 1 we read,
  got what he asked for. The so-called `little steel' for-       "And these are the countries which the children of
  mula is out of date, so the labor leaders claim. The           Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which  Eleazsr
  farmers fight tooth and nail for ,the abandonment of           the priest,  and  Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads
  `subsidies.' They want a free market for their pro-            of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel,
  ducts  and uncontrolled prices. The  pohticians  in            distributed for an inheritance to them.  .&  lof  ZU~ZS
  Washington seem to be afraid to take matters in                their inheritance, as the Lord commanded by the hand
  haad, afraid  <to curb inflation, afraid to tax the people     of Moses, fti the nine tl-*bes arxl j%r the #h&f tribe."
  ~&c. With them the trouble seems to be votes. They             The territory of the tribe of Judah included the most
  want to offend no more people than is necessary, lest          southern part of the land.      Ilt touched Edom in the
  they lose out in next year's election.                         east and in the south had the wilderness of Zin  as
     "D3il.y  the American people are told to be patriotic       its border. Its starting point is the end of the Dead


  Sea: From this point the border runs toward the                . But today the land, and in particular the  terriltory
  south, as appears from ver.  3, which says: It went           of Judah, has an opposite as,pect  and chamcter  from
  out toward the south side of the ascent of Acrabbim,          that- which it. then bore. The contrast is so  grea:  and
  Thence it went up to the side of Kadesh-barnea,  and          dire, that unbelievers,  amonlg them Voltaire, wanting
  passed along to Hezron. . . .and went out at the river        to discredit the scriptures, sa.y Ithat it can and could be
  of Egypt,  an,d the goings out of the border were at          estee,med  fertile when compared with the desert, and
  the sea. "This shall be your southern border" (ver.           therefore could not have supported a population so
  4). This last statement also indicates certainly that         numerous as can accord with the  itestimony  of the
.  `,?Iso Judah had its territory assigned to him and. did      Scriptures. But the fact is ,that through the centur-
  not obtain it by  choi,ce.  The Dead Sea, in all its ex-      ies of our Christian  (era, a host of enemies `have made
  tent from south to north, was the chief part of  ,the         all the cities waste and brought the land, still natur-
  eastern border. The northern border began at Gilgal,          ally fertile, ,into desolation. Judea has been  SUCCEBS-
  and went forth w,estwards  to the Mediterr,anean  by a        ively invaded by `foreign nations, and spoiled by des-
  1in.e that passed just sourth of Jerusalem (vers. 5-12) ;     potic governments. And today the land is being trod-
      According to some interpreters, the territory of den underfoot by pastoral or wandering tribes, chiefly
  Judah was not preeminently fruitful; it was not equal         the Bedouin Arabs.        All  [their  property consists in
  in. this respect to that of Ephraim and Manasseh. I t         cattle. The mountains of  dudea,  terraced all over and
  had some fertile tracts, but. a considerable part of it       thus giving the clearest demonstration of ancient glory,
  was mountainous and barren.                                   have  heen 1aQd desolate. Their onIs covering now are
      At the present  time,  Judea is a country of this         weeds and creeping thorns. And all this in fulfillment
  description but not the Jndea of ancient  Itimes.  It         of prophecy.    "I will make your  cilties,  waste, and
  was mountainous but not barren. The mistake that              bring your sanctuaries unto  desolation,--4nd I  wiIl
  these interpreters make is that they regard the present bring  khe land into desolation: and your enemies
  condition of ,the Holy land as an indication of its con-      which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I
  dition in Bible times. If we want to know what kind           will scatter  you among the heathen, and will draw
  of a country it was &hat God gave to Israel, we must          out a sword afiter  you; and your land shall be desolate.
  take the Scriptures as our guide. According to God's and your cities waste. Then  shall the land enjoy her
  word,  ilt was good land that He prepared for His             Sabbaths,  as long as it lieth desolate,  ,aad ye be in
  people. .At the time of its invasion by the Israelites,       your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest and
  it supported a numerous population in abundance. The          e.njoy  her Sabbaths."     (Isa. I  :7-g).    "I will give it
   Canaanite cities were numerous, strong, and thriv-           into the hands of rthe strangers for B prey, and to the
   ing. The territory of Judah alone included'  ninet'y         wicked `of the earth for a spoil. _ The robbers shall
  cities with their villages. With the people of Israel as      enter into it and despoil it" (Eze. VII :22, 23). These
   its residents, the yield of the soil was miraculous.         prophecies began to be fulfilled with the invasion of
   Every sabbatical year the1 land could be left unculti-       Canaan by the Assyrian army: but they continue3
  ,vatted  without the nation falling into want.     Every ito be fulfilled through the centuries even of our Chris-
   forty-ninth year  this rest period was of two years          tian era. They are still in process  of fulfillment. The
   duration. The `report of the spies was to the effect         bringing into desolation of  lt.he holy land continues.
  that "We came unto the land whibher thou sentest us,          And the Jews continue to be a people without a coun-
   and surely it  flow&h  with milk and honey.  " The re-       try. Moses set blessings and curses before the  lssael-
   port agrees with the description of Canaan contained         &es, with the purpose that they might choose between
   in the Lord's communication to Moses when He appear-. athem.  Choosing, they chose the curse. But Go,d does
   ed Ito him in the burning bush.. "I am come to deliver       not cast off His,  peopl,e  among them-the remnant.
   them out of the hand of the Egyptian, and to `bring according  ,to the  e,leotion.   All  Israedthe elect of all
   them up out  .of  that  land unto a good land and a          nations-shall be saved.
   large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey." (Ex.                                                       G. M. 0.
   III). Moses in one of his  filnal discourses delineates
   on the  go0,dnes.s  of  it,he land in this language: "For
   the Lord bring&h thee into a good land, a land of                                        -
   brooks ,of water, of fountains and depth that spring
   out of valleys and hills ; a land of wheat, and barley,
   and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a  lnad                                    NOTICE
   of oil olive and honey ; a" land wherein thou shaht eat          Classis East will meet D.V.. Wednesday, J,anuary 5,
   bread without scarceness, thou shalt not  la.ck anything at 9  :00 A.M. in the Fuller Ave. Church.
   in .it." (Deut..  8 :7-g).                                                                           D, Jonker, SC.


