 440                                                                                    T H E   STA'NDAR*D   B E A R E R

                                          The Standard Bearer
                  Semi-Monthly, except  Mon#rl~  in  July  aad August                                                                              EDITORIALS'                                                         -
                                                              Published  b y   .                                  .
                            The Reformed Free  Publirhiug  Aswciatimn
                                                    1101  Hasen  Street, 5. E.                                                            The Marks Of The True Church *'
                                             EDITOR  -  Rev.  .H.  Hoekwma  '

          Contributing editors-Revs. J. Blankespoor,  A. Cammenga,                                                                         Twenty years ago today the Christian Reformed
           P. De Boer, J. D. de  Jong,   B. De  Wolf,  L.  Doexema,                                                                     Church, convened in synodical  gathering in Kalamazoo,
           M. Gritterr, C. Hanko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,
          A. Petter, M.  Schipper,  J.  Vanden   Breggen,  H. Veldman,                                                                  Michigan, was travailing in the pangs of birth, about
     R. Veldman. L. Vermeer, P. Vis, G. Vos, Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                           to be delivered of a doctrinal child. She labored hard,
                                                                                                                                        and even though some ten days before mother had
           Communications relative to contents should be addressed                                                                      been taken to the hospital, and a consultation of expert
           to REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand
           Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                            doctors  a~nd professors had been held, that had given
                                                                                                                                        detailed advice just how this particular case should  bp
           Communications relative to  ru'bscription  should be ad-                                                                     treated, when finally mother was brought to the synod-
           dressed to  MI?.   R.  SCHAAFSMA,  1101  Hasen  St., S. E.,
           Grand Rapids,  Mich.  All Announcements and Obituaries                                                                       ical delivery room, it seemed as if there were no
           must be sent .to the above address and will not be placed                                                                    strength to bring forth. Some doctors even expressed
           unless the regular fee of $1.00 accompanies  the notice.                                                                     as their opinion that the whole thing was premature,
                                                   Subscription $2.50 per year                                                          and that the consulting experts had been mistaken as
                                                                                                                                        to the time of delivery. They advised to wait, and,to
                                                                                                                                        send mother back home until the time should be ful-
                                                                                                                                        filled for her to be <delivered. For days she labored in
                                                                                                                                        vain. On the evening of the third of July, 1924, it was
                                                                                                                                        decided to allow her;a  few days of respite. The expert
                                                              CXMTBUTS                                                                  doctors would return on the seventh of July, deter-
                                                                                                                                        mined, if still it seemed as if the expected child could
   MEDITATIE-                                                                                   *
                                                                                                                                        not be brought forth in the normal and natural way,
  HEILIG IN AL UWEN WANDEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .437
                                                                `..*                                                                    to force the birth, or to perform a Ceasarean operation
                   Rev. H.  Hoekaema                                                                                                    if necessary. And thus it happeaed. During the inter-
   EDITORIALS  -                                                                                                                        val between the third and the seventh of July, some of
. THEiMARKS  OF THE TRUE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .440                                the experts made special study of the case, and on `the
  THE C.L.A. & THE STRIKE QUESTION ..i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  444 evening of  ihe latter  *date  the delivery was  ,forced.
                   Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                   1.                                And mother gave birth to triplets ! The firstborn bore
                                                                                                                                        a remarkable resemblance to old Arminius, and was
   THE C.L.A. & THE USE OF THE STRIKE s....................,........ 425                                                                called GENERAL GRACE; the second and third
                  By Mr. J. Gritter, Sec'y of the C.L.A.                                                                                strongly suggested kinship with  PeIagius,  and, accord-
   PROUD EPHRAIM C THE TREACHEROUS CITIES . . . . . . . . . . 447                                                                       ingly, their names were called SIN-RESTRAINT and
                   Rev.  G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                   MAN'S  RIGHTEOUSFESS  respectively.
                                                                                                                                          Somehow the sons of the Christian Reformed  Churc!l,
  GODS NAAM NARIJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 if I may make myself guilty of an inevitable mixture of
                   Rev. G. Vos.                                                                                                         metaphor, for I am now speaking of sons of flesh and
   DEBATE:-                                                                                                                             blood, looked with grave suspicion upon these three
                                                                                                                                        doctrinal children, whose birth had been forced at "the
          AFFIRMATIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-.................. ~ . . . . . . . . . . ..*.......... 452 Synod of Kalamazoo. In fact, they insisted that the;7
                  By Rev. J. A. Heys                                    (                                                               were not born of the Spirit and of the Word, but were
          NEGATIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~........................~............................461    chiIdren of adultery, and that, therefore, they should
              By Rev. H.  Vel,dman                                                                                                      be expelled from the Christian Reformed home and
                                                                                                                                        family. However, mother refused to admit that she
   GEEN ROOF GEACHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .."......................... 456          had played the harlot  wit'h Arminius and Pelagius,
                  By Rev. Geo. Lubbers                                                                                                  grew angry with her faithful sons, and cast them out
  THOMAS AQUINAS & COMMON GRACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  458 of her house as bastards, and not sons.. These, being so
          By Homer C. Hoeksema                                                                                                          cruelly and unjustly exiled, built their own home, and
                                                                                                                                        r+established  their normal family life.. And  ever
                            _t""                                                                                                        since, they claim that their re-established home and
    I       __        .     .I     .     ..A._     --      l._l-,-      ^j...     _        *                   .."
                                                                                                                                 ).


                                   TI3E   STAN'DABD   BEABEB                                                     441

family are the proper Reformed heritage, and that           due to distance and distinctions of a national and
they are the true and legal sons of the Protestant Re-      lingual nature, but also because of doctrinal divisions,
formation in the Calvinistic line, while the Christian and opposing articles of faith. We believe that the
Reformed Church is an adulterous woman, and they            Church is one, one in hope and faith and love, one in
that justify her adulterous ways are bastards, and  no!     Christ through the one Spirit; but here on earth we
sons.                                                       behold a church that appears rather hopelessly divided,
   This claim must aiways anew be emphasized and the separate divisions of which refuse to recognize  one'
sustained, especially since our former adulterous another as belonging to the true spiritual Body of
mother and her unfaithful sons do not grow weary of Christ, each with its own creed, its own ritual, and
repeating that we were expelled from home because           its own program of action.        We believe that the
we were rebellious, refractory, and stiffnecked child- Church of Christ is holy, holy in her Head, washed in
ren, that refused to heed wise and proper admonition.       the blood of the Lamb, sa,nctified in the Spirit, conse-
In other words, over against the doctrinally false and crated to God, and separated from the world. But in
church-politically unjust attitude of the Christian Re- actual  fabt we  see very little of this holiness. On the
formed Church we constantly face the obligation to contrary, we perceive a gathering that is marred by
maintain that not they, but we represent the proper much sin, hatred and envy, corruption and debauchery,
continuation of the historical line of the Reformed division and schism, wrangling and controversy.
faith, and the true Church of God in the world. What,          For -this reason the distinction was always made
then, could be more proper, on this twentieth anni- between the Church visible and invisible. By this dis-
versary of the "Three Points" than to examine the           tinction was never meant that there are two churches,
criterion according to which it must always be deter- one visible and another invisible, a church within the
mined whether a certain visible church represents           church. The distinction does not refer to the fact
the true Church Catholic, and speak to you for a few that within the scope of the church in the world there
moments on :                                                are hypocrites, so that the church visible is the gather-
                                                            ing of believers including the hypocrites; while  ,the
           The Marks Of The T,ru.e Church.                  church invisible represents the true body of the elect
   What is :the idea of what is known as the marks          and spiritual members of Christ. But it means tha.t
of the Church? How are they possible, and why should the Church, as  the'spiritual,  heavenly Body of Christ,
they be necessary? In general, we may answer that           catholic and holy, is essentially  iizvisible,  but that
the marks of the Church are such manifestations of          through certain expressions and signs this invisible
the `Church of Christ in the world as serve to identify     Church becomes visible in the world in the earthly
a certain gathering of believers and their children gathering of believers and their children. As %far as
on earth as a representation of the true body of Christ.    the Church as an organization is concerned this visible
They are characteristics by which the true Church manifestation of the invisible, spiritual Body of Christ
may be recognized. The Church is the gathering of is effected by the confession and  .walk of the believers.
the elect into the spiritual Body of Christ. This gather- Wherever a group of believers are gathered in the
ing is effected by the Son of God Himself by His Spirit     name of Christ, and confess their faith in Him, and
and Word. It is made out of :the whole human race,          seal their confession by a godly walk, there the Church.
and throughout the ages of history. This gathering,         invisible becomes visible on earth. But the marks of
though made in the world, and out of the world, is not      the Church do not refer to the manifestation of the
of this world. It is not physical but spiritual. It is      invisible Body of Christ  as  a%  orga.&sm,  but to the
not earthly, but essentially heavenly, The attributes       identification of the Church  as she  G  ~imtituted  Iry
of this Church are catholicity, unity, and holiness as      Chr;ist  in the world, through the offices of ministers,,
we confess in the  Apostoticum:  "I believe an holy elders, and ldeacons,  and the ministry of the Word and
catholic church."                                           the Sacraments. And the marks of the Church are
   But we must understand at once that as such this         those characteristics by which the invisible Body of
Church is an object of faith, not of our experience         Christ, gathered and instituted in the world, may be
or of human perception. Essentially, the Church is recognized.
invisible, not in the sense that God is invisible, but         But more must be said. For these marks  .of the
in the sense that she escapes our human and earthly Church  ldo not merely serve the purpose of indicating
perception. We believe and confess that the Church the institution of the Church, and of distinguishing
is catholic, that is, the same all over the world and       it from all other institutions on earth as the manifest--
among all nations, as well as throughout all the ages ation of Christ's spiritual body, the  ecclesia called out
of history. But this catholic Church is not as such and gathered by Him, but they are also means where-
perceived. On the earth we perceive but local churches, by the true Church may be  distingui.shed  from  the
separated not only by reason of natural differences false. They are distinguishing marks of  the  tmc


442                                     T H E   STANDAR"D.   B E A R E R                    '

Church... Fact is that the `church in the worId  is in :I        Preaching is powerful. It is a power of God unto  sali
constant process of adeformation.  The reason for this' vation  or unto damnation. It is not mere human per-
is evident. The church in the world i's not perfect.             suasion. But it is powerful and efficacious, not because
Always there is the carnal element, the chaff among man speaks, not even because he takes the contents of
the wheat, the tares in the field.' This carnal `element his s;~cch  from the Scriptures, but becau,se  it is God
is represented not only by  the. carnal children and             fhrrjuyh  Christ that speaks through the preaching.
hypocrites, that always come up out of the  boso:n               From this it folows that not every one that  tsikes  a
of the Church in; the world, or add .themselves  to it           fancy to proclaim the gospel is a preacher. A preach-
for various fleshly reasons, but a1s.o by the old ndturc         er must be sent. He must be called. Hence, we insist
in the  believers themselves. Aed the constant tendency          that the only one that can preach, i.e. that is author-
of this carnal element is to corrupt the Church, to              ized to preach and whose word Christ will use as 3'
lead her astray from the t&h  as it-is in Chris:, and            medium to speak His own Worad to His people, is the
from the way of sanctification into the corruption  of           Chul& For through the apostles the Lord called His
the world. The result of this constant process of dc- Churcl~  in the world, and commissioned her to  preach
formation is that there are `all sorts VP gatherings 1::         the gospel to all nations. And that Church has  th.e
the world that assume the name of Church,  bul wit!;             guidance of the Holy Spirit, leading her into all the
different gradations of purity,- until at' last  C1:e truth.. Hence, the Church alone, aa.d none other, is
Church reveals itself as utterly false. Always, therc-           the preacher. And`she fulfills this holy calling thYoug?;!l
fore, there is a movement away from the true Churn!:             the ministry of the Word, not only in the narrower
in the direction of the wholly false, and,.on the line of sense, but also in the wider, including instruction  ant1
this movement there are several  churc1lP.s   thal  are          preservation. of the truth, development of  doctrine
more or less relatively true and false. AILl by the and the establishment of dogma in her. confessions.
marks of il:c true Ci:,;rch  in the world are me&%h XQ           One that is called by the Church, therefore, unto this
distingcluhmg   char&ristics  of the  Chu:~`::"in&ilute          ministry of the Word, may consider himself a preacher.
by  whii:I  ihc !.rcc  Church  may be  r::oglii%d   III  th::    But from this also follows that the preacher, that is
midst  of:  ar  d in  &tin&ion from  dl  :al+?&ions   anti       the minister of the Word called by the Church, is
deform+.on3.                                                     strictly bound to the Word of Christ as contained in
       Now, in answer to the question : which. are these the Holy Scriptures. Only when, and in as far as,
distinguishing marks. by which the true Church in                the Church proclaims the gospel of God according t,ii
the workl  may be known? the Church usually ieplied              th.e Scriptures, will Christ use `the preaching to bring
that there are three such marks: the pure preaching` His own Word to His people, and is there true  prench-
of the Word, the proper administration of the sacra-. ing at all.
men&,  and the proper exercise of Christian discipline,.            The same element may be and should be stressed
or application of the keys of the king'dom of heaven:' with regard to the sacraments. Sacraments are  ho!y,
`Let us look at each one of these a little more closely,         visible signs and seals of God's invisible grace, which'
see what they have in common, and'try to  answer  the the Church is authorized to administer in the name  of.
question why these three serve as distinguishing marks           Christ, and which a.re subservient to His efficacious
whereby the true Church in the world may be recog- Word of grace just as the preaching of the Word. Also
nized.                                                           in the administration of the sacraments Christ is  the.
       First of all, there is the  pr'eaching  of the Word.      chief Subject. The R,efor'med Church never believed in
What is it? We may reply `that the preaching of the sacraments that in themselves had the power to con-
Word is that proclamation of the gospel of -God'that. is vey grace and salvation apart from Christ and His
authorized by Christ, is according `to  .the.  Scriptures,       Spirit. If Christ does not say: "I baptize thee," there
and is performed by a preacher, that  isi.by &e%hat  is          is no baptism. `If Christ is not present at the Lord's,
called and sent to preach, and that stands:ih  the:s@ririee      table, there is no Lord's Supper. If Christ does not
of the living and powerful Word of  God;.c-+I:  is not           say : "This is my body, this is my blood shed for you,
necessary for our purpose to elaborate upon: all the `take, eat, and drink," all our breaking of bread and
different elements of this definition of true preaching.         pouring out of wine, our eating and drinking and
There is; however, one element  *hat must have all speaking, are of no `avail whatever. We may say that
the emphasis here, and  that,  is; that true-preaching of. the sacraments are the wedding ring of Christ, the
the  W!srd  is wholly dependent on, and must be stirict!$kJ Bride&room, to His Church, the  Bride, which  the
subservienl  to the Word which" Ch%t ,Himself speaks; Church may wear in His absence, until He come, and
as the-chief Prophet of the  Cl&r&~ Unless He  sp&l&.            which is a sure pledge of His hearty love and faithful-
powerfully, efficaciously, through His Stjirit;r&ti LW-          ness toward us. But even as a young lady cannot her-
less it pleases Him to make the preaching by:`rrian'sub-         self go to the jewelry store, buy a ring; Bnd put it on
servient to His mighty Word;  thehe is  no.`p&aching.            her finger as a pledge of some young. ni$n!s love to her


                                    THE  S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                              448

so no Church can herself institute sacraments and derive their power and efficaciousness from `the  Word
observe them. Christ must put the wedding ring on of Christ, which He speaks Himself to His people.
the finger of His bride every time the sacraments are Besides, without. the preaching of the Word, by which
celebrated. It follows again, first of all, that only one the Church is called out of *the world, there, wou1.d be
that is called can administer the sacraments, that is, no Church to celebrate the sacraments, nor would the
the Church of Christ in the world ; and, in the second latter have any meaning. Sacraments  a;e pledges,
place,  t.hat these sacraments must be observed by sigbpledges of the Word of Christ.                   And as to the
the Church according to the Word an.d institution of keys of the kingdom of heaven, the preaching of the
Christ. Only then, and only in as far as the Church Word is their very essence, not only because the first
is obedient to the Word of Christ, will Christ speak           and the main key is the preaching of the Word, but
His own Word through that pledge sign of His love also because admonition and excommunication must
and faithfulness. And unless He does so, no group needs be essentially preaching of the Word. Although,
of people can possibly administer an'd observe sacra- therefore, it certainly is t,rue,  that all these three are
ments.                                                         distinguishing marks of the Church, it is safe to say,
   Once more, the same idea appears on the fore in that where there is pure  preachi3.g of the Word, there
Christian discipline, or the application of the keys of must also be proper administration of the sacraments,
the kingdom of heaven.       The keys of the kingdom and the right exercise of Christian discipline. In
represent the power bestowed upon the Church by short, it is not too bold to say, that one may sum up
Christ to open and shut the kingdom of heaven to these remarks by saying that the pure preaching of
believers and unbelievers respectively. You under- the Word is the great and outstanding `distinguishing
stand, this power is more than the furnishing of mere mark of the Church.                Where the Word is purely
information as to who are, and who are not in the              preached, there is the Church !
kingdom of God, or as to whose sins are, and whose                The reason why these three are marks of the true
sins are not forgiven. Anyone that knows the Bible             Church is now also evident. It is not accidental that
can do this. But the keys represent actual power over these same marks, at least two of them admittedly,
.the consciences of men.     It is such an opening and and the third by implication, are also presented as the
shutting of the kingdom of heaven as reaches out into means of grace. Means of grace are instituted means
the consciences of men, so that they either rejoice in whereby Christ through His Spirit bestows His grace
the assurance of their salvation, or are convinced of and salvation upon the Church. Christ alone gathers
their being outside of the kingdom  and of Christ. But and builds His Church. No human power or ingenuity
again, you understand that this is possible only when          is able to do this for Him, or in His behalf. But it
Christ Himself speaks and employs the keys. Ulti- pleases Him to gather and to st.rengthen  His Church
mately, He alone holds the keys of David, and has through the means of grace, particularly through the
power to forgive men's sins, or to retain them. If preaching of the Word.                  Now, it has become plain
He does not open the kingdom to men, all men's work that where Christ Himself does not speak His Word.
is utterly vain ; if Re adoes not shut the kingdom, no         there is no preaching of the Word; and where the
man caa possibly expel anyone from it. And again, Word is not preached by the Church, and according
it follows, first of all, that one that handles the keys to the Scriptures, there Christ does not speak His
of the kingdom of heaven on earth, must be authorized Word. But, where Christ does not perform His work
and called to do so. Hence, only the Church can have of grace, and speak His Word, there the Church is not
that power. And, secondly, it follows that only when           called out, the  Eedesia   is not gathered, and is not
and in as far as the Church applies those keys of the built up in the most holy faith. Or, in other words,,
kingdom according to the Word of Christ in the Scrip-          where the Word is not preached, there Christ is not
tures, will  ,Chris,t Himself work through the action present, and where Christ is not present there is no
of the Church,  and speak His own Word of power.               Church. It is evident, then, that the preaching of the
Unless Christ works, there is no keypower, no Chris. Word is essential to the very existence of  t.he Church.
tian discipline.                                               The two are inseparable. And therefore, the pure
    In view `of all that has been said, it should be preaching of the Word is an infallible distinguishing
evident that these three distinguishing marks of the mark of the true Church. Accordingly, the same is
true Church; the preaching of the Word, the adminis-           true of the proper administration of the sacraments,
:tration of the sa,craments,  and the exercise of Christian    and of the faithful application of the keys of the  king-
#discipline, all concentrate around the first. The  preach- cdom  of heaven. Where the Word is not preached at
in,g of the Word is not only the chief distinguishing all, there the Church is become utterly false, which
mark of the Church in the world, and the main com- is the same as saying that there the Church does not,
mission she received from her Lord, it also dominates exist. And where the preaching of the Word is  cor-
and controls the other two. All three depend upon an*4         rupted, there the Church is corrupt, and moving in

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

the direction of the false Church.                            darkness according to that truth. To do this with all
   In view of all this, it ought not be difficult to under: our might, from the pulpit and in the catechism class,
stand that in 1924, by the adoption of the "Three through the printed page and over the air, in  our
Points," the Christian Reformed Churches officially homes and iri the schools where our children are in-
took an important step in the direction of the false strutted;  to do this faithfully and emphatically, with-
Church, and became corrupt. In these points the out ever growing weary and with every means at our
Synod of Kalamazoo attempted to declare  itself  ,on the command, in season and out of season,-that  is our
important questions of the grace of God, and of th? specific and very sacred calliilg!  `Doing this, but then
state of the natural man. Trying to find support for emphatically only in as far as we are ,doing this, we
the false position that the grace of God is common and shall work in the service of the work of God. "Where-
p;eneral  in the Standards of the Reformed Churches, fore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable,
and being unable to find any evidence of the theory           always abounding in the work of the Lord,  forasmucl!
of Qommon grace in those Confessions, the Synod final- & ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord !"
ly committed the fatal error of declaring that the                                                            H. H.
preaching of the Word is a well-meaning offer of * Speech delivered by transcription on the Field Day, July 4, `&I.
grace and salvation on the part of God to all men.
By this declaration she not only corrupted the doctrinc
of sovereign election and efficacious graze,  but she also
corrupted the very conception of the preaching of the
Word itself. For preaching is  never an offer  .:o  a!1       The CLA. and the Strike Question
men, depending on man to brixig it, and on relatively
good men to accept it, but it is the pure proclamation            The strike, as a refusal to wo& at a job which v:e
of ,the gospel of Christ, in the service of the powcrfui      still consid,er  ours, and for one whom we still recognize
Word of God Himself. An3 in that service preaching as our employer, is rebellion against proper authority.
is~ not and cannot be grace to all that hear, but is bo%.        But it also obstructs, in fact, makes impossible the
a savor of life unto life, and a  *savor  of death unto       manifestation of true righteousness and  juskice,   ix.
death. The Synod of Kalamazoo declared plai:ily  anJ          the justice and righteousness of God.
*deliberately that preaching in and by the Christian              The very  odposite  is frequently stated as an argu-
R@ormed Churches will serve this twofold  purposa             ment in favor of the strike. The strikers claim to hav?
of the Word of Christ no more, and  acaordingly   :he         a just and righteous cause. The laborer is oppressed.
contents of the preaching must be corrupted. Hence, His wages are held to a minimum. Working con-
according to the chief criterion or distinguishing mark ditions are bad. He is compelled to work long hours.
of the true Church, the Christian Reformed Churches And when he strikes the workman simply  defends   hi;
have become corrupt. To have pledge3 ourselves to             right. He stands for the cause of justice  and.right-
silence, and to have acquiesced in the adopted doctri;:e      eousness  over against a cruel and unrighteous capital-
of 1924 would have been tantamount to a deliberate ism. If he does not use the power he has to better.
promise to corrupt the preaching, and to lead  the            his condition by threatening the employer 10 refuse
Church in the sdirection  of the false Church. But by to work, and to prevent as much as possible other?
the grace of God we refused, and chose rather to suffer ,from  working for an employer that. deals unjustly with
injustice and reproach than to corrupt the Word *of           him, the laboring man, proud and mighty capitalism
God.    And we are confident that our action was of will grow more wantonly unjust and corrupt all the
God. Were we placed before the same choice  today tlme. Hence, .:he workingma,n  simply asserts his rights,
as we confronted in 1924, we could but follow the an.3 s:ands  for the cause of justice, when he organizes a
same course. We could do nought else.                         strike.
   And for the same reason, we are also confident                 Let. me reply, first of all, that I shall not,  attempt
that God is with us. As He used us then unto `the to deny the facts in the case.
preservation of the truth and the Church in the world,            It is not true, of course, that the employee is
so He will use us still. We may be small in numbers,          always right, or that justice is always on his side.
but we are strong in the Lord, and in the power of Especially in the worldly unions it becomes more and
I'Iis Word. His strength is made perfect in weakness.         more evident that in times of abundant work, as is
And our calling is very clear. T% is to pre!erye  and to the case in the present per&l of war-production, there
proclaim, to deveIop  and to teach the pure dpctrine  of is no limit to their demands upon the employer. Al-
the Word of (:od,  especially as it conceras  His sover- ways they demand more wages and shorter hours, and
eign grace, and the truth of His eternal covenant with        always they contend for more power to assert them-
aHis people in Christ Jesus, and to instruct the people       selves over against their employers.
of Cod to live and walk in the midst of this $orld of             There is no doubt, however, that often labor has


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                  445

been and is oppressed by  capita1,  and that the poor            `,
                                                             suffer wrong in this world patiently, and proclaim  to
suffer at the hands of the rich.      1                      all oppressors that the Lord will come presently to
   Scripture, both in the Old and New Testament,             maintain the cause of true justice and righteousness,
fraxuently speaks of this cruel oppression, and threat- to avenge His own, and strike down in His fierce
ens God's terrible wrath and retribution  against the wrath all the oppressors of the world.
wicked oppressor.                                               I will not take time to prove that this is, indeed,
   The point, however, which I want to make in this          the Biblical position.
connection is, that by taking the law in his own hands,         I consider that this is so well known that it is quite
organizing a strike, picketing the plant against gos-        superfluous to quote special passages.
sible  L%cabs," and thus using force, the laborer does          If someone would differ with me on this point,
not serve the cause of righteousness  an,d justice, but and try to `prove from Scripture that the Christian
makes it exactly impossible that righteousness be- may employ force to gain his end in what he considers
comes manifest.                                              a just cause, I am willing to give him the opportunity
   Let it be understood, first of all, that the strikers     in our paper.
do not usually intend to fight for justice. They are            In the meantime, I take it for granted that we all
not motivated by a love of righteousness, which is of agree on this point.
God, but by the desire to improve their own con-                And only if we act according to this position* of
ditions. Earthy, material gain they have in mind.            Holy Writ can and do we, indeed, serve the cause of
   But even apart from this, might does not make righteousness, the righteousness that is to be revealed
right.                                                       in the  dday of our Lord Jesus Christ.
   And the use of force never determines what is just.          But the striker is unwilling to serve this cause.
   There are, indeed, powers in this world that have            IHis position is, unchristian.
the authority and calling to determine what. is right,                                                       H. H.
                                                                -.
and to defend the good over against the evil-doer.
But this power is vested  ins the magistrates, and in no
other man or body of men in the world. The union
has power, but it is the power of numbers: it has no
authority to render a verdict as to what is just or un-      The C.L.A. and the Use of the Strike
just in a given case.
   Now, what happens, when a union organizes a Dear Editor,
strike?
    First of all, the union renders a verdict in its own        I owe you an answer to the questions. put to thn
cause that it is just and right, a verdict that has no       C.L.A. in one of your editorials in the May 15 issu,:
authority whatever.                                          of the Statidard  Bearer. It is unfortunate that there
   Secondly, seeing it cannot obtain what it considers seems to be so much misunderstanding still about this
just in a proper and legal way, it tries to gain its end strike question. I beli'eve  that much of it is due to the
by using force against the employer.                         fact that what we say or write is too often miscon-
   `Suppose that the strike is successful. Has the strued. Even you, Mr. Editor, seem to have #d<rawn
cause of justice and righteousness been served? Has a wrong conclusion when you wrote: "Mr. Gritter
it become evident that justice prevailed? Of course defends ithe position thlat a Christian not only may, but
not. Only one thing was proved: the strongest party is called to create better and more just social conditions
had the victory. And nothing else could possibly have by the use of force, and all the power at our command".
been proved. The strike renders the manifestation I would find no fault with it if by "force" and "power"
of justice exactly impossible.                               you do  mot  mea,n  the use of `violence, intimidation  ,and
    It proceeds on the basis that might makes right.         terrorism that usually accompanies  st.rikes  by worldly
   And this basis is thoroughly corrupt.                     unions, and you do mean colle&ive  peaceful actio$n to
    That strike is no means to establish social justice eliminate injustices  an,d to oppose various sinful prac-
on the eart.h. The very opposite is true.                    tices. Such a use of power the C.L.A. believes in.
    But, you probably ask, what redress has then the Because most people associate "force". and "power"
oppresses workingman ? Suppose he has a just cause.          with the evils mentioned! above we prefer not to have
And suppose he exhausted all legal ways and means those  ,t.erms  used in connection with C.L.A. activity
to obtain justice, but he failed. And granted that the unless they are  fulIy explained.
strike is contrary to Scripture, and that he may not             You ask certain questions concerning the position
employ force to gain his end? What must he do?               of the C.L.A., and whether what I have publicly pre-
    The answer of the Bible is without any question,         sented and defended is actually the position of  th?
that in  sp~h  3  mse the  b&ever  in this  wcdcj  is  to    C,L.& I can assure you that it is7 provided that what

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

     I have saild and written is not misconstrued. So, for pute is purely one of bargaining, such as employment
     instance, when I mention a "collective cessation of policies or higher wages, the employees are technically
     work"-which 1 prefer to the use of the term "strike"         considered as having quit and the employer has the
     -that does not necessarily mean collective quitting,         right to hire others and to retain them permaneetly.
     in the sense that those involved relinquish all claims When the strike is settled he may or may not offer
     and do not intend to return. We take the position that re-emp1oymen.t   Ito the  oI,d employees and he is not
     when Christian workers collectively cease working in obligated to pay lost wages. The employees meanwhile
     protest against an injustice by their employer, which have the right to their constitutionally guaranteed ex-
     he has obstinately refused to remove in spite of re-         pression of free speech by truthful statements  an1
     peated and earnest appeals to do so by the workers, peaceful picketing. When slanderous or libelous state-
     such employees retain a moral claim to their jobs ments are made, when picketing becomes violent or
     and they may, in a peaceful manner acquaint the when entrances are blocked, an injunction against such
     public with their grievances and request it not .to lend practices will be issued by the courts.
     support to the employer in continued imposition of the          Now, I have tried to make this clear: that the
     injustice by taking employment with him.           At the C.L.A. fully accepts the rights guaranteed to workers
     same time the workers must uphold their promise to by the law and will vigorously <defend them. However,
     return to work when the injustice is removed. That because those rights are protected by labor boards and
     is their moral obligation.                                   the courts the C.L.A. does not see the, necessity and
            That position  ,differs  greatly from that of the     cannot j&ify the use of the strike weapon in such
     worldly unions.  Usu,ally they strike first and talk eases. In (the matter of strikes in which no violation
     afterwards. They strike for what they want, regard- of a labor law is involved the C.L.A. accepts the posi-
     less of the justice or injustice of it, and not by any       tion taken by the courts that such employees if they
     means o.nly against the injustice of the employer. The strike technically quit their jobs, under one condition.
     worldly organization  [does not always have a moral The C.L.A. takes the position that if the employees
     claim but strikes nevertheless and will use violence, are in the wrong they have no rightful moral claim on
     terrorism and bloodshed if necessary, to impose its their jobs. But, if the employer is in the wrong, if
     will. Surely there is a real difference between that they strike against an injustice perpetrated by him,
     and the pos3ion  of the C.L.A.                               they do have a moral claim, altho not so recognized by
            I do not recall that I have ever made the statement ,civil  law. There is a higher, divin.e  law, {demanding
     that when employees collectively cease working the:? that justice be done because God demands it, on which
     thereby give up all claims to their jobs. However, I the C.L.A. bases its claim. And, since the C.L.A. will
     know where that misunderstanding came from. I have justify a strike only when justice is on the side of the
     tried several ltimes  to make clear what the position employees there can be no question about  ilts  condemna-
     on the strike is of those who administer the labor laws, rtion of any other strike by a Christian organization.
     and of the  ,courts. There is a distinction made by the         It seems to me that we are  gat.ting much  cIoser
     administrative bodies that is upheld by the courts.          together than we had deemed possible some time ago.
     When employees strike because of some action by the          Principally we are agreed, so it appears to me, that
     employer that  is ,a violation of a law the right to their employees, if dissatisfied, may  colleotively  cease work-
     jobs is protected by the boards and the courts. So, ing. But, do such employees when they cease working
     for instance, if an employer refuses to bargain with retain a claim to their jobs, and are they justified in
     a union certified for that purpose, or if he discriminates using peaceful means to persuade others from taking
     against union members, he is guilty of violation .of the employment?, or, do they by ceasing work simply quit
     law and the employees' right to their jobs is protected. and relinquish all claims to the jubs they have left?
     The employer might hire other workers during the The answer of the C.L.A. is:  athat all depends. If the
     st.rike  but he woul,d have to offer re-insbtement  to all .employees  are in the wrong, then there is no real justi-
     the old employees with payment for time lost. The law fication for the strike, they must be considered as hav-
c    recognizes and protects the moral claims of the em-          ing quit their jobs, and they should not try to keep
     ployees because their constitutional rights were  denie-l    others from taking their former jobs in order to
     them. I do not believe that anyone would want to say strengthen them in their unjustifiable action. If, on
     that such protection is contrary to Christian ethics. the other hand, the employer is in the wrong, and sin-
     Would we want to do less when it is evident that t.he        cere efforts have been made to persuade him to deal
     employer is responsible for the <dispute?                    justly, then if the employees strike they do have a
            But  (there is also another side to it. When em- moral claim to their jobs and they may by truthful
     ployees strike because of s0methin.g that is not a viola- and peaceful means seek  t,o persuade others from tak-
     tion of a law the strikers do not have the protection of ing employment so that they will not by so doing
     labor boards  and the courts, When the matter in  dis- strengthen the employer in his unjwbifiable  action,

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

   I trust that it is clear. I  %on't know how to make point here.            For Gideon had done just. that. The
it any clearer. And I  can assure you that. that is the tribes that had been summoned were Manasseh,  Asher,
position of the C.L.A. and always has been. That il: is Zebulon and Naphtali. The tribe of Ephraim had not
not found thus fully explained in its. official documents been called. And the men of Ephraim were angry.
is true. But in principle it is found there.                   Was it the anger of love ? Had they yearned to come
                              Joseph Gritter,                  to the rescue of their oppressed brethren but could not
                                Secretary, C. L. A.            because  lthe opportunity had not presented, itself and
                                                               were they now indignant because, when the oppor-
                                                               tunity did finally present itself, they were not called?
                          -                                    And was their wrath intensified by the consideration
                                                               that, in refusing or  negIecting  to empIoy  their man-
Proud Ephraim and the Treacherous power and in venturing the battle with but three hun-
                                                               dred footmen, Gideon had taken an unwarranted risk
                        Cities                                 -the risk of losing that war and  of- plunging,  m  *t
                                                               result, his people into even deeper misery?., And did
   In this article we engage in a character study. they find this thought too horrible to contemplate on
And this study will result in our affirming anew God's account of their love of God's cause?                 Were they
appraisal of the natural man and of the flesh of the           heroes of  failt,h,  eager to jeopardize their lives for
believers-the appraisal to the effect that this man brethren in (distress ?
and this flesh is crnal  and in its carnality is thoroughly       The indignation of the Ephraimites was  <not `at
proud, vain, selfish, self-seeking, a deceiver and a false     bottom love and faith,  but.pride,  tribal jealousy and  3
pretender to virtue and' piety. The subjects of our carnal fear. This can be shown. Firstly, what had
study are the Ephraimites and the Succothites, the hindered them in the past from initiating a war. of
reaction of the former to the mighty achievements of           liberation in behalf of their afflicted brethren. No-
Gideon's faith, and the response of the latter to              thing at all certainly. Yet they had sat still in all
Gideon's petition that they feed his hungry soldiers, those dark years. They were unwilling to stretch out
in hot pursuit of the fleeing Midianite host.                  a hand to repel1 the invasions and unwilling that others
   Let us get before our mind the situation. The Lord should take action. Secretly they hoped that  Gideon's
had once more heard the groaning of His ill-deserving venture might fail, though the failure spell the defeat
people. The yoke of  lthe oppressor-now the  Mi.dian-          of God's cause.
ites had been lifted. The land was swiftly being cleared          Secondly, their indignation was too  unt'imely  t.>
of them. For some years and at each return of the              be at bottom love.     The Lord by a wonder of His
season, `they had swarmed northern Canaan,  phmder-            grace had again delivered  His people. The men of
ing and destroying everywhere they went. The result            Ephraim therefore should have been singing praises
was that the tribes of that pant. of the land had been to Jehovah instead of quarrelling with His servant
rendered destitute. But the Lord  ha*d sent deliverance over a matter so ridiculous in the midst of his cam-
through the agen'cy  of Gideon and his band of three           paign. They were  holcding  up the whole war. While
hundred warriors. The enemy was now in full flight             they argued the enemy was escaping. They should
in the direction of the' Jordan which it had to cross          have encouraged Gideon with appropriate greetings
to reach the homeland `east of this river. So, to pre- expressive of. their  Idelight in the achievements of his
vent their escape, Gideon  s,ent messengers throughout faith. Did they not perceive It.hat God was with the
all Mt. Ephraim, bidding the EphraimXes  to hasten man ? How otherwise account for the military suc-
down against  t.he Midianites  and, take before them the cess of a fighting force so small in a war with a host
fords of the Jordan at  Bethbarah, The men of so large.
Ephraim did as they were commanded without delay.                 Thirdly,  pt*he indignation of love is not appeased
The flight of the enemy was cut off. Two of their              by flattery. And theirs was. Gideon said to them,
princes-Oreb and Zeeb-were captured and slain,                 "What have I done in comparison with you? Is not the
and their <heads  brought to Gideon on the other side          ,gleanings  of the grapes of Ephraim better than the
of  th,e Jordan. But  [the men of Ephraim  w,ere in an         vintage of Abiezer?      God hath  ldlelivered  into your
evil mood. They contended with Gideon vehemently hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what
as the language of the Hebrew text brings oat. They was I abl,e to do in comparison with you?"
reproved, rebuked, scolded and admonished.           What         He means to tell them that, as compared with
was their great grievance? Let us listen to their theirs, his achievements were as nothing. Hearing
words. They said to Gideon, "why hast {thou  served us him `disclaim the glory and giving all credit to them,
thus, that thou  callest us not, when thou  wentest  to        their anger subsildes.  Plainly these Ephraimites were
fight with the Midianites?" Apparently they had a smarting at the thought that an  msignificant   membe:-


r
     448                                  THE,,STAN*DARD   B E A R E R ,

     of Manasseh should reap greater glory than they.             of flight across the fords of the  Jdrdan.      This had
     Their indignation was thus at bottom pride. Yet some been done. It was  now the task of Gideon to overtake
     of their anger may have been feigned, the purpose the other fleeing body. Coming to'Jordan,  he passed
     being to neutralize the bad impression of past in- over, he', and the three hundred men that were with
     action. But their pride had also been hurt. Now tha him. "And he said unto (the meti. `of Succoth, Give, I
     proud man wants all the glory, and  is therefore.griev-      pray you, loaves `of bread unit0  tths people that follow
     od by the successes of evei`yone  but by those of him-       me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebba
     self. Hen'ce the only kind of people khat a proud man        Zebah and Zelmunna, kings of  Midian." "And  thy
     can have about him are the self-effacing, the kind of        princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zeba and
     people ready to get down on their knees and kiss the Zalmunna now in  thine hand, that we should give
     toes of their idol and say It.0 him, "Thou art the. man bread unto thine army."
     and we are as nothing before thy face. Only what                This  is, the  second  time  tha4 Gideon encounters
     thou doest has meaning and significance ; our accom- such folly among his people. But he perceives that
     plishments are  of'lilttle account." Say that to a proud gentleness like that shown unto the Ephraimites would
     ma,n   anid he will be that pleased with you that he will    be out of  plats here. Ephraim had nolt refused as-
     sttop to kiss wour toes, in his pride to be sure and if      sistance. Yet the Succothites and t.he Ephraimites do
     you persist in hailing him a man indispensible  even to not differ fundamentally. Both are selfish and self-
     God. Finding the proud man in an evil mood and seeking. But with the latter, selfishness revealed it-
     wanting to dispel the evil spirit that has taken pos- self as pride  ; with the former-the Succothites-as
     session of his spirit, begin talking to the ma,n about cowandice  and treason combined. Gideon's nien were
     himself and his  won!derful  works. The frown that not wearied to the point of exhalstion, for then they
     darkens his visage disappears as by magic. Behold could not have prosecuted the pursuit. But they were
     the man! His countenance now is. wrat,hed  in smiles,        in need of physical nourishment. Food would strength-
     and he stretches out his arms to #take you to his bosom.     en  (them.  But what did  Succoth? Instead of  compas-
     That demon pride ! It dwells in all our bosoms. "I sioa, it consulted its own selfish interests. The rulers
     know that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth         of Succoth consider, not their high calling, but their
     Ino goad thing." La& us then watch and pray, lest w own material interests, and their  .own life.                They
     fall into temptations.                                       consider the danger which might result from their
            Gideon knew that pride was the controlling emotion siding with Gideon as. would be indicated by render-
     in the life of the tribe, of Ephraim. The history of ing him aid. They reasoned  that there might  !X  a,  2
     this tribe had taught him this. The Ephraimites were cha,nce  that Gideon might.fail  in his war wit!1 Midian.
     a proud and haughty people. So they stand before us Zebah and Zalmunna might possibly conquer and re-
     on nearly every page of their history.                       turn and take vengeance. So they speculate. They  I
            Gideon understood pride. He knew what will heal       were men not quarrelsome but simply be& on safe,-
     its  wounlds, namely a generous dose of flattery, which guarding their own interests. They secretly wished
     he is quick to administer. There is a question here.         that Gideon had not started that war. For it was not
     Did Gideon `do right? The question can be answered. themselves that had suffered from the fury of  %he
     It is  &he contempt of irony  thak Gideon pours on th,eir    Midianites but their brethren west of the Jordan.
     preten.ded deserts. For he magnifies out of all pro- But suppose now that Gideon should prove unable to
     portion their merits and  Idenies his own., He hoped         bring that war to a successful `issue. What  Ithen?
     that the Ephraimites would understand and be asham- As having reorganized their scattered forces anr3 as
     ed. But they did not understand, it seems; .for we greatly emboldened by the reverses of the would-be
     read; "Then their anger was abated  atoward him, when liberator of  (the Hebrews, might not the  Mldianites  W-
     he had saild that." And they go home to bask them- turn with the return of the season and so widen the
     selves  ia the sunshine of their achievements. But what scope of their invasion as to include also the cousntry
     had they really done? At the call of Gideon #they had of the Succothites. Be this as it may, the civic lead-
     left their tents  not to (engage in battle a mighty foe      ers are resolved to have nothing !ti do with Gideon.
     with a will to fight but to track down crowds of ter-        He started ,this war, let him now finish it, without in-
     rified  and  exhausted  heathen, whose only thought was volving the whole nation. He  knew that his men would
     to escape God's country.                                     need bread. Why did he not see to it in the first place..'
        With his brethren quieted, Gideon again turned to Why should he expect lthem to make good his lack of
     the pursuit of the fleeing Midianites. As has. already foresight. So they tell him to be gone. They will
     been explained, the Midianitces  did *not flee in one body show the Midianites where their sympathies lay.  These
     but in two  <divisions  and directions. Thi,s explains the Snccothites  were thoroughly wicked men, heartless an3
     measures adopted by Gideon. Unable to pursue both cruel. Let the pillage on the other side of the Jordan
     himself, he called on Ephraim to cut off  g&e other line continue. What. cared they s+o long as they were not :


                                  T H E   .STANDA:RD,BEARER                                                     449

molested. But it need not be supposed that ostensibly rative is brief especially here, it must be supposed
they were thalt unfeeling. They may have wepIt over         that the men of Penuel, in response to Gideon's threats,
the plight of their brethren. And they may have wish- boasted in the securir:y of their tower and thtereby  let
ed Gideon well and. even assured him that [their prayers it be known to him that he would find himself unabla  :
would accompany him. But let him first have  #the to, lay hands on them. In reply he promises to tear
fists of Zebah and Zalmunnt  in his hand. Then they down that strong hold of their pride and is again on
will side witln him, then when they can do it without, his way.
jeopardizing their own position in Canaan. The hand            Now Zebah and Zalmunna and their host were in
must be seized in order to apply  the fetters  Ito  cxp-    Karkor. If this host had numbered an hundred an,:1
tives. The princes of Succoth do not believe that Gid-      twenty thousand men that drew the sword, all that
eon fights God's battles and that the Lord is with          were left is fifteen thousand. A <terrible slaughter had
Him and will deliver the enemy in his hand. Yet -the taken place in the ranks of the enemy. And they ha3
evidence is there in the form of It.he marvelous actom-     perished by their own sword. "The Lord set every
plishments of  Gildeon's faith and the faith of his three man's sword against his fellow, even throughout and
hundred. Th*e trouble with the Succothites is that they against the whole camp." What was left of this host
lived for themselves and athat thus the cause of Je-        were now in Karkor. In this place  [they felt them-
hovah's covenant lay far from their heart. They loved selves secure. For it was a hiding-place and the ter-
neither God nor His people.                                 rified enemy imagined that its location was unknown
   Gideon could not allow such treachery to go unpun- and, also inaccesible  to Gideon. For those who have
ished.    But he does not  chasten  them at once. He made a study of this region now tells us that there is
can wait for he is not move& by a lust to avenge a          in Hauran an almost unassailable place of refuge for
personal injury,-wait he can until, returning with the robber  tribes&the  volcanic rock-desert of Safa
Zebah and Zalmunna as his captives, he can provide and embracing a fertile district for some months of the
those self-seeking and heartless Succothites with th? year. Says Wet&&n,  "Here is the stronghold of all
undisputed  evidience that he fought indeed the warfare the ,t.ribes  of the eastern slope of the Hauran moun-
of God and Ithat they thus offended not against him ttains." Iit is said that the people of Syria have a pro-
in the first instance but against Jehovah, and that verbial expression which  asserts, "He fled into the
therefore he may not allow them to have offended            Wa'r of the Safa." Bold and confident and full of
with impunity. So in the full confidence that God           energy in his faith in the Lord, Gideon with his band
is with him, he tells lthe cowards what they can look of three hundred-mark you, it is still the same smal!
forward to when he has returned to them the victor.         Gideon's  bandYfollows the  Midianiites, what is  ,left
He is sure of victory; but before he punishes them,         of them, into their hiding  pIace. A stream of blood
they shall see that finished., the accomplishment of markqed  the path of the smitten enemy. The wounded
which they now doubt. When he shall stand  befor?           had been left behind; Also prisoners must have been
Succoth with the Midianite kings in chains, they will. taken. It was perhaps from these that Gideon learned
be glad to hail him as Israel's deliver and to gener- the way i,nto (the asylum of the foe. It is said in the
ously provide his braves with bread. They now re-           sacred text that he went up by the way of them that
fuse him bread and doubtless refer him to the  acacia-      dwell in tents on the east of  Nobah  and  Jogbehah.
thorns and thistles of the desert. Let his men feed on      His route therefore can be traced but not with anv
that which can nourish not men but at best only the         degree of certainty, as the location of the two places
camel,  It.hat'marvel  of the desert. This mockery-not named is uncertain. "Gideon smote 4he host while it
explicitly indicated in the text, it is true-may  hav,?     was through itself secure." `It felt itself secure, be-
determined the choice of the punishment. Gideon will cause it imagined itself to be beyond, Gideon's reach.
tear% their flesh with thorns of the wilderness and         It was thus not watching, so that the attack was un-'
with briars.                                                expeated  and sudden. The carelessness of the Midian-
   Quitting the scene, Gideon hastensson  and comes ites was of the Lord, also their terror, their unwilling-
to Penuel and repeats his petition for bread that his ness  Ito resist and the thought that their only hope of
hungry men may eat. But the men of Penuel answer saving themselves lay in flight. The first to flee were
him as had the princes of Succoth. They  .are  im- Zebah and Zalmunna. Gideon pursued and took them
bued with an ird.entical spirit. We must attend <to the     captive. At the sight of their two leaders in chains,
punishment with which `Gideon threatens these men. the terrified host, now thoroughly Idisheartened,  sur-
He promises  rto break down their tower. "When I            rendered.
come again in peace, I will break down this tower.`"           Gi,deon  now returns before the sun was up (here
This seem,s to indicate that. the threatened chastise- the Hebrew text reads, "from the ascent of the sun,"
ments do indeed correspond to the expressions made meaning from the east country, the home of the Mi-
use of by the ungrateful citizens.  Becaus.e the  nar-      dianites. Presently he stands with his two captives

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

 before the civic leaders of unfaithful Succoth. He men Zijn wonderen. Dat zal duidelijk zijn als we  ge-
 says Bo them, "Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, as to denken,  dat Gods naam de uitdrukking van.Zijn  Wezen
 whom ye  d~id mock me, saying.         Are the hands of is. In den Naam Gods is uitgedrukt alles  wat liefelijk
 Zeba and  Zalmunila  already in thine hand that we en schoon,  wat krachtig en wijs, wat recht en heilig is.
 should give bread  u&o thy men that are hungry? `Komt die naam nabij ons, d.w.z.,  wanneer God klaar-
`, Taking the elders, Gideon carries out his threat. "H.2    blijkelijk (die deugden bewijst door Zijn bijzonder in-
 took the thorns and briers of the wilderness and gave grijpen in de historie, clan begint Gods volk te  zingen.
 them a lesson."       He  chastizelci:   lthe elders, the civic Dan vertelt men Zijn wonderen.
 leaders only and not the common citizens. The names             H&t  schijnt  wel, dat een Koning in Israel of een
 of these elders he had learned from a boy, caught on        groot  generaal  van Gods volk dit lied dichtte, want
 the  way: Proceeding   (to Penuel, he brake down its        in ver.s  4 en vervolgens spreekt hij groote dingen,  die
 tower an,d slew the men of the city, perhaps again only     bij het  eerste hooren ons vreemd  aantdoen.  Zoo zegt
 the elders.                                 G. M. 0.        hij, b.v., "Het land en zijne inwoners  waren   ver-
                                                             smolten, maar ik heb zijne pilaren vast gemaakt."
                                                             Ik denk, dat onze godvruchtige vertalers daarom het
                                                             woordje "ambt" in vers 3 ingevoegd hebben, ldgarbij
                                                             eerst  denkeade aan David of Salomo en vervolgens ,aan
                Gods Naam Nabij                              den Christus. Want een bloot menschenkind kan zoo
                                                             bout niet spreken.
                         (Psalm 75)                            Vers 3 zegt letterlijk: "Als ik den bestemden tijd
                                                             zal ontvangen hebben, zoo zal ik gansch  recht richten."
   Men heeft gedacht, I*at dit. iied gedicht werd door       Men ontvangt td.en bestemden tijd als, in den raad Gods
 een Asaf die leefde ten tijde van Koning Hiskia, toen       een zeker werk moet gewerkt  worden.  Ten opzichte
 de Heere een groote verlossing  bracht door een  Engel      van dat zekere werk is het dan de volheid des tijds.
 Gods. De Koning van AssyriE was gekomen met een                 Daarom geloof ik, dat dit lied gedicht is door David.
 groot heir tot de stad Gods en hij groote woorden ge-       En dat David zoo bout spreekt omdat hij alzoo profe-
 sproken tegen God en tegen Zijn volk.           Toe'n had tee,rt  van den Christus. En dan  loopt alles  10s. Als
 Hiskia boden gezonden .tot Jesaja om door hem God           Jezus den bestemden tij,d van God ontvangt, dan zal
 te vragen. Later, toen hij de goddelooze brieven van        Hij gansch richtig richten.
 Sanherib ontving was hij zelf  naar God gegaan in het           Ja, het land en zijne inwoners waren versmolten.
 gebed. Later nog kwam het  bericht  uit den  `Hemel:            Dat is vaak geschied ten tijde van den gezalfde
 Vrees niet, Ik zal voor U strijden! En de Heere had des Heeren, David den koning Israels. Men versmelt,
 Zijn belofte vervuld, als altijd, want een  Engel  God3     wanneer men ineenkrimpt van angst; Als ,de vijand
 kwam des  nachts  en versloeg 185,000 soldaten: des dicht bij is en ons dreigt op te slokken. Dan is er
 morgens vroeg  waren  die  allen   do&e lichamen. Zic, angst en smart.
 zoo zegt men, toen is dit lied van psalm 75 gedicht.            Typisch mag dit gezegd van Gods volk in alle eeu-
 H'et past precles.                                          wen. Wij en  bet land zijn  versmolten   -van angst  als
     Het kan best waar zijn. Ik  we& het niet. Met we den vijand zien. Als Satan woedt en de wereld  ons
 zekerheid kan het niet gezzgd.                              wil slachten, als de zonde in ons verleidt en het schijnt
    "t Geeft ook niet. Deze psalm wordt geduriglijk alsof we'zekerlijk opgeslokt  zullen  worden,  dan ,zegt de
 vervuld. In ldezen psalm bezingt Gods volk de groote        bebere David : Ik heb zijne pilaren vast gemaakt !
 hulpe des Heeren. Zijn naam is altij,d nabij, ook ,dan         Ja, dat is vervuld in Jezus. Door Zijn bided heeft
 als het schijnt  als  alles  t.egen ons is. Evenwel,   som- lH,ij de pilaren van Sion vast gemaakt. De geheele kerk
 tijds is het z&i duidelijk, dat we aan hot zingen gaan. en haar Ea.& zijn gefundeerd op het bloed van Jezus.
 In zulke tijden is het goed om psalm 75 op te slaan.        Dat bloed overwint alle vijanden. Dat  bleed is de
    Voor -4saf. Het kan best de Asaf geweest zijn die ondergrond onzer pilaren. Naar Zijn (Gods) gemaakt
 ten  tijcde van David leefde. Dit lied kan door David bestek, in eeutigheid zal rijzen.
 gedicht zijn en opgedragen  aan Asaf,  als leider der          En zoo spreekt David en zooveel later Jezus : Ik heb
 zangers in Israel, om door hen gezongen  te worden.         gezegd tot de onzinnigen:  Weest  niet onzinnig; en tot
    Al-tasheth: verderf  niet!  Het  i,s een Goddelijke de goddeloozen: Verhoogt den hoorn  niet., verhoogt
 sprake tegen ,den vijand. De Heere ontzenuwt hem als uwen hoorn niet omhoog, spreekt niet met een stijven
 hij zich opmaakte om Gods volk te verscheuren. Dan hals !
 dondert God hem toe: Verderf niet !                            Die sprake gaat uit tot het goddelooze rot van
    "Wij loven U, o God! wij loven dat  Uw.naam:nabij        eeuw tot eeuw. En het is ten finale altijd Jezus die
 is : m'en vertelt Uwe wonderen  !" De laatste. zin ver-     266 spreekt. En gij moet hat in Zijn naam geduriglijk
 klaart den eersten.  Als Gods naam nabij is vertelt zeggen tot alle  goddeloozen,


      452                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE'R                        -..-

      hart,  adoor de wedergeboorte. Die kennis kwam tot Uw           debate very plainly' deals with the discipline of those
      bewustzijn, want de Heere hield niet op om op  Uw               who  are  ,u;ialk&g.  in  skirt.-  The  quest.ion  is whether
      Iewnd hart .te tokkelen van liesde  die eeuwig is. Ten their `discipline should be left to the ministry of the
      tweede, gaf  ,Ilij U de wijsheid  Gods in Uw oog. Daar-         Word or whether the consistory should also apply  Ith+
      Idoor kent ge de dingen en ziet die dingen  `iti hun onder-     various steps of censure aad ultimately excommuni-
      ling verband.  Dst verband  Ii& hier;in, dat .alles in hemel    cate. The question is  not;.whether  such members of
      en op aarde  aangelegd is op God. De weg gaat naar ,worldly organizations  should  .be disciplined. That is
      Vader's hart.  Het  centrale van die  tdingen,  van dien a foregone conclusion.              The undersigned  neverthe  -
      Weg, is Jezus en Zijn hartebloed, waarop het volk en            less sees the danger `in debating this matter because
      het land (dat is de hemel) gefundeerd is.                       of the moral suppont  it might unintentionally give to
          Doch  de hoogste verhooging is dit,  d& ge plaats those who are members of worldly organizations or
      (hetiel) en  gelegenhetd   (eeuwigheid   ) krijgt om dat are contemplating such membership and are looking
      ook te zeggen. Want de `toekomst voor U is  niats               for arguments to uphold them in :their sin. Both af-
      snders dan om  het  te  verkondigen.       En  het  zijn de firmative and negative cannot be right and' naturally
      groote  we&en  Gods die Hij gewrocht heeft en nog one or the other in order to defend his position will
      werkt in Jezus  Christus  den Heere!                            have Ito peli down things which are not the, truth of th?
          Ge krijgt zelfs een plaats in het gerichte. Ge ont- matter. Those looking for moral support in their sin-
      vangt met Jezus de  heidenen  ,t.ot Uw erfdeel. Ge gaat         ful walk will also naturally lift out just that which is
      de engelen oordeelen,  zegt  Paulus. Ge gaat op de hoog-        pleasing to them, and one sees the danger that their
      ten .der goddeloozen treden, zegt Mozes. Ge gaat in             conclusion may very well be that if their discipline
      Zijn Eigen rechterstoel mitten, zegt Jezus.                     is ~to be left up to the mini&y of the Word their sin
          Zoo kunt ge verstaan, dat de ldichter  zegt in Uwe          is not very great or else that the church is not sure of
      plaats: Ik ga de hoornen der goddeloozen afhouwen.              its starsd, the matter is questionable, and therefore does
      `.' En ik zal mij verheugen tot in eeuwigheid over de not go through with `its decisions and merely  dis-
      verhooging van Gods volk, want Me adichter besluit :I cipli&s from the pulpit. Let it firmly be stated then
      de hoornen der reahtvaardigen zullen  verhoogd wor-             before we begin with this proposition that this is not
      den. Dat volk ontvangt majesteit van God eil groote the idea at all behind the  sot of leaving the discipline
     ' heerlijkheid.       Hun hoorn verhoogd, hun kracht ver-        to the ministry of the Word. To leave such discipline
      nieuwd,  hun tong en keel begenadigd: Daar juichen,             to lthe ministry of the Wohd is not an admission that
      ook zingen  zij !                                G. V.          membemhip  in worl,dly organizations is a minor thing
                                                                      and that a word here and there in  khe sermon. is suf-
                                    -                                 ficient for such acts of faltering faith and that  the
                                                                      ,case is not serious enough to take to the consis:ory.
                                                                         However, the undersigned can see certain advan-
                                 Debate                               tages in airing  fthis question, and realizing that he
                                                                      owes the Standard Bearer readers and his worthy
      RESOLVED : That Discipline Of Members That Belong               opponent, the Rev. H. Veldman, a few lines on the
      To  Wddly Organizations Should Be Left To  Th.2                 affirmative side of (this proposition, he has decide'd to
      Ministry  Of The Word.                                          write a sew thoughts about the affirmative side.
      AFFIRMATIVE :                                                   1. The Ministry of the Word is very really discipline.
          The undersigned feels constrained to mak6 a few                Before we can properly consider  lthe matter of
      preliminary remarks before writing affirmatively con- 1,eaving  the  Idiscipline  of members of worldly organiza-
      cerning ' the above propcxsal.      First of all let  iIt be tions td the Ministry of the Word it ougti to be plain
      stated thht he does not believe that'the discipline of to us that the Ministry of the Word is very  reall;ri dis-
      those rthat belong to worldly organizatiohs should be cipline.            This  i,s not generally considered to be  thi-+
      left to the ministry of the  Wand.   In, fact, he does case. By discipline one usually means visits  by  zthe
      not consider a debate on this subject advisable, wit:1          consistory, the fir& step bf censure, the second step of
      the membership in worldly organizations by  church              censure and excommunication. The ministry of the
      members as prevelant  as it is at present, without first Word is sebdom  consildered  to be the exercise of Chris-
      emphasizing that he does not agree with the above tian discipline. Yet this certainly. is the case.  Con-
      proposal. The title of the debate implies that such sbder  once that 40 discipline is to train. The word
      membership is sinful  anid requires discipline. There  - Idiscipline  comes from the same latin word as the word
      fore the expression "worldly organizations" means               disciple. A `disciple is one who follows another, be-
      worldly in the evil sense of  rthe wond and includes lieves what he believes and walks as he walks. The
      such  organizatiohs  as' the  union   and the lodge. The        beliwer Is the disciple of  ,Christ,   believin$  in  J-Iiq
*


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         453

walking as He walked, and is therefore called a Chris-         You see then that the Ministry of the Word is very
tian. Now it is at once plain that to discipliile is to     really discipline.    To those who belong to worldly
make disciples, that is,  Ito train one to walk more and organizations this Word comes with rebukes and ad-
more as a disciple. Christian  ldisciplin.e  is then that monitions. It points to  (them  the way they ought  to
art or practice of training God's chilbdren to walk as walk. It  .calls them away from the world. It de-
disciples of Christ.                                        clares to them that Ithey cannot serve God and Mam-
   The general opinian of discipline is Ithat it is the man, and that their unequal yoke with the unbeliever
process of punishing the wayward `church members. is very sinful in God's sight. It gives them examples
This however is not the case. The church has not bee11      of Israelites in the Old Dispensation who allied them-
given  -the keys of the kingdom of heaven to punish its selves with the world and were {destroyed with the
members that walk in sin.        Discipline is  not such world. It encourages them and comforts them  wii:l
even when it is applied to those who ultimately are the truth that God will have mercy  an,d  abundaaily.
excommunicated, in fact excommunication is not pun-         pardon all those who forsake their wicked way.  `!L
ishment by the church. The church does not punish holds before their eyes the kingdom of heaven and
its members, and does not punish the reprobate. The Christ Jesus our king who supplies all our needs. In
calling of ithe church is  cto train its members to a more this way it trains them to walk as members of the
godly walk of life.     To the church were given the bqdy of Christ and citizens of  t&e kingdom of heaven.
keys of the kingdom of heaven. Note well, keys were
given to the ,church, not a sword or club.                  2. The Ministry of the Woad is the chiefest moans
                                              These keys
are to open and shut the kingdom of heaven and are             of Christian discipline.
never to be used to beat one over the head. One is             Besides the Ministry of the Wdrd there is also
not given the keys for that purpose.      One may use thait other means of discipline consisting in  censure
them as such, and in  lthe Ministry of the Word one and excommunication.               Of this the Catechism de-
may be moved by concern for one's own cause rather clares in rthe answer to question 83, "The preaching
than Gold's, and by means of a tongue lashing one may       of the holy gospel, and  Christian  discipline, or ex-
use these keys to beat a member over the head and try communication out of the christian  church; by  theso
to punish him, but this is the calling of the church. two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers  and
It is the Ministry's of God's Word and not man's. shut against unbelievers." Likewise does the Belgi?
When by the use of these keys one is excommunicated,        Coilfession  mention  thEse two in articles 29 as  the
that individual is not punished by the church, but he keys of the kingdom of heaven.  I,t requires but  ::t
is declare6 to be outside of the kingdom of heaven little consideration to come to the conch&an  that the
and therefore in the sphere of God's wrath and pun- Ministry of  (the Word  ,is the greater of these. Even
ishment. Then the church does not punish him for as the sacraments are  depenlclent  upon the Word and.
his walk of sin but declares that God will ldo so.          have no meaning apant from it, so too excommunica-
   The calling of  lthe church is then to train its mem-    tion with its preliminary steps of censure which are
bers by  mleans of the Word of God to a holy walk.          barring from the sacraments have no  mean.ing  without
As long as one is a member of the church, the church the Word and cannot be applied without the Word.
must  consirder  him an elect and labor with him to im- The consistory must make plain to the erring brother
prove his walk that Christ may be seen in him.              or sister  :that he is walking in sin; and this it can
   For this work of training or disciplining God has do only by referring him to God's Word. Excom-
given us His Word. In II Timothy 3 : 16, 1'7 we read, munication is not on the same level with the  Minist.ry
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is of the Word. It is supplementary to it and is to be
profitable for `doctrine, for reproof, for  correotion,     used only in certain particular cas,es where an added
for insLruction in righteousness: that the man of God means of di$cipline is required.
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good
works." Note how the ildea  of discipline is here in- 3. Suggested reasons for leaving the discipline  of
dicated by the words, "Be perfect, thoroughly fur-            those {that belong to worldly organizations to the
nished unto all good works," and that it is the Word          Ministry of the Word.
which God gave us for that purpose. In the Ministry            We might begin by stating that the Ministry of the
of the Word, God's Word  is administered and applied Word is very well capable of handling the situation
to the lives of His people. Through that Wond His and is not in need of a srlpplementary  means of dis-
people are instructed in the way they should walk cipline. When the Word ir really administered-and
and in the truth  )t.hey  must believe. Through it they by this we do no:! mean a won3 here and there in the
are warned- and rebuked, admonished and comforted, sermon, but a cTear  and vigorous app1icatio.n  of God's
encouraged and nourished. It is a lamp unto our feel: Word to the matter-it will have the two-fold  effect
and a light upon our pathway,                               of convincing the believer of his sin and the unbeliever '
                                                                                                                  .~.

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

it will harden so that he seeks a church where he can an entirely different matter ancd he must be treated
get away from that Word of God and can hear man's             for despising the means of grace. But if he attends
word.    We must not expect one sermon to convince faithfully and listens to God's Word, it will reprove,
such a wayward and faltering believer, but it is given correct,  mstruct  and thoroughly equip him unto every
UJ as we saw a moment ago to correct, reprove and good work. As he ,grows  in knowledge, he will grow
instruct, and it will surely accomplish this.                 in faith and bring forth the works of faith.
    We ought to remember that the discipline of mem-              The allotted space is more than up. Having written
bers of worldly organizations requires a different one page of introduction I hope my opponent will for-
treatment than such sins as theft, adultery, murder give me for writing six pages  rather  than the assigned
and tdespising the means of grace. Those who have five. If he so desires, he may write six in his next
been walking in such sins are always, and rightly so,         contribution to this debate arld I will writ,e  four.
demanded to confess their sins and their confession                                                        J. A. II.
is not the case with those who belong to worldly or-
ganizations. Of them it is only demanded that they
sever their connections with that worldly organization.
The undersigned sees no reason why they should not NEGATIVE :
confess their sin as well as those who commit any of
the above mentioned sins and if it is done he stands RESOLVED   : That Discipline  Of Members That  Belong
corrected.       But since in many churches  ,this is not     To Worldly  Orga;nGatioxv  Should. Be  Leift  To Tha
demanded, the Ministry of the Word surely is sufficient Ministry  Of  The Word.
to  Itrain these members to walk worthy of th,eir  calling        When the undersigned is requested to .refute the
as children of God.                                           proposition that ithe discipline of members belonging
    It may be objected that such members of worldly to worldly organizations should be Ieft to  fthe ministry
organizations who are not barred from the  sacraments         of the Word, and, by implication, maintain that Chris-
will be very detrimental to the faith of the rest of the tian discipline must be applied to these members, it,
congregation. We maintain  ,th.at if the Word is really is, of course, not his task to prove the necessity of
administered* to these members of worldly organiza-           Christtian   ,discipline.    This is established among us,
,tions  so that it is made very plain, to them that they according to Scripture and Confession. If in many
may not partake, you will not need to prevent :`Lhem          churches the exercise of Christian discipline is sadly
from partaking. They will refrain from doing so of neglected or even mockingly ignored we maintain the
 their own accord.                                            sacred calling to use fully the keys of the Kingdom
    In conclusion we may say that leaving the discipline of Heaven.
of members of worldly organizations to the Ministry               Furthermore, the undersigned is also of the opinion
 of the Word is more profitable for all those concern- that the wording of the  proposi:tion  is such that we
ed. When such members are prevented from partak- must proceed from the assumption that this member-
 ing .of !the Lord's Table and from having their children     ship is contrary to Scripture and therefore condemn-
baptized and then after much labor by the consistory          able and censurable. In the first place  iit is a fact
they sever their connections with this worldly organ- that membership in worldly unions such as the.A.F.  of
 ization, the feeling is very often left that a righ2eous     L. and the C.I.O. has been condemned  ofhcially by our
 walk was forced upon them. Neither  #the consistory churches, aad that in connection with a concrefn  case
that treated him, nor the treated brother, nor the  con- which appeared some years ago at one of our cl?ssicsl
 gregafi0.n  has the joy that would result when `under meetings.            And, in the second place, the proposition
the preaching of the Word that erring brother saw the reads that the discipline of (these members should be
 sinfulness of his way and himself took the steps to          left to the ministry of the Word. This certainly im-
 sever his connection an6 walk as a child of God. When plies that this membership is to be  con&mned  and
 disciplme  has been left to the Ministry of the Word that we shoultd not fail to emphasize this in the preach-
and the brother is'convinced,  no one need ever doubt         ing of ,the Word.
(that he severed connections for any other reason than            Consequently we must proceed in this `debate from
 that God's Word has trained him to walk as a mem- the assumption that membership in worldly organiza-
 ber of the body of Christ and not as a member of the tions is wrong. The expression "membership in world-
 Anti-Christ.                                                 ly organizations" is rather broad in scope, it seems to
   The assumption of this  de,bate  is, of course, that me. Worldly organizations we understand to be or-
 such a member of a worldly organization still attends ganizations which are worldly in membership and
 church faithfully and comes under the preaching of principl,e.  This does not mean that a member must
 the Word regularly. If such a member of a worldly            be condemned merely because he happens to be  n
 organization does not attend church faithfully, it in member of a certain union. As the editor of our Stan-


                                   T R E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              455

dard Bearer pointed out on page 117 of the December tional Typographical Union clearly declare that one's
15, 1943, issue, we must proceed from the standpoint           fidelity to the union and his duty to the  mtembers
that, in order to discipline a member even unto ex- "thereof  shall in no sense be interfered with by any
communication from the Kingdom of Heaven, the allegiance that one may now or hereafter owe to any
Church must be able to point out to such a member              other organization, social, political, or religious, se-
and to admonish him with respect to some concrete cret or otherwise? If, then, my fidelity to the union
and  definiltce  act of sin which he commits and of which      and duty to its members is interfered with or opposed
he refuses  lto repent and convert himself. When such by a brother. in Christ I am obliged to defend and up-
a sin is established discipline must be applied. The           hold that union over against him, will prevent him
affirmative in thi,s Idebate must prove that all discipline    even from obtaining a job, if need be. And with such
of such erring members must be left to the mini,stry           a brother in Christ, whom I maltreat in the sphere  oL?
of the Word.  I,t is our task to refute this conten-           labor, I would  khen sit at meat at the table of the
tion. We shall, therefore, in this essay try to main- Lord ? !
tain that Christian discipline must be exercised, even            Such is unionism to-day. Furthermore, we are of
unto the extent of excommunication, the so-call& se- th.e opinion that by becoming members of any union,
cond key of the Kingdom of Heaven.                             corporation, or association, one becomes responsible
    The  dis.cipline  of members belonging to. worldly for the principles on the basis of which such a body is
organizations should not be  leflt to the ministry of the organized  as well as for all the acts performed and
Word, first of all, because such membership consti- eommittted  by or in the name of such an organization.
tutes a very `grievous sin. These unions as such viol- The fact that in some eases one may become member
ate  *every Christian principle so sacred to <the Chris- of the union merely for the sake of a job without at-
tian.    They  ,are,  first of all, antichristian accord- tending any of its meetings but merely pay his dues
ing to the literal wording of their  consti2ution.  The ,does  not at all relieve him before God of his respon-
constitution, e. g., of the International Typographical sibility.        Some would shield behind the excuse that
Union declares, among other things, ,that "the mem-. they become members of a cerkain union without be-
bers of said Union shall hold their Union in such es-' ing aware of its constitution or principles. Does it,
teem that their fideli:ty to it and their duty to its mem-     however, not reveal a lack of responsibility to join
bers shall not be interfered with by any allegiance that, an organization and be ignorant of its basis? More-
they may now or hereafter owe to any other organiza- over, if one, being a member of a union, pays his dues,
tion, social, political, or religious, secret or otherwise." he thereby is very actively and really supporting that
This constitution pledges  2s members to carry out the particular organization. And, finally,  (to be a  .mem-
decisions of the union at all times; and demands of ber of a union, merely for the sake of a job, and Lake
them to remain loyal to  the union  .rather than to no active interest or part in the activities of that or-
Christ and His Church. Such a union surely proclaims           ganization certainly implies that such a  perso.n   ha;,
a principle  .which  is a definite denial of the Christ        chosen not to confess rthe Christ, to be a silent spec-
Who is Lord and King  ,of His people. In the second            tator in the struggle for the cause of God and His
place, these unions are such {that they are definitely Christ in the midst of the world.
worldly and materialistic in character, will not hesi-            We may, therefore, conclude that members belong-
tate to use any illegitimate means  40 attain unto their ing to such a worldly organization are guilty of a very.
ends, so that the Christian, belonging to such an or-          grievous sin. It is grievous sin because such member-
ganizaltion,  thereby also becomes guilty of unscrip- ship involves us in a definite stand against the Christ,
tural and godless practices. It is quite unnecessary           Who is King of His Church, is an act of hostility
in this essay to prove the methods of violence which and enmity against the brother in Christ, who  refuses~
the unions employ if  ahey cannot gain their objectives to support such a worldly organization, and also in-
in a peaceful way. Many incidents could be recorded            volves, us in the sin of allying oure2lves  with the carnal
in proof of this statement. The labor situation and its and materialistic forces of this world, who love and
history during late years emphasize this fact very seek the things below at the cost of the righteousness
forcefully. And an organization which will use these of God.
illegal means of force and coercion reveals itself as             Besides asserting that such membership constitutes
wholly carnal and earthly  and as trampling under a very grievous sin, we would declare, in the second
foot ,the things eternal which the Christian holds sa- place, that Scripture certainly exhorts the church that
cred. Thirdly, these unions are such that they com- members, guilty of such grievous sins, be admonished
pel the Christian to seek the wellbeing of a  union- and, if need be, id,&iplined.            We know, of course, that
member in preference to a brother in Christ, if `the           a member is not disciplined for the sin he has com-
Iatter is noct a member of the union.       Does, not the mitted but for his refusal to repent upon the labor of
above quotation from the constitution of the Interna- love bestowed  upo.n him by those who  exercise,,the


466                                   THE  S T A N D A K D   BEABEIR

keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. The grievous char- applied. This discipline may not be left to the ministry
acter of union membership must, of course, be fully           of the Word. It is in fact that the  ministry of the
set forth in the preaching of the Word. If ithen, how. Word is not sufficient in the preservatio.1  and purifi-
ever, such a member continues in his sin and refuses cation of the Church. Some members can be very
to repent, this sin of union membership is sufficiently bold and continue as members regardless of the severe
clear and concrete to require discipline and even QX-         and condemning tenor of the preaching.         Because,
communication upon the basis of Holy Writ.           Does therefore,  .the preaching is inadequate the second key
not our very form for the celebration of Communion of Christian idisaipline  must also be applied. We must
d#eclare  that  those who raise discord and munity in         not be wiser than God in this respect. Let us walk in
church and state shall be barred from  (the table of the I-iis ways and leave the future of the Church to her
Lord? Does not the very sacrament of Communion                Architect and Builder.                       H. V.
and also that of Baptism imply that we are separated
from the world as a distinct people, that we ackirotv-
ledge the Lamb that was slain and now  live&h  for-
evermore as Lord and King of our. life, that we are
His party in the midst of the world? Is it possibie,
then, to conceive of a sin more grievous than the de-                        Geen Roof Geacht
nial of [that Christ, Who Himself hath said that who-
soever denies Him before men will also be denied by              De lezer zal verstaan, dat het  opschrifit van dit
Him before His Father and the holy angels? Shall artikel eene aanhaling is uit Fillipenzen 2:6. Volledig
we, the,n, not have the boldness to declare, upon the luidt de tekst, naar de Staten-vertaling, als  volgt:
basis of the holy Word of our God, that a perso.n  who        `<Hij, die geen roof geacht heeft Gode even gelijk te
denies the Christ and assumes a definite stand over           zijn". Deze aanhaling vormt een deel van de Klas-
agains ,t.he church has not part in the Kingdom of God?       sieke  Schrift-plaats  dat handel van Christus' diepe
       Finally, because of the grievous character  of this vernedering en van Zijne verhooging als de Knecht
sin and the calling of the Church to enforce Christian        des Heeren.
discipline such discipline may not be left to the preach-        Over dit gedeelte der H,eilige Schrift is, in de ge-
ing of the Word. In this connection the question may schiedlenis  der Kerk Idoor theologen, reeds veel getwist.
well be asked : Why should Christian discipline, where.       Het verschil liep  (loopt)  over de opvatting van de
ever necessary, ever be left merely to lthe preaching rechte verhouding tusschen de twee naturen van den
of the Word? Is it not a fact that the purpose of Middelaar. Meer bijzonderlijk liep het verschil over
Christian discipline is the glory of the Name of our          de vraag : in  hoever deel de mens,chelijk   ,mtuur  van
covenant God, the purification of His Church, and             Christus in de eigenschappen der Goddelijke natuur.
the salvation of the elect sinner? To be sure, the            Het was met name na de Reformatie, dat dit verschil
glory of the  Nam.e  of God and the purification of           van opvatting over dit punt in de Christelogie  ont-
His Church, which implies that the people of God stond tusschen Latherschen  and Gereformeerden. En
shall indeed present a  unilted front in the midst of         dit verschil van m&ring  hangt in niet geringe mats
the world and separate themselves from the forces of af van de opvatt.ing,  die men heeft, en, de exegeze,  die,
evil, are in themselves sufficient reasons for Christian men heeft van Fil. 2:5-U.
discipline.    But we would emphasize at this time the           De Luthersche opvatting van de verhouding der
third link in this triple reason for Christian discipline,    twee naturen  staat onder de dogmatici bekend als de
namely that of  Ithe salvation of the elect sinner, or the    Kenosis Theologie.  De onderliggende stelling hier is,
erring child of God.      And, mind you, this is God's        dat het eindige deelen  kan in het oneindige. De ein-
purpose with respect  ,to the exercise of the keys of the dige menschelijke  natuur  van  Christus  deelt in de
Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord has given His Church oneindige eigenschappen van Almacht en alomtegen-
these keys. It is not left to us to decide whether we woordigheid, bezeten door Christus' goddelijke natuur.
wilI use them or not. The Divine injunction is clear.         Deze deelwming in de goddelijk eigenschappen heeft
And why should we fear Ito use them in obedience to           dan plaats  geha3  in de  Vleeschwording  in Maria's
the Divine command? God Himself has *declared  that schoot.  Maar in den  staat der vernedering ontledige
their purpose also includes Ithe saving of *His people        Christus  zich, wat  zijn menschelijke natuur betreft,
who err and walk in sin. Consequently we must use van  dezz  goddelijke eigenschappen. Dit  zich  ontledi-
the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven in the fullest gen ziet ldan niet zoo zeer op den &ad van gehoorzaam-
sense of the word and we may have the assurance that heid als Knecht dan we1 op Zijn ontledigen van Godde-
exactly in that way will His Name be glorified, His 1ijk.e eigenschappen.
Church purified, and His people saved. But, if  rthe             Gereformeerden  legden den nadruk niet op  Ide  een-
sinner continues in his sin, excommunication must be heid van de twee noturen,  doch op de eenheid  des


                                    _
453                                        THE.  STAN'D-A-RD!s  B E A R - E R

 menschen  als huns- gelijke aangezien". (Greijdanus) . word deze &ad oneindig diep omdat het den Persoon
 Welnu,  zie Hem dan wandellen  ! Wat is het dat nu uw           des Zoo,ns was; het was Hij, in. ,de gestaltenis Gods
 oog treft-treft met r&en bril van Fil. 2 :5-S op? Treft zijnde.
 u  aansltonds zijn metaphysische, ontologische  Godde-             Ten  besmite zijn gelooven  we de volgende opmer-
lijke  zijn?  Ach; neen! Ons treft Zijn dienstknechts kingen   gebillijkt:                 Ten eersten.,  dat het overduidelijk
Ggestake,  zooals die reeds geteekend werdt in Jes. 53.          is uit  dit schriftgedeelte, beide voor de Filippenzische
 Zoo  teekent  de pen van  Paulus  u en mij Hem  him! Christenen .en voor ens heden  ten dage, hoe we ons tc
 "Het gevoelen dat in Christus Jezus was" is het groot           ge'dragen hebben naar het  voorbeel,d  van Christus. Na
 onderwerp  hier. Het  begrip  "gevoelen" is vertaling -is Christus' lijden veel meer dan  voorbeeld   ;  bet is
 van  "phronein"  in het Grieksch. Dit is niet slechts immers  zoen-dood, srtraf-lijden  voor onze zonde, het is
 de faculteit van denken,  noch van den wil, maar ziet           de arbeid Zijner ziel. Tech is het des niet-te-min ook
 op eene  activiteit;  van de geheele ziel voortkvmend  uit voorbeeld. Zie benevens  Efeze 5:1, 2 ook I Pet. 2%.
het hart.  Op de  actie, het "bedenken", het bewuste Onverschrokken mag Christus als voorbeeld voor ons
streven en zoeken  valt in dit begrip den nadruk. `Zoo gepredikt. Indien dit niet mag heeft ,dan heeft  Paulus'
 in vers  twlee  waar "phroneite" vertaald wordt door b&oog  hier geen zin! Doch laten  van zulke dwaasheid
"eensgezind zijn". Beter is  <de vertaling van  Greij-           zwijgen.
danus "dat gij hetzelfde  beden&".   Ook valt op het                Ten tweede, is naar onze bescheiden meening,  exe-
bewuste, het etische streven den nadruk in  * andere             getisch het niet mogelijk om de Luther&e  concepti!>
 Schriftuurplaatsen. Zoo b.v. Matt. 16 24; Rom. 8 :5;            van de verhouding tier twee  naturen van Christus ts
Fil. 3:19; Col. 3:l.                                             redden. Hier is sprake, niet van afleggen,van de God-
       Dit "bedenken" van Christus word%  uitgedrulot  door delijke eigenschappen door de menschelijke natuur,
 den apvstel naar twee zijden, te weten,  beidenegaltief         maar  van  tde  geh,oorzaamheids  daad geboren uit de
en positief.                                                     gehoorzaamheids-streven  van den Zone  C*ods  in  de
       ,Het negatief vingt ge in het opschrift dat  boven,dit    menschelijke  natuur! En zoo,is hier in Christus' voor-
 schrijven geplaatst is.       Hij  heefrt  "Geen Roof  Ge- beeldig borgtoclitelijk lijden een scherpe prikkel tot  de
acht Gode even gelijk  te ,zijn." Over dit zin "geen roof nieuwe gehoorzaamheid.                                     G. L.
 geacht" bestaat verschil van meening. Dit verschil
laat  zich verklaren uit de  aangelegenheid,   !dat het                               -           -
 woor*  in het Grieksch "arpagmos"  zoowel passief als
 actief kan  worden   genomen-           De  verschillende   resul- Thomas Aquinas and Common Grace
 tatende betteekenissen hierdoor veroorzaak kunnen  ge-
makkelijker  omschreven worden,  dan door nauwkeurige                        Cont. from the last issue of the S. B.
definitie  weer-gegeven. Volgens de passieve opv&ting             Again in Question 23, Article 3, reply objection  1,
 van het  wo.ord, ziet het  op  Christus  niet  behoeven  te     Summa  Theologica  I, we read: "God loves all crea-
 acbten,  dat ,Hij roof pleegde, en schuldig zou staan aan       tures and all men, "inasmuch as He wishes them all
majesteits-schennis,  in&en hij zeide :  Ik ben God. Hier some good ; but  `He does not wish every good to them
 valt de nadruk op  Christus  waardigheid  zooals die all. So far, therefore, as `He does not wish this par-
 waarlijk  `is. Echter,  volgens de actieve  beteekenis van ticular good-namely, eternal life-He is said to hate
"arpagmos" is de zin:  Christus werd niet beheerscht or reprobate them."
 door bet motief van eene roover, die er gretig vp uit is,          In support of both the first and second conten-
 om zichzelf te bevoordeelen. Hij was niet uilt op jeigen        tions we read in Article 7 of Question 23, Summa
 eer en aanzien onder  men&en. Zooals blijken mag                Theol. I:
 uit het bovengeschreven in de voorlastste paragraph,                   "Reply obj. 3. The good that is propor-
 geven wij aan deze laatste verklaring niet alleen de                tionate to the common state of nature is to
 voorkeur, maar  willen we staande  houden dat deze                  be found in the majority; and is wanting in
 beteekenis  de eenige mvgelijke is in het tekst  verband.           the minority. Thus it is clear that the `ma-
 Het is de negatieve openbaring en blijk van Chrisus'                jority of men have a sufficient knowledge for
 "gevoelen".                                                         the guidance of life; and those who have not
       Posittief komt dit gevoelen van Christus duidelijk            this knowIedge  are said to be foolish or half-
 uit in zijn volkomene  overgave  tot den dood des                   witted; but they who attain to a profound
 kruises. Deze  overgave was "Vernietiging" van  zich-               knowledge of things  mtelligible  are a very
 zelf,  Dienstknecht  zijn, en dat  temuijl Hij in de  ge-           small minority in respect to the rest. Since
 staltenis Gods was. Hier valt dus niet zoo zeer den                 their eternal happiness,  consi,sting  in the vi-
 nadruk op de naturen,  als we1 op wat de Persoon  des               sion of God, exceeds the common state of na-
`Zooms  de& in het vleesch. Niet op Zijn zijn, doch  op              ture, and especially in so far as `this is de-
,zi,jn   Priester-daad   valt  bier den nadruk, Natuurlijk           prived of grace through the corruption of


                                    TkIE  STANDARD   BEARER  -                                                      459

    original sin, those who are saved are in fhe            pare himself for grace without some grace?" (See
    minority.    In this especially, however, ap-           "Libri Sententiarum"). It is further evident in
    pears th.e mercy of God, that He has chosen             Thomas"s  discussions in the "Summa Th.", questions
    some for that salvation, from which very                4, 5, 6, on whether the creature can attain at all
    many in accordance with the common course               to God's perfections. In the "SuK:ma",  howe`ver,  niafi'a
    and tendency of nature fall short.:'                    goodness   (is generally  aZtributed  to his nature, where-
   Taking these two teachings of Aquinas together, with he was created, and the philosopher makes n:`)
for  ahey are indeed closely bound, what proper ob- further mention of any primary cause of man's good-
servations are allowed ?                                    ness.
   First of all, Thomas holds rather firmly, especisl-         What &nclusions are warranted now as to Thomas's
ly in the "Summa Theologica,"  that the man in pu'j'is      teachings on common grace? First of all, the man
naturalibus can never  men-t grace.       However, even ,in puris  naturalibus  as  pronouilced  by Aquinas, and
this proposition is not maintained strictly in his  T,ibri the man possessed of common grace as he is conjured
Sententiarum,  where he speaks of "preparation  .for        up by the Christian Reformed Churches, are very much
grace." The man  in puris  naturalib,us   has only an alike. The man who is capable of civic righteousness
"aptitude" for knowing and loving God, but that ap-         differs little if any from the man who can fulfill `the
titude he does most certainly have, according to Law of God "as far as the substance of the work is
Thomas.                                                     concerned" ; nor does the man who is restrained in his
   In the second place, it must be noted that the man sin by an operation (not saving) of the Holy Ghost
im  puris  nu2uraJibu.s   is a  go& man, even though he upon his heart differ much from  th@ man who can
lacks grace. This teaching is very prominent in both avoid the mortal  si,ns.
his "Libri Sententiarum," in  .the works of his transi-        In the second place, it is evident  .that the  man
Etion period, and in the "Summa." But he dqes make in ,puris wdt.wa1ibu.s  and the common grace m'an are
distinction between natural and super-natural good. arrived at by different means. While Thomas ed.enies
For example, in the "Libri Sententiarum," II D  25,         completely that man became totally corrupt through
Thomas answers the triple question, "Whether man the fall, the exponents of  common grace agree that
can do any good without grace, and whether without :the first man  in&d have been catapulted into deepest
grace he can avoid sin  and fulfill God's command- corruption, and even claim that man would have
ments?"    To the first question he answers, "Man changed into a devil, had not Go3 intervened with
through a free will is able to do both good and evil,       His common grace. The results of the two te,ach,ings
not however in a meritorious act without the habitude are the `same, but the means of arriving at the results
of grace." To the second, namely,  "utrum  hbmo sine differ, at least  :to some extent.
gratia pos&t vitare peccatum," he answers that man              In the third place, we must observe the completn
has also after the fall a free choice and pursuit of identity between the fundament-al  thesis of the first
good and evil, wherein. the potentiality of avoiding point of 1924 and Thomas's teaching of a favorable
sin, at least th,e mortal sins, lies. To the third ques- attitude of God  towarrls  all men.
tion he answers, that the natural man can certainiy             Fourthly, one cannot fail to note how similar th?
fulfill the law of God in so far as the "substance of two heresies are when .their  mutual purpo,selessness
the work is concerned," although not according to           (in so far as the man in  puris  natura~libus  and the
the intention of the Lawgiver.                              object of common grace themselves are concerned) is
   The same contention is made in the "Summa Th." cbnsidered. Both the man  k-z puris  naturaLibus   and
I, qu. 23, art. 1, albeit in a somewhat different  .form    the common grace man are incapable of advancing one
       "The end towards which created things are            dtep from their respective positions. Thomas, how-
    directed by God is twofold; one which ex-               ever, carries his theory to its  logical  end, doing violence
    ceeds all proportian and faculty of created             to the  <doctrine  of predestination by reducing,  wi:h his
    nature ; and'this end is  life.eternal,  that  con-     strong emphasis upn the. natural and supernatural.
    slsts in seeing God which is above the na-              the gulf between the  elez'c  an,d the reprobate  :to  a
    ture of every creature, as shown above. The             mere difference of degree, and wiping out the sharp
    other end, however, is proportionate to creat-          antitheses which mark the Scriptural  con&ption  from
    ed nature, to which end created being can               Paul through Augustine and Calvin even to the prp- I
    attain  accordiag  to the power of its nature."         sent time. This at least is in favor of Thomas, that
   In the third place, Thomas appears at times to he is honest, while the  exponents  of Common grace
place the teaching of `God's goodness to all men behind refuse to admit the logical end of their'heresy.
this ability of the natural man to do good. This is             Finally, it may be said from an  episfemoiogio;al
evident when the Roman Catholic philosopher ailswers        point of view that those who accuse us of being  hard-
the question, "Whether man by himself is able to pre-       hea,ded  logicians and rationalists might well take stock


        "  460                                   T     H     E      STAGDARD   BEARi3R                           a
-  -
          of the class in which they are placecl by their similarity          NOTICE:-As is customary, the  Sta;jd,ard Bearer is
          to Aquinas, the "Christian Aristotle".                              not published July 15 and  Auguzt 15.
                                     -     -     -
                  In fine, what briefly, is the  Scriptura;  and  l.Xc-                                  NOTICE
          formed teaching on this subject?                                        The annual meeting of the Reformed Free Publish-
                  1. God created man in His owil image. Gen.. 1:26,           ing  S.ociety will be held in September.  (Da& to  bc
          27.                                                                 announced later).
                 2. The man created in God's image was a  rational-               Three board members must be chosen from  the
          moral creature.         This is often referred to as the            following  nomina$ion  (D. Jonker;  H.  K;lot;  S. De
          formal aspect of the image of God;  al,56 as man's Vries;  Charles Pastoor ; Stephen Bouma; Gerrit Pipe
          adaptability to the image of God. This rational-moral                   Financial report  wiIl be given. Mr.  Schaafsmn.
          nature man retained after the fall, although it was                 who faithfully served us as Treasurer for 11 years,
          no longer adaptable to  :the image of God.                          feels it necessary to resign due to lingering  i1lnes.s.
                 3. The material aspect of the image of God con-
         sists in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness.                                         -I~
          These were not  dona;  superaddita~,   however, for tha                                                                e
          image of God was very really part of the being of man                                       IN MEMORIAM
          in the state of rectitude. Col. 3 :lO, Eph. 4 24.                       The Consistory of the Creston  Protestant Reformed Church
                 4. Man  was created with a free will, not so that            hereby wishes to express its  sympathy,with  their fellow office
         he, was independently free, nor yet free in the highest bearer brother D. Bloem,  in the loss of his
          sense, for he was yet free to sin, aIso.                                                       MOlTHER
                 5. Without entering detailedly into the nature of who entered into the rest &me 26, 41944.
          sin, suffice it to say that sili presupposed a rational-                iMay the Lord  comfort  the bereaved family.
         ,,motial  being `through which it could come to manifesta.-                                                  The Consistory:
          tion, and in which it can work as an active lack                                                            John D. de Jong, Pres.
          (privatio actuosa) . Rom. 8 :7, Gal. 5 : 17.                                                                P.  Vanden   Engel, Clerk.
                 6. The re,sult of sin is t:wo-fold:  iti the first place,
          &an Idied the `spiritual death. He pot only lost God's                                      IN MEMORIAM
          image but the true knowledge became  the lie, the
          righteousness became unrighteousness, the holiness                      The Ladies' Aid of the Protestant Reformed Church of
         became unholiness. Man became prophet, priest, and Sioux Center, Iowa, wishes hereby to express its sympathy
          king of the  deviI. The  ethical   working of his  natura           to Gertrude Jansen, in the loss of her sister,
         became  nothing else than a working of death. An'd if                                       LOUISE JANSEN
          we speak of remnants of God's image in man, we who was a loyal and faithful member of this Ladies' Aid. May
          understand only that man in his sin can still see that the Lord prove. again that He giveth grace for every trial.
         he was created in (but lost irrevocably) ) and is yet                                                          R`ev.  M. Gritter,  Pres.
          command.ed  `to live in righteousness, truth, and holi-                                                       Mrs. N. Buyert, Sec'y.
          ness. Ps. 14, 53, Rom. 3 :918, Rom. 5 :XBff., a& 8:5 8.
         and Eph. 2 : 1-3.                                                                            Ilir  MEMORL4M   -
                 In the second place, man died the physical death,                In the afternoon of July 11, the L,zrd in .His infinite wisdom
         ,so that although death did not immediately take him,                took out of our midst our beloved husband, father and grand-
          the power of adeath  did take hold on all his members               father
         so that his life became "nothing but a continual death."                                FREDERICK W. PIPE
          And `this temporal death is the beginning of eterna! at the age of  66 years.
         death, that is, the relat.ion  of the rationaI-moral  man                We are  grtitly comforted and have the assurance  that
         bxame nistantIy  and ecerlasti,ngly a relation of wrath God whom he so faithfully served has taken him to His eternnl
          in place of love.                                                   Home.
                 This and this only is the teaching of Scripture on                                            Mrs. Frederick W. Pipe
          this score ; no man in putis naturalibus;  no common                                                 Mr. and Mrs. John Pipe
         grace ; only the sharp aLtitheses  of good an.d evil, sin                                             Mr. Gerrit Pipe
          and grace, eIection  anld reprobation, love and wrath,                                               Mr. and Mrs. Harry  Niemeyer
         the Church and the World, salvation and damnation.                                                    Mr. and Mrs.  Menao   Brummel
                                                            H. C. H.                                          T/`Sgt.  Henry  Ptipe
          Editor's Note:     This article was one of several papers de-                                        Mr. and Mrs. Sam Zylstra
          livered at the meetings of the philosophy club of our seminary                                       Pfc. Frederick Pipe Jr.
          during the  past year. More will appear  in the future, D.V,                                           gnd 6 grand-children.


VOLUME  SS                                                      SEPTENBER  I ,   191-l                                            WJMBER
                                                                                                                                  &             21
            ".--"
-      -          .-  _                                                           that seeks the things  ixlox. arlcl Irho even ~odcl make
                                                                                  use of  -Jesus'  authority  t:o help him in realizing his
                                                                                  xmbition  : "Xaster.  speak to m,v brother, that he divide
                                                                                  the inheritance  lvith  me I" Perhaps, the man had a
                                                                          -- righteous cause. Part of the inheritance was probabi;\;
                                                                                  hi;. But  ths deep  and  very  zkous.  trouble for him
             Fear Not, Little F%cack!                                             was, that because of his part of the inheritance he
                                                                                  could not see the kingdom of God, and would make
                                                                                  use of the King of that kingdom to satisfy his  earthly
                                                                                  and carnal ambition. And,  having  rehukecI the man,
                                                                                  the  Saviour   drew  the picture of the covetous man.
                                                                                  who  lays  up  earthly   treasures for  him&t',   l..ci  i?,ho is
                                                                                  not rich in God, in the parable of the rich fool: xxi
     1.f ye seek the kingdom of God first. chiefly, con- then proceed; to apply it to His disciples by the exhort-
stantly, this word is addressed to you, and you may                               ation not to seek earthly things, not to be anxious
hear it.                                                                          about meat. and drink and clothing, but rather to seek
     If ye seek the things that are below, the things  ;:!ir'                     the kingdom of God! . . . .
the -orId, the things that are seen, but that are tem-                                Fear not !
poral. ihis word of the Lord Jesus is neither meant fo!*                              Only in the measure that we seek the kingdom does
>WU,  nor can ye hear it.                                                         this exhortation not to fear have meaning for us.
     The  en:ire  context ~of this address (.)I` the Savioui                          If our affection is  (.)n the things  below.   and if  VCC:
to His little flock speaks, of the things of the kingdom                          seek  the things of this world, :ve are, perhaps, a BUC-
0:' Gnd and the things that are upon the eargrh (x.2 (z ~*~wrz-                   cessful   mai1  of the  Ko.t.ld,   but the  Lord  WOLI~~   say:
ft*a.st. Not. indeed, as if they were a contrast i-1 them                         "Feal*,  thou fool, for it is  God's  pieasure   to cast  :;ou
solves. 3s if  ;here  x.Yrre  :m irreconcilable conflict  bc                      body  am1 soul into hell !"
tween "nature and grace". `But  1-1s  2211  ObjE?Ct   Of  Oil:'
ilesire.  elf uur seeking and striving, they stand opposed
i.o  each  other.          Y!ru  l:annot  ~t2t  ;,-our  :iffe3,ion   011  I+~~
thinps  above :wl on them  that twe below ;tt; the sarny
time. Where  :.*c)uI*  t~~asu~~e   is, there  .~hall  ;,`oLlr he:.\~~.
be. if  :rwllr  treasure  is  iI1 heaven the issues  of  youl'
heart shall  proceed  to.  LWCJ  f&ten  themselves  on  the
things that  31.e heavenly: if  your treasure  is, in  ~IIY
things that are seen, the :Lffections  of your heart ~:a;?-
not rise  :hose  rhem.


                        _._  ,.
462                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

caused by the apprehension that a certain evil is im-             the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and con-
pending and will befall us. The evil that is apprehend-           demn the unfruitful works of darkness, and stand in
ed may be either unconditional and unavoidable, or its            the way of the realization of the proud kingdom of
reaiization  may be contingent upon a certain course of mere Man, that world will hate you, and  persecutr!
action on our part. A person may have an incurable you, and speak and do all manner of evil against you
disease, and fear the unavoidbie suffering anid, ultimate         for Christ's sake.
death connected with it: the evil he fears cannot be                 And many are the evils that mighty power of dark-
escaped. Or, on the other hand, a soldier on the battle-          ness that is called "world" may inflict upon you!
field may be overcome with terror of the enemy, and                  It may threaten to take away your name. your
he may tlee to avoid the dreaded evil.                            ,position  in the world, your job, your possessions. your
       And always fear tends to and results in the en-            home, your liberty, yea, your very life on earth. Yea,
deavor to escape or avoid the impending evil as far as            the time will come that, if you persist ill seeking the
possible.                                                         kingdom of God, they will make it. impossible for you
       Fear not, little flock!                                    to buy or to sell: you will be considered and treated as
       Fear not, although as you seek the kingdom of God,         an outcast, unworthy to occupy the very ground you
and because of this, dark  clouds  of evil lower, and             stand on!
storms of persecution  t.hreaten  to break over your                 Fear not!
head !                                                               Not as if these evils are but imaginary. Not as if
       For  ,it is of this fear and of these  evila  that  the    the threatening storm shall never break over your
Lord is thinking as He here addresses His little flock.           head ; for it will.
The reference is to the fear that might fill the hearts               But fear not, though these evils come!
of His disciples, of His Church in the world, inbecause               Let them not fill you with terror!
of the evils, that threaten and beset those that faith-               And above all, let the fear of them never induce you
fully seek the kingdom of God in the midst of a world             to change your course of action  aad to abandon the
that is opposed to that kingdom. For, let us clearly              cause of the kingdom of God!
understand what it means to seek that kingdom. it                     Be faithful, unto death!
does not simply mean to strive to enter into the
heavenly glory of that kingdom in its future realiza-                                    -
tion, though this is not excluded. But it signifies that
we are, even now and in this, world, spiritual citizens               Little flock !
of that `kingdom in which God is freely acknowledged                  With special and intentional emphasis, the Saviour
and served as king, and that is  estabbished through              here designates His Church as Z1:tile i'l;ock.
the cross and the resurrection  and exaltation of our                 For the "flock" is His Church, the company of
Lord Jesus Christ. It implies that we have been trans- those whom the Father gave Him out of the world.
 lated from death into life, and from darkness into               And all the emphasis in this. connection is on that
light, and that the righteousness of that kingdom, bot!i          significant qualification  littk!
 in its juridical and in its ethical sense is ours. It means          Always the flack of Christ is little!
that we set our heart on the things of that kingdom                   It was little enough, indeed, at the moment when
and on its righteousness, and that we walk as citizens            He first spoke these words, addressing the small num-
 of that kingdom in the midst of the world of darkness            ber of His disciples that followed `Him at the  time.
 and iniquity, proclaim,ing  the Word of the kingdom,             Even in comparison with Israel as a nation, as  it,
confessing the Lord of that kingdom,, striving to mani-           existed at that time in the land of Canaan, His dis-
 fest in our conversation the righteousness of that king-         ciples constituted but a small group.        For, He had
 dom, and thus condemning  t.he evil works of the king- come unto His own, and His own received Him not.
 dom of darkness.                                                 A4nd what `did.  even all Israel amount to in number and
       So seeking the kingdom, fear not!                          power, in comparison with the mighty nations round
       `Your heart might, indeed, be filled with terror  bc-      about, the world-power of that time?
 cause of the evils that  thr,eaten  you from every side.             But little is the Church always !
       For  the world lies in darkness, and it hates  the             The word which the Lord here speaks is not limited
 light.                                                           by time and place and circumstances.              It never  ic.
       Moreover, it strives for the realization of its own         Christ still speaks. And always the content of His
 kingdom, the kingdom of Man, of this world, with its Word is the same. Always the Church is addressed
 own righteousness, the righteousness, not of God, but            as little, and always He exhorts that little Church
 of Man, \vithout  the Christ of &cl, without the cross            never to fear, but constantly to seek the kingdom (:f
 and the atoning blood of the Lamb. And if you seek                God and its righteousness.


                                                                                                     ^
                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 463
- -
 llnd when was the Church of Christ ever numeric-                 ness in number means that the Church is also insignifi-
ally strong?                                                      cant in the world, that she has no position,  ilo  in-
       All through the ages it was, and still is, a little  fluence  no "vote," no power and no means to fight,
flock.     Perhaps, today, in spite of the grand display and that the power of the world might  constantlv
what is known as the Chuxh  makes in the worlld, ix threaten to overwhelm her! This littleness of the
spite of the many churches, t.he magnificent edifices,            Church might  ina.pire her with the dread of being
the mighty efforts of those that prophecy, and cast               ultimately overcome, and might induce her to make
out devils, and do many wonderful works,-the  Church an attempt to organize, to develop power in the world,
is smaller than ever. Ah, how relatively small is even            at the expense of her specific character as a flock of
the nominal Church in comparison with the mighty Jesus Christ, and with the r.esult that she would not
world! hnd in that nominal Church, how many are seek the righteousness of the kingdom of God anymore!
the thousands that have forsaken the kingdom, have                   But: fear not, little flock!
denied the Christ and His Cross, have apostatized                    Make no attempt to develop a power that is not
from the truth, and have been swallowed up by the properly yours.
enemy ! How many of those that outwardly bear the                    Let not your litt,leness  be a cause of terror!
name of Chris,t are seeking, not the kingdom of God,                 As a little flock, be of good cheer!
but the world and its lust! How small, in the midst of               Fear not!
the "Church" is the number of those that outwardly
still profess the truth! How (speaking from a worldly                              L    -                 -
viewpoint.) ridiculously small are we- as Protestant
Reformed Churches, that uphold the truth of God's                    Be not afraid!
sovereign grace ! And how many even of those that                    Rather consider that you  heve the victory!
thus outwardly profess the truth, will fall away when                 For it is your Father's good pleasure to give you
the fire of persecution will be started, and will prove           the Kingdom!
to be reprobate!        Do not even many of us already                And that consideration should be more than suf-
fearfully ask : "what shall we eat ?" and : "what shall           ficient to drive out all fear!
we drink ?" rather than to seek the kingdom of God                    The kingdom here is the ultimate and eternal
and its righteousness? . . . .                                    realization of the kingdom of Christ in glory. It is the
       Little flock! . . . .                                      incorruptible and undefilable inheritance that fadeth
       But why  iIs  khe Church so little? Is this littleness. not away, that will be given to the little flock when
perhaps, emphasized, in order that we should be stirred           their Lord shall appear once more from heaven to
into action, and put forth our every effort to make of            make all things like unto Himself!           ,4nd the glory
this little flock a mighty army? Is  the Church  so               of that  k.ingdom is so unspeakable great and precious,
little, perhaps, because we did not labor, and sacrifice, that all the sufferings of this present time are not
and preach the Word of God? Shall we send forth worthy to be compared with it! It would be better far
 missionaries, and more missionaries, in order to gain to suffer  all the evils of this present time a thousand
 souls for Christ, and lay the whole  worlld  at His feet?        times than to forfeit our place in that kingdom.
       But no, that would be of no avail to make the  I               And  its possession is fully assured you, little flock!
 Church great in this world!                                          Noth,ing  can deprive you of it!
       The word of Christ is absolute: He addresses the               For it is your Father's good pleasure to give it to
 whole Church of all ages as a little flock. Besides,  the         you! Mark  you well, He will  yive  it you.  YOU need
 gathering of the Church is not our work at all, but               not fight for it. You can do nothing to realize it. The
 His,  an,d His alone. We cannot even preach, unless enemy can do nothing to prevent its coming. He wi!l
 He speaks!                                                        give it you!
        The littleness of the flock of Christ has its ultimate        Such is  `His good pleasure, i.e. His eternal  cOUnSe6
 and sole cause in the goods pleasure of the Father, in            according t,o which He works all things, in which also
 His election and sovereign grace. Be chose the Church the enemy, sin, evil, death, and all the powers of dark-
 to be little, for His strength must be made perfect in            ness have th.eir proper place! It is His  c0Un.d   un-
 weakness, that His glory, the glory of His mighty                 changeable, as He Himself delights in it !
 grace in the Beloved might shine forth and receive all               He, your Father, Who loved you even unto the
 the praise !                                                      death of His Son, will give it to YOU!
        But do you not see, why this word is here intention-           He, the Almighty, whom no one can .possibly op-
 ally  used, and why the Church  is in this connection             pose, will give it to YOU!
 em8phatically  reminded of her littleness?                            The matter is fully determined!
        DO YOU not discern that this very littleness would             Fear not!
 Seem an addirion&J  reason for fear'?        For this, small-                                                      H,      Hs


-84                                                                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                TheSfandardBearer
          Semi-Monthly, except Monthly in July and August                                                                                                                 EDITORIALS
                                                          Published by
                     The Reformed Free Publishing Aaaociation
                                           1101  Hazen   Street, S. E.                                                                                                    The New Schedule
                                     EDITOR - Rev.  .H. Hoeksemr

   Contributing editors-Revs. J. Blankespoor,  A. Cammenga,                                                                                                   Xt  the  annual  meeting of the editorial staff of
    P.  De Boer, J. D. de Jong,  H.  De Wolf, L.  Doemma,                                                                                                  the Standar'd B.earer,  which was held on June 4. it was
    pd. Gritters, C. Hanko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,
   A. Petter, M.  Schipper,  J.  Vanden   Breggen,  H. Veldman,                                                                                            decided to continue to edit our paper in the same mxr-
    R. Veldman, L. Vermeer, P. Vis, G. Vos;Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                                                ner as during the l&t three years. Accordingly, LQ
                                                                                                                                                           undersigned was once more assigned `the position of
    Communieations relative to contents should  be addressed                                                                                               editor, clothed with ,dictatorial  powers. But as these
    to REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand
    Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                      dictatorial powers mean mostly work, the editor  was
                                                                                                                                                           again appointed to draw up a schedule of subjects  for
    Communications relative to subscription should be ad-                                                                                                  the easuing year, and to assign them to the -various
    dressed to MR. R.  SCHAAFSMA,  1101  Haaen St., S. E.,
    Grand Rapids, Mich.                                    All Announcements and  Obituaries                                                               co-workers.
    must be sent to the above address and will not be placed                                                                                                  The Rev. Ophoff w:xs grantd! the privilege  to draw
    unless the regular fee of $1.00 accompanies the notice.                                                                                                up his own schedule.
                                          Subscription $2.59 per  year                                                                                        The schedule here follows. I wish to make just one
                                                                                                                                                           remark with regard to it. Although the brethren S.
                                                                                                                                                           Cammenga  and W. Hofman were not definitely ap-
                                                                                                                                                           pointed to join the ranks of writers, I take for granted
                                                                                                                                                           that `this was simply overlooked, and that it was the
                                                                                                                                                           understanding that they, too, should be assigned sub-
                                                           CONTENTS                                                                                        jects. At any rate, I made use of my dictatorial powers
MEDITATION-                                                                                                                                                to in,clude  them in the following schedule.
       FEAR NOT LITTLE FLOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461                                           October  1
             Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                 De Psalmen, G. Vos. The power of Public Opinion,
                                                                                                                                                           J.. De Jong. Plenary and Verbal Inspiration of Holy
EDITORIALS  -                                                                                                                                              Writ, H. Veldman. The Authorship of `the Book of
    THE NEW SCHEDULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 Revelation, J. Heys. The History of the Christian
    THE C.L.A. AND THE STRIKE QUESTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466                                                                 School, II, M. Gritters.
       REPLY TO MR. J. GRITTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*........ 467                                                   October 15
       AS TO TOUCHY TOPICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468            De Psalmen, G. Vos. The Danger of Bolshevism in
       INFORMATION -ABOUT  DR. SCHILDER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469                                                         America, H. De Wolf. Kuyper's Calvinism as in his
       PROPOSAL OF LOCAL NO. 1"ti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469                      Stone Lectures; a Critique, I, G. Lubbers. The Term
             Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                              Law in the Epistle to the Galatians, L.  Doezema.
       GIDEON THE JUDGE WHO REFUSES TO BE KING....470                                                                                                      Unionism a Threat to Economic Liberty, R. Veldman.
              Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                                                    November 1
       DE VREESELIJKE STRIJDER . . . . ,* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . .474                               De Psalmen, G. Vos. The Value of Religious Habits,
            Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                    A. Petter. Kuyper's.  CaIvinism as in his Stone Lec-
       THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN THIS                                                                                                          tures, a Critique, II, G. Lubbers. Inherited Traits of
    COUNTRY . . . . . . . ..f.......................................................................... 476                                                Character in the light of Creatianism, L. Vermeer.
            Rev.  IM.  Gritterj                                                                                                                            God's Repentance, S. Cammenga.
    TOUCHY TOPICS. . . . . .._I............................................................... 478                                                                               November 15
            Mr. G. Ten Elshof                                                                                                                                  De  Psalmen,   G. Vos. Personality in the Light of
                                                                                                                                                           Traducianism, W. Hofman. Kuyper's Calvinism as in
       DEBATE - NEGATIVE. . . ..*................. * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
            Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                                his Stone Lectures, a Critique, III, G. Lubbers. The
                                                                                                                                                           Idea of Immedia'te  Regeneration, A. Cammenga. Free-
       DE'BATE - AFFIRMATIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 dom of Religion, P. Vis.
            Rev. J. Heys                                                                                                                                                           December 1
       REPORT OF MINISTERS  CDNFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . ..*............... 433                                                                              De Psaimen, G. Vos. Who are Gog  an,d  Magog'?
                                                                     .~I__                                                                 -          -
__"~_ j...- ;__ -...."                             - . . .I...l.  ." I                                                                                     I?. De Boer.    The Meaning of Philippians  2:6b,   `M,


                                                                                             .





                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E B                                       466

Schipper. Freedom  of the Press in Peace and in War,          in the  Ordo   Salutis.  A. Petter.      The Firstborn  o';
C.  ISanko. The  Keriosis of Philippians  2:7, J.  Blanke-    Every Creature in Col.  1:15, H. De Wolf.
spoor.                                                                               April 15
                       December 15                               De  Psalmen,  G. Vos. Freedom of Speech in  War-
   De Psalmen, G. Vos. Communism and the Social               time, W. Hofman. The Radio and the Christian Home,
Life of the First Church in Jerusalem, B. Kok. "Deny-         S. Cammenga. Companionate Marriages, L. Vermeer.
ing the Lord that Bought Them" in II Pet. 2:2, J. De The Unity and  Multiformity  of the Church, A.  Cam-
Jong. The Nestorian Conception of the Natures of menga.
Christ, H. `Veldman. The Concept "Servant of Jehovah"                                  May 1
in Isaiah, J. Heys.                                              De  Psalmen,  G. Vos. The Book of Life in  Revela-
                         January 1                            tion, P. Vis. The Sphinx of Moscow; Biographical,
    De  Psalmen,  G. Vos.      Liberty in Relation to `the J. Blankespoor. The Meaning of "Before the  Founda-
Law. L. Doezema. Debate: Resolved that Heildelberg            tion of the World" in the N. T., M. Schipper. Religious
Catekhism  Preaching is Ministry of the Word of God, I.       Freedom in Russia, C. Hanko.
Affirmative R. Veldman; Negative A. Petter. The                                       May 15
Idea of Cooperation as an Element of Divine Provi-                De  Psalmen,  G. Vos.     The Deaconate and Civic
dence, H. De Wolf.                                            Char'ity,  C. Hanko. Fairy Tale;. in Children's Readers,
                         January 15                           1M. Gritters. The Orthodox Church in Russia, B. Kok.
    De Psalmen,  G. Vos. Debate: Resolved that Heidel- The Man Without a Wedding Garment in Matt. X2:11-
berg Catechism Preaching is Ministry of the Word of           14. J. De Jong.
God, II. Affirmative R. Vel'dman;  Negative A. Petter.                                 June 1
The Prese,nce  of Christ in the Lord's, Supper, L. Ver-           De  Psalmen,  G. Vos. Matt.  22231,  32 as Proof  ,,f
meer.     Miracles and the Laws of Nature, S.  Cam-           the Bodily Resurrection, H. Veldman. The Time and
menga.                                                        Contents of Bereshith in Gen. 1 :l, J. Heys. Russia
                         February 1                           After the War, P. De Boer. Friends of Mammon and
    D,e  Psalmen, G. Vos. The Principles of Christian  - Everlasting Habitations, G. Lubbers.
 School Discipline, W. `Hofman. The Organic Inspir-                                    June 15
 ation of Scripture, A. Cammenga. Punishment and                  De Psalmen, G. Vos. The Formation of the Canon,
 Chast.isement,  P. Vis. The Apollinarian Conception L. Doe,zema.  Pacifism, R. Veldman. The `term "Soul"
 of the Natures of Christ, M. Schipper.                        in the 0. T., H. De Wolf. The Motives of Idol Wor-
                         February 15                           ship, A. Petter.
    De  Psalmen, G. Vos. Debate: Resolved that the                                      July 1
 Underground Movement in Occupied Countries is Revo-              De  Psalmen, G. Vos. The Fulfillment of  th.e  Im-
 lutionary, I; Affirmative C. Hanko; Negative J.               manuel  Prophecy in Isa. 7 : 14-16. The Term "Soul" in
 Blankespoor. The  Gif,t of Tongues, B. Kok.  Ana-             the N. T., S. Cammenga. Death in its Various Phases,
 baptism, an Evolution,  I?. De Boer.                          W. Hofman. The  Icdea of Pleroma in the N. Testament,
                          March  I.                            A. Cammenga.
     De  Psalmen, G. Vos. The Purpose of Abraham's                                     August 1
 Separation, M. Gritters. Pharaoh's Hardening Pro-                 De Psalmen, G. Vos. The Psychological Body o,f
 cess, J. De Jong. Debate: Resolved that the Under-            I Car. 15 :44, P. Vis. The Baptism unto the Forgive-
 ground Movement in Occupied Countries is Revolution- ness of Sins, M. Schipper. The Special  Significan,ce
 ary, II ; Affirmative C. Hanko; Negative J. Blankes-          of John the Baptist, M. Critters. Dr. Kuyper's Con-
 poor.                                                         ception of Christ's Human Nature as General,  C.
                          March 15                             Hanko.
     De  Psalmen,  G. Vos. The Relation Between the                                  September 1
 Four Kinds of Faith, H. Veldman. The outward Man                  De  Psalmen, G. Vos.     The "Sign of the Son  of
 and the Old Man,  J. Heys. The Covenant of  Sinai,            Man" in the Parousia, J. Blankespoor. The Nearness
 P. De Boer.      Common Grace in Schilder's Passion of the Parousia, B. Kok. The Meaning of the Term
 Trilogy, G. Lubbers.                                          "Son of Man," J. De Jong. The Suffering of God in
                             April  1                          th.e Death of Christ, H. Veldman.
     De  Psalmen,   G. Vos.       Man's Responsibility and                           Septe*mber  15
  God's Providence, L. Doezema. Training Teachers                  De  Psalmen,  G. Vos. The Non  Posse  Peccare  of
 for our Own Schools, R. Veldman. The Subconscious              Christ and His Temptation, J. Heys. Idolatry and


466                                          T H E   Sr.AN-I3:ARD  B E A R E R
                                                           _  ---.-s--I.
Image  Worsh,ip,  P. De Boer. Christ's Forbidding to
Spread His Fame, L. Doezema. Faith as a Function,                           The C.L.A. and the Strike Question
A. Petter.
                                                                                There is one more point I meant to make in re-
                                                                            gard to the position of the C.L.X. with respect to th?
       The following is a schedule of Rev. Ophoff's topics :                strike.
1. Samson's Journey to Timnah. 2. The Wedding                                   Thus far I argued that the strike is principally
Feast and the Treachery of the Philistine;!. 3. Sam-                        wrong because it is revolutionary. Ot is a refusal to
son's Revenge on the Philistines. 4. The  disloya?y  of                     work for those whom we regard as our employers,
the Men of Judah.  5. Samson in Gaza. 6.  Samson'3                          anld to whom, therefore, we owe obedience and sub-
Fall. 7. Samson's End. 9. The Meaning and  Signiti- jection according to Scripture. And, secondly, I: show-
cance of Samson.           1.0. Micah's Private Sanctuary. ,ed that the strike cannot possibly stand in the service
11. The Exploration of the Tribe of Dan.  -.
                                                              1 "   The_ of righteousness,  &cause  it is not duly  instiituted
Na'rrative  of thge Infamous Deed Perpetrated at Gibeah                     authority that settles t.he issue in a strike, but mere
and Its Terrible Consequences.               13. The Chronology force. The strongest wins.
of the Book of the Judges. 14. The Canonical Signifi-                           The point I still wish to make is that for a Chris-
cance of  trhe Book of the Judges.              15. The Book oP             tian organization the use of the strike weapon is hope-
Ruth. 16. Faithfulness  Un't,o Death. 17. Sorrow  ant1                      less.
Repentance. 18. The reward of Faithfulness. 19. The                             The people of Gad are a little flock. Thus they are
Israelite Without Guile. 20. Samuel's Parents and  the called in Scripture, and thus they are throughout the
Childless Hannah.                                                           ages.      Even what is nominally known as ithe Church
                                                                            in the world is small  i,n comparison with the unbeliev-
                  Church H&torical  Subjects                                ing world and the forces that openly defy God and His
1.  ,Christian  Worship of the -Ante-Nicene  Age.  2. Thi?                  Christ. Much small,er  still is the Churoh  that, evea iu
Development of Catholic  Th,eology.   3. Nicene and a general sense, still  profess,es the truth of the  gdspel.
Post-Nicene Christianity.              4.  Tthe  Lilt.erary  Triumph And very little, indeed, is ,the number of those that
of Christianity over Greek and Roman Heathenism.                            belong to the true, spiritual body of Christ, the true
:5. ,The Roman Hierarchy. 6. Church Discipline and saints  in Christ Jesus. They are small in number,
Schisms.  7. Public Worship. 8. Development of Eco-                         weak in means aad. power, and insignificant in their
menial Councils. 9. The Trinitarian Controvertiies.                         position in the world. If their cause, ii1 any depart-
                                                           II. `H.          ment of the life of `this world, d~epen~d~~  on numbers and
                                                                            the use of force, it is absolutely hopeless. Their  nuni-
                                                                            ber is smaller, and their power is inferior, according
                                                                            as they are more truly faithful in their profession and
                          ANNIVERSARY                                       walk to the truth as it is in Christ.
                                                                                Necessarily,  khis is true for any truly Christian
       Den 26 sten  July 1944, herdachten Onze geliefde  ouders             organization.
                      WILLIAM KOOIENGA                                          1.t is true for the C.L.A.
                                 en                                             According as the Christian Labor Alliance is faith-
                   ANNA  KOOIENGA   - Visser                                ful to the Word of God and the precepts of our Lord,
                                                                            it will be small in numbers and of little power.
hunne 45 jarige echtvereeniging.                                                What do they  amounlt  to, from the aspect of power
       Wlj danken  den Heere  voor  de rijke zegeningen hen en ons          and influence, in the great industrial world of today?
iu  deze.n  geschonken. Moge Hij hen ook verder het  goode   doen           What significance can they expect to acquire, from a
:;enieten  in het overige van hun levensweg.                                worldly viewpoint, in comparison  .with  the  mightly
                                Runne   darkbare kindren:                   unions of the world? It is ridiculous even  to  speak  nf
                         Mr.  and Mrs.  Jake  Iiooienga                     the power of the C.L.A. ii1 ,this sense of the word.
                         Mr.  and Mrs. Henry Kooienga                           Hence, their use of the strike weapon is hopeiess.
                         Mr. and Mrs. Dick Kooienga                             Do not misunderstand me. Principally, the use of
                         Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kooienga                       t.he strike weapon is always hopeless. This is true,
                         Mr. and Mrs. Arie Ponstein                         not only for the C.L.A.. but also for the A.F.L. and the
                         Mr. and Mrs. Martin Wustman                        (X.0. It will never help to  [solve any social problem.
                         Mr. and Mrs. Jahn Lanning                          It represenlts the class struggle. It leads to revolution.
                         Mo.  M. M 3ic and Mrs. Wilbur Kooiengs                 But I am considering the strike now merely from
                            en 24 Kleinkinderen.                            the viewpoint of its being a temporary means to gain
1513 Godfrey Ave., Grand Rapids 9,  Mich.                                   one's end, as an employment of power in the mighty


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              467

industrial struggle of today, a means of the laboring taking employment with him. At the .same time the
man to improve h.is Isocial position. From this view- workers must uphold their promise to return to work
point I consbder  it ridiculous for the C.L.X. to speak         when the injustice is removed. That is  their  moral
of t,he strike weapon..                                         obligation."
   If, nevertheless, t,he Christian Labor Alliance in-             Now, this is exactly the position of all worldly
sists  0~1 maintaining the strike clause, the result will       unions. They advocate the use of the strike. weapon
be inevitably an attempt on her part to become strong           only after all peaceful attempts at settlement of the
in numbers at  the expea;e of principle and true spirit- issue involved have failed. Mr. Gritters tries to point
ual power.                                                      out a real difference between th,e C.L.A. and the world-
   And thus the C.L.A. will lose its distinctive char-          ly unions by saying that the latit,er  "usually strike first
acter, and, hence, its reason for existence.                    and talk afterwards." But this is by no means the
    It will become like the salt that has lost its savor,       official stand of the unions as defined in their consti-
and that is good for the dunghill.                              tutions. On the contrary, they usually have a clause
                                                H. H.           insilsting on arbitration  first and the strike as a last
                                                                resort. Let me adduce a few quotations in proof of
                                                                this statement.
                                                                   The following is from the Con&it&ion  and By!azcs
          Reply to Mr. J, Gritter                               of the International Brotherhood  of  Teamsters,   Chau-
                                                                few-s,  Stablemen   ati Helpers:
    In answer ;to the article by Mr. .I. Gritter ill the                "Sec. 60. When any difficu1't.y  arises between
August number of our paper, the following may ~suffice.              the members of any Local Union and their em-
    1. I wish to point out that nowhere did 1 make the               ployers, the members shall lay the matter before
statement that "employees, if dissatisfied, may col-                 their Local Union, and, if approved by the Union,
lectively cease working." Nor would I subscribe  to                  the President shall appoint a committee to wait
this statement without important qualifications. Even                upon the employers and endeavor to adjust the
if a man quits his job he has certain obligationIs  before           difficulit,y  ; said committee shall report to the next
God, both with regard to his employer and to those                   regular or speical meeting,  and the Local Union
that are dependent on him. The fact that he is dis-                  shall then take such ,course  as is prescribed in this
satisfied with his job does  noit justify his quitting, un-          constitution."
less he is  js:ure of another job. And if his quitting
would seriously handicap his employer, he would cer-                Here foilowls a quotation from the Cordtution of
tainly have to serve notice of his intention to quit some       the  InterrutdiowuxL  Union,  United  Automobile  Workers
time in advance to provide opportunity to his employer of Aflmerica  :
to find someone in his place. And what is `true of the                  "Sec. 3. (of Art.. L3). If the Local Union in-
individual laborer is true with greater emphasis of an                volved is unable to reach an agreement with the
entire union or group of workingmen. But I will not                  employer without a strike, the recording Secretary
elaborate on this point, because it is not the point :tt             of the Local Union shall prepare a full statement
issue  a: present. If it is only understood that I am not             and history of the matters in controversy and for-
responsible for the unqualified statement that "em-                   ward the same to the General President,, who shall
ployees, if dissatisfied, may collectively cease working."            thereupon in person or by deputy visit the Local
    2. The position of the C.L.A., so I wrote, with re-               Union where the controversy exists and investi-
gard to the strike, does not differ principally from                  gate the controversy and if possible effect a settle-
[that of the worldly un'ions. This statement still stands             ment."
after I read the art,icle  by Mr. Gritter, i;l. spite of his
attempt to prove the contrary. According to the secre-              Clne more quotation from the Book of Laws of the
tary of the C.L.A., the position of  ithe Christian Labor       Interrdionul  Typographical  Unioln,   Art. XXV  :
Alliance regarding the strike is as follows: "when                      "Sec. 1. In the event of a disagreement be-
Christ,ian workers collectively cease working in protest:             tween a subordinate union and an employer, which
against an injustice by their employer, which he has                  in the opinion of the local union may result ia. a
obstinat,ely  refused to remove in spite of repeated and              strike, such union shall notify the president, who
 earnest appeals to do so by the workers, such employ-                shall repair in person or by proxy to `the place
 ees retain a moral claim to their jobs and they may,                 where said union is located, investigate the cause
 in a peaceful manner acquaint the public with thei                   of the disagreement and endeavor to adjust the
 grievances and request it not to lend support to the                 difficulty. If his efforts should prove futile, he
 employer in continued imposition of the injustice by                 shall notify the Executive Council of all the cir-

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

        cumstances,  and if a majority of said council shall     stomach, proclaiming that the storekeeper is "unfair
        decide that a strike Es necessary, such union may        to organized  labor." Or he stands at the entrance of
        be authorized to order a strike."                        a factory informing everybody that would seek em-
       Now. this is exactly the position of the C.L.A. as        ployment there that the employer is so evil and unjust
                                                                 a man that no one ought to work for him, and that it is
explained by Mr. Gritter in his article of  Aug. 1.
There may be  pra,ctical  differences  iii regard to the         positively immoral to seek employment in his place.
                                                                    On whose authority does the picket spread this evi!
execution of a strike, `Mr. Gritter writes : "The world-
ly organization does not always have a moral claim bu:           report of the employer? Who decides that the em-
                                                                 ployer is unjust in his dealings with his workingmen?
strikes nevertheless and will use violence, terrorism            The union. No one else. It is the sole judge in its own
and bloodshed if necessary to impose its will. Surei;            case. ,1nd who guarantees that the picket tells th,.s
there is a real difference between that and the position
of the C.L.X."  We have no dispute with the brotheLa             truth? Perhaps, the pick&. himself; perhaps, the union.
                                                                 But is it Christian ethics to spread one's evil report
about  t,his. We were arguing, not  abou; accompany-
ing circumstances of the strike, but about the ,<trike           behind his back and (that,  too, without any authority
as such. Xnd then it should be plain that there is  no           whatsoever? Is it Christian to let a man be the sole
principal difference between the conception of the judge in his own case, and act  a::cordingly?
strike as offered us by Mr.  Gritker and that of the                Peaceful picketiag  to me is, at best, a method of
                                                                 peaceful backbiting, and probably also of peaceful
jvorldly  unitms.                                                slander.
       3. I&l?. Gritter defends picketing. It stands to r'ea-       And they are not Christian activities, but  i:he  ver:r
son that, as I carmot  agree with him about the strike,          works of the devil.
I must differ with him  oil the question of  pi:ke:ing.                                                         H. H.
Cond,emn the &rike, and the question of picketing does
not arise. But I, nevertheless, wish to point out th.e
thoroughly unchristian character of this evil, even  a.~
advocated by Mr. Critter. He writes: "But do such
employees when they cease working retain a claim to                          As to "Ta~hy Topics"
their jobs and are they justified in using peaceful
means to persuade others from taking employme:lt?.                   In a contribution in this number of our paper  Mr.
or, do they by ceasing work simply quit. and relinquish          G. Ten Elshof criticizes, and rather severely and com-
all claims to the jobs they have left? The answer of             pletely condemns, the decision of our last Synod t:)
the C.L.A. is: that all depends. If the employees are            inv& the  te.1  (thousand dollars that  accumulated  in
in the Tvrong,  then there is no real justification for the our Mission Fund for the time being in government,
strike, they must be considered as having quit their             war bonds.
jobs, and they should not try to keep others from tak-               Perhaps, others, such as the mission  committer?,
ing their former jobs in order to stren,gthen  them in           are the `proper party to reply to this article. It con-
their unjustifiable action. If, on the other hand, the           cerns a rnatter of finance. And if my memory is cor-
employer is in the wrong, and sincere efforts have been          reclt (I did not take the time to look it up), the pro-
made to persuade him to deal justily,  then if the em-           posal to invest this zsturn  as was decided came from
ployees strike they do have a moral claim to their jobs          them.
and they may by truthful and peaceful means seek  i;)                Nev,ertheless,  I consider it but proper to make the
persuade others from taking employment so that  the\7            following remarks in  co;m.ection  with the article:
will not by so doing  strensgthen  the employer in his               1. I cannot under&and why such a question. as thz
unjustifiable action."                                           in*vestment  of a sum of money in a cen:ain way by our
       Now, this is a very strange method of reasoning.          Synod should be a "touchy topic," unless those  that
Mr. Critter takes the position really that "peaceful and         discuss it feel touchy about it, and manifest  thei!
truthful" picketing is Christian just because it is peacc-       touchiness in the way they write abou,t  it. And I fell-
ful and truthful.         In other words, just because th?       a degree of touchiness in the article of Mr. Ten Elshof.
pickets do not use violence, and do not hit the would            Why not write i,n a simple, matter of fact, businesslike
be "scabs" over the head with a  club  or stone him,              ivay about ,so simple a matter as the investment! of
picketing is the Christian way of defending righteous-           surplus money?         If Mr. Ten Elshof disagrees with
ness.                                                            Synod on this point, that certainly is his privilege. If
       But let us see.                                           he wants to criticize that or any other act of Synod, he
       The job of the picket is to put the employer in su2.h     has that right. But why not simply express our dis-
;1. bad light that no ol;e will work for him. He Lvalks in       agreement, state the grounds, and  ,suggest other ways
 front of a store with a double sign on  hi3  back and            of investiag our money, instead of making a "touchy


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             469

topic" of so practical and prosaic a question?               However, we would like to be able to read the article
   2. If I understand Mr. Ten Elshof correctly, it is        itself. Perhaps, it would give us a little more  light,
his opinion that the Synod did wrong in investing  the       on the whole mat%er  than the report of it in the "Vrije
money as it did, because the government makes use            Nederlander."     Especially would we like to know on
of that money in a  cau~ for which the Church cannot         whajt grounds the Synod suspended Dr. Schilder. Then,
be responsible. I disagree with the brother. I do not        too, it would be important to know just how far the
believe that any individual or group of individuals Is       indictment against the Reformed ministers is true,
responsible for what the government does with the `that they assume an attktude of rebellion against the
money of the war bonds. That would not even be true present Nazi government.
of an investment in the bank. Still less is it true of          In the meantime we were glad to read that Dr.
government bonds. Not  the individual citizen, but tl?.e     Schilder is still alive.
government alone is responsible for the war and its                                                         H. H.
execution.    There can be no wrong in buying war
bonds from this viewpoint.
    3. The `brother suggests several other ways in
which the surptlus money in question might be invested                Proposal Of Local No. 12
or used. But the brother is mistaken.  He forgets (that
the Synod had no authorilty  to juggle the funds of the         The business agent of Local No. 12, the same local
churches. The mission fund surplus money was given that proposed the anrt,i-strike  overture to the last annual
by the churches for none other purpose than that of          convention of the C.L.A., having noticed that the
our home missions. And no ecclesiastical gathering StcLndard Bearer took interest in the matter, was kind
has  Ithe power to spend the money given for a definite      enough to send me a complete copy of tthe above men-
purpose for any other cause than that for which it           tioned overture, and we here offer it to  our readers:
was given,
                                             H. H.                 To  the  Ammu  G%nvention of the Christian  Labo,*
                                                                          Association of the  United States.
                                                                   An overture.
    Information About Dr. Schilder                                   The board of the Christian Building Trades
                                                                   Local No.  12, proposes Go this convention that it
                                                                   shall rescind its stand in regard the strike issue.
    In (the "Vrije Nederlander," a paper published in                In its  official documents the C.L.A.  santions
London, England, appeared an article containing the                the labor  strike (see paragraph below) and we
information that Dr.  IX. Schilder had been suspended              feel that this stand should be changed, for reasons
from office by the Synod of the "Gereformeerde Ker-                further explained here-in.
ken" in the Netherlands, and that he is "momeWee1                     (In its program of action, the C.L.A. sanctions
ondergetoken."    The  !ast  phraase means that  ,he has             (the labor strike. (page 38 of old book)
for the present disappeared, joined the "underground."                Art. 9 of the  consti'tution,  paragraph 3 gives
This seems to imply that our esteemed brother was                    state boards in consultation with the national
once again in trouble with tihe Nazis, and that they                 executive committee; the right to call strikes.)
were looking for him.
    The article in the "Vrije Nederlander" was based               Grounds,
upon a rather lengthy article  in, another  Dultch paper.             More ,than anything else, ithe ,strike  weapon has
 `Wet Handelsblad,"  and which was written by one who              become the sore spot in organized labor's action.
styles  him&f a "Gereformeerd" minister. In the                    Unscrupulous usage has forced public opinion and
same article that Reformed minister must have rather               governmental sanction to frown upon organized
severely criticized the Reformed Churches of the                   labor as a whole.
 Netherlands  fo.r the fact that they continue their doc-             The government has provided through legisla-
 trinal battles in times like  the present; and, as we             tion for machinery to take care of labor troubles
 understood the report of that Ha,ndelsblud-article  in            more or less admuately.
 the "Vrije Nederlander," also criticized `several Re  -              The  scriptures,  upon  which  our organization
 formed ministers for their attitude of rebellion against          is founded, give only scant reason, and that by far
`the present Nazi government in the Netherlands, and               streltched  implication, to believe that the strike
 their open propaganda for the Oranje government in                may be  alright, where these same scriptures are
 exile.                                                            full of admonition toward the peaceful way of life.
     We musrt  remember that "get qandelsblad"  is Nazi.              In the thirteen years of operation of the C.L.A.,

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

        it has found little use for the strike weapon, out-
        side of a `club' over the head of hthosle with wlhom       Gideon the Judge Who Refuses
        we seek to deal as bargaining agent, according to
        the gospel of peace.                                                        to be King
                                                                                                *
        IN VIEW OF THE FACTS the board  o*f Local
        No. 12 feels that  t#he Christian Labor Association        The war of liberation against the 1Midianites  haA
        should be the Ji-rst to abolish the strike weapon been brought to  completioll.  Great has been the
        officially, and erase every vestige of its existence achievem,ents  of Gideon's faith.       "Then the men  iIf
        from  irts  official  documents, and adopt an  anti- Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou,
        strike policy.                                          and thy son, and thy son's son also." So do they offet
          If we want to live out our policy of class co-        him the supreme authority and even express a willing-
        operation, or  r&her equality, we must first gain       ness to make it hereditary. This offer of the peopie
        the confidence of those ,with whom we deal, and         can apparently be defend.ed  by saying that there was
        we cannot expect that if we pack a horseshoe in         need of a settled government, a center of authority
        our glove. Fair dealings must go hand in hand           which would bind the `tribes together and lead them in
        with a confidential approach.                           war. Actually there was this need. But it arose from
          We believe we can operate without it, let us          the nation's unwillingness to be one by a common
        now show our courage to DO it, and draw the line        faith in God, from the people's indisposition to turn
        of distinction that much tighter.                       from their abominations and. to serve the Lord and
          Let's iive by faith, not by might.                    to put their confidence in Him. Had they feared God
                                                                and kept His covenant? they would have enjoyed un-
                                                                broken peace and prosperity. Then the Lord would
       The same brother also writes me as follows:              have commamled  the blessing upon them in the city
                                                                and in' the, fields, in the fruit of their body and the
       "Convention procedure in this question was also          fruit of the ground and in the  :fruit of  ,tbeir  cattle.
contrary tto parlementary law. First the time-limit Then he would always have caused their enemies that
of one hour. Second, the usurpation of much of that rose up against them to be smitten before their face
time by the National Secretary in defense of hias po-           and to come out against  t,hem  one way and to flee
sition, beJore  Local No. 12 had had a chance to explain before them seven ways, Deut. 28:2ff. But the carna!
the proposal.                                                   Israel .did not want these good things from the hand
       "The editor of the C.L.R. states that we were not        of God on the condition that they be His people wholly
able to defend our position. In this case he is right,
only he fails to state that he had tied a rope around           consecrated to Him. If life could be had only in tho
our neck before we had a chance.                                way of obedience to God, they preferred death to life.
                                                                What  they  desired is not a  king disposed to rule over
       "When we saw the hopelessness of getting any-
where on the original proposal, we tried to get some- them as the  vicegerent;  of Jehovah but a king pre-
thing by asking for a different word for strike in the pared to give them prosperity and victory while walk-
cor&iturtion,  and this too was denied, NOT because             ing with them in their sins. What they wanted is z
a word is hard to find, but because the C.L.A. was not          king other than Jehovah. The offer they made to
ready to  dislpense  with the strike weapon."                   Gideon was therefore deeply sinful. And Gideon,
                                                                being a man who feared God, turned the offer down.
       Although the writer, Mr. R. TempeIman,  does not
state whether or not he intended ithis for publication,         He said to them,  "I will not rule over you, neither shall
we  (thought  there was nothing secret about the whole my soil rule ov,er you: the Lord shall rule over you."
matter, and that it was but fair to all concerned (that            Yet there was need of a king. But, as was just
we made it public.                                              said, this need arose from the unwillingness of the
       And, thanks for the information.                         people to keep Jehovah's covenant. In the Ianguage
                                                                of the sacred narrator, every man did that which was
                                                  H. H.         right in his own eyes,  Ju.dges  21:25.  Thus the need
                                                                did not rise from the failure of Jehovah to provide the
                                                                nation with the instruments that were needed for
                 NOTICE, CONSISTORIES                           the exercise of His rule. He was the ever present king.
                                                                His dwelling was among them. They had `His Ian-.
       Classis West, of the Protestant keformed Church-         They could contact `Him in every crisis through the
es, will meet in regular session, in Edgerton,  Minn., highpriest and  l,earn His will. He atoned their sins
the last Wednesday of September, i.e.,  Ithe  Z'th, a:          through His priest an.4 chastised them through their
9 A. M.. Those desiring lodging will please, write Mr.          enemies.    He raised up and inspired their `leaders.
Wm. Huisken, Edgerton, Minn.                                    And when they cried to Him by reason of their enemies


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         471

He sent deliverance. Why then did  Ithey ask for  `1        which, in great crisis, could confer its authority on :I.
king to  ruie over them? Because they rejected Je-          single individual. But it was not a law-making body,
hovah `that He should rule over them. In saying to          for Israel's sole king and legislator was Jehovah. His
Gideon, "Rule thou over us," they anticipate the sinful     laws He had  a1read.y  communicated to the nation
doing of their posterity. An identical request was dir-     through the agency. of Moses, and the elders were
ezted to the aged Samuel. Both rezmests  were one as        bound to act by the existing legislation as supple-
to motive. Concerning this motive we  canno't be  mis-      mented, in all matters of public importance, by the
take;1 because the Lord says to Samuel, "`Hearken unto will of God as revealed through the instrumentality
the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee:     of the "breastplate of Judgment" or Urim and  Thum-
for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected mim. As this  devi,ce could be directly consulted solely
me, that I should not reign over them. According to         by the highpriest, the finally decisive word of God
all the works which they have done since the day that could be had only from this dignitary, who thus, in a
I brought them up out of Egypt even un:o `this day,         sense, came to take the place of Moses in the popular
wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other assemblies of the nation.
gods, so do they also unto t,hee" (1 Sam. 8 :7$ 8).            Besides as the council of elders as headed by the
   Yet the kingship in Israel as such was not a sinful      highpriest, the nation had also its judges which, a~-
institution. The Israelitish nation  was a `type of the     cording to the commandment of. Moses (Deut.  16:18)
kingdom of heaven. The kingship was needed to com- the people chose for themselves in all their gates
plete this type. For the kingcEom of heaven, too, has       throughout the tribes. If the task of the council cf
its king. And its king is Christ. God therefore had         elders was to watch over the general interests of the
determined that Israel should have a king, and deter-       nation, that of the jud.ges  was to determine, in  the
mined also  .that eventually they should resolve to set light of Moses' laws, questions of dispute in contests
a king over them, like as all the nations that were         of law between  indiv,iduals.    This being their task.
about them, Deut. 17 :15. "When thou art come into          they were cautioned by Jehovah against wrestling
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall judgment, respecting persons, and taking gifts, Deut.
possess it . . . . and shalt say, I will set a king over    16:19.
me, like as all the nations that are about me." We             In this connection attention must also be called
should notice that God does not command Israel to set to the Levites and to the cities of refuge. Although
a king over them. We deal here not with a divine this is nowhere expressly stated, it is certain that
mandate but with  5 a prediction. The Lord tells the the common Levites, as assistants to the priests, were
nation what it will do eventually. Hence, in demand- given the task of teaching the nation the law and were
ing a king, `the people could not say, nor did they say, `therefore distributed among all the tribes.
that they were carrying out a divine instruction, act-          The purpose of the appointment of the cities of
ing under the constraint of' the law.     For the Lord      refuge was to prevent the shedding of innocent blood.
had not commanded.        The reason  und.oubtedly  was     that is, of one who had killed his brother unintention-
that the instruments `through which Jehovah exercised       ally. Certainly, though there was no king in Israel,
His rule were adequate without a king so that the           the nation was no't without its institutions for right-
actual need of a king necessarily had to arise from the     eous administration, maintainance of order and pre-.
spiritual inability of the nation to serve God and to       servation of national unity. But order was not main-
walk in the way of His precepts without the outward         tained but gave way to chaos and discord of carnal
constraint of a strong center of authority. Thus the self-will, licentiousness and passion.            The national
request for a king could not be to the people's honor.      bond relaxed and the nation assumed the form of
The motive could not be otherwise than wicked.              several independent and even rival little kingdoms.
    The statement was just made that the instruments        It was from this state of affairs and not from the
through which Jehovah exercised His rule were adc-          lack of adequate government that the need of a king
quate without a king. I quote here from a former arose. It was on account of the prevalence of these
article.    hfter the death of Joshua there subsisted in conditions that the carnal Israel wanted a king to rule
the nation a government which is  ind.icated  by the        over the nation.    But it must not be supposed that
name `Lelders". They were not chosen by the people          what they actually desired was a king to ,compel  them
but were the born princes and representatives of the by outward constraint !to *fear and serve God. What
people. Their task was to preside and to watch over         they desired is a strong  and capable man at the head
the general interests of the nation  an,d so to continue of the nation to. free them from the results of their
the rule of Moses and Joshua.  ,For settlement of mat- apostacy-which was war and oppression, chaos and
ters of general concern, they congregated in the central passion-a man  abIe to bring order out of chaos but
point of  th,e land, which, in the time of the  jud.ges,    at once willing `to serve with them in Baal's temple.
was Shechem. They formed a high council in Israel They wanted, as does the godless world of this day and


$72                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

sge,  ,victory,  freedom, and prosperity but not God.        state, their country would be safe. So they reasoned.
truth, righteousness. They wanted these things but           For he was now their god. In him did they put their
not in the way of a heartful  repentance of `their sin       confidence. In him did they glory. He would save.
and in the way of return to God. They wanted a man "For thou," they said to him, "hast delivered us from
to realize for them a heaven on earth but a heaven           the hand of Midian," He was the best ruler tha't could
without God in it. This comes out so plainly in the          be found. And they looked no farther than the man.
s.equence  of the narrative. They did no't want the kind By his wisdom and by his power the victory had been
of a king that God said they should set over them one won.          It was thus not a victory granted them `by
"whom the Lord thy God shall choose," one who "whe!?         Jehovah in response to and through  t,he working of
he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom . . . . sha!l      his faith. They doubtless valued his faith as do the
write him a copy of this law in a book out of that           modernists of this day and age value a man's faith in
which is before Yhe priests the Levites," that it may be     God and for the same reason, namely that faith is a
"with him," and that he may "read therein all the days       pow'er in man that drives him on to t.he performance
of his life: that he may learn to fear  t.he Lord  hia       of great d.eeds, qualifies him for big things. And in
God, to keep all the words of this law and those             their present plight they needed such a  maa. He could
statutes, to do them: that his heart be not lifted up        be of great use to `them,-a man the noblest in char-
above his ,brethren,  and that he turn not aside from the    acter, the most prompt and yet efficient in word and
commandment, to  lthe right hand, or to the left: to  the    deed, formed for rule and yet without lust for rule.
end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he,         True, he was a righteous man who feared God and who
and his  chil.dren, in the midst of Israel"  (`De&. 17:      yielded to the duties of t.rue religion, but they could
15ff). Eventually the people  got. their way or rather overlook that in him as long as he did not mix too much
the  Lord;  got His way. He had purposed that they his religion and the business of caring for and  maunag-
.::hould have a king. The purpose was achieved through ing their temporal affairs. And they would take care
their sinful desire and request for a king according to      of that.    Even his religious zeal, if directed in the
their heart.                                                 right channels, could stand him in goud stead as their
       1't may seem strange, at first, that the people should ruler. Did not their posterity and spiritual kin offer
propose to Gideon that he rule over them, he being  :I       the kingship  Yo Christ-to Christ of all men !-and
man who feared God. But he had gained a  vic'tory            for essentially the same reason. He had shown them
without parallel. A glory surrounds him in their eyes        what He could do with a'few crusts of bread--feed :t
such as  ,had distinguished no one else in the memory        vast multitude! And when they said among them-
of man.       He had put to shame the vain-glory of selves, "That man shall  .be our king," they were seek-
Ephraim. All that they had done was to track down            ing Him for that bread, for the mighty earthly ad-
a crowd of terrified heathen whose only thought was          vantages that would be itheirs,  were He their king.
one of escape. But Gideon had finished `the war with         As the Israel of Christ's day, so, too, the Israel with
his 300 heroes. He had captured and destroyed not            which Gideon has to deal. It was spiritually blind.
princes merely, as they had done, but the kings them- Thus it failed to discern spiritually the speech of God
selves. That was an accomplishment of greatest con- that rose .from Gideon's military successes. The les-
sequence.       Bold and confident and full of energy in son of that victory was Iost upon `them.         They saw
his faith in God, he even had followed the Midianites        but did not perceive. They heard but did not under-
into their hiding place, where the `t,errified  host had     stand. That is indeed the meaning of their offering
surrendered. Who but Gideon had dared to enter the to him the kingship.
terrible strongholds of those pagan hordes, there to            But Gideon stands firm. "I will not rule over you
seize his prey? That was an exploit of an astounding         . . .The Lord shall rule over you."  Ymet he did  n
character. Then there was the imposing assurance, peculiar thing. `He said to them, "I would desire  a
+visdom? moderation and strength of the man. How request of you, that ye would give me every man the
admirable the discreetness of his answer to Ephraim!         earrings of his prey. . .And they answered, We will
Of what wonderful self-control had he shown him- willingly give them.                 And they spread a garment,
self capable in his dealing with those proud men!            and did cast therein every man the  earrin.gs  of his
How startling the punishment of Succoth and Penuel,          wv. . .And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put
and the terrible retribution meted out to t.he kings!        it in his city, even in Ophrah. . ."
Indeed he was not a man to be trifled with, The                 What was this ephod? Not, certainly, an idol, a;;
people concluded that he would make them a wonder- some interpreters have conjectured. The ephod was
ful king. So they came from far and near to see the one of the sacred garments of the highprie&.              It was
hero. And they urgently pressed him and said, "Rule a vestment made "of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet,
over us . . .  ." for they were dazzled by the accom- and fine twined linen," affixed to two shoulder pieces
plishments of `the man. With him at the helm of the          and a skillfully woven band which served as a girdle


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         473.

for the ephod. The shoulder pieces displayed two              ~`wn home city,  as his religious headquarters. Did he
onyx  stones on which were engraved the names of .do right? There is this to say in explanation of his
t.he twelve tribes. Attached to the ephod  ,by chains of `deed. At Yhe command of God, Gideon had already
gold was a breastplate that contained twelve precious performed priestly functions. After  t.hrowing  dowa
stones in four rows again symbolizing the twelve              BaaI's altar, he `had built up on its ruins the altar of
tribes. In, next to, or in `the breastplate were two          Jehovah and had offered on it accepted sacrifice. It
other articles, not specifically described,  but, called seems that  Shiloh had already been deserted and that
ITrim  and Thummim, or breastplate of judgment.               the high  pries/t  had been set aside,  80 t hat at the
Through their use God's will was sought and obtained time the nation was without a religious center. Thus
in national crises, the future revealed, and guilt  01        it would seem that the Levitical highpriest had suffer-
innocence wtablished.  But ephods were worn by per-           ed a temporary eclipse and that. the sacrifices at a
sons other than the highpriest. The boy Samuel was            central sandtuary had ceased. So th.e Lord now chose,
dressed in an ep,hod  as an attendant in the sanctuary.       -such seems to have been the conviction of Gideon-
The description of the priests of Nob is that of men          to dwell at Ophrah with Gideon as His chief reprc-
wearing a linen ephod. The ephod was worn by David sentative in the capacity of priest.               Certainly there
when he danced in the procession that brought the was need of such a priest. Whether Gideon did well,
ark to Jerusalem. But the ephod worn by the high- the sacred narrator does not  definiitely  tell us. But he
prie&  was of special design. In distinction from the does seem to suggest that the Lord frowned upon
ephod worn by the common priests and by the king              Gideon's .doing. He reveals, that Israel went thither--
on solemn and festive occasions, it must have been a          Iwent to  O&ah-a  whoring after Gideon's ephod:
rich and elaborate garment that included the Breast-          "which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his
plate of judgment.                                            house. The people of IsraeI went in crowds to Ophrah
   What now was the ,design of the ephod that Gideon to see that thing that Gideon had made and set up
made and put in his city? Doubt.less it was not made even in his own house. They came, not because they
after the pattern of the ephod worn by the highpriest.        were actually interested in God's will and bent in
But the form of the words of the sacred text does not placing themselves under  ita  dire'ction,  but to  pa;
make it plain just what Gideon's epho,d yas, whether a        homage  to':%hat  Ephod in Gideon's house. For they
garment or an instrument similar to the Breastplate were now putting their confidence in Gideon, not in
of judgment or both.       In  aI,1 likelihood the latter. the Lord. The ephod, therefore, being a thing that
For we read, "And the weight of the golden earrings Gideon, their hero and god had made and set up' in his
that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred very house, also became to them an object of worship.
shekels of gold ;. beside ornaments, and collars., and        It became to them the symbol of Gideon's  preseece
purple raiment. .  that was on the kings of  Midian,          and sitood  for all that Gideon had come to mean Co
and beside the chains that were about their. camels'          them. They thought that by honoring and  worship-
necks.  And Gideon made an ephod thereof." Thus               ping that Ephod it woul,d  somehow go well with theAm
in.to the  making of this ephod went purple raiment           for Gideon's sake.    So had Gideon, in making his
and gold. But no mention is made of precious stones. ephod, supplied the people, unintentionally of course,
On the other hand, the language of the notice to the          with another idol. Thus the spiritual strength of `the
effect that Gideon "put -it in his city; . .and all Israel    nation as a whole was not strengthened but weakened
went hither a whoring after it," seems t.o suggest by Gideon's doing. But the fauit lay with th,e people.
that it was not a garment but some other rich and             They had turned faith into superstition. It is there-
costly thing similar to the breastplate of judgment,          fore a question whether in revealing to us this vile
th,us a thing through which the divine will was to doing of the people and the fact that the thing became
be learned. For it is not stated that the thing was  +o       a snare unto Gideon himself and his house, the Lord
be worn  ear that it was actually worn by any one.            means to tell us that he disapproved of Gideon's doing
AU that the text tells us is that Gideon put it in his and that the, thing's becoming a snare to him was his
city. But whatever this object may have been, Gid- pu.nishment.  It would seem so. That ephod apparent-
eon's purpose in making it was to put  i't to some good       ly helped him to retain the leadership of Israel under
and proper use. Doubtless it was to serve him as an           the supremacy of Jehovah; but by it he disregarded
instrument for learning God's will for the  peopIe. His the lawful priesthood. But still  t:here is the case of
doing was in perfect agreement with his stand that            Samuel. Samuel offered sacrifices and mediated as
Jehovah was their king. He would judge them, cer-             judge between God and His people. Yet `Samuel wss
tainly, but only as  khe vicegerent of  GodI. Thus  it not a Levite but an Ephraimite. It can no more be
would seem that, having refused the hereditory king- said of Gideon than of Samuel that he aet aside the
ship, Gideon set himself up as a kind of highpriest in high priest. For during his judgeship as well as  .dur-
the midst of his brethren with Ophrah Manasseh, his ing the judgeship of the high priest was not  fundtion-

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

ing, had suffered, together with the symbolical wor- naam Gods is nooit schooner geopenbaad dan in dien
ship at the sanctuary, an eclipse.                             Zoon  d,es welbehagens.
   But wrong or right, the thing did become a snare               Ge zult dan tot mij zeggen: Hoe kan den naam van
unto `Gideon. Just qhat became a snare uilto Gideon Jezus Christus in die dagen gezien en bakend worden?
,and in what respect, we shall see in the next article.           Di,e naam van Jezus werd gezien in het bleed  der
   That the people went awhoring after Gideon's                of*ferenden,  in  land, en  volk, in priester en  offerand,?.
ephod, proves conclusively that what they had their            De geheele bediening van het Oude Testament open-
heart set on when they  off,ered  to Gideon the kingship, baarde  aan Israel den lieflijksten naam van God.
is not a man who would rule them  tier the supremacy              Vraagt het  Paulus en hij zal het U  zeggen,   In
OF Jehovah but an idol, a god dther than Jehovah.              I Cor. 10 zegt hij zonder het te verklaren: want zij
                                             G. M. 0.          dronkan uit de ge&elijke steenrots  die volgde, en do
                                                               steenrots was  Chris%.         Ook zegt hij in hetzelfde
                                                               hoofdstuk: En  laet  ons  Christus niet verzoeken,  gelijk
                                                               ook sommigen van hen verzocht hebben. . . .
                                                                  De Naam van God is Christus Jezus den Heere.
                                                                  En die naam is bekend in Juda. (Zou de  naam
            De  Vreesdijke Strijder                            Juda hier een  woordspeling  zijn' op het bekend zijn
                                                               met Gods Naam? Juda isI loven van God.)
                         (Psalm 76)                                Het beteekent dat men in Juda in aanraking ge-
                                                               komen is met dien naam. Men heeft daar den zaligen-
   Men zegt, dat deze psalm bij den vorigen behoort;           den invloed ervaren van  di,en naam. In Israel is die
men wil, dat in Psalm 75 de overwinning op den vijand naam zeer g-root.              Dat zal verder verklaard worden
geprofeteerd  ie en hier in Psalm 76 vervuld. Ook, dat in den psalm.
de vijand de  Assyrier  is, die in  &n  nacht  185,000.            In Salem is Zijn hut en Zijn woning is in Sion.
krijgslieden verloor door de sterke hand van e&n Engel             De twee  leden  van dit vers beteekenen hetzelfde.
Gods.                                                          Beide zien op het wonen van God in den Tempel  te
       t' Kan best waar zijn. Evenwel is hat niet dan een J e r u z a l e m .
gissing, een onderstelling welke nooit inhoud kan zijn             God woonde daar want Hij voelde er thuis. Daar
van ons geloof.                                                had Hij verzoening teweeggebracht door het Bloed.
       Bovendien, de psalm heeft een breedere 4oepassing.      0 ja, het was nog slechts in de bediening der schadu-
Het is de overwinnende God die Zijn vijanden  verplet-         wen, doch de vervulling moet komen, want Gob had.het
tert alle eeuwen en ten finale in den oordeelsldag. Dan        keer op keer beloofd. Hij woont te Jeruzalem, want
zullen  ze tot in alle eeuwigheid hunne handen  niet meer      Hij heeft Juda en Israel verlost met een Goddelijke
vinden Vers. 6.                                                verlossing.
       Een lied van Asaf, of voor Asaf.                            Die verlossing zal voorts beschreven warden. Ret
       Die Asaf mag benijd; men mag op hem jaloersch volgende  ve.rs begint er van te gewagen.
zjin. Stelt U voor: hij  zon.g en Ieerde dit lied  als de          Aldaar heeft Hij verbroken de vurige  pij'len  van
eerste.     Hij heeft gezongen van God uilt den treurc.        den boog, het schild en het zwaard en den krijg. Sela.
En de zang, op aarde begonnen waar zijn stem vaak                  Ge merkt wel, dat de verlossing hier als een feit
stokte, is overgegaan in hemelsch zingen.  Asaf is nu          gekonstateerd  ,wordt. En dat is  correkt.  Evenwel,
in den hemel. Docli wij zingen zijn liederen na.               moeten we  letten  op  twee  dingen.  Eerst,  dat de  ver-
       Godis bekend in Juda, zijn naam is groat  in Israel.    Iossing  die toen ten ;tijde in J,eruzalem geschied: was
       Het maakt nog  ,wel  verschi81 of men God kent of slechts een schaduweele verlossing is onder een  schadu-
dat men met Hem bekend is. Romeinen 1 vertelt  ens,            weele Verlosser,  zooals David  of: Salomo. En,  twee-
dat de heidenen God  kennen, want al  hetgeen  van God         dens, dat daarom dit vers ook nog profetie is, die  ver-
kennelijk is in hen openbaar is, want God heeft het vuld zou worden  in de toekomlst.                 Vandaag is het ver-
hen geopenbaard. Ook zegt de Heilige Schrift  daar,            vuld en zien we  zelfs terug op de verlossing. Ret is
dat die kennis Gods de onzienlijke  dingen  van God geschied op Golgotha. Daar heeft God verbroken de
inhoud, namelijk, zijn kraoht en Goddelijkheid.                vurige pijlen en het zwaard en het  schild en den krijg.
  Hier is het iets anders. Hier is het met God  be-            Dat deed hij in de kruisiging van Jezus Christus.
kend zijn.                                                     Die kruisiging is de veroordeeling van de wereld. Dat
       Daar zit liefde in.                                     is nag we1 niet geopenbaardl,  doch het is tech alreede
       Gods Naam is groot in Israel. Dat wil zeggen,  dat,     beslist. Slle mogendheden en krachten en heerschap-
de Heere Zich veel meer geopenbaad heeft in Israel             pijen heeft God  toen en aldaar naakt uitgetrokken en
dan in het heidendom.                                          ope.n.lijk  te schande gemaakt. Dat zuEt ge opmerken
       Eigenlijk is het Jezus Christus, de Heere. Want de als ge gedenkt wie daar hangt te brullen  aan het


                                                                                                                             _.,
                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 van de opstanding van Jezus en dat is de verlossing
 van den Zachtmoedige.                                                     The History of ~Christian  Education
         En zoo komen we bij U.                                                             In This Country
         Ja, ik weet wel, dat het meervoud gebruikt wordt en
 dat deze psalm spreekt van zachtmoedigen. Doch denkt
 er  aan, Uwe zachtmoedigheid is van Jezus. Het is de                         On the map one can almost trace the course of the
 gave Zijner genade.  Als gij  iijdt om Gods wil,  past White Horse of the Gospel, as i$ [traversed Asia and
 het U om te zeggen: Ik ben zachtmoedig,  doch  nie'                       Europe and then came to this country of ours. It
 meer  ik,  Jezus  Christus is zachtmoedig in mij  door                    travelled ever westward. In due time the Lord also
 Zija Heilige Geest die mij is gegeven. Dan  loopt het brought the Gospel to these shores. And, as a neces-
 ios.                                                                      sary counterpart, there ,came also Christian Instruc-
         En zoo maakt de grimmigheid des menschen den tion. History proves that with the one  .belongs  the
 Heere  Ioffelijk.                                                         other.
         Verstaat  ge dat  niet? Kunt ge het niet zien hoe                    This  articie intends to review some of that history.
 de grimmigheid der menschen den Heere Loffelijk There was a development of Christian instruction also
 kan maken?                                                                in Romish and Lutheran circles, but this article will
         Komt, Iaat on~si  het duidelijkate voorbeeld uit den confine itself mostly to  ,the deveIopment  of it within
 Bijbel nemen. Als Judas Jezus verkoopt en de haat ,the nearer circle of our Reformed churches. To bring
der Schriftgeleerden en  Overpriesters  Jezus  aan het a little system into the historical facts we thought it
 kruis nagelen. is dat niet tot verhooging van Gods best to divide the matter roughIy, into two periods,
 deugden  ? Hoe zult ge  straks  zingen:  Gij hebt  ox                     the first period from 1628  -to about 1857 and the second
 Gode gekocht met Uw bloed,  als er geen Judas is en een                   period from 1857 to our present day. The first period
 soldaat  die Hem aan het kruis .hecht ?                                   we will treat in this article.
         En zoo moet de toorn van menschen des Heeren lof                                     Period 1628 to 1857
 verkonden  1 Wondere wi jsheid van God !
         En het overige van den toorn zal de Heere opbin-                     You will recall that the years 1607, 1620 and 1628
 den, omgorden, en gebruiken tot uilt;voering  van Zijn were the years in which the pioneers came to this
 raad.  Machteloos, geheel machteloos is de measch in                      cou.ntry,  in fact  beitween  the years 1628 and 1640
 Gods handen.                                                              about itwenty  thousand. Puritans migrated to these
         Er  blijft voorts slechts  &&n ding over voor U om  te            shores, seeking to carve out for themselves homes .in
 doen, mijn broeder, en dat is ons opgeteekend in het                      this new country. Speaking generally we may say
 laatste gedeelte van dezen psalm. Ge moet Uwe ge-                         that these pioneers carried with lthem certain religious
 Ioften  maken  voor God en ze ook betalen.                                convictions. This was true especially of the Puritans.
         Dat beteekent  dat ge den Heere moet prijzen. Ge                  1 will not at  all deny that many, maybe the
 moei:  geduriglijk zeggen: Gij, o mijn God                                majority, of them came here for commercial reasons
                                                          zijt groat ea
  zeer te prijzen in Sion, de aanspraakplaats Uwer heer-                   ,and some maybe came  <for reasons of baser sorts, but
  l i j k h e i d .                                                        be that as it may I am convinced that the Puritans
         Dat is  he? begin des hemels.                                     in genera1 did have certain, definite religious convic-
                                                            G. V.          tions and that many of these convictions they borrowed,
                                                                           from the Reformation. -4Ithough  their creeds were
                                                                           harsh, extreme often and terroristic, in principle they
                                                                           believed in such doctrines as: eleotion,  regeneration,
                                                                           salvation only by faith and the final judgment. The
                                                                           Puriltanst  also insisted that their children should be
                            IN MEMORIAM                                    acquainted with the Shorter Catechism, which begins
                                                                           this way:
         The English  Xen's  Society of the First Protestant Re-                     Ques : What is the chief end of man?
  formed Church mourns the  IQSS of one of its very faithful                          4ns; Man's chief end is to glorify God an& to
  members                                                                                  enjoy Him forever.
                            FRED W. PIPE                                   Their Creeds proved that they had been touched by the
          The Society extends its heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved       Reformation and one frequently hears the voice of
  family  and relatives. May the Lord comfort them in the know-            Calvin or Luther in &heir essays.
  ledge that God has wiped  all tears from his eyes and is  PZ-                It was one  poi.nt however that these early Fathers
  joicing before  Gods  throne of Grace.                                   showed kinship with the Reformation, and that was,
                               0. Van Ellen, Pres.                         their extreme, almost super-extreme respect for the
                               0.  Vander  Woude,  Ass'+..  Sec'y.          TnfalIibIe  Word of  God+ Their faith in and respect


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                              477

:for the Word of God controlled them also in the matter        be more than a course in theology  ; part of it was un-
of the education of their children. In Englaad  already        wholesome, because men began <to shift the purpose
cthey were committed to having, "Within every townc?           and aim of education  away  from the Creator to the
free shoole for the godly education  of children in the        creature. Instead of the Creator being and remaining
knowledge and feare of God" (History of `Modern the center of all things, men began ~to put the creature
Education, Parker, p. 56). They carried that determin- in  tthe center. Education gradually moved away from
ation with them across the Ocean. In fact, besides the the theocentric to the anthropocentric. Men began
political and economical motives, #the Puritaas  were to worship the creature more Ithan the Creator Who
movedt by the urge to keep and develop religious free- is blest& forever; not God but man became the chief
dom, for themselves and  alzlo for their children. It is end, not the heavenly but  Ithe earthy, not the wisdom
evident therefore that (the early settlers insisted on of God, but t.he wisdom of man became the propelling
basing the education of their children upon  t.he Word factor.
of God.                                                           Especially in the early part od lthe eightee;lth cen-
    Therefore we find  <that the Puritans from the very tury there flowed into this country two streams of
beginning insisted that their children should be in-           error.     One of  Ithese was the wicked philosophy of
structed in lthe Word of God, in fact all education was        such men as Rosseau, Voltaire, Locke and others who
made subservient thereto.      I know they defaulted in        called  thems:elves  champions of the French Enlight-
this that they made of education a course in  ,theology        enment.     Rosseau in his then famous  book,"Emile"
(thus confusing church and school), but we must en- wrote saying j',hat his "Emile wilJ know nothing . . .
dlure these things when we stand a!t the beginning uf          of God"that is when his dream-child would be fifteen
such momentous matters as Christian education. To              years old Emile would still be ignorant  of God (His-
the  Purbtans  art, science and literature was simply          tory of Education, Seely, page 251). Their motito was
out of the devil. The only thing that counted was an           "Man is by nature good" or again,"man  shall govern
education permeated with religion. And  v;e  canno?            himself" (Lock's thesis). Their principle in short
but appreciate such an determination.                          was that self enjoyment was the highest good and
    A quick glance at the education of those days will education had  ,to h.e,lp them to reach it. The "Back to
convince us (that they meant to keep education OII a           nature", war-cry of the French Revolution, actually
strictly religious basis.    The Massachusetts Law of          became the. basis of a new system of education. The
1647 read, in part, as follows : "II: being the chief point    Word of God was dethroned and the goddcess of Reason
of the old  deluder,  Satan, to keep men from the know-        was enthroned. The creature above the Crealtor.  This
ledge of the Scriptures . . . . it is therefore ordered        type elf education found its, ways to the shores of (this
that every township . . . . shall set up a grammar             country and became partly a m&e1  for the American
school". For the Puritan therefore education was the system of Public Education.
handmaid to theology. Religion also permeated the                  The other stream of error which found its way
text books. Consider for instance their `Bos:on  Primer down the slopes of the early American school hi&or:,-
it  taughbt the children the alphabet and proceded as was the Prussian Centralization. Under  #the influence
follows: "A. . . .In Adam's fall we sinned all" and of Rosseau a certain  Basedow commenced a system  of
"Z. . . .Zaccheu,s  he did climb a tree, his Lord to see".     education in Germany which did two things: (1) It
Their text books contained prayers, short sermons, madae a public system of education that would be non-
the Creed, Lord's prayer and tie  D,ecalogue.  One of          sectarian, and (2) it brought all education under the
their readers was, "The Day of Doom", which con- control of a  Naaionl Council of Edu.cation.  The State
tained one stanza reading as follows:                          began to control and dictate education. Th,at is what
           "You sinners are, and such a share,                 is meant by Prussian Centralization. Everything be-
                As sinners may expect,                         came  cenjtralized   around  the State. And, as Parker
            Such you shall have; for I do save                 says, "The Prussian schools (volksschulen)  serve,de  as  a
                None but my own elect". . . .                  model for the American systems" (page  22.1). Seculari-
                                                               zation was achieved, so  `they  thought, without eliminat-
 Children had to learn all this antde   besid,es thact they    ing religion entirely, for the German schools did not
ought to learn a trade. But the chief thing was: the           want to go to the limit of the French revolutionists.
knowledge of God. In  facet Parker  says,"The Cate-            They would still leave room for religion.. There would
chisms were considered the most important part of the          be Bible stories. Christ might be discussed. at lease
Primers" (Page 77).                                            as  to His "character" and He might be held before the
    Thus it  went on for some  years&.  But, as one children as  th,e "ideal man". But doctrines and creeds
might expect, there came a violent re-action to their          were eliminated so as to make the instruction public,
"narrow and bigoted view of education".           Part of      acceptable to infidel and believer alike. This was the
<this re-action was wholesome since education had to            model of Public School education. Such men as Froe-


178                                     T H E   STAND.&RD   B E A R E R

)el, Horace Mann and Pestalozzi dashed from Europe                 we've always been so poor and had to have special
o America, crying "Eureka? eureka" this was what                   collections for this and pledges for that and now at
America  needed.                                                   last we have the tidy sum of $10,000 to invest!"
       That was  the Public School system.                            And we would  n& wish  Ito  infer   t,hat those re-
       In 1842 there was adopted this resolution, "No              sponsible for this decision nor that those who first
jortion  of the School funds shall be given to any schoo! proposed it, were not capable, conscientious,  far-sighte2
n which  any religious sectarian  doctrines  or tenet              individuals. Men of sound judgment and a high degree
:hall be taught, inculcated or practised".  And in 1847            of sagacity. No doubt they were not so naive that,
t was Mr. Hodge who in Ameri,ca  raised his: voice and they would not view such an a&ion from all angles as
:aid, "The whole tendency of the instruction on this               well as its implications both now and in the years to
-`Ian (Pub. Sch. System) is not neutral but  anti-                 come. For it is our belief that this :d;ecision has set
seligious"  (`Year Book, Chr. Schools, 1936, p.  66).              a precedent and time alone will tell what its repercus-
       If there were any Puritans left, irt was  eviideilt that sions may be.
n the public schools of ;%merica their children could                 We would be the last  ~to infer that this august
10 longer receive an instruction which was God-cen-                body which we call Synod, would for one moment bc
.ered.                                                             influenced by the propaganda which is poured out over
       And  iIt was that corrupted type of education which         the air waves and voluminously rollled out of our print-
.he Pioneers, of the  1840-1850  era found when they ing presses. Such slogans as "Back the Attack" and
arrived on these shores. But we shall (treat  that in "Give more than Before" and coarser ones such as
rnother article.                                                   "Slap the Jap in the Yap" would have absolutely no
                                                  M. G.            determining effect on their deliberations.  11:. is our
                                                                   belief, and we hope to write about iit sometime, that
                                                                   `Christians are the only "smart" people in the world.
                                                                   Men possessing wisdom which is not of this world and
                                                                   which the world cannot  under&and  will *not easily be
                                                                   led to believe that the more bonds we buy, the shorter
                    Touchv                                         will be #the ,war, and the more certain will the victory
                              .  Topics                            be for our side! Oh no, you can't fool a people that
                                                                   easily. Not that pedple who sing "Nolt to the strong
       rl`here are matters which we classify as touchy             is th.e battle ; nor to the  swift  is the race. But to tthe
:opics. They are matters which are subjects of debate true and the faithful-Vivtory is promise& through
ii~d; argumectt  . If we would he known as being tact-             grace !"
"~1 and polite, we make it a point not :to discuss such               No doubt, Itoo, but that tthe repres$ntatives  of our
matters before certain people or groups of people                  denominations are men who are well acquainted with
:tecause  they have a tendency to cause an explosion the waste and inefficiency  as well as. corruption which
ind hard and bitter feelings and even sever friend-                shields itself so adroitly behind the alibi-"But it's
,+hips.     Think  lfor instance of life insurance,  uaion         for defense  !" They too must be aware of the `thou-
-nembership,  theological points of dispute, etc.                  sands of people employed in ordnance work alone and
       And so also the .topic  which we wish ~to Id&ass  for       whose chief activity seems to be lthe winding of red
.i few moments could be classified as a touchy topic.              tape around as many things as come through  theis
it was incited by our Synodica#l Report where, among hands. They must have known that there are approxi-
Jther things, we read that the sum of $lO,UOO  of sur-             mately 3,500 such people employed in the Detroit
lus denominational money has been invested in  govern-             Ordnance Office alone. There are seventy two in the
ynen$t  bonds.     Carefully we read that minute again plant where bthe undersigned is employed. And, it iq
:;n& when  1aPer we read  iit in another church paper perhaps best to quietly pass by their qualifications for
t:lf our denomination, we reluctantly came to the con-             the positions which they hold as well as the mannel
,.:lusion  that it must be true.                                   in which they spend their time. For we are eye-wit-
       Perhaps, you ask. is that so strange? And we repl;r,        nesses to it daily. Is it perhaps for ,these  tha~t we in-
no indeed for other denominations, including those vest our surplus funds ?
c.:losest to us, have been doing *that same thing for some             We don't actually believe, do we, that money will
time.       Not only denominations but also individual ever be the determining factor and that without it our
(Thurches which have profited financially from the boys will not have ships, planes and guns?
rlctivities  of our international slaughter house.                     Let's not get so pious about the matter that we call
       Our first reaction, of course, after all these ma-          this a righteous or holy war and that the fate of civiii-
t.e;.ially  lean years, is [to remark, "Well, well, -that sure-    zation or Christianity hangs in the balance! Maybe
ly is nice that we have a little extra money. It seems they could fool us twenty-five years ago and cry that


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           479

we had to make the world salfe for democracy. They
can% trip up  rt.his   gen.eration  on that one. Now it's                                     Debate
<called the war of survival.
   And so we wonder why we have made a monetary                            Resolved That LXxipline  Of Members That Belong
investment in that by which the world destroys itself.                  To  Woddly  Orgacnizatidns  Should Be Left To The  Min-
Taxes we must pay, our sons are drafted-but not our istry  Cif  The  Wo,rd.
daughters---but we are not compelled to invest  our                     NEGATIVE-REBUTTAL :
church money in such a strange manner.
    And, so Lt seems, there is but one other answer.                       In refuting the affirmative stand as set forth  bJ
And that is that we have no other place for it and it                   my opponent, (the Reverend J. Heys, the undersigned
gives us a fair return on our investment. Is iit pos-                   must remark at the very outset thet there is much iu
sible that nothing less secular needs our aid? Are all                  his article with which he is in agreement. We, too,
our churches debt-free?          Do we need no more for                 believe that the Ministry of the Word is very really
Christian School? Has our radio program been ex-                        discipline and that this first Key of *the Kingdom of
tended to the  Limit of its desirability? Xre all  ou.z                 Heaven is t:he chief means of Christian Discipline. The
Church Periodicals on a sound financial basis? Have                     rebuttal of the undersigned must therefore be directed
we considered the possibility that acts of mercy an,:!                  primarily against the conclusion of the arti,cle of the
institutions of mercy may need more hard cash after affirmative which sets forth suggested reasons for
the war? Or would it not be possible to have a fund                     leaving the discipline of sthose that belong to worldly
for those who actually  d'uffer for the  ,testimony  of organizations to the Ministry of the Word.
Christ and who for greater or lesser periods are hin-                      Without in any way feeling the need of disputing
dered Ifrom  earning their livelihocrd because of ungodly the  conitention   ,that the Ministry of the Word is  the
organizations? .                                                        chief means of Chriskian  Discipline, the undersigned
    We are well aware, of course, that there are some                   does desire to make a few remarks in connection with
who will say, "Oh yes, but we can cash the,m in at any                  his opponent's remarks to the effect that the Ministry
Itime after sixty days." But that is not the intention of the Word is very really discipline. I, <too, believe,
of our government and we do not believe it would b::                    with my opponent, that  "Chri&ian  discipline is, then,
proper to invest it with such a thought in mind. You                    that art of practice of training God's children to walk
are expected to retain them until their maturity and as disciples of Christ." But my opponent continues
not expected  ito cash them in anymore than a newly-                    then an! mites: "The general opinion of discipline is
wed couple could say, "Oh well, if we can't make a  go that it is lthe process of punishing the wayward ,church
of it, we can always get a divorce !"                                   members. This, however, is not the case. The church
                                         Mr.&G.  Ten Elshof.            has not been given the keys of the Kin,gdom  of Heaven
                                                                        to punish its members that walk in sin." Does my
                                                                        o,pponent  wish to imply that discipline does not in-
                                                                        clude punishment, but only instruction?       Does the
                                                                        discipIine  of a child by his- father not sometimes also
                        ANNIVERSARY                                     include the use of the rod?  Am I,  then,,  not "train-
                                                                        ing" my child when I inflict physical punishment?
    On August 14, 1944, our beloved parents,                            We understand that the Church, applying excom-
                    PETER XLPHENAAR                                     munication, does not inflict  her punishment upon way-
                                and                                     ward members. When the Church applies the second
             JOHANN.4 ALPHENABR ( Meert  i                              step of Christian Discipline she carries out an.d `exe-
                                                                        cutes God's  judgment upon them. This my opponent,
celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.           We extend to       himself declares when he writes: "When by the use
them our most hearty and sincere congratulations. We thank              of these keys one is .excommunicated,  that individuul
God that He has spared them for each other and for us and               is not punished &by Ithe church, but he is declared to
pray that we may have many more years together.                         be outside the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore ir;
                                       Their grateful children:         the  sphere of God's  wrath und punishmmt"--the  un-
                                       Mr. and Mrs.  Daie Lemmcr        derscoring is of the undersigned. I am, therefore,
                                       -4nne  Alphenaar                 somewhat at a loss to explain my opponent's emphasis
                                       Henrietta Alphenaar              upon the "training" or instructive aspect of Christian
                                       Geraldine Alphenaar              Discipline. In this debate, it seems to the undersign-
                                       Nellie Alphenaar                 ed, the emphasis falls upon its punitive aspect.
                                       Carol Joan Alphenaar        7       To be sure, the Ministry of the Word is very really
Kalamazoo, Michigan.                                               31 discipline. It is  (this because God speaks His own

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

Word, also in  t,he consciousness of the unbeliever, and        ground we may also dispose of the third reason of
therefore very really places that sinner, in his cnn-           my opponent when he declares that sound preaching
sciousness, outside the Kingdom of Heaven.              Pure    of the Word will compel unworthy participants to re-
preachin,g  of the Word will therefore rend.er  it quite        frain from pantaking of the sacraments.  Que.&ion
impossible for many sinners to remain,  #even nominally,        and Answer 85 of our Heidelberg Catechism expressly
in the bosom of a certain church.                               speaks of (those who despise the admonition and are
       The undersigned had expected that his opponent,          forbidden the use of the sacraments. *4nd, of course,
`to show that the discipline of members belonging to            we must ever be on our guard against the contention,
worldly organizations should be left to the Ministry            so prevalent in many churches, that the preaching  (3P
of the Word, would have advanced  a;~ argument to the the Word is sufficient and that therefore t,he appli,ca-
e;feot  that such membership, although to  b,e condemn- tion of excommunication should not be practiced by
ed as sinful, is nevertheless not of such a nature that         the Church of God in the midst of the world. The
2, demands excommunication. He advances three rea-              church that has relaxed in her duty to exercise both
sons in support of his affirmative stand. They are:             keys of the Kingdom of Heaven clearly violates bet
       I-The Ministry of the Word is very well capable          mandate from ,the living Christ and is not worthy of
          of handling the situation and is not in need of the name "church."
          a supplementary means of discipline.                     Secondly, to answer my opponent's second reason,
       Z----We should remember that the discipline of mem- namely that we should remember that the discipline of
          bers of worldly organizations requires a differ- members of worldly organizations requires a different
          ent treatment than such sins as itheft,  adultery,    treatment than such sins of theft, adultery, murder,
          murder, and despising the means of grace.             and despising the means of grace,  .the  undersigned
       %-Sound preaching of the Word, will compel un-           must confess that he is at a loss somewhat to under-
          worthy participants to refrain from partaking         stand this reasoning. My opponent believes that the
          of the sacraments.    This reason may be con- sin of membership in a worldly organization should
          sidered identical with the first.                     be treated in the same manner as sins such as theft,
       &-Leaving  lthe discipline of members of worldly murder, adultery, etc. However, this is not  `done in
          organizations to the Ministry of the Word is many `churches. He,nce, the Minisbtry  of the Word is
          more profitable  (for all those concerned.            surely sufficient to train  these-  members to walk worthy
                                                                of their calling as children of God. It seems to be
       Firstly, then, we refute the assertion  t,het the        the thrust of my opponent that those guilty of thef,t,
Ministry of the Word is very well capable of handling murder, etc, must confess their sins, but that members
the situation and is not in need of a supplementary             of worldly organizations are not required to confess
means of discipline. On the one hand it may be de-              a specific sin but merely to sever their  conneotiona
clared that, upon the basis of this contention, the with Ithat organization. To this we would say, in the
exercise of discipline to the extent of excommunica-            first place, that the' sin specifically in question in
tion will never be necessary or required. This reason this debate is exactly a person's  connection  with e.g.  a
simply dispenses with the  swond  key of Christian              worldly union.    Consequently, it is required of him
Discipline.     The contention is that the preaching of that he make amends exactly by severing that connec-
the Word is very  svell able to handle  *the situation.         tion. I am  quilte sure that anyone, who sees the error
This is a 8irect denial of the Scriptural command to            of his way and severs  corm-ection  with an  ungodly
use the second key of Christian Discipline. For, on labor organization, will also confess his sin of `having
the other hand, although it is true that the Ministry           been a member of it. There are many who confess
of the Word itself leaves no doubt as to the question           that a worldly union is wrong but refuse to  sevei
whether one belongs or does not belong to the Kingdom connections. The sin involved is exaotly that of mem-
of Heaven and certainly makes Ithis clear in the con-           bership and therefore confession of that sin must re-
sciousness of the individual involved, it is a fact that        sult in a severing of that worldly bond. But, the
the mere preaching  oQ the  Word, does not rid the              undersigned fails to understand this reasoning in con-
Church en.tirely of erring and sinning members. There nection with the current debate.                  The question is
are always ,those present who will continue, boldly and         not: How must we receive erring members back into
insolently, as members of the Church if nothing else            the  folmd?,  but: Must the discipline of members of
is done besides the admonition in the preaching of              worldly organizations who refuse Ito leave their sin
the Word.        History abundantly proves that this is         be left to the Ministry of the Word?
true. A4nd Scripture verifies this when it repeatedly               Finally,  ilt certainly is not true that it is more
exhorts the Church of God  <to cast out from her midst profitable for all concerned to leave the discipline of
those who conduct themselves unbecomingly in walk               members of worldly organizations (to the Ministry of
and in doctrine. In this connection and upon the same the  Word).             The contention is, then, that members


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         481

must not be forced or compelled to lead a godly walk.      of fearing the loss of (that which we have. We may
If we prevent members from partaking of the Lord's         think it expedient to relax ,in the exercise of Chris-
Table and  presenking  their  chil,dren  for baptism, these tian Discipline because we do not desire to "lose" any
members, in order to partake of  #these sacraments, members. We may fear to take a definite stand when
wiIl even go so far as to sever connections with a         the way becomes rough and hard. We may desire to
worldly organization whereof they may be members.          keep our local church intact. However, we must not
Is it, then, not a greater cause for  redoicing  when be wiser Ithan God. His way is the only way. We
such a member forsakes his evil way without any            may safely walk in `that way, wherever it may lead us,
force or coercion wha&oever,  because he saw the sin-      in the belief that God will provide for His own and
fulness of his way and voluntarily decided to sever        lead His Church into  that glory which He has laid
connections due to his being influenced exclusively by     away for her.
the preaching of the Word ? Then, it is  elleged,  we                                                   H. v.
need not dsoubt t,hat he severed connections for any
reason other than  t,he exhoration of the living God                              -         -
Rimself.
   This,  `we ail readily perceive, is a very weak argu- AFFIRMATIVE-REBUTTAL :
ment. In the first place, it may well be doubted whe-
ther anyone will sever connections with a worldly             It becomes plain at once that the Rev. H. Veldman
organization merely because it is his desire to par- has three reasons in mind for maintaining that the
take of the sacraments. It is hardly conceivable that      discipline of members of world~ly  organizations may
anyone will reject the  Ithings of this present time.      not be left to the Ministry of the Word. These rea-
even choose to suffer hardship and affliotion, want        sons are: (1) This membership is a very grievous
and, starvation, because of his desire for the means       sin, (2) Scripture demands that Christian discipline
of grace if he does not have an inner desire in the        be applied to all who commit such grievous sins, (3)
things of God and of His Kingdom.                          Christian discipline is necessary for the purification
   Secondly, we must not hesitate to "compel" a mem-       of the Church and the salvation of the eleot sirmer,
ber of a worldly organization to refrain from partak- since the Ministry of the Word is not sufficient  ao ac-
ing of the  sa,eraments, because it is  spiritualIy   im- complish this.
,possible for anyone who walks in sin to partake of the       Not difficult is it to see that the first two reasons
means of grace. To partake of Communion and pre-- belong together. The reasoning of the Reverend is
sent one's child for baptism must  and, can be done        pIainly this: (1) Scripture demands Christian dis-
only in faith. The sacraments are signs and seals of cipline for all those who commit grievous sins.             (2)
the people and party of the living God in the midst Membership in a worldly organization is a grievou?
of the world. They are our uniforms  wh$&by we sin.              Hence (3) we must apply Christian discipline
are separated from the world. It is therefore a spirit- $0 such members of worldly organizations. His reason-
ual impossibility to partake of the sacraments in a        ing in the last ground he gives is t.his:  (1) God has
real sense of the word and simultaneously commit the       given unto the Church the Keys of the Kingdom of
sin which is involved in membership in a worldly or- Heaven. (2) It is a fact that  ,the Ministry of the
ganization.    The one denies the other. Applying Word, the first key, is not sufficient to purify His
discipline we simply say to a particular member that       Church and save His erring people. (3)  Rence we
he cannot partake of the holy sacraments.                  must apply the second key, Christian discipline.
    Thirdly, inasmuch as he cannot partake of the             Let us examine these grounds of the Reverend in
sacraments, the Church may therefore not permit him the order that he presents .them. First of all he states
to do so. The Church is  calleZ  to preserve the purity that Christian discipline must be applied because of
of the Name of her God and of His Covenant in the          the grievousness of the sin. That membenship in
midst of lthe world. The Church may not permit God's worldly organizations is a grievous sin is also our
holy Covenant to be profaned. Consequently,  it is  got    firm  conviotion.    This we stated in our first essay.
"profitable for  al1 those concerned" to witness  su~ch    The very wording of the proposition implies that it is
spiritual lethargy and indifference on the part of the a great sin requiring `discipline. That this is now a
Church whereby the profanation of God's covenant reason for the application of Christiaa discipline rather
and sacraments is permiltted.  This would surely have than the Ministry of the Word we are not ready to
a devastating effect on the Church of God.                 declare. We fear very much the implications of this
    Finally, I repeat what I wrote in my first article. reasoning. Consider once  *that back of this reason-
We must not be wiser than Go&. The Lord has com- ing is the implication that Christian discipline is cap-
manded us to exercise the keys of the Kingdom of able of more, and is more powerful than the Ministry
Heaven. We may be afraid to use these keys because of the Word. It makes the Ministry of the  Word  take

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

a hack seat.      Certain sins, so this reasoning runs, show Ithat Scripture demands this. He quotes from
can safely be left to ,the Ministry of the Word, but as       the -form for the Lord's Supper, and he does quote
soon as the sin becomes grievous, it is no longer safe Jesus words which prove that membership in worldly
to leave it to the Ministry of the Word but a strong-         organizations is a grievous sin, but he does not give
er, more capable key-power must be exercised. The             us  Scripture to prove (that  Scripture demands Chris-
teacher in his schoolroom disciplines his own pupils.         tian discipline for members of worldly organizations.
but when they become so unruly that he can no Iongel-         We must have at least one text that not merely states
manage them, he sends #them to the principal. Is his that these members may not partake of Commun+ion,
a,ct of  sen.ding  them to the principal not an admission     but one that will `make plain that we may never leave
on his part that a higher and more capable power iq           it up to the Ministry of the Word ~$0 tell these mem-
needed than he possessed? l's this the way we must bers this but must always send the Consistory to advise
look at the relationship between these two keys of            the man that it has decided to refuse )this to him.
4he Kingdom of Heaven? Certainly not!  Whateve!*                 We quoted 2 Tim. 3 : 16, 17 in our first essay. The
the reason or purpose of Christian discipline may be-         Reverend will have to prove that when Scripture says,
and we do not feel that it is our duty to state here "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
what they are, for we are dealing chiefly  wil:h the profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
Ministry of the Word while the negative is dealing            for instru'ction  in righteousness, `that the man of God
chiefly with Christian disciplin~e---the grievousness of may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good
the sin cannot be the reason why we exercise Christian        works,"  *that it is profitable to correct, instruct in
discipline.    In our first essay we stated that it was :X    righteousness and reprove members of worldly organ-
suppiemeatary  method of d,iscipline not on the same          izations only when it is used by the Consistory  ii1
level with the Ministry of t.he Word. Surely ik is not        Christian discipline. Since the Reverend gives us  no!
above tine Ministry of the Word. We look eagerly for one text from Scripture, we cannot refute his exegesis.
Rev. Veldman's rebuttal to see just what he presents          for we know not what texts he has in mind. That
a.3 the proper relationship between these  (two  keys. makes it difficullt for us to refute but also takes away
Will he make them of equal significance or will he            all the force of his stateme&  that Scripture demands
emphasize  ,the view he here presents-be it by im- it.
plication-that Christian discipline can do what  th.2            Again we agree with the Reverend when he states
Ministry of the Word cannot do, and therefore has             that the purpose of Christian discipline is to save the
more significance than  ilt?                                  erring brother and purify the Church. The same is
       After ail is no6 every sin grievous in Cod"s sight,    true of the ministry of the Word. But again we are
and is the man who takes Christ's name in vain not            disappointed in no.t finding any proof ,for the strong
just as anltichristlan  as the man who is a member of statement that, "It is a fact that the Minisiry of the
an amichristian  organization? Must Christian disci- Word is not sufficient in the preservation and purifica-
pline `not be applied to all sins then? Just what must tion of the Church."             Here again the Reverend  Is
be the standaard or measuring stick? Must Christian           reasoning as in his first two grounds s:hat Christian
discipline be applied to those sins which the Church discipline is able to do something the Ministry of ths
co,nsiders  to be of a grievous nature or to those which Word is unable to accomplish.
are grievous in God's sight?                                     But consider with me the -following facts  on,ce:
       The Reverend writes himself, "We know, of course,      It is <through the Ministry of the Word that God firs!
that a member is not disciplined for the sin he has           calls us out of the darkness into His marvelous light
committed but for his refusal to repent upon the labor and not through Christian discipline. Paul came  ,with
of love bestowed upon him by those who exercise the           God's Word and administered it to the Greeks, an-i
keys of the Kingdom of Heaven." Notice: one i.s not they were saved from their sinful way and un,belief.
&isciplined  for the sin he commits. Thus if I belong .Jesus administered His own Word to Paul on the  wap
to a worldly ofganization and thus  c*ommilt  a grievous to Damascus, and he was saved. Jesus gave Peter one
:$in  1 am not disciplined for  it:.    How then can the glance thereby reminding him of His Word, and Peter
crievousness  of the sin be the reason'  that Christian ran out weeping bitterly, saved from his sin and puri-
discipline must be exercised and it may not be left           fied. When Paul heard of sins in the Church, he ad-
to the  iMinistry of  rhe Word? We cannot follow this         ministered the Word per letter to purify that church.
reasoning.                                                    You may say, "The church was not yet fully organized,
       The Reverend states in the second place Ithat Scrip- and christian discipline could not be administered."
ture ,demands the exercise of Christian discipline for That. makes no difference for it still proves that the
all such grievous sins. This  reason we expected  :o          Ministry of the Word is able and sufficient. Mind you
Find in the Reverend's essay. Yet we were very dis-           these sins were also of the same nature as that  of
appointed by the fact that he gives not one text to           belonging to worldly  organizaltions,   Read,  II:  Car,  6


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                           ,,
and note how Paul disciplines them with  the Word of             Taking a lesson from the past the organization has
God in verses 1'6-18. Xpparently Paul considered  the         adopted a setup  differen::  from the previous con-
Ministry of the Word to  #the  Corinthians  sufficiei~t.      ferences which were organized only to pass out of
Eut let me return to what I began to say. God saw             existence after a few meetings. We may remember '
fit: in His infinite wisdom to use the Ministry of the        that the previous meeltings  were  held after a day of
Word to call us and bring us to the knowledge of oui- busy classical activities, when some of the delegates
sin and deliverance. He chose to use it and it alonr:         were eager to spend a few quiet hours with relatives
to bring us to faith and to the knowledge of our salva-       and friends, others had to hurry off to their trains.
tion), yea  Jame.s  says that He begat us with the Word       Now, however, we have an all-day meeting the day
of truth. The  iniltial act of purifying us and saving before  Classis,  with the ministers of  Classis  East only.
us from our sin was accomplished by the Ministry of The purpose of limiting the circlxe thus is not to be
the Word. Why `then, after we have been brought               exclusive of course but to insure a reasonably solid
to the light by that Ministry of the Word, *does the attendance.
Ministry  of the Word lose its force and power so                Our .first  meeting we considered a great success.
Ithat it is no longer sufficient? The Rev. Veldman After opening prayer and Scripture reading a few dc-
declares. to explain his point, that some will be bold        tai1.s of business were attended to and <then  as the main
and continue as members regardless of the Minlistrg           item we were favored with a very excellent paper by
of the Word. `But we ask, "Can Christian  disciplitm          Rev. R. Veldman, on the subject: "The Tautology in
purify the Church `of the hypocrites who  <do not show &he term `Total Depravity'," built upon Scripture an:5
their antichristian nature? Then we  n-lust  aIso say the Confessions. A very warm and thorough discus-
of Christian discipline ,that it is insufficient to purify sion followed of penetrating questions, criticisms  an-l
the Church. It has not become plain to us how Chris- counter-criticisms which did not abate until the clock
tian discipline can fulfill that which Rev.  Veldma:?         told us our two and a  habf hours were up.
maintains the Ministry of the Word lacks.                        In the afternoon at I :30 we met to hear a paper by
   Having written that we will limit ourselves to             Rev. W. Hofman, on "The Day of Jehovah". We were
four pages since we wrote six. in our first essay, we. soon impressed  wilt,h  the fact that we were listening to
conclude  #that Rev. Veldman has proven that member- another excellent paper, with an abundance of direct
ship in worIdly organiations is a grievous sin, but he        and indirect material from Scripture, gathered; ana-
has not given us one reason for not leaving their dis- lyzed and organized.
cipline to the Ministry of the Word.                             Because of the relative newness of the subject  ths
                                                              discussion was at first hesitant and a little vague.
                                                              Butt not for long. A discussion developed that matched
                                                              the earlier one in eager and thorough penetration
 . We feel constrained to state that in spite of all we       until again the clock put a stop to the discussion at its
have written above we still believe  Ithat the  *d&ipline     heigth.
of members of worldly organizations should not be left           So our first meeting became history. It was  :I
to the Ministry of the Word. However our reasons              day of wonderful promise for the future. All express-
are different #than those presented by Rev. Veldman           ed sa!isfaction  and joy at the edification and *fellow-
and are we believe based upon Scripture. We do not ship. Some even revealed d&ight.  And' we are glad
feel that it is our duty to present them here. If there to announce that although no provision is made as yet
has been any profit in this ,debate  it must lie herein       to record the discussions, we  espect  to publish the
that it shows us  #that we can profitably make a study papers at the end of the year.
of and do a littIe research into the (true relationship
between the two keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.                    Our next meeting is on October  3. The papers
                                                 J. A. H.     assigned for that meeting  are:
                                                              Church and State according to Art. :36-Rev.  B. Kok.
                                                              Pluriformity of the Church  ac.:ording  to Holy Scrip-
                                                              ture--Rev. A. Petter.
                                                                 Advanced assignments for the January meeting are :
                                                              The Essentially Modernistic World-view of Common
   Report of Ministerti' Conference                           Grace-Rev. J. Heys.
                                                              The Motives of Idol-Worship-R,ev.  J. De Jong.
    On April 11 `the ministers of  Classis  East held  the
first meeting of their newly organized Ministers Con-             We already look forwar, to our need meeking.
ference.                              L                                                                  Reporter.

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

                  IN APPRECIATION                                                               IN MEMORIAM

   The `Mission Committee of the Protestant  Reform-                         `The Consistory of the First  Protestant  Reformed Church
:d Churches  gral:efully acknowledges receipt of a  le-               of Holland,  `iMichigan   hereby  wishes to express its heartfelt
sacy amountii:(g  to $3799.35 bequeathed to the Missio!l              sympathy  with our brother-elder  1'.  Schipper, in the loss  1~r.f
Fund by the late brother Ben Voss of Edgerton, Minn.                  his
   This expression of love for  .the  cau,se  of  propagat-                                         XOTHER
ng the truths which are our peculiar heritage  spurs
us on to ever greater objectives.          May God keep  u;5                 May the God of all grace comfort our brother in  hi!;
i:aithful   to the charge He has given us.                            bereavemen,;.
                 Secretary of the `Mission Committee.                                                          Rev. W. Hofman.  Pres.
                                                                                                              J. H. Kortering,  Clerk




                             NOTICE
                                                                                                 IN  MEMORIdM
   The Annual meeting of  t.he Reformed Free  Pub-
!ishing Society will be  held Sept.  II, at the Fuller  Ave.                 The Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church
i?hurch  parlors. Three board members must be chosen                  hereby wishes to express its heartfelt sympathy to our Brother
From the following nomination. 11. Jonker  ;  I-I. Knott;             Elder M. Swart in tie Loss af his son,
S.  De Vries  :  Chas.  Pastoor ; Stephen  Eouma :  Gerrit                                       JOHN SWART
Pipe.. All members are urged to be present. Finan-
cial report  an'd activities of the board will be given.                     May the Lord comfort the brother and his family, and also
Readers and former members are again asked to  join                   the widow of the deceased  i,n this their bereavement by  the
:iur  society  and give it their moral and financial sup-             assurance that our heavenly Father doeth all things well and
port. After recess  #the speaker will be Rev. W. Hofman.              nothing can separate us from His love.
                                                                                                                   H. Hoeksema,  &es.
                                                                                                                   G. Stonehouse Clerk



                       IN MEMORIAM

    The English Men's Society of the First Protestant Reform-                                    IN MEMORIAM
ed Church unite to express their sympathy to one of its mem-
bers Mr. M. Swart in the  loss of his son,                                   The English Men's Society of the First Protestant Reform-
                                                                      ed Church of Grand Rapids,  Mich. hereby wishes  to express
                       JOHN SWART                                     its heartfelt sympathy to our fellow member, Mr. M. Swart, ill
who was killed in action.                                             the loss of his son,
    May our Heavenly Father who alone can comfort, sustain                                    Pvt. JOHN M. SWART
him and his in this their bereavement.
                                          0. Van Ellen, Pres.                May the God of all grace comfort the brother and his
                                          C. W. Doezema,  Sec':,~.    family in this their bereavement by the assurance that  Gnd
                                                                      doeth all things well.
                                                                                                       Mr. 0. Van Ellen Pres.
                                                                                                       Mr.  0. Vander Woude Ass't.  Sec'y.
                       IN MEMORIAM

    Whereas it has pleased our Heavenly Father to take  unto
Himself our fellow society member,
                                                                                       0 praise the Lord, for He is good,
                     FREDERICK PIPE                                                        His mercies still endure:
the Men's English Society  uf the First Protestant Reformed                            Thus let His, ransomed testify,
Church, of which he was such an unusually faithful member                                  From all their foes secure.
for so many years, wishes hereby to extend its sympathy  51                            He has redeemed His captive saints,
the bereaved.                                                                              From adversaries hands,
                                          0. Van Ellen,  E-Yes.  1                     He gathered them and brought them back
                                          C. W. Doezema. Sec'y.                            In peace from hostile lands.


