VOLUME XXII                                       '         April 15, 1946 i Grand Rapids, Michigan                                               NUMBER 14

                                                                                 not intentiomal;ly  read his ,own pet` theories in the Word
                                                                                 ,of God, to explain *that  this @n!,- "world" cannot pos-
                                                                                 ~siibly be replalced  heIre by "a11 men".                   1
                                                                                       Is not the  "w&d" of  this  marvelllous  p+ssage the
                                                                                 olbject of God's <great love? Al?;d ct@lfd ever such love
                                                                                 fait1 to seek and find and sa$ !its object? I% God, ithen,
              For Go,d so loved the world, that he gave so ,greatly loved the world  that IHe iga.ve. His only be-
            his on19 begotten Son, that whosoever believ-                        gotten Son for her salvation; can it be that it,. `or any
                                                                                 part. (of it, `is lost into perditicnn? Yet, ilot a11 men are
            eth on him should not perish, but have ever-                         smed. Many of the world  ?f  `men as we  Bno$ it are
            lasting life.
                                                                   John 3:16.    never touched by -this tighty love. Ho:y,, then, could
                                                                                 "all m'en" be the proper explaniation of "world!"in  tile
    God so loveid. . . .                -                                        tK&xtxt'!                        !
    And  that.  ex@ains the "must" of  the preceding                                   C!r, algain, aoNes not this Word ,of G,od emphasize that
verse !                                      I                                   God gave His  ,only.begottenl Son. And does not this
    As Moe&s  lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,                           giving on the part of God imily that -He gave Him
 even  SO must  the Son of  .man be  $fted  cp. Anqther                          over imto ,death, yea, unto the death of- the cross, that
 way than the way .of the cross there was not for ;the. Ile might offer Himself a #perfact sacrifice unto God
 Son--of man to  #enter   into  His glory. He must be for sin.? And was not this gift bestowed on, and this
*exal+eld,  to be sure, but only through deepest  h,umilia- sacrifice ,olffered  in behalf .oP "the w&d"? But; could
tion and shame.                                                                  it be that this gift had been/ whollly ,o,r partly in vain,
    For -God so loved the world.                              -                  and that even one drop of blbod of that precious sacri- -
    AFld all the etiphas'is  falls :on the oomparison : So.He                    fiae `had .been shed for one p ,is $ost in everlasting
,lq+ed. . . . th.at He gave His only begotten Son.                               {desolation  .of darkness?                  :
    If you would f0r.m some idea of the character, the                                 God fo_nloid !       c          I                -
pow'er, the depth and,th'e. height, the sovereignty, the                               ,Oy `were it  conceiTable that so  marvell&s  a love
unquenchableness,  the @atness of the love of Go'd for I&pressing itself in  S-O  alma;ing a way  shoulid  prolve
the world, then yen-must  not look at that _w!or;ld- i$self,                     itself impotent to save its ,o,b;ect  and to attain its end?
but at the cross of Jesus.                                                       .Could ,it be that God woulid s6 h,umiliate ,His Son, while
    There the Sprn of man is being lifted up!                                    the realization #of the purpos'e  of that humiiliation  was                             -
    And that Fbn of man is the! `only Ibeg$ten Son of not in His power, but depmi'ed on the eviJ3iP of the
God!                                                                             very men that nailed Him to the accursed +ree?
    Lifted up is He *like Moses' serpent,  apparently by                               To ask the question is to &iswer it.
men, but in .dceepest !reali,ty  by the living God Hi&self!                            That Go& so loved the wokld  that He gave His only                           -
    For God gave His only begotten Son.                                          begotten -Son, what else Idoe's  it mean than that this'
    The revdation bf iHis great lovei                                 _          world;  this  ,object   "of  <God's  kmaziing  love, was surely
                                                                                 saved ;by that gift, and will die! saved to the utt&most?
     .%.                     _     -                                                  .Besides,  `why should.such/ an arbitrary `meaning be
                                                                                 given to the term  world?        I j
                                                                                       It never means "all men" kin the Holy Scri&ures.
`. God so loved the world!  "                          J                               That it does not always bonvey &he same cormiota-                       .
    Hardly necessary it would seem, for one who. does                            tion. a comparison with-oth& passages in which the
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314                                       T H E   STANDARD  B E A R E R

 word occurs wi,ll- readily prove. Did not o.ur Lord,                    He so loved it that iHe gave His only Ibegotten ISon !
 in that rileh sacerdotal .prayer:pre&erved  for, us ili this . .        0, profound wonder of wonders! Mystery of my;-
 same gospel narrative Ide&e-that I%e- prays not for teries, whose impenetrable  depth ever gececles  from our
 th& world?  Bnt surely He prays  for the  w,orl,d  [His searching igaze, and whose marvel becomes more amaz-
 Fath,er loved? Are we  no:t  Icfarnestly   warned in the ing according as we more earnestly ccontemplate!  its
 first iepistle by the same apbstje-that wrote  this gospel-         divine wonrder  !
 revelation of JesuB Christ that. `we must [not love the                 God lov:ed tie `twwiorld !
lwlorld, neither the things t&at are iillr the wzorld,  see&
 that the love (of the Father is dir,ectly in c&flict with              And that means that, in l3is sbvereign  and eternal
f the love ,bf the world? Is it not plain, +hen, that the !conception  He ,behleld that wonld  in its perfect Ibeauty
 w,orld   whi,ch God loved is `a radibcally different worlld .of perfection in Christ, the Firstborn of eviery creature;
 from the world which we may not lone?                               and that as such He has united itt with Himself, with.
                                                                     His `own heart, ifi. the lbond )of perifectness.    It lmmdans
    To interpret that  "wo~4d"  mEans all  men- is  ,indi- that rHe is attracted to that world, that His heart ,goes
vidualistic, nominalisti,c,  pelagian.                               out to her, even as, in t.ime, it is lost in sin and misery,..
    But  "wo&ld" is  ti  ,organic   oonceptiolnl. It denotes lies under ithe curse and in death; that He longs for her,.
beauty, harmony, a living whole, nd$ a nun&er of indi-               an&cannot "~~e:stl' until He <has ,drawn her with cords
vidual parts.                                                        of love unto Himself.; that IHe seeks her till He finds
    If you `8ove" a mechanism, and would "save" it, her, and that for her He desires and realizes the high-
you. must; indeed,. be' very- caref,ul to "save" tevlery             `est possible good, e&al life and beauty in the glory
ilidividual part, for the whole  ,depetide op,  cor&sts  of          of (God!
*he sum total ,of,:those parts. When p~u lose a wheel
of your car Ithe auto is marred and cannot functioln.                    God loved the world !
When you :bFeak a spring of ycmr waixh it is become                     -Make no mistake as it, in the text, God trefers to th&
useless. 1 But w!ith an organism it is different. When Father, the first Person only ,of the blessed ttintity.
a farmer looks at his goldep  whea%eld, arid is said                 One mi,ght `easily ib!e tempted so to read the text, in view
to "love" his wheat, ,does.  this imply that  he "loves" of the fact that God gave IIis only begotten Son: tdid
and means' to "save" every singlIe part ,of that wheat not t,he Father give the Son? Did.not the first Person.
as it stands waving in the breeze? Does he not, pre-                 of the holy trinity give the Second? Yet, this would
sently, Icut it, thresh it, pile .up the straw amId iburn the be a sq%ous error. Al11 the outgoing works of God are
chaff, while ,onily the wheat proper is put into the barh? `of the trinity, *of all the three Persons of the <Godhead,
 Or when the .husbandman, in early spring, trims the! each in His position and relation to the ,others.                       God,
vine,  SQ  thzat the largest part is represented by the the tripnre God gloved the world. And this Jove is of the
branohks  that ane cut `off, and `only a f;ew ,bsre stalks           F'ather, ;through the Son, anti in the Holly Spirit. Gocl
are left standing, Id.id he destroy the vine?                        gavle His Son, the triune God. Anid this igist is of the
    God loved the [world !                                           Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirii,. The
    But,, indeed, this does llot mean that al,1 ilmdividual          Father Igave /His Son in the Spirit; the Son gave Him-
rnkb a1;e sd the `object of His love that all are saved. self in the Spirit. Th$ tri.une Go'd loved the world!
The world as we see i$ is the wheat as it still statids                 God so loved the world. . . .
waving on the fielfd,  with &raw and chaff: it must still
be cut, and the wheat must` & separated- fr,om the                      How? 0, for &s'answer  you must turn your won-
chaff; it .i,s t,he vine. that, must still ble trimmed. Yet,         dering gaze ito Calvary, to that aocursed tree that is
not those that .are lost, but those that are saved con- pdanted  (between the crosses of two m&factors ! Every-
stitute the worlldj God's world,. the.voxld  of His eternal          where else you meet with darkniess,  wrlath, judgment,
love. An'd when all the lost are seiarated from it, it               death and desolation. For the wrath of God is revealed
is..still the world that is saved.                                   from, heaven `over all unrighteousness and ungbdliness-
    The lwlorld is the organism of ,God's elect together of men, that hold the truth in unzigh6eousness.                      iAnd
with the whole. creation as :once *it shall_ appear in per-          nowhere is tthepe!  a streak of light, a way o,ut, a glimmer
fect harmony, beavenlly beauty, united in the Son of of hope. Only from Calvary, f;rom the IZXOSS of Jesus,'
God !                                                           the hwondrous  light of Idivine (love shines into our ni.ght,
                                                      ,              all the more wolnideEfti1,  because it penetrates. and corn-.
    Tlhe world. of the eternal, divine cdncephiNon              pletely swallows up the darkness of jitdgment  and death.
  God's  ,own  wor,ld!                                                  God. so loved the w,orlrd!
             _                                                          Hlow ?  `.
                                                                        iHe gavle His only begotten son ! . . . .
                                                                        Do you desirie to understand a little of the nature
    That world God loved.                                       of that wondrous love, of its Ien$g%h and breadth and


                                              T . H E   STANDA-RD                    BEARER                                      i                   315

      height and depth ? W,o,uld you measure It.
                                                            .'  7 Ah, but we .paraphrase  it thus : God `so lov& the world, that
      ,it is as great as the gift, and, theref,ore,  immeasurable ! Iwhen  He.faoeld the  alternat<ve  ,of  gEvihg His  onljr be-
      It is as deep as the slov,e of God for His Son, His only Igotten Son or letting th,e wou$d perish, H,e sent His Son
      begotten, and, therefore,  unfathomablle:!                          into tihe <death of the cross ! '
         How did ,God love the world?                                         So God loved the world. '
        Collsider,  then, in order to appr.oximate  an answer                 Because of this unfathotiable love the Son of man
      to this question, that God gave His Son, the darliilg of must lbe lifte'd Up, even as Moses lifted up the serpent
      His  !bcmnn,   Wh3  eterndly is in the bosom of the  in  the  wilderness*
      Father, in and .upon  Whom all the infinite love of the                 That the.world,  God's world, might b'e gaved..
      Father is concentrated. Consider, too,. that it is His                  Glorious revelation of D love !
      only Son, His all, rHimself. Consider %hat Ha gave Him.
      And this means, in the light ,6f all Scripture, that Hle                                       -*
      gave lHi,m up, that He gave Him as a sacrifce $or sin,                 "  :
      for  alil our  sinks  an,d our  t.ransgressions,  that He  gave         Eternd life !
      Him.up  into death, the death .of the cross, that He for-
      sook  Him ,into lotwest  hell, pouring out over His heed                Such is the end this love -has ions view, and shall
      all  the vids of His  fier,ce tind holy wrath. . . .               ' surely" attain.
       '  :H&  Idi'd  God'love the  wtorld?.  ; . .                           That whosoever  :believeth in Him should not perish,
                                                                          but have  ev&lssting  life!  ;                              .     -
.~        0, but consi,der now once more that this -giving 'up                This  wonld is perishing: For it lies in the midst
      of the only begotten. of t,he Father was an act of the ,of ,death betitise of sin, pines away under the wrath
      triune God: `the. Father gave Hi,rn up, the Son g&e                 of God, proceeds from sin $9 sin, from ,death to death,
      Himself up, the Spirit was active in this gi%g up ?f with no oth'er possiblle. end .than ete?al deso;latioln, in
      thhe Son unto the death of the cross.                               outer darkriess. And there is in16 way out as .far as the.
          Yes, indeed, we know it well, it was the Persoii? `of 1wiorl.d is concerned.
      the Son alNone that came into the flesh, that took all                  But ,God's  world must be saved.
      our  sins  .upon Himself, that  sufifered  and-  edied on             * It is saved through the death and resurrection
      ,Calvary. We understand it very well, that the divine !of that  ,only begotten Son' of  `God. He  ,is `the  life.
      nature is above eivery form of suffering, and that all and the  nesurrection. In Him is  life. All the power
      the agonies of ieath and hell of which Calvary is the of  salvakion, of  ,wisdom  and  knowlleldge, of righteous-
      scene and spectacle, were suffered only iill. the human !ness aed sanctification, <of rkde&pti.on  anld deliverance,
      nature  .of the incarnated Son.                                      of light and life,  - it' is  all in Him,  sand in no one
                                                       -
          But what. then?;                                                 apart tfrom  .X&n. Hence;  the world that is saveid must
          Dopes  not. the fact remain that, in that human nature be united with Him, must become one plant with Him,
      (of the Incarnated, it was the only beg&en Son that m.ust partake of His death and resurrection. -And the
      suffered ? Is it, nevertheless,  alot  tr,ue that in this bond that so unites that world with Him  ,is faith.
      giving of  HimseU into  (death,   yo.u  behoJ(d, and are @enIce, it. is those that believe in Him, and then "who-
      invited to  b&old by our. text, the  ,suffering  of  then soever  7
                                                                                     " that constitute the world that is saved.                             -'
      Son of God,  atid that, by this suffering, you  .may                    Amid they are  saGed unto eternal  lifie.
      measure the height ,and the depth of the wondrous l.ove                 The love of God seeks and realizes for its object
      of that Son?                                                         the  highlest possible blessedness and glory.
          Still more.                                                          As  ,great as is the  lov&  ,0-f God, revealed. in `the
                                                                           .gift of  H:is  ,only  b'egotten Son, so  ~glorious is the end
          Evm though it is the Person of the Son of God that attained, the blessing bestdwed. For everlasting life
      suffered and died on ,Golgc$ha,  ,does not our text &tress is not merely life as we know it without end ; nor is
      the fact that even -on Cal,vary you tdane miot separate a return to the earthly life of Adam ilnl the state of
      the t.h,ree Persons of the ~Holy Trinity, and that some-             rectitude.  - It is the  highest realization of the -cove-
      how it was God that sufifered  in the f!lesh of ithe Chirist? nant .of friendship in His heavenly talbernacle, where
      W.oulfd  you= not dIestroy the very esse&e `of the text,             He shall~ take us t,o His bosom if;or ever, and wle s?haU
      if you shoul,d assume that, while His only Ibegotten  Son see Him face to  face                      :
      writhhed in the agonies of death, the -Father was un-                    Iti that glorious li,bertyl  of th,e children of God a11
      moved, and the Holy Ghost coldly looked on?                          creation shall participate.  -1
          How did God Ilove th,e w,orld?                                  In, Gold's only  cbegotteiz Son, creation shall be
          0, all human language is  incapable of adequately united in glory.
      expressing this mystery. But surely, we ,do justicle to                  Glorious  love of  Gold!  :            _
      the text,  when,  -in our human and imperfect way,.                                                                  I/
                                                                                                                 I                               H. H.            ,,


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                                                                                                                                                                                          _  _               ~-
 316                                                                                                                    THE  STANDAtiD  BtiABER

                                          The Sfan+rd Bearer                                                                                                                                                             E D I T O R I A L S
                        Semi-Monthly, except Monthly'in  July and August
                                                                              Published by
                        5        The Reformed Free Publishing~  Association
                                                              1463 Ardmore St., S. E.                                                                          -                                                   " The  Liberated  Chtirches                           _
                                         E D I T O R - Rev. H. Hoekiema                                                                                                                                                  In The Netherlands
     Contrjbufing  Editors:-Rev.  G. M.  Opboff;  Rev. G.  Vo's,  Rev.
     R. Veldman, Rev. H. Veldman, Rev. H. De Wolf, Rev. B. Kok,                                                                                                                                         TIHE CtiURCH PdLITICAL  ASPECT :
     Rev. J. D. De Jong, Rev. A. Petter, Rev. C. Hanko, Rev. L.                                                                                                                                              More impor(tant, and certai:ilJp more cleaEly defined
     Vermeer, Rev. G.,Lubbers, Rev. M. Gritters, Rev. J. A. Hieys,
     Rev. W. Hofman.                                                                                                                                                                                    than the  ,doct.rinal  -issues that divide the  Lfberated
                                                                                                                                                                                                        Chur& from the  Synodilclals in the Netherlands, is
          Cotimunications  relative to contents should be addressed
    to REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S.  E., Grand                                                                                                                                               the church-political side of the ,controversy, `the ques-
   .Rapids,  Michigan.                                                                                                                                                                                  tion of justice  anid right in the  @hurches,  ,of  church-
          C,ommunications  relative to  &bscription should be addressed                                                                                                                                 government and its proper execution.              -
     to MR. GERRIT PIPE, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand  Repids,                                                                                                                                         While, with a view to the question of  the truth
    Michigan. `All Announcements, and -Obituaries must be sent                                                                                                                                          a&d doctrine' involved, ii. is somewhat difficult to diis'-
   \`o the above  address and will aot be placed unless the Tegular                                                                                                                                     cover what it is all about, the difference between the
   fee of $1.00  accom'panies  the notice..                                                                              -                                                     _                        groups  width  regar,d to church  bolity is so great and  ..-
                                         (Subscription price  $2.50. per  year)                                                                                                                         d&finite, that it is not dificult at all to choose .sides.
    Entered' as Second Class mail at  Grand  Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                          IOn this issue, the two groups are definitely ,opposed to
                                                                                                                                                                    .                                   each other.                          :
                                                                                                                                                                                                             And whiie, with res$ect  to the doctrinal question,'
                                                                                                                                                                                                        we  cou!l:d not  agY?ee with either side,  o.izi the  -church
                                                                          CO&EN&                                                                                                    2.                  political -issue we do not hesitate at all to take sides
                                                                                                                                                                                                 .      wlith the Lilberated Chsurches in opposi:tion  to-the synod-
 MEDIfl?ATION` -                                                                                                                                                                                        i,cals.
 GOD'S GREAT LOVE. . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . ...*... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31.3.                                                  Cahurch politically, the . Reformed Chupeh.es in the
                                                                                                                                                                                                        N,etherlands, as now  repiesented  by the  S$nodicals,
             Rev.  `H.  Hoeksema   F                                                                                                                                                                    have become corrupt. And  it  3s nothing less than
                                                                                                                                                                                                        an?azin.g  thit in so  fe,w years as have elapsed since
 EDITORIALS -                                                                                                                                                                                           the days of Kuyper and RutgeTs, they could so com-
 THE LIBERATED -CHURCHES IN THE  NETaERLANDS..316                                                                                                                                                       plktely  ,depfart from the sound system.of  ch,urch govern-
 EXPOSITION OF THE HEIDELBERG CATEeCHISM  . . .,....318                                                                                                                                                 menit for `which those two m&, stood, which they de-
                                                                                                                                                                                                        fended,  inc&ate:d  `in the  chur;ches,  dand against  de-
        Rev. H. Hbeksema                                                                                                                                                                                parttire from which they in,ever grew tireid, ,of warning
                                                                                                                                                                                                        t h e   R e f o r m e d   p e o p l e . .
-ELI'S PUNISHMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  321.
 ST.  THIOMAS  OF CANTERBURY                                                                                                                                                                               Who ,co.uild  ihave imagined so fast a degradation?
                                                                                                       . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325    Who would have believed it, comparatively few
         ' Rev.  $G.  2. Ophoff                                                                                                                                                                         years ago, that -even H. H.  KGyper  lw'ould disavow
                                                                                                                                                                                                        and deny  t,he correct and Reformed view of church
DDE VERBONDS PSALM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  :..-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .327 polity, and defend the hierarchical system, according
         Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                                                                    to which a few delegates become lo&s. over the churches,
                                                                                                                                                                                                        and-the~~churches  are subjected once m'one to the yoke
 TO THE UTMOST'OF YOUR POWER                                                                                                                                                                            `o;f bondage imposed Iby mere' mern~, instead of standing
                                                                                                                     . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*........ # . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330            in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free? -
             Rev. 5: A. Heps                                                                                                                                  F                                           But let me, first, explain to the reader the two
                                                                                                                                                                                                        theories of Ichurch  government of which I am writing,
 FROM HOLY WRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...' ..I........................ 332 the Reformed and the. hiera?chical.
            Rev. G. Lubbers-                                                                                                                                                                                 For examples, I shall take the Protestant RLformed
                                                                                                                                                                                                        Churohes  and the Christian Reformed Ch%urch. I now
                                                                                                                                                                         .                .'
PERISCOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .9. . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                                                                                                                                                                           335          use  th,e o&Gal names of both denominations :because -,
                                                                                              I .                                         - .                                                           it is -ex&ztly in this difference that the two' conceptions
            Rev. M.  Grittam                                                   -                                                                                                                        of church governmennit  are ratller conciselly expressed.
                                                                                                                                                                                                             The &&e&ant Reformed ldenomiqation  is a group
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    j


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   `B E A R E R                                                   317

   of  .churches,  united.`on   .t&e basis of a  cdmmon con- or government, the. delegate'cannot  possibly have power
 fessi:on, the Reformed, and  *&.the Church  Oy-der.  The crver the body &hat delegated him.
   Christian Refor,med  denominatibn is one Church under                        From whioh  ,it follows' that no  classis  or synod
   one government, ultimately the syniod.                                has power  tb depose a Icon&tory `or any `me$ber there-
       The reader knows, of cours.e,  that in the! Reformed              of.
   system of &urf?h government vario!us igatherings  are                        Nor can any classis .or .synod demand submission,
 _ recognized that stand in a oertain relation to oae an- even for a time, to its decisions or Ideclaratioms,  when
   `other. `In the Netherlands there are four such gakher- a colnsistory.  `or sevelral consistories cbnsibder  them .con-
   ings,. the consistory, the classis,, the particular synod, trary to the Word off God And the Confession.
   and the general synod. In our churches as `well- as in                       About the relation of ,the larger to the smaller
   the Ch.ristian Reformed Chunch, rparticular spods are gat,herings, Dr. A. Kuyper wrote in "De Heraut" of
   not held, so that only the ,consi&ory,  the classis, and              June  `10, 1883: "The higher (never  hi'ghest)  power
   the synod remain.                                                     over the synodical  gathering rests with the proviDcia1
       NOIW, in our churches, these three gatherinlgs are sytiod  ; over the provincial synod with the classis ; and
 - by  IQIO means of the  ;same   {character  as far  as  ,t$e@          over the  classis with the consistory, which  consist-
governing plower is concerned.  We <do not Conceive of ,ories are the only  gathe&gs that have their origin
   them as thre:e governing bodies with -power to rule in the  oflf'ice..   IHe that reverses this onder, over-
 ' in themselves, related. as 4ower,  hiigher,  and highest throws the very  foundat<on  of the  ,church, denies
   courts of Uaw. On the con.trary, there is an essential the  of&e, and  acce)pts,  in principle, the  R~cmzi&, in-
cliffierence between  th,& power of the  consist&y on the stead `of t,he Reformed, form of church g&ernment."
   ,one hanId, and that of the cl,assis and the synod .on the                   The Christ& Reformed Church, as its very name
   other. Strictly speaking, only the con&story has rul-' indicates, stands opposird,  to this Reformed co&eption
   ing power, power  which  rebresents  the kingship of of  chuk*ch government, and has adopted  the hierarchical
   Christ over. His ,Chu&h. For Christ has instituted- the system. For it is. the ofI%cial  standpoint of this Ch,urch
   bffices of ministers of the Word and `elders to. govern that  the n&jor gatherimgs  have juristlictioa over the
   i&s  Ghupch in  Xis  natie  and  accordin)g  to His  ,ordin:          consistory, and that they .&we the power and right
   awes. `They are the consistory. They are, therefore, to depose them. .% This was officially ,adopted by the
servants  ,oP Christ,  respons$ble  `to  H&n,  lealied. and Synod' of  Eng&~ooh, 1926, in answer to protests
   ordained to rule over the-church as Cahrist's  disciples. against the  actioml of  Cl&&  `Grand Rapids West
   But the c.las.+eB and the synod have no such power over whereby the latter deposed Consistory of the First
   the  ,cihurches.    They have no  po!wer directly from                Christian Reformed- Churbh ,o,f Kalamazoo atid that
   Christ'+  all.- They have only de&e,gnted. power, that. is,           of Hope. `The Committee that was appointed to advise
   such power as is delegated to them by the &urches                     synod in re -this matter bfrought out an elaborate, and
   they represent, and  mandgted  ito them for  the! time rather thoroughly .hi&archical report. And the Synod
   of their gathering.                                                   dedded as follows :
       Th,e .reader can rea!%ly understand this, ,if he re-                     "a. Synod thanks the Pre-advisory Committee on
  members that there  is always a consistory, whet& it Deposition bf C;onsisto&es  for its excellent (sic! H.X.)
   is in sessiom or not. But'when the iclassis .or the sy;illod wbrk, and decides that .-the neport be taken up in the
   adjourns- these gatherings have .ceased' to exist. They Acts..                        '
   exist only -for so long as -it is required for `them to                      "b. 1~1 connection with !this rle!port,' and in answer
   finish the ibusiness  that is legally before them as man- to protests received, Synod tiphold  Classis ,Grand Rapids
   dated to them by the ,ch.uacheS they represent.                       West in its action of deposing thg consistories of Kala-
       The  meiers of a  iconsistory  are such  ,aed  meet- mazoo and .Hope. Grounds :
   as-  such, and, labor  ,in the  ,congregation  as such, in                   1). Article 36 of the Church Order [gives the Classis
  virtue  .of their  cal.ling-  ali:ld  to;ffi,ce as `elder: they are    jurisdiction ,over -the consistory ;
   lawfdly  called by  t&e church, and  thereXone,  by God                      2). Arti'cles  78 apd 80 df the `Church Order, and the
   unto- their office.  B.ut the  com@ituency of a  classis              Formula  of Subscription state pJa,inly that censure of
   or synod is not at all1 ,detFrmined by their offi,ce. Its o@ceblearers  shall b,e suspension or d&position from
  members function,. not as offlcebearers, not as elders,                OffiCE?."
  but-merely as- delegates. _ And their power .is limited                       It is  ge!vident  that, if  the  Classis has  jurisdi&on
  .by an'd to their maadate from`the :churches.                          `ober  -t;he  cornisistory,  the  ,Synod must have the same
      It stands to reason, therefore, that these  majdr jurisdictionT)over   ihe  classis. And this means that, in
  g&ther!in,gs  can never have the power to  trule  #over                principle, the Christi& Reformed Church invertad the
the congregations,  tier  to. set aside. the power  thtit proper order. of Rtiformed,  Church-polity, as outlined
   del`egated them. The servant 8camnpt have power over by Dr. Ktiyper a$ove,  and ,,destroyed  the very founda-
  his lord; the ambassadbr has no power over his kifi.g                  tion of Reformed .Church-government.


 318                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER  -

    It has become ,h:ieranchical. The -Christian Rleform-            in amtiber than the consistories, that represent more ,
 ed churches  hv;e  ,been deprived of their  libetrty by             Chunches, and that  arie more remote from the local
 their tdelegates,  their servants ;- they have, hent their coi:lgreg&tion. Htow easy it is for the constituendy of a
neck under a. yoke of bondage,  tiposed  ,o!n  the& by               cilassi*s, and especially of a synod, to assume a power
`a few priests that assumed this power unto themselves ; they idco not have !
 they have been deprived of their right to reformation                                                                 H. H.
 of the Church., *for at the penalty ,of' deposition no
 Chutich  can i&late such reformatory action.


        The  .above was offered merely to illustrate two                    THE TRIPLE  KNOWLED-GE
 dif$&ent  conceptions otf Church-government.
        These two widely and  principally  Idif$eaent   cdn-
 ceptions now  ,also exist  iti the  R,eformed   Churiehes  of `An Exposition of The Heidelberg
 the Netherlands.                                                                   -     *     Catechism
        The Synodical Churcheis  practised  and also officia!lly           _  Y
 adopte'd amd approved the hierarchical conception. The                                         P a r t   T w o .
 Liberated Chualches refused to bend theh neck under                                           Of Man's Redemption .
 this yoke, and maintained the Reformed system of
 Chur&h government ,as taught and strongly maintained                                          LORD'S DAY XIX
 by men <like Kuyper and Rutgers.                                    ."                                 `3.  ..
        And strange to say, generally speaking,, the B-men,
 the men that, dogmatically, follow Kuyper, partic&rly                             The lC0min.g Of The Lord (cont.)
 in  relgard to the theory of presupposed regeneration,-                     And `throughout the New Testament, the hope df
 rebadiate  him completely as the exioneat of Ref.ormed              the. Church in the world is fix,e:ie:d upon the return of her
 Chunch-polity, while the A-men, who stand  opposled                 L o r d   i n   g l o r y .
 to Kuyper's doctrine of the colvenant  amd of ;the sacra-                   At the occasion. of the ascension. of Christ from
 .ments, ,emphati~cdly  maintain his principles of Church- Msumt Olivet, the angels that stand by the amazed
 goverm?ent.                                                         apostles as they ,gaze up irito the heavens address them
        There WA. b!e no doubt about the fact that,.principal-       as tfollows : "`Ye men of ,Galilae, why stain/d ye gazing
 ly, as far as their Church-political action is concern&,            up into heaven? this same  Jesus, which is takea up
 the synod of 1939-43 also #deposed  Dr. A. Kuyper!                  frorn y.ou ,int,o heavlen, shall so come ,in like manner as
        The action ,of that synod was so thoroughly hier- ye .have seen him go into heaven." And these words,
 archical that it is a complste  ,repudiation  of Kuyper.            lwwhile in their IcompariSon of the aec&nsioln  of the ris'en
        The question arises : `how co:uld such a tremealdous         Lord with Hiti netuEnl, they leave absollutely no room for
 change come about in the Rleformed  Churches of the a +rnal and earthly conoeption  of the parousia, never:
 -Netherlands, in so short a time?                                   therlless emphasize that we must expect a personal,
        Especially two Ielements  must be considered in this definite, visible return of Christ, and that, too, at a
 connection, that are worthy of note biecause  they repre- `Idefinite  moment.
 sent danigers  th& always threaten the freedom of the                       The  apostle Paul refers to this "moment" of  thlel
 Chur&, so that,  ,by  co&iderimg  them, we may also, coming  ,of Christ in the well-known fifteenth chapter
 take warning.  :                                                    ,of his epistle to the Corinthians, .even though in -that
        The first is lilst for power.                                connectioni  the return itself is not mentioned, in the
        It is not in vainr that the Scriptur'es  warn the office-    worrds  : "Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all
 bearers that they shalil be dothed with humility, and sleep,' `but we shall all be changed, In ,a moment, in the
 refrain from lording it &over the. flock. After aall, office-       twirntiing of an ,eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet
 bearers, ministers,  ,&er$ and deacons, are sinful men. shall1 sound, and the dead shall be raised !incorruptible,
 And it is the tendency :of' their ,old nature to abuse and we shall Ibe! changed.`" I Cor. 15 :51, 52. The resur-
 their pffice, and, imstead of constantly ,m,anitfesting a rection of the dead belongs to the things that shall
 wil&gness to be nothing but  Idisciples of Christ, to take place at the coming of ) Christ. And here, too, the
 `assume lordship over God's heritage. Under the in- refermice is to a definite event,, that shall `take pIace
 fluence of their sinful nature, the pow]er of office be- at a l&finite  "moment". According to Phil. 3 :iO "our
 comes a weapon that is used against the Chunlch which               conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we look
 it is supposed, $0 sekve.  :And this dangerous tendency for the Saviour,  our Lord Jesus Christ." In I T.hess.
 is acoentuated  in the larger gatherings, that are greater 4:13-17, the  apostile comforts the believers in  Thes-


                                      T H E   STAND'ARD BEARER                                      I                     3 1 9

  snloni,ca  ~concerning those that faB asleep in Jesus be- e'lements  shall? melt with fervent heat?" II Pet. 3 :ll,.
  fore His  r'eturn. Evidently they were worried about 12.
  their dead, as if they would have no part in the lglory                Needless to say, the entire book of Revelation is ,an
  of IChrist's return. &lid the apostle corrects this error, exposition of the theme of the coming of the Lord.
. and teaches them that the ,believers that have died shall "B,ehold, he lcometh with +ouds ; and every eye shall
  bie Iraised even before those believers that live at the see him, and .they also which pier,ced him: and all the
  time of Christ's return shall be changed. _ "But I would kindred of the earth shall wail becausls `09 him. Elven
  not have you ignorant,- brethren,  colncerning  them so, Amen." Rev.  1:7. "Behold, I come quickly : blessed
  which are Lasleep, that we sorrow not, even as others is he that. keepeth the sayialgs of the prophecy of this
  which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died. book." Rev. 22 :7. "And, behold, I .come qui'ckly ; and1
  and rose again, #even so them also which sleep ,in Jesus `my reward is with me, to give ,every -man according
  will God bring with him. For this we say unto you as his work shall :be." Rev. 22 :12. "He which testifieth
  by the wor,d  of the Lord,. that we whilch ar.e alive and these things saith, Surely' I come quickly. Amen;
  remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent Even so, come, Lor,d  Jesus." Rev. 22 :20.
   (go before,  H.H.) them which are asleep. For the                                       -             -
  Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,                   With respect to the idea of this coming, we must
  with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump olf needs m&e a few remarks,, even though a .complete  ex-
  -God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first (i:e. before position of t,he parousia is quite impossible in an hex-
  the living beiievers shal!l >be changed, H.H.) : Then we planation of the Catechism such as this.
, which are  .allive and remain shall be caught up  to-                  First of all, it should be observed that Scripture
gether with him in the clouds, -to meet the Lord in the knows of only one coming .of the Lord, and that this
  air: arilld so shall we ever be with the Lord." Also in coming marks the e!ild of this world, and that, .too, by                .
 this passage, the return of the Lord is presented as a way of a universal catastrophe, as `well as the inaugura-
  very `definite <event that will occur at a given time. In tion of the world to ,come.
  II Thess. 2 the apostle instructs believers concerning                 This observation precludes the view of the premil-
  the coming of the tian of sin, who can ,only come in his       lennarians, who speak of two ,comings of Christ. The
  own, God appointed time, and "whom the Lord shall once is called -the Rapture, the' ,other  th.e Revelation.
  consume with the spirit `of his mouth, and shall de- The former till take place' some time b,efore  the great
 I stroy with the brightness ,of his &ming." II Thess.  2:8.  tribulati.on,  the latter after the tribulation. At the
  Hebrews 1:6, according to the correct interpretation former will take place the resurrection ,of the just, and
  of that text, speaks  ,of this `coming of Christ as a the change of those believers that are faithful and look
  Ibringing again `into the  .world of the firstbegotten, for His coming ; the latter will witness the resurrection
  at which ooeasi,on  all the angels of -God shall worship       of the tribulation of sainhs, and the inauguration oif
 ' him. The lepistle ,of James [comforts believers in op-        the  mil~lennium. In the Rapture, the Lord will come
  pression and tribnlation,  and exhorts them to be patient, fo"r rIIis saints, to take them with Him in the air; `in
  with a view to the cominlg of the Lord, which ,draweth         the R,evelation, He will :come  wlith- IIis saints, destr'oy
  nigh. Jas. 5 :`7, 8. At that Icon@g, *believers shall re-      Antichrist, and with ,His people reign over the nations.
  oeive the "salvation ready to $e revealed-in the last          But even in Iboth these comings the (end of the world
  time.,, I Pet. 1:5. And "the ,end o;f all things Is near." is not realized. They will jmark the end of "this age"
  I Pet. 4:7.  - When the apostles make known  t,o the           but they inaugurate maother age; that of the millen-
  Church the power  an,d  `coming of the Lord, they  Id.0 nium. Only after the millennium is the last enemy,
  not follow cunningly devised- fables, as the mockers           death, destroyed, and etennity, or the "ages of ages"
  allIege, for they were  wiitnesses  of His glory on the ushered in.               When, therefore, the premillennarians
  mount of `Transfiguration, II Pet. 1:16,18. Nor is the speak of the coming of the Lord, they have ,in mind,
  Lord slack concerning IHis promise, as. ,others  complain,     especially, the rapture and the "first resurrection."
  even  thoulgh  He is  longsufferinlg  over His own, not        This may be ,expe&ed momentarily. The blessedness
  willing that any of them should perish, but that all           of that rapture is that those who are ideemed wforthy
 should come ,to ,repentance. "But the day of the Lord  ,of it shall  e&ape  the great  tri,bulatiornr under  Anti-
  wilil come as a thief in the night; in whioh the heavens ,christ, and have a part in the "marriage supper" of the
  shall pass away with agreat noise, anid" the elements Lamb.
  shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the                   To refute this viler would require ifar more space
  works that are therein shall be burned up." II Pet. 3 :9,      than we can properly afford to give to this `detail in
  10. Bence, "what manner of persons #ought ye to be .&I this connection. Suffice it to make the following re-.
  all holy .conversation  and godliness, Looking for and marks.
  hasting unto the coming of the day ,of Gold, wherein\ -                First of all, it `is an essential element, in a view
  the heavens being on`ifire shall be dissolved, and the- :. that is based upon an erroneous interpretation of the
                                                                .  ._


  326        -                           TH%  S T A N D A R D   &&KRtiR'-.

 `Old Testament, whi8ch leads to the separation of Israel exhorting us -to rejoice. in the idea of escaping it,
  snld the lCh.urch,  as if they `w'ere two peoples, the former emphasizes that we shall consider it a great honor and
  the kingdom-people, the latter the body of \Christ. A privilege to suffer with Christ. To suffer in behalf
  correct interpretatioin  of the Old Testam8entin  the light of Him, is given us of grace. Ph:il. 2  :29. The  ,rnilBeli+
  of the New plainly leads to the conclusion that Israel nial hope of  Iescaping the  tribu!lation  is not spiritual, .
  and the Church are one.                                          but carnal. And it is as dangerous as it is false, be-
   0~ Secondly, the view of two comings, the Rapture cause it fills its foll,owers  irith-a false hope, that will
  and the Revelation, is ibased on-a wrong interpretation leavlv;e  them unprepared in the Ievil Iday.
  `o\f several passages of Scripture. Ati outstanding illus:           In the fourth place, the Bible throughout clearly
  tration ,of this is I. Thess. 4:16, 17. It is iaimed that :connects, with the ,one and only ,eoming of the Lord, _
  this verse plainly teaches the "first resurrection," the the end ,of this wonld, the final salvation ,of the whole
  resurrection of the just, in distinction fr.om the resur-        Church, anrd the last judgment. Consider Matt. 24 :29-
r rection  of,the wicked which is supposed to take place .3-1 : "Immediately after the tribulation  .of those days
  after the millennium. It is claimed; too, that the ~woyld        shall the  .sun  $e darkened, and the moon shall  umt
  used in vs. 17 for "to meet" means, according to the give her  :light, and the  st,srs shall. fall from heaven,
  origin&: "a going forth, .in order to return with." and thti powers of the heavens. shall b.e shaken. And
  T*he meaning, accordingly, is that we shall Ibe caught thenshall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven :
  up Iwith Christ in the air, in order to return with Him and then shall all the tribes of -the `earth mournI, and
  later. B.ut all this is quite arbitrary. As to this "first they shall see the Sob of man coming in'the clouds of
  resurr~ectiom",  anyone who reads the text withoUt mil- heaven with-powier  and great glory. And he shall send
  lennially colored glasses ,can readily see that it makes his .angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
  no distinction /between the [dead &z Christ, that shall          shall  ,gather together his  ,eleet  from the four  winds,`~
 be raised first,. and  the,dead  bu&$cJe of  Chr"ist,  that from  ,one  ,end  o;f heaven to the  ,other." And thus in
  shall .be raised later; but between the dea,ced in Christ, Matt. :25 :31ff. "When the Sante,of man shall come in
  i.,e., those that have died before His coming, and the his glory, and all the holy ange% with him, then shall
  `ziwing in Christ, i.e., those believers .that shall be alive he sit ,upon then throne .of his glory: And )before  him
  at .the par,ousia. The resurrection of the former shall shall be -gathered  all nations; and `he shall separate
  occur before the change of the latter.' AnId so they. them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his
  shalil -meet the.Lord toigether in the air. And the i&e:r- sheep from the goats," -etc. An:d once more, consider
 pnetation  gi,ven  oif  ,the  wand "meet" ,o,r "to meet" as the' LordJs. own interpretation bf the parable of the
  if >it should imply the idea of .returning -with Christ, tares : "`the harvest is the end of -the world ; and the
  is a pure invention. The Greek term (eis npanteesin)             reapers are the  amlgels. As therefore the tares. ane
  does not even remotely suggest this notion. Nor d&s gathened and burned in the fire; so shall it ibe in the
  the rest of the passage harmonize with the :plremillen- __ `end of the world. The Son of !man shall send forth his
  nial co!nception  of the rapture. The text quite dearly angels, and they shall gather o,ut ,df his kingdom all
  refers to a pubbe and universally announoed  coming things that offend, -and them whi,ch do iniquity; And
  of the Lord : the Lord shall1 :de,soerid  from heaven with -shall cast them into .a, furnace of fire : there -shall be
  a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the wailing and gnlashi.ng `of teeth. Then shall the right-
  trump  of God. If this means anything .at all, it  Cer- .,eous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom, of their
  taidy means that there will be nothing  `private  or Father;" Matt.  .13 :39-43.
  secret about this coming. It will- be loudly proclaimed'             Finally, this rview is based on an interpretation of
  t,o all the wlorld. B.ut according to the mi~llenmial view, thie twentieth chapter of the lbook of Revelation that is
  this will be a coming only  f,or the Church. The world neither in  accord with the  hi!ghly  a,pocdyptic   con-
  will  not  ,even  noti,ce  this private  coming  of the Lord,    tents of the Iwhol,e  book, nor with the .evidently  symbolic
  except that ,certain persons will1 su~d~d~enly `be stran'gely  presentation) of the chapter itself.         It is quite  im-
  missed.    And while the millennial view emphasizes possilble  to read this twentieth chapter of Revelation
 -that there will be a return from this rapture, and that as if it recorded, a simpl,e historical event that will take
  it will last only during thee years .of the gr,eat' tribula- fplace sometime in the ifuture,' an event that will follow
 tion. in the world, the text emphasizes that it, wi.11 `be in time upon  what was  revealed in  [chapter  nineteen
  forever : "atlid so (houtmoos, ~thus) shall weje-ver  be w:ith of thle same book.
  t h e   L o r d . "                                                  Over against- this`view, we maintain that the Word
      Thirdly, the idea that bbeilievers must look forward -of God teaches'only one final coming of-our Lord, and,
 _ to -thieir final redemption through the. coming df the ;$hat,  too, in the end ,of t& world.
  Lord before  the- great  trib&ation,   .is contrary to all  1L Bat this observation is no less directed against. a
  ,the current teaching of  Holy  Writ,  whi,ch not only kind of  evolutionis&,  pc+&mjldennial  sconc&ption  of  the
 ' warns TLS to expect tribulation, Ibut also, rather than' coming of C,hrist.


                                             THE,.  S T A N D A R D   B E - A R E R                                                   321

          According to this conception, Christ and His king-                 This does not imnlv,
                                                                                               -       however. that the 
                                                                                                     -I               I      .final "mo-
       dom may be expected in the, way of gradual develop- ment" is tb :be conceived ai chosen quite ,aubitrarily, as
      ment and improvement. The world will gradually: be- ,if it could come at any time, today as well as tomorro,w,
       come Christianized.      Through  $hle  pxea,ching  of the a &&and years from no% as well as afier millions of
       gospel, men Iwi.11  aocept Christ,  alnld aplply the principles years still to come.                1.
       of the gospel to &l life, till th-e knowledge Iof t,he &ord'          On tie contrary, althotigh the parousia will, indeed,
       shall .fill the earth, as the waters cover the bottom of cut short the history of this wkorkd;  certain, "ends". must
       the s;ea. Sw.ords  will be beaten into plowshares, and Ibe attained befone.  this f%al cat&troghe;  in which the
       spears into psunning-hooks,  and there will !b,e'universal- very  fashio-' of this  wqrl,d  will pass, away, and the
       peace and blessedness ov&r all the earth. If Christ tidl elements shall burn with fervent heat, may occur.
       come .at all, in any real sense .of that word, itt will only          For, in  (every  respect: there  niyst be  a  pleromn,
      be to ta.ke into possession a kingdom that is all prepared a. fulness.
      for Him. His coming  swill be  post-tiilllennial.                     A Zulness there must :bk of the measu$e  of ixii&ity.
          In qpposition to this view, we believe that S&pture            Sin must have become (manifest in all its horrible im-
       presetits  the end of this world, in connection with the plications of  e;;:lmity  aga&st God.  The one, root-sin
     ' comi;ng df the Lol-d,  as catastrophal.                           of Adam must have  bar@ all' its fruit.  So full the
          Things will be cut .,off :                                     measure of iniquity shall have become, that it would
<         As we reed. in Rom. 9 :28 : "For -$e will finish the Ibe quite impossib1.e to ~con,tinu:e seven %or another day.
      .work,  and cut it short in righteousness : because a short For God must .bte`justified when He judges.
       work will the Lord mak'e upon the ,ea,rth."                           There must also be a :fulness  of  then suffering of
          We must maintaFa, this, also in oppositioti to -Barth          Christ. The measure of this suffering, that was filled,
       and his peculiar view of history, ,of the nearness of the -principally, by Christ Him$elif in the days ,of Zis flesh,
       parousia, and of the "last th-ings."       - _                    but is also being filled through the ages by the suffer-
          In his "The Resurrection ,of the Dead," Dr. Barth ing of the saints in the  ybrld, must still `be ful.ftiled,
       freely grants the. possibility that there may be an "cad" "unto praise, and honor, and glory, in the revelation of
       or even "ends" of this world. Says he: "There might Jesus Christ."
      `b,e something in it.. Why not?" Entirely different                    And, of  co'urse,  all  the elect must be born  and
       thirigs may well be in store ifor the culture amd ,cilviliza- gather&  into the Church, the bqdy .of <Christ. For God
      tion of the world. We may even iconceive  ,of the pos&- will `not tha_t any should ,perish, but that all should
      bility of another "ice-age" though, .pe?haps, such an c o m e   t o   Kepentance.   -
       "end" would be for a ti,me only. "As imalges` *of `last                                 .                             H. H.
      things,' Such final possibilities, `lying so far and yet so
       neai" US, _ might well be instr&i.ve and stimulating,
       especially if we should unhappily.fbe  ind!if$erent to the
       ob%o:us symbols of Past ;th%;nlgs,' ice ages,.afid  t,he ,fate
       of expiring  worilds   in the past and  the present,  `by
       which wle ane, without resoi-t to ?net~empsy.&osis,  sur-          .  -!i'HE DAY  h' SHADOWS
       rounded." pp. 192, 103.
          However, such conceivable and possible ends of this
       world have, according to Dr. Barth, nothimg Qo do with                           Ia's P~tiishenC
       bjblical  etichatology.  The  ,"last things" of  Scl"ipture                                               _
      "are not such final possibilities, bowever real they may               The sons of Eli -were wicked men. The narrator
      seem to our ,eyes." We  .cannot,  for  fear of plunging calls them "sons of B'el.ia,l, iwho knew not Gold." First
      wholly out `of sight from `our readers, explain Barth's `he portrays their wickedness with respect to the sacri-
      Vi& into detail. S:uffice it to say, thxt for him "thVe lficial  m&al of  .th,e  offerin& The law specified (Le-
      end of all things" is somethin~g  wholly different from viticus 7  :31-35)  the- portion of the sacrifice which
      the~.%xepted Biblical meaning of this term. The par- thle sons of Aardn should receive; namely, the b-reast
      ousia, for him, is not a defini,te, ftiture evlent, detiitely      and the right  should,er; Bui while the meat  `was
      i%arking the `en&of-time  ob our present world. It is in the pan, I%`s sons took whatever -flesh their hook
      rather synonymous with- "pyehistory,  the limits oif $1 co,ti~d spear. Tahe law required also, that the ifat and
      and every time and thus necessarily the ,otig$% of time." other tchoilce  portions  shouBh be burned` on the ,altar ai
      p.. 104, .                     . .                                 a sweet s;w'or unto the Lord. `(3.~3-5). But these sons
          Scripture-  iery  Id,efir&ely  presents the  coming of appropriated, by force if necessary; the f*lesh in its raw
       Christ as marking the ,en$d ,of this present world.               state, as still attached to the fat. Thus they &eb&ed
         And  &e  @nd will be  catastrophal..  By  t.he second a,gai&t the sacrifices as inskituted ;by God in ,&der that
      %lvefit  `of our Lord, history will be lout off,                   +,hey might have their filthy  lucrk.. As  the  ,&crifices


322                                      T H E   STAN.DARD  - B E A R E R

were smbols of the realities of the kingdom, definitely curied,  in the Hebrew - and he rest?ained  them not."
of Christ's atonement, it was the very gospel of God          Here Me Hebnew  text reads, "And he-chided ; that is,
that these sons *of Eli`corrupted and on this aocounlt        rebuked,  reproved, admonished them not." But how
caused the ,people  to a'bhor.  Besides, they had illicit, is this to bbe harmoniveld with the notice that he did
intercourse with women at the sanctuary. Thus -their rebuke them. The sacred narrator even incorporated
sins were great. They were rebuked by Eli, their in his story the words of c;ensure. that -he spake to
father. He  said to them, "Why do ye such  th*ings?           them - words that were just  interpret,ed.  There is
For I hear of your evil `dealing with all this people. no discrepancy  h'ere. It must be that Eli's rebukes
Nay, my sons, for it is not a ,good report that I bear:       w,ere 3"ar too mild to have any (effect and that finally
ye make the Lord's peopBe  .to transgress. If a man sin they ceaseid  altogether. This  beinig true,  the Lord
against another, the judge, shall judge him; -but if a ignores his effort to restrain these sons in their wicked-
man sin again& the <Lord, who shall #entreat  for hiti." ness: The effort was too fieeble:  This is indicated by
He meatit to say that these sons sinned directly  against' the very form of the words of the o!xle rebuke recorded.
the Lord and that ther&ore there could be'no inter- <"Nay, my sons, f,or it is not a <good report I hear.
cessor to try their case,. investigat,e  the Lo&s `charge,       This should have been rendered, "Nay, my sons, for
and according to his findings, pr,oulounce  them guilt,y it is not a goqd report that I a-m ~continually  hearing.
or innocent. For the Lord is infalli'ble  God. There is       (In the Hebrew  text the qal active participle is used).
no arguing with Him. Al.J attempts to prove his accu- `Observe the IexpressioD  "not a good report". This. is
sations false must needs  end in failure.  Bnld He in mil,d language, considering the  @rocious doipgs of
no wise clears the guilty. And IHe is mighty to `executg bhhese sons. Those reports were abominable. And what
jHis  stentenices. Thus there was no pos'sibility ,of these to  think of his  acMressing  these spiritual bastards,
sons Iescaping the penalty of thei:r  sins. For it was incarnations of  &ckedness, as "my sons". The old
God with iYhom they had to do. But Eli's words had priest  tcould be  stern when it  cqncernefl not his owm
no effect on .them. They woubd not be instructed, be- fl&h and  bl,ood. "How long wilt thou be drunken?
cause the Lond would slay them, chap. 2 :25. Sons `of Put away thy wine from three." Such were his words
Belial, that's what they were;      .                         to Hannah, wh'om he mistook $or one of those lewd
   But we should not fail to ,observe that in slayi;ag women1  who came to the sanlctuary. There was fire in
these sons for their wickedness, the Lord was punish- ,his eyes and steel in his voice when he said that. ,But
ing Eli and even providing him with a .sign that more when it came to rebnking his own sons, he was -very
and much worse punishnient `was to follow. The icurse m&ek and soft  spolien.  And it is also a -warranted
-of .God would continue to pursue him in his generation conjecture to say that he w,ouJd refrain from chiding
for ever. But was not Eli himself a Godfearing man\? his  sons in the  hea:rirlg  of the people. He  did not
Doubtless  he was. True, he had `spoken harshly  to want to Iexpose them, as tmhey were his sons. And for
Hannah, praying  .in the sanctuary.  BL1t he thought the same reason he continued them in office inssteald
that. she had been drunken. "How long w,ilt thou be of .drivin,g them from the sam&uary. So did he honor
drunken? Put away thy wine ifrom thee." ;His blunder his- sons more than God, says the sacred writer. %Ie
`can be explained. A  .drunkeP  woman) in  the sacred means that Eli honored his sons" and God not at all.
precincts  of the sanctuary was not a rarity in those Those sons were `wicked. Their ,guilt was great but
days. The moment he petrceived that he had made a not as <great as that'of their father. He was most to'
terrible mistake, he made amends by blessing Hannah, blame. It may be imagined that in tihe beginnin'g of
"Go in peace: amd the God of Israel grant thee. thy their publi,c  career they had behavled  well enough, a?d
petition that thou hast  ask&  .of him." An'd  wlien          that their ,defle&on was grard'ual and by degrees. There
Hannlah appeared at the sanctuary with her child, Eli was the $irst ofifence. One vigorous protest  on the part
took him under. his custody and the&by ,cooperated            of Eli  woulld  have prevented its repetition. But all
with her in the performanoe  of Jier vow. And he bless- they got from him is some mild scolding, which was
ed Efkanah and Hannah, and said, "The Land give thee now a&d then repeated when some Israelite would re-
seed of this woman fo,r the loan which- is ilent to the port t,o him their atroit5tiles. By his failure to be firm
Lord." `And they weY;e blessed. For `we read, ,"And &with his sons at the outset .of. their careers, Eli enlcour-
the Lo& visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and aged the(m  in the pursuance of their mad course. Truly
base three soins and two daugliters." Also he rebuked he had greater  Mame. The  aesponsibility   .was his,
his sons for their sins. What then was-Eli's grfea;t  sin? amd the Lord `held :him acc&ntable hor all the.abomin-
In the languarge  of the "man of God" he honoured  his ati.ons of his sons. This comes plainly out in the dole-
sons a!bove the Lord, 2 :29. And the Lord `himself sets ful message of the `<man -of God" to .him. It is also. '
f,orth his sins in these words, "For I have1 told him that proved by the fact that the message Was deliveT&  to
I will judge his honse sorever  for the iniQuitjr which he ,him and not to his soms.
knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile i a:~'            "And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said


                                        THE STANDARD                               tiEARER:;           .."                -    323

 unto shim, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear house, His altar and offierings-&&ou?ged  not to Gold
 unto the house of thy ;father, when they were in 4gypt           but to themselves for them to exploit as they chose.
 in Pharaoh's house? And did I choose him Jui of all Aid lwhy di'd they thus 7 The question was pu? to Eli
 .the tribes  ,df Israel to be my priests, to  ,offer  :upon by this man of God, "Why ki,ck ye at my sacrifices ? . . .
 `imi:i:le  altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephdd before And the o@y answer thajt would come to him, is that
 me? and did I give ,im:to the house of thy  fa,ther all the fault lay altogether with his. sons. . . They were
 the sofferings  made by fire of the children of' Israel? "sons .olf Belial". ?(;et he did not restrain them. And
 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice anl$ mine.offering, therefore the sins of these sons were Eli's sims because,
 whi'ch I have  co:mmanded in  mine  h&bitati.on   ;  and being highpriest and slet over the house of God, he be'
 honorest thy sons above me, to make yourself fat with fus,ed ito purge God's house of the accurs&, they ,being
 the chiefest of all the. offerings of Israel my people?" his.  own offspring  aacordiqg   f;o the flesh. He `could
     L&t us observe the expression "Why kick ye at `my not bring himself to crucify, for Gold's sake, his corr.upt
 sacrifices and make yoz~~&ves  fat with the &efest  of paternal love,of the wicked. Let the rulers-the pastors
 all the offerings. . . ." The pronouns z~e anid yours&es         and shepherds-in Gcd's church be instructed. `If they
 are ial the plural and in the first pegson and thus in-. refuse to purge the 8church-God's  houtitiby properly
 clude also Eli. He, too, was here charge:d by the "man admonishing the disorder;ly,  and' excomnuinicating  out
 of God" with committinig  these sins. The sins became elf the Christian church the wicked, they are held ac-
 his through his unwillingn&to oppose, in his capacity countabl8. All the sins of the  wioked in the church
 of `h%ghpr.iest and custodian of God's h'ousie:,  his sons i& are acfcounte5 their sins, 30 that, in the sight ,of ,God,
 order that God's house might be ?leans6d of the wicked, `they- are as. guilty as they wonld be had they'them-
 be purged from the corruptions elf its lworship.                 -selves committed those very sins. For in  refusinlg  to .
     The "man of GOI&`? .who appea.red to Eli was a tr.ue ,restrain the wicked, th'ey go oiver to their side and are
 prophet of `the Lord. This is  pla,in. His  words'rang thus against Christ. It may be conceded that it `vlrs1s
 true. His Fe&age was- stern and Eli was the highest difficult for Eli to take action against Hophni and
 official in the land. )And the "man's" predictions came Phinehas, they being his o,wn children, But he should
 to pass. By Eli's father's house is to b,e understood have cotisidered  that, in th,e words od Christ, if a man
 the family `of Aaron from whom Eli des'cended through hate nothis f&her, and mqther, and wife, a,nid children,
 Ithamar. The other sons of AarQn were Nsdab, Abihu,              and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his .very own life
 and Eleazar. After the death of Aaron the high priest-           also, he cannot be Christ's discipl,e.
 iy offlce was filled `by the last+amed. Why the high                These then were Eli's sins; namely, his unwiUing-
 priesthood `was transf;erred 5rom his ifamily to that' of .ness as Go:d's highpriest to rebuke his sons that the
 Ithamar, in the person od Eli; the Scriptures do. not house of God might be purgeid of the wicked ; and his
 reveal.    The reason was not that the male line  ii; hououring his sons more than God. The sins that were
Elleazar's house had failed ; for in David's time Zadok           his through his nlelglect of duty were his ki,cking at the
 of `the family of Eleazar was priest, alomlg with Abia, ,Lord's  sacrifices and his.making himself fat- with the D
 thar, of the family of  Itha.mar  ail:d  Eli: The Lord           chief of all the oifferings. The Lord punished his sons
 first ,appeared to Aaron and his house when they ,were           by killing them both in o& day. We must now attend
 in Egypt. It was  thlem   thait Aaron was called  al&g to Eli's p!unishment.               -
 `with Moses to be God's instr,ument for the delivers-ace             The -Lord had said that Eli's house and the house
 of His people. Thereupon the Lord chose him and of his father, iby `which is meant the entire priesthood
 his house to be his priest ,out of all the tribes of Israel.     from  Aaron down, should walk  befor,e Him forever.
 Thus the priesthood:all  the priests collectively-had But this promise could g0 into fulfilgmemt only with
 its `origin' iti' God's sovereign election and was the pro- respect to those  pri.ests  whd honoured God. The.others
 duct  df his wonder-working grace. It (belonged tbere-           -the  ,reprobat!ed-would be abased. "For them that
 fore not to itself but exclusively tlo the Lond to ofser         honour me, `1 will hon.our,~_an;d  they that despise me,
 upon God's altar  His offerings. "Wllerefore then," shall he lightly esteemed." Eli'sttio sons had despised '
 saild the man of God to -Eli, "kick ye at my sacrifices          God through Idesecrating  the symbols of -Christ in His
 and at my offerings, which I have commanded  i& my sdffering, death,  -and  ~~esurreotion,  &us  thrclugh  cor-
habitaiions,; and hdnouxest  my sons above-me, to mak,e           rupting God's gospel. Eli ought to have debased his
 yourself fat with the  ohie5e:st   ,of all the offerings  OY sons as a zealous  champio!a  of the Lord's honour.
 Israel my  people?" These were the -sins, that we& But he did not do this.  Be looked  0~1, stood idly by
 b&ng committed.        The gospel was being  tramcled            while his sons abased God; and thus he became, as `was
 under fodt. Christ was beingyut to open shame. And e_xplained, a partaker of  : their sins.                Therefore the
 cdrsed  men w&e making themselves. fat with Christ's Lord will punish him in his generations. ,.The Lord
 gospel.    It means that they  b:&aved as though all will.cut off his arm, and the arm ,of his father's house:
 things-God's  pfeople and the  offi,ce  of  .prie$,   ,Goid's    Through the ages to come' its strength will be broken,              '
                                                                                                                    -.
                                                                             ,.


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 52`4                                 T H E :   STANbARD  B E A R E R

 for. none .of its members shall neach an qld age. They ages to come; its  purpo&e  w&s to  fo'cus the mind of
 al.4 wiall, die in their prime. But the! text does not say men upon the house of Eli, which it also was .bountd to
 that Eli's house will fail,-a;ltojgether  kease to- exist: .. To ,do ; for-the calamity that befell Eli's sons was foretold.
 the contrary, the texh btinlgs roit that the existence of It therelfo:one  formed the clear evidence that the Lord
 this house will be prolomged far into the futrurc. Thts had done  it, and that it  `was  He who was afflicting
 house  may not fail, for  thlrough the untimely  `death   t,hrough the  ages Eli's house. So  would the  Land
 of the multitude olf its m!Eunbers, thus as a Ibearer  of                "`do a thi:nfg.in  Israel at which both ears of every Qne
 the divirie curse, it must serve as a sign in Israel that that heareth'it will tingle," 3 :ll. And hearing every
 they who despise God's sacrifices will be abased. That one .woluld know that God is not mocked.
 the state of Eli's house througli  the ages of the f@upe                     But thepe is more  to this prophecy of the "man of
 will be  :one  ,of  contintious  `and unabated  af,fliction  is~ &od" to ElIi, `"And I -&Jl raise me up a faithful priest,
. mdicated by the sequel' of `this prophecy, "An3  thou that shall do according to that which is in mine heart
 shalt see an enemy in my habitation; in all the: wealth and in my mind: and he shall walk ibefore  my ano,tited
 that ,G6d shall give Israel: and thene shall not be am foreyer." The  plriestly office, being a  divine  ?nstit;u-
 old man in tliy house forev'er". The text here i$?fers  . tioq abided,  though th'ose who filled it plerished.                   T h e
 some difficulty. .The rendering in our English Bible faithful priest must be undeTstoo,d  in contrast to Eli
 can be improved. .The original text reads here (liter- and  gis sons  tog_ether  with  *heir spiritual kin. Some
 ally), "And thou shalt .behol,d afflilction of dwelling in maintain that the  aibove desoription  ,of the  "Faithlful
 all that in which it will be iyell to Israel.," -The eoar Ijriest" can be made to apply only to Samuel, that in
 text ,makes  it plain that the thought conveyed is that, him alone did this prophecy find `fulfillment.  it is
 in his generations, Eli sha:l,ll see ,distress ,of dwelling in maintained and correctly so that an essential element
 all that ibrings prosperity to Israel ; that is, wh+le the               of thle calling of the priest was instruction in the law..
 nation prospers matekially,  Eli's house contin.uall~~.will              Deut., 33 : 10 expressly [declares the duties of the priests
 be afflicted and as a restilt  will be excladled  from the as follow.s, "the priests" lips sh& keep knowledge, and
 national rejoicing. The whole course of thought sug- ,they  shall  see:k the law from his mouth, for he is a
 Igests affliction for  Edi's  h&se rather than  fc? the messenger from heaven" ;e allid so that prophecy of the
 tabernacle of  `God, also the last  clause of  this'.verse,              "faithful priest" is fulfilled  im Samuel, because `the
 which reads, "there shall  not be an old man in thy priesthood of his time had proved itsellf nnworthy and
 house." But this is not all.. The man of ,God ,comtinues,                unab!  i  $0 fulfill this  ,callincg.    The further sacred
 "And &he &an of thine, whom I shal! not cut off from &iestly acts which Sa,muel perform&d and his m,ediat-
 mine altar; shall  be to consume thine eyes, and  to,                    ing `position <between  God and Israel as advocate rchar-
 grieve thine  heart." We could also `translate,. "Yet I acteriie him as the faithful, approved priest announced
 will not ,cut ,off every one to thee from my altar to in verses 35, 36. Yet it is doubtful whether the -pro-
consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart." This pheey can be applied to Samuel, and this for the follow-                              .
 agrees :@tter  with the last part df this verse; "But the ing reasons. 1) The Lord will establish this "faithful
 multitude of thine house shall &e meni; that is, in the priest" a house, `which is priestly; and Samuel founded
 flow& of theitr agei Eli's witmessing this woul,d grieve no such house. 2). As was said, Eli's house `was not
 him, and after .his death it `would grieve the smrrivors                 ~ej~ected  fr.om the high priesth;ood  until Soloimon's day.
 of his house who would be in the land of the living to                   3) Samuel is  notihese  called a priest. It is doubtful
 $ehobd that terrible- phenomenon. But though the wtiether  he sacrificed at all. . If he did, his pefiformanoe
 multitude ,of Eli's house would die an untimely death, of the priestly service must .be regarded*as ,extraondin-
 the Lord  would not  cut off every man. For a long ary like that of :Gideon and Solomon. Yet it is true
 time, for many ages to come, He would keep alive a that Samuel was the  embo:dimenit  of, the spirit of the
small `remnant for the' bearing  <of the  Icurse.           Eli's pure and <faithful  priest `in contrast with the wicked-
 house ,was not immediately deposed from the isiestly ness of Eli's  s,ons. Bnt the first fulfillment of this
office,  x;or'was  it at all  exzluded   from.the   priesththood,         prophecy :was the d&position of Abiathar and the instal-
 according t&he text. Up,to Solomon's time, descemd-                      lation of Zadok, as soale-high priest, I Kings 11:27, 35:
 tents df Eli were high pries&, -atid accordinlg  to tradqi- This was the &lfillment elf the-judgment, on Eli's house,
 tion his family -continued  t,o. exist, but always as af-                "$0 Solomon thrust  `o;t Abiathar from being priest
 flicted elf God. And this shall be a sign u&o Eli, "that unto the Lord ; that he tiifght fulfill. the, word `of the
 shall ,come upon thy tw.o sons, on Hophni and Phinehas ; Lord, Iwhich he spake concerning the louse of Eli in
 in ,one day they shall die both of them." .That would Shhloh." Tlie Zadok,ite family continued in an unbrok-
 be a sign unto Eli for otiiy a brief moment. For he sen line to Christ. So did the Lorrd build hilm a house
cdied in the very moment that the tidings of the death indeed. And in the main, Zadok and his deseendents
 tif his two sons  Peacheld   hi.+ It was a  s&n unto all were men of personal godliness. But the .fiilal fulfill-"
 Israel and definitely anto the remnant of Eli's house in                 ment of the prophecy under consideration `was -Christ.


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                                                                               ..>,`.     I
                                                           I     -:
                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D -   BEAR.ER  /                                               385

  IH;e did a~bsolutely`according  to that which was ,in God's tir&bisho.p  of Canterbury. By virtue of his exalted
  heart and mind. Him  -Gold built a  ;sti~e  hous'e-the               posit@,  the latter, as  tbd pope's underling, headed
church-which He purchased  shy His own  iblood. And ihe church `of Englatnd. The  pipal &air at the time
  IHe purges His church from all corruption and  khe was occupied by this same. Alexander III.
  wicked. He sanct.ifies'and  cle@ses her "with the wash-                 Thonias B&ket,  who easily was the most prominent
  ing of water by &he w,ord,  that He might presetit ;Izer             historical figure in the twelfth century, was born in
  to Himself  a glorious church,  iaot  having spot  ,or London,.  D'ec. 21, 1118,.  whil,e  H!enry was king;  .His
  #wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy father was Gil,bert  Becket,  a mer,chant in Cheapside.
  and without blemish." .-                                             His mother Matilda was a `Saracen  prkcess.  I Haqing
        The final prediction of the  "man  elf God" to Eli; studied at the universities -of Paris, Balogna,  and
  "And it shall~`come  to p&s, that every one that is left             Auxerrej Thomas  Iwas  versed   ,i.n civil and canon law      '
  in thine house  shall  loome  and crouch to him for a without  Ibeing especially learned in  the&e  fields.  Re
  piece `6f silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, was not a scholar. 1 !e rose to power in the world and
  Ps~vt me I pray thee i&o one of the priest's offices, that           in the church by the m&n&sm of his personality. He
  J may eat a piece of bread,.".  Eli's house will be im-              was tall ..&d handsome and of a -regal appearance     I-Te
  poverished throulgh its -deposition from the priestly had a  $rilliant mind  and,  d  fl,uent tongue. He could
  offiae. It shall beg its bread and be wholly dependent d.iscourse.well  and was an ab&e defbater. His Idisposition
  oi% the  Zadokit,e family for the  (means  .of supporting was cheer!ful  and his manner affable. Besides, he could
  life. So was Eli in his generations punished in two                  easily hoId his own in all the hazardous splorts of t,hat
  ways. He yas (cut ,olff as to the increase of his house age. . When Thomas : was twenty-four year old, the
  and impoverished. He was  bgought   low indeed, be-                  archbishop of Canterbury took `him into his service,
  cause he restrained not his sons.            G. M. 0.                bestowed upo:il. him, through-*he  years, several profit-
                                                                       able blenefices  and use4 him in many important mis-
                                                                       sions, wwjth  the papal court, Ibesides making him arch-
                                                                       deacon. At the age -of thirty-seven, he was- appointed
                                                                       by King +e:nry 11~ to the highest civil dignitary in the 1
            THROUGH THE AGES-
                               b                              ' !realm, the chancellorship -of England.- !Re was now .
                                                                       the custodian of all the kingly gra&s atid favors. and
                                                                       his income  `was enormous.
                                                                          Henry II (1X54-1189) was  t?+ first king  `of the
            St. Thomas of Canterbury.
                                                 0                     Plantagenets (this name, a icompound  of plnnta, sprig,
                                                                       and gene&a plant, was originally a nickname ,of Geof-
        The previous article was lbut -another chapter in frey, the father df Henry II and thle founder ~of this
  the caturies-old -contest between the -papacy and the royal house). J&nry was ,an able an energetic k&g,
  secular power for ,supiemacy in the European Chris- whose  .reign was characterized by law and  j.ustice.
  tian commonwealth of the middle ages. As has been, Besi'dles,  he was the most powerful ruler in Westenn
  repeatedly explained ,in previous articlles and what we Europe, his dominions ,extendin#g  farther. than. those
  must always keep before.  our mind, if the history .of of the king of France. But he had a violent temper
  the church of the Fiddl,e Ages is td be understood, is               and likemost kings was immoral. He was married-to
  khat, in those ages church and  state were fused  to:                Queen Eleanor, the .unfaithful  and. divorced ;wife `of
  gether, so to speak, into a  Chris_tian  connnonwe&th,               the king of France,  :but besides her he had  several
  that, according to the papal  .patiy,  .the pope, but mistresses.                            *
  that according to the imperial party, the emperor,                      Beeket  was a  good  ,charncellor, devoted to official
  .formed,  should form, under God the supneme judicial duty and tlzoroughly loyal to the kiizg. Re never failed
  power in this ~commonweal~h,  and that therefore each to place the interests ,of the crown above those of the
  -emperor and pope-strove to subject the  other to clergy and thus he served his master well. He vested
  himself, OJ! to frke hiinself from the yoke ,of the `other,          his high ocf@e with an  unkrecedeqted  splendour  and
  when the &her wotild  momentarily prevail, or to resist prominence. His dress was after the $est fashion and
  the `encroachments of the `other upon what he con&err- g brilliant train of a  hun)dred  and forty  `knights at-
  ed to b!e his domain. In the previous arti,cle we wit- tended- him wherever he %ent. His household lived
  nessed this struggle as it `became !flesh and blood in most sumptuously. The food was delicate and wiqes
  pope Alexander III and emper:or Frederick Barbarossa                 of the choicest vintage were  seEPed in  ICUPS of gold.
- ,of Germany. The theme of this article is this .same                 He spent large sums on public festivities and his
  struggle   or contest as it was carried on not  ,on the hospitality @as pro&al. The heir of the crc&n was
'  cofitinent  .of Evrope but in  Engl,and  Ibetween   Kilig *hen a boy of seven years, and the daughter of. the
  iI%lury II of England and Thomas Be&et or St. Thomas
  -.                                                                   king of France a  !girl of  !three. The chancellor In

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    326         c                         THE.  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

   person appeared at `the court  pf  Fra!nce to  pcopos`e       Doubtless  &ot.  I&e was striving  har?d to realize the
   marriage between the two, his parpose  .breing  to avert ideal of a; medieval bishop. The king had wanted him
   war betw,een  Emgland. and France. On that jmourney, ,to be a-bishop, and a ,bishop he would be both in mode
   he surrounded himself with. two hundred knights, of life and in his passibmate devot,ion  to the hierarchy;
   priests, standard&bearers, all  adornled  in new attire. for he was an eriemy of all half-measur&.
   He took with him eight wagons, eedh  drawn .by five               It did not take long befone war Ibroke out between
   horses, and beariilg chests +hat contained his money ,Henry and  Tlhomas.  Their  First  8clash concerned the' '
   and the-  presents,   which were  Ifreely  distri;buted  in Imatter of taxation. Henry determined to appropriate
   Paris.  .But his effort to maintain peace  emd.ed in the customary payme& of two shillings on every sec-
 f  a.ilure.                                                     tion olf land belongimg to the church. Becket op.posed
       War broke out between England and France ; and the king. Henry,flew into a rage, "By the ,eyes of God,
   the chancellor, at the heed .of seven hundred knights it shall -be appropriated!" But B&ket was adamant.                     .
   .went forth $0 do battl'e  for `his lord the king. I-Ie was "By the `eyes ,of God, by which you sware, i.t shall nev'er
   a brave warrior. Oil,e of his contemporary admirers be levied as long as I live." Th&e were other causes
   reports, "Who Icad recount th'e carnage, t,he desolation, ,of  dis;pute, of  wh.i& the most  no6ewortmhy  was the
   which he made at the bead of a strong  body of soldiers? following. There  were found among the ecclesiastics
   :Hd attacked. castles, razed towns  an'd  Icities to the      of Enrgland men who were guilt,y of the worst crimes!.
   ground, burned (down houses and fa?ms without touch Being  prilests, the  riight of these  -persolil;ls was  to.
   of pity, and never showed th& slightest mercy to any be tried omly  ili the court of the bishops, where
   one who rose in insurrection against the master's they often received no severer punishment than  ,de-  -
   authority."                                                   position from their spiritual office.. The king de-
       In  -1161  Theolbald,  the archbishop  ,of  Canterbury, manded that such offenders,  aster having  bleen de-
  Idied. T,he king, supposing that he should mdst cer- graded, should be tried in the civil court, and be
   tainly promote his -own interests: if he should make malde to suffer the punishment appointed by the Jaw.
Becket to succeed  Theo.bald, appointed  hi& to the He maintained, and rightly so, that the loss of clerical
   exalted dignitary left vacant by the `deceased arch- dignity was-to such persons no punishment at all, and
   bishop, while at the same time allowing him to con- that, by .beimg suffered to .go un(&nishedj, such ,crimes
   tinue in the same  reMion to himself, as ,chancell,or.        spread with fearful rapidity.     But  Be&et and the
   Be&et did not want the post, but the-king's word had bishops insisted that the king's demand militated a-
   to b,e ,obeyed  and he therefore reluctantly ailtd resent-    gainst canon  law and  t,he scriptures. But when the
  fully sacepted. Besides being &anoellor, he now was king diminished  Beck&s benefices,  .he  yielded the
   primate of the church of England and thus were com- p'oint `and promised to obey the custom of the realm.
   bined in his person  two  QUitrices, the highest' in the By a gre& c:ouncil in Clarendon the king ratified the
   realm except those of pope and king. There were ccun80essiom  and :&e&es enacbed sixteen statutes as laws
   now two masters to be served, -the R,oman hierarchy ,of England to which he' gave the name of Clarendon
  ,as headed by the pope and the state as  locilized  in ConsMutions.  These were meaningful  stat,&&.  The
   England a!nd ,as h,eaded ther'e  .by king Henry II. -But Roman church `was evlerywhere  an independent worldly-
  Ino one can serve twb masters, whose interests Iclash,         spiritual kingdom with its 0~ courts and la;ws and
   as they did heye,  seeing- that each-king and pope- Iwith the pope as its sole spiritual and temporal lord.
   wanted for himself the earth.  Becked had to  ~choose,            The Clarendo,ni Statutes determined that criminal
   which he idid. To the g?eat ,vexatio,n  and Zsappoint-        ecclesiastics-priests  an'd bishops--must be tried in
  .ment of the king, he chose the hierarchy and thence.. civil COL&S, the.courts of the king, and punished like .
 i forth passionately addressed hiinself. to the task of laymen. Actually these statutes  with&ew  the Roman
   promoting not its spiritual but only its material inter- hierarchy in England-the clergy together with all
   ests against thosle of the king and the state. If former- their vast estates-from under the jurisdiction o!P the
 ly he was the king's mqst devoted1  servant and friend, papacy and placed it under the rule of the king atid the
  he was now his most dangerous rival and enemy. What civil laws of the realm;                                     .
   is more, he changed his  who1.e mode  of life. Laying             .Becket binded himself by an ,oath to abide by these
   aside his princely  .robes,  he put on a  tiainelloth, and statutes, ,but once more in Camteibury he changed his
   took up `his abode fin a cloister, where he lived on roots, mind and commanded his .bishops to (disobey `the con-
_ drank nauseous water, washed *he feet elf dirty b.elglgars,    st.it.&ions.
   wept for his past sins, scourged his naked back, prayed           Knowing that' he was to ibe arrested, Becket fled to
  much and read the. Scriptures, and was wonderfully the continent and  w'as assigned by pope Alexander-
  generous to the poqr. The magnificent chancellor be- himself in .exile-to a monastery in Ponti'gny.                   Here
  ,came a monk, austere and squalid. Had Thomas sud- he remained till 1166. 5~ this .year he placed ander
   denly and radically  ibeen transformed  into a saint 4 the sentence of excommunication all the authors and


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                                       T H E   S'TANDARD  B E A R E R                                                     321

 defenders `of the constitution of Clarendon, but as p&it          acoused  King  IHenry II of being  ihe author of the
 ,he spared Henry. The king, wh.o was be&e himself clrime. The king went to amazing extremes to clear
 with rage, souiht reciress with Alexander. The pope himself  fro-m alleged  fa.uli or guilt,  $0 prevent his
 was engaged in a mwar'for power with emieror Freder- being  excommunica%ed   by the pope. He shut himself
 ick of *Germany.  " Anxious to retain Henry's support iilr L~-I  in his palace for  ifive weeks, crying, "Alas,  .alas
 this war, he made sevelral corncessions  to the king. and that  it- ever happened." He maintained under oath
 thereby inculrred the wrath of Becket. "Your gold and that he had not commanded Becket's ,death  nor even
silver," he  wrote to the pope's  carldinals, "will not ,desi,red  it. He dedared the Con.stit.utions  of Clarendon
 deliver you in the day of the Lord's wrath." To pacify null and void. He restored to, the church of England
 Becket, the pope assured'him that  the concessions  `wer:e all its rights and  possessi&s. The bishop absolved
 ,oniy -tempo;ary. Such were Ihe ways of the papacy him. But the king went even farther. His wife and                            .
 with men in its carnal strivings with the secular rulers two !ons rebelled against h&' and he zelt that he was
 for this earth. The spirit that pervaded the papacy being smitten of God for the murder of Becket.  In
 was from the abyss an&d likewise the conception of the the attempt to appease the  divinle anger, he made
 papal institution. `This must be plain to Ieveryone with a pilgrimage to his tomb. Catching sight of the towers
 6nly a super$icial .acquairn;tance  with the beharviour of of  Canter,bury, he  dis,moti&ed  from his  .horse  and
 ihis institution through the ages of  t$e past. Many walked with bare feet, through the streets, kissed the
 popes where no doubt respectable .men ; that is, they floor of the cloister where  Bbeoket had fallen, pros-
 wwe no winebibbers, gluttons and whoremongeirs.  But trated  himself   ibefore  the tomb  auld  stibmitted  to the
  all were politicians in .the worst sense a!n!d warmoligers       scourgings  of a bishop  an;d  a!bbot   a& eighty monks.
  in their  Just of power.  Becked  repeate:d  his excom- This was the d&pest humil.iation  of ting before priest
 munication of the bishops of Eqglamd, the reason being on ,reco,rd in history. For t,hree hundred years Canter-
 that his blood again was made to boil by a new probo- bury was-the greatest salclre,d  spot of Western Christ,en-
 ,cati#on of Hen'ry. %`he Iking had his s&i enowned  by th:ei dam. By 1420 it had been Ivisited by a hundred thou-
  ar&bishop  ,of York and  *hereby infringed  .up;or>  the sand  pilsgrims from all parts of  England,, Scotland,
  ri:ghts  of Beck&. The excomqunicated bishops began Wales, and Ireland,  a&d even from Franoe. But at
  to waver. One after another iforsook  the king and the time of the Reformation, the worsh`ip  of St. Thomas
  went over  `co  the side of  B'eoket.   B,ecoming  alarmed,. was ended by King  H'enry VIII. On June 10, 1538,
  the king suddenly made peace with Beoket. But the Thomas was condemned as a "rebel and a traitor"
  latter re$used to pardon the prelates who had officiated at Westminster, and his idolatry forbidden. His shrine
  at the crowning_ of Henry's son. They appealeld  their was razed and removed and its place has known it no
  case to the .ki.ng. He said, "If all are to be excommuni- more to this day. o Thus through a  .*poncurrance  of
  cated who officiated at  Imy son's coronation, by the eyes `circumstances with which the pope had little to do,
  of God, I am :equally guilty." ,One of the prelates Te- the  papaicy at this time  triu<mphed  wonderfully  over
  plied, "As long as Thomas jives you will never be at t.he secular plower in England.
  peace." In a fit of anger Henry  reto&eld, "A fellow                                                        G. M. 0.
  that has ea+en my bread has lifted up his heal against
  me; a fellow that I loaded with `bemefits, dares instilt
  the king ; a fellow that, teame to court on a lame shorse,
  ,with a cloak for a saddle, sits without hindrance on
the throne itself. By the eyes of `God, is there none
  Orf my thankless and cowardly courti:ers  who will de-             -.     SION'S"Z'ANGEN
  l.iver me: from the insults `of this lowaboln  an'd turbulent
  priest ?;' Four knights acted upon the king's  sug-
  igestion. Going to Becket's palace, they demanded that
  he absolve the excommunicated bishops. Because he                            DeVerbo~ds~salm
  refused, they slew him and strew the brains over the                             (Psalm 89 j Zesde Deel)
  pavement.
     The murder of Becket horrified the Christian.world.              De  vorige  maal,  .&at  Ike iets schreven Over  dezen
  Remarkable cures wer'e reported to be taking place schoonen psalm, hebben we aangetoond, dat juist van-
  at his tomb. "The (blind see, the deaf-hear, the dumb wege `de onbegrijpelijke trouw des Heeren, de b!etere
  sp.eak,  the lame walk, the lepers are  qcleansed;  the David  verlaten moest  wo:den,  v'erstooten  en  verwor-
  devils are cast out; even the .dead are raised to life," p e n .
  w,rote  one ,of his friends, J,ohn of .Salisbury. The muNiP         Die verstooting en ve.r:ating wordt in hartroexende
  tude said that Be&et was a saint. Two years- later w#oo$den  beschreven in de $verdere  veraen. En we zien
  he was so canonized by Alexander III. The people we,eilo,  dat het lijden  van! den  Christus Gods  typisch


 325                                     TI&E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                         /
 voortiit.geleden  werd in de lvtele heili,gen van het Oude' d%n idfat M&sias hem zou zaligeln,; P,ilatus  wascht zitih
 Vetibond.                                                       de handen en geeft  Hem over, terwijl !Herodus spot en .
        Hoort  .Herq  k&agen': "Gij  hebt~ alle  Zijne. muren hoont. En  ,a1 het  voik tiert in  woesten  nijld:  Kruist
 dooqybroken,  Gij hebt Zijne  vestingem  n~e&rgcywor~ `geti, kruist Hem!
 p.en."                                                             Ja, allen die ,op ,den weg voorbijgingen hebb.en  Hem
        Een muur en een vesting spreekt ons `t,oe van. mid- met spot overlad'en en uitgekleed. . We heblben  gehoord,
  delen tot Ibeveiliging. Dat was in groober mate zoo in dat de  soldaten,.het  lot  wierpeil,:  Hij  moch.5  mog.niet
  den tijd toen deze psalm gedioht werId. In fdien .tij'd,       eens  e?n stuk kleeren  $ehouden.
  en zeer lang daanna, wailren de steden omringd- door              En alle deze dingen zijn uifc God, want Hij vervolgt :
 muren en iti die musen war.en  ook vestingen, opdat men "Gij hebt de  reehteyhand Zijner  wederpartijders   yer-
  de stad $on verdedigell  tegen den vijand. In -f.iguur- hooigd, Gij hebt alle Zijne vijanden verblijrd."
 lijken' zin  wondt  ,dit toegepast op den  klager. De              Vreemd ! ABe kan dat tech ?
 mensch heeft  beveiliging  vlan!  noode.   ,Ook hij heeft          Dat komt Hem over om Uwentwil,  mijn vriend !
 zijn muren `en vestingen. Elk mensch hee'ft een mate               Gij -waart schuldig voor God vanwege  Utie zo::l,de.
 van  weerstandsvexmogen,  hij heeft  een zekere mate En alle die xonden van U !en al Gods volk heeft de Heere
 van  81:ajcht, handen en armen ; en daarachter  ligt het op Hem  doen aanloopen.. En als  dezelve, d.w.z., die
  brein ,om' dat ,weersta!nidsvermog&  goed te gebruiken. zonde,  ,ge&ischt werd,  toen  ,werd   `Hij verdrukt.  :H,et
  En alle deze  dinien zijn uit God  die een ieder een recht. Gods eischte dat al `die gruwelen ervuld zouden
  zekere niate van macht ten kracht schenkt.                     woiden  :aan d+t  arme Lam, dat de zonde der  wcreld
  -. Doch  Jez&  kl,aagt   bier  profretisch, dat de  1Heere .aan. `t wegnemen is.
  HemL ,bei-oofd  heeft van Zijn macht en* kracht. E n   ,oip       "t  Wc5l-dt al erger: "Gij hebt ook de scherpe  Zijlns
  een andere plaats hooren we hetzelfde. Daar zegt Hij :         zwaards omgekeerd, en  h'e"Dt Hem niet staaede  ge-
  Gij (en dat  is  gGo:d)   legt Mij in het  staf  d&, doods.    ho-uden in [den strijd."
  (Ps. 22  :16b). Nu  zijn er  twee  zijden  aan die  Per-          Het zwaard van Jezus is Zijn Woord.  Welnu, dat
  zwakkitig van de kraehten van Messias. %er eener Woord moest ophouden,  aerstolmmen.  Op weg  naar
  zijde, berooft God :Hem door middel van de menschen bet Kruis heeft Hij nog even een korte  p.neek gehouden
  en duivelen; .en, ter anderer zijde, doet G& dat ,yecht-       tot de dozhters +an Jerusalem;  aan het lwu,is nog bevel
 streeks. Van dit laatste  kunnen wle niet veel zeggen.          gegeven  van. den  eeuwigen  start  eens moordenaars,
  Het is alles. zoo overweldigend. Wie kan een kolmmen- doch dan komt de lange, zeer lange stilte: het zwaand
 ta& geven, b.v., .op de vreeselijke  w:oorden, die we zoo-      is  omrg'ekeerd.  Het scherpe  zwaayd   vai Messias, dat
  even aanhaa&den  : Gij. leigt Mij in het @of des Idoods ! ? Hij zoo  machtig  hanteende  op  a&rde-  ligt ter aarde :
  Die ,dood is maar niet d'e liehamelljke  dood allc,en. Als %Iij zwijgt en #de druppelen zweet' en bleed (ik kan ze
  er van  dood  &rake is  $bij  Jexs,  `dan houdt  dat in  de    niet uit elkaar houden ; zi j zijn olrdereen  vermengd)
 vreeselijke  eeuwige .dood.                                     door-weeken.  de aard,e omtder den kruispaal. !God hield
        Maar bier gewaagt  de kk+ger van de berooving die Hem niet `stazixde in den strij d. Hij. moest het onder-
  Hem van menschen overko,mt, onl3er het bestuur Gods spit  delven. En  dsat onderspit is de  adiepte waar Hij
  natuuriijk. Let slechts op het  volgqde vers:  "Alles niet staan kon.  Diep lijdende Messias!
  die op  den weg  voorbij:gingen,   hebben Hem beroofd,            "Gij hebt Zijti@* schoonhe~d doen' oph.oud`en,  ten Gij
  Zijn naburen is Hij tat `een smaad geweest."                   hebt Zijn troon ter aarde nedergestooten."
        J&, w,@ hebben al eerder gehoond van het volk, dat          Als ge  daar meer van  weten wilt moet ge  aan-
 op den weg Hem voonbijgaat.  Jeremiah zal daarvan dachtig luisteren naar Jesaja.
  klagen.                                              .~           De menschen maken schoone portretten en schilde-
        En, wonderlijk, we iezen -er van ixi de Evaingeliti.     rijen van Jezus.     En  er is iets in dat ik  toejuich.
 .Die op den weg voorbijgingen lasterden Hem ook, `bet l%e  menslchen hebben de Bruid  hooren  seggen: "Gij
 lhoofd schuddende van sp-ot en hoon.                            zijt veel schooner dan ,de menschenkinderen!     Oif ook:
        10,~ @en wqg voorbijgaan, vat ander's  is het dan `om    "Alles aan Hem is, zeer begeerlij,k'!" En ze m.aakten
  aan te duiden het karakteristieke vti den onverschil-          hun mooie -plaatj,es  van Jezus.
  ligen mensch. Zij zijn op den weg met Christus, ldoch             Doch ik heb  altijd gedacht, dat  21s we' eens een
  ze gaan  voor?bij. En, zoo in  3  vootibij3&aan,  #doen  zti echte photographie van Jezus hadden,  we verschrikken
 -4w:ee dingen : ze %b,eroovlen  Hem en bespotiexi  Hem.         zouden.  3k  demk, dat Jezus  Ide sporen van  eeuwige
 . Dit all& is vreeselijk  vervbld.  Ook moet ge  bet smart  Op' Zijn heilig gelaat had, alle de da.gen* Zijns
  al&en laten  staan'.  AlBern is hier  allem,  hit  slu?t  allef vleesch*es  op aarde, Ik stem toe, dat Jesaja niet bloot
  klassen van menschen  in.. P&us  vloekt  eii  berdoft bet uitwehdige lgelaat van Jezus  ybeschreef  in Jesaja
  Jezlus v&n Zijn discipel  i Judas  verkoopt   `Hem: Hij        52:14, maar ik geloof stellig, dat Z:ijn uitiendige  g@-
moet  weg van den  aardbodleqi;  de  ,Oud-Testamentische         stalte er in beg;repen ligt. Leest dit gedeelte en Ibeeft :
  kerk heeft liever Zijn blo'ed over zich <n h&e kindere,ri,     "Ge1ij.k  als  velen  @ch over  .ri  bntzet  hebbq-alzob


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                                    T        H           E               STA.ND-ARD   BEARER                                        329

verdorven  was Zijn lgelaat,  mee; dan van  iemand, en' wist,  Hij, dat Hij m,oest bezig zijn in de dingen Zijns
Zijne gedaante,  meer dan van  andene  menschenkin-           Vaders:  Vreesehjke   dinlgen Zijns  Vaders. Wat zijn
deren-alzoo zal Hij vele heidenen besprengen.. . . ."         ze ,anders,  die `dingen, dan jgenoegdoen  `aam Zijn recht,
    ,O,ok  hebben we Jesaja's  ,woorden  in het  volgtide hjden, lijden,.  Als kind ldrukte  Hem de last des toorns
hoofdstuk :  "IHij had geene, gedaante n&h heerlijkheid'; Gods. Ik denk, dat Jezus Zich vaak in slaap geschreid
als wij Hem aanzagen, zoo- was er geene gestalte dat heeft. Least het vreeselijke vers in `He!br. 6 :7 ! Leest
wij:Hem zouden begeerd hebben. Hij was veracht ten het en aanbidt !
de  onwaardigste   ,onder   de menschen, een Man van                    - God verkorte   IBern Zijn.  j.eu.gdjaren. En als man
smarten, en. vemocht  in krankheid ; en een i!egelij k was van slechts 33 jarem verzinkt. Hij in de onmetelijke
als  verbergenide  het  aan,gezicht  voor Hem ; Hij was diepten van den eeuw,igen ;dood:                             _
veracht, en lwij hebBen Hem niet veracht !"                              En al die  weg was  e&n, weg van  schaamte,  spot,
    Leest edat, en zeg mij dan of ,ge. gelooven kunt, dat hoon, verachting, ,verguizing en vertrapping.
Jezus zeer schoon van aangezicht was in.deni tijd Zijner                 En als Hij dan uiteimdelijk  tot God riep, dan zweeg
smarten. ,O ja, nu is Hij schoon; nu is Hij de slchoonste     .de Almachtige.
der menschenkinderen,.  daar boven- bij ,God. Doch nu                    Want Hij ondervond het al maar `t onkreukbare
is Hij rijh en veilig, in den boezem ,Gods. Nu st,raalt recht  G o d s .
Zijn .aangezioht  geiijk de z&n! in hare kracht `en nu is                Hij stond in Uwe plaats.
des Heeren heerhjkheid  .uitgesprebd over Zijm aange-                    Zijn de verzen van  dezelz  psalm-.moeilijk   te  ver-            '
zicht. Alles aan Jezus is nu aan den allerkostelijksten klaren tot h,iertoe,  wat z&en we zeggen van de verzen
Steen jaspis gelijk : Jaspis, de kleur van God !              die  nu volgen?            We  ruiken  zwavelvuur  en  sulifu.r-
    Doch niet toen iHij van den.,kiagelijken zanger Ige- vlammen.
zien werd profetisch. De  iHeere  had Zijn  schoonheid                   Hij gaat na sprekem van Gods Igrimmigheid,  die als
-doen ophouden, zoo leaen we in dezen psalm. En Zijn een vuur brandt. Hij  klaagt van den  .dood en het ge-
troon  ,werd   lomvergeworpen   ,op aarde.  _ Het eenigste ~welld  Ides.  grafs.
overblijfsel van dien troon op aarde is, ten eerste, een                 We leven zoo oppervlakkig,  doch we konden weten,
spottend  woord op het plankje, dat  jboven Zija heihg dat bet graf d'e grimmighe;id des Heeren is.
hoofdop het kruis vastgespijlkend  w&&d ; en, ten tweede,                Kom aan, laat ons eens zien.          1          0
het ibevende woord van d$n moordemaar~  aan Zijn rech-                   Als ge oudier wondt en :leelijk, als Uw haar en tan-
terhand : Gedenk mijner, zoo wanneer ~Gij aarigekolmen        den-los worden  van `de wortelen enI U stap ,a1 zwakker
.zult zijn in  .Uw  koninkrijk!  Verder diets. Zijt Ge wordt, `dan is het grimmigheid God die over Uw lichaam
dan een Koning?  vroeg  Pilatus. De man was  ver-             komt. _ En dat is nog maar het beginsel.  Ider smarten.
woinderd.  Het leek  er dan  or&  niet  `op. Daar staat Als we Uw adem niet langer kunnen bemerken, dan
Hij : gebond'en, bespot, met Moed dat van Zijn  vloor- zullen we Uw lichaam nog eenmaal  wasschen, doch-dan
hoofd  adrupt. Een kraon ? Ja,  doch van  doornen  ge- is het uit. D,e zwachtels Qmhullen U Iem ge gaat naar
vlachten ! Een purperen  kleed (vorstengew aard) , doch het ,graf, waar het ongedierte.wacht.  God heeft hen
Iberwijs van vreeselijken spot; een scepter? Ja,  doch gezonden.  -En- dat  ongediertk  zal, met  ,de  milhoenen
het is slechts een rietstok: straks zullen ze Hem die van dieren die :ge in Uw'lichaam  meebrengt,  een 4ge-
rietstok  afnemen en -wreedtelijk  op Zijh doornenkaroon weldig werk  ,doen,. God heeft hen  opgedragen   om  U
slaan. De  d,oornen dringen  dieper Zijn heilig  voor- met geweld te omgorden. :Het is alles de grimmigheid
hoofd in.                                                     Go:ds. Het is alles contra naturati.! Naar Gods s&ep-
    "Gij hlebt de dagen Zijner j,eugd verkort. Gij hebt pingsordinantien  moest het zoo niet. Doch we hebben
Hem met schaamte ,overdekt."                        i         gezondigd. En  zelfs al  gaan we naar den  hemel:
    Jeugd is d,e tijld vlan kracht, van levenslust en blijd- vleesch en bloed kunnen l&t Kon~itnkrijk  niet $eerven:
schap.                                                        Uw lichaam moet dood en verrotten  in het sgraf. Gij
    Do'ch dat  macht  niet bij Jezus.  -                      ,ervaart het ,geweld des grafs. Dat graf is 266 geweldig,
    Hebt ge U .wel. eens afgevraagd : hoe gedroeg Jezus dat wij het niet  kunnen  aanzifen. We werpen er zes
Zich mender  de kleine  kimderen, jongensen st,raks joqge- voet lgrond op.
lingen; tij:dens Zijn  jeugdjaren?   Ku&  ,ge U  voor-
stellen, kennende .de Schriften, $dat Jesus ooit uitbundig               En als ge  ,geen Messias  -hebt in  lden  hemel,   dan
-gelachen heeft; gespeel,d  als kinderen en knapen spee- geschiedt hetzelfd,e .met Uw ziel, ,aanvankelijk in de hel.
l&f Kunt ge U  voorstellen,  dat Jezus als  jolnigeling       En straks, in klimmende mate, in de poel die brandt
zijn vermaak zocht bij- jongelij,gen  van Zijnleeftijld?      van vuur en sulfur.
    Ee we& `beter.            m                                          En al dat geweld, vermemigvuldigd  tot in der eeu-
    Als een knaap van 12 jaar ziit Hij tusschen de doe- ' wigheid, heeft Jezus .geleden.                  .
toren en leeraars van Israel en verbaast allen. vanw<ege                 Het tegenovergestelde van dat geweld is het lieflijk
Zijn  s'preken,  vlragen en  .antwaordem. Als  Wein kind .aengezicht van God. Als Idat U toelacht dan verhieuwt

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

 lge Uw jeugd en  vaart ge  ,op met vleuglen gelijk de believes in Him and iooks to Him for all his needs both
 arenden.                                                        spiritual and physical. Im the ,Old Tlestament the .ex-
    N:u dan, Jezus moest dat lieflijk ,aangezi&t  missen,        pression  ,"the fear of the Lord" is used in the sense of,
,want  Hij krlaagt  : "IHoe lang, 0 Heere,  znlt Gij U steeds    faith and trust in God. Let me give a few examples
 verbergen?" En, negatief, klaagt  .Hij  van&ege . den           of this. In Proverbs 14% we  ,read, "In the fear of
 dood en het geweld des ,grafs.                                  the Lord is strong confidence". Psalm  34:9, 10 con-
    En bet is alles vervuld. Want aan het kruis, `waar tains the same idea. We read, "0 fear the  .Lord,  ye
 Hij  aan de  verw,oestende   i&o,ed'en  van Gods  bood-         His saints ; for there is no want to them that fear Him.
 schapper, den dood, wordt  prijsgegeven,, hoorden we The young lions do-lack and suffer hunger : but they
 Hem roep,en:  Waarom Mij verlaten, 0 Mijn God?!                 that seek the Lord shall not want any `.good thing."
    Hartroerend Blagen van Jezus. Het vijiftigste .vers          Notice that according to the IHebrew paralellism the1
 wil eigenlijk zeggen : Waar is Uw vlorige glimlech to&, fear o!f the Lord .is presented as .being a seeking of the
,O Mijn Vader?!                                           `.     Lord. A similar thought" is #expressed   .by Samuel in
    En terwijl Hij tot ,God klaagt van wege Zijn grim- I Salm. 12 :24,- "Only fear the Lord and serve Him im
migheid,,   Z,ijn dood, Zijn geweldig plagen van  bet truth with all your heart; for coiasider  how great things
 graf, is er nog ste'eds de smaad der helwichten die de          He hath  donle for you." The idea is not that Israel.
 voetstappen "Uws Gezdfden smaiden" !                            must serve God because Go:d did so much for Israel.
    Kunt ge er bij ?                                       -     Israel must serve God Tegardless  of .whether He gives
    Kunt ge hier aanbidden?                                      much or little. Rather is the <expression,  "for..consider
    Het is beter ldat ge het doet, want dit vreeselijke how great things He hath done for you" the reason
 schouwspel is een ,openbaring van liefde  die de hemelien why Israel  oucght to fear  Him, that is, trust in Him
 zullen doen ruischen tot in eeuwiigheid.                        and look to Him for help and strength.
    Ge vraagt om bewijs?,                                           The child who is taught to fear the Lord in the
    ,Luistert dan naar d,en laatsten snik van dezen Lij-         sense that he-recognizes I-Iim as the sovereign lclreator
 der, Uw Heiland en Verlosser: "Gel&d zij ide Heere and possessor of all things will also trust in Him and
in eeuwigheid !"                                                 look Inot to the world but to God for all his needs. The
    Messias wist,  dat dit ontzettend lijden zou zijn child who is taught to stand in awe at the display of
`tot bewondering van God, dat Hij #door  dit Lam, dit            God's love, righteousness and wisdom.at the cross will
 bloedende Lam, den hemel zou vullen met de schare likewise trust in Hilm for salvation. That is why the
(die niemand `tellen kan.                                        expression, "the fear o'f the Lord" is used in the Old
    En straks cult ge een roepen, een zhgen hooren, dat .Testament  for faith. in God. This trust `is not the
 de dorpelen der deuren  zich bewegen  zullen  `en.  `bet result of the fear of the Lord. It is a part of it. We
IHuis  ve;-vuld  zal morden met  r,ook.  .Het is de rook         believe that Solomonuses the `expression in that sense
-van de Heerlijkheid  Gods.                                      when he writes in Ecclesiastes 12 :13, "Let `us hear the
    Er zijn ;:iog drie woorden  over van dezen psalm.            conclus~i~n  rdf the whole matter:  Eear God  anid keep
    Amen, ja, Amen!                                              His commandments ; for this ,is the whole duty of man."
                                                 G .   v.        Th.e  we&nown hymn expresses this  ide,a by saying,
                                                                 "Trust and obey, for there is no `other way".
                                                                     We -may note another truth taught in this passage
                                                                 from1 Sam. 12 and Eccl. 12. Notice that fearing the
                                                                 Land and keeping His  commandmelmts  are  hnked to-
              INIIIS  F E A R                                    gether. You may find many such passages in Scrip-
                                                                 ture. This js Idue to the fact that only those who fear
                                                                 God in the sense of having a  prolfound  respect for
                                                                 aHim  in-love  wi-11  .obey  Hi.m, "Common Grace" t,o the
    To The' Utmsst- Of Your Power                                contrary. Understand that we are speaking' of obedi-
                             II.                                 ence and mot simple `outward compliance  with the letter
                                                                 of the law. We, are not speaking-.of deeds which look
    The fear of the Lord is a profound respect for'and good to man but deeds which are pleasing to God. You.
solemn wonder before Gold in love. He who fears the might have been a silent ,witness as God gave command
-Lord loves Hilm and in holy reverence and awe recog- to the devil that he might take Job's possessions away
 n.izes Him as the sovereign creator and po&essor of but might not touch his life. Y,ou might then, as you
 all things. Of this we wrote in our Iforlmer essay, but observe the devil keeping the letter of this law, say,
 as we also remarked then that there is more to that ."Was that not a nice  ,deed of the devil?. Look! He
 fear of the Lord. An important elem,ent in that fear olbeyed God". Yet such .is not -the case. His de:ed was
.o!f the Lord is trust in Him. He. w,ho fears the Lord -performed  in that fear of the  L,ord of fright and


                                                                       ,
                                       . T H E   S T A N D A R D ` B E A R E R                                               331

   dread. Ther.e  was no love of God ilila it. .' No diffe&nt     the artist painted the picture. Much less must we in
                                                                            .
  ds.it with man. If he does not ifear God in the sense educatmg  our  children  poliizt them to men and their
   of l;everence  and awe .rooted in love, he will not #obey      achievements in amy other way than as Qocl's  nzeans
   Gotd~.                                                         whereby He works all things. Do this and the child
       Our children must to the sutm'ost of our power be till fear the Lord, and he will sing God's praises. That
   taught. that fear of the Loud, of' reverence and awe if we {believe is-our calling and that `we must do to the ut-
  we are to expect them to ,obey God. In this connection most of `our power whether it pertains to natural things
let me insert the remark that the eahools of the world wte are tea&ing or spiritual th.iFgs. "This people have
  surely cannot, teach -,our children to live a `decent l.ife. I formed f,or myself. They shall show forth my prai&s"
   They cannot teach our children to obey. All they can is what  Go,d declares in. Isaiah 43  :21.  Y'our child
   do is to show the .acl~isab?Zi~zj  ,of coinpliance-  to law and belongs to that people.
  -,order.  Only the  .Christ$iam  school can teach the chjild       Mtuch more can be said pn this subject, and we hsvle
   obedience, and it does so only when ,it holds befor.e the only penned down a `few thoughts as a basis for the
  mind pf the child in -all. his .instruction  this Mighty, remarks we wish to make a #little later. We are anxious
   ,Sovereig:n  creator of all things Whose all things are to take up the more practical aspects of this pron&e to
   and to Whose praises all thin.gs  exist and must Ibe used. bring ,up our &illdren in the fiear of the Lord to the ut-
        One further,remark which we had intended to make most of ,ous power. Our allotted space .is' very limited
._  ,in  ,our  fir&  iessay follows `from the above. The fruit and `we will *her&ore  hasten ,on to the consideration
   of `Chat fear of the Lord will !be.the  praise of His name. of another aspect of-this vo;w we have made;
   He who fears the Lord w.ill by his absolute trust in.
  #God and ,obedience to His will praise Him iq all that                    What is meant by the utmost of rnyj powev?
   he d.oes. In Psalm 111 where we find those well known
   words, !`Th.e fear of the Lord is the beginning of wbis-           The pow;er to bring up one's children in the fear
   dam" you fir,~d this idea expressed. The Psalmist who of the Lord varies in diffelent individuals; That .is to
 has this fear of the Lord  begins his Psalm .by singing,         be .expected. "To the utmost `of your power" implies
   "Praise ye' the Lord. I w,ill praise the Lord with my this very thing. We are Intot demanded to state how
   whole heart." Then foEows the enumeration of these much we will teach our Children. There is no  pxe-
   many virtues of God displayed in His works and which           scrtbed  amount of effort  in  tihis direction  t,hat  is  ,de-
   .we mentioned in our last essay. Th$ leads him to the mamded.  What is demanded is that. we :do so to, the
   ,observation  that he who sees all this, as he does, has       utmost ,of the pow,&r we have received f,rom God. If it
   true wisdom. He closes wifih the statement again, "His ,be great, we must use it- all. If it b,e little, `w.e must
   praise. endureth for ever."                                    likewise use it` all.          1
   . It  <s  `5or this  p:uqose that God forms Us as :His             Ther,? are so many things that ,enter  in when we
   people according to Isaiah 43 :21, All things must be discuss and  ,consider   rwhab  this power is. The one
   to the praise  and glory of His  mame,  and  inideed all parent may have a far greater ability to teaah in the
   things are t,o the praise and glory of His name. In His_ sense that he h&s the- talent df beinlg able to explain
   grace, however, He gives us the fear of His mame so            clearly what he has in minti ,and of ib@ng able to apply
   that `we may consciously and willingly praise and glori- the principles lof God's Wo&d to that wh;ich  he teaches. -
   fy Him and enjoy H+s fellowsh.ip  in that blessed a&iv-        Some mothers, are just bborn teachers and of others
   ity. All the  ititruction  ou,r children receive,  if. it is you would  alamost say that  they know not the  Crst
   not directed toward that !end, misses its real purpose. thihgs tibout teachinlg. Sqme.havle little pati.ence  ,even
   We must be careful so that to +he utmost of our power with their own flesh and blobmd, #while ,obhers  manif.est
   .our children%re  kept from. singing the- praises of man a patience that amazes. Then again you have parents
   and  aexAlting man  in their  mindi to the  -place  t,hat who are very strong spiritually amd others who are
   rightfully belongs only to God. Even in the great very weak spiritually. Some have a vast store of
   wor;ks.men  achieve in-the fields of art, science, politics Scripture kntiwledge and 8knowled!ge  of Idoctrine.  Others
   or insustry we must to the utmost of our power see to are very ignorant in regard to these things and are
   it that our children see the praises of Gold therein and spirlt:ually   caneless.        There are parents that are e?-
   that they do not attribute these. &hievements  to the tremely pions and strict iri all their own walk ,of l.ife,
   men through  ,whom. God has  wrdught  these  t,h.ings.         while .others  are very lax and show-little interest either
   Teach the ch,ild ihe `fear of the Lord and he will praise in Divine worship upon the Sabbath or in the study of
   God for His marvelous works. Whem an artist has                God's Word irn Society. Let us not forget that our own
   painted `a beautiful picture, you <do not take your child walk of -life and the example that we set has a tremen-
   to this artist's brushes and say to him, liAre these not `dous bearing upon the train.ing of our children ! We
   wohderful brushes to have made such a beautiful pic- are not bringing them xup in the fear ,olf the Lord to the
  ture?" Th!ese brushes were only th.e means whereby utmost of our pc&er by a .c&eless,  earthly-minded wa1.k.


 332                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                            "

 If space per&&, w,& hop6 to write more in detail on this ,of-  t,he word, `bat they knew the  doctiine of God's
 matter in `a later issue ,of .the Stant&rd  Bearer.              lwo.rd, and Albraham was also spifitual enough to tell
        Sad to say bhere are &sd those cases ,wgere. there h<s servant that Isaac must have an help meet for him
 are pareats who- have not the p&er  to instru5t their &-the promised seed of the Covenant. Isaac niust have
I childr~en  in the ldotckrine contained in the Old and New a wife who will not be a det&ment lbut an asset to Isaac
 Testaments as: it is taught here in this C7wistian chwch <in teaching the fear of the Lord. There is ome interest-
 because they joined that church f,or any reason but il;:lg point here somewhat  04utsXe   the sphere of our
 that they believed the doctrine of *hat church. I am subject ,but worth noting. `The salvation- of the child
 not thinking of those who do not fully understand it !w:ill   n6t depend  ,on our power  anA  our ability. Esau
 qilsd  j,oin that they may be further instructed.  Sauch had the same mother and father as  Jacotb.  Yet the
 .by G6d's gra.Ce soon increase in the power to brimg up fact remains that ,God calls us to instruct our Ichildren
their children in the fear of the Lord. I have reference to the utmost oif -our power .in iHis fear. Who  then*
 to those whose interest in doctrinal differences is `so `wduld dare to say that before one Ibecomes ,married he
 small  o,r  lacking that it is not  consi,derl&d when  Icon-     must not exercise the power he has to see to-it that
 ternplating  marriage.                . .                        his power will not be lessened Iby the step he has taken -
        This rnaf all &em  to be far setched  from our sub- for  >ife?
 ject, yet it stands vitally connected w.ith it. - T,he power        In ,our next essay `we hope to ctinl?itinue  the disous-
 o!f. the pare& together &nd even of the single parerit           sion of this power we must exlercise.to  the utmost.
 to  b&g up God's children in th& mdoc@ine as taught                                                               J. A. H.
 in the church where these children are baptized and
 this vow `is made, is tp a great Idegree determined just
 exactly  -by the  sipiritual ahd  Idtictrinal stand of thes-e
 papents. Did ,God~ mot in;. the beginning sajT that He
 -would make an help -meet for Atdam? He. d:id not s"ay                      F R O M   HOLY  tiRIT-  ;
 am help-meet or .as we often say help-mate: It ousght
 to be read thus, that God would maBe a wife meet ,or
 fit for Adam. God madIe Eve physically and. spiri@ally                       ."In Him, in Whom we have been made a heritage,
 fit to ble a help to him. Thus cur Protestant Reformed                     .having  bleen foreordained according to the `purpose
 young men and women ought to look for a life's com-                        of the  -all things  energizizlg  One according to. the
 panion. Tliey ought to select one who lwrill not be a                      counsel of His will, in order that we should be unto
 detriment to them in t.heir own spi@tual life nor ,in this                 the praise of  H>is glory, we who before hoped  iux
 matter of bringing  ulj their  childr611-  in the  doctrin8e               Cqhrist." -  Ephkians  1:14,  12.
 corn.:;cin:cl in the Old am1 New Testa-zcnt  as tczlcg'ht +n
 the Protestant Reformed churches. That ho& true for                 That God has caused all tisdom and prudence to
 `every denomination as well. Let -each on& seek a com- richly abound to. the New Testament Church, in the
 panion in his own denomi:..ation  for the spiritual wel- Btiloved Son in the flesh, is the clear teaching of the
 fa;e oil'his own soul and for his c'hildren's sake, unless aposDle Paul in the precedirig ver'ses. According to His
 he sees the error of his own ,church and knolws of a eternal good-pieasure God has purposed to sum up all
 churjch that preaches the7truth.      There ought to be a +hings  ineheaviem  and on earth  in Christ Jesus. The
 great deal more consid&atica of spiritual matters be- actual realization of this consummation of  all things,
 fore the promise of matrimony is given o.r .lJlade.              of uniting all things under one Head, is (brought about
 i      This spiritual strength, of course, is by far the in the birth, suffering and death of Christ, ZIis resur-
 dei%rmining  facior  ,of one's  power  .to  .bti:g up one's rection and  ascension unto God's right hand  im the
 children in the fear of the Lord. IGive me parents who heavens above.  -
 have M$le teaching aptitude but a igreat  knowledge of              In this Son qf God in .the flesh,.`we, the- Church of
 Scripture and the doctiine <of his church and Iwho are Jesus Christ, have redemption and the fpregimeness  olf
 spiritually minded, and I will say that &heir power to sins. The mektitoriois  cause. of this redlemption  is the
 bring np their children in the fear of the L&d is ifar vicarious  {death, of  Ch,rist   ,on the accursed tree. We
 greater than those who have an aptitude to teach --or have .been bought wi'ch a precious price. And Gold in
 even teeclhing experience in sChools but who are spirit-         Christ has made us His peculiar he&age.
 ually weak and ~doctninally i:gno,rant.                             It is to this element of our ,beimg the "heritage" of
        To instruct our children in the fear of-the Lord we . God, and of having been constituted such by God, that
 Ido not need to get a nor.qal  training in some college, 6he apostle calls ,our attention iri these verses. Hence,
 but %e do meed td know the dactrine of the ,Old and they are .of lgreat~  interest to us.. Repeatedly we have
 New  Test?ment.  Abrah'am,  Isaac  anid Jacob  and the ,cailed attention in these articles td the faot, that Christ
 Israelites were Very unschooled  in the, modern sense is the Head not only of the Cxhu&h,-His Body, but that


                                          .
                                     -TKE      STA~\TDARD             BEAP,ER-             :'                           333

He is also Head over all things, -over all Principalities you, and broaght you forth out of the iron furnace, out
and Powers and Dominions _ in heavenly places. That             od Egypt, to Ibe unto :Him a. people of inheritcmce, as at
He is, infdeed,  Head also of the angel-hosts .&s-clear  from this ,day". Ailsd, again, we re& in Deut. 9 :29, where,
Eph.-  1:20-23;  Cal. 2  :lO as well as from  :Heb.  1:6, 7 Moses rehearsing in the. ears ,of Israel, how he inter-
and 2:5-9. With this truth we were also loonfronted,            ceded on their behalf at the foot of Mount Sinai at the
and, in fact, we are still1 interested, Iwhen we tried to ac%asion  `of making the golden calf, had said- to the
explain the Scriptural implication of God's "summing -Lord : "`Yet they are Thy people and Thing inherit&e,
up" of all thin,gs in Christ.                                   which Tho,u broughtest out by Thy `great power and by
   The question  oif the proper  nel.ationship of the Thine  outstr'etched  arm". And to mention `one more-.
Chlurch to Christ is interwoven with the other question passage, we quote Psalm 33 :`12, where.we  read "Blessed
of the unique place that the  ried,eemed  and purified ' is the natio~n~  Lwhose  God is Jehovah, the people whom
Church occupies in "all  thm.gs".  It is to the latter He hath chosen for His own inheritance".
question that an answ.er  is .given in the verses $1 and 12:      ^ !In. reading, these passages, it should be borne in
And, thus, indirectly and lby`implication, we receive an        mind, that they all speak of Israel as God's heritage,
answer to the question ,of'the difference between the His peculiar possession. They are so because God has
legal status of angels and redeemed men respectively.           nedeemed them;has  delivered them from Egypt, from
  First of all, we would call 8attentioll?  to the very evi-    the house. of bondaige.          That He redeemed them thus
Ident fact, that the writer again places the  rg,reatest        was solely because He ch.ose them to be His heritage.
emphasis on the fact, `on the immutable good-pleasure According to elaotive  grace God gave His Promise to
,of God, that all that the saints become, their peculiar the Patriarchs. T.o this promise He added His word
d*egree of .glory and honor amongst "all things", is "in <of oath. This Promise cannot fail, God cannot for-
Him'!. The same Lord Jesus Christ, the Beloved Son sake His peoplte,  His heritatge,  the heirs of the Promise.
in the-flesh, in the ,one in whom we havle been made a          To this`good-pleasure of God Moses can appeal, when
"heritage". And He is the one, a&d there is gn,o other, he pleaIds Israel's cause at the foot of the mount, whe::.
in *whom God sums u.p all things. Let us loo'k at IHim,         God threatens to break forth upon them iln .His fury
`see Him crowned with glory and honor, st.anding-at the to destroy them. But the word of ,oath is the end of all
very pinnacle of God's creation ! Whom do you see? contradicti80n. Also in the mouth of the pleading Moses
None other than' o,ur ,Lord ! Him we see, Who is our as he stands before the fury of God's anger.
Lord, as He .is the Lord of none .else ! He fi'lleth us            Another el.ement that must not be lost sight of is,
with His Almighty grace, and Spirit.           For all the that Israel -was God's peculiar heritage typically *as a
spiritual. bl'essings in heavenly places have become ours nat,ion.  The  iblessing was, indeed, not for  us.  The
in Him. ,God; .as the God and Father of our. Lord, Jesus elect obtained it and the rest were hardened. Butuntil
Christ, has thus blessed us in Him. Well, look at this the appearance of Jesus :Christ, until His death .ancl
great work .of God, this infinite -Mystery  ,od God's will, resurrection Israel as a nation was called iby the title
and remember that it is all "in Him".                           of the elect remnant. With-His appearance in the fpl-
   And what have we sheen made in Hiti? The apostle ness of time, in His mi~ghty labors  iHe liberates the
says : `we have ,been made a "heritage". This term por- Israel of God, *disengages it from the national, typical
trays to `u's a certain'aspect of the church's relationship and legal Iforms. And what always was God's heritage,
to God. It does not exhaust the #entire riches of all the according to the Promise and the Word of ,oath, is still
blessings  .in heavenly places, to be sure. It rather pile- Gp:d's heritage. O!n;ly the heritage is. now not limited
tures to us our sonship, kingdom privileges and pos- by carnal cotmrnandments,  by a middle wall of partition-
sessions from a certain aspect.                                 to Israel as a nation, but it is out of all nations. . That
   The idea of the term "heritage" we often meet in is the national, typical character of the Old Testament
the Old Testatment Scriptures. It conveys to mind the `heritage of God, now done away "in Him", that must
iidea of <precious and peculiar possession. Every thing not be lost sight of, as often as we .reald these quoted
that God has made, *His .entire creativ~e  handiwork-is passages, which speak of Israel as a ,heritage;
His possession. Are not the cattle upon a thousand                 What we have learned from these Old Testament
hills IHis? Is He not the, Lord, Who sitteth above the passages can .be snmmarized under the follo,w.in:g  points :
,circle of the earth? And  ,does  Hle not deal with all            1. Israel is God's heritage, ibecause  He has redeemed
aocordi&g  to His sovereign Decree? True as this all is, her from the Egypt of sin. Thus Hehas an interest in
it nevertheless is true, that God does not call all things, her as He has in none other. Israel reveals the #glory
that He has made, His heritage. Tlh*is-is a title of honor of Jehovah as Redeemer, His power, love, grace, mercy
reserved f,or His p.eople  Israel, whom -He has made a          in a uniqu.e way, antithetically in the world.
holy nation, a royal priesthood, called into-the fellow-           2. So abiding is the Lord's interest and-love toward
ship of His covenant 1if.e.                          _          Israel, His heritage, that He will never leave her nor
   In Deut. 4:20 we read: "But Jehovah hath taken - forsakre  her. :His own abiding love; His e1ectiv.e  good- (

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

   pleasurae  is the ground upon w&h Moses can plead iOhe believers out of the Jews in the New %stament
  Israel's cause.                                                 dispensation in distinction. from bhe believers. out ,of
   j 3. The deep&t reason for this all is, that the counsel the Gentiles. There are  ,expositors,  who  th.us  under-
  of Jehovah stand&h ?ast forever, the thoughts of His sta;l,d  the sense of this passage. They allege. to find
  heart to all generations. And, therefore, Israel is al- this oontrast.  in the "in who a2l~o ye" of the verses 13, 14
  ways  cal'led blessed. iHer God is Jehovah. He hath when compared with "we.who-before  hoped in Christ".
  chosen her to be His heritage.                                  And so they *would remder  the sense of tthe passage as
      It is exactly in this thought-world, that we find follows : "We are a heritage- in Him--we  of the Jews
  burselves  in' the verses 11, 12, which we are studying. w'ho havle first hoped in Christ-in whom also we hav-
  The church is hlere called God's heritage because of her .ing hean the gospel-and having believed have been
  unique relathonship to God, and that, especially, as she sealed-to the future redemption,  "that  gives  posses-
  is contrasted with all. other creatuses, yea, with the sidn". Howetier,  we believe that this construction `does
  very angels in  hea&. Almost literally,  alcl  the ele- not do  ju$tice to  t,he  se:lse  of the words, not to the
  ments, that we found iil9 the Old Testament references line of thought of the apostle.
  are here mentioned by  .+he  apostlie.       That is very          A,iart from what we have seen of, the unity of the
  striking, indeed.  i                           B                `<heritage" ,of G,od bolth in the Old and New Testaments
      The ,apostle  brings out the following elements here earlier in this article, `we would still call attention to
  in conne&ion  ,wiithout being God's heritage, or rather, the following reasons  !f'or  .rejecting  the just named
_' our  havilnlg been  malde such a heritage, a  peculiaa-        cohstruction  (of the text.
  possession.                                                        In the first place,  the original Greek does not at all
      1. In this-work of reldemption, w.e are presented ,il,ot :contain  the contrast of "we" and "also you". The
  as making ourselves & heritage, ,but we are made seeh ; phrase "we who have before hoped in Christ" literally
  the action, the e_n&gy.'`that [brings it about, is not ours, reads "The ones having just up till now hoped Ibefore
  but God's.                                                      in Christ." The matter as to who they `are, that have
      2. The cause of, the reason for, God's thus rede@- hopeld is not at all stated. It is left very .indefinite.
  ing us ,and elevating us to this highest possible creatu.re-    The emphasis is not on the "we". overagainst,"you also"
  ly honor and glory, .is solely God's foreordination. The at all. The phrase merely stands in .apositioi to the
  apostle says : "Having been  foreordaitned."  God  t,ook `tin -whom we have been made a heritage". And as
  the reasons out of His own, will and not at all out of us.      we have already pointed out, this  he&age. are .the
     ,3. This foreordination again has a measuring-rod peopl&.  of God in their very peculiar relationship to ,God
  by which it is gsuged. This is none ether, than council in Christ. And the "heritage" is clearly the church
  of God's will. That IdetermilTes  the "parpose" of God. of all .ages, as she has come into the possession of the
  Aii,d  according to this purpose, this counsel  0.f God's New Testament riches of the kingdom. The very middle-
will God  e?zey&es` all things. He is  (called  "the all wall is broken down. Let us not rebuild it here.
  things energizing One',`.                                          ..Secondly, the entire context that preceded this pas-
      4. The al;proximate-  end, that God has ii15 mind with .sage, speaks of the consummation, the final perfeotion
  US, is to make us His heritage, and thus render LKS in-         of this work of God, in which the church shall $e per-
  finitely blissf,ul. Pet, lthat is not the ult&at,e  end God Ifected, as God has seen her before Him ideally in His
  has in mind with us. As heritage; we are .a holy na- counsel from :everlasting. The eyes *of all the saints
  tion, a royal priesthood, a living temple in the Spirit. were directed unto that end. A hasty reading of the
  p;id the purpose `of this living temple is, that they who desoription  of the heroes `of faith, in Hebrews 11, should
  find a place therein shall `worship Him day and nigrht ; cbfivince the most. sceptical, on this score. The view-
  that exactly hhe-fact, that they are this heritage, and pqilit of the apostle is here this viewpoint of Hebrews
  the mznaer of their ha+ing become su,ch may be unto             11 and of Romans 8 :23,24.
  the praise of His [glory. That we, as a heritage, may              !I'hirclly, and that in close connection with.the fore-
  sing : `"Unto Him, that loved us, and loosed us from our going, we may remark, that the apostle exactly pictures
  sins. (by ;His blood, and H'e ,made us to be a kingdom,         the "ye also" of verses 13, 14, the .yery "ye also", that
  to be priests unto His God and Father, to @im be gl,ory are by some put ,outside ,of the class the `<before  hoped
 and dominion forever and ever, Amen". Rev.  1:5, 6. in Christ",-1  say, khese Paul exactly pictures to us in
      From the foregoing .it is quite evident, that both their state ,of expectation' to the final an,d glorious mani-
  the Old and New Testament speak the same language festation of their being the heritage of God, the saints
  ofi this sco,re, and that, loo, ia every element,  that our in the light. And to this we might add, that thus it is
  Scripture passage contains.                                     accondinrg  to- +he Scriptures `everywhere.
    It should, therefore, be clear `that the addition "we            The great comfort ,of the $a&, that `we a&all the
  wh,o have before hope,d in Ch.r&,t" does not refer t,o the `qbef0r.e hoping ,in Christ", that we all are in this &ass         .
  believers  ,of the Old Testament dispensation, not to           is, that thus we can firmly assune in our ardent desire,


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      1              3 3 5

that we "also" beloi\g  to that peculiar people, and may carefully. _ There is no Lord's Day on Regeneration:
therefore in hope now be saved, and enjoy `such an What we do pead is that the Holy Spirit works faith
exalited and u&qtie  place in God's handiwork in Christ- in our he&Q through the Preachiag of the Word. The
Jesus. For `this "before hoping" is an ear-mark, an Belg. Confessions have no article on it whatever, they
infallible proof of elective grace in our life. And thus follow the line of faith-justification and sanctification.
the apostle would have it be undferstood.                               The Canons :do speak of regeneration,  but +hey .discuss
    We hop,e <on Christ, hope f,or the final redem@ion                  it under the head of the Preaching,  of the Gospel, with
and adoption  to sons. With longing expectation, with the iinference that regeneration is aff,ected  by the hear- .
eyes scanning t& heavenIs-the heavens, that are il- iing elf the Gospel. In Art. 1'7, Head IV we ane told for
lumined with the revelation of the Son of God in the .instance, that the Gospel is the "S.ee5 of &generation".
Iflesh,  by  $rtue  ,of His death and resurrection and                     It is the alge-old conflict of "Middelij.ke of ,Onmidde-
glorious exaltation,-we await His appearance in hope. lijke Wedergeboorte".
We look ffor Hi.m, as ,our Saviour. And looking, wait-                     As Prot. Ref. Churches we follow tee path which
ing, trusting-we are saved, saved in hope. Evermore many  &eologians  .before.  Us have  followed,7  of  dis-
>we give heed to the prophetic W,ord,  which shines in tingui:sh between regeneration in a two-fold sense.
our niight of sin and death, anti1 again the light'of hope First, asp the gracious act of God' in the deepest of our
I glows brightly in our benilghted life, and we again see' being, before .we are conscious thereof, whereby God
the  [dayspar, the  hagbingter, the Promise of  .the new qui,ckens  us with the oew life of Christ and makes it
day. In ,this hope the assurance, that we are God's possible  For us to  under,stand  spiritiud things. (Joh.
peculiay heritage is ours !                       0                     3 :3 ; I Pet. 1:3, etc) . Then regeneration in its develop-
                                                       G. L.            ed, broader sense, that *is, to such already regenerated
                                                                        hearts comes' the preaching of the Gospel and regener-
                                                                        ation flowers out ih nepen.tanoe,  conversion, good works,
                                                                   -etc. The i.mp&tani  thiinlg, however, when we bring all
                                                                        ,this into connection with baptism, is that we ever
               PERIiCOPE                                                maintain that "salvtition is of Go,d alone". Salvation,
                                                                        not .depend&t  apon suppo&ions  or general promises,
                                                                        but npon the sovereign  grace of God. That is what
                                                                        our Confessi,olns  and our Baptism Form wants.. If we
Regenemtio~n  . . . . When?                                             algree on that the rest will give us MO trouble. If men
    It is of in4erest to notice that a&tong  all the slubjects          do not agree on that ilt makes little difference iivhich
*hitch are undergoing debate in `the Neitherlands, there                side khey take, bobh sides end'in man and a salvation
\ is also Dh_e question: "Does the Spirit work regentera-               dependent tipon man-which is hopeless.              _
tion in anyqne before hearing the Gospel?" Reduced
to its`simplest form: Can infants and little chilfdren  be                                     *  8 *  :i:
said to be regenerated?
    Dr. C. Vonk, in his "Wedergeboorte der Kindeu;em"                      ..Out of this sphere of serious thought and truth we
prolceelds  to tell us that neither Scri8pture nor the Con- are plunged suddenly MO quite another, it is:
                                                                  .        :
fessiqns teaches regeneration 3s existing in infants. Fun in Religion.
Which does %l(ot mean, as  we. might erroneously- con-                                             _
elude, that therefone infants  carmot be saved. Strange                    "P.ubli&y  till help turn peopBe back to the ,churchj
enough, quite  bhe opposite. In a recent setter from the five hundred ministers and chprch board members were
Netherl&i>ds,  an  instru8ctor  in the School with the told last nilght at the dinner, sponsored by the ChL:rch
Bible, writes us that, concerning infants which die, we Federation for Greater Chicago. Sixty-seven churches
are not to SUPPOSE that they are rqgenegated,  TIHEY w e r e   representeti".   I
ARE regenerated,  wikhout a  d,oLibt,.  stit if they live,                 Five hundred ministers and co&story members.
and. as they mature, `we must say : We do not how.                         The problem : how" to turn people `back to church.
Dr. Vonk, however,' to return to him, maintains that '                     T.he solution : FLm in. Reli.gion.
our Three F'orms elf U&y always treat regeneration                         The audianoe was told : "Let the public know a `man
as something which exists only in connection with the can ,be a good christian  and sti:ll have lots of fuh out of
hearing of the Gdspel. Regeneration is possible only li%e. The churches should .be comfortable, where people
through, the. -preaching ,of the ,Gospel,  hmce we can?ot will feel as relaxed and at ease as they do in, a movie-
well spbelak of little children as being regenerated,.                  house or first-class, theatre."
    We  h&e to grant, I believe,  +hat the Heidelberg.                     It took the manager of the pu"lic r'elations for the
Catechism ,dci@s not treat, this s;;bject,  it does not even American Railway express company to speak such
.distinguish between regeneration and oonversion  veary                 prnf&nd  things (sic) .


       336                                   THE  S T A N D A R D   -BtiARE.R   -,                                                                _.
                 _. .                                                                                                                .,
              Hosea one time sGoke of Israel as a silly `dove. Y:ou ing ?" Is life after all only buying,  selling,  ear@ng,
       have seen thes& silly doves on the-roo!f,  :being flattered @ining, etc. ?
       now by one dove then by another, Silly dove. Even But, you  s&, I am-`not a teacher.  `.
       the Railway Express makes lovIe t,o her -a little while             _  ,Ara!`t you?
      .&d courts her with some flattering advice. And then                    We parents are dealing with arithm&ic all;the- time.
      five huncjred ,went hbme, resolved, I suppose, to please M&h o:f it is vul*gar arithmetic. iHow much can -you
       the Express Company too.                                           earn ifi how short a time, and how can -you get ahead
              Fu!il -in  religion..  Fun-and no` ?eli,j$iotn. That is- in the world-period-God is left oat.  drithmetic  -is
      what the Esau's want. E&au wants FUN. He sold his 3 an exact &ence. You have to .count right or you come
      +i$hr&ht, he does not caie about the things of heaven. out wrong. We have to lfarn to count, add, subtract.,
       He is so concerned- about the carnal that when he comes etc. so that- we end in God.                                                . .
       home from the fiekl, and hasn't eaten for a Lfew hours,                Our Christian schoo~ls are built upon the principle
       he complains that he is about to die.' The. ch:nrches of the truth and the love of  GOI&  They have  .be&n,
       are (making room for Esau, they. w&t Esau to feel at erazted in order .to .give our childFen a world-and-life,
     home in the church, they want Esau to have f,un. And +ew truly distinct.                           The  .world  and life is full of
       now the Railway Express Compsca*y t.el1s~~them~~ho.w  to numb&s,  full of'aritmetic,  and although we and the.-
       make it still nicer in the church for Esau. Esau is world Q&e thhk same arithmetic, pur use of figures and
       used  ~to going to theatres-make the church.  like a nutibers must be God-ward. ,Our teachers `are called
      theatre. Esau is always. thinking  .abo& fun, about to teach our tchlildren  that.                                 0
       going *bowling, about amusement so the thing to do is                  If w,e -acqu`ire  schools of. cm o'wn, OUT boa& and
       -to have all these things in the chu?&.  IOn Thursday teachers tiust ailso understand that Arittietic  is more
       nights the poung-.peolple  woluld rath& go here and there than "Johnny earned  25~  on Monday and  35~ every
       and their-heads are so full of. fun and amusemeait tha6, -other day of the week, how much did be have im all?"                                                _
       ,catechism becomes a failure (as I heand in one of the                -The arithmetic of the world is 6-6-6. Is that the
       chul;ches -of this country lately) so they chgnge cate-            type we teach? Or do we get to the nlumber seven?
       chisln to some other time. All for Esau..                   . .
         ' And Jacob, the  childKen of God,  a& persecuted.                                     :i:       :;:     :t          :ic
       Sudh is l&er the `way elf the carnal -church.
              If bur church is t,rue Ito `God and His Word, Esau 38,000 KiiXed.
       will never feel comf,ortable  aa& relaxed among us. 1:
       he dces, Ja!cob won't.                                                -You say, what is that, thirty-eight thousand killed;
                                                                          I thought the war was over?
                                 *  * *  d                                 - No, the war isn't over. An Insurance Company
                                                         -                ,writes that with the Boys home they are paying a
                                                              :           gpeater amount of death policies than when they were
       Arith.xetic  ix the Ch&tim School,                                 Across.
                                                                              The .war is on Qur streets and highways. The 38,000
              if you aren't interested in christia::.  instruction you is the computed figure of accidental deaths for the
       iwill not read this article.    -                                  year -1946. If the rate  continues- as high  _as for the
              Prin. i$ Van Vuren, fro::l-Czlifor&a,  has done the mo&hs of January and February the figure will be ___
       .Cause  .of Chr. Instr. a great ,be:leiit by presenting  a con- &ill  h&her.
.      cept qf how arithmetic -can lode taught in our ,christian              Worn out cars,  !damgerous   tires, too  n-&& speed,
       schools, so that it bears ,out the pro.per  distinction be- these ane some of the, causes.
       tween a christian; and a public sfchool.                              IHow we rejoiced when the autolmobile came. W,hat
              "What has arithm&ic  or geometry or algebra to do a step ahead'jt was from the horse- and buggy days.
     w i t h   G o d ? " The tiiter, in +he Christian Horn... and Oilr automobiles however cost us 88,000 lives, besides
       School `Magazine, proceeds to shoiv that ariihrnetic is . the casualties of wou&ed and maimed.
       a revelation of God, revealing Him as soverei,gn, inde-               The automobile is a wonderful thing, indeed. But
       pendent,' unchangeable, infinite, -etc. As to the more man is by nature "vicious" as the Confessdons say. The
       practical angle of it the  wriiter  dseclares,  "Our  arith-' vicious automobile driver is today this lcpnntyy's No. 1
       metic cannot be disassociated `from our morality. I enemy. Thene are thonsands of them.` L `:
      -must either:  add, subtract, multiply or rdvi`de numbers              &e.you   olie? QagGdy can be&l:1  `the b,est and the
       `to.~the homor antd glory ,of `,God, or to His dishonor". He most careful elf us, !but .God has saild, "Thou shalt not
       continues Ito say that our a&hmetic books are replete Bill". - That ilndudes .driviing carefully and cautiously,
       with probltems  about earning, getting, :buying and sell- alwAys.                         "
       ing, but where are -problems based on sharing or gi<-                                                                                            M.  ,G, .

                                       _-


