-vOLUn/rE  XVIII.                                        . DECEMBER  15,1941                                                          NUMBER  6
                                                          _
                                                                        -             Yes, they heard the Word of joy!
                                                                                      And `apparently all the Christian world hears  this
                             `IT'&TI                           N.                                               Word!
_                                                  .                                  For  who  does not celebrate Christmas? And  who
                                                                                   does not agree that the Christmas season is a time
                                                                             when -it is but proper to rejoi.ce?`Ev:en  if it be but for
                              G r e a t   J o y                              a single day, we forget our burdens and o!r,,so.rrows,
                                                                              we  f,orget  all  about  the sorrows  ,of  the `world;. of wars
                   For,  behdld,   i  bring  YOU   gooil'   tidings  of  and,   J$ood&ed   and   misery,  and we  rejoice and  &re
                great  joy. . . .                       Lu.  2:lOb.          glad, when Christmas arrives !
        A word of great joy?- .                                                        On that day we  meet  one another with a  ,glad
                                                                             `Lmerry  Christmas" on our lips!
      Can we  hear"it?                                                                Great  jqy  !
        A- thing has happened, a  tiord  has come to pass                             But is our jdy,  kindled in our  hearts  by  the ?Word!
that is very really a  !maus@  of great  $0~1                    ._          which was preached'by  the angel in the field of Beth-
       -And from  heaven  appeared  ah ambassador with  the                   lehem,. and is its reason that Babe that is wrapped in
tidings  cdnoerning  this  thing  that came to pass, in                       swaddling clothes  an'd  lying in  ;a manger?
order  that  these tidings  6s a word of gr,eat  joy might                            .Or is it, perllaps,  true,  t&at   soinehow  we first  pro-~
be heard  .by us  and  the joy of it might fill our heatis ! faned  the Word ,of  God-concerning this child, changed
        Do we hear it  7 That  i*s the question. of chief con-                it into a word of mere man, in ,order  then to rejoice in
cern !                                                                       a thing of this  world? . . . .
        D<o   we   so' hear  .it  -that   our   hearts do,  indeed,  leap             0, indee'd,  l.et us, too, go to.Bethlehem,  and see th?s
     with this great joy, and that we are quite sure it is                    "Word" that is come to pass. .  y  .
     "this  thing"  this  `iWSord"  that came to pass in Beth-                        But let us be quite sure that it is the Word of Go,d
lehem in the fulness of time, more than nineteen hun-                         which  we see and-hear!
dreciyears ago, that is  th,e cause, and emphatically the                             .And  in that Word l,et us  rejoiice!
sole  cause of this joy that fills our hearts?"
        0, yes, the shepherds  `did  hear the tidings bf  great
joy, for immediately they responded, regardless of the
hour of the night,  regardl.ess   ,of  their being  oacupied
"keeping watch over their flock", regardless, too, of the                             Tidings of joy I bring  you-!
somewhat strange message concerning the swaddling                                     But as we go to Bethlehem to see the caause of -ihis
clothes and the manger  that  were to be a sign unto                          joy, l.et us watch and pray, lest ov.r  flesh shon!d-  temp$
them, For as soon as the angels that  fiad  sung their `ix to co&radict  the word of the angel !
anthems of praise in the still night had departed from                                For, there, in Bethlehem, in that night of all nights,
them, they said one to another: "Let us now go even                           there is, for the flesh, nothing why we should rejoice.
unto  B&hl,ehem,  and see this thing which is come  to                        In fact, if you be only quiet and receptive, if only yoii
pass, which the Lord hath made knowA  dnto  LG." A n d                             do not talk at  ,th'e  manger   @f the  Christc.hild,  so that
they went,  aid  they saw the  `"Word";and  they believed, c you may be able $0  hear the Word of God there, you
and they made known abroad the ""Word"  -they  had                            will  hear  a humiliating language that can only bring
Been  a44 heard, and  .they   returned..with  joy manifested you  to your knees in dust and tihes.  , , .
                                                                             _'
-in-   th;J&  prais'e  6f  the' living  .Gud  1                                    `Gx+etit  j o y ,   i-lid&d.   .   .   .


 122                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   BRARER

        But only in the  way   df  the broken heart!               ling clothes of poverty, should have His bed in a mari-
        Such is the joy of the Wor'd  of God in Bethlehem,          ger ! And, therefore, this sign is a  W,ord  of God !
 the joy that has its cause in the birth of Jesus, God             And let us hear it:  Th.ere is  eo room for the Son of
 with. us,  Immanuel.                                              God  in `all the world! The worl~d,  the. flesh, men will
        Jesus was  .born.  The evening before, perhaps,            not have Him ! By n&L&, you  and,  I hate this babe !
 Joseph and Mary had arrived in the city of David, after               Great joy? . . . .
 a long and wearisome journey. For from Nazareth                       Yes,-but first hear this Word of God, to your shame
 the+  had come. Nazarenes  they were. And what  ,good             and  condemnat$on  ! Ye shall find the babe wrapped in
thing  ,evey  came thence? Arriving too late to find lodg- sw&ddling  clothes and lying in a manger!
 ing in the already overcrowded little town, and finding-              No room  %or   Hiti!
that even in the inn there was no room f,or them, they -               For, consid:er  who He is, this child that is the cause
turn to one of the grotto's on .the  outskirts of the city,        of the great joy of.  which the angel spoke, this Word
 where passing caravans would stable their animals,                that is come to pass . He is God come into our world!
 in  #order  that they may have shelter -against the chill of Go!, very God, the Eternal, the Infinite, Who is God
night at that late season: And there, that very night ind.eed   ; the holy and righteous and  tfue  One. He  e&me
 probably, "the days were accomplished that she  should            into the world in the Person of His drily  begotten Son.
be. delivered", `and the fulness of time. had come, "an'd          He. came; not at the periphery ,oI things, but into the
she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him very'heart  of our world, in our flesh and blood, for He
in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger" !                  is of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the
     <Great  joy? . . . . .                                        house of David, of ttie  virgin Mary: the Word became
        Indeed, but not for the flesh!                             flesh and tabernacled among us!
        What your eyes can behold in Bethlehem's stable                0, great -joy, indeed !
is a scene of great misery ! In  ,one  of the  ,most forsaken         But joy with fear and  trembling,  and joy only in
spots, of an almost  forTgotten  little town, a child is born the way of shame and repentance and humiliation. Joy,
under the most abject conditions! A paBe mother, just indeed  ; but only after you have heard the Word of God
delivered of a child  ; and a babe,  wrapped  in  swad,dling       and received it, that in all the world there is no room
clothes, with a manger for its  cradle,  and a stable for          for God  to come down to us! There  is no room in Beth-
its first home,-these are the things you see ! A pic-              lehem, no room in the inn, no room in Jerusalem, the
ture of want and misery. And if you do not  w&t&  and city of the Great King, `no  room among the nations of
pray, you will feel  urged  to speak there in that stable, the  world.          No one can, no one will receive  Hirri. There
to express your heartfelt sympathy  to that mother, and is no room for Him in your and  tiy heart as we are
                                                                                                                                    -.
what  is worse, you may f,eel  an impulse to act immedi-           by nature! . . . .  _
ately, to call for help, to remove this mother -and child             No room ; and that, too, just because  He is God !
from these abject surroundings and provide a home for                 Joy? . . . .
them in the city. And thus you  wou1.d  destroy thle Word             Yes, but then only in the fact that  God  did come
of God that must needs reach your heart, if you would down to  ui,  and that He will build His own house, and
be partaker ,of  the great joy of which the angel spoke!           that He will make room for Himself, Or -do you not
        Or have you forgotten the `word of the  heaven]:7          remeniber that long  ago  we cast Him out to make room
messenger : "and this shall be a sign unto you"? . . . .           for the Prince of this world, and  that  ever since we
     Yes, indeed, here in the stable you see a s&n!                denied Him room? . . . .
     You shall find the babe wrapped in  swaddling-                   But He came!
clothes, and lying in a manger,-that is the sign,!                    Not because there is still a little room left for Him,
    `IAnd  a sign is a Word of God ! A sign, too, of the           but in spite of the fact that  there  was nowhere place
Word that is come to pass here in Bethlehem!  It                   f o r   H i m !
speaks! It speaks clearly, as always does the Word  .of               :He came by the Wonder of His almighty grace !
<God. And the message this God ordairied, this divinely               J o y   i n d e e d !                                  D
willed and designed visible token conveys is, that there
is no room for Him in all the world ! 0, make no mis-                             0
take.        The good. people of Bethlehem must  not  be              Great joy !
blamed. This stable. and this  manger  are not of their               Yes, but only in the  w;ly of shame and humiliation !
.,design.     Directly they  do-%&  speak `through this sign.         For, as you stand here at-the manger of this child
%ou  and I must be the  Ta&?&  condemn them.              No, but Jesus, remember the word of the angel, the "good tid-
this  3s God's  sign.  He  willed  it.  !He designed it. He        ings of great joy" which he delivered unto you: "unto
oo&id&ed   ,it but proper, an&  the' only proper thing,            you is born this day, in the c&.of  David, a Satiour  !
that-  H%%+y  begotten Son,  coming  into the world,                  And the great joy  of His  coming.  is-  that  He is a
should be born in a stable, should-  be..%rapped   .in  swad-
                                          ,.  2    ..,             Saviour indeed  !- He is  .Ope-,  Who  XVU~S..  Hf:  has the
                                                                                                 ,_. _.  A.,*   ,.  ..:  .i. . .
                                                                                               :  _  _, . __  .._  ^.li.  .)..


                                           T         H         E                STANBARD  BEARERIF'"`:-`.'                                          123

  znission  to save,, an.d  the will to save, and the power                       Unto you is born this day  One  that is a Saviour
  to save ; and He sccomplishes  all the work of salvation                    indeed !                                                ,
  G  ione,  without the will of man, yea, in  s.$te-off  the  ~ter-,              Great. joy  !
  ribie fact, that man neither seeks nor desires salvation
  through Him, that no  ma,tr will receive  Him  or give
                                .
  Him room.
      Unto you 1s boric  9 Sav:our  !                                            Unto you! . . , .
      And consider what it means to save. It is not to                           W o n d e r f u l   g o s p e l !   _
  work for the uplift of the world, for the building up                          Necessary, indeed, it was that the spoken Word of
  of man's character, for the banishment of crime and                         God should accompany the Word become flesh. Without
 `misery from the face of the earth ; it is not to instruct                   it, the wonder of the Inlcarnation  would not have been
 man as to how he may reform himself or work for the                          recognized.
  improvement of  m&&ind.            It is to deliver man from                   For that Child in the manger is the Wonder of all
  the greatest misery, and to make him heir of the great-                     wonders : God is come in the flesh, the Eternal One has
  est good. But his misery is his sin! And sin means come into time, the Infinite One dwells within the limits
  that we are by nature enemies of God, and that we                           of the human nature, the Lord has beoome Servant.
 `would have none ,of  Him ; that we always say"`No"  to But  #of this wonder nothing is to be seen by the natural
  Him and to His good commandments. It implies that                           eye. It is the flesh, not the Son of God; it is the ser-
  we are guilty, and that we can nevermore, satisfy the                       vant, not the Lord of all ; it is the finite,not the Infinite
  just5ce  of God, pay our debt with iHim;  that we, there- that is visible in the manger.
  fore, are by nature children of wrath and  obj,ects  of                        And, therefore, it was necessary that the spoken
  the righteous judgment of condemnation to everlasting                       Word, the gospel of Christ, should accompany the com-
  death and desolation in hell ! It  rn.eans,  too, that we, ing of  ,our  Saviour !
  are by nature inclined to hate God and one another,
  darkened in our understanding, loving the lie, corrupt                         U n t o y o u ! . . . .
  of heart, perverse of will, and that we are wholly in-                         Blessed shepherds, we- are inclined to say, that
 capable  ,of  doing that which is good, and always  entire-                  might be privileged` th~hns  directly and personally to be
 ly inclined to all evil ; so that we will  n6t  and cannot                   addressed by God's own ambassador from heaven !
  will  #ever  to say anything else to God than: -No!                         Unto you I bring good tidings of gr'eat  joy! Unto you
      Such is sin!                                                            is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour which
                                                                              is Christ the Lord! How glorious to hear this word of
      And such are  we.by  nature!                                            j'oy   addres.sed  directly to them ! What a strong gr,ound
      And because we are such, we must, as we staed in                        ,of  assurance they had in this Word of God to them !
  the  -stable  of Bethl,ehem  to see the thing that is come                  And, perhaps, we feel that we have reason to envy
 to pass, again -hear  ,the   Wor.d   of God coming to us                     them, and that we, too, would Iike to hear this gospel
  thr,ough  the sign: "Ye shall find the babe wrapped in                      from the mouth of a heavenly ambassador addressed
  swaddling clothes and' lying in a manger" !                                 personally  t,o  us : "unto you" ! . . . ;
      N'o  room for Him !                            .-                          And, truly, blessed they were !
      To Him we say "No"! For Him we have no place !
  Him we receive not ! Him we intend to kill !                                    But do not forget that a more glorious `gospel, that,
      Let us confess it, and be ashamed!  -Here,  in the                      at least, a far greater realization of the gospel of joy
  stable  ther,e  is no place for our self-righteousness ; only is ours! For the Christ, that once was a babe in the
  f,or self-abasement in dust and ashes!                                .-    manger, has revealed unto us the Father, has atoned
                                                                              for our sins .on  the accursed  tree, has been raised from
      And be not afraid that with this confession of our the dead, is exaltecl=,at  the right hand of God, has re-
  total `corruption and incapability to receive Him, -we                      turned in the Spir'$$:and  is preached among us in all
  will forfeit the joy of which the angel spoke to the the  fulness  of the .blessings  of salvation there are in
  shepherds. On the contrary, only in this way of deep                        Him !
  humiliation can the great joy be attained.                                                                      .-.  .-
                                                                                                                 11   .--.-
      For He is a Saviour !                                                       unto you! . . . .               _  ,:..
      He is not dependent upon our "`Yes", but He is                              0, indeed, even unto you this-  gospel of jtoy  is pro-
 mighty to turn our "No" into the "Yes"  of grace! He                         claimed ! Proclaimed it is, not, indeed, by an angel from
  saves from the guilt of sin and makes us partakers of'                      heaven, but by the Saviour Himself! For, it is He that
 an everlasting righteousness.  @Ie  saves from the do-                       speaks through His Word  ; and it is Himself that
- minion  *of  sin, and changes our darkness into light, our speaks to us by His  .Spirit   !
 death into life, our shame into everlasting, heavenly                            Good tidings of great  j,oy  ! Unti  yuu  ! . . . .
 glory !                                                                        Bles&l  are they that hear  !.                 11~         E..M.
 :  -


- 5 2 4                                                                                                             T'HF,   STANDA-F-B-   B-EAAE-R


                                     .The.  Sfandard  Bearer
              A PROTESTANT REFORMED SEMI-MONTFÍLY
                                    . .                               Published by
                                                                                  -  ~`-_  -..-   .
                        The  ReformedXee   Pubhshmg Association
                                                  1101  Hazen  Street, S. E.                                                                                                                                            Een Bemoedigend Begin
                                           EDITOR  - Rev.  #H.   HBeks&tia
     Contributing editors-Revs. J. Blankespoor, A. Cammenga,                                                                                                                                                    De beweging tot het verkrijgen  eener  eigen Christe-
    P. De Boer, J. D. de Jong, H. De Wolf, L. Doezema,
     M. Gritters, C. Hanko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G: M. Ophoff,                                                                                                                                     lijke School, waar onze kinderen kunnen worden onder-
    A.  Petter,  M. Schipper, J.  Vanden   B'reggen,  H.  Veldman,                                                                                                                                wezen in overeenstemming met  "de  voorzeide">  dat is,
     R.  Veidman;  W. Verhil, L. Vermeer, P. Vis,  .G. Vos,                                                                                                                                       de gereformeerde leer,- die enkele  jaben geleden reeds
    and Mr. S. De Vries.                                                                                                                                                                          in Grand Rapids begonnen werd, maakt voortgang.
    Communications relative to contents  should be addressed                                                                                                                                                    In het  <begin  dezer  ,bë?veging trachtte men te komen
    to REV. H.- HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand
    Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                                                            tof  het oprichten van een eigen "High School". Vooral
    Communications relative to subscription should be  ad-                                                                                                                                        ondergeteekende was van oordeel, dat hieraan het
    dressed to MR. R. SCHAAFSMA, 1101 Hazen St.,-  S. E.,                                                                                                                                        meest' behoefte was om verschillende redenen.                     Het
    Graad Rapids, Mich.  Al1  Announcements and Obituaries                                                                                                                                       bleek echter al spoedig, dat genoegzame belangstelling
    must be sent to the,  above address  and wil1  not be placed                                                                                                                                 voor dit  d'oel  ontbrak. Velen waren van oordeel, dat
    unless the regular fee of $1.00 accompanies the notice.                                                                                                                                       we van onderen op moesten beginnen. En bovendien
                                               Subscription $2.50 per year  `.                                                                                                                   was het aantal onzer menschen, dat zelf kinderen op de
          Ent&d                a s  second clSss   m a i l   a t   Graad`   R a p i d s , `Mi&igan                                                                                                "high school" hier in Grand Rapids had, en dat dus
                                                                                                                                                                                                  direkt belang had bij een eigen inrichting van dien
                                                                                                                                                                                                 aard, niet groot, lang niet  zoo  groot, zooals wel vanzelf
                                                                                       .                                                                                                          spreekt, als het. aantal  -van  hen, die kinderen op dé
                                                                                                                                                                                                 lagere school hebben. Vandaar, dat de beweging lang-
                                                                                                                                                                                                 zamerhand begon uit te sterven. Slechts weinigen be-
                                                                                                                                                                                                 zochten ten  sl,otte  de vergaderingen die voor dat doel
                                                                    CONTENTS                                                                                                                     werden belegd.
                                                                                                                                                                         Page                                   Toen werd er besloten om de zaak anders aan. te
MEDITATION   -
   GREAT JOY                                                                                                                                                                                     pakken.
                                           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
              Rev. H. Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                                                                 Dezelfde  vereenigi-ng  werd omgevormd tot een  ver-
                                                                                                                                                                                                eeniging  terioevordering  van eigen Christelijk  @ger on-
EDITORIALS  -                                                                .
   EEN BEMOEDIGEND, BEGIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124derwijs, en tot het bereiken van het concrete doel om te
   E R IS ALLES VOOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
                                                                                                                                                                                                 komen tot een eigen gereformeerde school. Dat bleek
   DE H A N D A A N D E N PLOEG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126beter te willen. Er was aanstonds meer belangstelling.
              Rev. H. Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                                                  De vergaderingen werden  do'or  meerderenbezocht. De
7IlHE  .TRIPLE  KNOWLEDGE'  -                                                                                                                                                                   vereeniging nam toe in ledental. -Een reglement werd
   AN EKPOSITION OF THE HEIDELBERG ,CATECHISM  126                                                                                                                                               aangenomen.               En eindelijk werd besloten  ,om met kaar-
     Rev.  Hl Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                                                         ten door onze gemeenten te gaan hier in Grand Rapids,
   THE REFORMATION                                                    A                                                                                                                         om zwart op wit te krijgen  hoevele  van onze  menschen.
                                                                           ND THE   R E NAISSANCE . . . . . . . . . . 130
              Rev.   G. M. Ophoff.                                                                                                                                                              tot het bereiken van het voorgestelde doel willen mede-
                                                                                                                                                                                                werken, en op  hoevele  kinderen we zouden moeten
   THE PERSON                                 OF THE PROPHET                                                  ISAIAH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 rekenen bijaldien we een eigen school zouden begin-
              Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                                                                 nen.
   E E N HOOG V E R T R E K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Dit werd  uitgev0er.d.
              Rev.' G. Vos.                                                                                                                                                                                     En de uitkomst was nogal verblijdend.
   CHRISTIAN BANQUETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                          137                           `Een  offici,eel  rapport werd nog niet geleverd. Maar
              Rev. J. Blankespoor                                                                                                                                                               uit volkomen vertrouwbare bron vernam ik, dat alleen
   THE CHURCH AND SOCIAL QUESTIONS . . . . . .  I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 op  gron,d  van de kaarten, die uit de Eerste Protestant;
              Rev. L. Vermeer                                                                                                                                                                   sche Gereformeerde Kerk ingeleverd  vverden, kàn wor-
   AN ORDERLY HOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                              1 4 2              den `medegedeeld, dat. de  vereeniging  thans bijkans
 R e v .   J .   D .   d e   J o n g                                                                                                                                                            twee  .honderd  leden telt, en dat  mie, indien we een eigen
                                                                                                         ._-                                                                                    school beginnen, we: aanstonds  moeten.rekenen   :op hon-
   CONTRIBUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                                                                                                                                                              1 4 3
         -                                                                                                                                                                                       derd  en  vijf en' zeventig leerlingen.
 .---.   - -   .               ,                                                                                                                                                                                Deze getallen  duiden.  natuurlijk, lang geen  alge-


                                      THE  S T A N D - A A R D   B E A R E R                                  0              125

meene  samenwerking aan. Er zijn  s,ommigen, die                 ken en de Christelijke  Geref,ormeerde  gebruiken  als
weifelen, en  andeDen, die geen heil zien in eene be-            een voorwendsel om onze kinderen naar de publieke
weging voor een eigen lagere school.                   .I  -.    school te sturen. Dit zou ten  slotte  beteekenen, dat het
    Maar  wel  overtreft deze uitkomst mijne verwach-            beginsel zelf van de noodzakelijkheid van Christelijk
ting.                                                            onderwijs er bij inschoot. En dit mag niet. Waar
    En als we in aanmerking nemen, dat alle begin                eigen school niet mogelijk is, werke men dus zooveel
moeilij.k-is,  en dat,  zoo  er maar. eerst een school tot       mogelijk samen.
stand komt, vele anderen wel zullen volgen, dan mogen                Maar in de eerste plaats wil dit toch in de meeste
we zeker wel  constateeren,  dat de beweging goede               gevallen zeggen, dat de invloed van het Christelijke
v,oortgang  heeft, en dat  d'e  uitkomst bemoedigend mag         Gereformeerd element overwegend is. Ons volk is ge-
heeten.                                                          woonlijk met of bijna met vertegenwoordigd in het
                                             ' H.H.              schoolbestuur, en heeft  ,ook weinig  zeggenstchap  en con-
                                                                 trole over het onderwijs, dat. versterkt wordt. De
                                                                 sámenwerking  beteekent dikwijls niet veel meer, dan
                            -                                    dat  ons volk mag meehelpen, als er behoefte is aan
                                                                 geld.In de tweede plaats  beteelrent  samenwerking op
                   Er is Alles Voor                              haar  (best,  dat men, wat het onderwijs betreft,  ,van
                                                                 beide zijden ietwat toegeeflijk is,  eenbeetje-  schikt en
    Behalve nu de zeer praktische  ov.erweging, dat het          plooit, en dat het specifieke van het onderwijs wordt
veel gemakkelijker, en -ook, wat het- begin betreft al-          opgeofferd.     Van Christelijke Gereformeerde zijde,
thans, goedkooper is,, om onze kinderen maar naar de             zoow'el  als van  onlze zijde  .ontwijkt  men zooveel  moge
bestaande scholen te blijven zenden, is er zeker niets           lijk de  kwesti.es van ons verschil.  *
op tegen,  dat we onze eigen  Christ,elijke,  en, dat. wel           Nu.  is zeker ons verschil met de Christelijke Gere-
specifiek Gereformeerde scholen trachten  o.p  te richten,       formeerden, ook voorzoover het betrekking heeft op
waar dit mogelijk is.                                            het  sohool-onderwijs,  diepgaand genoeg.. Eigenlijk
    En er is alles voor.                                         is er op het standpunt der Christelijke Gereformeerden,
    Ik  herinnler  me levendig, dat onze gereformeerde           .nit  het oogpunt van beginsel, geen plaats voor de
menschen  met soortgelijke beweging begonnen in Ne-              Christelijke School.     Men mag ijveren voor de eigen
d e r l a n d .                                                  school uit praktische overwegingen, b.v. omdat men
    De `destijds bestaande Christelijke scholen waren zijne kinderen niet aan de publieke school toever-
het  pr,odukt van de samenwerking  va$Hervormden  en             trouwt, of-omdat men de kinderen liever in  gezëlslchap
Geréformeerden.                                                  ziet van eigen`volk ; maar principieel is er op het stand-
    En men kon, zelfs als kinderen, die het onderwijs            punt `der Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken, inge-
ontvingen, het gevolg van die samenwerking tamelijk              nomen in 1924 voor een eigen, aparte school geen
duidelijh zien en gevoelen. Er waren natuurlijk Her-             plaats. Als het  -waar  is, dat er eene werking van
vormde, zoowel als Gereformeerde onderwijzers, en                gen'ade  is in  ,de  wereld der onwedergeborenen, waar-
het verschil tusschen beide bleef in het onderwijs niet          door dezen het goede kunnen doen in natuurlijke zaken,
verborgen.    We leerden  ,elke  week een psalmvers, maar        en de school heeft juist betrekking op de voorbereiding
we leerden ook uit de gezangen,  .die door de  "Afsehei-         der  kindleren  ten opzichte van die natuurlijke en bur-
ding" waren  ver,oordeel,d.  Bovendien kregen. de Her-           gerlijke `dingen dan had  destij,ds  de heer Eisen van
vormden langzamerhand de overheid in vele scholen.               Holland, Michigan, volkomen gelijk, toen hij Dr.  Sehil-
Ik meen me te  herinner,en,  -dat  destij"ds in onze stad        der wilde laten zeggen,  dtat  de school behoorde tot het
(drie  vierd'e  van de leden in het schoolbestuur Hervormd       "terrein" der gemeente gratie. Maar dan ligt het ook
waren.                                                           in den aard der zaak, dat we op  ,dat  "terrein" niet uit
 De toestand  w,erd  gaandeweg verergerd, tot men                het beginsel der "bijzondere", maar uit dat der  "ge-
eene  beweging begon voor eigen gereformeerde scholen.           meene  gratie". moeten leven, en volgens dat beginsel
En tot eigen scholen is het in Nederland gekomen.                met de wereld moeten samenwerken. We moeten ons
    In vele opzichten verkeeren wij,  .als Protestantsche        dan niet  in  aparte schooltjes afzonderen, maar den
Ger,eformeerden   .hier, in dezelfde omstandigheden als          invloed der gemeene gratie zooveel mogelijk laten.
destij.ds  de Gereformeerden in Nederland ten opzichte           gelden in de publieke school.
vanh'et  onderwijs.                                                  Het is dan ook mijne vaste  övertuiging,  dat  de
    Op het Christelijke-School terrein werken we samen           synode van Kalamazoo in 1924 ook den doodsteek
met de Christelijke Gereformeerden.                              .gegeven  heeft aan de Christelijke School.
    En waar het niet anders kán, is dit ook zeer zeker               En omdät beginselen doorwerken, is het ook mijn
eisch. We  mo,gen.  niet het verschil  tussch.en  onze  ker-     overtuiging, dat  d.e   belangstelling:   vo'or  het Christelijk


I              126`:                 n                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
               onderwijs bij de  `Uhristeli  j ke Gereformeerden  lang-           kinderen naar  ,eene  eigen school zouden sturen, moeten
               zamerhanfd  zal verdwijnen, tenzij ze zich bekeeren  van wel verstaan, ,dat zulk:  een school alleen tot stand kan
           h u n   d w a l i n g .   '                                            *otien, als ze zelf de hand aan den ploeg slaan. Als
                   Evenmin  als er op het.standpunt van 1924 plaats is dë belofte van het zenden hunner kinderen  alleen  maar
               voor de handhaving  van  de antithese op het gebied van zou beteehenen,  .dat. ze nu voorts  zullen  wachten, totdat .
               den arbeid,  z,oodat  men in de Christelijke  Gerefor- er een eigen school is, dan kunñen wij ze terstond wel
               meepde  Kerken geen steun meer kan vinden voor een                 verzekeren, dat er niets  van'   `cerxht  komt. Zij zijn.
               beginselstrijd op dat  gebi,e,d  (denk maar, hoe radikaal wel  in de eerste plaats  verantwoordelijk,               om te doen
               Prof.  Berkhof  in dit opzicht is veranderd !) , evenmin wat ze kunnen tot het  realize&renTran  ons doel.
               is er op datzelfde standpunt ruimte ,vaoor eeee Christe-              Scholen  vallen niet uit den hemel.
               lijke School.                                                         We moeten dus niet wachten op  e.ene  school; we
                   Ik aarzel dan ook  niet  te voorspellen, dat de Christe-. moeten  zelf een school oprichten!
              `lijke School in ons land zal verdwijnen, tenzij 0q.s volk             En dat vereischt  inspanning van krachten, &i.m&-
               haar blijft steunen.                                               werking van allen. Het zal ook opoffering  eischen.
                 Maar daarom is er dan ook alles voor, om, waar dit En het zal ge@ kosten.
               mogelijk is, eigen scholen te beginnen, waar het  ondler-             Laat  orÍs   .dus wel de kosten overrekenen, eer we
               wijs specifiek gereformeerd kan zijn,  schol'en,  die er aan  deen   t,orenbouw  beginnen.
               niet slechts zijn om praktische overwegingen,  maak                  En dan niet,  #om  aan het einde van die  overrekening
               die  *een  zaak zijn van beginsel!                                 ons  terug  te. trekken, want  ldat  is zeker niet noodig.
                   D%e  mogelijkheid bestaat hier in Grand  Rapids                D,e tor,en  kan wel gebouwd worden.
               zeker wel.                                                            Maar wel  om ons voorbereid te houden, en met
                   Wat onze  ,getalste&te  betreft, zouden we hier meer Gods  hulp en door Zijne genade ons op te maken en te
               `dan  ééne sch,ool kunrien oprichten.                              bouwen !
                   En ofschoon we op  dit.moment  misschien ni,et  een               De  hand  aan  den ploeg!
               voldoend aantal onderwijzers zouden kunnen aanGij-                                                                 H .   H .
               zen uit eigen kring voor zulk een uitgebreide school,
               moeten we niet vergeten, dat onderscheidene- jonge-
               lieden in een eigen school een prikkel zouden hebben om
               zich te laten opl,eiden  voor het onderwijzerswerk.
                   Er is dus alles voor, om een eigen school te  be-
              ginnen.
I                                                                 H. H.              The Triple Knowledge
I                                         _-
     1.                                                                                An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
                              De Hand Aan. Den Ploeg                                                     Catechism
                   Intusscihen  is het thans de tijd om een woord  van                                          IV.
               waarschuwing te doen  hooren.                                                             LORD'S DAY 111
                   We spraken hierboven van  een  verblijdend  resuh
               taat.                                                                                            1,
                        En dat mag het metterdaad  heeten,  dat we twee
               honderd.l.eden  mogen tellen als vereeniging, en dat we                        After  Tihe  Image Of  `God.   (cent.)      _
               kunnen rekenen op ten minste honderd en vijf en                        It cannot be  cclaimed  that  tfie  distinction: "image
               zeventig kinderen. Naar  nlu komt. het er dan ook op of God in a wider and in a  narrower  sense", is  con-
               aan; dat w,e allen de hand aan den ploeg slaán  en niet            f,essionally   R,efoxmed.    Our  Three  Forms of  Unity
               omzien. Als we vergaderingen van onze  schoolsveT-                 ra&er  leave  the impr,cssion  that  t!hey  favor the idea of.
               aeeniging  oproepen; dan  moet&  allen hunne verant-               limiting the image of God to man's original integrity,
               woordelijkheid gevoelen om tegenwoordig  te_  zijn en truc   knowledge   óf God, righteousness and holiness.
               deel te nemen aan de besprekingen. .We  moeten allen This is true of  our   `Catedhism-  in the.  Lord's Day we
               medewerken met al onze kreoht. Aan leden, die  &leen               are now discussing. In answer to the question: "Did
               maar hun  aontributie  betalen, hebben we eigenlijk niet God  create  man so wicked and perverse?"  it  states   :
               veel.                                                              "NO ;  burt God  created   tian  goed,  aed  after His  own
                        Maar ook- die ouders,   dte  bel,oo%den,  dat ze hunne    image,  that   is; in  righteoussness   .and  true holiness."

     I                                                                                                                      `.


                                        T-HE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R '                                                    127

 It certainly leaves  o!ut of view the image of God in a            even though it.  is. embodied in many works  On  dog-
 wider,sense  altogether, a?ld  confines the scope of that matics,  anid  commogly taught through the media of
 image to "righteousness and true holiness." This does question  books in catechetrical  classes, as well as from
 not mean that the authors of  the.Heidelberg      Catetihism       the pulpit, `has never received official standing in the
 tieye  not acquainted with'the distinction, or even  them-         Reformed  Clhurchks.
 s,elves  did not favor it. From Ursinus'  Schatboek   it is            Nor is the distinction  an innocent one and without
 quite &ideht that they di,d. He answers the question:              danger to true doctrine. .It. is dangerous, because
 "In how fay  is it (the image of God) lost; and what is it prepares room for the further philosophy that there
 I.eft  of it in man?"-as follows :                                 are remnants of the image of God left in fall-en  man,
     "This  &age  of God, after which Goid  created man             and that, therefo!re,  &he  natural man cannot  be wlholly
- in the  beginni,ng,  and that,  .before  the fall, shone in       depraved. The argument is, thit  man lost the image
 man as a lighk  ; this very beautiful image bf  God man            of God in a narrower sense, but he retained  th!at  image             .
 has lost  through  sin after the fall, and he is  change'd         in a wider sense. By  th.e latter, then, is usually meant,
 after the ugly image of the devil. A few remnants and -that  man  still has an  i~mmqrtal,  rational  soul,   in  dia-
 sparks, however, of this~ image were left after the fall,          tin&ion  from #he  animals. -Now,  except Eor.this  heresy
`which  are   even   n,ow  present in. unregenerated men:           about  man's  "inzno&al  sou1";~  very littlce  harm results
 1. The essenoe  of the soul is still  incorpor,eal,  r&ional,      as long  ai  nothing  more-  is said, and as  long  as it  i8
 immortal and, still has its. faculties ; also the freedom          stricltly  remembered that- nothing of man's original
 of- the will, so that man freely wills what he wills.        2.    ri&teousness  is contained in this image of God in a
. Great knowledge of God, of nature,  of the  -difference           wider sense. But the trouble is that  wor;ds  have mean-
 between good and evil.; this knowI,e:dge  is the principle         ing, and that the real meaning of words will assert
 of all science. `3. A few vestiges and seeds of niollal            its,elf  regardless of false distinctions we may try  ito
 virtues, and a certain possibility  .of external' order.           maintain.  Aft,er  all, the term "image of God" conveys
 4. The enjoyment of much temporal good. 5. A cer-                  a meaning that cannot very well be applied to a man
 tain dominion over the creatures; for also this  has  not that is changed into the image of the devil. Ik  carries
 e&&y been lost, many creatures are still  subj,ect  to a favorable connotation. It denoted goodness, moral,
 t@e  power of man and he oan rule over th,em  anid use             ethical, spiritual  ihtegrity.  To state that man  after
 them to `his advantage. These remnants of the image the fall is an image  beaker  of the  d,evil,  and at the                                 ~
 of Go,d  in man, even though through sin they :have  be-           same time to maintain that he still bears the image of
 come terribly dark and unstable, are nevertheless, in              God or a remnant of it, does not  harmoniz'e  with each
 one way  ,or another left  ,in the  natuae  of man ; and           othier,  contains a  flat  contradiction. And so it hap-
that too: 1. In  or`der  that  th,ey  might; serve as wit-          pens, that the distinct<on  of ipage  of God in a narrow-
 ness of God's  m,er#cy  toward us who are unworthy ;               er and  wicler  sense, gradually ,but  irlresistibly  is used to
 2. in order that God might use them for `the restora- teach,-  that  ther,e  is still  ~a remnant of man's original
 tion of His image in us ; 3. in order that the repro.bate          righteousness and integrity in fallen  man,  and that
might have cot  a single excuse." pp. 39, 40.                       .he  is  ,not  totally depraved. It  is-a   ,distinc&n  that lends
    Nevetiheless,  all this additional material, much of itself very easily to support the  vi'ew  of those who
whioh  is derived from  Scholasti!c   philosophyj  and              insist that there is_  a c&ain,  common grace by virDue
tihrough  it from Plato and Aristotle; rather than from             of which  na+ural   Iman  is not so depraved as  wibhout
Serip%ure,  is not  incorportited  in the Catechism. And that grace  he woufd have been.                     And if this is  no%  a
this Shows that the  a&hops  of the Catechism consider-             `denial of the doctrine of  to.tal   depravity,  words -cer-
ed the image of God as consisting cliiefly in the original          tainly have lost their plain meaning.
integrity of man. Also  the  Belgic   Confession   .limits              It may not be superfluous to  insent  a  papagraph
the image of  Gold  in the same fashion in Art. 14:' here  aborLlt the so-called "immortality of  the soul".  -
"W,e  believe that God created man ou$  of the dust of              Above I sppke of  "t!he heresy" that man's soul is im-
the earth,  anfd  made and formed him  afher  His own               mortal.  An,d  a heresy it. certainly is, for the which
image and likeness, good, righteous, and holy, capable +tihere is no item of proof in  lthe   Word of God;  which,
in  all things to will agreeably to the will of God".               on  bhe  contrary is condemned by Scripture throughout.
And   the Canons of Dordrezeht,  III, IV, 1, have this to           It  is one of those  do&&es  that have been inherited
say about the  subj,ed: "Man was originally formed                  by the Church from-  Platon.ic  philosophy,  _that   have
after the  image  of God.        ,His  understanding was            simply  b,een  received  wiithout  criticism and without
adorn&d with a true  atid  sating  kno&edge of his                  being  judgeId  in the light of Scripture, and that have
CY*eator,  and of spiritual things; his heart.  atid  will been accepted by the  Church'ever  since.  .It  has become
were upright,  a11 his  affecbions   pur,e,  and the whole          a very -"gangbare  meening", a generaI:ly  current opin-
mati  was holy". The ,distinotion  betwe'en  the image of ion that man has an immortal  wml. So general and so
God in a narrower and in a wider sense, therefore,                  deeply  rooted  is this philosophical tenet,  th,at   I.-have


     IiS-                                        -TH-'E-   ~CL~N~DAI~II               B E A R E R

     often experienced that the statement "the heresy about                      In  Gen.   2:7 we read: "And the Lord God formed
     man's &mortal  SOL$  will act like. a boomerang, so man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
     I&$  mcany   ,consider  the statement itself `a heresy! nostrils the breath  `of life; and man becomes a living
     People have been  $abught  to speak of man's  im.m&tal                  sou:y : We  .learn  here that man was  crated  by one,
     soul so persistently; they pray so often that the "im-                  special, very distinct, twofold act of God, which  empiha-
-    mortal  SOLZY  may  b%  saved  ; and they admonish one                  sizes from  Ghe   %begi.$ning  the two aspects of man's
     another  `so  e?rnesUy  `that  Jhey'have  "an immortal  SOL#'           being. Thus, no doubt, we must understand this. pas-  _
     to lose, that it is considered almost sacrilegious to sage. Often this creative act of God, whereby He  giw\r@
     maintain  tihat  man's soul is not  il-ylonortal,  and  w'hat           being to man, is understood as consisting. of  %wo
     is  [more,  very really #dead, unless he is  regenerated  by            separate acts: first  God formed. a sort of iclay  image;
     the  gpirik  of God. The  trou%bl,e is that immortality is              and when it was finishe&He  made the image alile  by
     o&en  ide&ified with unending existence. When philo-                    breathing into it. According tom  JGhis  conception, man is             ~
     sophy speaks about  i&r&o&lity,  it does not take                       really two  .beings.     He is a body with a  ~0.~1  in it.
     eternal death and hell into consideration. According And the soul is really the  lif,e  of the body. When be
     to` its view,  m&n is either  imrn&tal,  that is,  tihe soul            dies, his soul leaves the  bo'dy,  and this, departure of  .the
     contim.es  to lic*e  after this life; or physileal  ideath  ends        soul is  +he  cause of the death of the body.        Bout it is
     all.   .But   t,his%  is not the  vi,eti  of  Scr.ipture.   .Sur;@y,    evident that. this is not the corrects  conception of mian,
     there is a continued existence after  hemporal   dea;th,                aed  surely not of the text in Gen.  2:7. Dog not mis-
     but  this is  not the same as immortality. The latter                   understand this. God certainly created man by a two-
     term in Scripture signifies. the state* in  which  man  is              fold ad: by fotiing  him as to the physical side of his
     exempt from death, the state of incorruptibility, of nature out of the ,d.ust of the ground, and by bringing
     eternal life.  And  this state  oan be attained  .only  in              into existence the spiritual side of his  nature   by.lbTeatk-
     Chrisrt.  No man -is by nature immortal, either as to                   ing into him the breath of life. Nor do we agree with
     body  or soul. No man- outside  lof Christ has an  im-                  those  wh0   Iproceed  on the assumption that Scripture.
     mo&al  soul. Even though it is certainly tyue,  that  the               uses the word  %oul"  alw.ays  in the same sense, and
     soul  of every man will continue to exist, and that  $he                who insist that we cannot properly ,make  the .distinc-
     body of every man will be  raised  from the dust, neither tion  b,etween   man's  body  land  his. soul. Scripture cer-
     this continued  existence  nor this resurrection means tdnly  teaches  Ith,at   man's.  body can die, while his  "so,ul""
     .th&  he is  -or will be  immorctal.'  For the wicked shall             or "spirit" continues to lead a- conscious existence,
     suffer eternal  (death  both in body  and  soul  ;  and  it is          either in  lif,e   !or.  in death.    Does  not   the  preacher
     only the righteous that shall  .be raised incorruptible.                emphasize that, when the  bo,dy  returns  to the  dust,  the
     And; therefore, tie should not  fBllow  the language of                 spirit  rettirEs  to God who gave it?  D.oes  not the
     philosophy, and we should refuse to adopt  iits termin-                 Lord speak  ,of  those that kill  thle body, but  loannot
     ology. The  tI%th   is, that  man  is mortal. He has a destroy the soul? Dbes not  XX&t   Him,self  commend
     body that  cali  die and so he  has  a  perishab1.e   soul.             His  sp.irit  into the hands of the  Fs&her,  when  l3e  is
     God can destroy both s&d  and Ibody  in hell.              And im- about to die? And does not the apocalyptic  aeer.  of
     mortality is the  woFd   th&   oan  be  alpplied  only  to the          the book of Revelation  6ehol.d  "the  so,uls  of them that
     state of th,e  glforified  saints in Chr&t.                             were beheaded for the witness  I$ Jesus  and  for the
             If a distinction must be made in the i,m!age  of God,           Word of  God.  . . . and they  Jiyed  and reigned with
     after which man w-as  cr,eated,  we pref,er  Ito  make the              Christ  a.  thousand.  years"?  Rev.   20:4.  But  even  so
     distinction  between~  the  image   in-  a formal  and  in a.           man is not  two.  beings. b,u$  .one,  with a physi'eal.  and
     mater&l sense. By the former is meant  th.e fact that spiritual' side, a living physical organism, formed out
     man%  nature is adapted  to bear  the image of God.                     of the dust of the ground, and  thi.s-  living. organism.
     Not every nature of the creature- is capable of bearing most intimately united with a rational- spirit: (0n.e
     `:the   @a&e of God,  showing  forth  s  refl,ection  of  (&d's   physi8ciaL  and psychical,  intelledual   and   voJitiona1  ra-
     ,own  ethical perfections, of knowledge,  righteo.usness                tional  and moral being, adapted to be lord of the earth
     and holiness. It is  ,e$dent  that it requires a rational, 0 and-  servant  of the living  Go,d.
     moral  nature  to bear that image of God. And by t,hhe                      Notice, that  .in. Gen. 2 :7 the statement: *`and man.
     image. of God in  8 material sense is meant that became a living soul" is predicated of the  w%oZe   man.
     spiritual, ,ethi:cial soundness of. the human nature, ac-               Ma`n  did  .not, receive a living  SOLO,.   but he became a
     coriding  to which he actually shows forth the virtues                  living soul. He- is not a body w-ith a living soul in it,
     of knowledge of God,  righteousn.ess  and holiness. If but- he is. a living soul. And he beoame  a living soul,
     you will, we  may  distinguish between  man  as the  no%.   merely   .by the  inbreathing  of `God into his nostrils,                           .
     image-bearer, i.e. as being  [capable  of bearing the  ,but  by the whole of God's  creative  act: His forming
     image of God, and man as  actdally  bearing God's man. out of the dust  an.d His breathing into him the
     image                                          :                        breath of life. Thus, i.e. by this twofold act of God              .
              -e*


                                                T H E   STANDARD.   B`EAjd'ti~                                               129

 man became a living soul.  Man  is the subject  aibo.ut           cated  by a  twofo1.d   clifferen,ce  between the creation of
 whi,ch~  is spoken throughout the  text:  rna~~  is formed,       man.and  that of the animals. First of all, the animals
 into man's nostrils is breathed the breath of I&, `.macn          were simply  called-  forth from the ground  _ (the fish
 became a living soul. "Living  sdul"  in Gen. 2  :7, there- and fowls- from the watevls)  ; man is formed as to his
 f,ore,  does not at- all refer to -man's  spiritual being in      physical side by t,he very fingers of the great Artifice+.
 distinction from  his body. This will  b,e  all the more          M,an   did.  not simply find his origin in the ground.
 evident if we consider that the same  term "living soul"          There is no  continnous  line of  evolut.ion  from the
 is used  also  in  Ireference  to the animals. In our English animals to man. The line is `broken. God formed
 tran:slation  of  G,en. I this is not apparent, but the           man out of the dust of  the,g?ound.     The "missing  link"
Holland rendering is more faithful to the original,                is missing indeed ! Closely man is related to the
 when it  sp&ks  `of the animals as  "levende   zielen'l.          atii,mals.  Both are  living  souls. We may.  e-pen  say
 Gen.  1:20   should   baye  been translated : "Let the waters that there is a kind of image of man in the animals.
 swarm with swarms of living  SOUIS". And  G'en.   1:24            This is very evident in the life of the.higher animals.
 should read: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth             Wi$hin  their limited sphere they reflect an image of
 living so~uls  after their kind." In both cases  i,dentically     the life  pf  man. Also the  anikmal   reme:mbers,  dreams,.
 the same t;vords  are used as in `Gen.  2 :7 with respeot  to     rejoices and evinces deep  sorrow,  lov+s  and hates,
 man. Fish and fowl; cattle and beasts  of the field and           shows  fmear,  courage, faithfulness, and  .even  shows a
 creeping things are living  SOL&,.   A.ud  thus man also, sense of guilt in relation to man. But  w:ithal  there is
 was made a living soul. The term as such, therefore, a sharp boundary fixed by the very act by whioh  man
`as it is used in Gen. 1 and  2, denotes nothing more              Was created. The animals are called forth by God's
 than  la creature with locomotion,  a  creaturk  that is          Word out of the ground, man is formed by God's
 free to move about by an act that has its impetus from             creative hand. The very act that forms Adam out
 within  the  creatur'e.  Plants are not living  souls.  They      of the earth elevates him above it!           Being closely
 are fixed in the earth. They do noit freely determine related to  the earth  be.clause  he is formed of its sub-                   .
 their own movement' on the earth. But. animals and                 staice,  he is capable of living and moving on the earth,
 man are living so~~ls.                                             can  ent.er  into communion with its creatures, share
     H,o,wever,  there is a sharp distinction between the his  186  with them,  use   theiT  resources as means to
 animal as a  living.so.ul  and man. This is  indizated  "y labor with them and to support and enrich his own life
 the way in which man is created in distinction from from them ; yet, by being formed by God's own fingers?
 the creation of the animals. Like the animals he is,              he is elevated above the earth: his relation  to the dust
 indeed,  taken out of -the `ground. He is of the earth             of the earth is one `of freedom. For  &  was  made to
 earthy. He is  not the Lord of heaven. I Cor.  15:47,             be lord of the earthly creation, and even his  physical
 98.  To the earth he is closely related. The chemical organ&m  is adapted to this lordship. His upright
 tio8mpositi6n  of his physical organism is  eautthy.  He is position, his noble form bespeak royalty; his finely
 created to live on the earth. As he was  cr,eated  he              formed hand was shaped for the  soeptre; his face is
 could  not  possicbly  live in heaven. Flesh  &Id  blood the face  6f  a king. And by his being  j!or&ed  out of
 cannot inherit  thehekingdom  of God ! Dependent on  the           the dust of the ground even his physical organism
 earth he is for  his very subsistence  .and  life. From'the        was worthy of a beirig that was  aclapted  to be the
 earth his  life must  co&atitly  be replenished. `And if           image-bearer of God !
 he cannot eat of the tree of life, he must -needs return              But there is another distinction between the  way  in
 to the d.ust  sooner or later. Gen. 3:22  . And he has a           which God created the .animals  and that in tihi.ch  .He
 psychical body, a body that is wholly adapted to serve             give being to man : the breathing into. man's nostrils
 as instrument of a "sotil", to live an earthly life. - He          of -the  breath  of life. This  a&  of God is absent in the
 has earthly  sensa-tions   alid  earthly perceptions. He has       creation of the animals altogether. It is an act of the
 an earthly ear to catch earthly sounds  ;. he has an               Spirit-of God. While- God took and formed man out
 earthly eye to catch earthly sights;  ap earthly sense             of the dust of the ground, H,e so belabored him by His
 of taste and touch and smell  that  brings him into                Spirit  that   h,e   beoame  a living soul which is also a
 contact   with earthly  `things  only.          There are things personal spirit. Of  the.animals  nothing more is said
 which his  ,eye  cannot see, and his ear cannot hear,  ,a&         than that they were called forth out of the ground and
 that cannot  &en arise in  h& heart without special                out of the waters. They are purely material living
 revel&ion.    Eveti  his thinking- and willing, his ideals         souls. Their soul is in their blood. Not so with man.
 aind  aspirhtions,  his  ties  bf   fri&dshi$   atid  love,-all tHe  is made a psychical body, a body th& is so finely
 Bs&ne  earthly forms. `Thk   ~Y$%?,   +n&n is of the earth         and  deliic&ely  constructed as to be adapted to be the
 `earthy !  -                `.._    ::.  :.                        instrument of a personal soul; and he is made a per-
   But. let  us note the  di,&$&oil  between  man  as a             sonal spirit by-the very  i,nbreathing  of God. into.  his
 living  soul  alid  the anim$l$,   "!Thi$ distindion  is indi-     nostrils of  the  breath `of life, By this  s@cotid   &p'ect


 ,130                                       T    H    E    -    S    T    A    N      D      A             R    D       BkA.RER

of God's creative act man's  .whole  nature became                   vation  is sufficiently taught therein ; this being true,
  adapted to be the bearer of God's image. ,This  is not             these Scriptures are the sole source of man's know-
th.e same as saying that he is God's  -image.,  But it               ledge of (God  and sal(vation.
  means  th,at  he is a personal  bein$g,  with a rational,               2) The Scriptures  bbeing  the very word of God are
  moral nature, capable of standing in a conscious,                  the sole infallible rule of faith and- wa1.k of life.
  personal relation to God, capable of  kno.wledge  of                    3) The believers have received the anointing and it
  God, of righteousness and holiness. And this  capability           abideth in them. Thus they all know and need not
  of being eedowed  with God's image, we would prefer                that any man teach them.
  te  ,call  God's image in a formal sense. No matter what                4) The foundation of God  standeth  firm, having
 Ibecounes  of man, whether he actually shows forth                  this seal : The Lord ,knoweth  them that are His ; and,
  the beauty and glory of the image of God, or whether               He that  calleth  upon the name of the Lord, let him
  he turns into the very opposite and reveals the image              desist from unrighteousness.
  of the devil, always you  can.  distinguish  hiem as a                  All the theses of Luther-of which -there were
  creature th&  ought to show forth Gocl's  ;imnge,  always ninety and `five-were the product of the application,
  he remains the living soul that was formed by God's                by this  ref,ormer,  of these principles of truth to the
  fingers out .of the dust of the ground, and into whose             fa!.se  doctrines and the corrupt practices of the Roman
  nostrils God breathed the breath  -of life originally;             Chur,ch.  It was as acting upon these principles that
  always he  reimains  a. personal, rational and moral he  pl,aced  this word in the hands of  the-  common be-
  being, who  ought  to live in  coven&t   f,ellowship  with lievers  ,and bade them read that they might experience
  the living God!                                                    in their, own souls that through this Word as made to
                                                      H. H.          dwell in them by Christ's Spirit, God speaks to His
                                                                     children, that n.ot  by any pronouncement of the priest
                                                                     but by this Word alone He justifies- them in their
                                                                     hearts so that they have peace  tow.ard  Him, that by
                                                                     this Word, finally, He does certainly transport them
                                                                     out of the darkness of sin into the light of His pre-
   The  Refcm&tion  and the Renaissance                              s e n c e .
                                                                          But these certainly were not the principles of the
         As was said, the Reformation was a movement that Renaissance .and  the doings of the men who set this
exalted  .the Bible as the sole infallible  source  of doc-          movement on foot and by  -w~hom  it .was represented.
  trine.  A,ccording  to the literal meaning of the word,                 The subjective principle of  .the  Renaissance was
 the  R,enaissance  was a re-birth. It denoted that new              unbelief, hatred of God and His .Word  and positively,
zeal for pagan literature, learning and art, which                   the love of the world, of the things in it-the lusts
  sprang  up in Italy toward the close of the  Middl,e.Ages.         of the flesh, the lusts of the- eyes and the pride of
  But in -its broadest sense the Renaissance must be re-             life. Its  olbjective  principle was the lie,  i.n  particular
  garded as a function of that energy that brought this  lie'?that  the  worl,d passeth not away but abideth
 this modern civilization with its new and pagan con-                everlastingly, that. this life is all and that therefore
  ception of religion and science, and with its  manifol,d           the thing to do for man is to make the most of this
  inventions and discoveries.            Of this movement the life by improving it to the best of his abilities and
 R,eformation  was neither a phase nay  a product. Th'e              by drinking deeply of its pleasures. And this  .verily
  two movements, it was affirmed, differed. They dif- was  th.e theory of knowledge of the Renaissance, name-
  fered as to the time which each  octiupied.  Each had              ly, that the source and criterion of man's knowledge of
  its f:orerunners  and birth-pl.aee.      This has been shown.      man, of God and of all things is man himself-his
  They also differed as to principle, essence, nahure,  and          min'd,  reason, (rationalism) ; his feeling, experience
  aim. This last proposition still  n,eeds  to be proved.            (mysticism)  .; or his will (moral&m), and that `there-
         The subjective principle of the Reformation was fore the sole rule of life and all conduct is the will of
  the life of regeneration, the  tru.e  faith and love of            this same man.
  the men of God by which this movement was repre-                        As  a,cting  upon these principles; the men of the
  sented. The  obj.ective  principle of the Reformation Renaissance seated man in God's throne and God at
  was the  t.ruth as God's believing people possess it in            man's feet, lived. by the word that proceedeth out of
  Christ  J~ESI.KS.   But this  is  expr,essing  the matter in       man's mouth:`- and made their belly their God. Thus
language too general.          Ther,e were certain definite the Renaissance was a movement that originated in
principles of truth upon the foundation of which the                 the flesh, was sustained by sinful flesh, and was ex-
 -Reformation  as a movement proceeded. They are :                   pressive of all its aims and strivings. Rightly con-
         1) The Holy Scriptures fully contain. the will of sidered, the  R,enaissance:is  so old as the human family.
. . God and  .whatsoever  man ought to believe unto  Sal:            Its `very-  first.   forerunnersc,are
                                                                                       .   .   ,,Lr,-..               the first  p-are@   of.   .this


                                         T H E   S.TANDARD   BEA'RER                                                        131.

family-Adam and Eve. It was in their disobedience, great wisdom literature upon which the world of this.
-in their acting upon  the  lie  of the devil that eating           modern-  era-.feeds  and from which it derives its in-
of the. forbidden tree  thehey;  would be- as  Gad=that  this' kpiration?
movement originated. And it is in the se-id  of"the                    il'h;e.  Reforka'cion,  it ought to be plain, was not a
serpent that -through the ages it takes on flesh and                product of the  Renaisiance.  Yet the two movements
blood and can be seen and heard and handled.                        are being identified the one with the other. It can be
    Let us show now that this appraisal of the move-                expect.ed   th'at  the Modernist student of history insists
ment under  consi.deration  is correct. That learning,              that  at  bottom the two are one and the same.  The
culture, imported by Greek scholars into Italy-what Modernists deny that there is a people-God's  beliep
was it.? The land of its nativity  w.as ancient Greece              ing people-in whose essence and  ,energy  there-operates
and Rome. It was thus Pagan. It was man's word.                     a new  and  holy principle of  life. and that there are
This is equivalent to saying that it was  .the  wisdom movements in history of  wh;ch  the only tennable ex-
of- the world-the wisdom of which the apostle James                 planation is that they are the function of this sanctified
says that it is devilish. Indeed it was culture; But it energy, and that the Reformation in distinction from
was the culture not of  &d  ibut  o;f the Graeco-Roman              th_e  Renaissance was  sech a movement. In opposition
world, of Athens. Once more, then, what is this cul-                to this denial, the  bel+eving  student of history  must
ture, learning? Properly, it is hot, as some imagine,               certainly affirm that the  Refortiation  was the working
the  e$rth  and its fulness as counted,  w,eighed,  and             of true faith. For such it  w,as.  He must not allow
measured by Athens, by  thle world. It is not  su.ch                himself to be misled by the circumstance that appar-
learning as that the frame of a dog and a cat and                   ently  ther,e   is something to say in favor of the view
a, human and of whatever creature you may name is                   that at least in Germany, the Lowlan,ds  and England
formed of so many bones; that the sun is the center of              the Reformation was a product of the Renaissance.
our solar system  ; that the  Forces  which attract ma-                What then is  ther,e  to say in favor for this  Iview?
terial bodies to each ,other  are so and 80 great.       These      Let us consider the following. As  wassaid,  if taken
things, the cat and dog, the  stars  and planets, numbers,          *thin  its  narrowest limits, the Reformation is to be
distances  and  weights, in a word,`.the earth and its              r.egarded  as cotimencing in the year 1517-the  year in
fulness, are' God's things. And these things Athens',               which Luther, through his  publi'c&ion  of his 95 theses,
&er  men of science, weighs, measures, and counts.                  initiated that direct and open renunciation of medieval
And Athens' computations, in so far as they are -car-               heretical  do.ctrine  of the Roman Church. It was also
rec$, together with Athens skill and-accuracy as a com-             pointed out that the da& to be selected for `the ibegin-
puter, are also of ,God.    However, having appropriated ning of the Renaissance is the year  1453the  year
this learning, one has not Athens' wisdom,  oulture,                in'.which Constantinople `fell into the hands of  the
but God's things. The things of Athens, Athens' cul-                Turks. The fall of this city caused  a great migration
ture,  wis,dom,   is the  lu&s  of the  fl,esh,  the lust of the    of Greek scholars to West,ern  Europe and in p&%icular
eyes and the pride of life, as rationalized by Athens'              to Italy. The pagan learning of Greece  and  Rome
wisemen,  extolled `by Athens' poets, and immortalized whi,ch  these fugitives brought  .with  them was gladly
,in stone  iby Athens' sculptors. Athens' wisdom is the             received by secular and spiritual potentates alike ; and
glory  ,of  God changed into an image made  like unto               the revival of that intellectual activity, that was  stimu-
corruptible man, is thus man deified. Anyone at all .lated  by this pagan learning and that was  knoti  as
acquainted with this wisdom, learning,  .knows  that the the Renaissance  or Humanism, began.
Greek poets put a devilish element in their gods, that-                Thus the Renaissance preceded the Reformation
in the Greek and Roman deities they  saw  and  wor- approximately by some 60 years. During these years
shipped the weaknesses and  yices  of the Grecian char-             several of the humanists inveighed with special force
acter   ; that the noblest (  ?) of the Greeks-Plato and            against the very heretical doctrines and corrupt prac-
Socrates-gave to the most revolting  of  .a11 vices the tices of the church, the open renunciation  df  which
sanction of  h&great authority.                                     Luther initiated through his publication of his theses.
    This is the truth about Athens' learning and cul-               As Luther later on, so these humanists, uttered severe
ture. Now the place that the Holy Scriptures occupied den&i'ation  agiinst  the doctrines of indulgence;vener-
in the lives of Luther and .his  spiritual kin, this pagan          ation  of saints, and purgatory.       They opposed the  -
learning held in the lives of the men of the  Renais-               existing church-system, and they rejected both popes
saece..  -They gloried in it. It formed their food and and councils as the` ultimate and supreme authorities
drink.  `As  steeped in this learning, and under the                in matters of faith. Erasmus, who acquired the title
impulse of the inspiration which they derived from-it,              of "Prince of humanists" interested himself `deeply
the  thinlkers  and the dreamers among these men, rear- in the Scriptures and in the writings of the church
ed their thought-structures and produced  their  poetry.            fa!hers. H,e published an, edition of the Greek ,Testa--
And it is in turn this literary output, that forms the              ment, wrote several commentaries, and edited the  prin-


                          _.                   ,
 1 3 2                                         THE   ST,ANDAR,D   B - E A R - E - R
                                       1  /
 cip,al  church fathers.'  T.hese  German humanists  ex-                        The Person of  the Prophet Isaiah
`press,ed  by the written and spoken  wqrd  great dis-
 content with the prevailing corruption and misgovern-                c        @cording  to the schedule, it is required of ine th&
 mcnt  in the church and with papal  interfterence  in civil               I write  ine'article  on each of the following persons:
 affairs. They protested against the growing  paganiz-                     Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel. Now the task-of writing
 ing of the  papacy  and the superstitious and magical or discoursing on the person of Isaiah-to confine o,ur-
 uses of the sacraments. Apparently the humanists iii                      selves now to this prophet-consist certainly in direct-
 Gekmany  were reformers  bef,ore  the  - Reformation.                     ing our attention to the man. It is a task that is to be
Seemingly the Renaissance, too, like the Reformation                       Ferf ormed through our raising and answering. ques-
 was a movement in  tl&  sphere of religion.                               tions about  him, especially the question: what manner
    Yet, let u$ not be .deceived.     The question of motive               of man was he as to his character and  n.atura!  and
 and aim enters in here. True,  H.umanism,  the Renais-                    spiritual endowments . Now this` task is a possible ,one
 sance, inveiged against both .popes  an@  councils as the                 because the prophet stands revealed before us in and
 ultilmate   authoriti,es  in matters of faith. But in doing               through the discourse that bears  hiti  name. But right
 so it was moved by a hatred of all authority, whether                     here we hit upon a difficulty. Isaiah  was no ordinary
 as  ,expressed  in the  ,decrees  of councils, in the pro-                writer. His discourse is not to be classified with ordin-
 nouncements of the popes, or in the doctrine of the                       ary literary productions. Isaiah was a prophet of God.
 Scriptures.  T,hus  its aim was to  emtancipate  the mind                 He  was  ati organ of  r.evel&ion.  His  writhing  is pro-
 of .man  from the' reign not merely of tradition and the                  phecy. It  was  comm.unicated  to him  bjr  the Lord' God
 dogma of the church but of the scriptures as well. If                     and reproduced by him under the VimpUlse   ef an `in-
 the priests had-  sulbordinated  the Bible to tradition and               fallible inspiration. If so, can it be `then that in this
dogma, humanism  subordtnated  it to individual and pri-                   prophecy we halv:e the man  Isaiah? F;ts  mind and will,
 vate  jndgmeilt.   Zumahism,  therefore, was skeptical,                   the depth of  `his   `thdught, the  br;eadth  of  his   vision, the
 rationalis$ic.  The quarrel of Humanism  `vith  Rome                      fire that bdrned,  in l& soul, and the b@at  of his  heart?
 was that it had shackled human  r,eason.               Erasmus                It  iS clear that iti treating a subject .bf  this nature;
 wrote commentaries on the Scriptures. But he did  not.                    it is of  utniost   impc%tance  that we be equipped with
 submit   himself-  to their authority. Were he living right conceptions about the Bible alid  the use tihat,God
today, he would-be a rationalist.                                          made of the human agents through whom He brought
    On the other hand, the aim of the Reformation was                      the Bible into-being. Before  .tatiing  hold of--  our  sub-
 to emacipate  the Scriptures from the r,eign  of tradition                ject  it- may be well to' state that  pl"incfple  of truth oh
 and dogma and td subj.ect  human reason to the reign                      the foundation of which we must proceed, if we are to
 of the Scriptures. The Reformation  loived'the  Bible.                    avoid being esposed to the danger of-giving expression
 To the Bible it went back in the original languages.                      to  doubtful-sentimeiits     as we proceed.          t
 T-&e  .Rern$ssance,  also in Germany, went back to the                       The Word of God-quoting' the- Confession-was
ancient classics and revived the spirit of Greek and                       not sent, nor delivered by the will of  man,  but holy
 R,oman  paganism. Assuredly, the two movements dif- men of God  spake-  as. they were'  mov6d  by the Holy
 fered materially. The Reformation was not a scion of                      Ghost,. as the  aDostIe   Peter  `saith,  And  aftekwards
 t h e   Renais'sance.                                                     God, .from  a special care, which He has for us and our
   :  ,It  should also be born in -mind that in Germany                    salvation, commanded his  ser;vants,  the  p?oph&ts  and
 several of those who cultivated the new learning were                     the  apostl'es,  to commit His revealed Word to writing;
 not humanist at heart but. sincere and devout Chris-                      and He Himself wrote with  HiS own finger; the two
 tians. A  c&e at point is the theologian and scholar                      tabl,es of the law. Therefore we  ~$1  such  writings
 John Wessel,  who was born at Gronigen -in f421,  and                     holy and divine Scriptures.
 who.  died in 1489 with the  c&fession  on his lips, "I                      Let  n8  bri,efly  lay hold on the implication of this
 know only Jesus, the Crucified." A desire to know                         proposition,  articl,e  of faith.  It   cert&inly  does not
 more  .about  humanism sent him to Rome, where he  was                    imply that there is, coniained  in the :XIoly  Scriptures  ti
 fovnd   .the  intimate -friend of Italian scholars.                       twofold factor; divine and human. A  factor is a caus-
     But if all. things work together for' good to them                    ative agent. -It is one of the elements that contribute
 that  lolve  God, must the stand  nqt  be  .taken   that.in  some         to produce a result. (Webster). Now the Bible;  ceir-
ways the  R,eformation  was benefited by the  %Renais-                     tainly,  is not a result toward the  productionlof  :whidh
 sance?  It was benefited, but only negatively, thus in                    both God and the  huma+-the  prophets and  the'abostles
 the same sense that  Moses`was  helped by the pleasures                   -contribut,ed.  Yet, this is tlie stand that has  b&en
 of. sin which he encountered at the Court of Pharaoh.                     taken. -The content of the Scriptures; it is  said;`is of
 The sight of these pleasures turned him consciously                       God; the-form  .is of m&n. Or, the words of  Jesus  alone
 and intensely against them. -No  true believer can revel are of God, the words -of the prophets and the  apcjstles
 in paganism. .                                      G. &I. 0.              a&  `of man. Prof.  Berkhpf-p  in his  Hermeneutics.   in-


                                                                                                                  c


                                               TH_F:       :STANDARD                   BEARER                                             133  `

      veighs against these views. It is well that he does so.                  ture at that. Our  Bible  will therefore cease; aanish
      But in his exl:ositjon  of .the,above-cited  article of faith,           away at the second coming of  ChrIsit  as certainly as
      he-also should have avoided the terms "human factor':                    the Old Testament symbolical-typical institution wax
      "divine  fa.ctor".;  for they are terms ill-chosen.  Thei%               .old   arid-`%anai&ed  away at His first coming. S:zch  is
      employment is certain to result in the making of wrong the  teat.hing  of. Faul  in I Cor. 13, "Gut  whethe:  there
      and even impossible statements, for example such as be prophecies, they shall fail ; whether there be tongues,
      the  folloiwing  (from the professor's pen),  ,"De   rechte              they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall
      beschouwing over  de:ze verhouding  mogen we dan ooh vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy
      in  deze   woor,den   aangeven:  Heel de  Heiliige  Schrift is           in part. But when that  whi,zh  is perfect is come, then
      ter  ,zelfder  tijd  beid,e  goddelijk en menschelijk. Dit               that which is in part shall be done away with." The
      geld zoowel den vorm  als den inhoud." So then, all                      Bible then is an earthy creature-and solely  this7
      the Scriptures, both their content and form, are at once                 destined to vanish .away.      To  say  then, with the pro-
      a  contr+bution  of man and of God. Now this, of course,                 fessor  (Berkhof),  that  `$Heel   ,de  Heilige  Schrift is ter
      can't be. It is even a much more impossible view than zelder tijd beide goddelijk en menschelijk,"  is to  gi!vs
      the one according to which the content of Scripture                      expression to a thoroughly pantheistic sentiment. The
      is of God and the form of man.
_-                                                                             Bible is not  also  divine. The Bible is only a creatiu-e.
          There is but one factor in the Bible, namely, the                    God, and He ,alone,  is divine.
      divin,e.  The whole of the Scriptures, their form.  and                     ~Let  us now take hold of our subject.
      th.eir  content, their every  word, is God's creation, work                  As to the outward relations of the prophet  allmo&
      and thus solely His contribution.               The "Holy  inen"         nothing is known. -The name of his father was Amos.
      contributed nothing. For they, too, were. the  contri,bu-                It is not known who this was. Some erroneously i,denti-  -
      tions of God, the very work of His hands, prepared by                    fied him with the prophet Amos. There is no ground
      him to receive and to s-peak and to write as His agents for making out of him, as the  Rzbbins  have done, a
      His Word.                                                                brother to the king Amaiiah.  Isa@h Iived -at Jeru-
          But if so,  cati  it be said that  w,e actually have in              salem and performed his prophetic labors under the
      the prophetic discourse of Isaiah the man himself. kings Uzziah,  Jot&am,  Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He was
      This must be said, for so it is.            For the fact of  tile        contemporary,  therefore, with  Hosea  and Amos, though
      matter is this: God used His entire preparation, the                     he labored in Judah, the sbuthern kingdom. He ser-
      whole man Isaiah, `his body and soul, his language, his                  vived Hezekiah, and  lirv,ed some years-how long -is
      memory and all that was stored in it, his capacities,                    not known-under the reign of his  cr.uel   *and  wicke`d
      his natural gift  an,d spiritual `endowments, .his char-                 son-Manasseh. .-According to tradition, he was slain
      acter and individuality, his experiences both  <bitter  and by Manasseh, being sawn asunder with a wooden saw.
      sweet, his joys and his sorrows-in a word the  whol,e                    This agrees  with the inhuman  chal;aater  of  Manadseh
      man as he had been prepared  by  the Lord. In this                       as portrayed in the Scriptures; for it is said that  "he
      work of  Go,d-a  work that  consis;ted  in  :His  bringing               shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jeru-
      into being the Scriptures-Isaiah,  ns God  had   rmde                    salem  frbtm one'end to the other" II Kings  21:6).       The
      h&n,  was active as Gods infallible agent.                               epistle to the Hebrews states that some Old  T&ament
          -It  must be observed further that Isaiah as God's                   helievers "were sawn asunder"1           This may  Pefer   to-
      workmanship differed from the other prophets.  The                       the Jewish tradition that Isaiah came to his  e'nd  in this.
      reason is that  the discourse that the Lord wanted to                    way. The charge alleged against Isaiah,. for which
      bring in through him differed from those of the other                    he w'as  #put  to cleath,  was,.as  stated by the Talmud, that
      prophets. As we shall see: the discourse of Isaiah w&s                   he pretended that he had seen  Go-d"  (Isaiah 6  :l)  ;
      one of surpassing  profuedity  and  ibreadth   of.  vision.              whereas Moses said, "No man shall see God and live":
      Th,erefore  the Lord so endowed him that he, in dis-                     (Ex. 33  i20).    But this was a mere  pretense. .The  real
      tinction from all the others, was peculiarly adapted to                  offence  of Isaiah was that in strongest language and
 the discourse that was to be brought-into being through without mincing words, he opposed and denounced the:
      him. This being true, we have' in his discourse not                      exist,iiog  idolatries. He is said by the early Christians
      Amos or Micah but the man Isaiah, the reflection of                      to have  lirved  one-hundred and twenty years. He was
 his individuality and  eedowments.  His prophecy be-                          active in his  ofice almost a hundred years.  .He  had a
speaks  his  peculiar gifts. And the character of his                          wife and two sons whose names are: given in chapters
 praphecy  is thus an index to the ch$racter  of the man                       7:3  a n d  
                                                                                                  8:3.
      Isaiah.                                                                     This is all that there is to be said about the prophet,
          Let it be said once more that the Bible  $a  creature unless we concentrate on his prophecy as  such.'  This
      -the creature of God.  - The Bible is  `-not the truth.                  we will now  do; Because,  ashas  jhst been explained,
      Only. God  is~ the truth. The Bible is the revelation of the d,iscourse  of the prophet  rev&ls the mah; its  &ar-
      the truth,  .an,d  as,suc,h   ,a.  creature,  and.  an earthly  crea-    acteristics  a.re  his characteristic and form an index to


his natural and  &ritual  endowments. Thus, if we find form a separate total by themselves. Their subject is
that this discourse is remarkable for its moral.courage,             exclusively salvation and the \whole  period of it begin-
 we know that the prophet was like,wise  a man of cour-              n$g With ihe: d&liverance:  from  -the  exile and extend-
 age  and  fortitude. So, the thing for us to  do,.  if we           ihg  to  $nd   jncluding.   the:second:  coming: of Christ.
 want to  kn&  more about the' man  I.suinh,  is  tb examine             Such is the substance'of the prophecy with.which
his prophecy.                                                        we now have to do. In it Isaiah appears as a man first-
      Doing so, we observe that this prophecy is char-               ly of great courage, devoted obedience, and implicit
 acterized by great  coupage  indeed and further by                  trust in God. In a  language   remarkaable  for its bold-
 remarkable profundity, farsightedness and bpeedth  of               ness and strength, he complains of Judah's  rebel`lion.
 vision. Let us get the sulbstan.ce  of this discourse be-           One example of this, "Hear, 0 heavens, and give earj
fore us.                                                             0 earth ; for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished
      The  book is to be' divided `into two chief  parts   :         and brought up children, and they have rebelled
 chapters 1 to 39, and. 40 to 66. Chapters 3 to 6 form against me. The ox know&h his owner, and  the  ,ass
the threefold introduction, that relates to the  ~entire             his  mast%r's  crib: but Israel does not know, my people
book. The first division of the principal part of the                doth not consider. . . . Hear the word of the Lord, ye
book includes  chapters  `7  to 12. This section treats of rulers of Sqdom  ; give ear unto the law of our God, ye
the relations of Israel to Assyria. Syria. and Israel                people of Gomorrah"  (1:2, 10). Because the hearts of
shall be  su,bdued  by Assyria and likewise Judah for                the people are f,ar  from the Lor,d,  their wholetservice  is
their  infidel,ity.  Comfort shall be to them that fear              vain  ; and the  pr.ophet  tells them this, "To what purpose
 God. Assyria shall fall. The peaceable  king-lam  of                is the multitude df  your sacrifices unto me, saith the
the branch out of the root of Jesse shall come. Israel Lord:. I am full of the burntofferings  of-   rams, .  -.  .
shall be restored and the outcasts of Israel- gathered               Britig.  no  more,  oblations,  in.cense  is an abomination
from the four corners of the earth.                                  unto me. . . . your new moons and Sabbaths, the call-
             The second ,division  (chapter 13-27) contains the      ing of assemblies, I cannot away with it; it is iniquity,
prophecies against foreign nations. The nations whose even the solemn meetings (1:  1.1-13).                      There is no  prat-
 downfall is predicted are : Babylon, whom the prophet               ing here on the part of the prophet of the "good that
 sees as the chief enemy  of-  Israel; Philistia, Moab,              siliners  do". He dares to  call  the  .b&t works of  !he
 Ephraim,  Syria, Ethiopia and Egypt. A prophecy                     wicked  by their right name-iniquity, abomination.
 against Tyre forms the conclusion of this second sub-               He  *is  wholly without fear of  nian  and regard for
 division.        Thk  third division (chapters 28-33) deals merely human  ifiterests.              With the greatest determina-
with the relation. of Israel to Assyria in the days of tion he opposes  unbeliebving  king Ahaz  (7:sqq.),  the
king  Hezek?a&  In this section the  word  of the pro-               chamberlain Shebna  (12 :15sqq.),  people of high estate
phet is to the affect that  Jerusalem  Will be overtaken             in Judah-apostate, priests and false  prophe$s,  the
lby j uldgment.        IHe  censur,es  the people for- their con-    whole  peopl?.  He unsparingly critit&izes   Hezekiah  and
 fidence in Egypt.  .-He  shows the  fall%f  Assyria, the            his  hobla   &,dvisors.  He denounces their foreign policy
' mercies of God toward His' church, the salvation of                with respect to Egypt.      -With  the same boldness he tells
the church, and the blessings of  Ch,rist's  kingdom.                Hezekiah that he must die, when he is sick and after-
 The fourth subdtision  comprises chapters 34 and 315.               wards announced to the believing  supplient  the de-
 These two chapters form the final part of the  first  prin- liverance of Jerusalem and the prolonging of his days.  -
 cipal part of the whole discourse. They conkain  a con- When `Hezekiah in his vanity has showed his treasures
 cluding glance at the' end-period in respect to the two             to the messengefs  from Babylon, the prophet in plain
 as,pects  of it, namely,  fdivine  punishments  atid   -salva-      language tells him that all this shall be carried away
 tion. The first  is -presented  Bs including not only th;!          in exile to Babylon.
earth but the heavenly bodies as well. The judgment                      As was said, further, the prophecy of Isaiah is char-
 on earth is against one of Israel's most bitter enemies,            acterized by remarkable farsightedness and breadth
namely, Edom. Chapter 35 describes the joyful flbur-                 of vision. In it the time of salvation  ,extends  to the.
 ishi'ng  of Christ's kingdom-the kingdom whose com-                 end  of this world, thus to the regeneration of all things
ing spells salvation for the people of God. The fifth sub-           and the appearance of Christ with His Church on
 division is  fortied  of chapters 36-39. Its content- is            the new earth . This period of salvation is'set forth by
 historical  aad  essentially the same  as II Kings 18 :13-          the'  prophet as having three &ages.          The first is  ihe
 20  {lg.      These chapters `relate the deepest distress into      deliverance out of Babylonian exile. This salvation,
 whi,ch  Hezekiah,  shut up in his capitol city-Jerusalem,           in turn, forms the ground in whi,ch  a new salvation is
 was  brobght'by  the Assyrians, and also the complete               typically described. The people of Israel  wiil  be  de-
 deliver,aance  out of this distress by the  plague-  that           delivered  frolp its spiritual  ,bondage  to sin. The chains
 broke.Iodt.  in  the-cam,p  of the Assyrians.          .            of idolatry will `,be broken-.     T.he  central point of the
    Part second is formed  &f.  gchapt;`ers   40-66.  They           second `stage of salvation `is' the suffering  servant of


                                                  THE   STANDARD   BE-ARE?,                                                                 136

          Jeh-ah.       He becomes the redeemer of His  people.                   De ervaring  van.Gods  volk is, dat het  bvel  schijnt
          He is lifted  out of His humility. He becomes the                   alsof  dé aarde van plaats verandert en de bergen ver-
     juage  of  al1 the world.  .!He  destroys  al1  the   wicked-and         zet  ~worden  in `t hart der zee. De wateren van de
     the fruit of His redeeming work is a new humanity,                       volkenzee   biuisen  en  w,orden   ,beroend   ; de  ioergen  dave-
          ser!\rin.g  God in Spirit and in Truth, and a new heaven            ren door  derzelver  verheffing.
          and a  new earth. This is the third stage of  salva-                   Ziet ge,  cie heidenen razen, de koninkrijken  be-
     tion.                                                                    weigen  zich : er zijn vreeselijke oorlogen op aarde.
            Isaiah.is  unique  a.n&ng  the prophets  for, His depth           De boog doorpriemt, de speer verscheurt, de  wagenen
          of  insight  in the mystery of  salvatiofi.   .Of   al1 the         vermorzelen.       (Denkt aan de  panzer-divisiofis   !)-
          prophets of the Old Dispensation, he is the only one                    Dat alles maakt  Gods volk benauwd.
     w.ho  set  forth,  the  `sufferlngs  of Christ-the  servatit  of          -  Want  eigenlijk is alle geweld,  van  welke natuur en
          Jehovah-as  possessing:   atoning   virtue;  The first  revel-      karakter dan ook, gericht tot God en tot Zijn  .Gezalfde,
          ation  made to man  after  the  fa11  contains a  clear   refer-    en, ter  laatster   insbantie,  ook tegen de kerk van Chris-
          etice  to Christ's sufferings,  assertinlg,  as it does, that       tus. Alle oorlogen zijn godsdienst-oorlogen.  Dat  wil
          the heel of the woman's seed should be bruised by the               zeggen, als  ge slechts, dieper blikt dan de oppervlakte.
          serl;ent.    The  bqok of the Psalms are interspersed with              De vreeselijke vraag van Psalm 2 kan in alle eeuwen
          lively  descriptions of  what.this  seed-Christ and His             gedaan : Waarom woeden de heidenen en bedenken
          body, which is the  church-shall  have to  endure  at  the          de  volrken  ijdelheid ? `Ook moet ge altijd weer aan
          hands of the antagonist.            Isaiah,  however,  was the      hetzelfde antwoord  geven  : De Koningen der aarde stel-
          only  seer  to assert, "He was wounded for  our trans-              len zich op, en de Vorsten beraadslagen te zamen tegen
   gressions, He was bruised for  our iniquities: the  chas-                  den Heere  .en tegen Zijnen Gezalfde: Laat  ofis hunne
          tisement of  our  peace was  upon  Him, and with His                bgnden  verscheuren, en hunne touwen van  otis wer-
          stripes  we were healed, and the Lord hath laid  upon               pen !
          Him the iniquities öf  US  all."                                        Het is niet moeilijk om dit aan te toon&. Als ge
                                                            G. M. 0.          het  vreeselijke beeld van Stalin, als ge den snoevenden
                                                                              Hitler, of den mallen, bluffenden Mussolini voor  oogen
                                                                              stelt, waar denkt  ge dan aan?  Wzaarom  verschiet Uw
                            Een  Hooi Vertrek                                 kleur?  D,e  wreede,  ruwe,   goddelooze  regeerders  +an.alle
                                                                              dagen  keeren  zich ten  finale  tegen het ware  volk   Gods.
                                                                              Als Hitler zijn zin krijgt,  tiat  blijft'e?  dan  over-+an  de
                                (PSalm   4 6 )                                ChriStelijke   Schoól,.van,  alle openbaring  des  G&refol:-
              `t Is niet onverschillig welke stem ge verkiest  voor           meerden  levens? Als Stalin  Amerikaansch   woïdt,  ge-
          `t zingen  sari een zeker lied. Al naar gelang het lied huldigd zou worden  aan'.Cap&ol   Hili, wat zöu er dan
          vroo$k  of droevig is,  jui.cht  in overwinning of klaagt           overblijven  van  den openbaren  eeredietist  dien naam
          -,  anq;ege   clen  nederlaag, zult ge de juiste stem moeten        waard? Dan zullen  nich  de god-loozen verblijden en de
          zoeken die zulke verschillende ervaringen moeten ver-               dochters der Filistijnen  .opspiYngen van Vreugde. Doch
          tolken.      De  di,chter en  de. componist vullen elkaar           dan is er in onze  kerken   zuchiing-  en diep lijden.
          a a n .                                                                 Alle oorlog  ?i(cht   `zi&  ten finale op de Kerk van
            Psalm   46,moet   gezongen..op   d e   Alamoth.        I          Christus.       Zijn  streven-&  om de touwen en koorden
              Het woord beteekent in `t enkelvoud <`een jonge                 van God in Christus af  te  schudd.en  en  ijdel1ij.k  daar
          maagd".       En  - als We  .I   Kroe.  15 :19-22 lezen merken      heen te bruisen, te verwoesten, te vernielen. `Naar het
          we op, dat die term gebezigd wordt voor  een.  muziek-              vleesch is er dan verbrijzeling in  Siön. Dan  l!gt   Jere-   -
          instrument hetwelk de hooge  sopraänklanlken,  voort-               miah   in een  rríodderigen   kuil  en  wordt   Jesaja  in stuk-      ..
          brengt, sopraanklanken zooals jonge maagden die                     ken gezaagd. Caesar heeft het bij  zij* leven misschien
*  z i n g e n .                                                              nooit geweten, dat hij. toch  ChristuS  Jezus aan het
     .        Zulk hoog, kwinkeleerend zingen past bij" den in-               kruis gehecht heeft. Zoudt gij denk&, dat Hitler het
          houd van dezen. psalm. Het is een lied van groote                   ooit gewaar geworden is,-dat zijn auto met officieren
  l-errukking   i n   d e   overwinning.-   H,et  volti  k w a m   a a n      stilhield voor het huis van arme  belijders  van den
          in een hoog vertrek. En dat  [volk. bemerkte het, God ~i'&eere  en Zijn  Gelzal$de?
          w3s in het midden van hen.  .Daar  was Hij hun bekend                   Hoe komt het toch dat ge U  zoo  beklemd gevoeld als
          ais  -een  hoog vertrek.                                            ge denkt aan Stalin, Hitler, en anderen? 0, dat  vreese-
              Psalm 46 heeft gediend tot  ins$ra.,ie  voor  L+ther's          lijke  zwaar,d  van de overheid. Als het zich richt tot de
          zegezang: "Een  vaste  Burg is onze God  !"                         goddelooie kwaaddoeners naar  `s  Heeren  Woord,  .dan is
              Om Psalm 46 te verstaan moet ge. eerst kennis                   het  richtig  in  een goed land.  .Doch als het zich keert
          nemen van den natuurlijken toestand van `t volk  {Gods.             tegen de belijders van  Gods Naam,  .dan  wordt  het.be-
   _,_   ..!   ::.  D:at-,uolk   i s   i n  benauwdhed,en.              _     nauw.d.


136                                             "THE   STANDA-RD'BE'ARER
                               .
 lijders  vc,n   Gods Naam, dan wordt het benauwd.                              zal,  O-  Samaritaansche,' zal in U worden  een fontein
        De zanger van Psalm 46 heeft daaraan gedacht.                           van  l&nd  water, opspringende tct in het eeuwige
        Zijn landje  la,g tusschen de  werelclrijken..in.  En .=leven.!   ,Bet  is de rivier van den Heiligen Geest, want
 alles  in die landen braakte  van.  godde1oöshei.d.                Neen,       Johannes  zeide  later: Dit  zeide  Hij van den Heiligen
 men had daar de radio niet en ook niet die zwarte,                             Geest,  denrwellke  ontvangen zouden die  in: Hem'  geloof-
 groote, dikke letters  ,der  "headlines". Doch,  ,al  was het                  #den.
 ietwat langzamer, men hoorde .ook daar van zijn "dic-                                   Water, levend water !     Het is eigenlijk het  l.even
 tators" die het land veroverden, als geitebokken over                          van Jezus Zelf, hetwelk door den  H.eiligen  Geest U ge-
 de  wer,eld renden. Men smaakte  dat  bruisen en woelen,                       schonken  w,ordt.  Door dat water wordt ge  verfrischt,
 dat vernielen en verbrijzelen. En de zangers in  Israd                         gelaafd, verkwikt. Door~bat water wordt ge kalm, rus-
 hebben  die uitingen der goddeloozen gekenmerkt en                             tig, `vredig. Als ge het ervaren mag, wat Jezus  `van  dit
 gekens\chetst.      Er kwam oorlog, men raasde en de                           water  zeide,  dan kunt ge  branden  op den  b~andst~apel
 koninkrijken  werd,en  bewogen. D,arius  en Kores  vol,g-                      en toch nog zingen. Terwijl ge dan brandt .en door
 den immers  Nebuchadnezar  op? En heeft  Mexander                              den walm heen de verwrongen  äangezichten   van  de
 de Groote anders gehandeld? Oorlog, oorlog, het is                             huilende  bende   Ziet, zult  `ge stamelen: Ik  .ben  in een
 het  hoo5dthema  van de geschiedenis  d,er  volkeren uit                       hoog vertrek.         Als dat water van den Heiligen, Gerst
 dit oogpunt.                                                                   u  vervult,  dan ligt ge te bloeden in de  gevan.genis  van
  En de kleine kerk Wordt benauwd.                                              Filippi  en toch bidt ge en zingt ge psalmen. En  c'e ge-
        -Toen zijn ze gaan vluchten.                                            vangenen hoorden naar U. . . .
       Leest het maar in  rvers  2.                                                      Ja, in dat  hoo~g vertrek is een rivier. En de beekjes
        God is ons een toevlucht en sterkte, Hij is  krachtig-                  van die  rilvier  zullen  verb!ijden  de stad  Gods.      Weet ge
 lijk bevonden een hulp  in benauwdheden. Hoe is er                             wat dat beteekent? Dat zit  zoo:  #de `rivier vloeit ons
 gebeden in Nederland en hier  0 Die  ge-arresteerd-                            toe van uit het hart  Gods.  Het is het  tierbondslseven
werden zijn  bi,ddende,  te midden vanharde,  meedoogen-                        \van  eeuwige vriendschap en liefde. Die stroom richt
looze  offici,eren;`:w&ggereden.          En die thuis bleven zijn              zich eerst- op. Jezus en door den Heiligen Geest, Dien
 aan  `t smeken  gegaan:  De klank ervan is tot ons door-                       Hij uitstort richt zich die  Godsrivier   `van ongekende
 gedrongen in dit  verre  land van het Westen. En ook .ver'botidszegeningen  tot de kerk  Gods.   Docli  ,er zijn
wij--  hebben meegebeden.                                                       zoo  velen van de  veribondslkinderen!  Daarom verdeelt
  1 God  tierd   o;ns tot een  .toevlucht.                                      zich  &e ievende stroom in beekjes, één voor  e1.k  der
        En toen we dan  haastisglijk,  met hokkende stemme                      gekenden.   E,r  is een beekje van dit zacht  kabbe?ende
 aankwamen, toen heeft God Zich bewezen een hulp in                             water voor U, mijn broeder. En de  str,oomen van
.benauwldhedefi.   W e   ,ware<  omklemd,   w e   liebiben   d e                Siloam vloeien zachtkens naar U henen.  Zoo was het
vreeselijke limitatie gevoeld, het scheen of we omkneld                         ook op den  P&ksterdag.  Er  waren  gedeelde tongen
waren met eeuwige banden.  - Sommigen  onier  stieten                           als vän vuur.         En  -zat op  een. iegelijk van hen. De
 deti Kauwen- kreet:  Ik lig gekneld in banden  val1  den oorspr,ong is één, doch als die stroom zijn doel vindt
 dood,  daar  .d'angst  der hel.,  .,  .   .                                    zijn er vele-beekjes.
        Doch het is stille geworden.                                                     Een  atider woord  -&yoor is dit: het heiligdom der
        Voor haastige zenuwachtigheid kwam de `vrede en                         woningen des Allerhoogsten. Let  alp det woningen:
 de aangename rust. We waren gearriveerd in  hoogere                            611~ der kinderen  Gods ontvangt zijn eigen woning in'
sferen.  Waar-  we eindelijk aankwamen wordt door                               het Vaderhuis.
 den Heiligen Geest genoemd: een hoog  Tertrek.  En                                      Zoo wordt des  Reeren  volk gedrenkt  uit  het Eigen
 dat hoog  vertrek  is God.                                                     .Vaderhart   van-  God door Woord en Geest.             Dat is ten
        `God  bewees Zich  daar krachtdadiglijk als de Sterke.                  slotte  het eenigste wat ge behoeft.
Hij is sterker dan Hitler, Stalin,  ,de  oude slang, Satan.                              Als de  lbeekjes  van die stroom U gevonden hebben,
 Ik moet wel haast glimlachen als ik dit neerschrijf,                           gelief'den,  wordt-.   ge  .geestelijk  bevrucht en kunt ge
-want  gë moet  -tijd onthouden, dat alle kracht van                            i?oortl&engen  : dan wordt gevonden den  l,&!  zes   Heeren.
 Stalin en  .Hitler  en  vafi den duivel van God komt.                          Want  dcit'  is het einde, het  @indd,oel  van  Gods  wepk.
 H,oe  zullen  we  dan vreeien?                                                 @aar  is  h& Uw Vader orñ te doen. Vindt die stroom
        Door al dat `hijgen en haasten en  vreezen  zijn we                     Jezus.  dan.zegt  Hij : Ik zal Uw naam Mijne broederen
 dorstig, geworden. We  waren  zwak van krachten. Zóó                           vertellen. Dan zegt Jesaja: Ik zal de  goedertieren-
 zwak, dat  de   godde!oozën  ons proefden  en  smaleed                         heden des  Heeren  vermelden, den veelvoudigen lof des
snhimten  : eBn hoopje amechtige  Jo'den  !                                     Heeren,  naar alles  dat de Heere ons heeft bewezen,
       - Doch geen nood.            Zoo   blijv&Jwij   n i e t .   N e e n ,    en de groote  goedh,eid  aan het huis Israels, dat Hij
 want in dat hoog vertrek  iS  ëeq'rivier.  Dát is de                           hun bewezen heeft  naar  Zijne barmhartigheden en
 rivier  Gods,  vol, berstens toe  vol,.waters.'  Dat  is de                    naar  de veelheid `Zijner  goedertierenheden   1" Jes.  63  :7.
 rivier van Jezus. Hij  zeide  :  (Het  kater,  dat  Ik-U. gev.en               Da,n  zingt  Dakvid   : Och, of nu. a.l wat  ifi mij  is Hem


                                                T - H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R ,                                 1 3 7

  prees !                                                                En Gods volk zal dan we& psalm 46 zingen.          Zien-
        En die in aanbidding luistert zegge: En gij, mijn             de op Immanuel, `zullen ze zingen  : De Heere der heir-
  ziel, loof gij Hem boven al!                                        scharen  is met ons en dat is Jezus, God met ons!
        Daarom zullen wij niet vreezen,  zegt de zanger  van                                                           G. v.
  Psalm 46.
        Wel, dat kunnen we nu  we1 begrijpen. Al  worden
  dan de fundamenten  dler aarde omgewroet door Hitler;                              Christian Banquets
  en al schijnt het alsof het vreeselijk pogen van Stalin
  succes  zal hebben om den godsdienst van de aarde te                   This subject,, and consequently this article, deals
  doen   verdwijnen; en  oo;k,   /al   zou Roosevelt ook  alle        with one of the practical things of life. And then with
  industrie doen  vere&iigen  in &5n groote Union : we zul-           one of those things of life which we usually enjoy, &d
  len niet vreezen.                                                   is often classified with the bright side of life-ban-
        Need,  we  Teezen  .niet  langer. Het korbzichtige            quets,  f.easts,  festivals, eating and drinking together
  heeft  plaa,ts.  gemaakt voor het gezicht  op Sion. We              to our contentment. Such is often considered as-one
  hebben het Vaderhuis gezien en gesmaakt door een                    of the optimistic, cheerful aspects of our life on this
  beekje van den Godsrivier. We verstaan het nu, dat earth. Who does not like to attend a ,banquet  occasion- "
  70 of 80 jaren  niet te waardeeren zijn tegenover een               ally? Due to this it often becomes a means of great
  heerlijkheid in de  woningen  des  Allerhoogsten  die
                           J                                          sin and abusing the good gifts of our heavenly Father..
  eeuwig  is.                                                         More about this later.
        Neen, we zullen niet  doen  zooals de goddelooze doet.           With a practical subject of this nature we naturally
  Hij wil vredig en gezellig  wonen  bier  beneden.           Soms    woul,d  expect nothing else `but a  .practical  essay. By
  droomt hij dat zijn huis eeuwig zal  staap.   IH-ij  wil merely reading the title it becomes evident. to us that
  lotsverbetering voor het tijdelijke alleen. Wij  willen             this is not a detailed, objective Theological dissertation.
  1ots:verbetering  voor alle eenwigheden. En we krijgen No, something which takes  place  in our very life, feasts                    -
  het ook. Is dan Uw lot in- liefelijke pl$atsen,  in snoeren etc. But with a writing on Christian Banquets it is
  van liefde en vriendschap,  ,dan hoort ge van uit de                different. Practical, to b,e  sure, but  such must  proceed
  verten der  eeuwtgheden  een  &em  van Uw beminnenden and-Come f,orth  from the objective word of God in us.
  Vader:  Juicht,  vromen, om Uw lot!
        W.e   zeggen  dan met Luther, die zong van  dez;en            Meaning.
  psalm: Neemt  goed  en bloed ons  -af.  . . . We erven                 The first question to  -be  answered here;  -to.  -my'
  Koninkri  jlken   !                                                 opinion, is what we include under the gord  banquets.
        Een vaste Burg is onze God ! Ja, dat mocht  hij we1           Do .we mean merely  formal  banquets, such as are often
  zingen.        Hij is aangekomen in dien Burg.  Luther              given .by Church societies, .business  men, etc. or do we
  zing-t  zijn lied                                                   mean more? Much more. All  formal  as well as  i.n-
                         lin in -den  hgmel.
        En ook zal het niet zoo blijven als het nu is op de formal banquets, feasts, dinners, Thanksgiving din-
  aardte.                                                             ners, family  get-t,ogethers,  etc. All get-togethers with  -
        De  zaqger  zal het U schilderen zooals het er naar a view to eat and drink and enjoy the bounties `of this
toe  %a1  gaan in de toekomst des Heeren. Hij roept de earth in fellowship with one another. From that view-
  gemeente van  Christus  toe:  Komt,  aanschouwt  de point the word banquet includes much, Now as far as
  d&en des Heeren, die verwoestingen op aarde  aan-                   the spiritual-ethical aspect  of all these  is. concerned  -
  richt;  die de oorlogen doet  -ophouden.  . . .                     it is not a- question to the conscientious Christian
        Hitler moet straks doodgaan en Stalin  zal-   ,den            whether these should be held in a Christian way. iH,e
  adem  uitblazen. De panzer-divisions  zull& straks  tiiet           knows better. He knows that  in all-  things  he  .nust
  meer  rookende verbrijzelen. De boog wordt ver,broken               serve  His-  God. Whether he eats or wfiet,her  he" c` inks,
  en de speer wordt  aan  stukken  geslagen  door God. Ge-            or whatever he does, he must do it to the glory o. God.
  hkkige  gedachte.                                                   Consequently he wants Christian banquets.
        Er komt straks een branden  van e&n vuur, dat alles              But one more thing. No more than we limit the
  vernielen zal  hetwe!k   zich  keerde tegen God en Zijn             word banquet  -to  formal banquets, no more is it our
  ,Gezalfde.      Ret is het vuur des oordeels.                       purpose with this essay to try to show how we must
        -De  Heere wordt straks verhoogd  op.  de aarde. Dan          conduct a christian banquet, what kind. of programs
  bazelt  men niet langer  van "Heil, Hitler !" Dan zullen            we should have,  songs  we should sing, etc. That is
  alle  goddelooze.menschen            en  duilvelen  de bevende hand not our  puppose.  But the purpose is to write a  few-
  opheff,en  en uit biljoenen van  keelen<  zal het akelig words  on the idea `of a  christian   banquet. How a child
  geschreeuw opstijgen :  ,Go,d is God ! Heil Jezus Chris-            of God, iti the midst of this world, by nature under the
- tus,  d&  Vorst Gods! _ ?och zij zijn tot eeuwig  af-               wrath of God, w.orthy  of eternal punishment, livinlg  in
  grijzen bestemd  !
   .                                                                  this life which is but  `a continual death, we say, how


  138                                         T-H.E-   S T A N D A R D   BEAR-.ER               .

  he should feast.  I How must he feast?'  How  can his           of them among the worldly people than the  church.
  banquets be of spiritual benefit? For it is about this They receive the same gifts that we do, rain and sun-
  question that he is concerned. How can-his  bailquets           shine and crops,  ha&!   gaod  jobs, too, and possibly
  be to God's glory ? What must  ,be the character and betier than we do because they have no regard for the
  aim and  pu@ose  of  his  festivities to reach that end?        keeping of the Sabbath or  f.oy  being members of a
  It is about that that we are  writipg.                          worldly union. Their tables are laden, and possibly
         What then constitutes a Christian banquet? This          ey&.  more  thfan  ours. But does that mean that God
  is  the  all-important question. What makes a family loves them more than  IHis   own  children? We know
  get-$oget,her  with a view to eating and drinking a better. The wrath of God is upon the wicked and the
  christia,n  one? What must we have at our banquets              curse of the Lord is in their house. Not out of love,
  and festivities so that they can be chrisiian  banquets         but out-of wrath. And God is not in all their thoughts,
  an,d of spiritual benefit  1 That is  the heart. of the         they despise Him, do not acknowledge Him for His
  matter. Does a mere outward prayer, a Christian pro- gifts, bit view them as  thei?-  bounties, their possession
  gram, good Christian songs, etc.  maIke  our  ban'quets         to use in the service of sin. And the result of this we
  christian? Far from it. So we often think.. If we see very readily in their banquets : excessive eating and
 `ha&e  those, then it can. carry away God's blessing. But drinking,  revelry,   glut&my,  drunkenness and rioting.
  if we have no more than that we never will have .one.           We see that all over. They make a God of their belly.
  We must have these, to be sure. `And we can never               Why? Because these gifts are  n'ot   `a means  ~-unto an
  go without them. But a-formal prayer, etc. does not             end with them as with the Christian, but find the ehd
make a banquet christian? The fundamental requisite in themselves. They realize that they finally can take
  for a Christian banquet. lies much dee,per.         dnd that nothing with them, +hey  have no+hing  to live for but
  all-important requisite is a true and humble heart.             th&mselves,  and consequently make--a God of their
  A heart in which the life of God is found, that is              belly or something else. Soul, thou hast  much,  eat,
  humble, realizes the realities of things, a,nd  now over-       drink and be merry. And it  is.worthy   df  note that
  flows with thanksgiving. And if we don't have that, with banquets of worldly people mentioned in Scrip-
  then we'll never have a Christian banquet. A heart ture we always find such  revielry,  be it a feast of  Nabd,
  that realizes what we are by nature: God is not in -our         or of the Amelekites, or `of  Ahwuerus  or of a  Herod.
  thouights,  we sin.  continualIy  with our whole being, are     Always  drunkeneess  or dancing, or both.
  under the holy wrath of God. That God  ;can  righteous-            But with the child of God it is different. But also
  ly punish us, afflict us even in this life as He pleases,       here we fi'nd  different views. The "extremely narrow-
  can cause  us  even'to die of starvation, righteously, and      minded" may even  shrug'  their shoulders in respect
  then send us to h&11.      But also a heart  t,hat  has now     to any banquet. They may remark that such always
  tasted the rich unfathomable love of God and the                inclines us to worldliness, and possibly come with a
  beauty and wonders  ,of  His grace in Christ Jesus. God lwron,g   interpr,etation  of the words: "It is better to go
  now blesses him  & all things. And a token of that to the house of mourning than to the house of feast-
  blessedness. and love  he sees before him in the laden ing". But these are. few in number. in our day. But
  table of his banquet.  Y,ea,   even'if  it is not laden as      large is the number of church members that  vie-w  it
  it could be, he can still  h&d  a banquet.          And that different, exactly opposite. Stire,  we must lead a  chris-
  humble and thankful heart will then want to pray,               tian life, walk as Christians; but once in a while we
  have a Christian program, etc. He will want to do               must be able to ",cut-loose"  though, After all we are
  what Deut. 8 :I0  t'eils us : "When thou hast  eaten  and human. Such do not hesitate for one minute to -attend
  art full, then thou shalt  bl.ess  the Lord thy God for         a banquet or feast that is  ,not Christian, even though `it
  the good land which He hath given thee". Such a may appear under a cloak of Christianity .by a formal
  heart does not want  $0 live by bread alone,  bu$  by every     prayer. I personally remember very well from my
  Word that  ,doth proceed out of the mouth of God.               boyhood days, that  the Young Men's Society or some
         And so it  Z&O becomes`very  @vident  that it is only    other sociey  of my church would give a sort of banqu.et
  the  christian  that can have a' Christian banquet,  $0 be      and program in Which all  woul,d  ha-Fe  a "good time".
  sure,. but  hfave  any banquet. The woyld  cannot have          One evening of the year they could  go beside the line,
  a true, real banquet. They do not have the love of              and more or less forget  about   311  "narrow-mindedness".
  God, nor do they have  His life, but neither can they           But the conscientious Christian certainly will not say
  have a real banquet.                   I                        such. He will attend banquets, but only when they are
  R&lity.                                                         christian. It is true that with banquets and feasts and
         But that naturally doesn't mean  t,hat   fhe   .world    lbig dinners we  are apt to  fopget  God, our nature is
  doesn't have its banquets and festivities. They cer-            inclined to make a God  of-   our  belly. Job certainly
  tainly do. The world is full of them, one finds and se,nsed  that too, bringing burnt offerings  af$ey  the
 - hears of them all ,over. In  g&ner&  one finds even more feast of his sons, perchance his- sons  had sinned. But


                                         T - B E   STAN.DARD.-B.EAR.ER.                                                               l.g!

 Job doesn't forbid them to hold a feast. If it is only                             The Church and Social Questions " :
-done right, as we have mentioned. With a humble and                             Before we set out to treat this subject as such; it is
 thankful heart to our .Father.                                                well that we -explain the subject we desire to  .treat,
     But  even'this  is often found lacking among God.`s                       This essay COULD deal--with the church, as within her
 children, knowing better. Often that faith is lacking.                        own domain  social  questions are continually put before
 Why ,do we like to go to banquets? Because we want us demanding an answer. Questions as to the home'
 to see God's love ma-nifested  to us, and have an over-                       and the social functions of, the members of the church,
 flowing heart of thankfulness? Often not, but to make are continually asked. The questions as to society life,
 a god of our belly. Not nearly always do we view the                          within the domain of the church, I  sajr,  COULD be
 laden table as a manifestation of God's love to us,                           treated under the topic assigned to us. But we do not.
 but as coming to us. We worked for it, or bought it;                          believe that is the implleation  ,of  the subject given us'
 didn't we? Often the humility is lacking, the realiza-                        f,or discussion. We are confident that the topic as-
 tion what we have deserved; our thankfulness  is' no-, signed to us, refers more to the social -questions with
where to be found  ; and our prayers  .are nothing but                         which all men busy themselves today, both the men'
 formality. But we should- strive to attain perfection,                        of the Church as well as `men of the world. Questions
 even with our banquets. Then, in the right way, they                          pertaining to  s'ociety  in general, must therefore be
 certainly can be of spiritual benefit.                                        treated. For society refers to the relation of man to
 Possibility.                                                                  man in' all the spheres of  lif,e. "Social questions"
     But how are we going to d,o  it'? The fundamental therefore deals with the various questions that arise
 requisite is a humble and  thank%.rl  heart, but what can                     because.of these various relations of men living with
 we do in respect to this to improve it? Absolutely. men. There are the relations of husband and wife, of
 nothing.  ,Alsd  here man'is  helpIess.  Only God's Word                      parents and children,, in the narrow sense of the word.
 land  Spirit can do that. It is only by His Word and                          Then there  ,are  the relations between teachers and
  Spirit that we learn to know our nature, see what we                         children, in the sphere of education and instruction.
 have  des,erved,  God's wrath and not even a morsel of                        Also the relations of the laborer. and the employer, and
 bread or a drop of water. And that we must hear time, the questions of social security are included under this
  and again because we forget it so easily.                   But by topic. Finally the relations between the various units
 -means   ,of  His Word- and Spirit we also learn to know                      of the community'and nation, bringing into discussion
  that unfathomable  -love,  the countless treasures and civic righteousness an,d  related questions. So thiat  the
  riches .of God's grace in Christ  J,esus,  His Son.                   The    topic ,of  this essay deals with the calling of the Church
  child of God tastes that. And so he can heave  a chris- with regard to these various relationships of our social
  tian  banquet, with a responding heart. And the purer structme.  _  i                                                  .
  that Word comes to us in preaching-and other means,                              From the outset we may say that from a certain
  the more we see the terribleness of God's wrath upon us point of view we cannot even speak of the calling -of
  Iby  nature, Ibut the greater the love in Christ, and the                    the Church with respect to the various social questions
  more response  land  the more  .christian  our banquets                      confronting people. For the church deals not directly
  ,become. Faith by means of the Word and Spirit, hope, with these various societies  of- man. F.or  instance,
  confidence, sanctification,  ~etc., `but  akso Christian ban-                the church does not  &icially  go to the employer with
  quets. Christian Banquets. A practical subject, of                            requests to  .better  relations with the employee, nor does
  course ! But it .can  be .practised  only by means of the                    the church enter into.  politi.cs  directly, nor does she
  Word and Spirit.                                                              enter into the privacies of the home and  di,ctate  the
      And the result of. that work of God through the                           lives of the ,various  units of that home. The home and
  Word and Spirit will be and  is-living in the faith.                          the shop and the nation  (.from  a political point of
  Not merely intellectual knowledge, knowing God's view) exercise sovereign rights in their own domain.
  wrath and love.. Such alone will not give us Christian That is one reason why we believe in the Free Chris-
  banquets. But the sanctified knowledge. Then we live                          tian School, and not in the parochial or Church School,
 what we know and hear, my unworthiness- and God's                              for the instruction of our children. Therefore we can-
  love. Then our banquets will be Christian. Then the                           not speak of the Church and social-questions if that.
  hope and  .certainty  is. ours-of being called unto, the term would mean that the church must exercise con-
  seternal  marriage supper of theLamb.                                         trol  ov.er  these other domains. That would be ecclesias-
                                                         _ J. B.                tical Fascism, even as political Fascism means that the
                                                                 .,       :     political government controls all other domains of.
                                                                  -             life. That is also the principle, of the Roman Catholic
                            CLASSIS  EAST                        ,..            Church.
  will -meet' in regular sebsion Wednesday, January `7,  1942, at
  9:00 A. M.,  & Fuller   ,\ve.    -.                                               However, to say th&  the Church has no calling as
                                                   D. Jonker, S. b.             to social questions at all would be  `wrong  also. The
                                             .'

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

 Church.is  the Bo.dy  of Christ in the niidst  of the world.     highest rank and social standing. This is also  th6  case
 This Church has, strictly  spea.king,  but one calling,          in the sphere of labor and capital, Labor organizes
 namely,  to minister the Word of God  _and to reveal             not because it  loves  the otiher  laboring man and seeks
 the light that is from above.. It  may never be a politi-        righteousness, but only because in union there is
 cial  propaganda bureau for any political party. It strength and by unionizing there- is for the  lsaborer
 must preach the gospel, the whole gospel  and  nothing           s;trength  in the seeking  of the things below. The ,very
 but the gospel, revealing-thus the full counsel of God.          fact that there must  be a labor union which stands
 HaweGeP,  this preaching of the gospel may not be oon-           opposed to the employer or manufacturer is already a
fused  with  a mere exegesis of the words of Scripture,           proof that true social life does not exist. And this
 no more than preaching the gospel means a bringing               brings the questions to the fore. In  all the various
 of dogmatics.      This is being attempted- by certain           relations of life questions arise. Why? Because of
minist,ers  of the gospel in  E,urope  today,  inclu,ding  the    sin.  _ Pretty soon, in heaven's glory, when all things
 Netherlands, thereby attempting to forego the wrath              are  ma.de  new,  there  will be  po questions  concerqing
 of the ruling pow&s of Germany. They then seem to ~s&al life. Not `because  there   .will  be no social life.
remain strictly within their own domain, and do not               There certainly will .be. There will be fellowship corn-
 transgress upon the domain of the State, or of the plete and holy. Also there iyill  be in the new heavens
 School, or of the Home, or of the community. Yet this and new earth,  ,authority  and obedience, as well as
 is seriously wrong. S,urely   the preaching of the-gospel powers and  lgovernment  and union. But it will all be
 mea& the preaching of the pure and only Word of Gold.            governed by righteousness. And the union. will  be a
 But the  LIIG1H.T  OF  T%IAT  WORD  MUST  SHINE                  union of all the believers into a glorious and perfect
 OVER ALL THINGS AND UPON ALL THE RELA-                           body of Christ, each unit of which  will function in its
 TION? OF MAN TO MAN. That Word sheds light God ordained place and thus tile  variety of the eternal
 upon our path  ;  #a  gui,ding  light upon  `our  way. And our social  order of thlat  Neiw Jerusalem, shall enhance and
 way, or path, takes us into various places. It takes             beautify that unity. Love to God and love  to-  the
 us  into the shop,  `or the office  ,or  the school, or the      neighbor will be automatic and spontaneous.            There
 nation. In other words .our  !way  brings us. automatic-         will  be, no parties or groups gibted  against each other,
 ally  into  the  .various  relations of life. And upon that      for  .everyone  will give glory to Him Who sits upon
 w&ole  way the Word of  Gqd  must let its light shine.           the throne, each according to the capacity and place
 The church of God therefore in the inidst  of the world          assigned  to  him  in the kingdom of heaven.           THUS
 has- the calling to let the r&s  of L$ght,  of Truth, shine      NO  QUESTTONS  will arise. No problems will be
 into the various relations of man. The  iweapon   >f ,clebated,  for. there will be no problems or  quest&s,
 the Church is  theresore  always the Word as `a  two-            in the great spciety  of heaven.
 edged swor,d.    Surely-the authority of tha% -Word  as a            B.~tt  while we are in the midst of tihis  world, various
 sw,ord  in the hands of the church, is from ajbove,  from        questions, arise because of sin and   dnakness  thaat now
 tke  Almighty and  Righteous God, but the character of           rule in- the hearts of -nien.    Now, the  rule  applies of
 that power and authority is spiritual anld lies  therefore       father against son, and son against father, employer
 alone in that Word of  t&h.   ,And  in  that  Word we            algainst  employee,  seryant  against his master,  nation-
 htave  the principles revealed.  th&  must guide us in           against nation and people against  people. It becomes
 every sphere' of our lives, also the social sphere..             apparent therefore what the calling of the church is
    `:yhy now can we speak of "soGal  .questions"?         W e    to answer with the Word,*the  various social questions
 answer because of the fact that  our   social order is           that may disturb the mind of its  membe`rs.  It  tiust
 p.olluted  and  corrupt,ed  with sin. , This means. of course    preach the  W,ord,   in season and out of season. It must
 in the first place that society is.  utider  sin and the         proclaim the righteousness of the Kingdom of heaven,
 curse of God. Not  thiat  God created us- and all society        ai  the only sure answer to ail questions that arise. To
 thus.  C$od  created man  a social  b&g. He is made              .the  socially evil  `world in the home it must preach the
 in the image of God'and as such is adapted to dwell in           oneness of those whom God has joined together, which'
 communion and fellowship with his. neighbor, ,even  as           no man may put asunder, de&ring  at the bame  titie
 he was created and adapted to fellcmwship with God.              that the husband and wife that do not principally re-
*But, whereas man, by  willful disobedience and by the-           veal the unity of  IChrist  and His Church, is an  a$omin+
 seducti,on  of the-devil, corrupted himself and made             tion to the Holy God. To the  sqcially  evil world of
 Kimself  an enemy of God and his .neighbor,  he cannot           education, it must boldly proclaim that its own teach-
 really dwell-  in social relation with that neighbor. He ings must lead to its own downfall and that it is educat-
 may for his own. we&being seek the. fellowship of his            ing a society wherein foolishness is honored and true
 neighbor, but it is  n6t  a seeking of his-neighbor and his      wisdom is opposed. See for instance  first Corinthians
 welfare.    As- an example. of this notice the- terrible one. To the rich that keep the hire of the wage-earner
 jealousy  and   competirtion   w@ged   by.so.ciety  people for that  reaps:   his, fields, the  Chilrch  can have but one call-

                                                                                        `.


                                        ` T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER-                                                      141

ing. It is to preach James to him and  that  therefore the world. It  muit seek with all her heart the com-
his treasures and wealth are corrupt and they are heap-            munion of the saints.       It must reflect in all its society
ing'  up  treasures for him in  hell..  To  the  poor,~   .who~    life, the life  that  is from above. Even as the `Heidel-
groan under the oppressors' heel, and who seek their berg  &techism  speaks, of the Christian living  even
deliveran(ce  and social reli,ef  in the union of other like-      now the life of  ihe  eternal Sabbath by abstaining from
minded men, the Church must proclaim that they are                 sin and darkness and by walking in newness of life, so
not poor in spirit and" that therefore they cannot in-             IalsO  the Church must  live  the life of the heavenly social
herit the kingdom of heaven. The stark truth  .oi .order. The Church must dwell in the light. Her mem-
Scripture  is that the  M&EK   alowe,   shall inherit the bers mcst seek one another, must  forgive one another,
earth, and that all others, even though they  be-laborer           must support her own poor and  edify one another in
and thps  a poor of the laed,  shall not be called blessed.        km This. occasi.ons'  much selfddenial  .and sacrifice it
There is  110 true social security for the working-man is true. It dften causes grief  aed  sorrow and  batt'e.
except in the socially perfect world of Christ.  This              But  &eref$ore  the Church  must  not despair. She has .
.must  remain the niessage of `the Church  in the midst the hope of the  eterna;l  society of heaven.                    She must
of -this socially evil world. It  is-not otherwise with            therefore hope to the end  f,or the grace that is brought
respect to the community or the State. Civic  ri,ght-              to hey  at the revelation of Jesus Christ in glory. Then
eousness  is abominable to God unless it is  r,oote'd  in          the ne,w  Jerusalem will descen&  from heaven, wherein
the righteousness of the Cross of Christ. Yea, to all              there will be no grief, nor  sorr,oIw,  nor distress,  no.r
men must be brought the truth: "Unless' your right-                battle, nor pain. In that New Jerusalem there W+ll be .
,eoustiess  exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and B new w,opld  order. Nay, not as the modern dictat6u:s
Pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaWn".                 dream of. Not as Hitler or Churchill or Roosevelt
So-also the nation, or citizens ,of that nation, refusing          d,esires.    Buit  the new social  ord'&  of God's  kternal
to recognize God 0~  His precepts must indeed reap the             colveieilant.   In  that new social order there will be no
reward of the  curs6  of the Most High God. Only right-            questions of social security, for all  will be secure for
eousness exalteth a nation and unrighteousness de-                 ever and  eveY;. There we will  beho1.G no class struggle
b a s e s   i t .                                                  ,of  one unit  .of society against the other, but we will
    The Church must demand. these things of all the enjoy perfect unity of all nations,  trilbes   tongties  and
tinits  of  sdciety.  And the members of the Church of             classes.     They will ALL be clothed with white linen
Christ are duty bound to let this light shine in the               .and  ALL will have the  vilctor's  crown.            As Isaiah
various spheres, of `their life in relation to other men.          pr,ophesied  : "None shall there destroy in all the Holy
You may answer that it  iS a hopeless demand, because              mountain, for the earth shall  be fu.11  of the kngwledge
that demand and-its obedience, implies the love of God             of the Lord". A% present in this world  we are  social
in the hearts of all concerned, and this love of God in            outcasts. The world, if it takes notice at all, laughs
their  hearts is  impotisible  for  that  Love of God is  fiis     and. derides the small societies and socilal  functions of
gift of grace through  J&us  Christ  oilr  Lord. -Very well,       the Church of Christ. And essentially we are  out-
then. we MUST come with., the impossible demand to                 c.as&  `from the social life of the  tiorl.d,  in all its spheres.
"Love God and your  nei.ghbor  as  $ouTself".  That it             But the new social order will exclude all those who %re
is.  impossfble  for man is man's own fault. That the              not in Christ. Only God's society of friends will be
situation then is -hopeless in an evil-worldly social there, and. . . . what a friend  we  haye  in J&us.
order, is also man's  fault, for man. has made himse!f  a                                                               L. v.
hopeless man, and God's  `curse  rests upon him right-                                         I  I.
eously.    But regardless of  the hopelessness of the world
social structure changing itself, it is  nelverthel,ess  the                                            .
clear calling of the Church to let the Light shine in'
the  clarkness,  an,d itself must walk in that light, -and
thell  the corrupt society of sin, seeing your  good works                           WEDDING  ANN-iVERhiRY
and  conversation, will glorify God in the day of visita-              On Sunday, November 23, dur  dear parents:
tion'                                                                               MENKO  FLIKKEMA, and
    In the meantinie that hopelessness must never  char-                            ANNA FLIKmMA-Vrieling
acteriie the Church.       For the Church has the hope
within her' of a `better, yea, a new  social  order wherein        commemorated their 25th wedding anniversary. We, their child.
                                                                   ren,  thavk  our heavenly Father that He has spared them thus
r&@ousness  shall forever  domicate  all our relations far, and  express.our  gratitude for their loving care and guidance,
with  one-atither. Sur,ely  even now, in the midst of a            and pray that His blessings may continue to rest upon them in
crboked,and~pei~~.~.e  generAion,  the`church  must  livy          the years to come.
the life  of that  no%`   so@ order. It must center al Their grateful children:-John, George, Olga,  -Albert,  Fenna,
its social life -and  activitiii  3&t@_  Church and not in
                                                ..~                Garret, Agnes,  Phillip,   Jeanette.  Anna.--Manhattan,  Montana.


     342                                    1  T^HE  S T A N D A R D   BEA'R-E'R

                                                                            this home':, That is, of course, quite correct. But the
                        An Orderly  .H&.E                                   point I want to emphasize at present is that this parti-
                                                                            cular  -family  was' a cL;iso~cLerZzj  family. And  disdrder
            I well remember that when I was  & boy  we had a                lneans:  to throw out of order,  disarringe, disturb  the
     r&her large family living in our  ,neighborhood  to natural functions. Atid  that was exactly  characteristic
     which  my. mother and  sever%1  neighbors often referred               of the "household of Jan Steen". And, alas, there are
     as "Een h,uishouding  van Jan Steen". When I was a' in our Christian circles, why s'houlhd we talk albout  the
     rather small boy `I never had heard who Jan Steen was, world, more  &ouseh.olds  of Jan  St,een,  although in vary-
     b& I certainly knew what was meant by the expression                   ing degrees. Perhaps the Jan Steen family can teach
     "A  hous,ehold  of Jan Steen".                                         -many  of us a little lesson about order in the home.
            .The  particular family I am speaking of at present,                It seems to me this rather long introduction  vividly
     was nbt a  well-regulated  family. The father was a illustrates, by way of contrast, the idea and meaning
.    drdnkar.d,  and the &other of the home was  slouchy  and of an orderly home. An -orderly  home is a well regu-
     al+ayp,  gadding wikh the neighbor ladies ; she Miss  a                lated home. A home where there is system, harmony,
     ve$table walking news-paper. The `children were very `proper arrangement. To be very specific on  tJ.&  point,
     un&$  and naughi$,  and it seemed that everybody in                    let us by way of illustration mention a few` things
     tKe   !amily  dimd  -&hat- he or she please,d  to do. If you           which can be found  iti an orderly home.           TO  begin
      saw  the..   merillbers  of  t&e  family  on they street they with, an orderly home is one  wher,e the furniture is
     looked untidy,  &immy,  and their clothes hung like _ arranged in the proper way, and the moment you enter
     bag's around their bodies. We childr.en  avoided those .sach  a home it strikes you the manager of the house
     boy$  and girls. And if you happened to peek into their                displays good juclgment  as far as the arrangement is
     home you would see at  ,a glance. that these people were               concerned. Everything stands in its  pr,oper  place, it
     po:oy.    They had `very  little furn,iture,  and what they            looks neat, tidy and immaculately clean and glistening ~
     did  have  was all  scratch.ed  and marked-up. The shabby and bright. Such a home has the finishing touch. But
     looking chairs were creaky, not so much of age as of                   also as to the arrangement of the work, a stranger will
     abuse.  Y,ou'd   gef  the impress&n  th& the beds were                 soon observe that the house he has  ent,ered  is a well
     never  made, clothes were never hung on theil;  proper regulated family. Mother works on schedule as much
      places. Everything. in the house was turned up-side                   as.  cir;cumstances  permit. The work in the home is
      down,  disarranged and strewn all  over  the place as                 done  at the proper time. Meals are served on  time,
      if a  cycloee had struck the house.              Yes,  and  the       dishes are cleaned on time and not left to accumulate
      moment  you'd put your nose inside the door an                        and  du;tter  the  sin;k  to  such  an extent that the girls
     iffensive  odor greeted your nostrils. In the morning                  don't know where to start. An,d  whether you look in
      when the children came out of bed they all s,euyambled                the closets or in  t,he drawers,  everything  has its own
      for their clothes. What a noise and  yelling  before                  place. And all of the children  kno,w  where to find their
      e-?erybody  had found what belonged to him or her.                    cloth&, playthings, school-books, etc.  And  even though
      Soyks  were gone, dresses -had disappeared and. nobody                mother may be busy everything gets its turn, and the
      waB ready for  scliool  on time. Hastily the children house  smells  clean and fresh. And if you happen to  f
      snatched a bite to eat and quite often  they were late                steps  in .d&ing meal time you will notice that all the
      fror  School at that. .And  the-  teacher had a very hard             members of  the family are seated  arqund  the table.
     time. to teach them a .few  manners and a little or,derli-             In an atmosphere,  ,of  quietness they partake of the
      ness. And then you ought  to come around when they                    meal. Tr.ue,  the baby can be quite noisy at times and
      had dinner or supper. It seldom happened that all the the smaller boys  will transgress the laws of proper
      children were home. And the way everybody behaved; table  manners. But on the whole there is an atmos-
      father and mother included, you'd think that there was                phere of quietness, rest, and there is a feeling of  sezur-
      a miniature warfare going on. Sometimes the Bible ity. And when father  .reads  the Bible and leads in
      was read at the I&able,  but there never was any rever-               prayer the entire family shows the needed revere&e.
      ence. They were always poor and had plenty of debt                    Fqr the children there is a time to eat and a  time to
      $esi,des,  although at times they made a lot of money.                rest, a time to play ,&ld  a ti-me  to work. And the &tire
      Well, to make a  1,ong  story short, after a number of                family seems to have an int.erest  in the  things that are
      fears this "household of Jan Steen" left the Reformed                 goin,g  on and everybody has a task assigned to him,
      Church.   ,And   even  unto this day the members of this              and that task`is carried out. There is law  and-order.
      family do not amount to anything, with the exception                  Of course the family is punctual in Church-going, they
      of-one  girl who worked for.  a good,  respectabl,e  family never miss a  sefvice.               The children are in school on
     . f o r   y e a r s .                                                  time and  the teacher  is, we'll pleased  -wit&  their be-
            What was the trouble with  th% "Jan Steen" family?              havior. The family is- respected in the neighborhood,
      Perhaps  yoti  say :  ."The   feax   c$  Gpd   did  not dwell  .in    father is -known as a hard. %rker .and  -mother as a


                                               T H E   STAN.DARD   B E A R E R                                                           1 4 3

 diligent house-keeper.               The entire regulating of the        in an order.ly  universe, and .because  He accomplishes
 family, both in the home proper and outside the home,                    all things in an orderly way, we are bound to -God's
 is a matter of team work.                                       ._       law and order which are everywhere  ap.parent.  Hence,
      Such a home we can rightfully call "An  orderly                     only by ljeing  orderly ourselves in every  respetit,  can
 home" .-I am afraid that you find no home where per-                     we  fulfil;l  our life's calling in the  sph,ere  of `Gdd's  law
 feLtion  is reached, but I hope that in all our homes we                 and order.
 strive for the ideal.           '                                            3. With  -respect  to our children it is  bbsolutely
     We might ask the question: does Scripture give us                    necessary  that   .our  home  $be  orderly. You can  only
 instruction as to  .the  orderliness of our home? Does                   properly instruct your children,  also  in the  ways  of
 God command that our  homeghould be  ord,etiy?  In-                      God's covenant, when ,your   hotie is or&erly.  Because
 deed ! To mention a' few things :  God Himself is a God                  an orderly home is instruction in itself  by example and
 of order. All His works  bqth  in nature  and  grace re-                 precept,  tbut also gives you time  ancl  opportunity for
 veal this. God's work is not one grand confusion, on                     specific covenant instruction.
 the contrary it is one -harmonious whole. God is a                           4. In the fourth place, our  children-wi:ll  reflect in
 God of order and system. Think in this connection of their behaviour, outside of  ihe   .narro;w  circle  of. the
 creation, which is one great hartionious  wh,ole.            Think       family, their home-life. Teachers and preachers. can
of the description of God's majestic work in nature as                    tell   you  that they can know?.  to quite an extent, your
 we find it in Psalsm  19 and many othex  places. Think                   home life by the behavior, manners and orderliness of
 of the succession of days. and months, of seasons and                    your children..
 times, etc. The  or,der, symetry,  harimony  of  God%                        5. And, finally, it is a gre&,-blessing for the cove-
 works  rezflects  the harmony of God's Being and His                     nant child to be reared in an orderly home. He will
 glorious virtues. Bat  this is also trwe in the realm of                 learn to obey, he.  will know the value of discipline, of
 graze.   Elverything  happens at the proper time, and                    work, of duty, of harmony, of system. He will `develop
 history is one great unfolding of the plan of God's  sal-                into well balanced maturity and grow up to respectable
 vation.     Nolwhere  is confusion  ,and  disorder. but all man- and w,omanhood..'  And the child will practice in
 things in  heaven   and  on earth, in the  -world   .and  in             his  futi7r.e  life what he was taught at home. Confused,
 the c.hurch  are thus gtiided  by God's providential. care               unsystematic, disorderly actions bespeak a confused,
 that they will reach their  cl&ax  and  culmin%tion  in the              disorderly mind.  And  it is very hard to quit bad  habits:
 day of Jesus  .Christ.  `Besides this  th2 Bible,' particu-              Therefore also with respect to orderliness the saying
 larly in  connectioti-  with the. Old Testament  c&+emoniks              of  Scriptur,e  can be applied: "Train up a child  in the
 often emphasizes the idea of order and arrangement.,                     way he should go :. and when he is old, he will not de-
 And, to mention one more example, when you read' in                      part from it."
 Proverbs 13  tlie  beautiful description of a virtuous                       Indeed,  our  Christian- homes should be orderly
 woman, you will' understand at *once  that her home is                   h o m e s .                                        _ J. D.
 an orderly home.                                                                        \
      Many more things could be said about  this  subject,
 bet I must hasten to the end.                                                                Cohtribution
      I think we all can agree that we live in a world of
 confusibn  and-disorder, of hatred and war. We  a&o                                     BECLOUDINIG  THE ISSUE                     .
 can agree to this that the present confused wo$l  re-                        The  members  of the Protesting Chr. Ref.  Church
 flects the life of the disorderly home. After all, your' of Kalamazoo, Michigan,  vriere  very much surprised on
 State, your Nation, your Church, your School, your                       Sunday morning, Oct. 19, to be treated to, what evi-
 Society is but a reflection of the home. Where the                       dently -was  meant. to be a "vindication-sermon" by the
 home, the  small.est  cell of the human society is dis-                  Rev.  H;   Dtinhof.  Preaching on Matt.  12:33,  he in-
 orderly and ruined, you will hdve  a disorderly, ruined,                 formed--the  cdngregation,  that according to his  fruit-
 confused world; It is  alxways  true, a stream never rises bearing, ,he is a good  tree. --
 higher than its source.                                                  +  - This is a  st,rti&e   affaii--indeed.    Why should a  cqn-
     Ai to the value of an orderly home, and I am speak-                  sistory-instruct "its minister to preach such .a sermon?
 ing now about our Christian h,omes, we come- to the                          If anything had been  brtiught`aga&t:   R&y.   D&i-&of
 following conclusions and observations:                                  this should, haves  been &e&ted  by him  according  to then
      1, An orderly hotie reflects; the grace of `our cove-               Scriptural- rule of-M&t.  18.. If this did not  brinlg  $ny
 riant God. Our life, our conduct, our home mxst be a                     result, then  ,it  -woulg  become a  m@er for  the consistory
 reflect& of the-life of  our.~%od.  A disorderly home                    and,. finally,  I after much admonishing, a matter of
`tells.yoti   that   th&re   is-  som&,h;in&-   b&i&lly   w?o@$   wftb    chprch-disdiplitie.1     If it then had Ibeen  proven  that the
the fear of the Lord in stick  a home.                                    Rev.  Dar&of   *was   blamele+s,  the consistory would make
     ,-2.  In the:seco$  place, because God-has placed us                 an. offici.aI  %nnouncement  of the same:;. this. would be
                          .-:


        1`44          F',                              ---+-jIjrgyYA=-p-fi~*         @   j.~  m..B-j~-i:R~   E'R   :  -t:-'
         _       .
        very ii&ccssary  if the matter were .public.                                eld,ers evidently not  ai  strong in faith  ai  they should
         . Ctirtainly,  no Reformed consistory Xwould  ever leave                   have been, yielded and  with&t  ever giving the  con-
        it  up,to its minister to make a "personal;' announce- gregation a voice in the matter,  sscarated us. These
        men%   &cerning  this, or would leave  if up. to  the dis- facts are testified to by our elder C.  Vander  Roest,
 -  cr$i&   `df the Minister, himself  Ijeirig  involved, as to                     P. Dyksterhuis aind  other elders  and ex-elders.
   hoti to  make  this  pqblic  to the congregation. But is it                                  This -separation we wish to terminate,  be:ause  it
        possilble  that  this  thing was done by the Rev. Danhof                    was sinful, it has proven to be detrimental to our  con-
  on-his.own  accord? This, of course; would be entirely                           gregaticn,  and it is against  ref,orr&d  principles to re-
        out of order  aud  would call for a reprimand of the Rev.                   main an independent congregation` where there are
 .LQ.anhof   b$  the consistory. The consistory has evident- others of the same confession;
.`{`l$$  neglected to do this, for in the afternoon-sermon                                      This  also  was the ,conviction  of the sixty-two people
 `::t&!re  was staged. a  "&peat performance". in which. the                        (and  matiy  more) who presented .a petition not so,ldng
   `fpree$sto+"  became a  "s~eekstoel". This sermon must                           ago. This petition read as follows :
   have  meant to be the "toepas`sings  preek". The whole                                          TO THE CONSISTORY  -OF THE FIRST PROTESTING
   affair was a very negative thing, far from edifying                                             CHRISTIAN REFORMED CtiURCH  OF KALAMAZOO,
   and entirely out of order.                                                                      MLCHIGAN.
               But what  d%d  this all seem-to  be about? Was this Deal   Brethren
   "vindication-sermon" meant to be  a-9  &tempt on the
   part of R,ev.  Danhof to clear himself of the accusation                                     we, the undersigned, members of' the above  menlciongd
                                                                                   church, hereby petition the Consistory to call a `special meeting
   done officially by the Protestant Reformed Denomina- of the congregation to discuss the  reunion with the Protestant
   tion,  semi-offi&ally   Iby  ,our  elders on house-visitation, Reformed Church  benomination.  We are one in principle with
   and by our elders in private conversation, of being a -these brethren and the undersigned are against remaining any
   sThismati,c  and the cause of the separation of OLW  con-                       longer an independent congregation.
gregation  from  the.  Prot. Reformed  denominat;oT   ?                                         To avoid an other split in our congregation at the demise
               But how could a Reformed consistory  instruj`  jts                  of our present minister, and above all for the sake of saving
                                                                                   our youth for- the Protestant Reformed truth, for which we  were
   Minister to dear himself that way. Again, whereas .cast  out from the fellowship of the Christian Reformed Church,
   this is  a public affair, the  c&sistory   twould  have to                      and for which cause the Lord privileged us to suffer, we petition
  `make  - an official  announcement of the  I&J.  Danhof's                        the Consistory to give the congregation an opportunity to exer-
   innocence, if this  .had   bein proven. by the historical                       cise;   withsut  any hindrance, its calling of  the  office of the be-
 -ficts.                     But could it be that  this was done &by  the Rev.     liever and  _to  discuss thie matter in a brotherly spirit at a
                                                                                   special. congregational  meetin,g.
   Danhof, on  his own accord? Again we  say,  then  th&
   consistory should, have severely reprimanded its Minis-                                      The petitioners never received an answer from the
                               _
   ter, and  prevelited  a  ,%$eat   perfcjrtiahce" not only,                      consistpry.  The  R,erJ.  Danhof personally gave a  so-
   but  +&f&me>  the congregation of the fact that the                             CaUed   `{anslwer"  and "exhortation" from the pulpit the
   Minister had done wrong in his  ar'bitrary  way of doing                        Sunday following, an "exhortation" and "answer"
   things. Of course  we'VTealize  the difficulty,  6f  a  con-                    which indeed would look ridiculous in print. Again
   siistory  in an independent  conlgregation,  but this does                      there the action of Rev. Danhof was out of order and
   not  alit;er these things any. The consistory has  neg-                         the consistory  negle,cted  its duty. Let us face  theissue.
   lected its duty in this affair.                                                 Let the Rev. Danhof and the consistory confess  their
   -           Biit there is another element yet in this pro:edure                 wrong in separating us, and if there is guilt on the
   we-dislike  and  call dishonest. It, has become a habit by                      part of the Protestant Reformed Church, let it be
   now, that Rev. Danhof and a certain group, like to  $re-                        proven and admitted, and let us dwell together for our
   sent  thi.s   thinlg,  as if it were a matter for or against                    mutual `benefit, our spiritual  welTbeing  and to the
   the Rev.  .D&nhof,  Land  his person, and that everything                       praise of our covenant God.
   hinges On him. This we call "beclouding the issue".                                                                              B.  Hoppenbrouwer.
   What then is the issue? It is this :                                 -                                                           P. Alphenaar.                     1
               According-tb historical facts, as they are `recorded,               (Because of lack of space, this article has been delayed until
   have we in 1925 been separated from the  groudthiit'is                         this number.-H. H.)
  -noti  called the Protestant Reformed Church. This'was
   done against the will of the  elders,   -who  maintained that                                                    I N   M E M O R I A M
                                                                                                The consistory of the Prot. Ref. Church of Manhattan, Mon-
   there was no reason for separation, there  w-as ~0 prin-                        tan!,  hereby wishes to express its sympathy to our brother,
   cipal difference.  Th&   R.ev.   Danhgf   wanted  the  seppara- Deacon H. Ungersma, :in  the loss of his father,
   tion  alid  when the elders.maintairi&d  th'e  wrong of stich.  _                       -                           HEN&Y  %@ERS%IA
   a'step  and did not agree Eo  sgparation,  the Re?. &&of                                     May the Lord of all grace  comfoit the brother  ani his'
                                                                                                                                       z     .- ..  -
   forced the issue, by threatening to  resi:&n from the fan&y in this bereavement.-
                                                                                                              -t                    Rev.  fi..De Wolf, Pr.esident.
   office of -tlie  `ministry, -.if -  th4y  did not- give in, The                ..:            2.      :                        P.  F.   van  Dyken,   Cierk.


