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Vol. II. No. 5.                                                 FEBRUARY, 1926                                         Subscription Price $1.50

                                                                               presents itself to witness of this truth. But so often the
             MEDITATION                                                        deep  and_ genuine experience of the soul that is pro-
                                                                               foundly conscious of the greatness of these spiritual reali-
                                                                               ties is wanting. . .
                                                                                   Knowledge of God seems so superficial in our day  ;
               REMISSION'S BLESSEDNESS.                                        the presence of His spotless holiness and perfect right-
                                                                               eousness is felt so little; and, because of this, the con-
                          Blessed is he whose transgression is for-
                          given, whose sin is covered.--Ps.  32:l.            sciousness of sin is often so shallow; the precious boon d
                                                                              forgiveness so hardly appreciated, that true contrition
    Oh ! the blessedness !                                                    and brokeness of heart of which men of old spoke seems
    Transgression is forgiven, sin is  covered! '                              a thing  of the past, the heart  may sometimes be filled
    Thus these words of Ps. 32 should be read in order                         with supercilious pride while the mouth is stammering
to give approximately proper expression to the strong                         a prayer for forgiveness of sin, and the true exultation
emotion, the keen experience of deep and pure jo-y there                      that inevitably results from the consciousness of forgive-
is in them. "Oh! the blessedness of the man whose trans-                      ness is wanting in the heart and is  not vibrating in the
gression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."                                  song flowing from our lips.
    The soul here speaking is leaping with exuberant                               And then. . . =
gladness, with rapturous delight. She is  overflowing-                            `Have we not grown sort of accustomed to the sound
with.joy. The.words  burst forth from her lips in a gush                      of such words as forgiveness, femission, sin, transgres-
of exultation. . . . .                                                        sion, iniquity, so that in an evil sense we have become
    She speaks of experience. The spiritual realities of                      familiar with the use of the terms? We hear them, but
which she is here speaking are, as a matter of, experi-                       they  impress not.  ?%`hen the spiritual growth in grace                  '
ence, vividly before her consciousness. With fresh                            of a soul, filled in principle with the love of  God* keeps
remembrance she recalls the depressing misery of a bur-                       apace with its development in the knowledge of these
den of sin and, in contrast with it, the inexpressible                        spiritual realities, it is well; she then remains truly sen-
delight that sprung from the faith that the burden was                        sitive and quick `to respond in humiliation and penitence
removed, the sins, more than she could count, were for-                       as well as in exultation and joy to the living  testitnon!
given. covered. And she must speak  and sing to give                          of the `Word of God concerning sin and grace. But if a
expression to her boundless joy : "Oh, my blessedness !"                      soul is much preached to while, perhaps it is spiritually
    How different it often is with us!                                        dull and steeped in the things of this world, it grows
    Oh, certainly, we believe the forgiveness of sins. We                     hard and responds no more  or> is slow to respond.
speak of transgression and sin and iniquity ; and of for-                          Not so the psalmist.. . . .                                     \
giveness and that all our sins are covered and that they                           He does not choose a theme because he wants to sing;
can and shall be imputed nevermore to us. We can often                        but he must sing because his heart overflows with the joy
even dogmatize about these spiritual realities, explain the                   of a theme.
cause, the ground, the possibility, the completeness, the                          His song is the expression of living experience, of
certainty of the remission of sins. We can explain that                       unspeakable bliss.
it is the basis upon which we may approach the Lord and                           It springs fresh from his soul.
expect Him to bless us. Perhaps, too, we would `insist'                           Oh, the blessedness !
on the correct doctrinal presentation of the matter of
forgiveness `and put up a very orthodox defense against                            How precious a jewel is forgiveness!
modern erroneous theories concerning it. Probably we                               It glitters with brighter beauty and shines with
grow warm with enthusiasm whenever the opportunity                            greater lustre according as you put it in a darker atmos-


       130                                                TI-IE  STAXDAKD  B E A R E R  -
       __..___ ____ --.^ --........  ^I-____-                 __-.__  _ .-._-....  -._--.- .-__- ^ _-_." ___..-.                                        - -
       phere of guilt and sin and condemnation. Xt is scintillat-                                To the contrite spirit it  .signifies  that its sins are ho
       ing  %vith the light of God's grace, reflected in it from                          more, that the very reality of them is wiped out.
       God's very heart, only if you hold it  on  the black back-                               There is, indeed, a reflection of this divine forgiveness
       ground of personal corruption.                                                     in the lives of the children of God that strive after being
              You must know sin to know forgiveness.                                      His imitators.            For they forgive one-another, even as
              And you must know God to know sin.                                          God in Christ has forgiven them.
              And in the light of that knowledge you must expose                                 But it is only a faint reflection at its best.
       all . * . . your heart and mind and will, your hidden imag-                               For  us it means, &t the very perfectest, that over and
       inations and your secret thoughts, your inmost desires                             through committed oft'enses we let the stream of love in
       and your  SOUYS deepest recesses, your speech and your Christ, forgettingly, flow from heart to heart, as if these
       every act.                                                                         offenses were not, had never been. . . .
              Nay, I refer not to a certain natural knowledge.                                   For God it means, not only that He hides His face
              It is dead.. . .                                                            from our transgression and that He beholds no iniquity
              It knows according to the very standard of darkness.                        in Jacob, and that He deals with us as  if, we never had
       YOU will never feel the  blessednes?   .of remission, the                          had sin and never were corrupted, but that' Himself, in
       thrill of joy caused by the, knowledge that the stream of                          the Person of His only begotten Son, came to bear them
       your iniquity is blotted out from before the face of God,                          upon the accursed tree till their guilt was removed. God
       by merely acknowledging that God is, that sin is, that                             so forgave that our sins are no more. He forgave accord-
       condemnation is. Remember: the devils believe too and ing to strictest justice and on the basis of most perfect
       they tremble:. . .                                                                 righteousness. He forgave in profoundest and most in-
              But you must know these spiritual realities with the                        comprehensible love. Forgiveness with Him means blot-
       knowledge of a living love!                                                        ting out; to cover up with Him is to bury; to remit with
        . ;2h! when in our hearts, by nature dark because of God is to forget. All according to His thoughts of
       enmity against the Holy One, the love of God is spread                             eternal peace. . . .         '
       abroad, though, at  first> we know it not; and this love of                              It carries us back into the counsel of God.
       God is being fanned into a burning flame by the Spirit                                    Let us not err in this respect.
      and Word, though, at the time, we understand it not. . . . .                              It'is true, indeed, that we can never enter into God's
              And when, born from that love of God, kindled in our                        communion  aild enjoy His blessed friendship unless we
      hearts, there begins to be felt a certain hunger'and thirst                         are forgiven  ; true it is, too, that we could never rejoice
      after God, a yearning after Him, after His likeness, His                            in the blessed assurance of forgiveness except on the
      friendship, His bIessed  covenant-communion and love. . . .                         basis of strictest justice and righteousness; and true it is,
              And when this longing after God grows upon us,                              lastly, that this basis of justice was laid by the Man or
       seems to steal over our  soul,  to take possession of our                          Sorrows on the bloody mount. Christ is, indeed, the
       thinking and willing, to gain dominion over every desire,                          foundation of our salvation.
       till we would fain sing, with more genuine feeling than                                   But it is not true, that the cross was first and God's
       ever before :                                                                      love second. It is not true that the Cross is the cause
              To live .apart  from God is death ;                                         of God's love to His people. Never may we give place
              `Tis good His face to see. , . . . . . .                                    to the conception of a God of wrath and a Christ that
              And when, then, the true consciousness of sin surges                        changed His mind.
      like a flood over our heart, dark, black, horrible sin; sin                               The very contrary is  true:
      of act and speech, of thought and desire ; sin in the very                                 God's love is first. First, surely, in relation to our
       corruption of our heart; sin in the present and sin in the                        .love";  first in relation to the Cross and the Man of Sor-
       past, sin everywhere. And we feel the heavy burden of                              rows, first from eternity. It is the foundation of all. The
      our guilt.  .,%nd we acknowledge the righteousness of our                           blood that flowed from Golgotha and that is able to wipe
      condemnation. And we realize that this flood of sin must                            out forever the handwriting of our sin, in deepest sense
       make separation between our thirsting soul and Him                                 flows from God's own eternal heart!. . . . '
     ` after Whom our heart longeth and yearneth.. . . .                                        That love, that free and sovereign, that boundless.
              And we deeply feel our impotency to make good, to                           love of God is the First Cause of all. It is the love where-
.     atone, to blot OCI~, to dry up that flood of iniquity. . . .                        with He loved His own from before the foundation of
              And then, comes from the lips of God in heaven the                          the world. In that love He willed to have His own with
      assurance : Thy sins are forgiven, covered, blotted out,                            Him. And to have them with Him He gave them Christ,
      forgotten forever and ever,*  I will remember them never-                           His only  Ibegotten  Son, that for their transgression He
       m o r e ! . . . .                                                                  might be bruised. . . .
              Oh! the blessedness of that assurance to that soul at
       that moment !                                                                            That eternal, deep, unchangeable love  1 taste when
              Precious gem of forgiveness !                                               the testimony resounds in my soul:
                                                                                                Thy sins are forgiven!
              Forgiven are thy sins!                                                             Oh, the blessedness !


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              131

     What unspeakable privilege is forgiveness ! '                                          "33 VOTO  CALVINI"
     What foyntains of blessing are opened unto me, when
 that one blessing I possess, and know that my sins are                    In een vorig artikel beloofden we nadere  toelichting
 forgiven.                                                             yan de  proeve   van  geloofsverklaring  van Prof. Dr.  V.
   These fountains of bliss, without remission, were                   Hepp..  Doen we zulks ditmaal zooveel mogelijk in zijne
 closed. For without it, I could never reach Father's                 eigene  woorden. Hij zelf tech zegt ons in eene artikelen-
 heart, whence all true blessings spring.            '                reeks :  "Internationaal  Calvinisme," in "De Reformatie,"
     Nay, worse.. . .                                                 hoe hij zijn  "prdeve van een grondslag voor de  interna-
     Without remission I was under `condemnation  ! and               tionale Calvinistische organisatie? wil aangemerkt  heb-
 wrath. For God is  Holy,  spotlessly holy. And the- fire             ben. Het is dus alleszins gepast, dat wij hem eerst zelf
of His holiness bums eternally against sin. And from the              laten spreken.
 fire of that wrath there radiated, against me the very heat              Dr. Hepp begint met Fe zeggen, dat het internationalc
of hell.          Fountains were open, indeed, but they were          probleem  een der geweldigste  4s in onze dagen.  Doch,
founts of misery and woe, damnation and eternal death, tegenover de  internationaliteitsgedachte  staat het  Calvi-
wailing and gnashing of teeth. . . .                                  nisme niet vijandig. Het "heeft een intemationale bood-
     Banishment  from' His presence in love.. . . .                   schap, welke geen andere  richting binnen het Christen-
     Eternal presence in the cursing of His wrath.. . .               dom kan overbrengen : onuoomaardelijke  koncentratie
     Hell !                                                           van  leden en  bmustzijn   ,op God." De  onderstreeping   is
     And now?.....                                                    van.ons. - En het internationalisme  is niet in strijd met
     God's heart opened unto me in, free and boundless                Gods Woord ; en ook is de internationaliteitsgedachte
love. And from that divine heart filled with eternal love             &et  "zoozeer  geannexeerd door. den  ge&st der revolutie,
issued forth to me the blessing of forgiveness,  reinission           dat zij voor ons onbruikbaar zou  zijn: Men verwart in-
of all my sin; not once or twice or seven times or seventy            ternationalisme met kosmopolitisme." Wanneer.men  dan
times seven times, but continually this gracious boon is              ook spreekt over het fiasco van de  intemationaliteits-
given me. . . .  ,.                                                   gedachte in de practijk onzer dagen, zoo is zulks "schro-
     And it is followed by a veritable stream of graces and           melijk overdreven."        Natuurlijk  meet een  "internatio-
bounties of salvation.            `i     ,                            nalisme, dat een humanistisch  ideaal  nastreeft en zijn
     For now I have peace, the peace that  passeth all                verwachtingen bouwt op de innerlijke gaafheid van den
understanding, in the consciousness that I am righteous               natuurlijken  mensch,  we1 teleurstelling  baren."     "Maar
before Him ; now I am assured that I may approach Hi,                 het Calvinisme kiest zijn uitgangspunt in de  realiteit,
for Whom my soul  yeained,  without fear; now I  *feel                Zijn beginsel bindt saam.  ,Daarom  is het internationaal
confident that His wrath burns no more against me, but                Calvinisme er." Het  wacht   echter  op  organisatie.   :Doch
that He embraces me in love; now I taste His  covenant-               daarvoor  kan men geen kerkelijken vorm kiezen of  ge-
friendship and know Him  w,ith  that knowledge which is               bruik  maken van  ."een bestaande intemationale kerkelijke
eternal life.                                                         organlisatie.;'    Want "de Calvinistische wereld- en levens-
    Now I am His child and He'is my Father and I know                 beschouwing bestrijkt een  ceel breeder veld dan  alleen
that He will care for me, guide me, protect me in love,               het kerkelijke. Zij heeft een universeele kultuurroeping."
hold my right hand all the wiy ; and in His love He will              Daarom zal de internatioqale  oiganisatie ."personen  moe-
cause all things to work together for my good, till I shall           ten verzamelen op een  gkmeenschappelijke   beginselver-
be made like unto glorious image of His Son., . . .                   klaring." En "deze .moet gebaseerd zijn op de feitelijk-
    Now I am heir to eternaI life; co-heir with Christ, and           heid en daarom-  moeten  kerkelijke en politieke  ,geschil-
I know that He has  .prepared  me a city. And though on               punten   worden uitgeschakeld."           '
the way to the City I often may stumble and blunder                       Het denkbeeld van een  internationaal   Calvinismc
in sin and transgression, I know that He always for-                  stonds reeds  Calvijn  zelf voor den geest.  "De  wensche-
gives. . . . .                                                        lijkheid daarvan heeft hij, zij het in anderen vorm  uit-
    Till I shall sin no more but behold His` face in right-           drukkelijk uitgesproken."        In onderscheidene brieven
eousness.                                                             aan  "CranmerJ  die de  bqginselen  der Reformatie in  En-
    Then, then I shall be satisfied!                                  geland  krachtig propageerde, sprak  Calvijn  den  wensch'
    Oh  ; the blessedness !                                           uit, dat uit de verschillende kerken, welke de zuivere leer
    Hallelujah !                                                      van het evangelie  hadden  omhelsd, vooraanstaande  doc-
                                                          H. H.  \    tores zouden  samenkomeri om  gezamelijk  een zekere en
                                                                      duidelijke belijdenis voor het nageslacht op te stellen."  -
    "The duties which we do not are sins  whi& we do.                 "En Cranmer  we&e. die gedachte  266  uit, dat evenals
Our very sins of omission are full of commission. When                de Roomschen hun concilie van Trente  hadden,  zod ook
your altars to Satan have not been cast down and the                  de Gercformeerden niet moesten nalaten een  godvruch-
Divine voice has not been obeyed then God's judgment ,tige synode bijeen te roepen  om de dwalingen te bestrij-
is that your omission  .is a soul destroying commission."             den en de. dogmata te zuiveren en te verbreiden."  -
                                         -Rev. J.  6. Millar.         "Het intemationaal  Caivinisme  is dus e voto Calvini,   ge-


 134                                         T H E   `STAND.ARD   B E A R E R
 --.-                           _l_l_l_l-_.__^-   __-_                     - I _ -                                   - . - - _ _ - ,
 GOD'S DEALING WITH THE RIGHTEOUS AND                               thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in
                         THE WICKED                                 whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in
                                                                    the dry land, died. And every living substance was
        The question is often asked: is it not true, then, is it    destroyed  whit+ was upon the face of the ground, both
 not a tangible fact, that in this world God is good to the         man and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl
wicked as well as to the righteous? Even if we  wo'uld              of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth ;
grant, that the covenant with Noah was no covenant                  and Noah  only remained alive and they that were with
which He established with the wicked world as such, but             him in the ark." We maintain, therefore,. that Dr. Ku>--
with the Church,. separated from the world and saved in             per is in error and guilty of distorting the plain )Vord of
the ark, does not the fact remain that all men, without             God, when he explains, that the flood was limited to those
distinction partake of the blessings of the covenant which          parts of the world where men lived and that not all the
God established immediately sfter the flood, the covenant           beasts were destroyed in the flood. The catastrophe of
of nature?' Turn the matter as you will, it is evident to           the Deluge was  universai. We may  x-cry   well imagine
common sense, as a fact of experience, that the blessings           that, before the fldod,  the face of the earth was consider-
of this present time are bestowed upon the elect and                ably different from its post-deluvian  appearance. It is not
reprobate alike, upon the wicked as well as upon the                impossible, that there was much less dry land and con-
righteous and that in these blessings God is gracious to            siderably more water than after the flood. It is even con-
the wicked with regard to things of temporal and earthly            ceivable that the bottom of seas and oceans were raised
significance.                                                       by God's mighty hand, so that their contents were poured
    The facts in the case are evident. When God estab-              over the dry land, and the waters, otherwise reserved and
lished His covenant with Noah He promised that  sced-               constrained in their proper basins, now covered the entire
time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day             face of the earth. But the fact must be established on
and night, should not again cease. The meaning of this              the basis of the clear language of the Word of God, that
word is, of course, that the regular ordinances of nature,          the flood was  .universal  and that the waters actually
of seasons and times and days should not again be inter-            destroyed  all things living, except in as far as they had
rupted as they had been in that terrible catastrophe of             refuge in the ark. Now, then, God announces that no
the flood.       It surely does not imply that the curse is         such thing shall ever take place again. The Lord said in
removed from creation. Neither does it imply that the               `His heart. . . . "While the earth  remaineth,   seedtime and
Lord will `never interrupt these ordinances, that always            harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and
and everywhere  seedtime  and harvest shall be normal               day and night' shall not cease," Gen. X:22. Evidently.
and that in every land there shall be abundance. He                 till the day of Christ's coming, these regular ordinances
sends, even after the flood rain and drought, fruitful and          of nature shall stand.
barren years, plenty and famine, oil and wine but also                 Secondly, the Lord guaranteA the multiplication and
scarcity and want. But surely the meaning is, that these            fruitfulness of the whole human race. `LAnh God blessed
ordinances shall not again be interrupted as they had in            Noah and his sons and said unto them, de fruitful and
the flood. The flood had been a tremendous upheaval.                multiply and replenish the earth," a word which  impliks
There is not the slightest possibility of doubt left in the         two things. In the first place it is a reassurance on the
Holy Scriptures with regard to the fact that it had been            part of God, that the human race could now safely
a universal catastrophe. We are, of  CcJUrse,   aware that          develop and  find a place in the world that would not
Dr. Kuyper also denies this and so interprets Scripture             again be disturbed and destroyed by a catastrophe similar
as to teach a merely  1ocaI flood. And we know that                 to the flood. And.in the second place, it is a blessing of
many follow the great man in this interpretation. It is             God upon them: to make them fruitful and fill all the
remarkable how `much people can digest if it is only fed            earth. Calvin well says: "We hence infer with what
to them by a man with a great name. Dr. Kuyper said,                great fear Noah had been dejected, because God so often
that the flood was a local matter that it was not over  the         and at such length proceeds to `encourage him. For
whole earth and that it was not under the whole heaven.             when Moses here says, that God blessed Noah and his
He  said that Scripture thus presented it.  ..1nd hundreds          sons, he does not simply mean that the favour of fruit-
have repeated it after him and regard you somewhat as               fulness was restored to them; but that at the same time
a simpleton if you still hold that Scripture does not teach         the design of God concerning the new restitution of the
a local Deluge. But the fact remains that the Word of               world was revealed to them. For to the blessing itself is
God emphatically declares that the Deluge was a uni-                added the voice of God by which He addresses them. We
versal catastrophe.  ,The language of Gen.  I  f:19-23  is          know that brute animals produce offspring in no other
decisive on this point : "rind the waters prevailed esceed-         way than by the blessing of God; but Moses here com-
ingly upon the earth; and all the high hills that were              memorates a privilege which belongs only to men. There-
under the whole heaven were covered.              Fifteen cubits    fore,  iest those four men and their wives, seized with
upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were               trepidation, should'doubt for what purpose they had
covered. <And  a11  flesh that moved upon the earth, both           been delivered, the Lord prescribes for them their future
of  fo\Gl and c>f cattle and of beast, and of every creeping        condition of life: namely, that they shall raise up  man-


                                                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               1 3 ,S
 ___"  .___.......................___......-_._._~....--,~-.  -- -...._  ^ . .    --___.....-_  - -__    _l____l__.-__-l_                 -~ __........_....-    -        -
kind from death to life. Thus he not only renews the                                                     Little we know of the lives of the animals.  They  surely
world by the same word by which he before created it;                                                    are not rational and moral creatures in the human sense
 but he directs his word to men, in order that they may                                                  of the word. Yet, it is evident from  these words, that
 recover the lawful use of marriage, may, know that the                                                  when the animal violates the very dread and reverence
care of producing offspring is pleasing  to Himself and                                                  which God inspired into it over against the presence of
 may have confidence that a progeny shall spring from                                                    man, it is, to a certain  extenf  held accountable and the
them which shall diffuse itself through all the regions of                                               object of punishment. For in one breath the Lord here
the earth, so as to render it again inhabited; although it                                               says that he will require the blood of man at the hand
had been laid waste and made  a desert." Commentary                                                      of every beast and at the hand of every man.
on Gen.  9:l. The development of the wh$e human race,                                                        In the third place, the Lord in these verses gives
therefore, is here guaranteed and encouraged.                                                            man the right and places him under obligation to shed
        In the third place, God protects human life against                                              the  .blood  of man or beast that sheds the'blood of man.
 the ferocity of beasts and the blood-thirtiness of men.                                                 It is surely no exegesis of these verses that finds in them
"And the fear of- you and .the dread of you shall be upon                                                the institution of government. For in  tfr'e first place,
every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air,                                                there is in these verses not a word said about the magis-
upon all that  moveth  upon the earth and upon all the                                                   trates. Whd and in what way the blood of the manslayer
fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.. . .                                               shall be shed is left undetermined in these verses. Xnd
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the                                               surely, no orie of the four men then living is here appoint-
hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of                                                et1 king or judge. In the second place, it is historically
man ; at the hand of every man's brother will I require                                                  untrue, that government as such is suddenly and by
the life of man.  Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man                                                     special command of God instituted for sin's sake. It much
his blood shall be s'hed for in the image of God made he                                                 rather developed gradually and organically from the
man." Gen.  92, 5, 6. We have here in the first place                                                    family and the authority of the head of the family as its
the assurance that God will inspire the animals with fear                                                basis: Thus the  Hkidelberg  Catechism undoubtedly
and dread against us. Calvin here comments as follows :                                                  understands the matter, when it connects all authority
"We see indeed that wild beasts rush violently upon men,                                                 and obligation to obedience with the Fifth Command-
and rend and tear many of them in pieces; and if God did                                                 ment. Even as the father in the family, so the patriarch
not wonderfully restrain their fierceness, the human race                                                of his generation and the head of the tribe is the person
would be utterly destroyed.. . . .  Sava,ge beasts indeed                                                in whom authority is vested. At the very best, one may
prevail and rage against men in various ways, and no                                                     deduce from these verses that the sword, the right and
wonder; for since we perversely exalt ourselves against duty of capital punishment, is here given to those in
God, why should not the beasts rise up against us? Nev-                                                  authority. Not the institution  of, government is men-
ertheless,  the providence of God is a secret bridle to                                                  tioned in Gen. 9:6, but the institution of the sword. And
restrain their violence. For whence does it arise that ser-                                              it was but natural, that as government developed into a
pents spare us, unless because he represses their viru-                                                  well-defined institution, that this sword would  pass  from
lence? Whence is it, that tigers, elephants, lions, bears, ,$he hands of the blood-revenger into those of the magis-
wolves  and other wild beasts without. number do not                                                     trates.    Calvin well says: "On the whole they arc
rend, tear and devour everything human, except that they                                                 deceived in my judgment who think that a political law.
are withheld by this subjection as a barrier? Therefore                                                  for the punishment of homicides is here simply intended.
it ought to be referred to the special protection and ,Truly I do not deny that the punishment which the laws
guardianship of God that we remain in safety. For, were                                                  ordain and which the judges execute, are founded on this
it otherwise, what could we expect; since they seem as                                                   divine sentence; but I say the words are more  comprc-
if born for our destruction, and burn with. the furious                                                  hensive." Commentary on Gen. 9:6.
desire to injure us? Moreover, the bridle with which the                                                    Now, then, it is plain, how along a wrong line of
Lord restrains the cruelty of wild beasts, to prevent them                                               argumentation and deduction, the theory of common
falling  upon`men; is a certain fear and dread which God                                                 grace and of a common covenant could be built upon the
has implanted in them, to the end that they might rev-                                                   basis of all these ordinances of the covenant with Noah.
erence the presence of men." And surely, thus it is. The                                                 It is argued in the first place, that all these things men- '
animal is inspired with fear before us.                                                And it is sub-    tioned above are general and not particular. They com-
servient to man's rule. The horse fears its rider, and                                                   prehend all the world, the development of all earthy
his  strength  obeys man. The strength of the ox is                                                      things and institutions, and they include the entire human
employed in man's service, and man's dominion  ox-cr                                                     race. Not only the righteous but also the wicked are the
every beast is evident.                                                                                  participants of the things promised in these  ordinances.
        In the second place,  the Lord here promises revenge                                             Not  onlv the elect, but also the reprobate receive the
on man and beast for the blood of man that is shed. He                                                   benefits-that flow from the covenant with Noah. When
will require the blood of man at the hand of every beast.                                                seedtime  and harvest do not fail and summer and winter
This surely implies an element of guilt even on the part                                                 alternate without interruption, it is evident that. not only
of the beast that raves against us to kill and devour.                                                   the righteous but also the wicked receive the benefit. That
               .


136                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 - __." ...__.._" _--- ___l_l_-`-.---  .                                                       _--                  -......-.^_^-
 earth and its abundance are for all in common. The                God always speaks. Also in the text of Gen. 6-9 it is
 promise of fruitfulness and multiplication of the human           referred to as "My covenant."
 race concerns not only the elect, but the reprobate  as               2. That covenant God establishes not with the
 well, and the wicked as well as the righteous replenish           wicked world, but with His friend Noah and in him with
 the earth, The fear of God in the wild beast that keeps           his seed according to the promise. No more than all the
 it away from human society and protects man against               seed of Abraham are included in the covenant as estab-
 being overcome and devoured by it as well as the institu-         lished with that friend of God, no more are all the chil-
 tion by which the blood of man is required from him               dren of man included in the gracious covenant of God
 that sheds it affords protection to the life of all men with-     w i t h   N o a h .
 out distinction.           I$ one word, it is because of these        3. For His covenant sake, in the positive sense, the
 ordinances after the flood that all human' life and its           Lord ordains that the earth shall not again be dejtroyed
 development has again become possible. The develop-               and that the temporal ordinances of earth and heaven
 ment of the race in rll .thc xkarious races and peoples and       shall be firm as long as the earth remaineth. For His
 tribes; their talents and powers and dominion over all            covenant sake in the positive sense the human race must
 the things, over the depths of the seas and the heights of- again be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.
 the heavens ; rain and sunshine, the earth and its fruit,         For His people's sake the fear and dread of them must
 all things belonging to this present life are guaranteed          be upon'all the beasts of the field. In short, the basis is
 bi these promises of God ta Noah and his  se&d and they           laid for the, development of human life, not as a gracious
 are bestowed upon righteous and wicked alike. These               promise  to the wicked, but for God's covenant's sake, in
 things are undeniably common to all men.                          order that it may  appeai   in' the world and ultimately be
       Secondly, it is argued, that these things are the cov- perfected in glory.
 enant which God established with Noah and his seed.                4. And since it is God's will to realize His covenant
 They belong to the very essence of that covenant. The             aIong  the line of election and in antithesis to the line of
 covenant with Noah was nothing else than the very prom-           reprobation, Noah becomes again the father of two peo-
 ise and oath of God, whereby He bound Himself never               ples, the righteous and the wicked. From a  natural-
 to send a flood again, never to disturb the ordinances of         organic point of view these two are one. They have  all'
 nature again for the sin  of man, but to allow  seedtime          things in common. But things are not grace. Things
 and harvest to appear in regular succession and to pro-           are means. By the same means through which the good
 vide for man a place and the means for his development            grain develops the thorn and thistle also grow in the
 in the world. Xnd since this is a fact, it is concluded that      field. And again, by the same means, through which God
 the covenant with Noah is established not with His own            makes the development of His covenant possible in the
 people, but with all men without distinction, with the            world, He prepares the wicked for the day of destruction.
 wicked world as such. Hence, the theory of a common               There is nothing common in grace in time or eternity.
 covenant and a common grace. Common grace is the                  Surely, in the covenant with Noah God gives the earth
 outflow of that gracious'  cr:,venant  of God with all men,       and its fulness not to the wicked world but to His people
 whereby in His lovingkindness and favor He promises               in Noah, with whom He establishes His covenant. And
 unto all men, unto the wicked world as such the earth and         the wicked also living in that world of which  ,Noah   and*
 its fulness for this present time.                                his seed became heir, in it develop in wickedness and
       Such is the argument.                                       become fit for eternal destruction.
       Now, we have all Scripture to prove that this entire            This line of Scripture we hope to develop a little
 theory is false. We have all the Word of God to prove             more clearly another time.                            H. H.
 that God loves the righteous and hates the wicked both
 in time and eternity. We have all the testimony of
 Scripture to show, that even in this second world which                      THE WINGS OF THE ALMIGHTY
 develops according to the ordinances of Noah, God is
 not gracious to the reprobate and godless, even though                       "The while He sits whose name is Love,
 He should fill them with earthly abundance. And we                            And waits as Noah did the dove,
`have all Scripture to support the truth, that even now                       To see if she would fly to him,
 God realizes His counsel both along the line of reproba-                      He waits for us, while, houseless things,
 tion and election also through all the means established                      We beat about with bruised wings.
 by the covenant with Noah. And all the Word of God
 reveals clearly that we must have a different line of argu-                   On the dark floods and water springs
 ment than that proposed by  Dr.  Kuyher upon the basis                        The ruin'd world, the desolated sea ;
 of the covenant with Noah. That line runs as follows:                         With open windows from the prime,
       1. God's covenant is the gracious relation of friend-                   He waits, all night, all day, sublime,
 ship which He establishes in Christ between Himself and                 k    Until the fulness of the time
 His people, whom He loved from before the foundation of                       Decreed from His eternity."
 the world. This is  the  covenant of which the Word  of                                                       --Jean Bigelow.


 140                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 lll_.--".._                                                                                            -_________-

 voldoende  recht laten wedervarcn aan het organische ver-       die Hij betoont  aan zijn schepselen in het algemeen. Dit
 band der  dingen.  Dat moest  zich wreken, en heeft  zich       blijkt uit de aangehaalde Schriftuurplaatsen en uit de
 gewroken. Het leven moest naar terreinen worden  inge-          Dordtsche Leerregels II, 5, en III en IV, 8 en 9,  wuar
 de"eld;  de CPnheid  van het leven uit den wortel der weder-    gehandeld wordt van de  algememt-  uanbieding  des  Evange-
 geboortc werd verbroken; en de helderheid in den  kin-          lies."    Acta Synodi  1924, p. 145, 146.
 derdoop raakte verloren.  Ng  1618-`19  kwam men weer               Synod asserts that, according to Scripture and Con-
 met nationale begrippen en  volkskerkidee&  aandragen.          fession, God offers his grace, love or salvation (heil) to
 `Daardoor ontstond vaneenscheiding van hetgeen  geeste-         all including the reprobate. Now, the proposition that
 lijk samenhoort, en samenvoeging van  geestelijk-onge-          God offers his grace or salvation to all must imply a will
lijksoortigen.                                                   and purpose on His part to save all. To maintain on the
        Daartegenover moeten  we allereerst de organische ge-    one hand that God offers his grace or salvation to all
 dachte  krachtig  ontwikkelen.                                  but that on the other hand it is not His purpose and de-
                                                    H. D.        sign to save all means  to. make an attack upon the
                                                                 sincerity and integrity of God. Imagine someone offer-
                                                                 ing to another, let us say the sum of five dollars after
                                                                 having determined beforehand not to part with the sum  -
            PROF. BERKHOF'S PELAGIANISM                          offered. Could it be maintained that the  other was well
                                                                 meant? Could the integrity and the sincerity of the one
        On page eight of the professor's brochure one hap-       making the offer be upheld? Indeed, not. If God is
 pens upon the following paragraph: "Eer we dit punt in          offering His grace and love to the reprobate He is dis-
 bijzonderheden bespreken,  willen  we  op.  enkele   wanbe-     honest. And that because God is firmly decided not to
 grippen  wijzen, die in  verband  daarmede in omloop zijn.      give or impart the offered salvation  unto Him. Berkhof
 Sommige menschen schijnen behept te zijn met de  ge-            is greatly concerned about the integrity of God. This
 dachte, dat dit punt de Arminiaansche leer van een alge-        is evident from the following:  "We  willen  in de tweede
 meene  .voldoening (verzoening)  bevat, en dus inhoudt,         `plaats wijzen op het feit, dat het algemeen aanbod van
 dat  Christus  werkelijk  voor  alle zondaren, hoofd voor       genade welgemeend is. . . . De  roeping  des Evangelies
 hoofd, gestorven is; we1 niet in den zin dat Hij hen allen      is  weIgemeend.      Als wij iemand uitnoodigen,  doch  ter-
 effectief zalig maakt, maar  tech zoo, dat Hij de deur          zelfder tijd  hopen,  dat hij de uitnoodiging  nier  aanvaar-
 voor ailen  wijd geopend heeft,  en het nu maar van hunnc       den zal, dan is ons verzoek niet welgemeend maar onop-
 persoonlijke keuze afhangt, of zij zullen binnentreden of       recht." Brochure,,  p. 18. In  respec! to the above quota-
 niet. Het is  echter volkomen duidelijk voor ieder, die         tion it should be born in mind that the professor is using
 gewoon Nederlandsch lezen kan, dat er geen schijn van           the two terms "offer,' and "calling" interchangeably. He
 die leer in dit punt te vinden is."                             speaks of calling when he means offer. This is evident
        The professor avers, does he not? that in the first      from the title of the chapter from which the above quota-
 point of Synod is found not as much as a trace of the           tion is taken. The title reads: "Het Welgemeend  Aan-
 Arminian doctrine of general atonement.  =2nybody,  says        bod des  Heils.`,
 the professor, able to read "gewoon  Nedeylandsch"  will            Berkhof then, deems it necessary to defend the
 at once perceive and admit it; We agree with Berkhof,           integrity of God. He insists that God means what He
 providing the reader is not one whose custom it is to           says and does when He offers salvation to the rejected
think a little as he reads. But if that reader is one who is     ones. But the question cannot be suppressed how God
 wont to look beneath the surface of things, if he is one        can  sincerily  be offering salvation unto the rejected
 who is ever mindful of the fact that "schijn bedriegt"  -       Ones if He is firmly decided not to give unto them the
 even Satan appears as an angel of light  - he will tell         saIvation  offered. Such an offer, to be well meant, must
 you that the first point of Synod is indeed a  Pelagian         imply a will and a purpose on the part of God to bestow
 proposition. Consider the first of the three deliverances       the salvation offered and to save the rejected one unto
 of Synod. It reads: "God shows grace or favor  untb all         whom the offer is made. And Berkhof himself admits
 including  the.reprobate." That is, there is in this world      this as we pointed out and proved in our previous article.
 a visible manifestation of the grace or love of God for             Berkhof actually asserts  in.the December number of
 the  reprobale.  The visible manifestation, says Synod,         the "Reformed Herald,' that it is the will, the purpose,
of this love or grace is the offer of salvation made unto        the design  of,.God to save the reprobate. Says Berkhof:
 him by God through the instrumentality of his servants.         "Zij (the offer of salvation) is in de eerste plaats eene
 I shall quote from the Acts of Synod:  "Aangaande het           openbaring van Gods liefde voor zondaren, en van Zijn
eerste punt, rakende de gunstige gezindheid Gods jegens          rijke  gunst  zelfs over degenen, die `Hem tegenstaan, en
de menschheid in het algemeen, en niet alleen  jegens de         van  z$n  behagen  in  hun  redding   van.deen  Jood.  Zij is dit
uitverkorenen, spreekt de Synode uit dat volgens Schrift         voor alle zondaren, onk n~uor  de zLerwc-rpenen."  And again :
en Confessie het vaststaat, dat er, behalve  de zaligmaken-      "Dit wordt in den laatsten  tijd ontkend door hen die- de
de genade Gods bewezen alleen aan de uitverkorenen ten           algemeene genade loochenen. Zij zien in de prediking
eeuwigen leven, ook een zekere gunst of genade Gods is,          des woords voor de verworpenen, die er onder verkeeren


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D ' B E A R E R                                             141
                                                                         -....... -____^.-.                           - - - -
  niets  dan vloek. God  haat hen,  Hij  aSI hen  nia redden."     to deny  it) that God is fully aware of the reprobate sin-
  Berkhof takes us to task for denying that  Crod wills to        ner's condition. Nay more, God's will is the necessity of
  save the rejected one. Berkhof's view is, therefore, that       the reprobate sinner's spiritual and moral condition. God
  God, according to His good pleasure, wills to save the          knows how Christ will affect that sinner, and He, God,
  reprobate. We pointed out in our previous article how           is firmly decided neither to restore his soul nor to give
  that the Reformed group of theologians maintain that it         the Christ which, according  to.  Bei-khof and his com-
  is not God's will to save the reprobate. Berkhof, how-          panions, He, God, is supposed to be offering. Bearing
  ever, is consistent. One must regard the offer of salva-        in mind now the spiritual and moral condition of the
  tion as being motivated by a design or purpose on the           reprobate sinner, the manner in which the preaching of
  part of God to save the reprobate and to grant him the          the Gospel affects him, the unwillingness of God to
  salvation offered, or deny the sincerity of the offer -and      restore his soul and to give him the Christ offered, bear-
"3 the integrity of God.                                          ing in mind that God is aware of the condition of that
     Synod also avered  that God offers salvation unto the        sinner, that  it  is  his eternal purpose to cast him into
  rejected. Synod also regarded this offer as an expres-          eternal destruction, that God's will is the necessity of
  sion of a design of purpose on God's part to save the           his moral condition, will it not have to be admitted by
  rejected ones and to bestow upon them the offered salva- Berkhof and his fellows that he who maintains that God
  tion. Synod regards the offer as a  tangable  manifesta-        out of love is sincerely offering Christ to the rejected
  tion of God's love for the rejected. Now, it is the height      ones is either insane, or is mocking God, or is speaking
  of folly to regard the offer as an exhibition of God's love     without first having thought? And they do admit that
  for the rejected one if it be maintained that God is unwill-' it all sounds very queer and mysterious. But they tell
  ing to give unto him the salvation offered.                     us that this nonsense is found in Scripture, and hence we
     Imagine a man who is deathfully sick. He can take            have to believe it. Permit me to say, that if this non-
  no food. The very odor of food is most offensive to him.        sense is found in Scripture, the Bible must be regarded
  The very sight of it greatly intensifies his distress. In       as a record of the babblings of insane minds instead of
  comes a physician. He offers food to the sick man with          the very  wocd of God.
  the result that his condition grows worse. Bearing in              In fine, one cannot be clinging to the doctrine of
  mind now that the physician is fully aware of the               absolute election and reprobation and to the doctrine of
  patient's condition, that he can restore the sick man to        the absolute depravity of man and yet maintain that God
  health if he but wills, bearing in mind that the physician      out of love sincerely offers Christ to the reprobate sin-
 is firmly decided neither to restore nor to grant the food ner. If the supposed offer of salvation is well meant on
  offered,  wiil not Berkhof and the members of Synod,            the part of  Go'd and if He is being pressed by love in
 still with us, have to admit that he who asserts that the ,making  the offer, the reprobate sinner must be able to
  physician loves the patient and that the offer of food          take the food offered him and relish it and in this case
 must be regarded as a manifestation of this love is either       that sinner would not be depraved, or God must be will-
 insane or is mocking or is speaking without first having         ing to restore his soul so that he can look upon the Christ
 thought? Let us apply the illustration. The sick man is          without experiencing the distress of one smitten with
  the reprobate sinner, dead in trespasses and sin. He            spiritual indigestion. ,4nd this later would imply a denial
 abhors Christ and cannot will to embrace Him.            His of the doctrine of absolute election and reprobation. They
  whole being shudders at the very sound of the name              will have to do one of two, things, reject absolute election
 J esus. It is true, he may venture into the presence of          and reprobation or denounce the first point and the sec-
 Christ to be enveloped by the light which Christ radiates.       ond and third point also for that matter.
  Doing so, however, his condition grows worse and like a            Further, he who claims that God offers the grace
 sick dog he soon returns to his vomit. Says the Apostle merited by the death of Christ to all and that it is the
  Peter : " But these (the reprobate sinner) as natural brute &sign and the purpose of God to save all, must say with i
 beasts,  made to he taken  and  dcrtroyed,  speak evil of the    the Pelagian that Christ is meant for all and died for all.
  things they understand not: and shall utterly perish in         Could God offer His Son unto those for whom He is not
their own corruption; . . , .    For it had been better for destined? Can it be the design and the purpose of God to
 them not to have known the way of righteousness, than,           save those for whom Christ shed not His blood? Should
 after they had known it, to turn from the holy command-          you and I offer to another such things as are not meant
 ment delivered unto them. But it happened unto them.             for that other? Indeed, not. The things we offer are the ,
 according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his          things which we may give.
 own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her                 It appears that Berkhof's and Synod's declaration to
 wallowing in the mire," II Peter 2: 12, 21, 22. Christ           the effect that the offer of salvation must be regarded
 effects him like the deadly fumes arising from a decaying as an exhibition of God's love for those whom He rejected
 carcass. Says Paul: "To the one we are a savor (taste is equal unto saying that Christ died for all.                        .*
 or smell) of death unto death," II Cor.  2:16.  .That               And I repeat, the claim that God offers His son to
 physician is God. And Scripture plainly teaches (there those whom He rejects and the claim that it is His pur-
 is not one in the entire Christian Reformed Church ready         pose to save the rejected ones is a denial of the doctrine


142                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
- - - -   "".--.-"."   _....-...---.   II                                                                                       -     -    -
of rejection. It is the plain teaching of Scripture that,                   them unto babes; yea Father, for so it was well pleasing
according to the eternal' will and purpose of God the                       in thy sight,' Matt.  11~25,   26. And again : `For this was
rejected ones should perish.                 And this is espressing it      the sovereign counsel, and most gracious will and purpose
mildly. Scripture teaches that God's will is the eternal                    of God the Father, that the quickening and saving
necessity of the reprobate as he appears in the eternal                     efficacy of the most precious death of His Son should
counsel of  C&d that God places him upon the slippery                       extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone
place and casts him into eternal destruction, Psalm 73.                     the gift of justifying faith.. . . that is, it was the will of
It cannot be the eternal purpose of God to cast those                       God, that Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby He
rejected into eternal destruction if He offers to them                      confirtned the new covenant, should effectually redeetn
the Christ and purposes to save them. The first declara-                    out of every people, tribe, nation and language, all those,
tion of Synod is a denial of the doctrine of rejection and                  and those only, who were from eternity chosen to salva-
of the doctrine of election as well. God purposes to save                   tion.'  " Art. 8.                                                        rp)
all, yet all are not saved. Hence, not God's but man's                         Berkhof asserts in his `brochure that it is' the height
will prevails. On this basis the doctrine, of election is                   of folIy  to say that the first point of Synod is in conflict
mere fiction. The will of man predominates. Thus it                         with the Confession. Says Beikhof : "Sommige menschen
appears that Berkhof's proposition and the first point of                   schijnen behept te zijn met de gedachte, dat dit punt de
Synod as well, is a repudiation of every worth-while doc-                   Arminiaansche leer van een algemeene voldoening  be-
trine of Christianity.                                                      \.at, en dus inhoudt,  dat  Christus werkelijk voor  alle
       I am aware of it that the opponent will denounce                     zondaren, hoofd voor hoofd, gestorven is.. . . .         Het is
above cogitations as the musings of a rationalist. And                      echter   volkomen  duidelijk voor ieder die gewoon  Neder-
thereupon he, the opponent, shall be compelled to deriom-                   landsch lezcn kan,  dat  er  gem schijn  van die leer in dit
inate such men as Vos,  Bavinck?  Hodge, Brakel, in short punt te vindm ix." We shall let the reader judge.  Berk-
the entire Reformed group of theologian rationalists.                       hof has the pernicious habit of denying plain facts.
For the above cogitations are found  .in their writings.
(See  my article in the January number of "The Stand-                          It is plain that Berkhof and the leaders in the Chris-
ard Bearer.") Permit me `to quote Vos once more. Says                       tian Reformed Church will have to do one of two things.
vos : "God is stellig van voornemen ze persoonlijk tot                      They will have to renounce, officially, every important
de zaligheid te brengen. . . : .              Wanneer dit de inhoud         and worth-while doctrine of the Christian religion or
des Evangelies was zoo zou metterdaad,eene  particuliere                    reject the first point. Unofficially they have already be-
verkiezing en voldoening da&-door uitgesloten zijn." gun to do this. Let me point to a few things. Prof.
vos, Dog.,  ,vo1: III, p. 261.                                              Berkhof is saying that it is the design and  .purpos'e  of
       Berkhof and the members of the last Synod may seek                   God to save those whom God rejected. A statement of
to defend themselves by asserting that the offer is con- this kind is a denial of the doctrine of absolute election
ditional.         It will avail them nothing. For they regard               and reprobation and the doctrine of the total depravity
the conditional offer as a manifestation of God's love to                   of man. In their brochures Rcrkhof and Rev. W. J. Kui-
all. Which means that Berkhof and his fellows are giv-                      per refuse to place before their readers the plain facts
ing to the so-called conditional offer a Pelagian interpre- about election and reprobation. Why? In his brochure
tation.        The destiny of the reprobate is not a settled                H. J. Kuiper perverts Scripture in favor of his theory of-
matter in God's mind. He assumes a waiting attitude common grace. This means a denial of the doctrine of
and decided what to do with  the,sinner  after the sinner inspiration.                     In my very presence Elder  Smit  of, the
acts and  chases.                                                           Twelfth Street Christian Reformed Church denied
       Danhof and Hoeksema  avered  from the very begin- absolute election and reprobation.                          Rev. H. J.  &riper  '
ning that the first point of Synod militates against our                    was also present. He smiled and defended the man. Dr.
Confession. Such is indeed the case.  Tn the Canons                         Beets publicly denounced as Hyper-Calv.$ism that which
                                                                    C'Jf
Dordt one may read: "The true doctrine concerning elec-                     is found in Calvin's Institutes and in Scripture. `Dr. C.
tion and rejection having been explained, the Synod                         Bouma  denied the doctrine of total depravity in my very
rejects the errors of those who teach: That God,                            presence. In his brochure Prof. Berkhof substituted for
                                                               simply
by virtue of His righteous will, did not decide either to                   the doctrine. of absolute election and reprobation the
leave anyone in the fall of Adam and in the common                          Pelagian doctrine of election and reprobation and the
state of sin and condemnation, or to pass anyone by in                      Pelagian doctrine of God. Deacon Van Eeuwen of the
the. communication of grace which is necessary for faith                    Hope Christian Reformed Church denied the doctrines
and conversion. For this is firmly decreed: `He hath mer-                   of election? reprobation, providence, and inspiration. He                       ,
cy on whom He will, and whom He will  He hardeneth.'                        did so in my very presence. Dr.  Kromminga stated in
Rom. 9 :18. And also this : `Unto you it is given to know                   one of his articles that heaven's doors are open to all.
the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it i's                   Rev. G. Hoeksema, the champion of orthodoxy in the
not given,' Matt.  13:ll. Likewise: `I thank thee,  `0 Christian Reformed Church, may now get busy.
Father of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these                         These things need not surprise us. The doctrine of
things from the wise and understanding and didst reveal                     absolute election and reprobation with all  the  itnplica-
                                                                                                                                                r


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R
  ______  _.."  _...--...._..                                 -I                                                                         143
                                                                                                                                    -          -
  tions and the propositions that God pressed by love                                  DE JONGSTE KERKELIJKE STRIJD
  sincerely offers His Son to those whom He rejected can
  not dwell together in one house; The one is  sure to he                                               IV. Na de Synode
, " crowded  cjut' by the  ,other.  This is taking place in the
  Christian Reformed Church today.                                                                          Inleiding
      Prof. ,Berkhof and his companions refuse to respond
  to the above charges. It seems to be beneath the dignity                        rliu we de Synode van  Kala'mazoo  besproken hebben
  of the professor to do so. This need not at all surprise                    en kennis genomen hebben van hare besluiten en van den
  us. For such a reply would have to be a public apology weg waarlangs ze tot die besluiten eindelijk kwam,  ver-
  for the manner in which he outrages and misrepresents                       wnndert het 011s in geen geval meer, dat ze niet de vrucht
  us in his brochure, and a public admission that he erred                    heeft afgeworpen, dat de strijd, die was ontbrand over
  grievously. To do this is not easy. It. is easier and more het stuk der  genade  nu was beslist en de rust en vrede
  convenient, in such cases, to perch one's self upon one's                   terug keerden  binnen de  poorten  van het  ChristeIijk.
  elevated dignity, and hold one's peace and look wise. But                   Gereformeerd Sion. Gelet op den geest, die. er op de
  what I meant to say is this. Perched up there on our                        Synode heerschte en in aanmerking genomen het dubbel-
  elevated dignity we are tolerably safe. Those whom we                       zinnig karakter der besluiten, kon niemand dit verwach-
  have outraged and provoked to anger cannot reach us.                        ten. Had de breedste vergadering der kerken zich duide-
  Especially not if those wronged have been deprived of all                   lijk en beslist uitgesproken, welke zijde van het geding
  their rights by those in power. I,et me conclude by say- ze dan ook gekozen had, de geschiedenis na de Synode
  ing that a dignity which exalts itself above plain Chris- had zeker een ander verloop gehad, dan ze nu metterdaad
  tian duty is a dignity which must be regarded as having                     gehad heeft. En ze had dit  we1  gekund,  had ze  zich
  its seat in the flesh.                                                      slechts gekenmerkt door ietwat meer helderheid van
                                                                              inzicht en daarmede gepaard gaande beslistheid van  over-
      In my next article  I shall disclose how that the pro-                  tuiging.   Immers,  in betrekking tot het geding uit  leer-
  fessor  sub,stituted  for the doctrine of absolute election                 stellig oogpunt stonden drie wegen haar open :
  and reprobation the Pelagian doctrine of  elections  and                       a)  Ze had kunnen uitspreken kort en bondig, dat
  reprobation.                                                                eene leer van Algemeene Genade niet is te rijmen met de
                                                              G. M. 0.        duidelijke uitspraken der  Schrift  en Confessie. Dan had
                                                                              ze juist gezien en de waarheid.  gesproken.
                                                                                 b) Ze had het precies tegenovergestelde standpunt
                          PLANT EN STEEN                                      kunnen kiezen en verklaren, dat de Gemeene Gratie leey
                                                                              eeri wezenlijk bestanddeel uitmaakt van ons  Gerefor-
              Als de stormwind kruid en halm                                  meerd  geloof. `Dan had ze  we1 gedwaald, maar ze had
                                                                              tech duidelijke, voor ieder verstaanbare:  ondubbelzinnige
                 Knakt   - en  tech maar de arme Plant                   .    taal gesproken.
                    Telkens nieuwe knopjes kweekt  -                          c) Of  ze had eenvoudig kunnen uitspreken, dat ze
                    Rlijft de Steen, wien storm niet breekt,                  zich nict bekwaam achtte, urn tot een besliste  uitspraak tc
                                 Even kalm.                                   gcraken in het onderhavige geval en de zaak kunnen leg-
                                                                              gen in de handen  van een commissie of eenvoudig Iaten
             Witbevroren,  roodgegloeid,                                      zooals ze was.     Ook dan had de Synode waarheid  ge-
                 Heeft de Steen het koud  noch warm;                          sproken, want bekwaam was ze niet.
                                                                                                   1
                    Als het fijngevoelig Kruid                                   En uit kerkrechterlijk oogpunt had ze van  tweecn
                    (Dat maar altoos kiemt en spruit)                         C&n kunnen  doen:
                                 Rilt of schroeit.                               a)    Ze had de leeraren Danhof en Hoeksema kunnen
                                                                              ontheflen   van  allen  blaam en  kunnen  uitspreken, dat  ze
             Van den zoelen hemelboog                                         in  prcdiking en geschrifte  goed zuiver gereformeerd
                 Regent het op Plant en Steen:  -                             stonden. Dan had ze de waarheid gezegd en tevens uit-
                    "t Kruid schiet uit in bloesemblad,             ,         gesproken, wat ieders overtuiging  was  en nog is.
                    Maar de Steen wordt enkel  - nat  -                          b)    Of ze had genoemde broeders eenvoudig en  be-
                                 En weer droog.                               slist voor ongereformeerd  kunnen verklaren. Dan had ze
                                                                              we1 haar eigen geweten verkracht en tegen beter  weten
             Ongedeerd en ongemoeid                                           in gehandeld,  doch dat heeft ze  nu  tech feitelijk ook en
                 Blijft de Steen  - hij  blijft ook  Steen!                   dan had ze ten minste met beslistheid gesproken en ge-
                    Ik (en `k  wensch  het Jonk en Oud)                       handeld. Ze had dan een commissie kunnen benoemen
                    Ik ben liever Groenend Hout  -                            en de zaak der leeraren bij hunne kerkeraden aanhangig
                                                                              kunnen maken.      Ze had dan zeker een ander verloop ge-
                                 `t Lijdt  - maar bloeit !                    nomen dan thans.
                                                       J. P. HEIJE.              Doch nu deed de Synode van dit  alles  niets. Ze gaf


14h                                             THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
- -                              .._-                                                                                                       -

turn  horribele'  genoemd  +werd,   n o g   ufschuwelijker   maken.              Deze gruwelijke taal ligt nu en tot den dag des  oor-
Wij zou gaarne van een God der liefde een tyran maken.                       deels  vnor de verantwoording van degenen, die ons d'e
Deze  beklaugde   heejt in zich den geest  des  heerschers,  die             rechtzaak aandeden ea wier namen op het titelblad voor-
altijd de geest van den antich&t is, hetzij dat ge er mee in                 komen van het boeksken, waaruit we aanhaalden; zoowel
aanrakjng  komt in huisgezin, in den handel, in de  poli-                    als van de getuigen, die in deze zaak dienden, met name
tiek of in de kerk. Niemand is meer in de verleiding om                      `Beets, Van  Dellen,  Volbeda, Meeter,  Bouma,  die met
heerschzuchtig te  worden  dan hij, die  zich inbeeldt, dat                  hunne namen er in vermeld, dit boeksken, zonder pro-
hij met een bovennatuurlijke opdracht tot zijne  mede-                       test of tegenspraak, naar het Hoogste Gerecht van Michi-
menschen komt.                                                               gan hebben laten  verzenden.
       "De geschiedenis geeft  gecn voorbeelden van werken                       Tot aan den dag des oordeels, broeders, tenzij ge door
van trotschheid, die ook maar eenigszins te vergelijken                      schuld verslagen over uwe gruwelen, v66r dien dag op de
zijn met den hoogmoed van den geestelijken leider. De                        knie&  voor  6od komt en voor de wereld uitspreekt, dat
meest hatelijke en trotsche tyrannie werd in praktijk                        ge zulke taal niet  Ianger  voor uwe rekening wilt hebben!
gebracht door inquisiteurs. Hier nu hebt ge het  ver-                           Doch tevens is deze taal kenschetsend in betrekking
bazingwekkende schouwspel van een  jOngen  man, een                          tot den achtergrond, waarop  alleen  de gcschiedenis, die
vloeienden spreker, van bachtige persoonlijkheid; en                         zich in Grand Rapids heeft afgespeeld, kan  worden   ver-
tech met ideein, die, terwijl ze misschien een plaats  had-                  staan.
den in de middeleeuwen, zeker  geen piaats vaor het ho1 van                     De  volgende   maal hierover meer, D. V.
lzare  aoeten  moeten  h e b b e n   i n   d e   huidige   intellectueele                                                       H.  H.
wereid.   Kennelijk is het, dat Mr. Hoeksema in een  ver-
keerde omgeving leeft. Hij behoort tot de middeleeuwen.
Zijne beschouwingen passen  niet in het raam van eenige
houdbare beschouwing van God. Hij openbaart den geest                                           PREDESTINATION
van den tijd der inquisitie. Hij kan zich niet voorstellen.
dat er nog een geheel van leerstellingen zijn kan met ge-                                                 III
zag buiten zijn eigen geliefdkoosde  theoriecn.  Zoo moet
hij  zich dan  we1  aan de geheele samenleving opdringen                                ,           -Pelagian-
als de eenige man, die het  rechte  voor heeft. Deze  be-
slistheid van overtuiging van Mr. Hoeksema is de geest                          In our previous article we tried to make clear that
des tijds  toen menschen gefolterd werden om hunne  be-                      the  .%ugustinian  view of predestination does not take
Iijdenis. Hij is niet progressief en gelooft niet dat er                     away all motive for human exertion as the Pelagians
nog meer Iicht uit Gods Woord schijnen kan.  Maar hij                        charge. We have stated that every man has every reason
beroept  zich  op  zeer  verouderde  theorieen,  die in den                  in the world to act .as though his good actions are worth
                                                                                                                                     ii'
loop der tijden door vergaderingen van menschen, op                          while.   The only reason for this kind of action can alone
t-edelijke wijze zijn gewijzigd.           Hij is een dramatisch             be found in the unconditional predestination of God. God
zielkundig  raadsel. Hij is de verpersoonlijkte  zeIfzucht.                  reveals not only His covenant blessing to His  own, but
       "Wanneer  een Christelijke leeraar zichzelf verhoogt                  He also reveals to all people  FIis  covenant curse. God
en  den gewichtigen  toon  aanslaat van iemand. die  ex-                     justly determines each man's position at birth. Whether
cathedra  spreken kan, zondigt hij tegen het woord en                        we are born rich or poor, in Christianized lands and from
den  wille  Gods.  Onder  de  oorzaken,  die medegewerkt                     believing parents and a thousand other things are  a11
hebben  om de priesterschap in Christus' kerk  te verhoo- ,wiseIy determined by an absolutely just God. God actu-
vaardigen,  mag de heerschzucht der priesters zelf zeker                     ally secures the law of human responsibility by His
we1 als niet de minst voorname aangemerkt  worden.                           unconditional decree of predestinatibn, since only on the
M,-aar  is het, dat deze overdreven beschouwing,  van de                     basis of such  a decree motivated human exertion has a
plaats  en de taak dcr Christelijke bediening  des Woords                    place in life.  The statements  so often made against us
meer t-Ian eenige andere oorzaak  er tot bijgedragen heeft,                  that we take away human responsibility are nonsensical.
om de menschen van het  geIoof in  Christus  te vervreem-                    The picture which some have of reprobates being willing
den.      Het kwaad door  heerschzuchtig:  geestelijken  be-                 and desirous of salvation but eternally damned because
tlreven   volgt hen na, terwijl  ze  voor eigen ziclen  verbeu-              of Gocl's  decree of predestination is a picture outlining in
rcn de nederigheid en ootmoed en zachtmoedigheid,  zon-                      sharp relief the ignorance of some people.
der welke  ze geen  plaats  hebben voor God, en geen  bc-                       Our Standards call the decree of predestination a ter-
trekking  ~111 Hem.       De heerschzuchtige geest,  als hem                 rible decree for the indifferent, but urge upon the seeking
den  vrijen  teugel  gelaten  wordt, werkt verwoestend.                      soul to be steadfast in the use of the means of grace and
Hoogmoed vernietigt alles wat door nederigheid wordt                         to persevere in  seeking,,the  assurance of the religion of
aangeduid.      :De  zonde  van  2l2. Hoeksema en van zijn                   Christ.
kerkeraad bereikt haar geestelijk  toppunt  in Milton's                         In this paper we desire to discuss a still more import-
aartsengel, die liever in de he1 regeerde dan te dienen in' ant charge which  Pelakians  always bring against the
den hemel."                                                                  ;\ugustinian    view of predestination.     T h e   Pelagians


                                       .THE  S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                                  147

always have this argument on the tips of their tongues,            as it shail be because God has thus willed all things and
that Augustine's view of predestination makes God the              consequentIy  rules and .guides  and determines. No: sin
author of sin. rind a second argument with which they              is in, the hearts of men against God's will, but: sin is in
seek to tantalize us is that no man is assured of his sal-         the hearts of  ,men because God has willed it to be so.
vation  which certainly ought to be the case if God  with-         Fifthly, we admit that all sin is punishable with  ever-
out any respect to the merit or demerits of certain people, lasting death and everlasting `death the reprobates. are
has ordained to eternal life, while others are destined for        certain to receive. Reprobates cannot receive ete,rnal  life
eternal condemnation in the dismal abodes of hell.                 because God has  reprobated  them, but reprobates cer-
   And if these arguments are heard for the first  t&e,            tainly shall receive eternal death which shall prove to be
many devout people are willing to agree and are ready              a just reward for their sins aganst the Most High God.
to consent to a softening and a conditioning of the Chris- If sin had not come there could never be a group of men
tian and Biblical view of predestination. And because              receiving eternal death justly. Yet God  wilied  that sin
Christians very seldom live in the assurance of salvation          should come and become the cause for the just punish-
they imagine the  Pelagi'ans  marvels in Scripture inter-          ment of eternal damnation for which the reprobates were
pretation, when the Pelagians in their lofty and Fiaughty          destined.
pride dare to insinuate that no man is assured of his sal-            HP who reads these things is inclined to hesitate and
vation in Christ:                                                  to weigh the Pelagian charge against us. It  amounls  to
   We have, indeed, every reason to be careful with the            nothing less than this that God is the originator of evil.
argument presented by our antagonists that we with                 Not Satan, nor man is the first cause of sin,  b&t God
Augustinians of old make God the author of sin. For sin Himself. God willed that there should be sin, he created
is punished with eternal damnation and without sin no              it, he made  it? he planted it in the being of Satan, he
man is condemnable. Hence if God has been pleased to               pladted  it into the bosom of men. And conceived of in
reprobate some men unto eternal death, then God must this way, this charge becomes a terrible one, enough to
have actual sin and sins. to punish with everlasting hell-         make one shudder, for it robs us  of* the purity, holiness
fire. And if we allow that  Goi has wrought all things             Eind righteousness of our Covenant God. But the  Pela-
according to His good pleasure, even the wick&d  unto the          gian means far more than ordinarily supposed to lay in
day of evil, then the opponent pertly remarks that we this charge, n. 1. that God is the origin of the-first sin,
make God chargeable with sin. We have every reason                 but since the Pelagian believes that we make men  will-
to be careful with this argument for the correct inter-            less, God is the Prime Actor in every deed of evil by men.
pretation of various Scripture passages are connected              For this reason, the argu.pent  discussed in the previous
with it, God Himself must remain God in all his adprable           issue is of great importance, especially from the view-
purity and righteousness ,and we, undoubtedly, will have           point of the Pelagians. God thus is charged with the first
occasion to say that it is possible to place us before             sin not only, but  He. is also charged with practically
Scripture problems which are not to be solved by the               every deed of sin throughout history.
minds of mortal men.
   Insofar as the Pelagian tries to tantalize us with the             But we shall not stop at this  ,stage which is suffi-
statement that no man is assured of His salvation we               ciently grewsome. We  must'see that this charge which
can be more at ease, since the Bible affords abundance of          Pelagians bring is undeniably linked up with various
proof to  the contrary.                                            Scripture passages that also apparently teach the same
   T&et us, however, first catch the meaning of the  Pela-         idea with which the Pelagians charge all believers in an
gizn when he charges that Augustine and we make God                unconditional predestination.    If now Scriptures teach
the author of sin. We shall make certain admissions                what Pelagians deny in their fight against us, then we
right from the start. There is no question of it, men              can be at ease, for we do not dare to add or detract from
appear in God's eternal decree of predestination as                Scripture.  Tt is for us the infallibly inspired  W'ord' of
destined for eternal life or eternal death. This is our first      God. But because Scripture also apparently teaches what
admission. Neither is any man predestined to life                  the Pelagians charge us with, we shall not hesitate to
                                                      because
of foreseen good works or faith or any such thing. This            look the argument squarely in the face and we shall allow
is our second admission. Neither is any man predestined            the light of Scripture to play the mostimportant  part in
unto eternal death because of an abundance of sins, He our answer to the charge which Pelagians bring against
is  predestined  to receive punishment for his  sin5 but no        all those who believe in unconditional predestination.
one is predestined to be kept from eternal life because of         For this reason we cite a  large  numb& of texts as fol-
foreseen unbelief and other sins. Let this be our third lows :
admission. Fourthly, we grant that God is the Supreme                 Proverbs  15:4 : Jehovah hath made everything for
Ruler and Sovereign God of Providence who regulates                its own end ; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
all events and happenings in history. No man nor any-                 Psalm 33 :15 : He that fashioneth the hearts of them
thing nor any quality nor any merit or demerit attaching           all, that considereth all their work.
to any thing or being can be opposed to  God's will. In               Isaiah 6 :I0 : Make the heart of this people fat, and
short,  e\.erything  and every being is as it is  and,shall  be    make their cars heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they seem


            148                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                             -                    _I                                -.I__                               --I_

            with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand          Pelagians that we by our predestination make God the
            with their heart, an< turn again, and be healed.                   author of sin is conclusively denied. Never do we make
                   2 Sam. 16:lO: And the king said, What have I to do          God the author of sin in the Pelagian sense.
       . with you, ye sons of Zeruiah; Because he  curseth,  and                  There is a sense in which it may freely be confessed
            because Jehovah hath said unto him, Curse David; who               that God is the author of sin. God never cherished  evif
            then shall say, Wherefore hast thou done so?                       in his heart. God must remain the absolutely, perfectly
                   Joshua 11:20 : For it was of Jehovah to harden their        adorable righteous God. For  t.he Almighty is averse to
            hearts, to come against Israel in battle; that he might            unrighteousness and He abhors evil. He hates it. Neither
            utterly destroy them, that they might have no favor, but           is there any defilement whatsoever in His being or in His
            that he might destroy them, as Jehovah commanded                   willing. All his actions are judgments of condemnation
            Moses.                                                             over sin. "If by the author of sin be meant the sinner,
                   I Kings 22 ~23 : Now therefore, behold, Jehovah hath        the agent, or the actor of sin, or the doer of a wicked
            put a lying `spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets;        thing-so it would be a reproach and blasphemy to sup-
            and Jehovah hath spoken evil concerning thee.                      pose God to be the author of sin." . . "But if by author of
                   Exodus 4 :21: And Jehovah said unto Moses, When sin is meant the permitter or non-hinderer of sin, and at
        ,thou  goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before                  the same time a disposer of the state of events in such
            Pharoah all the wonders which I have put in thy hand: a manner, for wise, holy and most excellent ends and pur-
            but I will harden his heart and he will, not let the peo-          poses, that sin, if it be permitted and not hindered,  will
            ple go.                                                            fnast certainly follow, I do not deny that God is the author
                   Exodus  14:171    And I, behold I will harden the hearts    of sin; it is no reproach to the Most High to be thus the
            of the Egyptians, and they shall go in after them: and             author of sin.". . "The Divine Being is not the author of
            I will get me honor upon Pharoah, and upon all his host,           sin, but only disposes things in such a manner that sin
            upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.                          will certainly ensue." But it must be remembered in this
                   Isaiah 43 :17 : 0 Jehovah, `why dost thou make us to        connection that God most assuredly has willed to dispose
            err from thy ways, and hardenest our heart from thy                events in such a way that sin follows: God is not only
            fear?                                                              a permitter and non-hinderer of sin, but God has also
                   Isaiah  19:14: Jehovah hath mingled a spirit of per-        willed that sin -should attach to His moral and rational
            verseness in the midst of her; and  ihey  have caused              creatures. God has willed sin and unto that end He has
            Egypt to go astray in every work thereof, as a drunken             arranged events and circumstances that sin would come
            man staggereth in his vomit.                                       through the action and reaction of His morally respon-
                   Psalm 105  :25 : He turned their heart to hate his          sible beings. "There can be and is a purpose of God
/           people, to deal subtly with his servants.                          which is not an  e@ient  purpose.    It embraces the volun-
                   Acts 2 :23 : Him, being delivered  up  by the determ- tary acts of moral beings, without creating those acts by
            inate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand             divine efficiency." But the efYiciencp  which is here spoken
            of lawless men did crucify and slay.                               of does not preclude that God is the disposer of events
               Acts 4 28 : To do whatsoever thy hand and thy coun-             as mentioned above; nor does that word mean that God
            sel foreordained to`come to' pass.                                 is not the giver of power and talent which men are free
       l       *kts 3 :I8 : But the things which God foreshowed by             to use in sin.
      the mouth of all the prophets.                                              God has decreed to create, and himseIf to act, in such
                   Acts 14  :16: Who {by direction) in the  generatidtis       a  way1 that responsible creatures, will of their own free
            gone by suffered all the nations to walk in their own              choice, commit sin, God determines upon his own acts,
            ways.                                                              foreseeing what the results will be in the free acts of his
                   Confer also the following texts: 2  Thess.  2  :9-12;       creatures, and so be determines those results.
            `Luke  24:20; Mark  4:12; Luke  8:lO;  Job.  12%);  Acts              True. it has always been more or less of a mystery
       28 :26 ; Rom. 11 53 ; and especially Rom. 9 :21 : Or hath not           to  the Church how sin could possibly enter into a world
            the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to            wherein all the creatures of God were good, yea, very
            make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto ,dis-' good. This point has never been agreeably explained.
     h o n o r ?                                                               No. it is not difficult to understand how sin goes from
               With such texts as the above before us, we need not             one generation to the next, how the father generates chil-
            hesitate to admit that  -sin is in the world by the will of        drcn who in turn are sinful and perform sinful deeds. The'
            God. There is no evil under the sun which is unknown               nature of sin joined to the organic root of mankind spells
        to the Lord. No happening whatsoever is present with-                  a wicked mankind throughout history. And though this
        out the knowledge and the consent and the permission                   spread of sin be incapable of demonstration, yet we have
        and the will of God. No truly Reformed man will ever                   various analogies in the physical world-order, which
            deny this. But this must be correctly acknowledged.                serve to enlighten our minds and understanding. An evil
            These  statemen'ts  can be freely made, provided they are          man  ,generates   gn evil son, similar to the evil tree pro-
            conceived of in the correct way. But these statements              ducing evil fruit. The spread of sin can at least be grasped
            must be taken in that manner whereby the charge of the             by the mind. But the problem is: How is it possible


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                                    149

foi- sin to enter into a morally peifect world? How could         stand temptation. True, he was subject to the law of
sin enter into the righteous bosom of the now fallen              organic development. There was revealed to him a lad-
Satan ? And in what way could sin enter Adam's heart?             der of progress. His knowledge, righteousness and holi-
And then we, as Reformed people, maintain that God                ness were capable of strengthening. An experiential
does decree sin in the sense of embracing in his plan the         knowledge of good and evil were open to him ! But only
foreseen transgressions of men, while at the same time            to be reached in one way, n. I. in the way of covenant
we maintain that these foreseen transgressions are                obedience.
chargeable wholly to men and not at all to God.                      This ideal Adam could rightfully long for. But Satan
   This is evident from Scripture's characterization of           induced him to try another way in which to reach this
sin. Sin is transgression of God's law. Since this law            ideal. And Adam succumbed ! But Adam was respon-
proceeds from God, he can never be charged with sin,              sible. God created him good, created him with ability to
for this law is given for creatures and not for the  Iaw-         reach a loftier height of goodness and showed him the
giver. There is no sin when there is no law. God does             divinely approved way of obtaining it. Satan offered
not have this law for His being and actions.        For God       another way.  .But man is responsible for following tnc
there is no other law than the law of His own being. If           suggestion of that serpent. Even when God turns the
God denies the law of His own being, then God becomes             evil conduct of man for good as in the case of Joseph's
the transgressor. And in `the law of God's own being,             brethren, man is responsible for the conduct. Tetzel's
there is the element of Divine Will, which has willed and         preaching on Indulgences served to bring the Reforma-
wills the self-revelation of God and his attributes by sin        tion; but Tetzel is responsible for his preaching.
and death as some of the means. Hence, sin is in the                 God has willed that evil should be for the purpose
world, in a certain sense, by the necarrity of the Divine w-2.    of revealing himself as unalterably opposed to sin. Moral
But the Divine willing is never sinful, though there is           evil was not unforeseen and independent of God's will  ;
a Divine willing concerning sin, and Divinely willed              nor was evil unpreventable for God, for it was God's
providential preparations for the coming and maintenance          wise and sovereign will to "institute and maintain a sys-
of sin.                                                           tem of which moral evil is an incident, rather than vi;ith-
   Yet we must not blame or charge God with  a faulty             hold his self-revelation or to reveal himself through an-
creation in which sin  caqe as a consequence. God's               other system in which moral evil should be continually
decree does not make God the author of sin, but the               prevented by the eirercise  of divine power."
author of free beings who are themselves the authors of              If we turn to our Confessional Standards for an
sin. God does not decree efficiently to work evil desires         answer to the problem which is  irivolved  here, then we
or choices in men. He has decreed sin in the sense of             find no solution. But we do find an. unequivocal state-
decreeing to create and preserve those who will sin; in           ment of both election and reprobation, and in the strong-
other words, he decrees to create and preserve human              est terms. The -doctrine of predestination is unhesi-
wilIs  which, in their own self-chosen courses, in DivineIy       tatingly affirmed. In the First Head of Doctrine, Art. 15
arranged circumstances, will be and do evil. God's decree we read: "What peculiarly tends to illustrate and rec-
concerning sin may never be taken as the decree to pro-           ommend to us the eternal and unmerited grace of elec-
duce  si6 solely by divine efficiency. And God's decree           tion, is the express testimony of sacred Scripture, that not
concerning sin is right, and to be praised. If  GQ~`s  holi-      all, but some only are elected, while others are passed in
ness and wisdom and power are not impugned by the                 the eternal decree; whom God, out of his sovereign, most
actual existence of moral evil, then neither are they             just, irreprehensible and unchangeable good pleasure,
impugned by the original decree that it should exist. Far         hath decreed to leave. in the common misery into which
is the Almighty from unrighteousness!                             they have wilfully plunged themselves, and not to bestow
  Thus, though the problem of the origin of evil, largely         upon them saving faith and the grace of conversion; but
remains a mystery, God, at any rate, is retained in His           permitting them in his just judgment to follow their own
Divine purity and righteousness, as well as in His omni-          ways, at last for the declaration of his justice, to condemn
science and omnipotence. Thus, evil cannot be referred            and  .punish them forever, not only on account of their
to as a principle limiting the divine power, so that God's        unbelief, but also for all their other sins.  .4nH  this  is  rhe
omniscience and omnipotence are impugned. Thus also,              decree  of  rep*robation  which by no means makes God the
the coming of evil cannot be ascribed to a want or defect         author  of  sin,"  (the very thought of which is blasphemy)
in God himself: either his imperfect wisdom or his imper-         but declares him to be an awful, irreprehensible, and
fect goodness. And in this way, we can with consistency           righteous judge and avenger thereof."
attribute sin in the human race to the particular trans-             We are particularly glad with this article in our Con-
gression of the first man.                                        fession.    It asserts as strongly as we do that God has
   And we also hold human beings responsible. Adam decreed election and reprobation, and that this decreeing
is responsible for his transgression of God's law, irrespec-      of God does not make God the author of sin. In this
tive of how circumstances and conditions were provi-              connection we are reminded of the reprehensible protests
dentially arranged for his fall into sin. Adam was created        at the Synod of  1924.against  Revs. IT. Danhof and H.
changeably good!    He had sufficient resources to  with-         Hoeksema. A man like Vander Mey had the wicked


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  audacity to charge that Danhof and Hoeksema made God                   rejoice with the disciples that their names are written in
  the author of sin. Why? Because they taught election                   heaven, Luke 10.20; who also place the consciousness of
  and reprobation as the Confession does. It is as clear as              their election over against the  f?ery darts of the devil,
  day that Danhof and Hoeksema were in good company,                     asking: `Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
  but Vander Mey brought forth out of hell the Pelagian                  elect?' Rom.  8:33."
  charge: those men make God the author of Sin. And                           If no one can be assured of salvation in this life what
  the last Synod allows him to bring such a charge without               reason would Paul have to urge oil us to make our calling
  a word of admonition.                                                  and election sure? It would have been foolish for him to
         I agree that we are here face to face with a problem.           speak of the indwelling Spirit as an earnest of the inher-
  A problem which has perplexed the church of Christ for                 itance in Ephesians. Nor could we conceive of these
  many centuries. No one has ever given a solution. If                   words as infallibly inspired  :          Nevertheless, the firm
  God has willed sin to be, and if God works out his un-                 foundation of God standeth sure, having this seat: The
  changeable will, then our logic would say: God is the                  Lord knoweth those that are his own, and, every man
  author .of sin. But our faith says on the basis of God's               that nameth the name of Christ, let him  de@art from
  Word : God is irreprehensible, and righteous ! But then iniquity. With what propriety could Job declare: I
  we do not proceed to tone down the doctrine of God's                   know that my Redeemer lives? Must we conceive of
  decrees.     We accept this doctrine. And we accept the                Peter's words : Elect according to the foreknowledge of
  problem along with it.                                                 God-as fruit of his impetuosity and unrestrained bold-
     Undoubtedly this problem can be limited. In treating ness? Were- Paul's words: Henceforth there is stored
 such a problem irrelevant questions must first of all be                away  for ine the crown of righteousness-no more than
 removed.       Usually such a problem as this one can be                delusion  ? Not at all ! All these point to the certainty
 limited to one or two questions, which form the heart of                which a Christian can have of his salvation. And this
  the problem. To me, it seems that this question or prob-               assurance all Christians should strive for. Paul admon-
 lem will come to a limitation when we constitute an inno-               ishes the Colossians to allow the peace of God to rule
 cent limitation in Adam and perhaps in Satan, whereby in their hearts, Col. 1II:lS.
 Adam, under the proper conditions, freely and rightly                       AS  we have accepted Christ Jesus, so let us also waik
 desiring to reach a higher plane of moral and conscious                 in Him; rooted and built up in Him, and  estabIished  in
 life, presented with two proposed  ways of  obtainigg his               the faith, abounding in thanksgiving.
 desire, follows the way of least resistance, and thereby                                                                   B.  J. D.
 originates sin in humankind. The entrance of sin in Satan
 is still another matter which we will, not dwell on now.
 Perhaps a diligent study of religious and biblical  psy-
 chology would brush away very much irrelevant matter                              GODS DWINGENDE HEERSCHAPPIJ
 and grant us a point of light towards the limitation of
 this problem.                                                               Het Synodaal Confessioneel bewijs voor het tweede
     We can be more brief with the Pelagian charge that' punt is ontleend  aan artikelen 13 en 36 van de  Neder-
 no bne is  arrured of salvation  i?z this life. A  few years ago        landsche Geloofsbelijdenis. Gelijk uit de reeds  bespro-
 a Chr. Reformed minister, a doctor of theology, .preached               ken Schriftuurplaatsen, zoo blijkt,  volgens  de  Syndde,
 on the five wise and five foolish maidens. He began his ook uit deze artikelen, "dat God door de algemeene wer-
 sermon by stating that no one in his audience could be                  kingen   Zijns Geestes, zonder het hart te  vernieuwen;de
 certain of salvation until death ushered into the eternal zonde in haar onverhinderd uitbreken beteugelt,  waar-
 home. Later on, when on house-visitation, he denied that door  de'menscheiijke samenleving mogelijk is gebleven."
 he had ever made such  a'statement. And well that he                    De Synodale  commissie in re de Gemeene Gratie-quaestie
 did so, for otherwise there would have been a  str.uggle                haalde daaruit slechts de twee volgende korte passages
 long before this for the undersigned. But fortunately (?>               aan :
 for that pastor there was no Paul in his audience, nor a                    Art. 13:  f`waarop wij ons verlaten, wetende dat Hij
 J(.;t, nor any of the other patriarchs. Yet &e were there, de duivelen in den toom houdt en alle onze vijanden, die
 and when we left the church, in a very dissatisfied mood ons, zonder Zijne toelating en wil, niet schaden kunnen."
and had arrived home, we read in our Standards: "The                     En :,,
 Synod rejects the errors of those who teach: That there                     Art. 36:  ".... willende, dat de wereld geregeerd wor-
 is in this life no fruit and no consciousness of the un- de door  wetten en  politiezn,  opdat de ongebondenheid
 changeable election to glory, nor any certainty, except                 der menschen bedwongen worde."
 that which depends on a changeable and uncertain con-                       VA&- de Synode van 1924 werd ook nog aangehaald
 dition. For not only is it absurd to speak of an uncertain              uit de Voorrede op de Dordtsche Leerregels:  "Maar de
 certainty, but also contrary to the experience  of- the                 goede Herder, die zijne kudde, voor welke Hij het  leven
 saints, who by virtue of the consciousness of their  eiec-              heeft gelaten, zeer volstandiglijk  bemint, heeft het woe-
 tion rejoice with the Apostle and praise this favor of                  den der vervolgers steeds ter  rechter  tijd en door  zijne
 God, Eph.  1  ; who according to Christ's admonition                    uitgestrekte hand, dikwijls wonderlijk, ter neder  gezet  en


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                           ___.."  _.._.... "---  _. "_-    -_____..             - .__-_                            -    -     -





             New Church  Edifke for Eastern Avenue Protesting Christian Reformed Church
             A modern church building to be erected at the northwest corner of FuIIer  Ave. and Franklin
             st., Grand Rapids, Mich.  Construction is of brick and hollow tile, 74 feet wide and 130 feet in
             length. Exterior of variegated dark red brick, cut stone trimmings, asbestos slate roof, tower is
             designed for bell and is 75 feet high.
                Auditorium interior is in oak finish and pine finish in basement. Seating capacity, 1,300.
             There will be two separate heating plants, hot water for basement and class rooms, and steam
             plant for auditorium. Basement will be used temporarily by congregation and will be ready for
             occupancy in about four weeks. Cost wil1  be approximately $100,000.





                       THE LEAF                                two leaves are alike. They are all different; the leaves
                                                               pf the same tree are absolutely different, yet they have
   The leaf is used in -the Word of God on numerous            something in common. The great, philosophical principle
occasions. The question may well be raised, what is            that in variety is unity, and that unity is variety, is
i leaf? How often have we not in a ruthless manner             apparent upon the examination of a leaf of a tree. Leaves
cut and pulled a leaf from its source of life, and yet, a      differ as to their size and shape, as to their  arrange-
small, insignificant leaf teaches us the greatness of God, .ment ori the plant, as to their anatomy, or structure, and
and a world of meaning is hidden in a small leaf. Let          as to their function, or the work they perform.
us study a leaf, and see if we can in some way  find out          A leaf may be simple or unbranched, and it may `be
its meaning in the Word of  C*ad.  The poet David com-         compound and branched.  ,The shape of a leaf may be
pares the righteous man to a tree whose leaf doth not          linear, oblong, elliptic, lanceolate, ovate, reniform, etc.
wither.    Ps.  1:3. Also the prophet Isaiah pictures the      The form and shape of a leaf are often in direct rela-
moral decay of the kingdom in chapter  ti:6, and man           tion to the place in which it grows. Floating leaves
fades as a leaf, and our iniquities, like `the wind, take      are  uBually  expanded and flat, while submerged leaves
us away. Recall to mind the experience of the Saviour          are usually linear and threadlike.
when he condemns the fig tree because it only bears               A leaf very often dies because it lacks sufficient light.
leaves and no fruit. Doei he not condemn the tree?             No doubt you have noticed that the leaves which are
   There are as  &any  leaves as there are trees, and no       Iowest die first. The creator  Las given the leaf the


                                        T H E   STANDA'RD   B E A R E R
 ___-___-.- . ..__-                                 -.._                                                                          153
                                                                                                                             -         -
 capability to attain sufficient light, and it will be           period of spring the young and tender leaf is still a light
observed that a leaf has a peculiar arrangement on the           greenish tint. A young man is characterized  aiso in the
stem. The position which a leaf will assume is deter- * same way. He cannot weather the storms as in later
mined mostly by  t,he exposure to sunlight. The leaves           years. He is in need of much nourishment to feed his
on a tree grow in such a way that one leaf shades                young bones. The unfolding leaf in spring is eager to
another leaf to the least possible degree. This fact I catch all the' sunshine and water that it can. When life
accounts that leaves grow in pairs. Two leaves on. a             is fast ebbing away after middle age has been reached,
tree grow in opposite directions. One will grow north,           a human being reveals wrinkles and scars of battle. In
let us say, and the other south. The leaves extending the same way the many colored leaves of a tree in
from the same stem beneath it will grow `east and west.          autumn reveal the varied wrinkles of old age which are
Even leaves are covenant like in their growth.                   besetting it. The eagerness to eat to the full is lacking.
   Besides the framework, it is interesting to note the          Surely, one enjoys life even in old age, but the sap of
structure of a leaf. Besides the veins found in blades of        life characteristic of youth has  Iost its  irdor.  Sq also
all leaves, there is a soft tissue, and an epidermis or skin,    the many coIored  leaf passes off less waste matter than
covering the outside part of the leaf. The cellular tissue       if did in the period of middle age.
is a composition of tiny cells which produce the color              There are also evergreens ; the tree that is green
of the leaf. Around these minute cells there is a skin           throughout the year. However, even the evergreen
which is very transparent. It serves to protect the cells        replaces its leaves continuously. One leaf makes room
of the leaf, and to permit them to retain their moisture.        for another.
Also on many leaves a hairy growth is noticeable. Prim-             The leaf of the tree is  al& of importance for the life
rose. They serve the purpose of protection from dust             of man and beast. The leaves of the  tree'cast off waste
and water. There are also many tiny pores in the  epi-           matter which is. necessary for the ljfe of man and beast,
dermis of the leaf.., Through these minute pores the leaf : and in turn man and beast exhale chemicals which sus-
gives off various gases and vapors. There are also ceils         tain the tree.     Where springs of water were found
to guard the opening of the pores to prevent the entrance        which were poisonous for man and beast, the tree again
of substances which may destroy the life of the Ieaf.            utilized  the same water and passed off the sustenance of
   The leaf also performs a wonderful function. The              this water through the pores of its leaves as fit nourish-
ordinary plant has but two sources to supply its wants,          ment for man and beast. cf. Rev.  222. Such wonderful
and they are the soil and the  air. From the air a plant         harmony our Covenant God has created between a tiny
receives its carbon, and at the same time  a plant is            leaf of a tree and the crown of  I-!&is  Creation. Viewed
giving off waste matter. In other words a plant breathes         in the brief way as  we`have, every leaf will become an
just as we human beings do. It takes in air and passes           eloquent teacher of the deep things of our Covenant
off foul air.                                                    God,  and will utter  oracles of far -reaching significance.
   The  lie of a leaf passes through three stages,  ;outh,       Even in the season of decay and death, the falling  ,leaf,
middle age, and old age. Adolescence of a leaf is char-          while  decIaring  its own solemn parable and lesson of  '  .d
acterized by its strength, it is manifested in the deep hue      mortality, will also symbolically portray unto us the
green color. It can in this period of its life withstand         space and spell for us that  ye also must  fall as the leaf
the severe storms which may fall upon it; it can sustain         in autumn. But, this glorious consolation as Friends of
`the destructive winds'  of. summer. The old age of the          God  we2possess,  that we as leaves growing on the tree
leaf is expressed in the. many different colors which it         .which  is Jesus Christ, will never fade or  fal1 off to the
assumes.' A notion which is very common among us,                ground to be trodden under  by' the foot of man, but
nl. that a leaf falls to the ground in autumn because of         will be green forever.
heavy rains and frost is untrue. At the time of autumn                                                        R. DANHOF.
a leaf has reached old age and falls to the ground just
as does ripened fruit. A reminder, is it not, dear reader,
of the life of man. He too, passes through three stages                          I N G E Z O N D E N
in life. He is as- the tiny leaf of the tree. In old age
he does not perish because a disease has gripped him,                                      Grand Rapids, Mich.,  23 Jan., 19%.              ;*
even though it may hasten death, as is also true of a            Aan de Redactie fan "The Standard Bearer".
leaf, but man has lived his span of years. The sap                     Waarde Broeder!
in the Ieaf of a young tree is very evident when it is                                                                                      '  ,
broken off from the stem'which feeds it. In the same                Mag ik ken plaatsje vragen voor bet  onderstaande.
                                                                    Hoewel  ik de stukken in "The Standard Bearer," ook die van
way death, when it snatches and cuts off a young twig            de hand van Ds. Danhof, steeds met genoegen lees,  niettegen-
from the human tree of life, a terrible struggle ensues          staande zijne  artikelen dikwijls wat  lang en breedsprakig nijn,
                                                                 waardoor zij voor mij `aan duidhjkheid  wel  eens wat te wenschen
between death and the young person who must suffer               overlaten, Wilde ik even terug komen op het stuk voorkomende
being cut off from the Iife which His Creator gave unto          in het  Januari-nummer,,   bladz.  101, over: "Op grond van  bet
                                                                 genadeverbond." Toen  rk de  "Proeve  van geloofsverklaring" van
him.                                                             Prof. V. Hepp las, betreffende  den doop der jonge kinderen  van
   The life of man is like unto that of the leaf. In the         geloovige  ouders, dacht  ik: nu dat is naar het mij voorkomt goed
                                                                 Gereformeerd. En ik werd daarin bevestigd door wat Ds. Dan-,


          EDITORIAL STAFF                      REFORklED MONTHLY Subscription communications
                                                                                                             should be addressed to  J. H.
      Hi Danhof                                                                                              Vander Vennen, 858 Kalamazoo
          H. Hoeksema                       PLJBLISHED BY THE REFORMED FREE                                  i Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                                             Communications relative to con-
                 G.  M .   Ophog                      PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION                                 tents of Magazine should be
                      B.  J. Danhof                       GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.                                addressed to Rev. H. Hoeksema,
                                                                                                             1213 Sherman Street, S.E., Grand
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     Vol. II, No.  6                                                  M A R C H ,   1926                            Subscription Price $1.50
                            -..--.-                                                              .
0                                                                                  Or, if only he could send Him away `and shift the
                  MEDITATION                                                   responsibility to Herod. Or, if only he might pacify that
                                                                               furious mob and reach a mediating conclusion by releas-
                                                                               ing Jesus rather than Barabbas. Or, if he could satisfy
                                                                               the demands of the angry crowd by baring the back of
                WHAT  SHALL I DO WITH JESUS?                                   the innocent to the cruel stripe of the lasher.  -4nything
                                                                               rather than face the question, tormenting in its  embarass-
                              Pilate said unto them, What shall I do           ment : what shall I do with Jesus?. . . .
                           then with Jesus which is called Christ?
                                                        -Natt.   2752.             `But from  Herod He-had returned.
                                                                                   And Barabbas was preferred above Jesus.
        What  shall I do then with Jesus?                                          And the  bloo$y stripes had only caused the enraged
        4 perplexing figure, indeed, is Jesus which is called                  accusers to thirst fur more blood. . . .
     Christ to aworld, that is perverse and hates the light be-                    There He stood again, in agony yet undisturbed ;
     cause its works  are evil.                                                in the power of His enemies, yet with heavenly peace  '
        If only Jesus would nbt be! Or, if only He would not                   radiating from His countenance. And Pilate stands be-
     be so persistently presenting Himself to all the world!                   wildered, still confronting the persistent question  : what
     But now, He is there; and He presents Himself to all the                  then shall I do with Jesus, which is called the Christ?
     world; and He insists that the world shall express judg-                      Perplexing to the point of despair!
     ment upon  Him, that the thoughts in many hearts may
     be revealed. And Fe is not satisfied before the question                      What shall I do with Jesus?
     has been pressed upon the hearts and minds and has been                       Why is the question so difficult of solution?
     degnitely  answered : "What then shall I do with Jesus ?'                     Simple, evidently, it would be, if the'representative of
        But what an  embarassing  question? !                                  worldly justice would only slightly alter it -and face  it
     Imagine  the Roman  governqr,   representative  of the                    squarely.  Tf only he would change that little but  signi-
     power and justice of all the world. He carries the sword,                 ficant  "shall" into an equally significant, yet radically
     symbol of divine calling and obligation to protect the                    different and perfectly proper "ought." Such was, indeed,
     good and punish evil-doers. He is clothed with power.                     his calling. Wholly improper for him as judge was the
     .He can release and kill! Before Him srands  Jesus, calm `question in the form in which he put it; his sole duty was
     in. suffering, majestic in His silence, serenely silent over
                                                                ,;             to inquire: what ought I to do with Jesus which is called
     against the howling mob that bellows forth its. accusa-                   Christ  ?
     tions against Him. He stands there'as  the very embodi-                       And in its proper  form,  if the governor would but
     ment of the question: what wilt thou, servant of justice, face it candidly, the question loses its p,uzzling  and per-
     do with Me, of Whose righteousness thou art deeply con-                   plexing nature and is readily answered.              _
     vinced?                                                                       For did not Pilate know that this Man was righteous?
        The question is tormenting, . . .                                      He did and with emphasis he had declared repeatedly: "I
        Ah! if only the governor could for the time being put                  find no guilt in this man at all." What, then, ought lie
     down that sword of his power, drop that sceptre of his                    t^o do with Jesus which is called Christ? How clear and
     authority, shed the robe of his majesty, how gladly he                    unambiguous is the answer: release Him!
     would ! But the sceptre he cannot drop and the sword                          But now, how confusing is the question !
     he is bound to use. He must release or. . . . kill! He                        For Pilate is not in search after truth and justice, but
     must do something with Jesus. He cannot avoid an an- after his own personal interest from a worldly viewpoint.
     swer to the question: what shall I do with Jesus?                         His  m&ive in asking the question is not of light but of


162                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER
------...." -.._.__..  __.^__^  .._. _- .--..-..--..--..  1--~       --                                     -     ~~-
darkness. And a perplexing figure is Jesus  to  the world             man, preached to the world that wisdom and those prin-
of darkness, because its works are evil.                              ciples that can improve the world in all irs phases. ESPC-
       Nay, the judge does not hesitate to reply definitely to        cially in His great sermon on  the:mount  He showed us
his own anxious query from a motive of justice. He does               that all men were brothers, children of one Father, and
not waver to  abply  the sword to this man Jesus merely               that all of human society must be founded on the fun-
because he is assured of his righteousness. He has little             damental principle and practice of love to one-another.
scruples to shed innocent blood. What does Pilate care                We adore Him as the greatest of all the  worldly wise."
about the life of one Jew more or less? What is it to                 But this serene Man, calmly lifts His finger and pointing
him to sentence one man, righteous or guilty, to the death            at this wisdom-adoring world answers: "My wisdom is
of the cross? But this Jesus which is called Christ? _. . .           from above, yours from below. For ye are by nature chil-
       Pilate fears Him. He is called Christ. He heard of             dren of your father `the devil whose works ye desire to
this man before.  Herod,  too, is afraid. He appears so               do.      Ye seek Me for earthly, not for heavenly bread.
strange, so serene, so heavenly, so awe-inspiring ! Be-               Ye are after the wisdom, not of God, but of the world. I
sides, He speaks so mysteriously about His Kingdom.                   am  ,Christ  and stand for the wisdom and power of God.
And He is even called God's Son! And to cap the climax,               Se must eat my flesh and drink my blood if ye would be
there came the report of his wife's dream and her earnest             truly wise. Else, your wisdom is foolishness and your
entreaty added to his own misgivings about this man left              light darkness and your works are evil and the end of
a deep impression upon Pilate's soul : "Have thou nothing             all your wisdom is outer darkness. Thus understood  I
to do with that just man!"                                            insist that ye answer again: what will ye do with Jesus
       Pilate fears to kill. . . .                                    which is called Christ ?" . . ., .
       Yet, when he turns his eyes away from Jesus which is                  Amd invariably the world's wisdom answers: Crucify
called Christ, almost determined to pronounce Him guilt-              Him !
fess and to release Him, there stands the angry mob,                         The Power of the world answers:
headed by the influential leaders of the Jewish nation,                      "We will call Him the Great Reformer. For the world,
loudly demanding  Hi,s  execut`ion  and threatening in                socially and politically and internationally is in need of
furious hatred : "If thou let this man go thou art not                reform. We will make this world a decent place to live
Ceasar's friend  !"                                                   in, will battle vice and immorality, will cast out devils,
       Pilate fears to release. . . .                                 remove  drmkenness, heal the sick, uplift all humanity and
       Caesar or Jesus which is called Christ?                        make the  r&ions live in peace with one-another. And
       What shall I do  ?                                             thus we will usher in the Kingdom of God in the world.
       Perplexing question !                                          T-Ie is our Leader, the Greatest Reformer the world ever
       But it is a question  which will inevitably lead to the        knew." But, passing thru the midst of fhem to depart
realization of the demands of the raving mob:                         to a'mountain Himself alone, He speaks: "My Kingdom
       Crucify Him !                                                  is not of this world and I did not come to bring peace but
                                                                      a sword. The peace I bring  ii based only on the peace
       What shall I do with Jesus ?                                   with God in my blood. Except thru that blood I  Whb
       How often the question has been r%peated  after Pilate         am called Christ and Who stand for  GC&S cause will
by the very world he represented, though from various                 never bring peace, neither will I improve the world. And
points of view! And how often it has proven itself to be              when my  :Day comes, there will be many that will say:
the same perplexing question still as long as the "shall"             `Lord, Lord, have we not  proptiesied  in thy name and in
is not changed into the proper "ought" I And invariably               thy name cast out devils and done many wonderful
the final conclusion at which the bewildered inquirer of things? And I will say unto them: `I never knew you,
the world arrived was always the same: crucify  Ffim!                 depart from Me, ye that work iniquity!' Now, thus un-
       It could not be different.                                     derstood, I still insist: what will ye do with Me, Who am
       Jesus will be judged, that the world may be judged.            called the Christ?" . . . .
       He is the stone of stumbling, the rock of offense to                  Uniformly the  a&wer  of the world's power  comes:
many. In its attitude to Him  the wisdom of the world                 Crucify Him !
must prove foolishness, the power of the world weakness,                     The Righteousness of the world answers:      '
the righteousness of the world sin. And thus He pre-                         *`We will make Him our Great Example. For He
sents Himself as the light, the wisdom and  power  of                 tatight  us to serve and that the way into the Kingdom is
Ctid, righteousness and sanctification. He queries  : what            the way of service. We will speak kindly and act benevo-
will  YOU  do with me? And He is persistent. You cannot lently and deal honestly. And we will labor all the day
send Him  off to  Herad,  for He  will return. You cannot             to keep His commandments. In all our life we will fol-
compare Him with Barabbas, for He will still demand an                low in His steps and let Him be our Chief Model." But
answer: but what will you do with Me, Who am the                      warningly this Jesus which is called Christ disavows
Christ and stand for God's cause and Name in the world?               these would-be  follpwers,  saying: "Except your right-
    .The Wisdom of the world answers :                                eousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and Scribes, ye
       "We will call Him our great Teacher. For  He', if any          can in no wise enter  into the Kingdom of God: Ye must


                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      1 6 3
              .----"_____  --...._. - ..^....._-.- -^ ..-"                                    --_-._l_
  be born again.  %or all your own righteousness are but                   My Redeemer and my Deliverer from the power and
  filthy garments, abominable in the sight of the Holy One.             dominion of sin and death.                        .     \
  Whitened sepulchres ye make yourselves, beautiful with-                  My Prophet  and only Teacher, who fully declares unto
  out but within full of dead men's bones and uncleanness.              me*the  will of God for time and eternity.
  In My blood your garments must be cleansed before you                    My Example and Model, in whose steps by His grace
  can be truly clean. Thus conceived I still persist that I             I may walk in the light and be an imitator of God.           -
  must have an answer: what will ye do with Jesus which                    My  .King,  my  Lord and my God! . . . .
  is called `Christ ?" . . . .                                             What shall I do with Jesus?
      The world's righteousness replies : Crucify Him !                    I shall call Him my Jesus . . . .
      What then shall I do with Jesus?                                     God's Christ . . . .
      What, if  I: desire to adore my own wisdom, power,                   Forever !
  righteousness, can I possibly do with Him?                                                                              H. H.
      Embarassing question, indeed !
      But the answer cannot fail:                                                       ZOOALS  JEZUS  DEED
      Crucify Him !                                                                         Dragen  en verdragen,
      What shall I do with Jesus?                                                           Als des vijands plagen
      Brother, turn that question about.                                                    In den hoek u dringt;
      For the first and all determining question is: what did                               Als de ruige laster
  Jesus do with you?                                                                        U van  voor en  achter
      Did He, by the irresistible  operaiion  of the Spirit of                              Als een dier bespringt !
  &ace given unto Him, enter into your heart, to establish                                  Dragen  en verdragen,                         .
  His throne there, to dwell there, to abide there forever?                                 Als men  aan uw dagen
  `Did He kindle in that heart the fire of the love ofGod,  so                              Ook den glans ontrooft;
  that your inmost being thirsts after the living God, and                                  Hoe,`t ook moge  loopen,
  in principle your desire is to do His will? Did He remove                                 Vuui'ge kolen  hoopen
  from your sinful understanding the veil of darkness and                                   Op uws vijands  hoofd!'
. illumine it with the light that is from above, the light of                               Dragen  en verdragen,
  God? Did He make your heart simple and your eye                                           Als ge soms moet klagen,
  single?. . . ,                                                                            Dat het hart bevriest;
      Ah, then, the question becomes so simple. . . .                                       Dat het broederharte
      What ought I to do with Jesus?                                                        Koud blijft bij uw smarte,
      I  find'myself  guilty and stained with the filth of sin.                             Haat voor liefde kiest.
  Floods of iniquity pass over tny soul. I fmd myself
  incapable of removing the smallest spot of sin from the                                   Al het leed, de plagen
  garments of my walk and life, but, on'the contrary, I am                                  266 op  aard'  gedragen,
  daily increasing my guilt before God. I feel the pain of                                  Zooals Jezus leed !
  sin and the sting of death and I long for righteousness.                                  En in  alle schanden
  And Jesus which is called Christ took all my sins to the                                  Vouwen nog de  handen,
  Bloody Tree. That blood is the only preparation that                                      Zooals Jezus deed.
  will cleanse my garments of the stains of guilt. I ought                                  Kwaad  met goed vergelden,
  to take my filthy robes to Him to have them washed in                                     En niet weder schelden,
  His blood.. . .                                                                           Doen,  als Jezus deed.
      What shall I do with Jesus?. . . .                                                    En uw bit'tre plagen,
      Oh ! the answer is so clear!                                                          Aan uw Vader klagen,
      For  I find myself corrupt, foolish, hating God and                                   Die het  alIes weet.
  hating the brethren, full of darkness and uncleanness, in                                                 Uit "De Wekker."
  the power of the devil and sin and death and hell, loving
  by nature the darkness and hating the light. And yet. 1                                          TRUE REST
  long to be delivered, to be filled with righteousness and                      Rest is not quitting the busy career;
  holiness and wisdom and to walk in the light.  And                             Rest is the fitting of self to the sphere;
  Jesus which is called the Christ is given me of God for                        `Tis the brook's motion, clear without strife,
  wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and com-                           Fleeing to ocean, after its life.
  plete redemption.  I ought to appropriate Him by a true                        Deeper devotion nowhere hath knelt,
  and living faith, till the only comfort is mine that  .T am                    Fuller emotion heart never felt;
  not  my own but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus                            `Tis loving and serving the highest and best;
  Christ. . . ,                                                                  `Tis onwards, unswerving, and that is true rest.
      Then, yes, then He becomes my all !                                                                 -T. Sullivan Dwight.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                                     167
 -."^_-._-_-                 -_-.__-                                                                   i ..__..._          ^ . ..- 11_1_
                GOD AND THE UNGODLY                                      Scripture will  henceforth  present the matter thus, that till
                                                                         the day of%nal reckoning God loves all the ungodly, and
                      Thou  hatest all  the  ixrorkers  afpignig9tty.    that His wrath will not be upon them till after the Judg-
                                                             .  :.       ment Day. Till then He is their friend; after that He
   Is it true that the Word of God teaches that eveli  after will be their enemy. Till then He maintains His cov-
the food there is a manifestation of a grace of God in the               enant with them; after that His covenant will come to an
things of this present time over the righteous and the end. And all the rest of the Word of God must be one
ungodly alike? This is the question we were to consider.                 continuous testimony that in this world God loves the
If  the covenant established with Noah and his seed em-                  wicked and reprobate, that He is the Friend of His  en*
braces  all men individually, is established with  the wicked mies and that in this way He realizes His covenant and
world as such and not with the  pebple of God partic- is true to His pledge to all man. If, however, Scripture
ularly ; and if this covenant is a covenant of grace, it must continues to make a distinction between the righteous
be perfectly evident that then we may expect Scripture and the unrighteous as far as God's attitude to them is
henceforth to speak of that grace of  God to all, partic-                concerned in this present time, if the Word of God insists
ularly to the ungodly. We may express this even some- that God hates the workers of iniquity, opposes them,
what more strongly and definitely. If the covenant estab- curses them, and casts them down into destruction, it is
lished at the time of the flood is a covenant of universal up to our opponents to point out the harmony between
grace as far as the things of this present time are con- this hatred of God against the ungodly in time and His
cerned, we must naturally expect that henceforth the dif- covenant-pledge that He would be their Friend regard-
ference between the righteous and the unrighteous, the less of their wickedness.
godly and the ungodly, the elect and the reprobate is                       We must not confuse matters, but have the question
obliterated. In  that,case we may expect that the Word clearly before our mind.
of God from Gen. 3 on never speaks of anything else than                     The question between the advocates of a common
grace for the wicked as far as the things of this present gf%ce  and us is nor whether in .this present time God in I'
time are involved.                                                       .His Providence supplies the needs of all his creatures and
     Do not say that we are exaggerating this matter,  for               of every man to live his human life in the world. This
we are but stating what is precisely the truth.                          fact is very plain to us all. There is no dispute about it.
     If the covenant with Noah is actually as the advocates              It was a fact before the flood as well as after. To all men
of a  comtnon  grace would present it to us, there cannot God gives their earthly existence and all they need for it.
be anything else than grace for the wicked in this world, Ry His Providence He gives them from moment to
and we cannot expect that Scripture will ever present it moment their body and their soul, their power to think
differently. For, first, this covenant, thus interpreted is and to will and to act, their eyes to see, their ears to
confirmed with the naked ungodly world, with the wicked                  hear, their  mouth to speak, their hands to labor. He gives
world as such. It follows that the wickedness of man                     fhem the earth to dwell in and to bring forth its sub-
cannot in any way  disann;l  this covenant. It is estab- stance for them, bread and wine and oil. He gives to a!1
lished without  anJi basis of righteousness, God swearing                the power to be  fruit`ful  and to replenish  the earth, assigns
that He will be the Friend of the ungodly in this present                to each his place, does good from heaven and fills the
time and that He will bless them with temporal blessings.                hearts of the children of men with gladness. All this is
It must follow that the wickedness of man cannot make perfectly plain. These -things are common to the right-
any difference with respect to God's relation to him eous and the wicked. `We must, however, from the very
according to his covenant. Secondly, the covenant thus cmtset remember that these are not the only things that
established includes rhe whole human race, every individ- ard common. Otherwise we wilfully close our eyes to
ual human being, so that every human being has the oath                  more than half of reality in the world. The evil things
of God as a pledge and the rainbow as a sacramental  sign,               are common as well as the good by the same Providence
that no matter how bitter an enemy of God he may be, of God. The strength of man's threescore years and ten
the Lord is gracious to him and will continue to bless or fourscore years is labor and sorrow and we  fly away.
him. And thirdly, this covenant stands as long as  the This also is common in this present time. Fruitful years,
earth remaineth, so that this attitude of grace to the but also barren years are common. Not only relative
wicked and ungodly must last till the Second Coming health and strength, but also suffering and pain, disease
and the Day  of`Judgment.       Crod is faithful. He cannot and  afliction without number are common to the right-
lie. He does not break His own oath. He cannot violate                   eous and the wicked. Gladness fills the common soul in
His own covenant. If He bound Himself of old by cov- 3  sense, but grief and sorrow and bitter heart-pain arc
enant-oath that He would have all the wicked and bless also the common lot  .of all. The hills are glad and the
them and continue to bless them till the end of the world                fields sing and the floods clap their hands and all the
regardless of their  nttitutle  to Him and their wicked                  beasts of the fields rejoice, but this does not alter the fact
works, He can never speak a different language anymore.                  that the whole creation groaneth. and travaileth in. pain
He cannot hate the wicked  a&d stand in covenant-rela-                   together until now. Ml things are vanity. and the better
tion of friendship `to them.  Xfe may, then. expect that                 of the two, the house of feasting and dancing and that of


168                                          T H E   STANDARD'.BEAR.ER
. -                 --  .____  -                - _......_.._.-  I__ I--- ~
                                                                       --._-                       __ .___ -" .._ ".              . . ..-....-. II_
mourning, is always the latter.           If we would speak of          good. A gracious purpose follows from a gracious motive.
common things, we must not superficially close our eyes                  .z\nd   thirdI\-:  the question just as ine\-itably  follows: does
to the darker  side of human life in this world, for it is               God  fr3m this  motij-e of grace ro  bless the ungodly with
large and significant.                                                   the thing.; of this present time also actually accomplish
       All these are tangible facts. We gladly concede to                `His design  by  :\ccompany&g  these gifts by a gracious
our opponents, or rather, we have always insisted, that                 operation of His Spirit? so that the things may be sancti-
the so-called good things in time are common to the                     fied and may become means for their actual and lasting
godly and the  ungo'dly.  We even  embhasize  that both                 good? We can easily see that also this question must be
according to Scripture and experience they are more com-                asked. lye cannot and may not with the Deist separate
mon to the wicked than to the `righteous. But we insist things from God. Things in themselves, apart from G(J~.
with equal emphasi`s that for a proper understanding and are not. If a man receive riches from Gcd, these remain
solution of the question, it is necessary, before we begin              after all a means in the hands of God whereby `He accom-
light-heartedly to speak of a common grace? that we                     plishes His purpose with the man. If a man is laid on his
admit that also the evils, suffering and sorrow, barreness              sickbed  and suffers intense agony,  you  cannot separate
and drought, destruction and desolation are common to                   this suffering and agony-from God as if it were a thing
all in this present world.                                               in itself. On the contrary, it fulfills God's design. be-
       The question, however, is: does God bestow all these             cause God works in the very  suffering  and makes it
things of the present time, not only the good but the evil              accomplish all His counsel.                     Never may we separate
as well, upon all the children of men without distinction               things from  C;oti and `His counsel.  .Ul things are after
in His covmastt-grace?  Tt must be evident to all: that there           all but means thru which God works for the realization of
are a few important questions involved in this one ques-                 His counsel.         If  trophle and sickness and sorrow and
tion. The first question is naturally : when God- bestows               grief and agonv.  pol:erty  and adversity become a blessing
                                                                                         .
all *these things upon all in His Providence does that                  unto them that receive these things from God, it is only
mean  that He. assumes an attitude of grace and  lovirig-               because He  sanctiti'es  and blesses them.  .4nd if abundance
kindness to all, the righteous and  the ungodly? Does                   and plent>-, riches and glory, health and strength, talents
that necessarily follow and does the Word of God teach                  and gifts lead to destruction; it surely is <also because the
this? Is God's motive grace to all when He sends pros-                  Lord does not  so bless these things that they work
perity or adversity, riches or poverty, bread to spare or               together for God. and, positively speaking,-because thru
hunger and want, health or sickness, joy or sorrow. peace               these very things as means God accomplishes His pur-
and plenty or war and famine? Does He bestow all the?e                  pose of destruction upon the ungodly. If we say, that
things. according to the covenant established with Noah.- God bestows these things upon the ungodlp,in His grace
in His friendship to the ungodty world? Is that the plain               and favor, and that it is His purpose to bless them and
teaching of the ,Word of God ? In the second place, and                 to make these things "work together for their good: but
very closely connected with the first question, there is                that the ungodly themselves, apart from E&K~. turn these
this other inquiry: in bestowing all these things upon all.             would-be blessings into a curse, we have turned  Deist and
is it God's unchangeable purpose to bless all men and to                l?elagian  with respect to the things of this present time.
do them good, so that all these things actually work                    No illustration from our human life and relationships
together for their good? It is  plain  that also this  ques-            can here  suffice.  Surely, I can give  my child  an'automo-
&on is pertinent. A thing, however good apparently. that                bile with the greatest of love, and mu- purpose may be to
leads to destruction is not good. This fact is recognized               give the child an opportunity to get  tv the house of God
in our human life.  iz. father that gives to his children               on Sunday. And if that child takes the car and uses it
whatever they. desire, however good these things may                    for wild joyriding on Sunday evening and wirh it races
seem in themselves, if they become means for the ruina-                 to destruction, he turned my would-be blessing into  a
tion of his children's lives, does not bestow good gifts                curse unto himself. What he did with the car stood in
upon them.       -4nd thus it is with regard to all man                 no relation whatever to me. The outcome was not my
receives. The question is not only whether the things he                purpose and it was unknown to me. Had I known I surely
receives seem good in themselves and for  rhe moment.                   would not have given the car. Rut apply this illustra-
but whether they actually are good for him and bless him.               tion to God and you feel that it is nothing less than god-
And thus the question must follow: when the Lord of                     lessness in the most literal sense of the word. When
heaveii bestows these common things upon all rhe chil-                  God bestows things upon the ungodly, He not only knows
dren  of men, is it His purpose to bless the ungodly as                 the outcome,  bur  He employs them as means to accom-
well as the righteous and to have these things work                     plish His purpose. The question, therefore, inevitably
together for their good?            It is evident, too. that the        arises: if God bestows things in grace upon the ungodly,
answer to this second question depends upon the answer                  and if it is His purpose to bless them thru these things,
we give to the first. If we maintain, that God's motive                 is there also a common operation of grace upon the godly
in bestowing these things upon the wicked is friendship                 and the ungodly, so that all things work together for the
and covenant-lovingkindness, we must also insist that it                good also  of the latter? Again.  the;tiiswer  also to this
is  His purpose to bless them and to do' them actually                  tluestion  is inseparably connected with  the two former.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      169
.._ -._---_                         ~.___I . _ . - -                                                    . - - -   .._-..-  -_---  ..-.__
If it is true, that God loves the reprobate ungodly, that in    love the reprobate ungodly, but that He hates all workers
this love He bestows upon them the things of this pres-         of iniquity, that His soul loathes them, that He is against
ent time; then it is also true that His unchangeable pur-       them and that His wrath abideth on them. Those that
pose is to seek their real and lasting good ; and then He       are before Him as wicked and unrighteous are not `the
will also accompany these things with such an operation         objects of His love in time or in eternity, but of His con-
of His grace that they may become real and true bles-           suming wrath. In the second place, we maintain that the
sings for the wicked.                                           Scriptures teach, that God does not bestow the things of
    Such is the logic of the situation.                         this present time, whether good or evil, prosperity or
    But the question we are now concerned with is: does         adversity, upon the ungodly in His grace, from the motive
the ?Vord of God teach all this?                                of favor, but most decidedly in His anger and wrath.
    Let us have the view of the advocates of  a common          Certainly the Word of God teaches us, that God can fill
grace clearly before our minds.                                 the wicked with the things of this world in His hot anger.
   The first two questions involved they answer in the          In the third place, we maintain that Scripture teaches,
affirmative.    Surely, according to His covenant faithful-     not that God intends thru these things to bless the
ness as revealed to Noah and his seed, He loves al1 men,        wicked, but to curse them and to lead. them to destruc-
and He bestows the things of this present time upon all,        tion.    And lastly we insist that God also accomplishes
righteous and unrighteous, elect and reprobate from the         this purpose, and that He casts them down to destruc-
motive of a common or general grace. And-with equal             tion. In other words, there is no trace in the Word of
decision they affirm that God surely bestows these things       God of a general covenant of friendship established with
upon them with the purpose to bless, not to curse. They         the righteous and wicked alike. by which the difference
think it is terrible to even imagine that God can bestow        between the two as far as God's relation in this present
seemingly good things in His wrath and with the purpose         time is concerned should be obliterated. He loves the
to lead to destruction. But when you come to the third          righteous and tries them as gold is tried by fire. But He
question, they begin to waver. They feel their predica-         hates the ungodly and makes them as rhe chaff that is
ment. If they answer in the affirmative, the question is        driven with the wind, and as the waves of the sea that
inevitably for them to answer: how is it, then, that in         have no peace.
reality these things do not work together for their good?                                                                 Ii.  II.
If they answer in the negative, it is for them `to solve the                                       -
problem: how can God bestow things in grace and for                VAN DE BURGERLIJKE GERECHTIGHEID
rhe purpose of blessing the ungodly and not actually
accomplish this purpose? And thus they have thus far               "Aangaande het derde punt, rakende het doen uan xoo-
invented this answer: God means to bless  but the un-           genaamde  burgerlijke gerechtigheid door de onwedergebore-
godly turn His blessings into a curse                           np, verklaart de Synode dat volgens  Schrift  en  Confes-
   But thus they have arrived at a point where their view       sie onwedergeborenen, hoewel onbekwaam tot eenig
becomes exposed as plain Pelagianism and certainly as           zaligmakend  goed (Dordtsche Leerregels, III, IV,  3>,
opposed to all  thar is taught in the Word of God. We           zulk burgerlijk goed kunnen doen. Dit blijkt uit de aan-
ask our opponents: does God fail in His purpose to bless        gehaalde Schriftuurplaatsen, en uit de Dordtsche Leerre-
the wicked? They answer: yes. We ask again: thru                gels, III en IV, 4, en de Nederlandsche Geloofsbelijdenis,
which cause does God thus fail? They answer:  thru              Art. 36, waar geleerd wordt, dat God zonder het hart te
man's unwilling will.       We ask finally: is man's will       vernieuwen zoodanigen invloed op den mensch oefent,
stronger than God's? They answer: yes, for what God             dat deze in staat gesteld wordt burgerlijk  goed te doen;
intended as a blessing they change into a curse.                terwijl het uit de aangehaalde uitspraken der  Gerefor-
   Thus you have rankest Pelagianism.                           meerde schrijvers uit den bloeitijd der  Gereformeerde
   And thus it is also perfectly evident, how the Synod         theologie bovendien blijkt, dat  onze  Gereformeerde
of 1924, arguing along rhis Pelagian line with regard to        vaderen  van oudsher dit gevoelen hebben voorgestaan.`"
the things of this present time was bound to arrive at a           Bij deze laatste uitspraak der Synode is het allereerst
similar Pelagian conception with respect to the Word of         noodig, dat wij elkander herinneren  aan  bet  spreek-
God and became thoroughly Arminian in its First Point.          woord:  "MS twee hetzelfde zeggen, dan zeggen ze  daar-
The heart of that First Point is after all, that Synod con-     om  nag hetzelfde niet." Het feit  tech ligt er toe, dat  Pn
ceived of the preaching of the Word to the reprobate as         de  Dynode  en wij vasthouden  aan "het  doen  van  zooge-
separate from God and the operation of His Spirit. God          naamde  burgerlijke gerechtigheid door onwedergebore-
preaches that Word in love to all. His purpose is ro bless.     nen." Ons huidig geschil raakt niet het feti van de bur-
But the wicked turn that intended blessing of the preach-       gerlijke gerechtigheid, maar het  geeste&k  karakter  daar-
ing of the Word into a curse. God's purpose is frustrated van en hare waarde rJocx God. Het.Synodaal betoog voert
by the free-will of man.                              .         onvermijdelijk tot de  conclusie,  dat de burgerlijke  ge-
   NOW  over against this we emphatically maintain that         rechtige werken der  verworpenen  metterdaad  goed voor
this is not the view of the Word  of- God. In language          God zijn in het burgerlijke, m. a. w., ofschoon zij den
not ambiguous the Scriptures teach us, that God does not verworpenen geen wezenlijke zaligheid aanbrengen, zoo


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              177

                            ROOTS                                      Wisconsin illustrate the distance roots will travel to
                                                                       receive sustenance. The crevices in the rocks will be the
   In our  Iast issue of the "Standard Bearer" we called               passage way for the roots to the stream of water flowing
your attention briefly to the symbolism of the leaves. We              below. Roots grow here and there in search of food, often
busied ourselves with the beauty of the leaves as they                 extending much farther in all directions than the spread
reflect the wisdom of the Creator of Heaven and Earth.                 of the top of the tree or plant. In normal cases, how-
In a small way we tried to fathom the hidden symbolical                ever, roots radiate from a common point just beneath the
meaning of the tiny, insignificant leaf. We have not yet               surface of the ground.
exhausted the emblematic import of the tree.               In this        Have you ever witnessed how crooked the roots of
article we wish to call your attention to the symbolical               trees and plants become? Powerful, indeed, are the roots,
meaning of the roots of trees and plants. The question                 and very determinate in their nature. Many rocks and
has often arisen in your minds, no doubt, as to why  SO                small stones block the way of the roots in their search
many references are made in the Word of God to the                     for food. The roots are very stubborn, and a cement
roots of Jrees. Especially the writer of the book of Job               walk or wall does not deter them from their march unto
calls attention time and time again to the roots of trees, the feeding ground. Storm tossed, as it were,  the roots
and uses the figure of speech as a symbol of spiritual                 follow a snake-like course beneath the earth's surface to
things. See the following places in the  *book  of Job,                feed the millions of tiny cells calling for food. The roots
S:l7,  l-18,  18:16,   19528,  28:9,  31:12.  Of the prophets of       hear the call of the new born cell, and as a mother feeds
old Isaiah and Ezekiel have symbolized the' root pro- its suckhng child and cares for it under all circumstances,
                                                                                                                       1
fusely in their respective writings. In Isaiah the prom-               so the roots use their natural power to preserve their
inent places are 5  :24, 11  :l, 11  :lO; 14  :29, 14  :30,  37:31,    propagated cells. There is an affection for one another.
53 :2. Ezekiel speaks of roots in 17 :6, 7,9 and 31:7. The There `is mutual love of the cells of plants.               And as no
N. T. writings also abound in symbolical representations               two human beings are alike in appearances or character,
of the root.                                                           so is the case with the million cells of a tree. The cells
   In general we speak of the root as that portion of the              forming the leaves are entirely different from the cells of
tree or plant existing beneath the surface of the ground.              the roots. Each tree and each plant is a complete organ-
Philosophically we also speak of the root of things, and               ism in itself, and each plant and each tree has its various
mean thereby the principle of thought out of which an                  forms and various habits. Yet, in the midst of the great -
elaborate system proceeds. The root of things becomes                  variety is supreme unity.
evident in its details. However, the phase assigned to us                 The function of the roots are not only an agent for
in our paper is of a different nature, and we try to bring             sustaining the call to hunger, and satisfying that part of
to our minds the symbolical import of the root as it is                the tree or plant above ground, but the roots also act as      a
used in the Word of God. A Christian can only under-                   an anchor to keep the tree or plant erect and staple.
stand this unique symbolism, for he of all human beings                The roots are the foundation of the super structure above
desires to see the hand of  CTod in the world of nature.               ground.
From this point of view the study of botany and other                     In approaching the Scriptures with our brief discus-
sciences are of tremendous value for the child of God, and             sion in mind we can understand in part the reason why
he can study these sciences to promote the honor of his                the inspired writers of old symbolized the root of trees
God. The immanence of the Almighty is appreciated.                     and plants as a means unto teaching and knowledge. It
    A simple botanical structure of the roots will not be in           is immediately evident that the root is a very important
vain. We will confine ourselves, for the time being at                 element `in a plant or tree regardless of its species or
least, only to those roots which are underground and. variety. In the study of the Word of God the roots are
hidden in the soil. We will not make any reference to                  said to be bearers of gall and wormwood. Gall and hem-
the plant possessing climbing roots, or as they are some-              lock were ancient poisons extracted from the roots of
times called aerial roots. Usually a tree or plant has only            certain trees and plants. These poisons were very de-
one primary root, from which spring secondary and even                 structive in their nature. This need cause no surprise.
tertiary roots. The main root is known as the tap-root,                Some plants require poisonous elements and earthly  I
and the mass of other roots enveloping it are subsidiary chemicals in order to live. In the root of these p'lants
to the main root. The secondary and tertiary roots are                 these d,eadly  poisons would be found in great abundance.
vested as far as their existence and life is concerned in              The writers of divine revelation had knowledge of these
the main tap-root. The dandelion and alfalfa are good                  facts, and consequently rhey speak of roots as bearers of
illustrations of plants possessing a tap-root. Among the               evil. Evil roots and good roots was their application to
trees we have the sturdy oak.                                          human beings. Recall to mind the poison hemlock which
   Roots strike very deep, and their area depends upon                 Socrates must drink on the day of his execution. Recall
the nature of the plant, and their area depends upon the               to mind the deadly poisons manufactured by the Turks
soil in which they grow. In poor soil the roots are wide-              from various roots of plants and trees. Ts  ir any wonder,
spread, for the roots of any plant or tree will go a great             therefore, that already in the laws of Moses mention is
distance in search of food. The Dells in the state of                  made of the heart of man as being poisonous in its roots.


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The description of the heart  of the wicked is likened unto      The supreme gardener and the host of the Covenant
B "root that bcareth gall and wormwood." See Deut. 29:           desires the development of the pruned roots. The root of
IS.  .Xgain  in Matt.  15:19 the heart of man is  called  the    Tsrael was as'rotteness, and was cast into utter darkness,
root of his existence from which proceeds evil thoughts.         but rhe remaining root shall be carefully preserved. As
murder, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, rail-    we have seen in the botanical construction of roots a
ings. In Hcb.  12:15 we read of the root of hitterness           hewn down root can bring forth a shoot, which will cause
troubling the Christian. The old man of sin, the old             the partly destroyed root and tree to be in time a tree
nature, is the root of existence of the unregenerate. Their      possessing roots which have  sugered no harm. This the
life is a steady pouring forth of gall and wormwood, be-         prophet symbolizes when he prophetically sees the Christ
cause the root of their existence is poisonous.                  coming forth from the root stock of Jesse as a new shoot.
   Not  all roots are poisonous in their nature. There           This shoot, will become the main tap-root, and will act as
are good plants as well as evil plants.  Th&e are good           an anchor for the redeemed Judah of God. This new
trees as well as evil trees. There are good roots as well        shoot was from the start a tender plant, and it was as it
as evil roots. Good roots produce good trees and good            were placed in dry'  ground.  No hope for such a new
plants. An evil root cannot bring forth a good tree, and         shoot; we would say, -and especially not for a Shoot
a good tree has good roots. This antithetical principle          springing forth from such a dilapidated root like Judah.
was symbolized by the prophets of old. John the Bap-             But, it is very hard to kill the root of any tree or plant.
tist compares the house of Israel unto a tree with evil          The new shoot of the stock of Jesse thrived, and it  be-
roots which shall be hewn down. Says he, ".4nd even Game badly bent and very crooked in its growth. In its
now the axe lieth at the root of the trees: every tree           search for food it needs must travel over cliffs and meet
therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn             many obstacles obstructing its way to a  harbbr of  gobd
down, and cast into rhe fire." Amos also uses the same           supplies with which it can replenish the stock of  Judah
symbol to indicate the evil root from which no good fruit        pith new life. Rough stones and ill-fated mountains are
can be expected when he says, "Yet destroyed I the               in its passage way to the river of life where the new shoot
.A morite before them, whose height was like the height of       finds a supply great enough to supply the tree of Judah.
the cedars, and he was strong as  .th,e oaks; yet  .I de-        In a short time the tree becomes as a great oak, and the
stroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath."       shoot of Jesse is the main tap-root, and acts as a fit
Many similar passages could be brought forward to prove          anchor against  al! storms. With this anchor root the
that also in the world of plants and trees a sharp divisiori     house of Judah remains standing;  rhel root of the tree is
esists,  also from a symbolical point of view, between           feeding upon fertile ground, and extends far and wide in
that which is called a good root and an evil root.. Sym-         the land  tif life. No gall and worm-wood are in these
bolically these two lines of God's Word should be con-           roots, and the cry of the new born cells receive their
sidered, for did not Christ condemn the fig tree?  The           wants supplied bountifully.
branches were very promising unro fruit, but the root of                                                           R.  J.`D.
the tree was evil, and favorable fruit could not be found.
The Apostle Paul recognized this antithetical principle                                                  I
for says he, "Glory not over the branches, but if thou
gloriest, it is not thou that bearest rhe root, but the root
thee." In other words, the symbolism of the root speaks                                IN MEMORIAM
to us of the foundation of things upon which depends                  Den  13deri  December was het'3 jaar  geleden   dat
things! good and things evil. The value produced is                de Heere onze geliefde Moeder tot  Zich nam  ; den
inherent in the roots; if the production is evil, the roots        17den  Januari j.l., kwam de Heere wederom tot ons
are evil; if the production is good, the roots are good.           en nam op het onverwachts van ons weg  onzen
The root decides the origin, the mightiness, the glory of          geliefden Vader.
that which is coming forth. Is it any wonder that the
inspired prophet Isaiah should compare the Christ unto                          HENDR,IK KUIPER, Sr.,
a  root. He call Him, the "Root of David."  In Isaiah's
mind Judah was the tap-root of the church of God. David,           in den ouderdo'm van bijna 70 jaren.
the king of Israel and Judah, was a natural outgrowth                  Als in een  oogenblik werd hij opgeroepen uit
from the main tap-root. The secondary root Israel was              dezen tijd naar de eeuwigheid. Maar daar wij de
a bearer of gall and wormwood, and the root Judah was              hope mogen koesteren,.dat  hij is ingegaan  in de eeu-
poisoned, but nor unto death. One-half of the Covenant             wige rust, troost dit ons in onze droefhe?d.
root is destined unto the fire of destruction, and the other
remaining half requires extra care from the supreme                                Namens de Kinderen, Behuwd- en
gardener. The supreme care-taker hews down the trunk,                                  Kleinkinderen.
and one-half  of the roots are destroyed  foreber.    Recall
to your minds the history of rhe ten tribes of Israel.             Hull, la., Feb. 26, 1926.
Judah has been poisoned and is in a despairing condition.


                     t                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  179
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                  BERKHOF'S PELAGIANISM                               groote min voor den verworpenc en van zijn lust in het
                                                                      redden van den verworpene." Berkhof has it then that
          In my previous article I expressed the" intention of        the prophet announces to the reprobate that God has no
     disclosing how that the professor places in the room of          pleasure in his death but that it pleases Go.d that he, the
     the doctrine of absolute election and reprobation the Pel-       reprobate, should turn from his evil ways and live.
     agian doctrine of election and reprobation.        The dis-          Let us now turn to the Scripture. "The word of the
     closure of this matter was to be my final article on the         Lord came unto me again saying, What mean ye that ye
     first chapter of Berkhof's brochure. I changed my mind,          use this proverb concerning the land of Israel saying,
     however.    In perusing the pages of Berkhof's brochure          the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's
     T again happened upon the Scriptures which the profes-           teeth are set on edge? As  I live, saith the Lord God,  ye
     sor adduces to substantiate the proposition that God is          shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in
     moved by love.when He brings the reprobate in contact            Israel. Behold, 311 souls are mine; as the soul of the
     with the `Gospel. In expositing these texts the professor father so also the soul of the son is mine; the soul that
     departs from the truth. He becomes guilty of  "inleg-            sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just and do that
     kunde.,' The exegesis rendered is decidedly Pelagian which is lawful and right, . . . . he is just, he shall surely
     in character, and reveals a mind unscientific and biased         live, saith the Lord God. If he beget a son that is 3
     by a theory. These things should be disclosed. In this           robber, 3 shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any
     article meet Berkhof the exegeet.                                one of these things, . . . he shall surely die, his blood shall
          Berkhof advances the following Scriptures, namely : be upon him. Now, lo, so the prophet continues, if he
     Ezekiel  18:23,  "Have I pleasure at 311 that the wicked         beget 3 son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath
     should  die%?  saith the Lord God: and not that he should        done, and considereth, and doeth not such like, . . .  .`he
     return from his ways `and live? and again: For I have            shall not d.ie for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely
     no pleasure in the de,ath of him that dieth, saith the Lord      live.    rJLs  for his father, because he cruelly oppressed,
     God : wherefor  turn yourselves and live ye,,, Ezekiel 33 : spoiled his brother by violence, . . . . lo, even he shall die
     11, "Say unto them, as I live saith the Lord God, I have         in his iniquity. Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear
     no  pleasure in the. death of the wicked; but that the           the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that
     wicked turn from his way and live ; turn ye, turn ye from        which is lawful and right, . . . . he shall surely live. The
     your evil ways ; for why will ye die, 0 house of Israel  ?"      soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the
          We shall now reproduce Berkhof's exposition of the          iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the
     above Scripture. The reader should be aware of the real          iniquity of the son: `the righteousness of the righteous
     argument. According to Berkhof himself it is this: "Dat          shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall
     God de goddeloozen roept tot bekeering, wordt in de be upon him. But if the wicked shall turn from all his
     Heilige  Schrift'  voorgesteld als een bewijs van zijn lust      sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes,
     in hun redding." Brochure, p. 21. The professor con-             and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live,
     tinues as follows : "In de profetie van Ezechiel beluisteren     he shall not die.     All  6is transgressions that he hath
     we de stem des Heeren in woorden, die van ontferming committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his
     getuigen: `Zoude  Ik eenigszins (ook maar in eenige              righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have  I
     mate) lust hebben aan den dood .des  goddeloozen? spreekt        pleasure at 311 that the wicked should'die? saith the Lord
     de Heere HEERE  ; is het niet als hij  zich bekeert van          God: and not that he should return from his ways  ,and
     zijne wegen, dat hij leve?' En wederom: `Want Ik heb             live?,, Ezekiel 18 :l-23.
     geen lust  aan den dood des stervenden (d.  i.,  desgenen            What was it that occasioned the above discourse? It
     die reeds in zijn zonde wegsterft), spreekt de  He&-e            was this: The ungodly Israelites were accusing God of
     HEERE: daarom bekeert U en leeft.' Deze plaatsen,                unrighteousness.     "Yet, saith the house of Israel, The
     says Berkhof, zeggen ons zoo duidelijk  31s woorden dit          way of the Lord is not equal?  .The Jew in exile com-
     vermogen, dat God geen lust heeft in den dood des  zon-          plained that God was visiting the iniquities of the fathers
     daars (let er we1 op, dat hij niet zegt: `des uitverkorenen upon him, an innocent Jew. The guiltless were made to
     zondaars,, maar : `des zondaars,' geheel  in het algemeen)  ;    suffer for the guilty. That was his complaint. Said the
     en de teedere roepstem, die wij daarin beluisteren,  ge-         Jew: The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the chil-
I    tuigt van zijn groote zondaarsmin en van zijn lust in het        dren's teeth are set on edge. The exiled Jew refused to
     redden van den goddelooze." So far Berkhof.                      admit that his deportation was due to his own personal
          Let us now attend to the above exposition of the            sins as well. The self-righteous Jew was at once  unre-
     words of the prophet. According to Berkhof the name              pentent  and proud. Further he regarded this law of divine
     "goddelooze" signifies both the elect and the reprobate.         retribution as a solitary one. And of this law he was the
     "Let  er,  we1 op," says the professor, "dat hij niet zegt:      victim. It would avail him nothing to turn from his evil
     `des uitverkorenen  zondaars,,  maar: `des zondaars,'  ge-       ways. God hides his face even when the contrite of heart
     heel in het algemeen.' The prophet, then, is addressing          stretches forth his hands. The penitent sinner can find
     the reprobate. We may read, therefore, ". . . . en de tee-       no favor in God's sight. Even the broken in heart is
     dere roepstem die wij daarin beluisteren, getuigt van zijn       doomed to die. The righteous man must perish for the


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fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth          are altogether foreign to God's word. God very explicitly
are set on edge.                                                 informs us in His word, that He does take delight in the
        ,Y monstrous charge it was. `The accusation implies      death of the unrepentent sinner.          Says the prophet
that God destroys, damns and inflicts punishment for the         Moses : "z2nd  it shall come to pass, that as the Lord
sake of damning and destroying that, as Nero of old, He,         rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you;
God, takes delight in the pain, misery and death of the          so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and  to
sinner as such. Suffering and death as such amuse God.           bring you to naught," Deuteronomy  28:63. Can it be
        The prophet Ezekiel is sent to correct and rebuke the    possible that, in the days of the prophet Ezekiel, this
proud and stubborn Jew. The announcement: "For I                 same God is not rejoicing over the wicked to destroy
have no pleasure in the death of the dying" must be re-          them and to bring them to naught? Can it be that some
garded as an answer to the charge of the complaining             hundred years later God takes no <delight in the death of
Jew. This announcement must be interpreted in the                the sinner ?    If so, God changed. Berkhof's God is
light of the above accusation. Sound exegesis requires it.       changeable and in conflict with  -Himself.  Consequently,
Doing so the utterance of the prophet yields to us its           Berkhof's Bible is one concatenation of contradictory
meaning. The Lord God informs the beguiled Jew that statements.
suffering and death as such do not amuse Him. In                    The  .professor  in expositing the passage in question
inflicting punishment God takes into account sin. The            failed to observe certain rules indispensable to that
unwpentent  sinner is damned by God. It is true, there is        exegeet bent upon giving reliable exegesis. The text was
a relation between the sins of the fathers and the punish-       loosened from its surroundings and treated as if it stands
ment inflicted upon the children. I will visit the iniquities    alone.    In the second place, the professor refused  io be
upon the third and forth generation of them that hate            controled by Scripture at large.       As professor in the
me, says God. But this  law of retribution is maintained         science of hermeneutics Berkhof cautions his students
in respect to the godless and unrepentent offspring of the       against neglecting to apply the above mentioned'rules
wicked fathers. The unrepentent son suffers at once for `when dealing with Scripture. Why did he himself fail to
his own sin. And this the proud and stubborn Jew re-             do the proper thing 7 We shall answer the question.
fused to admit. The prophet makes it plain that the              And then we begin by saying that the observance of the
penitent and righteous son shall live, even though his           above mentioned rules means that the exegete is permit-
father did eat the sour grapes.                                  ting Scripture to speak its own language. Berkhof, how-
     Our exegesis of this particular Scripture agrees with       ever, fears to permit Scripture to have its say. Well does
that of the  "Kantteekenaars."  Their  co.mment  reads as he realize that Scripture denounces the views which he
follows : "Ten andere, is hier eigenlijk gesproken van den       and his fellows inculcated upon the church. Hence, he
dood van den goddelooze die  zich bekeert, en niet van           obliges God's word to hold its peace and compels that
degenen, die zich nimmer bekeeren, gelijk de voorgaande          word to speak Berkhof's language. This can be done by
en de volgende woorden uitwijzen; alsof God zeide:  gij-         treating the word as if it were a collection of discon-
lieden  meent, dat ik zoo belusf ben om te vernielen en          nected utterances instead of one organical whole. The
te dooden, dat ik ook den goddelooze, die  zich bekeert,         exegete fair enough to explain Ezekiel in the light of
niet wil  sparen,   noch  zijne,  bekeering voor aangenaam       Deuteronomy  28:63 will not defend the proposition that
houden: maar  dat is eene lastering en verre van  mij.)t         God takes no delight in the death of the sinner who
And again: "Te  weten, dat ik lust en welgevallen  hier-         refuses to repent.
aan heb?' Deze vraag verzekert sterk, dat de bekeering              Does not Berkhofs assertion to the effect "dat wij
van den goddelooze  aan God zoo aangenaam is, dat de             daarin (namely in Ezekiel  18:23)  een teedere roepstem
bekeerde zeker leven zal, en dat Hij  geenszins  lust heeft      beluisteren die getuigt van zijn groote zondaarsmin (dus
om den bekeerden goddelooze te dooden.'                          die  getuigc   vani  zijn groote  biefde  voor den verworpene)
     Let us now return to the discourse of the prophet.          en van zijn lust in het redden des goddeloozen (van zijn
His argument is clear. Misery and death as such do not           lust in het redden van den  verworpene)"  I ask does not
please God. Hence, the sinner who repents shall live.            this assertion appear to be sheer nonsense when placed
The unrepentent sinner perishes. In fine, if the utter-          along side of Deuteronomy 28 :63 ? Add to this the fol-
ance, *`Have I pleasure at all that the wicked should            lowing Scriptures : "Because I have called, and ye re-
die?" be interpreted in the light of its surroundings we         fused : I stretched out my hand, and no man regarded ;
see at once that it can only mean that suffering and death       But ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none
as such do not please.Go,d;  that, therefore, God takes no       of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will
delight in the death of the sinner who repents. The              mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh  as
passage in  nowise teaches that God takes no delight in          desolation, and your destruction  cometh  as a whirlwind;
the death of the sinner who does not repent.                     when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then they
     According to Prof. Berkhof, the Lord God announces          shall call upon me but I shall not answer; they shall seek
to the unrepentent and reprobate sinner, that He, God,           me early but they shall not find me" Proverbs  19%28.
tenderly loves him and takes no delight in his death. Let "But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the
me say that Berkhof deposits in this chapter views which         transgressors shall be rooted out of it," Proverbs  11:22.


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             _____ -^........ ~-".. .._....   ".-111_1-.---                 ."-.--______- ......-.-._."                                        181
                                                                                                                                       -l_-l
"For the froward is an abomination-to the Lord: but His                                         DE LEVENSVERZEKERING, ETC.
secret is with the righteous. The curse of the Lord is                                                       (Vervolg)
in the house of the wicked: but He blesseth the habita-
tion of the just," Proverbs  11:32,  33. "The Lord  wiI1                                Als dit clan ook voor Dr. Kuyper  uaststaut   naar  bij
destroy the house of the proud, 15 :25. "The thoughts of zegt,  laten wij dat dan zoo onverwrikt handhaven, en .
the wicked are an abomination to the Lord," 15 :26. "The                           deze lijn doortrekken zonder afbreken.
`Lord is far from the wicked," 15  529. "The sacrifice of the                           Dit vaststaande dan, mogen wij  tech zeker  we1  con-
wicked is an abomination to the Lord," 15 :8. "The way                             stateeren, dat, om diezelfde  reden  en op dienzelfden
of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,"  15:9.                               grond, van een gemeenschappelijk gedragen lijden en
 `Every one that is proud of heart is an abomination to                            schuld, krachtens Gods Voorzienigheid voor alle  men-
the Lord," 165. "And Johoshaphat, the king of Judah,                               schen saam, gelijk beweerd wordt, voor ons Christenen
returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. And jehu, geen sprake kan zijn, al zijn wij ook voor het heden  met
the son of Hanani, the seer went out to meet him, and de verwerpers van God en Zijn dienst en de wegwerpers
said to king Johoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the un-                              van Zijn  macht en gezag, als aardbewoners bijeen en
godly, and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is                              samen.
wrath upon thee from before the Lord," II Chronicles                                    Wij kunnen het niet gebeteren,,dat  `*de geniale groot-
19:1,  2.                                                                          meester"  van het  Calvinisme  in Nederland  zich telkens,
    Can it be maintained in the light of these passages                            we1 in een en hetzelfde werk, tegenspreekt in zijn betoo-
that God loves the reprobate sinner, the unrepentent gen en uitweidingen, en wat in het eene hoofdstuk is  vast-
wicked with a great love and that He takes no delight                              gesteld in het  andere wordt neergeworpen, zij het dan
in their death ? Indeed, not.                                                      OP "meesterlijke" wijze.
                                                               G.  M. 0.                Want als b.v., gelijk hierboven, Dr. Kuyper eerst zoo          -.
                                                                                   schoon "het  .Kruis van  Christus  ten  teeken  stelt," dat
                                                                                   door heel de geschiedenis een  scheidslijn  trekt tusschen
             I SAW GOD WASH THE WORLD                                              de  behjders  van den  Christus  en de verachters'van Zijn
                                                                                   Naam,  zooals  Dr. Bavinck.dat eens zeide, dan gaat hij
             I saw God wash the world last night                                   later  heen, en  zegt, dat Jezus, in de dusgenaamde Berg- .
             With his sweet showers on high;                                       rede, "wijzende  op de elementaire  machten  der natuur," .
             And then when morning came                                            ons aanleiding geeft om te komen tot het "scherp  afge-
             I saw him hang it out to dry.                                         bakend"  begrip  van `gemeenschappelijke  schmd en in
                                                                                   verband  hiermce van ecn `gemeenschappelijk lijden',  na-
             He washed each tiny blade of grass                                    der beperkt tot al die  rampen  en tegenspoeden, tot al
             And every trembling tree ;                                            dat lijden en  sterven, al zulke  schade en nadeel, als we
             He flung his showers against the hills                                niet ons zelf berokkend hebben door eigen schuld, maar
             And.swept  the billowy sea.                                           zooals  `ens in het gewone  leven, omdat up dat leven de
                                                                                   vloek rust, overkomen kunnen."
             The white rose is a cleaner white;                                         En besluit hij dan, ten opzichte van de  assurantie-
             The red rose is more red                                              zaak  : "geheel het Verzekeringswezen bedoelt  alzoo   zich
             Since God washed every fragrant face                                  uitsluitend op  hxt door  Jezus  aangewezen   terrein  te  bewe-
             And put them all to bed.                                             "gen van mechanische ongelukken of van organische ver-
                                                                                  dervingen, die uit de natuur  opkomm, en waarbij alle oor-
             There's not a bird, there's not a bee                                 zaak van persoonlijke schuld is buitengesloten.
             That wings along the way,                                                 En dit terrein nu komt juist geheel overeen met dat
             But is a cleaner bird and bee                                         van onze gemeenschappelijke ellende, die weer in  ver-
             Than it was yesterday.                                               band staat met onze gemeenschappelijke schuld.
                                                                                       En het zedelijk instinct, bij `t Verzekeringswezen hier
             I saw God wash the world last  nighi;                                 in aanmerking komend, heeft van meetaf tot de distinctie
             Ah, would he had washed me                                            geleid, om alle persoonlijk verdorzaakte  schade buiten
             As clean of all my dust and dirt                                      rekening te laten, en  zich uitsluitend in te laten met al
             As that old white birch tree.                                         zulke schade  of ramp, als in den gewonen gang des levens
                                           -William L. Stidger.                    een iegelijk onzer, hetzij vroom of onvroom, zedelijk of
                                                                                   onzedelijk,  omda  &  nwnschen   zijn, overkomen kan of
                                                                                  zal."
                                                                                       De  drieerlei   bezwaren,  die Dr. Dijk noemde  als tegen
                  In den  hemel is het schoon!                                     de Levensverzekering gewoonlijk ingebracht, . kunnen
                  Waar men zingt op blijden  toon,                                 worden  aangevoerd tegen elk middel, dat tot ons natuur-
                  Met een altoos vroolijk harte,                                  lijk levensonderhoud, verlenging, verbetering,, ontwikke-
                  Vrij van alle pijn of smarte.                                    ling en bescherming daarvan, kan dienen.


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                                                                          who beheld Him and  touchkd Him, who walked with
               MEDITATION                                                 Him and talked with Him and a goodly number of whom
                                                                          sealed the truth of their testimony that Jesus is risen
                                                                          from the dead with their very life-blood! .  _ . .
                 IF NOT . . . . . BUT NOW!                                    "Victims of hallucinations these witnesses were" is
                                                                          the tale of the subtler and wiser among these children of
                        And if Christ be not raised _. . .                darkness gainsaying the testimony concerning the resur-
                        But now is Christ risen from the dead.. . .       rection.    "So firmly  e.xpected  the disciples the resurrec-
                                             --I Car.  15:17a.   20a.     tion and so fervently they desired it. that they believed
   If Christ be not raised ! . . . . .                                    what they desired and in their heated imagination pro-
   Chief among the proudly rising tolyers  of the fortress                jected a mere  product  of their fancy `into the realm  OF
                                                                          reality  !" But how devilishly preposterous and  foolishI>
of the Truth and of the Christian Faith is the doctrine                   absurd is this wild tale! What monstrous psychological
of the resurrection  of the Lord.                                         monstrosities such hallucinations would imply on  the
   Destroy it and  you  captured the Citadel.,                            part of the witnesses of the resurrection! Five hundred
   The Christian's faith stands or falls with  &e truth of                people all at once, not expecting but rather inclined to
Jesus) resurrection.                                                      doubt the reality of the re&rrection, all charmed by the
   Small wonder, then, that the Devil  sliould  muster all                same delusion !        Hallucinations captivating a doubting
his forces for a continued and united attack  upon this                   Thomas  atid desponding sojourners to  Emmaus   !, Delu-
bulwark of Zion's strength in order, if possible, to  de-                 sions lasting forty days, including sight and touch and
molish it.                                                                hearing and culminating in thf: final hallucination of the
   How early he prepared his forces to attack this truth!                 cloud intercepting the Lord on the day when He ascended
   Scarcely had the Lord appeared victor over all His                     to the Right Hand of power in the highest heavens!
foes from the grave, but through  the  soldiers  the powers                   Surely, ad wild as was the first tale, spread by bribed          '
of darkness spread the tale that they. Roman  sentineIs                  soldiers  in the service of the instruments of darkness,
had been so perfectly overcome  wit6 sleep,  that.the   .dis-             so monstrously absurd are the attacks of modern infi-
ciples had been able to sneak upon the grave, break its                   delity upon the truth of the resurrection of Jesus.
seal, remove  it& heavy entrance-stone and carry off the                      Yet, the attacks continue.
dead body of their Master !           LMiserably  poor witnesses,             The destruction of this  bulivark is all-important to
indeed, who testified to have been lost in sleep, when the                the foe.
very fact to whjch they bore testimony was supposed to                        For, if Christ be not raised! . . . . .
have taken place !                                                                                       __I-
   Yet, however unbelievable, this wild story was fre-                        If not, what then ? . . . . .
quently repeated, in various forms and found adherents                        The only possible conclusion that can follow this sup-
many among credulous infidels.                                            position is nothing short of disastrous to the Christian
"Impostors you are," say the  boidesr among the                           Faith.
devil's followers, facing the veritable multitude  uf eye-                    For, if He is not risen, then He was not  Imanuel.                    b
witnesses that give testimony to the resurrection of                      God's own Son in human flesh. For hell  `and death
Jesus. "Liars you are, perverting the people and preach-                  c.ould have no power stronger than God's Son and  if
ing what you know to be False, when you witness that                      His soul was kept in hell He could not have been the
Jesus is raised from the dead  !" Rut how shamelessly                     Son of God. And if He be not  Imnnuel,  I can  have  no
hold and wicked seems the indictment over against  the                    access  through Him to God's covenant-life of friendship
testimony of these more than  Five Hundred witnesses,                     and the communion of love, He cannot make mc  p&r-


  194           *                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                ____                                                                                                         -.--.
  talccr  oE the di\-ine nature. Then I do not live God's life     in  the chill of morning hc did not leave  the ship for the
  and do not walk in God's light through Him . . .  -  .           cool  waves  of the Tiberian sea to meet  the. Risen Lord
     If Christ be not raised, then the Cross stands alone,         waiting on the shore and whether his heart was not very
  dark, gloomy, foreboding, a thing to be shunned, dread-          really filled with peace when the Lord forgave and re-
  ful, sounding the warning to all that would walk in the          stored in His own wonderful way.
  truth, that the `Devil's is the power and the final victory.        Call the sojourners to  Emmaus  and let them  rclatc
  Then  the blood that flows from Calvary's tree is, at            of  rheir anxious discussion in the way, of their failure
  best, martyr's blood. Then it has no atoning strength,           to find a place for His cross, of His wonderful instruc-
  no cleansing power. Then Christ's "It is finished" only          tion and opening of the Scriptures, of their burning
  meant "The battle is-lost!" Then He poured out  His              hearts and their final recognition of Him in the breaking
  soul in vain . . . . .                                           of the bread.
     If Christ be not raised, then I,, a sinner, stand for-           Summon the Five Hundred and let them answer
.  saken,  with burdens  cui wrath oppressing,  with loads of whether they labored under hallucinations or whether
  grief afflicting, with mountains of guilt rising accusingly they actually beheld Him.
  and there is no one to carry away these burdens,  to lift           And last of all, but not least, let Paul preach his gos-
  these loads, to level these mountains; no one to  give pel of the Risen Lord as an eyewitness of `His glory . . .
  peace to my heart, rest to my soul, no one to lead me               Nay more! . . . .
  into the joy of justification. . . .                                Let all the Church of all the passing centuries in the
     If Christ be not raised, then death still  reigns  in  all    new dispensation testify, whether she does not know
  its power, the grave still yawns before me in all its hor-       that she is the living Body of a living Head and whether
  ror of corruption, hell still rejoices in complete victory. .    she is not deeply convinced by the experience of a living
     And in the distant future looms an eternalnight . . .         faith that she is reborn unto a living hope through the
     There is no hope, if Christ bc not raised !                   resurrection of the Lord. Let her speak, whether she
     No living love, no loving life . . . . .                      does not feel that His own life is pulsating in her heart
     No light in my darkness, no cheer in my gloom, no and throbbing in her veins. Try her and see whether for
  comfort in my' sorrow, no song in my night . . . .  *            the confession that the Lord is risen indeed she is not
     No courage and strcngth`for the battle . . . . .              willing to pour out her earthly soul into death. . . .
     No prospect of victory . . . . .                                 Or, brother, turn to thine own heart and life.
     Then faith is vain.                                              Whence that life and love and faith and hope, that
     Then I am of all men most miserable !                         courage and zeal, that light and joy, that peace in  the
     If Christ be not raised . . . .                               face of death and the grave, that seeking the things
                                                                   above, if, Christ is not risen ?
     But now! . . . . .                                               Shout, 0 Zion, for joy !
     Christ is risen!                                                 F o r n o w ! . . . .
     Shout for joy, 0 Zion!                                           Christ is risen!
     Sing loudly and clearly and let your anthems of
  praise and victory silence the clamor of the powers of
  darkness !                                                          The Lord is risen, indeed!
     Call your witnesses and let them testify of what they            Glorious gospel !
  have seen and heard and put to shame the philosophy of              Blessed assurance!
  the worldly wise.                                                   For He that is risen is Christ, my Lord, my `Re-
     Ask the sorrowing disciples and let the Eleven wit- deemer, my Head, my God, my all!                      L
  ness whether their hearts were not cheered at the sight             He is God's anointed, the Servant that was to finish
  of Him when suddenly `He appeared in their midst.                forever all that was to be accomplished in God's House.
     Summon despairing Thomas and let him declare                  He it was who must needs receive the iniquities of  us
  whether the dark and gloomy shadows of despondency all as the God-ordained Lamb. He it was who with our
  were not dispelled from his heart and mind, when the             sins descended into the deep vale of humiliation and
  Risen Lord bade him touch the scars of His cruel suffer-         suffering and death and hell through the bloody form of
  ing.                                                             the accursed tree.
     Inquire of His own silent but profound Mother,                   He is risen!
  whether she did not see her Son whom they had pierced               And when I see Him reappear on yonder side of that
  and whether she is not firmly assured that now He is             terrible death, all glorious and victorious, I know that all
  her living Saviour.                                              is finished, that the battle is won, that the Lamb of God
     Let Mary of  Magdala  appear, loving though erring took away the sin of the world, that He rises for the
  in her love, and let her testify whether she heard not His       justification of all His people. and that His Cross is very
  voice and whether her sorrowing `heart was not thrilled          really the blotting out of all my transgr+ssions,  my right-
  with new delight at His mentioning of her name.                  eousness and my adoption to be called a son of God!
     Bring forth the penitent Peter and inquire whether               He arose !                                                 f


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_.II____  ,..^ ^.--^..-."..^  ..._.." ..___ "-"-    _____I_.--.                                    I_........I.."  ._.._. ^..-__..__ --._. ._...... _ .._ "" -... 195

      And when I stand by and watch Him issue forth from                                     EXTRA-CALVINISTISCH
the grave, breaking the shackles of death, I know that
He powerfully proves to be Imanuel,  the Son of God and                           De  proeve van geloofsverklaring van Dr. V.  Hepp,
that through Him God's covenant-life will be realized in                      zoo  zagen  we een vorige  keer, kan in historischen zin
all His people according to His own prayer: "I in them niet gezegd  worden  te zijn  e  vote  Calvini,   geheel  overeen-
and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one:"                        komrtig het verlangen  van  Caltiijn.  Want  we1 was Calvijn
      The Lord arose !                                                        "een hartstochtelijk `katholiek' belijder," de man van
      And  X know that He is but the firstfruit of an entire Geneve  kan terecht "ein geboren Unionsmann" geheeten
and glorious harvest and that in His day I shall, with all                    worden;  en ook heeft het Calvinisme van meet af een
those whom the Father hath given Him, follow Him in sterk internationaal karakter vertoond.  Doch we mogen
glory, to leave the weak for the strong, the corruptible                      met vergeien,  dat Calvijn haakte naar eene kerkelijke en
for the incorruptible, the mortal for the immortal, the                       staatkundige vereeniging van alle Protestanten.                                 Zijn
natural for the spiritual, the earthly for the heavenly . . .                 "heilig enthusiasme voor katholiciteit" betrof de Kerken
      0 grave where is thy victory?                                           der Hervorming.  ISij  poogde'de  eenheid  van de  Refor-'
      0 death where is thy sting?                                             matorische Christenheid ook in het uitwendige en zicht-                                    .
      Hell, where thy horror?                                                 bare tot openbaring te brengen. De Hervormers  moch-
      Devil, where thy power?                                                 ten niet in Lutherschen, Zwinglianen en Calvinisten uit-
      The Lord is risen !                                                     een gaan. Alle Evangclischen moesten  zich vereenigen.
      And the victory is ours!                                                Daarom vond het plan tot de bijeenroeping van een groot
 Forever  .and ever!                                                           Evangelisch Concilie, door Thomas Cranmer, bisschop
      Amen !                   ..-                                            van Canterbury, ontworpen, dan ook bijval bij Calvijn.
                                                              H.  II.         In een schrijven  aan Cranmer,  waakin  hij sterk klaagt
                                                                              over de splijting in de Hervormde Christenheid, dringt
                                                                              hij aan op de samenroeping van eene godvruchtige Syno-
                        IS LIFE WORTH LIVING?                                 de, om de heerschende dwalingen te bestrijden, de onder-
                                                                              scheidene leerstellingen te zuiveren` en te verbreiden, en
                Life is worth living,                                         eene gemeenschappelijke geloofsbelijdenis op te  s.tellen
                    lf lived to Him                                           voor het nageslacht. Zijn  ideaal  was, gelijk hij reeds in
                        Who paid my penalty.                                   1538 aan Bullinger deed verstaan, eene zuivere, eerlijke
                All is worth giving,                                     *    vcreeniging van  alle Protestantsche Kerken. En verder
                    If given-for Him                                          Wilde hij, dat ook de Reformatorische Staten en Overhe-
                        Who gave Himself for me.                              den  zich met de  Herken  der Hervorming zouden  ver-
                Life's not worth living                                       staan, alsmede met elkander, om door wederkeerigc ver-
                    I'f lived for self,                                       maningen elkander te steunen, en met hun macht  te ster-
                       `Tis hollow mockery.                                   ken.  Kerk- en Staat  Wilde hij innig samenbinden,  en de
                `Tis not worth living;                                        vorsten moesten handelen  naar godgeleerde adviezen. Op
                    `Tis wasted time,                                         die wijze zocht Calvijn de zaak van Christus' koninkrijk
                        .4nd ends in misery.                                   te bevorderen in al de landen  der Hervorming. Hij zocht
                Life is worth living                                           de geestelijke  ienheid  -van het Protestantsche Christen-
                    If, but for this,                                          dom ook in het kerkelijke en staatkundige tot uitwendige
                        To praise Him for His grace.                           openbafing te brengen. Hij was de man van artikel 36
                And then the giving                                           onzer Nederlandsche Geloofsbelijdenis.
                    Of His blest Word,                                            Zulks kan van Dr. Hepp niet  worden  gezegd. Welke  -
                        That some may seek His face.                           resultaten van de geloovige bezinning over de  Schrift-
                There's no real living.                                        openbaring hij ook in zijne proeve  van geloofsverklaring
                    Apart from Him                                             moge opgenomen hebben, de geloofsovertuiging in  arti-
                        Who gave Himself for  us.                              kel 36 uitgedrukt, wordt er in specifieken zin niet in ver-
                The joy  pf giving                                             meld.    Hepp zoekt geene vereeniging van alle Protes-
                    Is known to those                                          tantsche Kerken,  noch die van Kerk en Staat. Hij  wil
                        Who bow at Jesus' cross.                               zelfs niet,  dat alle `Protestanten  samen  de universeele
                                                      -13.   McD.              Calvinistische  cultuurtaak  behartigen. De confessioneele
                                                                               Lutherschen, de oude Remonstranten, de orthodoxe Bap-
                                                                               &ten, de  Apostolischen  en de zoogenaamde Darbisten
       God neemt niet op dan de verlatenen; maakt niet sluit hij buiten. Waarom, zegt hij niet. Maar zeker is,
 gezond, dan de kranken ; maakt niet ziende, dan de blin-                      dat hij eene specifiek  Gereformeerde behartiging wil van
 den  ;  maakt niet levende,  dan de dooden  ;  maakt niet                     eene zeer definitieve Calvinistische cultuurtaak.                            Doch
 vroom, dan de zondaars; maakt niet  wijs,  dan de  on-                        daarmede is dan oak gezegd, dat Hepp iets anders doet
 wijzen.                                                                       dan eenvoudig de lijn  doortrekken,  "welke Calvijn reeds


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  XK                                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEiRE<
  _- _.__...."  ..- -^ ..-            - ._...__ "-._-                --_                                                                    - -

  zij  afgeweke6,   te zamen zijn zij  onnut-`geworden; er  is                                            PREDESTINATION
  niemand die goed do&,  er is ook nict tot d&n toe. Daarom
  beschufdigt  Paulus  beide  Joden  en Gricken, dat zij  allen                                              Augustinian
  onder  de zonde zijn. En uit de werkcn der wet" zal geen
  vleesch gerechtvaardigd  worden   voor God. Rcchtvaar-                           1 We are justified in stating that there is such a thing
  digheid  <roar  God is voortaan slechts  mogciijk door het                      in the history of Christian doctrine as  Augustin'ian  pre-
  geloof in Jezus Christus. En er is gecn  onderscheid.   Cl)ok                   destination. Jus as well as the view of Pelagius on pre-
                                                                                                     t
  is er geen  verontschuldiging.  Want  allen  hebben  Got15                      destination found some followers in the Christian Church,
  wet,  we1 niet in geschreven vorm, maar to& in het hart.                        SO  also Augustine's view of predestination found a  s&i-
  En door de wet is de kennis der zonde. Oak de heidenen                          cient number of folIowers  to justify our calling that view  :
  weten  dus, dat  zij zondigen. Dat blijkt dan trouwens                          Augustinian  Predestination. For a time, at least, the
  ook uit hunne handelwijze. Zij zijn zichzelven eene wet.                        view of Augustine found sufficient followers to have the
  Zij oordeelen over hunne eigene en elkanders  daden,  in                        view of the Pelagians condemned.
  het  licht van hunne kennis van Gods zedewet.  Natuur-                             This condemnation of the Peligian view of predes-
  Iijk is hun oordeel  nict volmaakt, gelijk ook hunne kennis                     tination  his been attributed largely to the genius of
  van Gods wet niet volkomen  is. Het is  tlerhalve   noodig,                     Augustine. Without doubt, Augustine was the wizard
  dat ook hun de voile openbaring Gods verkondigd worde.                          of the Nicene  gge.       As a man, he was greatly gifted,
  Zij  moeten  den weg der zaligheid weten.                    Want  we1  vcr-    having profound thinking capacity, although we must
  raadt  hun formeel  handelen  naar de  idee eener  goddelijkc                   not make the mistake which some have made by charging
  wet hun afkomst en aanleg en hunne kennis vin  allerlei                         Augustine's views of Sin, Grace and Predestination to
  van God gewilde verhoudingcn en relaties, waarin zij                            nothing else than his philosophical bent of mind. w e
  bewust en  willens  in betrekking tot elkander optreden :                       can immediately state that the works of Augustine arc
  maar  zulks rechtvaardigt niet voor  God.   doch  beneemt                       sufficiently  based on Scripture to warrant very many of
  hun juist  nlle  verontschuld'iging,  zooals onze Belijdenis                    the conclusions to which Augustine arrived. Many of
  staande houdt.  Wat rechtvaardigt  voor God is de vol-                          the tenets of St. Augustine's theology rest four-square
. maakte betrachting van den eisch van Gods wet, om Gods                          on the Bible, and they are not mere children of  hugus-
  wil, en in  elkc relatie en bctrekking.                    En dat doet de       tine's keen and  scrfitinizing  mind. No, Augustine was
  mensch van nature niet; hij  overtre$dt  alle Gods  gebo-                       not first of all a philosopher and in that sense a rational-
  den met gedachten, woorden cn  we&en. Hij is  gansche-                          ist. Augustine was a theologian of the first. degree, and
  lijk onbekwaam tot eenig goed ,en geneigd tot alle kwaad.                       a marvel in his age. and day. Undoubtedly, his strict
  Hij moet door  (2~c-l~  Geest  wcdcrgeborcn  worden.   Zonder                   adherence to Scripture and the facility to marshal
  dat blijft  zijnc liefde  zclfzucht,  en  haat jegcns God cn                    Scriptural facts against the views of (Pelagians  procured
  zijn  medcmcnsch  en medecreatuur.  I                                           the condemnation of Pelagian tenets at the Synod of
       Dat lcert ons Paulus in den brief aan dc Romeinen.                         A f r i c a   i n   4 1 8 .
        En die leer is Gereformeerd.                                                 Another fact that made  -4ugustine  strong was the
                                                                    H. D.         fact of the experience of grace in his life.  Xugustinc
                                                                                  had passed through experiences of sin and grace which
                                                                                  made him eminently fit to describe the heinousness of
                                                                                  transgressions, but also the unfathomable richness of
                                  W I N D F A L L S                               God's grace. Because of this there was always a spiritual
                                                                                  appeal in the Writings  pf Augustine which drew the pious
        "When the tree is shaken the rotten apples fall."-                        souls of his day to think as he did.
  Thomas  Manton.                                                                    But we do not intend to eulogize Augustine at this
  When religion is at a discount, and godliness is                                time. Sooner than that we, are inclined to point out
  derided then  Xypocrites and unsound professors desert                          various weaknesses and mistakes of Augustine. It can-
  the cause. It is astonishing what a little shake will get                       not be said that Augustine's theology was orthodox and
  rid of the common place members  of our  &m-&es.                                Scriptural in every particular. Nor was  .4ugustine  un-
        Let but a minister die, or remove, or a couple of lead-                   blamable in the prosecution of his opponents:` It is a
  ing men, fall out-off they go;                         A warm south wind,       commonplace  that.`Augustine's  view of the sacraments
  blowing from the cathedral, or the manor house, or the                          was wrong. i1nd connected with this, his view of the
  public house, and dropping a gentle shower of gifts, will                       Church of God, neither is to be accepted without change.
  cause many  rottenlhelievers  to fall into the lap of  brib-                    Nor is his approach to various topics of Scripture always
  ery. Sound believers, who are full of life, and untouched                       the proper one. A true Christian is interested not only
  by the worm of insincerity, hold to the church of God in                        in sound doctrine, but also in the  manner  or method in
  all weathers. May more of these be produced every year                          which one arrives at sound doctrine. This point will
  to God's glory !                                                                receive more detailed treatment a little later in this paper.
                              C. H. Spurgeon, Illustrations and Medi-             And the way in which Augustine and his followers prose-
                         tations, 1883.                                           cuted the `Pelagians is not to be approved.  T-et me show


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                              207
_.__......  ____l_-  ^ .-.--...- "__11_1            .-.__                         ." ..." -_........  ". .._--_ll  .._  -___-   .  .._  - - --.-___-
you a few unpleasant activities of Augustine. "It is sad        productive of much disaster in the history of Christian-  i
to see, for instance, in the case of a man so thoroughly        ity.
spiritual as St. Augustine was, how easily he fell into                 "Like his great  ~:lisci~~ in a later age-Luther-
this human infirmity, how quickly he became intolerant          Augustine was prone to emphasize the side of truth
wheri the secular a;m was ranged on the side of his own         which he had most realized in his own experience."
opinions. The Church, in his own boyhood, during the                    None,  however, in speaking of Augustine,  .can deny
days of Julian, had to strive against the intolerance of        the greatness of his soul, his enthusiasm, his unceasing
the pagans ; the orthodox, who upheld the Catholic view         search after truth, his  afiectionateness,  his  ardour. and
of the naturk  of the Godhead and the scriptural doctrine       his self-devotion. "And  even those who may doubt the
of the Holy Trinity, had to struggle against  tlie intoler-     soundness or value ,of some of his dogmatic conclusions,
ance of the Arians. Yet, as soon as power was placed in         cannot hesitate to acknowledge the depth of his spiritual
St. Augustine's own hand he thought it right to exercise        convictions, and the strength, solidity, and penetration
compulsion against those who differed from him.                 with which he handled the most difficult questions, and
    "Inheriting from his father a vehement and sensual          wrought all the elements of hii espericnce and of his pro-
disposition, he early gave way to the unbridled impulses        found Scripture knowledge into a great system of truth."
of passion, and while still a mere youth, he formed a con-              Anyone that has read the Confessions of St. Augus-
nection, common. enough at the time, but at variance with       tine cannot fail to have been attracted by his piety, his
the principles of Christian morality. As the result of this     deep sense of dependence upon  God, and the timidity
conne:tion  he became the father of a son, whom he              and humility of his heart when hc spoke to his God. In
named Adodatus, in  a lit of pious emotion.                     the  very beginning of his Confessions, he writes beau-
. "While a student at Carthage he was particularly              tifully : "How shall I call on my God,,on my God and
attracted by the theatre, the spectacles at which were of       Lord? Into myself must I call Him, if I call on him;
unusual magnificence. To his enthusiastic and sensuous          and what place is there in men, where my God may enter
spirit they were irresistible, and the extent  to which he      into me, the God who created heaven and earth? 0 Lord
seems to have yielded to the fascination is sufficient proof    my God, is there anything in me, that contains Thee?
of his active alienation from Christianity at this period.      Do heaven and earth contain Thee, which thou hast
The idolatrous rites, the lascivious attitudes, the gladia-     created, in which Thou didst create me? Or does all
torial shows, which were its inseparable accompani-             that is, contain Thee, because without Thee there had
ments, were equally opposed to the) dogmatic monothe-           existed nothing that is? Because then I also am, do I
ism, to the piety and to the mercy'of the gospel.               supplicate Thee, that Thou. wouldst come into me, I,                                           ,
                                                                who had not in any- wise been, if Thou wert not in me?
     "He engaged restlessly in philosophical  studie.s,  and    I yet live, I do not yet sink into the lower world, and yet
passed from one phase of thought to another, unable             Thou art there. If I made my bed in hell, behold, Thou
to find satisfaction in any. Manichacism first enthralled       art there. I  we+e not, then, 0 my God, I utterly were
him. Its doctrine of two principles, one of good and one        not, if Thou were not in  rqc.  Yea,  still more, I were  '
of evil, seemed to answer to the wild confusion of his          not,  0 my God, if I were not in Thee, from whom all,
heart, and the conflict of higher and lower principles          in whom all, through whom all is."                        It need not sur-
which raged within him. It seemed to solve the mys-             prise us, therefore, if we find that the undercurrent of
teries which perplexed him in his own experience and in         the sentiment which is thus-expressed, in such a person
the world.                                                      and highly gifted man tis Augustine was, carried Augus-
     "-4fter  his conversion, which is supposed to have         tine onward to fully develop all his views in opposition
occurred in the summer of 386, (he) gave up his pro-            to shallow and superficial Pelagian heresies.
fession as a teacher of rhetoric, and retired to a friend's             Especially the Peiagian view of predestination, Augus-
house- in the country, in order to prepare himself for          tine prosecuted to the very limit. "It has for a long
baptism. His religious opinions were still to some ex-          time been a matter of debate whether the Pelagian view
tent unformed, and even his habit-s by no means alto-           arose out of the Augustinian or the Augustinian view
gether such as his great change `demanded. He men-              out of the Pelagian."              Mozley:  Predestination, p. 46,
tions, for example, that during this time he broke him- thinks that the Pelagian view arose out of the  August-
self off a habit of profane swearing, and in other ways         inian  view, and states that opposition to such doctrines
sought to discipline his character and conduct for the          as those of Augustine had no small share in leading
reception of (baptism) ."                                       Pelagius to form his peculiar views. Harnack, however,
     In his writings against the Donatists "while vigor-        Hist. of Dogma, Eng. Trans.  V. 169, declares that "both                                . .
ously maintaining the validity of the Catholic Church as        systems arose independently of each other  frcm the in-
it then stood in the Roman world, and the necessity for         ternal conditions of the Church. This `latter view is
 moderation in the exercise of church discipline, Augus-        undoubtedly the correct one. However, these divergent
tine yet gave currency, in his zeal against the Donatists,      views did not grow up absolutely independent of each
to certain maxims as to the duty of the civil power to          other in every respect.               The Pelagian Julian forced
control schism, which were of evil omen, and have been          :\ugustine to work out his  views  to their very limit.


 208                                              T H E   STAND'ARD   B E A R E R
 -I__.              ___ .._.._ I__I  _I _...............  -                                 "._-___-  .._.. ".-.- ..-. "..-..- ..- -" -..-
 There can be little doubt that Augustine's views became          in  nowise cast out." John VI  137. And Augustine him-
 clearer and more precise owing to the opposition which           self was led as a child of God to see his sin and misery,
 he had to face. So, likewise, the Pelagian view was more         then the Redeemer was shown unto him as a ransom
 fully worked out and brought into bolder and sharper             for his sin, and finally, the Spirit led-him to see that in
 relief by the opposition which Pelagius and his followers        all his experiences nothing else than the electing will
 had to face.  * In fact, Augustine's view of predestination      of the Father had been performed. So too, the Christian
 called forth a controversy in the Christian Church which         Church was more or less led, even though the Christian
 lasted for more than a century, and  the controversy was         Church later on repudiated the absolute doctrine of pre-
 carried on long after Pelagius and  ;4ugustine  had de-          destination which was formulated by Augustine. We
 parted from this life.                                           have seen in a previous article that some of the early
    An appeal to the early Church Fathers in order to             Church Fathers looked for some such basis for the oper-
 find an answer to this question does not help us much,           ation of God's Spirit, Grace and Word, and when the
 since Pelagius can find statements in the writings in the        intellectual Augustine gave his answer, the prayers for
 ,early  fathers favoring his view, and Augustine appealed        light of some previous Church Fathers on this point had
 to the views of grace which some early Church Fathers            received an answer.
 cherished as supporting his own view of predestination.           I But even though the Christian Church, in a general
 The situation was not unlike the one of today. `Such             sense, was thus led by the Holy Spirit into the truth of
 views of Supralapsarianism and  Infralapsarianism  have          predestination, that does not mean that our systems
 been contending with each other for the past century,            of theology must look like the picture of the Church's
 and yet we find no definite reception of the  one? nor a         experience. Irrespective of the thanks and gratitude of
 definite rejection of the, other. I  I'f now, two men, should    many in the Church for this man Augustine, one thing
 arise, one holding to the one view and the other to the          which will never be allowed in the Christian Church,
 other, we could expect that the one would try to outdo           and that is to make the doctrine of predestination an
 the other in proving his  own  view correct and the other        auxiliary doctrine, necessary for the sake of upholding
 man's wrong. Both would try to find a  hi?torical  foun-         a previously outlined view of the workings of God's
 dation for his view in the writings of the fathers. And          grace. We arc thankful-that the Holy Spirit led Augus-                      "
 though, in this case, the Infra- man would find more             tine to see the  *doctrine  of predestination in Scripture,
 in history favoring his view,  nevertheIess  the  Supralap-      and also for the fact that Augustine felt the need of this
 sarian  would also  find an, abundance of evidence for his       doctrine of predesti tion in order to maintain his views
 views. And in the case of the controversy concerning on God's Grace. irut we do not favor that theology
 Predestination, the situation was that no one in previous        should be constituted into a system on the plan of Sin,
 history had seriously paid any attention to the  Biblc"s         Grace, Predestination. It has ever been a source of re-
 teachings on that point. It is true, the early Church            gret to me that the decree of predestination in  our Re-
 was prone  to. co-ordinate the theory of the free-will of formed Dogmatics is separated from the way of our ladder
man to the doctrine of the workings of God's Grace,               of salvation which is treated in the loci: Soteriology,
 while they should have subordinated Free-will to Grace,          whereas the -decree of predestination is treated in the
 Pelagius proceeded from the wrong conception of Free-            loci  : Theology.    I would favor making the decree of
 will and Augustine made an advance upon the current              predestination just as much a part of the ladder of sal-
 doctrine of Grace, almost from the start of his ecclesias-       vation as calling and regeneration, for after all, predes-
 tical career.                                                    tination is not a decree separate from God, but the de-
    It is wise, in this connection, to remember that Augus-       creeing God himself, with whom one day is- as a thou-
 tine did not start his ecclesiastical career with a well         sand years and a thousand years as one day, especially.
 outlined and formulated conception of what later became          since calling and regeneration are just as much the work _
 his view  of Predestination. In Augustine's system the           of God as the decree of predestination.
 doctrine of predestination is not the starting point, but           For Augustine, the decree of predestination was in
 the consummation. Augustine first labored for years in           very close connection with his views of sin and grace.
 working out his views on Sin and Grace, before he ever           "It (Augustine's view of predestination) is a deduction
 thought of formulating his view of predestination. Pre-          from his views of sin and grace. It is, therefore, more
 destination was to him more a conclusion than a begin-           practical than speculative." It is thus necessary to have
 ning. Augustine formulated his theological system more           a brief review of Augustine's view of Sin and Grace.
 or less in the manner in which a child of God is led into           Augustine held that "owing to the original unity of
 the truth from an experimental point of view. A child            the human race we  al1 participated in Adam's sin, be-
 of God is led into the knowledge of sin and misery, then         cause Adam at the moment of the Fall included in him-
 into the knowledge of redemption, then the Holy Spirit           self entire humanity." Man is necessarily sinful through
 points to the basis of this spiritual guidance of the child      heredity and Augustine did not hesitate to attach guilt
 of God. And then the child of God sees the truth of the          to birth-sin. All men' are guilty before God from their
 words of Christ: "All that the Father hath given Me, birth on and deserve God's utmost wrath and eternal
 shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto Me, I shall          punishment, even before actual, conscious sin.  Man-


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       kind was to him  a mass, of damnation and perdition.                                  this another element is added, n.l., that this soul also
       Death in all its forms is one of the consequences of the                              is led by prevenient Grace to the promise of the Gospel.
       Fall. Its introduction into  the  world by' Adam is a                                 where forgiveness of sin is promised to those burdened
       doctrine on which Augustine lays the greatest stress.                                 with their sin, and the soul is thus led tq Christ who has
       Adam would never have died if he had not sinned and                                   merited this forgiveness of sins. Prevenient Grace thus  -
       because of mankind's connection to Adam, all men are                                  works the  initium   salutti,  the beginning of salvation.
       by their Fall in Adam subjected" to the same righteous                                Without it no man can rise and turn himself towards God.
       wrath of  God unto which Adam was subject because of                                  It works the conversion of the sinner and injects the
       his transgression. By sin Adam and all men after him                                  beginnings of faith in the natural man who is brought
     . have deprived themselves of the presence of God and  qf                               to accept the redeeming work of Christ without question.
       the grace that supported him in his sinless state. This                                   After prevenient Grace has worked the gratia operans,
       is spiritual death, for the soul without God is dead. This operating Grace enters to do work. This operating
       state of moral death, handed on by Adam to his descend:                               Grace does not work until after the calling of the natural
1      ants accounts for the wretchedness and misery, and for                                man by prevenient grace. The operating grace produces
       their inability to do right. The full measure of  punish-                             the will to do right. It reveals itself in a changed state
       ment'for  sin is given in eternal death, which consists of                            of heart and will, evil desires are laid aside and there is
       eternal subjection to the fiercest wrath of God in hell.                              hunger and thirst  after. righteousness. God is looked
       Birth-sin or original sin is quite sufficient for damnation.                          upon as the highest good and there is a craving for abil-
       All  men, irrespective of whether they have actual sins                               ity to do what is good in God's sight. This operating
       or not, deserve eternal punishment because of their par-                              Grace thus brings to the realization of justification` by
       ticipation in Adam's sin and because of the solidarity OF faith, which is an act which takes place once for all at
       the human race. "Hence Augustine taught that infants                                  the opening chapter of the new life. This justification
       dying without baptism, the only means provided for the                                includes not only, the outward declaration of forgiveness
       washing away of birth-sin, fall under the same  condemna-                             but also an inward  pm&cation through the power of
       tion, and since they possess  Originai  Sin must, of neces-                           faith.
       sity, be lost."                                                                           Ifl the third place,  gratia  co-operan.s,   co-0,peratin.g
          The above means to be nothing more than a brief                                    Grace enters which supports the will in its efforts and
       representation of Augustine's view of sin. There is far                               struggles and enables it to perform its desire.                                         Rem-
       more connected to his view. Some points of value and                                  nants of the old man in this life always remain in the
       interest attach to his view which are not mentioned at  - regenerate soul and a life long conflict exists between
       this time. Some  .criticism also may be rendered upon                                 the old man and the new man. Co-operative Grace  as-
       Augustine's view, but we cannot do so now. Sufficient                                 sists the regenerated man to carry into effect the good
       for our purpose at the present is to know that Augustine                              works which his Lord enjoins on  hini, This  co-operat-
       sees the whole of humanity the object of God's eternal                                ing Grace works by means of the various channels  sup-
       wrath because of Adam's fall into sin, without the single                             plied by the Church of Christ.
       exception of a single individual.                                                         Lastly, in the fourth place, there is the most important
          To  -Augustine  the Grace of God redeemed from all                                 form of Grace,  graha   persevmuntia,  persevering grace,
       the results and effects of Sin. "Mankind  has  revolted                               without which all that precedes is useless. By this grace
       from God and has not in itself one spark of the Divine + a man becomes so completely regenerated that he clings
       life. It lies prostrate, hopeless and helpless. It can  do                            to the faith, fights the  good fight of faith unto the end,
       nothing of itself to help itself. Here Grace steps in and                             the danger of falling away is completely gone, has passed
       manifests itself to rescue, save and redeem fallen man                                away definitely. By this grace the child of  God attains
       and to bring him back to God." It is the work of the                                  to full and complete salvation.
       h/lediator  who by His one sacrifice has appeased the                                     Augustine believed that these four aspects of Grace
       anger of God against Sin and by which the barrier  be-                                 are the free and gratuitous gift of God, without any
       tween man and God is removed and the dominion of the                                   merit on the part of man. They are  given "not because
       Devil broken, enabling the Grace of God to work and                                   a man believes but. in order that he may believe." `With-
       save from eternal death those who are brought under                                    out Grace there is no merit in man whatsoever. But
       its influence.                                                                        when Grace is given, it creates merit, just as it creates
          Augustine conceived of this Grace of God as an irre-                               the will to do right.
       sistible force, against which no individual can  &hieve                                   This doctrine concerning Grace involved Augustine's
       anything. But Augustine looked upon this irresistible                                 doctrine of predestination. All men do not attain full and
       Grace from four different points of view. First there is free salvation. Only some men achieve it. Others are
       what  he called  :gratia   praeveniens,.  which gives the first                        a prey of eternal death. Some men are given up to sin
       motion toward goodness. This prevenient Grace sup- and to the  penalty of sin. Such are manifestly  repro-
       plies the calling  (vocatio)  whereby man is  @awn from bate. They are not taught by the Father, nor do  they
       his sinful condition and by  .use of. the law of God the                               come to Jesus, neither do they follow Him,                                         Others,
       sense of guilt and misery because  of sin is produced. To  however, do come to Jesus, deny  thembelves",  take up

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     their cross and follow Him. The number that do  SO  is                               venient,  operating and co-operating grace are rejected
     determined and fixed by the .unconditional  decree of God                            by all Reformed people.
     (decretum   absolutum).          The number can be neither in-                          However, Augustine's conception of predestination
     creased nor diminished. Some of them for a time  may                                 seems to preclude such a conception of grace. It is ad-
     fall from the right parh8 but they are recalled to it. They                          mitted by many that Augustine, in his views of predes-
     cannot  .perish. "if it bc asked why, since He is almighty,                          tination, sin and grace, went far beyond the  earlier
     `Fle does not save all, it must be replied that,  since  all                         tlivin&,  for he taught an unconditional election of grace
     are not saved, clearly  Ze does not will the salvation of                            and "restricted the purpose of redemption to a  definite
     all." And the text in I Tim.  29 is no argument against                              circle of the elect, who constitute the minority of the
     this idea, for, according to Augustine, the word  `Lall" in                          race."    Predestination is related to his conception of
     that text does not refer to all men individually, `but                               grace as "cause to effect, as preparation to execution."
     refers to all classes and conditions of men.. "This is                               It is the ultimate,,unfathomable ground of salvation.  A
     proved (according to Augustine} by the fact that many                                man that receives God's grace is elect and the idea that
     children" die without Grace being given to them and                             an elect man may live a godless life is definitely pre-
     without baptism, though they have never willingly re-                                cluded.  He has  triken pains to assert  th,at to "election
     jected the gift."                                                               necessarily  befongs  the gift of perseverance, the  donunt
         Augustine often uses the expression,  certur  numepus                       perseuerantiae,  which is attested by a happy death." "The
     electomm, the fixed number. of the elect. These are sup-                        clcct. must be saved by the successive steps of vocation,
     plied with all gifts necessary for bringing them to Christ                      justification and glorification, as certainly as God  is
     and salvation. In them Grace works with' an irresistible                        ctlmighty   and His promises Yea and Amen."
     force. "The reason why they are thus chosen, called,                                    And yet we read such expressions as the following
     sanctified and saved is inscrutable and rests in the secret                     in  orie of his works: "Those who fall away,  even  though
     counsel of God. l3-y giving to some that which they do                          they have been baptized and regenerated, show thereby,
     not deserve, God has willed that His Grace shall be truly                       that they never belonged to the number of the elect."
     gratuitous and therefore real. By not giving to all, He                         Undoubtedly,  he-,as?rides  to his term regeneration an
     shows what they deserve. Good He is in benefit&g a                              entirely different significance than we have been accus-
     certain number and just in punishing the rest."                                 tomed to. -4nd  bapt&m can only mean the rite of, bap-
        A few remarks must be made at this point which may                           tism for him in the case of those who fall away. For our
     serve to ward off certain erroneous conceptions which we                        mind, it is impossible that any man should be truly  re-
     should not hold.          We would warn all readers  `not to                    generate and still fall away. However, we, in the  1nai.n.
*    adopt all the statements of Augustine relating to the                           c-an agree with Augustine's view  of predestination,
     imputation of sin and guilt.             Fundamentally, we  agree                       Concerning Augustine's view of predestination. P.
     with Augustine that all  men. have fallen in Adam and                           Schaff  writes : "If we may anticipate a much later term-
     that all men sinned in him as in their  Covenant-T3ead:                         inology, it moves within the limits of  infralapsarianism,
     But the manner in which Augustine conceives of the                              hut philosophically is less consistent than supralapsarian-
     relation whereby all men are rendered  damnable  seems                          ism. While the  infralapsarian  theory, starting with the
     to  us  to be  somewhat  overstated. Secondly, it is not                        consciousness of sin,  excIudes  the fall-the most momen-
     true that a child be&use it dies without baptism, that it,                      tous event, except redemption, in the history of the world
     for that reason, belongs to the non-elect or the repro- --.-from  the divine purpose, and places it under the cate-
     bate. This seems to be implied in some of the statements                        gory of divine permission, making it dependent on the
     which  -4ugustine  makes.             His view of baptism was                   free will of the first man; the supralapsarian theory,
     decidedly not the Reformed view. It fits in better with                         ?;tarting  with the conception of the absolute sovereignty
     the theology of the Roman Catholics. Thirdly, once and                          tsf God, includes the fall of Adam in the eternal and un-
     again it has appeared to us that Augustine allows even                          changeable plan of God, though, of course, not as an end.
     reprobates to receive the Grace of God, with the excep-                         or for its own sake (which would  be blasphemy), but as
     tion of the last kind or the persevering Grace. This, if                        a temporary means to an opposite end, or as the negative
     this was Augustine's conception, is a decidedly wrong condition of a revelation of the divine justice in the repro-
     view. The prevenient, operating and co-operating Grace                          bate, and of divine grace in the elect. Augustine, there-
     of Augustine have no value for us whatsoever, if they                           fore, strictIy speaking, knows nothing of a double decree
     are not limited to the elect people of God."  Sometimest                        of election and reprobation, but recognizes simply a de-
     it seems that Augustine wishes to limit these graces to                         cree of election to salvation ; though logical instinct does
     the believers,  who also receive the persevering Grace of                       sometimes carry him to the verge of supralapsarianism."
     God. And then the reprobates living under the dispen- `*It was a noble inconsistency, (I underscore, B.  J.  D.),
     sation of the Gospel are allowed privileges ok the Gospel                       which kept Augustine from the more stringent and spec-
     but receive no Grace at all, while at other times, it                           ulative system of supralapsarianism ; his deep moral con-
     seems as if Augustine wished to teach that all but per-                         victions revolted against making any allowance for sin
     severing grace can be given to elect and reprobates alike.                      by tracing its origin to the divine will ; and by his peculiar
     If this is Augustine's view, then even his  v&v of  prc-                        view of the inseparable connection  betwe'en  Adam and


                                              T H E   STAND?LRD   B E A R E R                                                                       211
                      -l-_._"-.-_..____-^-       .-...--...-...--.  --._- _..-..---                II _-.-.. ^ ..-... ^- ..-.--- __II___. ..-..^
the race, he could make every man as it were individually                 hij was zulk ecn warm voorstandcr! En thans?  KU  zct
responsible for the fall of Adam."'                                       hij al leden  onder censuur, omdat zc ook voorstanders gc-
   Schaff, however, also admits that in Augustine's  SYS-                 worden  zijn!  Is het niet erg? Maar zoo gaat het van
tern there is also a point "where prescience (voorkennis)                 kwaad tot erger, als men eenmaal het rechte pad verlaat.
is independent of predestination, and where, human free-                       Ook heb ik  ten bezoek gebracht  aan mijn vroegeren
dom, as it were, is interposed. Here lies the philosophical               vriend,  Jan Karel Van  Baalen,   d. w. z., natuurlijk  aan
weakness-of the infralapsarian system, as compared                        zijn gemeente  daar.'   Ik was daar verzocht te spreken.
with the supralapsarian. The predetermination has refer-                  En ge kunt begrijpen, dat ik dat gaarne  aannam.  Ook
ence only to good, not to evil."                                          daar werkte men op allerlei wijze tegen. Eerst  hadden
   Concerning these points we will try to shed more                       de menschen de Town Hall gekregen voor  de,  gelegen-
light in the next issue. Let us, in the meantime, not pay                 heid, later werd hun die om des lieven vredes wil weer
too much faith to Schaff.                                                 `opgezegd.  Toen kregen ze dan een groot  lokaal in een
                        (To be continued)                                 naburig dorpje. Ook dat. trachtte men hun weer te  ont-
                                                      B.  J. D.           nemen, doch  dit gelukte niet. En wat was ik verwonderd,
                                                                          amice,   toen ik dien avond de zaal binnenkwam ! Een
          AAN MIJN VRIEND IN HET  WESTEN                                  groote  schare was bijeen  gekomen  en toonde zeer veel
                                 Grand Rapids, 1 April 1926.              belangstelling in de zaak des Heeren. Zoo maakt de
                                                                          Heere alles  wel.'  Overal  beginnen de menschen te zien,
          Amice f raterclue !                                             dat  de zaak met de kerk niet deugt en dat de waarheid
   Je brief heb ik ontvangen, maar hij kwam juist even                    door de Synode van 1924  we1 degelijk is verkracht. En
te last om aan den laatsten Bearer een antwoord cr op te                  den  tegenstand  der vijanden keert de Heere ten goede.
kunnen  meego\-cn.        Xk cerblijd mij, dat je zulke goecle                 Van `t een op  `t ander, je ben zeker  we1 een beetje
berichten uit het  Westen  kunt sturen en dat jullie  je &bekend met de zaak Geelkerken, niet waar ? Ik wil daar-
daar mag  verheugen  in den zegen des Heeren op  kerke-                   over nu juist niet schrijven. Maar ik werd tech nog eens
lijk gebied. Onk hier gaat alles boven verwachting.  Ik                   weer herinnerd  aan de Synode van Kalamazoo,  toen  ik
denk, dat de gcmeente van Ds. Danhof in Kalamazoo                         las, hoe men op de Synode van Assen Dr. Geelkerken
binnen enkele dagen haar nieuw kerkgebouw in gebruik                      had behandeld. Ik bedoel dit vooral uit het oogpunt van
zal nemen. En  onze  nieuwe basement is reeds klaar en cultuur  en goede manieren. En ik clacht zoo: wat waren
we hebben er reeds een Zondag als gemeente in  verga-                     hd op die Synode van Kalamazoo  tech ook nog groote
tlerd.     De Heere heeft alles  we1 gemaakt. Gedurende                   Iomperds.    0, die  Gemeene-Gratie  heeren kunnen  *zoo
den tijd, dat we  op  een vreemde plaats  onzc diensten                   bogen  op hun cultuur en kunnen  soms zoo met  verach-
moesten  houden, heeft Hij ons verzorgd..               O o k   toen tingneerzicn  011 dat  a;me volkje,' dat eigenlijk van geen
kwam de gemeente getrouw  op, beide in Kalamazoo en                       bcschaafde manieren weet. Maar zelf leggen  zc, als het
oak bij ons.       Men zegt, dat de vijanden hier in Grand                er maar op aankomt, hun grove onkunde aan den dag in
Rapids er op gerekend hadden,  dat ze een groot deel van                  betrekking tot fijne vormen en goede manieren. Wat
de Eastern Ave. gemeente terug zouden%zien  keeren, zoo-                   deed men in Assen? De Synode verzocht Dr.  Geelker-
dra we de gebouwen maar eerst eens moesten  missen.                        ken vriendelijk  voor  haar vergadering  te verschijnen.
Nu, dat is dan we1 een groote teleurstelling voor hen ge-                  Een commissie werd benoemd en diende  als delegatie
weest. Maar och, amice, als de Heere  werkt, wie zal het                   der Synode, om Dr. Geelkerken bij `t station op te wach-
dan keeren, he?                                                           ten en te verwelkomen. Er was gezorgd voor een goede
    ZOO denk ik nog we1 eens in den laatsten tijd.           Enkele plaats  om te logeeren. En men gaf hem  alle  mogelijke
weken   geleden  heb ik in Hudsonville gesproken. Op                       kans om  zich te verantwoorden. Vergelijk daarbij nu
allerlei  wijze werkte men  daar.ons  tegen, zoodat ze het eens wat men op de Synode van Kalamazoo deed. Men
schier  onmogelijk-  maakten om een plaats te  krijgen,                    handelde over mij, maar  verzocht mij nooit, om te komen.
waar we konden  vergaderen.              Doch de Heere zorgde Toen ik desniettegenstaande tech ging en men mij op he
tech, dat we een  plaats  kregen in weerwil van al den                     Synode zag, stoorde men  zich ganschelijk niet  aan mij,
tegenstand van den vijand en we hadden  een zeer flinke                    maar liet mij  achter in de kerk zitten. Wat de Synode
opkomst. Ik verwacht,  dat er in Hudsonville  we1  spoe-                   betrof had  ik in Kalamazoo kunnen verhongeren en op
dig een gemeente tot stand zal komen. 1:)s. `Krohne en straat kunnen  slapen.  Nooit vroeg men mij of ik  mis-
zijn kerkeraad hebben een zestal huisgezinnen onder be-                    schien ook eens mee  Wilde  middagmalen.                           Nooit bood
handeling genomen  en de stille censure op hen toegepast,                  men mij het woord in mijn eigen zaak. Nooit deed men
naar ik hoor. Wat kan een mensch al veranderen, amice!                     mij een enkele vraag. Nooit stuurde men mij zelfs  be-
Eer men ons uit de :kerk  zette was Ds. Krohne een sterke                  richt  aangaande het besluit, dat men over mij genomen
voorstander.  Toen de Standard Bearer eerst uitkwam had. Is `t  nier uiterst lomp,  amice?  Dat zijn nu  profes-
moest  hij zelfs een vijftig exemplaren mee hebben, om ze                  soren en leiders des  voIks! En sommige van die heeren
te verspreiden in zijn gemeente.  Toen onze  zaak   aan-                   schamen  zich niet hun blad te betitelen met den naam
hangig was bij de classis telefoneerde hij dikwijls vanuit                 van "Religion and Culture." Geef het hun nu nog toe,
Hudsonville, om  tech te  weten  hoe de  zaak   -stand.  0, dat ze niet meer Religion hebben, moesten ze  tech niet


  3    1     1                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                           .b
  -^_ll"llll_^ .II_ _  ,--_.--..   "..--  -.--  ".-...-I__ __- ..11-.- ^"." -_,. -- _.._ "-" _..... II_ __-_..._  lll_ . ..- .-- ___--._".."  -_-._ -...,-,_-

  hier  te  landc  zouden  vertegenwoordigcn,  "cm  naurvkeu-                         POLYGAMY IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES
  rig kennis te nemen van wat de Synode van lY24 omtrent
  het Ieergeschil inzake Algemeene Genade had besloten en                             l?olygamy  is a very interesting study if it is studied
  van hetgeen de STANDARD BEARER in  deze  materie                               in the light of the Old  Testamenr.  Although the Old
  dnarvan ter overdenking aanbood."                                              Testament is not an abundant storehouse of material, it
       ,Nadere  bestudeering dezer zaken, achtte Dr.  Keizer                     contains, nevertheless, many remarkable passages neces-
  "van  geen   gering'   belang   te  zijn," enz.                                sary for the correct  appreciatihn  of our subject.                      How-
       `Verwacht mag  worden  dat  aan dezen  goeden  raad                       ever, there are certain limitations, and it is impossible
  gehoor is gegeven, en de Nederlandsche gedelegeerde                            to study polygamy as current in old testament times
  aan de Synode te Englewood degelijk  advies verschaft,                         without in some measure touching upon the sociological
  gevraagd of ongevraagd, maar dat op recht en waarheid                          background, which to some extent accounts for the prac-
  is gegrond.                                                                    tice of polygamy among the Hebrews. A contrast of
       Gemakkelijl; zal dat ook Prof. `Dr.  Greydanus  niet                      social conditions cannot be left untouched, and conditions
  vallen.                                                                        existing among some of the neighboring peoples with
       `Heel het Gereformeerde  Nederland dreigt in het Neo-                     whom the Hebrews came in contact, are necessary for
  Calvinistische drijfzand van Kuyper's Gemeene  Gratie-                         the correct appreciation of the subject in hand, but as
  leer weg te zinken, en ziet geen gevaar.                                       all ethical topics should have thi: Scriptures as their form
       Maar God is  rnachtig om ook daar het  licht   wedq                       and standard of judgment, so also we will take  cog-
  uit de nevelen van ongoddelijke filosofie te  doen   ver-                      nizarice  of that fact.         Moreover, we must also briefly
  rijzen.                                                                        state that polygamy touches upon the formation of fam-
       En na terugkeer tot de oude, goede  paden  van het ,ilies and its manifold relations, and many laws of the oId
  LVonrd des Heeren,  nieuw  leven  te schenken en  rechte                       Testament regulate the formation of family life.  - The
  ontwikkeling in de wegen des Verbonds van den  Drie-                           Old Testament will not be our only source for necessary
  eenigen, tot de komst Zijns Rijks in  glorie.                                  information, but it is our final court of appeal in  tleter-
       Van de Synode  te Englewood verwachten wij  overi-                        mining matters of principle.
`"' gens niets tot belijdenis van  schuld  over het gepleegde                        To understand the practice of polygamy it is first of
  onrecht in 1923 en 1925 gedaan,  noch herstel van grieven.                     all necessary to define the term. The  term is a mis-
       Er zijn  o.  i. te veel teekenen die  doen  zien, dat de                  nomer. From the earliest beginnings man, as a rational
  Chr. Geref.  Kerk steeds verder zal afglijden  van het                         and moral creature, has clearly apprehended that the
  ?1Joord  weg en naar de wereld  heen.                                          proper marriage relation should consist  of one man and
                                                              G. .V. B..         one woman. Polygamy, as a term is far too general. and
                                                                                 may mean a multiplicity of partners in the family rela-
                                                                                 tion by one  of either sex. Polygamy means  polygyny,
                          GODSVERTROUWEN                                         i. c., a many wived man. &so the term polyandry should
       Hoe heerlijk is het vertrouwen op God, als wij dah ook                    be considered. It is the opposite of polygamy, or better
  maar werkelijk op GOD en op God WERKELIJK  ver-                                still, of polygyny. Polyandry means a many manned
  trouwen.                                                                       woman, but there are no historic illustrations of it in
       Maar hoe licht blijft hier alles steken in gevoel en ver-                 the  Old Testament, and can, therefore, easily fall out-
  beelding . . . . . .                                                           side of the scope of our. subject. Polygamy  and.  poly-
       mJij vertrouwen  op God en . . . . . beven als een riet in                gyny are practically synonymous, and we will safely use
  volgende oogenblikken.                                                         these terms interchangeably.
       Hoe staat het met u wvertrouwen op God, dat gij des                           The origin of polygamy creates a difference of opinion.
  Zondags zoo heerlijk vindt, b.v. op Maandagnamiddag te                         Many wish to explain polygamy upon an evolutionistic
  vier uur?                                                                      basis.    Then polygamy only is an animal stage in the
                                               Soren  Kierkegaard.               development of man, and was a stage leading up to our
                                                                                 present day monogamic marriages. On this basis it can
                                                                                 be clearly and easily apprehended that free love, which
                           IN MEMORIAM                                           has many advocates today in the field of sociology, will
       Het bchaagde den Heere den 17en  Maart  weder tot                         be considered an evolutionisti-c development of  mono-
  Zich te neinen, in eeuwige heerlijkheid,  -bet pand ons                        gamic marriages. From an ethical, point of view, if the
  cenigen tijd toebetrouwd, onze innig geliefde                                  theory of evolution is maintained, free love is a higher.
                          WILLIAM ADOLPH,                                        ideal than monogamic marriage, the union of one  man
  in den ouderdom `van 9 maanden en 9 dagen.                                     and one woman.           Polygamy, therefore, in the light of
       De vertroostingen  vari  onzen  getrouwen  Verbonds-                      present' evolutionistic theories, defends the view that
  god zijn ons  deel.                                                            promiscuity existed between the sexes of mankind at a
                                Mr. en Mrs. Peter Alphenaar                      lower stage of civilization out of which polygamy in turn
                                                       en kinderen.              developed. From the lower, or animal stage, the argu-
       `Kalamazoo,  Mich.                                                        ment is, that a process developed, called polygamy,  be-


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             a15  .-

     cause  the mighty man,  OX male sex, was twenty-five per           arranged that the survivors of this tribe should possess
     cent  more  powerful  than the woman.        Hence!  we  may- themselves of women and wives by force and fraud. We
     concI~dc,  that brutal strength  on the part  uf the  male         read this command,  "lie and wait in the vineyards, and
     made  polygamy possible.        In this way  the state of          see and behold if the daughters of Shiloh come out  ro
     pal>-gamy  is explained by many that forget the  Word  of          dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards and
     God as the final norm and standard of the moral life               catch  you  every man his wife . . . . and the children of
     of man.                                                            `Benjamin did so, and took their wives according to their
        We cannot doubt the fact that the male is physically            number of them that danced, whom they caught."
     mofe powerful than the female, but whether this pre-               Judges 21  90-23. The same plan of wife capture has been
     ponderance of power  on the part of the  dhe, is the key           practiced in history. The Romans in their earliest days,
     to the  explanation that answers the why of polygamy is            when they were'sadly  in need of women and wives, prac-
     seriously to be questioned. Yet, we must be fair  +ZO our          ticed the same feat as the Benjaminites of. old. We  know-
     opponents.    They have many more arguments. Say                   from secular history that Romulus invited the Sabines
     they, the many tribal wars depreciated the number of               and neighboring towns to see some public games,  anct
     males to such an extent, that many women were forced               in the midst of the show the Romans rushed in, and bj
     to have one man in common with other women.  In. mere force carried OK all marriageable maidens thar the]
     short, marriage in times of wars and brutalities was               could lay their hands on. Examples of women  capture  ,,
     either a matter  of force, fraud, or purchase.        Women        can be multiplied abundantly,  2nd its  occurences  among
     were no more than mere  merchandise9  by the sale  of              all peoples could be proven from documentary evidence.
     whom their male relatives profited, or they were cap-              An illustration from Sacred and one from secular history
     tives in war, the spoil of  thP conqueror, or were stolen          sufficeth. You can see that a preponderance of evidence
     away from the paternal home. You see, do  ypu  not, has been heaped LIP  to prove that a polygamous state of
     dear reader, that' this presented argument approaches              marriage existed, but it does by no means prove that it
     biblical ground, but do not be led astray. The argument            ias sanctioned  ,by God.    Even apart from Scripture it
     used  to.expIain  polygamy on the basis of evolution goes          can be proven that m&ogamF  has been the predominant
     a step farther, and quotations of God are used in defense          relation of man hnd &Tfe in marriage? and has been even
     of the theory. In all cases, the possession once obtained,         more prevalent in the lowest stages of civilization, while
     they became the property .of the man who married them,             at a later period in the history of peoples, monogamy has
     and the husband was their "lord" and "master." In  lega            again yielded `ro polygamy, and very likely to polyandry.
     terms, there arc cases known as falling under the head             We do not deny that wars have disturbed.the proportion
     of "ma"sf'er  and servant." This legal  relation is explained      of the  SCXCS,   but it can be proven equally well that
     in the same way, and today legal terminology rather throughout the world's existence statistics  reveal  an equal
     speaks of the relation  .of "Principal and Agent." The             number of males and females.        However, it must be
     "Workmen's Compensation Acts," are evolutionistic de-              added, that this proportion of the sexes varies among
     velopments of the relation o& "Master and Servant." Yet,           different peoples. To quote Dr. H. Bavinck on this
     this is outside of the domain of our  topid,  yet for the          point, says he, "in de oudheid was de monogamie regel
     correct apprehension of the meaning `"Labor Unions" the            bij de  BabylonG&,  de Egyptenaren, de Grieken, de
     theory of evolution will be faced. (Pardon  rni little ex- `Romeinen;  ook waar wet of gewoonte den man  veroor-
     cursion.) To bolster the argument in favdr of  evolu-              loofde, bijwijven tot zich te nemen, bleef  eene vrouw tech
     tion to explain the state of poIygamy,  an appeal is made          de eigenlijke echtgenoot. Bij de natuurvolken komt
*    to the Word of God ; nl. "that a man may sell his daugh-           de  polygamie,  maar ook de monogamie voor: de  Tndia-
     ter to be a maid servant," i. e., a concubine, as is evident nen in  Californil  de Wedda op Ceylon, de  bewoners
     from the following  verse.     (See;Ex.  219,   8.)  Besides,      der Andamanen en Nicobaren en vele anderen kennen
     also Jacob is quoted as proof of the theory proposed, that en eeren ,het huwelijk van Ckn man en P&e vrouw." (Het
     he  bought  his two wives,  `Leah  and Rachel, and that his        Christelijk Huisgezin. pag. 3.5.) That the institution of          *
     two other wives,  Bilhah  and  Zilpah,  were  g'ijts,  although    tnarriage must not neglect its Scriptural foundation goes
     the latter two were not considered to be on a par with             without saying, but the hesitancy of the defenders of the
     the two women that he had bought with the sweat of his             evolutionistic theory of marriage to do this completely,
     brow, but rather as concubines, since the children of the          shows the weakness of their defense and dominating
     two maid' servants were counted as belonging to Leah               principle. They hesitate to quote from the-book of Gene-
     and Rachel respectively. In Dt.  12:10-1'4, many defend-           sis where the Creation of man and woman is related.
     ers of  ihe evolutionistic theory see abundant proof that Therefore, the assumptions they have made are false, and                         G
*    if a Hebrew conquered his enemies and "saw ationg'the              their denial that marriage is a divine institution must be
     &ptives  a beautiful woman, and hast a desire pnto her             put aside. `Tis true, we do find in the books of the law
     rhat thou wouldst have her to thy wife," he might  .take           examples of the practice of  polygamy,  but we  itre not
     her  hoine  and become her husband, "and she shall be              yet ready to admit that the law favored its practice. If.
     thy wife."    Also after the destruction of the tribe of           this were true we would have flagrant contradictions in
     Benjamin, as it is related iri the book of Judges  :' it was       the records of Moses, who we consider to have been the


  316                                      7' H  E  S `I-  :I  N  II)  -4 R D B E  :\ R  E  R               '
  - - - -                                     -..____ --.-  ._-......-  -^                  -..-..- ^.__                                   -
  author of the Pentateuch regardless of the many prob-                                               NOTICE                          t
  lems that have arisen to cause doubt as to his author-
  ship.  It  is! therefore, necessary to  tract that period of           Beginnentle  met April zal de "Standard Bearer"  twec-
  Hebrew life preceding the practice of  polygamy, and               maal  per  maand verschijnen.               Het  ahonnementsgcld  is
  consider whether marriage is a divine institution, and if          verhoogd  tot  $2.50 per jaar.              -
  so, to determine whether polygamy is legitimate.                       De tegenwoordige inteekenaars zullcn het  blad   blij-
                                                                     ven ontvangcn voor $150 per  jaar, totdat hun  abonne-
     There is a difference of opinion concerning the insti-          ment vervnlt.
  tution of marriage. There are many in our present day                  -De Publicatie Commissie  \*erzoekt  echter  tlringend,
  who hold that marriage is not a divine institution. T o            dat men  vrijwillig  het abonnementsgeld  verhooge   voor
  many minds marriage is a mere contract that can be                 de rest van dezen termijn. De  oorspronkelijke  belofte
                                                                     was! dat het blad zou verschijnen in 16 bladzijden druks.
' broken at will. A distinction of contract to marry and             Vanaf het tweede nummer is het echter verschenen in 32
 `contract of marriage will not be out  of place. The  CW-           bladzijden druks, zonder dat het abonnementsgeld nerd
  tract to marry i$ the agreement preliminary to marriage            verhoogd. NU zal men  48 bladzijden per  mnand  ont- .
  when the parties are promised in marriage to each other,           vangen,`en ieder  bcgrijpt, dat dit niet kan  worden   gele-
  or betrothed. The contract  of'marriage  is the formal             verd voor $1.50 per jaar.
  ceremony, civil or religious by which the parties become               Daarom vrienden, help  ens, steun deze  zaak,  en  vcr-
                                                                     h?pg uw abonnementsgeld  voor de rest van dezen  tcr-
  man and wife. This distinction is of value in the dis-             mljn.
  cussion of our subject, for we must be led astray to                                      DE  PL'r,LICATIE   COI\IMISSIE.
  interpret that marriage is only a human contract made
  between  tw.9 opposite sexes. Many defenders of this
  view have the audacity to appeal to Scripture to prove                                     IN MEMORIAM
  their contention. Gen.  224, "Therefore shall a man
  leave his father  ind his mother, and shall  cleax-e  unto             `It pleased the Lord on the sixteen& of March, to fill
  his wife: and they shall be one flesh." This text is the           our hearts with sorrow, by taking from our midst, our
  bone of contention. Some hold that this text might be              beloved  sister,
  interpreted as teaching monogamy and the equality of                                           A N N A   FRENS,
  man and wife, but hold that this interpretation cannot             at the age of 33 years. W e grieve but also trust that our
  be maintained. because, say they, the same author of               loss is her gain and in the midst of sorrow the Lord is
  these words does not sign any approval or disapproval             our abundant consolation.
  of Lamech for taking two wives unto himself.              From                                     Mr. and Mrs. Joe H.  Frens
  this argumentation we can conclude that defenders of                                               Mr. and Mrs. Richard Frens
  the above interpretation hold and regard marriage as a                                             Mr.  and Mrs. Henry Frens
  mere contract.         In other words, marriage  on  these                                        Mr. and Mrs. Albert Frens
  grounds is purely a human device, and is an institution for                                       John  Frens
  the pleasure of the two sexes. This view, of course. can                                          Ben  Frens
  be accounted for on its own ground, for'n complete denial                                         Dirkie  and Rika Frens
  is made of the infallibility of the Scriptures as  rec:,rded                                                   ---
  in the first three chapters of the book of Genesis. How-
  ever, from Bruce we gleaned the following significant                 Whereas, it has pleased the Lord to take from us so
  statement, "In the book of Genesis marriage is held to            suddenly and while so young,
  be an indissoluble tie that cannot be broken. The woman                                    ANNA FRENS;
  is made to be the  helpmeet  of man, and is regarded as               We do hereby express our sympathy to  the sorrow-
  having all the rights and privileges of a free personality;       ing sisters and brothers. Our prayer is, that  God,7ihe
 and one woman is given to one man, and poly*gamy  is not           f)nIy comforter, may be your comfort.
  recognized."    This is proceeding upon the grounds  of               We are assured, that her death is her gain. May her
 Scripture, and is facing the facts squarely in the face.           going teach  US to watch and pray, for we know not how
 Even though polygamy found expression  among the                   soon we  may be called, and may it spur  us  on  LO work
 Hebrews it was not the original institution of the union           while it is day.
 of the two sexes. The marriage view as expounded in                                     The Eastern C. P. H. Circle,,
 Scripture  -cannot  be satisfactorily explained in a histor-                                     Mrs. Wm.  K. Broersma,  Pres.
 ical  0.q upon sociological grounds, but is primarily to be                                     Mrs. A. F. Olson, Sec'y.
. accounted for upon a strictly theological Biblical basis.             Grand Rapids,  Mich.
 Let us do so, D. V., the next time.            .
                                                     R.  J. D.
                           -.-                                          C'hristenen zijn enkel  helpers  en heilandcn, ja,
                                                                    Heeren en Goden  der wereld; ja, zij zijn de beenen,  die de
     Wij  moeten  den ouden `mensch met  zooveel  kinne-            gansche  wereld   dragen, waarvoor ze hun ook het loon
 bakslagen geeselen,  met doornen pijnigen, en met.nagelen          gecft, dat zij  moeten gedrukt, veracht, en in slijk en vui-
 doorsteken, totdat hij het hoofd buigt en den geest gee&.          ligheid  gaan.                                             `4
                    .


